Palm Sunday: A Passion for Violence

I almost rushed my young daughters out of the sanctuary of our liberal Presbyterian church in downtown Denver last Sunday. Our pastor had the kids up at the front and was leading them through the paces of the Passion scene. "And what did they say when Pilate asked what to do with Jesus?" And all the kids, in unison, yelled, "Crucify him!"

The only reason I didn't rush them out was that they don't know what crucify means, as they're not yet old enough for Sunday school, and that's a word we haven't added to their vocabulary list just yet. I'm not ready for them to know about violence. I want to let them learn more about peace first.

The news just a few days before was about Dubya & Dick's desire to rain nukes down on the Iranians. It seems to me, these reports and the Passion story aren't entirely unrelated. Indeed, it seems that we "church" our children in violence from their earliest years. Christians seem absolutely unable to resist thoughts and acts of violence. We have a religion in which the chief event started from horrific violence, and teaching kids the power of Jesus through this story leads to a permanent association of wondrous accomplishment with violence.

Has Dubya's brain been soaked too much in a fascination with violence? Does it have to do with his devotion to his religion? Does he secretly, or not secretly, desire to spill as much blood as possible during the one point in his life when he can do so without repercussions?

People who believe in the imminence of a biblical Rapture shouldn't be anywhere close to the controls. They are too much obsessed with the ways in which violence brings about magical occurrences.