the impotence of international law, the power of the individual

I thought this article was well written, and I empathize with the frustrations of the author.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin: Obama’s ‘Hope’less Response to the War on Gaza.

But is it realistic to think that the international community would actually condemn Israel and their blatant breeches of international law?  Perhaps this is cynical, but I don’t think it is possible.  The United States, which many see as the most powerful nation in the world, has been participating in illegal wars (Iraq, for example) for years, completely  unchecked by the international community.  Is it any surprise that Israel, who the US continues to back unconditionally, would follow in US footsteps?

And, need I write of the irony of the situation?  Here, on one hand, the US and Israel condemn international aggression (Hamas, Hezbolah, and of course, Russia’s invasion of Georgia), yet all the while both nations are the worst of perpetrators of international aggressive conflict.

We tout ourselves as an ethical nation.  We’ve agreed to the UN charter and international law.  We’ve agreed to limit our nuclear arms.  All the while we’ve violated our commitments.  We have one of the largest caches of nuclear arms in the world, yet we condemn other nations for trying to create their own.  We condemn international aggression, yet we are perhaps the worst offender.

Granted I in no way support the aggression of Hamas, Hezbolah, or anyone else, I’m just continuing to find the double standard laughable.  I’m convinced that because of corruption, the only solution to these issues is grassroots.

If there is to be international peace, it will not come at the hands of agreements between corrupt governments, it will come from Christian, Muslim, Jew, et al, looking one another in the eyes and acknowledging our common humanity, our common dignity, and our common enemy which is our own desire for gain.  It will be through on-the-ground work by organizations like Christian Peacemaker Teams, that progress will be made.  I wish it could be otherwise, but I don’t think it will be possible.  It has been said that means are ends in the making.  Therefore peace, security, and safety must come through non-violent means or they will too become violent ends.

Prayers for those who are currently suffering.

Blessed art thou Lord God of the Universe, who art the only true judge…May he pour out his mercy on mankind.

young evangelicals: an identity crisis (part 1)

Alright, so I’ve  learned that some people actually read my blog.  That gives me some satisfaction (even though half read it because they know me, and half stumble upon it by accident).

I’ve been thinking about the topic of young evangelical identity lately as a possible paper topic for a conference being held at my Alma Mater.  Carson Clark, a friend of mine who is organizing the event, asked me to participate, though I’m not sure I will.

Regardless of whether I submit a paper or not, the idea of young evangelical identity has been fermenting in my mind recently.  Since graduating from a very conservative evangelical Bible college, I have had some time to think.  For me, and for several of my friends, attending a Christian college like Toccoa was one of the most difficult experiences of my life.  Surrounded by Christians I found myself feeling alone, especially when it came to issues I found important (reverence, art/aesthetics, pacifism/non-violence, social issues, environmental concern/sustainability, church history, racial reconciliation).

Over the course of college, I had several friends who felt the same way.  One converted to Anglicanism, one to Catholicism, and one is seriously considering Eastern Orthodoxy.  I knew of several others who considered themselves post-modern Christians (whatever that means,  I guess they were aligning more with McClaren, etc.).  At the same time I was reading material like Irresistible Revolution by other young evangelicals who were calling themselves a New Monasticism.  And then there were my friends who left the faith completely…With my interest in the anabaptist faith then, here were a handful of young evangelicals that I knew, or knew of, who were literally flocking to everything save the faith they were raised in.

This past month I had the opportunity to visit another fairly conservative Christian college out in Indiana.  I was intrigued to discover that there were several folks out there having the same conversations and issues regarding the evangelical faith they were brought up in.  I stayed for four days with a couple of guys, one was in the process of being confirmed in the catholic faith, the other was working as a catholic minister, both were raised evangelical protestant.

My hypotheses is that this is a nationwide trend.  Young evangelicals are leaving the faith in droves.  They are becoming catholics, anabaptists, emergents, anglicans, eastern orthodox, and new monastics in order to become better disciples of Jesus.  I’m not sure all that is involved in this radical departure from the faith of our youth, but I have some ideas which I hope to explore in later posts:

• The American evangelical protestant expression of Christianity seriously lacks an appreciation for mystery, beauty, and art: Most (if not all) of the people I’ve met firsthand who have left the faith, have been artists of one kind or another.  I think this is a serious issue and I’ll explore that later.
• The American evangelical protestant expression of Christianity has all but aligned itself with outright support of unjust and economically motivated wars, and our American culture of violence and “right to self-defense” (I think this trend is slowly changing).
• The American evangelical protestant expression of Christianity has adopted the American ahistorical culture.  We are disconnected from the previous generation, and every generation prior to our own.  “Church History” means, all to often, studying the Book of Acts.  We have little or no knowledge of the saints or much of the rest of Christian history.  This has created a movement wide identity crisis: we call ourselves evangelical but we don’t know what that means or where we come from (though we call it Luther and brag about the 95 Theses).
• The American evangelical protestant expression of Christianity is divorced from nature (again, like the predominant American culture).  As Wendell Berry has wisely, and simply, put it, “Land that is used will be ruined unless it is properly cared for.”  The story of America has been the exploitation of our natural resources, and of all people, God fearers should be most appalled by the damaging of his creation which is under our care.

A peacemaking pilgrimage

This summer I will have the privilege to travel to Israel and occupied Palestine for two weeks to work with Christian Peacemaker Teams.  More information will be coming soon.  You can read about the delegation, as well as Christian Peacemaker Teams’ other delegations here:

http://www.cpt.org/participate/delegation/schedule

I’ll be writing about this more extensively in the future.  I also read a very interesting article today about the practicality of non-violent peacemaking.  Very thought provoking.  You can read it here:

http://www.gmu.edu/academic/pcs/nagler.html