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August 22nd, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
An Episcopal bishop, a Methodist bishop and a Roman Catholic archbishop, all based in Alabama, sued on the basis that the new statute violated their right to free exercise of religion, arguing that it would “make it a crime to follow God’s command to be Good Samaritans.”
“The law,” said Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile, “attacks our core understanding of what it means to be a church.” — Campbell Robertson, NY Times, 8/11/2011.
Well, as Ringo implies when he sees what he thinks is Wyatt Earp walking toward him at the dramatic climax of Tombstone, this is a surprise. Definitely didn’t think the American Church in all it’s glory had the willingness to stand up to bullies, tyrants, and basic nutcase assholes.
This writer has made no real secret of his attitude toward religion in the US or toward the religious.When Howard Dean, the last leader of the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, said that the Democrats needed to focus on issues of justice and common good, he labeled the Republicans the party of “god, guns, gays and abortion” in terms of their core issues. Now, when the AXE was just a hatchet and my brother Defeatists were just sperm and eggs floating in the visceral fluids of their various parents, Christian Leaders in the United States actually stood for something…Daniel Berrigan, SJ; Phillip Berrigan; Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King; Reverend Ralph Abernathy; the Sanctuary Movement; the Anti-war movement; Cesar Chavez and La Raza. Dorothy Day and the Catholic Workers Movement. Pope Paul VI and John Paul II published encyclicals that condemned out of control capitalism, greed and the failure of western society to live up to the standards of the New Testament.
But, if the New Testament preaches a doctrine largely of social justice, care for the poor and the duty to be good Samaritans, the focus of traditional religious institutions in the US and in much of the world shifted toward concern about periperal issues — the Gods, Guns, Gays and abortions. In Catholicism in particular, the focus shifted toward protection of an internal culture not all that different than that of The Family in this country with a goal of preserving a secet culture of privilege and abuse by the powerful by focusing on the transgressions of the weak. A pederast priest wasn’t evil; no, the child he abused was the evil, the seducer, the temptation of christ. What appeared to be an Irish anomoly — archbishops with families on the side and sanctimony served up front along with the communion wafers — turned out to be the sunny side of a system of abuse, exploitation, coverup and concealment. Jesus probably wept over a lot of things; it is worth noting that the people Jesus really had issues with were bankers, wealthy exploiters of the poor and weak, and the religious hierarchy of his faith. We know of one time when Jesus got really angry and lashed out. The cleansing of the temple. I’m guessing in the comfortable parishes of Orange County and suburban Columbus and Indianapolis that text is seldom chosen. That is a shame. We know only a few that Jesus condemned — those who hurt children, the rich, and the religious hierarchy. If in a parable he was seeking a subject who was clueless, corrupt, selfish, sanctimonious, abusive or evil, he chose the rich, the Pharisees and the Saduchess. Not the Romans, not the gossiping fishwifes on the sea of Galilee, not the whores, publicans, thieves, tax collectors — the priests, the temple bureaucrats, the establishment, the wealthy.
So, while I’ve been disappointed by the role of religion in American life, where people largely seem to be more interested in Leviticus and Revelations than the Beatitudes, the Passion and Death of Jesus and the spreading of the Good News of brotherhood, shared sacrifice, social justice and charity for all, I am surprised to note that in Alabama, the faith community may actually have decided to stand with the lambs of god as opposed to the butchers, with the Good Samaritans as opposed to the Pharisees and Levites and the Rich.
Alabama and Georgia as well as Arizona have all implemented legislation based on the idea that they are being overrun by illegal aliens; now, they’re having to deal with a certain amount of reality. Most Americans don’t want to hoe cotton or pick lettuce and strawberries with short handled rakes in the intense heat of this summer of climate change and warming. So, if you drive out the illegal immigrants, the crops don’t get picked and the food rots in the fields. While this might actually be good organically for the ground, it’s not a good thing for the economy. For the farmers. For the consumer.
But, the law itself is pretty draconian. The sanctuary movement in the southwest was based on radical civil disobedience. If I’m going to help an illegal Salvadorian immigrant in Tucson, Reagan’s version of compassionate conservatism made it a crime. If I fed the poor, give water to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, shelter to the homeless, I was a criminal. The Bishops and Catholic hierarchy in the southwest endorsed and many churches practiced Sanctuary. They’d feed, clothe, shelter and get medical aid for those who came to seek help. They did this knowing that the authorities were taking down their names. They were successful to a large extent, in Arizona and Southern California and New Mexico in publicizing and mitigating the plight of those who were being blamed for being poor, hungry, alone and afraid.
Now, in Alabama, the Christian wing of the Christian Religion is responding to the same sort of evil and doing it in style. Individual ministers and priests are preaching the evil of the law; but three bishops — a Methodist, an Episcopalian and a Catholic — are suing the state of Alabama for interfering with their right to exercise their religion. This is the state where clowns got attention in 2010 for channeling the ghosts of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in support of the Tea Party and radical nonsense; where it actually seemed possible that a clown in a cowboy hat riding around complaining on his horse and shooting at people defacing his campaign signs wasn’t in danger of being locked away for his own protection and that of the local community, but elected to public office.
So, in such an environment, for the faith community to throw off it’s doctrinal slumber and focus on the periperals as opposed to the brutal, exploitative and greed-drenched reality of the world that they inhabit and have a duty to renew is worth noting and remarking on. Jesse Ben Joseph would be proud of these guys and I suspect gals since the Episcopalians and Methodists do have ordained women clergy. Hopefully, they can inspire their congregations. I’d say that the odds are about 60-40 against, but what the hell — the alternative is what we have, and it’s nice to know that someone else thinks it’s unacceptable.
In the corner of the barroom
Lives the ghost of Langston Hughes
He’s takin’ notes and smokin’ cigarettes
Sippin’ slowly on his booze
Got them goin’ nowhere blues
And on the stage beneath the spotlight
Woody Guthrie sings the news
He’s always ready for the good fight
Never thinkin’ that he’ll lose
Got them goin’ nowhere blues
Through the back way in the alley
Sellin all you should refuse
Looks like Jane has finally given in
Hey, what the hell it ain’t no use
Got them goin’ nowhere blues
Out the front around the corner
Martin Luther shines your shoes
He’s preachin’ justice and equality
I guess Martin’s payin’ dues
He’s got them goin’ nowhere blues
On the other side it’s a free ride
You’ve got money you can burn
When the ground shakes and the earth breaks
Which way you gonna turn
Are you ever gonna learn
In the poolroom on the table
Swillin’ wine and smashin’ cues
They locked him up last night for fighting
Cesar Chavez blew a fuse
He’s got them goin’ nowhere blues
All the members of the union
All the farm and labor crews
They used to be meet here by the dozens
They disappeared in ones and twos
Got them goin’ nowhere blues
So you wonder why they come here
They come here to look for clues
Passin’ time until they live again
To fight these going nowhere views
Leave these goin’ nowhere blues
To fight these goin’ nowhere views
–Robert Earle Keen
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