Many people are showing up at Trump rallies to show their opposition. However, their actions often just rile up the Trump supporters. A much more effective tactic would be to show up and do nothing. A quiet audience is the worst possible insult to the likes of Donald Trump.
By wearing anti-Trump T-shirts or carrying anti-Trump signs, protesters just energize the Trump supporters. But if a large part of his audience never applauded, never jeered, but just remained quiet, Trump wouldn’t know what to do, nor would many of his supporters.
Passive resistance like this can defuse many situations and make those who are the targets of the resistance feel very uncomfortable and unsure of their own positions.
I was very disappointed when Occupy Wall Street changed from lots of people carrying signs to a few people camping out in public spaces. These squatters generated more antipathy than sympathy.
When somebody is shot, whether by police or by a bad guy shooting a cop, riots or demonstrations are not the answer. Riots reduce the sympathy for the victim, and even distract from getting justice. The best possible response is flowers at the site of the shooting.
Gandhi and King led the way on non-violent protest. We dishonor them by even unduly disruptive behavior.
Showing posts with label Ghandi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghandi. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Saints to emulate
“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones”, Mark Antony, “Julius Caesar”, by William Shakespeare.
Last week I wrote “Criminals hiding behind religion”, those who use religion to justify violence against others, whether physical or mental.
As an antidote I would like to write about a few people who have a view of religion as a way to help others.
What is a saint? Many individuals and institutions have their definitions, exemplary behavior, martyrdom, and performing miracles. I define a saint as one who strives to help others, whether spiritually or physically. It is these saints whose good is not interred with their bones, but lives after them.
Let’s start with the good about Islam in conflict with the bad in “Islam”.
Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on a school bus by a Talib who didn’t like her promotion of education for girls above the age of 15. She survived the attack and is still promoting education to a much wider audience. Her parents support her. Her view is that Islam is a religion of “peace, humanity and brotherhood.” To her, the Taliban are “misusing the name of Islam” and are afraid of education.
Going back over a thousand years, there is the legendary Rabia. She supposedly ran through town with a torch and a pitcher of water. She wanted to set fire to heaven and quench the fires of hell. She thought people should love Allah without the promise of heaven or the fear of hell.
The Red Crescent Societies in various Muslim countries are part of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Among recent activities are aid for Syrian refugees.
Jesus may have been a zealot as described by Reza Aslan or the gentle soul of the Beatitudes or some mixture. But we would do well to heed his words about getting along with others instead of harshly judging those who differ with us. He did warn about false religiosity, such as praying in the public square to be seen by others. What would he think of government meetings being opened by prayer? Is that “rendering unto Caesar”?
Erasmus was a sixteenth century cleric and scholar. Although he stayed within the Catholic Church, he was critical of many of its abuses. He was later accused of hatching the Reformation and his books were banned. However, his view was much wider than mere doctrine. For example, “That you are patriotic will be praised by many and easily forgiven by everyone; but in my opinion it is wiser to treat men and things as though we held this world the common fatherland of all.” See Wikipedia for more.
Dorothy Day was many things, a journalist, a socialist, a communist, a labor activist, and a convert to Catholicism. Above all else, she believed in justice and serving others. She was a founding editor of The Catholic Worker from which came a “house of hospitality”, a shelter for the poor where they could also receive clothing and food. These spread into many cities, and many of us know about the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul.
Mother Theresa is well-known for her “helping the poorest of poor”, but I once read that her hospices had a high death rate. But then I read elsewhere that she was taking in the dying dumped in the street and allowing them to die in dignity.
Quakers and other church groups gave support to the Underground Railroad, a network to move escaped slaves north. What a contrast; slaveowners used the Bible to justify slavery and others used the Bible to justify freeing slaves.
Nelson Mandela, baptized a Methodist, became an activist against apartheid. He was sentenced to life in prison by the apartheid government and served 27 years. Much of his early time was in solitary confinement or at hard labor. Despite this treatment, when he was released and eventually became president of South Africa he didn’t seek revenge but sought reconciliation.
The current Dalai Lama is a man who is easy to like. He is well-known for his wide-ranging generosity on many subjects and his sense of humor. He considers himself a communist and the Chinese Communists as capitalists. That is, he puts workers before profits and would like to see the benefits of enterprises shared and the poor better cared for. On the other hand, he gets along well with all sorts of “capitalists”.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born into a Hindu family. In his resistance to British rule in South Africa and India, he practiced non-violence and encouraged others to do likewise. He sought more equity for all – women’s rights, easing poverty, and religious and ethnic tolerance. He helped achieve independence for India, but he could not prevent religious intolerance from splitting his country in two. Sadly, he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist.
I thought that the Rabbi Hillel gave a two-part statement of basic belief, but I can only find one of these in a quick search. Jesus is quoted as saying the first law is “To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”. He was quoting from Deuteronomy. Then “And love thy neighbor as thyself.” Hillel said, “That which is hateful to you do not do to others. All the rest is commentary. Now go and learn.”
Anything in “religious writings” contrary to this last quote is political.
The above was also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/05/22/3416_saints_to_emulate.
Last week I wrote “Criminals hiding behind religion”, those who use religion to justify violence against others, whether physical or mental.
As an antidote I would like to write about a few people who have a view of religion as a way to help others.
What is a saint? Many individuals and institutions have their definitions, exemplary behavior, martyrdom, and performing miracles. I define a saint as one who strives to help others, whether spiritually or physically. It is these saints whose good is not interred with their bones, but lives after them.
Let’s start with the good about Islam in conflict with the bad in “Islam”.
Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on a school bus by a Talib who didn’t like her promotion of education for girls above the age of 15. She survived the attack and is still promoting education to a much wider audience. Her parents support her. Her view is that Islam is a religion of “peace, humanity and brotherhood.” To her, the Taliban are “misusing the name of Islam” and are afraid of education.
Going back over a thousand years, there is the legendary Rabia. She supposedly ran through town with a torch and a pitcher of water. She wanted to set fire to heaven and quench the fires of hell. She thought people should love Allah without the promise of heaven or the fear of hell.
The Red Crescent Societies in various Muslim countries are part of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Among recent activities are aid for Syrian refugees.
Jesus may have been a zealot as described by Reza Aslan or the gentle soul of the Beatitudes or some mixture. But we would do well to heed his words about getting along with others instead of harshly judging those who differ with us. He did warn about false religiosity, such as praying in the public square to be seen by others. What would he think of government meetings being opened by prayer? Is that “rendering unto Caesar”?
Erasmus was a sixteenth century cleric and scholar. Although he stayed within the Catholic Church, he was critical of many of its abuses. He was later accused of hatching the Reformation and his books were banned. However, his view was much wider than mere doctrine. For example, “That you are patriotic will be praised by many and easily forgiven by everyone; but in my opinion it is wiser to treat men and things as though we held this world the common fatherland of all.” See Wikipedia for more.
Dorothy Day was many things, a journalist, a socialist, a communist, a labor activist, and a convert to Catholicism. Above all else, she believed in justice and serving others. She was a founding editor of The Catholic Worker from which came a “house of hospitality”, a shelter for the poor where they could also receive clothing and food. These spread into many cities, and many of us know about the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul.
Mother Theresa is well-known for her “helping the poorest of poor”, but I once read that her hospices had a high death rate. But then I read elsewhere that she was taking in the dying dumped in the street and allowing them to die in dignity.
Quakers and other church groups gave support to the Underground Railroad, a network to move escaped slaves north. What a contrast; slaveowners used the Bible to justify slavery and others used the Bible to justify freeing slaves.
Nelson Mandela, baptized a Methodist, became an activist against apartheid. He was sentenced to life in prison by the apartheid government and served 27 years. Much of his early time was in solitary confinement or at hard labor. Despite this treatment, when he was released and eventually became president of South Africa he didn’t seek revenge but sought reconciliation.
The current Dalai Lama is a man who is easy to like. He is well-known for his wide-ranging generosity on many subjects and his sense of humor. He considers himself a communist and the Chinese Communists as capitalists. That is, he puts workers before profits and would like to see the benefits of enterprises shared and the poor better cared for. On the other hand, he gets along well with all sorts of “capitalists”.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born into a Hindu family. In his resistance to British rule in South Africa and India, he practiced non-violence and encouraged others to do likewise. He sought more equity for all – women’s rights, easing poverty, and religious and ethnic tolerance. He helped achieve independence for India, but he could not prevent religious intolerance from splitting his country in two. Sadly, he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist.
I thought that the Rabbi Hillel gave a two-part statement of basic belief, but I can only find one of these in a quick search. Jesus is quoted as saying the first law is “To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”. He was quoting from Deuteronomy. Then “And love thy neighbor as thyself.” Hillel said, “That which is hateful to you do not do to others. All the rest is commentary. Now go and learn.”
Anything in “religious writings” contrary to this last quote is political.
The above was also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/05/22/3416_saints_to_emulate.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Criminals hiding behind religion
An obscure gang of hoodlums has made world headlines by kidnapping over 300 girls, often by raiding schools. Boko Haram claims to be following Islam, but are they really? Most Muslims condemn these actions as against their understanding of Islam as a religion of peace. The violence perpetrated by Boko Haram is so perverse that even Al Quaeda has distanced itself from them.
“Boko Haram” loosely means “western education is sinful”. Boko Haram, like many other groups with a rigid agenda, is full of contradictions. First, if western education is sinful, why are they using weapons, trucks, cars, motorcycles, and now video cameras? These are all products of western education. Second, they use obscure passages of sacred texts and completely miss the larger message, that of all major religions, be kind to others. Kidnapping and massacres are not being kind to others.
Boko Haram doesn’t want girls to be educated, but it conveniently ignores all the Muslim countries with a large percentage of educated women, even countries with a conservative Islam.
Benazir Bhutto was twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Afghanistan, where the Taliban keeps trying to overthrow the government because it is not “Islamic” enough, reserves 20 percent of the seats in Parliament for women.
Iran, with its hodgepodge of secular and religious rule, a few years ago had more women in its universities than men. It also had a hodgepodge of rules varying from university to university including gender-specific restrictions. Women can’t take computer science and men can’t take Persian/Arabic language!
Unfortunately, hate of others is not limited to Islam.
"Muslims killed my baby! I want to kill Muslims!” This was said by a character in the film “Ghandi” with Ben Kingsley. How could each and every Muslim be responsible for these stupid killings?
Muslims were killed in Guwahati, Assam, India, in sectarian violence. Sunnis kill Shia, Shia kill Sunnis. Boko Haram blows up mosques because their leaders don’t follow its dictates.
Ahab and his Canaanite wife, Jezebel, killed the priests of Jehovah. Then Elijah killed the priests of Ba’al.
Crusade after Crusade marched, with the blessings or incitements by Popes, to the Holy Land to rescue it from Muslims.
Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, had many tortured to get them to recant heresy. He was a “moderate”; he “moderated” the use of torture of previous inquisitions.
Jean Calvin brought charges of heresy against Michael Servetus; he suggested Servetus be beheaded. The government of Geneva decided he should be burnt at the stake.
The Ku Klux Klan, with crosses on their robes, killed blacks for the slightest suspicion of unapproved conduct, and it killed whites who opposed their actions.
In Northern Ireland Catholics killed Protestants and Protestants killed Catholics. And sometimes they killed their “own” because the latter wanted reconciliation and peace.
Qasim Rashid wrote “What Prophet Muhammad would say to Boko Haram”, Fox News, May 8, 2014. It is a good exposition of the importance of learning in Islam. He quotes Muhammad, “Seek knowledge even if you must travel to China” and “The search of knowledge is an obligation laid upon every Muslim.” Rashid writes, “Fatimah was a Muslim, an African, a female, and literally changed world history through education. Her revolutionary University of al-Qarawiyyin [founded 859] is now the world’s oldest university.”
The comments were a predictable mix of bad taste and prejudice. A reader “muhammad” summed it up with “I don’t see any difference between Boko Haram and many commenters in this forum.” The response to his post proved his point.
The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, claims he communicates with God. How many times have we heard a similar claim by those who hate others?
If God is so powerful, why does He use so many different intermediaries to make His will known? Few of these intermediaries even agree on what God revealed to them. Too many of these “intermediaries” have their own agendas. If I were to believe all that God said directly to these “intermediaries”, I could only conclude that God was schizophrenic. I doubt that, whatever God is.
I think it is more that certain people are telling God what He should believe and then forcing other people to believe as they do.
Elijah was in a power struggle with Ahab and Jezebel. Supposedly he challenged the priest of Ba’al to a sacrifice contest. Would Ba’al ignite the offering of his priests or would Jehovah ignite the offering of Elijah? Poof! Jehovah ignited Elijah’s water-soaked offering. Then Elijah had the people chase down and kill the priests of Ba’al. Why did Elijah do that? Did Jehovah use up his bolts of lightning? Wouldn’t He have an infinite supply of lightning to zap each and every one of these non-believers?
Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church claimed that “God hates fags”. Hm! If God hates fags so much, shouldn’t He just boom it out for all to hear?
We can say one thing with certainty about those who claim to speak for God. They are all fallible beings and probably misunderstood what God told them.
“Boko Haram” loosely means “western education is sinful”. Boko Haram, like many other groups with a rigid agenda, is full of contradictions. First, if western education is sinful, why are they using weapons, trucks, cars, motorcycles, and now video cameras? These are all products of western education. Second, they use obscure passages of sacred texts and completely miss the larger message, that of all major religions, be kind to others. Kidnapping and massacres are not being kind to others.
Boko Haram doesn’t want girls to be educated, but it conveniently ignores all the Muslim countries with a large percentage of educated women, even countries with a conservative Islam.
Benazir Bhutto was twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Afghanistan, where the Taliban keeps trying to overthrow the government because it is not “Islamic” enough, reserves 20 percent of the seats in Parliament for women.
Iran, with its hodgepodge of secular and religious rule, a few years ago had more women in its universities than men. It also had a hodgepodge of rules varying from university to university including gender-specific restrictions. Women can’t take computer science and men can’t take Persian/Arabic language!
Unfortunately, hate of others is not limited to Islam.
"Muslims killed my baby! I want to kill Muslims!” This was said by a character in the film “Ghandi” with Ben Kingsley. How could each and every Muslim be responsible for these stupid killings?
Muslims were killed in Guwahati, Assam, India, in sectarian violence. Sunnis kill Shia, Shia kill Sunnis. Boko Haram blows up mosques because their leaders don’t follow its dictates.
Ahab and his Canaanite wife, Jezebel, killed the priests of Jehovah. Then Elijah killed the priests of Ba’al.
Crusade after Crusade marched, with the blessings or incitements by Popes, to the Holy Land to rescue it from Muslims.
Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, had many tortured to get them to recant heresy. He was a “moderate”; he “moderated” the use of torture of previous inquisitions.
Jean Calvin brought charges of heresy against Michael Servetus; he suggested Servetus be beheaded. The government of Geneva decided he should be burnt at the stake.
The Ku Klux Klan, with crosses on their robes, killed blacks for the slightest suspicion of unapproved conduct, and it killed whites who opposed their actions.
In Northern Ireland Catholics killed Protestants and Protestants killed Catholics. And sometimes they killed their “own” because the latter wanted reconciliation and peace.
Qasim Rashid wrote “What Prophet Muhammad would say to Boko Haram”, Fox News, May 8, 2014. It is a good exposition of the importance of learning in Islam. He quotes Muhammad, “Seek knowledge even if you must travel to China” and “The search of knowledge is an obligation laid upon every Muslim.” Rashid writes, “Fatimah was a Muslim, an African, a female, and literally changed world history through education. Her revolutionary University of al-Qarawiyyin [founded 859] is now the world’s oldest university.”
The comments were a predictable mix of bad taste and prejudice. A reader “muhammad” summed it up with “I don’t see any difference between Boko Haram and many commenters in this forum.” The response to his post proved his point.
The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, claims he communicates with God. How many times have we heard a similar claim by those who hate others?
If God is so powerful, why does He use so many different intermediaries to make His will known? Few of these intermediaries even agree on what God revealed to them. Too many of these “intermediaries” have their own agendas. If I were to believe all that God said directly to these “intermediaries”, I could only conclude that God was schizophrenic. I doubt that, whatever God is.
I think it is more that certain people are telling God what He should believe and then forcing other people to believe as they do.
Elijah was in a power struggle with Ahab and Jezebel. Supposedly he challenged the priest of Ba’al to a sacrifice contest. Would Ba’al ignite the offering of his priests or would Jehovah ignite the offering of Elijah? Poof! Jehovah ignited Elijah’s water-soaked offering. Then Elijah had the people chase down and kill the priests of Ba’al. Why did Elijah do that? Did Jehovah use up his bolts of lightning? Wouldn’t He have an infinite supply of lightning to zap each and every one of these non-believers?
Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church claimed that “God hates fags”. Hm! If God hates fags so much, shouldn’t He just boom it out for all to hear?
We can say one thing with certainty about those who claim to speak for God. They are all fallible beings and probably misunderstood what God told them.
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