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Gaza- how do we allow the violence to stand unchallenged?

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I was watching some footage of the violence in Gaza on the news today.

A house destroyed by a tank shell. A mother and three children still in the rubble.

Two small bays covered in blood and concrete dust carried into a hopelessly overwhelmed hospital, staffed by western volunteers. Lacking crucial supplies because of a blockade imposed by the same people who now send the bombs.

Ali posted a link to this film below. If you have any interest- sit down with a coffee and watch it through…

What are we to make of this?

There are two main perspectives it seems;

Israel the defender of the free against the forces of terror.

Israel came into being as a rag tag group of survivors of a Nazi Holocaust took control of their own fate. The Jewish Diaspora was called home, to the land promised by Yahweh.

From the very beginning, they faced overwhelming odds- first the British ‘peacekeeper’ force, who were overcome by the gallant Zionists (albeit using terror tactics.) Then, outnumbered several times, they fought back attacks from every point of the compass by the surrounding Arab nations.

These surrounding nations could not accept the reality of a re-established Jewish nation, and so set themselves on a war footing- committed to driving Israelis into the sea, and returning Palestine to the Palestinians.

But Israel got tough. It’s fighters tenacity and idealistic strength were more than a match for anything the Arabs could throw at them, so the Arabs turned to terrorism.

So Israel fights on still- sending planes and tanks into the hills and streets of Lebanon, and Gaza- in measured, professional response to the missiles launched and the suicide bombers sent.

Israel the victim, striking back.

This view of Israel seems to find a ready home within some Christian groups- most notably, right wing Evangelicals. I have always struggled to understand this. As far as I can make out, this seems to be for a lot of reasons;

  • Theological reasons- Modern Israel is seen through a set of Old Testament goggles. Israel is the promised land of the Jews, and so God will always favour Israel.
  • Escatological reasons- there are understandings of the ‘end times’ predicted by the book of Revelation that centralise Israel- as a necessary stage for the final dramas of the Human Race. As such, the watchers and readers of the coming great tribulation seem to value their understanding of this Biblical prophetic work more highly than human life- or at least, Arab human life.
  • Political reasons- the American Religious Right has become a powerful political force. Mingled in with this is a strong bias towards Israel- perhaps for the reasons above- perhaps also because of other business interests- that familiar relationship between political and economic power. The accommodation with the spirit of the age that the Book of Revelation may also be understood to be commenting on.
  • A lack of understanding because of a media bias. The film above makes this point very strongly. To hear a journalist of the stature of Robert Fisk describe just how strong the media blackout has been on any critical news reports describing Israeli aggression gives more than a little pause for thought.
  • A willingness to believe ‘Christian’ sources, and discount any information that emanates from contradictory sources- such as Amnesty International, the Red Cross, or even Christian Aid.

So- to the second understanding…

Israel the aggressor, the war criminal.

Here a different Israel can be seen.

A people formed in terrible adversity who went from the victims of genocide, to the perpetrators of terrible human rights abuses within a single generation.

This is a story of UN resolutions ignored. Of internationally recognised borders ignored. Of property and land destroyed and violated. Of thousands of women and children murdered.

And of an allegiance with the worlds only remaining superpower, with an unlimited supply of armaments.

Of thousands killed in the refugee camps of Lebanon. Rockets and shells fired into densely populated slums- full of civilians.

Of an on going occupation of the West bank, and Gaza- against specific UN resolutions. Whose brutalised young people, raised on stories of martyrdom and oppression, lacking opportunities for work, or the hope of any kind of stable life. Lacking all the advantages of a people who live the other side of the fences and walls that surround them- these young people then turn to the very violence employed by zionist terrorists only 50 years ago.

They put bombs on buses and in hotels. They strap explosives to their bodies and walk into school yards.

What should our response be?

I am a follower of Jesus. In his name, we stand as peace makers, healers, chain breakers and bringers of sight to the blind.

No-one carries a sword in the name of the Prince of Peace. Even if many (starting with Peter in the garden) have made that terrible mistake.

So let us stand with Jesus with the poor and oppressed- wherever they are, and whomsoever is the oppressor. Let us seek to understand, and never call this weakness. Let us seek to love, and never call this treason. Let us seek to reconcile and never call this surrender to terror.

And let us raise voices that hold to account those who wield the sword over the weak. Let us be never accommodate and excuse evil- even when it is wrapped in a flag, or the ideology of freedom.

Let us also remember some of the followers of Jesus who remembered the way of the Kingdom under terrible oppression.

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else? The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars… Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Quotes from Martin Luther King



2009- it’s here. Rejoice.

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dscf3435

I have had a lovely few days of celebration, music and laughter.

Every year, out house fills up with friends for a NY house party. Rooms accumulate gatherings stratified according to a fluid set of gender/age/interest divisions. Someone is perpetually brewing/ cooking/playing music/theologising or leading a party of kids out for an expedition into the great outdoors…

Nights become well used and long, sleep is snatched only when necessary, and we eat too much, and drink not a little- but, to be honest, as we are mostly too prone to hangovers- tea is the favourite tipple these days.

Highlights for me this year were;

  1. Walks into the hills with kids. We gave out digital cameras, and instructed the groups to take photos of things beginning with every letter of the alphabet. Some very hilarious and creative offerings followed- my favourites were Z for Zit (plenty of teenagers, so no probs finding one!) and Q for queue. Andy put the photos in a slide show, and we showed them on a big screen later.
  2. Music. Sometimes when you try to make music together, it is hard and difficult. Not this time. We had keyboard, guitars, bouzouki, flute, fiddles whistles and percussion. Oh- and perhaps most of all, we had a room full of kids who loved every minute of it! ‘Wild thing’ and ‘In the Jungle, the mighty jungle’- dreadful songs both, with live long in memory.
  3. And talking of memory- I really think that experiences like this create collective memory. things that, once shared, become something of who we are. It seems all the more special that it involves the kids.
  4. Kids plays. this years offerings were ‘the monster in the cupboard’ who just seems to enjoy killing children- very blood thirsty, strong on characterisation, but not on plot development. Then there was the talent show- ‘Williams room’s got talent’. Let us just say that I thoroughly deserved minus 2004 points.

There was one other more complicated part to the gathering. Neil, who would have loved this weekend, was not here. But to have the chance to have long conversations with Sheila, his wife, was precious.

So my friends, far and near- may 2009 be a blessing to you. May you construct good memories that build health and life. And may you remember the difficult broken things with love and care. And may you move forward…

In hope.

Some photos;

Christmas through the eyes of a small boy…

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Christmas has passed…

We have had a lovely time- just the four of us for the most part- a rare and lovely thing.

Today we spent pottering in the house and garden- finishing some wallpapering in our bedroom, changing some taps and stacking logs. The kids had a lazy lazy day and did not even get out of their PJ’s.

We bought Will a camera. I downloaded some of his photos. It was an interesting insight into the mind and preoccupations of a small boy at Christmas time…

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The spiritual discipline of no longer coping…

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not-coping

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your own pleasures, your own ways of coping, and follow the way of the cross.

Walk close with me…

If you insist on saving your life- you will just end up losing it.

You will just end up WASTING it.

Only those who are prepared to lose it all for my sake, and for the sake of my Kingdom, will ever know what it really means to LIVE…

From Mark 8:34-35.

Heres a question: Is it possible that the things we do to enable us to survive, or to socialise-even to succeed- easily become the seeds of our downfall? Perhaps the stuff that insulates us from one another, and from God?

I have thought about this a lot. It is one of those many areas where my understanding of God has been enhanced by my work with people who have mental health problems.

You see, perhaps the most influential therapeutic approach today is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). CBT encourages us to look at the way our thoughts, emotions, actions and physical sensations interact to form repetitive feedback loops that can be enslaving and extremely difficult to escape.

That is not to say that these loops are always dysfunctional. The truth is, much of how we engage with the world about us seems to be built on these things. We find ways, sometimes at a very early age, of managing the interface with the stresses and strains of life, and these tend to just continue into adulthood. For most of the time, this is just how it is- we do not need to examine this in any detail.

One of the things that CBT therapists will look for as we try to help people are ‘safety behaviours’. These are the things we do to enable us to get through. Of particular significance, and introducing the most complication, are those things we get into to cope with SOCIAL risks- that most subtle of human response to the risk of exposure, ridicule an embarrassment.

For some people, the safety behaviours may be highly damaging- drugs, alcohol, dependency on sex, or imprisonment in abusive relationships. For some, violence and anger become their defining emotion- enabling them always to be right.

For many of us, they may include more manageable, but still potentially unhelpful ways of keeping the world at bay- food, stuff that makes us feel good for a while, possessions, the pursuit of recognition and significance…

Then there are even more of us who appear to be doing OK. We have our things, our successes, and our projects. We know where we are going, more or less, and who we are going there with. We can cope with most of what life throws at us, because we are moving on our own tram lines- we have bought a ticket, and the only way is forward…

For those of us in the latter group, it is often only CRISIS that makes us take stock.

That makes us look at the safety behaviours we wrap ourselves in, and ask whether they are worth holding on to.

When I look at the passage above from Mark’s gospel, I wonder if Jesus knew all about this. I wonder if he understood that life lived for nothing is no life at all. That life insulated from people and from God is a lesser existence. That life where safety-comes-first will only ever be half life.

So I wondered about the need for us all to STOP coping.

To stop being in control.

To step outside the treadmill of the expected, the predictable, the manageable.

Into the great glorious unknown.

Where God is.

Community puzzle… the meaning of Christmas.

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dscf3352

I am part of a Christian arts group called Aoradh– a small group of people who try to be creative in our celebration of faith, and our engagement with our context.

Today we set up shop in a the Crown Court Cafe Bar (thanks Brian!), and invited people to take part in a Community puzzle.

This meant going round local shops and businesses, as well as stopping people in the street, and offering them a blank jigsaw piece, and asking them to decorate it somehow with something that represented their view of Christmas.

We also used this as a fund raiser for the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS). It looks as though we made about £500!

Here are some pics;

Christmas films…

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Now is the season of bad TV.

(That is perhaps unfair I suppose- bad TV may well be open-season!)

But pretty soon the airwaves will be full of those dreadful ‘Christmas Special’ programmesl. I hate that saccharine, mawkish way that the media folk make TV-about- TV. A slice of self referencing that assumes that the whole world is contained within our viewing tubes…

And of course, Jesus will not be mentioned in any of this. There will be all the other cliches- snowmen, santa’s, robins and sleighbells. There will be dancers in red fish net stockings, and the occasional oblique reference to ‘Goodwill to all men’.

But lest this descend even further into rant central, let me make a slight confession. I am a sucker for a certain kind of sentimental Christmas film.

Not the blockbuster kind- the ones that are made for the mass market. I avoid them like the plague ( and I suspect they would give me a nasty rash!) Rather, those American B movies, made somewhere in the snowy midwest, with a family (or an orphan, or a single mother…) in crisis, then goes through a trial, only to be redeemed about 5 mins before the end, which gives time for them to gather around a fireside and sing Carols.

Curiously, John Denver is in a lot of them…

They make me cry. In a good way.

I think I like them because they are an antidote to some of the Christmas madness, and have at heart something simple and wholesome- if totally manufactured.

One film that is almost guaranteed to start the waterworks is this one;

a_hobos_christmas
This film takes the story of a man who abandoned his family, but 25 years later, after a life as a tramp, decides he has to see his son again before he dies. Cue cute grandson, trim loving daughter in law, and bitter, but essentially good son, who when he realises who the odd-job man really is, kicks him out. But of course, it does not end there.

You know where it is heading don’t you? Back to that fireside and the singing of carols…

Lovely.

But recently I came across the ultimate antidote to those Christmas blockbusters I mentioned earlier- you know the type, Miracle on elf street, or one in which Rudolf learns to fly after accidentally crashing Santa’s sleigh into the toy workshop…

I have confessed before to a love of the Coen Brothers films. Almost every one is brilliant. When I realised that they had made a Christmas film then I had to see it

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This film is extremely funny, but it also takes the genre, and subverts it wonderfully. Here is a drunk, a thief, a womaniser and a gambler (played brilliantly by Billy Bob Thornton) who somehow makes us all root for him. it is full of profane one liners, and slap stick humour.

There is a kid in there- but cute he ain’t, and although it has a happy-ish ending, it is a Coen brothers happy ending, so it leaves you chuckling…

If you share a house with anyone who might wish to fill Christmas with Strictly-come-dancing-x-factor-big-brother-I-am-so-not-a-celebrity-but-I-do-try-so-hard kind of programmes, take some time out.

Get yourself one of these DVD’s.

And if you think they are rubbish, well there is always the Coronation Street pantomime special. Probably.

The universal declaration of human rights, and Jesus…

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On December 10, 1948 (60 years ago today) the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This incredible document was written as a response to the horrors of the second world war, and brought the hope of a

Eleanor Roosevelt with a Spanish Language version of the UNDHR, 1949

Eleanor Roosevelt with a Spanish Language version of the UNDHR, 1949

council of nations who would regulate the governance of the people of the world by a new, commonly agreed yardstick.

I have heard and read several discussions about whether this document has really made any difference to the people of the world. After all, the imperative to support and to enforce it remains the prerogative of the superpower of the age- and at present, we have only one- the United States of America.

For the past 60 years, the tradition of convenient alliances and an acceptance of all sorts of injustices for the sake of political expediency has continued in a way that seems indistinguishable from the preceding 60 years.

And even if the world was willing to unite behind a military solution to uprooting a despotic regime- and after all there are still plenty of these around, even if only a few ever make the media front pages- do we think that violence is the answer?

Does violence not only ever bring legitimacy to more violence?

And then, of course, the lawyers get involved. The UN declaration found it’s place alongside other other national and federated law- the European Convention on Human Rights for example. A huge machinery of sophistry was the inevitable, if necessary, outcome.

So, is this anniversary to be celebrated?

outlawed_guantanamo

One discussion I listened to brought me up sharp. A commentator said something like this;sermon-on-the-mount

…of course, the declaration is a bit like the sermon on the mount- it is aspirational. No-one ever expects that it will work in the real world.

Of course, I beg to differ on the sermon on the mount.

I think the words that Jesus left us with from Matthew 5 are far more than aspirational, they define for humanity the very best of what we are, and could ever be. They set a direction of travel and a yearning for better things. And they start from a heart to heart connection with something blessed and eternal. Something undefinably GOOD.

And in that moment a Kingdom like no other finds it’s foundations.

Of course, we fail. And the systems that try to organise a response to these words in the form of church and state- well they fail too.

They fail because of legalism, and because of indifference. They fail because of the idolatry of accommodation and compromise.

They are very different documents- the words of Jesus as quoted by Matthew, and the great humanistic declaration drafted by Canadian Lawyer John Peters Humphrey .

But perhaps their application might find some commonality.

Here are the words in full- you decide!

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Last resort

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trident

Whilst continuing with our project to finally have a bedroom that it is possible to enjoy being in, I was listening to Radio 4. Highly recommended for entertainment whilst grouting tiles…

Todays offering was a programme called The human button.

It was all about the people whose job it is, either as politicians or members of the armed services, to potentially bring death to millions. They interviewed men who flew Vulcan bombers in the 1960’s, signing a receipt for their Blue Streak Nuclear missiles before take off. Unimaginable destruction in the hands of a 24 year old man.

But the most fascinating bit of all concerned a little known bit of British Armageddon etiquette, called ‘Letters of last resort’.

It seems that one of the first jobs each incoming Prime Minister is to be given instruction about the operation of Britain’s 4 Trident nuclear submarines- one of which is kept at sea at any one time, as a so-called ‘deterrent’ to any other nuclear power that should have itchy fingers over their own big red buttons.

And one of the things they have to do, is to write a letter, in their own handwriting, to each of the 4 submarine Captains. These ‘letters of last resort’ give final instruction to the Captains, should it’s line of command have been destroyed by a nuclear attack- in other words, if all of us (and our Prime Minister) are dead.

The options that the Prime Ministers have are;

  1. Retaliate
  2. Do not retaliate
  3. Place yourself under the command of the USA or Australian Governments

Few Politicians have ever revealed what instructions their letter contained. The letters are destroyed, unopened, at the change of an administration. One Prime Minister however, Jim Callaghan, revealed that he would have retaliated. Another Labour politician, Dennis Healey suggested he would not have done, as at that point the primary purpose of a nuclear deterrent would already have failed.

I find it comforting and terrifying in equal measure that even this potential last act of the human race is so… human.

The shadow cast by the cold war passes by our house every couple of months as the black menacing shapes of the Trident submarines leave the Clyde and head out on their dreadful patrols.

If we have no politician who would stop this madness, let us at least hope for people whose last resort is not to rain down death on other people’s children.

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how you respond to violence depends on how you choose to understand it…

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A quote from some bloke interviewed on radio 4 in relation to the latest terror attacks in India…

Inevitably, the media have been calling this awful event ‘India’s 911’.

The awful thing is that India is not unused to terror attacks- they seem to have been a constant throughout the post-Raj history. Most of these terrible things pass almost unnoticed in the west. Who remembers this from 2006 for example-

A series of seven explosions killed at least 174 people on crowded commuter trains and stations Tuesday evening in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, police said.

Officials said at least 464 people were injured in the blasts in the city’s western suburbs as commuters made their way home. All seven blasts came within an 11-minute span, between 6:24 and 6:35 p.m. (12:54 and 1:05 p.m. GMT).

Analysts are comparing the attack with the mass transit bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London last year, saying they all involved a series of mutiple blasts and were well-coordinated.

Check out the details here…

These attacks are a little different, as they strike at the heart of India’s elite- the seat of financial power in Mumbai.

Who was responsible? No-one is sure. Al Qaeda has been suggested, although they always are. Religion and it’s power to convince people that the ends are justified by the terrible means always seems to have a part to play (check out earlier post about religious fundamentalism.)

India will blame Pakistan. They always do. And the whole world watches them looking at each other down a nuclear barrel…

Which brings me to my point. What should our response be to such dreadful violence- our personal response, and our collective response?

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Britain too has had it’s share of terrorism. For the past 40 years or so, it was related to Ireland. Now we seem to be a breeding ground for a new generation of terrorists who grow up as part of a disaffected  ethnic underclass.

When terrible things happen, there seems that governments have to be seen to ACT. This is one of the ways that democracy works. We want our governments to be active and decisive in the protection of our way of life- or at least governments think we want them to do this.

The debate becomes simple. We are under attack, we must fight back. We must not let them get away with this.

The outcome of this seems to be that Governments in turn are able to justify terrible acts in REACTION.

Almost like revenge. Payback.

A whole language set evolves- that ludicrous term ‘the war on terror’ is but part of this.

America had it’s own dreadful day of terror-

911

It was a day when the whole world held its breath, and in that instant, history found a fulcrum.

What happened next? Wars in Afghanistan, which once started will now go on, and on.

A war in Iraq, which was sold to members of the public on a set of fears that have now been found to have no basis in truth.

And a suspension of human rights, in the name of international security. State sponsored torture and detention without trial.

Shortly after 911, Brian McLaren wrote an open letter to President Bush. I remember reading it, and feeling proud that Christians-followers in the way of the King of peace- could raise their voices for justice and love and understanding, even in such a time as this. I think that this is our calling.

Never to condone, but always seek to understand. Never to accept that violence is the answer to violence. And that healing is possible, even for the most broken.

I have searched for a copy of Brian McLaren’s letter, to see how what is to be made of it with hindsight, but can’t find it (anyone out there know where I can find it?)

I think that we can already guess what history will remember most about Bush and Blair, and the stain of Guantanamo in a time when imperialism was resurgent.

One Christmas tradition that still makes me cry…

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I just found myself caught up again in an advert for the Salvation Army Christmas appeal.

I have worked with Salvation Army projects in England. They have to survive in a harsh social care environment. The advert describes the familiar cutting edge of the work they do with street sleepers.

I know all the arguments- people end up on the streets for all sorts of reasons, and need to be facilitated to help themselves- out of the destructive cycles that brought them there. Well meaning sticking plasters don’t work in complex social crises.

But if I was down to the bottom of me, and found myself on the street, a hot drink and a hand on my shoulder would be no token. It might get me up the next day.

A cup of sweet tea on a cold night might not change the world, but the hand that served it might be the start of something called hope.

And a thick blanket will never wrap the worries of a generation, but a young girl whose bright lights have gone dark might instead find grace.

And if some stinking socks are removed and twisted toes are unbound in a warm soapy bowl, there will be no world peace. But it might being peace to one persons world, for a while…

So go on- out with the credit cards.

And the flugel horns.