Who’s kidding whom? Looking for a positive Christian message, appropriate to the season, my mind turned to the date, December 7, and I could not help but recall “The Day That Will Live In Infamy,” when, in 1941, The Empire Of Japan sought to relieve economic problems at home by murdering peaceful Americans in Hawaii where, I believe, my uncle, Sgt Paul McDaniel, USMC, was stationed at the time.

        Then, I heard a December 6, 2005 interview with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, on ABC’s “Good Morning America” show. In thinly veiled diplomatic language, she confirmed The United States’ policy of “Rendition,” the existence of illegal American prisoner of war camps in Poland and Romania (prompting, we hear, the immediate evacuation of those prisoners to North Africa) and the inhumane treatment of Arab prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba without allowing them access to any meaningful way of defending themselves or of requiring the US Government to prove their charges. Rather, the Bush Administration says, “Trust us, we know they are illegal combatants, but we can’t tell you what we know because it would compromise American interests.” I am therefore confronted by the fact that my government, using the language of tyrants, is practicing the same kind of tyranny against Iraqis and, by the way, against the American people, that the English used against my ancestors in Scotland and Ireland, some 400 years ago. Bush, Cheney and their corporate cronies are using American troops to dominate the 3rd largest oil reserves in the world, just as Japan used the same tactics to establish "The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," by which Japanese industrialists created markets for themselves at the expense of millions of lives, and for the same motive, Greed! The defeated Iraqis, with few weapons but their pride remaining and egged on by fanatics in their ranks, have adopted the same kamikaze tactics employed by the desperate Japanese 60 years ago.  At the same time, the British government, for comparably petty reasons, holds on to their last symbol of empire in Ulster, while they are now reduced to manipulating US power in order to project their policies elsewhere.

        And so, where is the message I seek? It is personified by a poor carpenter and his family from Galilee, persecuted by Roman tyrants 2000 years ago, just as the poor and helpless are persecuted by the powerful today, giving birth in a Bethlehem manger to Jesus, The Christ, who brought hope and salvation to the world, and the message that any evil can be overcome through the infinite love and power of God Almighty.

        Go therefore in Peace, all of you, of whatever Faith or clan, into your churches, synagogues, pagodas, temples or mosques and pray to God as you see him, with good will for all and enmity to none, for peace, justice and equity for all people, throughout the world. And when you come out again from your worship, stand up for the right and oppose evil, without fear or hesitation, with whatever tools God gives you to use, making sure they are God’s tools, and not the Devil’s.

        And may the love of God and the fellowship of The Holy Spirit, be and abide with each one of you, now and in the Life to come. Amen!

Winterfest, Gatlinburg, Tennessee