Fish In A Barrel

I do not buy into the argument shooters only go to or will start going to “gun free zones.” I doubt they plan enough to investigate where “gun free zones” are. They are intent on scaring, hurting, and killing as many people as possible. They plan on being where they can shoot the most people. Where in your community do you find the most people gathered into one place that is relatively contained? Malls, schools, churches/synagogues/mosques, office buildings, rush hour traffic. Why do you think mass shootings happen in those places? Do you really think it is because they are “gun free zones”? Why do you think it is the open carry “free speech” supporters  are bringing their long guns into stores and restaurants, like Target, Home Depot, and Sonic? Hunters don’t go to “gun free zones” during duck or deer season. Hunters go where they expect the most duck or deer to be.

There is a reason for the phrase “shooting fish in a barrel.”

What Do You Know, Joe?

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A Failure to Represent

Sarah Palin, wrapping her warped sense of patriotism around her poor sense of God’s grace, said “if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” Her NRA audience gave thunderous applause.

Sarah Palin does not represent me on any level, least of all as a Christian. She may have her deplorable view of the baptismal sacrament, but it does not represent my view of baptism nor does it represent my view of Jesus’s calls to treating your neighbor, especially when that neighbor is an enemy, with the same love and respect you expect to be treated with.

I am greatly embarrassed that an uninformed person will hear her words and come away thinking all Christians think such ignorant and hateful things. Not all Christians are racist, bigoted, or fear mongering.

My faith heritage is in Community of Christ. We have several Enduring Principles that address our approach to others, including:

• God views all people as having inestimable and equal worth.
• God wants all people to experience wholeness of body, mind, spirit, and relationships.
• We seek to uphold and restore the worth of all people individually and in community, challenging unjust systems that diminish human worth.
• God wants shalom (justice, reconciliation, well-being, wholeness, and peace) for all of creation.
• True community includes compassion for and solidarity with the poor, marginalized, and oppressed.
• True community upholds the worth of persons while providing a healthy alternative to self-centeredness, isolation, and conformity.

Within Community of Christ, baptism is considered a sacrament, a sacred moment between an individual and God. We do not force it upon anyone. Those seeking baptism are encouraged to study and contemplate, pray and meditate, on the decision. Though some in Community of Christ may describe differently than I do, baptism, to me, is an outward expression of an already occurred inward experience. It is a public event, not done in private. It gives testimony of one’s own personal decision to become a disciple of Jesus, of washing away one’s old self and emerging as a new person.

I do not find waterboarding to be a means that upholds the worth of any person. I do not believe waterboarding someone would help them on the path to experience wholeness of body, mind, spirit, or relationships. I do not think equating waterboarding to baptism provides a healthy alternative to self-centeredness.

I do not find Sarah Palin’s comments funny. I think her comments were reprehensible and made without any intention to express the value or worth of anyone. They were said as a means to perpetuate stereo types and to re-enforce the racism, xenophobia, and Islam-phobia of the group she was addressing.

Sarah Palin’s decision to give an address that not only perpetuates stereo types, but bolsters the view that all white people, all Christians, and all Americans are ignorant, hateful, and self-centered.

Her comments need to be addressed for what they are. If Sarah Palin does not speak on your behalf, then clearly say so. Remaining silent allows her and that applauding audience to control the conversation.

Sarah Palin does not represent me. Does she represent you?

Community of Christ Enduring Principles http://www.cofchrist.org/ourfaith/enduring-principles.asp

A petition for those of us Sarah Palin does not represent http://act.faithfulamerica.org/sign/palinwaterboarding?referring_akid=314.270145.HQkiIp&source=facebook