General Update
I've been spending most of my computer time the last couple of days updating my website, PoMoXian.com, basically reconstructing how I post links to news stories on a variety of topics. It's coming along fairly well, but requires a fair amount of surfing around to find the stuff I'm looking for.
Last night I worked another Van Andel gig, as the Grand Rapids Rampage wrapped up their dismal 2004 season (they only won one game, and that was back at the beginning of the year.)
I had intended to say more about the Eagles and Shania Twain concerts, but at this point, they are receding memories - both enjoyable events in their own way, even though I wouldn't spend money buying media products from either of the performers. So I'll briefly summarize my impressions - the Eagles are an incredibly professional, polished band who enjoy the benefit of drawing from a deep catalogue of rock hits that don't sound like "oldies." They sounded just like the studio recordings and this was the opening night of the tour. I was able to catch three personal favorite songs, "Take it to the Limit," "Hotel California" and "Rocky Mountain Way." So overall, I was pretty impressed.
Shania Twain is just cuteness and bounciness personified. She seems to like pulling fans out of the crowd up on stage to sing along with her. She's also pretty professional and slick, but none of her songs have anywhere near the heft of the Eagles, who aren't exactly the most profound musicians out there, but still have something substantial to say I guess. Shania is just pure entertainment - I saw her perform a couple of songs whose titles now escape me though I've heard them numerous times in the ambient ubiquitous popcult background noise that I live within. She helps provide a pretty frothy sheen in this world.
I may get around to linking some of the text in this later, but really, is it all that necessary?
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Monday, May 24, 2004
Spong in Michigan, 5-23-04
The retired Bishop and Rt. Reverend John Shelby Spong finished up a weekend series of talks this morning by preaching a sermon at Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, MI, titled “Entering the Resurrected Life.” The theme of the weekend matched the title of a book he wrote some years ago, _Resurrection: Myth or Reality?_ As has been my habit when I go to this church to hear the famous guests that it occasionally hosts, I took a few notes on the sermon and the follow-up discussion period held afterward. I’ll also repeat my customary disclaimer, that the notes represent my paraphrase of what I heard and should not be regarded as “definitive” in their reflection of the
speaker’s views, other than to speak to the impression they left on me.
Bishop Spong was introduced by the new pastor of CCC, Rev. Ian Lawton, who just recently relocated his family to Michigan from New Zealand. He made some humorous comments about his personal relationship to Spong, mentioning that when Lawton was a student at a conservative seminary, he was given strong warnings about Spong, who was regarded as the “Ace of Spades” in the seminary’s deck of “most wanted heretics.”
Spong framed the basic question: Can a 21st century person believe that a deceased body rose up and walked out of a tomb?
The ultimate question that humans ask: Is it possible to believe in life after death for ourselves?
Biblical descriptions of the afterlife are numerous, vague, potentially confusing or difficult to envision – fiery pits, streets of gold, an eternal Sabbath rest (which Spong said made him think of endless games of shuffle-board at the retirement home) and so on.
Spong dedicated three years of study some years ago to this topic – his ambition was to write the definitive work on the subject of life after death, reviewing as much information from all the major religions, scientists, philosophers, etc. as he could to resolve the questions as much as they could be. This work never turned into the book that he envisioned, resulting instead in only two chapters, one in his book _Resurrection: Myth or Reality?_ and the other in _Why Christianity Must Change or Die_. But he says that this work has profoundly affected his life in many other ways ever since.
His deep belief now is that “nothingness is not the destination of our human life.”
Studying the biblical record indicates that there is no consensus within scripture on the details of life after death (L.A.D.) In the Old Testament, we read of “Sheol,” a general destination for all who die, without much differentiation between individuals. Details of L.A.D. developed parallel to the concept of individualism, which put more emphasis on personal choices and character, stressing the accountability of the single person for his choices in life. In the later portions of the Hebrew scriptures, L.A.D. was put forth as the reward for those who proved to be faithful to Jewish religious practices in the face of persecution and oppression by outsiders. It was unacceptable to conclude that those who were faithful unto death would not ultimately receive God’s justice.
The belief in L.A.D. appears to have thrived within Judaism from approx. 200 BCE to around 100 CE. After that, Christianity seems to have carried the belief forward, and Judaism puts much less emphasis on the issue, perhaps as a way of distinguishing their faith from that of the Christians.
Spong notes a diversity of views in the New Testament as well. No mention of hell in Paul’s writings. Matthew has “about 90%” of the references to fire, brimstone and eternal punishment found in all of the N.T. “Matthew had a thing about hellfire, it seems.”
Spong then went on to consider the effect of L.A.D. beliefs on western cultures ever since. He thinks the overall effect was to “suppress justice” – it was easier to ignore social problems because the belief was that it would all be settled in the next life.
When confidence in L.A.D. as a doctrine began to erode in the 19th century (via Enlightenment thinking, Darwinism, etc.), Spong notes a significant resurgence in various social justice movements: abolition of slavery, the beginning of women’s and other minority rights movements, labor reforms, anti-war movements, etc. Marx and other forms of socialism undertook the effort to create a “perfect world” in the here and now, rather than assume that justice would be meted out in heaven. This trend followed into the 20th century – the War on Poverty, the Great Society and
other efforts to ensure “fairness now!” But as the century wore on, political efforts were shown to be insufficient to produce the desired results. This led to the Reagan/Thatcher era of materialistic affluence, where the prevailing ethic was for every individual to get whatever we can while we can. A culture of greed developed, leading to the late ‘90’s boom, embodied in scandals like Enron, WorldComm, mutual fund scams, etc.
If life is still unfair and we can’t make it fair, what about L.A.D.? Is this belief or idea still
relevant and useful to us?
Spong recommends that we remove the concept of L.A.D. as “reward or punishment” from our understanding, though he notes that this removes a lot of the motivation that many have had to live Christian or otherwise spiritually-based lives. He sees reward/punishment as rooted in the specific context of post-exilic Judaism and early Christianity, where the existence of faith communities was seriously threatened and leaders sought to provide motivation to their followers. Moving beyond the reward/punishment paradigm is the first step toward having a serious discussion of the topic in the 21st century.
Evil is not obliterated by judgment (divine or otherwise) but rather by an expansion of our humanity
as we live our lives to the fullest. Salvation is not a “rescue” but rather, power to become more fully human and through that, to realize justice.
Our problem is that our humanity is “retarded,” not that we’re inevitably depraved and incorrigible
sinners. God is the source of life, not the divine judge waiting to deliver condemnation of all who fail to measure up.
At this point, Spong gave a fairly lengthy and IMO eloquent testimony to his personal faith, affirming in various ways his understanding of what it means to live a full, satisfying life. He also spoke of his own “resurrection” (metaphorically, of course) after the death of his first wife after a 15-year period of illness, and his subsequent relationship to his current wife, Christine, who was present this morning and joined him on stage at various points in the service (before and after the sermon.)
Afterward, Revs. Spong, Lawton and the soon-to-retire (as pastor of CCC) Richard Rhem participated in an hour-long “Perspectives” Q & A session. Here are a few notes and quotes:
Christianity is a search for truth which sometimes gets diverted into a search for security. (Spong
called this a “crucial distinction.”)
Humans are unique in that we have a self-conscious capacity to commune with the source of life. We need to better understand how we are a part of life and how to fit within the natural order.
Environmental problems are the “next great crisis” facing the Christian religion.
The Church has a poor historical track record of holding on to prejudices longer than other segments of society – we need to get over that.
The “military tradition” is strongest in the USA in the same region where religion is the strongest – in the South (where Spong grew up within the fundamentalist subculture.)
Postponing the pursuit of social justice because “it’s going to be settled in heaven” misses the whole point of the biblical teaching. In the N.T., justice is never seen as a matter of what creed we subscribe to or which theological tradition we consider to be the best, but rather, what we are actually doing to and with the people around us.
Spong: “I’m for a woman pope.” Any office of the church where women are excluded by status “as women” means that the church is participating in maintaining and perpetuating injustice.
The back has been broken of prejudice against gay and lesbian people – in our society, sexual orientation has gone from being understood as an abnormality or deficiency to being seen as a minority. A “new consciousness” has been established in our culture, and Spong doesn’t see current efforts to re-criminalize homosexuality as having any chance of long-term success.
“I have little patience with people who argue out of their gut prejudice and try to make it sound
rational.”
He made a series of comments that he acknowledged were “highly political,” basically expressing his
disagreement with the alliance between the religious right and the Republican Party.
Q: “Will the Anglican Communion remain together?” (over controversy surrounding gay Bishop Eugene
Robinson and other issues.) A: “Oh, who cares?!”
Spong knew Gene Robinson when he was still married and presenting himself as heterosexual, in an effort to conceal his homosexuality. Feels that this kind of repression and expectation is too damaging to many people who wind up behaving abnormally under the weight of pressure and social condemnation. A more accepting embrace of people as they are will result in healthier, stable personalities and living arrangements.
Spoke of conversations he’s had with Rowan Williams (head Anglican) who Spong thinks is “as liberal as I am” but is more interested in keeping the communion together than in pursuing real justice. Seems to think that Williams is a brilliant thinker and administrator but has misguided priorities.
Every religious system is a human creation. No religious system should be seen as “the ultimate.”
Spong was asked about the cult of martyrdom within Islam and the Muslim views of L.A.D., but he didn’t really say much about the contemporary context of radical Islamists other than to say that all religious traditions have extreme elements and that this one within the Muslim world is especially infamous and destructive right now.
The essence of religion is to discover the mystery of God at which we ultimately arrive in the spiritual life, but only when we are ready to transcend the limits of the religious system that helped us get there.
Those are the notes that I took, supplemented a bit by memory. I’m willing to amplify any points that others wish to pursue. Tapes of the whole weekend (Friday night lecture, Saturday workshops and Sunday service/discussion) are available for $40. (The tapes get cheaper if you wait a couple of years… I picked up the Marcus Borg/N.T. Wright sessions from 2002 for just $10 this morning.)
This was my second personal encounter with Spong (the first was a couple of months after 9/11/01 where he spoke about the events of that day) and I was overall impressed, though I have to admit, he is strongly opinionated and a partisan of the religious and political left. Hearing him speak in person offers a robust opportunity to engage with his brand of Christian faith. I also want to add that I’m pretty intrigued with Ian Lawton. This church is about a 40-minute drive from my home (mostly freeway) and I’m thinking that I may make more regular visits over the course of the upcoming summer. Christ Community Church is big, active, thriving and I have to imagine
pretty unique. I’ve been looking at churches closer to where I live, but there’s a lot to like about CCC.
I'll have more to say about this congregation in weeks to come, I imagine.
The retired Bishop and Rt. Reverend John Shelby Spong finished up a weekend series of talks this morning by preaching a sermon at Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, MI, titled “Entering the Resurrected Life.” The theme of the weekend matched the title of a book he wrote some years ago, _Resurrection: Myth or Reality?_ As has been my habit when I go to this church to hear the famous guests that it occasionally hosts, I took a few notes on the sermon and the follow-up discussion period held afterward. I’ll also repeat my customary disclaimer, that the notes represent my paraphrase of what I heard and should not be regarded as “definitive” in their reflection of the
speaker’s views, other than to speak to the impression they left on me.
Bishop Spong was introduced by the new pastor of CCC, Rev. Ian Lawton, who just recently relocated his family to Michigan from New Zealand. He made some humorous comments about his personal relationship to Spong, mentioning that when Lawton was a student at a conservative seminary, he was given strong warnings about Spong, who was regarded as the “Ace of Spades” in the seminary’s deck of “most wanted heretics.”
Spong framed the basic question: Can a 21st century person believe that a deceased body rose up and walked out of a tomb?
The ultimate question that humans ask: Is it possible to believe in life after death for ourselves?
Biblical descriptions of the afterlife are numerous, vague, potentially confusing or difficult to envision – fiery pits, streets of gold, an eternal Sabbath rest (which Spong said made him think of endless games of shuffle-board at the retirement home) and so on.
Spong dedicated three years of study some years ago to this topic – his ambition was to write the definitive work on the subject of life after death, reviewing as much information from all the major religions, scientists, philosophers, etc. as he could to resolve the questions as much as they could be. This work never turned into the book that he envisioned, resulting instead in only two chapters, one in his book _Resurrection: Myth or Reality?_ and the other in _Why Christianity Must Change or Die_. But he says that this work has profoundly affected his life in many other ways ever since.
His deep belief now is that “nothingness is not the destination of our human life.”
Studying the biblical record indicates that there is no consensus within scripture on the details of life after death (L.A.D.) In the Old Testament, we read of “Sheol,” a general destination for all who die, without much differentiation between individuals. Details of L.A.D. developed parallel to the concept of individualism, which put more emphasis on personal choices and character, stressing the accountability of the single person for his choices in life. In the later portions of the Hebrew scriptures, L.A.D. was put forth as the reward for those who proved to be faithful to Jewish religious practices in the face of persecution and oppression by outsiders. It was unacceptable to conclude that those who were faithful unto death would not ultimately receive God’s justice.
The belief in L.A.D. appears to have thrived within Judaism from approx. 200 BCE to around 100 CE. After that, Christianity seems to have carried the belief forward, and Judaism puts much less emphasis on the issue, perhaps as a way of distinguishing their faith from that of the Christians.
Spong notes a diversity of views in the New Testament as well. No mention of hell in Paul’s writings. Matthew has “about 90%” of the references to fire, brimstone and eternal punishment found in all of the N.T. “Matthew had a thing about hellfire, it seems.”
Spong then went on to consider the effect of L.A.D. beliefs on western cultures ever since. He thinks the overall effect was to “suppress justice” – it was easier to ignore social problems because the belief was that it would all be settled in the next life.
When confidence in L.A.D. as a doctrine began to erode in the 19th century (via Enlightenment thinking, Darwinism, etc.), Spong notes a significant resurgence in various social justice movements: abolition of slavery, the beginning of women’s and other minority rights movements, labor reforms, anti-war movements, etc. Marx and other forms of socialism undertook the effort to create a “perfect world” in the here and now, rather than assume that justice would be meted out in heaven. This trend followed into the 20th century – the War on Poverty, the Great Society and
other efforts to ensure “fairness now!” But as the century wore on, political efforts were shown to be insufficient to produce the desired results. This led to the Reagan/Thatcher era of materialistic affluence, where the prevailing ethic was for every individual to get whatever we can while we can. A culture of greed developed, leading to the late ‘90’s boom, embodied in scandals like Enron, WorldComm, mutual fund scams, etc.
If life is still unfair and we can’t make it fair, what about L.A.D.? Is this belief or idea still
relevant and useful to us?
Spong recommends that we remove the concept of L.A.D. as “reward or punishment” from our understanding, though he notes that this removes a lot of the motivation that many have had to live Christian or otherwise spiritually-based lives. He sees reward/punishment as rooted in the specific context of post-exilic Judaism and early Christianity, where the existence of faith communities was seriously threatened and leaders sought to provide motivation to their followers. Moving beyond the reward/punishment paradigm is the first step toward having a serious discussion of the topic in the 21st century.
Evil is not obliterated by judgment (divine or otherwise) but rather by an expansion of our humanity
as we live our lives to the fullest. Salvation is not a “rescue” but rather, power to become more fully human and through that, to realize justice.
Our problem is that our humanity is “retarded,” not that we’re inevitably depraved and incorrigible
sinners. God is the source of life, not the divine judge waiting to deliver condemnation of all who fail to measure up.
At this point, Spong gave a fairly lengthy and IMO eloquent testimony to his personal faith, affirming in various ways his understanding of what it means to live a full, satisfying life. He also spoke of his own “resurrection” (metaphorically, of course) after the death of his first wife after a 15-year period of illness, and his subsequent relationship to his current wife, Christine, who was present this morning and joined him on stage at various points in the service (before and after the sermon.)
Afterward, Revs. Spong, Lawton and the soon-to-retire (as pastor of CCC) Richard Rhem participated in an hour-long “Perspectives” Q & A session. Here are a few notes and quotes:
Christianity is a search for truth which sometimes gets diverted into a search for security. (Spong
called this a “crucial distinction.”)
Humans are unique in that we have a self-conscious capacity to commune with the source of life. We need to better understand how we are a part of life and how to fit within the natural order.
Environmental problems are the “next great crisis” facing the Christian religion.
The Church has a poor historical track record of holding on to prejudices longer than other segments of society – we need to get over that.
The “military tradition” is strongest in the USA in the same region where religion is the strongest – in the South (where Spong grew up within the fundamentalist subculture.)
Postponing the pursuit of social justice because “it’s going to be settled in heaven” misses the whole point of the biblical teaching. In the N.T., justice is never seen as a matter of what creed we subscribe to or which theological tradition we consider to be the best, but rather, what we are actually doing to and with the people around us.
Spong: “I’m for a woman pope.” Any office of the church where women are excluded by status “as women” means that the church is participating in maintaining and perpetuating injustice.
The back has been broken of prejudice against gay and lesbian people – in our society, sexual orientation has gone from being understood as an abnormality or deficiency to being seen as a minority. A “new consciousness” has been established in our culture, and Spong doesn’t see current efforts to re-criminalize homosexuality as having any chance of long-term success.
“I have little patience with people who argue out of their gut prejudice and try to make it sound
rational.”
He made a series of comments that he acknowledged were “highly political,” basically expressing his
disagreement with the alliance between the religious right and the Republican Party.
Q: “Will the Anglican Communion remain together?” (over controversy surrounding gay Bishop Eugene
Robinson and other issues.) A: “Oh, who cares?!”
Spong knew Gene Robinson when he was still married and presenting himself as heterosexual, in an effort to conceal his homosexuality. Feels that this kind of repression and expectation is too damaging to many people who wind up behaving abnormally under the weight of pressure and social condemnation. A more accepting embrace of people as they are will result in healthier, stable personalities and living arrangements.
Spoke of conversations he’s had with Rowan Williams (head Anglican) who Spong thinks is “as liberal as I am” but is more interested in keeping the communion together than in pursuing real justice. Seems to think that Williams is a brilliant thinker and administrator but has misguided priorities.
Every religious system is a human creation. No religious system should be seen as “the ultimate.”
Spong was asked about the cult of martyrdom within Islam and the Muslim views of L.A.D., but he didn’t really say much about the contemporary context of radical Islamists other than to say that all religious traditions have extreme elements and that this one within the Muslim world is especially infamous and destructive right now.
The essence of religion is to discover the mystery of God at which we ultimately arrive in the spiritual life, but only when we are ready to transcend the limits of the religious system that helped us get there.
Those are the notes that I took, supplemented a bit by memory. I’m willing to amplify any points that others wish to pursue. Tapes of the whole weekend (Friday night lecture, Saturday workshops and Sunday service/discussion) are available for $40. (The tapes get cheaper if you wait a couple of years… I picked up the Marcus Borg/N.T. Wright sessions from 2002 for just $10 this morning.)
This was my second personal encounter with Spong (the first was a couple of months after 9/11/01 where he spoke about the events of that day) and I was overall impressed, though I have to admit, he is strongly opinionated and a partisan of the religious and political left. Hearing him speak in person offers a robust opportunity to engage with his brand of Christian faith. I also want to add that I’m pretty intrigued with Ian Lawton. This church is about a 40-minute drive from my home (mostly freeway) and I’m thinking that I may make more regular visits over the course of the upcoming summer. Christ Community Church is big, active, thriving and I have to imagine
pretty unique. I’ve been looking at churches closer to where I live, but there’s a lot to like about CCC.
I'll have more to say about this congregation in weeks to come, I imagine.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Van Andel Concession Stand
For the past couple of months now I've been doing some moonlighting to raise money for my sons' marching band expenses. What I'm doing is working at a food booth in the Van Andel Arena, primarily running a cash register and pulling taps for beer. The first event I worked was a Grand Rapids Griffins hockey game. I also worked an Arena Football game for the Grand Rapids Rampage. But what's really gotten me enthusiastic about this are the music concerts I've been able to work. I've seen Metallica, the Eagles and Shania Twain (I passed on Alabama), with Simon & Garfunkel, Van Halen, Incubus and Phil Collins scheduled in the coming months.
Metallica was by far the most hectic and memorable event, given the nature of the crowd that they draw and the intensity of their music. It was also our biggest money-maker that I've worked, mainly due to all the $5.75 28-oz. cups of beer we sold. We would have sold a lot more if Metallica hadn't instituted a 9:00 pm cut-off on beer sales (the same time they took stage.) We had to deal with a lot of angry customers, I mean, cussing us out and almost ready to go off levels of anger. The band was great - they have a huge stage that they like to prowl around, a massive lighting and video rig and of course over two decades worth of awesome metal anthems to choose from in preparing their set list. Though I've never owned a Metallica CD, I know a lot of their songs from radio play and listening to kids' tapes from Wedgwood over the years. My sons own two of their old classics, "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets." I know the Black Album pretty through and through and I'm also familiar with "...And Justice for All" and a few tracks from "Kill 'Em All." Not so clued in on their newer stuff though. Which is fine. Mostly I just liked the buzz and pound and killer riffs I heard spilling out of the arena. I was able to check out "Sad But True" and "Master of Puppets" on my brief breaks from the stand.
I'll comment on the Eagles and Shania concerts later, I just wanted to enter this into the record but I don't have time to tell the whole story right now. Got some catching up to do.
For the past couple of months now I've been doing some moonlighting to raise money for my sons' marching band expenses. What I'm doing is working at a food booth in the Van Andel Arena, primarily running a cash register and pulling taps for beer. The first event I worked was a Grand Rapids Griffins hockey game. I also worked an Arena Football game for the Grand Rapids Rampage. But what's really gotten me enthusiastic about this are the music concerts I've been able to work. I've seen Metallica, the Eagles and Shania Twain (I passed on Alabama), with Simon & Garfunkel, Van Halen, Incubus and Phil Collins scheduled in the coming months.
Metallica was by far the most hectic and memorable event, given the nature of the crowd that they draw and the intensity of their music. It was also our biggest money-maker that I've worked, mainly due to all the $5.75 28-oz. cups of beer we sold. We would have sold a lot more if Metallica hadn't instituted a 9:00 pm cut-off on beer sales (the same time they took stage.) We had to deal with a lot of angry customers, I mean, cussing us out and almost ready to go off levels of anger. The band was great - they have a huge stage that they like to prowl around, a massive lighting and video rig and of course over two decades worth of awesome metal anthems to choose from in preparing their set list. Though I've never owned a Metallica CD, I know a lot of their songs from radio play and listening to kids' tapes from Wedgwood over the years. My sons own two of their old classics, "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets." I know the Black Album pretty through and through and I'm also familiar with "...And Justice for All" and a few tracks from "Kill 'Em All." Not so clued in on their newer stuff though. Which is fine. Mostly I just liked the buzz and pound and killer riffs I heard spilling out of the arena. I was able to check out "Sad But True" and "Master of Puppets" on my brief breaks from the stand.
I'll comment on the Eagles and Shania concerts later, I just wanted to enter this into the record but I don't have time to tell the whole story right now. Got some catching up to do.
Monday, May 10, 2004
Gotta get used to this...
Just logged on to Blogger and wasn't expecting this whole new look that they've installed for the edit & post window. Well, you don't want to read about that, I'm sure.
We just got through the Mothers' Day holiday, which in my family was occasion for a pleasant Sunday evening get-together. I read somewhere on the web that the holiday has its roots in the women's antiwar movement back in the late 19th century... just a second, let me find that link...
OK, I'll post this poem, by Julia Ward Howe:
------------------------------------------------------------
Julia Ward Howe, author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic,
proposed Mother's Day as a day for women to join together in
the pursuit of peace and disarmament. Sounds like a good
idea to me.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mother's Day Proclamation 1870
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Julia Ward Howe
Just logged on to Blogger and wasn't expecting this whole new look that they've installed for the edit & post window. Well, you don't want to read about that, I'm sure.
We just got through the Mothers' Day holiday, which in my family was occasion for a pleasant Sunday evening get-together. I read somewhere on the web that the holiday has its roots in the women's antiwar movement back in the late 19th century... just a second, let me find that link...
OK, I'll post this poem, by Julia Ward Howe:
------------------------------------------------------------
Julia Ward Howe, author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic,
proposed Mother's Day as a day for women to join together in
the pursuit of peace and disarmament. Sounds like a good
idea to me.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mother's Day Proclamation 1870
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Julia Ward Howe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
