Dr. David Gushee (bio is at the end of the article being reviewed here) has just written a short review criticizing the most recent, that is the 5th, GOP debate for its lack of Biblical values (click here). This article appeared on the Religion News Service's website. The most recent GOP debate was run by CNN (click here for the full debate between the major participants). Gushee's main point is that despite their Party's proclaimed respect for and adherence to Biblical values, the GOP candidates seem to not be employing them, especially charity and compassion, when it came to what was said about how the US should treat Syrian refugees. For while Gushee believes that we should accept such refugees out of charity and compassion, the GOP candidates rejected that idea until it could be guaranteed that none of the refugees would participate in a terrorist attack on us. The political concern here revolves around how national security issues and how protecting one's own citizens should govern whether or not our nation should accept refugees. Such a concern should be taken very seriously.
Gushee took both Rand Paul and Chris Christie to task for exhibiting what he calls an 'ethical dualism.' That is that as citizens, Christians are urged to follow a Biblical set of values, but as government officials, they are urged to follow another, more pragmatic, set of values. Though this poses no problem for nonChristian politicians, the dualism does exist for the Christian ones.
And though I have many strong unfavorable reactions to what was said throughout most of the 5th debate, it seems that Gushee's approach was inadequate and even self-sabotaging. For one thing, Gushee could have challenged Rand Paul on whether caring for refugees is merely an issue of charity. If we were to employ Nicholas Wolterstorff's thinking here (click here for a link to his book Justice: Rights And Wrongs), we would start to consider how a nation should treat refugees as more than just an issue of charity; it would be considered to be a justice issue too. The difference between the two approaches is this: while charity focuses on those who give, justice focuses on those who are in need and what rights of theirs are being deprived.
Once we determine what the rights of the refugees are, we can now challenge the basic theme so often repeated by the GOP candidates that night: that the job of government is to protect its people. We can challenge this basic theme because we can safely say that no government has the right to practice injustice in the name of national security. In fact, we have enough history as well as current events that testifies to the fact that practicing injustice on others, in the end, puts one's own people at risk for future retaliation. We saw that with the 9-11 atrocities. We have enough testimony from Bin Laden himself that said that what motivated the attacks were the injustices we visited on or sponsored for others. What was being referenced here were the UN sanctions on Iraq that we both pushed through and implemented with Great Britain which caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. In addition, we are supporting Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine.
But there is another problem with Gushee's dualism objection. Such an objection would require conservative Christians to not only oppose same-sex marriage in society, but freedom of religion too. For we Christians believe that God's Word has condemned both same-sex marriage and idolatry. And with that being the case, how can Christians support freedom of religion for others or same-sex marriage in society without practicing dualism again? Indeed, some of our spiritual and even national predecessors used their own governments to persecute people who believed differently. This happend here in America up to the Revolutionary War.
For Christians to participate in government, there must be an acceptance of dualism to some extent. That is unless we believe that all people in society, regardless of whether they believe, must follow the same rules and laws that the New Testament provides for the Church, we will be practicing two different standards: one for the individual believer and the one that determines our laws and governmental policies.
So how can we determine where dualism is appropriate and where it is unbiblical? We should note that distinguishing social justice issues from personal moral choices can help us here. For social justice issues deal with some form of theft and murder. And no society that allows for theft and murder can hope to stand. On the other hand, we should note, from the New Testament Scriptures that deal with Church disciplinary issues, that the society in which churches exist are expected to have people who cannot, because of lifestyle or beliefs, remain in good standing in the Church (see I Corinthians 5 for an example). That is all societies will have unsaved sinners. And at least some of the sins of these sinners must be tolerated by society.
Though I agree with Gushee's moral sentiments, his article being reviewed here needs a more thorough and nuanced approach on dualism and when Christian government officials can practice it and when they can't.
Showing posts with label Syrian Refugees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syrian Refugees. Show all posts
Friday, December 18, 2015
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For December 2, 2015
Nov 26
To Hunter Baker and his blogpost on how Christians should live their faith after the Obergefell decision. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition
I think there is a fourth option. What was listed above included two ways to coexist with the LGBT community in particular and society in general and one way to keep fighting the fight to control culture. There is another way to approach this subject that would seem to be another way to coexist but is more aggressively friendly than that. Rather than looking to control or to refrain from offending, we need to look to share society with those who are different as equals. This is more than just coexisting. This involves actively guarding the rights of those with whom we have great disagreement because we want them to have an equal place and voice in society.
With this way of sharing society with others as equals, we could still keep the orthodoxy and orthopraxy of the Benedict Option as well as be aggressive in sharing the Gospel and what God's Word says about sex as in the Gagnon option. However, our orthodox beliefs and actions will not interfere with our defending the equal rights of those from the LGBT community especially those who want to practice same-sex marriage in society. Our only stipulation should be that such marriage should not be allowed in any Bible believing church.
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To Joseph Sunde and his blog about Christian hospitality for the Syrian refugees. This appeared in the Acton blog
Though there are good things said in the article above about how we should approach the refugee problem, we should not be impressed with ourselves when we risk caring for Syrian refugees. Why? We should remember that with few people and resources than we have, Syrians took in 1,000,000+ refugees from Iraq as they fled both our invasion and its aftermath. In fact, we might also want to personally investigate any connection between our interventions and refugees coming from where we intervene.
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Nov 30
To Andrew Spencer and his review of a book on business ethics by Michael Cafferky. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
Certainly, my comment here is going to be grounded in some ignorance having not seen the book at all, but it seems to me that Christian books that tell us how to act and think in the current business world would be like a Christian book that tells us how to own slaves in the pre Civil War South. Yes, one can treat one's own slaves back then or one's own stakeholders today nicer and even humanely, but the basic economic structure that allows one person to own another goes unchallenged.
So my hope is that this book does challenge the basic structure of our capitalist economic system. In particular, I hope this book challenges the way that Capitalism objectifies and thus makes workers disposable. I hope that this book challenges the notion that a business owner by virtue of wealth has no obligation to make one's employees owners by virture of work. I hope that this book challenges the notion that a business owner by virtue of wealth has no obligation to give some power over the business to the community in which the business resides. For if all this book does is to tell the business owner how to own one's business, then the structural flaws of our economic system that cause so many wrong decisions by business owners will remain untouched. And the end result will be that this book will allow Christians involved with business to have their cake and eat it too.
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To Bruce Edward Walker and his blogpost on how new IRS rules will allow nonprofits the option of recording the identity of any giver of donations over $250 by Social Security Number. Walker blamed this on Shareholder Activist trying to curb the power of dark money, something Walker denies is a problem. This appeared in the Acton Blog
The IRS proposal is less rediculous as denying our problem of how money controls politics. But why blame shareholder activists for IRS policies targeting all nonprofits? And when the proposed rules cite the option of a nonprofit filing Social Security numbers with the IRS, why be bothered? After all, if it is an option, then both the nonprofit and the donor have choices. That is certainly different from proposing the identification by Social Security number as a requirement.
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Dec 1
To Joe Carter and his blogpost describing how the effective marginal tax rate is hurts the motivation of people taking low wage jobs. In the blogpost, Carter uses a hypothetical example of a single family of two who go from the parent having no stated income besides gov’t assistance to a full-time $15/hr job
First, The calculation of the effective marginal tax rate is individual. It is only the median tax rate that is 31%. Picking a hypothetical case of a person without any explicitly stated income with a child dependent might significantly alter how much of that 31% effective marginal tax rate would apply to the case. The table in figure 1 from the CBO report cited above does not support Carter's particular hypothetical case. We should note here that the 31% is an estimate based on a simulation.
Second, the purpose of the article is confusing. Is the purpose to argue for a higher minimum wage or for lower taxes or for fewer benefits? If it is an argument for lower taxes, where do we make up the difference seeing that our deficit spending increases and services are cut or threatened? If it is an argument for fewer benefits, what happens to those who do not get offered the $15/hr job? If it is an argument for a higher minimum wage than $15/hr, why not state that explicitly?
Third, the other benefits of having a job are not mentioned in the article. That starting a job that pays enough for people to support themselves which can lead to better jobs and higher pay in the future could an incentive for taking the $15/hr job. Here, we might want to point out that how people weigh the current monetary benefits of staying dependent over future benefits, both monetary and nonmonetary ones, that come from being employed will partially depend on the values taught by the economic system employed by the society. An economic system that places a higher value on maximizing one's personal profit will cause more people to weigh the difference between being dependent and working strictly by a 'what's in it for me' mindset. After all why should those in the lower economic classes have a different value system than the wealthiest in society?
To Hunter Baker and his blogpost on how Christians should live their faith after the Obergefell decision. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition
I think there is a fourth option. What was listed above included two ways to coexist with the LGBT community in particular and society in general and one way to keep fighting the fight to control culture. There is another way to approach this subject that would seem to be another way to coexist but is more aggressively friendly than that. Rather than looking to control or to refrain from offending, we need to look to share society with those who are different as equals. This is more than just coexisting. This involves actively guarding the rights of those with whom we have great disagreement because we want them to have an equal place and voice in society.
With this way of sharing society with others as equals, we could still keep the orthodoxy and orthopraxy of the Benedict Option as well as be aggressive in sharing the Gospel and what God's Word says about sex as in the Gagnon option. However, our orthodox beliefs and actions will not interfere with our defending the equal rights of those from the LGBT community especially those who want to practice same-sex marriage in society. Our only stipulation should be that such marriage should not be allowed in any Bible believing church.
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To Joseph Sunde and his blog about Christian hospitality for the Syrian refugees. This appeared in the Acton blog
Though there are good things said in the article above about how we should approach the refugee problem, we should not be impressed with ourselves when we risk caring for Syrian refugees. Why? We should remember that with few people and resources than we have, Syrians took in 1,000,000+ refugees from Iraq as they fled both our invasion and its aftermath. In fact, we might also want to personally investigate any connection between our interventions and refugees coming from where we intervene.
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Nov 30
To Andrew Spencer and his review of a book on business ethics by Michael Cafferky. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
Certainly, my comment here is going to be grounded in some ignorance having not seen the book at all, but it seems to me that Christian books that tell us how to act and think in the current business world would be like a Christian book that tells us how to own slaves in the pre Civil War South. Yes, one can treat one's own slaves back then or one's own stakeholders today nicer and even humanely, but the basic economic structure that allows one person to own another goes unchallenged.
So my hope is that this book does challenge the basic structure of our capitalist economic system. In particular, I hope this book challenges the way that Capitalism objectifies and thus makes workers disposable. I hope that this book challenges the notion that a business owner by virtue of wealth has no obligation to make one's employees owners by virture of work. I hope that this book challenges the notion that a business owner by virtue of wealth has no obligation to give some power over the business to the community in which the business resides. For if all this book does is to tell the business owner how to own one's business, then the structural flaws of our economic system that cause so many wrong decisions by business owners will remain untouched. And the end result will be that this book will allow Christians involved with business to have their cake and eat it too.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Bruce Edward Walker and his blogpost on how new IRS rules will allow nonprofits the option of recording the identity of any giver of donations over $250 by Social Security Number. Walker blamed this on Shareholder Activist trying to curb the power of dark money, something Walker denies is a problem. This appeared in the Acton Blog
The IRS proposal is less rediculous as denying our problem of how money controls politics. But why blame shareholder activists for IRS policies targeting all nonprofits? And when the proposed rules cite the option of a nonprofit filing Social Security numbers with the IRS, why be bothered? After all, if it is an option, then both the nonprofit and the donor have choices. That is certainly different from proposing the identification by Social Security number as a requirement.
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Dec 1
To Joe Carter and his blogpost describing how the effective marginal tax rate is hurts the motivation of people taking low wage jobs. In the blogpost, Carter uses a hypothetical example of a single family of two who go from the parent having no stated income besides gov’t assistance to a full-time $15/hr job
First, The calculation of the effective marginal tax rate is individual. It is only the median tax rate that is 31%. Picking a hypothetical case of a person without any explicitly stated income with a child dependent might significantly alter how much of that 31% effective marginal tax rate would apply to the case. The table in figure 1 from the CBO report cited above does not support Carter's particular hypothetical case. We should note here that the 31% is an estimate based on a simulation.
Second, the purpose of the article is confusing. Is the purpose to argue for a higher minimum wage or for lower taxes or for fewer benefits? If it is an argument for lower taxes, where do we make up the difference seeing that our deficit spending increases and services are cut or threatened? If it is an argument for fewer benefits, what happens to those who do not get offered the $15/hr job? If it is an argument for a higher minimum wage than $15/hr, why not state that explicitly?
Third, the other benefits of having a job are not mentioned in the article. That starting a job that pays enough for people to support themselves which can lead to better jobs and higher pay in the future could an incentive for taking the $15/hr job. Here, we might want to point out that how people weigh the current monetary benefits of staying dependent over future benefits, both monetary and nonmonetary ones, that come from being employed will partially depend on the values taught by the economic system employed by the society. An economic system that places a higher value on maximizing one's personal profit will cause more people to weigh the difference between being dependent and working strictly by a 'what's in it for me' mindset. After all why should those in the lower economic classes have a different value system than the wealthiest in society?
Monday, November 30, 2015
ONIM For November 30, 2015
Christian News
World News
Pick(s) Of The Litter
Debate on Pornography: Can Porn Be Good For Us
- Pope Francis Visits Ugandan Shrine Admit Gay Rights Debate -- Christian Today (UK)
- Christians And Muslims Welcome Pope Francis To Central African Republic -- Christian Today (UK)
- What Christians Can Learn From Native American Spirituality -- Christian Today (UK)
- Ben Carson's Church: We Don't Worship Him -- Christianity Today
- Love The Refugee With The Compassion Christ Has Shown You -- Christianity Today
- Black Pastors Say They Won't Endorse Donald Trump For President At Monday's Meeting -- The Christian Post
- Christian Terrorism Is Bigger Threat To U.S. Freedom Than Islamic Extremism -- Danthropology
- Thankful For The Cross -- Reformed African American Network
- God Bless America: How Christ Became Central To Capitalism And US Politics -- CBC Radio
- Wedding Venue Owners Want To Be Able To Turn Away Same-Sex Couples -- Huffington Post
- Abortion Rates Highest Among Christians According To Groundbreaking Study -- Reverb Press
- A Call To Evangelical Pastors: Let's Do Our Part To End Police Brutality And Mass Incarceration -- The Gospel Coalition
- Discipline, Dirty Hands, And the Silent Abolition Of Christianity -- Mortification Of Spin
World News
- White Supremacists Shoot Black Lives Matter Protesters In Minneapolis, Witnesses Report -- Think Progress
- Outrage In Minneapolis: It Is Our Duty To Fight Back -- Answer
- As Houston Islamic Center Burns, Firefighter Posts, "Let It Burn...Block The Firehydrant." -- The Daily Kos
- Climate Injustice: The Real History Of The Maldives -- Berkley Journal Of Sociology
- Thousands Protest In Georgia Demanding Closure Of Government Run 'School Of Assassins -- Mint Press News
- France: New Emergency Powers Threaten Rights -- Human Rights Watch
- This GOP Presidential Candidate "Understands Less About Science Than The Average Kindergartner" -- BuzzFlash
- How Do We Celebrate Thanksgiving In A Time Of Terror -- Huffinton Post
- Walmart Is Working With The FBI And Lockheed Martin To Spy On Striking Workers -- U.S. Uncut
- Hundreds March Through Minneapolis Following Shooting Near 4th Precinct -- Fox 9
- Dallas Mayor "More Feareful" Of White Men Than Syrian Refugees -- The Washington Times
- Canada Unlikely To Meet Target Of 25,000 Syrian Refugees By End Of 2015 -- Global News
- Jeb Bush Urges Greater Effort Against ISIS: 'Make It A War' -- Huffington Post
- Nothing Left: The Long Slow Surrender Of American Liberals -- Harper's Magazine
- (Video) Here's What Really Happened Inside The Violent Donald Trump Rally In Birmingham -- I Take Liberty With My Coffee
- One Of 2 Russian Pilots Shot Down By Turkey Rescued -- RT
- Was Washington Complicit In Downing Russia's Aircraft? -- Global Research
- Obama: Turkey Has Right To Defend Its Airspace -- BBC News
- Russia To Deploy S-400 Missile Defense Systems To Syria -- Press TV
- Poll: Majority Of Americans In Favor Of Sending Congress To Syria -- The Onion
- Socialist Elmer Benson Dies At 89: Radical Played A Prominent Role In Minnesota Politics -- Los Angelas Times
- New York Times Slams 'Outrageous' Donald Trump For Mocking Reporter's Disability -- The Guardian
- This French Philosopher Is The Only One Who Can Explain The Donald Trump Phenomenon -- Think Progress
- Turkish Journalist Charged With Spying Over Weapons Report -- BBC
- Ta-Nehisi Coates On Poice Brutality: "The Violence Is Not New, It's The Cameras That Are New" -- Democracy Now
- A White Male Terrorist Show More People Today Than Refugees Have In The Last 15 Years -- Bipartisan Report
- The NSA Says It Will Finally Stop Syping On Millions Of Americans -- Gawker
- Don't Erase Woodrow Wilson. Expose Him -- Yahoo News
- IS Claims Tunisia Attack -- Yahoo News
- Thanksgiving: Celebrating The Genocide Of Native Americans -- News Junkie Post
- Congress Tells Court That Congress Can't Be Investigated For Insider Trading -- The Intercept
- "Black Lives Matter" Versus "Blue Code Of Silence" -- I Take Liberty With My Coffee
- Seattle: Massive Police Presence Fail To Deter Black Lives Matter -- Liberation
- Israel To Coordinate With Google, YouTube To Censor Palestinian Videos Of Conflict -- Alternet
- London Anti-War Protest Demands: Don't Bomb Syria -- Revolution News
- Cop Accused Of Brutally Torturing Black Suspects Costs Chicago $5.5 Million -- The Washington Post
- Robert Fisk: The Age Of The Warrior -- YouTube
- Belgian Physicists Calculate That Everyone Is Lying About The Downed Russian Jet -- Motherboard
- Days Of Revolt -- The Death Of Electoral Politics -- YouTube
- Paris Climate Activists Put Under House Arrest Using Emergency Laws -- The Guardian
- Big Banks Accused Of Interest Rate-Swap Fixing In U.S. Class Action Suit -- Reuters
- Goats Fed GM Soy Have Altered DNA, Milk, And Offspring: Study -- The Open Mind
- After Planned Parenthood Attack, No Calls To Close Churches Or Register Evangelicals -- Haaretz
- Chicago Police Union Stands By Cop Charged With Murdering Teen -- Yahoo News
Pick(s) Of The Litter
- An Invisible US Hand Leading To War? Turkey's Downing Of A Russian Jet Was An Act Of Madness -- Counterpunch
- Turkey Brings NATO To The Precipice Of War With Russia -- The Nation
- Russia Deploys Missile Cruiser To Syrian Coast To 'Destroy Any Threats To Russian Forces' -- Free Thought Project
- How Walmart Keeps An Eye On Its Massive Workforce -- Bloomberg Business
- Officer Charged With Murder In Teen's Death; Video Released -- ABC News
- China's Military Makes Move Into Africa -- The Hill
- Shots Fired At Minneapolis Protest Second Night In A Row -- The Washington Post
- Native Americans Explain Why "Thanksgiving" Holiday Is Celebration Of Genocide -- The Final Call
- 3 Dead After Gunman Opens Fire Inside Colorado Planned Parenthood -- Huffington Post
- Armed Protesters Stalk Peaceful Muslims At Texas Mosque -- Popular Resistance
- US Foreign Policy Is Straight Out Of The Mafia -- The Guardian
Debate on Pornography: Can Porn Be Good For Us
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For November 25, 2015
A preface for this edition of Comments Which Conservative Block...
Nov 17
To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost about a 2-Kingdom approach to the law. This appeared in hiedelblog.
Let's be honest, though what the Westminster divines said about the godhead and soteriology could be adequately described as being less influenced by culture and more influenced by the Scriptures, the same cannot necessarily be said about the second table of the law. For example, what is missed in the quoting of the Westminster divines is Chapter 23:3 of the Westminster confession are the statements saying that kings were to punish blasphemies, heresies, and corruptions. The end effect was so that all of the 'ordinances of God' be observed. The above contains a modern adjustment to WCF 23:3 not what the divines wrote..
We should also note how Calvin implemented the 2 kingdoms. For he had no qualms about finding, prosecuting, and persucting to the point of death those who were witches or heretics. So the question is how much do we want to use Calvin as a guide for what the Church should expect from or demand of the state. We should also note in his writings against the Jews, Luther, a 2ker in his own right, called on German society and princesses to punish the Jews for their continued unbelief.
We should note that regarding the law, Acts 15:10 makes a general statement about the whole law within the historical context of the Church determining whether a ceremonial part of the law requiring circumcision should be practiced. Vs 10 clearly states that the Church should not require its members to follow a law that nobody had kept up until that time including the apostles with the exception of Jesus of course. Thus we saw a letting go of the ceremonial law because of how it foreshadowed Christ's passion and an adjusted version of the civil law that was made far more flexible than what was stated in the Torah, rather than total elimination of it, as well as the requirement of the 10 commandments. Here we should note that some reformers, such as Martin Luther, believed that keeping the law concerning the Sabbath was not in effect in the literal way that other reformers who were following Calvin believed.
But such brings us to the Christian "theonomists" some who are said to be on the left and others on the right. The problem here is that not all Christians on the left who call for justices are theonomists nor are they looking for some Messianic age. Some are merely looking for how we can improve life on this earth and thus take a more flexible approach to the civil laws, much like the NT Church did only the Left focuses on societal sins rather than personal sins. We should note that some of those civl laws were applications of God's moral laws especially laws that prohibited murder and theft. So what many on the Christian left did was to extract principles inherent in many of the civil laws that revolved around the prohibition against murder and theft and applied them to their respective societies rather than enforce them completely and literally.
Now it is true that Marx and many of his earlier followers, especially those who lived in the early to mid 20th century and before believed in Marx's utopian dreams. Those Christians who mixed Marx with their faith could be accurately described as hodling to state-Messianism. But it would a gross overgeneralization and oversimplification to say that all Christians on the political left expect a state-Messianism. Why? While early Marxists attributed deprivation to the distribution of goods to the bourgeoisie, others focused on the building of community within the state as well as holding to what Chomsky calls the principle of universality. That principle states that how we judge others is how we should judge ourselves and vice-versa. This applied to what we gave ourselves license to in how we treated others as well as what we prohibited others from doing to us.
Martin Luther King Jr., a person who opposed Marx but recognized the legitimat issues he was bringing to the table did well in describing the basic fault that could be applied to both socialist and capitalist approaches to society. King stated that if we are going to be on the correct side of the 'moral revolution,' our society must be a 'person-oriented society' rather than a 'thing-oriented society.' We should note her that King's move away from materialism is more consistent on socialism than capitalism. And such should raise red flags for Christians living in Capitalist economies.
Finally, we should note the serious flaw that exists in reformed 2KT. That serious flaw is that while the Church is free to beat up on the consciences of individual believers for their personal sins, the Church has no right to correct society torcorporate sins sins. And with the conservative Church's obsession with sexual sins, the Reformed Church dishonors the Gospel not by trying to legally prohibit some new sexual sins while remaining mute over issues of slavery and imperialism with some empires being at least partially build on human exploitation and theft of land.
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Nov 18
To Russell Moore and his blogpost asking if whether we should pray that ISIS be converted or defeated. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website
Can we pray for both? The article above is correct in answering with a yes. As a group, we should want ISIS to be defeated. But since ISIS consists of individual people, shouldn't we want these people to believe in Jesus? That we should is an excellent point made in the article above. We should note that Martin Luther King Jr took a two-prong approach to his enemies. He wanted to win them over. But for those who refused to be won over King wanted their behavior to be controlled to be controlled by the law.
At the same time, we can never afford to forget about the Wests's legacy of practicing its own evil in order to gain oil, profits, and strategic advantages.
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To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost on Christians being called exiles and strangers in this world. This appeared in Heidelblog
I think most of what was written above was good. But the following line needs more refinement:
Our most ultimate citizenship is in heaven but our citizenship in this world is truly important.
Some have used that important worldly citizenship as a justification for treating people who share their own ethnic or national identity with preference over those who don't.
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Nov 19
To Gaye Clark and her blogpost of when they helped an African-American woman with some problems by having the woman live with them. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website
One of the most important lines written in this article is below:
Racism is better understood when experienced than when explained.
That is especially true when we have a stake in having racism no longer being an issue. The other parts of the article are important to but in a different way. One of the things we must constantly draw people's attention to is the continued existence of racism.
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Nov 20
To Benjamin Watson and his blogpost about racism. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
We should note that racism is nothing more than another form of tribalism. Other forms of tribalism include nationalism, classism, ideological tribalism, and religious tribalism. Tribalism includes believing that one's own group is superior. Watson mentions this above with regard to race. But we should oppose the other forms of tribalism as much as we oppose racism. And racism must be opposed as strongly as possible.
According to Martin Luther King Jr., there is one more part of racism that was not included above. In speaking against the Vietnam War, King said the following:
I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
So according to King, we will have racism for as long as we count things as being more important than people. That is something for a consumer society to think about.
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To Joe Carter and his blogpost on what we should know about Syrian refugees in the light of the attacks on Paris. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
There is something else we should note about the Syrian refugee problem and it has to do with the attacks on Paris. According to a recent Washington Post article, not one of the known attackers were from Syria. Rather, they were all citizens of Europe.
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To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost quote of William Buckley Jr as he criticized Yale’s economics education for not glorifying the individual. This appeared in the Heidelblog
So is Buckley saying that it is less idolatrous to glorify the individual, disparage government and community for that matter, play in the hunger games, and to encourage self-reliance while denying the interdependencies that are inherent in the system?
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Nov 21
To Caleb Greggsen and his blogpost that comments on terrorism and its effects. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
There is one more response to terrorism that is necessary, but not mentioned. That response is when it is your own country that is practicing terrorism against others. What about our drone missile attacks that either cause collateral damage or, perhaps, target innocent civilians? What should a Christian's response be to those?
And if we are going to include Christians being beaten or robbed as acts of terrorism, why not include when our own government supports brutal dictators who beat and imprison their citizens for political reasons?
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Nov 23
To John Courts and his blogpost associating the Syrian Refugee problem with the Arab Spring movement in that nation and quoting an Orthodox Church official who stated that Arab Spring was the result of misguided American foreign policies. This appeared in the Acton blog.
Misguided American policies caused the Arab Spring? That is difficult to believe since American policies backed those with power with whom they were doing lucrative foreign aid business. That was certainly true in Egypt and in Tunisia. It wasn't true in Syria since Russia cornered the military aid market there. And American policies didn't start the Arab Spring in Tunisia. That started with self-immolation of one of its citizens and that was precipitated by living conditions.
The Arab Spring in Syria was inspired by successes in Tunisia and Egypt, but became violent in response to the government's violent response including the conducting of a massacre. Other groups joined including some in the military that took the original peaceful movement into a violent reactionary direction.
Btw, we should note that the Ocuupy Movement started in places like Tunisia and Egypt and that includes Occupy Wall Street (OWS). The preparation for OWS on Sept 17, 2011 occurred prior to the event when activisits from places like the Middle East and Spain came over here to teach activists how to make decisions and run meetings. I remember my first participation in the Global Justice Working group of OWS because of what seemed then to be almost a majority of people having come from other nations, particularly Middle East nations.
But here, we should also consider the source. As in Egypt, except when the Muslim Brotherhood was in control, the state Church, that is the Orthodox Church, has supported a strong-arm dictator simply because that dictator provided protection for the Church. Thus, out of self-interest, the Church in Syria, that is another Orthodox Church, has supported a tyranical regime because that regime kept it safe from religious extremism. Perhaps, this is just one of the reasons why some in Syria's civil war want to target Christians. With the help of these Christians, they have associated the Church with a brutal tyrant.
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To Joe Carter and his article about what we should know about the Syrian refugee controversy. This appeared in the Acton Blog.
Perhaps Carter should update his sources. According to a Washington Post article, an article that is more recent than the one Carter cited regarding the refugee-attacker with the Syrian Passport, all known participants in the Paris attack were Europeans. A fake Syrian passport was found and its appearance is now believed to be the result of the attackers's attempt to throw off the investigators regarding their identity. A link to the Washington Post article I am referring to is below:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/17/were-syrian-refugees-involved-in-the-paris-attacks-what-we-know-and-dont-know/
Editor's note: Please see more recent news articles than the one linked to above to see if any Syrian refugees have been implicated in the Paris Attacks. The date of the article linked to above is November 17
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To Matt Smethurst and his blogpost on how Christian history can benefit us. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
What is missing in this blogpost is the obvious that Church history can also disillusion us. Yes, this article is about how Church history can benefit us. But a warning label about how it can also disillusion us or, at best, teach us that we are all sinners must be attached to any legitimate church history study. When we consider the political maneuvering, intolerance, and violence practiced by Church leaders and heros throughout the history of the Church, it is sometimes more difficult to be inspired by them than to be repulsed. I experienced this reaction as I occasionally taught a World Religions class when I use to teach.
And there doesn't seem to be much difference in the Church's behavior today as the Church latches on to political parties leaders that show them favoritism even though the same visits violence and injustice on its own citizens and abroad.
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To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost telling us to silently submit to the civil authorities regardless of how unjust they are. This appeared in Heidelblog.
Besides the gross generalizations made about student protesters and Islamists (a.k.a., Muslims), I've protested with both and found your descriptions to be wanting in even the majority of instances I've been involved in, you given contradictory insturctions regarding our submission to the civile authorities. See, on the one hand you tell us to silently submit to even the most unrighteous authorities and yet you tell us to lell us to love everyone, including those who are suffering even gross injustices at the hands of the same authorities. And you do so forgetting the different historical context in which we find ourselves from the time of the apostles.
I know there is an exception to your rule here. That exception would be if the authorities told us to disobey God. And we have the examples of Daniel, Meshack, Shadrack, Abendigo, as well as the Apostles, to name a few, to thank for that.
But what about when we see a civil authority practicing injustice. Are we to silently submit to that injustice and let others be harmed and abused? See, how is it that we can silently submit to authorities unrighteously oppress our neighbors while loving our neighbors at the same time? After all, you did tell us to love others. And how is it that we can honor the government and not tell them that they are practicing injustice?
Now you have already stated that Paul and Peter gave us these instructions under some of the worse circumstances and there is no argument there. But if honoring the Lord is an important reason for the Christians to obey the Civil Authorities back then regardless of how horrible they were, does doing the same today honor the Lord or does it cause outsiders to not want to listen to the Gospel or even want to persecute Christians? If you don't believe the latter situation, please realize that one of the reasons why Christians have been persecuted in places like Syria and Egypt is because they support tryanical leaders in exchange for security. Here, Christians invite those in the Middle East to oppose them for their support for Israel. And in the old South, remember that Christians not only supported slavery at one time, they supported Jim Crow and it was civil disobedience that helped eliminate the latter.
If we were to never disobey the civil authorities as they practiced injustice, how would Moses have survived childhood? How would the OT prophets have challenged their kings and their nation about the injustices they were practicing?
And what about the change in historical context between then and now? After all, were not the Apostles first concerned about the spreading of what was to the world then an unknown Gospel. So Paul used his impriosnment to go to Rome to preach. And Peter told people to submit so as to not bring dishonor to the Gospel. Well, hasn't the Gospel been spread throughout the world? And aren't we living in democracies now so that we are at least partially responsible for the sins of the state officials we elected? And since when has remaining silent in the face of gross injustices brought honor to the Gospel or has been a way of loving one's neighbor who is being unjustly treated?
It seems to me that the hermeneutic that says we are silently submit to unjust gov'ts today is one that reduces God's description of our relationship to gov't to that which was preached by Peter and Paul while forgetting the rest of the Scriptures as well as not applying all of the Scriptures to new historical contexts to both the state of the Gospel in the world as well as the new responsibilities Christians have in democratic societies.
On the other hand, we have some nonChristians who, out of love for neighbor, challenge the government when it oppresses others and thus risks the consequences of so doing. This leads to two questions. First, how is it that our neighbor will, under these circumstances, not perceive the nonChristians as being more loving and outer-directed than the Christian? And how is it that Conservative Christianity, for the most part, has fashioned a practical theology that tells its followers to support status quos that benefit those with wealth and power while remaining silent about their sins? In other words, and in the words of some of my liberal and leftist friends, how is it that the Conservative Church has become anything else than an institution of indoctrination to maintain the status quo for the benefit of those with wealth and power? Perhaps if you just loved your neighbor, you would have interpreted Scriptures more accurately than what is done in the article above.
- Please note that the same amount of editing that goes into a regular blogpost is not put into the comments. Thus there will be more errors in the posts of this series than the other posts on this blog. So please be patient when coming across those errors.
- The size of the posts in this series will gradually get larger because I am blocked from commenting on more blogs now by administrators. I inquired as why the latest website blocked my comments but received no answer. So judge for yourself why I would be blocked.
Nov 17
To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost about a 2-Kingdom approach to the law. This appeared in hiedelblog.
Let's be honest, though what the Westminster divines said about the godhead and soteriology could be adequately described as being less influenced by culture and more influenced by the Scriptures, the same cannot necessarily be said about the second table of the law. For example, what is missed in the quoting of the Westminster divines is Chapter 23:3 of the Westminster confession are the statements saying that kings were to punish blasphemies, heresies, and corruptions. The end effect was so that all of the 'ordinances of God' be observed. The above contains a modern adjustment to WCF 23:3 not what the divines wrote..
We should also note how Calvin implemented the 2 kingdoms. For he had no qualms about finding, prosecuting, and persucting to the point of death those who were witches or heretics. So the question is how much do we want to use Calvin as a guide for what the Church should expect from or demand of the state. We should also note in his writings against the Jews, Luther, a 2ker in his own right, called on German society and princesses to punish the Jews for their continued unbelief.
We should note that regarding the law, Acts 15:10 makes a general statement about the whole law within the historical context of the Church determining whether a ceremonial part of the law requiring circumcision should be practiced. Vs 10 clearly states that the Church should not require its members to follow a law that nobody had kept up until that time including the apostles with the exception of Jesus of course. Thus we saw a letting go of the ceremonial law because of how it foreshadowed Christ's passion and an adjusted version of the civil law that was made far more flexible than what was stated in the Torah, rather than total elimination of it, as well as the requirement of the 10 commandments. Here we should note that some reformers, such as Martin Luther, believed that keeping the law concerning the Sabbath was not in effect in the literal way that other reformers who were following Calvin believed.
But such brings us to the Christian "theonomists" some who are said to be on the left and others on the right. The problem here is that not all Christians on the left who call for justices are theonomists nor are they looking for some Messianic age. Some are merely looking for how we can improve life on this earth and thus take a more flexible approach to the civil laws, much like the NT Church did only the Left focuses on societal sins rather than personal sins. We should note that some of those civl laws were applications of God's moral laws especially laws that prohibited murder and theft. So what many on the Christian left did was to extract principles inherent in many of the civil laws that revolved around the prohibition against murder and theft and applied them to their respective societies rather than enforce them completely and literally.
Now it is true that Marx and many of his earlier followers, especially those who lived in the early to mid 20th century and before believed in Marx's utopian dreams. Those Christians who mixed Marx with their faith could be accurately described as hodling to state-Messianism. But it would a gross overgeneralization and oversimplification to say that all Christians on the political left expect a state-Messianism. Why? While early Marxists attributed deprivation to the distribution of goods to the bourgeoisie, others focused on the building of community within the state as well as holding to what Chomsky calls the principle of universality. That principle states that how we judge others is how we should judge ourselves and vice-versa. This applied to what we gave ourselves license to in how we treated others as well as what we prohibited others from doing to us.
Martin Luther King Jr., a person who opposed Marx but recognized the legitimat issues he was bringing to the table did well in describing the basic fault that could be applied to both socialist and capitalist approaches to society. King stated that if we are going to be on the correct side of the 'moral revolution,' our society must be a 'person-oriented society' rather than a 'thing-oriented society.' We should note her that King's move away from materialism is more consistent on socialism than capitalism. And such should raise red flags for Christians living in Capitalist economies.
Finally, we should note the serious flaw that exists in reformed 2KT. That serious flaw is that while the Church is free to beat up on the consciences of individual believers for their personal sins, the Church has no right to correct society torcorporate sins sins. And with the conservative Church's obsession with sexual sins, the Reformed Church dishonors the Gospel not by trying to legally prohibit some new sexual sins while remaining mute over issues of slavery and imperialism with some empires being at least partially build on human exploitation and theft of land.
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Nov 18
To Russell Moore and his blogpost asking if whether we should pray that ISIS be converted or defeated. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website
Can we pray for both? The article above is correct in answering with a yes. As a group, we should want ISIS to be defeated. But since ISIS consists of individual people, shouldn't we want these people to believe in Jesus? That we should is an excellent point made in the article above. We should note that Martin Luther King Jr took a two-prong approach to his enemies. He wanted to win them over. But for those who refused to be won over King wanted their behavior to be controlled to be controlled by the law.
At the same time, we can never afford to forget about the Wests's legacy of practicing its own evil in order to gain oil, profits, and strategic advantages.
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To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost on Christians being called exiles and strangers in this world. This appeared in Heidelblog
I think most of what was written above was good. But the following line needs more refinement:
Our most ultimate citizenship is in heaven but our citizenship in this world is truly important.
Some have used that important worldly citizenship as a justification for treating people who share their own ethnic or national identity with preference over those who don't.
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Nov 19
To Gaye Clark and her blogpost of when they helped an African-American woman with some problems by having the woman live with them. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website
One of the most important lines written in this article is below:
Racism is better understood when experienced than when explained.
That is especially true when we have a stake in having racism no longer being an issue. The other parts of the article are important to but in a different way. One of the things we must constantly draw people's attention to is the continued existence of racism.
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Nov 20
To Benjamin Watson and his blogpost about racism. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
We should note that racism is nothing more than another form of tribalism. Other forms of tribalism include nationalism, classism, ideological tribalism, and religious tribalism. Tribalism includes believing that one's own group is superior. Watson mentions this above with regard to race. But we should oppose the other forms of tribalism as much as we oppose racism. And racism must be opposed as strongly as possible.
According to Martin Luther King Jr., there is one more part of racism that was not included above. In speaking against the Vietnam War, King said the following:
I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
So according to King, we will have racism for as long as we count things as being more important than people. That is something for a consumer society to think about.
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To Joe Carter and his blogpost on what we should know about Syrian refugees in the light of the attacks on Paris. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
There is something else we should note about the Syrian refugee problem and it has to do with the attacks on Paris. According to a recent Washington Post article, not one of the known attackers were from Syria. Rather, they were all citizens of Europe.
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To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost quote of William Buckley Jr as he criticized Yale’s economics education for not glorifying the individual. This appeared in the Heidelblog
So is Buckley saying that it is less idolatrous to glorify the individual, disparage government and community for that matter, play in the hunger games, and to encourage self-reliance while denying the interdependencies that are inherent in the system?
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Nov 21
To Caleb Greggsen and his blogpost that comments on terrorism and its effects. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
There is one more response to terrorism that is necessary, but not mentioned. That response is when it is your own country that is practicing terrorism against others. What about our drone missile attacks that either cause collateral damage or, perhaps, target innocent civilians? What should a Christian's response be to those?
And if we are going to include Christians being beaten or robbed as acts of terrorism, why not include when our own government supports brutal dictators who beat and imprison their citizens for political reasons?
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Nov 23
To John Courts and his blogpost associating the Syrian Refugee problem with the Arab Spring movement in that nation and quoting an Orthodox Church official who stated that Arab Spring was the result of misguided American foreign policies. This appeared in the Acton blog.
Misguided American policies caused the Arab Spring? That is difficult to believe since American policies backed those with power with whom they were doing lucrative foreign aid business. That was certainly true in Egypt and in Tunisia. It wasn't true in Syria since Russia cornered the military aid market there. And American policies didn't start the Arab Spring in Tunisia. That started with self-immolation of one of its citizens and that was precipitated by living conditions.
The Arab Spring in Syria was inspired by successes in Tunisia and Egypt, but became violent in response to the government's violent response including the conducting of a massacre. Other groups joined including some in the military that took the original peaceful movement into a violent reactionary direction.
Btw, we should note that the Ocuupy Movement started in places like Tunisia and Egypt and that includes Occupy Wall Street (OWS). The preparation for OWS on Sept 17, 2011 occurred prior to the event when activisits from places like the Middle East and Spain came over here to teach activists how to make decisions and run meetings. I remember my first participation in the Global Justice Working group of OWS because of what seemed then to be almost a majority of people having come from other nations, particularly Middle East nations.
But here, we should also consider the source. As in Egypt, except when the Muslim Brotherhood was in control, the state Church, that is the Orthodox Church, has supported a strong-arm dictator simply because that dictator provided protection for the Church. Thus, out of self-interest, the Church in Syria, that is another Orthodox Church, has supported a tyranical regime because that regime kept it safe from religious extremism. Perhaps, this is just one of the reasons why some in Syria's civil war want to target Christians. With the help of these Christians, they have associated the Church with a brutal tyrant.
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To Joe Carter and his article about what we should know about the Syrian refugee controversy. This appeared in the Acton Blog.
Perhaps Carter should update his sources. According to a Washington Post article, an article that is more recent than the one Carter cited regarding the refugee-attacker with the Syrian Passport, all known participants in the Paris attack were Europeans. A fake Syrian passport was found and its appearance is now believed to be the result of the attackers's attempt to throw off the investigators regarding their identity. A link to the Washington Post article I am referring to is below:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/17/were-syrian-refugees-involved-in-the-paris-attacks-what-we-know-and-dont-know/
Editor's note: Please see more recent news articles than the one linked to above to see if any Syrian refugees have been implicated in the Paris Attacks. The date of the article linked to above is November 17
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To Matt Smethurst and his blogpost on how Christian history can benefit us. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.
What is missing in this blogpost is the obvious that Church history can also disillusion us. Yes, this article is about how Church history can benefit us. But a warning label about how it can also disillusion us or, at best, teach us that we are all sinners must be attached to any legitimate church history study. When we consider the political maneuvering, intolerance, and violence practiced by Church leaders and heros throughout the history of the Church, it is sometimes more difficult to be inspired by them than to be repulsed. I experienced this reaction as I occasionally taught a World Religions class when I use to teach.
And there doesn't seem to be much difference in the Church's behavior today as the Church latches on to political parties leaders that show them favoritism even though the same visits violence and injustice on its own citizens and abroad.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost telling us to silently submit to the civil authorities regardless of how unjust they are. This appeared in Heidelblog.
Besides the gross generalizations made about student protesters and Islamists (a.k.a., Muslims), I've protested with both and found your descriptions to be wanting in even the majority of instances I've been involved in, you given contradictory insturctions regarding our submission to the civile authorities. See, on the one hand you tell us to silently submit to even the most unrighteous authorities and yet you tell us to lell us to love everyone, including those who are suffering even gross injustices at the hands of the same authorities. And you do so forgetting the different historical context in which we find ourselves from the time of the apostles.
I know there is an exception to your rule here. That exception would be if the authorities told us to disobey God. And we have the examples of Daniel, Meshack, Shadrack, Abendigo, as well as the Apostles, to name a few, to thank for that.
But what about when we see a civil authority practicing injustice. Are we to silently submit to that injustice and let others be harmed and abused? See, how is it that we can silently submit to authorities unrighteously oppress our neighbors while loving our neighbors at the same time? After all, you did tell us to love others. And how is it that we can honor the government and not tell them that they are practicing injustice?
Now you have already stated that Paul and Peter gave us these instructions under some of the worse circumstances and there is no argument there. But if honoring the Lord is an important reason for the Christians to obey the Civil Authorities back then regardless of how horrible they were, does doing the same today honor the Lord or does it cause outsiders to not want to listen to the Gospel or even want to persecute Christians? If you don't believe the latter situation, please realize that one of the reasons why Christians have been persecuted in places like Syria and Egypt is because they support tryanical leaders in exchange for security. Here, Christians invite those in the Middle East to oppose them for their support for Israel. And in the old South, remember that Christians not only supported slavery at one time, they supported Jim Crow and it was civil disobedience that helped eliminate the latter.
If we were to never disobey the civil authorities as they practiced injustice, how would Moses have survived childhood? How would the OT prophets have challenged their kings and their nation about the injustices they were practicing?
And what about the change in historical context between then and now? After all, were not the Apostles first concerned about the spreading of what was to the world then an unknown Gospel. So Paul used his impriosnment to go to Rome to preach. And Peter told people to submit so as to not bring dishonor to the Gospel. Well, hasn't the Gospel been spread throughout the world? And aren't we living in democracies now so that we are at least partially responsible for the sins of the state officials we elected? And since when has remaining silent in the face of gross injustices brought honor to the Gospel or has been a way of loving one's neighbor who is being unjustly treated?
It seems to me that the hermeneutic that says we are silently submit to unjust gov'ts today is one that reduces God's description of our relationship to gov't to that which was preached by Peter and Paul while forgetting the rest of the Scriptures as well as not applying all of the Scriptures to new historical contexts to both the state of the Gospel in the world as well as the new responsibilities Christians have in democratic societies.
On the other hand, we have some nonChristians who, out of love for neighbor, challenge the government when it oppresses others and thus risks the consequences of so doing. This leads to two questions. First, how is it that our neighbor will, under these circumstances, not perceive the nonChristians as being more loving and outer-directed than the Christian? And how is it that Conservative Christianity, for the most part, has fashioned a practical theology that tells its followers to support status quos that benefit those with wealth and power while remaining silent about their sins? In other words, and in the words of some of my liberal and leftist friends, how is it that the Conservative Church has become anything else than an institution of indoctrination to maintain the status quo for the benefit of those with wealth and power? Perhaps if you just loved your neighbor, you would have interpreted Scriptures more accurately than what is done in the article above.
Monday, November 23, 2015
ONIM For November 23, 2015
Christian News
World News
Pick(s) Of The Litter
- 1,000 Churches Closed In Aceh, Indonesia, Since 2006 -- Christian Today (UK)
- Why Christiants Must Take The Lead In Fighting Islamophobia -- Christian Today (UK)
- A Church Welcome For The Tired, The Poor -- Christianity Today
- What Is An Evangelical? -- Christianity Today
- Christians Debate State Bans On Syrian Refugees After Paris Attacks -- Christianity Today
- NFL Player: We PrayFor Paris Yet We Suspend Coach For Prayer? -- Church Leaders
- Christian Groups Break With GOP Over Syrian Refugees -- Politico
- Counting the Cost Of Racial Reconciliation -- The Gospel Coalition
- Bringin Of Christian Churches In Israel Justified, Far-Right Jewish Leaders Say -- The Telegraph
- Pope Francis: Christmas Festivities A 'Charade' In World Filled With 'War And Hate' -- Alternet
World News
- China's Bottled Water Industry Eyes Up The Tibetan Plateau -- The Guardian
- A Cascade Of States Are Now Refusing To Accept Syrian Refugees -- Business Insider
- Green Bay Packers Quarterback Rip Fan's Anti-Muslim Outburst During Paris Moment Of Silence -- RawStory
- Trans Pacific Partnership Protest: U.S. Trade Representative Accused Of Betraing The People's Interests -- DC Media Group
- The Way For Americans To Take On The Islamic State Is To End Support For Jewish Nationalism -- Mondoweiss
- 1000 US Citizens Killed By Police In 2015 -- Revolution News
- Hundreds Of Civilians Credibly Reported Killed In First Year Of Coalition Airstrikes, Airwars Study Finds -- AirWars.Org
- Spain 'Issues Arrest Warrant For Israeli PM Netanyahu Over 2010 Gaza Flotilla Attack -- Independent
- Which States Are Saying No To Resettlement Of Syrian Refugees? -- PBS Newshour
- Are You Confused By The Middle East? Here Are Some Things You Should Know -- ZNet
- Suspects Sought After Muslim Woman Attacked Outside Child's School -- CP24
- Canada Subsidizes Fossile Fuel Industry By $2.7 Billion Every Year -- Desmog Canada
- Scott Walker To John Kerry: State Wouldn't Help Bring Syrians To Wisconsin -- Madison.Com
- Missouri Activists Block Journalists -- The New York Times
- Lydia Wilson: What I Learned From Interviewing Imprisoned Islamic State Fighters -- Democracy Now
- Pennsylvania Will Accept Syrian Refugees -- Fox 43
- Despite Atrocities, US Approves $1.29 Billion Deal To Re-Arm Saudi Arabia -- Common Dreams
- Mass Grave Of 80 Yazidi Women Executed By ISIS Found In Sinjar, Iraq -- RT
- 72 House Democrats Ask Obama To Take In 100,000 Syrian Refugees -- ConservativeByte
- Stock Prices Of Weapons Manufacturers Soaring Since Paris Attack -- The Intercept
- Thirteen-Year-Old Sues North Caroline, Asks Judge To Force State To Take Action On Climate Change -- BuzzFlash
- Muslims Launch Powerful Social Media Campaign Against ISIS With #NotInMyName -- I Take Liberty With My Coffee
- From Pol Pot To ISIS: "Anything That Flies On Everything That Moves" -- Znet
- Why Some Arab States Refuse To Accept Syrian Refugees -- Time
- "Freedom Fries" And The Republican Right's Faux Solidarity With France -- Huffington Post
- Wikileaks Cables Portray Saudi Arabia As A Cash Machine For Terrorists -- The Guardian
- How Western Militarists Are Playing Into The Hands Of ISIS -- Alternet
- Israeli Leaders Exploit Paris Attacks To Justify Atrocities Against Palestinians -- The Electronic Intifada
- My White Neighbor Thought I Was Breaking Into My Own Apartment. Nineteen Cops Showed Up -- The Washington Post
- ISIS Shows Off Its American-Made M16 Rifles -- NBC News
- Hysterical Corporate Media Fueling War Fever, Xenophobia In 24/7 Cycle -- Common Dreams
- Following Shell, Another Oil Company Pulls Out Of Arctic -- Grist
- Mindless Terrorists? The Truth About ISIS Is Much Worse -- The Guardian
- Turkey Could Cut Off Islamic State's Supply Lines. So Why Doesn't It? -- The Guardian
- 'Cruel Murder' Brings China Into Battle Against ISIS -- The Asia Times
- Military Intervention Is The Problem, Not The Solution -- Common Dreams
- Anne Frank Was A Refugee Denied Access To The United States -- U.S. Uncut
- Doctors Vote To Drop Drug Ads To Consumers -- Marketplace
- How Basic Economics Reveals The Connection Between Legalized Prostitution And Sex Trafficking -- Acton Blog
- This Is The Biggest El Nino On Record, And A Killer La Nina Is Coming -- Business Insider
- Sanders: 'Democratic Socialism' Means Security, Freedom -- Yahoo News
- Obama's Drone War A 'Recruitment Tool' For ISIS, Say US Air Force Whistleblowers -- The Guardian
- Protesters Issue Demands At UNC-Chapel Hill Meeting On Race -- The News And Observer
- Saudi Court Sentences Poet To Death For Renouncing Islam -- The Guardian
- Watch Replay Of Town Hall Live Stream -- University Of North Carolina
- Trump Supporters Hit, Kick Black Protester At Alabama Rally -- Fusion
- U.S. Anthropologists Vote To Boycott Israeli Academia -- +972
- Organizers Of Cancelled Paris Climate March Urge Global Show Of Support -- The Guardian
- Craig Anderson was headed home to celebrate his birthday with his partner. Instead, he became the victim of a brutal and violent form of racism that many in Mississippi had thought long gone -- BuzzFeed
- Ted Cruz Wants A "Religious Test" For Refugees, But Can He Pass this Basic History Test? -- Reverb Press
- The Left And Right Must Stop The Establishment's Perpectual War Machine -- CounterPunch
- Protesters Call For Prosecution Of Police In Fatal Shooting -- Yahoo News
- From Console To Trigger: How Pentagon "Exploits" Video Game Culture to Wire Youth For War -- Democracy Now
- Hillary's War Whoop -- CounterPunch
- Bolivia Declares Israel A Terrorist State, 42 Years Of Visa Free Travel Called Off -- Daily Sabah Americas
- Q&A: The FBI's Role In 'Manufacturing' Terrorism -- CBC News
Pick(s) Of The Litter
- John Pilger On ISIS: Only When We See The War Criminals In Our Midst Will The Blood Begin To Dry -- Films For Action
- War In Congo Kills 45,000 People Each Month -- The Guardian
- What Americans Thought Of Jewish Refugees On The Eve Of World War II -- The Washington Post
- Dozens Killed In Nigeria Market Bombing -- Aljazeera
- American Cops Now Steal More Property Than All Burglars Combined -- Free Thought Project
- Rupert Murdoch To Obama On Refugees: Admit Only 'Proven Christians' -- The Guardian
- "Another Yale Is Possible" -- Video
- Socialism?! -- ZNet
- Whatever The Heck Bernie Sanders Is Talking About It's Not Socialism -- Forbes
- The Paris-Beirut Debate. Why News Organizations Paid More Attention To The Attacks In France -- Columbia Journalism Review
- Were Syrian Refugees Involved In The Paris Attacks -- The Washington Post
- Islamist Gunmen Attack Luxury Hotel In Mali Capital, 170 Taken Hostage -- Christian Today (UK)
- General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned--Seven Countries In Five Years -- YouTube
Friday, November 20, 2015
Dueling Banjos Play While Syrian Refugees Hope To Survive
What is at stake are hope and even life for those Syrians who would seek to find refuge here. We should note the kind of people we are talking about. The Syrians have already put most nations to shame when it comes to helping refugees. For that is what they did while our nation was creating between 3.5 million to 5 million refugees when we invaded Iraq (clich here). Most of the refugees went to either Syria or Jordan. And as of 2010, at least 1 million of them were in Syria (click here). But now that it is their turn to need help, they're finding that they may have already received their payment from the world with a pat on the back as nations decide whether to accept them.
Of course there have been Christians weighing in on the issue of accepting Syrian refugees. On the side of being more reluctant out of sense of fear/responsibility to allowing Syrian refugees here is an blogpost written by Bill Blankschaen (click here). How reluctant Blanschaen is is not quite clear since his post lacked specifics. But by the tone of it, he seems to want the Church and our nation to err way on the side of caution when it comes to allowing Syrian refugees.
A position that seems, details are lacking again, to be more in the middle are article written by Gospel Coalition writers Kevin DeYoung and Trevin Wax (click here and there). It seems like the purpose of their articles/posts is to at least mention the counterbalance between the two main competing issues involved in accepting Syrian Refugees: the government's responsibility to keep its own citizens safe and secure, and a call to show compassion to those in need. And finally we have a Christianity Today article, written by Mark Galli, that represents the view that leans toward throwing the doors of our nation wide open to the refugees (click here).
What else do we know or not know. Thus far we know that of Paris assailants who have been identified, not one of them is a Syrian citizen. There was some confusion because of a fake passport that was found in the aftermath of the attack. In fact, not only were the known attackers not Syrian, they were all citizens of European nations (click here). Should we now refuse Europeans entry into our nation?
There is something that we do not know which some of us think we know. In Trevin Wax's article, Wax makes the following statement about ISIS and its terrorism:
If the driving forces for ISIS are the same as what the driving forces have been the driving forces for Al-Qaeda, Wax's assessment here needs to be severely challenged. Why? Just by the looks of it, it assumes that the key difference between what members of ISIS have experienced and what peaceful members of any other part of the world have experienced revolves around religion. This assumes that war and failed governments have nothing to do with what created ISIS. Such is a huge assumption. This was discussed in Tuesday's blogpost (click here).
In addition, what Tuesday's blogpost quoted from Jason Burke's book, Al-Qaeda: The True Story Of Radical Islam, states that it is the combination of serious grievances plus a failed and deaf political system along with being on the receiving side of violence that can make one a terrorist, it isn't religion that does that. After all, history shows that representatives of all of the major religions have been involved in terrorism/war. During the British Mandate, Jewish terrorists were attacking both Arab and British targets. In addition, many would easily call Israel's attacks on the Palestinians acts of terrorism too. American Christians have, in the name of patriotism, often supported unnecessary wars such as the Vietnam War and George W. Bush's Iraq War. And of course, allegedly, depending on whom one is speaking with, representing Islam are groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
There are several points to note here. The first point of course, which has already been mentioned, is the alleged ties between ISIS and Islam. That the members of ISIS are Muslims does not prove that ISIS comes from Islam any more than the religious identity of KKK members prove that the KKK is a Christian group--a point that has been made several times in Facebook posts. Again, as in Wax's statement that was examined earlier, such takes for granted the effects that the political and social contexts that were set in a war have on ISIS members and their sympathizers.
Second, we should note that, as Nicholas Wolterstorff often points out, when it comes to helping the vulnerable including the alien, we are no longer just dealing with issues of compassion, we are also dealing with issues of justice. And when dealing with issues of justice regarding refugees, we are no longer dealing with freedom of choice in terms of what we shall share or not share, we are dealing with what do we owe the Syrian refugees. For when we do not give them what we owe, we are visiting injustice on them.
Finally, we should note that there is a point of continuity between taking any other position than a generous one toward allowing Syrian refugees into America and one of the justifications of the Iraq War. We should remember that one of the ways the Bush Administration defended America's invasion of Iraq was that the invasion allowed us to fight the terrorists there, rather than here. And now, many of those who supported that war want to keep Syrian refugees out America for the same reason. It's as if we are saying to the world: 'Yes, we will do what we can to oppose terrorism regardless of the price others must pay as long as we are not attacked on our own soil.' Was it ironic or predictable that the war we fought to keep terrorism away from our doorstep is now, because of its role in creating ISIS, threatening to bring terrorism to where we live. And instead of reflecting on what we might have done to contribute to this new threat, we prefer to externalize evil by how we assoicate the new king of terrorism, ISIS, with either the religion or national identity of those who are different from us.
Of course there have been Christians weighing in on the issue of accepting Syrian refugees. On the side of being more reluctant out of sense of fear/responsibility to allowing Syrian refugees here is an blogpost written by Bill Blankschaen (click here). How reluctant Blanschaen is is not quite clear since his post lacked specifics. But by the tone of it, he seems to want the Church and our nation to err way on the side of caution when it comes to allowing Syrian refugees.
A position that seems, details are lacking again, to be more in the middle are article written by Gospel Coalition writers Kevin DeYoung and Trevin Wax (click here and there). It seems like the purpose of their articles/posts is to at least mention the counterbalance between the two main competing issues involved in accepting Syrian Refugees: the government's responsibility to keep its own citizens safe and secure, and a call to show compassion to those in need. And finally we have a Christianity Today article, written by Mark Galli, that represents the view that leans toward throwing the doors of our nation wide open to the refugees (click here).
What else do we know or not know. Thus far we know that of Paris assailants who have been identified, not one of them is a Syrian citizen. There was some confusion because of a fake passport that was found in the aftermath of the attack. In fact, not only were the known attackers not Syrian, they were all citizens of European nations (click here). Should we now refuse Europeans entry into our nation?
There is something that we do not know which some of us think we know. In Trevin Wax's article, Wax makes the following statement about ISIS and its terrorism:
As we denounce these acts of violence with every fiber of our being, we cannot ignore the fundamental religious nature of this clash of worldviews. Whether or not we believe the Islamic State to be the inheritor of “true Islam” or a cruel distortion that is ravaging the world, there is no question that theology lies at the heart of today’s terrorist activity.
If the driving forces for ISIS are the same as what the driving forces have been the driving forces for Al-Qaeda, Wax's assessment here needs to be severely challenged. Why? Just by the looks of it, it assumes that the key difference between what members of ISIS have experienced and what peaceful members of any other part of the world have experienced revolves around religion. This assumes that war and failed governments have nothing to do with what created ISIS. Such is a huge assumption. This was discussed in Tuesday's blogpost (click here).
In addition, what Tuesday's blogpost quoted from Jason Burke's book, Al-Qaeda: The True Story Of Radical Islam, states that it is the combination of serious grievances plus a failed and deaf political system along with being on the receiving side of violence that can make one a terrorist, it isn't religion that does that. After all, history shows that representatives of all of the major religions have been involved in terrorism/war. During the British Mandate, Jewish terrorists were attacking both Arab and British targets. In addition, many would easily call Israel's attacks on the Palestinians acts of terrorism too. American Christians have, in the name of patriotism, often supported unnecessary wars such as the Vietnam War and George W. Bush's Iraq War. And of course, allegedly, depending on whom one is speaking with, representing Islam are groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
There are several points to note here. The first point of course, which has already been mentioned, is the alleged ties between ISIS and Islam. That the members of ISIS are Muslims does not prove that ISIS comes from Islam any more than the religious identity of KKK members prove that the KKK is a Christian group--a point that has been made several times in Facebook posts. Again, as in Wax's statement that was examined earlier, such takes for granted the effects that the political and social contexts that were set in a war have on ISIS members and their sympathizers.
Second, we should note that, as Nicholas Wolterstorff often points out, when it comes to helping the vulnerable including the alien, we are no longer just dealing with issues of compassion, we are also dealing with issues of justice. And when dealing with issues of justice regarding refugees, we are no longer dealing with freedom of choice in terms of what we shall share or not share, we are dealing with what do we owe the Syrian refugees. For when we do not give them what we owe, we are visiting injustice on them.
Finally, we should note that there is a point of continuity between taking any other position than a generous one toward allowing Syrian refugees into America and one of the justifications of the Iraq War. We should remember that one of the ways the Bush Administration defended America's invasion of Iraq was that the invasion allowed us to fight the terrorists there, rather than here. And now, many of those who supported that war want to keep Syrian refugees out America for the same reason. It's as if we are saying to the world: 'Yes, we will do what we can to oppose terrorism regardless of the price others must pay as long as we are not attacked on our own soil.' Was it ironic or predictable that the war we fought to keep terrorism away from our doorstep is now, because of its role in creating ISIS, threatening to bring terrorism to where we live. And instead of reflecting on what we might have done to contribute to this new threat, we prefer to externalize evil by how we assoicate the new king of terrorism, ISIS, with either the religion or national identity of those who are different from us.
Monday, October 19, 2015
ONIM For October 19, 2015
Christian News
World News
Pick(s) Of The Litter
- Church Of England Bishops Call On Government To Let In Thousands More Refugees -- Christian Today (UK)
- Work Begins On Church To Honor Coptic Christians Martyred By ISIS -- Christian Today (UK)
- Catholic Divide Deepens As Traditionalists Call For Synod Walkout -- Christian Today (UK)
- Terrorists Are Now The Persecuted Church's Greatest Threat -- Christianity Today
- Exploring Evangelicalism: The Presbyterian Church In America -- Christianity Today
- 70,000 Worshipers Dump TV For Church -- Christianity Today
- The Church, Loneliness And The War On Drugs -- The Christian Post
- Praying For The Peace Of Jerusalem -- The Christian Post
- Pastor-Rapper Trip Lee Shares About His 'Organic Journey' Toward Calvinism -- The Christian Post
- The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Trumpism -- CounterPunch
World News
- Ralph Nader Praises Donald Trump As "Breath Of Fresh Air" -- Independent Political Report
- Socialist Party USA Nominates Mimi Soltysik For President -- Independent Political Report
- Award-Winning Iranian Filmmaker Gets 6-Year Prison Sentence -- New York Times
- Democrats: Rhetoric Can't Hide Their Unwavering Support For Capitalism -- Greenville Post
- Bernie Blew It: He Sold Out Instead Of Confronting Clinton -- Truthdig
- This is What Happened When Drug Baron Martin Shkreli Tried To Donate To The Bernie Sanders Campaign -- Good
- Israel: Assailant Opens Fire On Bus Station, Soldier Killed -- Yahoo News
- Is Snowden A Hero Or Traitor? Democrats Debate Whether NSA Whistleblower Should Face Jail Term -- Democracy Now
- Hillary Clinton And Bernie Sanders Take Center Stage At First Democratic Debate Of 2016 Race -- Democracy Now
- Noam Chomky On Trans-Pacific Partnership -- YouTube
- Bernie Sanders May Not Be A Hawk, But He's Also No Dove -- ZNet
- 'Big Agri' Doesn't Serve Us: Reflections On World Food Day -- Znet
- Environmentalists On Both Sides Of The Border Eye Canadian Election -- Truthout
- How Domestic Workers Resisted Racism In The '60s and '70s -- Truthout
- Global Capitalism: September 2015 Monthly Update -- YouTube
- Donald Trump On 9/11: My Immigration Policies Would Have Prevented Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks -- International Business Times
- Iranian Authorities Exchange Additional Monitoring For Eased Sanctions -- International Business Times
- Last Week Tonight With John Oliver: North Dakota -- YouTube
- Israel's Sleeping Beauties Have Awoken From Their Deathly Silence -- ZNet
- Xi Jinping Plays Down China's Economic 'Growing Pains' -- The Guardian
- Typhoon Koppu Weaker But Still Dangerous, Says Philippines Government -- The Guardian
- Iran Deal Moves Forward As U.S. And EU Line Up Sanction Waivers -- Reuters
- Turnout Low In Egypt's Long-Awaited Parliamentary Election -- Reuters
- Congress' Benghazi Probe Not Aimed At Clinton, Lawmaker Says -- Reuters
- For Men In Prison, Child Support Becomes A Crushing Debt -- The Washington Post
- How Israel's Most Fervent Peacemaker Squandered His Best Chance -- The Washington Post
- How Congress Could Fix A Social Security Glitch -- The Washington Post
- Pentagon Says Leader Of Al-Qaeda Offshoot In Syria Was Killed In Airstrike -- The Washington Post
- Man Eloquently Flexes His Rights & Shuts Down Cops Who Detained Him For Jogging While Black -- Free Thought Project
- Wikileaks: U.S. Supported Unrest In Bolivia, Prepared For Death Of Evo Morales -- Mint Press News
- Brazil, China Doing More For Climate Change Than US, EU -- Telesurtv
- Abby Martin & Chris Hedges: War, Propaganda And The Enemy Within -- YouTube
Pick(s) Of The Litter
- Atheist Group Gives $20,000 Donation To Doctors Without Borders Following Hospital Bombing -- Friendly Atheist
- Family Sues After US Teen Shot Dead During Traffic Stop -- Yahoo News
- Israel Opens Fire On Gaza Protesters, Killing Six -- Common Dreams
- 7 Myths And Atrocities Of Christopher Columbus That Will Make You Cringe -- U.S. Uncut
- Russian Bombs, Like US Bombs, Will Not Bring Peace To Syria -- ZNet
- Gun Cultures: The USA And Israel -- CounterPunch
- Prisoners' Families Organize To Resist Incarceration And Its Costs -- Truthout
- Battle For Allepo Threatens To Create Fresh Refugee Exodus -- The Guardian
- U.S. Attorney General To Allow Police Depts To Keep the Number Of Civilians They Kill A Secret -- Free Thought Project
- Native Communities Across North America Lack Access To Clean Water -- Mint Press News
- FactChecking The Democratic Debate -- FactCheck.Org
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