CHAPTER 7
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:4-6
“Don’t you think we might be asking for the Lord’s help just a bit too often?” Toby asked Trey as they got in the car to head back to headquarters. “It’s beginning to seem a little- how do I put this- overdone.”
“What are you talking abote? I don’t see anything wrong with it,” Trey responded. “You aren’t suggesting that Drake isn’t sincere, are you, because I know him and I know that he is an extremely dedicated Christian...and as long as someone is sincere when they call upon the Lord in prayer, it can never be too often.”
“No, I don’t question his sincerity,” Sullivan said. “Maybe it’s my problem. I’m just a little uncomfortable with all of the public praying and public displays of religion these days. It seems that everyone is trying to outdo everyone else in demonstrating how pious he or she is.”
“What do you mean?” Trey asked as he steered the battery-powered vehicle into the left lane and past a slower vehicle in the right lane.
“Well, for example, all of the bracelets that people are wearing with Bible verses on them. What’s that all about? I was in a bar one evening after work, and this young woman came up to me, pointed at her bracelet and said, ‘Hello, my favorite verse is John 3:16. What’s yours?’ I felt like a complete dolt and didn’t know what to say. What ever happened to signs of the zodiac? And just yesterday I passed a fast-food restaurant that was advertising a new salad with the slogan, ‘WWJE.’ It took me a little while to figure out that it meant, ‘What would Jesus eat?’ That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
“Maybe some people do go overboard, but that’s what the Freedom to Practice Religion Act was designed for,” Trey explained. “People should be able to practice their religion whenever and wherever they wish without fear of breaking some law or hurting somebody’s feelings. That’s what the First Amendment really means.”
“That reminds me of something that Mark Twain once said,” Toby responded. “He said, ‘Man is a religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion- several of them. And he is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight.’”
“Cute,” said Trey, “but you do agree that people should feel free to practice their religion whenever they wish, don’t you?”
“You mean more accurately that Christians should feel free to practice their religion whenever they wish?” Toby retorted. “I don’t think Jews, Muslims or Hindus feel all that free these days to practice their religious traditions in public. And I know they won’t feel very comfortable if- God forbid- we should ever approve the constitutional amendment making this the Christian Republic of the United States of America.”
“You know I disagree with you abote that,” Trey said as he turned the car onto I-66 heading east. “Just look at the good things that have happened in this country since the Christian Democratic-Republicans took control of the Congress and White House. Abortion has been greatly reduced. Divorce rates have declined. Out of wedlock births have declined. Violent crime is down. The death penalty has been abolished. We have universal health care. More housing is being built for the homeless. And our elderly and sick people have been protected from having nutrition or water withheld if they are incapacitated. Because people of faith put aside their liberal-conservative political differences and came together in support of Christian values, we now have a much more caring society. What is there not to like abote that?”
“Of course there are some good things that have come out of the CDR administration, but the same might have been said about the old Soviet Union,” Sullivan said to his partner. “Compared to Russia and the other former Soviet republics, the old Soviet Union had lower crime rates, universal health care and very little homelessness. What the former communist countries have now is freedom and much greater prosperity- and most of these countries are not neglecting the needs of the disadvantaged.”
“But just think of the possibilities of a country that combines freedom with Christian values,” Trey interjected. “We’re not talking abote Communism. In fact, it’s just the opposite. We’re talking abote Christianity and implementing the teachings of Jesus.”
Toby shook his head in disbelief. “So you, a graduate of the University of Virginia, the college founded by Thomas Jefferson- a lover of liberty and science- would have no problem if the Christian Republic amendment passes and states suddenly require that public schools discontinue teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution completely?”
“First of all, I think the amendment is necessary to prevent anti-religious Supreme Court justices from undoing the progress we have made. And secondly, I don’t see what is wrong with teaching the Theory of Intelligent Design instead of Darwin,” Trey said, although Sullivan thought he seemed a little defensive about the issue. “The secular humanists have not presented a fair comparison of Darwinism and I.D. They have slanted the discussion so that a lot of children are now beginning to question their faith.”
“Jesus, Trey, you Creationists and Intelligent Design people make it sound as though a scientific theory is something someone dreams up after smoking pot all night. I hate to say, ‘I told you so,’ but a lot of religious people who accept Darwin’s theory as a valid way to explain the complexities of creation said many years ago that teaching Intelligent Design along with Darwinism as two equally plausible theories of creation would cause students to reject their faith, because I.D. could never withstand the rigors of scientific analysis as well as Darwin. So now, the same people who wanted the two-theory approach want to do away with Darwin altogether, because their theory can’t cut it in the classroom. And I’m afraid that the only thing that prevents them from excluding Darwin and replacing it with Intelligent Design or some other religious-based mumbo jumbo is the Supreme Court’s decision that such an action would violate the separation of church and state. If this amendment passes, who knows what might be allowed?”
“So you believe that having Christian values in our schools and government is a bad idea?” Trey asked his partner.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Trey. Having moral values in our schools and government is not a bad idea, and I know that some things in the country have probably benefited from the religious influence, but that doesn’t mean that I am willing to write the Christian majority a blank check. You will admit that even Christians can make mistakes and do bad things, won’t you?”
“Certainly, people who claim to be Christians can make mistakes, but God doesn’t,” said Trey confidently.
“You don’t want to go there,” Toby suggested. “I can think of several things that might be called ‘mistakes,’ like for example God making young boys as horny as a three-balled tomcat several years before they have any idea how to control it… or God giving cats the ability to climb 50 feet up trees and no clue how to get down…or God putting men and animals on an earth that was only half-baked and still having earthquakes and volcano eruptions. If it only took God a week to create the earth, maybe He should have taken a couple more days, or even another week to get things right.”
Trey laughed, but refused to back down. “Mock us if you want,” he replied, “but we Christians are making this a better, more caring and more just society. And the Christian Republic Amendment is going to allow us to do even more.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Toby answered. “But let’s call a truce. How about stopping at that new coffee shop in Georgetown and I’ll buy you a double latte or mocha java, or whatever you want. Who knows, the Mormon faction of the CDR may gain enough influence someday to abolish the sale of caffeine drinks. We better get ours while we can.”
“That’s not very funny, Sullivan, but I will take you up on the coffee,” Trey said, with his sense of humor still in tact.
“Great,” Toby responded. “Maybe you could say a little prayer that we find a parking spot.”
Within a few minutes, the FBI duo arrived in Georgetown and, in a rare stroke of good luck- or divine intervention- found a parking place just two blocks from the coffee shop. After pulling into the spot, Trey looked at Toby and pointed up to the sky. “See, it works,” he said.
“A few more times and I might begin to believe you,” Toby replied as they walked on the narrow sidewalk toward “M” Street, barely avoiding being hit by a very large woman in an electric power chair.
“Damn electric scooters and power chairs. They’re everywhere. Who would have ever thought a decade ago that our sidewalks would become highways for the obese and disabled?” Toby whispered to Trey. “It’s one thing for the elderly to use these electric scooters to maintain their mobility, but it’s another thing entirely for relatively young people to be using them. The people who sell these things have made a fortune making it seem perfectly acceptable for the over-fed and under-exercised to keep getting bigger and bigger and yet stay mobile. No wonder private health care companies and the government health care system are all going bankrupt.”
“It is an amazing phenomenon,” Trey agreed. “Rather than diet and exercise so they can remain active, a huge portion of the population- no pun intended- have apparently decided to allow themselves to become totally dependent on technology. Maybe there should be a law to ban those scooters.”
“That wouldn’t be very Christian, would it?” Toby asked sarcastically.
“Probably not,” Trey agreed.
“Grab a table and I’ll get the coffee,” Toby said as they entered the shop where the aroma of freshly ground and brewed coffee saturated the air. “Two of your biggest mocha javas,” Sullivan called to the young woman behind the counter, not understanding why a “tall” size was so small.
In a few minutes, Sullivan brought the large cups to the table. “Here you are,” he said to Rawlings who nodded his head in appreciation “Now tell me the truth. Aren’t you at all nervous about turning a bunch of private citizens loose to track down terrorists?”
“There may be some small risks involved, but given the potential for a major success in finding the people responsible for these terrible bombings, I think it is more than worth the risks,” Trey said calmly. “And besides, all that the people will be doing is canvassing the area looking for things that seem unusual or out of place. They won’t be carrying weapons or trying to capture anyone.”
“We hope they won’t be,” said Toby after taking a sip of his chocolate-coffee drink. “And don’t you mean that they will be looking for people who seem unusual or out of place, or in other words, Muslims?”
“As close as you came to being killed just a little over 24 hours ago, I would think that you would welcome all the help we can get,” said Rawlings. “I know I would be furious if some maniacs bombed my house of worship. Church is supposed to be a sacred place. How can these people claim to have a religious motivation for the horrible crimes they commit?”
“I hate to bring this up again,” said Toby, “but didn’t Eric Robert Rudolph back in the late 1990’s and that guy Chapman a couple of years ago both justify their crimes as being necessary to stop abortion and homosexuality- practices that they said were abhorrent to God? And what about the Christian good ole boys who bombed the black churches and killed children back in the 1950’s and 60’s? Wasn’t their goal to stop the ‘ungodly’ practice of race mixing? We have to remember that people who commit crimes like these are not completely rational. There really isn’t much difference between a Christian extremist and a Muslim extremist, except that one commits his crimes in the name of Christ and the other in the name of Allah. Face it, religion can be a powerful motivator- for both good and evil.”
After taking several sips of coffee while listening to Sullivan, Trey put his cup back on the table. “I know intellectually that what you say is true,” he said to Toby, “but I honestly believe in my heart that Christianity as a whole is a much more enlightened religion than Islam.”
“I am not going to argue that point with you, because quite frankly, I don’t know enough about Islam,” Toby responded. “In my view, though, whether one religion or another is logically- or emotionally- more enlightened is really irrelevant, because people like Osama bin Laden and Eric Robert Rudolph so grossly distort their religions that they would not be recognized by Mohammed or by Christ.”
“I can’t disagree with that statement,” said Trey. “Killing innocent people- even to stop abhorrent practices such as abortion and homosexuality- is not permissible. But, to bring things back to the issue at hand, I don’t think any of our church-going helpers will take things that far.”
Toby finished his coffee and threw the paper cup in a nearby trash receptacle before sitting back in his chair. “I hope you’re right, but what happens, for example, if some of the more fanatical Christians encounter a gay couple at their home? How are they going to act? Will they call them all manner of derogatory names? Will they try to get them to repent their sinful ways? Or, will they turn them in to the local authorities for violating the state’s new and improved anti-sodomy statutes?”
“I’m not sure what some of the more zealous Christians might do,” said Trey. “But, don’t you think they should do something to help save the souls of these people? Don’t you agree that homosexuality is a practice strictly forbidden in the Bible?”
“Like I’ve told you before, Trey, I don’t accept the Bible literally. It is a great book with some wonderful stories, but I simply do not find it logical that it should be read as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
“And what does your church teach about homosexuality?” Trey asked in obvious curiosity.
“Well, one of the reasons I go to the Cathedral is that the rector is a compassionate, open-minded man who believes that salvation is based primarily on the goodness in a person’s soul and how he or she treats other people.”
“Does that mean that homosexuality, abortion and mercy-killing are okay with him?” asked Trey.
“I can’t speak for Father York on all of those subjects,” said Toby. “I do know that he has spoken out in favor of ordaining gay men and women as ministers. Does that make him a bad Christian?”
“In my view, it is impossible to read the Bible and accept Jesus Christ as your savior and not condemn homosexuality, abortion and mercy-killing,” said Trey.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Toby said, “but I know you will join me in praying that the rector makes a full and speedy recovery from the injuries he suffered in the blast.”
“Of course I will,” said Trey.
After a few awkward seconds of silence, during which the other conversations in the coffee shop seemed to grow increasingly loud, Trey tried to refocus their discussion on something they could agree on. “How can we make sure that no stone is left unturned to find the terrorists? ”
“I suspect this is going to be a long week of meetings with local law enforcement officials to make certain that the procedures are clearly defined and the areas thoroughly canvassed,” said Toby. “I have a feeling we will be drinking a lot of coffee at the office, and it won’t be nearly as good as this was.”
“I’m afraid you’re right Trey agreed as he got up to leave. “God help us to do what is right.”
“Amen to that,” Toby replied.