I think this should be required reading.
And for those hiding under a rock the last month, this would also provide good background!
-Clair
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
"Keep the spotlight burning..."
I was struck by George Clooney‘s speech at Sunday’s Emmys awards which I watched online because - let's face it - for people living here in AUS it was broadcast live during the middle of our Monday morning!
There is a lot wrong with TV these days, but Clooney has definitely done something right, and in a sustained manner. He has used the power of television to raise money where it is needed most.
George helped shape a good portion of the world's awareness – though it's still way too low – of the genocide in Darfur. He also created "Not On Our Watch" with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, and had jumped in with his fame muscle power to initiate "America: A Tribute to Heroes in the wake of 9/11." He then put together "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope in 2005" and "A Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast" following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and most recently, the "Hope For Haiti Now" telethon.
That was enough to be chosen as only the fourth recipient of a Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, which they intiated way back in 2002.
When accepting this award on Sunday night to a standing ovation, George was fairly brief - and included some irreverent bits, of course - but yet was also inspiring…just like the man himself. Here's the essence of what he said:
“It’s important to remember how much good can get done because we live in such strange times where bad behaviors suck up all the attention in the press and the people who really need the spotlight, the Haitians, the Sudanese, the people in the Gulf Coast… Pakistan, they can’t get any [press].
When the disaster happens, everybody wants to help, everybody in this room wants to help, everybody at home wants to help. The hard part is seven months later, five years later, when we’re on to a new story…honestly, we fail at that, most of the time. That’s the facts.
I fail at that.
So here’s hoping that some very bright person right here in the room or at home watching can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heartbreaking situations that continue to be heartbreaking long after the cameras go away. That would be an impressive accomplishment. Thank you.”
Profound challenge. Take a listen for yourself. -Clair
There is a lot wrong with TV these days, but Clooney has definitely done something right, and in a sustained manner. He has used the power of television to raise money where it is needed most.
George helped shape a good portion of the world's awareness – though it's still way too low – of the genocide in Darfur. He also created "Not On Our Watch" with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, and had jumped in with his fame muscle power to initiate "America: A Tribute to Heroes in the wake of 9/11." He then put together "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope in 2005" and "A Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast" following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and most recently, the "Hope For Haiti Now" telethon.
That was enough to be chosen as only the fourth recipient of a Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, which they intiated way back in 2002.
When accepting this award on Sunday night to a standing ovation, George was fairly brief - and included some irreverent bits, of course - but yet was also inspiring…just like the man himself. Here's the essence of what he said:
“It’s important to remember how much good can get done because we live in such strange times where bad behaviors suck up all the attention in the press and the people who really need the spotlight, the Haitians, the Sudanese, the people in the Gulf Coast… Pakistan, they can’t get any [press].
When the disaster happens, everybody wants to help, everybody in this room wants to help, everybody at home wants to help. The hard part is seven months later, five years later, when we’re on to a new story…honestly, we fail at that, most of the time. That’s the facts.
I fail at that.
So here’s hoping that some very bright person right here in the room or at home watching can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heartbreaking situations that continue to be heartbreaking long after the cameras go away. That would be an impressive accomplishment. Thank you.”
Profound challenge. Take a listen for yourself. -Clair
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Ever still think about what its like to live and "survive" in Haiti these days?
This article - "Eastering in the Rubble" - will provide some insight.
Are any readers here involved (or in touch with others involved) in providing pastoral care and other supports there? I would like to hear more.
And then when they say that the death and devastation anticipated in Pakistan NOW is worse than the COMBINED EFFECTS of that earthquake in Haiti plus the loss of life and devastation in the Indonesian Tsunami a few years ago, plus all the effects on the lives of those caught up in Hurricane Katrina - well, the scale of need is beyond all my comprehension...
Sunday noon some of us got together for a fund-raiser meal of good Asian food and were surprised we raised over three thousand dollars to give to TEAR Australia for Pakistan relief. We need to get even more creative for the long haul, and it will require a sustained effort...
Clair
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Why many global citizens could be justified in their (mis?)perception that US military efforts are part of a "Christian Crusade"
The following examples, most of which come from a well-researched story on "Christian Crusaders" in Harper's Magazine, May 2009 issue, may help explain why I personally...
1) find this to be theologically problematic: whenever offensive (in every sense of that term) military endeavours get construed as enforcing "God's will"
and
2) feel that chaplains in the military can quite easily have their theological integrity and respect for other faiths severely compromised.
Why? Take a gander at these recent and current realities:
--a bible verse etched into military firearms
--the video footage showing US soldiers in Afghanistan discussing how to distribute Bibles translated into Pashto and Dari
--An Easter Sunday raid on Iraqi insurgents in 2004. Special Forces Officers, inspired by a showing of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, wrote the words "Jesus Killed Mohammed" in Arabic on their Bradley Fighting Vehicle and shouted the saying in both English and Arabic to entice Muslim soldiers into the open before embarking on an attack to put down the insurgency.
--A meeting of an underground all-male, cadet-led prayer group at the U.S. Air Force Academy where members discuss, among other things, the deceptions necessary for missionary work in China. The author attended the group's meeting under the promise that he would not publish the group's name out of fear that: "Those who do believe in separation of church and state might interfere with its goal of turning the world's most elite war college into its most holy one, a seminary with courses in carpet bombing."
-- Interviews with Lieutenant Colonel Bob Young in which he defends and shows no remorse for stating that it would be better for a black to be a slave in America and know Christ, than to be free and not know Christ.
--- A speech given by Army Lieutenant Colonel Greg Metzgar before the Officers Christian Fellowship - a group with 15,000 active members at 80 percent of military bases - in which he stressed: "Christian soldiers must always consider themselves behind enemy lines, even within the ranks, because every unsaved member of the military is a potential agent of `spiritual terrorism.'"
---Excerpts from a book published in 2005 by Lieutenant Colonel William McCoy, Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel, which describes an "anti-Christian bias" in this country he seeks to counter by making the case for the "necessity of Christianity for a properly functioning military." McCoy's book was endorsed by General David Petraeus, who said: "Under Orders should be in every rucksack for those moments when soldiers need spiritual energy." General Petraeus, while claiming his statement was not meant for the public, has never recanted his statement.
AND RIGHT NOW WE HAVE THIS: Jihadist Web site Uses Mass Baptism of Marines As Proof of 'Christian Crusade' in Afghanistan ! (click on that hyperlink)
The article states something many may be unaware of, and then raises a very important question: "...over the last several years, Christian 'fitness' programs have sprouted up through the major armed forces branches, and high level officers in the Army Reserves have even asserted that “the application of the principles of [Christian] Scripture” can help returning vets to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder....So, if Christian beliefs are intrinsic and necessary to the U.S. military’s fighting capability, how would American military campaigns differ from crusades?"
Does anyone here have a good response to that question? (Some tried, in the rather interesting reader response section after that article.)
My point is: All this makes it so much more challenging in our communication with people of other faiths for those (like me) who believe that to follow Jesus means resisting involvement in war and violence in all its forms, and to seek alternative non-violent ways to resist evil and love one's enemy. (By the way, you won't find accounts of any Christians in the first 300 years in the history of the faith believing otherwise.)
When people experience the sort of behaviour described above it makes it all too easy to equate Christianity and the message of Jesus with the toxic distorted message of exceptionalism and nationalism so popular in America right now, perpetuated by those who have their God mixed up with their country, or their warmongering - disguised as "peacekeeping" - mixed up with their faith. (And obviously it doesn't even matter anymore which political party one is from!) How in heaven does a military chaplain keep this stuff straight?
I hope this helps make it clear why I am and always will be a pacifist Christian. (Note: I did not say "passivist.") While I have some friends who are chaplains in various branches of the military - and a couple of them are pretty good friends at that - I could never be one. While I know that Jesus hung out with people from all strata of society and levels of responsibility, and I also know his disciples (particularly Peter) had a strong influence on at least one soldier - a Roman centurian - I want to be entirely honest. I personally am having a very hard time envisioning Jesus focusing his ministry as a chaplain in the military - at least as we know it to be now in America and for the purposes that servicemen and women now get deployed around the world.
I do sincerely hope this generates some thoughtful discussion and that we can pursue some authentic dialogue on these rather troubling issues (below.)
-Clair
1) find this to be theologically problematic: whenever offensive (in every sense of that term) military endeavours get construed as enforcing "God's will"
and
2) feel that chaplains in the military can quite easily have their theological integrity and respect for other faiths severely compromised.
Why? Take a gander at these recent and current realities:
--a bible verse etched into military firearms
--the video footage showing US soldiers in Afghanistan discussing how to distribute Bibles translated into Pashto and Dari
--An Easter Sunday raid on Iraqi insurgents in 2004. Special Forces Officers, inspired by a showing of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, wrote the words "Jesus Killed Mohammed" in Arabic on their Bradley Fighting Vehicle and shouted the saying in both English and Arabic to entice Muslim soldiers into the open before embarking on an attack to put down the insurgency.
--A meeting of an underground all-male, cadet-led prayer group at the U.S. Air Force Academy where members discuss, among other things, the deceptions necessary for missionary work in China. The author attended the group's meeting under the promise that he would not publish the group's name out of fear that: "Those who do believe in separation of church and state might interfere with its goal of turning the world's most elite war college into its most holy one, a seminary with courses in carpet bombing."
-- Interviews with Lieutenant Colonel Bob Young in which he defends and shows no remorse for stating that it would be better for a black to be a slave in America and know Christ, than to be free and not know Christ.
--- A speech given by Army Lieutenant Colonel Greg Metzgar before the Officers Christian Fellowship - a group with 15,000 active members at 80 percent of military bases - in which he stressed: "Christian soldiers must always consider themselves behind enemy lines, even within the ranks, because every unsaved member of the military is a potential agent of `spiritual terrorism.'"
---Excerpts from a book published in 2005 by Lieutenant Colonel William McCoy, Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel, which describes an "anti-Christian bias" in this country he seeks to counter by making the case for the "necessity of Christianity for a properly functioning military." McCoy's book was endorsed by General David Petraeus, who said: "Under Orders should be in every rucksack for those moments when soldiers need spiritual energy." General Petraeus, while claiming his statement was not meant for the public, has never recanted his statement.
AND RIGHT NOW WE HAVE THIS: Jihadist Web site Uses Mass Baptism of Marines As Proof of 'Christian Crusade' in Afghanistan ! (click on that hyperlink)
The article states something many may be unaware of, and then raises a very important question: "...over the last several years, Christian 'fitness' programs have sprouted up through the major armed forces branches, and high level officers in the Army Reserves have even asserted that “the application of the principles of [Christian] Scripture” can help returning vets to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder....So, if Christian beliefs are intrinsic and necessary to the U.S. military’s fighting capability, how would American military campaigns differ from crusades?"
Does anyone here have a good response to that question? (Some tried, in the rather interesting reader response section after that article.)
My point is: All this makes it so much more challenging in our communication with people of other faiths for those (like me) who believe that to follow Jesus means resisting involvement in war and violence in all its forms, and to seek alternative non-violent ways to resist evil and love one's enemy. (By the way, you won't find accounts of any Christians in the first 300 years in the history of the faith believing otherwise.)
When people experience the sort of behaviour described above it makes it all too easy to equate Christianity and the message of Jesus with the toxic distorted message of exceptionalism and nationalism so popular in America right now, perpetuated by those who have their God mixed up with their country, or their warmongering - disguised as "peacekeeping" - mixed up with their faith. (And obviously it doesn't even matter anymore which political party one is from!) How in heaven does a military chaplain keep this stuff straight?
I hope this helps make it clear why I am and always will be a pacifist Christian. (Note: I did not say "passivist.") While I have some friends who are chaplains in various branches of the military - and a couple of them are pretty good friends at that - I could never be one. While I know that Jesus hung out with people from all strata of society and levels of responsibility, and I also know his disciples (particularly Peter) had a strong influence on at least one soldier - a Roman centurian - I want to be entirely honest. I personally am having a very hard time envisioning Jesus focusing his ministry as a chaplain in the military - at least as we know it to be now in America and for the purposes that servicemen and women now get deployed around the world.
I do sincerely hope this generates some thoughtful discussion and that we can pursue some authentic dialogue on these rather troubling issues (below.)
-Clair
Monday, 9 August 2010
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