Larry Kerschner Writes

10-31-2005

Editor, The Chronicle

   As a Christian living in the United States , I have a concern about the silent position taken by so many churches concerning the war in Iraq , the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor in this world, and the continued blight of racism in our society so clearly highlighted in the tragedies in New Orleans .  Many if not most Christians in our country believe they are following the path set by Jesus.

       However, we find ourselves as a country engaged in a brutal and devastating war in Iraq and elsewhere which has left over 2,000 U.S. soldiers dead with tens of thousands others wounded, and thousands upon thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis dead, wounded and imprisoned.  Our leaders continually call for more tax cuts for the already wealthy with plans to take this money from funds set aside for the poorest among us. 

      There is no longer any understanding of the common good in our country.  Despite the gains during the Civil Rights movement there is still clear racism in many areas including those of health, wealth and opportunity in our country.  Although there have been some Christian leaders who have been outspoken and prophetic on these issues , there has been a disturbing silence from most of the clergy in our country.

      The Church should be in the forefront pointing to the issues and raising questions about this unjust war, the obscenity of the accumulation of wealth at the expense of the poor and the continued injustice related to accidents of birth such as race.  I invite all religious leaders to mindfully and prayerfully critique the presence of evil and sin our imperial society. 

    The main moral problems of today are not the narrow questions related to areas of sexuality so often focused on.  Jesus spoke very little if at all about these areas.  He spoke very often about how we are to treat the weak and the poor.  Christians need to be reminded that their first God is not the nation that they happen to live in.  The leaders in the Church have the responsibility to take a loud and visible stance against all the injustice being perpetrated in the name of the war on terror, the free market and the updated Bush manifest destiny.

      The Church should be defying the fear and greed being promoted by the powers and principalities resident in Washington D.C. and other power centers in our country.  Forty years ago Rev. Martin Luther King prophetically named the three main evils in the U.S. society as militarism, racism and poverty.  What has changed? Where are the prophets today who will speak truth to power?

Larry Kerschner POB 397  Pe Ell WA  98572  (W) 360-291-3232 (H) 360-291-3946