Troop Support

I'm in Seattle for a couple of days and when I travel I like to catch the local news to see what people have going on in different parts of the country. You can tell a lot about what the people of a region think is important by what's communicated to them. One thing I've noticed that's common to most everywhere I've been is reports of local men and women who are killed in combat. Almost every place has been touched by our current war in some way and the local stories are important to people.

I try not to get too political on this forum, although I'm not sure why. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I want it to be an opportunity for dialogue (although I have no clue how many people might ever see any of it) and politics is a polarizing topic. We've made it something that mandates rigid choices and denies the opportunity for dialogue. That's a shame, really. Although I do talk a lot about faith and many people want that to be a polarizing topic as well; when what really seperates us is trying to talk about religion. They aren't the same thing.

Back to the war--and what I really want to say about it is also about faith (religion?). So many of the people that I interact with--at my church and at others--have this basic assumption that if you are someone who claims to be an evangelical Christian then you have to be a Republican and that in so doing you have to blindly support whatever comes from the party, and especially this administration (Bush). To them, anyone who does otherwise is not a patriot and just may not even be a Christian.

Here's a couple of clues for those folks. First, Jesus was a peacemaker and he made it a point to specifically tell us that peacemakers will be blessed. Does that mean that I am a pacifist or that I believe that the Bible teaches that all war is wrong? No. But I think we (humans, Christians) better be very careful about how we choose to enter into armed conflict and aggression and how we choose to support such acts. Augustine laid out some very Biblical tenets for evaluating whether or not such actions can be considered "just" and they are just as valid today as when he wrote them several hundred years ago. I'm not going to revisit the theology or the academic treatments of what he wrote, but if you're interested just Google 'Augustine just war criteria" and you'll have enough material to keep you busy for a while.

Part 2 is that our current involvement in Iraq does not meet Augustine's (or anyone else's) criteria for a 'just war'. Over 4000 of our men and women, many of them National Guard and Reserve soldiers, have died on foreign soil since the first attack. The reasons for us being there in no way minimizes their sacrifice. They do what they do in the name of their country, their families, democracy and, in many cases, their faith. I pray for them and their families often. Now that they are in this situation I understand that they need the full support of all of us--most of all their government (which, by the way, hasn't been very forthcoming; especially for the survivors, wounded or otherwise; what does that say about patriotism and motives?). What our being there should do, especially for Christians and especially under the circumstances (hidden agendas, lies, profiteering), is demand that we ask why. We should ask it again and again and again until we get a real answer and not a truck load of political BS and excuses.

If you read this and it pisses you off then do me a favor before you comment--read about just war, read about what happened leading up to our invasion and think about it for a while for yourself. Don't write and recite what your pastor or somebody else told you was the truth. Figure it out for yourself. If you still disagree with me--that's cool. Let's have a dialogue about it, not an argument. I've learned the hard way that I'm not always right, but I've also learned that it's OK for us to disagree and that we can talk about things and still be friends, still respect each other. And I've also learned that the church is not always right, even though getting it to admit such a thing is harder than juggling chain saws. If you don't believe me just read the post from last night about WBC in Topeka--especially what they say about why our troops are dying in Iraq. That's something you should really be pissed about.

Whether you are for the war or against it, I think we can all agree that peace is better. Pray for it and pray for our kids' safety while we wait for it.
Mike

Post Holiday

Well, the family has come and gone and a good time was had by all. Debbie and David spent the night last night on their way back to Cincinnati from Arkansas. We watched the Mizzou game and Die Hard with a Vengeance last night. Good movie--excellent action sequences and one liners from Willis.

Church was good today. I taught the last of the lesson series on the attributes of Jesus for the middle school kids. It was one of those weird teaching times where I felt like I hit all the points I wanted to hit and got all the info out there, but it just didn't seem to resonate. Oh, well; I guess they can't all be home runs.

Remember that it's cool with me if you disagree with me about anything I say--social views, political views, religious views or whatever--if you have an informed opinion. If we can have thoughtful discussions based on differing understandings of facts and information, then there exists the potential for common ground. But if you only want to yell about stuff you aren't willing to learn about, I don't have the energy for it. Our country was founded upon, and its future depends upon, INFORMED disagreement and compromise. Ignorance is the breeding ground for marginalization, persecution, racism, hatred, etc. Do not fall victim to it.

Love God...pray for wisdom...be a life long learner.
Mike

Healthcare Crisis

There's a crime being committed in this country every day and we are subsidising it--and it's being perpetrated by the insurance companies and the politicians who work for them. 48 million Americans are uninsured or under-insured; many of them children. And many, if not most of them are working men and women whose wages won't support the cost of health insurance and whose companies either can't or won't provide it. Fortunately, our president vetoed the SCHIP bill (which passed with great bipartisan support) which would have at least provided some coverage for most of the kids who are on the outs. And that crap that he said about Medicaid providing the coverage they need is a lie straight from hell--and the sad thing is that he may be too thick to even know it's a lie.

With nearly a trillion dollars being spent on health care, there is a huge incentive for the insurance companies to want to maintain the status quo--which is, basically, pay through the nose to purchase a product that they will ultimately try to withhold from you at their whim. Here's something encouraging though; of every premium dollar paid to the insurance companies, at least 15% is spent on overhead and administrative costs--and that's only indicative of the best of them. It's more likely to be in the 20% to 30% range for most of the companies.

There is a solution that will allow every single person in this country to be covered for less money than is being spent now to cover 83% of us: HB 676. Check it out at Healthcare-Now.org. Also check out the Sojourners website at sojo.com to see what they have to say about the proposed bill. If you believe that we are truly supposed to care for "the least of these" (Jesus said that, Christians); if you believe that we've been lied to for long enough; if you believe that corporate greed must become a thing of the past; if you're tired of corporate bigwigs, lobbyists, special interest groups, political action committees and others who are only interested in themselves running this country instead of the people who live in it then educate yourself and do something about it. Write, email and call your representatives and tell them you demand to be heard over the voices of the rich. Check out the websites and check out the bill. Here's something else we as Christians need to think about: in addition to the fact that the Republican president vetoed the children's health care extension which was supported by his party, there is not one single Republican signed on to cosponsor HB 676. Where are their priorities--where are ours?

Seek God; pray for justice.
Mike