A Media Community Integrating Spirituality, Democracy, Ethics
Sins and Blasphemies
“I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
Strong words. Month old steeped coffee strong words! They proceeded from the mouth of Jesus in the well-worn Gospel of Mark.
In an odd scene that felt more like a campaign whistle stop than a supervisory visit, President Obama was greeted by exuberant cheers at the CIA, after releasing the Bush torture memos.
He offered the current weasel word of choice, saying “mistakes” have been made. Obama encouraged the CIA employees like a coach delivering a half time pep talk.
“Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some mistakes. That's how we learn. But the fact that we are willing to acknowledge [mistakes] and then move forward, that is precisely why I am proud to be president of the United States, and that's why you should be proud to be members of the CIA."
Mr. Obama followed up his Knute Rockne cameo by assuring them that no one would be prosecuted because they performed the acts, believing that they were acting legally, based on advice from the Justice Department. This pronouncement makes a rebate check from the IRS look tepid. Hell, I would have cheered myself hoarse also!
Every week when I write these pieces I ask myself what I can offer from my discipline as a Minister that is unique. The eternal tough love warning from Jesus is quite apropos today.
The word sin simply means “to miss the mark.” This is what Obama referred to as a “mistake.” Mistakes range all the way from forgetting an appointment, to moral failings such as lying. Blasphemy is to speak or act with evil intent against that which is sacred. Simulated drowning (waterboarding), holding prisoners in small dark boxes, exploiting prisoners’ fears of insects, forced nudity, shackling and depriving them of sleep for up to eleven days, or shocking someone’s genitals go beyond “mistakes” or even the more loaded term of “sin.”
They are in the territory of blasphemy. Today we call it “crimes against humanity.” Blasphemy violates every civilized attempt to articulate our immutable human dignities, from the core of our sacred traditions, to the Magna Carta, to our Constitution, to the Geneva Conventions, to the International Declaration of Human Rights.
How many politicians or lawyers would it take giving you the aye OK for you to cram a person into a small box or shock their genitals? A moment of zealous passion is a sin. Systematic, premeditated practice of torture is blasphemy.
This rhetoric around “looking forward, rather than backward” is nothing more than moral escapism or even worse moral cowardice.
The verdict of Jesus is inescapable. “I tell you the truth… whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
Strong words. Month old steeped coffee strong words! They proceeded from the mouth of Jesus in the well-worn Gospel of Mark.
In an odd scene that felt more like a campaign whistle stop than a supervisory visit, President Obama was greeted by exuberant cheers at the CIA, after releasing the Bush torture memos.
He offered the current weasel word of choice, saying “mistakes” have been made. Obama encouraged the CIA employees like a coach delivering a half time pep talk.
“Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some mistakes. That's how we learn. But the fact that we are willing to acknowledge [mistakes] and then move forward, that is precisely why I am proud to be president of the United States, and that's why you should be proud to be members of the CIA."
Mr. Obama followed up his Knute Rockne cameo by assuring them that no one would be prosecuted because they performed the acts, believing that they were acting legally, based on advice from the Justice Department. This pronouncement makes a rebate check from the IRS look tepid. Hell, I would have cheered myself hoarse also!
Every week when I write these pieces I ask myself what I can offer from my discipline as a Minister that is unique. The eternal tough love warning from Jesus is quite apropos today.
The word sin simply means “to miss the mark.” This is what Obama referred to as a “mistake.” Mistakes range all the way from forgetting an appointment, to moral failings such as lying. Blasphemy is to speak or act with evil intent against that which is sacred. Simulated drowning (waterboarding), holding prisoners in small dark boxes, exploiting prisoners’ fears of insects, forced nudity, shackling and depriving them of sleep for up to eleven days, or shocking someone’s genitals go beyond “mistakes” or even the more loaded term of “sin.”
They are in the territory of blasphemy. Today we call it “crimes against humanity.” Blasphemy violates every civilized attempt to articulate our immutable human dignities, from the core of our sacred traditions, to the Magna Carta, to our Constitution, to the Geneva Conventions, to the International Declaration of Human Rights.
How many politicians or lawyers would it take giving you the aye OK for you to cram a person into a small box or shock their genitals? A moment of zealous passion is a sin. Systematic, premeditated practice of torture is blasphemy.
This rhetoric around “looking forward, rather than backward” is nothing more than moral escapism or even worse moral cowardice.
The verdict of Jesus is inescapable. “I tell you the truth… whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
Comment
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Comment by gary schuhmann on April 24, 2009 at 5:42pm -
agreed
i am not sure that is what our brothers are thinking when they send teenagers out for suicide bombing. What spirituality regime alows this thinking. is it not torture when they blow our arms and legs off. I dont understand this rationalization. If persons choose not to say it is against americans then are we going to take responsibility for a world of genocide and atrocities. I dont think it is agreeable to allow a president to forgive. I dont know what it will take. or what was needed, to protect me when i go to the grocery and may get blown up by a 12 year old.
this is not really the extremist version of what could happpen; it is happening on a weekly basis in other countries.
I do believe that we should adhere to adhere to international law and tout we are the only ones abiding, as I am sure we would. Would it not be great if we did not need geneva convention. world leaders have always been attacked throughout written history. most of them deserved it.
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Comment by Vicky Dill on April 24, 2009 at 3:23pm
- I was dreadfully disappointed when President Obama forgave the people responsible for torture. They violated international law and we have shamed ourselves into being no better than those "3rd world lawless" we seem to enjoy deriding. We are no better now than those who hide behind "orders; " they are failing morally in the same way as did the guards, police, and torturers at Auschwitz. We must be morally clear in this nation: do what you know is right in your heart, not what someone else tells you is legal or mandatory. This is Spirituality 099. I hope Obama re-thinks the situation and starts to move legally against those who made me, during the Bush years, ashamed to be an American. I am proud now, but torture, by any other name, causes the same pain. We are not an American family; we are the human family. At this point, I think we need a Truth and Reconciliation Trial to deal with this.
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Comment by gary schuhmann on April 24, 2009 at 1:31pm
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The radical islamic view of taliban wants to kill americans because we have touched the holy sand in saudi arabia. Neither side seems to have any moral or spiritual high-ground. There will be more acts of violance agaqinst the US.
We had a president that looked the other way and forgave these acts. the violence escalated these acts of violence against the US were never as timid as 100 water boarding treatments.
these views are not within our perspective; i dont agree with torture, and I am grateful that we are not being attacked as often as we were when Clinton was President.
this planet isstill very primitive we cant expect to think the same as others. The strength of america, in my opinion, comes from combining the thinking from all sociaties that settle here and capitalize on that diversity.
gary
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Comment by Thomas Moore on April 24, 2009 at 11:45am -
I can't believe how some conservatives claim we a Christian nation when it comes to gay rights, abortion etc...but when it comes to torture, they claim all kinds of reasons why it's okay. We should be applying our so called "Christian" values across the board, not just when it's convenient. How long would Bush and Cheney last under water boarding? They would probably need new underwear in a few minutes. Just a thought. One prisoner underwent it 168 times!! Would one time have made him confess everything?
Thomas
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The Free Souls Connection
The Free Souls Connection is an initiative of the Free Souls Project with the intention of cultivating a community of Progressive media producers and users in the areas of Spirituality, Democracy and Ethics.
We invite original written, audio, and video creations in the lineage of Spiritual Humanism, the wellspring of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, forming the basis for a healthy integration of Spirituality, Democracy, and Ethics.
Rev. Theodore Parker expresses this trinity of American values marvelously. “There is what I call the American idea…a democracy, that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.”
Come Ministers, Radio Hosts, Musicians, Poets, Bloggers, Cartoonists, Commentators and all artists for the common good!
Let us support, nurture, encourage, and commune with one other and our sacred world.
We invite original written, audio, and video creations in the lineage of Spiritual Humanism, the wellspring of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, forming the basis for a healthy integration of Spirituality, Democracy, and Ethics.
Rev. Theodore Parker expresses this trinity of American values marvelously. “There is what I call the American idea…a democracy, that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.”
Come Ministers, Radio Hosts, Musicians, Poets, Bloggers, Cartoonists, Commentators and all artists for the common good!
Let us support, nurture, encourage, and commune with one other and our sacred world.
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