protest

Protests, there are a few of them going on in my hometown of Saint Paul. There is Alot of political tension being that the Republican National Convention is underway in the capital city this week. In fact protests in general are very interesting...

If you on the side being protested against its annoying, If your on the side protesting its liberating. In fact the very word protestant (to which many of us owe our religious heritage to) is a derivative of the word "protest".

So in our own lives how do we see the act of protest? when someone has a different point of view do we listen to them or automatically shut them out? I remember talking with a friend who worked at a private Christian institution upon hearing that a bus tour of students whom identified themselves as Christians were planning an uninvited stop (protest of sorts) at the college to promote their own particular view of human sexuality. Now obviously the university believed the view held by the soon to be visitors was not "the normative biblical view or most accurate view of sexuality" but that was not what was really important....what was important is how they reacted....This particular religious institution invited them in, engaged in healthy dialogue with them, in fact I will never forget what my friend told me. He said upon meeting one of these visitors that he asked if he could pray for him...This visiting student broke down in tears and said after visiting numerous Christian Colleges this was the first time anyone offered to pray for him....friends that is the power of the gospel! What will change and impact this individual more and bring him or her closer to truth and relationship and healing, closing the doors to the protester or radically seeking truth alongside this individual and loving them along the way?

So again in our lives how do we respond to protest? and a question to those who protest, do you protest in a appropriate way? (but that's another blog post....) and obviously the violent outbursts are not it....how can you protest against something using the very same tactics and violence you are against? (Google the Myth of Redemptive Violence )

also cant believe Rage Against the Machine lead a protest in MN (that's intense)
and in a sort of related way this is a very interesting article on a Quaker women's attempt to go into high schools and offer other ways to serve your country then the military and the subsequent response to her efforts:
Quaker uprising