Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Abraham Johannes Muste: (b. 1885, Netherlands – d. 1967; A.J. Muste) American Clergyman, civil rights activist, pacifist.  Muste was a proponent of the Social Gospel.  He was a Dutch Reformed Socialist who became a Quaker Christian pacifist.

Honorio Hermeto Carneiro Leao, Marquis of Parana: (b. 1801, Brazil –d. 1856) Judge, politician, diplomat, and monarchist.  Roman Catholic.

Howard Thurman: (b. 1899, Florida (USA) – d. 1981) Baptist minister, educator, author, philosopher, theologian, civil rights leader.  Thurman was a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.

James Leonard Farmer, Jr.: (b. 1920, Texas (USA) – d. 1999) Civil rights activist who organized the 1961 Freedom Ride and was a cofounder of the Congress of Racial Equality.  Son of James Leonard Farmer, Sr. Methodist.

James Leonard Farmer, Sr.: (b. 1886 – d. 1961) Author, theologian, educator, university professor.  Father of James Leonard Farmer, Jr.  Methodist.

Dorothy Day On Her Success

"If I have achieved anything in my life,  it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God."  Dorothy Day (b. 1897, New York (USA) - d. 1980), Journalist, socialist, social activist, pacifist, convert to Roman Catholicism.  She became a Benedictine and with Peter Maurin, was the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement (1933).

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day on which we in America remember those who have served and died in the defense of their country. For many, it is just another day to be off from work and an excuse to drink beer and eat barbecue. Some within the Christian community question whether Christians should have anything to do with this holiday, or with the military at all.

Philip Gulley, a Quaker minister, in If the Church Were Christian (***), recounts how one Quaker church erupted into controversy after one of its members joined the military. Quakers take a pacifist stance and many say that a Christian can not be a soldier.

Perhaps some of them have been listening to their Inner Light more than to their Bible. There is a proper respect due to government and the military and they serve a useful function; the protection of the people and the preservation of the peace. That subject is for a later post to this blog.

On the subject of soldiers themselves, the attitude of the Bible is generally that they are honorable men, especially the Roman Centurions who were entrusted with the supervision of 100 soldiers. Two of the Centurions are named; Cornelius (Acts 10) and Julius (Acts 27).

Mentions of Roman Centurions in the Bible:
Matthew 8: 5-13; 27:54; Luke 7: 2-10; Acts 10; 22: 25; 23:17; 27:1-43

*** : I am preparing a detailed, chapter by chapter response to Philip Gulley's book, If the Church Were Christian. Rediscovering the Values of Jesus (2010).