I'm back finally. Sorry for the long break. Ok, so my friend Pete (aka the artist formerly known as "pomopete" who now is known by the symbol "&") recently posted an entry about a double meaning behind Cheney's hunting accident. He asked if this was symbolic of the administration missing the mark. Well, my comment regarding this post was that the administration has not only missed the mark, but is not quit sure what the target is! I was going to leave it at that, but I recieved a very kind and courteous comment from one of the many conservatives that are trying to preserve Christian values. So, I thought I would follow up.
I was wrong. I said that the present administration doesn't know what the target is. Well, after doing some reading this week, I think I have found the target. Not only that, but I discovered that the target has been clearly defined. The target? Fear.
Jim Wallis has written some great things about this in his book God's Politics. He seems to think that the problem with the present administration is a lack of vision. (Remember in your comments that I am giving Wallis' view right now!) He goes on to say that the present administration is running on fear. Since September 11, he states, the US has operated its poilicy completely out of fear. To put this in another way, the US is vulnerable and came into contact with that vulnerability through the events of 9-11. All it took was for one person to say that they could repurchase our invulnerability, at the expense of our American sons and daughters. Oh yeah, the expense also includes our brothers and sisters in the middle east. This is a high price to pay to say that we are invulnerable. We experienced hell on September 11. For those in Iraq, including Arab Christians, they now live in hell.
Thomas Merton said that the root of all war is fear - Jesus said, "Fear not."
3 comments:
I am just curious how yo think we should go about protecting our nation from radical islamic terrorist. Do you really think that Iraqi Christians were better off under Saddam?
What is your plan?
I am not trying to be argumentative I just sincerly wonder what many people think Bush should have done that would have been better.
In an effort to be relevant, I believe that this theory of "fear" is off base. Dubya was and is surrounded by the best team he could assemble post 9/11 and today (Powell, Rice, Gonzolez). "Terror"ists primary weapon is fear. Responding and fighting a war on terror is not "out of fear." It is necessary and it is protecting our people. Fear is Al Gore during the debates with W. His whining and outbursts made me shudder to think how he would have dealt with a domestic attack. That is your definition of a fearful reaction.
therevran,
thanks for the questions. I know that this is a difficult issue. I obviously don't have all the answers, nor do I think that anyone else does. I don't believe in utopia. Having said that, I look at this issue from the opposite perspective. You are right to ask how we should defend ourselves, but I simply would like to ask where in scripture do we find the basis for such policies that are "protecting" our country now? This is what all of my ranting is about. I simply want someone to show me the principles in scripture that says that we should take actions such as war as retribution. I understand the whole preventative war deal. However, I simply am begging Christians to ask the hard questions of what it means to live out the scriptures in our present situation. What if the turn your other cheek and love your enemies scriptures really meant what they sound like? These are radical, politically charged, statements by Christ that, in living them out, teach each of us the nature of God's grace. I just wonder if we have missed the point in the Christian life being the radical alternative social reality that is presented in the gospels? As was stated on Def Poetry Jam, why are we fighting fire with fire? Shouldn't we be fighting fire with water? I think that this is closer to what the scripture is teaching.
In reference to the question of Christian Arabs being better off under Saddam, well...I don't see how anyone could think that they were better off. But did this warrant a war? If we removed Saddam because he was an evil dictator, then we are being hypocritical. There are so many other "evil dictators" in the world that are killing their people. If we are really concerned about injustice, then let's go take care of the genocide in Darfur, the civil war and slavery of Northern Uganda, the suffering of extreme poverty in Guatemala (that is affecting me personally now because of my soon to be daughter coming from Guatemala.) I posted this because I want Christians to THINK and not to assimilate into political parties and ideologies to the point that we loose our prophetic voice. I commend people like Nathan who are attempting to live out a Christian witness in politics. I simply want us to ask the hard questions in doing so, so that Christianity reclaims a prophetic voice of otherness. God is not an American.
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