XeNO wrote:
"BLUERHYMER" <bluerhymer@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20050117011722.14219.00000071@mb-m10.aol.com...
Arrogance is the Opposite of Faith
Released 29 December 2004
By Dr. Robin Meyers
address given by Dr. Meyers at Oklahoma University Peace Rally
November 14, 2004
As some of you know, I am minister of Mayflower Congregational
Church
in Oklahoma City, an Open and Affirming, Peace and Justice church
in
northwest Oklahoma City, and professor of Rhetoric at Oklahoma City
University.
I join ranks of those who are angry, because I have watched
as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who
claim
to speak for Jesus, but whose actions are anything but Christian.
We've heard a lot lately about so-called "moral values" as having
swung the election to President Bush. Well, I'm a great believer in
moral values, but we need to have a discussion, all over this
country,
about exactly what constitutes a moral value -- I mean what are we
talking about?
Let me give you just a few of the reasons why I take issue with
those
in power who claim moral values are on their side:
--- Dr. Robin
Meyers
--- When you tell people that you intend to run and govern as a
"compassionate conservative," using the word which is the essence
of
all religious faith-compassion, and then show no compassion for
anyone
who disagrees with you, and no patience with those who cry to you
for
help, you are doing something immoral.
--- When you cause most of the rest of the world to hate a
country that was once the most loved country in the world, and act
like it doesn't matter what others think of us, only what God
thinks
of you, you have done something immoral
--- When you start a war on false pretenses, and then act as if
your deceptions are justified because you are doing God's will, and
that your critics are either unpatriotic or lacking in faith, there
are some of us who have given our lives to teaching and preaching
the
faith who believe that this is not only not moral, but immoral.
--- When you live in a country that has established
international rules for waging a just war, build the United Nations
on your own soil to enforce them, and then arrogantly break the
very
rules you set down for the rest of the world, you are doing
something
immoral.
This country is bankrupt. The war is morally bankrupt. The claim of
this administration to be Christian is bankrupt. And the only
people
who can turn things around are people like you -- young people who
are
just beginning to wake up to what is happening to them.It's your
country to take back. It's your faith to take back. It's your
future
to take back.
Don't be afraid to speak out. Don't back down when your friends
begin
to tell you that the cause is righteous and that the flag should be
wrapped around the cross, while the rest of us keep our mouths
shut.
Real Christians take chances for peace. So do real Jews, and real
Muslims, and real Hindus, and real Buddhists -- so do all the faith
traditions of the world at their heart believe one thing: life is
precious. Every human being is precious. Arrogance is the opposite
of
faith. Greed is the opposite of charity. And believing that one has
never made a mistake is the mark of a deluded man, not a man of
faith.
And war -- war is the greatest failure of the human race -- and
thus
the greatest failure of faith. There's an old rock and roll song,
whose lyrics say it all: "War, what is it good for?" And what is
the
dream of the prophets? That we should study war no more, that we
should beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning
hooks. Who would Jesus bomb, indeed? How many wars does it take to
know that too many people have died? What if they gave a war and
nobody came? May be one day we will find out.
Time to march again my friends. Time to commit acts of civil
disobedience. Time to sing, and to pray, and refuse to participate
in
the madness. My generation finally stopped a tragic war. You can
too!
More?
SEE: Arrogance is the Opposite of Faith
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.atheism.holysmoke/msg/e716fa74010d
90e6?dmode=source
Let us prey.
That man is probably one of the most level-headed speakers for
christianity
that I have listened to in my time.
--
"For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and
the law
of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open
secret
that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely
connected
with this. "--Albert Einstein
XeNO
Order of the 8th dIgIt
aa# 1901
In order to email me privately, you must remove god from my email
address,
and follow the links to get past my spam sheild.
He sounds like a Unitarian. They are about as liberal a xian as you can
find after maybe United Methodists and some Catholics. Fundies hate
them all of them.
.
