1. The August “Peaceable Table” Is Now Online
To read this issue, see http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/issue138.html.
Toward the Peaceable Kingdom,
Gracia Fay Ellwood, Editor
2. Original Sin, part 5
I suggest that scapegoating is “the sin of the world (John 1:29), because
I think this is the sin from which all other sins emanate. Specifically,
scapegoating is the attribution of excessive guilt to an individual. The
victims of scapegoating are often not fully innocent, but the hallmark of
scapegoating is the transfer of guilt from one or more individuals onto
victims, who are then punished or ostracized for these “sins.”
The first obvious problem with scapegoating is that it is unjust. However,
there are many other activities that victimize individuals that are also
unjust. Scapegoating qualifies as “the sin of the world” because it always
results in exclusion from the group. If we are to have communities grounded
on love, we cannot unjustly exclude anyone. Jesus repeatedly aimed to build
communities grounded on love, and he often scandalized his followers by
embracing strangers, foreigners, and even sinners. This, I think, was an
important part of his ministry to “take away the sin of the world.”
As long as we countenance scapegoating, we cannot have the “beloved
community” that Martin Luther King so eloquently described. We might still
have groups that tend to get along with each other. But, permitting
victimization by scapegoating results in conflicts and violence with
individuals outside the group, and it even puts everyone within the group at
risk of becoming a victim of scapegoating. If we are to transcend the human
tendency to engage in scapegoating, we need to understand why humans
scapegoat. I will start to explore that next week.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman