When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.)
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites,
as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside the commandment of God
in order to uphold your tradition!…”
Interesting speech given by Noam Chomsky on “Just War” at West Point in 2006. What is interesting about it is that he traces thought on Just War back to two people, “Hugo Grotius, famed 17th century humanist, who founded the dominant framework of thinking on laws of war” and Rousseau in the 18th century. There is no mention of Saint Augustine or Christianity, though he goes on to outline basic tenets of Christian Just War theory.
Meanwhile, he says, “In brief, my own conclusions are that the literature merits careful attention, but is ultimately not very instructive about just war; secondly, that the notions of human nature should be at the heart of the discussion, although serious inquiry into this is still in its early stages; and third…” Well, I would think that notions of human nature might be something the Church has a little bit of insight on, and might be able to speak to in an inquiry on just war. Yet, Christianity has no place in his discussion. Maybe there is a reason for this.
In his conclusion he states: “…what can one learn from just war theory? My feeling is that from the literature on just war, we learn mostly about the prevailing moral and intellectual climate in which we live.” And he’s right. Christians and Christianity have nothing to offer, it seems, nothing to say, nothing to add to help shape and influence the moral and intellectual climate in which we live when it comes to war. The Vatican seems to have plenty to say about war, but who listens to them? Certainly not Catholics, so why should anyone else? Christianity has become irrelevant on this issue, and it’s not hard to understand why.
I been standin’ on the rock, waitin’ for the wind to blow
I been standin’ on the rock, waitin’ for the wind to blow
I been standin’ on the rock, waitin’ for my seeds to grow
I been walkin’ on the ground, waitin’ for the guns to quit
I been walkin’ on the ground, waitin’ for the guns to quit
I been walkin’ on the ground, waitin’ for the pieces to fit
better get back to the country, look around and find you a home
better get back to the country, look around and find you a home
better get back to the country, that’s where we all come from
I been standin’ on the rock, waitin’ for the wind to blow
I been standin’ on the rock, waitin’ for the wind to blow
I been standin’ on the rock, waitin’ for my seeds to grow (whew!)
I been standin’ on the rock, waitin’ for my seeds to grow
I been standin’ on the rock, waitin’ for my seeds to grow
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils’ debut album.
Release date: December 1973
Compact Disc Release circa 1993
Origin: Springfield, MO
Record label: A&M Records
Members: Mike Granda, Dave Painter, Ron Gremp, Nick Sible, Bill Jones, Kelly Brown, Steve Cash, Randle Chowning, John Dillon, Rune Walle, Ruell Chappell, Larry Lee
Published on August 12, 2012, Guest Host Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, a co-founder of PaxChristi USA, interviews John Carmody, Director of the Center for Christian Non-violence. This interview comes to you in two parts addressing the subject of “The Neuroscience of Peace or Violence.” In both episodes, John Carmody, a neuroscientist and highly decorated Viet Nam era Marine, explains how the young are recruited into the military at an age when the brain centers of higher reasoning, compassion and empathy are still immature, and while the lower brain functions of aggression and violence more developed and is more susceptible to the training to kill without mercy or conscience. John explains how he became a subjected to the skillful mind games used by the military to recruit him and join the Marines. Both Fr. McCarthy and John Carmody discuss the inherent conflict of the mind of Christ (compassion, forgiveness, empathy) and the mind of a combat soldier ( aggression, violence, conformity, lack of sympathy, survival) and the effort required by the military to subjugate the Christ-like mind into developing “a good soldier.” Can neuroscience help us understand Jesus’ admonition against anger? Watch and find out!
The metal band Skinny Puppy has billed the Department of “Justice” for using their songs to torture prisoners.
“‘We thought we would invoice them properly, so we hit them with the evil numbers of $666,000,’ Keyboardist CeVin Key said during a phone call from New Orleans. ‘We gave them a breakdown of the bill.’
According to a guard, who is writing a book about his Guantanamo experience, guards used Skinny Puppy songs on four occasions. ‘The funny thing is that one of those songs was used on a bootleg,’ Key said. ‘What really bothers us is that they played our songs at an intolerable volume for hours on end. The guards would ridicule the detainees when they defecated or urinated themselves. How can there be a torture camp there? It’s wrong. We’ve found out all about this over a year ago and it just ticked us off.'”
2297Kidnapping and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong. Terrorism threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity. Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity. Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.91
2298 In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture. Regrettable as these facts are, the Church always taught the duty of clemency and mercy. She forbade clerics to shed blood. In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person. On the contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors.
Skinny Puppy’s album The Weapon, released in 2013, was inspired by their experience with the DoJ. This video is disturbing, but no more disturbing than what the government is doing in our name. Kind of sad when heavy metal bands are doing more to call out evildoers and evildoing than the Christian Churches.
Not “heroes.” Not “Peace Officers.” Just a few thugs in uniforms trying to make their lives more exciting (I guess) by terrorizing innocent people and using excessive force.
This video on Catholic “Just Defense” theory has one explanation and definition of militarism. It also gives a decent overview of Catholic Just War theory: where it came from and what it says. It has six parts but is only about 30 minutes long in total:
“Those who hold this position or set of assumptions believe that violence and war are not evil in themselves and can be effective means to bring about positive result. Violence and war can be used to right wrongs, to protect the innocent, and to restore order and peace. Indeed the militarist position maintains that not only is killing for the right reasons justifiable, it is also honorable and noble. Human beings are violent by nature, the militarist position reasons, and so good people must not avoid violence. It is imperative that the good guys outgun the bad guys. Thus, legitimate violence, the violence of the good guys, is a sign of courage and virtue, and the rejection of such violence is a sign of cowardice, or vice. Violence is glorified, and the good guys who employ legitimate, sanctioned violence are heroes.”
“The U.S. military has won the ideological war. The nation sees human and social problems as military problems. To fight terrorists Americans have become terrorists. Peace is for the weak. War is for the strong. Hypermasculinity has triumphed over empathy. We Americans speak to the world exclusively in the language of force. And those who oversee our massive security and surveillance state seek to speak to us in the same demented language. All other viewpoints are to be shut out. ‘In the absence of contrasting views, the very highest form of propaganda warfare can be fought: the propaganda for a definition of reality within which only certain limited viewpoints are possible,’ C. Wright Mills wrote. ‘What is being promulgated and reinforced is the military metaphysics—the cast of mind that defines international reality as basically military.'” Chris Hedges, The Menace of the Military Mind, Feb. 3, 2014
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, center, and other officials testify on Capitol Hill last Wednesday at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on national security threats. From left: National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen, FBI Director James Comey, Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
