Advent Reflection

On the website, Faithful Democrats, I saw a refence to this piece. You can access the entire essay at this URL: http://www.spiritualsisters.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=3&id=14389&catid=2&func=fb_pdf. And, I encourage you to do so.

This was written by a Jesuit priest, Alfred Delp, who was executed in 1945 by the Nazis.

Let us kneel therefore and ask for the threefold blessing of Advent and its threefold inspiration.

Let us ask for clear eyes that are able to see God's messengers of annunciation; for awakened hearts with the wisdom to hear the words of promise. Let us ask for faith in the motherly consecration of life as shown in the figure of the blessed woman of Nazareth. Let us be patient and wait, wait with Advent readiness for the moment when it pleases God to appear in our night too, as the fruit and mystery of this time. And let us ask for the openness and willingness to hear God's warning messengers and to conquer life's wilderness through repentant hearts. We must not shrink from or suppress the earnest words of these crying voices, so that those who today are our executioners will not tomorrow become accusers because we have remained silent.

Let us then live in today's Advent, for it is the time of promise. To eyes that do not see, it still seems that the final dice are being cast down in these valleys, on these battlefields, in those camps and prisons and bomb shelters. Those who are awake sense the working of the other powers and can await the coming of their hour.

Space is still filled with the noise of destruction and annihilation, the shouts of self-assurance and arrogance, the weeping of despair and helplessness. But just beyond the horizon the eternal realities stand silent in their age-old longing. There shines on us the first mild light of the radiant fulfillment to come. From afar sound the first notes as of pipes and singing boys, not yet discernible as a song or melody. It is all far off still, and only just announced and foretold. But it is happening. This is today. And tomorrow the angels will tell what has happened with loud rejoicing voices, and we shall know it and be glad, if we have believed and trusted in Advent.

Reprinted from Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas.

Condemned as a traitor for his opposition to Hitler, Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest, wrote this piece in a Nazi prison shortly before he was hanged in 1945.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Yesterday, December 10, marked the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. I re-read the document and was struck by the bold vision of those who were responsible for its composition. Issued in the aftermath of World War II, in which millions upon millions of non-combatants were killed, the hope for the future expressed in the declaration is inspiring.

You can read the document at this site: http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm.

I want to include Article 18 in this blog which speaks to religious liberties:
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

As I re-read the declaration, I was also struck by how far the nations of the world have to go in seeing the full expression of these rights realized for all people.

Now for the question(s) of the day: What do you think are the main obstacles to true religious freedom for all people? What can the world community do to help all people achieve these rights? Can you think of ways in which your government - either national or local - has limited freedom of religion? In secular societies, how can you guarantee the religious rights of some without infringing upon the religious rights of others?

Comment on Comments

On Monday, December 8, I posted a piece that dealt with President George Bush's interview with ABC News about his religious beliefs. My approach to the interview was not what the President believes, per se, as much as what the conservative Christian base of the GOP would think about the religious positions the President espoused.

Thus far, the only comment received on the post was from "Anonymous" [please read the comment] who suggested that I hate the President and then gave a White House type talking point perspective on what a great man and a great President he has been. If that is your view of the last 8 years, you have the right to that opinion and should express it in an appropriate venue.

The Pro-Bush talking points, however, had absolutely NO connection to the piece I posted or to the question I raised. That frustrates me. This is not the first time this has happened on my blog, but it will be the last. I do not mind people expressing a different viewpoint than I have, but it seems that you should, at least, express something that has some connection to what I have posted. Thus, all comments to this blog will be monitored, and I will choose to include or to refuse to include them as part of the on-going conversation.

Newsweek Story

Let me direct your attention to this on-line posting of the current Newsweek cover story: http://www.newsweek.com/id/172653.

Rather than post excerpts of the article, may I encourage you, please, to read the original article, and then I invite you to post your comments in this forum.

President George W. Bush and Religion

I, of course, do not have any private information for an expose on the religious beliefs of the current President, nor do I have any desire to make up any. The NY Times, though, posted an AP wire story detailing some of the Q&A with the President for an ABC News report. So, this is a report about a report about an excerpt of an interview.

There are several things relating to religion that the President affirms ...

Asked about creation and evolution, Bush said, ''I think you can have both. I think evolution can -- you're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president. But it's, I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution.''

He added: ''I happen to believe that evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life.''

Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true. ''You know. Probably not. ... No, I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it, but I do think that the New Testament for example is ... has got ... You know, the important lesson is 'God sent a son,''' Bush said.

The president also said that he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs. ''I do believe there is an almighty that is broad and big enough and loving enough that can encompass a lot of people,'' Bush said.

When asked whether he thought he would have become president had it not been for his faith, Bush said, ''I don't know; it's hard to tell. I do know that I would have been -- I'm pretty confident I would have been a pretty selfish person.''
Bush said that he is often asked whether he thinks he was chosen by God to be president.

''I just, I can't go there,'' he said. ''I'm not that confident in knowing, you know, the Almighty, to be able to say, Yeah, God wanted me of all the other people.''
He also said that the decision to go to war in Iraq was not connected to his religious believes.

''I did it based upon the need to protect the American people from harm,'' Bush said.

So, based on this exchange, President Bush could be classified as a theistic evolutionist and not a young earth creationist, as one who does not believe the Bible is inerrant and infallible and not as one who believes the Bible is the very Word of God, as one who would affirm the religious beliefs of those who are not Christian and not as one who thinks God will not hear the prayers of any but Christians, who does not believe that he was specifically chosen by God to be President for these times and not that God placed Bush in office to deal with the aftermath of September 11, and as one who does not see the current war in Iraq as a holy war and not as one who sees the conflict as between our God and their god.

Without citing chapter and verse of earlier interviews in which his answers might have been different because, while it seems that he has given different answers before, I do not have access to that information, I would make one comment. Most of these answers are at odds with the belief system of most of the conservative Christians that the GOP has turned to for political gains since the days of Ronald Reagan. I wonder how all of those loyal religious supporters of the GOP will respond to these remarks?