I'm an extremist? I wish!

No doubt you’ve heard about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assessment that became public in the last week. The “assessment” dated April 7, 2009, was issued by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the DHS and titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.”

The document alerts law enforcement officials that “rightwing extremists” may exploit Americans who have strongly held beliefs on issues like Christianity, U.S. sovereignty, the loss of American jobs and the 2nd Amendment. In a town where people are willing to get upset about anything, except what really matters, this is has been treated as a national crisis.

I'm not too upset about this report. For one thing, I went to UNC, and, as Tom Tancredo found out this week, where conservatives have long been violently blamed for everything wrong with the world for decades now.

Secondly, they are partially right. Of course everything they said about Christian conservatives could also be said about left wing radicals, and has been many times - by many of my fellow Christian conservatives!

In a country the size of the United States, there are a certain number of unstable people. In my experience, they fall across all political and religious perspectives. If you doubt this, pick your favorite public figure, someone famous, now search them on You Tube and see how many whackjobs out there are criticizing them. There are radicals all over the place.

The problem with the U.S. isn't that there are radicals. It's that we've lost the ability to recognize any validity in other perspectives. We're all saying, "How dare anyone call ME a radical! But look at that teenager over there in a headscarf . . . I hope someone's watching her, tapping her phone, and reading her email.”

Why shouldn't a poorly educated liberal American analyst with no conservative friends be afraid of people like me and you? Right wingers have killed in America in my lifetime and if our ignorant DHS analyst wants to paint with a broad brush, how is he different from the conservative right winger who doesn't think liberals can be Christians?

Here's the thing, I WANT to be a radical. I want to live just like a radical. I want to follow in the footsteps of a radical who hung on a cross because the religious leaders thought he was a traitor and a heretic.

I grew up in a country where everyone called themselves Christians but they hated people who didn't look like them and chose to kill unborn babies for convenience. My people spend a few millions to help the less fortunate (when they aren't lecturing them on responsibility) but spend trillions to make themselves more comfortable. My country has 6% of the world’s population but 25% of the world's prisoners. Why would anybody want to claim to be in the majority in THAT country?

The problem with America isn't that some idiot thinks right wingers are dangerous, it's that nobody thinks Christians are dangerous. But as I look around I am seeing just a glimmer that the next generation is ready to stand up and live full out for Christ, while the critics complain about their tattoos. God bless them, maybe one day Christians will again be as feared as the one they claim to follow.