There must be a word to describe what I am feeling, but at the moment nothing adequate comes to mind. I imagine my feeling is akin to what millions of Muslims may feel if Terry Jones and his followers at Dove World Outreach Center proceed with their threatened burning of Korans on September 11. The feeling is similar to what I experienced some twenty years ago when I first saw Andres Serano’s photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass of urine.
Such obscenities produce revulsion and disgust, and in decent people a sense of embarrassment and shame. It is as though the simple act of viewing them, even unwittingly or by accident, is more than enough to convict us of taking part in the obscenity.
That is how I felt when I watched the video clip which appears in the mediabox opposite this article—a news video focused upon the growing popularity of “divorce ceremonies” in Japan, an idea now trending similarly in the United States. It is how I feel when I reflect upon the state of God’s holiest institution in a world which so glibly dismisses the holy and affectionately embraces the obscene.
I am reminded of Christ’s words as he hung upon the cross: “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”
One need not be religious to respect the sensibilities of those who cherish the symbolism of the cross. Charitable men of any faith, or of no faith at all, will ever show respect for the scriptures their brothers hold sacred—the Bible, Koran, Bhagavad Gita and all the rest. People of conscience respect life and life’s foundational institutions. It is life that we celebrate, not death. It is marriage that we honor, not divorce.
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The video is disgusting. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone had a better understanding of marriage and what it is supposed to be?
Nothing destroys a society so quickly as divorce. Our churches are failing young people.