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2001-07-16 - 6:27 a.m.

THE CIRCUS PARADE

The group that calls themselves Jews for Jesus are out in force in this town right now. There are billboards and there are leaflets. There are people on street corners accosting the populace. It�s all just in time for the Great Circus Parade. Make of that what you will.

I�ve never understood the whole Jews for Jesus concept. If I were going to convert, I�d just become a nice Methodist or Presbyterian or Catholic or something. Unlike many of the Jews for Jesus, I know enough of the religion of Judaism to know that one cannot believe in the Jesus thing and still retain a religious Jewish identity. If culture and ethnicity are really the issue here, the Jews for Jesus will soon splinter into the German-heritage-Jews for Jesus and the Lithuanian-heritage-Jews for Jesus or the Reform Jews for Jesus and the Conservative Jews for Jesus. A truly Jewish Jew for Jesus would have a church he would not be caught dead in.

The biggest problem that I have with the Jews for Jesus concept is that I can see no good reason to segregate Christians by heritage. I�ve never seen a group call themselves Italians for Jesus or Germans for Jesus. I can think of only two reasons for this segregation and both worry me. Those who call themselves Jews for Jesus appear to be doing it to avoid taking full responsibility for their convictions. They want to remain a part of the Jewish religion while avoiding the knowledge that they are rejecting one of its central tenets. If they wish to become Christians, I�d prefer they simply do so directly. Those non-Jews who understand the religious conflict here and yet continue to promote Jews for Jesus do so knowing that specifically targeting Jews is more of an attack on Judaism than a true advocacy of Christianity.

In any event, my conversion is unlikely because I see no need to believe that all God is divided into three parts. Some days I have enough trouble in believing in a one-part God. I�ve long suspected that our beliefs about God say far more about us than they do about God. I�d like to think that my inability to believe that killing is somehow necessary to salvation (whatever that may be) says something positive about me. If I must believe in a personal God (and at the moment I feel it unnecessary), I prefer the God who stays Abraham�s hand. (We�ll discuss the problems I have with God�s supposed instigation of this incident in next week�s sermon. In the meantime, I�ll just remind you that our building needs a new roof.)

I�ve never trusted the whole concept of evangelism either. While trying to make the whole world over to be like us and ours is all too human, believing in a god who requires such behavior is way too much making God over in man�s image for me. Besides, converting others always seems to result in a remaking of the religion. Contrary to some science fiction, people cannot simply be assimilated over time without fundamentally changing the broader group. Ask those creches that the Supreme Court believes are secular.

So, I�ll continue to duck my head and refuse to extend my hand to those Jews for Jesus on the street corner. By next week, if I�m lucky, this circus parade will be only a memory.

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