“The gentle depressiveness of so many European and North American churches is their practical acceptance of militarism. They have no hope because they trust in the death-dealing peace of those who build up arms. Money and violence go together: Those who have made money their god must make security their national ideology and armaments their …
Continue reading “Guns, Militarism, and the Myth of Christian Empire”
“Truth is a question not only of what is but of what ought to be. What is, is determined by the existing societal relations of material production, with the ruling class controlling the means of production as well as the intellectual forces which justify the present political arrangements. What ought to be is defined by …
Continue reading ““Absolute Truth” and the God of the Oppressed”
“The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’” — Matthew 21:9 NRSV Today the Church remembers Jesus the Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. It …
“Peace that comes through the annihilation of the enemy is no peace at all.” — Padraig O’Tuama Peace through annihilation is the narrative of empire. In Jesus’ day, the Roman Empire spread propaganda so that conquered people would pledge loyalty to Caesar. Caesar’s preferred term for himself was “son of God”, and every time a …
Continue reading “Jesus or Caesar? The Way of Non-Violent Resistance”
“The deepest dark is not the place where grace goes to die but the deepest dark is the place where grace goes to be reborn.” — Alexander Shaia Many Indigenous cultures around the world for millennia have celebrated the winter solstice. It is a way to reflect on one’s reliance on the earth and the …
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”—Matthew 28:19 NRSV You could sense their fear confined behind those walls.The disciples of Jesus has just recently witnessed His death, resurrection and ascension and as you can probably imagine, they …
“You cannot discover lands already inhabited.” – Mark Charles The year was 1452. Pope Nicholas V passed a papal bull that laid the groundwork for the Doctrine of Discovery. This papal bull, called Dum Diversas, gave the Portuguese King Alfonso V the power to reduce pagans and Muslims to a state of perpetual slavery. Soon …
