Sacred Cows

http://www.cathedral.sydney.anglican.asn.au/pages/posts/sacred-cows235.php

[St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney] 11 Mar 2009--It is dangerous to shoot sacred cows. We all get upset, irrationally and emotionally when something we hold as precious is attacked. The more irrational our attachment the more anger is engendered when our favourite bovine is assailed.

One of the ways to test if something has become an idol is to remove it. If nobody notices or complains, it can safely be restored. If it is declared to be "the end of civilisation as we know it" - it is fairly safe to assume it has developed idolatrous importance to people.

There are all kinds of idols of our politically correct age which are subjects we dare not speak of lest we upset the social equilibrium of the community. Viewpoints that are not allowed an airing because they create such a backlash. There is the "love that dare not speak its name" that is now so frequently shouted from the housetops that nobody is able to demur in so much as a whisper without being bullied into silence.

Within modern Christianity there are several subjects which it is considered offensive to question. It almost does not matter what is said on these subjects, people take offence and misunderstand the point being made. It is almost as if they expect to have their idol attacked and so look for ways to misunderstand what is said.