There are certain words which seem to catch on in the language and develop a life of their own. For an entire history of the world they don't feature significantly at all, and then something happens and all of a sudden everywhere you go there's that pesky word.
I first noticed this when the word ' iconic' started to be bandied about. Seriously, it gets applied to everything from David Beckham to ice cream - it's ridiculous. I used to play a game of counting how many times the BBC breakfast news would use the word in one morning. It got to be more than annoying. And still is.
Then it was the turn of the word ' insurgent'. Have you noticed how everyone is an insurgent these days. They arent a guerilla or a mercenary or a terrorist.
And now its the word radicalisation. Aaaarrrrgh. Stop it! Today Theresa May was on the news going on about new legislation aimed to stop people from becoming 'radicalized'. But what does that mean? According to the dictionary
Radicalization (or radicalisation) is a process by which an individual or group comes to adopt increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that (1) reject or undermine the status quo or (2) reject and/or undermine contemporary ideas and expressions of freedom of choice.
Which makes Jesus a prime suspect for being out of favour. And makes His disciples every bit as ' dangerous' as members of ISIS.
We need to be careful as we legislate away the rights of people to be radical. Whilst it all seems very reasonable on the surface of it - who doesnt want to stop nutters with bombs blowing up innocent civilians and destroying whole cultures? - we might just be signing our own death warrants. As Christians we are called to adopt extreme religious ideals and aspirations which reject the status quo. Is it not increasingly our role to question contemporary ideas and expressions of freedom of choice as the world heads into a hedonistic morass of self-serving madness?
Just posing the question.
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