Media stuff
Al Jazeera English spent a day with us a while back before the tour and included us in a larger documentary they are doing on US politics. It is two parts: Here’s one, and here’s two. For all those folks who forward wacky emails about Osama rhyming with Obama and all that, it may be hard for them to believe that the Al Jazeera folks who interviewed us were not militant Muslims, but a Buddhist and an agnostic. Stereotypes certainly do keep many of us from giving things a chance. In fact, Al Jazeera covers a lot of news that other organizations seem a bit unlikely to cover; as their correspondent told us, they are particularly concerned for the voicing of the voices of the poor and oppressed.
It is hard to shake the tendency for news media to portray us merely as part of the political drama leading up to November. In our talks we explicitly denounce the urges to join in the tug of war for political power. Nevertheless, Al Jazeera included a good quote from Chris: “you cannot invoke the God of Jesus for the doing of violence.” He was subtly drawing from Wendell Barry who wrote,
In times of war, our leaders always speak of their prayers. They wish us to know that they say prayers because they wish us to believe that they are deeply worried and that they take their responsibilities seriously. Perhaps they believe or hope that prayer will help. But within the circumstances of war, prayer becomes a word as befuddled in meaning as liberate or order or victory or peace. These prayers are usually understood to be Christian prayers. But Christian prayers are made to or in the name of Jesus, who loved, prayed for, and forgave his enemies and who instructed his followers to do likewise. A Christian supplicant, therefore, who has resolved to kill those whom he is enjoined to love, to bless, to do good to, to pray for, and to forgive as he hopes to be forgiven is not conceivably in a situation in which he can be at peace with himself. Anyone who has tried to apply this doctrine to a merely personal enmity will be aware of the enormous anguish that it could cause a national leader in wartime. No wonder that national leaders have ignored it for nearly two thousand years.
Also, I don’t think we posted Mark Zimmerman’s interview with us over in Pittsburgh.
Posted in Uncategorized
July 17th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Hey Guys,
I met up with an old friend just the other day, and we got to talking about one of our favorite subjects: christian mysticism and monasticism, and the relevance of its practice today. I remembered reading about this crazy for Jesus guy named Shane a while back, and mentioned a bit about Simple Way, but I didn’t recall much of the info. So I googled you up when I went home, only to find out about this book Jesus for President, the tour, and the fact that you will be in Orlando THIS WEEKEND! How cool is that? Looking forward to hearing you at Discovery Church (I go to Emmanuel Episcopal, so I’ll be checking out Discovery for the first time as well). Safe travels and God bless.
Pax,
Greg Pyne
Orlando, FL
July 18th, 2008 at 4:26 am
I think this makes a lot of simplicity out of very complex issues. For one, the decision to send combat troops into war zones has never been a light decision on anyone.
The anguish shown by LBJ when he escalated US involvement in Vietnam was captured not only in photographs shortly thereafter, but in the spirit of the man as he stepped away from what was preeminent in his life–politics.
President George H.W. Bush said he had cried, while praying with his wife, over the decision to send combat troops into the Persian Gulf in order to expel the Iraqi Army in Kuwait.
There are similar reports of the current President Bush doing the same.
I agree that careful deliberation is required by Jesus, but the injunction is just that–deliberation. It’s not an ultimatum seeking to immanentize the eschaton in one swoop, but rather making sure that leaders seek guidance before important decisions.
It’s a prayer offered to God seeking wisdom of whether conflict is necessary–just as Pope Pius XII concluded that some things were so fundamental–”of such great value”–that they were worth defending “at any cost”.