Monthly Archives: August 2012

August 12, 2012 · 22:23

The Afghanistan Quagmire and the Escalation of “Green on Blue” Attacks

US Army Advisors training Afghan Police

We have forgotten what it is to be wise when it comes to foreign policy and have over the past ten years failed to learn from history when it comes to fighting in Afghanistan. A survivor of the horrific disaster that befell the British in the First Anglo-Afghan War, Chaplain G.R. Gleig wrote after that war:

“a war begun for no wise purpose, carried on with a strange mixture of rashness and timidity, brought to a close after suffering and disaster, without much glory attached either to the government which directed, or the great body of troops which waged it. Not one benefit, political or military, was acquired with this war. Our eventual evacuation of the country resembled the retreat of an army defeated.” 

This week has been another particularly horrific week for American troops in Afghanistan with our Afghan “partners” killing more Americans and NATO troops than our Taliban enemies. This week the command element of a combat brigade was attacked by a suicide bomber while going to a meeting with tribal leaders in Kunar province killing the Brigade Command Sergeant Major and two Majors from the Brigade staff. In a separate incident in Helmand Province three Marines were killed by a man described by an unnamed source to Reuters News as a Afghan National Police commander in charge of local police in Sangin district. They were at dinner with the Afghan when attacked. In a third attack a Afghan worker on an American base in Helmand killed three more Marines.

So far this year there have been at least 22 attacks by Afghan soldiers or police on US or NATO troops killing 33. In 2011 there were just 11 such attacks and 20 deaths. Any student of history should know that a foreign occupation force will never be accepted by most Afghans, especially tribal chieftains or elders. For them alliances with occupiers are only temporary measures to advance their own standing and power in Afghanistan. The British and Soviets both learned this the hard way and we seem to have forgotten the maxim that it is better to learn from the mistakes of others than make them yourself.

If there ever was a purpose to the Afghanistan campaign we seem to have forgotten it. We are in the process of withdraw. There is a danger inherent in any withdraw, especially in a geographically isolated place like Afghanistan. As we decrease in number and have fewer forces available to conduct operations our “partners” will make new alliances and turn against the forces that remain.

However we do not have the strategic or operational flexibility to send the number of troops needed to succeed in completely pacifying the country so we are in a double bind. The war saps our military strength, degrades our ground forces and pours money into an operation that we neither have, but need in order to modernize and strengthen forces for the wars that will certainly follow Afghanistan.

Soviet Advisors and Afghan Officers

The British met with debacle in the First Anglo-Afghan War and the Soviets were saved from disaster by a smartly executed withdraw that did not leave many forces exposed to Afghan treachery. British leaders were especially deceived by their Afghan partners. Shortly before his murder at the hands of Afghan tribal elders who had supposedly agreed to protect withdrawing British forces and their camp followers, British envoy Sir William MacNaghten wrote: “We shall part with the Afghans as friends, and I feel satisfied that any government which may be established hereafter will always be disposed to cultivate a good understanding with us.” 

The Soviets had no such illusions after their advisers in Herat were attacked with great loss before the 1979 invasion. They had their “green on blue” incidents but exacted painful and brutal retaliation. They also kept Afghan security forces at arms distance neither trusting them or allowing them much access to their bases. Unlike Iraq where green on blue incidents were isolated the situation in Afghanistan is little changed from when the Soviets or the British occupied the country.

“The latter [Soviet military advisors] served in particularly daunting conditions. They faced difference of language and tradition as well as mujahadeen infiltration in the ranks of supposedly loyal Afghan troops….” (Kalinovsky, Artemy: The Blind Leading the Blind: Soviet Advisors, Counter-Insurgency and Nation-Building in Afghanistan, p.6)

American and NATO political leaders are deceiving themselves if they believe that whatever Afghan government that comes after we withdraw will be friendly. It will not be and when we leave the unfortunate thing is that the Afghans will return to doing what they always do best, fight with one another. Nothing good can now come from our involvement in Afghanistan. The often heroic and noble sacrifices of so many brave men and women will be wasted and for what gain?

Otto Von Bismarck warned to “Beware of sentimental alliances where the consciousness of good deeds is the only compensation for noble sacrifices.” The situation in Afghanistan grows more precarious with each passing day. Our “alliance” with Pakistan is problematic and all supplies going into the Afghanistan must pass through either it or Russia. Our Afghan “partners” do not deserve the title of “Allies” we have made a Faustian bargain with the notorious Karzai government that has not helped our interests or those of the Afghan people an iota.

The situation in Afghanistan grows more precarious with each passing day.With the situation in Syria deteriorating and threatening to spill over into neighboring countries, with Iran and Israel blustering as we build up forces in the Arabian Gulf we do not have the luxury of simply keeping the status quo. We have to seriously ask why we are in Afghanistan and what we hope to accomplish for the great amount of blood and treasure that we are spending there.

That question must be asked of an answered by current political leaders in this country as well as those seeking to lead the country.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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August 10, 2012 · 17:45

High Anxiety: Padre Steve and Flight Delays

 

I am not as good of air traveler as I used to be. I get anxious when I travel by air now.  Sometimes when I fly it feels like I am Mel Brooks at the beginning of the movie High Anxiety http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_phD__FPsQ or Robert Hays in Airplane. The only thing missing from modern air terminals are the incessant bands of religious zealots that used to be a staple of large airport lobbies back in the 1970s.

Almost every time I travel by air I have the title song from High Anxiety going through my mind: “High Anxiety, it’s always the same. High anxiety, it’s you that I blame. It’s very clear to me I’ve got to give in, high anxiety, you win.” 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grLM1WrivPA

Despite the absence of those bands of zealots, who I almost miss going to the airport is never fun. It starts with long lines at the check in counter and through the TSA checkpoints, endure more lines at the gates and get stuffed into a packed aircraft next to someone who insists on taking up their seat plus a third of your seat. It finally ends when you pull out of the parking lot after waiting an unbearable length of time at the baggage carousel of doom for the checked bag that may or may not arrive when you do.

However I have this miserable experience down to a science.  I make sure that everything in my pockets can fit in my baseball hat, I wear shoes that come on and off easily and may backpack is set up so that my computer can be taken in and out quickly. I don’t carry any liquids whatsoever even those that are allowed by TSA. I find the trouble of bagging tiny containers in quart size plastic bags to be too much effort to make it worth while.  My backpack which has accompanied me since Iraq fits well in the overhead compartments of most aircraft and I only carry it so I don’t have to check anything at the gate.

Today has been another adventure in air travel. At Houston Hobby Airport the TSA operates the new scanning devices which enable the agents to look at your naked body. This is not new technology. I saw it used the first time in the movie Airplane. Somehow the thought of my naked body being exposed to anyone other than Judy is not comforting. I wonder what TSA does with these images.

Today I flew out of Houston on the American Airlines subsidiary American Eagle. To make it to the airport I had to catch a cab from the hotel and build in enough time for Houston morning rush hour traffic, so I was on the road by 0720. I had, the operative word had a flight that was to depart at 1020 and be in Dallas by about 1130. My connecting flight was scheduled to depart at 1335. That would have been great. Two hours to make connections right? But no, the scheduled aircraft had a mechanical problem and the replacement did not arrive in Houston until 1145. By the time I took off it was 1225 by the time I landed it was too late. I missed my flight by about 5 minutes. It was pushing away from the gate when I got off of the Sky Link train. I was able to get a picture of it as it left.

Now I get to wait until 1830 local time to take off to arrive in Norfolk about 2220. That is 10:20 PM to the no-military types. Thankfully I was able to get some Tex-Mex food and a couple of beers as I wait out the nearly 5 hour interval between flights. At least I don’t have Robert Hays’s “drinking problem.”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl4plPGRG8o

By the time I get home, Lord willing, or as my Iraqi friends say “Inshallah” it will be nearly midnight, about 18 hours after I left the hotel. I could have driven Judy’s Mustang straight through in just a few hours more.

Oh, High Anxiety, you win… looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue…

Oh well… c’est le vie.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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August 10, 2012 · 12:12

The Pilgrimage to Houston

I made pilgrimage this week. I spent the past week in Houston Texas for a conference with my church leadership. It was a good week. I learned a lot and since I am a priest in a small denomination with no local parish near me it was good to be able to meet, worship and work with my bishop. Such meetings are important for military chaplains because even those from larger denominations often have to minister in isolation from their denomination which for some leads to problems.

There is danger in being a “Lone Ranger” in ministry and those that become isolated tend to get in trouble more often than those that maintain healthy relationships with their own churches as well as other chaplains from different denominations. Collegiality is important in public ministry, especially the chaplain ministry. Lone Rangers frequently not only lose contact with their roots but also tend to isolate themselves from other chaplains of different denominations that might be able to help them. So for me it was good to be with the church leadership, to reconnect and to see the things going on in the church.

Nationals Relief Pitcher Mike Gonzalez signing Autographs and talking to Fans

I lived in Texas from 1987 through 1994. I first went there in 1983 as a new Army Lieutenant. Texas is an interesting state and contrary to the impressions of many who have not been there it is not monolithic. The various cities and regions have their own unique flavor. Most of my time in Texas was spent in San Antonio or the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. I also served in the Texas Army National Guard while in seminary and during my Clinical Pastoral Education hospital residency. That service allowed be to become acquainted with parts of the state and its people that I would have never have experienced had I not served in the Guard.

However I never spent any time in Houston until last year when I came down for my first clergy conference as a Priest in the Apostolic Catholic Orthodox Church. http://apostoliccatholicorthodox.org . Houston is definitely different than San Antonio or the Dallas, just as it seems that you are in a different states when you travel between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Most places in Texas have a unique hospitality that is more welcoming of outsiders than much of the rest of the South. I think that is because of its unique history compared to the rest of the country. I found that especially true in Houston where wearing my Baltimore Orioles cap stood out from the locals. People were very friendly and helpful everywhere I went and I really enjoyed myself.

Astros Outfielder Marwan Gonzalez hitting a Home Run in the First Inning

I was able to take in a ball game between the hapless Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park on Monday. The Astros lost in extra innings but I had a great seat near the Nationals dugout with a military discount that got me into the game for $20. The game kind of took me back to childhood when I went to the California Angels games in Anaheim. Players from both teams were taking time to talk with fans and sign autographs and I was able to get a ball signed by Houston All-Star Second Baseman Jose Altuve. The man that sat next to me had retired from the oil industry and had moved to Houston in the early 1970s who was bemoaning the condition of the Astros franchise. Baseball fans who suffer with struggling franchises have a unique kinship. We are not like fans of teams that are always in playoff contention and feel the pain of the other. On the way back from the stadium, “Mo” the cab driver who came to the United States from Morocco 30 years ago talked baseball the whole way back to the hotel. He knew the game and the Astros, better than many Americans that  know. That was a enjoyable cab ride.

During the trip I was able to experience many of the local craft beers brewed in the city. There are many of these compared to other cities that I have traveled. I was fortunate to have stayed in a hotel near a new watering hole called the West End which features a large number of these beers. I particularly liked the (512) Brewing Company IPA, the BuffaloBayou 1836 Copper Ale, the Saint Arnold Brewery Summer Pilsner and the Karbach Brewery Sympathy for the Lager.

I am on my way back, well sort of on my way back. My flight is delayed and hopefully it will not screw up my connection at DFW. Last time this happened I made the connection but my baggage didn’t arrive until the next day.

Blessings and Peace, pray for me a wayward traveler.

Padre Steve+

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August 8, 2012 · 23:51

Queens of the Beach: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Strike Gold for Third Time

 

Kerri Walsh-Jennings and Misty May-Treanor take Gold

If there ever was an Olympic sport that is quintessentially American in its genus it is Beach Volleyball. It is a sport that I love to watch, especially women’s competitions.  My wife Judy says that the sport is sexist because the men wear more clothing than the women, not that she doesn’t mind watching the men as much as I enjoy watching the women, but I digress…

The sport began in Southern California about 1915 and has become a staple in the United States as well as around the world. As it is played today in professional and international amateur competitions it is played just two players as opposed to regular volleyball which is played by 6 player teams. Unlike volleyball beach volleyball has no substitution so players must play the entire match.

Since 2004 the women’s competition, especially in the Olympics have been dominated by an American team composed of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have dominated the sport. They were undefeated in any Olympic set or match until this year when they lost one set to the Austrian sisters Stephanie and Doris Schwaiger in the competition. Other than that set they are undefeated in every match and 42 sets. They are as close to perfect in a sport as any team in history. 

An Amazing Team

They had played together as a team since 2001 defeated the other American team in the women’s competition Jennifer Kessy and April Ross who had defeated the number one ranked team of the 2012 season, the Brazilians Larissa Franca and Julianna Felisberta-Silva in order to reach the final.

The future: Jennifer Kessy and April Walsh 

Their Olympic dominance began in Athens in 2004 and they repeated the feat in Beijing in 2008. Their journey was beset by injury and interrupted at times by the responsibilities of marriage and family.  In London they dominated even as the competition reached higher levels of excellence.

As the flags were raised at Horse Guards Parade under the shadows of Parliament the two American teams, four women knit together by shared skill, teamwork and determination stood together singing the Star Spangled Banner. They were joined by thousands in the stands, and as they sang Kerri Walsh cried as she sang.

Triumphant and Emotional

The Olympic championship in London culminates the incredible careers of Misty May and Kerry.  They have left a legacy that will be hard for others to match. Jennifer Kessy and April Walsh are the new team to beat and the competition will be intense when they go for Gold in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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August 8, 2012 · 02:08

Wade Page Nazi Thug versus the Respectable Nazis

Wade Page, the gunman who walked into a Sikh temple in Oak Creek Wisconsin and opened fire killing 6 members of that community was a Nazi thug. A member of the “Hate” music scene Page was a virulent racist and anti-semite. Even some of the bigger Neo-Nazi groups condemned Page’s action. However, that does not mean that they disapproved of what happened, just that the blatantness of Page’s action embarrassed them.

Page and his thuggish brothers are much like the Brownshirts, the Nazi bullies that intimidated anyone who stood in their way prior to the Nazi seizure of power and in its immediate aftermath.  They were useful tools of smarter and more respectable Nazis but often proved an embarrassment to the party. When the Sturmabteilung, the SA Brownshirts became a political liability Hitler and the SS made an alliance to eliminate the SA leadership and sharply reduce that organization’s power in the Third Reich. Men like Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich who planned and executed the Holocaust  held such thugs in contempt.

Page has put Neo-Nazi leaders and sympathizers on the spot. While Neo-Nazi and others like them believe and preach White Supremacism, anti-Semitism, and racism they at least publicly distain murder of people at worship. It is very hard for them to defend him to do so would be to expose themselves. However, I wonder if the victims had been Moslems if they would have condemned the action at all.

Despite the brutal nature of Page’s massacre of the Sikhs, his type of White Supremacist or Neo-Nazi is less dangerous to society than the “respectable” Nazis. In the 1920s and 1930s the quiet and “respectable” Nazis remained in the background. The were lawyers, judges, economists, police officials, teachers, engineers and physicians. They mingled with the mainline conservatives, nationalists and even monarchists. They served as civil servants, education or in the private sector and remained in the background. They were the respectable front of National Socialism. Many kept their party membership hidden from colleagues even as Hitler built bridges with industrialists, bankers and brought their party to the forefront of the German political scene.

After the seizure of power they were the men that drafted the Nuremberg Laws and the Enabling Act. They wrote laws on forcible sterilization, they ran the political, economic and bureaucratic organizations that used slave labor to power their economic machine. They sat around a table at Wansee and dictated the Final Solution to the “Jewish problem”  They were the men that engineered the Holocaust. But unlike the Brownshirt “thugs” of the SA they were respectable and tried to keep their hands clean.  Without them Hitler could not have succeeded in gaining absolute power or keeping it.

It is the respectable Nazis who hold back their more virulent ideas for the time that they can use the political system that they despise to gain power and government agencies that they rail against to enforce their agenda. This is exactly what National Socialist Movement leader Brian Culpepper of Tennessee advocates. He said “We insert ourselves into the infrastructure of other established parties due to the bias against us and the difficulty of third parties getting ballot access….” and that “We have people working with the most recent incoming class of freshmen in the House,…And they don’t even know it.”

The Wade Page type of Neo-Nazi or White Supremacist is easy to spot and until they do something heinous like Page did in Oak Creek most of us don’t take them seriously. Covered in racist tattoos and playing in bad bands they hardly seem a credible threat until they are caught committing a serious crime or murder.

However, people that hold similar views but are more subtle in their methods and presentation are much more dangerous. Just as men like Wilhelm Frick, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Stuckart, Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Otto Olhendorf were in the Third Reich these men and women are often well educated, come from good homes and mingle quite well. They lead think tanks, write commentary in national and local publications, websites and even provide commentary on cable news programs. They promote fear and pedal conspiracy theories involving those that they distain, accuse opponents of trying to destroy the country and refer to their opponents as liberals, socialists or communists or in league with radical Islamists. They publicly disavow violence but their ideology is that which those that commit violence use as justification for their acts.

Wade Page is a troubling figure but even more troubling those that hold the same views  and given the right circumstances have the money and political capital to bring them to fruition. One only has to look at the history of the Weimar Republic to see how easily this can happen.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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August 6, 2012 · 01:35

The Hatred of “the Other”: White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, Politics and the Oak Creek Massacre

A Sikh man Cries outside the Temple in Oak Creek Wisconsin

We don’t know much yet but when we do my guess is that we will not like what we see.

Today a yet unnamed gunman who according to the FBI had White Supremacist tattoos on his body walked into the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek Wisconsin. The man killed 6 people and wounded many more who had simply come to worship. When police responded he shot and wounded an officer who returned fire and killed him.

Because of the tattoos FBI and police believe that the man may be White Supremacist of some sort. The have made no concrete announcements about the motive or if the man was a member of a White Supremacist or Neo-Nazi group but it appears that the investigators are looking strongly in that direction. We will find out more about him in the coming days but if the initial reports are accurate it paints a chilling picture of a movement that is becoming more widespread and more violent.

Sikhs are one of the earliest non-European immigrant groups to the United States. From the Punjab area of India they have frequently been attacked because they look different. Observant Sikh men do not cut their hair, keep a beard and wear a turban. As such they are often believed to be Moslems and since the September 11th 2001 attacks have suffered much abuse as well as been the victims of violence including murder.

Sikhs along those that they are commonly mistaken, Moslems and Arab Americans in general, as well as Indians, Pakistanis, and other non-European ethnicity Americans are often looked upon with suspicion, mistrust and hatred. This is fed by frequent attacks in right wing media demonizing them as “the enemy within” and the ravings of certain McCarthyesque politicians and pundits.

Sikhs, though peaceful and law abiding citizens often get caught in the Xenophobic hatred of “the other,” they are not “real Americans.” The fact is Sikhs look different. They are a very visible expression of ‘the other” that politicians, pundits and preachers of the American right wing love to demonize. It doesn’t matter that they are not Moslems and had no part in 9-11, they just wear turbans and loose fitting clothes and are a bit darker than most of us.

But going beyond the now normal xenophobia which is more driven by hate mongers that stir up fear and loathing is the absolute hatred for non-white minorities exhibited by White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis and Skinheads.

There are over well over 1000 known hate groups spanning ranging from traditional groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis to the Nation of Islam. The numbers, especially in White Supremacist groups has risen dramatically since 9-11, roughly 69% since then. Violence has been a long established tactic of these groups. When one takes the already existing hate group ideology and marries it to the xenophobic rantings of the Unholy Trinity of Politicians, Pundits and Preachers who rail against anyone who is not like them it is not surprising that attacks like this occur. I am just surprised that they don’t happen more often. But then again maybe this is just the beginning.

Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists are also beginning to make a push to get elected to local political offices and to grow their political power from “the ground up” according to Don Black, the  founder of the Neo-Nazi group Stormfront. Brian Culpepper of the National Socialist Movement in Tennessee claims that his group is entering the political process by stealth: “We insert ourselves into the infrastructure of other established parties due to the bias against us and the difficulty of third parties getting ballot access….” and that “We have people working with the most recent incoming class of freshmen in the House,…And they don’t even know it.” Black of Stormfront notes that many White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis followers are involved with the Tea Party movement but don’t feel that Tea Party leadership “is skittish when it comes to talking about racial realities.” He believes that this will mean that White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis may have to go it alone.

Today a lot of people, thankfully across the political spectrum are denouncing the brutal attack and murder of the members of the Oak Creek Sikh community. Hopefully it cause us to remember that words and ideology do have meaning and can bring people to do heinous crimes. We quite readily condemn the actions of Moslem extremists and terrorists. However we should condemn all that preach and practice the art of hate. The fact is that all hate groups and other terrorists regardless of their ideology are the same kind of animal. The sooner that we realize that the better.

Having been accosted and threatened by Neo-Nazis in the past I find this troubling. This is not an innocent movement. It grows by sowing fear and hatred. The Nazis in Germany singled out the Jews and linked them to every imaginable evil including Socialism and Communism. If you read the histories of the Nazi period, especially their political and propaganda campaigns in the 1920s and 1930s before they came to power one can see many similarities with the growing numbers of people taking part in or tacitly approving of the racist hate messages being spouted today.

Hopefully this will serve as a wake up call to those that have for whatever reason succumbed to the message of the hate mongers and help bring us back to a sense of shared American values of tolerance and community.

We will find out more in the coming days. Right now we know little about the man or his motivation for killing the Sikhs of Oak Creek.  But if the attacker was indeed a member of or sympathizer with a Neo-Nazi or White Supremacist as early reports suggest who is also linked to the mainstream political right it suggests a bigger problem than we want to think about.

There will be more on this to come I’m sure and I don’t think that we will like when we find out.

Peace

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August 3, 2012 · 13:28

The Chicken Jihad: Chick-Fil-A and the Culture War

“We are famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for.” David Kinnamon President Barna Polling

I seldom eat at Chick-Fil-A. Just never have been a fan.Not because of anything in particular, it’s just that I don’t eat much fast food to begin with. The fact that Chick-Fil-A isn’t open on Sundays means that they have one less day a week to get my business and that they don’t serve beer puts them low on Padre Steve’s food chain regardless of their religious or political leanings.  I do get a kick out of the Chick-Fil-A cows but that doesn’t get me in the door or drive thru. t have close friends on both sides of the culture war and try to be respectful of their opinions even if I don’t fully agree or disagree with them. However there are times when I think that culture warriors do more damage to their causes than necessary. But as a Christian I have to agree with Mark Twain who said: “If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be – a christian.”

I am generally apolitical when it comes to my appetite. I like what I like, I appreciate good food and good service and I try not to ask the politics of the restaurants that I frequent.  I am not a food crusader, nor am I a fan of the huger fast food chains that dominate our landscape regardless of their political or social leanings. To some on the extreme right and extreme left that would mean that I am somehow immoral. But I like what the Lord said to Peter when Cornelius the Centurion offered him a really good meat, cheese and pasta dish that was not Kosher. “He Pete, dude, don’t be uncool, it’s not freaky, if I made it’s good to eat brother, eat up.” (Acts 10:15 Rick James Version)

Now I can understand why my gay friends are upset with the remarks of Dan Cathy the Owner, President and Dictator of the Chick-Fil-A enterprise.  While I think that he has a right to his opinion, his religions beliefs and who he gives his political contributions his comments said as they were make him and those who rally around him look like intolerant boobs.  However, having a kiss in and public boycott as has been promised for today by LGBT groups just throws gasoline on the fire of intolerance. My advice, is to ignore him and don’t patronize his restaurant unless you actually like the food, service and the people at the local store that you know as people.  My goodness there are gays that work at Chick-Fil-A and they are the ones caught in the middle between Talibanesque religious leaders and LGBT activists.  They make their livings there.  I want to put the human face on this and and I think that they are the real victims of this jihad.

All that being said I think that American Christians, Evangelicals and Conservative Roman Catholics for the most part are making themselves look like idiots every time they decide to boycott a business every time that they disagree with that corporation.  Christian groups and ministries have been doing this for decades now. The fact that their opposites on the political left are now doing it to their favorite organizations and businesses is a bad Karma.

A recent Barna poll revealed what the new generation thinks of Christianity and the Christians does not paint a pretty picture: When asked to describe Christianity and Christians the findings said that Christians were viewed as “Hypocritical: Christians live lives that don’t match their stated beliefs;  Antihomosexual: Christians show contempt for gays and lesbians – “hating the sin and the sinner” as one respondent put it; Insincere: Christians are concerned only with collecting converts; Sheltered: Christians are anti-intellectual, boring, and out of touch with reality. Too political: Christians are primarily motivated by a right-wing political agenda.” 

I am a historian and have done a lot of study of Church history. The funny thing is that when Christians and the Church get to this point in any society it generally means that their institutional structures and beliefs are less about Jesus and the Gospel and more about maintaining their political, social and economic power and prominence.

But I am not surprised that we have reached this point. It shows that church leaders are decidedly ignorant when it comes to church history. I remember back in my seminary days how my fellow students did as much as the could to take the minimum amount of church history, systematic theology or philosophy. You see those things were not important and I would dare say are less important to church leaders than at any time in recent memory.

It has been said that those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The cultural jihad will only serve to drive people away from God and the Church and instead of reaching the culture for Jesus, they are doing exactly the opposite. It will result in hastening the decline in influence of Christians in society and continue to drive people away from Jesus.

The Chicken Jihad has become another ring in the cultural circus.

Eat hardy and stay thirsty. I’m going to get a burger and a beer and then go to a ball game tonight.  I just say to my friends and readers on both sides of this issue: Don’t have a cow.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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August 1, 2012 · 22:40

2012 Olympics: The Gold for the Fab Five, an Olympic Record for Phelps and putting the Bad Back in Badminton

The Fierce Fab Five

I am amazed at the abilities of Olympic athletes, especially the gymnasts.  As part of junior high physical education we had to play around at gymnastics and I can say I am in awe of young women and men who combine the strength, grace and agility required to do this at any level, but especially at the national and international level.

The Magnificent Seven of 1996

My appreciation for these athletes really began in 1976 when like so many I was charmed by little Nadia Comaneci who scored the first perfect 10 in Olympic history. Since then when I watch the Olympics I make sure that I at least try to see the gymnastic competitions.  I remember the 1996 Games when the American “Magnificent Seven” led by the injured Kerry Strug won the Gold in Atlanta.

 

Jordyn Wieber

Last night I watched the Women’s Team event even though I already knew that the American girls had won the event. Somehow that didn’t seem to matter. NBC has had its share of errors during this Olympic year but last night was not one of them.

Gabby Douglas

I had watched the individual competition earlier in the week and was disappointed with the rules that kept Jordyn Wieber from being in the individual all-round competition despite being one of the top five competitors. It is a bad rule but it did not stop Wieber from helping her teammates win the Team Gold on Tuesday.

Wieber along with her teammates Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Ali Raisman and Kyla Ross blew away the competition  demonstrating incredible aggressiveness and amazing ability. The started strong on the vault and continuing without any major mistakes in any event. As the final scores were registered on the balance beam and the Russian team wept the girls who in a sport that is an incredible display of individual achievement showed that they were a team. Some are saying that they are the best team ever. It would be hard to argue that point.

It was a proud moment for them, their families and their coaches. It was great to watch and made me proud to see such poise under pressure and excellence in execution. It was inspiring to see these young women stick together as a team.

Michael Phelps

Likewise it was good to see Michael Phelps the greatest swimmer in Olympics history add to his legacy. It had been a tough Olympics for Phelps who had taken 8 Golds in Beijing in 2008 but failed to end up on the medal stand in an event for the first time since 2002. He won Silver in the 200 meter Butterfly, losing in the last couple of feet, but  anchored the team in the 4×200 freestyle relay.

Now while the Fab Five and thousands of other athletes were doing all that they could to win there was a shameful display in the Badminton tournament. Four teams were disqualified from the Olympics for attempting to manipulate the standings of thier group stage to secure more favorable match ups in the next rounds. The Badminton tournament is a round robin competition instead of an elimination style event that most of the other team events follow. In this event four pairs of doubles players, four teams, one from China, two from Korea and one from Indonesia were disqualified for throwing games in order. The Chinese seemed to be the instigator of this trying to set up a situation where they could play another Chinese team for Gold.

Disqualified for Throwing Games

There always seems to be at least one scandal at the Olympics, usually related to judging or teams or athletes using performance enhancing drugs. This was different. There is cheating and there is cheating. In this case China’s world double’s champion team of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang threw a match against the South Koreans after another the second seeded Chinese team was unexpected defeated by a team from Denmark. Had the Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang won the match the Chinese could have faced each other in the semi-finals. By losing they hoped to set up a situation where they could still meet in the final. The Koreans and Indonesians were punished for the same type of behavior.

Throwing games in any sport shows a lack of honor and no respect for the game.  The teams that were involved should be banned from international competition.  Officials and fans alike condemned the teams. Gail Emms said that “It was absolutely shocking….The crowds were booing and chanting ‘Off, off, off.’” Another top player called the it a “circus match” while Lin Dan, the Chinese Men’s Gold Medalist noted that the sport would be damaged while defending his teammates and blaming the organizers for the round robin format.

Thankfully the Badminton World Federation took decisive action penalizing the teams for “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.”

The contrast between the Fab Five and the teams that gave their all but lost in the team gymnastic competition and the “Bad” girls of Badminton was amazing. The women of the gymnastic competition, even those that did not medal clothed themselves and their sport in honor while the four Badminton pairs damaged their sport and dishonored themselves.

That being said I find it hard to believe that a “sport” like Badminton remains an Olympic sport while the IOC members voted out both Baseball and Women’s Softball. That is a travesty.

Well, back to watching the games.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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