Evil: The Absence of Truth

Charlie Rose interview: Al Gore on the need for truth

M. Scott Peck, the author of The Road Less Traveled wrote: "Evil is the absence of truth."

If so, the United States of America is in the grip of evil, because truth has been replaced by lies, conjecture, gross commercialism, a rejection of science and the reduction of political questions to a matter of "spin."

No one can seriously deny that "spin" is the substance of our discourse today.

Even the idea that the earth is only 6,000 years old has gotten enough media attention and "spin" so that those few who insist on trying to lower every other Christian to their level of ignorance, are gaining ground in what should be a joke, not a debate.

As Michael Patrick Leahy, editor of the Christian on-line publication Christian Faith and Reason writes:

"The premise [of the earth being 6000 years old] worked well for The Flintstones cartoon show, but has zero credibility within the scientific community in general and the Christian scientific community in particular. Most Christians, and almost all Christians who work as scientists are 'Theistic Evolutionists.'"

Yet, we can call upon no one to remedy this but ourselves. Blaming others - fearing others - is a waste of time and feeds the beast.

American monk Thomas Merton wrote: “There is no use in our being upset by weakness and sin in anyone, we are all in the same boat…” and we are “…responsible to everyone for everything.” He urged, instead, that we “…come to terms with what is inmost in our own selves,” be someone “…who identifies himself with the sinful and suffering world in order to call down God’s blessing upon it,” and “…take upon oneself all the guilt.”

[Quotes: "Striving Toward Being, The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz," November 9, 1960, p. 98, p. 39; "Contemplative Prayer," p. 30, para. 3, s. 2; p. 31, para. 1, s. 1.; "Striving Toward Being, The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz," September 12, 1959, p. 55.]

Merton is correct. So how do we take responsibility? Start by watching this must-see interview of Al Gore by Charlie Rose in which they talk about how fragile our democracy has become, and what our response must be.

Our democracy is in peril because the public forum has been filled with banality and exploitative messages designed to sell products, confuse us, and grab our attention from what matters.

There is no longer any effort to lay out the pros and cons to an argument during "news" segments. Everything reported is "spin" - sound bites and "campaigns" to sell ideas. Facts and evidence no longer matter, as they once did in our republic. The most effective and well financed campaign succeeds in selling a course of action, no matter how flawed.

For instance, before the War in Iraq began, Senator Robert Byrd speaking to a near empty Senate, raised intelligent - and accurate - objections to the invasion. But no one was there, no one was interested in the facts - not the Senate, not the media, not the American people.

I remember that time and how, to simply mention the facts or raise questions about the wisdom of going to war, was met with angry faces and charges of being "a traitor" or "pro-terrorist."

I wrote an op-ed piece at that time arguing against the war and read it to my critique group. Not one person even heard the quality of the writing itself. They didn't give an actual critique. Instead, the men - who had gotten red in the face and were furious - condemned my ideas. Their "critique" consisted of generalizations they had been fed by the administration and parroted by the media, after which they claimed I "didn't understand."

The last four years and the debacle that has unfolded has shown that they were the ones who did not have a firm grasp on the facts.

How did that happen?

Through the use of Republican think tanks, strategists, marketers and lots of money, a skillfully crafted campaign of emotion manipulation was produced to embed the message within us that war was what we wanted - and what we needed.

As Bill Moyers said, in his speech to the National Conference For Media Reform:

"'In Orwell’s 1984, the character Syme, one of the writers of that totalitarian society’s dictionary, explains to the protagonist Winston, 'Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking — not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.'

An unconscious people, an indoctrinated people, a people fed only on partisan information and opinion that confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda, is less inclined to put up a fight, to ask questions and be skeptical. That kind of orthodoxy can kill a democracy — or worse." ~ Bill Moyers

Over 3000 American families have lost their loved ones - with tens of thousands grieving over the injuries sustained by those who have come back maimed - because that kind of media control works - and worked in 2002 - 2003 when those messages, promoting war, were broadcast thousands of times by FOX, and by every other network who had gotten the message from this administration that to try to present the facts would insure those networks lost money and lost their seat at the news table. By design, no alternative voice was heard.

Gore quotes Andrew Card who, in a moment of unusual candor before the 2002 elections, answered a question about the timing of the media campaign to build support to invade Iraq as follows: "well, when you have a new product to launch, it's customary to start your campaign after Labor Day."

So the war in Iraq was a product launched. Imagine. A product that has killed so many and destroyed a country. And many are still buying it.

As Jonathan Mermin says, “In other words if the government isn’t talking about it, we [the news media] don’t report it.”

We tolerate this. Not only that, but we parrot how all the lives will have been wasted if we withdraw. Is this not a tragedy? That we will sacrifice even more lives to live in denial that the ones lost already were lost in service of a partisan strategy to control opinion and national direction?

As Americans, we have a problem. Other than PBS - which has been de-funded and its overseeing corporation packed with right-wing ideologues (Republican strategist Grover Norquist vowed the GOP would "stick a knife in" and kill once and for all) - there is no television media that we can believe. Yet people watch TV an average of 7 hours a day. As a result, we are, literally, having democracy programmed out of us.

And that is the intent of the radical right-wing that created this game.

As Moyers said in regard to the tremendous success of his PBS program NOW: "The more compelling our journalism, the angrier the radical right of the Republican Party became. That’s because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."

Christian moralist Thomas Merton saw this trend back in the 1960's and detested it, urging people to reject "the gray slop of images" with which we are being programmed.

We know a politician can say anything and - even if he is lying - he won't be debunked. Rather, the opposite is true. A campaign can be started by monied interests to convince voters, through swift boating that an honest politician - or a veteran - is a liar or a traitor, which is what happened to John Kerry and, before the 2006 elections, Patrick Murphy.

Not only does the media not tell us - loudly - who the monied interests are behind these baseless attacks, it feeds on them. Neither does it dissect what politicians say and point out untruths. In fact major media doesn't usually even cover what's important. Instead - when it mentions politicians instead of Paris Hilton's antics - it focuses on how politicians "look" and "deliver" and "sound convincing."

Since most U.S. media is controlled by five mega corporations - that want to continue to control and manufacture public opinion - millions have been spent on campaigns 1) to kill Internet radio (which will be fined out of existence beginning July 1st), 2) to get the U.S. Post Office to raise rates on small publications (which will force many to cease publication) and 3) to abolish Net Neutrality.

Do your nation a favor and watch this video. We are ALL responsible for the decisions made in this country and we cannot blame President Bush or the GOP for it all. We've allowed our consent to be bought, to be manufactured. We share in the blame for the disaster in Iraq and for the disaster - that, to our eternal shame - continues in New Orleans.

As Christians we have a moral responsibility to save the habitability of the earth, which is at risk and which our current administration - bought, paid for and controlled by the oil industry - denies. Yet the handful of "scientists" whom they use to dispute those thousands across the globe who clamor for policy changes to combat Global Warming, worked previously for big tobacco by denying cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer.

As Americans, we have a moral responsibility to save democracy in this country, which is under attack by the radical right wing of the Republican party.

Ask God to make you an active vehicle of truth, social justice, healing and peace. Make it your business to dig out facts and not be fooled by spin.

To do anything else is to practice a dead religion and serve the evil of untruth.

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Faith, if it hath not works, is dead. James 2:17

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32

Send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me. Psalms 43:3

It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. I John 5:6

"Christian" - A Commitment, Not Just A Label

Beware of those calling themselves "Christians" yet who do not model their lives in anyway upon Christ's.

For example, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who has been indicted on corruption charges, appeared on Charlie Rose last night, April 19th, in an interview.

Mr. DeLay, who epitomizes what the Republican party stands for these days, calls himself a Christian. He made the following statements:

In regard to the tragedy at Virginia Tech:

"We need to remove the ban on guns on the Virginia campus and allow people to defend themselves and allow people to get conceal carry licenses."

In other words, he said that if more people brought guns on campus, students would be safer.

I only wish that Charlie Rose had asked him this question:

Mr. DeLay, if concealed guns make people safer - why did you did not work to reform your own place of work, the Capitol, and end the ban on guns there while Republicans were in power and could have passed such a bill?

Surely, if he is not a merely a hypocrite but actually believes in the pro-gun philosophy he endorses, he would have felt safer knowing that everyone in the Capitol - from the janitor to the Whip - was armed?

Yet, you and I know he would never dream of introducing such a bill. He wouldn't dream of allowing people who came and went - including other representatives - to carry guns into the Capitol building.

Why?

We all know the obvious answer. It wouldn't be safe for him. The presence of guns make people less, not more safe. So just as it wouldn't be prudent to allow them in the Capitol, it is insanity to allow everyone who wants to carry a gun to do so on our college campuses.

The fact is, every developed nation on earth spawns the kind of disturbed individual as Cho Seung-hui.

Yet the United States is the only nation in the world that insists on arming them.

Why? The weapons manufacturers and the NRA are allowed to, literally, call the shots over three hundred million people

Therefore, it is no surprise that we lead the world in these kinds of grotesque tragedies that other nations manage to avoid through proper gun controls.

In regard to education, Mr. DeLay said this:

"I think we ought to abolish the office of education. It's [education of our citizens] not a federal responsibility and it shouldn't be."

In other words, people - no matter their economic condition - should not be educated unless they can pay all costs of it themselves.

Furthermore, Mr. DeLay evidently believes there should be no standards for education. He would make education - and literacy - of our citizens optional.

Imagine - as the entire third world struggles to achieve literacy and some degree of education among its citizens - Mr. DeLay would turn back the clock and throw us into the Middle Ages.

Bottom line, if you're poor, you do not deserve to learn how to read. One can interpret Mr. DeLay's position in no other way.

Of course this would serve him and his kind very well.

Those who cannot read or write, and those who have not been taught critical thinking, would be unlikely to every find out the degree of corruption that is rampant in Republican-brand politics so that Mr. DeLay and his party could continue to get elected based upon lies and distortions, and continue their economic rape of the nation.

A case in point, President Bush changed 90% of environmental laws to our detriment. For instance, the Appalachian Mountains - and the communities below and around them - are now being systematically destroyed through mountain top removal mining.

Lastly, Mr. DeLay painted himself as a victim in regard to his criminal indictments. He warned the American people against those who would "win at all costs and destroy people in order to win power and hang onto that power."

Ironically, Mr. DeLay described himself and the actions of the GOP perfectly.

John Dean, former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon has explained in Conservatives Without Conscience how the Republicans, under Tom DeLay, completely subverted the democratic process from 2000 to 2006 by excluding democrats from the legislative process, crafting legislation in private sessions and forcing votes in violation of house rules.

Democrats, thinking that the American public would not care about how the rules were being broken - and that Republicans would distort the issue as they did everything else - thought it would be futile to try and explain procedure to a public that makes decisions based on ten-second sound bites.

Sadly, they were probably right.

Given the incredibly dirty tricks - and outright lies - that Mr. DeLay and his party used in 2000 and 2004 to get Mr. Bush elected - not to mention what appears to be illegalities in the way he got Texas reapportioned - he was surely warning us about himself and his party when he said that the American people had to be "warned" about those interested in:

"Winning at all costs and destroying people in order to win power and hang on to that power."

I must wonder: is he a very crafty politician projecting his own sins upon the other party or he is simply, in the final analysis, without insight?

Either way, what a grotesque individual!

If only all national politicians were forced to answer questions and go through a round of televised debates before their elections. I would hope that someone like DeLay would not be elected - or re-elected - if his hazy thought processes were clearly held up to the light of day.

Maybe the entire process of campaigning as we know it should be abolished and replaced by widely broadcast forums and objective debates, both on a state and federal level. Otherwise, how can we know the true character of those for whom we are voting?

Surely, although Mr. DeLay calls himself a Christian, anyone who is aware of his career of questionable activities can tell that he does not follow Christ's basic principles.

And anyone who watched him and listened to his words last night could see that he has trouble defending his own positions - and could not defend them in the light of Christ's example.

Would Jesus say: "forget the poor - don't educate them?"

Would Jesus say: "carry a gun and be ready to shoot anyone who threatens you?"

Would Jesus lie and connive for power and later project his own misdeeds upon others?

You know the answer.

Mr. DeLay is a self-styled "Christian" in name only. It has been convenient for him to label himself as a Christian and use a Christian front as a cover for his questionable activities. It has been useful for him to beat the drum against abortion and divert attention away from all his corrupt practices.

For instance, in 2003 Majority Leader DeLay set up a charity for abused and neglected children, with part of the funds going to the 2004 GOP convention.

The New York Times described it as "aides to Mr. DeLay... acknowledged that part of the money would go to pay for late-night convention parties, a luxury suite during President Bush's speech at Madison Square Garden and yacht cruises. ... 'They are using the idea of helping children as a blatant cover for financing activities in connection with a convention with huge unlimited, undisclosed, unregulated contributions,' said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington group that helped push through the recent overhaul of the campaign finance laws."

Beloved, being against abortion does not make you a Christian. Being a Christian is more complicated than that. It requires an intention to do good, to be honest, to be kind, to be generous and practice forgiveness.

If we based all our decisions for voting upon this criteria - asking how Christ-like a candidate is rather than how well he attacks and smears someone who is pro-choice - we would have a far better government - and a far stronger nation - than we have today.

But if we keep on voting for people just because they say they are Christians, the coals that are falling on our heads will continue unabated. Being a Christian is more than a label. It is a lifetime commitment to do good.

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Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth. Matthew 22:16

I have given you an example , that ye should do as I have done to you. John 13:15

The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to that that are bound. Isaiah 61:1

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