A Christian Nation ?
I have a question that has concerned me for a long time. This came to the fore as I read the lead editorial in the April 18th issue of NCR entitled , ' Avoided : King's Reality ' . Are we telling Martin Luther King to ' Dream On ' ? Our national leaders continually pressure the Chinese leaders and their like over Human Rights violations , especially in the run - up to events like the Olympics. Yet they feel supremely Justified in engaging in torture and the death penalty when their own interests are at stake. This sort of hypocrisy is not conducive to Diplomatic credibility and smacks of cultural chauvinism at best. More disturbingly we hear nothing from the pulpit of these things ! I am assuming that the tenuous deal over abortion and how many stem cells can dance on the head of a pin, that conservatives have offered up as a substitute for genuine Ecumenism, is at risk if these complex questions are sincerely addressed. Although my personal quandary addresses only one facet of the overall challenge of universal justice, it goes to the heart of what Dr. King says to me. Reducing the Gospel message to simplistic bromides might deliver profits to the short term bottom line but it is an illusion. Reading the Rev. Jesse Jackson's weekly column at the Chicago Sun- Times , suntimes.com , I am assured that this is not what Martin intended to keep us in the Black.
Is not the refusal of the US
Is not the refusal of the US to endorse the International Criminal Court an illustration of your point? Robert Mugabe is reported to be seeking some kind of a deal that would protect him from prosecution of his crimes against humanity before he would even consider leaving power. Imagine, if George W. Bush were to face an international court to account for his invasion of Iraq and its many-faceted abuses of human justice. It is said that Henry Kissinger and some other international figures have sharply curtailed international travel because of their potential exposure to accounting to a justice system rather than the sugared cloak of domestic political rectitude.
It is amazing that our institutions of "checks and balances" do not seem to check or balance. But for the press, for all their failures, hypocracy would not only remain rampant but successfully hide behind the public facade of fundamental rights and values.
Jail statistics. There are
Jail statistics. There are 753 people per hundred thousand in jail in the US. Next highest is Russia with 670. Brittian I believe has 64. This in a country that both publicly and privately sends millions of dollars to help the poor. The country is much more Christian than it's leadership and the people are much mmore ecumenical than the churches. [Come to think of it, a higher percentage of congress is in jail than there is of the general population and a higher percentage of Republicans than of the Mexican population]
Dennis the question you asked about GW. can be changed to one about the US, What if the World court were to impose a fine of 2 trillion dollars on the US in reparation for damage in Iraq?