Wednesday, April 02, 2008
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MLK on American Nationalism and War
I don't usually like just adding a quote without some kind of commentary, but I think this one can stand on its own.
Currently Listening
Complete Clapton
By Eric Clapton
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"God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now. God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war . . . . We’ve committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation. But God has a way of even putting nations in their place. The God that I worship has a way of saying, "Don't play with me." He has a way of saying, as the God of the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews, "Don’t play with me, Israel. Don't play with me, Babylon. Be still and know that I'm God. And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." And that can happen to America. Every now and then I go back and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And when I come and look at America, I say to myself, the parallels are frightening."Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Comments (2)
talking to the one buddhist student in my program, he is deeply concerned with the potential for violence in christian doctrine. interestingly, he doesn't see this violence as inherent to christ's person or message. rather, it is due to people inappropriately "drawing swords" on christ's behalf. he cautioned me to listen very carefully to the class's rhetoric when christ's uniqueness was being discussed, how it very quickly breaks down into a definition of us that is an exclusion of them.
sorry, i guess this is not really pertinent except that i am disappointed that the church seems to be pitifully short on pacifist activists these days. maybe the tolerance of violence in our midst is an explanation.
That's a great quote Thom. I can't imagine what MLK would think/say if he lived to today...