Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Chilling…


Recently I received a forwarded email entitled, "Chilling." I originally chose not to respond to it, because it appeared as if the email was sent more out of shock value than it was to actually disseminate information.
Later I was prompted, wondering if I had seen the email and if I had responded.
I initially had not responded to the email. I had received it, and read it. However, I rarely respond to emails that are composed in order to engender fear and panic.
However, after a tearful afternoon – I decided I had to respond. And so I will. I responded to the initial recipients of that email and I will respond here. I will first post the initial "chilling" email. But you are only invited to read it – if you also commit to reading my response. The initial "chilling" email is filled with hateful rhetoric in an attempt to stimulate patriotism on the back of false information non truths. I share it because I am committed to sharing "all sides." (I did however remove the formatting of the words in the original email in order to save space.)
Read (ALL OF IT) and respond as you wish.
(Beginning of forwarded email)
This is chilling ...
 In
1952
President  Truman
established one day a year as a
 "National Day of Prayer."
 In
1988
president Reagan
designated the
 First Thursday in May of each year as

the National Day
of Prayer.
 
 
In June
2007
 (then)

Presidential
 Candidate Barack Obama

declared that the USA Was no longer a
 Christian nation.


 This year
 President Obama,

cancelled the
 21st annual National Day

of Prayer ceremony
at the White
 House under the rouse
 Of "not wanting to offend anyone"

 
 On September 25, 2009
from 4 am until 7  pm,
a National Day of Prayer
for the Muslim religion was Held on Capitol Hill,
 Beside the White House.

There were over 50,000 Muslims that
 Day in DC.

 I guess it Doesn't matter
if "Christians"

 Are offended by this event -
 We obviously
 Don't count as
"anyone" Anymore.

 The direction
 This country is headed
 Should strike fear in the heart of every Christian.
 Especially knowing that the
 Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot be
 Converted they should be Annihilated
(LAP - I MUST INTERJECT AT THIS POINT AND SAY THAT THIS INFORMATION ABOUT THE MUSLIM RELIGION AND ITS REGARD FOR CHRISTIANS IS ABSOLUTELY AND 100% NOT TRUE.)
 This is not a Rumor –
Go to the website
 To confirm this info
:  ( http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/ )
  
Pay particular attention to the very bottom of the page:

 "OUR TIME HAS COME"
 
I hope that this Information will stir your spirit.
The words of 2 Chronicles 7:14  
 "If my people, Who are called by my Name,
 Will humble themselves And pray,
 And seek my face, and Turn from their Wicked ways,
 Then will I hear from Heaven
 And will forgive their Sin and will heal Their land."



 
We must pray for Our nation, our communities,
 Our families, and especially our children.
 They are the ones that are going to suffer the most

 If we don't PRAY!
May God have Mercy...

IN GOD WE TRUST.

 
Please pass this on,

 Maybe someone, somehow can figure out a way to put America

back on the map as it was when we were growing up,
a safe place to live and by
 The Ten Commandments and Pledge of Allegiance.

(Beginning of my reply email)
Yes.  I did see this email.  I see all the emails that you send me.  I also TAKE TIME TO READ ALL OF THEM.  Most of them I choose NOT to respond to because at one point you asked me to stop discussing politics.
I see the website that this email referenced and visited it, and read it.  If anyone would have visited it – you would discover the following things:
  • The president of the USA, Barack Obama, who is a confessed Christian, follower of Jesus Christ, and member of the United Church of Christ, a sister-denomination of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), DID NOT plan this event in any way shape or form, nor attend it.
    • There is ABSOLUTELY no correlation between the events that the White House plans, and events that a separate third party plan.  This event was planned by a third party, had no endorsement by the White House.  The third party who planned this event has the same freedom as Christian organizations do, to plan an event that takes place on the Capitol Hill steps. 
  • There were five tasks for this day of prayer and Islamic unity, one of which was to FORM BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THOSE IN ATTENDANCE, BOTH MUSLIMS AND NON-MUSLIMS.
  • A quote from the website: "We intend to inspire a NEW GENERATION OF MUSLIM to work for the GREATER GOOD OF ALL PEOPLE.  We shall serve ALL PEOPLE, REGARDLESS OF RACE, RELIGION OR NATIONAL ORIGIN.
  • One of the speakers, Sheikh Ahmed Dewidar, "stood shoulder to shoulder with US President George W. Bush and UN Secretary Kofi Anan at Ground Zero as Imam of the Islamic Center in Mid-Manhattan to speak on behalf of the Muslim community to CONDEMN the September 11 attacks."

 

Have you also forgotten that Barack Obama continues to surround himself with spiritual advisors?  SHARON WATKINS, THE GENERAL MINISTER AND PRESIDENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) IS ONE OF OBAMA'S SELF-PROCLAIMED SPIRITUAL ADVISORS, along with Joshua DuBois, Denis McDonough, Rashad Hussain, Melissa Rogers, Joel Hunter, and Lt. Carey Cash.
 After spending more time researching these claims, I discovered the following things.
I DO NOT desire to live in a Christian Nation. 
I do not wish the United States to be a Christian nation. 
I desire the United States to be a FREE nation, in which individuals are free to follow their own calling in life.
While I hope that the leaders of the country are religious and spiritual, I appreciate a separation of the secular job they do – serving the USA - from their own religious life. 
If I want religious freedom to worship when, where, and how I want to – then everyone in this nation should be granted the same thing.
The events described in this email are not chilling.  What is chilling is our flagrant misuse of technology and information.  Technology and information are there to be used responsibly.  Continuing to send emails that appeal more to visceral fear and panic, than honest disseminating of information – THAT IS CHILLING.  Emails that spread hatred and fear are chilling.
Laura

Rev. Laura A. Phillips

"It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read." - Thomas Jefferson

(End of Email)
My heart hurts. My gut hurts. This kind of response pains me. I don't spout these words back in hateful yelling. Rather, I plead you to listen to them, tears in my eyes, voice cracking because I'm struggling to breathe.
Hatred and disgust for the "other" is exactly what lead this world to turning their eyes when one man decided to exterminate an entire race of people.
Misunderstanding and no genuine knowledge of "the other" is what lead people to accept that hatred and disgust.
When will we EVER learn?

Sunday, March 21, 2010

I am overwhelmed...

... to witness a moment of history like this.

... to see the number of people so hopeful for this type of change.

... to see the number of people so fearful of this type of change.

... to see the number of people outraged at this type of change.

... by the amount of hateful language, spewed by people on each and every side of the argument.

... by our inability to embrace cooperative conversation and mutual discussion over pejorative remarks and closed-mindedness.

... by fear in general and that which we all do not know, nor fully understand.

... by dishonesty on all accounts.

... by the notion of what "journalism" has become.

... by the hope of what this could mean.

... by what this legislation could do for our “tired, [our] poor, [our] huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of [our] teeming shore.”

… by my hopefulness and it being repeatedly referred to as naiveté.

… by more things than I can list.

Yet I am comforted, and can still go to sleep.

For I know the Divine stands by each and every one of God’s children. I hope that others can trust in, and find comfort in the One that is, was, and always will be, seeking guidance and truth, that all of God’s children may be free.