Iraq, Spain and church

Anywone who says ‘I like your website, Adrian, it’s one of the best.’ in a comment, deserves to have that comment repeated in its entirety here for all to see! And what is more, Allison has hit the nail on the head in responding BOTH to what I have been saying about Iraq/Spain AND the church. There definitely IS a link in my mind and she has picked it up well (clearly at least one other person thinks in as wacky a way as me!)

I think what I was driving at is that the terrorist, the lone ‘killer’ and the unchurched all have one thing in common- a sense of unconnectedness. Granted some terrorists may be well connected to a community, but I cannot believe that they will see themselves as part of the community they attack.

Alison is so right that carrot and stick are needed though, and none of my comments previously about reaching out to include others who are different to us should mean that we dont fight terrorism in other ways.

I guess I just see two fronts, some hardline opponents will never be won over- those we have to fight to protect ourselves. There are, however a massive pool of people (possibly the majority) who no longer feel part of a church, a neighbourhood, a community. Out of this pool a tiny minority may become our active enemies- but it is not too late for them. We need to somehow reach out to these people even when they are totally different to us. Somehow a multicultural society must be born. Even a simple smile exchanged on a bus can make all the difference to some.

Arguably the very best place for such a community is the church, which is on earth to represent Gods multicoloured wisdom. Anyway without further ado on to Allison’s post

I think it’s been pretty obvious when dealing with Iraq that the carrot doesn’t work. Especially since every bit of carrot that was dangled went directly into the pockets of the dictators, and the sick, hungry Iraqis didn’t see any of it. I’m not saying I’m in favor of the stick, but sometimes it’s the only thing that works.

Regarding the type of demonstration you see in Spain, I don’t think you see much of it in the United States at this point, although it may come to that. We have our share of demonstrations, but instead of being unifying, they are usually “against” something and often include a number of people from other countries. One example, the violent demonstrations in the cities where the World Trade Organization meetings are held. Another example, the 1-1/2 million people who are expected from other countries to demonstrate at the Republican Convention this summer. Or the pro-abortion groups that demonstrate in Washington DC on a regular basis. For a totally different reason, you see demonstrations in the cities of both the winners and the losers after the Superbowl or the World Series, often resulting in outrageous vandalism, injury and death.

After 9/11, Americans reacted by hoisting the American flag (for which we were roundly critized by our neighbors across the sea), attending church on the day of mourning, memorial services, and greater attendance at Independence day and Memorial day parades.

After the invasion (or rescue) of Iraq, anti-war demonstrations and counter-demonstrations were held in almost every major city in the country. I attended one out of curiousity and talked to a lot of the demonstrators. Most of the anti-war group were self-proclaimed anarchists who wanted to move to Europe where there “are no laws” (an interesting thought), but the rest seemed to be upset over other issues, like the economy (one woman was demonstrating against the war, but she was really just upset that her 401K had lost $50,000).

Having said all that in defense of America, you will have a hard time finding American Christians who are willing to inconvenience themselves for each other. There is no feeling of being unison — no mandate to take care of each other or support each other. Every now and then there is a cause or a bandwagon that people get on, and it’s in the news for awhile, but the average Christian in America really doesn’t care if their neighbor has enough to eat or stays warm at night. This is a complete turn-around from the way it was 10 to 20 years ago, and it might be traceable to the advent of the “mega-church.” Now the average church is looking for people from the upper-middle to upper class to fill up their empty pews and are competing with each other to see who can bring in the most superstars to perform on Sunday morning. To see the “must read” movies or see the “must read” books or go to the “must attend” conferenc or ingest the “God-ordained” vitamin supplement you have to have big dollars.

The other thing that happened during the last ten years to disconnect us from each other was the 8-year presidency of Bill Clinton who, doing what he does best, divided the country radically along political lines, creating a new standard for divisiveness and hatred. He reveled in making enemies where there used to be friends and breeding intolerance where we used to be able to co-exist. Because he called himself a Christian, he set a standard that didn’t stay in secular America but carried over into the church.

We are living in such a disconnected, fragmented country, that I don’t know if it can be saved. We just don’t care about each other any more. On those rare occasions (like 911) when we are able to muster some unity and connectedness, we are mocked by other nations.

I realize this I am writing not only in response to this post, but to several of your recent posts about the church, but there does seem to be some connection, at least in my mind. At any rate, what you said struck a nerve with me today, and I had to get this off my chest.