i can't help but share this. it hit me like a ton of bricks. the follow is an encounter brian mclaren had at davos a few weeks ago.
Another moment – when a Muslim conversation partner introduced me to a group of Muslims I hadn't met: "This is my friend, Brian." When people stop being "that Jew" or "that Christian" or "that Muslim," and instead become "my friend," followed by a real name … the state of the world improves a little bit.
And another – sitting with a Muslim scholar who explained to me, "If you want to understand our struggle, think of your own Declaration of Independence." She rehearsed the lines, known by heart: "… we hold these truths to be self-evident … created equal … endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." She asked me what these lines were intended to do, to accomplish. I replied, "To counter the pre-modern notion of the divine right of kings with a new notion – of the God-given rights of individuals." Why, she asked, was it important to bring God in? "Because God represents an authority higher than a king's authority. If God gives individuals rights, a king loses his right to abrogate them."
Then she said, "This is a primary reason why there is such a religious revival in Islam. Millions of Muslims live under dictatorships. They need to have their human rights validated theologically so they can gain freedom from dictators, just as American colonists wanted to gain freedom from the king in 1776." Sadly, she added, many of these dictators have remained in power with U.S. support, which helps explain much of the antipathy toward U.S. foreign policy. A simple thought, perhaps obvious to many, but it clicked for me as never before.
1. i like how brian explains the declaration of independence, that God is above kings. so it is no surprise that in that it hit like a ton of bricks... why do we enable other countries to live in a framework that we would not allow ourselves to be in. i am not advocating nation building, like we are experiencing in Afghanistan or Iraq, certainly we did much to help them to where they were. but what if there were other creative means to enable all people to live where God is ultimate authority? even over that of a king or president? hmm..
