Those of us who are Catholic need to find ways to support our local Catholic parish without one penny going to the institutional leaders (bishops and pope).

In 1986, the current Roman Catholic pope, Joseph Ratzinger, then doctrinal top cop, wrote an official letter that was ordered to be published by then Pope John Paul II as official Church teaching.

Two stunning statements are made:

The homosexual inclination in a person is itself a strong tendency toward an intrinsic moral evil.

When people say that the inclination is not disordered and society creates laws to protect homosexual behavior, no one should be surprised at the violent reactions that will follow.

Here are the direct quotes with emphasis added:

“Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder….

But the proper reaction to crimes committed against homosexual persons should not be to claim that the homosexual condition is not disordered. When such a claim is made and when homosexual activity is consequently condoned, or when civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right, neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase.”

Joseph Ratzinger 1986 “Halloween Letter”

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congrega...

"If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any change. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector." Matthew 18: 15-17

It is time for Christians to treat George Bush as an outcast, to tell the world that he is no longer in our community.

Virtually every Christian church, with the exception of the Southern Baptist church, has condemned the occupation of Iraq.

Mr. Bush isn’t even willing to listen to the Christian communities. He believes all of them are misguided and is confident that God speaks to him.

He has us set aside international agreements about crimes against humanity; the US knows best.

How many Christian communities would approve of water-boarding, or other forms of torture, under any set of circumstances?

If we associate with George Bush, we are telling the world that this is how Christians treat other human beings and that any measure, including crimes against humanity, is acceptable to protect us from even the most remote possibility of harm. Our lives matter most.

Maybe as citizens, we can’t impeach him; but those of us who come from the various denominations in Christianity can condemn his actions by refusing to meet him or be associated with him. We can one by one publicly declare: we disassociate ourselves from him.

There is great diversity among the Christian churches; there is a lot we cannot agree upon but the Sermon on the Mount and “whatever you do to the least of these…” seem to be central to the faith we share, beyond debate. When Christ spoke of visiting those in prison, might the innocent at Guantanamo
be among those he had in mind?

We look back and wonder why very few German Christians were willing to condemn horrendous crimes against human beings. Six million Jews were the victims of inaction by earlier generations of Christians. How many in Islam, and how many of our own fellow citizens, will have to die before we speak up and say: Stop.

Mr. Bush, in the name of Jesus Christ, stop the killing for oil.

And to the world say, we are modeling what we are asking from Islamic leaders, we condemn this violence and its perpetrators. Please don’t judge our religion by the actions of this man, we have no traffic with him. He is now an outcast. See how he stands alone.

Tomorrow morning, American military service men and women will awake in Iraq, not knowing. Will I get another breather and return to rest tonight in this bed? Is today the day when I bump into death whose shock and awe robs me of all power to hold on to my breath? Is this day I lose my legs and get breathing space albeit in some hospital without respite from pain, stumped about the future? Or, is it just another, ordinary day when I will witness things that take the wind out of me and send me wobbling away trying to erase a memory that can’t ever be wiped out?

These men and women are champions, stars whose commitment to serve is astonishing.

These men and women are not stars at all, just leading men and ladies, cast by a con man to act out what appears to be a drama, a morality tale, a heroic tragedy but whose hidden backers see this production differently: oil. Operation Iraqi Liberation.

Both of these stories are true; one does not negate the other. It’s hard for people to hold both.

You have to tell the champion, star story. You cannot discuss the leading men and ladies tale because the desperado accuses YOU of putting them at risk. Be quiet. They are all heroes.

And, you cannot discuss the fact that the leading men and ladies tale is un-discussible. We are at war and so silence, and silence about why you are silent, is the patriotic to do.

If you dare challenge continued funding, the thug hides behind support for heroes like the bank robber uses the child hostage as shield for his chest.

You can rest assured tonight that God speaks to and comforts the bandit; he is doing God’s work. The bandit told us so.

Or you can listen to one of the producers: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." - Alan Greenspan

Can we at least be honest and acknowledge what everyone knows? Losing lives and limbs and being scared with lurid shock-producing images are indeed in our in-ter-essssssstssss… freedom from that fear of terrorists who’d cut off access to that oil.

Can we tell the widow in the Bronx that she got that meticulously folded flag in exchange for a husband’s death for oil? Can we take those children in Mississippi to the filling station to explain why mommy has no legs? Can we console that San Francisco partner with stories of economic security that will diminish the anguish he feels as he witnesses his beloved-turned-tortured-soul, who sits and stares at CNN?

Bush 2 Will Help the Poor

“We'll take care of the poor, and we'll help the elderly. But we believe health care is best run in the private sector, not by the government."

Bush 2, Cleveland “Town Hall” meeting, July 10, 2007


Bush Family Values

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Barbara Bush, September 7, 2005, On the New Orleanians living in the Houston astrodome following Katrina

Note that the mother never apologized for this statement.

“Schlock & Thaw”

It is we, U S citizens, who are in shock and awe. We are the ones who seem paralyzed, confused, dominated and thus seemingly powerless to act. Nothing that we do or say seems to make any difference. So, don’t stay in the game, break out, refuse to play: ignore George Bush. We should have no contact with him not even to attend his New Orleans style picnic.

Those in Congress and the Courts need to be vigilant and must protect us, and the rest of the world, from rash actions on his part. A pre-emptive confinement of power might be needed to send him a message about no more warring with the rest of the world.

Demand that those who want to be president show us now how well they will work with their political opponents to do what is best for our common good. They should start now. Can Rudy and Barak come up with a plan to get us out of Iraq and convince Congress to act on it? Can Hillary and Mitt start working together, now, on an immigration plan?

As for us, our first step is to tell the truth. Schlock is the only thing that we will ever get from this president. Every time someone brings up his performance, just think schlock and quickly move on to talking about something where change is possible. Schlock doesn’t only mean just crap, schlock:

ETYMOLOGY “Possibly from Yiddish shlak, apoplexy, stroke, wretch, evil, nuisance, from Middle High German slag, slak, stroke, from slahen, to strike, from Old High German slahan.”
From http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/s/s01376...

As someone said, Schlock around the clock. Count on it. Alternately, we could continue to expect different kinds of action from Mr. Bush.

Thaw is step number two for us. We need not like or love one another but we have to start melting the glaciers between us, regardless of politics, we are in this together. We have to work together to plan and take action that cannot wait for nearly two years when a new president is fully functioning. We have to be freed from our brittleness toward one another, freed from the possibility of being pitted against one another, and freed from being frozen in place. Think thaw. Let’s see if there are any statesmen among those leaders who would be president.

Docmartin

PS
As a Christian, I want my Muslim brothers and sisters to know that there is virtually not one action taken by George Bush that is in any way connected to the fundamental teachings of Jesus Christ. We ask you to condemn and separate yourselves from those who terrorize in the name of Allah. I only speak for myself when, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I condemn the actions of George Bush. Ours in not a faith that values violence or seeks power over others. I ask you to consider the fact that like Saddam Hussein, George Bush uses words to cloak himself in a faith; this is a disguise, a costume, it has no effect on his actions. We can’t let him highjack our great religion.

This piece deserves widespread hearing. We must participate. This is sacred work for me.

You said:

"It is imperative we begin unshackling ourselves from the noxious orthodoxies of church, state, political party, and corporation, as well as from our own narcissistic strivings within those hierarchies of vampires and wean ourselves from the petty perks we garner from group approval and institutional bribes."

I agree; these orthodoxies are death loving. I agree, in fact, with virtually everything that you said in this piece save the comments about sky daddy and risen son. Some of us have felt the love of God and want to bring that love to the universe just by being more loving not by preaching anything. So my participation includes honoring your beliefs and asking if I, follower of Jesus Christ acutely, painfully, personally aware of noxious church orthodoxy, can participate with you to rouse the sleepy into action. I don't offer the teachings of Jesus as warrant for knowing anything, no one needs give them any credence. They mean something to me, a radical call to love has me want to stand with you, to thank you for this message, and inquire into my own complicity. Communal engagement is more than enough for me, in the end all that really matters to me is being fully human and making life possible for others. I am saying this simply to be honest since engagement does not mean we have to agree all of the time but I do think it means risking, sharing who we are.

I found your writing to be beautiful and the message to be disturbing for its naked clarity.
Again, thanks.