President Bush and his cruelty to all generations
What will it cost us? Will we be prepared to pay the price? Will anybody even want to do anything? I'm talking about the Christian's response to President Bush's veto of the bill passed by Congress that would prohibit the CIA from using methods that are torture called by another name. I am asking, are we Christians going to do anything? When it was a question of women getting the vote, or chopping down trees, people chained themselves to fences and trees. What will we be called upon to do now? Will any of our Christian leaders be willing to pay the price of resistance? I know I am afraid of the cost. I have such a nice comfortable life; I would hate to be inconvenienced because people who may, or may not be, terrorists are being tortured.
But if our church leaders do not call us to rally and demand that Bush change his mind what am I becoming? I am becoming someone who gives a tacit agreement (By not resisting) to inhumanity and cruelty. It looks like Mr. Bush has already inconvenienced my comfortable life. That is if any of our church leaders care enough to do anything about it. I don't think they will. Years of occupying themselves with cruelty to the unborn will have made them indifferent to cruelty to the suspected terrorist. Years of fighting all sorts of domestic calamities will make them tolerant of a national calamity. There is no glamor or pride in fighting against something which the President thinks necessary. There may be a few committees, and even a letter from the various leaders. That will lull us all into aquiesence.
Expediency is the excuse that President Bush has used for his refusal to listen to the voice of this country's leadership and to continue to treat our enemies brutally. Expediency was the excuse the Herod the Great, the King of the Jews used when he killed all the boys under two years old in Bethlehem. He reasoned that if the safety of the nation (and his position) needed protecting then any evil thing became necessary. Fear and suspicion justified his murder of little children, the same fear and suspicion made it expedient that he order the execution of two of his own sons. Will we soon accept torture of our own people to make our nation safe? Will we become fascist in order to protect ourselves against fascism?
So what am I to do? Should I leave America so that my taxes do not involve me in this unamerican activity? Alas I have paid my taxes; I am involved. Now that we have dishonored the Geneva Agreement will it still be honored by our enemies? What if one of my grandchildren is taken prisoner in a future war? There are some preachers who have got so misled by the notion of winning at any cost that they will tell me that my grandchildren will have to be brave and trust God. I want to know why aren't we being brave and trusting God now?
Do we trust God enough to refuse to do evil? We have been faced with fascism and terror before from Nazis and Communists, we did not use cruelty then, and we were victorious, with God's help. So why are we now so afraid that we have choosen cruelty in order to defend ourselves? Is it true that we we are so afraid of this hidden enemy and his cruel religious laws, that we will make our own laws cruel in order to defend ourselves? In fighting terror will we allow CIA to become a terror to foreign and perhaps domestic suspects?
Do we trust God enough to refuse to be party to this evil that our President has involved us all in? That is the question Christians must ask. The answer may be that we do not trust God. We only trust God when we have big guns and fast planes. When the Jewish faith became more talk than action God did not deliver the Jews from the Assyrians, Is that why we are afraid? The religious leaders of the Jewish nation chose to have Jesus tortured to death because they were afraid of Rome and its retalliation. Just one small act, approved by the leaders. Jesus could have backed down from his determination to deliver the whole message and saved himself from death. Jesus chose to do right, only right, all the right. We dare not do the same, we dare not do right, only right, and all the right. It appeared that God had not defended Jesus because he died. Of course he was resurrected, but we are very much a down to earth brand of Christians just now, and this might not appeal to many of us. Is this what we are afraid of, that God might let us loose? We dare not trust God to defend us, so, rather than do right and trust God, we will ignore and destroy the standards of mercy that Jesus taught us, is this true?
No our religious leaders will not give us leadership. God may raise up a Daniel for us, but if he does we will probably kill Daniel.
But if our church leaders do not call us to rally and demand that Bush change his mind what am I becoming? I am becoming someone who gives a tacit agreement (By not resisting) to inhumanity and cruelty. It looks like Mr. Bush has already inconvenienced my comfortable life. That is if any of our church leaders care enough to do anything about it. I don't think they will. Years of occupying themselves with cruelty to the unborn will have made them indifferent to cruelty to the suspected terrorist. Years of fighting all sorts of domestic calamities will make them tolerant of a national calamity. There is no glamor or pride in fighting against something which the President thinks necessary. There may be a few committees, and even a letter from the various leaders. That will lull us all into aquiesence.
Expediency is the excuse that President Bush has used for his refusal to listen to the voice of this country's leadership and to continue to treat our enemies brutally. Expediency was the excuse the Herod the Great, the King of the Jews used when he killed all the boys under two years old in Bethlehem. He reasoned that if the safety of the nation (and his position) needed protecting then any evil thing became necessary. Fear and suspicion justified his murder of little children, the same fear and suspicion made it expedient that he order the execution of two of his own sons. Will we soon accept torture of our own people to make our nation safe? Will we become fascist in order to protect ourselves against fascism?
So what am I to do? Should I leave America so that my taxes do not involve me in this unamerican activity? Alas I have paid my taxes; I am involved. Now that we have dishonored the Geneva Agreement will it still be honored by our enemies? What if one of my grandchildren is taken prisoner in a future war? There are some preachers who have got so misled by the notion of winning at any cost that they will tell me that my grandchildren will have to be brave and trust God. I want to know why aren't we being brave and trusting God now?
Do we trust God enough to refuse to do evil? We have been faced with fascism and terror before from Nazis and Communists, we did not use cruelty then, and we were victorious, with God's help. So why are we now so afraid that we have choosen cruelty in order to defend ourselves? Is it true that we we are so afraid of this hidden enemy and his cruel religious laws, that we will make our own laws cruel in order to defend ourselves? In fighting terror will we allow CIA to become a terror to foreign and perhaps domestic suspects?
Do we trust God enough to refuse to be party to this evil that our President has involved us all in? That is the question Christians must ask. The answer may be that we do not trust God. We only trust God when we have big guns and fast planes. When the Jewish faith became more talk than action God did not deliver the Jews from the Assyrians, Is that why we are afraid? The religious leaders of the Jewish nation chose to have Jesus tortured to death because they were afraid of Rome and its retalliation. Just one small act, approved by the leaders. Jesus could have backed down from his determination to deliver the whole message and saved himself from death. Jesus chose to do right, only right, all the right. We dare not do the same, we dare not do right, only right, and all the right. It appeared that God had not defended Jesus because he died. Of course he was resurrected, but we are very much a down to earth brand of Christians just now, and this might not appeal to many of us. Is this what we are afraid of, that God might let us loose? We dare not trust God to defend us, so, rather than do right and trust God, we will ignore and destroy the standards of mercy that Jesus taught us, is this true?
No our religious leaders will not give us leadership. God may raise up a Daniel for us, but if he does we will probably kill Daniel.
Labels: inhumanity, torture
posted by Jessie Coates at 12:17 AM
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