Knowledge is freedom

It is back to school time in our area. I always enjoy seeing photos on Facebook from friends, family and acquaintances of first day of the school year. These can be times of mixed emotions. In my family, my wife and daughter are part of our Cape Public School system, so it is back to work for both. I like the structure of the school year. As a pastor with some flexibility in my schedule, I am pulled in two directions when they have more free time.

My daughter does very well in school. The other day she used the expression, "I have to go to school." I told her, "You get to go to school." Then I carefully explained current events in Afghanistan. I told her what life is now like for females in that part of the world. Little girls no longer get to go to school.

Going to school is a requirement for children. There are many things we must do, that we do not always want to do. Sometimes the government steps in to make us do certain things. How many mandates should we have? What if we could mandate church attendance? Could you make a case for the benefits to society that come from religious/moral teaching? Our founders knew the problems associated with the state controlling the church when they established religious freedom.

While authoritarians love to issue mandates for others that they themselves do not have to follow, the best approach is to make your case and let people choose. Tell them the benefits of certain behaviors and the unwanted consequences of other behaviors. Do not lose sight of the blessing of living in a country where we are free to make decisions for ourselves.

The Taliban and other Islamic extremists are not tolerant of other religions and impose their beliefs on others through violence. Criticizing extremism within a religion is not intolerance of that religion. Physical abuse is incompatible with our laws and needs to be shunned by our society.

One night, when we were praying for the Americans who have been stranded in Afghanistan, my daughter suggested we pray for someone else. When we asked who, she said, "The Taliban, that they would know Jesus and become kind." This reminds me of how the Apostle Paul prayed for his people:

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." Romans 10:1-3.

The religious extremists have a zeal, but it is not informed by correct biblical theology. Islamic extremism harms Islamic people. Think of the people in Afghanistan--women, the little girls, and boys. They will be treated as slaves and abused in every way possible. If the Americans are forsaken by our government, they will most likely be killed. I am praying that we do not see images like we saw five years ago.

It is easy to see the extremism in others, but not ourselves. Things become overbearing when we have too many mandates. When medical staff walk out of hospitals to punish people for being unvaccinated, or fanatical men beat a woman for not covering herself properly, we become aware of how controlling some people can become.

Schools need to be places where students learn how to think, not what to think. We must be tolerant of different religions just as we are to be tolerant of different political views. When scientific opinions become extreme, atrocities can happen in the name of science. Horrible experiments were performed on Jews during Hitler's reign. The justification was the research would benefit Germans. People did as they were told -- followed orders without questioning.

I want everyone to become a student of Jesus, but I cannot make a mandate. All I can do is present a case for Christianity and pray that many will choose to believe.