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Where Were You When They Crucified My Movement?
Chris Hedges gave an abbreviated version of this talk Saturday morning in Liberty Square in New York City as part of an appeal to Trinity Church to turn over to the Occupy Wall Street movement an empty lot, known as Duarte Square, that the church owns at Canal Street and 6th Avenue. Occupy Wall Street protesters, following the call, began a hunger strike at the gates of the church-owned property. Three of the demonstrators were arrested Sunday on charges of trespassing, and three others took their places.
The Occupy movement is the force that will revitalize traditional Christianity in the United States or signal its moral, social and political irrelevance. The mainstream church, battered by declining numbers and a failure to defiantly condemn the crimes and cruelty of the corporate state, as well as a refusal to vigorously attack the charlatans of the Christian right, whose misuse of the Gospel to champion unfettered capitalism, bigotry and imperialism is heretical, has become a marginal force in the life of most Americans, especially the young. Outside the doors of churches, many of which have trouble filling a quarter of the pews on Sundays, struggles a movement, driven largely by young men and women, which has as its unofficial credo the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons and daughters of God.
Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It was the church in Latin America, especially in Central America and Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, which provided the physical space, moral support and direction for the opposition to dictatorship. It was the church in East Germany that organized the peaceful opposition marches in Leipzig that would bring down the communist regime in that country. It was the church in Czechoslovakia, and its 90-year-old cardinal, that blessed and defended the Velvet Revolution. It was the church, and especially the African-American church, that made possible the civil rights movements. And it is the church, especially Trinity Church in New York City with its open park space at Canal and 6th, which can make manifest its commitment to the Gospel and nonviolent social change by permitting the Occupy movement to use this empty space, just as churches in other cities that hold unused physical space have a moral imperative to turn them over to Occupy movements. If this nonviolent movement fails, it will eventually be replaced by one that will employ violence. And if it fails it will fail in part because good men and women, especially those in the church, did nothing.
Where is the church now? Where are the clergy? Why do so many church doors remain shut? Why do so many churches refuse to carry out the central mandate of the Christian Gospel and lift up the cross?
Some day they are going to have to answer the question: “Where were you when they crucified my Lord?”
Let me tell you on this first Sunday in Advent, when we celebrate hope, when we remember in the church how Mary and Joseph left Nazareth for Bethlehem, why I am in Liberty Square. I am here because I have tried, however imperfectly, to live by the radical message of the Gospel. I am here because I know that it is not what we say or profess but what we do. I am here because I have seen in my many years overseas as a foreign correspondent that great men and women of moral probity arise in all cultures and all religions to fight the oppressor on behalf of the oppressed. I am here because I have seen that it is possible to be a Jew, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Christian, a Hindu or an atheist and carry the cross. The words are different but the self-sacrifice and thirst for justice are the same. And these men and women, who may not profess what I profess or believe what I believe, are my brothers and sisters. And I stand with them honoring and respecting our differences and finding hope and strength and love in our common commitment.
At times like these I hear the voices of the saints who went before us. The suffragist Susan B. Anthony, who announced that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God, and the suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who said, “The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.” Or Henry David Thoreau, who told us we should be men and women first and subjects afterward, that we should cultivate a respect not for the law but for what is right. And Frederick Douglass, who warned us: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” And the great 19th century populist Mary Elizabeth Lease, who thundered: “Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master.” And Gen. Smedley Butler, who said that after 33 years and four months in the Marine Corps he had come to understand that he had been nothing more than a gangster for capitalism, making Mexico safe for American oil interests, making Haiti and Cuba safe for banks and pacifying the Dominican Republic for sugar companies. War, he said, is a racket in which newly dominated countries are exploited by the financial elites and Wall Street while the citizens foot the bill and sacrifice their young men and women on the battlefield for corporate greed. Or Eugene V. Debs, the socialist presidential candidate, who in 1912 pulled almost a million votes, or 6 percent, and who was sent to prison by Woodrow Wilson for opposing the First World War, and who told the world: “While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” And Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who when he was criticized for walking with Martin Luther King on the Sabbath in Selma answered: “I pray with my feet” and who quoted Samuel Johnson, who said: “The opposite of good is not evil. The opposite of good is indifference.” And Rosa Parks, who defied the segregated bus system and said “the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” And Philip Berrigan, who said: “If enough Christians follow the Gospel, they can bring any state to its knees.”
And the poet Langston Hughes, who wrote:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.Or does it explode?
And Martin Luther King, who said: “On some positions, cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ And there comes a time when a true follower of Jesus Christ must take a stand that’s neither safe nor politic nor popular but he must take a stand because it is right.”
Where were you when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there to halt the genocide of Native Americans? Were you there when Sitting Bull died on the cross? Were you there to halt the enslavement of African-Americans? Were you there to halt the mobs that terrorized black men, women and even children with lynching during Jim Crow? Were you there when they persecuted union organizers and Joe Hill died on the cross? Were you there to halt the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in World War II? Were you there to halt Bull Connor’s dogs as they were unleashed on civil rights marchers in Birmingham? Were you there when Martin Luther King died upon the cross? Were you there when Malcolm X died on the cross? Were you there to halt the hate crimes, discrimination and violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and those who are transgender? Were you there when
Matthew Shepard died on the cross? Were you there to halt the abuse and at times enslavement of workers in the farmlands of this country? Were you there to halt the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamese during the war in Vietnam or hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan? Were you there to halt Israel’s saturation bombing of Lebanon and Gaza? Were you there when Rachel Corrie died on the cross? Were you there to halt the corporate forces that have left working men and women and the poor in this country bereft of a sustainable income, hope and dignity? Were you there to share your food with your neighbor in Liberty Square? Were you there to become homeless with them?
Where were you when they crucified my Lord?
I know where I was.
Here.
With you.
61 Comments so far
Show AllIndeed,: where were you? Churches are as useless as the duopoly.
Inspiring words and deeds Mr. Hedges. Thank you.
Possibly true IF you are a totally fanatic cynic!........(Do you know of any other living journalist today with Hedges' range of life experience who is also blessed with such extraordinarily riveting word power?) I don't.
Thanks. I think I just got instant satori by reading that.
"Heyoka Hey, ride the wind, Riding my horse in the sky,...."
"Just passing through this world."
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Stuck in the Smoke Hole of our Tipi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwlR6EnOps&feature=share&fb_source=message
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hope you enjoy this before you run off to the mall.
...peace...
ShadowDancer, perhaps some of your concerns or implied criticism about the "Harvard Divinity School" author of this article would be relieved if you were to read this article, with the original title as published in truthdig?
I read the article in truthdig first, and had this to comment:
Hedges is eminently correct and emotive as always in addressing the awful, existential, and even 'devilish', nature of the 'problem symptoms' that we all face in these times, which may well be the 'end times', if we do not act appropriately, BUT he has not shown 'the way' to address the 'devil in the details' of our dilemma.
The Jesus Christ that Hedges speaks of was sent to earth to expose, confront, and 'teach' people how to excise Empire through love and non-violence.
Several of the people who Hedges rightly honors for their fidelity to the Beatitudes --- particularly these; Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied, and Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven --- have truthfully followed the teachings of Christ in exposing, confronting, and trying to non-violently excise the Empire that they understood or at least 'sensed'.
My only disappointment with Chris's fine and moving article, particularly from an author who wrote the very revealing book, "Empire of Illusion", is that Chris did not connect the seminal message of Christ, to confront Empire with love, as the underlying reality of our times.
Best luck and love to Occupy Empire.
Liberty, democracy, justice, and equality
over
violent/Vichy
empire,
Alan MacDonald
Where would one have to go to buy ShadowDancer a drink?
I cannot easily find the words to express what I want to say.
What makes you cry? What inspires you to risk your life and well being for something other than yourself? Where do you experience your greatest joy? It is in these places that you may find your deepest self. Compassion is the ability to be open to the suffering and needs of others. If you experience anguish in attempting to answer these questions- then look at your anguish as a window into who you are.
Spirituality is not the province of organized religion, nor is the converse true. While there are religious people that are deeply spiritual, there are many
that are not. Chris I believe understands that a large part of society's issues stem from a kind of spiritual death. Not a death that enobles , but one that degrades the essence of what it means to be human. So for him and me- the spiritual understanding is the animus for compassion and action. However imperfect we all are-past, present and future- this was as true for King, as Gandhi or the the disability rights activist I spoke to last night....
That Mr. Hedges is able to distill and extract the nobler, gentler, and kinder parts of Christianity while eschewing the more barbaric and psychotic parts,,. and consistently bring such insights to such well written, timely, and compassionate articles is a good thing that both theists and atheists can use to great benefit.
Take a kind, decent and compassionate individual who... for whatever reason becomes a Christian (insert religion of choice) and they will be drawn to the nobler, kinder, and more compassionate passages and aspects of it while eschewing the more barbaric and psychotic passages and aspects of it.
Take a selfish, cruel and mean spirited individual who... for whatever reason becomes a Christian (insert religion of choice) and they will be drawn to the more barbaric and psychotic passages and aspects of it while eschewing the nobler, kinder and more compassionate passages and aspects of it.
The interesting thing is that they would both be right... and wrong.
I doubt that the Jesus of the Bible ever existed and know that the Bible is an incoherent mess filled with logical inconsistencies, forgeries, and myths. Be that as it may... when people are able to use such for good things, I will stand with them.
My favorite Frederick Douglass, alongside the wonderful quote that Chris Hedges included in his remarks:
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters."
I'm not so sure that the Occupy movement will emerge as "the force that will revitalize traditional Chistianity or signal its moral, social and political irrelevance." I can appreciate Hedges' expression of such thoughts to the Trinity Church congregation, but I've always envisioned cause and effect flowing more in the other direction.
"Traditional" Christianity in America included the great causes of abolishing skin color slavery, freedom of individual conscience when the secular state embraced militarism and institutional violence, and other progressive, egalitarian values (along with, of course, things like Prohibition). Despite the rise of influence of the "charlatans of the Christian right" during the last several decades and the marginalization of Christian voices on the left in the mainstream media, as an infrequent church-goer I've always felt the creative use of religion to bring about public policy changes, on the model of the Reverend Martin Luther King, was a example of how religiosity and political activism can combine in a constructive mix.
Rather than the Occupy movement revitalizing traditional organized religion, I'd rather see the religious community revitalize itself by joining the parade in its own way.
Bill from Saginaw
official church doctrine is careful not to elevate individual human beings to a stature equivalent to deity. that will get a person literally crucified. much better to have only one historical person in that role, while the rest of us can only pray that our representatives in the clergy know and do what's best for us.
the church is effectively a dead entity. a coffin, empty of any life whatsoever. imploring such an institution to do the right thing is pissing in the wind.
"official church doctrine is careful not to elevate individual human beings to a stature equivalent to deity..."
Um, just to rub salt in the wounds on this one, but the Arian Heresy did just that. It was decided AFTER A VOTE at the Council of Niceaa that Jesus(tm) was divine, based on arguments from the dominant strain of Christianity at the time, circa 320CE.
Chris, you exude the spirit of humanity in your being that I wish to applaud you immensely for.
I do think you are a little too harsh with your criticism levied against the Church. After-all, the ocean abounds in water but they are droplets which we are participants. The greatest text have already been written and re-written. It's man's weakness that makes him repeat the sins of Ozymandias in every generation; amplify that with the teachings from our education system (that is quantitative and finite) and you have a recipe for the world in which we live in. I think our biggest hope for change and humanity will come when the OWS turns, not in the blaming of others, but in occupying the [self]. The role model set in this space will ultimately be what influences the whole. This I believe, to be the second strongest force next to nature that can correct some of the gross injustices in our society today.
The problem with the pay-check has been a recurring theme with mankind. Aime Cesaire says it best:
"For it is not true that the work of man is finished
That man has nothing more to do in the world
but be a parasite in the world
That all we now need is to keep in step with the world
But the work of man is only just beginning and it remains
to man to conquer all the violence entrenched in the recesses of his passion
And no race possesses the monopoly of beauty,
of intelligence, of force,
and there is a place for all
in the rendezvous"
Nicely stated.
Thank-you Chris Hedges! God bless you!
Damn inspiring Mr. Hedges.
As an atheist I am always proud to walk shoulder to shoulder in protest with
Christians who care more about those who are catching hell in this world than--- the heaven that awaits them in the next.
No matter how you slice it, the Blessed are the liberals.
Love is as Love does.
Amen, Brother Chris. I have often said that the Occupy LA encampment (we shall rise again!) epitomized Christ's teachings in a way I have never seen in a church setting, and without Christ ever being mentioned. Christ tells us we are all priests, Occupy tells us we are all leaders. We welcome the "least of these" into the movement, feed them, clothe them, shelter them and show them respect. Churches have food drives and pray for the homeless. Big Whoop! Which are the sheep, which the goats?
Chris asks: “Where is the church now? Where are the clergy?”
If anyone wants to read an answer to that question he posed, it would be my privilege to share a blog article I wrote about that very topic. The New Crusades was the title, which is the answer in itself. It's about twice the amount of characters allowed to post here, or about two full pages on letterhead.
http://davegresham.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html
Thanks Dave.
I just read it and it is very good.
I live in the Midwest in the "Bible Belt"- a transplanted Yankee, so this is not natural to me even though I've been here many years.
.
I am not a regular churchgoer by any means, and officially unaffiliated with any religion. however, I have attended a lot of Baptist-style church services simply because I was invited.
.
I could really find no fault with the folks there in personal terms, because they showed me genuine friendliness and were very giving and kind.
However, the pastor would frequently insert things into sermons which were political, but concealed within phrases like "Let us pray. Lord, please let our troops accomplish their mission and prevail against terrorism, and come home safely"... sort of like that.
It seems to me that there is always implicit, and sometimes explicit, support for the war, and also for Israel, within this style of church. Anti-Islam prejudices that have evolved in the U.S., especially in the past decade, were also sometimes expressed, and sometimes just implied.
But there was no doubt that Muslims were seen as "lost", that they were "doomed to Hell" for not believing in Jesus, and more of that sort of thing.
I went into a service around Memorial Day a few years ago, and on the hymn list was "The Star-Spangled Banner". So there were these good Christians singing "the rockets' red glare! the bombs bursting in air!" right after "In the Garden", in a so-called Christian church.
And the spooky thing is that they seem to see nothing odd about this.
Politics have entered church, and church has entered politics, in a way I have never seen in my lifetime.
Presidential candidates are, these days, essentially given a religious test, despite the prohibition about that in the Constitution. Every candidate, it seems, must proclaim his "faith"- (and it had better be "Christian" faith)- or else forget about winning any elections. So they trumpet their "faith" far and wide, and publicly, despite the admonition in the Bible about that.
Another local evangelistic-type church displays a huge American flag outside, a flag so big that it became a free speech issue for the church because many local people thought it was inappropriate and offensive, not because it was a flag, but because it was so big as to effectively be an eyesore, like a billboard.
The church won that argument, as I recall.
It's a very large flag. I guess Jesus is behind it somewhere.
One more thing- there was (maybe still is) a preacher on Sunday TV who spoke from a podium decorated with a Crusader-style shield, and a sword was prominently displayed right next to it, but there was no sign of Jesus, or a crucifix, or anything of that nature.
And then there is John Hagee, who reminds me of a huge bellows, blowing his hate against Muslims, and always beating the war drums against Iran.
These are, unfortunately, some of the faces of a powerful sub-church within Christianity. There are many others, as you know.
I think that the real Christians have been a little too "Christian" about the usurpation of the faith by these blowhards with their blasphemy and warmongering, and who advertise themselves as "Christians", but are living examples of the wolves in sheep's clothing.
FROD: Thank you for posting these observations as they represent a POWERFUL facet of Christianity today. Let's not forget that the Christian Right has about 55 million members and signified the most reliable voting block for Bush. Now that both parties have morphed ito one that bows down before corporate interests, this voting block is pushing for SOCIAL controls... especially those aimed at women's reproductive autonomy. Few in this forum look at the big picture on this issue, and history's own example of what happens when church and state blend together using the notion of the Deity as cause to suppress all sorts of human expressions, along with basic liberty. Plus Mr. Hedges' own book on the subject, "American Fascists" is quite telling. VERY few persons in this forum have apparently read it.
Mr. Hedges NEVER speaks about the debt towards women, likely independent spiritual women who didn't especially like or agree with the church's vile way of imposing its breed of morality upon them. We're talking about many thousands murdered during decades of witch hunts. Nor did Hedges mention the church's stance when Hitler set up the Concentration Camps. In my view, he left out several telling indications of where organized religion went missing during numerous campaigns of slaughter. Yes, he mentioned some of them, but the omissions in my view are glaring.
The Churches have never been much help to women and I don't expect them to be. But it is good to call out Christianity for its hypocrisy and lack of any real spiritual leadership in these recent days.
Chris Hedges:
"In the beginning was the word, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us".
We had our second meeting today.We (I and a group of men who responded to a call to come together to "talk" and see if there was anything we could do to improve ourselves, others and our community). agreed on a primary goal of meeting regularly for a year. Emanating from our discussion today was the concept of 'citizenship", our right and our responsibility, The knowledge, acceptance and execution of responsibilities inherent in citizenship will unravel the web of dependence created by the elite and curb the abuse of power. Charity begins at home.
Man, it's a Christian article per day now! One might well point out that it was the vast majority of the Christian church in Latin America which stood with the dictators, as they stood with Franco and Hitler. Liberation theology has been a minority movement in Catholicism. Even that has been enough to push the evangelicals into heavy handed missionary work in Central America, shoving the "apolitical" and ahistoric "personal relationship with Jesus" in and shoving the Mayan/Catholic hybrid of beliefs out. The military-rightist friendly norteamericanos are erecting depressing cinder block churches on about every 100m of highway in places like Guatemala, where the American-style bible thumpers now claim over 30% of the population and rising. It's not possible to fly in or out of Guatemala City to/from the US without sharing the plane with dozens of young American saved eager to "Christianize" the indigenous population right into docility. Christianity is the right's trump card in Latin America.
I don't give a flying fig what the "church" did in Latin America. What is the church doing in America except supporting foreign wars and social inequality?
Actual Leftist: Thank you for bringing this up. The missionary schtick has always been an extension of this idea of racial superiority, the supposedly kinder, gentler version of the White Man's Burden. Someone in the forum not long ago posted quotes from Columbus, and these horrific statements represented his absolute sense of impunity in torturing the Indigenous Americans merely because they didn't follow Christian beliefs. This idea that anything outside of the Mother Church forfeits salvation, and in earlier times was defined as Savage, has stained history with endless rivers of shed blood. In my view, the Church has a LOT to answer for... apart from the examples of those notable persons who were so spiritually advanced that they were (and are) able to transcend the orthodox faith and take humane action of the sort that betters this world. Their unique acts do not excuse what has been done in the church's name.
This morning when I looked at my bills I thought, wouldn't it be great if some kind of debt jubilee was declared so that all the money many of us have been forced to pay in interest all these years, or the money lost in home values plunging, was replenished. And a similar construct would apply to the church. Isn't the Vatican known for owning (or holding) riches? Suppose the church sold many of these and used the $ to help the poor? I know some churches ARE involved in programs of outreach... however, just as the comedian Chris Rock mocks "Jerry's Kids," that for all the money collected there still isn't a cure, a similar premise might be related to how it is that the church has often stood with established orthodoxies, those which reliably keep "the poor in their place."
Actually, the few cool, hip, Progressive churches do for Christianity what Kucinich and Bernie Sanders do for the Democratic Party, and the nation's virtually antique political machinery. They rope in persons ready to find something else... as they promise to bring change to these institutions through their own more Light-filled examples. Most relics of patriarchal tradition are standing in the way of human progress... and since every prophecy speaks of a systems collapse, I have faith that these behemoths will come apart and be replaced with more enlightening bases for persons to join together.
Your head and your heart are in the right place but the message of Christ has long been hijacked, adulterated, and watered down. In GOD WE TRUST is now printed directly on the new deity. You need to get the message out.....if you truely believe your message and the message of Jesus Christ you need to send a message like overturning the tables of the moneylenders...........something dramatic.
I think if Jesus came to America today, the first thing he would say to the Christian churches is: I want my religion back. They crucified my body 2000 years ago and now they are crucifying my religion; even so, forgive them again...Father.
Chris is right. If the churches don't wake up to the fact that without a political moral compass or at least a middle class they are bankrupt. A few have, but if the priests and bishops and pastors don't make a move soon....away from the GOP and the DNC and toward the soul of the worker, their doors will all shut eventually. It costs money to sit in that pew; a luxury? few can afford anymore.
How could you take offering plate money and launder it into "faith based initiatives" when you knew it would surely wind up fermenting armed conflicts all over the globe? Religion's a tricky wicket, a tricky wicket at best; and I don't like it a bit, but it's been with us forever, and it's not going away either.
It is the opiate of the masses. You get to talk to God, and he talks back to you through the preacherman or GWB. Samuel Adams used it deftly to germinate an American revolution, so I hope and pray Chris can get it working for OWS. The peaceful movement needs everybody it can get.
Now I have to go shake myself violently in front of the mirror and try to "get the religion" myself. O.K., I'm ready. Let's march.
TJ
Selflessness yields double trouble in the America of today. We will know the revolution is ripe when selfless acts are unexpectedly returned in kind.
I admired War is a Force that Gives Life Meaning, and recall that the absence of rhetoric in the book evoked the horror of war and its consequences.
This op-ed is all religious rhetoric, and maybe it inspires some, but it irritates me. I don't know how helpful it is to see social justice movements or, even, persons or groups who are suffering, as messiahs carrying the cross. Doing so overlooks their flaws and limitations-- in other words, their humanity.
Chris should get off his high-horse. He is an (excellent) reporter. He is not a Prophet of god.
Please tell us what authority you possess to enable you to make such a statement. And, please inform us who the real "Prophets" are? Thanks.
1. The authority I possess that enables me to make such a statement is called the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
2. There are no "prophets."
3. You are welcome.
Maybe you can give us some message that does not irritate you. I'm not a Christian, but I do think the Sermon on the Mount is a great piece of writing, makes no difference if Jesus was real or not, but the writings about him are pretty "human" in my 1st Amendment opinion.
Thank you Dizi. A couple familiar 'catch' phrases popped to mind while reading the opposing posts, as in... 'if the shoe fits, wear it' and, 'the truth hurts'... . Just saying; what's wrong with the churches stepping up in this time of need or that there are those of us who expect them to, for one reason or another. I mean, they put their noses into everything else, why not OWS and 'the least among us?'
I am also one who can be irritated by religious rhetoric. However as I read this, I rather was impressed by Mr. Hedges' ability to frame the message to his intended audience, i.e.; the Church.
Thanks Chris, for your message and your model..
"Chris Hedges gave an abbreviated version of this talk Saturday morning in Liberty Square in New York City as part of an appeal to Trinity Church to turn over to the Occupy Wall Street movement an empty lot, known as Duarte Square, that the church owns at Canal Street and 6th Avenue."
__________________
No offense, but it seems silly to deride this essay/speech as an "op-ed" disagreeably rife with "religious rhetoric". That's pretty much what a person seeking to persuade a regenerate audience of alleged Christians needs to deliver.
It's like listening to "Silent Night", then bitching that Joseph Mohr's attempt to create a pop classic is loaded down with a lot of sentimental mythical claptrap about the Baby Jesus and his insufferable Mom.
Yuck. Really.
So, Fr. Hedges, is Jesus the only way you can think of to create justice? Do you really believe the biblical material to be the only inspiration to compassion? You want to shove a wreath of thorns on every head (Buddhist, Jew, Hindu, Muslim)? I'm hoping you're just making a poetic image, a metaphor for suffering and injustice, not an original image, either.
Glad you declared your solidarity with the Occupy movement, but framing the entire phenomenon in the xian paradigm is as bad as Mormons doing post-mortem baptisms. It feels like a theft. And rather arrogant, as you see your speech parallel to the sermon on the mount. Kind of insulting. I would have packed up my tent and gone home.
The "sacred space" at Occupy LA Solidarity Park (now defiled by the police--we shall rise again) was truly just that--a sacred space devoid of any religious reference. I'm sure I saw Christ walking among the tents, but I never heard His name. That's the way it should be.
Personally, I'd say that Hedges is already irrelevant. When he first latched himself onto OWS, I wondered when the real Parson Hedges, the one who just a couple of months before, was telling leftists to just fade away quietly, would re-emerge.
I've been wondering how many identities is being used by redballon and supporters? Just a couple of days ago red was singing the praise of Cardinal Hayden and Sr. Katrina. Hardly a surprise. Between the Dem apologetic wing and the neo conservative branch disguised as progressives like moonpie, it tells us one thing: the election cycle is in full swing and time to get out to make sure of the hegemony of the stutus quo perpetuates itself. Over and over again. I wonder how much per word these twits get paid to participate on political forums?
Thank you EarthFirst.
What's more interesting to me, is how come so many continue to deny (or repress) the degree of wanton deceit, somehow feeling that these purposefully malevolent tools -- are merely expressing their (supposedly) heart-felt views ?
How can it be merely a difference of opinion, when clearly intelligent posters, continuously accentuate absurdities as if true -- while attacking truth and honesty themselves ?
Pure and simple, this is cyber bullying (and worse) to attack truth seekers and twist lies into plausible truths.
Here's an idea -- how about we collectively oppose and question -- those mocking and invalidating us ?
The SIMPLE solution to bullying -- is for the general population to no longer passively tolerate mendacity and violent personal character assassinations.
How about WE no longer tolerate our OWN power and control being deceptively manipulated and stolen, much like trillions of our dollars and our once (more) peaceful existences ?
The SIMPLE solution to bullying -- is for more folks to let the rest of the forum know what they think and feel about that -- that these targeted attacks against the site and all progressive thinkers and those suffering everywhere, are the ultimate betrayal of free speech.
Is purposefully lying in a forum such as CD -- tantamount to shouting "FIRE" in a crowded theater ? No, that is melodramatic excess.
HOWEVER, such deceit is much like cunningly scheming infidelities -- whilst claiming undying love -- causing grievous damages and perils to health, balance, and well being.
Please understand, that censorship is ALWAYS wrong -- but standing up to deceitful bullies that treacherously undermine our collective solidarity, is part of living and acting in the service of the truth and allowing for really open and productive discussions.
Earth, Homeo - what utter nonsense. All comments here are mere opinions, and I've a right to agree or disagree as I wish. IMO Hedges' piece was not up to his usual standard - I'm free to point that out, no? Your paranoid attributions are ridiculous, hostile fantasies, and if you're considering what to about bullying, you ought maybe to take a close look at yourselves. You just want to start a flame war - that's bullying. You're a couple of disgusting creeps for trying that.
Just because you assert that EVERY opinion expressed here at CD is absolutely authentically "mere opinions" -- is by no means proof of that -- particularly after many CD articles have been provided that do indicate the use of paid infiltrators as a very likely reality.
You're the one with the high level of affect and extreme vulgar negativity, directed personally at other posters -- and that is exactly what bullying exemplifies.
You're the one attempting to censor and denigrate others as being "a couple of disgusting creeps … paranoid …ridiculous, … utter nonsense … [with] hostile fantasies."
Folks should ask why is that ?
You three times state or imply that you feel threatened at expressing your opinions, but somehow completely ignore the fact that we do as well have "a right to agree or disagree as [we] wish."
How about honoring our right to self expression and how we feel ?
How about maintaining a calm, open, and civil discussion -- and addressing issues raised -- instead of using hyperbole and ad hominem personal attacks ?
And thank you for providing such a great example of what subtle and deceptive bullying looks like.
Sure that's just an opinion, BUT then you really don't want others to hear mine, right ?
How is it that you missed my explicitly saying that CENSORING is always wrong, but then reverse that and impugn me by somehow asking if it's RIGHT, querying if we're all " free to point that out, no? " ?
Is your reading perception really that poor, or were you merely attempting to make it appear that you were feeling very defensive and then implicitly MIS-quoting me ?
"In the beginning was the word, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Where were you when they crucified my Lord?
Otherwise Occupied
When they crucify poets
Then you know what
a word is worth
Great deeds spring from great thoughts.
For some reason I cannot fully discern, I am reminded by all of the above of Arianus of Alexandria, whom I briefly studied many years ago. My memory is that he confronted Constantine circa 320 A.D., as Constantine established The Church of Rome.
.................... Was Christ Divine? Was he a divinity? If so, in what precise way? Son of God or Son of Man? Could he be both? Arianus was assassinated. There became two (major) Catholic churches---Rome and Alexandria and later the Russian Orthodox, thence to today's conflicts. (Briefly, there was a third Church but it was destroyed and all its adherents burned and their ashes thrust to the winds.)
.................... How many pins can be stuck in the head of an angel?
.................... Hedges comes from the Protestant Reformation. From the post-Dark-Ages Enlightenment. From that position which tells that if you need some sort of god, no Church is needed as an intermediary. No longer do you need to know old Latin or Greek, Martin Luther's raw German will do for Northern Europe thank you very much.
..................... For my own part I was surprised by his mention of the Langston Hughes poem I read decades ago, that contains the title of one great movie as well as the "dream deferred" ethos of ML King within its text:
"And the poet Langston Hughes, who wrote:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
.................... I find it most interesting that many reports say that the Christians are largely absent from the OWS movement, or if present, not proselytizing. This suggests a genuinely Secular Movement, which is of course by no means to deny the importance of any and all religions in the Evolution of the human spirit.
.....................Perhaps this time the Moneychangers have overthrown their own tables and have only themselves to blame.
....................It could "explode," but the Powers That Be would first create a Diversion. They are already doing it, ramping up the Syrian "threat" and the Iranian "threat" via the NPR/CIA nexus. Fukushima is melting down inexorably, spewing strontium 90 as it sinks, France's electrical generation is something like 75 percent nuclear-powered, but Iran, a signatory to the NNPT (while the U.S. is not!) is constrained from investigating the nature of nuclear power.
................... Cognitive Dissonance is at work here. People's HEADS are "exploding" due to the obvious contradictions. Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News is sooooooo sincere! Where is Edward R. Murrow when we need him?!
-30-
"................... Cognitive Dissonance is at work here. People's HEADS are "exploding" due to the obvious contradictions."
The intentional confusion TPTB are creating can be cut through by careful study. The work of Architects and Engineers 911Truth is the one critical perspective that can be counted on to be real. As 9/11 was the basis of our national destruction, so it can be the block upon which the hoax and its aftermath are eviscerated. OWS has the new investigation of 9/11 as an agenda item. The reason for this is: that forcing the media to report objective science about the 9/11 forensic studies would also force the parties and their candidates to support or oppose the new study. This is the moment when the masks come off and the world can see, the US citizens can see, the extent of malice that has overrun our government, society, nation, and is taking over the world.
Join an Occupy movement near you, and support a new independent investigation into what actually took down the WTC. The hard evidence says "nanothermite", not planes, not fire. Okay, if that is so, lets find out who, and why it has been a lie perpetrated by the entire Congress of the USA. It has been a lie perpetrated by the media. It has been a lie to subvert our country. There was a crime of murder upon 3000 and more international citizens which was not investigated, was covered up, and has been the basis of our undoing. WE SHOW THE PUBLIC THROUGH THE MASS MEDIA THAT THIS IS SO, AND WE MUST FIND OUT WHO DID IT THROUGH THE LEGAL PROCESS. WE HAVE THE EVIDENCE; WE NEED THE INVESTIGATION AND TRIALS. It will be this process which will heal our nation and will also disarm, destroy, the controllers. It is the one thing that will restore the USA, and only the will of the ordinary people can bring this about.
There is a church, maybe Church of Christ??, in Berea KY that was amazingly supportive of the camp we built in the square in Berea for the support of Afghanistan and Iraq when Bush was starting the war over 911. It was quite dangerous to be against the war then in a southern town. But the church and Kent, the minister then, was very supportive and let the people meet there and so on. There are some good people in the churches, there are good people who are atheists. We have to be less stereotyping of any ANY group. It's like the saying, there are no bad guns, just bad people. There are some bad people in charge and they have guns. There are some good people who believe this is wrong and a lot who agree like Chris. Hopeful. If we point a finger at a group, other than Congress and Wall St, we best not be doing it with intolerance and prejudice.