Hypocrit Nation../Blessed are the Peacemakers/ the Non-Violent Jesus

(An inspiring read on this day when citizens of conscience are demonstrating for Peace)

COMMENTARY:
Hypocrite Nation
by Rev. John Dear, S.J.

Last September, I spoke to some 2,000 students during their annual lecture at a Christian college in Pennsylvania. After a short prayer service for peace centered on the Beatitudes, I took the stage. “Now let me get this straight,” I said. “Jesus says, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ which means he does not say, ‘Blessed are the warmakers,’ which means, the warmakers are not blessed, which means warmakers are cursed, which means, if you want to follow the nonviolent Jesus you have to work for peace, which means, we all have to resist this horrific, evil war on the people of Iraq.”

With that, the place exploded, and it seemed like 500 students stormed out and the rest started chanting, “Bush! Bush! Bush!”

So much for my speech. Not to mention the Beatitudes.

I was not at all surprised that George W. Bush was reelected president. As I travel the country speaking out against war, injustice and nuclear weapons, I see many people consciously siding with the culture of war, choosing the path of violence, supporting corporate greed, rampant militarism, and global domination. I see many others swept up in the raging current of patriotism. Since most of these people, beginning with the president, claim to be Christian, I am ashamed and appalled that they support war and systemic injustice, that they do it in the name of God, and that they feign fidelity to the nonviolent Jesus who gave his life resisting institutionalized injustice.

Most North American Christians are now becoming more and more like these hypocritical religious officials. We side with the rulers, the bankers, and the corporate millionaires and billionaires. We run the Pentagon, bless the bombing raids, support executions, make nuclear weapons and seek global domination for America as if that was what the nonviolent Jesus wants. And we dismiss anyone who disagrees with us.We have become a mean, vicious people, what the bible calls “stiff-necked people.” And we do it all with the mistaken belief that we have the blessing of God.

http://baltimorechronicle.com/030405Dear.shtml

by the drumbeats of war and hate. How someone can claim to be a Christian and support this obscene immorality called the Bush Administration is beyond me.

Going to meet with some folks I think really are Christians at the peace rally this afternoon....there are a few left.

Great article. Recommended.

I asked her, "Doesn't Jesus say blessed are the peacemakers?" She responded that God works in mysterious ways and that we do not know his plans.



:wtf:

have an answer except to quote another phrase from the Bible. :eyes: It's really frustrating.

Hypocrits....

They appear to be, but I see it this way ,When I was a child, I thought as a child etc.................Many so callded Christians think as the children they truly are, follow a "second-hand" religion, one forced on them, not chosen, and haven't "grown up", seeing things as they really are. Sure, it's frustrating and annoying to say the least, but hey, kids will be kids! :>)

who invaded Iraq, huh?

It was a very mortal human administration making the choice for war, not any divine being.

Unless her answer is the fundy way of saying they really DO believe * is "god."

:puke:

I think it must be the brainwashing. Good was washed out; who knows what replaced it.

keep preaching the GOOD word.

interesting the reaction of people when they think they might be separated from their violent ways.

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to quote from the book of Proverbs: "Pride goeth before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction" This country is full of both right now so the future doesn't look good.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1129-07.htm

Published on Saturday, November 29, 2003 by CommonDreams.org


The Soldiers At My Front Door
by John Dear

-snips-

I live in a tiny, remote, impoverished, three block long town in the desert of northeastern New Mexico. Everyone in town--and the whole state--knows that I am against the occupation of Iraq, that I have called for the closing of Los Alamos, and that as a priest, I have been preaching, like the Pope, against the bombing of Baghdad.

But I was surprised the following morning to hear 75 soldiers singing, shouting and screaming as they jogged down Main Street, passed our St. Joseph’s church, back and forth around town for an hour. It was 6 a.m., and they woke me up with their war slogans, chants like “Kill! Kill! Kill!” and “Swing your guns from left to right; we can kill those guys all night.”



I decided I had to do something. I put on my winter coat and walked out the front door right into the middle of the street. They stopped shouting and looked at me, so I said loudly, publicly for all to hear, “In the name of God, I order all of you to stop this nonsense, and not to go to Iraq. I want all of you to quit the military, disobey your orders to kill, and not to kill anyone. I do not want you to get killed. I want you to practice the love and nonviolence of Jesus. God does not bless war. God does not want you to kill so Bush and Cheney can get more oil. God does not support war. Stop all this and go home. God bless you.”


Their jaws dropped, their eyeballs popped and they stood in shock and silence, looking steadily at me. Then they burst out laughing. Finally, the commander dismissed them and they left.

It's refreshing to find a positive article in GD which portrays the progressive, liberal values where Christianity and Politics meet.

There are more of "us" than people realize.

AFSC and most of the bigger Yearly Meetings of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in the US are sponsoring something today.

Unfortunately, most of the people who think like this priest are either shouted down, ignored or "dealt with". The pastor at the Catholic church where I was raised led prayer vigils for peace in Vietnam, and it got him transferred to a Spanish-speaking parish in the city, where I guess they thought he'd do less damage. Three people in my Friends Meeting came out of that particular Catholic Church - the peace message stuck.

The priest in the article cites the Pope's opposition to the war - where are all the "pro-life" Catholics today? Why aren't they supporting the Pope's wish for peace in Iraq? Are they distracted, or are the "cafeteria Catholics"?

A well written protest against the war. Written much better than I could have done.... yet he spoke my sentiments exactly.

:toast:

Let's let us understand that we here on DU do have consciences!

I still am not over that one! These fundamentalists are no more Christains than Osama is a Muslim. Fanatics who claim any religion are not people of faith, they use faith to do mean and horrible things and try to justify it by "holy books" written long ago, translated and parsed, and may or may not resemble the original meaning of what is now being held up as "faithful words".

start erecting monuments to the beatitudes.

an article too full of meaning for all of the news/nonnews events happening right now.

:eyes:

...maybe I'll get a jub as a RW adman for 2006... tell me what you think.'


Jesus Christ says we should beat our swords into plowshares.

Jesus Christ... wrong on Defense, wrong for America


or how about.

Homosexuals are trying to take over the media, using televison to spread their unholy agenda. What does Jesus Christ himself say about homosexuality? Absolutely Nothing,

Jesus Christ. Wrong on Values... wrong for America.

thanks for posting.

:kick: