This is a poem I penned a few months ago.
We are told
Coyly cajoled
To anticipate victory
Flags wave
We behave
As if it was meant to be
With every death
Gasping breath
Resolve is supposed to deepen
Till debt is paid
For every grave
We are chided not to weaken
It seems inane
Surely insane
To follow this logic through
We buy the lie
Exchange right
For a tough man’s stunted view
On battlefields
Clarity yields
To prior and distant choices
Ill-conceived
Blindly-believed
Ignoring wiser voices
Quagmire ensues
Still we choose
To pursue paths of violence
On it goes
Till who knows
So long as most keep silence
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
PEACEMAKING & THE CHURCH
HAUERWAS’ REFLECTION. I excerpt this from a piece called “Peacemaking” in a collection of essays by Stanley Hauerwas titled Christian Existence Today (Brazos Press, 2001). Hauerwas is considered by many the most important American theologian today.
WITHIN OUR HOUSE. “Peacemaking among Christians…is not simply one activity among others but rather is the very form of the church insofar as the church is the form of the one who ‘is our peace.’ Peacemaking is the form of our relations in the church as we seek to be in unity with one another. Such unity is not that built on shallow optimism that we can get along if we respect one another’s differences. Rather, it is a unity that profoundly acknowledges our differences because we have learned that those differences are not accidental to our being a truthful people--even when they require us to confront one another as those who have wronged us.”
CONFRONT SHAM PEACE. “Regarding those outside the church, first, I think we must say that it is the task of the church to confront and challenge the false peace of the world which is too often built more on power than truth. To challenge the world’s sense of peace may well be dangerous, because often when sham peace is exposed it threatens to become violent. The church, however, cannot be less truthful with the world than it is expected to be with itself. If we are less truthful we have not peace to offer to the world.”
THE HABIT OF PEACE. "Second, Christians are prohibited from ever despairing of the peace possible in the world. We know that as God’s creatures we are not naturally violent nor are our institutions unavoidably violent. As God’s people we have been created for peace. Rather, what we must do is to help the world find the habits of peace whose absence so often makes violence seem like the only alternative. Peacemaking as a virtue is an act of imagination built on long habits of the resolution of differences.”
LACK OF IMAGINATION. “The great problem in the world is that our imagination has been stilled, since it has not made a practice of confronting wrongs so that violence might be avoided. In truth, we must say that the church has too often failed the world by its failure to witness in our own life the kind of conflict necessary to be a community of peace. Without an example of peacemaking community, the world has no alternative but to use violence as a means to settle disputes.”
CONFRONT WITH RECONCILIATION. “Peacemaking is not a passive response to violence; rather, it is an active way to resist injustice by confronting the wrongdoer with the offer of reconciliation. Such reconciliation is not cheap, however, since no reconciliation is possible unless the wrong is confronted and acknowledged.”
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
CHRISTIAN = PEACEMAKER
"Peacemaking can no longer be regarded as peripheral to being a Christian. It is not something like joining the parish choir. Nobody can be a Christian without being a peacemaker. The issue is not that we have the occasional obligation to give some of our attention to war prevention, or even that we should be willing to give some of our free time to activities in the service of peace. What we are called to is a life of peacemaking in which all that we do, say, think, or dream is part of our concern to bring peace to this world.""Just as Jesus’ command to love one another cannot be seen as a part time obligation, but requires our total dedication, so too Jesus call to peacemaking is unconditional, unlimited, and uncompromising. None of us is excused ! It isn’t something limited to specialists who are competent in military matters, or to radicals who have dedicated themselves to passing out fliers, demonstrating and civil disobedience. No specialist or radical can diminish the undeniable vocation of each Christian to be a peacemaker. Peacemaking is a full time vocation that includes each member of God’s people."
-- Henri Nouwen, from The Road to Peace, edited by John Dear
Thursday, June 09, 2005
STEALTH MILITARY RECRUITING
[I submitted the following letter to the editor of the Indianapolis Star today]
As American military recruiting quotas fall further behind prescribed targets (per your front-page article), and as the war in Iraq drags on, I look for our U.S. government to ratchet-up pressure on local high school students. With the help of our elected officials in Washington, the military is already using a stealth recruiting technique to turn the heads of our youth. I discovered this six months ago.
My just-turned 17-year old son started receiving a lot of military recruiting mail. Concerned that Ben Davis High School was giving the military access to my son's personal records, I began to ask questions. I discovered that BDHS had, in fact, opened my son’s school records to the military. Further, this open records access is required of the schools. The directive is part of the "No Child Left Behind" Act of Congress. Short of working to get the law changed, or short of the school district refusing the funds, there is apparently nothing an individual can do to stop it.
The only immediate option available for concerned parents is to request an "opt out" before their child’s 17th birthday. This "opt out" option prevents military sources from acquiring a child’s school records--including their address. To my knowledge, our school district--the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township--did not inform parents about this option. Now several slick military recruiting mailers arrive at our home each week. I intercept most of them (I'm building quite a stack of unopened military recruiting mailers--our tax dollars at work!), but not all. I do not know if it is now possible to stop the mailings.
"Poverty draft" describes what the military is engaged in--preying on kids with little money and few options after high school. Most of the slick recruiting mailers don't talk about going to war, just about opportunities to serve your community and country, get job skills, and money for education. They primarily target our neighbors with lower incomes. It is no accident that the median household income of the families of the majority of military recruits is considerably below the national average.
I don’t know what local educators think of this tactic imbedded in the “No Child Left Behind” Act. But it seems to me, of all professionals and institutions, educators should be ashamed of themselves if they idly go along with such policies. Are school administrators and boards of educations just cash-strapped hand-wringers, or people who act with integrity for the best possible futures for the students whom they say they are there to serve?
Military recruiting is nasty business. But its nastiness has been intensified and brought to a high school campus near you. Our federal government is sinking an unprecedented amount of tax dollars into military recruiting. More and more, our neighborhood 15-year olds see impressive, high-tech weaponry displayed on campus. They experience heavy-handed tactics by military recruiters at the local school. While we work peaceably each day, our nation's military--with the permission of the Congress and direction of the President we elected--is doing its dead-level best to get our in-school children to believe that the best option for their future--and the future of the nation--is a military one. Are you satisfied with this? I'm not.
Recently, I learned of an organization with an Internet site that let me register my protest against using the "No Child Left Behind" education act to open school records to military recruiters. It also helped me send a letter to our district's school superintendent requesting that the school withhold my children's names and personal information from military sources seeking to recruit them. The organization is Working Assets, the project is called "Leave My Child Alone," and the website is http://www.leavemychildalone.org/.
As American military recruiting quotas fall further behind prescribed targets (per your front-page article), and as the war in Iraq drags on, I look for our U.S. government to ratchet-up pressure on local high school students. With the help of our elected officials in Washington, the military is already using a stealth recruiting technique to turn the heads of our youth. I discovered this six months ago.
My just-turned 17-year old son started receiving a lot of military recruiting mail. Concerned that Ben Davis High School was giving the military access to my son's personal records, I began to ask questions. I discovered that BDHS had, in fact, opened my son’s school records to the military. Further, this open records access is required of the schools. The directive is part of the "No Child Left Behind" Act of Congress. Short of working to get the law changed, or short of the school district refusing the funds, there is apparently nothing an individual can do to stop it.
The only immediate option available for concerned parents is to request an "opt out" before their child’s 17th birthday. This "opt out" option prevents military sources from acquiring a child’s school records--including their address. To my knowledge, our school district--the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township--did not inform parents about this option. Now several slick military recruiting mailers arrive at our home each week. I intercept most of them (I'm building quite a stack of unopened military recruiting mailers--our tax dollars at work!), but not all. I do not know if it is now possible to stop the mailings.
"Poverty draft" describes what the military is engaged in--preying on kids with little money and few options after high school. Most of the slick recruiting mailers don't talk about going to war, just about opportunities to serve your community and country, get job skills, and money for education. They primarily target our neighbors with lower incomes. It is no accident that the median household income of the families of the majority of military recruits is considerably below the national average.
I don’t know what local educators think of this tactic imbedded in the “No Child Left Behind” Act. But it seems to me, of all professionals and institutions, educators should be ashamed of themselves if they idly go along with such policies. Are school administrators and boards of educations just cash-strapped hand-wringers, or people who act with integrity for the best possible futures for the students whom they say they are there to serve?
Military recruiting is nasty business. But its nastiness has been intensified and brought to a high school campus near you. Our federal government is sinking an unprecedented amount of tax dollars into military recruiting. More and more, our neighborhood 15-year olds see impressive, high-tech weaponry displayed on campus. They experience heavy-handed tactics by military recruiters at the local school. While we work peaceably each day, our nation's military--with the permission of the Congress and direction of the President we elected--is doing its dead-level best to get our in-school children to believe that the best option for their future--and the future of the nation--is a military one. Are you satisfied with this? I'm not.
Recently, I learned of an organization with an Internet site that let me register my protest against using the "No Child Left Behind" education act to open school records to military recruiters. It also helped me send a letter to our district's school superintendent requesting that the school withhold my children's names and personal information from military sources seeking to recruit them. The organization is Working Assets, the project is called "Leave My Child Alone," and the website is http://www.leavemychildalone.org/.
WAR & SACRIFICE: STANLEY HAUERWAS
"THE SACRIFICE OF OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO KILL." For now I will offer only a few bullet points I scribbled down during Stanley Hauerwas' presentation at the "Preemptive Peacemaking" workshop at Manchester College on Tuesday, June 7, 2005. Hauerwas, who teaches ethics at Duke, is considered America's foremost theologian by some (Time magazine, for one):
- "War is a habit of our imaginations."
- "War is an institution..." with a full set of self-serving and valor- and virtue-producing symbols, rituals, and rationales.
- "War is a sacrificial system."
- "War is seductive and powerful in its call to 'virtues...'"
- "The problem with peace is that is it is so damn boring..."
- "What we sacrifice in war is the sacrifice of our unwillingness to kill."
- "The Christian alternative to war is worship."
- "The church is the alternative to war."
- "When we, as Christians, approve of or go to war, we rob the world of the witness of the alternative."
- "In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, war has been abolished."
- "You will have to watch the innocent suffer for your convictions...whether you are committed to Christian nonviolence or to just war..." The real question is when do we ever say "no" to the violence that perpetuates the future of violence-based innocent suffering?
- "The problem with most war memorials is that they invite lies." (Hauerwas considers the Vietnam War Memorial an exception to this.)
Thursday, June 02, 2005
DESECRATING THE KORAN...AND OTHER SACRED THINGS
TURNS OUT NEWSWEEK WASN'T WRONG. After all the brow-beating Newsweek took by the White House for publishing an anonymously-sourced story on the desecration of the Koran by American military interrogators in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it turns out that Newsweek's story was based in reality. Reports range from Americans ripping out and wadding up pages and writing foul language in the Koran to urinating and stomping on it. Read the LA Times story here. The story is corroborated by now-released FBI files.
THE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE. Even though Newsweek bowed to political pressure and retracted the story it published, other reports and investigations reveal widespread and intentional desecration of the Koran by U.S. interrogators, not just in Guantanamo, but in Afghanistan and Iraq. Under pressure from the International Red Cross organization--and in an effort to stop hunger strikes by Islamic prisoners who were protesting the abuses--the U.S. "officially" stopped the practice of abusing the Koran as a way of humiliating detainees suspected of acts of terrorism. But the damage has been done.
"ANYTHING GOES." Repercussions of this latest revelation of what American military and intelligence agents have gotten by with behind closed doors and out of the sight and hearing of a free press will likely reverberate throughout the world. Apparently anxious to get at information that would help our Commander-in-Chief reach his goals, aggressive interrogators have been singing "Anything Goes." Remember, the President has determined (under the advice of the man who is now our Attorney General) that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to these detainees. Rules and guidelines that would have prohibited the desecration of holy documents or restriction of religious rites have been set aside and disregarded.
HOW ABOUT HOLY PEOPLE? And it is most interesting to me that while many are justifiably concerned about the mistreatment of a holy book--whether it be the Koran or the Bible--we are not expressing justifiable concern about the mistreatment and abuse of holy people. It is a shame to abuse documents considered sacred; how much more a travesty to desecrate people--all of whom have been created in the image of God.
SANE AND HUMANE. If detainees have committed crimes against humanity, let the due process of civil justice prevail (and if interrogators have committed crimes against detainees, let the due process of civil justice prevail). It is the only sane and humane vehicle the civilized world has. But if we stoop to treat those whom we suspect of terrorism like animals, we have become the thing we hate. Have we crossed the line? Apparently some, representing the rest of us, have.
THE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE. Even though Newsweek bowed to political pressure and retracted the story it published, other reports and investigations reveal widespread and intentional desecration of the Koran by U.S. interrogators, not just in Guantanamo, but in Afghanistan and Iraq. Under pressure from the International Red Cross organization--and in an effort to stop hunger strikes by Islamic prisoners who were protesting the abuses--the U.S. "officially" stopped the practice of abusing the Koran as a way of humiliating detainees suspected of acts of terrorism. But the damage has been done.
"ANYTHING GOES." Repercussions of this latest revelation of what American military and intelligence agents have gotten by with behind closed doors and out of the sight and hearing of a free press will likely reverberate throughout the world. Apparently anxious to get at information that would help our Commander-in-Chief reach his goals, aggressive interrogators have been singing "Anything Goes." Remember, the President has determined (under the advice of the man who is now our Attorney General) that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to these detainees. Rules and guidelines that would have prohibited the desecration of holy documents or restriction of religious rites have been set aside and disregarded.
HOW ABOUT HOLY PEOPLE? And it is most interesting to me that while many are justifiably concerned about the mistreatment of a holy book--whether it be the Koran or the Bible--we are not expressing justifiable concern about the mistreatment and abuse of holy people. It is a shame to abuse documents considered sacred; how much more a travesty to desecrate people--all of whom have been created in the image of God.
SANE AND HUMANE. If detainees have committed crimes against humanity, let the due process of civil justice prevail (and if interrogators have committed crimes against detainees, let the due process of civil justice prevail). It is the only sane and humane vehicle the civilized world has. But if we stoop to treat those whom we suspect of terrorism like animals, we have become the thing we hate. Have we crossed the line? Apparently some, representing the rest of us, have.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
PAUL D. HANSON ON PEACE & JUSTICE
THE PEOPLE CALLED. Paul D. Hanson's book The People Called: The Growth of Community in the Bible has become a treasured resource for me. The following excerpts come toward the end of the book. Having painstakingly made the case for the nature of Biblical community, Hanson draws conclusions and implications for our contemporary challenges. Peace and justice are central to our existence and valid continuity as the people called.
SOCIAL HOLINESS. “It is a central and persistent theme of Scripture that God’s people is to be a righteous people. The source of its righteousness is also clearly stated: ‘You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy’ (Lev. 19:3). ‘You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (Matt. 5:48). The community of faith has as its standard none other than the example of God’s impartial justice. And faithfulness to that standard is not a matter of ethical decision alone, but is a fundamental aspect of faithfulness to God. That is to say, working for social justice, opposing discrimination in its many forms, giving sacrificially to battle world hunger, and seeking to change social and political structures that favor the powerful at the expense of the weak are expressions of the individual’s and the community’s devotion to God. A religious system that merely justifies a life of self-indulgence is accordingly a blatant form of idolatry.”
HEALING BROKEN CREATION. “Underlying the faith community’s every activity on behalf of peace and justice is God’s activity to heal the broken creation. To be God’s people is therefore by definition to be a people dedicated to righteousness in all areas and spheres of life. At the heart of its calling is concern for the just treatment of all people, the equitable distribution of the earth’s resources and fruits among all the families of the earth, and the translation of its belief in God’s sovereignty over all people into social and political policies predicated on the principle of equality” (p. 508).
Monday, May 30, 2005
MEMORIAL DAY: REFLECTIONS OF A PEACE SEEKER
[Note: Portions of this entry appeared as a "Letter to the Editor" in the Indianapolis Star on Monday, May 30, 2005, Memorial Day]
"MEMORIAL DAY" VS. "VETERAN'S DAY." For anyone who might be wondering: Memorial Day (formerly known as "Decoration Day") honors all who have lost their lives in military service to America. Veteran's Day honors all living military Veterans who have served in an American war. Click here for a brief history/explanation of Memorial Day. I find it valuable to contemplate the likenesses and differences between these two national observances.
MEMORIAL DAY IS NOT A PRO-WAR DAY. Memorial Day observance is not synonymous with being pro-war. Nor do I think conscientious objectors, pacifists, nonviolence advocates, peace seekers, war resisters, or war protesters should yield their patriotism to anyone on such days. Whether or not I think a particular war is justified, or whether or not I think war is a valid approach to resolving international or intra-national conflicts, I can--and do--honor all who have died or served our nation in times of war.
PROFOUND RESPECT. For me, honoring the war dead or the living who have served does not "bless" war or condone violence. For me, it affords an opportunity to express my profound respect for those who have served in war--often involuntarily, often with grave reservations, often in the face of terrible options, often with little awareness of how they were being deployed and for what particular small or great objectives.
WE MUST FIND A BETTER WAY. Simultaneously, these observances afford us an opportunity to contemplate how far we have to go as a nation--and as a human family--in transforming our means of advancing liberty, encouraging democracy, and promoting justice. War--and those whose lives are snuffed out or haunted by it--gives us every indication that we have not yet explored or employed our best intellectual and spiritual resources for addressing conflicts. Every Memorial Day and Veteran's Day is an opportunity to consider: "Given the cost in these precious lives, we must find a better way, not just repeat the past again and again."
"MEMORIAL DAY" VS. "VETERAN'S DAY." For anyone who might be wondering: Memorial Day (formerly known as "Decoration Day") honors all who have lost their lives in military service to America. Veteran's Day honors all living military Veterans who have served in an American war. Click here for a brief history/explanation of Memorial Day. I find it valuable to contemplate the likenesses and differences between these two national observances.
MEMORIAL DAY IS NOT A PRO-WAR DAY. Memorial Day observance is not synonymous with being pro-war. Nor do I think conscientious objectors, pacifists, nonviolence advocates, peace seekers, war resisters, or war protesters should yield their patriotism to anyone on such days. Whether or not I think a particular war is justified, or whether or not I think war is a valid approach to resolving international or intra-national conflicts, I can--and do--honor all who have died or served our nation in times of war.
PROFOUND RESPECT. For me, honoring the war dead or the living who have served does not "bless" war or condone violence. For me, it affords an opportunity to express my profound respect for those who have served in war--often involuntarily, often with grave reservations, often in the face of terrible options, often with little awareness of how they were being deployed and for what particular small or great objectives.
WE MUST FIND A BETTER WAY. Simultaneously, these observances afford us an opportunity to contemplate how far we have to go as a nation--and as a human family--in transforming our means of advancing liberty, encouraging democracy, and promoting justice. War--and those whose lives are snuffed out or haunted by it--gives us every indication that we have not yet explored or employed our best intellectual and spiritual resources for addressing conflicts. Every Memorial Day and Veteran's Day is an opportunity to consider: "Given the cost in these precious lives, we must find a better way, not just repeat the past again and again."
Saturday, May 28, 2005
MILITARY RECRUITING AT YOUR LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL
SURPRISE CLAUSE IN "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND." Six months ago, concerned that Ben Davis High School was giving the military access to my 17-year old son's personal records, I pursued the issue and discovered--with the help of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union--that this open records access to all branches of the military was part of the "No Child Left Behind" Act of Congress. Short of working to get the law changed, there is apprently nothing an individual can do to stop it.
"OPT OUT" OPTION. The only immediate option available is to request an "opt out" before the child turns 17. This "opt out" option prevents military sources from acquiring the school records of a child when they turn 17. Our school district--the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township--did not inform parents about this option. Now several slick military recruiting mailers arrive at our home each week now. I intercept most of them (I'm building quite a stack of unopened military recruiting mailers...your tax dollars at work!), but not all. I do not know if it is now possible to stop the mailings; I am pursuing this.
POVERTY DRAFT. Of course what the military is doing is a poverty draft--preying on kids with little money and few options. Recruiters and the slick mailers don't talk about going to war, they just talk about opportunities to serve your community and country, get job skills, and money for education. They prey on the poor. That's why the income of the families of the majority of young people in the military is below the national median family income.
SHAME ON YOU, EDUCATORS! Of all people and institutions, educators should be ashamed of themselves for going along with this policy. This is, to me, similar to the vision portrayed in the Book of Revelation, in which a child being born is snatched from its mother's lap by a dragon. And the midwife? School administrators. Are you going to be hand-wringers or people who act with integrity for the best possible futures for the students you say you are there to serve?
WHILE WE WORK... Military recruiting is nasty business. But its nastiness has been intensified and brought to a high school campus in your community. Our neighborhood 15-year olds are likely seeing impressive, high-tech weaponry displayed and experiencing heavy-handed tactics by military recruiters at the local school. While we work peaceably, our nation's military--with the permission of the Congress and direction of the President we elected--is doing its dead level best to get our children to believe that their best option for their future--and the future of the nation--is a military one. Are you satisfied with this? I'm not.
HOW TO REGISTER PROTEST & "OPT OUT" OF SCHOOL-BASED MILITARY RECRUITING. Sojourners pointed me to an organization with an Internet site that let me register my protest against using the "No Child Left Behind" education act to open school records to military recruiters. It also let me send a letter to our district's school superintendent requesting that the school withhold my children's names and personal information from military sources seeking to recruit them. The organization is Working Assets, the project is called "Leave My Child Alone," and the website is http://www.leavemychildalone.org/.
"OPT OUT" OPTION. The only immediate option available is to request an "opt out" before the child turns 17. This "opt out" option prevents military sources from acquiring the school records of a child when they turn 17. Our school district--the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township--did not inform parents about this option. Now several slick military recruiting mailers arrive at our home each week now. I intercept most of them (I'm building quite a stack of unopened military recruiting mailers...your tax dollars at work!), but not all. I do not know if it is now possible to stop the mailings; I am pursuing this.
POVERTY DRAFT. Of course what the military is doing is a poverty draft--preying on kids with little money and few options. Recruiters and the slick mailers don't talk about going to war, they just talk about opportunities to serve your community and country, get job skills, and money for education. They prey on the poor. That's why the income of the families of the majority of young people in the military is below the national median family income.
SHAME ON YOU, EDUCATORS! Of all people and institutions, educators should be ashamed of themselves for going along with this policy. This is, to me, similar to the vision portrayed in the Book of Revelation, in which a child being born is snatched from its mother's lap by a dragon. And the midwife? School administrators. Are you going to be hand-wringers or people who act with integrity for the best possible futures for the students you say you are there to serve?
WHILE WE WORK... Military recruiting is nasty business. But its nastiness has been intensified and brought to a high school campus in your community. Our neighborhood 15-year olds are likely seeing impressive, high-tech weaponry displayed and experiencing heavy-handed tactics by military recruiters at the local school. While we work peaceably, our nation's military--with the permission of the Congress and direction of the President we elected--is doing its dead level best to get our children to believe that their best option for their future--and the future of the nation--is a military one. Are you satisfied with this? I'm not.
HOW TO REGISTER PROTEST & "OPT OUT" OF SCHOOL-BASED MILITARY RECRUITING. Sojourners pointed me to an organization with an Internet site that let me register my protest against using the "No Child Left Behind" education act to open school records to military recruiters. It also let me send a letter to our district's school superintendent requesting that the school withhold my children's names and personal information from military sources seeking to recruit them. The organization is Working Assets, the project is called "Leave My Child Alone," and the website is http://www.leavemychildalone.org/.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
WAR, PEACE & FREE METHODISTS
WHERE FREE METHODISTS STAND ON WAR & PEACE. I am grateful for the Free Methodist approach to war and peace. I think it is Biblically consistent and reasonable. The following statement comes from the Book of Discipline:
"YES, BUT..." “But fighting terrorism is different,” some will insist. Apparently it is so different that international rules, ethics, and guidelines developed carefully over time have been set aside or disregarded. The Geneva Convention has been disregarded as non-applicable to suspected terrorists and enemy combatants in Afghanistan and insurgent fighters in Iraq. In the name of spreading freedom and democracy, our government leaders are making up policies as they go that seem to serve their self-interest. In other times and places some have called this tyranny.
BEGINNING TO PRAY. Let us pray for our national leaders and dare to live as citizens of a Kingdom that embraces people of all nations. My prayer begins with confessing and grieving our collective sins in militarism and exploitation. It continues in an appeal for personal wisdom, wisdom for the church, and wisdom for world leaders. It extends into intercession for all who have suffered--and will yet suffer--personally and indirectly from the ravages of these wars. God have mercy on us all.
NO PLACE FOR PREEMPTIVE WAR. As I read and reflect on these statements, it appears to me that the Bush Administration’s unprecedented doctrine of “preemptive war” that has been exercised in Afghanistan and Iraq is clearly beyond Free Methodism’s range of what may be permissible. The "preemptive war" policy was developed and implemented without precedent in American history. It has been resoundingly condemned by many retired American military and current civilian leaders. It reserves the right to attack any sovereign nation or state that appears to threaten the self-defined interests of American national security.1. We recognize the sovereign authority of government and the duty of all Christians to reverence the power, to obey the law, and to participate righteously in the administration of lawful order in the nation under whose protection they reside (Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:1-7). Members of our church should bear the responsibilities of good citizenship, and they have the right to act in the enforcement of law and the defense of the peace in accord with the conscience of each person.
2. We believe, however, that military aggression is indefensible as an instrument of national policy and strategy (Isaiah 2:3-4). The destruction of life and property, and the deceit and violence necessary to warfare are contrary to the spirit and mind of
Jesus Christ (Isaiah 9:6-7; Matthew 5:44-45). It is, therefore, the duty of all Christians to promote peace and goodwill, to foster the spirit of understanding and mutual trust among all people, and to work with patience for the renunciation of war as a means to the settlement of international disputes (Romans 12:18; 14:19).3. It is our firm conviction that none of our people should be required to enter military training or to bear arms and that the consciences of our individual members should be respected (Acts 4:19-20; 5:29). Therefore, we claim exemption from all military service for those who register officially with the church as conscientious objectors to war.
"YES, BUT..." “But fighting terrorism is different,” some will insist. Apparently it is so different that international rules, ethics, and guidelines developed carefully over time have been set aside or disregarded. The Geneva Convention has been disregarded as non-applicable to suspected terrorists and enemy combatants in Afghanistan and insurgent fighters in Iraq. In the name of spreading freedom and democracy, our government leaders are making up policies as they go that seem to serve their self-interest. In other times and places some have called this tyranny.
BEGINNING TO PRAY. Let us pray for our national leaders and dare to live as citizens of a Kingdom that embraces people of all nations. My prayer begins with confessing and grieving our collective sins in militarism and exploitation. It continues in an appeal for personal wisdom, wisdom for the church, and wisdom for world leaders. It extends into intercession for all who have suffered--and will yet suffer--personally and indirectly from the ravages of these wars. God have mercy on us all.
Friday, May 13, 2005
DESECRATING THE KORAN...AND OTHER SACRED THINGS
TURNS OUT NEWSWEEK WASN'T WRONG. After all the brow-beating Newsweek took by the White House for publishing an anonymously-sourced story on the desecration of the Koran by American military interrogators in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it turns out that Newsweek's story was based in reality. Reports range from Americans ripping out and wadding up pages and writing foul language in the Koran to urinating and stomping on it. Read the LA Times story here.
THE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE. Even though Newsweek bowed to political pressure and retracted the story it published, other reports and investigations reveal widespread and intentional desecration of the Koran by U.S. interrogators, not just in Guantanamo, but in Afghanistan and Iraq. Under pressure from the International Red Cross organization--and in an effort to stop hunger strikes by Islamic prisoners who were protesting the abuses--the U.S. "officially" stopped the practice of abusing the Koran as a way of humiliating detainees suspected of acts of terrorism. But the damage has been done.
"ANYTHING GOES." Repercussions of this latest revelation of what American military and intelligence agents have gotten by with behind closed doors and out of the sight and hearing of a free press will likely reverberate throughout the world. Apparently anxious to get at information that would help our Commander-in-Chief reach his goals, aggressive interrogators have been singing "Anything Goes." Remember, the President has determined (under the advice of the man who is now our Attorney General) that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to these detainees. Rules and guidelines that would have prohibited the desecration of holy documents or restriction of religious rites have been set aside and disregarded.
HOW ABOUT HOLY PEOPLE? And it is most interesting to me that while many are justifiably concerned about the mistreatment of a holy book--whether it be the Koran or the Bible--we are not expressing justifiable concern about the mistreatment and abuse of holy people. It is a shame to abuse documents considered sacred; how much more a travesty to desecrate people--all of whom have been created in the image of God.
SANE AND HUMANE. If detainees have committed crimes against humanity, let the due process of civil justice prevail (and if interrogators have committed crimes against detainees, let the due process of civil justice prevail). It is the only sane and humane vehicle the civilized world has. But if we stoop to treat those whom we suspect of terrorism like animals, we have become the thing we hate. Have we crossed the line? Apparently some, representing the rest of us, have.
STORY CORROBORATED. The accounts of desecration of the Koran and prisoner abuse at Guantanamo have now been corroborated by recently-released FBI records.
THE 'GULAG' OF OUR TIME. Also, Amnesty International this week called Guantanamo the "gulag" of our time and insisted that it be shut down.
HUMAN RIGHTS IMAGE. America's treatment of prisoners and detainees is, according to Amnesty International, underminings its integrity and making it easier for other nations to ignore human rights violations.
THE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE. Even though Newsweek bowed to political pressure and retracted the story it published, other reports and investigations reveal widespread and intentional desecration of the Koran by U.S. interrogators, not just in Guantanamo, but in Afghanistan and Iraq. Under pressure from the International Red Cross organization--and in an effort to stop hunger strikes by Islamic prisoners who were protesting the abuses--the U.S. "officially" stopped the practice of abusing the Koran as a way of humiliating detainees suspected of acts of terrorism. But the damage has been done.
"ANYTHING GOES." Repercussions of this latest revelation of what American military and intelligence agents have gotten by with behind closed doors and out of the sight and hearing of a free press will likely reverberate throughout the world. Apparently anxious to get at information that would help our Commander-in-Chief reach his goals, aggressive interrogators have been singing "Anything Goes." Remember, the President has determined (under the advice of the man who is now our Attorney General) that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to these detainees. Rules and guidelines that would have prohibited the desecration of holy documents or restriction of religious rites have been set aside and disregarded.
HOW ABOUT HOLY PEOPLE? And it is most interesting to me that while many are justifiably concerned about the mistreatment of a holy book--whether it be the Koran or the Bible--we are not expressing justifiable concern about the mistreatment and abuse of holy people. It is a shame to abuse documents considered sacred; how much more a travesty to desecrate people--all of whom have been created in the image of God.
SANE AND HUMANE. If detainees have committed crimes against humanity, let the due process of civil justice prevail (and if interrogators have committed crimes against detainees, let the due process of civil justice prevail). It is the only sane and humane vehicle the civilized world has. But if we stoop to treat those whom we suspect of terrorism like animals, we have become the thing we hate. Have we crossed the line? Apparently some, representing the rest of us, have.
STORY CORROBORATED. The accounts of desecration of the Koran and prisoner abuse at Guantanamo have now been corroborated by recently-released FBI records.
THE 'GULAG' OF OUR TIME. Also, Amnesty International this week called Guantanamo the "gulag" of our time and insisted that it be shut down.
HUMAN RIGHTS IMAGE. America's treatment of prisoners and detainees is, according to Amnesty International, underminings its integrity and making it easier for other nations to ignore human rights violations.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
MYRON AUGSBURGER: LIVING WHAT WE BELIEVE
PERFECT LOVE AND WAR. The following are excerpts from Myron Augsburger's 1973 presentation to a symposium reflecting on the relationship of Christian holiness to issues of war and peace. The conference content was compiled and edited by Paul Hostetler and published in 1974 by Evangel Press under the title Perfect Love and War. Augsburger was President of Eastern Mennonite College at the time of his presentation.
BEHAVE YOUR BELIEFS. "The new life in Christ has upon it the very stamp, or character, of Christ. The ethical dimensions of life are not just adjuncts to one's piety, not dimensions of works that one adds to faith, but are rather expressions of our relation to Christ. This is to say that we relate our ethics to Christology (the study of the person and attributes of Christ) in the same way we relate salvation to Christology. We behave our beliefs, expressing what it means to live under the lordship of Christ in the total life. There is no part of the Christian's life in which he may abdicate his moral responsibility to someone else, including the state. Each believer is responsible to live the holiness of love imparted to us by the Spirit of Christ."
CHOOSE WHICH KIND OF SUFFERING. "[Jesus Christ] reverses the old 'eye for an eye, tooth for tooth' attitude. He tells us we are to love our enemies In answer to the question of whether this will work in our world, Jesus showed us that we do not have to live; we can die. The ultimate expression of this was the cross itself. Sometimes in dying we do more to the world than we could by living. So we do not answer this issue on the basis of whether someone will have to suffer. Of course they will, one way or the other. The question is on the basis of which kind of suffering -- that which is imposed by war (as though this will bring an end to war) or the suffering which comes because of love? Redemptive suffering is that which comes by love."
BECOME A CONSCIENCE TO SOCIETY. "We regard membership in the kingdom of Christ as our primary loyalty. The question of committing one's self in ultimate loyalty to Jesus Christ means that the Christian can do no less than become a conscience to society where that society operates beneath the level of the will of Jesus Christ. As members of the kingdom of heaven, obedience to Christ is the basic aspect of our approach to the question of war."
ACT FOR THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE. "As Christians we must behave in accordance with belief in the sanctity of human life. We treat every person as an end in himself and not as a means to an end. Believing in the sanctity of human life means that we must also avoid the deterioration that happens to any peoples who take the course of violence as an answer to the world's ills. We cannot justly be involved in anything which interrupts man's opportunities for a full life, be it social injustice, be it violence, be it the problem of war, or be it the problem of poverty."
WITNESS TO THE MEANING OF LOVE KNOWN IN THE CROSS. "The New Testament calls us to let the church be the church. First, it asks us as the church to give ourselves to prayer for rulers and those in authority. Second, we are to give ourselves in sacrificial living and witnessing as an extension of the meaning of love known in the cross of Christ. If our commitment to holiness is genuine it will involve love for all, justice that works to correct the ills, mercy that moves beyond the issue to the person, honesty in our understanding of ourselves in the process, and joy that keeps our spirits free. We are called to yield ourselves 'servants to righteousness unto holiness.' (Romans 6:19)."
Saturday, February 12, 2005
RECOVERING A HOLINESS SOCIAL ETHIC
MY FAITH ROOTS. I grew up in a Protestant Christian faith tradition that traces its roots in the ministry of John Wesley’s 18th-century Methodists and the 19th-century American holiness movement. One of the privileges of a theological education is the awareness--and hope for recovery--of a definitive holiness social ethic that has all but dissipated today. It is this deeper heritage, instead of contemporary shallowness, that fuels my daily service.
NOT JUST WITH WORDS. Church of the Nazarene founder Phineas F. Bresee and Free Methodist Church founder B.T. Roberts not only believed that ministry to the urban poor was important, they intentionally stood with the poor in blighted communities. They defended the poor, advocated against the injustices that fueled poverty, and developed spaces of belonging and access in which the poor were not only welcome but at home.
CHALLENGING SOCIAL INJUSTICES. Both leaders challenged their church brethren to move from merely preaching a holiness of heart (spiritual) to expressing holiness of life (social, material) in solidarity with the marginalized. Such late 19th-century Wesleyan holiness revival advocates not only perceived evil lurking in worldly entertainments and personal vices, but saw the social injustice in condoning unbridled capitalism, in the denial of workers rights, and in rapacious stock market schemes.
BECAUSE OF THE POOR. Bresee and Roberts called for radical simplicity of church facilities, not only because the ostentatious styles were a put-off to the poor, but the sheer cost of unnecessary embellishments were poor stewardship of resources of God’s people. Tithes and offerings should be used to serve the poor, not build impressive structures. Likewise, words, dress, and lifestyle were to be simple...because of the implications for the poor.
A WITNESS DISSIPATED. Over time, radical solidarity with the poor deteriorated into mere charity and infrequent compassion. Holiness groups pulled back from challenging oppressive social structures and marketplace practices. They became known as people who didn’t smoke, dance, drink alcohol, wear jewelry, gamble, or frequent movie theaters. This caricature became the extent of the holiness social ethic.
WHAT WE KEPT AND DISCARDED. I have repeatedly asked: Have holiness folk held on to distinguishing aspects of early Nazarenes and Free Methodists that are not eternally important and at the same time discarded some critical stands in relationship to social ethics that may be critical to reclaim? And I answer my own question with a resounding “Yes!”
FOUR WITNESSES TO RECLAIM: I think the holiness churches have four major witnesses to a holiness social ethic to reclaim in this and the coming generation:
1. SOLIDARITY WITH THE POOR. Re-commit to a radical solidarity with and service among the urban poor of North America. This is our heritage...and calling. I personally wonder if Wesleyan theology and practice make much sense outside this context.
2. RADICAL SIMPLICITY. Re-commit to a radical simplicity of lifestyle, particularly in light of a global economy, in which American consumerism and unbridled, trans-national capitalism directly feeds injustices for laborers and the poor around the world. With what is saved: give, share, redistribute more equitably.
3. PROTEST STOCK MARKET PRACTICES. Re-commit to a radical protest against the stock market because of its rapacious direct, indirect, and residual impact of injustice to common laborers and the poor in America and around the world. Holiness folk should expose stock market practices, companies, and funds that degrade human life and community everywhere. If it is necessary to participate in stock investments at all (as most do indirectly through retirement accounts), utmost care should be taken to examine local labor and market practices of every company in which one is investing…and call for social responsibility.
4. AGAINST ALL FORMS OF VIOLENCE. Re-commit to a radical stand against violence against human beings in all its forms. This is a stand against the violence of war, to be sure. It is also a rejection of the language and norms of violence in our society. Alternatively, it is a pursuit of methods of conflict resolution and shalom-bearing that are a positive testimony to the power of a holy God whose way is love.
NOT JUST WITH WORDS. Church of the Nazarene founder Phineas F. Bresee and Free Methodist Church founder B.T. Roberts not only believed that ministry to the urban poor was important, they intentionally stood with the poor in blighted communities. They defended the poor, advocated against the injustices that fueled poverty, and developed spaces of belonging and access in which the poor were not only welcome but at home.
CHALLENGING SOCIAL INJUSTICES. Both leaders challenged their church brethren to move from merely preaching a holiness of heart (spiritual) to expressing holiness of life (social, material) in solidarity with the marginalized. Such late 19th-century Wesleyan holiness revival advocates not only perceived evil lurking in worldly entertainments and personal vices, but saw the social injustice in condoning unbridled capitalism, in the denial of workers rights, and in rapacious stock market schemes.
BECAUSE OF THE POOR. Bresee and Roberts called for radical simplicity of church facilities, not only because the ostentatious styles were a put-off to the poor, but the sheer cost of unnecessary embellishments were poor stewardship of resources of God’s people. Tithes and offerings should be used to serve the poor, not build impressive structures. Likewise, words, dress, and lifestyle were to be simple...because of the implications for the poor.
A WITNESS DISSIPATED. Over time, radical solidarity with the poor deteriorated into mere charity and infrequent compassion. Holiness groups pulled back from challenging oppressive social structures and marketplace practices. They became known as people who didn’t smoke, dance, drink alcohol, wear jewelry, gamble, or frequent movie theaters. This caricature became the extent of the holiness social ethic.
WHAT WE KEPT AND DISCARDED. I have repeatedly asked: Have holiness folk held on to distinguishing aspects of early Nazarenes and Free Methodists that are not eternally important and at the same time discarded some critical stands in relationship to social ethics that may be critical to reclaim? And I answer my own question with a resounding “Yes!”
FOUR WITNESSES TO RECLAIM: I think the holiness churches have four major witnesses to a holiness social ethic to reclaim in this and the coming generation:
1. SOLIDARITY WITH THE POOR. Re-commit to a radical solidarity with and service among the urban poor of North America. This is our heritage...and calling. I personally wonder if Wesleyan theology and practice make much sense outside this context.
2. RADICAL SIMPLICITY. Re-commit to a radical simplicity of lifestyle, particularly in light of a global economy, in which American consumerism and unbridled, trans-national capitalism directly feeds injustices for laborers and the poor around the world. With what is saved: give, share, redistribute more equitably.
3. PROTEST STOCK MARKET PRACTICES. Re-commit to a radical protest against the stock market because of its rapacious direct, indirect, and residual impact of injustice to common laborers and the poor in America and around the world. Holiness folk should expose stock market practices, companies, and funds that degrade human life and community everywhere. If it is necessary to participate in stock investments at all (as most do indirectly through retirement accounts), utmost care should be taken to examine local labor and market practices of every company in which one is investing…and call for social responsibility.
4. AGAINST ALL FORMS OF VIOLENCE. Re-commit to a radical stand against violence against human beings in all its forms. This is a stand against the violence of war, to be sure. It is also a rejection of the language and norms of violence in our society. Alternatively, it is a pursuit of methods of conflict resolution and shalom-bearing that are a positive testimony to the power of a holy God whose way is love.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
CHOOSING WAR?
"Very few people choose war. They choose selfishness and the result is war. Each of us, individually and nationally, must choose: total love or total war." - Dave Dellinger
THE SOCIAL ETHICS OF EARLY HOLINESS GROUPS
Perhaps Donald W. Dayton describes the distinctives of holiness groups and their contribution to social ethics in America better than anyone else:
Dayton cites the heart-and-soul engagement by holiness movement advocates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries of the following ethical concerns:
Dayton also laments the decline of such social ethic distinctives in the middle and late 20th century.
Dayton's article, "The Holiness Churches: A Significant Ethical Tradition" is available online: click here.
"The Holiness movement differs from fundamentalism and evangelicalism in that it is more oriented to ethics and the spiritual life than to a defense of doctrinal orthodoxy. Indeed, one of the distinctive features of the Holiness traditions is that they have tended to raise ethics to the status that fundamentalists have accorded doctrine. This theme was certainly explicit in the early abolitionist controversies and has consistently re-emerged since. The emphasis given the doctrine of sanctification has led naturally in this direction."
"The Holiness ethic has been described as the 'revivalist' ethic of 'no smoking, no drinking, no cardplaying, no theatergoing.' Such themes have, of course, characterized the Holiness movement -- as have large doses of anti-Catholicism and anti-Masonry. Some of these concerns are still worth some defense, but the Holiness churches have been slandered by observers who fail to penetrate beneath these themes."
Dayton cites the heart-and-soul engagement by holiness movement advocates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries of the following ethical concerns:
- Abolitionist movement
- Women's sufferage and ordination of women to ministry
- Involvement with and ministry to the poor and oppressed
- Peace advocacy
- Simplicity
- Radical equality
"Thomas Upham, one of the more mystically inclined of early Holiness teachers, wrote in 1836 the important Manual of Peace, opposing the military chaplaincy, advocating "tax resistance," and calling for the abolition of capital punishment. Almost totally ignored in the literature of pacifism are the several 'peace churches' produced by the movement."
Dayton also laments the decline of such social ethic distinctives in the middle and late 20th century.
Dayton's article, "The Holiness Churches: A Significant Ethical Tradition" is available online: click here.
Monday, January 31, 2005
A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: REFLECTIONS ON THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM
IN SUNDAY’S STAR. I wrote the following “Letter to the Editor” and submitted it the Indianapolis Star. It was included in the Sunday, January 30, 2005 "Focus" section:
PRIMARY & ORIENTING. On the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, I have a recommendation: plan a visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. This is a pilgrimage individuals and families of all nations should make. Whatever else one sees in Washington, this is the primary and orienting experience.
GRATEFUL & TROUBLED. After this encounter you will be more grateful for the Capitol and more troubled by the influence peddling that pervades it. You will see the White House and know that a revered president who resided there long delayed an intervening response after learning of the plight of the Jews in Europe, even preventing many from immigrating to the United States.
GRIEVE YOUR BIGOTRIES. You will be deeply grateful for freedom and come away with a heightened sensitivity to abuses of authority even in the name of democracy and freedom. You will grieve and repent of your own small bigotries and speak up more quickly in defense of any oppressed person or group in the future. Information about the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is accessible at www.ushmm.org.
PRIMARY & ORIENTING. On the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, I have a recommendation: plan a visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. This is a pilgrimage individuals and families of all nations should make. Whatever else one sees in Washington, this is the primary and orienting experience.
GRATEFUL & TROUBLED. After this encounter you will be more grateful for the Capitol and more troubled by the influence peddling that pervades it. You will see the White House and know that a revered president who resided there long delayed an intervening response after learning of the plight of the Jews in Europe, even preventing many from immigrating to the United States.
GRIEVE YOUR BIGOTRIES. You will be deeply grateful for freedom and come away with a heightened sensitivity to abuses of authority even in the name of democracy and freedom. You will grieve and repent of your own small bigotries and speak up more quickly in defense of any oppressed person or group in the future. Information about the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is accessible at www.ushmm.org.
WHAT WE ACCEPT AT THE BEGINNING MATTERS
EXAMINE UNDERPINNINGS. I’ve reviewed a lot of images of the Holocaust this week. They are gory. They are sickening. They are alarming. But I think it is critical for me to review them. They remind me that where you begin, what you accept as a valid beginning point matters much. But we rarely look there. We hardly ever question back to there. We simply do not take the time to discover the tennuous underpinnings of what we accept as normative, as truth, as good policy, as life-sustaining value, as world-saving action.
WHAT GERMANS ACCEPTED. My sense is that most of the proud German people living in the beginning days of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (a conservative, moral-values based political party) did not examine the roots of their angst or challenge the underpinnings of the solutions to their national woes that the Nazi party proposed.
UNTRUTH BECAME NORMATIVE. They went along. They accepted. They allowed. They gave the benefit of the doubt. And what they allowed and accepted became normative for their children. It had the ring of truth and strength in numbers. They thought themselves to be on a heroic journey of national restoration and attempted to bring a liberating fascism to weaker countries stalled in economic and moral malaise.
SIXTY YEARS LATER. Sixty years later, the heads of state of most world-leading nations (absent George W. Bush) gather at Auschwitz to commemorate the day the Soviet troops liberated the Nazi death camp that sent more than 1,100,000 Jews, gypsies, gays, and other stereotyped prisoners to gas chambers and crematoriums that ran day and night. The leaders solemnly vow "never again" and at the same time do not examine the norms they accept or the perilous underpinnings or trajectories of the actions they take.
CRY OUT NOW. Examine everything. Question authority. Trace down every assertion. Look behind every notion. Exegete perspectives. Do not just go along. Do not just accept what is said. Speak what you discover. Repent if it is called for. Expose untruth if it be so. Cry out now, or many may weep for your silence.
WHAT GERMANS ACCEPTED. My sense is that most of the proud German people living in the beginning days of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (a conservative, moral-values based political party) did not examine the roots of their angst or challenge the underpinnings of the solutions to their national woes that the Nazi party proposed.
UNTRUTH BECAME NORMATIVE. They went along. They accepted. They allowed. They gave the benefit of the doubt. And what they allowed and accepted became normative for their children. It had the ring of truth and strength in numbers. They thought themselves to be on a heroic journey of national restoration and attempted to bring a liberating fascism to weaker countries stalled in economic and moral malaise.
SIXTY YEARS LATER. Sixty years later, the heads of state of most world-leading nations (absent George W. Bush) gather at Auschwitz to commemorate the day the Soviet troops liberated the Nazi death camp that sent more than 1,100,000 Jews, gypsies, gays, and other stereotyped prisoners to gas chambers and crematoriums that ran day and night. The leaders solemnly vow "never again" and at the same time do not examine the norms they accept or the perilous underpinnings or trajectories of the actions they take.
CRY OUT NOW. Examine everything. Question authority. Trace down every assertion. Look behind every notion. Exegete perspectives. Do not just go along. Do not just accept what is said. Speak what you discover. Repent if it is called for. Expose untruth if it be so. Cry out now, or many may weep for your silence.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
ELIE WIESEL: PEACE IS OUR GIFT TO EACH OTHER
THERE MUST NEVER BE A TIME WHEN WE FAIL TO PROTEST. This is the concluding paragraph of Elie Wiesel's Nobel Peace Prize lecture, December 11, 1986:
Click here to read Wiesel's full speech, "Hope, Despair, and Memory."
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. The Talmud tells us that by saving a single human being, man can save the world. We may be powerless to open all the jails and free all prisoners, but by declaring our solidarity with one prisoner, we indict all jailers. None of us is in a position to eliminate war, but it is our obligation to denounce it and expose it in all its hideousness. War leaves no victors, only victims."
"...Mankind needs to remember more than ever. Mankind needs peace more than ever, for our entire planet, threatened by nuclear war, is in danger of total destruction. A destruction only man can provoke, only man can prevent. Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures, it is our gift to each other."
Click here to read Wiesel's full speech, "Hope, Despair, and Memory."
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
AN ALTERNATIVE VISION OF THE COMMON GOOD
Dissent, as I speak of it as a grace, is rooted in an alternative vision of the common good. Dissent, in my case, is anchored in an understanding of the Biblical image and principles of the Kingdom of God articulated in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his church. This is the vision and allegiance that claims my heart and life. This alternative vision of the common good is starkly distinct from the claims, posturing, values base, and policies of the Bush Administration.
THE GRACE OF DISSENT
GRACE FOR THIS PRESIDENT? Knowing both my penchant for seeing the possibility of grace in unlikely situations and my consistent criticism of the posturing, choices, and directions the George W. Bush regime, a friend challenged me to try to write something graceful about the U.S. President.
SAY SOMETHING NICE. One would think this would be easy to do: just say something nice about the man. Like: he professes Christianity. Like: he is a sober, recovering alcoholic. Like: he is a faithful husband. Like: he loves America. I can say these things. These are commendable for a President. Few Presidents could honestly claim this combination of commitments or characteristics.
LIKE MILLIONS OF US. As laudable as these four claims are, they can be said of perhaps millions of people (millions more if you consider those who have not had the experience of addiction to alcohol). These characteristics do not qualify George W. Bush or any other person to be President of the United States of America. Nor have they apparently assisted him and his regime in leading the American people wisely, or even honestly.
GOD'S HAND ON HIM? During the recent election campaign, the Rev. Pat Robertson said of Bush that though he had made mistakes and was not necessarily right on a variety of issues, God's hand was obviously upon him. There you have it. The right reverend hath spoken: the savvy use and bullying abuse of political power cloaked in well-orchestrated images of civil religion equate to God's blessing. Not!
OPEN LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT. I am a citizen who has paid close attention to this Presidency from day one. I have taken the time to reflect on his manner and choices and have written over seventy letters to George W. Bush over the past four years. I have commended him and scolded him. I have agreed and disagreed with him. I have offered alternative perspectives along with my prayers. My thoughts and feelings in these letters are open for all the world to read.
OFFERING DISSENT. Some may read into my letters and perspective nothing more than carping criticism. But in my heart and mind I am sincerely trying to offer this President the grace of dissent. Dissent means "to withold assent" or "to differ in opinion." Dissent is not unpatriotic. Dissent is not simply being contrary. Dissent is not a minor key or discordant voice. Dissent is not negativism. The fact that dissent is begrudgingly endured by the majority of people does not reduce its value and importance in the past or to the future for all.
AN ALTERNATIVE VISION. Dissent, as I speak of it as a grace, is rooted in an alternative vision of the common good. Dissent, in my case, is anchored in an understanding of the Biblical image and principles of the Kingdom of God articulated in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his church. This is the vision and allegiance that claims my heart and life. This alternative vision of the common good is starkly distinct from the claims, posturing, values base, and policies of the Bush Administration.
A PARTICULAR REASON FOR DISSENT. It is particularly because of the Bush Administration's appropriation of Christian terms, images, and posturing for the sake of selling to the American public a thoroughly secular, wealth-serving, class-dividing, violence-reinforcing ideology that I have raised my voice in dissent. Christianity is not merely civil religion. Christianity is not a tool to be used by power brokers to passify or satiate a hopeful citizenry. It is not wool to pull over the eyes. It is not bapitsmal water to justify the spirit of mammon and violence.
CONTRADICTIONS. It is not of Christ to incite moral alarm at gay marriage and at the same time continue to intentionally mislead the world regarding the connections between the terrorist attack on 9/11/01 and Iraq. It is not of Christian faith to name the Prince of Peace as one's chief counsel and lead primarily by intimidation, the violence of unprovoked war, and at the bidding of donating patrons. To me, the contradictions between this regime's claims to act Christianly and the real claims of authentic Christianity are numerous and glaring, as comprehensive as specific.
THIS GRACE I OFFER. So, this grace I offer this President and his regime: dissent. I simply cannot and will not give assent to this President's claims and directions. I dissent as a citizen. I dissent as a Christian. I offer this President and his Administration and alternative vision and perspective. And I live in hope that it, not the present means or ends, will ultimately prevail for the sake of the world which God gave his Son to redeem and transform.
SAY SOMETHING NICE. One would think this would be easy to do: just say something nice about the man. Like: he professes Christianity. Like: he is a sober, recovering alcoholic. Like: he is a faithful husband. Like: he loves America. I can say these things. These are commendable for a President. Few Presidents could honestly claim this combination of commitments or characteristics.
LIKE MILLIONS OF US. As laudable as these four claims are, they can be said of perhaps millions of people (millions more if you consider those who have not had the experience of addiction to alcohol). These characteristics do not qualify George W. Bush or any other person to be President of the United States of America. Nor have they apparently assisted him and his regime in leading the American people wisely, or even honestly.
GOD'S HAND ON HIM? During the recent election campaign, the Rev. Pat Robertson said of Bush that though he had made mistakes and was not necessarily right on a variety of issues, God's hand was obviously upon him. There you have it. The right reverend hath spoken: the savvy use and bullying abuse of political power cloaked in well-orchestrated images of civil religion equate to God's blessing. Not!
OPEN LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT. I am a citizen who has paid close attention to this Presidency from day one. I have taken the time to reflect on his manner and choices and have written over seventy letters to George W. Bush over the past four years. I have commended him and scolded him. I have agreed and disagreed with him. I have offered alternative perspectives along with my prayers. My thoughts and feelings in these letters are open for all the world to read.
OFFERING DISSENT. Some may read into my letters and perspective nothing more than carping criticism. But in my heart and mind I am sincerely trying to offer this President the grace of dissent. Dissent means "to withold assent" or "to differ in opinion." Dissent is not unpatriotic. Dissent is not simply being contrary. Dissent is not a minor key or discordant voice. Dissent is not negativism. The fact that dissent is begrudgingly endured by the majority of people does not reduce its value and importance in the past or to the future for all.
AN ALTERNATIVE VISION. Dissent, as I speak of it as a grace, is rooted in an alternative vision of the common good. Dissent, in my case, is anchored in an understanding of the Biblical image and principles of the Kingdom of God articulated in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his church. This is the vision and allegiance that claims my heart and life. This alternative vision of the common good is starkly distinct from the claims, posturing, values base, and policies of the Bush Administration.
A PARTICULAR REASON FOR DISSENT. It is particularly because of the Bush Administration's appropriation of Christian terms, images, and posturing for the sake of selling to the American public a thoroughly secular, wealth-serving, class-dividing, violence-reinforcing ideology that I have raised my voice in dissent. Christianity is not merely civil religion. Christianity is not a tool to be used by power brokers to passify or satiate a hopeful citizenry. It is not wool to pull over the eyes. It is not bapitsmal water to justify the spirit of mammon and violence.
CONTRADICTIONS. It is not of Christ to incite moral alarm at gay marriage and at the same time continue to intentionally mislead the world regarding the connections between the terrorist attack on 9/11/01 and Iraq. It is not of Christian faith to name the Prince of Peace as one's chief counsel and lead primarily by intimidation, the violence of unprovoked war, and at the bidding of donating patrons. To me, the contradictions between this regime's claims to act Christianly and the real claims of authentic Christianity are numerous and glaring, as comprehensive as specific.
THIS GRACE I OFFER. So, this grace I offer this President and his regime: dissent. I simply cannot and will not give assent to this President's claims and directions. I dissent as a citizen. I dissent as a Christian. I offer this President and his Administration and alternative vision and perspective. And I live in hope that it, not the present means or ends, will ultimately prevail for the sake of the world which God gave his Son to redeem and transform.
Monday, January 17, 2005
PASTOR ARRESTED
A BETTER IMAGE OF A PASTOR. Most images of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. depict him behind a pulpit or before a great throng of adoring people. But I prefer the pictures of this Christian pastor being manhandled by government authorities serving vested white interests. King's primary witness and power come not from the pulpit and podium, but from his stand in the streets with unnamed people with whom he identified and for whom he gave his life. This photo, accessed at The Seattle Times MLK pages (a good online resource!), was taken in 1958 in Montgomery, Alabama. He was arrested for loitering; the charge was later changed to failure to obey an officer.
ANY PASTORS ARRESETED LATELY? When was the last time you read of a Christian minister being arrested for any issue of peace and justice? Plenty have been arrested for fraud or other immoral behavior. Help me recall those who have so irked the powers that be regarding peace and justice that the government has had the nerve to lay hands on them?
WHAT WOULD KING SAY OF IRAQ? The "fulfillment" of King's dream of a nation of races reconciled, diversity embraced, and poverty rolled back gets mixed reviews. At best it is a work in process; at worst, it has been accomodated and drastically diminished. Based on his outspoken perspective on the Vietnam War, I doubt many would want to hear what Martin Luther King, Jr. would have to say about the Iraq War today.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
TEACHING PEACE
I completed my first two teaching sessions at Indianapolis Peace House this week. The 3-hour college course, "Introduction to Issues of Urban Peace and Justice," looks at the emergence of various aspects of our urban area into an interlocking system, highlighting the ways conflict, class, war, poverty, wealth, race, etc. are either effectively or ineffectively addressed. From a general orientation to the city as a system this week, next week we will begin to look at the city from the angle of various groups and concerns. I anticipate the students will begin to see very specific conflicts and challenges emerge.
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