Peace
From Cal Thomas: The Tom Fox Tragedy
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The motive of the activists was exposed in a statement from Christian Peacemakers Teams, under whose auspices Fox and the others traveled to Iraq. Spokeswoman Jessica Phillips said, "We believe that the root cause of the abduction of our colleagues is the U.S.- and British-led invasion and occupation of Iraq."Cal is right. He goes on to say: "The theology of Christian Peacemaker Teams is as wrong as its politics." Thomas then points out an example of Charles M. Brown, who was 19 when he fought in Operation Desert Storm, a conflict that repelled Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. After returning home he began working with the liberal Catholic Worker activists.
Strange thing about these peace movements: they rarely mobilize to oppose the killing, torture and imprisonment practiced by dictators. It is only when their own country attempts to end the oppression that the activists become active against America, not the initiators of evil. Peace, like happiness, is a byproduct, not a goal that can be unilaterally attained. Peace happens when evil is vanquished.
...he [Brown] tried to return to Iraq with a Chicago group called "Voices in the Wilderness," Brown says he was told by Iraqi government officials he could not speak about Saddam's "horrendous human rights record, (his) involvement with weapons of mass destruction (or) the dictatorial nature of the regime. We were allowed to speak only of one thing: the deprivations suffered by ordinary Iraqis under the sanctions regime."Thomas concludes by noting that evil cannot be accommodated, it must be defeated in order for peace to exist. Being a peace activist might "feel good" but it's a tragic misunderstanding of the nature of evil.
Brown says he realized this was pure Baath Party propaganda: "As I came to see this as a complicity and collaboration with one of the most abusive dictatorships in the world, I tried to get the rest of my group to acknowledge that our close relationship with the regime damaged our credibility. I failed to persuade them, so I quit."
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4 comments:
Where are the "Human shields" when you need them? You know, that shower who went to Iraq before the war started with the aim of stationing themselves in orphanages and hospitals so George Bush wouldn't bomb them. Their logic being that their lives were more valuable than Iraqi children and sick so George would find other targets (like military ones Duh!).
Needless to say they were horrified when Saddam decided to place them in fron of what he perceived to be more realistic targets.
Where are they now? Why aren't they in Iraq protecting the innocent today? Surely the Islamic terrorists would stop the violence if only these peacekeepers would ask?
Sadly, Cal Thomas shows his ignorance of basic Christian theology in saying "The theology of Christian Peacemaker Teams is as wrong as its politics."
Sadly, he didn't know Tom...I DID.
Well, anonymous, since you didn't identify yourself, I'm not going to put any faith in your claim to have known Tom.
And Christian theology, like most things, is open to interpretation. Cal and I happen to disagree with yours and Tom's.
As blood washes down the streets of the world, we need not pretend to be outraged over theological disputes.
After all, everytime we give an inch, a mile, a country - a people away we dig up all kinds of rationalizations ({theologies highest among them}; Kosovo I (1300's) to the Boyne to Munich 38' to Kosovo II in the 90's.)
Granted that history has witnessed horrors in sectarian violence; granted that prevailing selective influences of the times have rallied forces and, balancing the argument, have disarmed forces. We have evidence that conversion at the point of a sword is everyday history.
Allowing that, seeking legitimacy for political surrender through pacificism parsed through theological expressions is a form of unconscionable betrayel; equally perverse. If we don't see clearly the 'here and now' that threatens every practiced and interpretively variant theology but one, all the "kings horses and all the kings men", and all the sack-clothed penitents against violence will not even have standing room when sharia law reigns.
Yet, therein might be found the pacifists motivation: they choose to be victims and they relish in it. Their use of surrogate martyrs is the outrageous expense the rest of the world bears.
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