Free for what?

Nelson Mandela once said, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Terry Jones, the would-be Qur’an burner from Florida has not been without his supporters in this country. Few have dared to support him unequivocally. Most have tried to make the point that freedom of speech is on his side and they claim (unfairly I think) that in a politically correct Britain it is in diminishing supply. Well, in Kashmir at least 15 Christians are dead, a Christian school, built by the sacrificial gifts of UK people is just ashes. A beautiful Mogul-style church has only its walls standing, its roof and interior having been torched. Attempts were made to burn a nearby Christian hospital was foiled only by a combination of sudden rain and pleas that it was essential to healthcare, particularly mothers and babies. All this happened without the threatened Jones bonfire. It’s hard to imagine the scale of repercussions if he had gone ahead. Not just in Kashmir but in Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Malaysia, just to name just a few countries and where Christians are a tiny minority. Freedom. The debate about how Christians handle their freedom is as old as the church itself. It was a boiling problem in Corinth. The presenting issue was divisive: should Christians eat meat offered to idols? It's possible that the central market in Corinth had various shrines and the normal pattern for local butchers would be to approach one of these pagan altars and make a token offering of the meat. Now for some Christians, especially those of Jewish extraction with a long tradition of poking fun at idols, they had no supernatural power and hence presented no problem of conscience. For others, perhaps people who had once bowed to these idols, to eat such meat would be to defile one's self. St Paul’s advice to the Corinthians in this matter is apposite. He himself probably sided with those for which marketplace meat was no problem. But he counsels doing without for the sake of those of tender conscience: “Take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” (1 Corinthians 8.9) He boldly says if necessary he would go without meat altogether rather than cause a weaker person to fall. Terry Jones has the freedom to do what he likes. He has the freedom to noisily protest about 9/11. But Paul's words apply to him with compound interest. In this instance it's not a matter of fragile consciences, it's a matter of fragile people, folk who are politically weak, unable to defend themselves when communal violence and anger erupts. As a fellow Christian Jones, tragically, was deaf to their predicament. Terry, you need to repent in sackcloth and ashes. Maybe start planning what you are going to do to make amends, though sadly, I think that will be beyond your powers.