I do not see the problem
Two hawks were discussing the owls in their habitat. One hawk remarked at how disgusting it was that others in the habitat were so hateful toward the owls. “I don’t understand why they are so ruthless toward those owls by calling them “predator,” “vicious,” and “deadly.” The other hawk agreed with the recognition that the hawks had never bothered by the owls so there was no reason to cast them as such viscous and vile villains in the culture in which they lived. Elated by the sense of validation, the other hawk smiled with confidence and said, “Somebody really needs to educate those ignorant and misguided mice!”
This modern-day parable speaks volumes to the hypocrisy and outright misguided presumption of so-called “righteousness” that is currently destroying American Christianity. In spite of the well-intended actions of many Christian hawks in the modern world, there are many people who are being unjustly maligned—even devoured—by the vicious predators lurking in modern religious and political circles. Much like a predatory raptor silently soaring while looking for its next victim, many so-called Christians are circling the cultural skies looking for the presumed vermin whom they would love to devour while validating the viciousness of their actions as unproblematic simply because they do not experience the same world view.
In America today there are countless victims of predatory religious hatred, oppression, discrimination, and judgment based on the blinded and misguided belief that since one’s own self-serving interpretation of Scripture has never caused them any personal problem, the cry of others is simply irrational, stupid, or even outright sinful in nature. “I don’t see the problem so it must not be real, valid, or worth my attention!”
When it comes to maters of gender equality, racism, nationalism, and discrimination, there are long histories of using the Bible to justify unholy hatred and exclusion. American Christian theology has a sinful history of treating women as sub-human servants who must bow to men for validity, the unholy enslavement of people of color as inferior, the profane justification of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny as a means to eradicate and dislocate Native Americans in subjection to White Christian dominance, the mass imprisonment of Asian Americans in the racist lie of National Security, the xenophobic demonization of immigrants as rapists, drug dealers, and murders for partisan political gain, the hateful criminalization of reproductive rights for political power, and the detestable ostracization of whole human communities because their gender and sexual identity is different from the norm. This is not Christ! This is not Christianity! This is not the salvation for which Jesus died!
In the parable, the hawks are clearly unwilling to understand the world beyond their own myopic and narcissistic religious experience. They rail against the heartfelt and desperate cries of the mice that owls are dangerous, yet fail to recognize the world through any other experience other than their own. The very accusation which they disregard as being invalid reflects the threatening reality which they, themselves, embody.
In a world where hawks are quick to ban books, sanction relevant academic theories, punish those with whom they disagree, and oust leaders who see the world differently, it is vital that Christians step up and proclaim a faithful, bold, and definitive “No!” Christ died for all. Not just the hawks and owls, but also the mice and all who fail to conform to the world view of the raptors that presume to exclusively speak for God. Anything else undermines the validity and beauty of Jesus Christ
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: I do not see the problem
