War and Peace

Mr. Bush is on a 10-day vacation. Prime Minister Tony Blair cancelled his vacation to deal with the crisis in the Middle East.
Source: Democracy Now! (democracynow.org)

As recently as 2002 (that dreadful election year - a year after the Axis of Evil speech) Mr. Bush didn't know that there were two sects of Islam within Iraq, the Sunnis and Shiites. Mr. Bush said, "I thought the Iraqis were Muslims." Source: Democracy Now!

Mr. Bush did, however, take time to honor Thomas Road Baptist Church for 50 years of ministry. This is of course Jerry Falwell's congregation.

Honest to God, I was watching God-TV and saw Jerry and had to see what he was saying now. And it was the Thomas Road anniversary special (not nearly as cool as the Elvis Comeback Special) and Bush had written a letter to his pal Jer. And you gotta figure this is one of the notes that didn't get passed off to some intern to write. No, I think Georgie would want to send this personally.

What do these three things have in common? It is a messed up world of religion and politics. But this is nothing new. We've known this since the Contract with America that Newt wrote with the Religious Right.

But, see, the stakes seem a bit higher these days. It isn't just civil liberties in America that are at stake (as if that alone wasn't enough for the republic to raise Cain, so to speak). Now we're engaged in yet another crusade.

Between Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, how can it NOT LOOK LIKE RELIGIOUS WARS?

And the Church is being far to passive about all this. We put out our public statements that, "oh, golly, war is really bad. we should stop." Where is the outrage? Why are the churches not denouncing Israel's actions as war crimes? Why are we not pleading constantly to STOP SENDING MORE MISSLES TO ISRAEL? Why are we not mobilizing public outcry for an immediate cease-fire?

I've got my theories.

First, the Middle East is messy and complicated. No one really knows enough about Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq to speak other than generalities. How did it get to this point? Where does the history begin? 1947? The Crusades? The Babylonian Captivity? Let's just add a petition for peace in our prayers and call it a day.

Second, there is a fear of being Anti-Semitic. Ever since WWII America has said, "We'll always stand with you." And perhaps this grew out of shame and guilt, but that quickly gave way to self-interest. Israel is the only Western nation in the Middle East. We need that space strategically. Because all our oil is over there. And we need to be able to get that oil. But we downplay our self-interest and push Israel's right to security and protection. Israel is our ally. If they are attacked it is just like we're being attacked. And if anyone questions our support we'll label them as Anti-Semites.

But here's the thing: speaking out against atrocious war crimes - bombing civilians, targeting the UN, blocking humanitarian aid - is not the same as racing down Pacific Coast Highway with an open bottle of Cuervo and raging at the Malibu cops.

PEACE IS THE CHURCH'S BUISNESS.