Dear Jesus, protect me from your followers...

This week's musings are of a religious nature...inspired by current events.

First, this week Pope Benedict made an official declaration that "the Jews were not responsible for killing Jesus."  First of all, I thought we resolved this in 1965 during Vatican II, (The Sequel: This Time, it's Holier Than Thou) so I'm not really sure why the announcement is "news".  I know that the announcement coincided with the release of the Pope's latest soon to be best-seller Jesus of Nazareth, Part II (Seriously.  Everyone's got to publish these days.) but the more I thought about this bit of news the more it puzzled me. 

As Christians, we believe that Jesus came to Earth as God in human form.  Aside from his short but amazing ministry, his primary purpose was to die for the sins of the world.  His death and subsequent resurrection is the tangible symbol of God's everlasting Grace.  Yes, his death was incredibly violent.  Crucifixion is a horrible and torturous form of capital punishment.  But here's the question: isn't that the way it had to be?  At the Last Supper, Jesus said to his disciples:

"I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God" Luke 22:15

Jesus KNEW he was going to have to die.  He knew what was coming.  In order to fulfill God's plan, wasn't somebody going to have to kill him? It's because of his death and resurrection that the pillars of Christian faith (grace, salvation, and eternal life) endure.  So my question is: why and how would early Christians ever get the idea that the people who killed Jesus (whoever they were) were bad?  Shouldn't we actually revere them for helping to fulfill God's will?  It's all very confusing.

In other news, the Supreme Court ruled this week that hate speech, no matter how ugly and vicious, is still protected under the First Amendment.  While I found this ruling surprising in many ways, the most shocking part of the entire situation is that the group protected in spreading its message of hate is...wait for it...a CHURCH.  The Westboro Baptist Church is a small fringe group that seems to be poorly named. Maybe they're having an identity crisis. I can't seem to find anything about their principles or beliefs that resembles the teachings of Jesus.  They do like to slap random Bible verses (usually taken way out of context) on signs.  I'm really not sure who they love (except themselves).  I definitely don't understand how they can claim Christian compassion and the teachings of the Greatest Commandment when they devote their time, effort, and energy into evangelizing words of hate outside funerals and burials.  There is nothing in their behavior that emulates Christ's teachings. 

In what is truly a sign of the apocalypse, Sarah Palin and I actually agree on something. 

Leave it to the blogosphere to help me find a light in the proverbial darkness. Today's voice of reason and faith: Bono. yes.  That Bono. His interview on The Poached Egg was actually from September of last year but I found this blog post on a Twitter feed and was so inspired to read his musings on faith, Jesus, and social responsiblity.  My favorite quote:

You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics; in physical laws every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.  

Yes, we've all done a lot of stupid stuff. 

Sometimes we do it in the name of religion. 

Thank God for Grace.