Giving up Empire for Lent
Opposition to the propaganda that prepares the public to support war is a trickier proposition. It requires scepticism of the media, cynicism about the intentions of our leaders, and the articulation of a factual narrative countering what is being reported by mainstream media. Most congregations have no interest in such activities because they seem to depend on political analysis and contested sources rather than the well-understood teachings of the New Testament. I encourage us to examine our congregational practices in this regard. As part of our witness to the Prince of Peace, shouldn’t we be more explicit in contesting the propaganda that is an essential part of making war?
http://peace.mennolink.org/
Even if one ignores ‘contested’sources and only concentrates on understanding the New Testament,it will be obvious that even among fundamentalist christians,there are not too many who are demonstrating victory over emotions such as anger in their personal lives.Most christians are deeply influenced by their pasts,whose bitter memories remain largely unhealed.That,in my view,is the chief reason,why so many Christians support their national wars.They have not yet experienced healing of both personal and historical memories.One needs to do an honest study of why this is so.Is it a failure of the religion to heal such memories-or is it the ‘fault’ of the believers to make headway with their spiritualities?As long as our personal,familial racial and national memories remain unhealed,we will be drawn powerfully to demagogues.On a personal level,I am engaging myself in on-going prayer and dialogue with my spirituality to come to an adequate resolution.My observation is that this process is moving at a very tardy pace-inspite of my good intentions.