Church Leaders' Anti-War Message Fails in the Pews

Newhouse News Service ^ | 4/10/03 | Mark O'Keefe

[VOA]

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[ken5050]

In Sept, 1964, my rabbi devoted his Friday night Yom Kippur sermon to why Jews shouldn't vote for Barry Goldwater....I, at the tender age of 16, got up from my third row seat in the big temple, and to my mom's eternal mortification, right in the middle of his screed, and walked out right down the center aisle....

[sinkspur]

the Rev. M. William Howard Jr. of Newark, N.J., explained that church leaders have "an informed" and "critical assessment" of the war

This kind of Pharasiacal arrogance is why people are just walking away from these churches.

We, the sheep, are apparently too stupid to think for ourselves or come to an informed judgment on the rightness of this war.

"The church's sex crisis is percolating in the background on this," said Marlett, whose specialty is American Catholic history. "When the Vatican or the American bishops make statements on justice and peace, those words ring a little hollow now."

I'm afraid,as a Catholic, that this is true. The Church has compromised its moral credibility, and 62% of Catholics have come to a judgement on this war that is at odds with the Pope and the American bishops.

Even religious people are sick and tired of turning the other cheek, especially when the lives of their children are at stake.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Interesting. I don't doubt your account at all. It's difficult to overlook the anti-American slant of it all.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Yesterday journalism was understandably exercised over the deaths in their hotel due to the US. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (for whom my daughter has BTW worked) was in the briefing room announcing that they had sent a petition to Secy Rumsfeld, and asking what would be done to get that hotel treated like a 1000-year-old mosque.

General Brock(sp?) parried the thrust relatively passively, of course. What he should have said was that the U.S. armed forces constitutes the Committee for the Protection of Civilians, of whom journalists are a mere subset.

The journalists who remained in Baghdad to get the other side were courting the same treatment Saddam had accorded schools, mosques, and sacred sites all over Iraq. Their behavior was presumptious, very like the "human shields" who went to Iraq to oppose the coalition. Their presence in a place known a priori to be a target of invasion was an imposition on the ability of coalition soldiers' willingness to place protection of civilians above self-preservation on the battlefield. Their behaivor was a disgrace.

[vox1138]

I thought the influence of rad 60's stupidity peaked and dive-bombed with Bill Clinton's self-inflicted political suicide. Shouldn't children of the Reagan years be in positions of power now? Also, 9/11 wasn't the end - it is the new standard terrorist groups now aim for. Where were these flower children when Iraqi children were being tortured to death?

[N8VTXNinWV]

"Many (if not most) churches out there don't feel that the church pulpit is the proper venue for political activism."



I don't know... My church certainly tries to get 'digs' in about the war when possible. Preaching on the 10 Commandments and focusing on "Thou shalt not kill", having prayers for peace all through the week, etc. Never once offering prayers for our President and/or our military and its leaders. It made me so upset for them to do this, knowing that I have SEVERAL family members that are involved in this war! BTW, it was a United Methodist Church.

[dwswager]

First of all, the pastors don't get to decide what is a "just" war. Under Just War Doctrine, the closest appropriate civilian authority is the determining body. For The U.S., that is the U. S. Congress, not some pastor or even the Pope!

I've been having a ball with the liberals. When they blew thru all their lame liberal arguments and they didn't hold water, they started trying to use conservative arguments. It's actually ammusing watching a liberal expound on the benefits of real politic and Just War. What these jokers don't understand is that Just War obligates you to war for just causes as much as it inhibits you from unjust wars!

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Maybe the Methodists, but I doubt that you will hear such drivel from the Baptists or Mormons. I'm not sure, but I'm also inclined to give the Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists credit too. There is no more pacifist church than the Quakers, and yet I've never heard of them criticizing the war from the pulpit (though I may have missed that part).

[_Jim]

This kind of Pharasiacal arrogance is why people are just walking away from these churches.

I think it's beginning to be fair to say that 'my church has walked away from me' (if I may partially borrow a phrase from the political arena) rather than 'I have walked away from the church' - such a consideration in any case must be done so after a substantial amount of deliberation ...

I grew up in the era of the Soviet Union and the Vietnam War - and I still have as a character/moral-base the teachings of the church from that time. Presently I 'sense' a certain lack of perception and knowledge on the part of those in authority now as contrasted with what *I* know to the truth insofar as the "world's political and social state". This is distrurbing, puts me at odds with what I think are otherwise intelligent and educated *but mislead* (by our press) people.

This fits right in with a warning by one of the Popes and contains: "... when an unscrupulous press continually plays upon the minds of the people ..." (I have the exact quote and source written down somewhere from that point in my past when I researched such matters on my own)

[NathanR]

There is no more pacifist church than the Quakers, and yet I've never heard of them criticizing the war from the pulpit (though I may have missed that part).

The reason you missed it, is because the American Friends do not HAVE pulpits or preaching.

[mandingo republican]

http://www.geocities.com/nccwatch/
Find out the truth on Rev. Edgar and the NCC!

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

The reason you missed it, is because the American Friends do not HAVE pulpits or preaching.

Ah, quite understandable then.  Still, you have to admit that the Society of Friends prefers to keep their noses out of others' business.  They don't have the tendency to whine like certain Hollyweird types because their ice latte is served too cold at the local Starbucks.

[Poohbah]

"Turning the other cheek" had nothing to do with not engaging in self-defense. It had to do with not returning insult for insult.

[Politicalmom]

Do you think he recalls what the penalty is for a "prophet" who is not 100% correct?? : )

[George W. Bush]

Get a load of this!

Fortunately, the flocks didn't follow these false shepherds who told them to ignore the 'wolf'.

[sinkspur]

"Turning the other cheek" had nothing to do with not engaging in self-defense. It had to do with not returning insult for insult.

I know. But these goofy churchmen don't.

[Not Insane]

Maybe these "church leaders" need a dose of the BIBLE.

Ecclesiastes is a good start:

Ecclesiastes 3
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

This is the time for war.

[Poohbah]

How do you get a degree in Christian Theology without an indepth coverage of the culture and society in which Jesus lived and taught in?

I'm in shock and awe at the lack of knowledge out there on the pulpit.

[NathanR]

"Still, you have to admit that the Society of Friends prefers to keep their noses out of others' business"

Then you know nothing about the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) They are all about "Social Justice" and all that.

http://www.afsc.org/