Christian Ethics Today A Journal of Christian Ethics Volume 13, Number 4 Aggregate Issue 66 Fall 2007
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” Isaiah 40:3; John 1:23
Faith and Social Justice Jim Wallis ...... 2
EthixBytes ...... 3
A Pious Proposal: The F Word vs. the J Word William Griffin ...... 4
Jus Post Bellum in Iraq and The Day I Knew We Had Lost The War Chaplain Charles P. McGathy ...... 6
On Journalism and Democracy An Interview With Bill Moyers ...... 10
Remembering: Yad Vashem and Ramallah James Gaffney ...... 13
The Temple and Tatoos Molly Trull ...... 15
Ethics in Ministry David Sapp ...... 16
Christian Zionism: An Oxymoron Britt Towery ...... 20
Winning At Any Cost? Don Wilkey ...... 21
Requim for a Cartoonist Remembering Doug Marlette (1949-2007) ...... 22
CHRISTIAN ETHICS AND THE MOVIES Reviewed by David A. Thomas ...... 24 Globalism: Babel (2006) Human Corruption: The Departed (2006) Multicultural Reconciliation: Freedom Writers (2006)
BOOK REVIEWS The Myth of a Christian Nation Reviewed by Darold Morgan ...... 28 The Cheating Culture Reviewed by Darold Morgan ...... 28 The Road Reviewed by Michael Moorhead ...... 29
POETRY A Train Going the Wrong Way Al Staggs ...... 31 Faith and Social Justice By Jim Wallis, Editor in Chief/CEO of Sojourners 8BTIJOHUPO %$
ome years ago on a trip to the U.K., force for moral politics. His mentor, helped lead the abolitionist struggle, SI walked through the historic Holy John Newton, who worked in the efforts to end child labor, projects Trinity Church on Clapham Common slave trade before he became a min- to aid working people and establish in South London. This Anglican par- ister, became well known for writing unions, and the battle to obtain vot- ish was the home church to William the beloved hymn “Amazing Grace.” ing rights for women. Here were evan- Wilberforce, the abolitionist parlia- Later, he used his influence as a reli- gelical Christians fighting for social mentarian who wrote Britain’s anti- gious leader to lead the battle against causes, an activity that evangelicals slave-trade legislation, Wilberforce slavery. In the light of his efforts, we have not been associated with in more and a group of Christian fellow parlia- can read his immortal words “Amazing recent times. Nineteenth-century U.S. mentarians and lay people known as grace, how sweet the sound, that saved evangelist Charles Finney didn’t shy “the Saints” were behind many social a wretch like me” not merely as a tes- away from identifying the gospel with reforms that swept England in the late timony of private guilt and piety, but the antislavery cause. He was a revival- 18 th and early 19 th centuries. The also of turning away from the sin of ist and also an abolitionist. For him, current vicar was very proud to show trafficking in human flesh. His con- the two went together. me around. On the wall were pictures version produced a social and political Wilberforce’s life is a testament to of these typically English-looking transformation as well as a personal the power of conversion and the per- gentlemen who helped to turn their one. sistence of faith. I have often said that country upside down. The same became true of I am a 19 th -century American evan- Finally, the vicar pointed to an old, Wilberforce, who first heard Newton gelical born in the wrong century. But well-worn table. “This is the table speak when he was young but regard- now, a new generation of evangelical upon which William Wilberforce ed his real conversion as confirmed students and pastors is coming of age. wrote the antislavery act,” he said following a series of conversations in Their concerns are the slavery of pov- proudly. “We now use this table 1785-86. At the conclusion of their erty, sex trafficking, the environment, every Sunday for communion.” I was conversations, Newton said: “The human rights, genocide in Darfur, and struck—here, in dramatic liturgical Lord has raised you up for the good the ethics of war and peace. Whether symbol, the secular and the sacred are of the church and the good of the they know it or not, they are really brought together with powerful his- nation.” Two years later Wilberforce 19 th -century American evangelicals torical force. How did we ever sepa- introduced his first anti-slave-trade (or 18 th -century British evangelicals) rate them? What became of religion motion into Parliament. It was for the 21 st century. that believed its duty was to change its defeated, and would be defeated nine Recently, I was preaching at an society on behalf of justice? more times until it passed in 1807. evangelical Christian college in the William Wilberforce and his group It was a historic and moral victory, American Midwest. I called for a new of friends profoundly changed the but Wilberforce wouldn’t be satisfied generation of Martin Luther Kings political and social climate of their until slavery was abolished altogether. and William Wilberforce. Afterward, time. Wilberforce was a convert of A new Wilberforce biography notes, two young women were waiting to the religious revivals that transformed “probably the last letter” John Wesley talk to me at the end of a long line of 18 th -century England. His life and his ever wrote encouraged Wilberforce: students. When they finally got their vocation as a Member of Parliament “Oh, be not weary in well-doing. Go turn to speak, they looked me straight were profoundly changed by his new- on, in the name of God and in the in the eye and said, “We are going found faith; Wilberforce became a power of His might.” Wilberforce con- to be the next Martin Luther King tinued working tirelessly toward that Jr. and William Wilberforce, and we Editor: Joe E. Trull goal, year after year. Finally, in 1833, just wanted to tell you that.” I told Publisher: Christian Ethics Today Foundation, the House of Commons passed a bill them I was glad to meet them now 9608 Parkview Court, Denton, TX 76207 abolishing slavery, and Wilberforce before they became famous! But they (940) 262-0450; Cell: (940) 230-6931 died three days later, his work finally were serious, and so was I. The his- CHRISTIAN ETHICS TODAY is produced in the U.S.A. and is published five times annually and done. tory from earlier centuries can inform mailed from Dallas, Texas, where third-class postage Similarly, in 19 th -century America, a new generation of Christians in the is paid. Articles published in CET reflect the views religious revivalism was linked directly struggle about how to reunite faith of the authors and not necessarily the viewpoint of CET or the Editor. Send corrections and change of with the abolition of slavery and move- and social justice for our time. I know addresses to P.O. Box 1165, Argyle, Texas 76226. ments of social reform. Christians (continued on page 27)
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": EthixBytes A Collection of Quotes Comments, Statistics, and News Items
“Ethics is knowing the difference gy sexual abuse over the last 70 years, perate conditions . . . We must repent between what you have the right to do dwarfing the $85 million paid for 552 for being active agents of war, rather and what is the right thing to do.” claims by the Archdiocese of Boston.” than being true children of our God of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart. NBC News , 7/15/07 . peace . . . We must repent for indulg- ❖ ❖ ing, actively or passively, in playing “He was literally one of a kind—and “I am Shiite. My uncles and cousins God; or for encouraging and voting for a real Baptist. He could see the ironies were murdered by Saddam’s regime. I politicians who consider the world to and the contradictions (in political wanted desperately to get rid of him. be a chessboard and a stage for their or religious life) so clearly and then But today, if Saddam’s feet appeared in political whit.” reduce them to just a few strokes in a front of me, I would fall to my knees Martin Accad, Arab Baptist cartoon.” and kiss them.” Theological Seminary, Beirut, Lebanon, James Dunn, in response to the death “Ali,” a Baghdad resident when asked about the state of the Baptist of cartoonist Doug Marlette. Dunn and (International Herald Tribune) world six years after 9/11 in Soundings. another Baptist preacher, Will Campbell ❖ ❖ were the inspiration for preacher Will B. “If you believe Jesus is coming soon, “Consumerism has become the Dunn in Marlette’s Kudzu cartoon. why do you need body guards, a house American world view—the framework ❖ in the most expensive, exclusive gated through which we interpret everything “[Jesus] isn’t talking about just going community in San Antonio, a ranch, else, including God, the gospel, and or not going to Hell after you die. $1 million a year tax-free income and church.” He’s talking about a radically differ- three Mercedes?” Skye Jathani (Leadership, Summer, ent way of living. He’s talking about Robert Flynn (TheWittenburgDoor, 2006). changing the world and living in a July/August 2007) in an imaginary ❖ subversive and radical way in this interview with John Hagee, pastor of “We are called to be fools for Christ, world. That’s what . . . the ‘kingdom Cornerstone Church San Antonio. not ‘damned fools’.” of God’ involves.” ❖ William Sloane Coffin. Brian McClaren interview in “You don’t get it. . . this will be a ❖ TheWittenburgDoor (July/August, 2007). political document, or it will not be “Nearly a half million unwanted preg- ❖ released.” nancies, including 200,000 that would “America never belonged to God. We A senior Bush administration official end in abortion, could be prevented if were never a godly nation. . . . There to Dr. Richard Carmona, Surgeon Medicaid coverage were expanded to are no good old days where we were General from 2002-2006, to prevent include contraception for low-income truly operating by kingdom principles. release of a report linking poverty and women.” Nothing is to compete with God . . . poor health (The Washington Post, Guttmacher Institute, guttmacher. God is the beginning and the end.” 7/29/2007). org, 2006). Greg Boyd, responding to ‘Take ❖ ❖ America Back to God’ in The Myth of a “Texas has executed 402 people since “Tell me how this ends.” Christian Nation. capital punishment was reinstated 21 Question asked by Gen. David ❖ years ago (four times the number of the Petraeus in 2003, when he led the “Paying for sex, in whatever form, is second state Virginia) and 374 people Army’s 101 st Airborne Division into Iraq. both illegal and repulsive. It reveals a are now waiting on death row, five of ❖ view of women as commodities that is them scheduled to die in September. “Make the most of all that comes and relevant to lawmakers’ public respon- Dallas Morning News Editorial the least of all that goes.” sibilities.” (9/2/07), calling for a moratorium on Ruth Bell Graham’s advice to her Ruth Marcus, Washington Post colum- this “greatest moral challenge facing law- daughter Anne (The Christian Century, nist outraged by Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La) makers in Texas.” 7/10/2007). ■ link to a prostitution ring in D.C. ❖ ❖ “We must repent concerning the more “The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has than 2 million Iraqi refugees (among settled for $660 million a lawsuit whom over 400,000 are Christians) in brought by over 500 victims of cler- Syria and Jordan who are living in des-
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r A Pious Proposal: The F Word vs. the J Word By William Griffin, Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Translator, "MFYBOESJB -"
’ve never read a word I didn’t like. God, and that the Word of words has Slips in the spoken language con- IEducated beyond my competence, come down to us in spoken and writ- tinue. A couple of years ago at an I’ve amassed a huge vocabulary. I’ve ten form in a cascade of words. How awards ceremony Bono of U2 was taught myself to pronounce each odd of God, but that’s another issue caught by an open mike saying the and every word, including “pejora- entirely. F word in its adverbial form (“f—ing tive” (there are at least three approved History of the F Word marvelous”). At the beginning of ways). The F word is found in the works 2006, Howard Stern, the foul-mouth I can enunciate each and every of James Joyce and D. H. Lawrence Frank of radio and television, swore letter in succession to form the word among others, but it hasn’t been off the F word on the ground that “pejorative” as a whole; listening found in the OED, SOD, EDD, and it was no longer funny. And so the to recordings of British actors like MWCD until recent years. parade continues. Gielgud, Richardson, and Olivier It must be said that the eccentric All this having been said, I must decades ago taught me how, and in British lexicographer, Eric Partridge, affirm and support people who form the process I eradicated my Bostonian happily remembered for A Dictionary groups to bar the F word or its sis- accent. of Slang and Unconventional ters and brothers from current use on I’ve done my best to pass on my Language (1937), A Dictionary of the public media, even though I may not love of words to my three children. Underworld, British and American agree with them. And I admire their When they were young and impres- (1949), and Origins: A Short persistence in pursuing the FCC. sionable, without my wife’s knowledge Etymological Dictionary of Modern Ironically, allowing the free use or consent, I called them together for a English (1958), splendid volumes all, of the F word is the only sure way family conference. No, it wasn’t going has always included the F word. to insure its demise. It has been so to be on the birds and the bees, about Locus classicus of the F word as repetitively and thoughtlessly used which I knew comparatively little; it spoken may be found in the works of that it numbs the very ears who are was on something far more impor- comedian George Carlin. A frequent offended. tant, I thought; the F word. guest on television shows in the 1960s Now to my pious proposal. It has I wanted the F word and other and 1970s, he compiled a list of the to do with shifting massive Christian similar words to be part of their “Seven Words You Can Never Say on energy from one goal—a very good active vocabulary, even if they never Television”; the F word was among goal, it must be said—to another, had an inclination to use them. Nor them. Carlin later expanded the list worthier goal. did I want them to be intimidated to 200 such words. PROPOSAL: The FCC should when they heard these words, classi- Eventually, the FCC got involved; allow the full and audible use of the F fied by non-lexicographers as “dirty” the U.S. Supreme Court was con- word; in return, the FCC should ban- words, sprung on them by their peers. sulted; and the seven unspeakables ish the blasphemous use of the J word, Reason? There’s no such thing as a bad are now included in the annals of Jesus. word; admittedly, some words acquire the Supreme Court (FCC v. Pacifica J Word bad meanings, but that’s another issue Foundation, 1974). As background, some years ago entirely. Since that time the FCC has kept Alan King conducted a series of inter- I knew also, from spending my pro- the F word off prime-time network views meant to be an oral history of fessional life dealing with words of all television with some success. And comedians, especially stand-ups. In sorts (many of them in book form as yet, today, through the magic of the conversation with Jerry Steinfeld, an acquiring editor at Macmillan and zoom lens we see, even if we don’t King, a rather splendid comedian Harcourt), that words are merry mes- hear, the F word being shouted with himself, said to his guest, “Unlike sengers, Marx Brothers, Katzenjammer utter abandon by the finer coaches of other comics today, you work clean.” Kids, Sacha Baron Cohens, sometimes our better collegiate and professional By that he meant that Seinfeld didn’t bouncing and behaving, sometimes teams. use the F word or its correlatives in rascally and misbehaving, always up to As for hearing the F word, we con- his routines. But later in the same no good. Among them, the F word. tinually see it bleeped from television interview both used the J word in a And of course I knew from John shows and movies. How do we know? casual, expletival sort of way. the Evangelist that in the beginning One doesn’t have to be Miss Marple Historically, the Jews have suffered was the Word and the Word was or Marlee Matlin to read actors’ lips. at the hands of Christians, especially
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": the Roman Catholics, of which I am Problem Jesus, make haste to help me.... one; much of that misery was inflicted But a personal problem arises. Jesus, have mercy on me.... in the name of Jesus. It’s no wonder My whole spiritual life is based on When all is said and done, “the that some Jews speak of our Lord and the word Jesus . In the Old Testament name of Jesus is at the heart of Savior in a less than generous way. I there’s the second commandment. In Christian prayer” ( Catholic Catechism, can only follow the example of John the New Testament there’s Philippians 1997). Paul II, and apologize to my Jewish 10:2: “at the name of Jesus every knee One could do worse than spend the friends for these historical sins, not should bow.” rest of his her life exploring the won- caused by me particularly but by my I spent eight happy years as a Jesuit ders of this holy name. denomination in particular. (member of the Society of Jesus). The In conclusion, my pious proposal Lest I give the wrong impression, religious order did nothing to exagger- would seem to be a reasonable and such Jewish infractions are infinitesi- ate devotion to the holy name, but the honorable trade-off, restoring the F mal when compared to those of the name of Jesus was always surrounded word to die of overuse and restraining Gentiles and to those found on cable with great warmth. the J word used as expletive so that it television networks, which are unen- In the litany of the holy name, may live. cumbered by any censorship. which dates to the fifteenth and six- Afterthought As for the traditional television teenth centuries, Jesus is invoked as, Every blasphemy bothers me, networks, their censors, at the massive among other things, father of the unsettles me to the point of wanting insistence of the censorious among poor, treasure of the faithful, good to deck the blasphemer. To maintain their audience, bleep the F word. shepherd, true light, eternal wisdom, some sort of spiritual balance, I’ve had Oddly, they’re no longer bleeping the infinite goodness, our way and our to come up with a mischievous if mys- J word as expletive, and the Christian life. tical thought. Suppose that, when the audience isn’t uttering a peep of pro- There’s the Jesus prayer, a repeti- J word is tossed around with reckless test. Isn’t it time to reverse the process, tive prayer dating back to the fifth abandon during the course of a come- to remedy the greater wrong? or sixth century. It would seem to dressed-as-you-are, bunkhouse brawl, As a lifelong member of the pub- have its source in the gospel of John. Jesus isn’t offended. Not only that, sup- lishing community I’m a libertarian Paraphrasally rendered from the pose he comes, as he comes to all those when it comes to the use of words. Greek, “Up to this point, my dear who utter his name in moments of Hence, I wouldn’t restrict the use of friends, you haven’t used my name need or praise. Is that so far-fetched? If the J word in whatever context, holy when you asked for something. Use it; the New Testament is any indication, or unholy. Ironically, though, allow- it works; it really works” (16:3). Jesus has done some of his best work ing the free use of the name is the only The Jesus prayer has many forms. with unpromising people in question- sure way to insure its survival. Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.... able surroundings. A pious thought! ■
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r Jus Post Bellum in Iraq By Charles P. McGathy, Chaplain U.S. Navy (Retired), .BEJTPO /$
Note: Chaplain McGathy is a D. Min. in magnitude and duration. Once the that utter chaos will erupt if the U.S. student at the Houston Graduate School expenditure of effort exceeds the value proceeds with withdrawal (even if a of Theology and he is also the pastor of of the political object, the object must deadline for withdrawal is announced) the First Baptist Church of Madison, be renounced and peace must follow. 2 is built upon an essentially racist idea. NC. By now it has become overwhelm- Doubt is cast on the idea that the ingly obvious to the American public peoples of Iraq and of the Middle East hat does winning look like? It and to the rest of the world, that there itself have the capability of political Wis a simple question, yet a pro- was no clear war termination vision resolution apart from the armed pres- foundly difficult one to answer. Even from the Bush administration. As early ence of a superpower. The Arab League so it is a question that must be asked as September 2003 General Wesley which has a vested interest in peace and answered by legitimate states Clark accurately stated regarding the has been given little role in helping to before they go to war against other war in Iraq, “We’re in there without a quell the civil war between the peoples states. Otherwise the moral dilemma strategy to win, and without a strategy of Iraq. It makes sense to allow the that results will be a quagmire that to exit properly.” 3 Furthermore, the Arabs a greater opportunity to broker defies escape. preparation for Jus Post Bellum clear- peace. Instead the U.S. is continuing What are the moral responsibili- ly was lacking or based upon grossly on a course that more and more looks ties of victors in war? That is the ques- inaccurate forecasts. U.S. policy failed like a permanent occupation of Iraq. tion posed by former Navy Chief of to account for ancient religious and At least that is the perspective of many Chaplains, Rear Admiral Louis V. cultural divisions given fresh energy in of the occupied. 6 Iasiello. In his thought provoking arti- a “liberated” Iraq. 4 If winning looks Life, by the way, has not gotten cle published in the Navy War College like a peaceful and functioning nation better for the average Iraqi. Security Review, he moves the discussion of where the spirit of reconciliation and is a major difficulty. Electricity and “Just War Theory” one logical step fur- cooperation with former enemies water are less plentiful. There are even ther and discusses the responsibilities defines victory, then it must be reex- gas lines at the pumps in an oil rich the U.S. has in post-war Afghanistan amined if there has been or ever can nation. Corruption and greed have and Iraq. In prophetic words written in be victory in Iraq. left post war Iraq in shambles. 7 Our 2004, Admiral Iasiello said: “As recent Just for the sake of argument, let’s service men and women are doing an events in Afghanistan and Iraq attest, say we won. An evil dictator has been outstanding job, but they are too few nations must fight wars with a war removed and his cruel reign of terror and their war-fighting skills are not termination vision and plan carefully ended. Had that been the political up to the task of reconstructing an for the post-conflict phase. Doing so, objective, then the war’s aim would “Islamic democracy” (whatever that or failing to do so, may make or break have been met and victory rightfully may be). efforts to restore order, heal hostilities, declared. Things are never that simple Is there any wonder the American and rebuild societies. 1 though. It now seems that the actual people are so frustrated and upset by War termination is a fundamental aim of the administration was to estab- all of this? Is this what they thought principle taught to military officers at lish a western styled democracy in the winning would look like? Polls indicate their respective war colleges. Most of Middle East that could effectively that the justification for this war was these officers have read and studied counter balance the extremist gov- based upon a manufactured spin. Most the writing of Carl von Clausewitz. ernments of Iran and Syria. Perhaps Americans would not have supported a Regarding the termination of war he a cooperative Iraq could insure the war based upon economic advantage. wrote the following: “No one starts flow of oil to the rest of the world? Just war theory proposes, in part, that a war or rather, no one in his senses The prewar protest, “It’s all about the we do not fight wars to gain financially. ought to do so, without first being oil” make sense to more and more Just war is about self-defense against clear in his mind what he intends Americans as the post bellum strat- an aggressor state. When all else fails to achieve by that war and how he egy continues relatively unaffected war may be chosen as the “lesser of intends to conduct it. . . . Since war by a lack of progress. The complaint two evils.” War is not excused so that is not an act of senseless passion but that “The U.S. cannot afford to lose a nation can establish another, more is controlled by its political object, the in Iraq” is about more than national friendly government or because it offers value of this object must determine pride, it is about economics. 5 economic advantages. 8 the value of the sacrifices made for it The narrow vision that predicts It should not be assumed that war,
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": just or otherwise, can establish good dels” most likely have never had a col- by Bush,” CNN, 29 September governments or offer economic advan- lege class in political science. It’s a no 2003. tage. At best the outcome is a roll win for them. Our political leadership 4 The Advisory Committee on of the dice. War is a hammer. It is a failed them when they failed to con- Social Witness Policy of the clumsy and brutal tool not designed sider the question, what does winning General Assembly Council to accomplish the delicate lacework of look like? Presbyterian Church (USA), Iraq: building a nation or producing good So for whom has the war been a Our Responsibility and the Future will; only diplomacy and acting with win? Who might have a very clear idea (Louisville: The Office of the justice can accomplish those ideals. of what winning looks like? Well in General Assembly, 2004), 10. Soldiers are not police, or diplomats, the words of “Deep Throat” from the 5 Zvi Bar’el, “An Occupation or civic engineers. In the end they are Watergate era, “Follow the money.” with Democracy,” Haaretz.com, the blunt instruments of force best James Paul, writing for the Global available from http://www. suited for the destruction of an ene- Policy Forum comments, “After the Iraq haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt. my’s ability to resist political pressure. War of 2003, the United States and jhtml?itemNo=300617; Internet; As the lines become increasingly United Kingdom oil giants are certain accessed 11 June 2007. blurred and the answer to the ques- to gain privileged access to Iraq’s oil 6 Michael Rubin, “That Occupation tion of what winning looks like grows resources. Excluded from control over Feeling,” National Review Online, murky, it is the soldiers who are being Iraqi oil since the nationalization of 18 April 2005. asked to do things they are poorly 1972, Exxon, BP, Shell, and Chevron 7 William Fisher, “Iraq Left to equipped to do. The fact that they do will now gain the lion’s share of the Rebuild Itself,” Inter Press Service, such a fine job is not a testimony to world’s most profitable oil fields. Few 29 March 2006. the wisdom of the political leadership, outside the industry understand the 8 Brian Orend, Stanford Encyclopedia but the remarkable versatility of the huge stakes in Iraq, which amount to of Philosophy (Winter 2005 American fighting man and woman. tens of billions in potential profits per Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). In order to correct our course and year.” 10 9 Hamdan Yousuf, “Does the establish order, the Iraqi people them- In the end, is that what winning Iraq War Promote Iraqi Self- selves must participate. The prolonged looks like? If so can the war be ethi- Determination?”, An Address to the presence of occupation troops may cally justified? Heritage Foundation, 5 December actually prevent the establishment of If however, as Chaplain Iasiello 2005. national efforts to self-govern. 9 suggests, winning is the reestablish- 10 James A. Paul, “The Iraq Oil That of course raises ethical issues. ment of justice then our strategy must Bonanza: Estimating Future Has the Jus Post Bellum strategy of the make a decided shift. Justice ought to Profits,” Global Policy Forum , 28 U.S. actually enabled Iraq to dysfunc- be the goal. Iasiello says, “It would be January 2004. tion as a self-governing nation? Has constructive if both the victors and 11 Iasiello, ibid. the refusal to set a withdrawal time the defeated entered this post-conflict line been an unwise, even an unjust phase in a spirit of regret, conciliation, post-war decision? Even worse, has it humility, and possibly contrition. Such revealed an ulterior motive on the part a mind-set may further the healing of The Day I Knew We of the invader nation? Perhaps it really a nation’s trauma and thus enhance is about keeping oil flowing? Maybe efforts to seal a just peace.” 11 If that Had Lost the War deposing an evil dictator and destroy- is what winning looks like we can still ing weapons of mass destruction were get there. It means a change of heart he day I knew we had lost the justifications for war spun by politicos and a change of direction. ■ Twar I was serving as a Navy to gain popular support when the real Commander in Rota, Spain. Accounts motivation was based upon economic of torture along with pictures from factors? Those concerns never would 1 Louis V. Iasiello, “Jus Post Bellum: Abu Ghraib prison had been released have persuaded the nation to go to The Moral Responsibilities of for the entire world to see. Shocking war. Victors in War,” Naval War College photos were displayed on the Armed Sadly, it is the young men and Review , Summer/Autumn 2004, Forces Network broadcast of CNN. women of the armed forces who are Vol. 57, No. 3/4. The details were printed in Stars and caught in the middle. While they con- 2 Carl von Clausewitz, On War , Stripes and The Early Bird. I was walk- tinue to insist that “they can win this ed. and trans. Michael Howard ing to my chapel office with a cup of thing,” the occupied Iraqis, angry at and Peter Paret (Princeton, N.J.: café con leche warming my hand, when the chaos they call home, plant explo- Princeton University Press, 1976), the impact of the breaking news hit sives and strike out at the infidels who 87. me. I paused, looked into the Spanish have invaded their nation. These “infi- 3 “Clark: Americans ‘Embarrassed’ sky, and muttered, “The war is lost.”
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r There could be no mistake. This describe how we believe people ought all see good triumph over evil. How do was bad, really bad. The meaning to be treated. we decide what is the ethical thing to of what had happened at that prison We gave away the moral high do? “Nuke them ‘till they glow,” but was even more devastating than the ground at Abu Ghraib. Perception who is “them?” Even if we could iden- mistreatment, which was all by itself isn’t reality, but it is through percep- tify who was responsible, is military reprehensible enough. Soldiers from tion that we lost this war. In their (the force the best response? These were the United States of America had Iraqi people) eyes America became the the questions I pondered while we as a purposefully engaged in activities new evil empire. 2 Our system of ethics, nation buried our dead and comforted designed to humiliate Muslim men. even democracy itself, is now judged one another. Furthermore, they bragged about it. inferior by much of the Muslim world I’ve been out of the Navy for almost The photos revealed much more than to that which is offered through Islamic a year now. For over two decades I a young woman holding a naked Iraqi theocracy. At Abu Ghraib we used the served my nation by caring for men by a leash. Later it would be revealed beliefs of Iraqi prisoners against them. 3 and women in military uniform. I have that this was not isolated acts by a Our representatives in military uni- counseled them on countless occasions few rogue soldiers, but a reflection of form were caught violating one of our regarding personal ethics. Rarely has a policy change that allowed and even primary national ethics when we dis- their individual struggle over the justice encouraged mistreatment of prison- respected their religion. Chances are of war been the presenting problem. I ers. 1 And someone took photos. They we will never get the Muslim in Iraq suspect that is changing these days. As announced our defeat. The war was to believe that democracy is superior to more and more servicemen and women over. We had lost. his tribal conception of religious law. struggle over the meaning of their sacri- It’s a question of ethics. At stake is We have lost that war. fices, I would anticipate that chaplains the attempted infusion of ethics from How could I say such things? I find are being called upon now, more than a nation that claims to be commit- it hard to believe myself. On September ever before, to help them deal ethically ted to democratic principles, among 11, 2001, I was with the Marines. As a with their participation in an unpopu- which is the free exercise of religion, chaplain at the Marine Corps Recruit lar war. verses fundamentalist extremists who Depot in San Diego I struggled to find A confession: I supported the advocate their brand of theocracy as some way to minister to my comrades. invasion of Iraq. I hoped and prayed the only proper ethic. In this ethical We gathered around and watched until the first bomb was dropped that slug fest the ultimate prize is the sym- in stunned horror as the towers col- Saddam Hussein would come to his pathy of the people of Iraq. Ours is lapsed in New York and the Pentagon senses. The war could be avoided if only a nation with the ethic of respect for burned. Some around me had relatives he would allow unfettered inspections others, even those who differ from the who worked in those towers and oth- and assure the nervous world that no majority. This is more than a simple ers knew friends in Washington. While weapons of mass destruction (WMD) toleration by a dominant religion over we kept vigil by the television set, drill were left in Iraq. It seemed so simple, minority faiths. Instead the American sergeants on the other side of the depot but Saddam wouldn’t budge. I later religious ethic is freedom of all reli- continued their task of making young came to the conclusion that the Iraqi gions, no one religion is in a position men into Marines. I wondered what dictator couldn’t admit any degree of to “tolerate” another; all expressions of the future would hold for them. It was weakness in front of the fragile nation faith are considered equal. Church and an ominous day. he held together through intimidation. state are separated. The Constitution We all wanted to do something that My government assured the world and the Bill of Rights are documents would correct this injustice, protect that there were indeed WMDs and that speak in those ethical terms. They innocent lives, and most important of they were on their way to us thanks
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": to Saddam. If he couldn’t deliver them ian deaths resulting from the U.S. led conceived in liberty, and dedicated to personally he’d make sure Al Qaeda got invasion number between 64,879 and the proposition that all men are created the nuclear, biological, and chemical 71,042 as of 6 June 2007). 9 equal. Now we are engaged in a great weapons so that they could broaden Soldiers can think. Because they civil war, testing whether that nation or the war against America. 4 Although now know that the primary rational for any nation so conceived and so dedi- Saddam hadn’t started the terror war the war was a colossal mistake at best, a cated, can long endure.” 12 Once again on the U.S., he certainly appeared as if self-serving and shameless lie at worst, our nation is being tested. Will we live he was ready and able to help. We were they are left with an ethical struggle. up to the principles by which we were forced; it seemed, into a difficult and Most often it is expressed in the simple birthed? That is the war we must never ethically precarious decision, at least for question, “Why are we here?” Ethics lose. ■ those of us who subscribe to Just War will just not go away. theory. 5 As reasonable and responsible Then along came Abu Ghraib. Christians we need some way to decide It was just too much for some of us. 1 Reed Brody, The Road to Abu the right thing to do. In light of the Whatever it is our government is trying Ghraib (New York: Human Rights threat of WMDs possibly being used in to accomplish over there can never hap- Watch, 2004), 1-32. terror acts against our nation, preemp- pen in light of those photos. To modify 2 Adarsh Kumar, “America: The tive war seemed the only answer. an old proverb, “One picture is worth New Evil Empire,” The Citizen, 17 I wasn’t the only one in uniform a thousand terrorists.” Unfortunately April 2000. who thought such things. I was there there were lots of pictures. The war is 3 U.S. Army, “Article 15-6 the day President Bush took off from lost. I think Tony Campolo put it best Investigation of the 800 th Military Naval Base Coronado to declare on the when he said we ought to admit our Police Brigade,” May 2004; avail- carrier deck, “My fellow Americans: mistake, ask for forgiveness, and help to able from http://www.msnbc.msn. Major combat operations in Iraq have end the bloodshed. In other words, act com/id/4894001. ended. In the battle of Iraq the United ethically. 10 4 Juan Cole, “The Lies that Led to States . . . prevailed.” 6 We all expected I am proud of my friends who serve War,” Salon, 19 May 2005. that it wouldn’t be long now before the faithfully. They genuinely represent the 5 Brian Orend, Stanford Encyclopedia preemptive war would be entirely jus- best of our nation. Because they are of Philosophy (Winter 2005 tified as cache after cache of WMDs on active duty they cannot speak out Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). were discovered and neutralized. So we and express their opinions as freely as 6 George Bush, Remarks by the waited. And waited. I can. Not all agree with me, but there President from the USS Abraham Recently I read Making Ethical are many who do, much more than can Lincoln, at sea off the coast of San Decisions by Michael Josephson. It’s be imagined. These are the talented, Diego, California, 1 May 2003. a short booklet designed to help an dedicated citizen soldiers who are now 7 Michael Josephson, Making Ethical individual understand the basics of deciding against a career in the mili- Decisions, ed. Wes Hanson (Los ethics and hopefully adopt six pillars tary. 11 In part their decision-making is Angeles: Josephson Institute of of character. The sixth pillar is citizen- based upon family separation, but I also Ethics, 2002), 14. ship. Josephson describes a good citi- believe it is due to the failure of this war 8 Ben Wasserman, “One Third zen in part as an individual who “stays to pass the ethical test. of War Veterans Suffer Mental informed on the issues of the day, the We have lost this war not because Problems,” 13 March 2007. better to execute her duties and privi- of the failure of our soldiers, sailors, 9 Available from http://www.iraq- leges as a member of a self-governing airmen or marines. It was the ethical bodycount.net/database/, 6 June, democratic society.” 7 The dilemma for failure of our nation to act according to 2007. the American citizen soldier is growing our own principles. Instead of fighting 10 Tony Campolo, Keynote Address at more difficult because the more they a war on terror, perhaps we should con- Religious Emphasis Week, Guilford learn the harder it is to perform their sider fighting a war on injustice. That, College, Greensboro, NC, 22 duty with a clear conscience. Not only I think is how our struggle should be January, 2007. are the numbers of dead and wounded framed. It is also a right war to fight. 11 Ge n e - T h o m a s Go m u l k a , ascending, but the number of military In another war at another time the “Retention Ups and Downs,” The personnel returning with mental prob- question of winning or losing finally Military Family Network , 13 April lems has exploded. 8 These are the hid- came down to an ethical formula- 2006. den casualties, the post traumatic shock tion. Through the simple brilliance of 12 Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln: Passages victims we identified and recall from Abraham Lincoln our nation came to From His Speeches and Letters (New the Vietnam experience. And these are understand what it was really fighting York: The Century Company, only our dead, wounded, and mentally for; what the war was really about. He 1901), 190. shattered. The civilians of Iraq have put it this way, “our fathers brought suffered even more (reported civil- forth on this continent a new nation,
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r On Journalism and Democracy An Interview With Bill Moyers of Winston Churchill’s definition of hroughout his career in print and incident, Bush in conflating the ter- democracy as the occasional necessity Tbroadcast journalism, Bill Moyers rorists attacks of 9/11 with the activi- of deferring to the opinions of other has blended a passionate interest in the ties of Saddam Hussein. Each thought people. workings of politics with a strong inter- anything less than all-out victory est in religion. He is perhaps best known would stigmatize his presidency. And What kind of response did you get for the many interviews and reports in both wars, as the American people from your speech to cadets at West he has produced and narrated for the watched the casualties mount and the Point, in which you spoke about Public Broadcasting System, including horrors unfold—Abu Ghraib had its the limitations and liabilities of war the “Faith and Reason” series in 2006. precedents in Vietnam—they saw the making? He has received over 30 Emmy awards abstractions invoked by each president For 30 seconds after I finished there for his documentary work and was given to justify the conflict confounded by was just silence in that large auditori- a Lifetime Achievement Award by the the coarseness of human nature laid um, and I thought: “You really blew it National Academy of Television Arts & bare by war. this time. You not only lost them, you Sciences. Vietnam cost far more in lives— insulted them.” Then one by one, clus- Moyers began his career as a par- American and Vietnamese—than Iraq ter by cluster, row by row, the cadets ticipant in politics. He was an aide to has so far. What came out of it was started standing up and applauding. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and served as not democracy but capitalism with a I had to struggle to contain my emo- deputy director of the Peace Corps under communist face—something that was tions. I would like to tell you it was President John F. Kennedy. Later he was likely to happen anyway, as it did in because they agreed with me. The special assistant and then press secretary China. Iraq, on the other hand, has truth is, I think, that they appreciated for President Johnson. At an earlier stage destabilized world affairs more than hearing a civilian talk openly about in life he attended Southwestern Baptist the Vietnam War ever did. Long after what they constantly wrestle with Theological Seminary and was ordained I am gone my grandchildren will be privately—the conflict of conscience as a Baptist minister. living with the consequences of this required in obeying orders from leaders unilateral and preemptive war in the who have taken leave of reality. They You were part of the Johnson admin- Middle East. listened like no audience I’ve had in a istration during its escalation of the long time. And afterward they kept me Vietnam War. What perspective does If the Bush administration were to up late in a lively give-and-take. that experience give you on the cur- ask you for your advice, what would Earlier in the day I met for over rent administration and this war in you say to them? two hours with a score of top cadets Iraq? Well, I did give President Bush who were on their way to compete for Both Lyndon Johnson and George advice once: on a broadcast I urged Rhodes and Marshall scholarships and W. Bush made the mistake of embrac- him to make Al Gore head of home- the like. They wanted to talk about the ing a totalistic policy for a concrete land security—in other words, turn environment, science, philosophy, pol- reality that requires instead a more our response to the terrorist attacks itics, and history. The cadets are smart, pragmatic response. You shouldn’t go into a bipartisan effort, make the fight disciplined and sophisticated people. to war for a Grand Theory on a hunch, against terrorism an American cause, One just hopes they get the civilian yet both men plunged into complex not a partisan battle cry. leadership they deserve. local quarrels only to discover that they What would I say now? Fire the were treading on quicksand. And they ideologues and assign them to scrub How do you assess the health of the learned too late that American excep- the floors at Guantanamo for peni- news media? What concerns you and tionalism doesn’t mean we can work tence. Stop confusing neocon pundits what gives you hope? our will anywhere we please. While with Old Testament prophets. Read There’s some world-class journal- freedom may be a universal yearning, the Bible for humility’s sake, but for ism being done in our country by democracy is not alas, a universal solu- policy’s sake commit to memory the journalists committed to getting as tion—there are too many extenuating report of the Iraq Study Group. Don’t close as possible to the verifiable truth. circumstances. sacrifice any more soldiers to prove Unfortunately, a few huge corpora- Both presidents rushed to judg- you’re in charge; get the soldiers out tions now dominate the media land- ment on premature and flawed intel- of the line of fire between Sunnis and scape. And the news business is at war ligence—LBJ after the Gulf of Tonkin Shi’ites. And remind your hirelings with journalism. Virtually everything
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": the average person sees or hears out- So we can’t make the case today that organized money should be feared as side of her own personal communica- the dominant institutions of the press much as government by organized tions is determined by the interests of are guardians for democracy. They mob. I’d rather not have either, thank private, unaccountable executives and actually work to keep reality from us, you. investors whose primary goal is increas- whether it’s the truth of money in I am a democrat—notice the small ing profits and raising the company’s politics, the social costs of “free trade,” d—who believes that the soul of share price. One of the best newspa- growing inequality, the resegregation democracy is representative govern- per groups, Knight Ridder—whose of our public schools, or the devastat- ment. It’s our best, although certainly reporters were on to the truth about ing onward march of environmental imperfect, protection against predatory Iraq early on—was recently sold and deregulation. It’s as if we are living on forces, whether unfettered markets, broken up because a tiny handful of a huge plantation in a story told by the unscrupulous neighbors or fantastical investors wanted more per share than boss man. ideologies—foreign or domestic. Our they were getting. What gives me hope is that in a best chance at governing ourselves lies Almost all the networks carried market society, sooner or later some in obtaining the considered judgments by most cable systems are owned by entrepreneur is going to figure out of those we elect to weigh the compet- one of the major media conglomer- how to make a fortune by offering ing interests and decide to the best of ates. Two-thirds of today’s newspaper people news they can trust. Millions of their ability what is right for the coun- markets are monopolies, and they’re Americans care about our democracy, try. Anything that corrupts their judg- dumbing down. As ownership gets they want high-quality information ment—whether rigged elections or more and more concentrated, fewer because they know freedom dies of bribery masked as campaign contribu- and fewer independent sources of too many lies, and surely in this new tions—is the devil’s work. information have survived in the age of innovation someone’s going to marketplace. And those few signifi- figure out that good journalism can be Can you name a single issue that con- cant alternatives that do survive, such profitable. cerns you the most these days? as PBS and NPR, are under grow- Inequality. Nearly all the wealth cre- ing financial and political pressure to You seem to have a very strong pop- ated in America over the past 25 years reduce critical news content. ulist perspective. Where does that was captured by the top 20 percent of Just the other day the major morn- come from? households. Meanwhile, working fami- ing broadcast devoted long segments If I had been an embattled farmer lies find it harder and harder to make to analyzing why Britney Spears exploited by the railroads and bank- ends meet. Young people without privi- shaved her head, and the death of ers back in the 19 th century, I hope I lege and wealth struggle to get a foot- Anna Nicole Smith got more atten- would have shown up at that amazing ing. Seniors enjoy less and less security tion than the Americans or Iraqis convention in Omaha that adopted for a lifetime’s labor. We are racially killed in Baghdad that week. The next the platform beginning: “We meet in segregated in every meaningful sense time you’re at a newsstand, look at the midst of a nation brought to the except the letter of the law. And sur- the celebrities staring back at you. In- verge of moral, political, and mate- vivors of segregation and immigration depth coverage on anything, let alone rial run.” Those folks were aroused toil for pennies on the dollar compared the bleak facts of power and power- by Christian outrage over injustice. to those they serve. lessness that shape the lives of ordinary They made the prairie rumble. If I had The Nobel laureate Robert Solow people, is as scarce as sex, violence and lived a few years later, I would hope to is not a man given to extreme political voyeurism are pervasive. have worked for McClure’s , the great statements. He characterizes what has At t he same time we have seen the magazine that probed the institutional been happening in America as nothing rise of an ideological partisan press corruption of the day and prompted less than elite plunder: “The redistribu- that is contemptuous of reality, serves progressive agitation. tion of wealth in favor of the wealthy up right-wing propaganda as fact, and The Great Depression was the tsu- and of power in favor of the powerful.” attempts to demonize anyone who says nami of my experience, and my per- This wasn’t meant to be a coun- otherwise. Its embodiment is Rush spective was shaped by Main Street, try where the winner takes all. Read Limbaugh. Millions heard him take not Wall Street. My parents were laid the Declaration of Independence, the journalists to task for their reporting low by the Depression. When I was preamble to the Constitution, the on the torture at Abu Ghraib, which born my father was making $2 a day Gettysburg Address. We were going to he attempted to dismiss as a little nec- working on the highway, and he never be a society that maintained a healthy essary sport for soldiers under stress. brought home more than $100 a week equilibrium in how power works—and He said: “This is not different than in his working life. He didn’t even earn for whom. what happens at the Skull and Bones that much until he joined the union on Although my parents were knocked initiation….You ever heard of people his last job. Like Franklin Roosevelt, down and almost out by the Depression [who] need to blow some steam off?” I came to think that government by and were poor all their lives, I went to
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r good public schools. My brother made a succession of remarkable teachers Some people on the left think the it to college on the GI bill. When I who believed that a true evangelical Democratic Party needs to be more borrowed $450 to buy my first car, I is always a seeker. T.B. Maston, 1 one explicitly religious. What do you drove to a public university on public of the great souls in my life, taught think about that counterstrategy? highways and rested in public parks Christian ethics and more than anyone If you have to talk about God to along the way. America was a shared else helped me to see into the south- win elections, that doesn’t speak well project and I was just one of its ben- ern enigma of having grown up well of God or elections. We are desperate eficiaries. But a vast transformation loved, well churched and well taught today for cool thinking and clear anal- has been occurring, documented in a and yet still indifferent to the reality ysis. What kind of country is it that series of recent studies. The American of other people’s lives. I learned about wants its politicians to play tricks with Political Science Association, for exam- historical criticism, the beauty of the faith? ple, finds that “increasing inequalities Greek language, and the witness of my threaten the American ideal of equal Baptist ancestors to the power of con- As you look back on your work, what citizenship and that progress toward science. That detour turned out to be gives you the most satisfaction? real democracy may have stalled . . . quite a journey. The happiest years of my life were and even reversed.” Later on, when I realized how the time I helped to organize the Peace So here is the deepest crisis as I see it: almost every political and economic Corps and served as its deputy direc- We talk about problems, issues, policy issue I dealt with in government and tor. We really did believe that we were solutions, but we don’t talk about what then as a journalist intersects with engaged in the moral equivalent of democracy means—what it bestows on moral and ethical values, I was grateful war. us, the power it gives us—the aston- for those years in seminary. They still My long career in journalism has ishing opportunity to shape our des- inform my life. been a continuing course in adult tiny. I mean the revolutionary idea education, and I have been fortunate that democracy isn’t merely a means of So much is being written and said to share what I have learned with government, it’s a means of dignifying about the alliance between the reli- so many others. We journalists are people so that they have a chance to gious right and the Republican beachcombers on the shores of other become fully human. Every day I find Party. What role do you think reli- people’s experience and knowledge, myself asking, Why is America forsak- gion should have in the public but we don’t take what we gather and ing its own revolution? arena? lock it in the attic. Like a pastor in the Whose religion? Christian? pulpit, we’re engaged in a moral trans- You once remarked that seminary Muslim? Jew? Sikh”? Buddhist? action. When people give us an hour was a detour in your life. Why did Catholic? Protestant? Shi’ite? Sunni? of their lives—something they never you go to seminary and what differ- Orthodox? Conservative? Mormon? get back—we owe them something ence do you think it made for you? Amish? Wicca? For that matter which of value in return. Keeping our end I knew at age 15 that I wanted to be Baptist? Bill Clinton or Pat Robertson? of the bargain isn’t easy, but it’s deeply a journalist—then, a little later, a polit- Newt Gingrich or Al Gore? And who satisfying. ■ ical journalist. That’s how I wound is going to decide? The religion of up spending the summer of 1954 on one seems madness to another. Elaine Lyndon Johnson’s staff in the Senate. I Pagels said to me in an interview that 1 A hand-written letter sent from wanted to learn the game at the feet of she doesn’t know a single religion that Bill Moyers to the present Editor the master. affirms the other’s choice. of Christian Ethics Today said suc- But I came home feeling unsatisfied If religion is the voice of the deep- cinctly, “You are doing the Lord’s by that experience, and I interpreted est human experience—and I believe work and I value every edition of my angst as a call to something more it is—humanity contains multitudes, the paper. Dr. Maston would be fulfilling—the ministry, actually. I each speaking in a different tongue. proud of you.” thought of the pastorate or a profes- Naturally, believers will bring their sorship. I spent four years getting my faith into the public square, translat- Note: This article is adapted from an master of divinity before finding myself ing their unique personal experience interview conducted by the editors of the back in politics and government and into political convictions and moral Christian Century. Copyright 2007 the then back again in journalism. arguments. But politics is about set- CHRISTIAN CENTURY, Reprinted by For a while I thought I had made tling differences while religion is about permission from the April 17, 2007, issue a mistake, that I would have been bet- maintaining them. Let’s realize what a of the Christian Century. Subscriptions: ter off if I had spent those four years treasure we have in a secular democ- $49/yr. from P.O. Box 378, Mt. Morris, Il. in law school or getting a Ph.D. But racy that guarantees your freedom to 616054. 1-800-208-4097. as the years unfolded I realized what believe as you choose and mine to vote blessing seminary had been. I had as I wish.
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": Remembering: Yad Vashem and Ramallah By James Gaffney, Prof. of Theology, Univ. of St. Thomas, 4U1BVM ./
y first visit to Jerusalem was just sive restraints, social and economic expressed his disapproval not only to Mafter the 1967 war and my most frustrations, and maddening humili- the press, but to the leading German recent one shortly before the 40th ations, considered to be inflicted or Catholic churchman, Karl Cardinal anniversary of that event was cele- occasioned by Israeli occupation, and Lehmann. He does not seem to have brated and lamented by the city’s Jews exacerbated by the incompetence and communicated with Bishop Hanke and Arabs respectively. During the corruption of their own divided politi- himself. The portion of Cardinal latter visit, local news focused briefly cal leadership. Lehmann’s reply released by Yad on a group of German Catholic bish- On returning shortly thereafter to Vashem stated that “the ‘oppressive ops who paid an invited visit to Yad their South German dioceses, the bish- situation’ in the West Bank, ‘in the Vashem, Israel’s principal monument ops were interviewed by the press. The shadow of security forces and walls in to the Shoah (Holocaust) which I hap- observations attributed to one of them Bethlehem’ was reflected in some harsh pened to visit just after them. proved highly volatile. Bishop Gregor statements of which some were cer- Yad Vashem is an extraordinary Maria Franz Hanke, of Eichstaett, was tainly not appropriate.” Yad Vashem’s place, which serves many functions quoted as saying they had seen “pho- accompanying observation appears related to remembering and under- tos of the inhuman Warsaw Ghetto at accurate, that the Cardinal’s reply “fell standing that historic atrocity. For the Yad Vashem in the morning” but went far short of condemning the bishop’s ordinary visitor, perhaps most mov- on to add “in the evening we go to the comparison.” ing is a remarkable exhibit that traces Ghetto in Ramallah—that blows your But what was the “bishop’s com- the history of anti-Semitism through lid off!” He is reported also to have parison?” In what has been quoted the Common Era, the circumstances remarked that some of the treatment no explicit comparison is made. One of Jews just before the rise of Nazism, of Palestinians, presumably at check- is, however, rather clearly implied. the Holocaust itself as experienced points, would be abusive by humane Whether “appropriate” or not—that in various parts of the world, and standards applied to animals. word which has become a cherished the subsequent hope represented by These comments, in the Suddeutsche resource for avoiding both logical the State of Israel. The exhibit is elo- Zeitung , evoked an indignant response and ethical discourse—the bishop’s quently housed in a kind of zigzag from the administration of Yad Vashem remarks express a sense of shock occa- tunnel, whose tortuous shape evokes which appeared in the Jerusalem Post , sioned by what seemed to him an iron- the recurring turbulence of Jewish his- stating that the bishop’s remarks “illus- ic contrast. What he had just seen at tory, before finally opening over green trate a woeful ignorance of history and Yad Vashem was a memorial express- Judean hillsides onto Jerusalem visible a distorted sense of perspective.” That ing a people’s profound moral indigna- in the distance. was echoed in the German newspaper tion at massive, appalling cruelty and The German Catholic bishops saw, by Charlotte Knobloch, president of injustice. What he shortly afterwards presumably, what I saw at Yad Vashem. Germany’s Central Council of Jews, saw at Ramallah was representatives of I assume they were similarly moved. I who accused the bishop of “politi- that same people seeming insensitive assume also that their German nation- cal exploitation and demagoguery” (a to moral indignities, admittedly on a ality gave added poignancy to their phrase that made many subsequent much smaller scale, in which they were viewing countless scenes of genocidal appearances). implicated. His unsubtle reaction— horror located in their homeland and That the offence might have a broader what “blows your lid off”—is not hard the lands it dominated and exploited. context was brought out by M. Freund, to understand. Neither is it very easy But the German bishops did not in the Jerusalem paper, claiming that to discredit. He is certainly not saying, end their tour at Yad Vashem. In the “we are witness to an increasing array “You Jews are no better than the Nazis evening they were escorted through a of insults, invective, and verbal abuse were.” But he does seem to be saying, check point into the Israel-occupied hurled at the Jewish State by promi- “How can you, of all people, after the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, nent Europeans. . . . Hanke had the horrors you have endured, appear so specifically to the city of Ramallah, gall to compare Israel to the Nazis, dismissive of this people’s misery and very close to Jerusalem and currently and likened Ramallah to the Warsaw your role in prolonging it?” Jews in the seat of one of Palestine’s two rival Ghetto. This from a man whose nation Israel have heard that question before. governments. Residents of that city, systematically murdered millions of They have often answered it. But their like those of other Palestinian towns, innocent Jews.” answers are of many kinds, expressing have constantly experienced oppres- The director of Yad Vashem deep differences.
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r The bishop’s implied compari- rhetoric that accompanied it, the basic and consequences of ongoing Israeli son was certainly not quantitative. objection still deserves examination. rule over another people. When one He may or may not have known or Is it wrong to invoke the memory of tries to talk of the “totality” known as kept in mind that the Warsaw Ghetto great collective suffering, even of suf- the occupation, the media—our social became the “storage place” of half fering that exhausts the superlatives barometer—respond with resentment. a million victims, where thousands of moral outrage, in support of moral . . . Today, reports on “Palestinian suf- starved each month, thousands more dismay at tolerating the oppression of fering” are perceived as national trea- were destined for gas chambers, and others on a much more modest scale? I son. Israelis conclude that the suicide resisters were massacred and driven cannot see why it is, and I would sug- bombings are the result of a murderous to suicide. Quantitatively there is no gest one venerable Jewish precedent tendency inherent to the Palestinians, comparison to Ramallah, whose num- for doing so. their religion, and their mentality. In bers are so much smaller, whose peo- In at least seven separate passages other words, people turn to bio-reli- ple were merely deprived of freedom, of the Torah, God’s injunction to gious explanations, not socio-histori- hope, security, provisions, opportu- treat alien and disadvantaged persons cal ones. nities, and respect, and where tragic with kindness and justice are immedi- Amira Hass, the Haaretz reporter injury and violent death are much less ately reinforced by the reminder that who wrote these words, has taken frequent. No doubt the bishop should the whole people of Israel were once the surest and hardest way to “know have remembered this. Probably he aliens and slaves in the land of Egypt. the feelings of the stranger.” Herself should have mentioned it. But his Although the point of this reminder a descendant of Holocaust victims, failure to do so does not invalidate his may seem obvious, it is also made she lives, immersed in those feelings, moral distress. quite explicit. Thus in Exodus (23.9), in Ramallah. She is the only Israeli The experience of injustice com- “You shall not oppress a stranger, for reporter in Palestine who spends each monly does, in conscientious persons, you know the feelings of the stranger, day in the world she tries to make deepen sympathy with victims of having yourselves been strangers in the comprehensible to that incredibly dif- injustice, and quicken efforts to assist land of Egypt.” I know of no Jewish ferent world just beyond the check- them. Of this, it is hard to think of commentator who has anticipated points. better examples than the many mod- outrage at comparing the historic The well-supported belief that the ern Jews of Europe and America whose ordeal of Egyptian enslavement, the Shoah exceeds in maleficence all other efforts and achievements in pursuit biblical paradigm of oppression and recorded instances of mass atrocity of civil rights and human rights have point of departure for Israel’s whole conveys many lessons the world can- been so conspicuously dispropor- conception of being saved and cho- not afford to forget. But to exceed is tionate to their numbers. Sometimes sen, with local abuse or neglect of vul- not to transcend. Cruelty however it is otherwise, as with many freed nerable strangers. Is there something extensive and cruelty however limited American slaves resettled by religious about the magnitude of the Holocaust are not incommensurable. And to be philanthropy in West Africa, who lost that trivializes this biblical compari- reminded of one by the other is not little time in becoming themselves son? Is there something about it that dishonorable. slaveholders. disallows that admonition, “for you Those of us who resist the prohibi- I find it curious that the moral know the feelings of the stranger”? tion to compare, in due measure and indignation expressed over the bish- Do Israeli Jews “know the feelings with due respect, the victims of the op’s remarks contain no hint of serious of the stranger?” Many unquestion- Shoah with the victims of Israeli occu- moral argument. The critics were satis- ably do. But, in the opinion of one of pation, may perhaps be pardoned for fied to express outrage that enormous them, an extraordinarily well qualified pointing out one neglected contrast. wrongs suffered should be even asso- observer, most do not. Most Israelis’ The former are dead. The latter are ciated with lesser wrongs done They analytical ability is impaired by their alive. The former are an outrageous dismissed the unwelcome comments collective political consciousness and memory. The latter are a moral emer- with unsupported accusations of ulte- unwillingness to take the cumulative gency. About the former something rior motives—“political exploitation Palestinian pain from this Intifada , should have been done. About the and demagoguery”. They imputed and the Oslo years that preceded it, latter something can be done. If it is guilt by association on grounds of the into account. Israeli political con- done it will be by those who “know bishops’ common nationality with sciousness has refused, and contin- the feelings of the stranger.” And in persecutors of a previous generation. ues to refuse, to grasp the sum total Israel brave voices of such people can But if we set aside the defamatory of the details, characteristics, actions, still be heard, over the din. ■
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": The Temple and Tatoos By Molly Trull, Hickman H.S. Senior, $PMPNCJB .0
y face cringes with disgust called to tell me in junior high. While why, but I was conditioned to know Minvoluntarily, as I walk past the piercings were not as taboo as tattoos that tattooing of any kind on my body tattoo parlor inviting teenage custom- in my family, I remembered my grand- was oxymoronic, just as I knew that ers in with a cheery neon open sign mother sporting un-pierced ears and I wasn’t allowed to learn German or suspended in the window. I don’t even telling me that a body is a temple. learn Wagner pieces on the piano. bother looking into the crumbling “That’s . . . nice,” I forcefully told It wasn’t until I learned about the walls of a building I am sure is full of my friend, reasoning with myself that Holocaust that I began to piece the pain and dead skin, but instead I shift she only pierced her bellybutton. I jumbled conversations with my fam- my attention onto the restaurant next grimaced when I imagined it getting ily together. “Why would any Jew get door; tattoos have never been appeal- infected and bleeding pus out of the a tattoo?” I heard a relative saying. ing to me. coveted hole. At least that kind of Perhaps to rebel, or maybe because An older man in a beat-up leather wound could heal. A few beats later, everyone else got one. However, if I jacket stands at a corner, puffing black the inevitable came. wanted to rebel against my parents, I smoke through a cigarette. I glance at “Maybe she’ll let me get a tattoo might buy a motorcycle or dye my hair him briefly as he climbs onto his bright next!” I remained silent after this con- purple; I’d never get a tattoo. There are red motorcycle and speeds off, sput- fession, not wanting to upset her or enough marks left on the world from tering a trail of equally black smoke. discourage such a unique form of artis- the Nazis, and after they labeled peo- I don’t know why he isn’t showing off tic expression. ple with numbers written in blood-red the dark tattoos I know he’s sporting Tattoos have seemed to dwindle out hearts that they embedded deep into on his now wrinkled arms. Maybe of the unthinkable rebellion as time the skin of their wrists, tattoos do not he’s hiding an ex-girlfriend’s name. At goes on and other opportunities to seem to me a rebellion, but rather con- the time, the idea of a tat must have torture parents arise, but I always tend formity in more ways than one. seemed romantic to him and his girl- to dwell on the past. Magazine racks I remember one summer at my friend. Maybe she got a matching one. flash tattoos placed so nonchalantly grandmother Klein’s house; I lost an He may like the memories that come on a front cover. I’ve tried to turn my earring while picking bloody mulber- with his tattoos: being young, being head away from the offensive form of ries with my bare hands. My feet and free, and being in love. However, by expression, but tattoos are everywhere. my hands were stained purple with now the ink beneath the man’s skin When Kabala became the new the juice of the berries which had also must have seeped into his life, and the “to-do tattoo,” my friends laughed stained the cement sidewalk. I searched name of his ex-girlfriend of a broken as celebrities stained their skin with for the lost piece of jewelry on my relationship will remain on his fore- wrongly-backwards Hebrew letters recently purpled knees. My grand- arm even in his grave. meaning meaningful things such as mother bent down to help me, and I I often group tattoos with cheap “peace” and “life.” I laughed along, but asked her why she didn’t have her ears nachos and old men on motorcycles. deep down I could feel my stomach pierced. Her voice wavered with pain My friends, on the other hand, used to acid snarling with disgust, urging bile as she replied, “My body is a temple.” buzz with excitement over the idea of to come up through my throat. But Temples are sacred places, and any turning 18, just so they could legally this reaction was more than an acid form of graffiti is sacrilegious. ■ rebel against their parents and get a reflux, for from a very young age, the tattoo. untouchable, unthinkable, and uneth- Note: This article was first published in “My mom went with me and I got ical nature of tattoos was drilled into The Hickman Review (Colombia, MO: my bellybutton pierced!” my friend my small head. I never understood Vol. XIX, 2007, 86).
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r Ethics in Ministry
By David Sapp, Pastor, Second Ponce deLeon Baptist Church, "UMBOUB ("
Note: This speech was delivered at the isters were supposed to be above victions on race were strong, but not Ethics in Ministry conference sponsored such temptations, and the fact that strong enough. In the face of vested by the Christian Ethics Today Foundation they were such public figures, made opposition, my courage withered like at the McAfee School of Theology, their exposure downright titillating. a dried up shrub. Atlanta, on October 6, 2006. Soon afterward I began to notice less I soon discovered, however, that splashy, but perhaps equally harmful while cowards are rarely alone, I had hen as a teenager I first heard sins among ministers: broken confi- a lot of company, and it included Wthe term “ministerial ethics,” dences, hidden alcoholism and drug most white Southern ministers. We I wondered what in the world this abuse, and the ever-prevalent sin of eventually found our voice, of course; could be about? Were some minis- the idolatry of self. but coincidentally, we just happened ters unethical? Did they lie to their Finally, I became a minister myself. to find it at about the same time it deacons? Did they steal from their Sitting in the seat of supposed holi- became safe to speak. churches? My image of the clergy was ness, I learned anew that the serpent I learned some other things about so innocent that I could not imagine “was more subtle than any beast of the truth-telling as well. I learned that immoral clergy. (This, by the way, says field which the Lord God made” (Gen. telling the truth does not matter if a lot for my childhood ministers.) 3:1). So if it might be bold to offer a nobody hears the truth. And I learned So one day, as a young person few admonitions, let it be known that that in order for people to hear truth aspiring to ministry (we were called they come not from any academic or from you, you have to be connected “preacher-boys” then), I happened professional expertise, but from long to them. Not a single Old Testament on a book about ministerial ethics struggle, from wrestling with a devil, prophet hailed from Babylon. They in the Baptist Book Store. I scanned and sometimes with an angel who were all the children of some crazy the table of contents and discovered turned out to be God. shepherd who happened through your to my great relief, that the book was Tell the Truth village during last year’s drought. And not about ministerial ethics at all, but I did not know at the beginning I also learned that you can’t always was rather about ministerial etiquette . how hard it was going to be to tell tell the whole truth at one time. It It had to do with things like not the truth, but it did not take long to makes people gag and they spit it out. starting a church in another church’s find out. I was in college in the six- And one more thing: you have to say back yard, how to handle invitations ties, at the height of the Civil Rights things in ways that gain a hearing. to go back to previous pastorates for Movement, and I served a small, rural That is part of the responsibility of weddings and funerals, the neces- church as a student pastor. I remem- proclamation. sity of treating your predecessors ber like it was yesterday sitting in the But the most important thing with respect, and other such regularly living room of a family in our church I have learned is that people simply ignored niceties. and listening to a spirited discussion won’t hear the truth if you don’t speak It was somewhat later when of the race issue. All of a sudden, the the truth. “How shall they hear with- more egregious breaches of ministe- lady of the house looked at me and out a preacher?” They won’t hear the rial ethics caught my attention. At said, “I don’t know how you feel about truth about race if we don’t speak it. my summer job at the local bank, I the race issue. I know a lot of minis- They won’t hear the truth about pov- asked my boss about our ministerial ters don’t feel like people do about it.” erty if we don’t speak it. They won’t customers. “I know they don’t have I found myself suddenly chok- hear the truth about war if we don’t much money,” I said, “but I bet they ing as she waited for a response. My speak it. Telling the truth is our moral are among our most dependable and skin went clammy and my palms responsibility. honest customers.” began to sweat. All I could think of Know the truth “No,” he replied, “they are among was being fired from my first church We cannot tell the truth that we our worst clients. Many of them are and scorned in the very county where do not know. And yet many of us in just careless with their finances, but my grandparents were well-known ministry know only the truth that some are downright dishonest.” and well-liked citizens. To my great we knew the day we were called. We That day I began to notice the shame, I simply nodded. I arrived have been too frightened of losing our splashier sins of the clergy, the Elmer back at my dorm room that night place in the world to let God teach us Gantry stuff: sins having to do with feeling like I was Peter and had just anything new. sex and money. The fact that min- denied Christ three times. My con- When I was a teenager aspiring to
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": the ministry, one of the more noted what he had seen. So what did he see? love them, and when they love you pastors in Georgia came to preach at We may well never know, but we do in return, amazing improvements in my home church. One night after the know this: His eyes were wide open, communication occur. service I was talking with him about and he saw something—some new Simon Peter is the one whom our my dreams. “Whatever you do,” he truth? Some fresh revelation from Catholic brothers and sisters believe said, “don’t get a Ph.D. It will cut God? Whatever it was, it made all the was the chief pastor of the early church. you off from your people.” In other difference. In the last chapter of the Gospel of words, don’t learn too much. Don’t To be ethical, a minister must be John, Jesus asked him three times, burden yourself with the truth that committed to know the truth, the “Simon, do you love me?” Three times doesn’t play in Peoria. Avoid it like the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Simon Peter declared his love. “Then plague. What he said to me was, close Integrity calls for an openness which feed my sheep, tend my lambs,” Jesus the canon as soon as you leave this is uncomfortable, disconcerting, and commanded. If you love me, Simon, church tonight! endangering to one’s livelihood and you must love them. The right path, however, runs in one’s place in the community. Love The word “pastor” means shepherd, the opposite direction. The minister the people. and that connotes a tender and caring has an ethical responsibility to keep I hold to a theological tenet that relationship with a congregation. That the canon of truth or revelation open some of you may think strange. I concept of the pastoral role has taken for his or her entire lifetime. Barbara believe that when I stand before the a beating lately. Some believe it has Brown Taylor said in Leaving Church Father, He will not ask me how many no relevance in a post-modern world. that she was more certain in her early members are in my church. He will Pastors are now seen to be nothing ministry than she is now, and more not ask me the size of our budget, or more than preachers and vision-cast- convinced that her task was to help the number of our baptisms. I believe ers. Let someone else love the people. others become more certain too. I sup- He will ask, “How much did you love The preacher is to appear on Sunday pose most of us were like that at some your people?” morning with a word from on high, point, but then at least some learn Unless you love them, there is no surrounded by body guards to keep what once struck us as contradictory: ministry. Unless you love them, you the people away. Or, the preacher may that final certainty is lethal to truth. cannot know the needs of their hearts. not even show up. He or she may just Final certainty blinded the Pharisees; Unless you love them, you cannot appear on a giant screen. Someone it condemned Galileo; it cripples the know how to speak to them. And get at our church suggested putting up fundamentalists; and it continues this—unless you love them, they will a big banner outside that says, “Live to undermine the gospel every time not hear you. In every church I have preaching!” Christians resist the discoveries of sci- served, I have noticed a strange phe- This model is quite adequate if ence. Once you are certain, once your nomenon: as the years pass, the people our goal is to provide religious enter- canon is closed, God can no longer tell me that my preaching keeps get- tainment or instruction. But it is not teach you anything. You may still get ting better. I have heard this for so adequate if we believe that the power yourself called to a big church, or you many years that it would be easy to of the Gospel is incarnational. It is may establish a gigantic ministry, but be seduced by the lie. I would like not adequate if we believe that Jesus you will be useless to the Kingdom. to think that I have improved some , actually died for people. Post-mod- Late in his life, Thomas Aquinas of course, but it is not so much the ernism may have made its mark on stopped writing. He quit because he preaching that changes as the rela- the world, but it has not changed the said he could no longer write after tionships. When people know you reality of love. Philosophies change.
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r Insights change. Trends change. not about numbers and charts and and you haven’t been doing it.” Cultures change. Prevailing mind- committees and rules. It is about peo- Oh, the sting of truth! I still sets change. Human nature does not ple. It is not about self-serving ends; remember his rebuke, tendered in change. People still need love. God is it is about taking the love of Christ love, and I still take it seriously. God still love. And love is still the power to the world. Integrity in ministry does expect that we take adequate care which changes lives, and hearts, and demands that we take seriously the of the human resources He has put at minds. The mere invention of video charge to care for the church—yes, our disposal. That includes our fami- and Power Point can never change the the institutional one. lies, and it includes our selves. Many of incarnational nature of the Gospel. Minister selflessly us stand in pulpits every Sunday, hav- Care for the Institution It may seem counter-intuitive, but ing been too busy to listen for a word The pastoral care of institutions selflessness is a rare quality in ministry. from God that week. Many of us has received far too little academic That should be no surprise of course, visit hospital rooms too rushed to ren- attention, and it receives far too lit- for ministry is a profession with der anything that might reasonably tle attention from many of us who unique seductions for the unhealthy be called pastoral care. We sit at our are practicing ministers. Much of ego. What other profession, after all, desks too harried by the minutiae of the moderate wing of Christianity, offers the opportunity to speak with the day to give any real attention to as a matter of fact, has a strong anti- the authority of God to hundreds, a vision for the future. As I heard my institutional bent. But despite all of or even thousands, of weekly listen- friend Hardy Clemmons point out the anti-institutionalism of recent ers? What other profession confers recently, most ministers are too tired years, institutions are not disappear- the opportunity to be the rock peo- in any given week to be creative. ing. In fact, they are getting bigger ple lean on, the confidant they turn The second action may seem con- and stronger and more dominant. to, the sage they seek? What other tradictory to the first: We need to Witness today’s mega-corporations profession makes its practitioners learn once again to spend ourselves in whose headquarters is wherever the the constant center of human atten- ministry. After all, this is the model set taxes are lowest. Witness mega-banks tion? What other profession offers a by Jesus “who loved us and gave him- in which your banker is hundreds of weekly, and sometimes daily, dose of self up for us” (Eph. 5:2). These two miles away. Witness mega-churches doting affirmation from a large group polar truths, that we need to care for where nobody knows your name. of people? Rare is the person who can our selves and that we need to spend Such realities may well turn many of manage these temptations well. ourselves, must be held in creative, us against institutions, but Christianity So how are we as ministers to over- and probably oscillating, tension. will not and cannot exist for long apart come the temptation to self-absorp- Currently, however, ministers from an institutional setting. Christ tion and become effectively selfless? seem to have the oscillation fixated himself founded the church, and the At least three actions are required. on “self-care.” A balancing reminder scripture calls it his bride. It is the First, we must take care of our is in order: At some point, ministry moral responsibility of the minister to selves , so that we have selves left to demands, and is worth, self-sacrifice. care for that institution. give. I learned this lesson graphi- You and I have a calling that is urgent. This means that our hands will be cally after my first sermon in my first It will not wait until tomorrow. It will dirty, and our souls will be compro- full-time pastorate. The sermon was not wait for us to marry a wife or bury mised. Sometimes we will be party to entitled Promises, Promises , and in it a father. It is more important than institutions that abuse people mer- I made extravagant promises to that any other urgency this world may put cilessly and at times put their own congregation. Among those prom- in our paths. Make no mistake. The needs ahead of their principles. Yes, ises was a flowery pledge to give ade- Gospel is urgent business. It will not institutions are corrupt. That is why quate time and attention to my role let us go. It cannot be ignored. they require pastoral care. This insti- as a husband and father. I was quite We must protect our health, of tution we call the church is also called serious about it, and I also hoped it course. We must observe the Sabbath, Gomer, the faithless bride of Christ! would impress my new congregation. of course. We must not neglect our She must be loved and wooed from About three or four months later, children or our spouses, of course. her faithlessness back to her groom, I received a telephone call from a All of us have heard the horror stories for He has given everything for her. deacon who had taken me a bit more of ministers who tragically cut these There is a word for the pastoral care seriously than I intended: “I have a corners. of institutions: It is “administration.” bone to pick with you,” he said. My But there is another side to this. The word ministry is found right in defenses came to full attention. “You We follow a Lord who gave Him self the middle of the word administra- have broken a promise you made to for us, who poured out His life on the tion. Simply put, administration is us.” My body tensed, ready to receive Cross, who laid down His life for His one very important kind of ministry. the punch. “You told us you would sheep. We follow a Lord who taught, This is because real administration is give adequate time to your family, “He who loses his life for my sake
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": shall find it” (Mt 16:25), who said path led to a cross. The only way to kick himself all over the house. “You “Greater love has no man than this, find the courage to follow Him there are too new here to have made such that he lay down his life for a friend” is to take His yoke upon us and learn a proposal,” he said to himself. “You (Jn 15:13). of Him. should have framed it differently. “Self-care” is a good idea, but it has Like nearly everyone, I have heard You should have discussed it with been used in our day as an excuse for prospective ministers express doubts the leaders in advance of the meet- laziness and indifference, for avoiding about embarking on a life of ministry ing. You should have . . . You should the very call that God has given us. because of the magnitude of suffering have . . . You should have.” After he No one can claim to be His ministers that it sometimes brings. Thirty plus finished beating himself, he sat down while lounging in palaces of ease. The years down that path, here is how I in his study to work on the following greatest fulfillment I ever have in min- feel: God forbid that we should ever Sunday’s sermon. istry is when I am utterly spent, when shy away from ministry because we Finding his place in his chair, I have given every ounce of strength are afraid that people might persecute he turned to the open Bible on his I have, and I know I have offered my us and speak all manner of evil about desk and looked at his text. The ser- best in the service of God. us falsely for the Kingdom’s sake. God mon was about the cross. Suddenly, The third action we must take is to forbid that a cross should repel us. Willimon said, a thunderbolt struck maintaining the tension between self- The biggest crises for me has come him. “It was as though God said to care and self-sacrifice. This is not easy, late in my ministry rather than early. me, ‘What part of cross do you not but it begins in a healthy view of one’s At the very beginning of my time at understand?’” self. I frequently try to get at it by my present church, the congregation I listened to him carefully as he recalling a truth I first learned a long endured an enormous internal crisis. recalled this experience, thinking time ago: I am not as good as they tell After what some say was decades of all the while about the ecclesiastical me I am when things are going well, growing division, a large number of shrapnel then flying around my own and I am not as bad as they tell me I members left the church. In the pro- church. Then Dr. Willimon ended am when things are going badly. Over cess, some of that group attacked me his talk, and friends of mine from all the years, I have been most effective personally. I could not understand it. around the room came over to speak. and happy when I have been able to They hardly knew me! With unjusti- One by one, these colleagues over the remember this. fied hubris, I thought I was too good years, these friends in ministry, one by Of course, this list of ethical les- a pastor for anything like this to hap- one every one of them said the same sons is not adequate to cover the pen to me. thing: “He was talking to you.” entire scope of even one person’s Then one night, I was ambushed He did not know it, but he was . ministry. Ministry is far too complex by a word from God. Attending a lec- He was talking to me. “What part of and demanding a profession. But no ture at Mercer University by the well- cross do you not understand, David?” matter how many lessons one might known Methodist William Willimon, What part? learn about ministerial ethics, none is I heard him tell of an experience he And I ask each of you, what part more important than this: the cost of had as a young pastor. do you not understand? There is only authentic ministry can be great. After The board of his church had reject- one way to do ministry with integrity: all, the One who blazed the trail of ed a proposal he had made. As many “All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I ministry for us, found that His own of us have done, he returned home to freely give.” ■
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r Christian Zionism: An Oxymoron By Britt Towery, Baptist Missionary (ret.) Brownwood, TX
few weeks ago televangelist John to the modern nation and politics Iran. He and the prophetic voice of AHagee took a group to the nation’s of Israel. America has put more for- Hal Lindsey (author of The Late Planet capitol where he pushed his Christian eign and military aid into Israel than Earth ) see Russia and Iran joining Zionism agenda for Israel. His phrase most countries. Much of that due to forces to destroy Israel. These modern “Christian Zionism” could not be the Israel lobby—the American Israel prophets never give a date for the final more contradictory. It is an oxymoron Public Affairs Committee (known as battle; they just spread fear about the and more cult than Christianity. AIPAC). You can be called anti-Semite impending Armageddon. But God’s Hagee topped off his lobbying if you even question that lobby. army (American, I guess) will come to blitz with the astounding demand The term “Zionism” was coined their aid and righteousness will prevail that America should invade Iran. He in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum. It is after a bloody exchange. and other TV preachers see an inva- the dream of establishing a homeland The term prophetic means “to tell sion of Israel by Russia and Iran. He for the Jews. The name comes from forth” more than it means “forth tell.” gets that by reading between the lines Mount Zion, where the Jerusalem The Bible is not a fortune-telling book, in Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. He must Temple stood during biblical days. but a guide to finding peace with God. be reading between the lines, as these Birnbaum and others found I have read Bible translations in more 2500-year old words do not say any- England useful for their cause. The than six languages and all of them thing about the 21 st century world. British and Lord Balfour ruled stress peace over war. Call wars just, He sees Iran president Mahmoud Palestine after World War I. preventive, or necessary, they are still Ahmadinejad as part of a conspiracy The history of the Jews has been hell on earth for all sides. Peace is the to wipe out Israel and establish an one of continual repression and terror hallmark of Christ’s message, even if Islamic world order. by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and some of his disciples still do not get it. Preacher Hagee claims God gave by good and bad governments. The Both their Christian faith and patrio- him all this end-time wisdom out of harried Hebrews have not had a home- tism are misplaced. his King James Bible. Hagee did not land since the Assyrians from Nineveh There is definitely something invent Zionism or Christian Zionism, (modern Mosul, Iraq) conquered the wrong when a man of the cloth lives but brought it out of the mothballs. northern part of Israel in 612 B.C. in the lap of luxury and says the way The invasion of Iraq in 2003 played The south fell to the Babylonians in to God is through a world-ending right into Hagee’s hands. A number 586 B.C. war in the Holy Land. Scary? Yes, for of Jews (true Torah Jews and others) Once I heard Hagee say there was beside preacher Hagee, we have some do not accept the Zionist approach. no such thing as a Palestinian or a politicians and industrialists who are In the same way the majority of land of Palestine. Claiming all those in agreement. War makes money for Christians do not adhere to Christian thousands of years that Palestine some, but death and destruction for Zionism. (Arab cousins) really belonged to many more. War is madness, and those In the meantime any one with Jews, who made up a minority of the who promote it should be opposed half-an-ounce of Bible knowledge is population. with correct biblical interpretations aware that none of the Old Testament None of that is as scary as Hagee’s and much prayer. ■ prophecies regarding Israel are related pushing for more war, starting with
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": Winning At Any Cost? By Don Wilkey, Pastor, First Baptist Church, 0OBMVTLB 59
few years back, I watched the any Baptist employee ($1 million per have the only football program shut A Kansas State Wildcats play in year), now goes to the university’s foot- down in the nation for unethical prac- the Big 12 football playoff game. The ball and basketball coaches. tices. Allegations included paying for Wildcats were ahead and could walk I was shocked to learn that no col- prostitutes for football recruits. The away with the victory by sitting on lege athletic program at any major uni- New York Times reports that players on the ball for the final few minutes. The versity pays its own way—even with the 2002 University of South Florida All-American quarterback made a fatal TV revenues, bowl pay-offs, and high football team fathered as many as 60 mistake and fumbled the ball to oppo- ticket costs. (Have you ever checked children. 2 nents who stole the victory. Instead of on the price for Big 12 basketball Ethical issues of winning at any cost playing for the national championship tournament tickets?) One reason is a face school administrators. The pres- in Arizona with a pay off of $12 mil- court ruling regarding women’s athlet- sures placed on school officials by fans lion, the team had to settle for a lesser ics. There must be an equal number of raise other moral choices. Believers are bowl that paid $1 million. I surmised programs for women as for men. This, often reminded that even though they that one fumble cost the school in plus the high cost of a few salaries, want to win, they should not want cash, $11 million. This is a lot of stress means that students must pay more to win the wrong way. The mixing of for a teenage student to handle. in student fees to underwrite the pro- money, corruption and athletes is what Historically the ethical issues grams. the NCAA was founded to regulate. involved in athletics have seldom even Murray Sperber wrote a recent Christian colleges and universities need been raised in Christian circles. A few best seller called, Beer and Circus . In to uphold the Christian values upon decades ago, Jim Bouton wrote about the book, Sperber charges that col- which they were founded, especially in the ethical issues of inside baseball in lege sports are actually detrimental to athletic contests. Winning at any cost Ball Four . Dave Meggesy, a pro foot- education. The author claims student just costs too much! ■ ball player, wrote Out of Their League , gambling, illegal contributions to ath- which dealt with ethical problems letes, and programs that spend more in professional football. Both books on stadiums than science labs are crip- 1 Murray Sperber, Beer and Circus raised important questions about items pling modern education. 1 (New York: Henry Holt & Co., authors said needed to be dealt with in Poor inner city athletes are often 2003, 24, 26, 209, 217. sports. Baptists countered with, What’s thrown into a college culture with 2 Kostya Kennedy, “College Sports Wrong With the Game . The Baptist affluent students. These athletes make 101,” Sports Illustrated , Aug. 11, work virtually defended the game of millions for their college and have a 2002, 29. football and failed to deal with the much lower standard of living than issues raised by these popular works. most of their classmates. Major college To Baptists, the sports arena has athletic programs are now demanding often been a sacred cow to be left a twelve-month participation in prac- alone. East Texas Baptist churches tices. Though not legal, players know openly changed their worship sched- team captains are watching and their ules to what was known as “Cowboy failure to participate means it will be Time.” This was the practice of an more difficult to please the coach who earlier service to allow the congrega- watches from distance. tion time to get home to watch their A recent article on masking illegal favorite football team. Common leg- drugs to athletes raises other ethical end had it that the stadium in Irving, concerns. The article says there are Texas had a gap in the roof so that the multiple illegal drugs available and a Lord could watch His team. much smaller number of tests to detect Recent happenings at Baylor remind their use. The technology of those who readers of how tails can often end up produce these products far exceeds the wagging dogs in attempts to ethically pace of those seeking to monitor their decide winning is more important use. than how one gets there. It was little Baylor’s denominational counter- noticed that the highest paid salary to part in Texas is SMU. The Methodists
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r Requim For A Cartoonist Remembering Doug Marlette (1949-2007)
Editor’s Note: Since our begin- No mere man could do all that Doug of human existence. “How do any of ning in 1995, Christian Ethics Today did—apparently without ever sleep- us get through it?” he often wondered readers have enjoyed the cartoons of ing. He was otherwise transcendent, aloud. Doug Marlette. His untimely death untethered to time or place, a cosmic The courage Doug bore witness to evoked many tributes, from which we vagabond in search of truth, omnivo- through his characters also found lodg- have gleaned the following excerpts rous in his appetite for knowledge, ing in his brave heart. He was fearless that remind us of Marlette’s role as a insatiable in his quest for understand- against authority and hypocrisy. He prophet with a pen. ing. stood fast when fundamentalists of Staying so consumed with proj- all stripes issued death threats because From the Associated Press: ects “keeps me off the streets,” he was of his cartoons. He was undaunted Doug Marlette, the North fond of saying. Out of prison is what in defending the First Amendment, Carolina-born cartoonist who won a he meant. which he recognized as the founda- Pulitzer Prize and created the popu- Deeply, even painfully, empathetic, tion for all other freedoms. lar strip Kudzu, was killed in a car he saw (and felt) everyone’s struggle “People don’t know anything any- accident in Mississippi. Marlette was and granted compassion even toward more,” he would say. “We have to stay working in Oxford with a high school the undeserving. But he struggled, alive so that we can keep getting the group that was doing a musical ver- too. word out. Just get it out there.” sion of Kudzu . He was both hurt and baffled a “Out there” was the great big Mr. Marlette said that his bit- few years ago when other writers in world, so in need of Doug’s rare gifts, ing approach could be traced in part his hometown of Hillsborough, NC, but ultimately inadequate to contain to “a grandmother bayoneted by a tried to sabotage his largely autobio- his immense spirit. guardsman during a mill strike in the graphical first novel, The Bridge — May his legacy spread like kudzu. Carolinas. There are some rebellious even getting it banned from the UNC From Mitch Geiman, CNN, who genes floating around in me.” bookstore—because they deemed worked with Marlette at Newsday “Cartoons are windows into the some of his fictional characters too and was a friend. human condition,” he said once. “It’s similar to themselves. During four decades as a cartoon- about life.” The public knew Doug primarily ist appearing in Charlotte, Atlanta, From Kathleen Parker, Syndicated as cartoon boy. Funny Doug could New York, Florida, and Oklahoma Columnist: make you laugh. Gimlet-eyed Doug newspapers, as well as in syndica- More shocking than the news of could make you cringe. But the pri- tion across the country, Marlette his death was the idea that Doug vate Doug was a deep diver, a thinker built a career as an equal-opportunity could die. I never really believed he of exquisite dimension who was most offender. He skewered Bill Clinton as was mortal. concerned with the profound tragedy easily as George Bush, Ross Perot as
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": effortlessly as John Edwards; it’s not “Truth, Justice, and the Comics.” Baptist Convention some advice. too farfetched to think that Mullah Marlette contributed a little of each. That’s what Doug came up with, Omar and Jim Bakker might have Eyes twinkling, mind racing, he pur- quite on his own. We put it on a but- found common ground in believing sued the truth, fought tirelessly against ton, wore it and handed it out at the Marlette was an evil, vicious, godless injustice and provided humor in his convention. . . . rodent of a man. pictures and his text. The Rev. Will B. Dunn came bold- In his work, Marlette was indis- He lampooned the New York Times ly to the comic page, full of foibles and criminate in trying to give voice to for lacking the guts to hire an edito- fumbles, fully human but with a heav- justice and to offer unbending sup- rial cartoonist for its op-ed pages. Any enly message. The editorial cartoons port for the underdog. His spirit, he self-respecting newspaper in a democ- parsed political reality, punctured pre- often said, was forged in the South he racy, he thought, had an obligation to tense, jabbed hypocrisy, and reduced grew up in, where he was anti-war and use cartoons to convey its perspective phoniness to ridicule. anti-racism in a community grappling and bring the subjects of its news cov- Bypass Baptist Church, served by to come to terms with both Vietnam erage down to earth. Rev. Dunn, is spookily familiar. The and civil rights in the 1960s. As the 20 th century gave way to a weddings and funerals seem like live His funeral was held Saturday, July new millennium, Marlette 14, in a small, stone church outside recognized the power of Marlette’s hometown of Hillsborough, the Internet to create one- NC. The church is across the street to-one communication and from cornfields and farmland filled posted his cartoons online. with hay bales, and not far from the He wrote two novels, The site of the old textile mill where his Bridge and Magic Time. grandparents worked in the 1930s. But he was also drawn back The Red Clay Ramblers, a band to a family-owned newspa- Marlette collaborated with to score per, the Tulsa World . Some the musical version of his comic strip, colleagues wondered why Kudzu, played “I’ll Fly Away” to an he would go to Oklahoma. overflow crowd of friends, family and Well, he explained, that’s followers. the state that gave us How many people could attract Will Rogers and Woody to their funeral both one of the win- Guthrie. ningest coaches in college basket- One of his friends said ball history, Dean Smith, and Pat at the funeral that Marlette Conroy, a writer who found glory in may have seen himself a book called “My Losing Season”? as part of the caravan of In Marlette’s world, victory was mea- American thought that sured not by the points you scored included Walt Whitman, but by the points you made, not by Mark Twain, Walker Percy, banners raised or books published but John Steinbeck, and Bob by the character revealed during the Dylan. reports, not figments of fantasy. One inevitable struggles along the way. Indeed, when the cultural and suspects that with great good humor, No one was safe from Marlette’s political history of the turn of this Doug was exposing Baptists, as we are, biting wit, Conroy said. Especially if century is written, understanding warts and all. . . . they were prone to take themselves Marlette’s America—its truths, its iro- Doug Marlette saw the failures, too seriously. “I always thought it was nies, and its oddly humorous conflict- the contradictions, the gaps, and the going to be Doug giving the eulogy ing motivations—will be central to roughness of his region’s religiosity. at my funeral,” Conroy said from the any representation of the age. He knew the experienced beauty and simple pulpit, his face red with the From James M. Dunn in Report power of “baptistified.” He accepted strain of nearly a week’s sleepless, tear- From the Capitol: the notion that a god who could be ful nights. “He used to make up eulo- “We Baptists Gotta Stick Together— defined is God denied. Tough stuff! gies about me. The obituary would After All Nobody Else Will Have Us!”. So Doug’s faith, like kudzu, that damn start: ‘An unknown writer died on These are the words Doug Marlette vine, is ubiquitous. Fripp Island . . . ’” put in Will’s mouth. In 1990 the Dang, Doug, we miss you already. ■ At New York Newsday , where embattled Baptist Joint Committee I worked as a reporter alongside asked Doug to allow the Rev. Will B. Marlette, the paper had a slogan: Dunn to give the late great Southern
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r CHRISTIAN ETHICS AND THE MOVIES Reviewed By David A. Thomas, Assoc. Prof. of Rhetoric, Emeritus, 6OJWFSTJUZPG3JDINPOE 1
Globalism: priority. The bus leaves the main road The same sub-plot continues: cut Babel (2006) to drop Richard and Susan off in to the next morning after the party the nearest village, where Richard is ends. It’s just before dawn, and the abel is the most global movie of appalled by the lack of any treatment nephew is roaring drunk on the trip Bthe year. Nominated for awards facilities. He’s panicked by his inabil- back. Nanny is an illegal alien, and by dozens of industry associations, ity to communicate with anyone on she’s got two American kids with her including the Oscars and the Golden the scene. in the car with no documents. They Globes, it polarized viewers into those Seeing Susan on the verge of dying, try to re-enter the U. S. through who love it and those who hate it. It he blurts out the threat: If you leave, the customs checkpoint. When the baffled those who expected a formula I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! But leave them customs officers notice something thriller. Limited space here hinders any there, they do, and for the moment, wrong with this picture, they try to attempt to clarify all of its separate but so must we. The American embassy question the nephew, who acts like a interrelated story lines in Morocco, makes a pussy-footed diplomatic non- loudmouth drunk behind the wheel. Mexico, and Japan. If you saw the action. American officials assume The nephew panics and accelerates movie and it puzzled you, you are not there are terrorists behind the attack, through the checkpoint. In the ensu- alone. It is not the movie’s fault. The and they hesitate to send any quick ing chase, he dumps Nanny and the connections are all there, but you have response teams from the capitol city two kids in a dark hiding place out in to pay close attention. It is a thinking into what may turn out to be hostile the brushy Southern California des- person’s film, a challenging movie. It is territory. The hours pass. ert. Promising to return soon to pick absorbing, even entertaining, because But who did shoot her? That brings them up when the coast is clear, guess of the cinematography, outstanding us to sub-plot number 1: the poverty- what? He doesn’t. Another “Oops!” acting, and the brilliant writing and ridden rural Moroccan family up in Return to Morocco and the directing by its team of top Mexican the hills, where the father has just main plot. Richard and Susan are artists. It might also be the year’s bought a high-powered rifle from a still stranded. Good detective work movie you most want to discuss in a friend to kill the jackals that attack his locates the herder and recovers the coffeehouse afterwards. little flock of goats. The family con- rifle. It is traced by its serial num- About the plot, briefly: the catalyst sists of the parents and three middle- ber to its original owner, a wealthy for everything else in the movie is an school aged kids, two boys and a girl. Japanese businessman. incident that occurs during a vacation The father hands the rifle over to the Sub-plot 3: Cut to Tokyo for a trip by an American couple (Richard two boys, tells them to kill some jack- glimpse of the businessman’s teenage and Susan, played by a matured Brad als, and he sends them off. daughter and her group of friends. Pitt and Cate Blanchett). Their mar- They play with the gun as if it were Outwardly, the girl is just a normal riage is under severe strain because they a toy, taking wild pot shots at nearby high schooler, a volleyball player who have just lost a baby to SIDS. As they boulders (which they miss by a mile). loves to hang out with the team in a ride a tour bus through the Moroccan One boy has a better idea of how the teen club, drink Cokes, and flirt with desert, out of nowhere Susan is hit and gun ought to work. He spies the bus the boys—or go to a rave club and seriously hurt by a gunshot through on the distant highway below, and experiment with drugs a little. Below the window. squeezes off a round in its direction. the surface, she is deeply troubled by From that point, Babel lives up to Meanwhile, sub-plot 2, back in her mother’s recent suicide. Did I men- the theme suggested by its title: what Susan and Richard’s million-dollar tion? She’s stone deaf. In a few of her to do in a crisis situation where there home in San Diego. Their two kids scenes, the sound track is OFF, indi- are overwhelming language and cul- are left in the care of their longtime, cating her viewpoint. Soon a young, tural obstacles? At first, no one knows though undocumented, Mexican attractive Japanese detective comes what has happened. Most of the riders nanny. Since Susan and Richard are calling at Dad’s 10 th floor condo to are fellow Americans, but the driver away, the nanny yields to the temp- investigate how his rifle came to be and tour guide are Moroccans who tation to make a quick trip back into involved in a shooting in Morocco. have no idea what to do. Who shot Mexico for her son’s wedding. Wait, This sad, lonely girl thinks maybe the her? Was it a deliberate attack? How what about the kids? Leave them with young man might become her friend, can Susan be attended to? They decide a friend. But the friend can’t, today. so she strips for him. It is not an erotic that medical help is the most urgent So, just take them along. moment. The man is mortified. Her
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": action is pathetic, inducing our pity, Nothing happens to resolve the prob- year his win was based on the sympa- because it is more associated with lems of subsistence Moslem herders thy vote for having lost so many times her own suicidal depression than it is living in remote desert communities, previously. Compared with his previ- with any sexual attraction. Thankfully, or the illegals working as our domes- ous five losses, The Departed , some the detective acts like the responsible tic helpers, or the rich teenagers danc- said, is his sixth best movie. He himself grown-up he is. ing to Western disco music, adrift in has stated, perhaps seriously, that it is Christian Ethics and Babel. Tokyo. Richard and Susan are closer. his first movie with a real plot. Forget about trying to track the plot as The most visible lesson is one that Set in the present day, the conflict at a coherent three-act story. Babel has a critics and viewers never mention: the the heart of the drama is the ongoing structure like last year’s Crash, but not yawning chasm between the haves and war between the Massachusetts State quite its uplifting redemption. Babel is the have-nots. Though it is right there Police in Boston (the “Staties”) and the about the scene, and how it dominates in plain sight, we don’t see it because city’s crime empire of Irish mafia boss the characters. That scene is chaos. we don’t speak the same languages. Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). It’s Think globalism. Babel is a picture Since language is embedded in cul- all about the drug trade. Investigation about Babel, without being an obvi- ture, being monolingual means that is largely a matter of using informants . ous allegory. In the biblical story, men we fail to grasp just how differently The Departed focuses on the youthful tried to become as God by building a other language groups view the world undercover Staties out on the streets, tower to heaven, but God prevented than we do. This blind spot applies to embedded by the cops as soldiers them by confounding their languages any of the myriad collisions between within the drug underworld, trying to so they could not communicate. The cultures (and within sub-cultures) that generate enough evidence to convict message of this international screen- now butt against each other in what Costello. It works both ways: Costello writer/director team is similar to the Tom Friedman calls our “Flat World.” has his own men implanted within the Bible’s. If anything in Babel is pictured clearly, State Police, tipping him off to their As viewers of a Hollywood film, we it is that unbridgeable abyss between plans and their next scheduled raids. expect the final reel to reveal a quick nations, between rich and poor, To be either an informant—or a cor- denouement stemming from a moral between parents and children, and rupt turncoat Statie—is a very danger- decision by the protagonist that will even between husbands and wives. ■ ous occupation. lead to a happy ending. Too often, that Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, a is how we think of God, as Someone Human Corruption: brand new Police Academy graduate, who views the messes we get ourselves accepts an assignment to go under- into and Someone who magically The Departed (2006) cover and work himself into a trusted turns us towards wise choices and bold n 2006, Martin Scorsese finally position within the Costello crime actions so we can set things right with Igot his Best Director Oscar, after hierarchy. But he is always in danger of our world. The nearest Babel gets to five previous unsuccessful nomina- being discovered, either from making a this result is that , at long last, a Red tions. His movie, The Departed also mistake, or from treachery from with- Cross helicopter arrives to take Susan won for the year’s Best Picture, in a in the State Police. He is always look- and Richard back to civilization and wide-open field that included The ing over his shoulder. He has to walk modern medicine. Queen, Showgirls, Babel, and Little a tightrope between becoming a felon We must leave Morocco, as the Miss Sunshine . All of these nominees, himself (in order to warrant Costello’s opening scene’s bus tour did, taking including The Departed, had their trust), and keeping his identity secret a quick look at a quaint but beautiful strong advocates, yet each of them from the State Police (except for his bit of scenery out of our windows, and had shortcomings. Some of Scorsese’s immediate superior officer, the only then moving on to the next attraction. admirers were heard to say that this person he feels he can safely contact).
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r The “Departed” mentioned in the ing qualities. Gang boss Costello slips old Erin Gruwell, an idealistic English movie title represent those unlucky into a father figure role to DeCaprio’s teacher in a Long Beach, California enough to get caught (by either character. Ironically, the cops and the high school characterized by a highly side) and disposed of in the patented crooks have so much in common, diverse student population. At the Scorsese way, with lots of violence. The they inevitably develop personal rela- time of the story, due to recent redis- world of Scorsese’s Boston is shown to tionships. Sometimes, they even claim tricting, Wilson High is populated be a full-scale war on the streets. By blood ties. But they don’t let that get by large segments of Black, Hispanic, the story’s end, there’s a very high body in the way of whacking somebody if Asian, and other ethnic groups, with count. The movie combines action the need arises. not a few gang members among them. and suspense. Besides Nicholson The Departed is inappropriate for She finds herself isolated by her fac- and DeCaprio, the star-studded cast consideration for a church movie ulty colleagues, made up of a rigid includes Martin Sheen as Costello’s discussion group. It is extremely vio- group of older white and elitist teach- counterpart, Captain Queenan of the lent, and the characters habitually ers. Unlike them, Erin sees the oppor- State Police. Most of the focus is on use profanities. The dialogue is real- tunity to work with poor and troubled younger actors like Matt Damon and istic and gritty. The characters all talk children from mixed backgrounds as Mark Wahlberg, as the Staties who like Boston’s cops and robbers. (Cast a stimulating and exciting challenge. carry most of the action in the streets. members Wahlberg and Damon, in In her first teaching assignment, she You are kept guessing about who’s fact, are Southies themselves. Their is given 150 freshmen enrolled in the honest and who’s corrupt—you never accent is truly authentic!) The larger “dummy” English classes. know on whose side each new charac- theme of the movie is the intrinsic Her department chair tells her ter will turn out to be. corruption at the heart of humankind, that her inner-city students are so bad Martin Scorcese was originally a no matter which side of the law they that they cannot be issued any of the Catholic seminarian who, as a young are on. In Scorsese’s vision, ultimately, textbooks gathering dust in the store- man, aspired to the priesthood. crime does not pay. room because they can’t read them. Obviously, five wives and some chil- You could look at this movie as a Besides, they will just lose or damage dren later, he chose a different voca- microcosm of ordinary families, espe- them. Instead, Erin must use simplis- tion. Critical interest in his films cially those afflicted with drugs and tic below grade-level workbooks and resides in the fact that they gener- alcohol. Or you could look it as an a comic book version of Romeo and ally revolve around moral and ethical allegory of the global situation today. Juliet. If the teacher wants her special issues. Think of his previous produc- If you can tolerate the language and students to have better books or other tions like Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and gore, you can even look at it simply materials, then she has to purchase The Last Temptation of Christ . In The as Hollywood entertainment at its them herself out of pocket on her Departed, as in some of the other films best, as long as your youngest kids are beginning teacher’s pay. mentioned, the Catholic Church has already asleep. ■ Because her children are bused to the its own minor supporting role—a role school from distant housing projects of decidedly mixed ethical virtues. Multicultural and spend up to three hours in transit, Critics note that in a Scorsese they are not expected to do home- movie, violence is always cathartic. As Reconciliation: work. Erin’s senior English teaching in real life, his characters are complex, Freedom Writers (2006) colleague, Mr. White Bread himself, a blend of both good and evil deeply reedom Writers is a teacher flick assures her that her main job is baby rooted within their souls. The good Fbased on a true story that took sitting, since most of her pupils won’t guys have tragic flaws, and a few of place in 1994. Two-time Oscar win- stay in school long enough to reach his the villains have at least some redeem- ner Hilary Swank portrays 23-year junior honors English classes anyway.
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": For example, in one scene, when one Dutch woman who provided shelter to readers of this journal because its of her minority students does manage for the Frank family in her home dur- scene is multiculturalism. Wilson to test into his class, he promptly calls ing WWII. High is a microcosm of the metropo- on her to give “the black perspective” As part of the fundraiser, Erin had lis, indeed, of the larger global culture on a story they were studying. The her class assignment essays bound into we all are learning to live in. Using the mortified girl asked to be transferred a book that subsequently became a Holocaust as a primary object lesson back into Erin’s “dummy” class where bestseller, entitled The Freedom Writers for teaching tolerance and grace in she felt more at home among the other Diary. The movie ends with the close the midst of hatred and oppression is Black, Cambodian, and Latino kids. of that school year. Outside the bound- about as moral and ethical as it gets. ■ Freedom Writers is the story of how aries of the movie, since then, Erin one teacher made a difference in her Gruwell has moved on from Wilson students’ lives despite the manifold High and is now a college professor. ways the system stacked the deck Ethical Implications. As a teach- against her. She threw herself into her er myself, I find “teacher flicks” and Faith and Social Justice job so wholeheartedly and passionate- “coach flicks” to be a highly stimu- (continued from page 2) ly that her marriage suffered. Lacking lating and relevant genre of movies. the proper literary teaching resources Think of Hoosiers . There have been a two young Christian women who will and materials she needed, she shifted large number of them. Most are low be eager to read it. ■ her lesson plans towards focusing on budget films, and few of them achieve her student’s own lives. As an assign- blockbuster status. Not everyone wants Note: Jim Wallis spoke at the CET ment, she distributed blank journals to see movies like this. Coach flicks sponsored conference on “The Minister and pencils, and asked them to write usually do better than teacher flicks, and Politics,” held last summer in brief essays about their experiences to given that ticket-purchasing teenage Washington D.C.—his address along share with one another. As you might boys are more attracted to the gym and with three others is now available in imagine, she was not prepared to read playing field than to the classroom! video or audio form—see announcement about the daily violence and insults The central themes of these movies are in this issue. This article is adapted from these children witnessed, and endured, the value of education and the power- Sojourners Magazine, March, 2007, both at home and in their neighbor- ful influence a single dedicated teacher and is Reprinted with permission hoods. Erin’s first task, therefore, was can make in the lives of students. from Sojourners, (800) 714-7474, to provide a zone of safety and nur- Freedom Writers has special appeal www.sojo.net. turance for all of the members of her class. The starting point was to find ways to help them overcome their dis- trust of her, and even more basically, The Video You Requested of each other. The device of having the children write personal journal entries led to Of the June 27 Conference In Washington, D.C. her next step, which was to introduce “THE MINISTER AND POLITICS” them to another group of children who had also been victimized by their t Jim Wallis t Melissa Rogers t Gregg Boyd t Tony Campolo society—children of the Holocaust. To All Four Speeches With Q & A her amazement, none of her students had ever heard of it. She took her class Get Your Gift Copy For A $50 Donation on a field trip (at her own expense) To The Ministry of Christian Ethics Today to the local Holocaust Museum. Then she had them read The Diary of AUDIO VERSION ALSO AVAILABLE Anne Frank, copies of which, again, On “MP3-CD” Disc of 16 Audio Tracks she bought for them herself. When the students began to see the signifi- Plays on any modern Windows PC or McIntosh cance of the Holocaust to their own situations, her next step was to invite As Well Most Modern CD Players elderly Jewish survivors to speak to her Extra Copies For $25 (Includes Mailing Costs) class. By this time, she had succeeded in unifying her class to the extent that Order by Phone, Email, or Form Mailed In November they organized and promoted an all- school fundraiser to fly to America the
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r Book Reviews “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed.” 'SBODJT#BDPO E
American Christians are living in nationalistic, violent mindset of impe- The Myth of a Christian strange times where patriotism seem- rialistic Christendom” (90). There are Nation: How the Quest ingly has many contradictive inter- numerous illustrations of this danger- for Political Power is pretations. The author unequivocally ous trend. makes it clear that New Testament The bottom line seems to be that Destroying the Church Christianity mandates the priority if Christian people can dominate the (SFHPSZ"#PZE (SBOE3BQJET of a heavenly citizenship in the king- political landscape, the nation will Zondervan, 2006, $15 dom of God, producing a life of val- discover that the “means justifies the . Reviewed by Darold Morgan, ues supremely related to Jesus Christ end.” And, that end is the mesmer- because of His Incarnation, the cli- izing quote that “America will be 3JDIBSETPO 59 max of Calvary, the ultimate victory Christian again!” The chapter, “Taking eading this book, with its pro- in His Resurrection and promised America Back for God” is worth the Rvocative title, and interest-piqu- return! “Seek first the kingdom” is the price of the book. Boyd hits bluntly ing sub-title leaves one quickly with ongoing and unchanging mandate. the questions obviously on the lips of several major impressions. One is One of the problems in the book is many American Christians—ques- the author’s obvious and profound perhaps a too lengthy treatment of tions about Marxism, Islamic mili- knowledge of the Bible, particularly as this, resulting to some degree in a loss tarism, the moral issues of abortion, it relates to a full-orbed discussion of of interest before he comes to the dis- homosexuality, and secularism. Forget the kingdom of God. He makes this tinctly American church problem of the admonitions of Jesus of turning the guiding theme throughout the interpreting a “Constantinian” con- the other cheek and ministering to the entire book. And this is absolutely the cept of national patriotism, which helpless and heart-broken—national key to his basic thesis that this quest takes precedence over New Testament patriotism comes first! for political power is destroying the Christianity. In the midst of these charges and church. Second, practically all readers Repeatedly the issue comes down countercharges comes this clear, ratio- would sit up and take notice of the to this—is the current form of patri- nal voice of a concerned pastor who tragic fact that a thousand members otism fusing with the concept that puts the focus once again on the bibli- of this pastor’s church left his congre- American Christians are trusting more cal message about the mind of Christ gation as these messages were being in military might than the power of as the essence of God’s kingdom. delivered. Many intensely patriotic the Cross? Certainly the kingdom of His followers are to the “Kingdom Christians sadly and firmly feel that God is a vital precept, but in these People.” Will not our beloved home- it is disloyal for Americans to put bib- days of such world-wide terrorism and land, the United States of America, be lical truth about Jesus and the king- danger, trust in a Constantinian the- ultimately stronger when Jesus Christ dom of God above the interests of the ory of church-state relationships leads is acknowledged as the king of the United States. It often comes down to power and success. The author kingdom of God? to an “either-or” issue, rather than a states this bluntly: “We have become Another provocative value of this “both-and.” intoxicated with the Constantinian, book is the question about the claim
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": that America has been a Christian cheating very lightly. For students of cheating corporate elite have been sent nation from its earliest days of history. Christian Ethics one must note quick- to prison, hopefully serving as a deter- A recall of American history reminds us ly and forcefully that a major weakness rent. Yet, in spite of these highly pub- sadly of the treatment of the American of the book is the absence of any spiri- licized responses, the trend seems to Indians, the enslavement of millions tual or biblical solutions, a position continue. of Africans, and the virtual apartheid which ultimately is a major weakness All of this evidence confirms what of the freed slaves for a century after for producing any positive solution in the author labels as “a profound moral the Civil War through the infamous these sad behavioral patterns. crisis that reflects deep economic and Jim Crow laws. “It is obvious America Spiritual renewal is urgently social problems in American society” never really belonged to God.” This needed in many venues of American (13). Many Americans have rejected comes as a disturbing conclusion to life. Here is a well-written and excel- moral absolutes and are increasingly people who still rejoice in our Puritan lently researched book which reveals “inventing their own morality” (169), forefathers hope for “the City on the an engrained and disturbing practice which adds to the belief that break- Hill,” the American Declaration of of lying and cheating far more wide- ing the rules is no longer the problem Independence and the Constitution. spread than many believe it to be. it once was. The new rule is simply Add memories of the great revivals in The author shares multiple cur- and tragically—“Cheat, but don’t get the American heartland in the pioneer rent examples of cheating, which he caught!” days all the way to the Billy Graham defines as “the breaking of the rules The result from this tidal wave of Crusades of our day. Indeed there to get ahead academically, profession- cheating in all these levels of American have been stalwart Christian leaders ally or financially” (14). The book is life is a massive “fall of trust” (91). throughout American history who quite readable and enormously con- The author notes: “Sixty per cent of have fostered great Christian institu- vincing, supporting the thesis that Americans now say that ‘you can’t be tions. Yet provocative questions about cheating is a huge problem in America too careful in dealing with people.’” militarism and a self-centered patrio- (and elsewhere). You will find it in The old American handshake conclud- tism in these days of a world-wide ter- the corporate office, in public school ing an agreement went out decades rorism challenge our faith.. classrooms, and all the way through ago. It is tragically sad that a person’s In the light of heated debates graduate schools. In addition, cheat- word is not enough anymore which have greatly diminished the ing is prevalent in all levels of medi- This thought-provoking book Christian witness at home and abroad, cine, law offices, auto-repair shops, ends with an appeal from the author debates which rarely convince anyone and Little League baseball. You will for a rebirth of integrity and hon- because of such deeply held positions, sadly find it in the multiple scandals esty. Though the practice of cheating this author’s main contribution is related to professional athletics. One is not new, the nation’s future stabil- an impassionate appeal to the bibli- cannot ignore recent highly publicized ity depends upon a return to basic cal priority of the kingdom of God stories about pharmaceutical company values of personal integrity and hon- as preached by Jesus. Simply stated, deceptions and lobbyists in state and esty. The author hopes that his writ- this is the essence of New Testament national politics—sadly, these are sim- ing and research will trigger a serious Christianity, and we never go wrong ply the tip of the iceberg! debate about these ominous trends. when this is the ultimate motivation Illustrations abound in the “cooked Left unchecked, increasing dishonesty in the church and in Christian wit- books” at Enron, Xerox, World-Com, plants the “seeds of destruction.” The ness—“Seek ye first the kingdom of Tyco, Arthur Andersen, KPMG, and author dares to suggest that a dishon- God.” ■ other corporations. The author also est and cheating culture will turn the includes the prevalent problem of United States into the chequered and The Cheating Culture: cheating on taxes, the prevailing epi- controversial cultures of Brazil and demic of cheating in academia, the Mexico. Why More Americans practice of down-loading music and Where does the recapturing of per- are Doing Wrong to films illegally, and the world wide sonal integrity and applied honesty Get Ahead problem of pirated DVDs. begin? David Callahan wisely states %BWJE$BMMBIBO 0SMBOEP)BSDPVSU Numerous reputable surveys are that it must start with “teaching integ- $14. noted which confirm the enormity rity to the young” (293). It includes of our cheating culture. The author honor codes in schools and business- Reviewed by Darold Morgan, commends particularly the federal es. Business schools must get serious 3JDIBSETPO 59 government for attempting to publi- about teaching ethics. Politicians from rankly, here is a book guaranteed cize, correct, and penalize violations, the president downward must resist the Fto make the reader profoundly including insider-trading on Wall cheating mentality typified in the prac- depressed because it proposes that Street. A number of well-known and tices of lobbyists and the mesmerizing most Americans either cheat or take immensely wealthy members of the pressure of political contributions. All
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r of this points to the absolute necessity publication of National Book Award consistently so. Most regular or con- of a new social contract which ulti- winner All The Pretty Horses (1992), sistent Christians have doubts, so this mately outlaws cheating. McCarthy’s message began to change. assertion by McCarthy seems an hon- Yet, the conclusions of the author While his novels continued to be est, genuine one, one many Christians are anything but optimistic. Sadly, riddled with violence, McCarthy also understand. the author does not propose religious began to include messages of hope In The Road a reader is thrust into faith or spiritual renewal as a basis for and grace. In All The Pretty Horses , a post-apocalyptic world of death and this new social contract. However, the two central characters, Cole and destruction; he follows a father and Callahan does propose a contract Rawlins, discuss their respective the- son, two survivors of an unnamed which spotlights an ancient but val- ologies around the campfire, and in horror visited upon mankind as they ued commandment—“Thou shalt No Country For Old Men (2005), make their way through the ruins of not bear false witness.” ■ Sheriff Bell laments the conditions a once-civilized world, staying alive he sees in his job and expresses to and together one day at a time. This The Road his wife and to Ellis, his mentor and on first glance does not seem to be a $PSNBD.D$BSUIZ friend, his concerns for the world as scenario of hope and grace, but it is. it has become a meaner, less graceful Gradually and consistently, McCarthy Reviewed by Michael Moorhead place and his belief it does not have to in this grandly epic novel leads us &BTUGJFME$PMMFHF Dallas TX be that way. to his Christian message, a message So it is no surprise to a reader of straight from the New Testament, a ulitzer Prize winning novelist the works of Cormac McCarthy to message of grace and love and cour- PCormac McCarthy has never been see an even more pronounced lean- age for the battles each day brings. considered a Christian writer—and ing toward the Christian ethic in his McCarthy tells us love will win over with good reason. His early novels, most recent novel, The Road (2006). all obstacles, God will never abandon while critically acclaimed, were violent When asked about his theology by us, and at the end of life’s journey God and bloody and completely absent of Oprah Winfrey in a recent rare inter- awaits each of us with open, welcom- any Christian message of love and view, McCarthy responded by saying ing arms. ■ grace and forgiveness. But with the he was religious but not regularly or
r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": A Train Going The Wrong Way By Al Staggs, Chaplain and Performing Artist 4BOUF'F /.
“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Like a train going the wrong way Is our war on Iraq. We Americans are all passengers On this murderous and maddening journey. Nothing we can say can change the truth about our ghastly folly. And there is nothing we can do to change the fact that we are invaders Who are pillaging a land of its resources And bringing immeasurable suffering to the citizens of that nation Who do not want us there.
We are passengers on this train bound for Hell Yet we delude ourselves that we are combating terrorism, That we are removing WMDs, That we are spreading democracy and freedom, That we are, as Americans, invincible to defeat, That we will not be judged by history, That God is on our side, That if we can just pour enough money and munitions And send enough of our bravest and finest We are certain to win, to prevail.
It is the delusion of a passenger who rises from his seat And walks in a direction opposite from that of the train- That this gesture will make everything right.
The train began its awful journey in March of 2003 And there is nothing we can do or say To change or make right what we have done And what we are continuing to do to Iraq While squandering our precious resources That could have been used to bring justice and equality To citizens of our own land.
And we all bear responsibility for dealing Death To those who continue to give their lives For this spurious cause As well as to those who continue to experience The horrific effects of our military might.
We are all passengers on the Train to Hell. ■
$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%":r'"--r Christian Ethics Today A Journal of Christian Ethics “We need now to recover the prophethood of all believers, matching our zeal for the priesthood of all believers with a passion for the prophethood of all believers.” —Foy Valentine, Founding Editor
MISSION The Christian Ethics Today Foundation publishes Christian Ethics Today in order to provide laypersons, educators, and ministers with a resource for understanding and responding in a faithful Christian manner to moral and ethical issues that are of concern to contemporary Christians, to the church, and to society. PURPOSES U Maintain an independent prophetic voice for Christian social ethics U Interpret and apply Christian experience, biblical truth, theological insights, historical understanding, and current research to contemporary moral issues U Support Christian ecumenism by seeking contributors and readers from various denominations and churches U Work from the deep, broad center of the Christian church U Address readers at the personal and emotional as well as the intellectual level by including in the Journal narratives, poetry, and cartoons as well as essays U Strengthen and support the cause of Christian ethics Christian Ethics Today was born in the mind and heart of Foy Valentine in 1995, as an integral part of his dream for a Center for Christian Ethics. In his words, the purpose of the Journal was “to inform, inspire, and unify a lively company of individuals and organizations interested in working for personal morality and public righteousness.” When the Center was transferred to Baylor University in June 2000, the disbanding Board voted to continue the publication of Christian Ethics Today , appointing a new editor and a new Board. The Journal will continue to be published five times annually. From the beginning Christian Ethics Today has been sent without charge to anyone requesting it, “as money and energy permit.” More than ever before, your financial support is “greatly needed, urgently solicited, and genuinely appreciated.” The Christian Ethics Today Foundation is a non-profit organization and has received a 501 (c) (3) status from the Internal Revenue Service. Gifts are tax deductible. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Philip Wise, Chair Pat Anderson Aubrey H. Ducker, Jr. Tony Campolo Fisher Humphreys Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler Darold Morgan Carolyn Dipboye David Sapp
Contributions should be made out to the Christian Ethics Today Foundation and mailed to the address below. Your comments and inquiries are always welcome. Articles in the Journal (except those copyrighted) may be reproduced if you indicate the source and date of publication. Manuscripts that fulfill the purposes of Christian Ethics Today may be submitted to the editor for publication consideration and addressed to: OUR ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBERS Joe E. Trull, Editor Phone: (940) 262-0450 9608 Parkview Court Cell (940) 230-6931 Denton, TX 76207-6658 New email: [email protected] VISIT US ON OUR WEB SITE: www.ChristianEthicsToday.com
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