re: <Don't support your local pacifist>:
Thanks, always nice to have a fresh voice.
1. He begins, with a ritual bow to peace. The rest is a list of excuses for war. This is classic. All militarists are for peace, in the abstract......only in the abstract.
2. <expectation that nations of diverse ideologies can always reconcile without armed conflict, parlays a flawed understanding of human nature...> Killing and hurting each other, is human nature? Until the 19th Century, everyone, including most Christians, thought that slavery was an inherent and inevitable part of all human societies. War is no more a part of our nature, than slavery. He is a pessimist, who believes humans are evil, and can never improve or reform. Some of us believe people were created by God, not by the Devil.
3. <One who defines peace as "absence of conflict"...> Straw Man. Pacifists understand that conflict and competition happen in both peace and war. The difference is, during peace, the conflict is resolved non-violently, using the agreed-upon civilized rules for conduct.
4. < The pacifists today have the same stifling affect on the war against terrorism. > Actually, the Militarists have a failing strategy, and the pacifists have many practical plans for how to win without killing. See Message 18801778 Since 9/11, all the militarists have done, is vastly increase the number of people on this planet, who hate America.
5. <play the Sermon on the Mount card> How can people who call themselves Literalists, set aside the core Teachings? This "two Kingdoms" idea, means that the Church preaches the New Testament (turn the other cheek), while the government practices the Old Testament (eye for eye, life for life). Translation: let's be Christian in theory, but UnChristian in practice; let's be Christian with our families and friends, and UnChristian to everyone else.
6. <spewing hatred toward our leaders.....America is always wrong> Ah, another person who doesn't understand the concept of dissent in a democracy.
7. <They want people to have the unfettered right to choose abortions, engage in sodomy, or view pornography> Throwing in the kitchen sink, here, and painting with a broad brush. The Catholic Church (against abortion, against sodomy, etc.) says the Iraq war doesn't meet the standards of the Just War Theory, and is therefore immoral. He's just making a laundry list, of evangelical hot-buttons to push. |
