A Tough, Mean, Dirty, Nasty Business
A news report out today quotes former vice president Dick Cheney as saying that protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business." He also said that those who threaten our nation's security "are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.”
How is a follower of Jesus supposed to respond to such comments? Would Jesus have us engage in a "tough, mean, dirty, nasty business" for the sake of national security? How would he have us treat "evil people?" (Would he even refer to them as "evil people?") Would Jesus change his mind today about "turning the other cheek?"
I feel that rambling on about this further would bring a level of politics that I don't want to introduce on this blog. So I won't. I just thought I'd share some of the thoughts that are on my mind today.
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3 comments:
Check out "Overcoming John Wayne Syndrome with New Stories" http://tinyurl.com/cevw38 I just shared it on twitter, and touches on what you've brought up here.
In The Audacity of Hope, Obama concedes that the Department of Defense is incompatible with the Beatitudes. But he says it with regret, not relish.
Jesus would not be the least bit concerned with the "security" of the Empire...be it Roman or American. He spoke out against its meanness, nastiness, toughness, and dirtiness at every opportunity. He turned his cheek to the Empire's hand of cruelty, the hand which administered cruelty in the name of "security."
And he went a step further, to engage in the business of teaching us no one is evil. No human is evil...he might say...just the business in which they choose to engage.
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