War and Vanity by Rev. Stephen Schuette, posted February 18, 2007

Here are some words from Bill Moyers given at the Sol Feinstone Lecture on "The Meaning o Freedom" at West Point, Nov. 15, 2006… (Quoted from the Christian Century, Jan. 23, 2007, p. 18-19)

IN THE MONTHS leading up to the Iraq invasion, Rupert Murdoch, the media tycoon who put his press empire at the service of the government in making the case for war said that "the greatest thing to come of this to the world economy if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil." Once the war is behind us, he added, "The whole world will benefit from cheaper oil, which will be a bigger stimulus than anything else."

Today Murdoch says that he still believes it was right "to go in there" and that from a historical perspective the U.S. death toll in Iraq has been "minute."

"Minute." I have been reading about to go to Emily Perez: Second Lieutenant Perez, war except the first woman of color to become a command sergeant major in the history of West Point, and the first woman graduate of the academy to die in Iraq. Because she lived in Washington, D.C., before coming to West Point, the Washington press told us a lot about her. People remembered her as "a little superwoman"-- straight A's, choir member, charismatic, optimistic, a friend to so many; she had joined the medical service because she wanted to help people. The obituary in the Washington Post said she had been a ball of fire at the Peace Baptist Church, where she helped start an HIV-AIDS ministry after some of her own family members contracted the virus. Accounts of her funeral said that fellow West Pointers wept as they contemplated the loss of so vibrant an officer.

"Minute?" I don't think so. When I arrived at West Point I asked the academy's historian, Steve Grove, to take me where Emily Perez is buried in the cemetery, below Storm King Mountain, overlooking the Hudson River. Standing there on American soil hallowed by Lieutenant Perez and others, I thought that to describe their loss as "minute"--even from a historical perspective--is to underscore the great divide that has opened in America between those who advocate war while avoiding it and those who have the courage to fight it without ever knowing what it's all about.

Our founders warned us about this. They put themselves in jeopardy by signing the Declaration of Independence; if they had lost the war, that parchment could have been their death warrant, for they were traitors to the crown and likely to be hanged. In the fight for freedom they had put themselves on the line--not just their fortunes and sacred honor but their lives. After the war, they understood both the nature of war and human nature, and determined to make it hard to go to war except to defend freedom. They argued that war for any reason except preserving the lives and liberty of citizens should be made difficult to achieve.

And here….is James Madison, perhaps the most deliberative mind of that generation in assaying the dangers of an unfettered executive prone to engage in war:

"In war, a physical force is to be created, and it is the executive will which is to direct it. In war, the public treasures are to be unlocked, and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them. In war, the honors and emoluments of office are to be multiplied; and it is the executive patronage under which they are to be enjoyed. It is in war, finally, that laurels are to be gathered; and it is the executive brow they are to encircle. The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venial love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace."

Here at the beginning of Lent when we are called to confess and remember our finitude with the mark of ashes on our faces, as we admit that death is real - not just conceptually "minute," I found Bill Moyers words powerful. How prone we are to vain-glory, how anxious to shift things for our benefit (like $20 oil), how callous to others in the fulfillment of our desires!

It's a good time to confess as a nation. It's a good time for me to confess too.

Please respond to blogs@bethel-ucc.org and include War and Vanity in the subject line.

Are you wondering why folks in Washington are still playing political games while we get dragged deeper and deeper into the mess in Iraq?

The House of Representatives took action last week on a "non-binding" resolution. In the Senate, the Republican minority has managed to prevent any vote at all. The most important issue of our day has become captive to sound bites and cable news chatter.

We deserve better.

Barack Obama opposed this war from the beginning, and he's got a clear plan to end it.

It's called the Iraq War De-Escalation Act. It makes the U.S. policy on Iraq crystal clear. It stops the escalation now and begins a redeployment to bring U.S. combat forces out of Iraq by March 31, 2008.

If you want to cut through the political games and support a clear policy that will get us out of Iraq, sign on to support it now and spread the word:

http://action.barackobama.com/page/s/iraq

Kay W.

I think most of us realize our country is in the middle of a catastrophic, foreign adventure. Murdoch and the rest of the "mainstream media" were complicit accomplices to the executive's passion for war. Murdoch's empire has grown as a result of his partnership with the executive. Somehow, in the aftermath of 9/11, the easily predicted deaths of innocent Iraqi citizens did not register to most. So, in the name of our Country, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens have been laid to waste. 3200+ U.S. military members and their families have taken a hugely disproportionate share of the burden. A treasure of hard-earned tax dollars has been squandered. Minute, you say, Mr. Murdoch?

Why is there so little outrage? Has the marriage of our executive branch with the media made us afraid to stand up for what is right and just? Are we conformists out or apathy or fear or vanity? Are we perplexed or mesmerized by uncertainty? Have pretzeled words and phrases like "the global war on terror," "support the troops," and "victory over our enemy" confused our sense of patriotism? Moreover, as followers of the word of God, do we have a privilege and burden which are broader and deeper than nationalism?

Let's be honest. Our own government is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. In Iraq , its worse than the Blacksburg , VA massacre every day, 365 days a year -- in a country one-twelfth the size of the U.S. And as citizens, we have to look in the mirror. "When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered (MLK, Jr.)."

In 1967, the Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam said it straight -- "A time comes when silence is betrayal." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. responded, in a speech at Riverside Church in New York City , by stating that "Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest." Here are some more excepts from his speech:

"Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition." "We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers."

"We in the churches and synagogues have a continuing task which we urge our government to disengage itself from a disgraceful commitment. We must continue to raise our voices if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam . We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative means of protest possible." "Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism."

Our nation, as an agency of aggression, is representing a very ugly human evil. Our media refuses to ask hard questions. Our so-called leaders, in Washington, aren't listening to the majority of our citizens.

Listen to your heart. Take inspiration from MLK, Jr. Do something!

P.S. I thank the Barack Obama supporter for visiting the Bethel site and for her post. But I challenge Mr. Obama to clearly state his opposition to an aggressive, interventionalist foreign policy, instead of stating "nothing is off the table" with regard to Iran . Our Country is crying out for leaders with courage and conviction, not ones whose policy positions are driven by special-interest support.