JOSEPH N. BELL -- The Bell Curve

I read with a mixture of outrage and empathy B.W. Cook’s eloquent

description in the Pilot a few weeks ago of his daughter being consigned

to hell by a group of “Christian” friends.

Outrage because people supposedly dedicated to a religious philosophy

based firmly on love not only condoned but supported such behavior.

And empathy because a similar event took place in my home when a young

visitor being educated in a “Christian” school told a member of my family

matter-of-factly that she was going to hell because she worshiped in a

synagogue.

I followed the columns and letters in the Pilot reacting to the Cook

column -- none of which reflected my feelings and some of which outraged

me all over again. But I decided to leave this one alone because I could

hardly improve on Cook’s reasoning for being “offended by any religion

that claims exclusivity with God” -- which is precisely the way I feel.

Then a string of events took place that broke through such

uncharacteristic restraint and compelled me to get involved in a topic

even more volatile than politics.

In no particular order of importance, these events included former

President Jimmy Carter’s recent break with the Southern Baptist

Convention, the West Wing TV show’s scalding attack on Laura

Schlessinger, the “We Still Pray” T-shirts very much in evidence during

our recent trip through Georgia and North Carolina, and the announcement

that the United Church of Christ’s Rev. Fred Plumer and his congregation

have opened their doors and their hearts to both Jews and Muslims, with

whom they will now share their Irvine home.

The Carter announcement got minimal coverage locally, but was big news

in Atlanta when we arrived there. It was of special interest to my wife

and me because some years ago, driving through Georgia on a Sunday with

my stepson, we turned off impulsively to visit Plains and discovered that

Jimmy Carter was not only there, but teaching a Sunday School class. We

went to the church, were welcomed warmly and spent a fascinating hour in

an open and inclusive session with the former president, who dealt

thoughtfully and nonjudgmentally with questions from the audience

relating to the lesson of the day.

In resigning from a lifelong association with the Southern Baptist

Convention, Carter said he could not accept a revised statement of faith

that affirmed the total literal acceptance of the Bible and the

sinfulness of abortion and homosexuality.

He was quoted in the Atlanta Constitution as rejecting “an

increasingly rigid SBC creed that violates the basic premises of my

Christian faith.” He went on to add: “I cannot imagine innocent persons

being deprived of God’s eternal blessing because they don’t have a chance

to accept Christ.”

Similar points were made in the West Wing episode, in which a

commentator clearly patterned on radio talk show host Laura Schlessinger

used the Bible to justify her attacks on a school board candidate in the

president’s home state because he was gay. The president faced her with a

whole string of biblical passages she either rejected or ignored, making

the point emphatically and angrily that the Bible is being used

selectively to judge and attack individuals who don’t share the

attackers’ religious convictions.

The “We Still Pray” T-shirts, which we saw in abundance in Georgia and

North Carolina, are protesting the decision of a very conservative

Supreme Court that public prayer at events (in this case a Texas high

school football game) representing public institutions are a violation of

the rights of those who would pray differently or not at all.

Many of the original settlers of North America were fleeing the state

religions of Europe. Our founders made very sure that there would be no

state religion here, and the Supreme Court was simply protecting that

view.

Finally, we have Fred Plumer and the open door he presides over at his

United Church of Christ in Irvine.

I’ve been privileged to know Fred Plumer and exchange views with him

for many years. He states his Christianity very clearly: “To invite all

sorts and conditions of people to join in our worship and in our common

life as full partners, including, but not limited to: believers and

agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning skeptics, homosexuals

and heterosexuals, females and males, the despairing and the hopeful,

those of all races and cultures, and those of all classes and abilities,

without imposing on them the necessity of becoming like us.”

What do all of these bits and pieces add up to? To me they say that

Christianity is not a monolith but rather divided sharply among some very

different basic views of Jesus’ teachings. But those who believe in the

inerrancy of the Bible and Jesus as the sole path to God have somehow

preempted the term “Christian,” thus excluding a great many devout

Christians whose convictions are similar to those of Jimmy Carter and

Fred Plumer.

To this latter group, Christianity adds up to a good deal more than

tolerance, which Webster defines as “to bear up under or endure beliefs,

practices or habits differing from one’s own.”

Contrast this with what Fred Plumer recently told a Los Angeles Times

reporter: “Living with a synagogue and with modern-day Jews is

unbelievably eye-opening. I suspect it will be the same thing with the

mosque.”

He might have added one of the precepts of his church, which says:

“The way that we treat one another and other people is more important

than the way we express our beliefs.”

* JOSEPH N. BELL is a resident of Santa Ana Heights. His column

appears Thursdays.