Blind Bigotry

One of the on-going sources of pain in my faith life is the manner in which Israel seems unable to see or feel the pain they cause the rest of the world by their blind, unthinking, unfeeling, arrogant hatred of the Palestinian community - nor can they seem to see how they perpetuate the things done to the Jews by the way they treat these people they displaced much as the Germans displaced people when they were in their wars of conquest. Nations like the US try to reach out and find a peaceful way to allow Israel and the Palestinians to live, each in their own lands, and Israel plays a teasing game of "Of course we'll enter peace talks," and "Hurry, build another invasive settlement in direct violation of previous agreements!"

And tonight I saw another story that just confirms this. The Vice-President tries to restart the peace talks that Israel said they wanted to restart, and they announce the start of construction on another settlement. To quote a show my son used to loved to watch on TV, "Doh!"

I recall an incident from some years ago, when a colleague of the Episcopal persuasion went to Israel, returned to the states and spoke of his experiences, describing the treatment of Palestinians that at the time were still allowed into Israel for work and shopping - and comparing some of the tactics he saw as similar to the Gestapo treatment of Jews under Hitler - dragging people off buses because they were Palestinian, stopping them on the streets for no other reason than that, brutality, insensitivity to persons acting normally. A Jewish colleague came to me later and demanded to know if that other had called the Jews Nazis. I spent a good bit of time calming my Jewish colleague and finally was able to get the concept of "treatment similar to" across.

Many of the Jews I've known in this country are as perplexed by Israel's policies and action as are non-Jews. And I find myself simply unable to comprehend that inability to see how badly they are damaging their image in the eyes of the world - and another analogy of current affairs lifts its ugly head, that of the Republican party that cannot seem to see how out of touch their views are with the majority of this nation's citizens, while they continue to plow the same furrow over and over again, offending more and more people by lies, hate, bigotry and so on.

God gave us brains to think with, hearts to feel with, and hands to help our brothers and sisters in this life. When we won't think, can't feel, and hurt instead of helping - what message to we send to our God? What message do we send about our so-called faith?

Peace!

Racial Profiling Is Alive and Well

I know the government continues to deny they are involved - at virtually every level - but a story this morning shows just how blatantly active it is!

It seems "some other passengers" became concerned about the conversation of a Muslim family on a flight. The airline, who doesn't deserve the courtesy of not mentioning their name but will get it for now, removed them from the flight AND REFUSED TO REBOOK THEM EVEN THOUGH THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS CLEARED THEM OF ANY WRONG DOING!!!!

Adjoining this story was a headline about several Muslims being removed from flights - what about Christian Right extremists willing to blow up medical clinics; kill doctors, nurses AND PATIENTS of said clinics and boast of it? What about power hungry politicians willing to put the whole nation in danger to fuel their maniacal dreams of grandeur?

And before to castigate me for my blatant prejudice, allow to to tell you that not all that long ago, waiting to board a flight from a small city in New York state, my wife and I witnessed a group of young men singled out for a "thorough search" based on the stated basis of their apparent national origin. Yes, I said we witnessed this, and what's more I heard the TSA agents say it!

The land of the free and the home of the brave is also the home of the phobics and the prejudiced, and we have a long, long way to go to be the nation we should be. My hope is that others will be as outraged as I over this family's plight, and that the collective outrage will get some airlines fined, some TSA agents booted and create an atmosphere in which people can begin to learn about and understand one another.

I've said before, and will again, that all the major world religions have the same basic values, stated according to their own cultural setting, and that the sooner we recognize we ALL have RADICALS and TERRORISTS within our ranks, the SOONER we can begin to build the kind of understanding and concern that will indeed make us the beacon of goodness in world, because we WILL NOT ASSUME GUILT BEFORE IT IS PROVEN.

Enough of the soap box, but please, I beg you, give this serious thought, and be willing to voice yourself when you see it happen. This isn't right, honorable, or American - it's racist, bigoted and wrong!

Peace!