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Date: February 04, 2005 at 08:54:22
From: Rebecca, [renf-cache-5.server.ntli.net]
Subject: Re: Minister Weighs in on the War etc. - Dr Robin Meyer's Speech at.. |
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As I first read Dr Meyer's speech I was inspired to comment on many of the statements he makes. My responses have a > in front of them. Enjoy!
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---As some of you know, I am minister of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City, an Open and Affirming, Peace and Justice church in northwest Oklahoma City, and professor of Rhetoric at Oklahoma City University.
---But you would most likely have encountered me on the pages of the Oklahoma Gazette, where I have been a columnist for six years, and hold the record for the most number of angry letters to the editor.
---Tonight, I join ranks of those who are angry, because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus, but whose actions are anything but Christian.
>I also join the ranks of those who are angry; because I see the faith I love being taken over by those who would water it down till it is meaningless, who claim to speak for Jesus, but whose actions are anything but Christian.
---We've heard a lot lately about so-called "moral values" as having swung the election to President Bush. Well, I'm a great believer in moral values, but we need to have a discussion, all over this country, about exactly what constitutes a moral value -- I mean what are we talking about?
>A great idea. Our moral values are the principals that guide our interactions with others. They form the basis of what we believe is “right” or “wrong.” These can be taken from the Bible, family, or society. I choose to take mine from the Bible.
---Because we don't get to make them up as we go along, especially not if we are people of faith. We have an inherited tradition of what is right and wrong, and moral is as moral does.
>We do have an inherited tradition of what is right and wrong. But that tradition is being thrown out faster than new ones can form. We have a tradition of family values, of justice, and of faith in our God, but now the rights of families are being destroyed, judges now feel it is their responsibility to change moral values, and our faith in God has been pushed out of all public places.
---Let me give you just a few of the reasons why I take issue with those in power who claim moral values are on their side:
>Let me give you just a few of the reasons why I take issue with those who claim to have a more enlightened view of moral values.
--- When you start a war on false pretences, and then act as if your deceptions are justified because you are doing God's will, and that your critics are either unpatriotic or lacking in faith, there are some of us who have given our lives to teaching and preaching the faith who believe that this is not only not moral, but immoral.
>Calling it “false pretences” and “deception” indicates purposeful concealment of the truth. When people make negative claims about the motives of someone they don’t know, and they don’t offer facts to back it up, it’s called slander. Some of us consider that immoral.
--- When you live in a country that has established international rules for waging a just war, build the Unite d Nations on your own soil to enforce them, and then arrogantly break the very rules you set down for the rest of the world, you are doing something immoral.
>When the international rules and deadlines are not enforced, and the international community refuses to take action, perhaps it is time to rethink our support of what appears to be a powerless group of whining diplomats. What everyone else thinks is irrelevant if it is not correct. Would you think it was a good idea to jump off a cliff if everyone else did? What about the Vietnam War? You say that it was a bad idea, but it was UN supported. When our leaders sent forces to Vietnam, it was under SEATO, a "regional arrangement" authorized under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter. The UN is NOT always right.
--- When you claim that Jesus is the Lord of your life, and yet fail to acknowledge that your policies ignore his essential teaching, or turn them on their head (you know, Sermon on the Mount stuff like that we must never return violence for violence and that those who live by the sword will die by the sword), you are doing something immoral.
>And yet, God consistently led His people into battle against those who would harm them. Jesus said in John 22:36, “But now, whoever has a money-bag should take it, and also a backpack. And whoever doesn't have a sword should sell his robe and buy one.” The responsibilities of government are to protect the people, and the Sermon on the Mount was meant for individuals, not government. It is immoral to watch people being fed into plastic shredders, burnt with HCL, tortured, killed, and persecuted while we sit in our free country doing nothing to help.
--- When you act as if the lives of Iraqi civilians are not as important as the lives of American soldiers, and refuse to even count them, you are doing something immoral.
>On the contrary, we value the lives of the Iraqi civilians enough to risk the lives our friends, brothers, and sons to help give them a chance at a better life.
--- When you find a way to avoid combat in Vietnam, and then question the patriotism of someone who volunteered to fight, and came home a hero, you are doing something immoral.
>We question the patriotism of someone who appears to have lied about the combat he encountered, and who was so disliked by those who served with him that they would write books, raise funds, and quite their jobs to stop him. We question the patriotism of someone who would make a public statement against the war (his American right) by throwing away his ribbon while actually keeping his medals. This is a “deception” if I ever saw one.
--- When you ignore the fundamental teachings of the gospel, which says that the way the strong treat the weak is the ultimate ethical test, by giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us so the strong will get stronger and the weak will get weaker, you are doing something immoral.
>It is not the responsibility of the government to take from those who work to give to those who do not. High taxation of the “wealthy” only leads to fewer jobs and more people to “support.” Less money lost to taxes means more to be reinvested in private businesses resulting in a stronger economy to constructively help those in need. It is the church’s responsibility to care for the weak, and I agree that we do not do to all that should be done.
--- When you wink at the torture of prisoners, and deprive so-called "enemy combatants" of the rules of the Geneva convention, which your own country helped to establish and insists that other countries follow, you are doing something immoral.
>Torture has never been condoned. To imply that we support it in any way is wrong and insulting. The “enemy combatants” have received food, water, lodging, and medical treatment. They certainly don’t give the same to our boys (I tend to think of chopping off heads as torture).
--- When you claim that the world can be divided up into the good guys and the evil doers, slice up your own nation into those who are with you, or with the terrorists -- and then launch a war which enriches your own friends and seizes control of the oil to which we are addicted, instead of helping us to kick the habit, you are doing something immoral.
>According to the Bible, good guys and bad guys do exist (Mt 5:45, Mt 13:38, Mt 13:49) As for oil, for the first time in many years, the profits are actually going to the citizens of Iraq, rather than into the pockets of Saddam and his friends.
--- When you fail to veto a single spending bill, but ask us to pay for a war with no exit strategy and no end in sight, creating an enormous deficit that hangs like a great millstone around the necks of our children, you are doing something immoral.
>If previous administrations had not started the rampant spending in the first place, we wouldn’t be as far into debt. This war is only adding a few specks of dust to the weight of that millstone. We would rather pay for this war, than support people who won’t work, or pay for illegal immigrants to go to college, or pay for children to be taught that God doesn’t exist.
--- When you cause most of the of the world to hate a country that was once the most loved country in the world, and act like it doesn't matter what others think of us, only what God thinks of you, you have done something immoral.
>God said that when we follow him, and do what is right, everyone else will revile us because we shine a light in their darkness (Mt 10:22, Mt 32:32, Lk 21:17,Jn 3:20, Jn 15:21). My Bible says that what God thinks of us is all that really matters. And despite what people may say, last time I checked, people were still flooding across our borders and Iraqi citizens were thanking our solders.
--- When you use hatred of homosexuals as a wedge issue to turn out record numbers of evangelical voters, and use the Constitution as a tool of discrimination, you are doing something immoral.
>Belief that the act of homosexuality is wrong (I Cor 6:9) does not mean hatred of homosexuals. We don’t hate those who steal or those who lie, even though we believe what they do is wrong. And homosexuality was never a big enough issue to have an impact at the poles. The faith of the President, his stands on multiple issues, and our views on economics were what brought us to vote.
--- When you favour the death penalty, and yet claim to be a follower of Jesus, who said an eye for an eye was the old way, not the way of the kingdom, you are doing something immoral.
>As an individual it is my responsibility to forgive, but society has a responsibility to punish those who break the law and to protect its people. Anyone who has wilfully taken the lives of numerous people has given up all rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Try Romans 13:4, which says, “For government is God's servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God's servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.”
--- When you dismantle countless environmental laws designed to protect the earth which is God's gift to us all, so that the corporations that bought you and paid for your favors will make higher profits while our children breathe dirty air and live in a toxic world, you have done something immoral. The earth belongs to the Lord, not Halliburton.
>The Lord gave us the earth to care for and it is our responsibility as consumers to drive change. It is not the government’s responsibility to legislate it. As long as you drive a car, live in a wooden house, and heat your home, etc., you are causing the problems, not government.
--- When you claim that our God is bigger than their God, and that our killing is righteous, while theirs is evil, we have begun to resemble the enemy we claim to be fighting, and that is immoral. We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.
>According to the Bible, our God is the only god (I Kings 8:60, Isaiah 42:81, Jn 17:3, I Tim 2:5.) We do not kill unless fired upon, and we do not leave car bombs to kill innocent people. We were not the ones killing millions of Iraqis over the last 15 years. It is immoral to watch others die and never attempt to help them. It is the cause for which you fight that sets you apart.
--- When you tell people that you intend to run and govern as a "compassionate conservative," using the word which is the essence of all religious faith-compassion, and then show no compassion for anyone who disagrees with you, and no patience with those who cry to you for help, you are doing something immoral.
>Compassion is reserved for those who deserve it. We will have compassion on someone who is working hard and trying to support his family. We will not have compassion on those who would take our help and then buy cars bigger than we will ever own or take vacations we could never afford. We will have compassion by helping others to help themselves, not by setting them up in a cycle of poverty that will crush their family. Is it really compassionate to treat a symptom when you can cure the problem? There are other aspects here as well. Do you call it “compassionate” to kill a child before it has a chance to live? do you call it “compassionate” to allow others to suffer eternal punishment, because society considers it “wrong” to claim we know the only way?
--- When you talk about Jesus constantly, who was a healer of the sick, but do nothing to make sure that anyone who is sick can go to see a doctor, even if she doesn't have a penny in her pocket, you are doing something immoral.
>Anyone can get treatment in the emergency room. Most doctors will see patients who are unable to pay (the medical lab I worked for did numerous tests for “indigent” patients who could not pay the fees.) A system does exist to help those who are truly in need; it’s called Medicaid.
--- When you put judges on the bench who are racist, and will set women back a hundred years, and when you surround yourself with preachers who say gays ought to be killed, you are doing something immoral.
>I can’t take this one seriously enough to comment on it. Someone needs to do a bit more research.
---I'm tired of people thinking that because I'm a Christian, I must be a supporter of President Bush, or that because I favor civil rights and gay rights I must not be a person of faith. I'm tired of people saying that I can't support the troops but oppose the war -- I heard that when I was your age, when the Vietnam war was raging. We knew that that war was wrong (remember it was UN supported!), and you know that this war is wrong (beg to differ) -- the only question is how many people are going to die before these make-believe Christians are removed from power?
>I’m tired of people thinking that because I support Bush, I must be stupid. I’m tired of people thinking that because I think homosexuality is wrong, I must hate homosexuals. I’m tired of people thinking that because I’m a Christian I don’t have the right to influence politics. I’m tired of being told that I should sit down and shut up simply because I don’t agree with society. I’m tired of “Christians” that have compromised their faith to accept the world’s values and then have the gall to tell us we are the “make-believe Christians.”
---This country is bankrupt. The war is morally bankrupt. The claim of this administration to be Christian is bankrupt. And the only people who can turn things around are people like you -- young people who are just beginning to wake up to what is happening to them. It's your country to take back. It's your faith to take back. It's your future to take back.
>This country is morally bankrupt; we have lost much of the faith and belief that made us “rich.” Many others and I agree; it is people like me,young people who are just beginning to wake up to what is happening to them, who can turn things around. It is time to take my country back, it is time to take my faith back, and it is time to take my future.
---Don't be afraid to speak out. Don't back down when your friends begin to tell you that the cause is righteous and that the flag should be wrapped around the cross, while the rest of us keep our mouths shut. Real Christians take chances for peace. So do real Jews, and real Muslims, and real Hindus, and real Buddhists -- so do all the faith traditions of the world at their heart believe one thing: life is precious. Every human being is precious. Arrogance is the opposite of faith. Greed is the opposite of charity. And believing that one has never made a mistake is the mark of a deluded man, not a man of faith.
>I won’t be afraid to speak out. I won’t back down when my friends tell me that they know what’s best, that I should just go along as they strip the cross from our flag, and that I should keep my mouth shut. Real Christians take a chance for God. And yeah, the rest of the world may not like it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is the right thing to do. Life is precious and we shouldn’t take it from the young or the old. Every human being is precious, and we should do our best to protect the helpless from bullies, such as Saddam. Arrogance may be the opposite of faith, but it is not arrogant to fight for what is right. Charity? If Government let us keep more of our money, we would have more to give.
---And war -- war is the greatest failure of the human race -- and thus the greatest failure of faith. There's an old rock and roll song, whose lyrics say it all: "War, what is it good for?" And what is the dream of the prophets? That we should study war no more, that we should beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Who would Jesus bomb, indeed? How many wars does it take to know that too many people have died? What if they gave a war and nobody came? May be one day we will find out.
>War, what is it good for (Rom 13:4)? How about saving millions of Jews and other people who would have been tortured and killed in Germany. How about protecting your country from those who killed over 3000 innocent people in New York. How bout freeing a people from a dictator who would not allow girls to go to school, who used international aid to build palaces while his people starved, and who destroyed the heart and sole of his country. I would never wish for war, but I know there is a peace that is only to be found on the other side of war. I am willing to fight, to give up my life to reach it! (Mt 10:34, Lk 12:51, Lk 19:42)
---Time to march again my friends. Time to commit acts of civil disobedience. Time to sing, and to pray, and refuse to participate in the madness. My generation finally stopped a tragic war. You can too!"
>It is time to march again my friends. Time to commit acts of civil disobedience: bringing your Bible to school, participating in sit-ins outside abortion clinics, speaking out for our beliefs in public places. Time to sing, time to pray, and time to refuse to participate in the liberal madness. Perhaps my generation can finally return this beautiful, wonderful nation to the Truth that saves.
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