How to Sort out the Truth in Complicated Conflicts

Just before the election Charles Barkley was a guest on Larry King’s show along with Ben Stein. It was the usual setup: one from one side, a second from the other. Charles B. was the Obama man and Stein the trumpet for McCain. Like I said, the classic setup: left vs. right, Democrat vs. Republican, liberal view vs. conservative view. This method is often called a dichotomy, which means separating a single thing into two contradictory things. We all know it’s too simplistic, but in theory you can look at an issue that way and see both sides, as if there’s no chance of a third side or a fourth, or … you get the picture.

Barkley made an surprising point by saying he didn’t see America divided as liberals and conservatives, or, especially, as black and white. He sees it as rich vs. poor. From his point of view, I suppose we’re more likely to have a class war on our hands than the race war some ardent Obama haters predicted. Given the state of the economy, that makes sense. It’s hard for a working class white person to care much about issues like affirmative action when he sees a Harvard grad throwing him under the bus. And who does he find with him under the bus but his black brothers and sisters.

But, as I said, there’s usually more than two sides to all this. Given the way stock portfolios are tanking, much of the Ivy League crowd may soon be under the bus too.

But the subject here isn’t the economy, it’s seeing things as dichotomies. A friend who has a real name but also is known as Stardust the Clown is currently in the West Bank, home of the world’s most famous dichotomy -- Israel/Palestine -- working with the nonprofit Bethlehem Christmas Project. Her purpose is to bring cheer to Palestinian children and she’s been doing so by entertaining wherever she goes, including a dialysis unit for poor children, which I guess is a redundancy because most all Palestinian children are poor. She’ll have more to do as the Christmas project hits full swing. By the way, her host in Palestine is an organization sponsored by the Lutheran Church. Apparently not all Christians in the Middle East are hoping to stir up the apocalypse.

Stardust, whose real name is Dana Humphrey, has her serious side too. She has become involved in a showdown between Israeli authorities and a Palestinian family that was forcibly evicted in the middle of the night from an east Jerusalem home they’ve occupied for more than 50 years. Jewish settlers immediately moved into the house. Which brings me back to this false sense you can divide everything into two sides with everyone on one side or the other. One of several groups standing up for the Muslim Palestinian family is Friends of Sabeel, The Voice of Palestinians Christians. Another is the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, a group of Israeli citizens with no stomach for injustice and the courage to oppose their own countrymen. Not everyone fits neatly into one box or another.

The Rev. Richard Toll, a spokesman for Friends of Sabeel, found two aspects of the eviction especially obscene. One was seeing this family violently dragged out of their home at 4 a.m. by 30 to 40 Israeli soldiers, which tragically led to the death by heart attack of the Palestinian father, Abu Kamel. The second was that one of the Israelis who took the Palestinian home taunted remaining family members by dancing before them in triumph -- in effect dancing on Abu Kamel’s grave.

Subsequent news reporting helps cast a light on bias in the American media. While this story got almost no notice, another in which Israeli settlers were forcibly deposed from a Palestinian property was played large by the New York Times and others. Nothing wrong with that story being told, and I guess it adds still another perspective to the debate, but it’s telling that one story is highlighted while the other is buried.

“Politics,” Tip O’Neil famously once said, “ain’t beanbag.” It’s usually down and dirty. And it’s complicated -- not easily divided into neat dichotomies. But that doesn’t mean we throw up our hands and say, “it’s too much to sort out.” We still have to take our best shot at deciding what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s not always clear-cut, but history tells us that those who hold power will usually cross the line to impose injustice on those who don’t. That’s what Charles Barkley was warning of -- that the poor shouldn’t expect fair treatment from the rich in America unless they demand it and are willing to go to the mat for it if necessary. It’s not simple, but if you believe in justice, you probably can’t go wrong by believing those with less power usually are the victims.

To follow Stardust's work in the West Bank, go to www.stardustinbethlehem.blogspot.com

Nurses on the Battlefield or the Point of the Spear

If you’ve followed this column over the past year, you know I’ve been very hard on church leadership, especially progressive leadership, for failing to find ways to translate our values into political change. The God’s honest truth is my disappointment on that score runs all the way back to Viet Nam. I’m not apologizing or changing my mind, but I do believe in giving credit where it’s due.

Last night I attended a World AIDS Day vigil and healing service at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Daytona Beach. Several hundred people were in attendance representing various faiths -- and not only Christian. I felt proud to be present as a believer in God, and proud to see the faith community taking the lead. There was no such parallel secular event. If you wanted to honor and remember those who have suffered and died, and recognize the progress being made in treatment and care, this was the only place to do it. And people of faith were behind it. So I say, hats off … but …

I’ve been thinking lately, in this time of worldwide economic unraveling, that the looming upheaval offers a choice of paths that can lead either to collapse and chaos, or a positive rebirth of our world culture. The church must decide whether it wants to be the point of the spear prodding us to a new, more compassionate order, or a nurse on the battlefield caring for the wounded. Just as no secular faction was capable of organizing World AIDS Day gatherings, no other institution has proved able to lead us beyond self interest to a vision of our culture as a common-good covenant with God and each other.

Of course, I’m not talking about supporting specific political parties or candidates; that is a violation of nonprofit status, among other things, and just serves to divide people. But, as wonderful as last night’s event was -- and it truly was healing for many -- it was another inside-the-walls event. Somehow, we have to find a way to carry our message of God’s love and its world-changing power beyond the walls of our sanctuaries. Evangelicals have been adept at getting their voices heard in the public square but, unfortunately, the things they say aren’t very helpful. When we on the progressive side pierce public consciousness, it’s usually in our role as nursemaids to the hurting, such as the hungry and homeless, or those touched by HIV/AIDS. That’s admirable and much needed, but it’s reactive. It’s not the point of the spear.

The stakes have never been higher. We stand at a moment in time when the Evangelical voice is losing force because of its narrowness and exclusiveness. Even the Republican Party is asking them to step back. So we have a soap box waiting, open to someone who can drive the right spirit-driven leadership straight into the heart of an eager populace.

Beyond opportunity, we have an obligation to act. God calls us to it, and the people desperately need us. Our secular leaders have failed and I believe there’s hopeful celebration in heaven as a corrupted and inadequate political/economic vision fades away. Sure there’ll be short-term pain, so we do need to be on the battlefield binding wounds of the fallen. But we also need to be the point of the spear as we prepare to rebuild the kingdom once more. With enough faith, this time it may emerge looking a little more like God’s kingdom.