|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Right Wing |
|
Will Christians Speak Up for Moral Values? |
Current rating: 0 |
by Church Presence
(No verified email address) |
10 Sep 2006
|
|
September 10 an AWARE Church Presence was held to ask the Question: Will Christians Speak up for Moral Values in 2006? |
| |
Christians speak up for moral values
Dr. Robin Meyers' Speech (excerpts) November 14, 2004
Minister of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City
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.
We've heard a lot lately about so-called "moral values".
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:
-- When you start a war on false pretenses, 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.
-- When you live in a country that has established international rules for waging a just war, build the United 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 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.
-- 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.
-- When you favor 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- When you cause most of the rest 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.
-- 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.
And war -- war is the greatest failure of the human race – and thus the greatest failure of faith. |
This work is in the public domain |
Comments
|
Re: Will Christians Speak Up for Moral Values? |
by What a pity...
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
11 Sep 2006
|
|
What a pity that some ministers self-righteously paint all fundamentalist Christians into a corner and then condemn them for beliefs that they don't even hold. In the old days, they were called Pharisees. I'm really, REALLY disillusioned with so-called Christian peace activists who have no trouble showing the same hatred that they falsely attribute to others. You're driving others away who would otherwise support you. Don't you think it would be more effective actually having fundamentalist Christians with you working for peace instead of driving them away with antagonism? But, your umbrella is only big enough for... six people. |
|
Re: Will Christians Speak Up for Moral Values? |
by BD
BD (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
12 Sep 2006
|
In fact, it is the hypocritical pro-war christians who need to check themselves.
Indeed, what would Jesus do in Iraq?
What does the Church do in Urbana?
Fire its employees who take a stand for peace and justice.
Much respect to those who put their careers and their faith on the line.
Peace, BD |
|
Re: Will Christians Speak Up for Moral Values? |
by What a pity... (PS)
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Sep 2006
|
Hello, J and D K (et al.). I'm sorry to hear that the Vineyard fired the worker. I wasn't aware of that. As you might remember, I have issues with Vineyard (I was brushed aside due to sexual orientation issues--ironic, huh?), which is why I attend a different church. I would have loved to have been present when you spoke with the pastor, because I would have raised that other issue as well, but that's water under the bridge. If you've been following other discussions on this site and in email lists, you'll realize that there is a lot of blind hostility towards Christianity in general and fundamentalist Christianity in particular that's simply based in ignorance. At the IMC, I've been involved with Books to Prisoners, WRFU, AWARE, CUCPJ, the Public i (one issue), moving from the old IMC building, and cleaning and painting the new spaces in the Post Office. You know why I gave all that up, right? Hostility towards my faith. In AWARE, it was so overt and ridiculous, especially among members of your Church Presence group who really should have known better, that I just had to leave in disgust. No one stuck up for me, no one asked me back, not even the ones who claimed to be Christian. No, I'm not judging or condemning you--that's not for me to do. I'm just telling you what happened and why I left.
Let me let you in on a secret. Your struggle isn't with fundamentalist Christians. Your struggle is with people who want war in order to serve their selfish interests, and who manipulate people through their faith to support their goals. That's why I suggested dialogue with church leaders. That's not "judging" you, that's common sense, as well as the more peaceful and effective solution. You say you've tried it, so I'll take your word for it and not suggest it again.
One thing that has our president and his religous advisors enthralled is premillenial dispensationalism, you know, the Left Behind syndrome. That is how Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Tim LaHaye, and others manipulate tens of millions of Americans to support Israel's policies of aggression and subjugation in the Middle East. In the meantime, Palestinian and Lebanese Christians are being ignored and marginalized (and killed). Not all fundamentalists accept that interpretation (I don't), and the challenge is in teaching other believers that that interpretation is not only incorrect (not what the original writers intended), but also dangerous for mankind's survival. It's something I'm giving a lot of thought to these days. I need to bounce my ideas off of others, so if you're interested, you know where to reach me. For a good introduction to this subject, take a peek at www.christianzionism.org. I just learned something new from that site. I'm classified as an evangelical rather than a fundamentalist :-). |
|
Re: Will Christians Speak Up for Moral Values? |
by What a pity...
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Sep 2006
|
|
PS -- The comment that I was replying to disappeared, and I also forgot to mention that I got the number six from counting the number of different people in the photograph (plus the photographer). |
|
Re: Will Christians Speak Up for Moral Values? |
by *OUT SIDE* SUNDAY
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Sep 2006
|
|
Dear What a Pity (PS):AWARE has tried many times to discuss and work with churches. Many like the CUCC are wonderful and accepting even of those who do not agree with each of their beliefs. Others are not willing to talk about a Christian response to our current war. Some churches say only that they pray for our leaders and support the troops and take no stand on what is being done in our name with our tax dollars. Much like the church in Germany during the time of Hitler. Many in our group are outside a church because their faith compels them to be there. You can judge them and say we should work with those inside the church for change. A 25-year member of the Vineyard tried to do that. She was also an eight-year employee and when she tried to work for peace inside she was fired. She made a sacrifice for her beliefs. We heard one of the pastors tell her that the Vineyard had grown so large and big that they could no longer be merciful. That’s not Christian, even if a pastor says it. Judge and condemn us if you want. By the way unless you were there you might not know the number of those present on Sunday was more than you think. There is a lot of real estate there and we had 3 entrances to cover. It did look like rain, but when our group arrived the clouds disappeared and the sun was shinning. But if we ever do need an umbrella it will be big enough for all who want to work for peace no mater where it takes us. |
|
Clarification |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
13 Sep 2006
|
While there is some overlap in membership between the groups mentioned in the comment by "What a pity," lumping them all together is really not appropriate. Books to Prisoners, WRFU, and the Public i are UC IMC working groups. AWARE and CUCPJ both meet at the IMC, but are independent groups outside of the IMC structure.
I can't speak for any groups I'm not directly involved with, but I really don't see how WRFU is responsible for "Hostility towards my faith" or anyone else's for that matter. We currently air a number of shows representing different faith traditions on WRFU. In approving new shows to go on the air, it is rare for WRFU to discuss in depth what programming will be presented by any specific group. This is intentional, as we do not have a central programming group, so that each show determines for themselves what they want to put on the air. |
|
Re: Will Christians Speak Up for Moral Values? |
by What a pity...
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
13 Sep 2006
|
|
I'm talking about individuals at WRFU, ML, not a fixed policy. Also, I'm aware of the relationship of AWARE and CUCPJ to the IMC structure. |
|
