Oh, Now Blair Is Disgusted

Tony Blair says it is "disgusting" that Iran is broadcasting videos of the sailors it is holding captive.

"I really don't know why the Iranian regime does this [show captives on TV]," because it just arouses disgust, he told reporters Friday.

So he is saying that the broadcasting of videos showing healthy, unfettered captives is loathsome, sickening, nauseous?

Oh, please.

Iran's taking of the sailors may be described as stupid, as provocative, as wrong, as frightening, as bullying, as counterproductive, as desperate, as playing on fear, as counter to God's desires.

But showing that those sailors are alive and well and that they are not - as were the prisoners in Abu Ghraib - chained, stripped, tortured, raped and otherwise abused, is hardly "disgusting."

No, "disgusting" is what was done in Abu Ghraib, what is being done in other Iraqi prisons and, despite the widespread outrage about alleged similar abuses in Guantanamo, what is being sanctioned by keeping that prison camp open and operating.

What is, perhaps, even more "disgusting" is the fact that approximately one-third of our female troops have been the victims of rape, or attempted rape, by their male "comrades" in arms. From a New York Times article on wide-spread Post Traumatic Syndrome exhibited by female soldiers:

"Much of what we know about trauma comes primarily from research on two distinct populations -- civilian women who have been raped and male combat veterans. But taking into account the large number of women serving in dangerous conditions in Iraq and reports suggesting that women in the military bear a higher risk than civilian women of having been sexually assaulted either before or during their service, it's conceivable that this war may well generate an unfortunate new group to study -- women who have experienced sexual assault and combat, many of them before they turn 25.

A 2003 report financed by the Department of Defense revealed that nearly one-third of a nationwide sample of female veterans seeking health care through the V.A. said they experienced rape or attempted rape during their service. Of that group, 37 percent said they were raped multiple times, and 14 percent reported they were gang-raped. Perhaps even more tellingly, a small study financed by the V.A. following the gulf war suggests that rates of both sexual harassment and assault rise during wartime. The researchers who carried out this study also looked at the prevalence of PTSD symptoms -- including flashbacks, nightmares, emotional numbing and round-the-clock anxiety -- and found that women who endured sexual assault were more likely to develop PTSD than those who were exposed to combat."

Rape is a fact of life in Iraq. In fact, several women soldiers have died of dehydration rather than risk rape by venturing out from their barracks at night for water when they were thirsty.

Given all we know about the lies and motivation to start the war, and the atrocities that have occurred because of the war, perhaps what is truly "disgusting" are the attitudes of Bush and Blair who began this odious war.

Yet, if it is also "disgusting" [i.e. sickening] for Iran to rub Blair and Bush's noses in their own sorry muck, then I stand corrected, because that is exactly what Iran is doing.

Iran is saying: "Look, we can take prisoners and treat them like human beings. We, whom you have labeled as 'evil' are behaving far better than you, who label yourselves as 'good.'"

Regardless of the fact that Iran is scaring the hell out of the families of the sailors whom it has taken, regardless that we are all frightened over possible outcomes both on behalf of those sailors and for what it means in the larger scheme, regardless that Iran has retaliated in a flagrant move to chastise Britain not just for the inhuman treatment of terrorism suspects but for the arrogance and stupidity of sending sailors into Iranian waters, anyone who is not completely blinded by his or her own ideology must concede that Iran is making a valid point or two here.

Despite how badly the war goes, Blair and Bush continue in their blind arrogance, one sending troops into Iranian waters, the other insisting that his "surge" will produce a miracle and transform the debacle that is Iraq into a peaceful nation.

God help all the troops - and the civilians - who suffer at the hands of these fools.

Politicians in glass houses really shouldn't throw stones. The fact that Bush has papered over his glass house so no one can see what's going on inside, is irrelevant. The fact that Blair tries to equate the broadcasting of Iran's videos with what we saw come out of Abu Ghraib, is pathetic.

It would be better for Tony Blair to admit publicly that Iran has made her point. Meanwhile, Great Britain has given Iran hostages to use as pawns in her desperate goal to get the West out of the Middle East.

God help the hostages, even if they are being well-treated.

Please pray for them. Affirm that they are released, safe and sound, and returned to their families.

Please pray that, somehow, we are guided to make amends for starting the War in Iraq.

And pray that we gain enough wisdom and love so that we never ever enter into another war with such arrogant blindness. Certainly war - and fighting - must be our last resort, if we resort to it at all.

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The battle is not yours, but God's. 2 Chronicles 20:15

Loans That Change Lives

As multi-national corporations praise the benefits of globalization, the international Trade Unions Congress reports that the manner [specifically the laws under which the world-wide exchange of goods is being carried out] is short-changing the poor, driving them deeper into wretched poverty.

A few companies, like Starbucks, follow their own path and do not go along with the philosophy of making the powerless poorer just because they can.

However, the majority seem interested only in enriching their own pockets and the pockets of their shareholders to the maximum degree possible, despite the very real human cost as that extra margin of profit is extracted. Working with those corporations, is the World Bank, which has never made micro loans to the desperately poor. Yet as micro-lenders have proved, very poor people can use even very small loans to create small businesses and rise out of extreme poverty.

Thankfully, individuals and small, organized groups of people have come forth to help the poor help themselves.

One of these is Kiva.org. Praised by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Magazine, CNN Money, The Village Voice, the BBC and Business Week , Kiva acts as an intermediary between you and the very poor person you would like to help.

Through Kiva you can loan a person in a Third World country enough money to start a business and change his or her life. As the loan is repaid, you get your money back.

Imagine - you can change a life with as little as $25. Kiva works with local micro-lenders who screen applicants and approve business plans. All you have to do is choose a person whose business plan you want to support, then charge the amount you want to lend on your credit card and let your money get to work. As the loan is repaid, you get your money back.

This is a great way for us in the First World to share our immense blessings with those in the Third World whose raw materials and cheap labor have, for decades, enhanced First World lives.

Go to Kiva.org, make a loan of $25 today. Then give yourself a pat on the back for giving love in yet another way, just as you were sent here to do.

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As my Father sent me, even so send I you. John 20:21

Let's Grow Environmental Evangelism

There are over a billion Christians in the world. The United States, which effects the world so profoundly, is home to over 200,000,000 Christians.

So I was excited when 86 evangelical Christian leaders decided, about a year ago, to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."

Among signers of the statement, were the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges and leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army. Also signing on were several pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller The Purpose-Driven Life.

So I really expected the Christian wing of the Republican party to listen to their contituency and get on board this environmental ark, so to speak.

I thought that, at last, instead of starting more culture wars or wasting energy in partisan politics, that the most influential Christians in U.S. politics would urge us to make peace and unite in regard to the most pressing issues facing humanity: environmental degradation and Global Warming.

As a result, I envisioned Christians in the United States uniting their hearts and minds to compel political leaders to not only stop corporations from polluting, but reverse the damage that has been done over the last 200 years.

I thought we might even hold out an olive branch to those not of our faith and join with them in assuming responsible stewardship of the earth.

I considered what an excellent opportunity this would be to heal the relationship between Christians and science, since science must play a part in finding our solutions.

I imagined that this life-or-death issue - that will affect us all, no matter who we are, where we live, what we believe or how much money we have - would unite us all, help us make the necessary changes in our own lives and help us transcend the issues that have exhausted our nation and ourselves.

I pictured us all working together for this great good, and how that would energize and empower our entire nation and give our lives meaning.

After all, can you imagine what will happen when Americans stop focusing on disagreements and start working together for this common good?

I thought that, surely, this is a "pro-life" issue that all Christians can get behind. In fact, we could spark a world-wide Christian environmental movement.

Can you see it?

Can you picture one billion Christians approaching the challenge of stopping Global Warming with the fervor of a revival, with faith infused by the Christ within? Our actions might even help heal the anti-Americanism we are seeing.

What miracles we could bring about under the grace of God!

Alas, if the radical right-wing political contingent that claims to represent American Christianity has its way, none of these empowering visions will manifest. These particular evangelicals, apparently, prefer for us to continue full steam ahead in befouling and destroying our only nest.

Rather than uniting Christians to save the world (and their grandchildren) they still want to fight with other Christians and non-Christians about abortion and homosexuality. In fact, they want to get the attention of Christians off Global Warming and back on their made-for-TV culture wars.

Those radical Republican "Christians" who had the chance to get something right after having squandered so much time, money and faith in dividing the nation, have decided to work against saving mankind.

They have now sent out a message to their faithful telling them to shut up about climate change.

You know, if I used the language of evangelicals, I would say that these men are doing the work of the devil.

But it is not the devil that is tempting them.

At best, they are misguided in that they cannot see the forest for the trees. They would concentrate on "family values" even though there may be no families left in a hundred years to practice those values.

At worse, they are acting on their own selfish desires to keep those who follow them under their thumbs. It is, after all, in their interest to keep the nation - and Christians - divided because they can play one against the other that way, to accomplish their own agendas of gaining and keeping personal power. None of them, after all, will be around in one hundred years to see the consequences.

If these men are motivated by selfish reasons then, surely, they are Christians in name only. Regardless, they give Christianity and Christians a bad name.

While it's tempting to feel anger or despair, I ask you to pray for the misguided souls who are trying to downplay Global Warming. Pray for James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Paul Weyrich who told the policy director of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Rev. Richard Cizik, to shut up about Global Warming.

Affirm that God awakens them to the consequences of their actions. For with every day we delay in cutting CO2 emmisions and conserving energy, we seal the fate of not millions, but billions of poor people who are living on the edge as we speak.

We also seal the fate of not just polar bears and penguins who seems so far away, but of the honey bees that pollinate our crops and make food production possible.

"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food," said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. Yet honey bees are disappearing in such record numbers - perhaps in the billions. Our food supply is endangered.

Called Colony Collapse Disorder, at least part of the problem seems to be related to changes in climate. There was an unusally warm autumn and an early winter in beekeeping states in 2006.

As Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of a megachurch in Longwood, Fla., said: "As Christians, our faith in Jesus Christ compels us to love our neighbors and to be stewards of God's creation. The good news is that with God's help, we can stop Global Warming, for our kids, our world and for the Lord."

Thank God for this growing awareness and bless all those Christians, such as Reverend Hunter, who signed the initiative.

Pray for those opposing environmental action and affirm that God either gets them on board, for the highest good of all inhabitants of the earth, or that those men, to include James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Paul Weyrichlose, lose their influence and are replaced by more responsible stewards of the faithful.


Prayer To Grow Environmental Evangelism

Dear God,

In Jesus' name we affirm that all Christians awaken to the danger of climate change.

In Jesus name we affirm that it is easier and easier for us to conserve energy as individuals and as a society.

We thank You, dear Jesus, that it is a joy to become aware and purchase products only made by environmentally responsible companies.

We thank You, Jesus, that powerful Christian evangelists promote environmental activism among their faithful.

We thank You that, together, we are invincible in reversing the damage caused by pollution and Global Warming.

We thank You, Jesus, that all those who would continue to despoil the earth or advocate the despoiling of the earth for selfish political purposes disappear into the nothingness of political obscurity from which they came.

We thank You, Jesus, that all those who would continue to selfishly despoil the earth for profit lose their market share.

Thank You, Jesus, for empowering us so we now reclaim, restore and protect our beautiful earth.

She is Your beautiful gift to us and we protect and preserve her now in gratitude.

And so it is.
Amen.

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According to their pasture, so were they filled. Hosea 13:6