Christian Democrats in the United States
Domestic Issues - Death PenaltyOur time on the earth is only a brief flicker, whether it ends now or later. Though many may deserve to die, we recognize we are not always right, even when we think we are, and vengeance is not justice. If we respect the sanctity of innocent life, we cannot kill whom we judge to be guilty. True judgment can only come from a power greater than any human being.
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
3:55 PM
Sexual expression is of our nature. It can sometimes be an expression of love. (And without love, it can become destructive.) How can a court of men define love? The notion is an insult to God.
"He among you who is without sin, you cast the first stone." -J
This is why I am sad, as an American, how easily the thought of youth is corrupted, both by foreign influence and by our own government as a misguided test or lesson, to think that somehow Iran's dictators are rational and not actually the murderous lunatics they appear to be when they issue rulings like these.
The truth to me seems, that either every person deserves to die, crucified or by other heinously cruel means, or that none of us do. Ultimately none deserve any better than fire and dust, for we are made of it.
And if you keep yourself "pure" so you feel justified in angry lust for vengeance, you are therefore not pure and are lying to yourself.
All of us feel the force of our nature, whether we admit it or not. This is a basic truth of the human psyche.
There is a matrix of sin, a path of automatic thoughts leading to despair and death, to self worthlessness and nihilistic denial, a bleak irreverence for life that makes the executioner more evil than the crime. It tugs at all of us, through sex or piety, rapture or shame. It drives the passionate to lie and touch and drives the murderous to seek power and pretend to piety.
These two pre-supposed opposites fight against each other and themselves for their existence. People outside "the veil" descend into self-destructive sexual hypnosis, but people who suppress their nature as living human beings must do so with self-hatred and bottled rage. When used together as arms of a systematic religious oppression machine, they demand blood. But that is a false system of opposites, a trap for the human heart to destroy our potential to spread light and life into the void.
God gave us our nature and our ability to love. If you can love everyone and live alone then do so, or if you cannot, marry and be faithful, and if you cannot, there is still no reason to kill anyone. This is the teaching and it is self-evident from our existence. Life is a little bit dirty! That's why soap is good, and many argue so are condoms. The only sure way to good life is faithfulness. For some that is difficult. Try to open your heart and understand why! We don't throw rocks at people for that here.
There are always other possibilities, like leading positively by example and tolerance toward a mutual love and respect for one another. That can only be attained when every individual chooses to see and hear one another as equals... to see sin reflected in one's self in order to overcome it. Upon doing so, it would be difficult to imagine how any sane person could sentence a desperate housewife to die from blunt trauma to the head.
As people in the United States do, by and large, respect the liberty of Iranian citizens, I think it is safe to say many people call upon Iran's citizens to start raising voices their own freedom -- to stop being children, so that tomorrow's children may all remain children of God. How can we help you? There is too much going on. In the end, the Iranian Army must decide whether or not to destroy the soul of its own people. As much as Iran's robed despots would like you to think, the United States has very little to do with their own repressed sins.
That said, the U.S.A. is going through a period now when our collective rage against child molesters quite frequently inspires calls for blood and revenge, yet we restrain ourselves to remain civil. No one can say that "all people" here are morally better than Iranians. We don't know what to do about such slides down the sinful path to lies and abuse, either. Given that such sins of power as child abuse thrive in strict male-dominated hierarchies, we must wonder why so many women and working girls are singled out as examples in Iran.
We do know that throwing rocks at girls does not solve anything.
That said, one can also look at the accidents and death by misunderstanding in Iraq in the same light. Neither should innocent women and children die by accident in an over-zealous pursuit of terrorists or by mistakes made from fear of the unknown. That is another reason why the U.S. must hand over responsibility for civil order to an integrated, elected Iraqi government interested in peace with the world.
From the perspective of the area, one might be able to see both Islamic fascism and the USA's interference as two false options constructed for the purpose of dividing people against one another. By now you may notice this is a recurring theme at every level of power politics. Just as in Iran, it's up to the masses of Iraq to make up their minds for self-direction, and to lead themselves along their paths to the common good that we know in our hearts is possible.
Unless destruction is certain, forgiveness is necessary. It is not an easy thing to ask for, and not an easy thing to give, and there are varying degrees. It is possible.
Societies whose hearts are hardened and who cannot forgive will soon fall into oblivion, and nothing will be remembered of them except that they failed the test of history.
cast the first stone
It is hard to imagine that in Iran, at least eight women and one man are sentenced to execution by stoning under Islamic law as reported in BBC news today. Buried so they cannot move, the stones thrown must be smaller than can kill the victim with one blow. They are charged with crimes like adultery and prostitution.Sexual expression is of our nature. It can sometimes be an expression of love. (And without love, it can become destructive.) How can a court of men define love? The notion is an insult to God.
"He among you who is without sin, you cast the first stone." -J
This is why I am sad, as an American, how easily the thought of youth is corrupted, both by foreign influence and by our own government as a misguided test or lesson, to think that somehow Iran's dictators are rational and not actually the murderous lunatics they appear to be when they issue rulings like these.
The truth to me seems, that either every person deserves to die, crucified or by other heinously cruel means, or that none of us do. Ultimately none deserve any better than fire and dust, for we are made of it.
And if you keep yourself "pure" so you feel justified in angry lust for vengeance, you are therefore not pure and are lying to yourself.
All of us feel the force of our nature, whether we admit it or not. This is a basic truth of the human psyche.
There is a matrix of sin, a path of automatic thoughts leading to despair and death, to self worthlessness and nihilistic denial, a bleak irreverence for life that makes the executioner more evil than the crime. It tugs at all of us, through sex or piety, rapture or shame. It drives the passionate to lie and touch and drives the murderous to seek power and pretend to piety.
These two pre-supposed opposites fight against each other and themselves for their existence. People outside "the veil" descend into self-destructive sexual hypnosis, but people who suppress their nature as living human beings must do so with self-hatred and bottled rage. When used together as arms of a systematic religious oppression machine, they demand blood. But that is a false system of opposites, a trap for the human heart to destroy our potential to spread light and life into the void.
God gave us our nature and our ability to love. If you can love everyone and live alone then do so, or if you cannot, marry and be faithful, and if you cannot, there is still no reason to kill anyone. This is the teaching and it is self-evident from our existence. Life is a little bit dirty! That's why soap is good, and many argue so are condoms. The only sure way to good life is faithfulness. For some that is difficult. Try to open your heart and understand why! We don't throw rocks at people for that here.
There are always other possibilities, like leading positively by example and tolerance toward a mutual love and respect for one another. That can only be attained when every individual chooses to see and hear one another as equals... to see sin reflected in one's self in order to overcome it. Upon doing so, it would be difficult to imagine how any sane person could sentence a desperate housewife to die from blunt trauma to the head.
As people in the United States do, by and large, respect the liberty of Iranian citizens, I think it is safe to say many people call upon Iran's citizens to start raising voices their own freedom -- to stop being children, so that tomorrow's children may all remain children of God. How can we help you? There is too much going on. In the end, the Iranian Army must decide whether or not to destroy the soul of its own people. As much as Iran's robed despots would like you to think, the United States has very little to do with their own repressed sins.
That said, the U.S.A. is going through a period now when our collective rage against child molesters quite frequently inspires calls for blood and revenge, yet we restrain ourselves to remain civil. No one can say that "all people" here are morally better than Iranians. We don't know what to do about such slides down the sinful path to lies and abuse, either. Given that such sins of power as child abuse thrive in strict male-dominated hierarchies, we must wonder why so many women and working girls are singled out as examples in Iran.
We do know that throwing rocks at girls does not solve anything.
That said, one can also look at the accidents and death by misunderstanding in Iraq in the same light. Neither should innocent women and children die by accident in an over-zealous pursuit of terrorists or by mistakes made from fear of the unknown. That is another reason why the U.S. must hand over responsibility for civil order to an integrated, elected Iraqi government interested in peace with the world.
From the perspective of the area, one might be able to see both Islamic fascism and the USA's interference as two false options constructed for the purpose of dividing people against one another. By now you may notice this is a recurring theme at every level of power politics. Just as in Iran, it's up to the masses of Iraq to make up their minds for self-direction, and to lead themselves along their paths to the common good that we know in our hearts is possible.
Unless destruction is certain, forgiveness is necessary. It is not an easy thing to ask for, and not an easy thing to give, and there are varying degrees. It is possible.
Societies whose hearts are hardened and who cannot forgive will soon fall into oblivion, and nothing will be remembered of them except that they failed the test of history.
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