Iraq and the Valley of Elah

My friend Jim Roselli is an extraordinarily gifted photographer and a great human being. He has given me permission to use some of his photos on this blog. The photo evokes the beauty and tranquility of the world. It somehow is where we are called to be. Not that all nature is tranquil, but that nature is not besmirched with the demonic evil of us human beings.

This blog is not about beauty, but about evil. The evil of the war in Iraq. We despair of hearing words of repentance and truth from George Bush and his cronies and really those who continue to support this war. I am appalled about McCain talking about more tax cuts--let us bribe the American people with a few dollars, of course the wealthier you are the more dollars you will get. That is the American way. But how can we talk about tax cuts when we face this 3 trillion dollar price tag on this war, so far. That is the number that the award wining economist Stieglitz puts on the war. But that is just the money and just the beginning if we end up with continuing this war.

The human cost though--the death and maiming and destructing of Iraqis. Oh, but we have the power of the US government and the co opted media to prevent us from seeing that very much. And too we really don't want to think about it--who cares if starving Lazarus is at the gate, I just want to eat well myself. Please give me another helping of tax cuts please.

And then we come closer to home. The deaths of over 4000 Americans should appal us. The physical maiming of tens of thousands should outrage us. The psychological and spiritual and emotional crippling hundreds of thousands should anger and energize us.

Recently, I saw the movie In the Valley of Elah starring Tommie Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. It is about the mind/soul wounds of returning combat troops. See it. You will not look upon the Iraq war or American troops who have fought there in the same way. I am angry--again and again. Hope has two lovely daughters--anger and courage, said Augustine. I have anger--we have anger. But where is our courage?

Not inconvenient enough

AL Gore's movie surprised me. He brought some dynamism and certainly great conviction to the the issues of global warming. But after his stirring description of the problems, his actual suggested action steps seemed wimpy.

Global warming requires drastic steps but drastic steps are politically improbable. The movie would have served the world better if it at least forced us to consider that we in the US should look at some of the following kinds of actions.

In Sweden, gas costs about $7 per gallon. People buy smaller cars, ride bikes more, live closer to work and generally drive less. Let's urge our government to tax gas heavily to provide strong incentive for us to change our habits and use that money for mass transit.Or you go put all that money into developing alternative energy sources.

Immigrants who come to the US consume more typically than they do in their sending countries. Limiting immigration into the US and other high consuming countries will help the world consume less.

Al Gore lives in a big house--but he bought thousands of dollars worth of solar panels to generate his own energy. Solar panels are great. And clearly eventually, maybe now, the world needs people to live simpler, in smaller houses. Why don't we put a luxury tax on all single family houses over a certain size. You could have the tax gradually increase. But isn't it finally obscene when you see these huge McMansions being built? Do two people really need 10 rooms and 3 baths to live in. Oh, but what about choice. Sure let people choose that if it is that important and then let them pay a luxury tax on the extra space and the excessive energy consumption that their life style calls for. Tax them above and beyond local property taxes, because of course in many high income communities those taxes are absurdly low. Dont allow people to deduct mortgage interest payments above a certain amount each year--hard to know what amount would be fair--but we could search for it.

Inconvenient Truth to my remembering never addressed the issue of population. We live in the disastrous era of so many Bush policies that we may have forgotten that one of them prohibits providing family planing assistance through any international organization that facilitates abortion. Family planning needs to be available globally. For our own self interest we need to put money there.

How do we encourage people especially in high energy consuming countries like the US to have small families? Should we for example only provide tax credits for the first two children in a family? Certainly, we want education and opportunity for all children(my family of origin included 6 children). But at the same time, we know all too well the limits of the world's resources.

At a meeting the other day, an executive in the food industry told us that the price of a truckload of flour had gone from $8000 to $20000. As we enter this recession, as we seek to survive economically and spiritually under the burden of the 7 trillion dollar debt created by Bush economics and the war, we will be called to drastic steps, to sacrifices. Now we comfortable Americans don't like to hear those words. Sacrifice is what we expect others to do--but that time has come again for us.

Changing a light bulb or two is not enough. Buying a hybrid car(which my wife and I did) is not enough.

Oh, Jeremiah!

Taking a few quotes from Rev.Jeremiah Wright's sermons, the media created a firestorm for Barack Obama's campaign. I was privileged to hear Obama's speech on race, on his former pastor and on America. Being mixed race himself and being one great speaker, Obama has pushed forward and blessed the national discussion.

Like Obama, I find some of Jeremiah Wright's statements just absurd, wrong, nasty. And I find that he articulates some of the righteous anger of people who have been abused in America; and yes, he sometimes played to the petty prejudices of some in his congregation. He was sometimes inflammatory in the name of God. Many Christians find that kind of challenging, prophetic, even angry preaching to be unpleasant, even unacceptable. Christians don't read Jeremiah much anymore. I don't read Jeremiah very much, because his writings as the word of God are too challenging, too distressing. So part of the problem that a lot of Christians have with Rev. Wright is that there is simply too much Jeremiah in him.

But, of course, the issues of race come at us in a fascinating and frustrating mélange. Amongst those issues swirl our emotions of pain, guilt, shame, joy, pride, despair and hope. The capacity to address conflicting emotions, the ability to speak to some of the deep and abiding issues is a great gift. It is however not just the political candidates who need to step up to address these issues, but it is all of us.

Part of our challenge is to remember the larger story of religion and race. Christianity, like other religions, has been one of the bastions from which the evil armies of racism have sallied forth. Remember the movie Amistad. The priests blessed the slave ships as they set off with their cargo from West Africa. That is but one symbol of the ways in which the church acquiesced in and profited from slavery and racism. A wonderful modern hymn from Africa has a refrain in which the congregation sings about our loving and serving and `we did it all in Jesus name.' Christians have done great evil in Jesus name. Let us remember the truth of that. The truth and only the truth remembered and told and struggled with shall set us free.

The movie Amistad also shows Christians opposed to slavery, fighting for freedom there in the early 19^th century. The film Amazing Grace is not only about the beloved hymn but about William Wilberforce and his lonely, heroic, Jeremiah like struggle to abolish the slave trade in England. The abolitionist movement in 19^th century American and the civil rights movement in the 20^th were fueled by Christians and Jews and people of faith of all colors. Let us remember our story.

When I was in Mississippi for Freedom Summer in 1964, Charles MacLaurin was our project director. He was a 24 year old veteran of the movement, having been jailed and threatened numerous times. Our lives were in his hands. One day, with a teasing twinkle in his eye, he told me to go down to the end of this one road and talk with the bright lady there. I went. Had a pleasant conversation and a glass of cold water. When I returned he asked what I thought of the bright lady. She was very pleasant but like everyone else, I said—I didn't notice that she was especially bright. Charles laughed and explained that he didn't mean bright as in intelligent or well read—he meant bright, light skinned. Since I tan easily I had noticed that, yes, her skin was a lot lighter than mine. So how is she a Negro and I am white—or in an even stranger use of language, how is she black when her skin is white and I am white when my skin is light brown.

If a woman of Irish descent and a man from Kenya marry and have a child, how is that child black, instead of mixed race? Why in New Jersey do we have a Black Minister's Council? I thought we are working for a world in Jesus name where people are judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin? Is the very idea of race not somehow inherently racist? How are we now mixing our racial prejudices and our religious prejudices?

Repent. Repent says Jesus. Remember and repent. And we sing Jesus loves the little children all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world. Jesus calls us over the tumult of the chaotic seas of the issues of race and racism to follow him, to witness truthfully and hopefully to his vision for a world of honesty and love, of reconciliation and justice.

Eventually, the people of Israel were deeply grateful for the harsh truths spoken by Jeremiah.

 

Brooks Smith