Coexistence

I read this article from Get Religion earlier this morning. In short, it's about a Thanksgiving Day service in Austin, TX, that was forced to change venues because the Baptist church that was to host it objected to "non-Christians worshiping on its property."

Now, on the surface, that's an okay statement. It also might be called a correct statement. I would not open my parish to a Muslim, Jewish, Wiccan or whatever service; nor would I allow a non-Christian family to hold a funeral or wedding in my parish because "it's pretty."

However, there are a few other things to consider (some of which the article points out, some which it doesn't):

1) Last time I looked, Thanksgiving wasn't a religious holiday. It was a day to give thanks (okay, to God .... but that makes sense since the colonists were Christian) for the hospitality of the Native Americans so that the colonists wouldn't starve and, thereby, continue their world domination of other cultures.

2) From the G.R. article: The rental space in question is a gymnasium, not a sanctuary. This doesn't make sense to me. We loan out our parish hall out to all sorts of non-Christian groups. And the last time I looked, the parish hall (and I have to believe their gymnasium) wasn't set aside and consecrated as a holy space. And if the gym was, maybe they should take a look at what goes on in that gym during basketball games, because I gotta believe that there is some less-than-Christian behavior going on in the heat of competition.

3) Also from the G.R. article: The statement from the church says that it welcomes “all faiths” to worship, but won’t allow its property to be used for “non-Christian religions.” And this one REALLY doesn't make sense to me. How can you "welcome all faiths to worship," while at the same time not allow your property to be used for "non-Christian religions"? Isn't that a little like saying, "We welcome all people to worship -- except sinners." That just makes no sense at all, and how someone can make that judgment is almost beyond . . .

Oh . . . wait . . .

Ft. Worth, Quincy, San Joaquin, Southern Cone, Nigeria . . .