benedson

The Pope, Mission and Unity

The Pope has come and gone, and after four days of media focus on him I'm begining to articulate some of my thoughts about his visit. I was initially quite alarmed at many of the anti-pope comments that were posted of facebook, not by atheists, but by protestant Christians.  Many of these were due to the Pope's ethical stance on issues such as abortion, contraception and homosexuality and other comments due to the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the church.  On these issues my socially liberal leanings, and desire for justice, I agree with the opinion that the the catholic church has got it very wrong.

However, I was still alarmed at the anti-pope rhetoric that was being used by so called missionally minded Christians.  I think that unity plays a very significant part in our theology of mission, and hence when I see division being created through language or action I have to question it.  My theology of mission says that mission is an overflowing of the love of a Trinitarian God, a love that grows out of the unity of the father, son and spirit. It is that unity that enables the mission to happen, enables the son to be sent, as without that unity the son is not sent from a place of love.  Mission and Unity go together. 

How then do I, as a protestant Christian, relate to the Pope?  Do I ask to be ex-communicated from Rome?  Do I insist on calling him Jospeh rather than Benedict?  No,I think that I strive for unity - unity in diffence - but in that unity I carry the hurt and the pain of the people abused, the gay people, those who have had abortions and I cry with them in their hurt.  I stand with the hurt people in the Catholic church feeling let down by their Priests, confused by their Pope but striving for a better world and a more just society.  Somehow I convinced that seeking a common sense of unity and standing with my rather conservative brother is what I am called to do rather than pointing the finger and saying that my denomination is better than yours.

The plank in Obama's eye

I'm getting a bit sick of the sanctimonious blame that Obama is placing on BP about the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The oil spill is an environment disaster and I don't want to downplay that, BP may have cut corners, they may have underestimated the extent of the spill but the US needs to acknowledge that it is by far the biggest consumer of oil and therefore it is in-part responsible for creating the demand that has led to deep water drilling. 

Driving huge cars, flying everywhere, producing packaging has environmental consequences in the medium and long term, drilling for oil feeds that demand - but when it goes wrong it has short term environmental consequences.  The choice that we make drive that need and rather than point the finger at someone else let us change our behaviour so that we are not responsible for the demand. 

In the Old Testament there are times when disaster brings about change in behaviour but I have the feeling that this disaster will not bring about a change in behaviour.  Rather than putting so much energy into the 'blame game' why doesn't Obama start a process when the people take collective responsibility for what has happened with the hope of bringing about a change in behaviour. Let's concentrate on the plank in our own eye before pointing at the speck in someone elses (even if the speck is a rather big one...).

The fall of the wall and an alternative ideology

I've been watching a bit of the coverage of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It was great to re-live the moment that the wall fell and see the people who had been held captive by it free.  Let me be clear, I think that the Berlin wall was a terrible symbol of a divided world and I was pleased to see it fall, but I miss an alternative ideology.

I was also watching the secret history of the wall a few days ago and it showed a number of people who moved to the East because they believed in the ideology.  They wanted to be part of establishing a new utopia.  The socialist ideology that drove them was quickly corrupted, and eventually the wall collapsed and western capitalism dominated.   Western capitalism has been the dominant force since, all the Easter Block countries quickly moved to a capitalist system with the only communist countries being dictatorships.

I want to know where the new ideologies are?  Where the new utopia dreams are?  And I want a coherent dream of the whole of society, not a fundamentalism, not a far left or far right wing view of it. In fact I don't want something that identifies itself as left or right, I want something that moves beyond division into togetherness...can some one point me in the right direction?  

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: BenEdson, TheWall

Redemptive violence and the twin towers ship

This is all wrong. 

I heard about this on the news a few moments ago, steel from the twin-towers has been salvaged and used in a war ship - The USS New York.  Immediately it reminded me on Walter Wink's myth of redemptive violence; it is as if by using the steel to create a war ship the steel is being redeemed.  Relatives have commented that it is a way of honoring those who died, I think the memory of those who died is being violated.

Not only that, it is also provocative to the extreme, it says even though you attack us we will use the wreckage of that attack to attack you back.  Even though you destroy our buildings we will use the wreckage to destroy you. 

I know that many will argue that war-ships bring peace but sorry, I don't believe that through violence we find peace.  Why could the steel be used to create something of beauty?  I am reminded of the Gun Sculpture commissioned by Christian Aid a few years ago, where the guns were put out of use and made into a beautiful sculpture.

Tags: BenEdson, Redemptiveviolence, twintowersship

Nick Griffin - Texts of Terror - Immigration

Question time last night was monumental.  A commentator on Radio 4 this morning equated it to Frost/Nixon, personally I think that's stretching it a bit but it was fascinating political viewing.

Nick Griffin's view were repulsive.  I was expecting to be repulsed, I was expecting him to be a racist, islamaphobic, homophobic bigot and he proved that he was.  Yet, none of these areas attack me personally, I am a white Christian straight guy - I watched as my left liberal self, ideologically and theologically opposed to what he was saying but never feeling directly attacked. 

And then he called used the word 'Christian', when defending why he thought that Islam was 'Wicked' claiming that the British wanted a country based on 'Christianity' and this in effect us what he was offering. 

When talking about sexuality he said 'that a lot of people find the sight of two grown men kissing in public really creepy. understand that homosexuals don't understand that but that's how a lot of us feel, Christians feel that way'.

I feel my faith has been violated by the hatred of this man.

I was struck by the way that he selected particular texts from the Koran, divisive texts, texts that will breed hatred.  Texts taken out of context, not just of the Koran but of the faith tradition within which they were placed. Yet, his use of them was still powerful,  none of the audience of panel responded directly to his three 'texts of terror'.  They were ignored and by doing do I feel that they bred hatred, fundamentalisms and division.

Sayeeda Warsi managed to wind me up aswell with her views on imigration.  Her views were that Britian needs the most skilled and gifted imigrants so that we can use their skills, my views are that we need the most broken and marginalized imigrants so that we can restore their human dignity.

And as for Jack Straw...what a blithering wreck.

Tags: BenEdson, QuestionTime.DickGriffin

Fire on the wall of Gaza

I was reading Amos yesterday, thrown up by the lectionary, which speaks about fire on the wall of Gaza. 

Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Gaza,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they carried into exile entire communities,
   to hand them over to Edom.
⁷So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,
   fire that shall devour its strongholds.

Obviously my mind was drawn to the current conflict in Gaza, which is vexing me a lot at the moment, partly because I think that it is very simple but also very complex.  Simple - Israel should stop bombing now.  Simple - They should fully recognize the Palestinians right to the land and seek ways of living  together.  Complex - US foreign policy, Israeli elections, Zionism, War on Terror, Hammas, rocket attacks, use of language, WW II, Jewish diaspora, Imperialalism, empire building...

It is almost like the Israeli's are reading  Amos 1 without then reading Amos 2 which speaks of God's judgement on Israel for trampling the poor of the earth...

For three transgressions of Israel,
 and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they sell the righteous for silver,
   and the needy for a pair of sandals—
they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
   and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same girl,
   so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar
   on garments taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink
   wine bought with fines they imposed.

Metaphorically 'Father and Son do go into the same girl' Gaza being the girl and the generation after generation oppressing her.  The poor are trampled, or bombed, into the dust and God's holy name is profaned through this.

And judgement will come on Israel with more suicide bombers, more bus bombers, more hate, more violence, more death, the cycle of violence must stop.

Tags: Gaza, Ben Edson, Amos

The 'new' anti-semitism

My previous post suggested that some of the anti-Israel feeling could be partly down to an anti-american/republican ideology.  Jonathan Sachs takes it further saying that there is a new anti-semitism...

Tags: israel, gaza,

Anthropocentric Environmentalism

I was recently having a conversation with a person regarding environmentalism and how within Christianity there has been a move towards being 'good stewards' of the environment in the past few decades. I also had a conversation with a person from one of the leading Christian aid agencies, who was saying that when they are campaigning on the issue of global warming they always emphasize the human cost of environmental damage. For example how the people in the poorest parts of the world, such as Bangladesh or Niger, have suffered the most due to adverse weather conditions cause by climate change. There is a great human cost to environmental damage and this is tragic.

However, I'd also suggest that theologically there is something askew if the only way we can raise awareness of environmental damage is by highlighting the human cost of it. It defines our relationship with the planet in an anthropocentric way, it places humanity solely at the centre of the creation and unfortunately this has been the cause of environmental destruction for centuries.

I do think that humanity has a unique place within creation, i think that the image of God is reflected in humanity. But I also think that the image of God is reflected in the environment, in the complexity of the city and in the beauty of the countryside. Environmental concern cannot be a means to an end - even if that ends is incredibly noble - it must be for the sake of the created order alone, because the created order is a gift to us from God.

On the flip side, I had a conversation with a person from a new age perspective about HIV/AIDS in South Africa and her response shocked me. She viewed HIV/AIDS as 'necessary birth control', there was no compassion for humanity within her response. It was as if God was fully recognized in the creation but not in humanity; you cannot hug a tree and not hug a person dying of an AIDS related illness.

Technorati Tags: Ben Edson, Current affairs, environmentalism

Sir Salman Rushdie

I was quiet surprised to see that Salman Rushdie was nighted in the Queen's Birthday honours. I'm not sure why some people get honours and others do not, but surly a man who has alienated the Global muslim community should not be honoured in this way. There is so much talk of community cohesion at the moment and so much tension since 9/11 that surely a move like this can only be seen as divisive.

I realise that Rushdie has written far more than just the satanic verses, but this is his most famous book at this is the book that cause all the controversy. I will defend Salman Rushdie's right to write the book, but by giving him a knighthood sends out all the wrong messages at this religiously sensitive time.

Technorati Tags: Salman Rusdie, Queen's Honours

Saddam, Kes and Redemptive violence

I went to the Sanctus1 film night last night where we watched Kes - the classic 1969 Ken Loach film. It struck me throughout that problems were often solved through violence, Billy was caned, given a cold-shower and hit by his brother all in an attempt to punish him and make him change his ways...I was then driving home and whilst listening to the radio heard that Saddam had been sentenced to death.

Commentators often claim that Saddam sought to rebuild Babylon and re-establish it as a great power in the world, and hence there is a tragic irony that 'redemptive violence' (the central myth of Babylonian religions according to Wink) will be his ultimate downfall. According to Wink, Babylonian religions taught that the way to deal with our enemies is by exterminating them. Violence was, for the religion of ancient Mesopotamia, the central dynamic of existence.

And now Iraq is a more violent place than it ever has been and Saddam is going to be hung. I can't help but think that this could be an opportunity to break the myth and move forward constructively.

Technorati Tags: Saddam