Random Theological thoughts from an Ecumenical Postmodern Radical Reformed Arminian Neo-Orthodox Barthian Moderate Progressive to Liberal Baptist perspective (oh and some poetry and lyrics,too)
No Peace for the Wicked: Northern Protestants and the American Civil War examines Northern Protestants' religious worldview, their motivations for fighting, and why the most religious generation in U.S. history fought America's bloodiest war. In the spring of 1861, young men throughout the Northern states rallied around the Union flag, eager to punish the Confederate renegades who had brazenly inaugurated civil war by firing on Fort Sumter. Often driven by their Protestant religious beliefs, many northern soldiers believed they were enlisting in a just war to save their Christian government from a "wicked" Southern rebellion.
These Protestant soldiers' faith was severely tested by the hardships and tragedies they experienced in the Civil War. The vast majority easily justified their wartime service by reminding themselves and their loved ones that they were engaged in a holy cause to preserve the world's only Christian republic. Others were genuinely haunted by the horrific violence of a seemingly endless civil war, and began to entertain serious doubts about their faith.
The first comprehensive work of its kind, David Rolfs' No Peace for the Wicked sheds new light on the Northern Protestant soldiers' religious worldview and the various ways they used it to justify and interpret their wartime experiences. Drawing extensively from the letters, diaries and published collections of hundreds of religious soldiers, Rolfs effectively resurrects both these soldiers' religious ideals and their most profound spiritual doubts and conflicts. No Peace for the Wicked also explores the importance of "just war" theory in the formulation of Union military strategy and tactics, and examines why the most religious generation in U.S. history fought America's bloodiest war.
Violence has been a theme in the news as usual. Here are excerpts from just a few examples:
Community Laments Slaying of Priest/Janitor Accused of Stabbing Cleric After Argument By VICTOR EPSTEIN, AP posted: 1 DAY 8 HOURS AGOcomments: 1521filed under: Crime News, National NewsWith HP wireless printers, you could have printed this from any room in the house. Live wirelessly. Print wirelessly. PRINT|E-MAILMOREText SizeAAA
CHATHAM, N.J. (Oct. 25) -- An arrest in the fatal stabbing of a beloved priest has brought little solace to an affluent Roman Catholic parish in this tiny northern New Jersey community. Authorities say longtime church janitor Jose Feliciano stabbed the Rev. Ed Hinds 32 times with a kitchen knife after an argument in the rectory of St. Patrick's Church on Thursday. Parishioners and residents said his arrest represents a second blow to the community.
Police Storm Jerusalem's Holiest Site By MATTI FRIEDMAN, AP posted: 1 DAY AGOcomments: 1189filed under: World NewsWith HP wireless printers, you could have printed this from any room in the house. Live wirelessly. Print wirelessly. PRINT|E-MAILMOREText SizeAAA
JERUSALEM (Oct. 25) — Israeli police firing stun grenades faced off Sunday against masked Palestinian protesters hurling stones and plastic chairs outside the Holy Land's most volatile shrine, where past violence has escalated into prolonged conflict. A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields marched toward young men covering their faces with T-shirts and scarves, sending many of them running for cover into the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the Islamic structures in the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
Cops: Witnesses Didn't Help Rape Victim AP posted: 3 HOURS 52 MINUTES AGOcomments: 429filed under: Crime News, National News PRINT|E-MAILMOREText SizeAAA
RICHMOND, Calif. (Oct. 26) - Police believe as many as a dozen people watched a 15-year-old girl get beaten and gang-raped outside her California high school homecoming dance but didn't report it. One suspect is in custody for his alleged role in the assault, but police say as many as six other men raped the girl over a two-hour period Friday night outside Richmond High School.
These are cases in which the church must speak a big affirmative "No" to the violence of culture. May God's grace prevail over culture for the living of these days.
Dan has what I’d consider to be a reflection on 9/11 that really has some substance:
As today, is September 11th, I thought I would engage in a bit of remembering — it is, after all, important to recall moments of our history, for this is the story in which we live.
On this day in 1973, Augusto Pinochet’s American-backed coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. This resulted in seventeen years of torture, terror, and disappearances in Chile, and (according to people like Milton Friedman, who saw Chile as a textbook example of the type of world he wished to create) set a precedent for the way in which the United States acted in Latin America (particularly in the ’70s and ’80s… although they are at it again, as Obama’s government backed the Honduran coup which overthrew the democratically elected government of Manuel Zelaya in June of this year).
Sponsoring terror, imposing military rule, depriving local populations of their rights, their food, their land, their livelihood, their health, their children and their lives… this is the way that the US continues to engage with the world at large. It is enough to make some people want to fly planes into buildings. Which, not altogether surprisingly, is what happened on another September 11th.
It’s 9/11 and the events eight years ago are on most people’s minds. Many Christians will be praying today, as my wife wrote in her devotional. What will those prayers consist of? What is a Christian response?
Shortly before the second gulf war began, I wrote an essay simply titled Revenge! I want to quote from it here:
As a nation, we have been living in the role of Michael Palin’s character. We see the bad guys in our sights and we shout “Revenge!” in the hope that when revenge has taken place we will be safer, life will return to pre-9/11 normalcy, and we can forget all about this extra security. Most of us know this won’t be the case, but that doesn’t stop the wishful thinking.
This was illustrated during the bombing of Afghanistan, and later during the ground war. Repeatedly the reporters would ask various military spokesmen whether they had caught or killed Osama bin Laden yet. The answer? Nobody knew. But why was that the question? Did we really think that a bombing campaign could be so targeted as to kill a single individual? Sure, he might die, but bombs are not weapons of assassination in the normal course of events. Did we think that if Osama were caught or killed that the terrorism would end? Surely we aren’t that naive!
But there is that little program in our brains that wants to yell “Revenge!” and expects that life will be a little sweeter when it is accomplished.
In some ways we face a similar situation with Iraq. I know there is a powerful motivation for revenge. I am a veteran of the 1991-1992 gulf war. It annoys me every time I see Saddam Hussein expressing himself on television. I confess I wouldn’t mind having the driver’s seat of a steam roller with Saddam’s feet stuck in setting cement. I’d yell “Revenge!” and “Take that!” and roll over him, and on the other side I’d feel good!
But then would my family be any safer? Would my country be more secure? Would anything be more normal when all was said and done? Very likely not.
I need to let that resentment go. I need to tone down the shout “Revenge!” I need to consider what will actually make things more secure.
This is what my sermon would sound like if I were to preach about this tragic event:
SHORT HOMILY ON THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM SHOOTING
Scripture Text:
"Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. (Genesis 9:6---NASB)
Violence, violence, everywhere---there is violence. There's nothing one can really say about this (the Holocaust Museum Shooting)---not because violence has always been around---but because of the sheer fact that violence is a cowardly act and against God. Violence is the very opposite of what God is like, so the church must always lift it's voice up against violence, racist ideologies and injustices everywhere. Hearing about this shooting reminded me about the stirring feelings that I felt when I visited Dachau and how you were left with an overbearing sense of melancholy, anger, guilt and helplessness---perhaps even from the souls that were violently murdered there. Dachau is a silent and ghostly memorial to a time when humans showed just how inhumane they could and still can be. There is that moment where you want to disbelieve the reality of the Holocaust, because we are humans, afterall---we are suppose to be better than animals---but yes, it really did happen all those years ago and events just like it are still happening worldwide today. I am also reminded of the Jewish philosopher and literary critic---Theodor Adorno's quip: “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric, and this corrodes even the knowledge of why it has become impossible to write poetry today”
Truly it is hard to write and think positively with such violence around us everywhere, but we as Christians always have hope---for our hope is found in Christ. Or as Paul succinctly puts it in Romans 5:1-5:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Also as the author of Titus puts it:
Titus 2:11-14---NRSV: 11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, 12training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, 13while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
And so we as the church, the body of Christ---must work to foster this hope in this world around us full of violence and hatred.
Turning our thoughts back to Dachau: one of the famous inmates of Dachau was Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran pastor and an early supporter of the Nazi Party, who later along with Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer became one of the most vocal Christian critics of the Nazi Party. When asked by fellow inmate, Leo Stein,
why he ever supported the Nazi Party, Niemöller replied:
"I find myself wondering about that too. I wonder about it as much as I regret it. Still, it is true that Hitler betrayed me. I had an audience with him, as a representative of the Protestant Church, shortly before he became Chancellor, in 1932. Hitler promised me on his word of honor, to protect the Church, and not to issue any anti-Church laws. He also agreed not to allow pogroms against the Jews, assuring me as follows: 'There will be restrictions against the Jews, but there will be no ghettos, no pogroms, in Germany.'"
"I really believed," Niemoeller continued, "given the widespread anti-Semitism in Germany, at that time—that Jews should avoid aspiring to Government positions or seats in the Reichstag. There were many Jews, especially among the Zionists, who took a similar stand. Hitler's assurance satisfied me at the time. On the other hand, I hated the growing atheistic movement, which was fostered and promoted by the Social Democrats and the Communists. Their hostility toward the Church made me pin my hopes on Hitler for a while.
"I am paying for that mistake now; and not me alone, but thousands of other persons like me."
Niemöller is also credited with composing this poem:
When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. Then they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists, I did not protest; I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, I did not speak out; I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
It was the same evil spirit of oppressive violence and hatred---bigotry and racism that inspired the Holocaust, which caused James W. von Brunn to shoot those two people at the Holocaust Museum. And so today, I must lift my voice up in solidarity with all the saints living and deceased and denounce violence and hatred---in the name of Christ, I implore you to end the violence, now! Work against injustices at home and abroad and stop the spread of racist and bigoted ideologies. We as a church, a community centered around the living and loving Christ must never be afraid to stand up and be counted among the saints who stand up for the rights of the oppressed, the victims and the marginalized of society and who in unison stand against hate speech. Hate speech is the germ of violence and violence is the reason hate speech must be stopped. Hate speech must end, now! And may we as the church, the bride of Christ never fail to always place Christ at the center of all our speech as well as all of our deeds so help us, God. Amen!
Ben Currin.
For those of you interested, here is the accompanying article to the video above:
Gunman Opens Fire at Holocaust Museum By NAFEESA SYEED and DAVID ESPO, AP posted: 31 MINUTES AGOcomments: 2409filed under: Crime News, National NewsPrintShareText SizeAAA
WASHINGTON (June 10) - An 88-year-old gunman with a violent and virulently anti-Semitic past opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, fatally wounding a security guard before being shot himself by other officers, authorities said.
The assailant was hospitalized in critical condition, leaving behind a sprawling investigation by federal and local law enforcement and expressions of shock from the Israeli government and a prominent Muslim organization. .......
Von Brunn has a racist, anti-Semitic Web site and wrote a book titled "Kill the Best Gentiles," alleging a Jewish "conspiracy to destroy the white gene pool." In 1983, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board and served more than six years in prison. He was arrested two years earlier outside the room where the board was meeting, carrying a revolver, knife and sawed-off shotgun. At the time, police said von Brunn wanted to take the members hostage because of high interest rates and the nation's economic difficulties. Writings attributed to von Brunn on the Internet say the Holocaust was a hoax and decry a Jewish conspiracy to "destroy the white gene pool." "At Auschwitz the 'Holocaust' myth became Reality, and Germany, cultural gem of the West, became a pariah among world nations," it says.
WICHITA, Kan. (June 1) —A man suspected of fatally shooting abortion doctor George Tiller in church was in jail Monday while investigators sought to learn more about his background, including his possible connections to anti-abortion groups. Tiller, 67, was serving as an usher during morning services Sunday when he was shot in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church, police said. The gunman fired one shot at Tiller and threatened two other people who tried to stop him. The suspect, identified by one law enforcement agency as Scott Roeder, was taken into custody some 170 miles away in a Kansas City suburb about three hours after the shooting.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston (FOHL'-stuhn) indicated that charges will not be filed Monday. Foulston noted that the state has 48 hours to charge anyone who is in custody and said she planned to take the full two days to decide. She said any charges would be filed in state court. Also, a law enforcement official says investigators have searched two homes as part of the inquiry into Tiller's killing. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation, says the homes are in Merrian, Kan., and the other is in Kansas City, Mo. The official did not know what turned up during the searches.
"We have taken jurisdiction," she said. Tiller had been a lightning rod for abortion opponents for decades. The women's clinic he ran is one of three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy, when the fetus is considered viable, and has been the site of repeated protests for about two decades. A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985.
Roeder, 51, was returned to Wichita and was being held without bail on one count of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Outside the clinic Monday morning, flowers were placed along a fence, and the anti-abortion group Kansas Coalition for Life left a sign saying members had prayed for Tiller's change of heart, "not his murder." In Washington, the U.S. Marshals Service said that as a result of Tiller's shooting, Attorney General Eric Holder had ordered it to "increase security for a number of individuals and facilities." It gave no details. Tiller himself last had protection from the U.S. marshals in 2001, and he and other doctors received such protection at different times in the 1990s.
A man with the same name as the suspect has a criminal record and a background of anti-abortion postings on sympathetic Web sites. In one post written in 2007 on the Web site for the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, a man identifying himself as Scott Roeder asked if anyone had thought of attending Tiller's church to ask the doctor and other worshippers about his work. "Doesn't seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller," the post said. But police said Sunday that all early indications showed the shooter acted alone. Operation Rescue condemned the killing as vigilantism and "a cowardly act," and the group's president, Troy Newman, said Roeder "has never been a member, contributor or volunteer." He may have posted to the organization's open Internet blog, Newman said, but so have thousands of nonmembers. But Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, whose protests have often targeted Tiller, called the slain doctor "a mass murderer," adding: "He was an evil man — his hands were covered with blood."
In 1996, a 38-year-old man named Scott Roeder was charged in Topeka with criminal use of explosives for having bomb components in his car trunk and sentenced to 24 months of probation. However, his conviction was overturned on appeal the next year after a higher court said evidence against Roeder was seized by law enforcement officers during an illegal search of his car. At the time, police said the FBI had identified Roeder as a member of the anti-government Freemen group, an organization that kept the FBI at bay in Jordan, Mont., for almost three months in 1995-96. Authorities on Sunday night would not immediately confirm if their suspect was the same man. Morris Wilson, a commander of the Kansas Unorganized Citizens Militia in the mid-1990s, told The Kansas City Star he knew Roeder fairly well. "I'd say he's a good ol' boy, except he was just so fanatic about abortion," Wilson said. "He was always talking about how awful abortion was. But there's a lot of people who think abortion is awful."
The slaying quickly brought condemnation from both anti-abortion and abortion-rights groups, as well as President Barack Obama. "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," Obama said in a statement. Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said Tiller apparently did not have a bodyguard with him in church, although the doctor was routinely accompanied by one. An attorney for Tiller, Dan Monnat, said the doctor's wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time of the shooting. Monnat said in early May that Tiller had asked federal prosecutors to step up investigations of vandalism and other threats against the clinic out of fear that the incidents were increasing and that Tiller's safety was in jeopardy. However, Stolz said authorities knew of no threats connected to the shooting. Church members said anti-abortion protesters have shown up outside the church on Sundays regularly.
"They've been out here for quite a few years. We've just become accustomed to it. Just like an everyday thing, you just looked over and see them and say, 'Yup they're back again.'" The last killing of an abortion doctor was in October 1998 when Dr. Barnett Slepian was fatally shot in his home in a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. A militant abortion opponent was convicted of the murder. One of Tiller's lawyers and friends, Dan Monnat, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that Tiller had been supported by his wife and children in his decision to continue providing abortion services. "If Dr Tiller is not going to service a woman's right to chose, who will do it?" Monnat said. "Many of those have been terrorized and run off by protesters," he said about other abortion providers.
Associated Press writers John Hanna contributed to this report from Wichita, Devlin Barrett from Washington.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 2009-05-31 14:02:12
We as the church need to prophetically speak out against violence and injustices as violence is never the answer. Christ is and Christ's way is not a way of violence, but one of love and self-sacrifice---the way of the cross. Hear these words of Oscar Romero:
You that have so much social sensitivity, you that cannot stand this unjust situation in our land: fine – God has given you that sensitivity, and if you have a call to political activism, God be blessed. Develop it. But look: don’t waste that call; don’t waste that political and social sensitivity on earthly hatred, vengeance, and violence. Lift up your hearts. Look at the things above.103 APRIL 15, 1979 (EASTER SUNDAY)
Or:
Death is the sign of sin, and sin produces death right in our midst: violence, murder, torture (which leaves so many dead), hacking with machetes, throwing into the sea – people discarded! All this is the reign of hell. JULY 1, 1979
I would guess that 9 in 10 people I meet have no real idea what the term "Calvinism" actually means. Most have never read John Calvin. Most have only met a few very conservative Calvinists who promote things like TULIP and various scholastic readings of the great reformer. (And quite a few of these are mean, separatistic and critical of almost every other expression of the Christian faith) While the TULIP does have clear historical connection with the post-Calvin developments at the Synod of Dort in Holland (and thus the conclusions of the Synod are preserved in Reformed churches down to the present time as one of the three forms of confessional unity) Dort is clearly not the whole story. When TULIP becomes the strong focus then Calvinism becomes a lot like looking at a lovely person by staring at one, not so complete and not so clear, "photo-shopped" picture. And this picture is neither accurate nor helpful.
The real Calvin is flawed. But he is also an intriguing and very important figure in church history. No one can rightly defend Calvin's actions with regard to the killing of Michael Servetus. (Yet, just last week I had someone ask me if Calvin approved the martyrdom of many that he disagreed with. This is preposterous if you know the facts at all.)
I do not defend some of Calvin's ideas about predestination, such as the idea of "double predestination." I also disagree with some of the way he expresses other biblical truths. But I remind friends and foes alike that John Calvin wrote for reasons that were not rooted primarily in the doctrine of predestination. In fact, his views on this subject should never be divorced from the whole of his purpose or you will get a distorted view of the man and of his influence upon Protestantism, especially the Reformed Church.
My thoughts exactly Calvin should be respected for his contributions to theology and he often does get a bad rap, but so does Arminius and Barth. After all, they are humans---however that being said I agree with what John Armstrong said: "No one can rightly defend Calvin's actions with regard to the killing of Michael Servetus." No matter how apologists of Reformed Fungelicalism try to spin it: Thankfully Progressive Calvinists don't try to cover up Calvin's sins by defending them since they are indefensible just as Luther's Anti-Semitism and his inciting violence towards the Jews are inexcusable as well.
Seeing the chapel where Mons Romero was shot while celebrating Mass was inspirational. At 6.30 pm on 24th March, 1980, as he prepared the gifts for the Offertory, Archbishop Romero looked to the back of the chapel only to see his assassin pointing his gun at him. His last words were 'This is my gift'. It is little wonder that he became a target in the Central American setting of that time, seeing he was so insistent on justice. At Sunday Mass, for example, he used to name people from across Central America who had 'disappeared'. The government of that time did not want to be shown up!
The chapel at the Carmelite Hospial for Cancer patients Mons Romero was standing behind the altar when he was shot from the back of the chapel with the gunman taking aim from within a car.
Mons Romero The house where Mons Romero lived is located adjacent to the Chapel. The blood stains can be seen on these clothes and robes the Archibishop was wearing when he was shot.
The Tomb of Mons Romero Mons Romero's tomb is located in the crypt of the San Salvador Cathedral. For a while it was located at a side altar in the Cathedral.
CASSELBERRY, Fla. (April 7) - A Florida woman fatally shot her son and then turned the gun on herself at a central Florida gun range, authorities said. Marie Moore, 44, of Altamonte Springs and her 20-year-old son, Mitchell, were sharing a firing lane at the Shoot Straight range Sunday, Casselberry police said. Shooters in an adjacent lane said the mother and son seemed to be getting along fine. A security video shows Moore walk up behind her son, point a revolver at the back of his head and fire a single shot, police said. She then put the gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger. The son died at the scene, and the mother died later at the hospital. Family members told police that Moore had a history of mental illness. The gun was rented from the shooting range.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 2009-04-07 13:54:04
GARDNER, Mass. (April 3) - A woman who believes she was being stalked by a cult has been charged with stabbing her 2-year-old daughter 100 times with scissors, her lawyer and police have said, and can be heard yelling "Die! Die!" on a 911 call. Susan Johnson's screams can be heard on the 911 call made by a security guard who helped to subdue her in a laundry room at a Gardner apartment building Wednesday night.
Johnson, 38, also used an electrical cord from a dryer to try and strangle the toddler, police said, but the security guard and two residents separated mother and child just before police arrived. "I heard a woman screaming very loudly that she was going to 'Kill, kill, I have to kill you, Die, die, die,'" said resident Real Belliveau, 65, who lives just down the hall from the laundry room. He was watching a Boston Celtics game on TV when he heard the commotion. When he ran to the laundry room he thought the child was already dead because she was limp, covered in blood and had the cord wrapped around her neck. The girl was taken to a hospital suffering from as many as 100 wounds to her head, neck and torso, but many of them were superficial, police Chief Neil Erickson said. The child, who is now in the custody of state child welfare authorities, was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
The state Department of Children and Families made a check on the girl at her home in Turners Falls, about 35 miles west of Gardner, the day before the attack, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and WBZ-TV reported. Department spokeswoman Alison Goodwin refused to confirm the report Thursday and said only the department is now investigating. It's unclear what she was doing in the apartment building. She has family in Gardner, defense attorney Peter Binder said. Johnson has a history of depression and had not been taking her medication, Binder said, adding she does not remember the attack in the laundry room. "She seems to be very paranoid," he said. Johnson was held without bail on a number of charges including attempted murder and ordered to undergo a competency evaluation at her arraignment Thursday in Gardner District Court. A dangerousness hearing was scheduled for April 17.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 2009-04-03 11:12:03
Body of Missing California Girl, 8, Found By JULIANA BARBASSA, AP posted: 4 HOURS 52 MINUTES AGOcomments: 2001filed under: Crime News, National NewsPrintShareText SizeAAA
TRACY, Calif. (April 7) - The body of a missing 8-year-old girl has been found in a suitcase dumped in an irrigation pond a few miles from her northern California home. Sandra Cantu was found Monday after a 10-day search, authorities announced. Authorities would not comment on their investigation, but they roped off the mobile home park where Sandra lived. They had previously searched several homes and towed several cars from the park. No suspects had been identified. "Our heartfelt sympathies go to Sandra's family and friends," said Tracy Police Chief Janet Thiessen. "We will determine the person or persons responsible for this reprehensible act, and we will bring them to justice." Authorities planned an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Thiessen said Sandra was found wearing the same clothes she had on when she was last seen on March 27: a pink "Hello Kitty" T-shirt and black leggings. Sandra's disappearance sparked a widespread search that included hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials, including the FBI, and drew more than 1,000 tips. Pictures of the girl with dark brown eyes and light brown hair were posted all over town, on business fronts, car windows and fire hydrants in this city of 78,000 about 60 miles east of San Francisco. Investigators said they spoke last week to the girl's father, Daniel Cantu, who lives in Mexico and works in southern California. Authorities would not give any details of the discussion, but the father told the Tracy Press newspaper he had not seen his daughter for a year. Police said the suitcase was found by farmworkers who were draining the irrigation pond to water fields. Investigators cordoned off the area for hours while they searched the area for clues. The suitcase was eventually opened at the coroner's office, where Sandra's body was positively identified. More than 100 mourners — some holding candles, others wiping away tears — gathered outside the mobile home park Monday night while police blocked the entrance. "I am still in shock," said Brandy Robles, 27, who held her 2-year-old son. "You see this in the movies. I never thought it would be real life — real to me."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 2009-04-07 05:21:24
Police Say Dad Killed Kids Because Wife Was Leaving Him By PHUONG LE, AP posted: 1 DAY 6 HOURS AGOcomments: 1178filed under: Crime News, National NewsPrintShareText SizeAAA
GRAHAM, Wash. (April 6) - Authorities and relatives portrayed a father believed to have killed his five children and then himself as a strict parent who had been reprimanded by the state and a jealous husband driven to rage by another man. The children, aged 7 to 16, were found shot to death Saturday in the family's mobile home in Graham, 15 miles southeast of Tacoma. The father, James Harrison, was found earlier in the day, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot behind the wheel of his idling car 18 miles away in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Seattle.
The night before, the father and his eldest daughter went in search of the wife, Angela Harrison. The daughter used a GPS feature in her mother's cell phone to find her with another man at a convenience store in Auburn, said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff. The woman told her husband she was not coming home, and was leaving him for the man with her at the store. The father and the daughter left, distraught, Troyer said. Sometime after the children went to sleep, he shot them each multiple times. Four died in their beds. The fifth was found in the mobile home's bathroom, surrounded by signs of violent struggle. "He wanted the kids dead," Troyer said. "It wasn't like he shot a few rounds. He shot several rounds." Investigators believe he then returned to the area near the convenience store looking for his wife. His body was found near the store, Troyer said. Investigators believe he then returned to the area near the convenience store looking for his wife. His body was found near the store, Troyer said. "A working theory is that he probably went back up there looking for her, wasn't able to find her, realized the gravity of what he'd done and shot himself," Troyer said. Several weapons were found in the home. Authorities have not released the names of the family, relatives identified the couple as Angela and James Harrison and the children as Maxine, Samantha, Heather, Jamie and James. Candy Johnson, Angela Harrison's aunt, described James Harrison as a strict, controlling husband and father who didn't allow his wife to make any decisions without asking him first. "My niece has been so controlled from the time she was young," Johnson said, adding that James Harrison had impregnated Angela when she was 13. "It's unbelievable," Johnson said. "My whole family is in shock. How does this happen? How does anyone do that?" The father worked as a diesel mechanic, and the mother works at Wal-Mart, said another of Angela Harrison's aunts, Penny Flansburg. Troyer, however, said he worked as a security guard at a casino. Ron Vorak, who lives across the street from the family's trailer at the Deer Run mobile home park, said James Harrison "wasn't too friendly a person." "He was always hollering at the kids. He seemed to be strict with them." Harrison was put on a parenting plan by state child welfare officials in 2007 after what Troyer describes as a "minor assault" on one of the children. He agreed to the plan and the case was closed, Troyer said. Ryan Peden, daughter Maxine's classmate, had said she told him Friday night that her parents had gotten into a fight and her mother had left. The father followed the mother and tried to get her to return, said Peden. "Maxine texted me at 11 p.m. Friday. She said: "I'm tired of crying. I'm going to bed.''" His text to her the next day went unanswered. Outside the mobile home, neighbors left cards and bouquets of flowers. The yellow crime-scene tape and dozens of investigators who responded to the scene on Saturday were gone. The home's front yard was littered with unused bicycles, a swing set, a trampoline and a basketball hoop. A few people drove slowly by the scene, a neatly kept mobile home in a quiet park nestled among towering evergreens. "How do you make sense out of something like this?" asked Jeff Davis, superintendent of the 2,100-student Orting School District where all five children attended school. "In a small community like this, we know these kids," Davis said. " Teachers know the kids. All the kids know the kids."
Associated Press Photographer Ted S. Warren contributed to this story.---Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 2009-04-05 06:48:20
SHAKOPEE, Minn. (April 1) - A man convicted of murdering a woman he had lured to his home with an online baby-sitting ad was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole Wednesday. The sentence was mandatory for 20-year-old Michael John Anderson, who was convicted Tuesday of first-degree premeditated murder and other charges in the October 2007 shooting death of Katherine Ann Olson, 24. "Mr. Anderson is not just a murderer — he's a thief of the future of our family's joy," said the Rev. Rolf Olson. "He needs to be prevented from inflicting evil on anybody else's life ever again." The Lutheran pastor said he believes God will help him to forgive Anderson, but "in this situation, I don't sense that there is any hurry." Prosecutors said during the weeklong trial that Anderson, of Savage, ran a phony ad on the Craigslist classified-ad Web site in order to lure a woman to his home so he might experience what it felt like to kill. The defense argued that the shooting was accidental. Anderson's lead attorney, Alan Margoles, said he plans an appeal because he wasn't allowed to present evidence that Anderson has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. Anderson declined to comment during or after the sentencing. Margoles conveyed on Anderson's behalf his "deepest regrets for his actions." "Why did you do this? You are the only one who knows and I won't pretend to understand it," Scott County District Judge Mary Theisen said from the bench. She added that Anderson was a "coward" when he shot Olson — who Theisen believed was "running for her life." "You have shown no remorse and I have no empathy for you," Theisen said before handing down the life sentence. She also ordered Anderson to pay restitution of $6,500 from his prison wages to reimburse Olson's family for her funeral expenses. Sarah Richter, Olson's older sister, said her sleep is interrupted nightly by horrible images from the murder. "I'm haunted by Anderson's face, by Katherine's screams, the gun, her body in the trunk and now, the real bloody images of my sister," she said. "When will I sleep again?"
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 2009-04-01 10:36:50
Pray for the victim, the victim's family and the accused that God's grace be manifested for healing and forgiveness.
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."---John 14:27 (ESV).
Bloody Sunday (Irish: Domhnach na Fola)[1] is the term used to describe an incident in Derry,[2] Northern Ireland, on 30 January 1972 in which 27 civil rights protesters were shot by members of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in the Bogside area of the city.[3] Thirteen people, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately, while the death of another person 4½ months later has been attributed to the injuries he received on the day. Two protesters were injured when they were run down by army vehicles.[4] Many witnesses, including bystanders and journalists, testify that all those shot were unarmed. Five of those wounded were shot in the back.[5]
Two investigations have been held by the British Government. The Widgery Tribunal, held in the immediate aftermath of the event, largely cleared the soldiers and British authorities of blame, but was criticised by many as a "whitewash"[6][7][8] including former chief of staff to Tony Blair, Jonathan Powell.[9] The Saville Inquiry, established in 1998 to look at the events again (chaired by Lord Saville of Newdigate), is expected to report in late 2009.
The Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA) campaign to extend Irish rule to Northern Ireland had begun in the two years prior to Bloody Sunday, but perceptions of the day boosted the status of and recruitment into the organisation enormously.[10] Bloody Sunday remains among the most significant events in the Troubles of Northern Ireland, chiefly due to the fact that it was carried out by the army and not paramilitaries, and in full public and press view.[11]
Here is John Lennon's song based on Bloody Sunday 1972:
And here are the full lyrics: Sunday Bloody Sunday (John Lennon)
Well it was sunday bloody sunday When they shot the people there The crys of thirteen marty martyrs Filled the free derry air. Is there any one among you Dare to blame it on the kids? Not a soldier boy was bleeding
When they nailed the coffin lidds!
Sunday bloody sunday Bloody sunday's the day!
You claim to be majority Well you know that it's a lie You're really a minority Oh this sweet emerald asle. When Stormont bans our marchers
They've got a lot to learn Internment is no answer It's those mother's turn to burn!
Sunday bloody sunday Bloody sunday's the day!
You anglo pigs and scotties Sent to colonize the north You wave your bloody Union Jacks And you know what it's worth! How dare you hold on to ransom A people proud and free Keep ireland for the irish Put the english back to sea!
Sunday bloody sunday Bloody sunday's the day!
Yes it's always bloody sunday In the concentration camps Keep Falls and roads free forever From the bloody english hands
Repatriate to britain All of you who call it home Leave ireland to the irish Not for London or for Rome!
I can't believe the news today, I can't close my eyes and make it go away. How long, how long must we sing this song? How long? Tonight we can be as one.
Broken bottles under children's feet, Bodies strewn across a dead end street, But I won't heed the battle call, It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall.
Sunday, bloody Sunday. Sunday, bloody Sunday.
And the battle's just begun, There's many lost, but tell me who has won? The trenches dug within our hearts, And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart.
Sunday, bloody Sunday. Sunday, bloody Sunday.
How long, how long must we sing this song? How long, Tonight we can be as one. Tonight, tonight.
Sunday, bloody Sunday. Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Wipe the tears from your eyes, Wipe your tears away, Wipe your blood shot eyes.
Sunday, bloody Sunday. Sunday, bloody Sunday.
And it's true we are immune. When fact is fiction and T.V. is reality, And today the millions cry, We eat and drink while tomorrow they die. The real battle just begun. To claim the victory Jesus won, On a Sunday bloody Sunday, Sunday bloody Sunday.
Church Murder Suspect Had 'Death Day' By JIM SUHR, AP posted: 3 DAYS 6 HOURS AGOcomments: 4001filed under: Crime News, National NewsPrintShareText SizeAAA MARYVILLE, Ill. (March 10) – Terry J. Sedlacek was called a quiet teen who washed dishes and helped prepare food at his family's restaurant. After a hospitalization during which he almost died, he became known for odd behavior, such as making barking noises. His body would sometimes jerk. Verna Giley, a former cook at the Key Galaxy Restaurant in Alhambra, said Sedlacek never was threatening — nothing like the man prosecutors charged Monday with gunning down a Baptist pastor in the middle of his Sunday sermon and then stabbing two congregants. Neither Madison County prosecutors nor Illinois State Police commented on a possible motive, or whether Sedlacek even knew the Rev. Fred Winters, a married father of two who led the First Baptist Church for nearly 22 years. "We're still not sure what the reasoning was," said Illinois State Police Lt. Scott Compton, who added investigators had not yet interviewed Sedlacek on Monday afternoon. However, authorities say Sedlacek appeared to have planned the attack, since he referred to Sunday as "death day" on a planner found in his Troy home and he carried enough ammunition to kill 30 people. Madison County State's Attorney William Mudge did not have any other details on the day planner entry. "The only thing I can really comment on is he came armed with many rounds of ammunition and a knife, and I think we can surmise that more bloodshed may have occurred," Mudge said. Sedlacek, 27, of Troy, was charged Monday with first-degree murder and aggravated battery. He was ordered held without bail. He remained in serious condition Tuesday in Saint Louis University Hospital's intensive-care unit, said hospital spokeswoman Laura Keller. Sedlacek's attorney, Ron Slemer, told the Belleville News-Democrat that his client has deteriorated both mentally and physically since contracting Lyme disease. But Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a Lyme disease expert at Yale University, said it would be unlikely that the tick-borne illness would make someone so violent. "Lyme disease doesn't cause people to shoot people," Shapiro said. None of the 150 worshippers attending the Sunday service seemed to recognize Sedlacek, and investigators did not know details of words he exchanged with Winters just before he allegedly began firing. They planned to review an audio recording of the service. Sedlacek had 10 rounds of ammunition in a handgun and was carrying two more 10-round magazines in his pocket at First Baptist on Sunday, said Mudge. The .45-caliber Glock jammed after four shots were fired at Winters. Mudge said it appeared Sedlacek may have arrived at the church, about four miles from his home, as early as 5:30 a.m., partly because his Jeep was in a parking space close to a door in the crowded parking lot. The first bullet was deflected by a Bible held by Winters, 45, but a subsequent shot struck him in the heart. That first bullet exploded Winters' Bible, sending a confetti-like spray of paper into the air in a horrifying scene worshippers initially thought was a skit, police said. Witnesses said Winters managed to run halfway down the sanctuary's side aisle before collapsing. An autopsy found Winters was hit by one bullet that went straight through his heart, said Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn. Authorities said Sedlacek stabbed himself in the throat while being wrestled to the ground by two congregants, who also suffered knife wounds. A 39-year-old congregant, Terry Bullard, was upgraded to fair condition Tuesday. The third victim, Keith Melton, was treated and released. Slemer said his client's family is "very sorry for the pastor's congregation." First Baptist Associate Pastor Mark Jones said one of the church's pastors visited with Sedlacek's family Monday. "We actually pray for him," Jones said. Associated Press writers Lindsey Tanner and Tammy Webber contributed to this report from Chicago. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 2009-03-08 13:19:31
At one point in the proceedings someone asked if my theoretical position led me to denying the Resurrection of Christ. This question allowed me the opportunity to communicate clearly and concisely my thoughts on the subject, which I repeat here.
Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think…
I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.
However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.
Fundamentalism isn’t too violent, it isn’t violent enough
The title for this post comes from the title of one of the talks I have been giving on the ‘Lessons’ tour. The main gist of the argument lies in exploring how the fundamentalism we witness at work today is, at its core, a movement that conserves and preserves the status quo. Its violence at the subjective level (e.g. defending the evils of misogyny, homophobia, unjust conflicts and self-interested foreign policy) is the direct outworking of its ultimate impotence when it comes to instigating real change.
Take the example of so many wars today. Amidst all their violence they are more often than not fought in order to preserve the way things are, to protect people in power, or to accumulate more resources. Thus their horrific violence at the subjective level hides the fact that they preserve the deeper objective violence of the system itself. The bloodshed thus helps to maintain the injustice that currently exists, ensuring that structures of oppression remain unchallenged.
In the same way fundamentalism, while violent at a surface level (at the level of everyday life) is simply a mask that hides the fact that it does not rock the very foundations of worldly power. Its frantic posturing and aggression is ultimately in the service of those with power, money, and voice. In this way their various highly funded projects designed to change society actually ensure that nothing of any significance really changes (those who are oppressed continue to be oppressed, the rich continue to get richer, the poor continue to get poorer).
Let us not then attack such a position for being too violent (apart from anything else, this is what such a movement thrives on; seeing itself as the church militant), rather we must pull back the curtain and show the impotent wizard for who it really is.
In contrast to fundamentalism it is people like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King who, in their pacifism, are truly violent (who are the true church militant). In their non-participation and uncompromising actions they lived out an alternative vision of how the world could work, directly challenging the foundations of worldy power. In their seductive vision of an alternative world and their unrelenting quest to pursue it they ruptured the systems of power that surrounded them and thus expressed the true violence of Christianity. A violence that shifts the underground by allowing the outsider to be heard.
Thus, the next time we hear of some blustering speaker attempt to bolster their support by making themselves sound like the follower of a cage-fighting, bodybuilding Jesus, we should avoid the trap of arguing that their image of Jesus is too violent and instead show how it isn’t nearly violent enough. Drawing out how, amidst all their seeming machismo they are little more than a timid sheep in wolves clothing.
Tags: Fundamentalism, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Peter Rollins, violence, Zizek
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Reflection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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