Shame On You!

With the month coming to a close I’m glad I waited to almost the last minute to present this month’s awards. I think you’ll agree the delay was well worth it. As in past months the nominees all earned the honor accorded them, and as always it was difficult to limit the number to three. As my friend Steve has pointed out, “So many silly people, so little time.”

The envelope please…

First Place goes to The Entire Government of Arizona. For the first time since the days of the segregated South an entire state government has decided to enact a law that is the embodiment of Jim Crow and allows racial profiling in an attempt to “deal” with its illegal immigrants. State Senate Bill 1070 – dubbed the “Papers Please” bill by critics – would require law enforcement officials in the state of Arizona to investigate someone’s immigration status if there is “reasonable suspicion” that the person might be undocumented. What constitutes reasonable suspicion and just how exactly a law enforcement official can tell who might be undocumented is of course the sixty-four thousand dollar question that Governor Jan Brewer, who did her best impersonation of a deer caught in someone’s headlights when she signed this bill into law, could not answer. The best Brewer could come up with at the press conference was that she would not tolerate profiling and that “we need to trust our law enforcement officials to know what they’re doing.” She made that last statement with a straight face.

There is no other way to put this. This law is an abomination. It runs counter to all we hold near and dear, namely that we are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Now anyone suspected of being “illegal” will have to prove they are not, and if for some reason they do not have the proper documentation on them, they will be arrested, even if they are in fact legal. And who is likely to be stopped and asked to “prove” their status? People who look illegal, that’s who. Brewer, when asked whether she could recognize what an illegal looked liked, could not answer. If she couldn’t, how on earth are the law enforcement officials who we are supposed to “trust” going to be able to tell? And therein lies the problem. Arizona has just enacted a law that on its merits now requires its local police departments to troll for people of Hispanic origin in order to root out its illegal alien problem. How could reasonably intelligent people not believe that this would constitute profiling when the essence of the law itself requires its use in order to be effective? To quote Stephen Colbert, “It’s like they’re saying that harassing Latinos with racial profiling is an inevitable side-effect of this law. It’s not; it’s the entire point of this law.” The law’s sponsor Russell Pearce was quoted as saying, “When you make life difficult, most will leave on their own.” Who is most?

Even if you grant the argument that the law’s intention is to reduce if not eliminate the illegal immigration problem that plagues not just Arizona, but all border states, the fact is that this law throws out the baby with the bathwater. The fourth and fourteenth amendments are quite specific: The fourth amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. It was adopted as a response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, which is a type of general search warrant, the kind of search likely to happen under this new law. The fourteenth amendment states in pertinent part, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” The law’s intent, however noble its proponents believe it to be, will be subverted by the harsh reality that many innocent Hispanics will be subject to needless invasions of their privacy and encroachment of their civil liberties. This is unacceptable in any free society. Imagine if the Statue of Liberty’s inscription read: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free - can I see some ID please?”

Shame on you, Arizona for passing this law and for showing the world that we still have a long way to go before we bury our racial prejudices, and for completely ignoring the Constitution in the process. In an ironic twist, owing principally to concerns over Brewer’s safety, the press conference was held in a non-disclosed setting. Reporters had to show their credentials and driver's licenses twice to enter the building, thus giving them a little taste of what Hispanics in this state will have to go through every day now.

Second place goes to The Obama Administration. In what can only be described as the best case of the pot calling the kettle black in quite some time, the Administration is expressing concerns over learning that Pakistan is holding thousands of suspected militants in indefinite detention without benefit of a trial.

WTF?

Ever since February of last year when the Obama Administration announced that detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights and cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention – a decision that shocked human rights attorneys – thousands of detainees have been held almost virtually incognito without any right to due process, mirroring to a tee Bush Administration’s policies. Incredible!

As recently as January of this year, the New York Times and Washington Post blasted the Administration for its decision to ignore international law as well as the Constitution. The New York Times wrote in an editorial on January 17th, “We keep waiting -- in vain -- for the Obama Administration to stop trying to block judicial scrutiny of some of the Bush Administration’s most outrageous policies on the detention of prisoners.” And on January 22nd the Washington Post wrote, “A Justice Department-led task force has concluded that nearly 50 of the 196 detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be held indefinitely without trial under the laws of war, according to Obama Administration officials.”
And now the current administration is up in arms and expressing concerns because another country has decided to follow in our footsteps. How disingenuous can a government be? For the last eight years we have continued to circumvent our own Constitution, spit in the face of international law, and continue to undermine our credibility within the Muslim world, and yet we call out a sovereign nation when it does the same thing. Small wonder Salon’s Glenn Greenwald, in his op-ed piece, sarcastically quipped,

“Let's teach those Pakistanis that we're not going to tolerate their lawless and tyrannical detention of people without charges and trials. We won't put up with it. Especially not when it's "justified" with the Orwellian claim that their real civilian courts can't handle the prosecutions and they're "afraid" that Dangerous Terrorists might be released if they give them due process because they're unprosecutable. Kudos to the Obama Administration for teaching them that countries that live under the Rule of Law simply don't deny people trials based on such excuses. It'd be one thing if they were assassinating these people without any charges or trials -- that of course would be understandable -- but not detaining them. We're the Leader of the Free World and we simply can't be seen associating with or supporting regimes that would do such a thing. Besides, unlike the U.S., it's not like Pakistan really faces an Existential Threat from Islamic radicals or anything, so (unlike us) they really have no acceptable excuse for doing these things.”
Shame on you Obama Administration for not only refusing to live under the letter of law, but for being hypocrites while doing it.

And bringing up the rear, Sue Lowden. If you thought Michelle Bachmann had the exclusive on crazy, Lowden’s recent interview will have you believing the end times are at hand. The Republican candidate for Harry Reid’s Senate seat had some, shall we say, unique takes on how to combat the high cost of medical treatment. We’ll let Lowden tell it in her own unadulterated words.

“You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor, they would say I’ll paint your house. I mean, that’s the old days of what people would do to get health care with your doctors. Doctors are very sympathetic people. I’m not backing down from that system.”
No she isn’t; not only that, the tea party darling has continued to insist that she wasn’t misquoted and unabashedly stands behind her comments. Somewhere in an undisclosed bunker under the Capital building Harry Reid is muttering to himself, “I can’t believe I’m trailing this whack job!” So, the next time you lose a limb, or need a transplant, or have a disease that requires an “experimental” treatment make sure you bring some chickens to your local hospital or doctor’s office. Tell them Sue Lowden sent you.

Shame on you Sue Lowden for trivializing the seriousness nature of healthcare costs in this country and for insulting your constituents in the process.

Coming Out: One brave bird dares fly against the wind.

There are many things that have always bugged me about Christianity. Its ties to moneyed interests throughout its history – at least the history that post dates the early days of the Church – has been a great cause for concern for many progressives who view such ties as contrary to the teachings of Christ; the incessant view held by many conservatives that the Bible should be interpreted literally has been a thorny issue that has plagued the religion since the days of Augustine, and there appears to be no resolution forthcoming any time soon; and the endemic conservative bent throughout the Church on virtually every issue from global warming to healthcare reform has pitted brother against brother and sister against sister and forced many outside the faith to question what our real priorities are. What can we possibly offer those seeking everlasting salvation if we cannot show that we ourselves are saved?

But while all the above are significant enough to make a saint swear, none has been more puzzling and damning than the issue of homosexuality. One would rather admit to being a leper than to admit to being gay. The Church has treated such “aberrant” behavior like a doctor would treat an infectious disease. Support groups like Living Waters offer to “cure” the afflicted of their malady by convincing them that they have somehow been wounded early in their lives. Once that wound has been brought to the Cross the natural heterosexual drives that exist in all God’s creatures are restored. Life resumes as it should and all is well in the universe.

Now it’s not my wish to belittle the faith that I have called my own for nearly twenty years, nor do I mean to suggest that support groups like the one mentioned above have not helped the broken and downtrodden, for the tragic truth is that many Christians, as well as non-Christians, have suffered deep wounds at the hands of predator adults who were supposed to be our protectors in our formative years. The damage that such wounds cause are played out in our adult lives and must be rooted out if we are to be set free. But to jump from A to C and suggest, as so many in the Church do, that homosexuals are nothing more than heterosexuals who have been sexually wounded quite frankly is offensive to the homosexual community. To lump these people into the same pot of damaged goods because their lifestyle runs counter to certain Biblical teachings seems most, well, un-Christ-like. The problem with quoting scripture is that you can use it to make any point you wish to make, no matter how hurtful or myopic it might be.

Case in point, last week’s announcement by Christian singer/songwriter Jennifer Knapp that she is a lesbian has rocked the Christian music world. No other artist of Knapp’s caliber has ever come out of the closet, and the shock waves were predictable. Based on the treatment Amy Grant received when she got divorced, one can only imagine the scorn that is awaiting Knapp for her bravado in acknowledging her status.

Yes, I said bravado! Regardless of how one may feel about the homosexual lifestyle, it took courage for Knapp to come clean, especially knowing the community to which she has called her home for so many years. But courage has never been Knapp’s problem. The four-time Dove award winner has not only been a staple of many Christian groupies, she has also earned the respect of her peers throughout the music industry as a whole. Her cover of Shawn Colvin’s “Diamond in the Rough” remains one of the better covers of the last fifteen years.

I have never hid my disdain for the bulk of Christian music. Fact is I often find such music banal and just flat out lame. It is lifeless and artless. Gospel, by comparison, buries it. Knapp’s music was one of the few exceptions to the rule. Unlike so many of her peers who leap from A to D – you know, I was a sinner and now I’m free; thank you Jesus; God is great – Knapp got it. The struggle wasn’t over just because we surrendered to God; in fact it was just beginning. She knew she was wounded and she never shied away from baring her soul as well as her heart. She is that rarest of artists in the Christian music industry. She embraces her pain - you could almost call it angst - and uses it as a vehicle to allow us into her journey in the same way a Bruce Springsteen or a Lucinda Williams might. And while I am certainly not suggesting that Knapp deserves inclusion into that “sacred” group – she has quite a ways to go before crossing that bridge – among all the artists of her genre, she is the only one I take seriously, because she is the only one who never forgot where she came from. Too often, in our zeal to tell the world how wonderful salvation is, we forget that pain is still an integral part of our life story. Artists like Jennifer Knapp, who do not recoil from it as from a hot flame, in the end dignify their music as well as their fans.

And now she has another story to tell: a story of suppression and denial and, yes, shame. The road ahead for Knapp will no doubt be a rocky one, and she has earned it. But she has also earned the right to live it out and to sing about it in what ever manner she chooses, no matter how it may rub the majority of Christians a certain way. Knapp has said that her forthcoming album, aptly titled “Letting Go,” will honor her faith even while it seeks to appeal to a more mainstream audience and that is the way it should be. Knapp isn’t abandoning her faith; if anything she will need it now more than ever. Whether the Christian community ever receives her back into its “good” graces remains to be seen. If they can look past their own stigmatizing biases, I submit they may be pleasantly surprised; if they can’t and choose to shun her, it will be their loss. Either way the sun will still rise in the east tomorrow, only there will be one less bird flying with the flock.

A Hate That Endures: Why the Tea Party Movement may be here for some time to come and why we must be steadfast in our stance.

In the original Star Trek pilot, Captain Christopher Pike is captured by a race called the Talosians, who have the ability to make him do anything they want by reading his thoughts and manipulating his surroundings. The only emotion they cannot read is intense feelings of hatred or rage. Try as he might Pike is unable to keep his hatred up and, when the emotional rush is finally over, is punished by his captors for wrong thinking. The moral of the story is that no matter how hard one tries he or she can never sustain such “primitive” emotions for long. Eventually the wave subsides and we are restored to a state of emotional stability. Gene Roddenberry knew a thing or two about human beings and he knew no rational mind could hold onto that much rage for long; no rational mind that is.

But Roddenberry was a bit of an idealist. Like most science fiction writers of his day, he believed that man would eventually rise above the fray of pettiness and bigotry that has defined most of his somewhat limited existence on this planet. Our destructive natures would eventually be replaced by a more utopian-like lifestyle. The concept of primitive emotions such as hatred or rage controlling the mind for more that a brief interlude was something he could not fathom. Certainly we would “evolve” beyond that point and be able to live together without killing one another either literally or figuratively. But Roddenberry’s optimism seems strangely out of touch with the stark reality of our present-day circumstances. If today’s Tea Party Movement is any indication it could be a very long time before we ever see the kind of world Roddenberry envisioned for humanity. Like the famous cereal commercial, one is apt to say of his naiveté, “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.”

The rage that emanates from this movement is not unique to our history. We have seen it before. But it has seldom been so concentrated and enduring. I have written at great length of my concerns about this movement and what it means to our future as a country. I have warned that we are vulnerable to a national tragedy the likes of which have not been seen in this country since 1963. The emotional madness that defines the bulk of these tea partiers is well passed the pathological stage; it is a national phenomenon that has already deeply wounded one of the two prominent parties in the country and is attempting to use acts of intimidation against the other. What it cannot achieve through legitimate means, it will attempt through coercion. Zero accountability coupled with zero tolerance equals a recipe for disaster.

To the rational mind – the one Roddenberry believed existed in us all – this seems like a bad dream. This can’t possibly be happening, not in America. My wife, who has always taken the high road and describes herself as a progressive with a moral compass, is blessed with a strong intellect and a superior ability to reason things through and resolve conflict peaceably. She has no stomach for such abhorrent behavior. In her heart of hearts, she sees passed the asinine and racist signs and sees a frustration that others have manipulated to suit their ends. Of course she has a point – the cart / horse analogy is germane to any discussion involving this group – and she has proven far more resilient than I have ever been when it comes to patience and compassion.

But she has also chosen not to listen to the rhetoric that is coming out of this movement. She has refrained from listening to the Hannitys, Limbaughs and Becks. Whether manipulated, stoked or just flat out inflamed to a riotous mass, the proverbial Genie is out of the bottle and isn’t going back in. The issue before us is not who lit the fuse, but how can we prevent the ensuing explosion from bringing down the whole damn house?

Well for one thing, we – all of us – need to stop believing that cooler heads will prevail. There are none within this lot, and those who still might possess an ounce of sanity are more likely to go along with the majority of their brethren rather than risk being called a traitor. You don’t have to believe me, just look at the GOP. Could anyone have guessed that this once prominent and majority party would be reduced to the status of mouth piece for the likes of Dick Morris and Sarah Palin? David Frum was right when he said, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox. And this balance here has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican Party.” Loathe though I am to give any credit to a Republican, especially one who worked in the Bush Whitehouse, Frum has nailed it so to speak. The tail is now waging the dog.

Another thing that we all need to do is stop pretending that this fight is not ours to wage. I am so sick and tired of well-meaning Christians who keep quoting Ephesians 6:12 as though it somehow absolves them from having to speak up and challenge hypocrisy. The scripture reads as follows: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” If I’m reading it accurately it clearly states that while we are not to fight against one another, we are commanded to fight against that which poisons the minds of our fellows, and call it out whenever it rears its ugly head. Those who insist on spreading hatred and lies, in the spirit of Psalm 63:11 “shall be stopped.”

In all of scripture I keep looking for the passage where God, all by himself, accomplished every task. With the exception of the Creation account, it is not there. Even the birth of his only son required the services of a virgin woman. We do violence to scripture by sitting on our hands and looking upward toward the heavens. We need to get up off our knees and bring the fight to those who would pervert and subvert our values in the name of the king of darkness. Do not deceive yourselves; Satan is having a grand old time of it sitting back and watching his creation unleashed and unchecked. You would say Satan cannot do that which God does not allow. I would say that is a cop out for the weak and timid. We are all called to be soldiers. The only question is whose army are we in?

Lastly, we need to present to our fellows a cogent and rational mindset that best represents the heart of what Jesus would have for us as a people. Nature abhors a vacuum. It is not enough to refute the lunacy of the Right, if at the end of the day all we do is substitute our own brand of intolerance in place of theirs. We may win the battle, but we will eventually lose the war. We needn’t be lambs led along to the slaughter house, but we cannot, no matter how tempting it might be, subscribe to the same methods and traits as our sworn enemy. That is the real meaning of Ephesians 6:12. We do not lie down; we stand firm, shielded in His armor and resolute against all that the enemy will throw at us.

The next few months will be as great a test for this nation as any it has yet seen. In a way we are witnessing a sort of Civil War. This war may not result in the killing of thousands of soldiers as the last one did, but there will be casualties nonetheless. It is our duty to be resolute and steadfast in the face of the coming deluge. The enemy will not go quietly into the night, and neither should we. For we are the benefactors of a benevolent and all-powerful God that always triumphs over evil and will equip us for every struggle. He will never abandon us in our time of need so long as we call upon him for our strength.

March Madness

If you thought getting healthcare reform passed was like passing a kidney stone, just sit back and watch as the carnage unfolds. To quote that famous Bachman Turner Overdrive song, “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.”

Shouts of “Baby killer” being aimed at Bart Stupak; a Congressional map from Sarah Palin with crosshairs indicating Democrats to be targeted for defeat in November with a personal message imploring her readers on Twitter to “reload” and on facebook to “aim” at and “fire” those who voted for the bill; a suspicious package being delivered to Anthony Weiner’s office containing a white powder; death threats against Democratic members of Congress and even a few Republicans; a gas line cut in the home of the brother of a Democratic member of Congress.

Normally this would be the stuff of bad soap operas; alas such is not the case. The rage of the August Town Halls has come full circle. The insanity has begun again and this time it isn’t going to subside. Months and months of incendiary rhetoric from the Right has taken root and poisoned the minds of the gullible to such an extent that the fuse it has lit now threatens to blow up the whole damn nation. To the rational mind, this is a time to worry.

I have made no secret of my contempt for the right-wing media who deliberately mislead their viewers and listeners with distortions and lies. Whether it was decrying the path to socialism, fabricating claims of death panels, or underwriting astro-turf rallies, the non-stop, 24/7 onslaught, while it failed to stop reform, worked brilliantly to stoke the violence that now all too clearly resides in the hearts and minds of millions of Americans. These people are beneath contempt and there will undoubtedly be a special place in hell reserved for them when they depart this Earth.

To add insult to injury, the Right’s claim that they are somehow not responsible for these violent outbursts – that somehow these individuals, on their own, just decided to act deranged, show up at rallies with loaded weapons, sporting vulgar signs and shouting racist and derogatory slurs all without one iota of aid from them – is absurd and insulting. That there exists deranged people who are ignorant and frightened is one thing; that they can become this well organized without the assistance of an outside agency is quite another. Only a fool could fail to connect the dots.

Another insidious claim by the Right that the miscreants showing up at these rallies are merely the exceptions to the rule – that the vast majority of these people are law-abiding citizens who are simply expressing their concerns over the direction the country is headed – is NOT supported by the evidence. Find me the calm and collected among this group if you can. Oh, there might be a few sprinkled in among the throng. But far from being the exception, these marauders are the rule. They represent the heart and soul of a mob-like movement that is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. The problem with individuals who are that mad is that when they lash out you can’t always predict who they are likely to lash out against. That’s the problem with mob rule; ultimately it’s an oxymoron.

When challenged by critics, the Right’s response is predictable. This is all some conspiracy by the liberal media to kill a populist movement. All they seek is a platform to air their grievances, and anyone who dares question their motives is infringing on their freedom of expression, as if threatening a sitting President or Congressman is a matter of expression.

From the moment of his election, Barack Obama has been the target of a constant barrage of inane and outlandish claims, none of which have been borne out by the facts. He was to blame for the recession, even though it began well before the election; he was to blame for the TARP, even though his predecessor was responsible for implementing it; his stimulus was evidence of typical big government tax and spend liberal politics, even though many economists believed it was not large enough; his budget would balloon the deficit to unheard of heights, even though the last two two-term Republican presidents tripled and doubled the national debt respectively; his healthcare reform bill was branded as socialized medicine and a government takeover of the insurance industry, even though many progressives demanded a single-payer system and the insurance industry has been left relatively unaffected and intact.

Charge after charge is easily repudiated by a careful reading of the facts. But facts are not what is driving the bus over on the Right. Fear and hatred are stirring the pot of discontent. This isn’t politics as usual; it’s Munich incarnate. The only thing missing is the procession of brown shirts descending on the Capital. Scoff if you want; we have seen it happen before. The Tea Party movement, the hideous child monster of Dick Armey’s Freedom Works, is now fully self-actualized and, with the aid and comfort of the wingnuts on Fox News and most of the A.M. dial, is now massing for a date with destiny.

Get this straight: it is not peaceful coexistence that these tea partiers seek. Nothing less than total victory is permissible. They have cashed in on the nightmarish scenario woven by the demigods of misinformation and swallowed it hook, line and sinker. The Glenn Becks, Mark Levins and Sean Hannitys are their leaders now. They have no time or inclination for constructive dialogue; the intellectualism of William F. Buckley might just as well have been a figment of some idealistic dreamer’s imagination. Responsible conservatives like David Brooks, who call for collaboration, are shunned as being phony and traitorous to the cause. When David Frum is the one calling you out, you know you have problems.

The events of the last week are only a taste of what is ahead. Crazy does as crazy sees. While the tea partiers do not, thankfully, represent the opinion of the majority of Americans, theirs is the loudest and most obnoxious voice. As anyone who knows history even a little will tell you, if say something often and loud enough over time it will start to gain traction and momentum. It would be a tragic mistake to assume that this malignancy will peter out over time. If anything, it is growing. The damage has been done and the clock is ticking.

And what of the Republican Party? It is one thing for the deranged to burn down Rome; it is quite another for an entire political party to willingly pour the lighter fluid. The complicity of the Party of Lincoln and Eisenhower has been the most puzzling of all. One would think rational and clearer heads would prevail, but this is not a time for rational and lucid behavior. In what can only be described as the gamble of the century, the GOP is betting the ranch that this wave of hysteria will somehow propel them back into power in Washington. They are attempting to tap into and co-opt the rage of millions of people who neither know the truth of the matter, nor have the capacity to understand how they are being played for cheap political gain. Pawns have more say in how a chess game is played than these poor lost buffoons.

Moderates? One might as well look for water on the Moon. Any Republican who dares stand up to the party line is branded as a RINO (Republican in name only). How bad is it? John McCain – a four-term senator – is getting the fight of his life from the very party he represented in the ’08 Presidential campaign. Talk about gratitude! Ron Paul, a self-professed Libertarian, may well be the most lucid member of the GOP, and that is saying something. The party that once championed the abolition of slavery and worked with Democrats to bring about civil rights legislation has sunk to heretofore unheard of depths. Rather than work with Congressional Democrats to try to get a healthcare bill that was more to their liking, they decided to pick up their marbles and stay home. The Party of No has now become the Party of No Way Out. The only thing the GOP seems interested in these days is capitalizing on fear-mongering and reliving a past it should know full well never existed in the first place. Not even the Gipper himself could save this lot.

The shame of all this is that at a time when the country desperately needs boldness and balance in its political discourse, a party that could offer effective solutions would be a welcome sight. Instead what we have according to Bill Maher is a center-right party (the Democrats) and a crazy party (the Republicans); one is in the pocket of corporate America, the other in the pocket of the loons. Saints preserve us!

This is going to be one helluva long year. Before it is over we are going to witness stupidity on a massive scale. Republicans will no doubt run on repealing the healthcare bill; they will appeal to every frightened redneck and talk radio groupie who is convinced the government is out to get them. They will even net gains in both the House and Senate; perhaps even rest control from the socialist hordes. But in the end we will all lose. Because America, now more than ever, doesn’t need more ideologues who can’t see the forest for the trees; it needs visionaries who will challenge our perceptions of who we are and chart a course forward, not backward.

For all his perceived shortcomings by the Right, Barack Obama is still the best hope for the United States. He is, to quote David Brooks, “the most realistic and reasonable major player in Washington.” I would also add, perhaps a bit too pragmatic for some peoples’ tastes. But I would gladly take him over anyone the Republicans will bring to the table in 2012. Considering what’s in the cupboard, that isn’t much of a statement.

There is so much at stake. It would be a tragedy of epic proportions if this blight were to strike down this president and his agenda all in the name of fear and ignorance. Do not kid yourselves; the mood among many of their numbers is decidedly ugly and unlikely to change for some time. Such volatility is often a breeding ground for the kind of lunatics who would find it appealing to send a message and go out in a blaze of glory. It has been over four decades since this nation has witnessed an assassination of a sitting president. I pray we are all spared from having to live through that nightmare again.

Pass the Damn Bill!

Over the last year we have seen an intense and contentious debate on healthcare reform like no other debate in modern history. We have seen every conceivable argument both for and against reform from scuttling the current system in favor of a single-payer system (Medicare for All) to shouts of death panels and a government takeover of healthcare. And after all the political posturing and back and forth banter I have come to the only rational conclusion possible. As flawed as this current healthcare reform bill is, it is still the best effort to date to bring about change to a broken system, and on the whole it should be passed by the House and signed into law by the President.

Yes I know full well that many of the bill’s provisions do not kick in for up to four years, meaning many millions of people will still have to wait to receive the proper care they so desperately need; and yes I realize that with healthcare now mandated by law and enforceable through punitive measures, many of these people will be compelled to purchase insurance from the very same industry that treated them so despicably in the first place – a windfall for an industry that heavily lobbied against reform; and yes after all the hoopla over the numbers, there will still be more than fifteen million Americans without coverage after this bill gets signed into law.

Even with all that and more, this bill should still pass and for two reasons and two reasons only.

1. The mid-term elections are fast approaching. Democrats will almost certainly suffer losses; to what extent no one knows for sure. But whether they lose control of both Houses of Congress, one chamber, or just have their majority cut down in size, this much is certain: next year’s Congress will have no stomach or inclination to discuss, let alone vote, on healthcare reform. Whether anyone cares to admit it or not, this ship is leaving in 2010. The only decision is whether or not this bill makes it on board. An Opportunity like this – flawed as it is – comes once in a lifetime. Clinton’s big mistake was that he wanted his bill his way. Congress punted and the rest is history. Critics who contend that the GOP will make healthcare reform a major issue in the fall campaign are missing the point. No matter what the Democrats do, the GOP will come after them, big time. So long as you’re going to get roasted, you might as well be roasted for doing something.

2. The fear by many progressives that passing this bill means it is etched in stone is absurd. If history has shown us anything it is that politics, like human beings, evolves over time. Social Security and Medicare were far more cumbersome and far-reaching, and yet today’s programs bear little resemblance to what they looked like at their inception. There will be time to correct the flaws in this bill, either through reconciliation or later amendments to it. The point is to start somewhere. Paul Krugman has said that the bill “wouldn’t transform our health care system; in fact, Americans whose jobs come with health coverage would see little effect. But it would make a huge difference to the less fortunate among us, even as it would do more to control costs than anything we’ve done before.” He’s right.

The tragic flaw staring back at all of us is that in this current political climate it was naïve of us to believe we would ever get the bill we wanted. Yes, Barack Obama badly mismanaged this process; yes the wingnuts on the Right should be ashamed of themselves for the fear-mongering they sponsored over what basically amounts to a Massachusetts type of reform bill, but if in our zeal to get what we think is best, we end up killing this bill, then woe to us. It will not be the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs who we will have to thank; it will be our own obstinance.

If Dennis Kucinich could be swayed to vote yes on this bill then maybe it is time we all came to our senses and realize what most moderates and pragmatists have learned all too well and what the Rolling Stones once sang in a famous song: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.”

This nation desperately needs healthcare reform, and it has needed it for several decades. The time for posturing and pandering to our basic fears and petty desires is over. If we miss this opportunity, the next one might not come for years, if at all.

Pass the damn bill!

Shame On You!

A new month beckons and with it another opportunity to shine the light of day into the squalor lives of individuals who so richly deserve the accolades accorded them. Certainly seems like a long way to travel to heap a ton of hurt onto the narrow shoulders of the despicable, but never let it be said I haven’t been guilty of occasionally laying it on a bit thick.

As in past months, the honorees went above and beyond to earn our collective wrath, but seldom as a Shame on You monthly awards segment highlighted such loathsome behavior. It was difficult picking a winner, so I’ll just let the chips fall where they may and allow God to sort it out later.

Bunning On Empty.

First up, Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, aka Pinhead. Like his fellow conservative colleague Richard Shelby, one of last month’s winners by the way who put a blanket hold on Obama Administration nominees, Bunning seems determined to let ideology rule out over common sense. He single-handedly held up a 30-day extension of unemployment and health benefits to millions of Americans, and for reasons only Bunning seems to have gotten.

Bunning says he held up the extension because the cost of it, approximately $10 billion, was not offset by cuts to other programs. In a nutshell – no pun intended – if the Senate is going to pride itself on passing "pay-as-you-go" legislation then Bunning has taken it upon himself to expose any approved unfunded spending, no matter who it hurts. Ironically, it was Bunning who opposed the very same “pay-as-you-go” legislation he now claims to be championing.

When confronted by Senate Democrats on the floor, Bunning had the nerve to complain that he was being made a victim for his stance and that he was missing a college basketball game; a game by the way he could’ve TiVo’d. Later he responded to one last plea for those affected by saying, “Tough shit. I’m trying to make a point to the people of the United States.”

Point taken, I guess.

While we have seen many examples of broken politics in Washington, this latest stunt beats them all. Bunning’s insensitivity underscores just how depraved some can get in their pursuit of partisan politics. While Bunning isn’t alone in his sentiment – Arizona Senator Jon Kyl went so far as to call it a “disincentive” to be on unemployment – he has unfortunately become the poster boy for the GOP as it attempts to obstruct just about any Democratic legislation coming down the pike. But this wasn’t some political nomination that was being held up for its own sake; this was a vital piece of legislation aimed at helping people caught in the worst recession in decades. Apparently the Party of No is now the Party of No Empathy and Bunning is its mascot.

It wasn’t until Senate Democrats called his bluff and were actually going to require him to personally filibuster the legislation, that Bunning backed down and withdrew his objection; but not before getting them to agree that one of his amendments get an up and down vote in the Senate. In what can only be described as poetic justice the amendment was defeated.

Congratulations pinhead, you’ve earned your stripes.

Fear and Loathing in America.
Next up we have “The Insane Right.” When Andrew Joseph Stack decided to do his own imitation of a kamikaze pilot and fly his plane into the I.R.S. building in Austin, Texas on February 18, he wasn’t just your typical lunatic out on a murder spree, he had a specific mission in mind: to take his wrath out on as many government officials as possible. His deep-seated hatred and contempt for anything connected to the government had been stewing for months and finally, like a volcano, could no longer be contained.

But Stack himself is not the principal cause for concern here. That there exists in this world people with severe emotional problems is a simple fact of life. The real alarm lies behind the impetus that is driving such people.

There is no polite and delicate way to put this. Stack and others of his ilk belong to a group, which is growing in numbers and fervor like a rash spreading throughout the body. For months now I have been writing about the lunatic right-wing fanatics, who are being co-opted by the Republican Party for the sake of cheap politics, and are acting like their own version of the Nazi Storm Troopers in Germany. I have warned about this malignancy spreading throughout the country. In Andrew Stack they finally have their martyr. I fear he will not be the last.

Frank Rich in a New York Times op-ed piece titled, “The Axis of the Obsessed and Deranged,” has correctly and appropriately drawn a comparison between the current Tea Party movement and the domestic terrorism of Timothy McVeigh.

“Anyone who was cognizant during the McVeigh firestorm would recognize the old warning signs re-emerging from the mists of history. The Patriot movement. "The New World Order," with its shadowy conspiracies hatched by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. Sandpoint, Idaho. White supremacists. Militias.”

The pattern is repeating itself, only now it is far more intense and toxic. What had been born out of Dick Armey’s Freedom Works as an organized campaign against Obama and Congressional Democrats over healthcare reform, has morphed into yet another full-blown firestorm that is completely contemptuous of establishment politics and has set its sites on all of Washington. Like Frankenstein’s monster turning on its creator, the Tea Party movement has taken on a life of its own and is beholden to no one except its own insular interests and agenda. Its ideology is one in which paranoia and delusion are given priority over even a modicum of reason. As Rich adroitly pointed out, “That ideology plays to the lock-and-load nutcases out there, not just to the peaceable (if riled up) populist conservatives also attracted to Tea Partyism. This ideology is far more troubling than the boilerplate corporate conservatism and knee-jerk obstructionism of the anti-Obama G.O.P. Congressional minority.”

Gone is the intellectualism of William F. Buckley, replaced by the anti-elitism of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin: the new heroes of the new counter-conservatism. Their followers run the gamut from conspiracy theorists to anti-government zealots to Oath Keepers to John Birch Society Brown Shirts, sprinkled with just a tad of the usual disillusioned bystanders who are still suspicious of Washington, but who haven’t gone completely off the deep end yet.

Last August I wrote in a blog about Fascism, “Pathological dissent often reads like freedom of expression until it is turned up a few notches and it is given voice in the form of riotous hatred. In such instances, the ignorant and frightened are often manipulated and mobilized to act in manners they normally would not be prone to do.” In the Tea Party movement we have the perfect example of freedom run amuck. America’s version of the Nazi Storm Troopers: racist, myopic, and contemptuous of law and order. It is the reincarnation of the mob that turned on Brutus in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” only in this case it is the United States that is at peril from such mindless individuals.

Rational people often have a blind side when it comes to such groups. They see erratic and unbalanced behavior and dismiss it as being largely innocuous. The analogy they draw is that of a spoiled brat or an undisciplined child acting up and looking to draw attention to itself. It is best not to acknowledge the behavior lest you condone it. They see the Tea Partiers as a fleeting movement that will die of its own weight eventually. The problem with that thinking is that this movement is hardly shrinking; in deed it is growing by leaps and bounds. They are well organized, and many of them are equally well armed. The fervency of these people is unmatched by any other in recent memory and they are as unyielding as they are zealous. Far from your typical unruly child, this movement shows no signs of tiring out and grabbing a nap for itself. It is, if anything, loaded for bear. If the August Town Halls were any indication, we are in for one hell of a ride.

Shame On You!

Well it’s that time of the month again. No, not that. It’s time for the monthly Shame on You awards. As always, narrowing down the field to three was tough, but this month’s nominees have earned their spot by going above and beyond. In honor of the Winter Games in Vancouver, I thought I’d go with an Olympic format. Game On!

The Gold goes to Senator Richard Shelby who has decided to place a blanket “hold” on all presidential nominations until a pair of billion-dollar earmarks for his home state are fast-tracked. At least 70 nominations are being held up, many non-political, by the Senator, who himself blasted Democratic efforts back in 2005 at blocking the appointment of John Bolton to the post of UN ambassador. Funny how selective his memory is. Shelby is no stranger to controversy. Last February, the Alabama senator seemed to question the citizenship of Barack Obama by commenting on a rumor that spread like a cancer throughout the campaign.

“Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate,” Shelby said. “You have to be born in America to be president.”

Whether Shelby is an actual member of the Birther movement, or just another political hack looking to garner favor among a myopic element within American society, this much we do know: all impromptu misstatements notwithstanding, this latest stunt has earned him a place atop this month’s list. You can’t call for transparency within the Administration and an end to wasteful spending, while grandstanding for earmarks and holding the government hostage. Shame on you, Mr. Shelby.

The Silver goes to the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Three major Native American reservations in South Dakota, particularly the Cheyenne River Reservation, have been buried under snow and ice with major power failures for weeks during what can only be described as the worst winter in recent memory.

On a “Worst Persons” segment on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Olbermann ripped the Committee. “Power lines down, thousands of other Lakota and other tribes people, already face 75 to 85% unemployment, before a blizzard and an ice storm that added six inches of ice weight to utility poles hit. Two weeks since those lines were knocked down and most of the electricity went with it. They managed to get the water turned back on at Cheyenne River, unfortunately most of the water goes into a pipe system that failed during the storm. The pipes are broken. With the wind chill it was minus 19 there today. What did we find out about this on the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs – some means of donating to the affected tribes, means of underwriting the energy companies now distributing propane tanks by hand? An emergency hearing on a crisis there? Nothing. There’s a committee meeting Thursday to discuss regular business.”

Now in the Committee’s defense, Senate rules do prohibit solicitations of aid of any kind “even in circumstances like this.” And since the Olbermann piece, the Committee has responded to the emergency by allocating funds for the removal of snow, rebuilding of roads, and the repair of power lines and water pipes. But why did it take so long for the Committee to act in the first place? And why only a paltry $300,000 in aid, with total costs projected to be two to three times that amount? More damaging was the fact that for almost a month, while thousands of native-Americans needlessly suffered, the very agency charged with being their advocate was virtually silent and inactive. Inexcusable!

But the Bronze goes to a surprise entry: Keith Olbermann. Last month’s special election in Massachusetts was about as divisive as they come with plenty of hyperbole to go around on both sides of the political aisle. But Olbermann went above and beyond when he went on a tirade against the newly elected Scott Brown in one of his Special Comment” segments last month.

“In short, in Scott Brown we have an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees. In any other time in our history, this man would have been laughed off the stage as unqualified and a disaster in the making by the most conservative of conservatives. Instead, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is close to sending this bad joke to the Senate of the United States.”

Now you’d think that would be enough for even Olbermann, but the following day, he dug the hole a bit deeper by adding, “I need to apologize for comments made here last night about the Republican candidate. I’m sorry, I left out the word sexist.”

So over-the-top was Olbermann’s tirade that Jon Stewart mocked him on The Daily Show the following day, by doing a parody of his Special Comment segment, to wit, “How far, sir, how far will you fall?...But now, you're just kind of calling people names. To wit, you said this of Joseph Isadore Lieberman, Democrat Connecticut: "a Senatorial prostitute." Of Roger Ailes, "fat ass." Chris Wallace, "a monkey posing as a newscaster." Rush Limbaugh, a "big bag of mashed up jack-ass."...And of Michelle Malkin, you said, "a mindless, morally bankrupt, knee-jerk, fascistic...mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it." That my fine, feathered friend sounds a lot more like violence against women than anything Scott Brown ever said. You can't resort to childish attacks as hominem as they are nauseam. You've ceded the high ground, and now you wallow in the fetid swamp of baseless, of baseless name-calling, and as we both know, sir, that's my thing. It is beneath you, it is next to me. A man of your intellect need not be me: petty, pompous, pusillanimous, or poopy-head.”

http://vodpod.com/watch/2908316-im-falling-in-love-with-john-stewart-all-over-again

Now whether one agrees with Olbermann’s viewpoints or not, and I have on most occasions agreed with them, the fact is that engaging in such displays debases whatever validity one wishes to bring to the forefront. As Stewart succinctly pointed out you can’t resort to childish attacks and name calling which cede the high ground. By doing so you undermine your credibility and give the wingnuts on the Right that much more ammunition with which to shoot you down. Shame on you, Keith!

A Declaration of Sorts

When in the natural course of a man’s journey, he finds he is at an impasse between the reality of his situation and the natural fears he harbors regarding that reality, there demands but one course of action. To deny the reality ultimately is to deny his own heart and to call the God he worships a liar and a fraud, which by His nature is impossible. In this regard, the variable is not the nature of God, but the response of his supposed humble servant. If there is but one Truth, and all others are false, than there must be one action, which though arduous, is nonetheless non-negotiable. Our comfort has never been of much concern to God, so why should we give it any of ours?

The truth is the best of us, at any given moment, has been led astray by lies. We have chosen security over risk, comfort over difficulty, blind ignorance over awareness, and peaceful coexistence over confrontation. We have seen the two principal characters that dominate all four of the Gospels: Jesus and the Pharisees. We have publicly lauded the former, while privately comporting ourselves to the latter; and when push came to shove, even openly embracing the latter. We have, in spite of our stated creed, shown contempt for all that He stands for in the name of an ethic, which is neither historically accurate nor biblically permissible. We have seen the suffering of others and talked about costs; we have witnessed cruelty and injustice and acted timidly - worse, we were indirectly culpable in that suffering through our support of policies that wreaked unspeakable carnage on those who were guiltless in the eyes of the Lord; we have listened to the lies of the enemy and were complicit; we have been challenged to speak out and shrugged our shoulders in indifference. We have stood on principles that are about as secure as quicksand and remained steadfast in our arrogance, confident we were doing God’s bidding. We have, to put it bluntly, behaved shamefully in the eyes of the One who sent us.

And what evidence can we offer up as a rebuttal? Our good works? Our good deeds? Which works? Which deeds? We feed a few people, encourage newcomers to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior, attend weekly group meetings, pray for deliverance from our petty pains of the day and sing a bunch of songs that supposedly represent our act of worship. But in the end nothing changes. Where is the hand of Jesus in all this when many of the very same people who run the vast majority of these supposed ministries do not believe in the core tenants of their own faith? That the words “God helps those who help themselves” do not appear anywhere in the Bible and should be an affront to all they hold true, is irrelevant. That those less fortunate go without basic needs is of no great concern to them. They speak of charity but have none to give. They have professed to pick themselves up by their own bootstraps and condemn all who have not the means to do likewise. Their convoluted logic is wrapped in a flag that they worship above the cross our own Savior carried to his death. They trade in the true role models of the Bible for those of their country and then deliberately misrepresent what those very same countrymen stood for. They concoct scenarios in which gremlins and boogymen from the government will take away their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, all the while professing a devotion to a God who long ago sacrificed his own life, liberty and happiness for our sake and demanded the very same from his children. They know not that their hearts expose their very deeds. They are oblivious to the fact that the Lord sees all. They are lost in their self-aggrandizing.

These are the ambassadors of our faith. They sit in positions of leadership, well versed in biblical scripture, but ignorant to its meaning. They are eager to pray for each other and “praise” His name out of one side of their mouths, while spewing utter nonsense and hate out the other. Without quite realizing that their hypocrisy cancels out whatever credit may have been afforded them, they are nothing if defiant. They are like Sméagol becoming Gollum, consumed by a worship of something hideous and ungodly, yet unaware of its all-consuming power. By throwing in with the enemy they have become his ambassadors. The truth can longer stir them to repentance. They are dead to it.

They are on TV, radio and the print media, spinning lies and mocking the very faith they claim to represent, imploring others to join them in the march to damnation. But they are also sitting at home, nodding in tacit agreement with those very same lies, and actively spreading the word among their fellow cellmates and cyber comrades. Know this much: God sees not the distinction and forgets not the transgressions. Whether it is actively engaging in actions that aid and abed the kingdom of darkness, or whether it is the act of indifference towards that kingdom, the result is the same to God. These lost souls speak of truth, yet know nothing but lies. They are worse than the Pharisees, for the Pharisees did not know Jesus before his arrival. They have no excuse.

But that is not my principle concern here. That there exists within this world men and women who commit evil, and, along with their conspirators, speak lies has been apparent since we crawled up from all fours and began expressing cogent thoughts among each other. What wounds me deeply is how such evil is dealt with within the Church. This is where it gets personal. This is where all of us who know better must do better.

I speak now about a group which I fear represents the saddest lot of all: those of us who know the truth, who have ventured occasionally out of our comfort zones to speak it, but remain on the sidelines, unwilling to completely immerse ourselves for fear of retribution, or under some misbegotten belief that our position of authority or standing precludes us from speaking up. The warning of John to the Church in Sardis in the Book of Revelation serves as a wakeup call.

“These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Are not all of us commissioned to speak out against injustice, to stand up for those who are less fortunate, to challenge lies with truth and paranoia with reason, to act as Paul did when he rebuked James? Did not Jesus rebuke Peter? Did He not love him nonetheless? Why are so few of us willing to stand our ground when presented with the unalterable conclusions of our lot? Are we exempt simply because we are church elders, senior and associate pastors, small group leaders, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, doctors and nurses, lawyers and bankers, athletes and journalists, politicians and statesmen, salespeople and consumers, professors and students? What is the level of our comfort that keeps our mouths shut when our spirit cries out in anguish? Is our new suit too delicate to be soiled if only just a little? Perhaps a new car, the mortgage payment, or the children’s tuition hangs in the balance. What reputation is it we seek to protect when God’s people cry out for justice and we turn away? Did Jesus care about his reputation or his ministry?

All of us know the answers to the above questions. They are as undeniable as they are irrevocable. And yet the enemy continues his lies with nary a peep out of us. The more timid our response, the more arrogant his. Know this: God sees our hearts as well. There will be no comfort or resting place for those who knew the truth yet hid away in relative anonymity for fear of retribution. God’s wrath is far more devastating and enduring than any slight we might have to withstand from a wayward disciple waltzing his way down the road to oblivion. Our hearts are not the issue here; it is our strength of will. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and many a timid follower has fallen victim to the greatest lie of all: that someone else will pick up the mantle. We must always remember two things: our merit alone cannot save us and our fears are unjustifiable before God. Temerity is not a trait one inherits; it’s one he develops, like muscles, through constant exercise. And atrophied of the soul is the greatest sin of all.

When we pass from this world to the next, God will have something to say to each of us. He will either say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” or he will say, “I do not know you.” The sad truth is we have it within us to control that moment. It requires a brave heart, and a resounding faith that, though it may anger others and bring about scorn and ridicule, rejoices in the knowledge that God’s favor is eternal. I have struggled mightily with what response is appropriate in situations where lies are touted as facts, fear trumps reasoning and darkness blots out light, and have come to the only conclusion possible. It is not enough to occasionally poke one’s head out of the ground and politely instruct those who are not interested in learning anything of import. Nor is it sufficient to “pray” for those we know are blind to the truth in the naïve hope that their eyes will be opened. History has shown that such prayer is not redemptive; rather it is merely an excuse for us to feel better about ourselves. Did Jesus ever once pray for the Pharisees?

And what is it that we are praying for? Devine intervention? If it has not yet occurred within the transgressor, assume it is not going to. Our concern, therefore, should not be the hurt feelings of the sinner, but the ramifications, both to us and to others, of the continuation of that sin. There are only four possible responses to such conduct. We can first agree with it and encourage it, which is unacceptable; we can disagree yet remain silent for fear of retribution, in which case we have, without quite realizing it, condoned the behavior – again unacceptable; we can disagree, but object sheepishly, hoping to encourage repentance, which is a cop out; or we can choose to stand firm and call it out forcefully, as though exorcizing a demon from a possessed man.

One look at the Gospels is all you need do to discover which method Jesus preferred. And therein lies the rub and the challenge. Jesus chose the most difficult path of all; the one most likely to garner him the fewest friends and supporters, the path that virtually assured him his death. And yet when faced with the certainty of his fate – a fate he freely chose – he did not back down, but met it willingly. Imagine if we all had to endure what he did. Would we? Could we? The answer is of course not. In our best moments we are not even remotely capable of standing in his sandals. The good news is we don’t have to. He did it for us. But we are called to stand in the shoes that we were given and show the spine that He gave us. Our cross is not made of wood and nails, but it is uncomfortable nonetheless.

How many “friends” would we lose if we were truly fearless in our stances? How many times have we waxed poetically and danced around a subject we knew in our hearts was wrong, justified it on the grounds that it would be rude to speak up, rationalized that it was not our place to bring correction, or that our position did not afford us the option of pointing out wrongs? The answer is quite probably a lot. Who cares to be corrected, even if it is for their own good? Who would stand quietly by and be rebuked by a fellow believer? Few, if any.

But that is irrelevant. When Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me Satan,” he could’ve cared less if Peter liked being rebuked. He heard Peter behaving inappropriately and acted swiftly and definitively. His main concern was his soul, not his wounded pride. How many times would you guess that any of us have acted that swiftly or definitively? Over a lifetime maybe a handful if we are fortunate. It is not enough. Evil never rests, so why should any of us. Our reluctance to roll up our sleeves and take back the moral high ground the enemy has called his own is an anathema to our faith. Too many feeble and misguided Christians make the mistake of assuming that just because we are not to use the tools of this world to fight Satan, that God alone will protect us. The thousands who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 serve as a sobering reminder that evil exists in this world and all too frequently wins its share of battles. Ask Job whether God “protected” him. We are required to suit up and be spiritual warriors in God’s army. We are actors on his stage, not spectators in the audience.

I have looked for a spine in a Church that is as feeble as a doddering old man in a nursing home and been found wanting. I have looked for a moral compass worthy of the ministry Jesus began 2000 years ago. It is not there. Oh, there are ministries that feed the hungry and house the homeless and to be sure they do good works. They are pacifiers only, for the real problem lies in the inescapable conclusion that the Church corporately and privately has bedded down with the oppressors of the afflicted. It is worse than the lawmakers of Jesus’ day; it resembles more the Roman Empire, corrupt and rotting from within. It is a shell of its once glorious self. The martyrdoms of Peter and Paul are nothing more than symbols of a mostly dogmatic religion that long ago lost the meaning of why those men so freely gave up their lives.

While there a few notable exceptions to this rule - small churches whose light occasionally permeates the darkness - the very simple truth is that they are far too small, and way too ineffective to make a difference. And even when the pastors of these sanctuaries manage to stay out of the political fray that has engulfed the Church as a whole, the vacuum that ensues, far from creating the apolitical environment they had wished for, actually encourages the sort of conduct that now defines most of our faith in the eyes of the world. The result is that these parishioners end up “representing” and “dominating” the congregation’s message. If you want to know what a church stands for, you needn’t look at its literature; all you need do is visit the facebook, twitter and myspace pages of its members. In between the “have a blessed day” and “Jesus is good” exhortations, lies the painful and ugly truth that reveals the nature of the spiritual malady that besets many of them. It’s all there in black and white. What people say in open forums or in chat rooms is far more revealing and damning than what they say at the alter on a Sunday morning service. But what gets left unsaid and unchallenged by the stewards of these churches and the rest of their congregations is far more lasting. Where is the outrage to such ignorance? One can only conclude that its absence is due either to denial of its existence or a tacit agreement with its tone; neither is acceptable.

Whether it is the spiritual and social tunnel vision so widely adhered to by the majority of evangelicals or being on the wrong side of virtually every major cause of the day, the silence is deafening! How can any of us condemn moderate Muslims for failing to call out the extremists within their ranks, when our mouths remain shut where it concerns our own miscreants?

Ever since it left its fledgling days behind, the Church has married itself to power structures that were at odds with the very message of the Gospels. First the Holy Roman Empire, then the assault throughout Europe during the Crusades; then Feudalism, then Mercantilism, and now Capitalism. Most of the Protestant Ethic, so widely quoted by latter-day biblical gurus, is nothing more than a self-justification of the same rubbish the followers of Calvin adopted after his death. Those who are saved are blessed with prosperity, and those who are blessed with prosperity must be saved. Satan always completes his circles. For those who would argue that the Church did stand against the tyranny of Communism and fascism, I would counter only when it was threatened by a force inimical to its own vested interests did it finally find its voice and lash out. How much courage does it take to speak out against a totalitarian regime?

Many will say, and perhaps rightly so, that Jesus was ambivalent toward the established government, and chose instead to focus his attention on the religious leaders of the day. Fair enough. It was, after all, our hearts he was looking to capture. But while he remained mostly silent on the perversions and injustices of the Roman Empire, his ministry was filled with parables that spoke about greed, corruption, selfishness, pride and arrogance. Can anyone with half a mind dare suggest that the current economic system employed by the West and touted by so many conservative evangelicals is not loaded with these traits? With a few notable exceptions, most of the financial gains of the last two hundred years have come on the backs of those in relatively powerless positions. The very same disenfranchised flock that Jesus came to deliver has been exploited by the power brokers who call Christianity their own. That the Church has not disowned them is an abomination.

Were Jesus physically alive today, would he not behave much like he did when he walked into the Temple and drove out the money changers? Would he not say to the wealthy of today, “Sell all your possessions and give to the poor?” Are we not commanded to do as Jesus did? But, you would say, are these not impractical demands? Of course they are and one would certainly doubt the sanity and wisdom of any God who would expect his children to live in such abject poverty. Then why are our hearts so indifferent to the sufferings of those who do live in such squalor conditions? If it is unjust and unreasonable to expect us to forego our personal possessions for the sake of being humble, why is it permissible to allow others to do so? Is humility only for the poor?

Claims by supposedly “mature” Christians that the Church’s main purpose should not be to involve itself in the machinations of the world, are as reprehensible and hypocritical as the rebuking these modern-day Pharisees bestow on the conscientious objectors that occasionally dent their ranks. For one thing, the Church has had a long and well established involvement with the politics of the world, mostly on the wrong side; for another the largest offenders have been anything but apolitical in their stances. They have, if anything, been advocates for conservative movements that rarely, if ever, adhere to Christian principles. They are experts at what they stand against - abortion, same-sex marriage, global warming, universal healthcare, government assistance programs - yet rarely speak out for the poor and disenfranchised, as Jesus did, preferring instead to speak of some master plan God must have in store for them, as if that alone would mollify their discontent. To quote Ebenezer Scrooge, “Are there no workhouses?” And when they do find causes, like making sure we all say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays - as if that alone could instill a spirit of Christ within the world – it becomes comical and downright sad.

Those of us who dare question the motives of these charlatans are called liberals, lefties, socialists, enemies of freedom, un-Christian, or simply disruptive and bringing disharmony to the Body. We are made to feel as though it is we who have the problem, not them. Can’t we all just drink the Koolaid and get on with the business of indoctrinating the ignorant and scorning those with the brains to know better?

Balderdash!

Such scoundrels not only miss the forest for the trees, they miss the trees as well. When Jesus fed the multitudes, did he ask who had a job first? Did he call them lazy oafs looking for a handout? What is it that these people are looking for? An engraved invitation? Perhaps the heavens will open up and the Almighty himself will call them out? If the only litmus test of our faith is our sexual purity or the quality of our financial portfolio, we are indeed lost. We should be advocates for the poor to the fullest extent, even if it means challenging the very economic system that caused their poverty in the first place. Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador, a proponent of Liberation Theology, was assassinated by extremists in his country for speaking out against human rights violations and for defending the poor. Mahatma Ghandi, who almost single-handedly won India’s independence from Britain through non-violent civil disobedience, was likewise assassinated by extremists in his country who disapproved of his stance toward Pakistan. Martin Luther King, Jr., a prominent civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who lead the famous “March on Washington” in 1963, was assassinated in his own country for his stance on racism and segregation. All three men saw injustice and rebelled against it; all three men placed their principles ahead of their personal safety; and all three men paid the ultimate price. Where are the Romeros, Ghandis and Kings of our generation?

I have always felt that true Discipleship should mean more than just signing up people to join a religious movement. We are not the Price Club, so why do we behave as though we are? Disciples making Disciples is supposed to mean more than just increased attendance at the 9:30 Sunday service. It should mean instilling a yearning to know the true heart of Jesus. And that heart, if we are sincere, should cause us to squirm in our seats at the knowledge of just how far we fall short of his standards. Furthermore, it should produce in all of us a righteous anger towards anyone who would challenge those standards, regardless of social or political status, or even if they are church leaders.

But aren’t we called to obey our religious leaders whom we’re told represent Christ on Earth? And isn’t criticizing our leaders a sign of disobedience? Actually, we are called to obey Jesus. Was Jesus being disobedient when he called the religious leaders of his day a “brood of vipers” not once, not twice, but three times in the Gospel of Matthew? Was Paul being disruptive for rebuking the churches in his letters when they had strayed from the true message of Christ? I think not. In deed for the Son of God, Jesus was about as unorthodox a prophet as any in the Bible. He had little use for conventional wisdom and often challenged his Disciples to think outside the box. He was blunt and, when it suited him, rude towards his adversaries, shunning those he viewed as proud and arrogant, while bestowing compassion and mercy on those he viewed as meek and powerless. When Michael Jackson died last year the hordes of supposed Christians who derided his lifestyle was embarrassing. In deed, it was the world that comported itself with far more compassion than many of our own flock. Once more the “voice” of Christianity missed the boat, if not fell off it entirely. That they “worship” a God who hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes still continues to allude many of them. Their ignorance is astounding.

Why then with such a shining example within its midst does the Church insist on watering down the very reason for its existence? Why are so few Christians bothered enough by the injustices of the world to take a stand and walk the path their Lord walked two millennia ago? Why are so many so quick to judge the wicked around them, while ignoring the wickedness that resides within their hearts? And why are so many of us “afraid” to call it out?

Well, as Bob Dylan once wrote, “It ain’t me babe.” I am tired of scratching my head wondering what to do, when the answer has been right there in front of me all along. A little over four years ago I stood at a crossroads in my walk and pondered giving up on the Church altogether, such was the toxic atmosphere gripping it. A very wise and Godly man convinced me to stay and face my demons. He encouraged me to write about what troubled me most in the Church. For him, it showed more courage to stand my ground and speak my peace than it did to pull up stakes and run. After all, when faced with death threats and imprisonment, Paul did not wither and retreat. He stood up to injustice and incurred the wrath of both the Jewish lawmakers and the Roman authorities. In the end it cost him his very life. And while I am no Paul, I do belong to the same faith he called his own; a faith that compelled him to chose martyrdom over comfort. What excuse could I find to toss in the proverbial towel as it were and high tail it?

I have been dwelling on the words from John 15: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” And while I realize it does violence to scripture to misquote it for personal gain, I feel strongly that this passage is speaking to me and has for some time now.

But as a former pastor of mine had a habit of saying, “Now what?” What does one do when faced with such an indelible truth? I have always been a fan of Robert Frost, and greatly admired his epic poem, “The Road Not Taken.”

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

To the undiscerning eye, the poem seems to be encouraging self-reliance, not following where others have led. But I have always felt that, rather than advocating a preference, Frost is simply saying that choice is inevitable, but you never know what your choice will mean until you have lived it.

And that, after all, is the essence of life itself. We are, all of us, the sum total of our choices, good and bad, wise and unwise, popular and unpopular. What we fear most is not the choice itself, but the ramifications of that choice. Being brave is easy when no sacrifice is needed and everything goes your way. It’s the courage that we hold onto in the face of certain condemnation that defines our walk. The Bible is basically a collection of stories of people who took the road less traveled, and for them, as for us, that has made all the difference.

It is no less true for me. I have come to a fork in my road that I can no longer ignore. A decision must be made regarding the impasse that I spoke of earlier. I have agonized over this decision for quite some time now, and, while I am still torn inside, I am bound by an inner voice that simply will not be still any longer.

Since becoming a Christian in late 1991, and even before that I suspect, I have wondered what my purpose on this Earth was. And while I have never been one to hold back my feelings on matters that meant a great deal to me – hence my blog – I confess that it has been a bit of a crutch. As far back as I can recall, writing has always come easy to me, perhaps a bit too easy. While I was no Shakespeare, I took great comfort in knowing I could make persuasive arguments for just about anything I put my mind to. Even when I was in college, I was always the protagonist, questioning authority, searching for the truth wherever it might be, and looking more at the macro than the micro when it came to economics and society. You could say that has been my biggest asset and my biggest problem. While the world needs its poets and provocateurs, it also needs its foot soldiers too. Putting pen to paper is one thing; getting up on one’s feet and marching forward is quite another.

The truth is, I have not always practiced what I’ve preached. In deed I have been far more comfortable playing the role of the critic than the selfless servant. I have been stuck in neutral in my walk and the time has come to put my money where my mouth is. I cannot call others out for their abhorrent behavior, while sitting comfortably behind a keyboard. To continue to do so would be hypocritical. The paradoxical truth of Frost’s poem is that one cannot proceed down two divergent roads at the same time; in the end only one road can be taken. Historically, I have always chosen safety over uncertainty, and playing the Monday morning quarterback was the role of a lifetime. Well that comes to an end today. Safety and comfort have worn thin with me. Wherever my new road may lead I am determined to meet it head on, come what may.

I would be lying if I said I was not apprehensive about what lies ahead. And while I do not know as of yet how it will all unfurl, I am, if nothing else, defiant. This does not mean I will “disappear” or stop writing. Our assets are God-given, and I would certainly hope that I am capable of chewing gum and walking at the same time to use a colorful metaphor. No, the path I choose is to step out and make a difference. The more I look into it, the more intrigued I become with Liberation Theology. While opponents of it have often cited that it takes a narrow view of the Bible, it’s propensity for radicalism is strikingly analogous to the ministry of Jesus. I wonder what it would be like to belong to a church that was that much of an advocate for the poor and oppressed. If there is such a thing as social justice then its proponents will be the ones who bring it to fruition, and I intend to be there with them.

Men like Jim Wallis have made social justice their life’s work, and are living proof that politics and Christianity needn’t be a four-letter word to be effective and righteous. Many of the social causes of the ‘50s and ‘60s were championed by people just like him. Likewise, Richard Stearns, who wrote “The Hole in Our Gospel,” has devoted himself to bringing to light the injustices of our world and has challenged his readers to question the pursuit of the “American dream of health, wealth and happiness,” and instead consider how our choices impact others.

In April 1967 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a convocation of concerned clergy and laity at the Riverside Church in New York City. His words continue to challenge us four decades later.

It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. 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...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, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice, which produces beggars needs restructuring.

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war.

There has been enough pontificating on man’s inhumanity to man to fill a landfill. In every revolution there are men and women who have a vision and the will to carry it out. Jesus started with twelve apostles and look where we are now. If those of us who care about what He represents begin in earnest today, we can reshape this world and transform it into the land of plenty. We may wonder where to begin. It starts with rejecting what we know to be false, and then doing the next right thing the Lord puts in front of us. And while, like Jesus, prayer is essential to our strength, there are times when we spend a little too much time on our knees. The time to rise up is at hand. There are no insignificant servants or deeds on this journey. “Stand up! Stand up, for what you believe in. You know that God will back you up.” Those words come from a Veggie Tales song. Funny how songs work. They either remind us of what we once had or challenge us to grab what is within our reach. God gave us gifts to not only bless us, but to be a blessing to others. We can never fail so long as we remember that God does not call the equipped; he equips the called.

For those of you out there who feel as I do, have seen the terrible injustice and evil in the world, have become restless in your own journey, but privately wonder whether you have it in you to make a difference, I’ll leave you with this scripture from James 4:17. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.” God is watching and judging us. We are all in this together, and with the grace and strength that comes from above we will persevere!