Monday, May 21, 2007

Meet me at Fort Benning


I'm going to the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice this year, to protest that piece-of-shit School of the Americas, which takes my federal tax money and turns it into human rights abuses and instability in Latin America.

Sometimes being Catholic is gross. The promise of eternal salvation is about as exciting to me as doing dishes.

But an event like the IFT and the challenge to cross the line at Fort Benning makes me glad that there are people of faith who stand up to injustice. In fact, if it wasn't for the theology of peace and social justice, I would have given up on being Catholic long ago. It's time to proclaim the good news to the poor and broken-hearted; proclaim that the blind shall have sight, that the bound shall be set free; proclaim relief to those oppressed and afflicted.

Some Christians need to stop fixating on eternal damnation and start realizing that we make hell for each other here on earth, and we do it with our ignorance, our complacency, and with our putangina' federal tax money.


So next November we're going to try to take some students to tag along with Seattle University's delegation. We take a red-eye to Atlanta, eat at a waffle house, visit the Dr. King center, and then drive a couple hours to Columbus to participate in the teach in for the rest of the weekend.

My biggest problem will be schedule. I'm sure I'll be slammed in October and November, and I have a minor ambition of spending Thanksgiving Break in Montreal or Mexico. So we'll see.

It's been less then a generation since the Civil Rights movement, but I don't think high school students are learning about Non Violent Direct Action. I think that people remember that Dr. King was a great leader and that the movement desegregated the South, but they don't remember how. They're not studying Ghandi, and the only thing they learn about Jesus is that the conservatives use him to keep themselves rich and in charge.

Note to self: try to teach the kids some elementary civics, so they can elect someone to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States," hopefully someone who doesn't think that the Constitution is just a "goddamn piece of paper."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm completely, completely with you on that one lingering reason to be a Catholic.

Well, that and that Marianism--for all the virgin/whore crap that goes into it--is the one suggestion of a divine female in any of the major 3 monotheistic religions. I suppose I could try to become Hindu, but it seems highly unlikely.