📢 แจ้งเตือน: News Update - ประเด็นร้อน

I have a new blog, dealing with issues of faith, politics, postmodernism, and culture. The URL is http://propheticheretic.wordpress.com

If you want, you can read the syndicated feed here on your LJ friend list, just add

absolutionrvltn. But I recommend if you want to read it you at least go to the site once because I have some static content pages there that don't come through on the feed.

Cheers! :-)

so...

[28 Jul 2006|07:02am]

who's going to the conference? Anyone?

Paul and USAmerican self-determination and contradiction

[15 Jul 2006|03:48pm]

x-posted from my personal journal

I find it odd that the United States celebrates self-determination when politically we have quite a history of denying the same to others when it suits certain political purposes, generally business-related. For example, the Phillippines in that oft-forgotten coda to the Spanish-American War that lasted 5 years while the war preceding it was only a few months. For another example, the movement of one Ho Chi Minh in favor of the French colonial power in Vietnam (why? because we had to support European allies who undermined our stated political philosophies made as recently as the aftermath of World War II? Racism against the Asian peoples? Economic ties to French colonialism? Remember that it was only after his petitions for equality in French Indochina were rejected by Woodrow Wilson, before he was a full-blown communist, that he turned to Moscow. He even quoted from the American Declaration of Independence when declaring independence for Vietnam from France; it is possible that the whole Vietnam war debacle could have been avoided had the US chosen a different course in diplomacy that arguably was more consistent with its philosophical foundations. This is not, mind you, to call Minh a hero, for his faults were numerous, but simply to point out a possible inconsistency between USAmerican policy and philosophy). For another, numerous examples in Latin America where the United States supported business interests that led directly to the establishment of Marxist revolutionary movements, undermining the US philosophies of government and freedom but serving particular business interests.

Just as Paul called out the Roman authorities to live up to their propaganda (Romans 13) and to carry out with justice their roles (the most prominent example that comes to mind being Acts 22:22-29), I believe Christians should be instrumental in calling the United States out to be consistent to its guiding principles and philosophies of self-determination, liberty, and justice for all. If we are going to engage in international affairs, it should be with these in mind and not just exporting logos and products from American-born corporations. American soldiers should not be dying in Iraq so Halliburton can turn a profit from its wartime support operations, so AmeriQual can produce and sell more MREs, so McDonalds can operate in yet another market.

I am not trying to turn this into a debate regarding the merits of the present war (though I can't imagine many here would advocate supporting it), but simply saying that the ideals American soldiers believe are worth fighting and dying for should be what they are really fighting and dying for. Otherwise the whole business of national security should be exposed for the sham that it is. I fear there is so much profit in war that good causes have to be manufactured so the little people will go on fighting them. It is possible that what is going now is truly a battle for justice and for a long-term peace in Iraq. I pray that this is so, especially since it doesn't look like we're going to be pulling out anytime soon. But even someone who does not hold a pacifistic viewpoint (and I'm not sure I qualify as a complete pacifist because I would fight and have fought before to protect myself and my family) who is a Christian, I would say, should consider Paul's attitude towards those in power and submit in the same way he did- by attempting to get the ones in power to honor their responsibility their delegated-from-God authority carries. I pray we do not make the mistake of believing that just because one's power is delegated from God that means that person has a mandate from God for all his or her actions committed with that power.

prayer-i58 Christian-based direct action gathering, July 06, Leeds, UK

[13 Jul 2006|01:11pm]

blacbutterfly

heya,

I forget who, but somebody here not so long ago had a user icon which was an animated gif rewriting of "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. I remember the end was "Hey! Fascist! Leave those kids alone....All in all you're just another blip in the polls".

anyone know where I can get hold of it?

cheers,

- Jonathan

4 comments|post comment

[07 Jul 2006|03:57pm]

blacbutterfly

28-30 July -- Christian-based direct action gathering -- Leeds, UK
CHRISTIANITY HELPED TO CREATE CAPITALISM...NOW IT MUST DESTROY IT!

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. (James 5:1-6)

The Body of Christ is under attack. From consumerism promising bliss in the form of the latest fad, to the creation and deployment of weapons capable of destroying whole villages in a heartbeat, to the relentless plunder and destruction of the world around us in the name of power and profit, the world is on a seemingly unending path towards self-annhiliation.

Within this, radical voices from the Christian tradition can seem few and far between. Church leaders, while reluctant, are willing to ignore prohibitions on the taking of human life when that act is sanctioned by the state. Fundamentalist groups continue to demand rights be denied to sexual minorities and call for the repression of women - in the name of the Christ in whom "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female". World leaders show their willingness to wage acts of war at one moment and profess their faith at the next, standing with one hand on a bible and another on the deployment button, proclaiming their righteousness in the face of mass murder.

There is, however, another face of Christ, one which rarely sees the light of day. This is a tradition which values human life over corporate greed, rejects acts of war regardless of their "justification", and proclaims the sharing, respect and protection of the natural world. If you are tired of lying politicians, corrupt businessmen, and mass murder in the name of "God", welcome. You are not alone.

prayer-i58 (Isaiah 58) was formed in 2005 prior to the G8 summit in Scotland, with the purpose of facilitating radicals drawing from the Christian tradition who wished to make their presence felt in the face of this gathering of global power. Since then it has evolved into a radical, Christian-based, anti-authoritarian network to help co-ordinate struggles around the UK and beyond. While based in the Christian tradition, prayer-i58 is open to all those who share a basic commitment to peace, love and anarchy.

From 28th-30th July, at All Hallows Church, Leeds (www.allhallowsleeds.org.uk), prayer-i58 will be holding a gathering to plan for action over the coming months. The two main focuses of this gathering are firstly, the Camp for Climate Action (www.climatecamp.org.uk) from 26th August to 4th September, an opportunity to bring together ecological activists to discuss, plan and act in defence of our planet. The second focus is Faslane 365 (www.faslane365.org), a year-long protest camp at Faslane Naval Base, home to the UK's Trident submarine missile project. Someone from the Faslane 365 group will be coming along to give information on direct action, the Faslane base, and the peace camp itself. Crash space and food will be available and the Sunday will be spent at the All Hallows service.

From experienced activists to the simply curious, this gathering hopes to provide a space in which people of similar ideas can come together to discuss and share with one another our thoughts, plans and dreams for another world.

www.prayer-i58.org.uk - www.almostfamous.co.uk/i58 - www.allhallowsleeds.org.uk e-mail: prayer-i58@hotmail.co.uk

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Isaiah 58:6-7)

some thoughts on the church and consumerism and quotes from Brueggemann

[29 Jun 2006|09:23pm]

If there's anyone here who reads my personal journal, you will know that I often refer to iPod owners and consumerism (in a negative sense) in the same breath. If you don't read my personal journal, that information is essential for understanding what I am about to say. For examples, see here, here, and not necessarily iPod-related but I really liked this entry here.

First, I want to make sure everyone knows that when I make comments about iPods I'm not necessarily attacking any individual iPod owner (or, necessarily, even that particular product itself) anymore than I would attack any individual who owns a cell phone (I do), laptop (I do), or other technological sort of item (I have a few, particularly for making music, including a guitar processor that has more computing power than all the computers in my house combined). I'm just using a particular product as representative of what I see as being a larger problem.

Having an iPod does not make anyone a mindless consumer whore any more than having a Walkman did in the '80's. But it does make a convenient and, I think, appropriate symbol of problems I see with our increasingly technological, increasingly consumeristic, and increasingly socially-detached society. I really do see not just the roots but perhaps even the stalks emerging of some kind of crazy technopoly where the end result is that everyone becomes so satiated with technology and gadgets (and so manipulated manipulated by the marketing of these products) and consumer goods that we become numbed to our human-ness and become enveloped completely by the imperial imagination of the corporate.... err.... empires. When I've been up all night working sometimes my usually-brilliant vocabulary fails me. ;-)

Welcome to 1984.

As a Christian, I believe this tendency diminishes our humanity and our portrayal of the imago Dei in us, and I must speak out against it. Since the voice of the beast is pervasive, then my words of prophetic resistance must penetrate, but in a manner that reflects Christ's love in me.

I am currently reading The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann of Columbia Theological Seminary. The main point of the book is that the Biblical texts, particularly the Old Testament, since that's his main field, reflect the perspective of communities struggling from within the confines of an empire that sought to totalize the whole of life, to consume the reality of Israel within its dominant story of reality as it pertains to legitimating the power of the official kingly worldview. The Biblical texts reflect their efforts to capture among them a sense of a world fueled by an alternative imagination, that of Israel as the covenant people of God according to a worldview focused on the love and justice of that God embodied in their community practice. He also takes steps in some places to relate this analysis to our life today in Western society, discussing how the sense of this prophetic imagination can fuel our countercultural communal practice (which is, after all, what the church should be) in the face of this monolithic McWorld (Benjamin Barber's term, not Brueggeman's) empire of global technopolistic consumerist USAmerican culture. I will reproduce below material from his preface to the revised edition (2001, Augsberg Fortress Press). Emphases are his unless I mark them otherwise.

(the first is from within a section where he describes his interaction with liberation theology in the book)

... the enmeshment of the United States church in the raging force of globalization and the easy accomodation of church faith and practice to consumer commoditism make the urgency of "prophetic consciousness" palpable among us, any critique of method to the contrary. In any case, I believe that the lines of argument I have laid out are, if anything, more important than at the time of my writing, precisely because the hegemonic power of the "royal consciousness" is all but totalizing among us (p. xi).

It is inescapable that prophetic utterance and action turn out to be absurd, but it is an absurdity that may be the very truth of obedient imagination (p. xv).

Now for a larger section:

I will later post from the next section in my personal journal (and perhaps here if anyone's interested). It continues the line of thought using the example of the Catholic Church in Chile's formation of resistance communities to the Pinochet regime around the taking of the Eucharist to demonstrate the importance of imagination in a subcommunity, and the conflict of imaginations between the dominant regime (the "royal consciousness") and the resistance (the "prophetic consciousness"). It's really good stuff.

For anyone here who is somewhat literature-minded, Brueggemann quotes a book you might want to check out (as do I). It's Flannery O'Connor: The Imagination of Extremity by Frederick Asals. One of the chapters in the book is actually entitled "The Prophetic Imagination."

I leave you all with a statement Brueggemann cites from that book:

"Moderation is a delusion, and only extremists are in touch with reality" (Asals, p. 233, cited on p. xv).

2 comments|post comment

*ahem*

[01 Apr 2006|06:11pm]

[

mood

amused

]

So the AFA is doing an online poll on illegal immigration and trying to be all serious about it, stating that they'll send the results "to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and President George Bush." Their solution to illegal immigration? "The first step in dealing with the illegal immigration problem is to seal the borders and keep additional illegal immigrants out."

Of course, it'd be a shame if their poll turned out not to be one-sided...

(x-posted)

The Decalogue for 2006?

[15 Dec 2005|04:30pm]

Operation Home for the Holidays

If God was to give us the Decalogue (or Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:1-17) today... would it look something like this?

And God spoke to them all of these things, and he said:

I am The-One-Who-Is-And-Who-Causes-To-Be, your God, who has freed you from the land of McDonaldization, from the house of consumer-culture slavery.

You must not have any corporate images or brand-name logos that replace or diminish me in your imagination.

You must not make for yourselves t-shirts or bracelets that capture my name and attempt to make me subservient to your market-driven consumer tendencies. Also, you must not make the story of my salvation a marketing ploy or a strategy to merely bring people in the doors, leading them to read the book and gain a surface knowledge of me but not bringing them into the story.

You must not treat these things that are bought and sold, things that will burn, as though they are things that really matter, for I, The-One-Who-Is-And-Who-Causes-To-Be, will not share my value with anyone or anything and the consequences of attempts to share such will cause long-lasting repercussions.

But show covenental, unconditional love in a way that is even longer-lasting than the consequences that befall those who do not honor me for what I am worth, building true community that will defy consumerism and live out my story of redemption that gives you all your true worth as a people created in my image.

You must not use my name as if it was nothing, as if it was a mere product or consumer good to fill a felt, created need. You must not attempt to domesticate the power that is in my name, "The-One-Who-Is-And-Who-Causes-To-Be," because you cannot control me, I AM "The-One-Who-Is-And-Who-Causes-To-Be," and no human being is. Any attempt to usurp my position can only by its nature result in dehumanization, suffering, and meaninglessness.

You must remember to celebrate, among yourselves but not excluding strangers, aliens, those who are different, periodically my having brought you out of the consumer empire and into a true freedom where your value does not depend on market statistics but on your status as my creations and my redeemed children, fulfilled through your relationship with me in covenental, unconditional love. No one is to be excluded among you, whether they would be considered a master, a slave, or even a stranger to those who are outside of our covenental community. You must not, on these days, be a part of the dehumanizing market-world economic order, this monolithic McWorld empire, but on this day you are to be reminded that you are my people, to be refreshed by my spirit, and to be renewed in order to be a family of priests ministering to interceding on behalf of the world that is trapped in that empire without imagination, without hope. I am your hope; I AM The-One-Who-Is-And-Who-Causes-To-Be, the one who is your imagination over and against the corporate logo-driven "reality." I created all things and cause them to have ontic existence, therefore you honor me by remembering, by re-assembling my story in your memories, traditions, and current imaginations.

Give honor to your father and mother, treat them with the respect I demand for all people, because I have given them a great privelege and responsibility: to train and sustain you in my ways against the empire that would otherwise swallow you. In honoring them, you honor me, and the peace you have in me will continue to grow; your witness to the world of death around you will be made more perfect.

You must not do violence against your fellow-human by seeing them as less human than yourself in any way. You shall not put him or her to death either in your mind, through anger, or in the body, through physical violence, and in doing so injure that person's right to live as I have created him or her to be.

You must not violate your covenant with me by violating your covenant of faithfulness with your husband or wife, and in doing so violate the sanctity of your bodies that I have given you as an image of the sanctity of life. You must not capitulate to the death of the world that surrounds you in this way.

You must not take that which belongs to your brother or sister, you must not submit to the capitalistic impulse that what really matters is a thing and not a person. You must not give in to materialism in such a way that it causes you to violate this right of your neighbor.

You must not give a false testimony against your neighbor, for to do so would be to forget that he or she is my beloved creation, my son or daughter, and you must not in this way violate the covenant of love that I have placed between you and them, and you and me.

You must not wish that something your neighbor possesses was yours to the extent that you would be willing to do violence against them in any form to obtain it. Again, you must resist the impulse of the materialist death-culture around us that says it is things and money that matter and not life. If you even allow these thoughts into your mind they can begin to control you, and you will begin to be co-opted by that world, over which I have already shown myself to be more powerful. I am your hope; I AM The-One-Who-Is-And-Who-Causes-To-Be, the one who is your imagination over and against the corporate logo-driven "reality." I created all things and cause them to have ontic existence, therefore you honor me by remembering, by re-assembling my story in your memories, traditions, and current imaginations.

5 comments|post comment

[05 Dec 2005|01:08am]

weresolipsists

Hi! I'm writing to let you know about a little anti-war performance I did
with my family over Thanksgiving weekend. I heard about this lady on the
radio doing it (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5021524)
and we copied it.

We took toy soldiers and put a label on them that says "bring me home from
Iraq for the holidays" and we placed them all over stores -- in Best Buy and
the supermarket - and then customers or employees find them on top of
granola bars or iPods, etc.

The idea is to confront consumers for a brief moment -- to ask them to think
about Bush's approach (failure!) and what they're going to do about it. It
also offers an encouragement to other activists, citizens of conscience, and
military families, in that someone is doing something to bring soldiers
home!

So, it's extremely easy (and relatively cheap) to do! Look for toy soldiers
at your local dollar, toy, or department store, glue them on to some paper,
and write/print "Bring Me Home from Iraq for the Holidays," then walk around
stores and leave them (in)conspicuously on shelves!

We're psyched, we wanna get it in blogs and news media and work a snowball
effect and have this protest-performance-action sweep the nation, and be the
next Cindy Sheehan anti-war strategy.

I've started a blog to keep track of where these are popping up. Please
send in pictures of actions you've done (or seen):
http://homefortheholidaysaction.blogspot.com/.

in peace & solidarity,
"Femme Egale"

3 comments|post comment

Christian Peacemaker Team members held hostage in Iraq

[30 Nov 2005|04:51pm]

In my personal journal, I've been posting a few updates here and there from Christian Peacemaker Teams working for peace in some of the world's most volatile regions. I have corresponded with several members of the organization, including some in Iraq. A couple of days ago four members of a CPT team were captured and are being held hostage by militants in Iraq. Please keep them in your prayers, either for safe release or for whatever will glorify God by moving people to work for just peace not only in Iraq but also around the world.

Information is currently on the front page of the CPT web site.

CPT in Iraq

comment and someone will give the Red Cross $1 :)

[18 Sep 2005|11:12pm]

semierectmohawk

[

mood

grateful

]

Woohoo for this community! This community rocks!! Oh yeah, Hi, I just joined! We just had my very radical friend from Oregon visit us in Kansas for dinner. She came to stop by on her way from Louisiana. When I told her I finally excepted christ she was very happy for me, and very happy I happened to call her when she was so close to Kansas she could come for a visit! Anyway, I reiterate, this community rocks!!!

2 comments|post comment

[11 Sep 2005|11:36pm]

A way to help with hurricane efforts

[

mood

back to my comp exam. yikes.

]

I'm passing this on, since it's perfect for a poor college student like me who can't afford to give anything more to the hurricane relief efforts. If it doesn't seem to fit the community, feel free to remove it.

For every person who comments on this post, a writer will donate $1 to the American Red Cross. He didn't cap the number of people who could comment, so pass this on and put him on the payment plan. ;)

There are also sites like this and this that donate, and I think some of these other LJ folks are doing the same thing still, maybe.

5 comments|post comment

[04 Sep 2005|09:49pm]

[

mood

quiet

]

I'm lifting meinnim's text on this:

You can volunteer to help from your computer.

Gacked from sprat: A group is working to organize a master database of all the Katrina "missing" and "safe/found" information scattered around the web.

What they need are volunteers to do data entry of information off of message boards. 25-item sets at a time.

Go here for details on exactly how the project works. Then go here to claim a set and get to work. Please pass this link on.

Note: You can claim a set (or more) now but you need to wait until tomorrow morning to do the data entry. Apparently, so many people tried to help out, the server for the database melted. (When I read that, I almost burst into happy tears. People want to help so much. It's just. A Good Thing.) The data is safe but there won't be a new server until tomorrow morning [that would be Tuesday, Sept. 5]. Send an email to peoplefinder-subscribe@activist-tech.org if you want them to let you know when you can return to work on your list.

[cite]

This, at least, is something I can do.

(x-posted; please pass on)

Also, here's a call to send music...

help hurricane survivors: house them

[01 Sep 2005|04:31pm]

[

mood

numb

]

I'm passing this on, in case it interests some of you. From an e-mail just received:

This morning, we've launched an emergency national housing drive to connect your empty beds with hurricane victims who desperately need a place to wait out the storm. You can post your offer of housing (a spare room, extra bed, even a decent couch) and search for available housing online at:

http://www.hurricanehousing.org

Housing is most urgently needed within reasonable driving distance (about 300 miles) of the affected areas in the Southeast, especially New Orleans.

Please forward this message to anyone you know in the region who might be able to help.

But no matter where you live, your housing could still make a world of difference to a person or family in need, so please offer what you can.

The process is simple:

You can sign up to become a host by posting a description of whatever housing you have available, along with contact information. You can change or remove your offer at any time.

Hurricane victims, local and national relief organizations, friends and relatives can search the site for housing. We'll do everything we can to get your offers where they are needed most. Many shelters actually already have Internet access, but folks without 'net access can still make use of the site through case workers and family members.

Hurricane victims or relief agencies will contact hosts and together decide if it's a good match and make the necessary travel arrangements. The host's address is not released until a particular match is agreed on.

I'm surprised at the number of folks in my area (far from the storm's effects) who have already listed themselves at the site.

(x-posted broadly)

FCC complaints re: Robertson death threat

[26 Aug 2005|12:15am]

[

mood

sleepy

]

(x-posted widely)

If you're interested, you can complain to the FCC about Pat Robertson's recent fatwa -- just write and explain the offense and when/where it took place, and it'll go into the official logs and whatnot. (Contact info here, with thanks.)

I tend to think that an FCC fine might be good for the ol' CBN -- they have pleeeenty of money, and it might be a better reminder that one must watch one's mouth when one is being aired on NATIONAL TELEVISION.

( letter you can steal Collapse )

1 comment|post comment

WTF?

[23 Aug 2005|03:33pm]

[

mood

grumbly. and hungry

]

CBC News: "[Pat] Robertson's call to assassinate Chavez causes storm in Washington, Venezuela"

I don't understand how in God's name he can think this is appropriate behavior for a Christian leader... not that this is the first time he's surprised me thusly.

(x-posted broadly)

1 comment|post comment

praying against legalism

[21 Aug 2005|10:15pm]

[

mood

decent

]

I thought I'd share this; I found it in a magazine I was reading and thought it was a cool idea.

Day of Prayer for the Captives
March 12, 2006
www.ptm.org

From the vantage point of our free Western society, it's hard to believe that in some countries people still live in slavery and oppression. Yet an even greater number--perhaps the majority of the world's population--live under some form of religious oppression. Incredibly, many of these are Christians who live under the mistaken belief that their observance of unbiblical rules, regulations, and rituals will somehow make God more pleased with them. Plain Truth Ministries exists to bring the freedom of God's grace to these captives.

Plain Truth Ministries invites you to join with us on March 12th, 2006 in a day of prayer for the captives--for all those who are in the bonds of religious oppression and legalism.

What can you do? Join with Christian friends for a time of prayer. Share a cup of coffee or tea with a friend, and pray for someone you know who is a slave to religious legalism. If you're in a small group, make it a point to meet on that day, and pray for religious captives. Tell your pastor. Ask him to support this day of prayer for the captives. Email your friends and let them know.

waging peace and changing terrorists' minds

[03 Aug 2005|12:02pm]

[

mood

surprised

]

This article is amazing. Lifted from shadur: What Would Allah Do?

(x-posted)

Conference

[19 Jul 2005|08:05pm]

pacopacothayan

I don't know if everyone knows this already, but there's a pretty stelar conference coming up in August (5-6) by these Jesus Radicals people. Also, if you know the group the Psalters, you should know that they'll be there too.

http://conference.jesusradicals.com/

I'm going to try to get there, but it would help if anyone could pick me up as they drive through Iowa on I-80... or is from Iowa and would want a ride... I just want to carpool.

And to make this a more legitimate post, a question:

Is the freedom that comes with an anarchic society something that would be evil? Human nature being given more power, etc. Its something I keep running into with debates with friends, and I was wondering what all of you think. I'm afriad that I can't articulate their opinion as well others can, but you get the idea.