Post No. 66b: Question to Ponder - Would Jesus Discriminate?

Those of you who are regular readers of our blog are aware that we, the Fellows at the Institute for Applied Common Sense, are big fans of the weekend book presentations on C-Span2 Book TV. Many ideas and concepts are discussed in a relatively short period of time.

After having our thoughts stimulated, many of the questions posed in our articles reflect our consideration of various issues raised by the authors, panelists, or participants in book fairs.

Today’s consideration is whether Jesus would discriminate. Yesterday, the Rev. Dr. Cindi Lowe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindi_Love) discussed her book, Would Jesus Discriminate: The 21st Century Question (http://books.google.com/books?id=GUD7MQAACAAJ&dq=%22Would+Jesus+Discriminate%22&ei=T8kXSePvE4uWyATUwNjqAw). You can actually watch the interview by clicking on this link: http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9616&SectionName=Politics&PlayMedia=Yes.

What’s interesting about Dr. Lowe is that she was apparently brought up in a religious environment where she was taught to be intolerant of certain behavior of others. In fact, when her brother was dying of AIDS, she initially took the position that God had punished him for his sexual behavior. However, at some point later, when her relationship with her daughter was at issue, Dr. Lowe decided to change her attitude and position.

Dr. Lowe, who is now a lesbian, claims that God called on her to disseminate her new message. After this occurred, she realized that there are all sorts of discrimination associated with religious beliefs. [It reminded us of how the Ku Klux Klan often couches its philosophy in religious terms. (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761562317/Ku_Klux_Klan.html)] It is now her role to “correct the behavior of other people.”

Her original target audience consisted of religious fundamentalists and Christian Evangelicals (http://encarta.msn.com/text_761574399___1/Evangelicalism.html). She noted that she discovered that her book is appreciated by a much wider audience.

Of course, we do not have a position here. However, we’d be curious as to your views. Would Jesus discriminate or tolerate discrimination against any of God’s children?