tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post112866074854468316..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: Evil and Islamo-fascism; blues and hope in New OrleansJohan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-1129123768633045352005-10-12T06:29:00.000-07:002005-10-12T06:29:00.000-07:00I love the perspective that Elias Chacour brings t...I love the perspective that Elias Chacour brings to these issues. At the 1999 Friends United Meeting triennial sessions (and probably elsewhere) he said something along these lines: I am a Palestinian, I am an Israeli citizen, I am a Christian priest, but before all of these things, I was a baby—and so were the Jews and everyone else. (And, we could add, so were the radical Islamists and the terrorists. It doesn't let us off the hook of living in truth and reality, but it does rearrange our perspective, perhaps slowing us down in our rush to objectify others.)Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-1129064579277153882005-10-11T14:02:00.000-07:002005-10-11T14:02:00.000-07:00The thing that bothers me about Bush and this kind...The thing that bothers me about Bush and this kind of rhetoric isn't that he talks about Evil. I don't object to a political officer recognizing and warning about the existance of forces of Evil -- except where he personalizes it to a particular person or group and makes the false and misleading statements you point out, Johan. <BR/><BR/>What bothers me is what he says about Good: We must be, since they're Evil. Where is the "all have sinned & come short" recognition?<BR/><BR/>Your invocation of Lincoln's authentic humility is exactly right. He did what he had to do, but he didn't try to sanctify it into anything other than the bloody shame it was. <BR/><BR/>(Did you know his grandfather was a Quaker?)<BR/><BR/>Thanks for another excellent, thoughtful post.Paul Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03483071863453025925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-1128714687972092682005-10-07T12:51:00.000-07:002005-10-07T12:51:00.000-07:00Bill, your comments on Bush's sincerity reminded m...Bill, your comments on Bush's sincerity reminded me of two earlier posts: <A HREF="http://maurers.home.mindspring.com/2004/12/redemption-and-politics.htm" REL="nofollow">Redemption and politics</A> and <A HREF="http://maurers.home.mindspring.com/2004/08/public-christianity.htm" REL="nofollow">Public Christianity</A>.<BR/><BR/>Sometimes I think it is a functional atheism resulting from a compartmentalization of faith into the private-life-only sphere that keeps public Christians from trusting in God and the power of prayer and repentance. But then I need to remember that, according to an <A HREF="http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2051722005" REL="nofollow">article</A> in today's <EM>Scotsman</EM>, God gave George Bush the missions of invading Afghanistan and Iraq.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-1128691950441699822005-10-07T06:32:00.000-07:002005-10-07T06:32:00.000-07:00President Bush, no doubt, is sincere about being a...President Bush, no doubt, is sincere about being a Christian. But his faith understanding appears shallow. The Christian approach in the conflict would be to reflect on where we have sinned, repent for those sins, and turn from our sinful ways.<BR/><BR/>This would not only be true to the Christian faith, but very practical. If our nation would do this, support for the terrorists would begin to diminish. We need to address the conditions that foster terrorism, and the United States both governmentally and with our corporations has played a large role in exacerbating these conditions over a very long period of time.<BR/><BR/>We Christian pacifists keep being accused of being impractical. Going to war against a country we didn't like but which was not involved in the terrorist acts in this country is what is impractical. It has caused massive loss of life, disruption to the social infrastructure of Iraq, and many other harmful effects while playing into the hands of terrorists by giving them more basis for their rhetoric. The Christian way of repenting and turning from sin would have been much more practical.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com