I Pledge Allegiance...

War.

What is it good for?

Absolutely no.....

I'm torn between the war.

Shane Claiborne, writer and activist, writes about his time in Iraq:
"Every time our government chooses to use military force to bring about change in the world, it once again teaches our children the myth of redemptive violence, the myth that violence can be an instrument for good. This is precisely the logic we are trying to rid ourselves of, especially in the inner city, and even more so for those of us who have pledged allegiance to the cross rather than the sword, and heed Jesus' rebuke to Peter that "all who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Matthew 26.52). Violence infects us. We begin to believe that violence can bring peace in our world, in our neighborhoods, in our homes, in our hearts.

I began to consider what it means to pledge allegiance to Jesus and his cross. After nearly a year of discernment, seeking the wisdom of God and close friends, I decided to join the chorus of peacemakers, the incredible witness of Voices in the Wilderness and the Christian Peacemaker Teams and Peaceful Tomorrows. After counting the cost of going to Iraq and the cost of not going to Iraq, I went to Baghdad in March 2003 with the Iraq Peace Team, a team of clergy, priests, veterans, doctors, journalists, students and concerned citizens. I put together a statement articulating why I was going, and I headed to Iraq, where I ended up living through the most beautiful and horrific month of my life. I was there during the bombing of Baghdad, visiting homes, hospitals, and families--and going to worship services with hundreds of Iraqi Christians I met there.

Essentially, I went to Iraq because I believe in a God of scandalous grace. I have pledged allegiance to a King who loved evildoers so much he died for them, teaching us that there is something worth dying for but nothing worth killing for.

I went to Iraq in the footsteps of an executed and risen God. The Jesus of the margins suffered an imperial execution by an oppressive regime of wealthy and pious elites. And now he dares me and woos me to come and follow, to take up my cross, to lose my life to find it, with the promises that life is more powerful than death and that it is more courageous to love our enemies than to kill them.

I went to Iraq to stop terrorism. There are extremist, both Muslim and Christian, who kill in the name of their gods. Their leaders are millionaires who live in comfort while their citizens die neglected in the streets. But I believe in another kingdom that belongs to the poor and to the peacemakers.

I went to Iraq to stand in the way of war. Thousands of soldiers have gone to Iraq, willing to kill people they do not know because of a political allegiance. I wen willing to die for people I do not know because of a spiritual allegiance." The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, pages 206, 207 & 208.

We criticize our Muslim brothers and sisters for their acts of terror for their god Allah. Yet we send bombs from comfy chairs in front of signs that say, "God Bless America." Indeed I ask, where is the love? For God loved us, Christ showed us that, Christ even said to us, "Love your enemies," and yet as a "Christian" country, we fight, wage war and neglect our own poor by saying it is their fault that they can't get a job or they are too lazy. It hurts.

Never have I ever experienced poverty on a materialistic level. I thank God everyday for the way my dad worked his butt off for my mom and us boys. Yet, recently, an awareness of the way I waste things has consumed my life. I want to do something about my ignorance to poverty, to the poor, to the marginalized, to the oppressed, to the orphans, to the widowed. My sufferings are nothing compared to others.

My hope is to pledge allegiance to the gospel that tells me to love all. To indeed find truth and beauty that is in this world that is of God and bring that to all of our attentions. I'm tired of seeing hell on earth. I am tired of this war, the dead bodies both foreign and those close to home. I am tired of the mindset to kill them because they look Muslim or from "that area". Where is the love? Why must we kill people we don't even know? Take a minute and think about the child who's life has just been ripped out from underneath them because his parents were innocent spectators to the war? What would the response be if that happened in the beloved America?

Why must we hate? Why must we look at those different from us and call them names? Look at me. I have big ears, messy hair, love handles and sometimes I pick my nose, but I don't hear or see you wishing death upon me.

Where is the love?

To you O Christ, I pledge my allegiance. May your radiant light be seen from me. Forgive us O Lord, for we know not what we do.