It's the Children!

A little boy, born without legs and only one very small arm ... his mother here ... illegally, seeking care for her son.

I could't take my eyes off this little boy ... held so sweetly by his mother ... along with other mothers and their children ... on the run, on the move, searching, to do what any parent does: seek the welfare of our children.

I looked at the little boy ... innocent ... holding up his little stub of an arm pointing at something, and tears welled up ...

And how many children are like him ... and his parents ... and families seeking life ... fleeing untold cartel violence in their homelands ... living every day with gang extortion ... death close at hand?

In the face of great danger, they seek the welfare of their children.

And I wonder about America.

What risks are we willing to take for the children?

I fear that some in our ranks have blown out of proportion the "danger" of immigrants, playing upon irrational fear, crafting "alternative facts," crafting a narrative of lies and half-truths, in order to further their own nefarious political goals, which is mostly about money and power.

And so the heart of American has hardened, and it seems, growing harder every hour.

In some kind of a mindless quest of absolute safety ... and as is the case of any mindless obsession dealing with self-preservation at all costs, the heart grows cruel and callous.

We are forgetting some very important realities:

1) There is no such thing as absolute safety.
2) A nation that fears is a nation that is losing its mind and heart.
3) A nation that turns away from the children is a nation choosing blindness.
4) A nation that chooses fear chooses insanity.

As a Christian, I'm clear: Love entails risk.

When Jesus moved south toward Jerusalem, he was warned repeatedly of the danger facing him. But love entrails risk.

The Apostle Paul knew all about risk, and so did the Prophets.

But love entails risk.

At the risk of losing our humanity, we choose fear.

At the hope of gaining our humanity, we choose love, and whatever risks love entails.

And for every immigrant who might pose a threat (very low), love can open the door to thousands of children, their families, and to the world.

And in so opening the doors, so the heart leaps for joy.

And we'll be the stronger for it.

Lenten Thoughts - Class Struggle

Lenten Thoughts ...


1) The story of Jesus is always the story of The People in conflict with the Ruling Class ...

2) The gospel offered by Jesus (see Beatitudes) must have scared the be-jesus (so to speak) out of the Ruling Class, both Roman and Judean.

3) The big question became: How do we get rid of him without further upsetting the people whom we're slowly crushing while we continue to live our lives of ease? 

4) As Jesus' popularity grew (how the people loved him when he tweaked the noses of the Ruling Class), the "central powers" of Rome and Judea grew evermore concerned ...

5) And we know the rest of the story ... the Ruling Class manipulated the crowds and the judicial process ... and to mollify the crowds, threw Barabbas into the deal, a revolutionary of some sort.

6) A story as old as Cain and Able ... and the descendants of Cain and Seth.

Despising the Poor

Poor people have always been despised by the powerful ... poor people remind the powerful, I suppose, just how lucky they are, and maybe they're just one moment away from losing it all. Poor people also remind the rich of their social responsibility. The rich and the powerful don't like to consider such things, so they run away from reality, buttressing their lives with more and more things to prove to themselves how powerful and good they are, while despising the poor. 

Is it any wonder that Jesus held out very little hope for the rich to enter into the Kingdom of God? And Jesus isn't talking about something beyond death, although that's included, but the here and now. The Kingdom of God is always possible, here and now, not in totality, but in bits and pieces, and sometimes even big pieces, like when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and the Berlin Wall fell. 

With every kindly thought, every good deed, every effort to make life better for another, to make government the means of mercy, to provide good schools and decent jobs - here is the Kingdom of God. All of that, and more, is a part of God's creational intent, a part of God's reign, God's rule over time and history. Right now, yes, we can live in the Kingdom of God when we embrace the life of Christ and follow him in word and deed (here I speak to Christians). But every religious tradition, a reflection of the Spiritual Presence that creates faith, has the same option, the very same possibility.

But the rich fool and his barns, the rich man with Lazarus at his gate, the rich who despised Jesus and collaborated with Rome to kill him, will hear none of this.

It's always been this way, but these days, there's a certain and curious cache to it - what was reserved for drawing rooms and privileged conversation now has become "the American Way," and for many religious people, even a "christian" value.

The rich and the powerful have alchemized something evil into something "good." It's now virtuous, even godly, to despise the poor, to condemn them for their ways, to see them as undeserving, ineligible for even the crumbs of the table.

Something very wrong has emerged in American Culture ... and millions of Christians, bowing down, I suppose, at the altars of Mammon, have fallen into line on this one.

I don't understand how it happened, but I hope that people will awaken, that the Spiritual Presence that gives life will prod and prompt awareness, open eyes, that folks will see the evil, and reach for the Kingdom of God.

Two Systems Locked in Battle

We have two competing systems of thought for how our nation needs to work, to realize its dreams and fulfill the promises of the Declaration of Independence.

One system focuses on wealth, the building of wealth and the protection of wealth - a system that our Founding Mothers and Fathers knew well, a system from which they sought escape, a system they would not repeat here.

The other system focuses on wellbeing, the mutual responsibility we all have for one another, to maximize the benefits of life here and now and provide protection for those who need it, whatever the reason may be, because at the heart of a wellbeing system is generosity without condition and kindness without questions.

In the wealth-system, some do exceedingly well, many struggle, and a few are plunged into misery. The wealth-system is very good at wealth for the few, and poverty, or near-poverty for the many.

The wellbeing system sees to it that everyone enjoys a minimum of good life - wages, benefits, education and retirement. It's a system that produces lots of wealth, but not at the expense of the many.

Right now, these two systems are locked in mortal battle for the soul of our nation.

Huge amounts of wealth are poured into promoting and protecting the wealth system, telling huge lies about how good it will be for all of us once the wealth system is fully in place, everything privatized, and big government replaced by big business. For the time being, the wealth system has prevailed, and we see its fruits clearly: wealth, great wealth, for the few, a shrinking middle class, and the spread of poverty - here and abroad, as America's gigantic wealth-system sucks life out of the world, for that's how wealth-systems function, like parasites.

There are plenty of people right now, people of faith, various philosophies, politicians and professors who see clearly the goodness and power of a wellbeing system, and they labor mightily for America's better day.

The choice is up to us - to buy the lies of the wealth-system and be cheated of life, or to embrace the wellbeing system and share life, abundantly, with one another.

The wellbeing system is biblical, what the prophets envisioned and worked for, what Jesus offers and gave his life to raise up and what the early church practiced. To be faithful to Jesus is to embrace the wellbeing system - wherein the mandates of creation are honored and the goodness of the covenant practiced - wherein the earth is cared for and all creatures honored, and the biblical "trinity of human need," the widow, the orphan and the alien, is welcomed, loved and cared for.

That's how I see it, and to that end, that's how I live.

When Christians Feel "Persecuted"

From many an evangelical pulpit come the the thundering words: "We are being persecuted by a powerful lobby of liberals and secularists who would silence us and take away our rights. We must stand up as followers of Jesus and defend the gospel and claim our rightful place in in our great land of faith and freedom."

One should rightly ask: Who's persecuting whom, and just exactly how can anyone be sure that, as 1 Peter 4 puts it:

¹²Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is takingplace among you to test you, as though something strange werehappening to you. ¹³But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’ssufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when hisglory is revealed. ¹⁴If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you areblessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, isresting on you. ¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, acriminal, or even as a mischief maker. ¹⁶Yet if any of you suffers as aChristian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. ¹⁷For the time has come for judgment to begin withthe household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end forthose who do not obey the gospel of God?

For many an evangelical Christian, it's comforting to believe in persecution as a badge of honor, a confirmation of faithfulness. 

But is persecution for the sake of gospel, for the sake of Christ, or simply simply because of "mischief" and worse?

From  Psalm 94:

¹O LORD, you God of vengeance,

you God of vengeance, shine forth!

²Rise up, O judge of the earth;

give to the proud what they deserve!

³O LORD, how long shall the wicked,

how long shall the wicked exult?

Thus far, in the reading, there is no definition of the "proud" for whom the Psalmist wishes judgment. 

But the Psalmist doesn't leave us hanging:

⁴They pour out their arrogant words;

all the evildoers boast.

⁵They crush your people, O LORD,

and afflict your heritage.

⁶They kill the widow and the stranger,

they murder the orphan,

⁷and they say, "The LORD does not see;

the God of Jacob does not perceive."

Who are the proud?

They are identified by their deeds:

They kill the widow, the stranger and murder the orphan.

Reminiscent of Jesus when he warms against those "who take widow's houses and then say long prayers" … the very same who then prance around the Temple Treasury throwing in large sums of money out of their "spare change" while creating a system that takes the last few pennies a widow has to live on (Mark 12.38-44).

The widow, the stranger, the orphan - the three most vulnerable social categories of Israel - victims of wealthy interests (for a devastating critique on those "who borrow and never pay back," spend some time with Psalm 37).

What systems in our land create hardship for "the widow, the stranger and the orphan"?

What would the Psalmist says about Food Stamps, Social Security, health care, pensions, children in poverty, crushing debt for college students and a host of other burdens created by the wealthy to game the system in their favor, and why would Christians cheer any of their nefarious schemes in the light of Scripture?

Such Christians, when criticized, are quick to label themselves "persecuted." But I would label them "dupes of the wealthy," many of them, like the widow Jesus notes at the end of Mark 13 - a victim of some of kind of "prosperity message"? - give your last penny to "god," and miracles will come your way. Even as she gave her pennies, she was standing beside the wealthy who perhaps congratulated her, smiled at her, for her faithfulness even as they schemed to take her house.

Evangelical Christianity has been short on compassion for a long time now, a victim of a misconstrued gospel mostly the tool of the powerful to further their own vested interests even as they "say long prayers" or have others do it for them. 

For Scripture, then, there is is a litmus test: the wellbeing of the "widow, the stranger and the orphan," and how well society cares for them!

It is what we own to one another (Romans 13.8-10).

Kennedy Family, Wealth and Romney

Just saw a slide show of rarely seen photos of JFK, Jackie, and their family.

They were a family of great wealth.

And often burdened by the temptations and problems of great wealth.

But they possessed an America Quality - that of public compassion.

Sadly, I've seen the wealthy of America succumb to the greatest temptation of wealth - to look upon others with contempt.

It's this very attitude that prompts Jesus to say, "It's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a person of wealth to enter the Kingdom of God" (not a place, but a way of life).

How striking might it have been if Romney had stood before his wealthy cohorts and said to them, "We didn't build it. All of America built it. We're the luckiest people in the world, and we're fools to think that we did this by ourselves. So I stand before you today, asking you to contribute to my campaign, and I ask you to welcome all of America with compassion; I ask you to step up to the plate and pay your fair share of taxes, and even more - because the Bible says: 'to whom much has been given, much is required.'"

But he didn't. Instead, he portrayed Americans as a lazy and dependent - the attitude of contempt.

With his wealthy folks, Romney raised a few more million, but he lost the heart of many. His obvious contempt for so many Americans - does he really believe this, or was he saying only what his audience wanted? In either case, he's wrong.

If Romney believes this, he's not fit for the Oval Office.

If he says such things only to please his monied friends, he's not fit for the Oval Office, either.

It's a sad day for the GOP as it has hitched its wagon to the wealthy - and not the great wealthy, but the greedy wealthy.

We have much to learn from the old and true wealth of America - families, surely not pure, but with a sense of compassion and duty - compassion for all, and a duty to make this a better nation.

Differing Visions for America

Been reading "Undaunted Courage" as of late, about the Lewis & Clark expedition to the Pacific.

At the time of their adventure, 1803, the nation was already struggling with competing visions - the Federalist and the Republican, and how to read the Constitution.

The differing visions polarizing today's politics are not much different, though within each of these visions, there is always some degree of fluidity - e.g. Rick Perry's GOP and that of George W. Bush.

Jefferson, a Republican, a strict constructionist on matters of the Constitution, nonetheless played his hand big when it came to financing Lewis & Clark and making the Louisiana Purchase.

I find it encouraging to read, simply because it encourages me to stand firmly for my view of things, even as I consider other points of view. Yet the vision that energizes me has long been a part of our nation's conversation.

It doesn't help, as some conservatives suggest, that Obama is a Marxist. Not at all, for Obama's vision is very much rooted in the American Dream. No doubt, Rick Perry's vision is rooted there as well, or even that of Paul Ryan.

America's unique political climate has allowed these competing visions to grow and prosper at varying times in our history, enriching our national experience.

Pushing deeper, these competing visions seem to be rooted in human DNA.

And they are clearly reflected in the Bible as well - with it's competing visions: the expansive world of Isaiah and the narrower world of Kings and Chronicles - each asking the question: What is God's vision? For Kings and Chronicles, God's vision is "Israel First." For Isaiah, the whole wide world is God's objective, and Israel is a tool toward that end, and never the end itself.

When Jesus enters the scene, he clearly goes with Isaiah, and when Paul begins to write, he, as well, aligns himself with the larger picture, seeing the church, not as an end in and of itself, but rather as a tool, a means, toward the larger picture of God's love for the whole wide world and the eventual redemption of creation!

We'd all like to think that our view of things is the best, and if we're readers of Scripture, that our understanding of the Sacred Text is more accurate that someone else's.

Who knows ... but this much can and must be said: there are competing views of the world in the Bible, views similar to the current debates in our national and local politics. Not that there's a direct correspondance (there never is), but enough similarities that allow us to compare and contrast.

For most of my adult life, I've tried to read the Text fairly, and I've tried to learn something of American history, even as I've searched my own life-experience and story to discern how I've been shaped and why I value what I do.

In the long run, I think it's a mystery - as Paul puts it, "Now we see in a mirror darkly, but then, face-to-face."

In the meantime, it's incumbent upon all of us to stand where we stand and to affirm the values we hold dear, even as we try, with all our might, to hear what others have to offer, and to learn from them, modifying our own views as we go along, yet to sharpen our views, too.

It's a great debate, and much is at stake.

May God grant to all of us a certain generosity and kindness.

But courage as well. The undaunted courage of solid convictions founded upon the bedrock of knowledge acquired through the discipline of research, with reflection upon such knowledge in long hours of consideration and conversation.

The Wealthy Scam & American Christians

For much of my ministry (39 year's worth), I've battled a misconception deeply rooted in millions of Americans, including millions of church members - that folks on the bottom of the heap are not to be trusted and, if on welfare of any kind, are likely scamming the system.

From the Welfare Mom with the Cadillac, and so on, we've told terrible stories about a huge segment of our society, with one purpose in mind - that we might dismiss them and their needs and get on with our lives.

But in recent years, we have witnessed the rest of the story, a story so large that it boggles the mind.

It's not the poor who are scamming us, it's the wealthy, and they're scamming us by the hundreds of billions.

From Enron a few yeas ago to Madoff and now to the former head of Countrywide, Angelo Mozilo - and how many more small fish wearing expensive suits and flashy ties are involved in this massive transfer of wealth from the many to the few?

But as long as the myth of the welfare mom exists, we continue to scold and punish the working poor while ignoring, if not celebrating, the crimes of the wealthy. The powerful of this nation lack for nothing when it comes to medical insurance, job security (so what if they're fired; they have hundreds of millions in compensation) and personal comfort, and from their citadels of comfort, they fight national healthcare, they stubbornly refuse the minimal rights of the American worker, they continue to shift jobs out of America, they spend millions to bust the unions, all the while blaming the little guy for the ills of the nation.

That so-called Christians should espouse such nonsense is all the more saddening, given everything said about the plight of the poor in the Prophets and everything Jesus said about our values.

But drive by "successful" churches around the country on a Sunday morning, and the more conservative they are, the more Jesusey they are, the more likely we're to see ostentation in buildings, cars, hairdos and dress, with shallow, fill-in-the-blank sermons that inspire a "stand up for Jesus" mentality without any clear sense of why - why would we stand up for a man adjudged by the religiously powerful of his time as dangerous and killed by the Roman authorities?

We do well to remember Gandhi's Seven Deadly Sins:

• Wealth without Work
• Pleasure without Conscience
• Science without Humanity
• Knowledge without Character
• Politics without Principle
• Commerce without Morality
• Worship without Sacrifice

It's deadly sins 3 & 7 that go to the heart of so much American Christianity.

All Theology is Biographical

At many a point, I wanted to believe that my beliefs were more purely founded - on something called truth, or Scripture, or the Holy Spirit, and that my education, my studies, my determination to know the truth was paramount.

Which, of course, is the heart and soul of theological conflict, as we hurl "bigger and better" Bible verses at one another, along with "pure" reason and god-inspired convictions, which, when added up, make me right and you wrong.

But, then, of course, you might feel the same about your stuff. But, then, of course, you're wrong; you just don't know it. But I do! Ha! And so it goes.

Clearly, all of this is modernism at work - the conviction that reason, which is finally what it all is, even when dress it all up in the robes of faith, will lead us to the truth. And because of that conviction, people have been burned at the stake, congregations split down the middle, denominations embroiled in ceaseless conflict, relationships won and lost and perhaps never won again.

We have forgotten that when Pilate queried Jesus about "truth," Jesus remained silent.

And in one of the most telling of all notes in the gospels, John has Jesus uttering, "I am the truth," and with that, John liberates us from the illusions of modernism. Truth is not a set of data, a collection of theses or propositions - at best, such things can only dimly hint at the truth embodied in Jesus - a deep and profound self-giving love that risks everything for the sake of the other, that puts itself into the hands of a Father who at times seems distance and cruel ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?") and dies, “It is finished.”

That's the truth we see in Jesus, and to believe in Jesus, to set our heart upon him, is to move into that kind of love, and, then, suddenly we realize, just how distant that kind of love is from our meager little lives, driven as they are by self-interest (ouch, that's a toughie to admit, isn't it?)

But herein lies the possibility of discovering humility, and humility is the basis of conversation with one another.

That our convictions, which we all love to elevate to the level of god-like value, are profoundly shaped by everything we are ... in some remarkable way, we can say "I am truth" too ... because my truth is really mine - what with study and reflection and years of life and the witness of Christian history, it's still mine, in the sense that it's embedded within, flows through and emerges from my life, with all of its goodness and all of its darkness, its love and its callowness, its self-giving and its relentless self-interest.

As the tax collector prayed in the Temple, "Lord, have mercy," we are our best with those same words when we stand before one another.

I don't know how our conversations about faith and politics, abortion and homosexuality, war and national health care will turn out, but we have a choice to make: to approach one another with the illusion of "my truth" being better and bigger than your truth, or ... the humble admission: "LORD, have mercy upon me" - I am what I am, and I believe what I believe out of the stuff of my life, and my life is both good and fractured.

Perhaps we might all serve our gods better, whatever our faith is, by spending a little more time in discerning the contours of our personal histories - the matrix in which we receive the world, process the information and make our decisions about what we value and how we will live. The kind of home we had; parental influence and the deep undercurrents of family values and styles.

And to see that my life is of no greater value than anyone else's life - and, that my life is just as valuable as anyone else's life - thus, remembering, that we're all in this together.

I don't know how this could affect our discussion, but it might lessen the anxiety, turn down the volume and render us less likely to jump ship, maybe even allowing more room for one another to live “the truth” as it emerges and flows through our biography.

When queried about truth by a hostile inquisitor, Jesus choose silence.

Might the cause of truth be better served if we exercised that response a little more often.

It surely doesn’t mean that I’ll cease thinking about abortion rights and the ordination of gays and lesbians. Nor does it mean that I’m going to be less an advocate for a national, single-payer, health care plan or EFCA.

But to try to say “my truth” as clearly and as humbly as I can.

Perhaps in a common humility, we might help one another along the way, and maybe even grow a little wiser in our self-understanding and a little bigger in our compassion for the world.

As for my wife? She was right all along.

Monica Goodling, Again

That Monica Goodling should have done what she allegedly did is no surprise, given the character of the Christian "right." Endowed with a sense of righteousness that cannot be dissuaded by any amount of reasoning, the theo-cons plow ahead with their program to return this country to their notion of where it should be - to rid the land of gays and lesbians, and all who support freedom. To undo Roe v. Wade and return us to the medical and cultural Dark Ages.

They have done this with consummate skill throughout all levels of government, including our Supreme Court. Thankfully, watchdogs of liberty caught Monica's work in progress and revealed it to the American public.

What bothers me are her "Christian" credentials - look her up at Wikipedia.

Blind, manipulative, conniving, all in the name of Jesus - thank you Pat Robertson and his Regent University (if you can dignify it with the term "university).

This kind of Christianity has always been lurking around the dark edges of history, coming to the front now and then - see Inquisition, see Nazi Germany. For a full review of just how wrong the right is, how dysfunctional and misguided this kind of thinking can be, see Chris Hedges American Fascist.

Monica Goodling, you have done us all a favor. Your "boldness for Jesus" has revealed how crass and uncaring, how unloving and twisted, how unbiblical and unchristian this kind of thinking really is.

It's time for Christians to rise up and identify this kind of "christianity" for what it really is - a defective form that, though naming the Name of Jesus, denies His message and His mercy.

Brazil - Embryonic Stem Cell Research

In the world's largest Roman Catholic country, the high court has ruled in favor of legislation allowing embryonic stem cell research. Though opposed by church groups, Brazil makes a stand for research.

For me, it's always helpful when a state frees itself from the Church (I use a capital C to reference the Roman Church as a political entity), freeing not only itself, but the Church as well from the shackles of its own traditions.

The modest metaphors of salt, light and yeast used by Jesus are a far cry from the pomp and power of the Church.

Jesus never intended the church, the movement He founded, to be an Empire. He knew full well from the example of Rome the sadness and tragedy of empire.

McCain and War

McCain blasts Obama for his willingness to talk to hostile leaders.

Quintessential McCain - a man still fighting the Vietnam War, still convinced that carrying a big stick and never talking at all will win the day.

Right!

We're sure setting records now after 8 years of military insanity. The world isn't one bit safer, we've created new enemies, we've crippled our economy and ruined our reputation.

Why not talk? What's too lose? What's to gain?

Let's face it; McCain plays well in the small circle of neo-cons and the whack-'em first gun-owners who love the smell of napalm in the morning - either they never hefted a weapon and are John Wayne-ing themselves into a self-created heroism (by the way, I like John Wayne movies) or they were in combat and are trying to assuage difficult memories by a ramped up "we were wright" attitude that has to be played out again and again in ceaseless conflicts.

Let's talk to everyone ... and a little compromise? Absolutely. Talking with the enemy, and doing so with our Allies, might well have saved the lives of 4000 soldiers and preserved thousands of families torn apart by the stress of repeated deployments while enabling us to divert billions to schools, children and health care.

It's time for a change in strategies, and because I'm a Christian, the reality of "loving the enemy" remains the purpose of life - and by love, Jesus meant doing to them what we would have others would do to us if we were in a similar situation. To love, as Jesus would have it, is to be profoundly ethical, fair and forgiving, always seeking the better way.

The knee-jerk reliance on power is, in fact, the heart of weakness, a weakness that can only weaken us further.

And I'm not talking as an armchair philosopher. History is replete with tragic examples of nations who sought to dominate through intimidation, only to engender the wrath of others while over-extending themselves militarily and financially - a formula for disaster.

We often talk of being a Christian nation - baloney. While the American people often possess a kindness of heart and a global sense of mercy that is genuinely good, the political machinery of our nation, especially in the years following Regan, has been as craven and as self-serving as nations can be. Only the greatest political resolve can keep a nation from tumbling into the darkness of chaos, a resolve we have totally lacked in recent decades. Sadly, we have sold our soul to domination, and tragically, so-called "Christians" have swarmed to the power like moths to a flame, enjoying their White-House influence and swaggering around with Bibles in hand.

Thankfully, their day has passed, and it's time for a new Christian to emerge, a Christian of genuinely "traditional" values like "love the enemy."

The so-called enemy deserves a hearing, and may God grant to us the capacity to listen!

The Economy

As the Dems slug it out primary-by-primary, and Senator McCain cheerily lifts up long-term Iraq occupation as a good thing, the economy tumbles - the fruit of Republican economic policy - the same policy that has failed repeatedly every time it's been tried. At first it sounds great, "Every man for himself," but in the end, the richer get richer, the middle class shrinks, and the poor get poorer. Franklin Roosevelt was absolutely right: without government regulation, there is no middle class, because the middle class is an artificial creation. Left to its own ways, capitalism produces a thin upper layer of extreme wealth while leaving the 95% struggling to make ends meet.

As for McCain's love of war - isn't that what it is? - an old warrior's love of napalm in the morning? - when will Christians realize that Jesus is all about peace? For several thousand years, God engaged in war to build a nation, with all the resulting sorrow and tragedy we witness today, and then one day, God put down the sword and paid us a visit with the Bethlehem Baby. War, no more! At least with swords. Now, only a war for mind and soul - a war fought with words and charity, malice toward none, and the peace that passes understanding.

While an absolute pacifism may not be ideal, or even logically defensible, a practical pacifism is the only option for those who claim the name of Jesus. James Dobson’s saber-ratting is so far off the mark as to defy description.

The Western Powers have been fiddling in the Middle East ever since the end of WW1 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, with the seeming inability to learn from the past, thus condemned to repeat its errors - the fatal belief that we can manage and control the destiny of millions for the sake of oil and so-called "national interests."

There is only one national interest, and that's world peace and cooperation. After all, we're all in this together!

And the economy, driven by fear of terrorism, mesmerized by visions of heroic battlefield warriors "defending the American Way," and all the nonsense of small government (which means borrowing huge sums from China in order to buy oil from the Saudis) is just plain idiocy.

Bush has failed and will go down as the worst president ever. McCain, a far brighter man, is nonetheless, a champion of policies that have repeatedly failed.

It's time for a change, and it's time for Christians to get their act together ... to revisit Bethlehem and embrace God's strategy for the world - a way of deep sacrifice and prayer, shunning violence and building bridges.

Rowan Williams

The current flap about Rowan Williams, head of the world-wide Anglican Church, over his remarks about Sharia Law in Britain, has rightly brought a loud cry of debate, but I'm struck by one of the voices consistently heard when a clergy makes a suggestion that runs counter to accepted practice - "he's naive."

I chuckle when I hear it. And I counter: "Who's naive?"

Rowan Williams isn't naive; he may be wrong, he's likely bold and brave, but naive? Never!

I think politicians and bureaucrats, corporate and government attorneys, and all the machine functionaries are naive, surprised when someone counters their take of things, when someone dares to offer a alternative scenario.

I suspect the bigwigs of Jerusalem said of Jesus, "He's naive" as they patted one another on the back, had another martini and checked their portfolio.

But history amply proves the point: they were tragically naive - they couldn't see the handwriting on the wall, they couldn't add up the realities cascading in upon them, they were blinded by the narrow boundaries of their own power and temporary success.

Pilot was disgraced and banished. Jerusalem fell under the iron fist of Rome, and Rome went the way of all empires.

Who's naive?

Certainly not Rowan Williams!

Islamic Progress

20 British Muslims protested in front of the Sudanese Embassy in London demanding the immediate release of Gillian Gibbons.

Not many, but a good beginning.

A contrast to the Sudanese fundamentalists n Khartoum who called for her execution.

Somewhere along the line, Islam has to create a climate wherein Muslims can raise serious questions about the historicity of the Koran and all the other related intellectual issues that have driven much of Judaism and Christianity in the last 200 years.

Christianity and Judaism have their own brands of fundamentalists, and interestingly enough, these fundamentalist movements all generate violence - from attacking Palestinians to bombing abortion clinics.

Jesus raised serious questions about the Roman Empire, but firmly eschewed all forms of violence.

Violence begets violence, as the United States learns again and again, and its true for religons as well.

Fundamentalists forget that the best weapon with the greatest influence over the long haul of history is still the pen.

Right Wing Failure

I've never been able to calculate the equation: that anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-choice sentiments, added to pro-execution, pro-war, and pro-torture, add up to anything good.

Throw in a little Jesus-talk and vague references to prayer, and a lot of people go gaga!

But truth will out and the times, they are a-changing!

The failure of the right is painfully evident in the chaos of our country - an economy ever-weaker vis-a-vis the world, a national reputation ruined, 40 million uninsured Americans, the obscene gap between worker wages and CEO robber barons, the greed of celebrity preachers and the silly complaining of Christian talk show pundits.

I'm not expecting Camelot, but we can do better.

The rest of the civilized world has universal health care and enough taxes to care for the citizenry. Our allies work tirelessly at diplomacy, finding a way through a crisis, managing their world quite well.

It's time for America to be America once again ... to be utterly humble before the God in which we trust, to be loving and caring of one another - to strive for the public good and live with a little less.

New voices are heard ... there are stirrings of the spirit ... is this not of God?

I believe so.

Like the theo-cons, I have faith, too. And so do millions of Americans - not the scathing, in-your-face kind of faith touted by the right, but the faith taught by Jesus ... and Mohammed ... and Buddha ... and the Dalai Lama.

I'm a Christian, and the last time I read the Bible, it reminded me that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life ... not me, not my faith; not the church nor its many books, its prelates and its pronouncements.

That such things belong to Jesus is a freedom from spiritual bondage for all the world ... Jesus for all the world ... in every faith, in every heart ... in every decent act of kindness and mercy, in every calm thought and positive decision, in every prayer and every hymn ... in Tibetan prayer cloths and a well-worn prayer book ... in temple, mosque and church ... with rabbis and mullahs, priests and pastors.

A new day is dawning.