“In other times it may have been the business of Christianity to champion the equality of all men; its business today will be to defend passionately human dignity and reserve.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters from Prison
I was born in 1952.
It was a small town outside a major military base near Waco, Texas.
My father was a career Army man.
He grew up on a ranch on the outskirts of San Antonio.
His father was a successful architect and deacon in the Christian Church.
My father sometime rode his horse to school.
Deep in the heart of Texas there was a dirt farmer that had nine children.
My mother was born eighth of that clan.
Old Methodist Church pews .. Great for napping or singing
I have one sister and we grew up singing in the Methodist Church.
Mom always made sure we attended a Methodist church.
My father was stationed in Texas, South Carolina, and Louisiana.
We went to the Methodist church.
I suppose we went to the Protestant Chapel while he was stationed on Guam.
No matter, we were Methodist all the way back to the Wesley brothers.
Texan to the bone.
I am also a Caucasian with deep roots in the Great Britain vicinity.
White.
Mr. President I am white.
White – Anglo Saxon – Protestant
I’m one of the great American WASPs towards whom you feel such kindred.
Mr. President I went to a public high school in San Antonio, Texas.
That was from 1966 to 1970.
During that time we had a total of three African American students.
Out of twelve-hundred kids in my school, maybe 10% were Mexican American.
That’s me on the right there. New Orleans 7th Ward
Mr. President, I hold a bachelor’s degree from a Catholic liberal arts university.
Mr. President, I have a Master’s of Divinity degree from a Presbyterian Seminary.
My two older children were baptized in the Episcopal Church.
My two younger ones were baptized in a Lutheran Church.
For forty years, I’ve been a Protestant Youth Minister by profession.
Mr. President, this was my calling.
Currently, I preside over a weekly Protestant Worship and Communion Service.
It is held at an elder care facility.
Me with some Texas sweet tea
Mr. President, I have never been inside a Muslim Mosque to attend worship.
Mr. President, I have not read the Koran.
I do have a few casual acquaintances that are practicing Muslims.
I have never traveled to a Middle Eastern country.
I have no future plans to do much traveling other than to Texas.
Mr. President, you can see by my photo that I am an older white male.
I have 3 main reasons for sharing my actual photo.
NUMBER 1
LAX Jan 28, 2017 (AP/Reed Saxon)
When profiled at the airport or in my car, I am mostly invisible.
(I call myself non-profile-able. White. Old. Male. Who cares?)
No one will call me a Muslim!
Or a Mexican!
Or a woman!
Or a Terrorist!
NUMBER 2
As a sweet, old-looking white grandfather, I certainly pass as a Christian.
(This is noticeable with a quick glance at the previous evidence of Methodism in my past. It is positively safe to assume that, “Hey, that old white guy is one!”)
So as someone who passes as Christian,
JFK Protests
I want EVERYONE to know what being one means to me.
We Christians stand in harm’s way.
We protect the outcast.
We protect the widow.
We protect and look after the orphan. (James 1:27)
We surround those who would be harmed by malevolent minds.
This is not an afterthought.
Mr. President, a Christian always has that thought foremost in our mind and heart.
NUMBER 3
Mr. President,
You weave a web of exclusion under the guise of protecting the America people.
You seek to instill fear in anyone who dare oppose your dreadful actions.
Not the fear of opposing a new law or even a false truth,
The fear of you.
But you seek to instill absolute fear..
The fear of YOU!
As you attempt to create a false narrative of history.
You babble an artificial chronicle of insulting propaganda,
Designed to pave the way for rule under the control of a senseless con man.
Mr. President, know that your decisions..
Mr. President, know that your deeds..
Hold lives in the balance.
Mr. President, your decisions and deeds hold my children’s lives and their children’s future in a delicate balance.
Mr. President, I do not trust that you will care for the children of the earth.
Mr. President, I do not trust that you understand that your whims are not wisdom.
Mr. President, I do not trust that you know you have limitations.
Mr. President, I do not trust that you have any close friends to help you.
Mr. President, I do not trust that you are humble or teachable or even grateful.
Mr. President, I do not trust that you know how to care.
So in light of the Christian ethics that were taught to me when I was a child,
And in the sad belief that you Mr. President will attempt to..
-ban people from nations with Muslim majority populations from entry to the USA
And in the sad belief that you Mr. President will attempt to..
-make people from Mexico “not our friends”..
And in the sad belief that you Mr. President will attempt to..
-cause people of color to fear and loath you and you policies..
And in the sad belief that you Mr. President will attempt to..
-take away the hard-won rights of the LGBT community
And in the sad belief that you Mr. President will attempt to..
-install a law to require Muslims to REGISTER as Muslim..
In light of all that, Mr. President,
I will preemptively call myself Muslim..
I will wear my Christian clerical collar..
I will hang a Celtic pectoral cross over my chest..
I will walk to the front of the line..
I will ask to be..
the FIRST REGISTERED MUSLIM in AMERICA!
In confidence of my personal relationship with Yahweh God..
In the clarity of my walk in the Way of Jesus..
In my conviction that the long arc of the moral universe, bends towards justice..
In the overwhelming evidence that the oppressed need advocates..
Mr. President..
I am persuaded that I must take the same stand as Dietrich Bonhoeffer while imprisoned at Tegel military prison.. and of Martin Luther King as he wrote from the Birmingham jail.. and with my father the Army Major who I can hear singing in clear Irish tenor voice the strains of “How Great Thou Art”.. and most certainly because of my mother who would have taken any frightened refugee in to our family kitchen .. for sanctuary..
You see Mr. President sanctuary for the weary outcast is our calling..
In evidence all of this mighty cloud of witness..
Mr. President, I Am a Muslim.
“When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man when he gets all he can and saves all he can does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!”
– John Wesley
Mr. President, this is my prayer for you.
I implore the Universe to shed some light into the blackness that seems to haunt you.
I pray you will experience forgiveness.
But.. Mr. President..
For every man and woman who is planning on becoming wealthier – and as a byproduct – more powerful because of your decisions and your deeds..
Mr. President those people should read up on what happened in South Africa in the last throws of Apartheid.. and reacquaint themselves with Gandhi and the fall of British Raj in India.. the Edmund Pettus Bridge.. the human toll of Mao’s “Revolution” .. (sadly too many other examples)
Finally Mr. President,
It doesn’t matter to me if you won by nuanced electoral votes.
It doesn’t matter to me if you won through someone’s hidden agenda.
It doesn’t matter to me if you won by an unfortunate turn of chance.
It doesn’t matter to me if you won and this land is split into halves.
Mr. President.
You won.
You
Are
The President.
You have been entrusted with so very much.
Mr. President You have not earned this as a right.
Mr. President you are holding the office of President as a trust.
You are in office as a privilege.
Period.
The world is only just learning the treacheries of your past.
Mr. President the dark tragedy of all your deals will be brought into light..
“With the tools of democracy, democracy was murdered and lawlessness made “legal.” Raw power ruled, and its only real goal was to destroy all other powers besides itself.”
― Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Protest at LAX
Mr. President
I do not trust you to care.
Therefore Mr. President I do not trust you to care for my children..
I do not trust you to care for their children’s children’s children’s future..
Mr. President, I have decided to prove my loyal opposition.
Back to the Big Easy
(What I mean by loyal is simple. I am loyal to the notion that there is a necessity, and a goodness, in having a democratically elected president to lead the USA in the self-governing tradition of our nation. The opposition part is equally simple. I am opposed to your cavalier ‘America First’ effluvia you are passing off as care and strength. It is an illusion. Mr. President you are the Fascist my father warned me to watch for. I will ‘loyally’ oppose you till my last breath.)
Here it is.
It is simple.
Mr. President, I am a Muslim.
Question One for the Church
Syrian refugee girl Aya Bandar, 6, from Hama, Syria, poses for a picture at an informal tented settlement near the Syrian border on the outskirts of Mafraq, Jordan. AP Photo
Who will claim these children for the Church?
Question Two for the Church
The Muslim ban hits close to home for the Burk and Fawcett family. Their friends have relatives who survived Nazi Germany. They now have a neighbor whose husband is detained. SeaTac International Airport ASK
If you have a building can it be a Sanctuary?
Resist
I am encouraged that opposition to this heinous executive order has mobilized so quickly. I have no particular hope that it will do anything to change Mr. Trump’s mind, but I hope it will change and energize hearts and minds across the nation and the world. This man does not represent who we are and sooner or later the American people will agree with this view.