The Splintering Effect

The principle proof of evil's presence is the splintering effect, the breaking apart and the breaking down, of life's essential connections.

Whether it be Cain killing his brother, Abel, or Elisha using his newfound power to kill some children, the splintering effect sets one against the other - people, communities, entire nations, the world.

Jesus fought evil's effects by crossing boundaries and going where "proper people" didn't go.

The Apostle Paul speaks of Christ reconciling the world, through the cross, through his death, by his suffering, to repair the damages of sin.

Ultimately leading Paul to the glorious affirmation, that in Christ all the usual categories of splintering are overcome, so that in Christ, there is no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or free, no longer male and female.

Movement Conservatives*, of either the political or evangelical bent, require splintering for their purposes.

They thrive on division, folks pitted against one another - the usual categories of splintering: saved or damned, man or woman, white or colored, taker or maker, capitalist or socialist, straight or queer, strong or weak, Reagan or FDR, public schools or private schools, voting rights or voter fraud, voting in person or voting by mail, masks or no masks, stay home or go to church.

For the Movement Conservative, everything is a reason for splintering, because in splintering, they find their perverse strength.

Movement Conservatives are not strong enough in the usual shove and push of politics and faith; they don't have the votes to win, except through gerrymandering and voter suppression, and likely Russian influence.

Nor do they have a Gospel of hope and reconciliation - needing instead schools and churches with harsh boundaries, seasoned with white supremacy, male dominance, the love of guns, and the hatred of LDGBQ persons.

Movement Conservatives have to divide in order to conquer, and let's be honest here, the Movement Conservative is determined to conquer, to win everything, to destroy democracy and rebuild the Oligarchy (Southern Style), to undo FDR's social supports and replace them with Reagan's supply-side economics, to undo voting rights, civil rights, rights for women and people of color, because such rights for all, they claim, diminish the rights, the liberties, the privileges, of the few, those few who alone know how to run things, to advance the American cause, or the cause of Christ.

That some should be Movement Conservatives for the sake of politics doesn't surprise or sadden me. There have always been those like the Genesis story of Lamech who love the blood and gore of revenge and victory.

But what truly saddens me, though it doesn't surprise me either, is how the evangelicals have bought into Movement Conservatism lock, stock, barrel.

In so doing, evangelicals have abandoned the salvation of Christ, rejected his purpose, denied his call to discipleship, and joined the hostile crowds standing in Pilate's courtyard to shout at the top of their lungs, hands raised in praise, "Crucify him."

Evangelicals have bowed the knee to Baal, Mammon, and Ceaser. With their trumped up claims to "freedom of worship," and personal rights, they trample upon the public good and further splinter the nation. They no longer serve Christ, but some distorted version thereof.

History is full of such hideous moments: and of more recent times: the church in Spain with Franco, the church in Italy with Mussolini, and the church in Germany with Hitler. Fascism, national socialism, militarism - white supremacy, racial purity, the dominance of the rich, the subjugation of women, and government by brutal power.

Movement Conservatives are out to get it all, and if they can't get it all, they'll destroy it all.

In the meantime, dear friends, be smart, be careful, wash your hands, wear your masks and don't be misled by those who would splinter the nation while working for their own privilege and power.

If you're a Christian, spend some time in the Gospels, especially the Sermon on the Mount and Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

And to all my friends here, if you've read this through, I salute you for your care and compassion, your larger sense of life and hope, your commitment to the common good of this nation, and the welfare of the world.

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*For Movement Conservatives, see the work of historian, Heather Richardson ...

An Abomination???

I cannot believe:

Chris Christie.
Comparing Covid-19 deaths.
To WW2.

A complete and filthy dismissal of what really happened.

When American Families waved goodbye:
To their sons and daughters.
Many of whom never returned home.

They and their families:

Believed in America, not as a financial enterprise.
But a bastion of democracy and hope.
Not an economy for the Oligarchs.
But a way of life embodied in the art of Normal Rockwell.

And of the millions who left and returned,
many injured in body and soul.
Plagued with memories too horrible to tell.

To compare Covid-19 deaths to
WW2.

Is this not an abomination?

A sin against every WW2 grave in Arlington.
The graves at Normandy.
And all around the world.
Brave young women and men who died for freedom.
For hope.
To liberate the oppressed.
To set the captives free.
To give sight to the blind.
And help to the lame.
To feed the children of the world.
And restore peace to the nations.

To compare all of this to Covid-19 deaths:
Trivializes the sacrifice of American Families.

And the lives of millions lost around the world.
Millions killed by the Axis Powers.

The monsters, the evil ones:
Franco in Spain.
Mussolini in Italy.
Hitler in Germany.
Hirohito in Japan.

By comparing WW2 and the deaths of millions,
To death from Covid-19.
Is this not an abomination?
A lie?

What we have is:
Death by mismanagements and bad judgment.
Death by mealy-mouth politicians and religious dolts..
Death by incompetency and greed.
Death by stupidity and malice.

Is this not an abomination?

For Christie to give voice to this insane lie.
He now joins the ranks of the Evil Ones.
Those who distort and deceive.
Those who play upon the sentiments of the good
And the decent.
Those who break covenant with truth.
Who embrace the darkness of hell.
And stamp out the light of heaven.

In my mind, not a question.
This IS an abomination.

As the Psalmist says:

Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts; there is no fear of God before their eyes.

For they flatter themes in their own eyes that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit; they have ceased to act wisely and do good.

They plot mischief while on their beds; they are set on a way that is not good; they do no reject evil.

Psalm 36.1-4

Gun Rallies???

Gun right's rallies - where are the hunters in their Elmer Fudd Caps and bright orange jackets?

These gun rallies are not for hunters and hobbyists; they're full dress-rehearsals for militia action.

With semi-automatics, masks, body armor, camo clothing.

They are Mussolini's Black Shirts, Hitler's Brown Shirts, Franco's anti-Communist Catholic fanatics, and Hirohito's nationalists and militarists.

Read your darn history people - this isn't about gun ownership, it's about gun supremacy, and a host of horrible beliefs and behaviors.

These guys and their molls are ready for action, just waiting for the moment to "cleanse the nation" and install Jesus Christ as King, and woe to anyone who stands in their way.

This is no joke - history makes clear this possibility - our very own history, of course, is rife with violence, and violence begets violence, and no violence is quite so terrible as that endowed with a "holy purpose."

Gun Rally - MLK, Jr. Day

To have a gun rally on MLK, Jr. Day is akin to parading a Nazi flag in a Jewish Cemetery.

It breaks my heart to see these misguided "patriots" prancing around like schoolyard bullies, snickering and egging one another on. And it breaks my heart all the more to see how unscrupulous politicians are playing these people for fools.

I have no sympathy for their cause whatsoever, simply because their cause isn't about gun ownership, but about gun supremacy, and all the fear and hatred associated with the darkest kinds of thoughts, fueled by racism and male belligerence, along with women in tight t-shirts sporting red MAGA hats.

Nope.

These are not friends of democracy.
These are not people of intelligence and wisdom.
These are not hard working folks who make a nation great, but a people who drag it down into the gutters of bitterness and violence.

There are better ways, and I pray, better days coming our way.

Yet the work ahead is going to be demanding of our every fiber of being. Every fragment of goodness, every bit of virtue, every dream of hope and peace, will have to be marshaled to save this nation from the darkness once again rearing its ugly head.

"I have a dream," said he, and so must we all.

A dream that makes us strong to endure and strong to keep up the work.
A dream to energize our efforts to build a just society.
To cleanse the culture.
To make life good and safe for our children and grandchildren.

It can be done.
It must be done.
It will be done.

"No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satis­fied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mig·hty stream."To have a gun rally on MLK, Jr. Day is akin to parading a Nazi flag in a Jewish Cemetery.

The House March into the Senate

Watched the "march" of House Representatives to the Senate ... a solemn procession with a most serious purpose.

I'm moved ... in part dispirited by the present issues clouding our nation's life and threatening its future.

I'm hopeful that the Senators who declared their partiality will repent and then take seriously the oath of impartiality.

Every day that passes, our nation suffers damage, and so does the world, for much of the world, by design or accident, depends upon us, for good and for ill.

From the get-go, I saw this all coming - a criminal narcissist cannot change his or her behavior, and for reasons historians will study for decades, if not centuries, a lot of Americans believed the man's lies and admired his presumption.

While the man lost the popular vote by a considerable margin, the age-old problem of the South once again reared its ugly head with the Electoral College, a device created to give the less populous Southern Slave States a greater weight than actually deserved - including the infamous "Three-Fifths Compromise" of 1787.

And, then, into the calculus, Russian Interference.

From the environment to immigration, from voting rights to jobs, from international treaties to education, America has been in turmoil and decline.

From the top down, aided and abetted by Southern politics, the odious idea of nullification, foolish and mislead evangelicals, and the insidious racism still bedeviling our land, the Union is clearly under attack and daily threatened by a cabal of beliefs and behaviors inconsistent with our Constitution and our Democracy.

I'm heartened that we still have a lot of people who care for the nation's wellbeing - women and men of good character and reasoned faith, who exhibit good cheer and a fondness for knowledge and learning, who desire to do the best they can for the greatest number of people, irrespective of race, religion, language and culture.

I'm heartened by the evangelicals of good conscience who are emerging out of the shadows cast by the extremists, to challenge the distortions that have crippled much of the American evangelical church.

And I give thanks for women and men of the mainline churches who are sustaining their convictions on voting rights, inclusion rights, and fundamental kindness and mercy for all.

Where and how it all ends, no one knows, but I hope that we can do what Christ did in the Holy City - when entering the precincts of power and commerce, he overturned the tables and shut it all down, declaring the awful truth: that which pretends to be holy is nothing less than a bunch of robbers stealing the wealth of the people and feathering the nests of the 1 %.

That 1% saw to it that Christ was killed, but truth cannot be destroyed so easily, and there was a resurrection, much to everyone's surprise.

I hope and pray that we'll be surprised by goodness and mercy, wise government and faithful servants, who indeed seek the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Baghdad Airport

The pictures of Baghdad Airport shocked me ... reminding me of any major airport anywhere in the world.

How would we feel if some superpower sent a guided missile to O'Hare, or LAX, or anyone of our major airports?

This is clearly an act of war.

Will it unify the people of Iran?

An act of terrorism against any of our airports would likely unify us, at least for the moment. It's the very nature of a nation to rally around the flag in a moment of crisis.

Have we really stepped in it this time?

Has the President made a disastrous move from which there may come a great deal of harm?

Iran is no third-rate nation ... its power doesn't match ours, of course, but it's powerful enough, and has the means to retaliate.

What hath this man's insanity wrought?

Will the State of Israel now loose the dogs of war? Netanyahu certainly could use a crisis to avert eyes from his malfeasance.

And the evangelicals, of course, can only cheer, because Armageddon will usher in the Second Coming of Christ, and a new world order wherein LGBTQs will vanish, women will know their place and be pregnant all the time, and evangelicals will sit on thrones to rule the world, singing fervently, "Just as I Am."

What Flag to Fly over Confederate Graves?

Of course, for sure, and then some.
The Confederate army was full of young men fighting for and with their friends, families and neighbors.


Yes, they were white, and likely sympathetic to slavery.
But they were just young men, even boys.
They died in war like all soldiers do.
Broken, bloody and full of hurt.
Maybe slowly laying in the dirt.
In a hospital full of germs.
Or suddenly, in the blink of an eye
Gone.
And gathered up and buried.
Laid to rest, as they say.


Like all soldiers in any army.
Too young to know the difference.
Some fled and defected.


But most didn't.
Most couldn't.
Or wouldn't.
And many died.
And they were buried by moms and dads.
Uncles and aunts, sisters and brothers.
Tears were shed.
Tombstones sunk into the ground.
Trees planted.


Remember them?
Of course.
Honor them?
Yes.


But let's not fly the Confederate Flag.
That's a piece of rebellion and steeped in horror.
It's all about slavery.
That's what it was.
That's what it is.
Slavery.
White supremacy.
Jim Crow.
States' Rights.
Nullification.
The end of the Union.
Shackles and chains.
Whips and ropes.


Yes, that's the truth.


There should never be a Confederate Flag associated with the young men moldering away in the ground across the southern stretches of this nation ... but only the Star and Stripes ... one nation, indivisible ...


Remember them, of course.
But let Old Glory rise above their graves.
In some form or fashion, they died for that flag.
They challenged it.
Tested and tried that flag.


And that flag endured.
And it was, in part, their blood, that made it so.


So, over their graves.
The glorious flag of a nation.
With plenty of struggles.
But still united.
Still held together by the Constitution.
And fragile dreams of democracy.


God bless them.
And God bless us all.
As we struggle to be:
The United States of America.