May 18, 2008

Today was not a good day for me. This afternoon, I went to a hamburger restaurant and saw that the majority of cars in the parking lot had pro-war bumper stickers proudly displayed. They included statements such as, "I Support the Troops" and "Freedom Isn’t Free." Almost all had the proclamation, "God Bless America."

Things got worse in the restaurant. At least six pre-teenage boys wore military camouflage clothing. Then, three women in their early 20s entered. They wore military camouflage shorts. Two adult males, who looked like dime-store mercenaries, displayed military camouflage t-shirts that overlapped their huge stomachs. Most of these people will watch the San Diego Padres baseball club on TV tomorrow as they play the Seattle Mariners in Seattle. At the beginning of the seventh inning, the song "God Bless America" will be played at the stadium. Most San Diegans will stop drinking their Coors beer and will stand in honor of God and country. Only for a couple of minutes though. That’s about how long they can go without swilling down their watered-down beer that they consider the world’s best.

When I got home, things deteriorated further. My Iraqi-American friend Wameeth came by and gave me an insert from a weekly events magazine. I looked at it, mimicked using it as a piece of toilet paper, and as I was about to throw it in the trash, I stopped. "What a subject for an article," I thought.

The front of the insert depicts a soldier kneeling (the picture included with this article). The back consists of the following prayer.

O Prince of peace, we humbly ask Your protection for all our men and women in military service. Give them unflinching courage to defend with honor, dignity and devotion the rights of all who are imperiled by injustice and evil. Guard our churches, our homes, our schools, our hospitals, our factories, our buildings, and all those within from harm and peril. Protect our land and its people from enemies within and without. Grant an early peace with victory founded upon justice. Instill in the hearts and minds of people everywhere a firm purpose to live forever in peace and good will towards all. Amen.

This message came from the group Legionaries of Christ. Its website is www.legionofchrist.org.

You may ask, "Isn’t this just some small insignificant group?" No, it isn’t. The Legion of Christ represents hundreds of thousands of members with dozens of universities and hundreds of schools. It operates in dozens of countries. The organization is fully endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church and considers the pope the leading person on the Earth.

Let’s look at the picture and the prayer. The person kneeling is not exactly a Boy Scout leader; he is a trained killer. The prayer is an endorsement for the "War on Terror," recently renamed "The Long War." It is laden with not very subtle brainwashing verses: " … from enemies within and without … ;" "Instill in the minds and hearts … " and " … of all who are imperiled by injustice and evil … " among others. (There’s that word "evil" again).

The pope’s recent trip to the United States was shameful. He and George Bush cried a few crocodile tears* about the Christians in Iraq who have been killed. Then, the pope went to Yankee Stadium where some of his followers made a few dollars hawking t-shirts.

If the pope had a backbone, he would have agreed with Bush about the killing of Christians in Iraq and then stated, "But, it was your actions that created the scenario in which Christians have been killed or have had to flee their country." If he had a big backbone, he would have refused to visit the U.S. until its foreign policy of death and destruction changed directions.

Many Catholics have told me, "But the pope opposed the war against Iraq." Both the previous pope and the current one uttered words of displeasure about the war, but they did not make it too strong an issue. This was proven by the recent U.S. visit by Pope Benedict. I admire the anti-war stance of the Catholic Church, but I wish it carried more clout. In the words of Condoleezza Rice, "We want to see action, not words."

* Crocodile tears is false or insincere weeping, a hypocritical display of emotions. The expression comes from an ancient anecdote that crocodiles weep in order to lure their prey, or that they cry for the victims they are eating. They are fake tears. (Source: Wikipedia)