Posted on 05/11/2006 11:17:46 AM PDT by Esther Ruth
The Methodists' Mullah-Protection Plan By Mark D. Tooley FrontPageMagazine.com | May 11, 2006
The Religious Left has continuously opposed nearly all U.S. military action over the last 40 years, no matter the circumstances. Now it is poised to oppose any decisive U.S.-led action against Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
This opening salvo came from the chief lobbyist for President Bush’s own denomination.
"I don't know about you, but I am astonished at the reports of a possible United States attack on Iran," declared Jim Winkler, general secretary of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, at a speech in Washington, D.C. on April 30.
Undoubtedly, Winkler agrees with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the incongruity of Bush's Christian faith with his foreign policy. "Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ, the great Messenger of God...But at the same time, have countries attacked: the lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed?" the chieftain of Iran's Islamic police state asked Bush this week.
From the start, Winkler has vigorously attacked the U.S. led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in language similar to Ahmadinejad's. Winkler's church lobby office, with a $5 million budget and a staff of two dozen, sits prominently across the street from the U.S. Capitol and U.S. Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill. The United Methodist Building has for decades been a headquarters for the Religious Left in the nation’s capital.
Not surprisingly, Winkler found good reasons why the mullah’s regime should not disarm. "As bad as the Iranian regime is, imagine what they must think when they see that the country to their east, Afghanistan, and the country to their west, Iraq, has been invaded and conquered by their archenemy, the United States," Winkler explained. "If Canada and Mexico had been taken over by a more powerful country than the United States, I figure we would be frantically trying to develop some kind of super weapon right now no matter how much the rest of the world protested."
Although the 8 million-member United Methodist Church, America’s third largest denomination, officially recognizes that war may be justified by tyranny, aggression, and genocide, Winkler’s agency stubbornly refuses to acknowledge any reason in which military force might be legitimate if carried out by the United States. This agency, like the rest of the Religious Left, largely ignores human rights abuses by regimes adversarial to the U.S. But in this case, Winkler had to admit that Iran’s government is...less than ideal.
"Let me say up front that I am no fan of the present regime in power in Teheran," Winkler said, citing the Iranian president’s threats against Israel and denial of the Holocaust. "I don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons. In fact, I don't want any country or group any where to have nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction. At the very least, I support a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East."
Of course, Winkler does not recognize any major moral distinction among governments that have nuclear weapons, weather it is Great Britain or North Korea. And he prefers to blame his own country. "The United States in particular, but other countries as well, have flooded the region with weapons over the past half-century," Winkler pointed out. "This has to stop."
Winkler does not dwell on the crimes and oppressions of the Iranian theocracy. Instead, he faults the U.S. for Iran’s current plight. Expect this to become a regular Religious Left refrain in the coming months.
"The United States connived to overthrow the democratically-elected government of Iran in 1953 in order to put the Shah back in power," Winkler stated, recalling his own memories of fearful anti-Shah Iranian college students in the U.S. He remembered that these students protested with paper bags over their heads for fear of reprisals from the Shah’s secret police. The Savak "operated freely in the U.S. in cooperation of the Central Intelligence Agency," Winkler eagerly asserted.
Winkler said the Ayatollah’s taking power after the Shah’s 1979 overthrow was "unfortunate." But "there is a direct line of cause and effect between the events of 1953, 1979, and today," he insisted. "This should not be forgotten." Chillingly to Winkler, the U.S. is now "saber-rattling," and "polls indicate a majority of Americans favor a military confrontation" with Iran, despite their having "now turned against the stupid and disastrous war in Iraq."
Repeating the usual canard that U.S. foreign policy is controlled by Christian Left Behind apocalypse zealots, Winkler sarcastically surmises that "the only scriptural warrant I can find for carrying out a preventive attack on Iran is if you desire to hasten the 'end times,' because surely this leads us in that direction." Wanting to prevent a maniac theocracy from having nuclear weapons is apparently not sufficient reason.
A resolution approved by directors of Winkler’s agency supported the thrust of Winkler’s comments. It impartially urges the "governments of the U.S. and Iran to moderate their language and begin constructive conversation about a peaceable future." Seemingly there is no moral difference between U.S. concerns about Iranian nukes and Iranian threats to annihilate Israel. The resolution urges a "nuclear-free zone," in the Middle East, which would helpfully disarm Israel, of course.
Some agencies of the Religious Left, like the National Council of Churches, have perfunctorily denounced Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust and anti-Israel threats. But they have not questioned the legitimacy of the Iranian regime. Neither the United Methodist lobby office, nor other components of the Religious Left, express concern about human rights under Iran’s mullahs.
In Iran, the civil code is based on Islamic law and calls for flogging, stoning, amputation or death for a wide range of criminal and political offenses. The media are government controlled. Iranian journalists can be prosecuted for "insulting Islam" or "damaging" the government. Demonstrations that "violate the principles of Islam" are forbidden. There is only one legal trade union. Strikes are illegal. Political prisoners number in the thousands and perhaps in the tens of thousands. The death penalty and degrading punishments have been employed against prisoners of conscience. Political prisoners in Iran number in the thousands and possibly in the tens of thousands.
Iran’s 300,000 Christians, like other religious minorities, lack equal legal rights. All public school students must study Islam. Muslim women may not marry non-Muslim men. Conversion away from Islam can incur a death penalty. The government has been especially restrictive towards Protestants, some of whose churches have been closed and converts arrested.
Women lack equal rights in divorce laws, child custody disputes, and inheritance. Legal testimony by women carries half the weight of a man’s. Women must conform to Islamic dress codes and are segregated in most public places. Women cannot obtain a passport without permission from husbands or male relatives. Women of all ages cannot marry without permission from male relatives. The legal age of marriage for women is age nine. Men, even if already married, are legally entitled to temporary marriages with as many women as they choose.
None of this particularly concerns the Religious Left, which prefers to discuss the faults of the late Shah, whose victims were but a fraction of the current regime’s, and who at least elevated the status of women in Iran and gave some protection to religious minorities. The Shah quietly left power rather than violently suppress the revolution. Similar restraint cannot be expected of Iran’s ruling mullahs.
The U.S. Religious Left will always sympathize with the adversaries of the U.S., no matter how unsavory, whether Communist or Islamist. It has defended and will continue to defend Iran from any Western-led action, military or otherwise. The plight of the Iranian people is unimportant to the Religious Left. And, to the Religious Left, an assertive United States is far more disturbing than a nuclear-armed Iran.
If the Main Line Churches were running US Foreign Policy I would be picking up my wife's burkah at cleaners after work.
No unsaintly swineman......we sit idly by as Mexico invades us and outbirths us....
As for Canada...the cold protects them....for now.
Didn't God lead the Israelites to many victories over their enemies? The answer is "Yes."
This Winkler guy doesn't know that without war there would be no United States where he may say anything he bloody well pleases, even if it is silly and stupid and naive.
My God, there are so many people in our nation without any perspective whatsoever. Do they think that this republic of ours simply fell out of the sky one day?
• African Methodist Episcopal Church • The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
• Alliance of Baptists
• American Baptist Churches in the USA
• Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
• Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
• Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
• Church of the Brethren
• The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America
• The Episcopal Church
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Friends United Meeting
• Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
• Hungarian Reformed Church in America
• International Council of Community Churches
• Korean Presbyterian Church in America
• Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
• Mar Thoma Church
• Moravian Church in America Northern Province and Southern Province
• National Baptist Convention of America
• National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.
• National Missionary Baptist Convention of America
• Orthodox Church in America
• Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA
• Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• Polish National Catholic Church of America
• Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
• Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
• Reformed Church in America
• Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada
• The Swedenborgian Church
• Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America
• United Church of Christ
• The United Methodist Church
See also: • The Standing Conference of Canonical
Frankly, Rex, I doubt many of these kinds of people can see any further than their nose. Thus, they are unaware of the sky, the earth, the sun, the moon, the evil that percolates through all that Iran says and does.... If he's going to quote Jesus, perhaps the most appropriate parts would be when Jesus called them "Blind prophets" and "blind teachers" and "hypocrites."
We went through a period of awakening wherein we believed that we were Democrats. As the lights began to come on, it was apparent to us that we were not.
After wandering in the desert of life for a few years, we finally embraced, not Republicanism, but Conservatism and that is where we are today. We are in the eve of our lives and my only hope is that the youth of this nation doesn't take as long as we did to see the light.
Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
..................
I agree! I don't think this fellow Winkler could find his butt with both hands!
Thanks very much for the note!
The United Methodist Church was created in 1968 when the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren.
>>The Religious Left has continuously opposed nearly all U.S. military action over the last 40 years, no matter the circumstances. Now it is poised to oppose any decisive U.S.-led action against Iran’s nuclear weapons program.<<
Its worth remembering that Democratic Presidents led us into WW2, the korean War and Vietnam.
Politically, north Orange County, California, where I live, is as red as a tail light, but our United Methodist parish is a hotbed of liberal-leftism. However, the congregation isn't very large. Our pastor dubbed the Sunday after Easter "Cannonball Sunday," because one could fire a cannonball through the sanctuary and not hit anyone.
You might enjoy the following essay on the Methodist service our family attended last Easter.
______________________
We had three dozen or so people in attendance at the
service Easter morning. Turns out ths was the COMBINED
membership of two of the churches on this four-point
charge. (for the non-methodists among you, that means
a four-church circuit, serviced by a single preacher,
who preaches at pairs of churches on alternate
sundays.)
The young people in attendance all appeared to be
descendents of current elderly members, rather than
members themselves. Quite a contrast to the
congregations I attended some 30 years ago, when each
had around 100 in attendance per Sunday, and a lively
youth group. (Vicky and I met, in fact, in the context
of charge youth group activities.)
The pastor, a young and passionate expositor of the
world, is rightly to be honored as a faithful servant
of God. A clue as to why the churches he serves are
aging out, dying, appeared in the responsive reading.
It was Psalm 100, as updated, modernized, and
sanitized by editors who were smarter than God. The
vile, contemptible, evil, sexist, and degrading
pronouns God had chosen to reveal Himself by had all
been deleted by those who were wiser than Him, and
replaced by the androgynous noun God.
The pastor was stabbed in the back by the hymnal
makers and providers of sunday school material. If I
want feminist humanism, I can turn on the TV or pick
up any magazine at the supemarket checkout counter.
Most serious Christians prefer a denomination whose
publishers are not ashamed of God, and feel no need to
correct Him as though He were an Asperger's Syndrome
case, Who needed to have His utterances constantly
curbed, corrected, and explained away.
I had red pen in hand, but decided against
"correcting" the hymnal folks' "corrections" of God's
original message. A sad voice in the back of my head
said, "Let the dead bury the dead. The living have
work to do." The remaining faithful members, those who
are deeply loyal to what the church used to be will
pass on within the next few decades. Unless a miracle
happens to reverse settled trends at the
denominational level, however, a lot of Methodist
churches are going to be closing their doors.
There is a massive rift forming within the Methodist Church right now. My wife is Methodist, and we occasionally go with her family to the Methodist church she was raised in, and are therefore on their mailing list. About every two months we get a letter from some internal group that is openly opposing Methodist church leadership. The tone of the letters has gotten progressively worse with each move the leadership seems to make. One of the main points of contention was that the leadership had agreed to rent a church owned outdoor resort (or church camp as I called them growing up) to a militant gay/lesbian group. Things seem to be heating up according to our last letter with the church allowing openly gay clergymen to serve, and so forth and so on. This is one of those moves that I feel that I will probably be getting a letter on any day now.
this guy is living in lala land.
I walked away from the organization about that time..
Much of it was the politics, and I have never regretted my decision..
I agree that they seem to have been swallowed up by what is essentially a socialist/communist organization much more commited to political activism than religious belief..
"President Bush’s own denomination---"
"the 8 million-member United Methodist Church, America’s third largest denomination---"
"resolution urges a "nuclear-free zone," in the Middle East, which would helpfully disarm Israel, of course!"
The key word is "Left", of course. East is East, West is West and for sure, Left is Left.
This agency (Winkler's), like the rest of the Religious Left, largely ignores human rights abuses by regimes adversarial to the U.S. But in this case, Winkler had to admit that Iran’s government is...less than ideal.
Oh goodness, that is some admission eh?
Neither the United Methodist lobby office, nor other components of the Religious Left, express concern about human rights under Iran’s mullahs.
Well, of course not, Left is Left.
Women lack equal rights in divorce laws, child custody disputes, and inheritance. Legal testimony by women carries half the weight of a man’s. Women must conform to Islamic dress codes and are segregated in most public places. Women cannot obtain a passport without permission from husbands or male relatives. Women of all ages cannot marry without permission from male relatives. The legal age of marriage for women is age nine. Men, even if already married, are legally entitled to temporary marriages with as many women as they choose.
None of this particularly concerns the Religious Left, which prefers to discuss the faults of the late Shah.... The U.S. Religious Left will always sympathize with the adversaries of the U.S., no matter how unsavory, whether Communist or Islamist. It has defended and will continue to defend Iran from any Western-led action, military or otherwise. The plight of the Iranian people is unimportant to the Religious Left. And, to the Religious Left, an assertive United States is far more disturbing than a nuclear-armed Iran.
That's what the Left does best - come up with something that will take the focus off the issue at hand; their very favorite method of turning an issue completely around to suit their agenda.
As a Methodist let me assure you this clown represents about 2% of the Church--the rotten head of a fish.
"If the Main Line Churches were running US Foreign Policy I would be picking up my wife's burkah at cleaners after work."
Some may wonder why a man would run such an errand for his wife. You should have explained that that you'd have to do it because she would be forbidden to operate a motor vehicle.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.