THE ORGANIZED CHURCH'S COMPLICITY IN EVIL AND SIN

The Bible tells us that "pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a falll" (Proverbs 16:18), and no better is this truth seen than in this following article by Sr. Joan Chittister, sent to me by Bishop Leland Somers.  Part of this article that deals with the ravages put on people, including the stoning to death of a young woman who dated a boy of another religion, due to our unwarranted and illegal invasion of Iraq, reads as follows:

"The only problem is that they have been shouting that for years: Stop looking the other way when we're beaten or raped. Stop paying us less for the work we do as well, or better, than you do. Stop leaving us out of your deliberations about our lives. Stop telling us what our relationship with God is supposed to be and start asking us to tell you what it is. And now, stop murdering us for your pleasure, for your sense of proprietorship, for your honor and, finally, finally, recognize our own."

The "pride" and "haughty spirit" that characterizes the current Administration, with the all too willing complicity of the sycophants of the Democratic and Republican parties, have caused a conflagration in Iraq that will never be resolved in the forseeable future.  And that pride and haughty spirit characterizes the treatment of LGBT people both here and abroad as well! 

Oppression is of one piece!  As I've written so many times, when one group is oppressed, all other groups are at risk of being oppressed, and the oppression of women and LGBT people in Iraq is inextricably interwoven with the oppression of women and LGBT people in the U.S. and elsewhere, as it is inextricably interwoven with racism both here and elsewhere.  All of us are complicit in this conflagration, in this horror, in this unspeakable evil, in this unspeakable sin! 

This country voted for this Administration, and for the cowardly politicians who roll over for it, and choose to give a blank check that furthers the humiliation and annihilation of people.  We are the murderers, and our collective hands are bloodied by what is being done in Iraq in our name, just as it is being bloodied by the horrors visited upon LGBT people both in the U.S. and elsewhere when we remain silent in the face of such outrages! 

While most of the organized Church focuses on the theology of genital placement, and remains silent in the face of such outrages as seen in this article, and as seen in the treatment of LGBT people, it is not only irrelevant to the issues of the day, but is complicit in those corporate and personal sins that cry out to God for vengeance, and for which it is largely responsible, due to its silence in the face of such oppression, through its often destructive and hateful rhetoric, and through its enmeshment with the most reactionary forces in society.

So, sing your pious hymns, continue to raise money for building beautification, continue to concentrate and hammer on others' personal weaknesses, continue on in your incestuous socialization, continue to keep the juices flowing with sanctimonious and fiery rhetoric,  continue to ignore and/or encourage the corporate evil done in our name and, frequently, in the name of God, and continue to preach the false gospel of exclusion through the often hateful rhetoric that garners even more money for the collection plate.  And, falsely continue to call yourselves "Christians!"

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