Religion: The Scoundrel's Last Refuge?

Last Wednesday's shooting death of a security guard special by an 88-year old white supremacist in Washington, D. C.'s Holocaust Museum brought to mind two thoughts.

The first thought is a quote from 18th Century English writer Samuel Johnson (see photo): "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." 

The second thought is a recollection of a meeting I once had with another elderly white supremacist nearly 30 years ago, who called his fellowship of racial hatred a "church."

The year was 1981.  I was working as a religion reporter in The Miami Herald newspaper's Broward County bureau when I discovered the existence of a group that called itself The World Church of the Creator (please click here for a link to the Anti-Defamation League's write-up on the group).  After a phone call to the group's founder, Ben Klassen, a white colleague and I arranged to interview Klassen for the article.

It was clear that Mr. Klassen's "church" was a refuge for scoundrels -- similar to the contemporaries of Samuel Johnson that gave genuine patriots a bad name.  

Likewise, the museum shooter -- James W. von Brunn -- an alleged World War II veteran who described himself as a patriot, according to reports of writings posted on his Web site.  

In such cases as these, it is always the genuine article that betrays the phoniness of the Klassens and the von Brunns of society.  Real patriots do not need to pin a flag on their lapel.  Their patriotism is measured in sacrifices made for the benefit of all of one's fellow citizens, not in the collection of perquisites and prerogatives for one's own family, group, or tribe.

Similarly, according to scripture, true disciples are known by their unalloyed love for the wide-ranging fraternity of God: Red, yellow, black and white -- and brown.  True disciples are the salt of the earth, and the candle in the darkened room. 

When true patriots and true disciples are at their best, there is no place for the scoundrels of the earth to hide.