(As published on OpEdNews December 2nd, 2006)
A man whose country has been invaded and is under occupation by the most powerful nation in the world is suddenly arrested in the middle of the night and taken away from his family and friends by the army of his occupiers. As he is rendered from place to place his startled loved ones have no idea where he has been taken.
He is put on trial. Despite the fact that the court procedure falls pathetically short of providing him with the Due Process that is indeed at the very core of any definition of civilized government, and despite the fact that laws of neither his own country nor those of their occupiers are followed in his hearings, he is convicted and harshly sentenced.
He is beaten and tortured mercilessly, publicly shamed beyond measure and eventually he is put to death.
The leader of the occupying nation, whose military has made a gruesome habit of such atrocities publicly washes his hands of the whole affair.
This is the story of the man named Jesus of Nazareth, whom we know as The Christ, The Chosen One, The Son of Man, the only begotten Son of God. Our Saviour.
It is also the story of a number of men that have been arrested by our military and sent on orders from our government to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, Abu Gahrib in Iraq as well as being “farmed out†to Syria and other nations where there are no restrictions on torture to be concerned with.
To support or even passively allow these actions by our government is abject hypocrisy – enough so that if you do support these policies and actions actively I would question the depth of your understanding of the great price – the gruesomely atrocious death – paid for your soul’s ransom. This according to our understanding of the redemptive sacrifice of the Lamb of God – the blood of Jesus shed for us upon the cross. Indeed, if you actively support such policies and actions I would question the very salvation you may arrogantly assume for yourself.
Are you a Roman – supporting torture, extreme rendition and even capital punishment being meted out by our government without the charges against the accused being made public, without a fair trial, without representation or the right to know and dispute the charges against him? Are you standing at the foot of the cross screaming: “Crucify him!â€?’
Or are you a Christian – standing in the gap as Christ did and does between every evil thing and those who are powerless unto themselves to escape a hideous end? Are you at the foot of the cross or are you willing to let your sins of complicity in all of this be nailed there?
The School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, from which the American government exports torture techniques to the world, must be closed at once in the name of God. You must insist upon it or leave Jesus and walk away forever from the tree upon which he was hung, leaving him there forever:
School of the Americas Watch: School of the Americas Watch
Beautifully done article and graphic.
I enjoyed the very thoughful comments by other readers on the OpEd site, too. I love OpEd News.
I’m glad whenever I see people pointing out the hypocrisy of our Christian nation. Throughout history the powerful have used the Bible to justify barbaric actions against others. I alluded to that in this recent letter to my congresspeople.
And I’m sure you’re ready for national call-in day on Monday, December 4. We need to keep up the pressure, pressure, pressure.
Solidarity!
–Kat
American citizens spoke loud and clear November 7.
We’ve had enough of President Bush and Congress waging war. No more funding for imperialist wars that benefit no one but defense contractors. Please support the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace instead. Our country needs to begin making amends to the Iraqi people and all the others we have wronged under Bush’s wrong-headed foreign policy.
Congress should investigate fraud and waste surrounding the billions already allocated to no-bid contractors and uncover secret budgets within the Pentagon. Let them operate off that and you focus on America’s need for better healthcare, jobs and education.
Congress, and ultimately the American people, are responsible for hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in the Middle East, and the directly related downward slide of our own quality of life.
Please don’t let another holiday season pass without taking immediate action to end the bloodshed in Iraq. I don’t know about you but I cannot with a clean conscience celebrate any holidays while innocent babies, children, men and women are suffering because of U.S. government policies. It is hypocritical for Americans to be out shopping and planning to celebrate the birth of the prince of peace while we continue to wage a war based on lies in the Middle East.
Supporting peace and prosperity here and abroad will pay higher dividends to all.
The American people have spoken. Now it’s your turn.
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Mark Monday, December 4, on your calendar. On Monday pick up the phone and call your senators. Specifically ask them to speak out in favor of a comprehensive, bi-partisan plan to end the war in Iraq that includes a date certain for withdrawal of U.S. troops. The plan should also include:
support for negotiations in Iraq and in the region,
and money for stabilization and rebuilding the country
Write down this number: 202-224-3121 for the Capitol switchboard. You can also use the FCNL website to find the direct numbers for your two senators and recommended talking points.
http://capwiz.com/fconl/callalert/index.tt?alertid=9187971&type=CO
Encourage five friends to take five minutes from their day to help in this effort.
Comment by Kat — December 3, 2006 @ 9:46 pm
Even as a person not of the faith, I find your turn of phrase here inspiring. Would that more Christians would apply the lessons of their religion! Alas, it is so difficult to question those things which support one’s emotional, financial, and social structures.
Comment by ineptsegue — December 9, 2006 @ 4:54 am
As a Christian, there are pretty much a handful rules you need to follow. There are two handfuls to be exact–the Ten Commandments. President Bush says he’s a Christian but his actions and policies have broken at least 70%…forever the C student. If Mr. Bush would like to continue being God’s Chosen President maybe he’d like to look into refraining from worshipping money, not misusing the name of God to stir up our fear and hatred of other religions and cultures, bringing our troops home instead of allowing them to be murdered and slaughtering innocent civilians, not stealing from the middle class and working poor to line the pockets of the wealthy, finally uncovering the mountains of lies his administration is built on, and not coveting oil and absolute power. True Christians who have done their research will see I’m not judging, I’m merely stating facts.
Comment by Angela — December 11, 2006 @ 6:02 pm
I am a fellow believer but I must disagree with your writing about how Christ’s death had any comparison to the death of our enemies. So even in the Old and New testaments about wars for peace and how we are to help out our brothers in their time of need and that all of God’s children’s enemies shall to his feet for the wrongs he has commented toward him and his family.
Comment by Bob — January 2, 2007 @ 11:53 pm
“… even in the Old and New testaments about wars for peace and how we are to help out our brothers in their time of need and that all of God’s children’s enemies shall to his feet for the wrongs he has commented toward him and his family.”
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………………….
Huh Duh Wha?!?!?!?
Comment by Mikael — January 4, 2007 @ 12:58 am
In June of 1997, Iraq officials had ratcheted up their obstruction of UNSCOM inspection efforts. They interfered with UNSCOM air operations and denied and delayed access of inspectors to sites. In September, they burned documents at sites while inspectors watched outside the front entrance. By mid-November, Saddam Hussein had demanded an end to U-2 surveillance flights over Iraq and called on American inspectors to leave Iraq.1 Iraqis also began moving equipment that could produce weapons of mass destruction out of the range of video cameras inspectors had installed inside key industrial facilities.
on November 10 at the Pentagon, Vice President Gore stated that “Saddam has taken steps that interfere with the ability of the inspection team to carry out its mission.” He added, “The procedure chosen to deal with this situation is to engage him in discussions in which he can be made aware that this is not a smart thing for him to do, and he ought to change his mind.”5
But Saddam remained defiant. So on Friday, November 14, President Clinton and his top advisors met at the White House and decided to launch a public campaign to build support for a possible war against Iraq.
In Wichita, November 17, Clinton said that what happens in Iraq “matters to you, to your children and to the future, because this is a challenge we must face not just in Iraq but throughout the world. We must not allow the 21st century to go forward under a cloud of fear that terrorists, organized criminals, drug traffickers will terrorize people with chemical and biological weapons the way the nuclear threat hung over the heads of the whole world through the last half of this century.
In Washington, D.C., November 21, Clinton applauded the return of UNSCOM inspectors that day (after a three week absence) “to proceed with their work without interference, to find, to destroy, to prevent Iraq from rebuilding nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to carry them.” He added: “We must not let our children be exposed to the indiscriminate availability and potential abuse and actual use of the biological and chemical and smaller-scale nuclear weapons which could terrorize the 21st century,” said Clinton.
On February 7, Clinton, joined by Prime Minister Blair, devoted his Saturday radio address to Iraq. Noting the two were speaking from the same room where FDR and Churchill “charted our path victory in World War II,” Clinton told Americans that we now face “a new nexus of threats, none more dangerous than chemical and biological weapons, and the terrorists, criminals and outlaw states that seek to acquire them.” He warned that “Iraq continues to conceal chemical and biological weapon[s],” “has the “missiles that can deliver them” and “has the capacity to quickly restart production of these weapons.”
So you see, the intel used by the Bushies came from the Clintonites. Bush only contnued with the policy laid down by Bill Clinton.
The real present and future danger is the inept bunch from both sides now in the Senate and in the Congress. The American people will no longer elect a virile president but instead we will have a figure head such as the Queen of England. Power to run (or ruin) this country will lie with our representatives but unfortunately the current crop is usless.
You would all better serve yourselves wisely by getting past the “we Hate Bush” agenda because it does nothing to better our country. Use your energy instead to weed out the congress and install people who will truly work to fix this country.
Bashing Bush at this point is like saying your real good at the Rubic’s Cube. Who the hell cares?
Comment by Bill Stratford — July 10, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
Bill,
You could have saved us all a lot of time and just said: “It’s Clinton’s fault” and we would recognize you for the NeoCon apologist that you are without having to bother with reading all the rest of that.
Comment by Mikael — July 14, 2007 @ 1:15 am