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UPDATE: TX Methodist Gov. Rick Perry still refuses to understand Matthew 6:1-6. Continuing on target to make Christianity a cynical wedge issue, his sponsor/partner, the AFA is unapologetic in its rejection of other faiths. As mentioned below, their disdain for all things LGBT related is not a secret either. Even Sponge Bob Square [...] Through some miracle, the Crusades II did not officially begin this last week during 9-11 remembrances. It was not for lack of effort on the parts of many. Major book burnings were cancelled, albeit at the last minute, leaving it to the usual morons to pick up the slack at a handful of impromptu [...]
As a minister who ministered to military soldiers for 20 years as a USAF chaplain (after I served 11 years as an enlisted airman, I decided to go to seminary and into ministry full-time and later served as a chaplain to military soldiers), and as a representative of a mainline American church which prays for Peace weekly in church and who preaches Peace and Justice in the world weekly from the pulpit, I join the entire city of San Marcos in mourning the death of Captain Paul Pena who was killed in Afghanistan last week. Yes, this is a religious issue. Like Isaac up on the mountain looking to his father Abraham and wondering what was going on, our children in uniform trust us adults who vote and shape policies through our voices. Each Sunday we pray for World Peace and light a candle on the altar to symbolize praying for all soldiers and military members stationed around the world and separated from their home churches. We pray for wisdom for our national leaders as they deal with the threats against Peace in our world. We pray for all leaders around the world and we pray for all soldiers of all nations. All soldiers are children. As a chaplain and minister, I am one of many Americans who are deeply concerned about the practicalities and the impracticality of our soldiers continuing to rotate indefinitely over to war zones. Even in Viet Nam we soldiers went over for one year and those who survived did not go back. Other soldiers rotated over there. We had a draft and a large pool of soldiers (children) to sustain that war. Whether or not you agree with the War against Terror (as it is called), please be aware of how precarious a situation we are creating for our current soldiers and for our future military defense system and our nation (and for our world) by continuing a policy of somehow supporting a world-wide defensive war against terror (which appears to have no end — historically this would be true based on centuries-old ongoing wars between religious groups and sects in other parts of the world) and fighting this war with only a small number of volunteer active duty and reserve soldiers. Continue reading Mourning a Fallen Soldier The Rev. Dr. Sam Dixon, head of the humanitarian relief agency of The United Methodist Church (UMCOR) died before he could be rescued from the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Four others had been trapped in the rubble for nearly 55 hours. The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Haiti was killed [...]
The photos tell the story, one of the most impoverished nations in this hemisphere experiences a natural disaster which leaves an estimated 50,000 dead and hundreds of thousands injured, homeless, and orphaned. Poor, sick, starving, and pitiful. And a man who represents himself as a Christian leader suggests that their ancestors from nearly 3 centuries ago were responsible by making a deal with the devil. Assuming that you’ve read at least one of the Gospels, take a moment to imagine Christ walking among the destitute of Haiti. What kind of image do you come up with, what kind of dialogue would He have with the population? Blessed are the poor? Or damned are the poor? Even Jon Stewart of the Comedy Channel threw the Bible at Pat, and didn’t play it for laughs. Stewart also mentioned the remarks that drug user Rush Limbaugh made on his radio network. Rush made it a partisan tragedy, lambasting the Obama White House: “This will play right into Obama’s hands — humanitarian, compassionate. They’ll use this to burnish their, uh, shall we say, credibility with the black community, both the light-skinned and black community in the country. That’s why he couldn’t wait to get out there; could not wait to get out there.” While inexcusable, we know that Rush earns his millions through sensational, extremist, and often hateful partisan rhetoric. When he sits in the center ring of his circus, we expect an untamed show. If you buy the ticket, you want to see the wild beasts and the wire walkers working without a net. He boldly tells us that he’s the Greatest Show On Earth. Continue reading Pat Robertson Condemns Christianity: A Preachable Moment
My own experience with Haiti is limited, but revelatory. I’ll never forget landing at the airport in Port-au-Prince in April of 2002. Our wide-body jet from Miami landed, and once it had come to a stop, rotated 180 degrees in the middle of the runway. There were no taxiways to take the jet to the terminal. Our plane simply pulled over and let us out at a terminal teeming with humanity. It appeared as something out of a movie, a third-world concrete fortress without windows. A tropical breeze blew freely through it. The crowd milling around the terminal was punctuated with groups of white visitors wearing matching T-shirts that proudly proclaimed their desire to bring help to the people of Haiti. I came to recognize that I was not the only person there interested in missions, ready to lend a hand somehow. Leaving the terminal and entering the city, it seemed that an entire economy was being run by American Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians, doing their best to prop up this hodge-podge of a city. The mission economy of Haiti was thriving. Well, sort of. There’s a certain beauty to parts of the city. As the peeling pastel-colored paint on the buildings of Havana point to both the destitution and the aspirations of the Cubans, the edifices of Port-au-Prince show a Haitian culture that is struggling but vibrant. One is struck by the ongoing influence of Voodoo religion, Christian schools, and the hope that is both fueled and cynically exploited by thousands of establishments inviting citizens to play the lottery. Continue reading The Failure of Charity |
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