e-zine for September 27, 2006
What Does Torture Cost You?

"Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature - that baby beating its breast with its fist, for instance - and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me, and tell the truth?"
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Brothers Karamazov

Torture is In-Effective and Un-Christian
By Ian Lawton

If you could pay the price of happiness for all people by inflicting untold suffering on just one baby, would you pay that price?

If the price of freedom for all Americans was the untold suffering of just one suspected terrorist, would we pay the price?

A recent poll analyzed attitudes towards torture of suspected terrorists. I was staggered to discover that American Christians are more likely to support torture than Atheists or Agnostics. Astonishingly, 3 of 4 Catholics justify torture under some circumstances, even though the official teaching of the Catholic Church is that torture is never justifiable under any circumstance.

This seems very odd. Christianity has a long tradition of teaching that all people are created in the image of God. Ephesians 4 says that God is all and in all. This is an unambiguous statement of universalism, ie. divine presence and value resides in all people.

Would we support torturing someone that we considered to be a vessel of divine presence and value? Would we support torturing someone that we considered to be a vessel of divine presence and value, even though they were suspected of terrorist involvement? Would we support violence towards a convicted terrorist on the basis that divine presence and value had left them?

There’s the rub and the theological challenge. Ephesians says God is in all, not just in the virtuous, however we define virtue. Genesis says all people were created in the image of God, not just the good ones, however we define good.

The way Ephesians was explained to me when I was 18 went like this- Ephesians was a letter written to a particular group of “believers”. Therefore God is present in all believers, however we define believers. This is textual gymnastics used to bend words to the preference of the group.

This won't do in 2006. Religious support of torture is unthinkable. Support of torture is “unchristian”. It's “unchristian” in the sense that the Biblical tradition is unambiguous that divine love is universal. If I can coin a clumsy phrase, torture is also “un-Progressive-Christian” from the perspective that harm done to anyone known or unknown is harm done to self and harm done to the Kosmos.

Religion has been successfully politicized in America. It’s now unpatriotic to see divine presence in terrorists. Christianity has become more about seeing good and evil clearly differentiated rather than being about universal compassion.

President Bush recently ‘prophesied’ a third great awakening of religious fervor that was coinciding with the confrontation of good and evil in the so-called war against terror. He said people are coming back to their religion for clarity. Is that what’s happening? Or is religion now just a tool to justify a political perspective, in this case the legalization of torture?

"Waterboarding," or near drowning of suspected terrorists, sleep deprivation, exposure to cold, bombardment with ear-splitting noises and other assaults that cause not just mental duress but physical agony are unchristian. If they are unchristian, then as Christians we should oppose them with all our might. As Progressive Christians, we uphold the unambiguous divine dignity of all people. Period. Progressive Christians must take leadership on this issue.

Of course there are other reasons to reject torture. It invites a cycle of hatred. Images from Abu Graib have become propaganda posters for the next generation of terrorists. Torture sets a precedent by reinterpreting the Geneva Convention. This violence could well come home to roost, however we define home. Torture elicits inaccurate information and sometimes it leads to suspects telling authorities what they want to hear to end the torment.

Stuart Herrington was a military intelligence specialist, involved in both Vietnam and Desert Storm interrogations. This is how he assesses the effectiveness of torture: torture, he says “is not a good way to get information.” He says that 9 out of 10 people can be persuaded to talk without forceful methods being applied. Torture has questionable effectiveness, and is a dangerous cycle to perpetuate.

However, the main reason that torture should be rejected is on the grounds of human rights. Christians should be fierce advocates of human rights. After all, God is all and in all, including suspected terrorists, and including known terrorists. God is all and in all. I can’t think of any other way of defining that than universal compassion and universal compassion unambiguously rejects torture under all circumstances.

I don’t know about you, but for me the answer to Dostoyevsky’s question is “no”! Happiness and freedom can never be experienced independently of our actions. Violence done to one human being destroys a piece of each of us and destroys a piece of the whole. With each act of torture, we all suffer, just as with each innocent casualty of war, we all die. The price is too high. Torture must cease immediately.

Ian's Bio:

Ian Lawton is the executive minister at Christ Community Church. Keeping an oversight of the whole ministry, as well as having a special interest in theological dialogue within the community brings him great fulfillment.

We say dialogue, as theology is less at C3/CCC a matter of being told what to think, or what is orthodox, and more a matter of thinking out loud alongside other journeyers. It is a process, a personal journey inward, a journey toward more healthy relationships and a corporate process toward a more enlightened and less violent world...

To Continue Reading Ian's Bio Click Here

Four Marks of a Compassionate Progressive Religion

This Sunday is the final sermon in our 4-part series on inspiration. Each week we have been asking the question 'What does your religious belief inspire in you?'

Two weeks ago Ian explained why these questions are important to him:

It doesn’t make all that much difference to me what you believe about particular Christian doctrines; my interest is how you believe. I believe the shift in the progressive religious movement is away from beliefs and creeds, and into practice. Practicing compassion. Practicing kindness. And so for these four weeks that we are in the middle of now, I’m asking you four questions, questions that you may ask of your particular beliefs:

1. Are your beliefs making you more self-aware, driving you on an inner journey of mindfulness?
2. Are your beliefs making you more compassionate?
3. Are your beliefs driving you to respect and honor nature and life’s processes more deeply?
4. Are your beliefs making your world larger, expanding the possibilities, and increasing your circle of embrace? Do the people you feel compassion for stretch beyond your family, your church community, your nation, in an ever-expanding embrace?

Join us this Sunday as we explore the fourth question on how your religion helps expand your consciousness and your circle of embrace.

Video, audio, and text versions of the previous sermons are available on our website.

(If you missed the sermon on September 17 on compassion, you will definitely want to check our archives, it was absolutely incredible!)

Pop Culture Will Eat Itself
By Brad Vander Ark

The Downfall of “Pop”litics

Recently Rosie O’Donnell joined the cast of ABC’s The View, and it did not take long for her to get into hot water. In her first week, she opined, "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state."

That may be a little harsh, but it is an interesting point to consider: While the majority of “radical” Christians would not prefer to see all of those people who disagree with them dead, where along the religious spectrum do you put Christians who bomb abortion clinics in the name of their “lord”?

President Bush recently said that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle against international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil." This is the point where Bush has crossed the line, by seemingly including his religious beliefs in his list of reasons to wage war.

Religious devotion is all fine and well, but when does such devotion become radical? I would argue that it happens at the point that anyone sees themselves as the “good” and anyone with differing views as the “evil”.

Rosie did not paint as broad a brushstroke as it may seem. President Bush’s comments would appear to confirm that he sees the war against terror as a holy crusade of sorts, and since his actions are perceived around the world as being on behalf of the American people, he has definitively blurred the line between church and state.

The underlying problem with O’Donnell’s comments is not so much the comments themselves, but rather the baggage that comes along with the messenger. She is seen in mainstream America as the celebrity lesbian who took up arms against the republicans on the issue of same-sex marriage. This is a quandary quite prevalent in Hollywood: Celebrities are largely seen as being out of touch, or hungry for publicity, or quite simply, as idiotic.

For instance, Paris Hilton was a major contributor to Sean “Puffy” Combs’ Vote or Die campaign in the last Presidential election, until it was revealed that Hilton had never voted and was not even registered.

Who in the entertainment industry can step up to speak and be intelligent and respected without being seen as radical or self-serving?

In Michael Moore’s film Bowling for Columbine, some of the most intelligent comments were made by musician Marilyn Manson, who, in the days following the shootings, was portrayed in the media as being a large part of the reason that the tragedy happened. In the film, Manson was reminded that on the day of the shootings, the U.S. dropped more bombs on Kosovo than on any other day, and responded, “I think that's really ironic, that nobody said 'well maybe the President had an influence on this violent behavior' Because that's not the way the media wants to take it and spin it, and turn it into fear, because then you're watching television, you're watching the news, you're being pumped full of fear, there's floods, there's AIDS, there's murder…it's just this campaign of fear.”

Fear, yes, but also shock, and the fascination of the American public with shocking news stories. Thanks, in no small part, to the O.J. Simpson trial, we now have to endure countless 24-hour cable news stations, each looking for the next scandal that they can tie to celebrity. Just a week ago, the death toll for American soldiers in Iraq neared 3000, and yet the FOX News Channel was devoting its entire primetime schedule to the mystery surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith’s son.

Rosie O’Donnell will continue to grab and hold the media spotlight, as long as she attacks the political and religious views of the current administration. The question is: Are her off-the-cuff comments actually being considered by the American people? Would she be taken more seriously if she had put some forethought into her opinion, and said something more direct, such as "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have a leader who is waging a war based on his personal religious beliefs”?

I believe that comment is true. I am certain that it is dangerous. Unfortunately, such an opinion would currently be considered too radical for a politician, during an election year in which the democrats are attempting to move closer to the center in order to attract less conservative, disillusioned Christian voters.

It is a shame that this opinion can only be expressed and spread to mainstream America by way of a celebrity. And consequently, dismissed.

Brad's Bio:

Brad Vander Ark is the Director of Audio/Video and Online Ministry at Christ Community Church. Brad oversees the sanctuary's sound room and video production, as well as updating and maintaining the C3 website.

Brad began his professional career as a musician, playing bass in several jazz and rock bands until 1991, when he and his brother Brian Vander Ark formed the group Johnny With An Eye, which in 1993 became The Verve Pipe.

The Verve Pipe became one of the most popular rock bands of the late 1990's, selling over 3 million albums and singles on the RCA Records label, as well as appearing on several television shows, including The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno....

Continue to Read Brad's Bio Here

Meditation of Awareness and Compassion

Enjoy this beautiful poem by Thich Nhat Hanh. Follow the link below to listen to the poem read by Hanh, a truly transformative experience.

Please Call Me By My True Names
Thich Nhat Hanh

Don't say that I will depart tomorrow –
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his “debt of blood” to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart
can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Audio of Thich Nhat Hanh

Search the Web and Raise Money for C3/CCC

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