Search not out the faults of men; reveal not the sin of your fellow; the shortcomings of your neighbours, in speech of the mouth repeat not. You are not judge in creation, you have not dominion over the earth. If you love righteousness, reprove your soul and yourself. Be judge unto your own sins, and chastener of your own transgressions. Make not inquiry maliciously, into the misdeeds of men. For if you do this, injuries will not be lacking to you. Trust not the hearing of the ear, for many are the deceivers. Vain reports believe not, for false rumours are not few.
When I first read about the Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech on English jurisprudence, a speech from a highly respected scholar and theologian, to legal scholars, I thought to myself – he’s right.
Soon after that — very soon — I started to see the reaction. There was dismay from the mainstream press, rabid screaming from Evangelical/Fundamentalist ™ Christians, and the requisite calls for resignation, flogging, and the comfy chair.
For those so inclined – who really want to understand what occurred and the content of the Archbishop’s speech – I highly recommend three pieces from the Faith and Theology blog:
- On sharia and hysteria: or, why Rowan Williams is right
- Mike Higton on Rowan Williams and sharia
- Rowan Williams and sharia: time for some satire (note the link to why St. Paul should resign – a great piece by Kim Fabricius)
Like the allowance for other forms of jurisprudence, such as the Jewish Batei Din (per Wikipedia, Israel allows for religiously established courts with authority over those religions’ adherents), the allowance for Sharia among Muslims is just the sort of right a pluralistic society must accept, and as Mike Higton explains, a means to bring religious discourse into a conversation focused on a faith community’s public accountability, public discourse, public explanation, and public scrutiny.
In Poland, the Jewish population (pre-1793) was granted broad authority in managing its own affairs. This extended so far as to allow for an entirely parallel system of government. The Jewish population had its own parliament (a hybrid between the old Sanhedrin and the modern Knesset) and civil courts were only involved in matters where Jews and non-Jews were in conflict. This sort of system was representative of the pluralistic society Poland encompassed.
For an excellent recap of religious freedom and pluralism in Poland see Poland’s 1997 Constitution in Its Historical Context from which I excerpt:
Jews had been in Poland at least since the ninth century (predating the introduction of Catholicism), establishing separate communities alongside Polish cities and villages. By a law of 1367, these Jewish communities, called kahały were given substantial autonomy to establish their own organizations and tribunals. By the sixteenth century some 150 thousand Jews lived in Poland, mostly in and around the larger cities, and they were self-governed by Jewish parliaments known as waady. Jewish liberties in Poland were not absolute, however. Aside from the continual, unofficial intolerance they suffered from burghers and peasants, Jews were also legally prohibited from owning land, taking out tenancies, leasing state revenues, and trading in royal cities. Nevertheless, Jews did own land, take out tenancies, and even refused to pay taxes under protection of the nobility.
The nobility —cultivated a special relationship— with Jewish communities for reasons that were largely economic. Unlike most other European countries, Poland allowed Jews to establish businesses and engage in various trades; they were not restricted to money-lending. Because Poland’s Jews could become debtors as well as creditors, the nobles who lent Jews money to start businesses or trades were incented to ensure their well-being. Consequently, when the King abandoned his legal responsibility to protect the Jews, the nobility became, first, their de facto protectors and, later, their new legal protectors (under laws enacted in 1539 and 1549). Under the nobility’s auspices, Jewish tradesmen were able to circumvent cumbersome town-guild regulations, and Jewish financiers were able to loan money at favorable interest rates set by the Sejm. And, like other minority groups in Poland, Jews were able to lobby the Sejm to protect their rights; they contributed to officials and attended meetings of Parliament.
In sum, in the sixteenth century, while Jews were being expelled from whole regions of Germany, Austria, and Bohemia, they lived in Poland in relative peace and prosperity. With the exception of the —Catholic elite,— their situation in Poland differed little from that of any other group. Indeed, they were not the only minority group to prosper under the political reign of the nobility. The szlachta became the guarantors of religious liberty for all parties in Poland throughout the Renaissance and into the Counter-Reformation.
Every law the Sejm enacted which protected religious or civil liberty had its roots in the nobility’s struggle to retain its own political rights. And the szlachta resisted every call for religious persecution out of fear that legally sanctioned intolerance might result in increased royal authority at their expense. But their motivations were not only political and economic; a real streak of libertarianism runs through their writings. For example, Jan Zamoyski, Chancellor of the Polish Crown in the sixteenth century (during the reign of King Stefan Batory), wrote, —I would give half my life if those who have abandoned the Roman Catholic Church should voluntarily return to its pale; but I would prefer giving all my life than to suffer anybody to be constrained to do it, for I would rather die than witness such an oppression.— Even the King, Zygmunt August (the last of the Jagiellonian dynasty), reflected the religious tolerance of his time when he wrote, —’I am not king of your consciences, I wish to be monarch equally of the sheep and of the goats, I am afraid of tearing wheat as well as tares.’—
Poland had been officially Catholic since the tenth century, but while other Catholic countries were persecuting their religious minorities and executing dissidents (especially during the Reformation), Poland consistently permitted its minorities and dissidents to pursue their own religious beliefs and practices unhindered. In the eighteenth century, the French Catholic Rulhiere wrote of sixteenth-century Poland: —’This country, which in our day we have seen divided on the pretext of religion, is the first state in Europe that exemplified tolerance. In this state, mosques arose between churches and synagogues.— Indeed, in 1616 there were more than 100 mosques in Poland.
Religious toleration was not only official policy in sixteenth-century Poland; it was the law, codified in the 1573 Warsaw Confederation, reputed to be the first document in European history to constitutionalize religious toleration…
Countries claim broad mandates for freedom and tolerance. Their citizenry has a right to know – to what extent freedom, to what extent tolerance, to what extent do we live together in mutual respect? Multiculturalism and pluralism are concepts bandied about – but rarely put into practice — just try to ignore the Jones next door. May a citizen be who he or she wishes to be? A good question. A question Christians must consider because we owe allegiance to no man, to no country, only to God. Does our government allow for that? Can we say that freely? Are we willing to enter into a broad dialog with society over what we believe? Are we willing to face public accountability, public discourse, public explanation, and public scrutiny? This would not be a problem if we who claim belief, who have a faith built on natural reason, are willing to take that faith and belief into the fray.
Allowing for Sharia is not all that far from allowing for Holy Mass, private confession, and most especially the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel is supposed to be our guiding life principal, encompassing the way we live, act, and interact from day-to-day.
If evil should happen to him that hates you, see that you rejoice not, lest you sin. If your adversary should fall, be in pain and mourning. Keep your heart with all diligence, that it sin not in secret; for there is to be a laying bare of thoughts and of actions. Employ your hands in labour, and let your heart meditate in prayer. Love not vain discourse, for discourse that shall be profitable alike to the soul and the body lightens the burden of your labour.
Narrow is the way of life, and broad the way of torment; prayer is able to bring a man to the house of the kingdom. This is the perfect work; prayer that is pure from iniquity. The righteousness of man is as nothing accounted. The work of men, what is it? His labour is altogether vanity. Of You, O Lord, of Your grace it is that in our nature we should become good. Of You is righteousness, that we from men should become righteous. Of You is the mercy and favour, that we from the dust should become Your image. Give power to our will, that we be not sunk in sin! Pour into our heart memory, that at every hour we may know Your honour! Plant truth in our minds, that we perish not among doubts! Occupy our understanding with Your law, that it wander not in vain thoughts! Order the motions of our members, that they bring no hurt upon us! Draw near to God, that Satan may flee from you. Cast out passions from your heart, and lo! you have put to flight the enemy. Hate sins and wickedness, and Satan at once will have fled. Whatsoever sins you serve, you are worshipping secret idols. Whatsoever transgressions you love, you are serving demons in your soul. Whensoever you strive with your brother, Satan abides in peace. Whensoever you envy your fellow, you give rest to Devils. Whensoever you tell the shortcoming of others who are not present, your tongue has made a harp for the music of the devil. Whensoever hatred is in your soul, great is the peace of the Deceiver. Whensoever you love incantations, your labour is altogether of the left hand. If you love unseemly discourse, you prepare a feast for demons.
You have a spiritual nature; the soul is the image of the Creator; honour the image of God, by being in agreement with all men. Remember death, and be not angry, that your peace be not of constraint. As long as your life remains to you, cleanse your soul from wrath; for if it should go to Sheol with you, your road will be straight to Gehenna. Keep not anger in your heart; hold not fury in your soul; you have not power over your soul, save to do that which is good. You are bought with the blood of God; you are redeemed by the passion of Christ; for your sake He suffered death, that you might die to your sins. His face endured spitting, that you might not shrink from scorn. Vinegar and gall did He drink, that you might be set apart from wrath. He received stripes on His body, that you might not fear suffering. If you are in truth His servant, fear your holy Lord; if you are His true disciple, walk in your Master’s footsteps. Endure scorn from your brother, that you may be the companion of Christ. Display not anger against man, that you be not set apart from your Redeemer.
If you are angry against your neighbour, you are angry against God; and if you bear anger in your heart, against your Lord is your boldness uplifted. If in envy you rebuke, wicked is all your reproof. But if charity dwell in you, you have on earth no enemy. And if you are a true son of peace, you will stir up wrath in no man. If you are just and upright, you will not do wrong to your fellow. And if you love to be angry, be angry with the wicked and it will become you; if to wage war you seek, lo! Satan is your adversary; if you desire to revile, against the demons display your curses. If you should insult the King’s image, you shall pay the penalty of murder; and if you revile a man, you revile the image of God. Do honour to your neighbour, and lo! you have honoured God. But if you would dishonour Him, in wrath assail your neighbour!
Since the fall of communism in Poland, a new tradition has emerged. On February 10th of each year, people all over the country place a lit candle in their window to commemorate the first of four waves of deportations (in 1940) of approximately 2 million Poles. Polish soldiers, intellectuals, educators, doctors, professionals, clergy members, anyone who might raise their voice in opposition to Soviet communism was deported to Siberia. Some made it as far as Katyn, where they were slaughtered by the Russians. Others were worked to death in slave labor camps, in Archangel and in Siberia – the very same type of slave labor camps the German Nazis created a few years later.
Tonight light a candle in their memory, and in the memory of all those who suffered through these deportations and the resultant genocide committed by the Russians against the Polish people, as well as others from the Baltic countries, who were prepared to stand in the way of totalitarianism.
The Light of the Candle – by Hania Kaczanowska
A cold, frosty window against the darkness of the night
A lonely candle burns with a small flickering light
A small boy watches the flame with curious eyes
Babciu, you lit this candle, can you tell me why?I lit this candle to remember someone I never knew
Somebody I just heard about when I was as little as you.
This is for my grandparents who never got the chance to see
Their homeland again and a new world with just me.They lived in a time when their Polish freedoms were taken
On a cold February winter night, all humanity forsaken.
I only knew them from the many stories that were told
How they struggled to survive with hunger and bitter cold.They never had the chance to get back what they knew
Their lives were destroyed and there was nothing they could do
Their last steps on earth were struggling to return
And I try to remember this as the memory candle burns.I missed the warm hugs they might have given me
If they had just been given another chance to see
But in my heart I always felt their love stream thru
And from my heart I give Babunia and Dziadek to you.They were warriors of faith and loved their land
Their fate was unnecessary and hard to understand
They were proud people, gentle and strong
Trapped in a world where so much went wrong.When the 10th of February comes, remember this light
And the story I will tell you about them tonite.
May the candle burn bright and their memory survive
As their spirit touches us as if they were here and alive.When I light the candle it is because I hope they will see
That their story will be passed on down to you, thru me
I can feel their smiles from the warmth of the flame
I hope the lit candle will always make you feel the same.
It is the will of the Lord that His disciples should possess great powers; it is His will that the same things which He did when on earth should be done in His Name by His servants. For He said: “You shall do greater things than these.” He gave them power to raise the dead. And whereas He could Himself have restored to Saul the use of his sight, He nevertheless sent him to His disciple Ananias, that by his blessing Saul’s eyes might be restored, the sight of which he had lost. Peter also He bade walk with Himself on the sea, and because he faltered He blamed him for lessening the grace given him by the weakness of his faith. He Who Himself was the light of the world granted to His disciples to be the light of the world through grace. And because He purposed to descend from heaven and to ascend thither again, He took up Elijah into heaven to restore him again to earth at the time which should please Him. And being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, He foreshadowed the Sacrament of Baptism at the hands of John.
And in fine He gave all gifts to His disciples, of whom He said: “In My Name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall do well.” So, then, He gave them all things, but there is no power of man exercised in these things, in which the grace of the divine gift operates. — Book I, Chapter 8
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
This psalm represents a powerful prayer. David is asking God to purify him, to give him a clean heart, a steadfast spirit. David is asking God to release him from sinfulness. David does not want to be apart from God’s presence. David does not want to loose the Holy Spirit’s presence in his life.
It is a wonderful prayer. It is the sort of prayer that speaks in part of David’s despair, the sort of despair we all feel when we are apart from God because of sin. More-so this prayer speaks of David’s love for God, his desire to return to God, not through his own power, but through God’s grace.
Brothers and sisters,
It is the first week of Lent, and a perfect opportunity for us to reflect on our attitude toward God, our love, and our sinfulness.
As we sit here, quietly, we should reflect on what is passing through our minds and hearts. Do we feel superior, intellectual, proud, smart, victorious, doubtful, worried, happy, guilty, righteous?
Of course, David knew all those feelings. Those types of thoughts are indicative of the distance we create between ourselves and God, between the ideal God calls us to, and the way we choose to live. Our sinfulness makes distance all the greater, distance from God, distance from each other.
As we sit here, in silence, let us reflect on just how far we are from God, just how much we need His hand. We need Him to reach out; to reach out, take us up, and hold us close. We need the gift of His grace so that we might return. We need to fall on our knees and beg Him for that grace – the grace that will renew us, creating a clean heart in us, renewing our spirit, making us steadfast in our opposition to sin.
My friends,
We are deep in sin. So deep we don’t even see it or realize it. We have made ourselves numb to the fact that we do things every day that hurt our brothers and sisters. We do things that hurt each other. From words to glances, from phone calls, visits, and E-mails, to websites we shouldn’t visit, and thoughts we shouldn’t think. Like Adam and Eve, we need to own this realization:
they realized that they were naked
We are naked in our sinfulness. We think we love and protect, but we are lost. Separateness from God gnaws at us. We feel it in guilt and in regret. If only I had loved better, if only I had been more charitable, if only I had held my tongue.
David knew his sin. Realizing his separateness from God, David cried out:
Cast me not out from your presence
David knew he was naked.
The Letter to the Roman tells us that Jesus bridged the gap, and saved humanity:
For if, by the transgression of the one,
death came to reign through that one,
how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
and of the gift of justification
come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
In Jesus’ coming David’s prayer was answered. Jesus came into the world to manifest God’s presence. He is here, among us. He is not far off – here is our hearts, here in these words, here on this altar, and here in this tabernacle, recently so rudely invaded.
Jesus is here, with the grace to keep us close, to guide us from sinfulness to life – true justification.
We cannot do it alone. We can do nothing to justify ourselves. We are not justified through our works, through our service, through offices and positions of authority, nor in pointing to the faults of others.
We must come here. We must walk up to the altar, heads down, sadness in eyes and voices – we must ask again and again:
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
Jesus showed us the way. In the face of continual temptation He showed us that we have the ability to say no. He said:
—Get away, Satan!
He vanquished Satan. Thus we too can say, get away evil.
Lent is here. Time to face reality. We have sinned. With David we must say:
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
—Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.—
When we do that He will come with His grace, to call us back, to hold us, to heal us. Like Daid, we do not want to be apart from God. It is never too late. Call on Him today. He is here.
Amen.
For what is it when you refuse the hope of forgiveness but to shut out? But the Samaritan did not pass by the man who had been left half dead by the robbers; he dressed his wounds with oil and wine, first pouring in oil in order to comfort them; he set the wounded man on his own beast, on which he bore all his sins; nor did the Shepherd despise His wandering sheep.
But you say: “Touch me not.” You who wish to justify yourselves say, “He is not our neighbour,” being more proud than that lawyer who wished to tempt Christ, for he said “Who is my neighbour?” He asked, you deny, going on like that priest, like that Levite passing by him whom you ought to have taken and tended, and not receiving them into the inn for whom Christ paid the two pence, whose neighbour Christ bids you to become that you might show mercy to him. For he is our neighbour whom not only a similar condition has joined, but whom mercy has bound to us. You make yourself strange to him through pride, in vain puffing up yourself in your carnal mind, and not holding the Head. For if you held the Head you would consider that you must not forsake him for whom Christ died. If you held the Head you would consider that the whole body, by joining together rather than by separating, grows unto the increase of God by the bond of charity and the rescue of a sinner.
When, then, you take away all the fruits of repentance, what do you say but this: Let no one who is wounded enter our inn, let no one be healed in our Church? With us the sick are not cared for, we are whole, we have no need of a physician, for He Himself says: “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” — Book I, Chapter 6