Smoke
Done here.
From Death of the Liberal Class, by Chris Hedges:
If religion is important as a teacher of morals, how is it that religious institutions failed so miserably in their reaction to Bush's plans to invade Iraq?
The institutional church, when it does speak, utters pious non-statements. It seeks to protect its vision of itself as a moral voice and yet avoids genuine confrontations with the power elite. It speaks in a language filled with moral platitudes. We can hear such language in a letter written March 25, 2003, by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, head of the Archdiocese for Military Services, telling his priests that Catholic soldiers could morally fight in the second Iraq war. "Given the complexity of factors involved, many of which understandably remain confidential, it is altogether appropriate for members of our armed forces to presume the integrity of our leadership and its judgments, and therefore to carry out their military duties in good conscience." The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told believers that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a menace, and that reasonable people could disagree about the necessity of using force to overthrow him. It assured those who supported the war that God would not object. B'nai B'rith supported a congressional resolution to authorize the 2003 attack on Iraq. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which represents Reform Judaism, agreed it would back unilateral action, as long as Congress approved and the president sought support from other nations. In a typical bromide, the National Council of Churches, which represents thirty-six different faith groups, urged President George W. Bush to "do all possible" to avoid war with Iraq and to stop "demonizing adversaries or enemies" with good-versus-evil rhetoric, but, like the other liberal religious institutions, did not condemn the war.
A Gallup Poll in 2006 found that "the more frequently an American attends church, the less likely he or she is to say the way was a mistake." Given that Jesus was a pacifist, and given that all of us who graduated from seminary rigorously studied just war doctrine, a doctrine flagrantly violated by the invasion of Iraq; this is startling.
A Gallup Poll in 2006 found that "the more frequently an American attends church, the less likely he or she is to say the way was a mistake." Given that Jesus was a pacifist, and given that all of us who graduated from seminary rigorously studied just war doctrine, a doctrine flagrantly violated by the invasion of Iraq; this is startling.
If religion is important as a teacher of morals, how is it that religious institutions failed so miserably in their reaction to Bush's plans to invade Iraq?
