The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[+] The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King at 76

[Thanks to David Enroth ('Sky') for forwarding this remembrance of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King on the 76th anniversary of his birth.]

Just three weeks after his 39th birthday, and two months before he was murdered, The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered this meaningful sermon to the congregation of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia (February 4, 1968). In remembrance of him we honor his 76th birthday: January 15, 2005 ... = Sky

Martin Luther King, Jr., a bearer of light, in Seattle, 1961

This morning I would like to use as a subject from which to preach: "The Drum Major Instinct." "The Drum Major Instinct." And our text for the morning is taken from a very familiar passage in the tenth chapter as recorded by Saint Mark. Beginning with the thirty-fifth verse of that chapter, we read these words: "And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him saying, "Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire." And he said unto them, "What would ye that I should do for you?" And they said unto him, "Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory." But Jesus said unto them, "Ye know not what ye ask: Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" And they said unto him, "We can." And Jesus said unto them, "Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared." And then Jesus goes on toward the end of that passage to say, "But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your servant: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all."

The setting is clear. James and John are making a specific request of the master. They had dreamed, as most of the Hebrews dreamed, of a coming king of Israel who would set Jerusalem free and establish his kingdom on Mount Zion, and in righteousness rule the world. And they thought of Jesus as this kind of king. And they were thinking of that day when Jesus would reign supreme as this new king of Israel. And they were saying, "Now when you establish your kingdom, let one of us sit on the right hand and the other on the left hand of your throne."

Now very quickly, we would automatically condemn James and John, and we would say they were selfish. Why would they make such a selfish request? But before we condemn them too quickly, let us look calmly and honestly at ourselves, and we will discover that we too have those same basic desires for recognition, for importance. That same desire for attention, that same desire to be first. Of course, the other disciples got mad with James and John, and you could understand why, but we must understand that we have some of the same James and John qualities. And there is deep down within all of us an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct -- a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is something that runs the whole gamut of life.
And so before we condemn them, let us see that we all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade. Alfred Adler, the great psychoanalyst, contends that this is the dominant impulse. Sigmund Freud used to contend that sex was the dominant impulse, and Adler came with a new argument saying that this quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire for distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life, this drum major instinct.

And you know, we begin early to ask life to put us first. Our first cry as a baby was a bid for attention. And all through childhood the drum major impulse or instinct is a major obsession. Children ask life to grant them first place. They are a little bundle of ego. And they have innately the drum major impulse or the drum major instinct.Now in adult life, we still have it, and we really never get by it. We like to do something good. And you know, we like to be praised for it. Now if you don't believe that, you just go on living life, and you will discover very soon that you like to be praised. Everybody likes it, as a matter of fact. And somehow this warm glow we feel when we are praised or when our name is in print is something of the vitamin A to our ego. Nobody is unhappy when they are praised, even if they know they don't deserve it and even if they don't believe it. The only unhappy people about praise is when that praise is going too much toward somebody else. (That's right) But everybody likes to be praised because of this real drum major instinct.Now the presence of the drum major instinct is why so many people are "joiners." You know, there are some people who just join everything. And it's really a quest for attention and recognition and importance. And they get names that give them that impression. So you get your groups, and they become the "Grand Patron," and the little fellow who is henpecked at home needs a chance to be the "Most Worthy of the Most Worthy" of something. It is the drum major impulse and longing that runs the gamut of human life. And so we see it everywhere, this quest for recognition. And we join things, overjoin really, that we think that we will find that recognition in.

Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets you into buying. In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car. (Make it plain) In order to be lovely to love you must wear this kind of lipstick or this kind of perfume. And you know, before you know it, you're just buying that stuff. (Yes) That's the way the advertisers do it.

I got a letter the other day, and it was a new magazine coming out. And it opened up, "Dear Dr. King: As you know, you are on many mailing lists. And you are categorized as highly intelligent, progressive, a lover of the arts and the sciences, and I know you will want to read what I have to say." Of course I did. After you said all of that and explained me so exactly, of course I wanted to read it. [laughter]

But very seriously, it goes through life; the drum major instinct is real. (Yes) And you know what else it causes to happen? It often causes us to live above our means. (Make it plain) It's nothing but the drum major instinct. Do you ever see people buy cars that they can't even begin to buy in terms of their income? (Amen) [laughter] You've seen people riding around in Cadillacs and Chryslers who don't earn enough to have a good T-Model Ford. (Make it plain) But it feeds a repressed ego.

You know, economists tell us that your automobile should not cost more than half of your annual income. So if you make an income of five thousand dollars, your car shouldn't cost more than about twenty-five hundred. That's just good economics. And if it's a family of two, and both members of the family make ten thousand dollars, they would have to make out with one car. That would be good economics, although it's often inconvenient. But so often, haven't you seen people making five thousand dollars a year and driving a car that costs six thousand? And they wonder why their ends never meet. [laughter] That's a fact.

Now the economists also say what your house shouldn't cost "if you're buying a house, it shouldn't cost more than twice your income." That's based on the economy and how you would make ends meet. So, if you have an income of five thousand dollars, it's kind of difficult in this society. But say it's a family with an income of ten thousand dollars, the house shouldn't cost much more than twenty thousand. Well, I've seen folk making ten thousand dollars, living in a forty- and fifty-thousand-dollar house. And you know they just barely make it. They get a check every month somewhere, and they owe all of that out before it comes in. Never have anything to put away for rainy days.

But now the problem is, it is the drum major instinct. And you know, you see people over and over again with the drum major instinct taking them over. And they just live their lives trying to outdo the Joneses. (Amen)

They got to get this coat because this particular coat is a little better and a little better-looking than Mary's coat. And I got to drive this car because it's something about this car that makes my car a little better than my neighbor's car. (Amen) I know a man who used to live in a thirty-five-thousand-dollar house. And other people started building thirty-five-thousand-dollar houses, so he built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar house. And then somebody else built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar house, and he built a hundred-thousand-dollar house. And I don't know where he's going to end up if he's going to live his life trying to keep up with the Joneses.

There comes a time that the drum major instinct can become destructive. (Make it plain) And that's where I want to move now. I want to move to the point of saying that if this instinct is not harnessed, it becomes a very dangerous, pernicious instinct. For instance, if it isn't harnessed, it causes one's personality to become distorted. I guess that's the most damaging aspect of it: what it does to the personality. If it isn't harnessed, you will end up day in and day out trying to deal with your ego problem by boasting. Have you ever heard people that you know, (and I'm sure you've met them) that really become sickening because they just sit up all the time talking about themselves. (Amen) And they just boast and boast and boast, and that's the person who has not harnessed the drum major instinct.

And then it does other things to the personality. It causes you to lie about who you know sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) There are some people who are influence peddlers. And in their attempt to deal with the drum major instinct, they have to try to identify with the so-called big-name people. (Yeah, Make it plain) And if you're not careful, they will make you think they know somebody that they don't really know. (Amen) They know them well, they sip tea with them, and they this-and-that. That happens to people.

And the other thing is that it causes one to engage ultimately in activities that are merely used to get attention. Criminologists tell us that some people are driven to crime because of this drum major instinct. They don't feel that they are getting enough attention through the normal channels of social behavior, and so they turn to anti-social behavior in order to get attention, in order to feel important. (Yeah) And so they get that gun, and before they know it they robbed a bank in a quest for recognition, in a quest for importance.

And then the final great tragedy of the distorted personality is the fact that when one fails to harness this instinct, (Glory to God) he ends up trying to push others down in order to push himself up. (Amen) And whenever you do that, you engage in some of the most vicious activities. You will spread evil, vicious, lying gossip on people, because you are trying to pull them down in order to push yourself up. (Make it plain)

And the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct.

Now the other problem is, when you don't harness the drum major instinct -- this uncontrolled aspect of it -- is that it leads to snobbish exclusivism. It leads to snobbish exclusivism. (Make it plain) And you know, this is the danger of social clubs, fraternities (I'm in a fraternity; I'm in two or three), sororities, and all of these, I'm not talking against them. I'm saying it's the danger. The danger is that they can become forces of classism and exclusivism where somehow you get a degree of satisfaction because you are in something exclusive. And that's fulfilling something, you know -- that I'm in this fraternity, and it's the best fraternity in the world, and everybody can't get in this fraternity. So it ends up, you know, a very exclusive kind of thing.

And you know, that can happen with the church; I know churches get in that bind sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) I've been to churches, you know, and they say, "We have so many doctors, and so many school teachers, and so many lawyers, and so many businessmen in our church." And that's fine, because doctors need to go to church, and lawyers, and businessmen, teachers -- they ought to be in church. But they say that -- even the preacher sometimes will go all through that --they say that as if the other people don't count. (Amen)

And the church is the one place where a doctor ought to forget that he's a doctor. The church is the one place where a Ph.D. ought to forget that he's a Ph.D. (Yes) The church is the one place that the school teacher ought to forget the degree she has behind her name. The church is the one place where the lawyer ought to forget that he's a lawyer. And any church that violates the "whosoever will, let him come" doctrine is a dead, cold church, (Yes) and nothing but a little social club with a thin veneer of religiosity.

When the church is true to its nature, (Whoo) it says, "Whosoever will, let him come." (Yes) And it does not supposed to satisfy the perverted uses of the drum major instinct. It's the one place where everybody should be the same, standing before a common master and savior. (Yes, sir) And a recognition grows out of this -- that all men are brothers because they are children (Yes) of a common father.

The drum major instinct can lead to exclusivism in one's thinking and can lead one to feel that because he has some training, he's a little better than that person who doesn't have it. Or because he has some economic security, that he's a little better than that person who doesn't have it. And that's the uncontrolled, perverted use of the drum major instinct.

Now the other thing is, that it leads to tragic -- and we've seen it happen so often -- tragic race prejudice. Many who have written about this problem -- Lillian Smith used to say it beautifully in some of her books. And she would say it to the point of getting men and women to see the source of the problem. Do you know that a lot of the race problem grows out of the drum major instinct? A need that some people have to feel superior. A need that some people have to feel that they are first, and to feel that their white skin ordained them to be first. (Make it plain, today, -- cause I'm against it, so help me God) And they have said over and over again in ways that we see with our own eyes. In fact, not too long ago, a man down in Mississippi said that God was a charter member of the White Citizens Council. And so God being the charter member means that everybody who's in that has a kind of divinity, a kind of superiority. And think of what has happened in history as a result of this perverted use of the drum major instinct. It has led to the most tragic prejudice, the most tragic expressions of man's inhumanity to man.

The other day I was saying, I always try to do a little converting when I'm in jail. And when we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were showing us where intermarriage was so wrong. So I would get to preaching, and we would get to talking -- calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And then we got down one day to the point --that was the second or third day -- to talk about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, "Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You're just as poor as Negroes." And I said, "You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white. And you're so poor you can't send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march."

Now that's a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position, where through blindness and prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he's superior because his skin is white -- and can't hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week out. (Amen)
And not only does this thing go into the racial struggle, it goes into the struggle between nations. And I would submit to you this morning that what is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy. And if something doesn't happen to stop this trend, I'm sorely afraid that we won't be here to talk about Jesus Christ and about God and about brotherhood too many more years. (Yeah) If somebody doesn't bring an end to this suicidal thrust that we see in the world today, none of us are going to be around, because somebody's going to make the mistake through our senseless blunderings of dropping a nuclear bomb somewhere. And then another one is going to drop. And don't let anybody fool you, this can happen within a matter of seconds. (Amen) They have twenty-megaton bombs in Russia right now that can destroy a city as big as New York in three seconds, with everybody wiped away, and every building. And we can do the same thing to Russia and China.

But this is why we are drifting. And we are drifting there because nations are caught up with the drum major instinct. "I must be first." "I must be supreme." "Our nation must rule the world." (Preach it) And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. And I'm going to continue to say it to America, because I love this country too much to see the drift that it has taken.

God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now. (Preach it, preach it) God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war as the war in Vietnam. And we are criminals in that war. We've committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation.

But God has a way of even putting nations in their place. (Amen) The God that I worship has a way of saying, "Don't play with me." (Yes) He has a way of saying, as the God of the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews, "Don't play with me, Israel. Don't play with me, Babylon. (Yes) Be still and know that I'm God. And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." (Yes) And that can happen to America. (Yes) Every now and then I go back and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And when I come and look at America, I say to myself, the parallels are frightening. And we have perverted the drum major instinct.

But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"

But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."

And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared." (Amen)

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important -- wonderful. If you want to be recognized -- wonderful. If you want to be great -- wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant.

I know a man -- and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you will discover who I'm talking about as I go down the way (Yeah) because he was a great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure village, (Yes, sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years old. (Amen) Then for three years, he just got on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things. He didn't have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. (Yes) He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. They called him a rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They said he was an agitator. (Glory to God) He practiced civil disobedience; he broke injunctions. And so he was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. And the irony of it all is that his friends turned him over to them. (Amen) One of his closest friends denied him. Another of his friends turned him over to his enemies. And while he was dying, the people who killed him gambled for his clothing, the only possession that he had in the world. (Lord help him) When he was dead he was buried in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together (Yes) have not affected the life of man on this earth (Amen) as much as that one solitary life. His name may be a familiar one. (Jesus) But today I can hear them talking about him. Every now and then somebody says, "He's King of Kings." (Yes) And again I can hear somebody saying, "He's Lord of Lords." Somewhere else I can hear somebody saying, "In Christ there is no East nor West." (Yes) And then they go on and talk about, "In Him there's no North and South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world." He didn't have anything. (Amen) He just went around serving and doing good.

This morning, you can be on his right hand and his left hand if you serve. (Amen) It's the only way in.

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator -- that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize -- that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards -- that's not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)

I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,

Then my living will not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,

If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,

If I can spread the message as the master taught,

Then my living will not be in vain.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

[First delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on February 4, 1968]

An Open Letter to the President From a Gay Parent

by Steve Davis
February 24, 2004

Dear Mr. President,

I could not avoid you tonight as your support for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage blared throughout the airport lounge via CNN. As I listened to your confusing messages about family and values and politics, I shared sadness with my fellow travelers about your continuing fear-driven approach to leadership. Your defense of traditional marriage rang hollow; rather, it was a poor endorsement for discrimination, ignorance and your conservative political base.

Uncharacteristically, I decided not to be angry, offended or cynical. Rather, I desperately want to understand you and your allies on this issue, and take the high road in that engagement.

So I invite you, Laura and your daughters to spend a day with my family and explain why you are championing such a cause.

Spend a day with my life partner of 24 years who is one of the most remarkable human beings you'll ever have the privilege of meeting. A public school teacher, Bob has spent his life inspiring students and parents alike with his commitment to a values-laden and creative approach to learning, serving as a strong life-changing role model for countless young at-risk city kids over the years.

Spend a day with our energetic and cheerful seven year-old son Ben. Ben will treat you to an active day full of homework, piano lessons, lego projects, friends, chores, soccer and baseball. Fully steeped in the values of love, sharing, friendship and learning, Ben is immensely proud of his two adoring and engaged parents, and wonderfully enriched by a diverse and supportive neighborhood.

Spend a day with our extraordinary community of friends and neighbors, who reflect the America of today and the future - mixed in race, language, background, family structures and ideas - but united in their deep commitment to our children, to creating a better future, to loving our country and to enjoying the richness of life.

Spend a day with our extended family that has supported us with unconditional love through good times and bad. Our parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews spread around the country form the foundation of our world. Over the years we have celebrated countless joyous holidays and celebrations together, as well as helping them in endless ways through illnesses, financial problems, divorces, and other family dramas.

Spend a day with us as we engage in our community as a family and as individuals, as we actively volunteer at Ben's school, as we have headed up the local United Way, and as we have worked tirelessly with many community organizations to improve the lives of our less-fortunate neighbors. Come join us as we sing and pray in church together.

Spend the day with me as the CEO of a fast-growing global digital media company who understands the economic interests of supporting stable communities and families, who must create a vibrant 21st century inclusive workforce through rigorous recruiting and non-discriminatory practices, and who is forever seeking that elusive family-life-work balance.

Spend the day with us as we explain to our son, his friends and cousins, why the world can be a fragile place where people do bad things out of ignorance and fear, where people hate people for silly reasons, where leaders abuse power for political gain at the expense of innocent folks, and where people waste enormous emotion and energy on side issues when domestic and child abuse, poverty, racism, divorce and inadequate health care - the issues truly threatening the American family - go unattended.

Mr. President, please come spend a day with us. And then, over our evening family meal, after we have given our nightly thanks to our loving and hate-free God, explain to this same-sex household just what family values you are defending for the future of America.

Sincerely,
Steve Davis
Seattle, Washington

[From Voice of the Turtle, http://www.wabaptists.org/voto/voto2004-03-22.htm ]

"What Are Moral Values?" by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers, Mayflower Church, OK City

Thanks to Dr. Daniel C. Strizek and Dominick Di Noto for forwarding this excellent article by the Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers, Pastor, Mayflower Church in Oklahoma City, OK :


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. We've heard a lot lately about so-called "moral values" as having swung the election to PresidentBush. 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?

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. 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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 nocompassion for anyone who disagrees with you, and no patience with those who cry to you for help, you are doing something immoral.

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.

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'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, and you know that this war is wrong -- the only question is how many people are going to die before these make-believe Christians are removed from power?

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.

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. 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? Absolutely nothing. 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? Maybe one day we will find out.

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!

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." (Josef Stalin) "What does it matter to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or of liberty or democracy?" (Mahatma Ghandi) "The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government." (Martin Luther King Jr.) "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Fwd: Research on Religions ... Why are you what you are? ...

(from SkySpiritElohim@aol.com)

My friend, Sally Santana (sally.santana@wavecable.com), religion writer for the Bremerton Sun (Bremerton is a city across Puget Sound from Seattle), has asked me to ask you for your help with her research.

Please e-mail Sally with your responses. Thank you for considering this request ... = Sky

Dear friends, I am doing some research on why people are in the particular type of church (Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist), synagogue (orthodox, reform, conservative, etc.), or faith (Buddhist, Bahai') they are.

I understand that the leader of the particular faith community and the ambiance of the center of worship may play a big part in why you attend?
What I am looking for specifically, however, is: why are you LUTHERAN, BAPTIST, JEWISH, QUAKER, or BAHAI (for example) and not something else?

Inside most of these groups are many others, (i.e., Lutherans can be with the Missouri Synod or ELCA, etc.; Baptists are often Conservative or Southern, etc.). Please be as specific as you can as to why you chose the type of faith community you did.

Could you just as easily be picked up and transplanted in another center that had good leadership and a wonderful atmosphere? And if you don't attend any service, or don't consider yourself part of any particular faith, what are your thoughts on that?

I appreciate your time with this. I won't be using names; I'm looking for background information for one of my religion columns. Thank you very much! -- Sally Santana


"The unexamined life isn't worth living" Socrates

Here's an interesting story concerning the reasons Ted Parkinson left the Mormon Church to practice the Baha'i faith before his passing:

Dear Friends: Ted Parkinson, known as Ranger Ted, a friend and colleague passed away on December 5th at the age of 87 after being hit by a car while out on his bike. At his memorial service this weekend, Ted left the statement below for people to reflect upon.

When I first met Ted he was very active in the LDS Church and loved to discuss the relationship of theology and ecology.

I remember inviting Ted to speak at a conference for borderline gang kids and how their macho facade melted as Ted shared experiences of his 25 plus years as a park ranger at Yellowstone and how the grizzly bear wisdom had shaped some of his own philosophy of life.

Later Ted joined us at a national conference of Environmental Ministers in Yellowstone. Although the LDS Church does not have ordained environmental ministers, all of us were convinced that if they did Ted would be one of the high priests.

Episcopals, United Methodists, Roman Catholics, United Church of Christ, and others at the gathering were so pleased to learn from Ted the good qualities and traditions of the LDS faith as it related to the environment. Before meeting Ted none of us had heard these good points before.

It was with great surprise that Ted called me one day to share that he was leaving the LDS Church due to conflicts over his understanding of natural systems with a member of the Church's first Presidency (the three top leaders of the LDS Church).

Ted shared with me how hard and painful it was for him, having served the Church as a teacher, having taught at BYU for some 25 plus years, and having even conducted the LDS services at Yellowstone to feel betrayed by his own tradition. He said the statement was so offensive that it contradicted everything he had been teaching in his career for 25 years.
For Ted, though, it was more important to be an authentic human being than to belong to any organized tradition despite the costs he felt he paid or his resignation.

Over the past ten years Ted was very active in environmental conferences, interfaith gatherings, and the causes of peace, justice, and sustainability.

Ted wanted people to know his reasons for leaving the LDS Church but more importantly I think he wanted all of us to know that we should ever allow religion, even if it is our own, to get in the way of creating a better world.

This seems to be a lesson that all of us can learn no matter what faith tradition we might be part of.

We will miss Ranger Ted. Hopefully we can learn from his wisdom. Be Well ...

Dave Randle

SOME OF MY REASONS FOR LEAVING THE CHURCH
by Ted J. Parkinson

I realize that some of my brothers and sister and friends who care deeply about the Church, have been very disappointed by my break with the Church. Though it is not my wish to offend any one, I believe it is important for me to do a bit of clarification. Since this is my last communication with you, I trust that you will allow me to state some of the reasons for resigning from the Church. Please allow me the right to be wrong, if that is your opinion. At the time you read this message, I will be OVER THERE, and I am not afraid. For me, I know I have done the right thing. I have preserved my integrity.

I was secretly glad that, as I was growing up in the Great Depression times, with money so hard to come by, and with a big family of eleven children to support, my parents simply did not have the money to send their oldest son on a mission for the L.D. S. Church. Even in those early years, I had serious doubts about the Book of Mormon as a historical document about the origin of the American Indians, and I did not want to be called to go on a Mission. Instead, I was determined to go to Ricks Junior College, and find ways to earn the money I needed.

These doubts increased as I worked my way through Ricks College, then Brigham Young University, and World War II. After the War, we bought a home in Salt Lake City, with a mortgage, and became very active in the Twentieth Ward as teachers in the MIA, the High Priest Quorum, and Sunday School, and I became Director of Teacher Training in the Twentieth Ward. I taught only what was universal in the great religions of the world, and what was universal in the various sects of the Christian churches. For example, see the page on the exhibit table about THE GOLDEN RULE as taught in the great religions of the world.

My appointment as teacher in the High Priest quorum was just for a year because that was their policy.

It was during this time in the Twentieth Ward that I received my appointment as a special faculty member of Brigham Young University, Salt Lake Center, to teach science classes in the evenings for adults. My students were mostly BYU graduates who had teaching jobs in high schools or grade schools in the Salt Lake area and needed an hour of science credit from BYU to renew their teaching certificates. In these evening science classes for the Y, I frequently quoted from Doctrine And Covenants, Section 88 about why we should study science and how such a marvelous, intricate, and orderly world and universe, and life, could not have happened by chance; there must be an all-wise Creator.

I collected and devised lots of visual aids and exhibits to demonstrate that scence needs religion and religion needs science to understand the marvels of the universe and of life. The laws of Nature are also God's laws, and there should be no conflict between science and religion. I used some of these visual aids in my High Priest and other classes in the Twentieth Ward. The result was that they asked me to continue teaching the High Priest Quorum for another year. This happened for more than twenty years. During this time as teacher in the High Priest Quorum, I did a lot of research on Mormon Scriptures and Mormon history to settle my doubts, but my doubts increased.

While there is abundant archeological evidence to prove the Bible as history, there is no such evidence to prove that two parties from Jerusalem, one of them at the time of the Tower Of Babel, and the other one about 500 BC who crossed the ocean to the American continent, flourished and multiplied into the millions, built great cities with walls and fortifications, and roads for carts and wheeled vehicles, and nearly destroyed themselves by war, and the survivors became the ancestors of the American Indian and forgot all about their Jewish origins, and also forgot how to make and use iron and steel weapons and tools, and also forgot how to use wheels, and degressed back to the Stone Age where they were when the Spanish conquistadors found them in the 16th century.

Yet they left no archeological artifacts, or refuse heaps, or any evidence of their existence.

On the other hand, there is abundant archeological evidence which shows that the ancestors of the American Indians came across the Bering Straits area about 12,000 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age when the sea level was much lower because so much ice had accumulated in the polar regions.

They could walk almost all the way from Siberia to what we now call Alaska.

And, in recent years, evidence from DNA research also proves that the ancestors of the American Indians came from Asia, not from Jerusalem. And the facial characteristics of the American Indians resemble the Siberians much more than the Arabs and Jews who were both sons of the Biblical Patriarch, Abraham.

So, the Book of Mormon errs when it says that the ancient Jews were the ancestors of the American Indians. In my opinion, the Mormon Church should follow the example of the Reorganized LDS Church, and put the Book of Mormon aside until archeological evidence for it is found. . .

I was feeling more and more, that being a member of the Church required me to believe many things I knew were not true. But even though I asked to have my name removed from the membership rolls of the Church, I am still a Mormon in the same sense that I am also partly Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Buddhist, Confucian, and Hindu, too. I have studied all religions and selected principals and ideals from all of them to guide my life. I have memorized many passages from Mormon scriptures, and incidents from Mormon History which mean a lot to me, and have helped me to understand man's place and purpose, and reasons for living a good life.

I joined the Baha'i Faith which I consider to be a universal church which recognizes the divine contributions of all faiths.

In a basic way, I was a Baha'i long before I officially joined because I believe in one God, the oneness of mankind, the independent investigation of truth, the common foundation of all religions, the essential harmony of science and religion, the equality of men and women, the elimination of prejudice of all kinds, universal compulsory education, a spiritual solution for economic problems, a universal auxiliary language, which is turning out to be English, the second language of the world.

And especially I like the Baha'i belief in a universal peace upheld by a world government which respects the rights of small nations as well as large ones, and recognizes the interdependence of all nations.

Ecologically, our planet, Earth, is one country, and all mankind are its citizens.

Brother Wayne Teasedale, Author and Monk

[Press Release, from http://www.gomang.org/ssponsor.html]

 

On October 20, 2004, Wayne Teasdale died at age 59.  After his second battle with cancer, he passed on leaving numerous friends, loved ones, and students.  Wayne was a world-renowned spiritual teacher and scholar who worked tirelessly to create dialogue and understanding among the world's religions.  Wayne was the leading voice in the Christian contemplative movement.

In particular, Wayne Teasdale met often with His Holiness the Dalai Lama to discuss their faiths.  In his own words:  "I am convinced that Christianity and Buddhism together have a unique opportunity and responsibility to enter into a sustained dialogue on all matters.... If the two traditions work together on resolving the critical issues facing the planet, and if they commit themselves to an open-ended dialogue process in which mutual influence on each other occurs in the areas of belief or view, prayer, and social engagement, they will make an enormously precious contribution towards the communication of a new consciousness all around the world."

For over 10 years, Brother Wayne Teasdale studied, prayed, and meditated in the seclusion of Hundred Acres Monastery in New Hampshire.  In 1986, Father Bede Griffiths, an English Benedictine monk living in India invited Wayne to his ashram to take sannyasa (Indian monkhood) from him as a Christian.  Sannyasa formally means to renounce the world.  This event began Wayne's work as an interreligious monk and mystic.  Through his writings, Wayne has helped thousands of individuals to understand their own true paths and explored the idea of renunciation and spirituality in daily life.

Wayne Teasdale served on the board of trustees of the Parliament of the World's Religions and was the coordinator of the Bede Griffiths International Trust.  Wayne dedicated himself to helping people discover their true spiritual nature and was a passionate activist who worked throughout his life to create dialogue and mutual understanding among the world's religions.  He is the author of many seminal books, most notably: The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions and A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life.  His other books include: Catholicism in Dialogue: Conversations Across Traditions; Come and Sit: A Week Inside Meditation Centers; Hermitage of the Heart: Contemplative Practices from Hundred Acres Monastery; Community of Religions: Voices and Images of the Parliament of the World's Religions; Essays in Mystic! ism; Yoga of Sound: Healing & Enlightenment Through the Sacred Practice of Mantra (with Russill Paul); Bede Griffiths: An Introduction to His Interspiritual Thought (with Bede Griffiths); Awakening the Spirit, Inspiring the Soul: 30 Stories of Interspiritual Discovery in the Community of Faiths (with Martha Howard, MD), and Mystic Hours: A Daybook Of Inspirational Wisdom And Devotion.

Wayne was the leader of the Interfaith Call for Freedom of Worship and Human Rights in Tibet and was a member of the Monastic Interreligous Dialogue and helped draft their Universal Declaration on Nonviolence.  He was an adjunct professor at DePaul University, Columbia College and the Catholic Theological Union and lectured throughout the world.

In his life and teachings, Wayne always promoted the concept of community, service and faith.  Importantly, he said:  We now know that each one of us inhabits, rather than possesses, what can be called local awareness. It makes our life tangible by filtering it through parameters of knowing and being that allow for this local type of consciousness, this knowing person here and now who is self-aware. When someone has a mystical experience, he or she is propelled into a cosmic kind of perception. The enlightened are those who have broken out of their local and regional, or individual and species awareness and have discovered other realms of consciousness beyond this sphere.

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." (Josef Stalin)   "What does it matter to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or of liberty or democracy?"  (Mahatma Ghandi)  "The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government."  (Martin Luther King Jr.)  Â“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

Rev. Dale Turner: Family and friends most precious gifts [a Christmas column]

Family, friends the most precious gift to receive this holiday

Every so often when traveling by plane, I find myself striking up a conversation with a total stranger seated beside me. After he has walked on your shoes several times to get to the aisle, you feel you sort of know him, anyway. Sitting there, side by side, without really communicating in any normal way, you both seem to suddenly realize that there is no point in behaving like two inanimate objects.

And so the moment comes when we let ourselves become known to each other. He doesn't start out by saying, "I'm a $75,000-a-year man. I live in a $350,000 house. I have on my wrist a $500 watch, and the suit I am wearing cost another $500. Our home is furnished by only the choicest antiques."

No, he never starts there. To identify himself, he speaks of his relationships. "My name," he says, "is Cruikshank -- Robert Cruikshank. And I come from Boston, Massachusetts -- born and raised there. Our family is pretty well known around Boston. There are quite a few of us, and our roots go back several generations."

Taking a billfold from his pocket, he pulls out several pictures and says, "This is my wife, and here are my three youngsters." Then, if he suspects that I am a minister -- if I've been reading the Bible or a book of theology -- he might go so far as to say, "I belong to Old South Church in the heart of downtown Boston."

This is a hopeful introduction because, although we are constantly exposed to the "American Dream" that teaches us to define ourselves by our possessions, in our flashes of sobriety and rationality, we know the truth of what Jesus said, "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things he possesses." (Luke 12:15)

I find it hopeful that, even though Madison Avenue inundates us with the notion that our lives are measured by possessions, when we are pressed to establish our identities, we refer to relationships, not things. Down deep, we really do not buy the line that encourages us to prove that we finally arrived by driving a particular car or living in a particular section of the city.

Brief visits with strangers on planes, trains or elsewhere are fine, but the most beautiful of all the treasures of life is the kinship we have with others we've known for a long time — relationships that have a glowing depth, joy and beauty as the years increase. The inner progressiveness of love between human beings is a most marvelous and mysterious gift. It cannot be found by passionately looking for it. It is rather a Divine Accident, and how warm and reassuring that is!

Editor's note The Rev. Dale Turner, who began writing a weekly column on religion for The Times in 1983, is retiring as a columnist in January. Turner began his column after his retirement in 1982 as pastor at Seattle's University Congregational Church. In the ensuing years, he has written on a range of topics, from kindness and prayer to life's difficulties, the power of humor and the loss of a pet. We invite you to share your thoughts about Turner and how his messages have influenced you. Mail your comments to Judy Groom, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, or e-mail them to jgroom@seattletimes.com. Include your name and telephone number so we can verify authenticity. We will include a selection of responses in a special tribute to Turner to be published in January with his farewell column. Until then, we will republish some of Turner's most popular columns. This column, on the importance of family and friends, was last published Dec. 21, 2002.

Dr. Clark Hunt has been a dear friend of mine for more than five decades. We were classmates at Yale Divinity School and have kept in touch for over 50 years.

Recently, he sent me words written by a writer unknown to us. It expresses our friendship and perhaps the friendship you have with someone:

Once in a while

a friend is found who's

a friend right from the start

Once in a while

a friendship's made that

really warms the heart.

Once in a while

a friendship's found

to live a lifetime through

It really does happen ...

Just once in a while ...

It happened to me

and to you.

During the Christmas season, the importance of family and friends is heightened as the cards and letters flow into our homes, and family gatherings have top priority.

Lovelier than the most lovely ornaments of a home are the friends that frequent it and the love expressed within it.

We are aware, of course, at Christmas, of the mingling of sadness and joy. The holiday season touches our emotions at their most sensitive level — the level of remembrance. We remember members of our family at various stages of growth, and loved family members and friends who are no longer with us.

'Tis the human touch in the world that counts,

The touch of your hand and mine,

Which means far more to the fainting heart

Than shelter and bread and wine;

For shelter is gone when the night is o'er

And bread lasts only a day,

But the touch of the hand and the sound of the voice

Sing on in the soul always.

-- Spencer Michael Free

Let us increase our joy this Christmas by expressing gratitude to God for the family and friends that are ours, for people are more important than anything else in all the world.

[The Rev. Dale Turner's column appears Saturdays in The Seattle Times.  Thanks to David Enroth ("Sky") for forwarding.]

On our religious and cultural diversity

Here's an excellent discussion on the religious and cultural diversity of our country (and the world). Unfortunately, we are experiencing another of the persistent and peculiarly American periods of "Konw-Nothing-ism" which seeks to ignore reality and keep everyone in the dark. I seem to recall someone referring to such a philosophy as the 'Mushroom Theory" -- keep 'em in the dark and feed 'em s---. But, I am here to tell you that there are Christians who consider themselves humanists and appreciate and encourage other religious and secular approaches to life. The New Testament is full of the story of acceptance of people who were "different" -- something the first disciples of Jesus had just as much trouble understanding as we do today.
-- Rick Mitchell

"Eric R. Stietzel" <eric@stietzel.net> wrote:

Fwd: Re: [peaceinterfaith] God and Good Government (Brendan Miniter, OpinionJournal.com Editorial, Wall Street Journal, 12-21-04)

Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 21:49:57 -0800
To: "Dale Lloyd" , "Rev Rick Mitchell" ,
"Rev Bill Brackett" ,
"Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice Posting"
From: "Eric R. Stietzel"
Subject: Re: [peaceinterfaith] God and Good Government (Brendan Miniter, OpinionJournal.com Editorial, Wall Street Journal, 12-21-04)

Dale, et al.,

It is important to be aware that in the United States, Christianity is not the only religion and that not all religions are theistic, that is based on a belief in God. The last I heard only about 75% of Americans are now Christian and that most Eastern religions, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the like are not theistic or even deistic. If they use words that get translated as "God", the underlying concept bears no relationship to anything I learned about from Sunday School through graduate work and beyond.

If you want to get a sense of how Brendan Miniter's column would strike someone of another faith, imagine the response, nay outcry, that would have resulted if the officer in question had said, "We're just doing Buddha's work." (Note: "Siddhartha Gautama" is an ordinary name like "Jesus". The title, "The Buddha", means "The Enlightened One" and is one which can apply to any and all human beings who achieve the state of enlightenment. The equivalent title, "The Christ", clearly is restricted to only the one person.) or "We're just striving to realize Secular Humanist aspirations." (Note: "Humanists long for and strive toward a world of mutual care and concern, free of cruelty and its consequences, where differences are resolved cooperatively without resorting to violence". http://www.americanhumanist.org/3/
HumandItsAspirations.htm).

I'm afraid that it is simply not appropriate for any person in the service of our very ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse country speaking in any but a clearly personal capacity to say things like "We're just doing the Lord's work." Even for two of the three "religions of the Book", Jesus is not Lord.

For me and for many other Buddhists, Wiccans, Confucians, Pagans, Taoists, and others who have access to the Bible and the Apocryphal works, Jesus stands as a moral teacher of the first rank. His Parables move me beyond description as does the Sermon on the Mount. I take His conversation recorded in Luke 18:

18:18 A certain ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

18:19 Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

18:20 You know the commandments: "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.' "

18:21 He replied, "I have kept all these since my youth."

18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

which I take very seriously despite my complete conviction that heaven and hell are of my making right here and right now. I was once told by a fundraiser for a non-profit, charitable corporation, perhaps even a church, that it is backwards to think of it as "Give 'til it hurts." Thinking about it the right way round is "Give 'til it stops hurting."

None of these things are particularly Christian ideals. I have never been able to find a peculiarly "Christian" value about dealing with the world or particularly "Humanist" or "Buddhist" or "Taoist" ones. Haven't looked hard enough elsewhere to speak with any sense of authority.

Finally, if I were to take offense at anything, I'd take offense at the last sentence of the first paragraph: "In the debate over faith in the public square there is rarely an acknowledgement that there is a link between morality and
government."

Given the context (pulling crèche scenes from courthouse lawns) , the clear implication is that there is a unique link between Christianity and morality. That simply is not true and to claim that it is simply demeans the character of Jews, Muslims, Humanists, Buddhists, Hindus, Confucians, Taoists, Wiccans, and on and on. Someone really needs to read and ponder The Good Samaritan again. Lots of us see a strong link between morality and government despite the fact that we are not Christians.

This is getting way too long, and I'm sure I've made my point.

For those who celebrate the holiday, Joyous seventh day of Christmas. I hope that some day we will find a way to make this holiday as non-commercial and meaningful as Ramadan and Chanukka.

Eric

At 06:21 AM 12/24/2004, Dale Lloyd wrote:

God and Good Government
Are American soldiers doing the Lord's work in Iraq? You bet.

BY BRENDAN MINITER
Tuesday, December 21, 2004 12:01 a.m.

The most surprising thing an American military officer told me about his
work in Iraq came in a statement he later asked to retract. And it strikes
me as something worth thinking about in this Christmas season as we go
through the annual ritual of pulling crèche scenes from courthouse lawns
across America. In the debate over faith in the public square there is
rarely an acknowledgement that there is a link between morality and
government.
After describing the good works his men were doing by rebuilding schools and
providing food and medicine to Iraqis, the officer summed up this list by
saying "We're just doing the Lord's work." At the time the comment seemed
perfectly appropriate. I do not know the officer's faith or even if he is a
Christian. But his meaning was clear: His men were performing vital
humanitarian work in addition to taking on insurgents. The surprise came a
few minutes after the interview, when a public information officer asked to
retract the comment. Apparently in the post-interview debriefing someone got
scared that it could be misconstrued. The officer did not mean to imply that
he was doing the Lord's work at all, I was assured.
But that is exactly what he meant and exactly what he is doing. After all
there is a moral component to a policy that frees a people from a
dictatorship, restores civil order and protects against a violent group of
insurgents. The officer was right, however, to worry that a secular media
might twist such a statement into "proof" that American soldiers were
proselytizing in a Muslim country. After all, President Bush was hounded by
the press for simply using the word "crusade" while talking about vigorously
pursuing the war on terror.

However, nowhere is the moral component of public policy more apparent than
Iraq. What U.S. troops found when they overturned Saddam Hussein's regime
was a society governed by a thoroughly corrupt and manifestly immoral group
of thugs. We've heard the tales of rape rooms, mass murder and other
despicable and nearly unimaginable tortures. What has not made it into the
public debate is the larger impact the rule of these monsters had on Iraqi
society. Americans may be surprised by the extent of the insurgency, but we
shouldn't be. Being ruled by an immoral elite destroys the fabric of a civil
society.
After decades of Saddam's debauchery, it is civilization that has to
struggle to reassert itself. While we may fear that a class of clerics will
win January elections and write Islam into Iraq's civil law, we should be
equally fearful of setting up a government that does not recognize a larger
moral system than itself. That was the essence of Saddam's regime--that the
ruling elite was above any accountability.
As Saddam and his henchmen stand trial for sins against their countrymen,
they are finding they are in fact subject to the laws of decency that must
govern human behavior. In Iraq, returning to moral principles is helping
restore good government.

Secularists would like to convince us in America that religion is somehow
incompatible with the principles of a free society. And that the display of
faith in public is somehow equal to forcing religion on the general public.
Yet until a real life Santa Claus steps forward to take the seat of power,
the real fear is that governments will fail to recognize that they are not
the final arbitrators of right and wrong and that morality matters. That's
why democratic elections are so important--a leader who must face the
electorate now and again comes to understand the limits to his power.
Are Americans soldiers doing the Lord's work in Iraq? To the extent that
they are helping to set up a government that will be administered by a free
people, the answer has to be yes.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/
columnists/bminiter/?id=110006055

THE WESTERN FRONT

Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears
Tuesdays.
Copyright © 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." (Josef Stalin) "What does it matter to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or of liberty or democracy?" (Mahatma Ghandi) "The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government." (Martin Luther King Jr.) "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." (Edmund Burke)