Monday, February 23, 2015

The #IAmN Pin


I was on Reddit, as I am often, and read a very interesting post. The Southeastern Battalion (kind of like a district in the Masonic context) under the Grand Commandery of Michigan created the nun pin, incorporating the Arabic character ن (pronounced nun). The proceeds were raised for the Knights Templar Ecumenical Relief Fund, with proceeds to be distributed between the Assyrian Church of the East Relief Organization, and The Knights of Columbus Christian Refuge Relief.

For many who don't know, there is a hashtag campaign called, #IAmN (or some times #WeAreN) that is used to bring notoriety to the plight of Christians being displaced by terrorists like ISIL. Some background: the extremists, when entering a town with Christian residents, will spray paint, ن, on the houses of Christians, essentially telling them to flee, convert, or die. ن is the first letter of the Arabic word for Christians, . This letter, ن, is now being taken back in defiance of those that seek to persecute.

You can read the whole post here.

When you read this campaign, you can't help but be sympathetic. It also raises the question on what we, as Commanderies and Sir Knights, can do for our fellow Christians. Currently, the charities available are send a minister to the Holy Land or donate money to the Eye Foundation. This pin campaign is something new and interesting. Sadly, it was also a little to hot for a number of high ranking Sir Knights.

So I guess the question is, should we be involved in ecumenical relief? I think it's a conversation we should be having if nothing else than to decide what Masonic Templarism represents in the new era. We shouldn't be restricted to the past, to the Eye Foundation, to the Holy Land Pilgrimage, we should decide new areas of charitable giving and work. We need to sit down and discuss that.

What do you think? Leave a comment below. And if you want a pin, go to nunpin.org where you can find the purchase page.

Update

I have put my money where my mouth is and have purchased a pin. Also, just for pronunciation's sake, the nun is pronounced noon.

4 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

It's sad that the Grand Encampment decided to cowtow sheepishly to a past grand has-been with zero sense beyond his own self interests.

No wonder why the Order is going to hell in a handcar...

Millennial Freemason said...

Personally, instead of the "send a :cough: Protestant :cough: minister to the Holy Land" fund or the Eye Foundation that no longer does case by case work, we could easily transfer to relief efforts. Relief efforts don't take sides, the provide relief to affected people. And frankly, it doesn't even need to be people in war torn areas. Simply serving a meal or giving to a local charity should suffice.

Teaser

My post for next week concerns my approach to the Commander's chair; it will be a post concerning my year's theme.

-Nick

Unknown said...

We should definitely support this. Ever raise my sword in defense of Christendom rings a bell.