-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Goanetters annual meet in Goa is scheduled for Dec 27, 2005 @ 4pm | | | |The Riviera Opposite Hotel Mandovi, Panjim (near Ferry Jetty/Riverfront)| | Attending.......drop a line to [EMAIL PROTECTED] | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Vidyadhar Gadgil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > "Peace on Earth" Means "No More War" by John Dear > > John Dear is a Jesuit priest, peace activist, and > the author/editor of 20 books on peace and nonviolence, > including most recently "The Questions of Jesus" and > "Living Peace," both published by Doubleday. He is > the coordinator of Pax Christi New Mexico. For > information, see: www.fatherjohndear.org and > www.paxchristinewmexico.org > > Published on Saturday, December 24, 2005 by > CommonDreams.org > http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1224-21.htm > > The story goes that when the nonviolent Jesus was > born into abject poverty to homeless refugees on the > outskirts of a brutal empire, angels appeared in the > sky to impoverished shepherds singing, "Glory to God > in the highest and peace on earth!" That child grew up > to become, in Gandhi's words, "the greatest nonviolent > resister in the history of the world," and was > subsequently executed by the empire for his insistence > on justice. > Mario observes: > I'm not sure what political version of Christianity would lead a Jesuit priest to refer to the new-born Jesus as "nonviolent", and to describe HIM as "born into abject poverty" to "homeless refugees", both of which are Biblical falsehoods. Joseph was a professional carpenter and he and Mary were not "homeless" nor "refugees", simply unable to find lodgings that night. One would think any priest would know this stuff. Or is Fr. Dear a political activist with an agenda? > The author continues: > > This weekend, as tens of millions of Christians > across the country celebrate the birth of the Prince of > Peace, the U.S. wages war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia > and elsewhere; crushes the hungry, homeless, elderly, > imprisoned and refugee; and maintains the world's ultimate > terrorist threat--its nuclear arsenal. > > Like Herod, Pilate and their soldiers, we have rejected the > angels' call for "peace on earth." When Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld > and their warmaking supporters celebrate Christmas, they mock > Christ and his steadfast nonviolence, and carry on the > massacre of the innocents. > Mario observes: > I wonder if Mr. Gadgil can post some of Fr. Dear's writings that may have confronted the REAL massacre of innocents, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens massacred by Saddam Hussein in his attempts to maintain his brutal dictatorship, 5,000 in a single chemical attack in Halabja, further hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians when he pre-emptively attacked Iran and Kuwait, and dozens of innocent Israelis who were killed by suicide bombers whose families were paid bounties of $ 25,000 each. > I'd like to know what Fr. Dear's did to confront the ongoing violence in Sudan, and previously in Rwanda and Burundi, Sierra Leone and Liberia. > I wonder what Fr. Dear had to say about the 3.75 million innocents massacred by the VietCong and Khmer Rouge after the US was coerced into a political retreat from Vietnam and Cambodia by people who think like Fr. Dear. > I wonder if Fr. Dear is aware that it was Osama Bin Laden who unilaterally and pre-emptively declared war on the US at the height of Bill Clinton's appeasement-oriented administration, and then levied a series of deadly attacks on US interests in NY, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and back to NY on 9/11? > I wonder if Fr. Dear knows that, just a few weeks ago, Alman al-Zuhawiri said that al-Qaeda's goal was to force the Muslim countries in the middle-east into a jihadi Islamist Caliphate which would defeat the west and finally achieve the 60 year goal of eliminating Israel? Has Fr. Dear written an essay objecting to this? Maybe Mr. Gadgil can confirm. > I wonder if Fr. Dear missed Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent confirmation of Iran's goal of "wiping Israel off the map"? Has Fr. Dear written an essay objecting to this? Maybe Mr. Gadgil can confirm. > Fr. Dear continues: > > If the angels are correct, then Christmas requires us to > welcome God's gift of peace on earth. In such a time, that > means we have to work for an end to war. Christmas calls us > to become like Christ--people of active, creative, steadfast > nonviolence who give our lives in resistance to empire and war. > Mario observes: > Maybe I missed this in my scriptual studies but where does our religion teach us that we must be selective in the violence that we oppose, tacitly supporting the violence of dictatorial tyrants by looking the other way, then "actively and creatively" opposing the US-led coalition trying to STOP the violence being perpetrated by the tyrants on innocent civilians in an attempt to deny them freedom and democracy. Does Fr. Dear's version of Christianity prefer that Muslims be terrified subjects of brutal dictators? > Fr. Dear writes: > > First, Christmas celebrates the birth of a life of perfect > nonviolence and calls us to become people of active > nonviolence. > Mario responds: > I don't think Jesus was as selectively nonviolent as Fr. Dear seems to be. BTW, didn't Jesus chase the money changers out of the temple, violently? Is this "perfect" non-violence? > Fr. Dear writes: > > Christmas puts poverty front and center and demands that we > work to abolish poverty itself so that every human being has > food, clothing, housing, healthcare, education, employment and > a lifetime of peace. > Mario responds: > I would like to see YOUR plan, Fr. Dear, for abolishing poverty. I guess you would support Robin Hood's approach, since Karl Marx's approach failed abysmally. > Fr. Dear writes: > > Third, since Christmas illustrates how God sides with the poor > in order to liberate the oppressed from poverty and injustice, > it calls us to reject greed, give away our money and
> possessions to those in need, and also live in solidarity with > the disenfranchised. > Mario observes: > I guess Fr. Dear has somehow missed noticing the conspicuous and obscene wealth that the Catholic Church wallows in. Has he ever been to Rome or Florence or Venice or Padua? Has he seen Pope Benedict XVI in Prada shoes, resplendant in gold and diamonds and ermine? Has Fr. Dear ever suggested that the Catholic Church eschew calling it's leaders Princes, and set an example by demolishing the sickening display of wealth at the Vatican and distributing it to the poor. > What is Fr. Dear's explanation for how the Catholic Church got from the manger that Christ was born in - in abject poverty to homeless parents according to his false and politically motivated descriptions - to the palaces of Rome run by the "Princes of the Church"? > Fr. Dear writes: > > From now on, we reject exclusivity, racism, sexism, and > discrimination of any kind, and embrace everyone as equal. We > stand on the margins with the excluded, the marginalized, the > outsiders and outcasts. From there, we envision a new > reconciled humanity. > Mario observes: > "From now on, we reject..."? Wow! Finally a tacit admission that "we" have done nothing all this time of what we preach. Now, apparently, it's time to act. > Fr. Dear writes: > > Fifth, as Gandhi pointed out, there is a straight line from > the crib to the cross. Christ practiced steadfast nonviolent > resistance to imperial injustice and was brutally executed. > That bloody outcome is crucial to the story, and calls us to > work for the abolition of the death penalty so that Christ > will never be crucified again and the killing stops once and > for all. > Mario observes: > I find it interesting that Fr. Dear is concerned about the few GUILTY criminals sentenced to die every year after over a decade of appeals to make sure of their guilt, and has not a word of compassion to say about the MILLIONS of innocent unborn who are torn limb from limb and thrown into the thrash every year. Is it because his fellow left wing radicals support this REAL and DEADLY "massacre of the innocents"? > Fr. Dear writes: > > Sixth, since the birth of Christ means that every human > life is beloved by God, that all human beings are God's > children, we have to treat every human being on the planet as > our very own sister and brother which means we must oppose war > and work for the abolition of war itself. In particular, we > denounce Bush's war on Iraq, demand that the troops return > home, and call for reparations and nonviolent solutions to the > horrors we have brought upon the people of the Middle East. > Mario responds: > Once again we see so clearly the selective tacit approval for the brutality of the tyrants, and opposition to those who are trying to STOP them from killing innocent Iraqi men, women and children in an attempt to deny them freedom and democracy. Fr. Dear seems as callously indifferent to the plight of innocent civilians as the pedophile priests were of their victims. > Fr. Dear writes: > > Seventh, if the angels celebrate the coming of "peace on > earth," that means they are environmentalists. We too have to > protect the earth, oppose its destruction, defend God's > creatures and the universe, and help make the earth a place of > peace for every life form. > Mario responds: > The angels are "environmentalists"? I wonder who protected the Earth all those millions of years before we puny humans showed up. Now "every life form" must be protected? I guess Fr. Dear is a vegan who uses a mask to protect germs from himself. But wait. Didn't one of our Indian scientists show that even plants are "living" creatures? I guess Fr. Dear must subsist on love and selective non-violenmce since even the air and water may have a "life form" that deserves protection. > Fr. Dear continues: > > Eighth, Christmas means working for the abolition of nuclear > weapons. These weapons are idolatrous and blasphemous. Their > very existence insults the God of peace and mocks the > nonviolent Jesus. We can't celebrate Christmas and at the same > time work at Los Alamos, Livermore Labs, the Nevada Test Site, > or the Pentagon, or be silent while this work goes on We > must reject this love or death and destruction, and pursue > life, the God of life, and a new world without nuclear > weapons. > Mario responds: > The political agenda becomes more apparent. Fr. Dear obviously objected to the nuclear weapons that stopped WW-II in 4 days, after over 4 years of mayhem and violence that killed millions in the attempt to STOP the brutal killings by the Nazis, Fascists and Imperialists. I guess Fr. Dear also tacitly supported the Nazis, Fascists and Imperialists, just as he tacitly supports the Islamo-fascists causing mayhem on innocent victims in the middle-east. > I wonder if Christ would approve of Fr. Dear's selective opposition to violence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------