Religious Conflict and the Road to Asbury
The freedom to worship, the freedom to believe, or not to believe. It is what makes America truly unique. We are not forced to pray to the God of the state’s choosing, but to our own choice. It was and remains a founding tenet of our nation, the freedom to worship. Since the beginning, people from all over the world have come here for that purpose, and America has welcomed them with open arms. But strange things are happening to people of faith, rather dark and even deadly things. But those things may be being answered.
Los Angeles area Catholics are mourning the death of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell. Bishop O’Connell was found dead of a gunshot wound on Saturday. On Monday, police arrested Carlos Medina after a lengthy standoff. O’Connell did a lot of work with immigrants, but as of this writing, a motive has not been established. But while President Joe Biden professes to be a practicing Catholic, the FBI it seems, is not too enamored of Catholicism. According to a recent Fox News report, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, along with 19 other State Attorneys General signed on to a letter directed at the FBI and the Department of Justice about an extremely concerning memo that was allegedly leaked out of the Richmond Virginia field office in January. The memo talks about “radical traditionalist” Catholics, and that they could potentially be “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists.” The memo goes on to separate “good Catholics” from “bad Catholics.” It talks about how to distinguish between the two by which group prefers “traditional Latin Mass, and pre-Vatican II teachings on sex and marriage,” which the memo describes as decidedly anti-LGBTQ. The more traditional Catholics were deemed the “bad” Catholics.
But Catholics are not alone, especially in the super tolerant state of California. The University of California system has less than a stellar track record when it comes to antisemitism. That track record does not seemed to have improved in recent years. UCLA will host an upcoming panel discussion entitled, “Anti-Muslim Racism, Palestine, and White Supremacy.” One of the panelists is a George Washington University professor who is being investigated for several antisemitic comments, including telling one Jewish student, “It’s not your fault that you were born in Israel.” In 2016, a U.C Berkeley class on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict looked at it “from the lens of settler colonialism.” Because of antisemitic incidents on campuses, many Jewish students report not feeling safe. Jewish students also do not fall into a protected minority status and often do not get the same level of due process as other students when they feel they have been targeted. And recently, a pipe bomb was found behind St. Dominic’s Catholic church in Philadelphia.
With a liberal Democrat administration in charge in Washington, it seems that the new target is Christians. But amid so much religious conflict, tensions around the world, and a culture that seems to have as its goal, the slow erosion of so many people’s hopes and positivity, something is happening at Asbury College, a small Christian college in Wilmore Kentucky. Roughly two weeks ago, a prayer service began at the church that, has not ended. People began to come first from all around the region, then the nation, then literally, from all over the world. People from every different Christian denomination have come. It is unclear whether even people of other faiths have ventured into the on-campus chapel. But if they have, it is very clear they would be welcome with open arms.
Since the beginning of this service, everyone who has witnessed it has said that something special, something that feels radically different than a normal worship service is taking place. Those who have attended even a small portion of the service say they and everyone else feels the presence of God. Outside observers have tried to define a reason or cause to what is happening. The media, apart from conservative media, has only taken a curious glance at it and moved on toward more salacious news stories. But something is happening. Why are people from so far away being drawn to this tiny church? Why is this, what people are calling a revival, taking place? Could it be a sign that pop culture is not as “pop” as those who think they are in charge of it would have us believe? Have people decided to push their way through the tall grass of political correctness, censorship, racial strife manufactured by the government, and that same pop culture who says that their morals and values are wrong, even hateful, and evil, for something else, something more? Often revivals are a lot like revolutions, they begin from the ground up, and blossom. And it is ironic that, this revival is happening at a college, where there are lots of young people, the very people that pop culture is designed to appeal to and lure in.
Is the Asbury revival, which seemingly sprung up overnight, a sign, a sign of searching? If so, what is it that people are searching for? Is it merely striking back at a culture they feel is taking over and destroying everything they believe in or is it something more than just culture war? Is it the religious violence being visited upon those of other faiths as well? It is hard to say.
Wilmore Kentucky is a small town, so mainly for logistical reasons, Asbury College is ending the on-going service on February 21. But what started there is spreading to other places. Other Christian colleges in Alabama, Ohio, and Tennessee are taking up where Asbury must leave off. But this revival, which looks like it will continue, should be prompting some pretty weighty questions in everyone, regardless of faith. And what of faith? Could the search be as simple as that? Perhaps whoever you are, and whatever your faith, a pilgrimage to the faithful might be just what we need.
