Religious Violence
Wayne Turner

              It was one of those stories from the world of religion that just makes you cringe, if not even cry. It's one of those stories that give religion a very bad name. It was published on January 18, 2008, in the Wall Street Journal. And it's not what you might be expecting.
              The story was about Karolyn Caskey, a 71-year-old woman who, for almost 50 years, had been a member of Allen Baptist Church in Michigan. She is a former Sunday School teacher and gave regularly out of her pension. In 2005, she was one of 12 members still attending when the church hired its new minister. During its lean years, she paid the electricity bill and even mowed the lawn on occasion, despite having had both knees and hips replaced. That isn't the story.
              The story is about the Sunday morning Mrs. Caskey came to church and was taken to jail in handcuffs by a state trooper and an officer from the sheriff's department. The county prosecutor dismissed the charge. Later, she returned to church only to be rearrested and taken to jail where she posted bail and was released. (The minister's sermon that morning was about "infidels in the pew.") Again, the prosecutor dropped the charges. He instructed law enforcement officers not to arrest her again unless she was causing a disturbance.
              So, what could Mrs. Caskey possibly have done to warrant such treatment? One might expect it was something horribly wrong. But a neighbour described her as one of the nicest, kindest people she knew. As one of the few long-term members, Mrs. Caskey was familiar with the church's bylaws. All she had done was to ask the new minister to appoint a board to govern the church, according to their bylaws, and had subsequently continued to remind him of this need. He took this as a challenge to his authority, ultimately notifying her by letter that she had been removed from membership in the church. She was arrested for going to church. And the minister was the person who called the police.
              We live in a world familiar with religious violence. Ordinarily, this refers to the clashes between totally different faith groups or even the sectarian violence that happens within a particular group. Yet, we also hear of people like Mrs. Caskey who are the victims of authoritarian church leaders or overaggressive church members (See Donald Enroth's book Churches that Abuse.). This is not to question the Biblical responsibility for discipline within the church. The New Testament gives very specific instructions about this. What is important for us to consider, however, is how we treat people, even when we may disagree with them.
               Recently, a church member from the Southern U.S. began engaging a Canadian contact in a series of Internet discussions and Bible studies. The church member became frustrated, displaying an attitude that came across as impatient, judgmental and harsh—that it was a waste of time trying to study with her, virtually guaranteeing that the contact would no longer be willing either.
               How many people have we met with stories similar to this or to Mrs. Caskey's—people who have been abused and victimized by churches or individuals claiming to be Christians? Romans 12:18 says, "As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Paul told Timothy, "The Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth..." (2 Timothy 2:24,25). He told the Colossians to always be gracious in their speech (4:6). Even in difficult and even distasteful situations, we should be people of compassion and love.