Filed under: Peace and Justice | Tags: Christian Orthodoxy, Christianity, justice, Peace, spiritual formation, spirituality
We need not label ourselves pacifists, but peacemaking is not something optional for Christians. A major element of Christ’s teaching his call to become peacemakers. They are among the blessed and are witnesses to the Kingdom of God. To be a peacemaker, Christ says, is to be a child of God. In the years of Christ’s life described in the Gospel, one of the most notable aspects is that he killed no one but healed many. He is not a warrior king. Caesar rides a horse while Christ enters Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Even when he clears the Temple of people who have made a place of worship into a place of commerce, he does so using nothing more than a whip of cords, not a weapon that can cause injuries; the only life endangered by his action was his own. His final instruction to Peter before his crucifixion is, “Put away your sword, for whoever lives by the sword will die by the sword.” Saying that, he healed the wound Peter had inflicted on one of the men arresting Jesus. On the cross, far from calling down his Father’s vengeance on those who participated in his execution, Jesus appeals for mercy: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” Again and again, throughout is earthly life Christ gives his followers a witness of peace.
Filed under: Christianity, Marshall B. Roseberg, Nonviolence, Peace and Justice | Tags: Ghandi, Marshall B. Rosenberg, Nonviolence, Nonviolent Communication, Peace
As someone who is against violence in the world- whether in Iraq or Minneapolis, I’m struck at how “passively violent” (causing emotional hurt) I can be at times. I think it’s one thing to be “against the war” and its another thing to be able to share a meal with someone you “love” and show them the sort of compassion, respect, and understanding that are at the heart of nonviolence.
Let’s be honest, most of us can barely get past breakfast without getting defensive, assuming, or reacting in some way. I am finding myself challenged by realizing the connection between passive and physical violence. Arun Ghandi learned from her grandfather that “it is passive violence that fuels the fire of physical violence.”
I think that if we ourselves can’t get past breakfast, then we’ll never find a solution in Iraq. How many of us are willing to look at ourselves before pointing out the speck in someone else’s eye? In the end, it all leads to war.
One of the many things I learned from grandfather [M. K. Ghandi] is to understand the depth and breadth of nonviolence and to acknowledge that one is violent and that one needs to bring about a qualitative change in one’s attitude. We often don’t acknowledge our violence because we are ignorant about it; we assume we are not violent because our vision of violence is one of fighting, killing, beating, and wars the type of things that average individuals don’t do.
Nonviolence means allowing the positive within you to emerge. Be dominated by love, respect, understanding, appreciation, compassion and concern for others rather than self-centered and selfish, greedy, hateful, prejudiced, suspicious, and aggressive attitudes that dominate our thinking.
-Arun Ghandi
Marshall B. Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication (California: Puddledancer Press, 2005).
Filed under: Christianity, Consumerism, Peace and Justice, Shane Claiborne, quotes | Tags: Christianity, Consumerism, Hermas, Jesus for President, justice, Shane Claiborne, spirituality, wealth
This one’s extremely challening and I’m going to have to sit with it for a while:
You who are God’s servants are living in a foreign country, for your own city-state is far away from this city-state. Knowing which is yours, why do you acquire fields, costly furnishings, buildings, and frail dwellings here? Anyone who acquired things for himself in this city cannot expect to find the way home to his own City. Do you not realize that all these things here do not belong to you, that they are under a power alien to your nature? The ruler will say you do not obey my laws, either observe my laws or get out of my country, Take care lest it prove fatal to you to repudiate your own laws. Acquire no more here than what is absolutely necessary. Instead of fields, buy for yourselves people in distress in accordance with your means.
-Hermas, 140 AD
Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, Jesus For President (Michigan: Zondervan 2008 ) 146.
Filed under: Capitalism, Christianity, Consumerism, Peace and Justice, Politic, Shane Claiborne | Tags: Capitalism, Christianity, Consumerism, Jesus, Jesus for President, Shane Claiborne
Jesus is ready to set us free from the heavy yoke of an oppressive way of life. Plenty of wealthy Christians are suffocating from the weight of the American Dream, heavily burdened by the lifeless toil and consumption we embrace. This is the yoke from which we are being set free. And as we are liberated from the yoke of global capitalism, our sisters and brothers in Guatamala, Liberia, and Sri Lanka will also be liberated. Our family overseas, who are making our clothes, growing our food, pumping our oil, and assembling our electronics–they too need to be liberated from the empire’s yoke of slavery. Their liberation is tangled up with our own. The new yoke isn’t easy. (It’s a cross, for heaven’s sake.) But we carry it together, and it is good and leads us to rest, especially for the weariest traveler.
Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, Jesus For President (Michigan: Zondervan 2008 ) 113.
Filed under: Peace and Justice, Saint Francis of Assisi, prayers | Tags: Christianity, contemplation, Instrument of Peace, Peace, prayer, Saint Francis, spirituality
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Filed under: Christianity, Peace and Justice, Politic, Shane Claiborne, love | Tags: Jesus for President, Justice Revival, Shane Claiborne
Last week I attended a luncheon hosted by Shane Claiborne at the Justice Revival in Columbus, OH. He asked us to share with the people at our table about the person or experience that made us start to really care about social justice. To me, this was a brilliant question. It was obvious that there were people in the room on all sides of the political spectrum. Shane’s radical message no doubt offended some while those of us who agreed sank further into our self-righteousness indignation.
But when I reflected on the experience that I would share about, I was totally disarmed. I thought back to a trip I took to Mauritania in West Africa. One night a young mother asked my friends and I to pray for her nine month old son. He was suffering from malnutrition and parasites which made his stomach abnormally large and round. Her home of four walls and a dirt floor was dark. We gathered around her son and each placed a hand on him. We said prayers hoping to change his circumstances.
I don’t know what happened to the boy after that. I don’t know if any of his circumstances changed. But as I reflected again on this old story of mine, I realized how much that experience changed me.
At the luncheon, when it came time to share my story, my voice started trembling, I teared up, and couldn’t talk. The old story had new meaning and it began to work on me in a powerful way. Not able to finish, I had to pass on to the next person. Feeling totally disarmed by God’s love, I looked at the people in the room around me in a different light.
Working for justice isn’t about being dynamic, one step ahead of the rest, or even being “right”. It’s about people with real lives and real stories. Anything more than that is an imitation of working for justice (and something that will most likely be watered down, put in a box, and sent to the market).
I’m still reading Jesus For President and I’ll be sharing some interesting quotes later in the week.
Filed under: Christianity, Peace and Justice, Politic | Tags: Chris Haw, Jesus for President, Shane Claiborne
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I just started reading Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw’s Jesus For President. Last month I saw Shane speak at Bethel University. Expecting a dynamic and trendy speaker (he does, after all have dreadlocks), I instead found Shane to be goofy, homely and….genuine. To me, Shane’s real attraction was in his message and stories. It seems that he really does want to live like Jesus, love others, and work to change the world around him. Here’s a quote from his latest book which I think sums it up well:
This book is a project in renewing the imagination of the church in the United States and of those who would seek to know Jesus. We are seeing more and more that the church has fallen in love with the state and that this love affair is killing the church’s imagination. The powerful benefits and temptations of running the world’s larges superpower have bent the church’s identity. Having power at its fingertips, the church often finds “guiding the course of history” a more luring goal than following the crucified Christ. Too often the patriotic values of pride and strength triumph over the spiritual virtues of humility, gentleness, and sacrificial love.
Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, Jesus For President (Michigan: Zondervan, 2008), 17.
I came across this passage in James chapter 4 today, as its parraphrased in The Message Bible. I couldn’t help but consider how it relates to Iraq, the U.S., and our idolatrous relationship with oil.
1-2Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.
2-3You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
4-6You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.
This past Fourth of July my wife and I were staying on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness in Northern Minnesota. We had a chance to drive and hike through the forests that had been hit by the fires last spring. Already the undergrowth of bushes, grass, and small trees had starting coming back. While thinking about our country, the Iraq war, and the forest fire, I wrote the following poem:
“Peace of July”
I see peace fall in cool rain
The hot violent fires exhausted
Hands on knees heaving soothing breathes
Of springing air touching our smoked scorched lungs
All was drenched in the peaceful dew
Love had quenched our roots
While we slowly grew back
Teaching our children by Spirit
We’ll stare at the tree scar museum
Of charcoal, of desolation, of ash
Passing on the story
Of hot violent hatred
And how peace came to pass
This year I’m going to pay close attention to celebrating Advent. I think that Advent could be a powerful tool to remind us of the real Christmas Message- Peace. Love. Joy. Messiah.
Ahhhhh, ‘peace’. As any good Evangelical, I know that ‘peace’ means calm, tranquil, quiet. Imagine the lake like glass up North. Or the loons calling at daybreak. How about a long walk in the woods just before sunset. Yes, the little baby Jesus came so that we could softly sing our Christmas Carols and watch the fireplace glow.
Wikipedia (and the rest of the world) say that ”Peace is a state of harmony, the absence of hostility. This term is applied to describe a cessation of violent international conflict; in this international context, peace is the opposite of war. Peace can also describe a relationship between any parties characterized by respect, justice, and goodwill.”
Harmony, cessation of violence, justice, and goodwill stand out to me as I reflect on Luke 2:8-15.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
”Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
The shepherds to whome the angels appeared were poor, common, marginalized folk- possibly even children. This fascinates me. In our day, wouldn’t you think the angels would appear at the Superbowl, the Whitehouse, or on CNN? Notice that the angels in Luke chapter two didn’t appear to Caesar or King Herod. Caesar always got all the big news, this message was for E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E.
I think that Peace is part of the Christmas message as one of God’s great dreams for mankind. But if peace is only calm, tranquil, and quiet, then we miss out on the bigger dream. And how would you understand peace differently in another person’s shoes?
Picture an Iraqi family that lives in the heart of Baghdad. Daily life feels hopeless to them as they fear suicide bomb attacks, US troop home raids, or Al Qaeda kidnappings. Survival is a part of every day. Every evening is spent listening and fearing. One night a man of great glory appears. He proclaims, “I have unbelievable news. A savior has been born for you. The violence will end. Harmony will be restored. Justice is coming. The Messiah will show us how to live. Glory to God in the highest, Peace and goodwill to all mankind!”
Picture a family in poverty stricken North Minneapolis. Five children, no health care. Thanksgiving dinner comes out of the microwave. Broken windows outpace the outdated furnace. Drug deals, prostitution, and gang violence hold the neighborhood captive. Survival is a part of every day. Sleep is interrupted by the slightest noise. One night a man of great glory appears. He proclaims, “I have unbelievable news. A savior has been born for you. The violence will end. Harmony will be restored. Justice is coming. The Messiah will show us how to live. Glory to God in the highest, Peace and goodwill to all mankind!”
Could you imagine their newfound feeling of hope when hearing those words?
Then I picture myself. I can hardly relate to the latter stories or the countless peaceless scenarios that we could come up with. My lack of peace is found in small things like getting pissed at a slow driver in front of me, arguing with people who disagree with me, anxiety, or depression. I still need the Peace of Jesus, but in a different way.
But I’m filled with empathy, compassion, and a desire to do something about the lack of Peace around me. I think that working for Peace in myself, in my neighborhood, and in the world around me is the best way to celebrate the Holidays. To me this work is the only good that could possibly come from my white middle-class American privilege. This is the Christmas message that melts away my cynicism and gives me hope for the future.
Peace to you, peace to the Middle East, peace to my Northside neighbors. And may God give us the resolve to join in proclaiming his dream for “peace on earth”.
Rather than voting this year, I’m dreaming about doing something that would inspire REAL change in the world. I haven’t missed an election since turning 18 and I can’t help but feel a sense of hopelessness. I’ve spent energy on campaigns, heated conversations, and most of all mental anguish. All that for nothing, in my opinion. Our country (and our impact on the global community) isn’t getting any better- it’s getting much worse. I’ve let politics (media, government, and candidates) have way to big of a voice in my life. For that I want to repent.
But the day before the election, I have a better idea that is giving me a different kind of hope for what might really change my neighborhood, city, state, country, and eventually the world. It’s crazy really…
Last week two brothers across the street from my house got into a fight. One grabbed a medal baseball bat and gave the other a thorough beating. Only their mom tried to break up the fight and no one called the cops. I saw him the other day, limping down the street, still in obvious pain.
Everyone on our block despises that house. They deal drugs, fight, and boom their stereos.
So part of me is inclined to vote for a democrat. Someone who claims they will fund programs and add cops to bring change in my neighborhood.
But unfortunately, in the end, programs won’t really change anything, I don’t think. And I think those brothers are sort of beyond some cheesy government self help program. More cops will just put them in jail. My hope is not for my neighbors to go to jail, my dream is for them to be transformed. I hope that by some sort of chance in grace they will somehow, in some way, get pulled out of the mass grave that they are living in.
So instead of voting tomorrow, I’m going to bake chocolate chip cookies. I’m going to pull them out of the oven when they are still soft and chewy. I’m going to put them in a tuperware container and march it across the street to the brother who is healing from the brunt of a bat and the brother who is so calloused that his conscience caved in.
I’m sorry, but I feel like voting in hopes of a candidate who will change something doesn’t really do anything. It all seems to be one more thing that waistes money on television adds, polarizes family members, divides congregations, and breeds fear, hatred and anger. Democracy isn’t going to bring the Kingdom of God, but I’m convinced that cookies might spark a change in my neighborhood.
The chewy dough might bring healing to deep bruises. The soft morsels might melt away the callous around the conscience. It could possibly lead to a shared meal and shared lives.
I met Michelle Bachman back when I attended Northwestern College, so I’ve had a bit of an interest in following her campaign. A couple of weeks ago while speaking at Living Word Church, she claimed to be a “fool for Christ” for her decision to run for U. S. Congress. She has spent so much of her political career and campaign dividing and fighting (For the record, I don’t think that Patty Wetterling is any better). In my opinion, Bachman is not a fool for Christ. I think that a “fool for Christ” is someone like Mother Theresa. It is someone who gives up everything to run to Calcutta (the center of suffering). Not someone who gives up everything to run to Washington (the center of corruption).
It would be so foolish to think that chocolate chip cookies could change something, isn’t it? Well, if you think of it, pray that God uses my homemade snacks for his work of redeeming, renewing, and transforming.
Published on Thursday, October 26, 2006 by the Baltimore Sun
Bush Closes the Gap Between Freedom and Terror, but there is an Upside
by Garrison Keillor
We are engaged in a struggle between freedom and the forces of terror, and mostly I side with freedom, such as the freedom to look at big shots and stick out your tongue and blow, but of course terror has its place too. The dude strolling down our street at night does not break into our house to see what’s available because he is terrified that if he’s nabbed, his girlfriend Janine will run off to Philly with her ex-boyfriend Eddie, who’s been hanging around. She’s the best thing in Benny’s life right now. So he walks on by and leaves our stereo be.
The terror of everlasting hellfire kept me away from dances until I was 12 years old and away from smoking cigarettes until I was 15. So that’s good. Dancing was briefly thrilling, and then I caught sight of myself in a mirror and I haven’t gone to a dance since. Fear of ridicule is powerful too.
A lack of terror may encourage crooks to operate brazenly, knock over the candy stand, trip the nuns, hurl garbage over the balcony, and that’s why you have cops. But now the federal government is extending the frontiers of terror with the Military Commissions Act, legalizing torture and suspending habeas corpus and constructing a loose web of law by which you and I could be hung by our ankles in a meat locker for as long as somebody deems necessary.
“Any person is punishable … who knowingly and intentionally aids an enemy of the United States,” the law states, and when it comes to deciding what “knowingly and intentionally” might mean, or who is the enemy, that’s for a military commission to decide in secret, with or without you present. No Fifth Amendment; hearsay evidence admissible; no judicial review.
People came to America to escape this sort of justice. The midnight knock on the door, incarceration at the whim of men in shiny boots, confessions obtained with a section of hose, secret trial by Star Chamber.
Not that this is a bad thing. Who am I to say? Maybe we’ve been too lenient with enemies of the state. A period of stark repression might be a rich and rewarding experience for all of us. But when the Current Occupant signed the bill last week, the difference between freedom and terror did suddenly shrink somewhat. It makes you wonder: What if Dick Cheney does not wish to give up power two years from now? Maybe he has other priorities. If an enemy of the United States – a Democrat, for example – appeared to be on the verge of election, perhaps Mr. Cheney, for the good of the country, will be forced to take the threat seriously and head for an undisclosed location and invoke his war powers and shovel a few thousand traitors into camps and call up his friends at Diebold and program the election results that are best for the country – or call the whole thing off.
OK by me if it’s OK by you. I don’t imagine that coffee sales will be affected or that Paris Hilton will be, like, “Whoa, this is so not cool,” and, like, text-message her buds to join her on a hunger strike. The greeters at Wal-Mart will still smile, and the football season will go on. They might flash a bulletin at halftime, “Terror Threat Forces Postponement of Election,” and most people would be OK with that. If Mr. Cheney thinks it necessary to suspend the Constitution for a while, surely he has his reasons.
They won’t have to torture me to get a good confession. I am a professional writer of fiction, and if they turn the bright lights on yours truly, beans will spill by the bushel, names will be named. Everybody who ever done me wrong, I am going to implicate them up to their dewlaps. A trial with hearsay evidence allowed and no cross-examination is tailor-made for a novelist.
Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” can be heard Saturday nights on public radio stations across the country.
Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun
This article is so crazy, absurd, and ridiculous that I fell in love with it instantly. Enjoy.
Published Tuesday, October 24, 2006 on Common Dreams News Center.
While the State DepartmentÂs Alberto Fernandez felt obligated to take back his comments that elements of U.S. policy in Iraq have been arrogant and stupid, the truth is that U.S. policy post-9/11 has been driven by arrogance and stupidity. What could be stupider than the idea that violence could end the threat of terrorism and make us safer at home? Simple logic tells us that responding to terror with more violence will only lead to more terror and more violence. Now we have that logic confirmed by the grim facts on the ground in Iraq.
IsnÂt it time for a radical change of course? ThereÂs only one thing more powerful than violence, and thatÂs love. So shouldnÂt we be fighting violence with love? I donÂt mean relational love. I mean treating people with love. Feeding them. Educating them. Healing them. That kind of love.
As a doctorÂand a clownÂIÂve seen the tremendous healing power of love. The number one factor for surviving a heart attack is having a loving community. A study of 4,000 women with breast cancer found that with a little loveÂsix hour-long support sessionsÂtheir survival rate increased five-fold. With the situation in Iraq imploding, tensions increasing with Iran and North Korea, and our governmentÂs policies leading more and more people to hate Americans, itÂs time to take the healing power of love to the global level. ItÂs time for a love platform.
WhatÂs a love platform? ItÂs a set of policies that shows compassion for the elderly, the mentally ill, the homeless, the poor. ItÂs a platform that treats the environment with the loving respect it deserves.
A love platform would call for kissing, not killing. You switch two little letters and you get a whole new outlook on life. Kissing, not killing.
A love platform would put women in chargeÂwomen with loving instincts who would treat the world the way my mother treated my friends when they came to my house. She fed them, she wiped their noses, she was nice. ThatÂs it. WeÂd have a policy called ÂBe Nice. If everyone treated people like my mother did, weÂd put an end to violence.
We need to create a massive global movement for loving. It would be like the Peace Corps times 10,000. People who have resources would go, en masse, to help those without. People with skills would teach those without. People who are healthy would take care of those who are sick.
WeÂd save cabinet positions for the Amish people who embraced the family of the man who killed their children. WeÂd put in charge of foreign policy the people who lost loved ones on 9/11 but insisted that revenge was not the answer, or the women of CODEPINK who tried desperately to stop the war in Iraq before it even began.
It really amazes me that we spend so many hours as a society focusing on love as sex or love that some consider perverse: Mark Foley sending emails to underage boys, Bill Clinton with an intern, love between people of the same sex. But we spend no time focusing on the big love that should drive our lives and our policies, i.e. love for the human family. We spend no time in school teaching young people how to grow up to be loving adults. The media gives us never-ending examples of violence and hate, but rarely gives us the uplifting examples of the kid who spends his lunch money on feeding the homeless. We hear about the brave soldiers who fight, but not about the peopleÂoften womenÂwho force the soldiers to put down their guns.
For those who say that a love platform is ridiculous and naive, I ask them to compare the results of the $300 billion weÂve spent on war in Iraq with what we would get if we had spent that money on setting up health clinics all over the world and feeding people who are hungry. I travel around the world and meet lots of people who fear and hate us. If we spent our energy and resources uplifting people in needÂspreading laughter and light instead of bombs and bulletsÂweÂd live in a world that was happier, healthier and safer.
So come November 7, be smart. Vote out stupid and arrogant candidates who think that occupying Iraq by force or bombing Iran will make us safe. And vote for candidates who understand the simple notion that love is not only the best medicine, itÂs also smart policy.
Patch Adams, M.D., is a nationally known speaker on wellness, laughter, humor and life. To support peace candidates, go to www.givepeaceavote.org.
Published on Monday, September 18, 2006 by the lnter Press Service
US Resorting to ‘Collective Punishment’ in Iraq
by Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
RAMADI – U.S. forces are taking to collective punishment of civilians in several cities across the al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, residents and officials say.
“Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar province, is still living with the daily terror of its people getting killed by snipers and its infrastructure being destroyed,” Ahmad, a local doctor who withheld his last name for security purposes told IPS. “This city has been facing the worst of the American terror and destruction for more than two years now, and the world is silent.”
Destroying infrastructure and cutting water and electricity “for days and even weeks is routine reaction to the resistance,” he said. “Guys of the resistance do not need water and electricity, it’s the families that are being harmed, and their lives which are at stake.”
Students and professors at the University of al-Anbar told IPS that their campus is under frequent attack.
“Nearly every week we face raids by the Americans or their Iraqi colleagues,” a professor speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS. Students said that U.S. troops occupied their school last week..
“We’ve been under great pressure from the Americans since the very first days of their occupation of Iraq,” a student told IPS.
Such raids are being reported all over Ramadi. “The infrastructure destruction is huge around the governorate building in downtown Ramadi,” said a 24-year-old student who gave his name as Ali al-Ani. “And they are destroying the market too.”
IPS reported Sep. 5 that the U.S. military was bulldozing entire blocks of buildings near the governorate to dampen resistance attacks on government offices.
Such U.S. action seems most severe in al-Anabar province, where resistance is strongest, and which has seen the highest U.S. casualties.
The city of Hit 80km west of Ramadi was surrounded by U.S. troops for several days earlier this week. Several civilians were killed and at least five were detained by U.S. forces. Checkpoints are in place at each entrance to the city after the U.S. military lifted the cordon around it. This has stifled movement and damaged local businesses.
“There was an attack on a U.S. convoy, and three vehicles were destroyed,” a local tribal chief who gave his name as Nawaf told IPS. “It wasn’t the civilians who did it, but they are the ones punished. These Americans have the bad habit of cutting all of the essential services after every attack. They said they came to liberate us, but look at the slow death they are giving us every day.”
In Haditha, a city of 75,000 on the banks of the Euphrates River in western al-Anbar, collective punishment is ongoing, residents say. This was the site of the massacre of 24 civilians by U.S. marines in November 2005.
“The Americans continue to raid our houses and threaten us with more violence,” a local tribal leader who gave his name as Abu Juma’a told IPS. “But if they think they will make us kneel by these criminal acts, they are wrong. If they increase the pressure, the resistance will increase the reaction. We see this pattern repeated so often now.”
Abu Juma’a added: “I pray that the Americans return to their senses before they lose everything in the Iraqi fire.”
In Fallujah, local police say residents have turned against them due to the collective punishment tactics used by U.S. forces.
“The Americans started pushing us to fight the resistance despite our contracts that clearly assigned us the duties of civil protection against normal crimes such as theft and tribal quarrels,” a police lieutenant told IPS. “Now 90 percent of the force has decided to quit rather than kill our brothers or get killed by them for the wishes of the Americans.”
At least one U.S. vehicle is reported destroyed every day on average in the face of mounting U.S. raids and a daily curfew. The scene is one of destruction of the city, not rebuilding.
“Infrastructure rebuilding is just a joke that nobody laughs at,” Fayiq al-Dilaimy, an engineer in Fallujah told IPS. He was on the rebuilding committee set up after the November 2004 U.S.-led operation which destroyed approximately 75 percent of the city..
“People of this city could rebuild their city in six months if given a real chance. Now look at it and how sorrowful it looks under the boots of the ‘liberators’.”
Many of the smaller towns have been badly hit. “Khaldiyah (near Fallujah) and the area around it have faced the worst collective punishments for over two years now,” said a government official in Ramadi. “But of course most cities in al-Anbar are being constantly punished by the Americans.”
Samarra and Dhululiyah towns, both north of Baghdad, have also been facing collective punishment from the U.S. military, according to residents.
“Curfews and concrete walls are permanent in both cities, which makes life impossible,” Ali al-Bazi, a lawyer who lives in Dhululiyah and works in Samarra told IPS. “There are so many killings by American snipers. So many families have lost loved ones trying to visit relatives or even just stepping outside of their house.”
While Baghdad is not in al-Anbar province, occupation forces have used similar tactics there. In January 2005 IPS reported that the military used bulldozers to level palm groves, cut electricity, destroy a fuel station and block access roads in response to attacks from resistance fighters.
A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad did not comment on specific cases, but told IPS that the U.S. military “does its best to protect civilians from the terrorists.”
© Copyright 2006 IPS – Inter Press Service
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Published on Thursday, September 7 by The Baltamore Sun
by Garrison Keillor
Growing up in the ’50s, we imagined our country defended by guided missiles poised in bunkers, jet fighters on the tarmac and pilots in the ready room prepared to scramble, a colonel with a black briefcase sitting in the hall outside the president’s bedroom, but Sept. 11 gave us a clearer picture. We have a vast array of hardware, a multitude of colonels, a lot of bureaucratic confusion, and a nation vulnerable to attack.
The Federal Aviation Administration has now acknowledged that the third of the four planes seized by the 19 men with box cutters had already hit the Pentagon before the FAA finally called there to say there was a problem. The FAA lied to the 9/11 commission about this, then took two years to ascertain the facts – a 51-minute gap in defense – and released the finding on the Friday before Labor Day, an excellent burial site for bad news.
So America is not the secure fortress we grew up imagining. Perhaps it never was. What protects us is what has protected us for 230 years: our magnificent isolation. After the disasters of the 20th century, Europe put nationalism aside and adopted civilization, but we have oceans on either side, so if the president turns out to be a shallow, jingoistic fool with a small, rigid agenda and little knowledge of the world, we expect to survive it somehow. Life goes on.
It’s hard for Americans to visualize the collapse of our country. It’s as unthinkable as one’s own demise. Europeans are different: They’ve seen disaster, even the British. They know it was a near thing back in 1940. My old Danish mother-in-law remembered the occupation clearly 40 years later and was teary-eyed when she talked about it. Francis Scott Key certainly could envision the demise of the United States in 1814 when he watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry. Abraham Lincoln was haunted by the thought. We are not, apparently, though five years ago we saw a shadow.
We really are one people at heart. We all believe that when thousands of people are trapped in the Superdome without food or water, it is the duty of government, the federal government if necessary, to come to their rescue and to restore them to the civil mean and not abandon them to fate. Right there is the basis of liberalism. Conservatives tried to introduce a new idea – it’s your fault if you get caught in a storm – and this idea was rejected by nine out of 10 people once they saw the pictures. The issue is whether we care about people who don’t get on television.
Last week, I sat and listened to a roomful of parents talk about their battles with public schools in behalf of their children who suffer from dyslexia, or apraxia, or ADD, or some other disability – sagas of ferocious parental love vs. stonewall bureaucracy in the quest for basic, needful things – and how some of them had uprooted their families and moved to Minnesota so their children could attend better schools. You couldn’t tell if those parents were Republicans or Democrats. They simply were prepared to move mountains so their kids could have a chance. So are we all.
And that’s the mission of politics: to give our kids as good a chance as we had. They say that liberals have run out of new ideas – it’s like saying that Christians have run out of new ideas. Maybe the old doctrine of grace is good enough.
I don’t get much hope from Democrats these days, a timid and skittish bunch, slow to learn, unable to sing the hymns and express the steady optimism that is at the heart of the heart of the country. I get no hope at all from Republicans, whose policies seem predicated on the Second Coming occurring in the very near future.
If Jesus does not descend through the clouds to take them directly to paradise, and do it now, they are going to have to answer to the rest of us.
Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” can be heard Saturday nights on public radio stations across the country.
Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun
After growing up in the suburbs, Jen and I moved into North Minneapolis almost a year ago. It’s amazing how fast your perspective can change. I grew up only being afraid of the city. Most of what I knew of it were from quick trips to a Twins game or seeing the nightly murder report on the evening news. It’s alarming to think of how detatched I was from this part of our community. There could have been a wall between us.
Part of me hesitates to write the following since I hate to reinforce people’s misconceptions, generalizations, and fear of Minneapolis. But nevertheless, the honest truth is that we have a horrific problem and we need everyone’s help.
Last night Jen and I attended a Peace Rally organized by the Peace Foundation (a North Minneapolis group working to end domestic violence in this part of the city). The event was sponsored by Sanctuary Covenant Church, Church of the Open Door, St. Phillip’s and various others.
We began the evening by stretching out our group of 1500 people along 26th Avenue all the way from Lyndale to Penn (26th Ave has a history of terrible violence). It was a great time to meet others in the community, enjoy the weather, and dream of peace on the North side. Next we rallied together under a makeshift bandshell and listen to various speakers, spoken word poetry, and watched a couple of dance groups perform.
The event began to die down and most people (adults especially) had already left, some kids started throwing water bottles into the air above the crowd. From what I saw and heard, one of the volunteer security gaurds tried to stop them and that started a fight that moved like a mob down the block.
As we rallied for peace last night, someone pulled out a gun and shot a teenager in the back (the teen is at North Memorial and is expected to survive). No suspects are in custody, no weapon has been recovered. (Read story)
It was a long walk back to our car last night. Reality set in a bit. That was the closest I have ever been to a violent crime. A teenager (13? 14? 17?) was almost killed. You could feel evil in the air. We have a big problem and a long road ahead. So brace yourself, I’m going to go on a rant…..
I feel like most people play the blame game when we talk about crime in the city. “It’s the church’s problem,” or “the governments problem” or “the police’s problem”. And many people who make these comments are so detached from the problem that they don’t even know what they’re talking about.
I think we need ownership. All of us need to own the problem.
And we need the Kingdom of God. Sometimes this can be a cop out. We say that only God can change things and then we sit and watch for it to happen. I think that adding more cops will push the crime to the suburbs (or overload the overloaded jails). I think that throwing government money at the city will make things look nice but won’t really change anything.
We need the Kingdom. If our faith doesn’t call us to action, then it’s not faith at all. Even in living on the north side, I can let myself become detached and I am as guilty as anyone else (so moving here isn’t necessarily the answer). But if you watch the news or read this story, and don’t feel the pain of the violence or get angry for justice, then I wonder if you have a pulse. So when I say that we need the Kingdom of God, I’m saying that we need a miracle. And it would be a miracle to me if we all accepted the blame for this problem and then actually did something about it. That’s when God’s Kingdom will come to North Minneapolis; it will be through you and I.
I think there are probably a lot of different and affective ways to bring the Kingdom of God to the city. So how can we own this problem together?
Do you ever feel like a scripture passage is haunting you? That’s how I feel about this “Greatest Commandment” (Mathew 22:34-40) passage posted below. I can’t get past it. I want to bring it up in every conversation. The more I think about it, the more I can’t get it out of my mind.
First of all, it seems like Jesus was being tricked. Jewish leaders were trying to get him to say something that would create division. They were looking for a reason to disagree and debate and set themselves apart from Jesus. I love that Jesus pulls out the love card (how unifying!). You cannot argue with love (even if you want to). Love God and love each other; who can disagree with that? (although, I will admit that a good debate would arise around how we “love”- but that will miss my point).
Second, I think it’s safe to say that Jesus (a rabbi) memorized and was amazingly well educated around what we consider to be the Old Testament. An incredible foundation of knowledge of the “law and the prophets”. And he claims that ALL of this hangs on loving God with everything we are AND loving each other. Jesus made love the new law.
What if all of my philosophy, theology, politics, and actions hung on this law of love? I don’t think that I give this commandment the weight that it should have in my life. I also don’t think that I’ve ever really understood it, maybe that’s why it’s hitting me so hard.
I am not trying to start a discussion with this post. I am wondering if you will let this scripture haunt you for a little while. Will you sit in this with me? I wonder how God could change us.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Mathew 22:34-40 (NIV)
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Mathew 22:34-40 (KJV)
When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”
Jesus said, “”Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: “Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
Mathew 22:34-40 (The Message)
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Mathew 22:34-40 (ESV)
Filed under: Christianity, Journal, Opinion, Peace and Justice, Politic, photography
Two weeks ago, Jen and I joined the march from St. Paul’s Cathedral to the State Capitol to raise awareness for humane immigration reform (that’s where we took these pictures).
Currently, this is a very controversial subject and I wonder how Christians should respond.
I feel personally connected to this issue in some ways since I worked with many illegal immigrants at various restaurants growing up. I met mostly good natured, hard working people- many of whom were sending their paycheck abroad to feed their families back home.
I also have traveled to Central America three times (where many of these immigrants came from) and spent two months in West Africa. It is interesting to know and love people on both sides of the U.S. border. I feel like getting to know people and experiencing (in some small way) the life that they have come from has affected the way in which I respond to them as immigrants.
The reason I mention this is that I feel like when a lot of people discuss this issue, they talk as if we are dealing with cattle. Maybe illegal immigrants don’t have “rights” as Americans now, but make no mistake, we are talking about the beloved people of God (and that view of these people is what should govern our response). It doesn’t matter where they are from, what they have done, or what they might do. As a follower of Jesus, I think that we have a Biblical mandate to treat these people as beloved and act in a way that is best for them.
Leviticus 19:34 should give us some good direction (as quoted by Sojourners): “When foreigners reside among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigners residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
Does this verse demonstrate a principle that we should follow in our response to the illegal immigrants residing among us?
In my opinion, Sojourners summarizes it well: lets choose “compassion over criminalization”. To take action on behalf of our immigrant brothers and sisters, click here.
I was sent this link by e-mail in regards to this non-violence discussion and it articulates the Orthodox Church’s view. Good stuff. Here is an excerpt:
Thus total pacifism is not only possible, it is the sign of greatest perfection, the perfection of the Kingdom of God. According to the Orthodox understanding, however, pacifism can never be a social or political philosophy for this world; although once again, a non-violent means to an end is always to be preferred in every case to a violent means.
Here’s the link if you want to read more:
