A Word about War part II

Bishop Desmond Tutu once wrote that "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." Last night I had to go to the auto shop to pick up my car. On the ride back to the house I listened to Shane Claiborne tell a story about a little boy who worked in a sweat shop. He said that the boy spoke at a conference and pointed to a scar on his face and said that his master hit him and fearing that he would bleed on the material that the boy was working on, the master held a lighter to his face to stop the blood. The boy pointed to a shirt and said so that you can have that.

Rather the sweat shop worker or the Iraqi people, the sanctity of life run deep and to all people rather it is a white American fetus or an Afghani terrorist. If we are called as people to care for life and to see God's image in others, than we are to protect not only ourselves but everyone. So often we forget the words of Christ who said, "Whatever you do to the least of these you do also to me". We victimize ourselves when other countries or religions come against us, thinking that we are being persecuted for our freedom. It is arrogance to think that we have not violated and hurt others.

It is the words of Christ that brings me back to "turn the other cheek". The Gospel is not just for the oppressed but also for the oppressors. In order to transform injustice, we must consider that all people need the love of God to be shown to them. We love them, who are our oppressors and we love those who we find ourselves oppressing. We seek to change our ways by bringing awareness of the problems and put a face to the system. The Gospel is the great equalizer that demonstrates the need for the proud and rich to see their righteousness is as "filthy rags" but it is also the Gospel the brings light to the hopeless and poor that they are loved and precious to God.

A Word about War part 1

Disclaimer: I have been wanting to write this blog for awhile now but feared for the responses of my friends and family. I apologize up front for anyone that is offended by this blog. I hope everyone knows that my heart hurts for the things I write about and I am continuing to learn and grow, always seeking wisdom and council. No doubt, I will probably look back at these blogs years from now and want to change some of them. I hope you will join me in the journey and pray for me as I seek to find the path that most lines up with the Way.

I have always thought of America as a "Christian nation" and thought that I was patriotic. I often said that I would go to war at the drop of a hat if my country needed me and in fact, when September 11^th happened I very seriously considered joining the military. I thought that since Bush was in office that he would lead us in the right path, knowing that he was a Christian brother and that he followed God.

War was further idealized in my mind as I heard old stories of WWII and was exposed to war through the media. In my mind, it was the pot smoking hippies that opposed war and I never much cared for dreadlocks and tie-dye. I hated all the right people, from liberal democrats to abortion doctors to Arabs.

With the ushering in of the Bush administration and the fact that the Republican Party was in the majority, I remember thinking that God was going to bless this nation once again. Shawn Hanity assured me that this was the case. When we went to war, I was firmly for it. It made sense. If they attack us, we attack them with shock and awe just like we did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I don't know what happened specifically and I don't think that it was all of a sudden. When I started to hunger for hope and change in my life, I think that was when I started to want the same for the nation and more importantly the world. The only hope for change is through love. This love for others was best demonstrated in the words and actions of Christ who taught us to love both our enemies and our neighbors. Love Osama and love Bush; love the Republican and love the Democrat; love the rich and love the poor. Is it by loving our enemies that causes us to bomb another nation or put a man to death?

Arts and Crafts

Recently, I have been feeling increasingly nauseous about buying clothes. This feeling had its roots in a friend of mine who told me about his conviction and his "Protest" to stop buying clothes for a year. He turned me over to the likes of Shane Claiborne with the warning that, "Be ready for your life to be turned upside down". Right now I am going through Jesus for President as well as Irresistible Revolution. He writes with passion about caring for the poor and about no surrendering God's politics for government. Irresistible Revolution has certainly been convicting. I started to have some dialogue with Emily about what God has been teaching me. We started to really research through some harsh realities of our buying and spending and became more aware of the systemic injustices that we were contributing to. We watched a documentary called the Church of Stop Shopping. This satiresic documentary showed not only the poor quality of the treatment of laborers in foreign markets, but also showed the sick consumerism that has taken this country by storm.

The other day, Emily and I were shopping at Ross. We were initially looking for something for her to wear at a wedding that we are going to at the end of the month. We came across a dress that had written on it in bold letters, "Made in Vietnam". Emily looked at me and made this statement: "Why would they advertise that so boldly?!? Of course I guess for most people they really don't care." Unfortunately, that is true. No one really does care about where their clothes are made. It was only until recently that I started to care. Otherwise, I just bought at low prices. What prices are we really paying by purchasing items that 1. We don't need and 2. Are costing people their very lives?

I became dizzy a couple of weeks ago when I ran into an emergency buy. These scenarios are always bad news for both the wallet and consumer conscience. I found myself in a department store that was so overpriced that the store clerk confessed to me that he couldn't afford the clothes. I needed a dress shirt and a tie. When I knew I needed these two things I had thought that I would face the battle between buying cheap or buying something more expensive but in better quality working conditions. What surprised me was that both of these were not options. Every single shirt and tie came from countries that have poor (Understatement) working conditions. I finally found a tie and shirt that was cheap enough, or so I thought. It pained me and I felt sick about buying these clothes. In my head were flashes of children starving to death and working on the clothes that I just bought. I felt defeated and wondered if my conscience had been seared to appease my need for a shirt and tie. The story has both good news and bad. Fortunately Emily called and I told her how much I spent which caused me to action to take back said clothes. I went to Kohl's and bought a shirt and tie for a fraction of the price, but they were both made in the same countries that are known for abuses in the working environment.

I have to say, I felt a lot better after I came out of Kohl's than Dillard's. Why? I know why, but it pains me to say that it wasn't because I cared more about where my clothes were made. It was because I saved a dollar. My concern for the poor was out measured by the price I paid. This mindset haunts me. I know what my true humanity was concerned with and knew that I chose my own comfort over others.

Emily and I have decided that we want to start thinking creatively. Knowing that Emily is way better at this than I, we went to the craft store and got some painting supplies for her. She is really good. I find it extremely interesting to find her creating something from a blank canvas. As we started to talk about getting those creative juices flowing, we discovered that we wanted to start thrift shopping and making our own clothes out of them. So far, she has modified a hoody that is extremely cool and unique. We are going to start doing this to both save money and to make sure that our money isn't going to enslave people.

I think we both realize that there will come a time when we have to buy something that is at a department store made in Vietnam or another country. But we do it with gull in our stomachs and pain in our heart. To be honest, I am glad for it. I am glad that it will hurt when we are forced to make these choices. I don't want to be numb to my buying. I want to be conscience of my buying. Perhaps if more of this would happen, we would see change.

Love, Hope, Pray

Noah

On Faith and Politics

 

My friend (I can say that now that Mclaren posted my question on his site) Brian Mclaren posted this today and I found great comfort in voting in this election. I hope this is just as much a source of comfort.

 

To vote or not to vote?

Some folks I've talked to are not going to vote in the 2008 elections. Some are disillusioned. Some don't like either candidate enough to vote. For some, not voting is an act of protest against the whole system, which they believe is hopelessly corrupt. Some believe that their citizenship in God's kingdom means they shouldn't become involved in "earthly" citizenship.

While I respect my friends who aren't going to vote - especially those who have prayerfully thought the decision through from multiple vantage points - I will vote in this election for several reasons.

1. True, there are plenty of reasons to be disillusioned with US politics (corptocracy and plutocracy being major ones). But in my travels in other countries it has become clear to me that even though our system has a lot of problems (and that was a gentle understatement), many other nations are far more corrupt, far less transparent, etc. If we in the US don't try to make our system work, we're setting a pretty poor example. Besides, in every other area of my life - church, family, business, etc. - I don't let disappointment or disillusionment or setbacks make me withdraw into inaction. Rather, I become more committed to make things work.

2. I don't expect any candidate to be perfect. In fact, my theological beliefs tell me that I will always be choosing between the lesser of two evils - or more positively put, the better of two less-than-perfects. The fact that candidates are willing to endure the hard work, the media scrutiny, the pressure, the responsibility - of both the election and the office - can be seen a sign of something good. After all, if all a candidate cared about was personal peace, personal comfort, or personal wealth, there are a lot better ways to get ahead. So rather than say, "I don't think either candidate is good enough for my vote," I'm more prone to say, "Thank God that people are willing to run at all, and thank God that we have two candidates as good as the ones we have." We could be choosing between Mugabe and Mugabe.

3. I believe there is much to protest in our current system. But noninvolvement, it seems to me, generally empowers those who are in control. So non-voting becomes a kind of passive vote for the people in power.

4. I believe that a commitment to Christian discipleship should make me a better neighbor, employee, spouse, child, or parent too. Similarly, I believe that "citizenship in God's kingdom" should make me the best kind of citizen possible, not the worst. Of course, because of my commitment to God's kingdom, I have a broader range of concerns than I would without that commitment. (More on this in the next post.) But I believe that those concerns would in the big scheme of things make me an even more valuable citizen. My civic responsibility would certainly not end with voting, but I can't wee why it would stop short of voting either.

One final thought ... for those of us who do vote, it is a mistake to think that electing the better of two candidates necessarily guarantees things will get better. (Electing the worse of two candidates, however, can definitely make things worse!) I've lived in the DC area most of my life, and it's clear to me from where I live that there are powerful forces that resist the leadership of every new president - political and economic lobbies, bureaucratic and institutional inertia, plus the frightening ever-present momentum of the military-industrial complex. I agree 100% with my friend Jim Wallis who says that what changes society is not just elections, but the wise and ongoing pressure of social movements on elected officials. Politicians are always checking the wind, Jim says - and our job, through social movements, is to change the wind. And I also agree 100% with my friends Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw who remind us as followers of Jesus that we don't elect our ultimate commander-in-chief. Rather, we discover that he has elected us to join him in his mission. In that light, I believe our vote must ultimately seek to express our fidelity to his good news - which is (according to Luke) good news for all people, and especially good news for the poor.