And all the dead air is alive. With the smell of America's God.
- Harold Pinter, "War With Iraq"
"'And now abide faith...' The abiding faith this country needs for its spiritual restoration and future health is the faith of the prophets who loved Israel, but whose love for their country was often measured by their deep disappointment with it. Prophetic faith is full of anger, yet it is always anchored in the greatness and goodness of God, not in hatred of enemies. Prophetic faith recognizes that economic tyranny can be as great as political tyranny. Prophetic faith sees justic as central, not ancillary, to salvation. It recognizes that God's undonditional concern for justice is not an anthropomorphism (a projection upon God of our human attributes), but rather that our concern for justice is a theomorphism: to the degree that we embody justice, God takes form within us.'" - William Sloan Coffin
The human being who follows Christ is the embodiment of justice - he lives for the justice that lives in the honesty of the bright green spring leaves.
"For American liberty to be restored and extended, American Christians need to carry on with their country the same lovers' quarrel that the prophets of old carried on with Israel, and that God consistently carries on with the whole world. We must say Yes to what we can, and No to what we must. We must see that when a government betrays the ideals of a country, it is an act of loyalty to oppose the government. We must take the road less traveled and be more concerned with our country saving its soul than with it losing face. 'I tremble for my country when I recall that God is just.' (Thomas Jefferson)." - William Sloan Coffin
From a recent appearance by Sister Joan Chittister: "...there is an inconsistency operating in the churches about the absolute value of life. Obviously, life is not always an "absolute" value. At least not where men are concerned. When men interrupt life, it is not absolute. We can kill, they tell us, to defend the state, to punish for the state, to “defend” ourselves. And we can kill the innocent, bomb them to smithereens, threaten the future of the whole world, if we want to and still be holy. Our churches find cruise missiles "a matter of theological doubt." But not condoms; not birth control pills; not stem cells; not fertilized ovum. How can this be?"
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