Calgary Church – Join a movement….

This week was particularly interesting because Calgary Church is at the beginning of launching a number of separate social justice initiatives. By launch I mean we're exploring ways to engage with local and international social injustices through creating new initiatives or joining existing ones. On Tuesday we were able to catch the every-other month film from the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival. The films were OK, but it was the conversation with 9 other film goers after that made the night memorable. The following day during a Calgary Church gathering we connected with another group who are equally vibrant for social action; partnerships and action are on the way.

As part of our many resources we wanted to make available a Calgary social justice web page that highlights the various organizations in this city dealing with issues relevant at home. We did this because sometimes it's tough to identify needs close to home and to find the organizations involved in setting 'wrongs right'.

These meet ups and dialogues accented three significant social injustices that stuck with me this week from the news of the world. I want to share them with you and point out my thoughts on each. Perhaps it will get your heart turning to enact a response....

The first issue comes from the other side of the globe in the Middle East where Israel is flexing their muscles again in a race to consume land that isn't, (but is?), theirs. There are many areas in Jerusalem that remain technically within Palestinian borders, but have never been in Palestinian hands. Now the right to claim the land means both Israel and Palestine are racing to physically build in each location to make removal harder / claim solidifed.

When I was in Israel I stayed right next to 'settlement sprawl' conveniently located almost next to the separation barrier between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

The move comes amidst an attempt to re-start peace talks in perhaps the most volatile region in the world. The surprise to the whole charade was the American response which rebuked Israel. Now I don't know if the American government is merely putting up a facade, but it does point out that the once iron-clad pro-Israeli perspective in the US is changing.

Despite both sides perpetrating human injustices against each other (Palestine & Israel), it is pro-Christian American views that have fueled the Israeli war machine. Somehow the evangelical right-wing in the US has equated the unified and developing state of Israel as a fundamental component of their eschatology. To maintain Israel's safety is to usher in the advent of the second coming of Christ (I made an obvious leap to conclusion here).

The kicker to this whole perspective is that the only Christians in the area, our own brothers and sisters, are indigenous Palestinian Arabs! A complex issue just got more complex. What should we take away from this? Perhaps that 'Christians' have over simplified an issue they know little about yet were contributing to immense human injustices against their own.

Brian McLaren recently returned from the area and has some interesting perspectives on the issue.

The second issue I noted that hit me hard happened when I was waiting in line for lunch. I picked up an issue of the Economist and was staggered by the cover story: Gendercide. The synopsis read: Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising

Wow. Pick up the issue or read it online to find out more about how females in Asia have been systematically destroyed because they are considered sub-human. Not that I want to wade deep into a discussion about abortion, but I am curious how pro-choice proponents explain gendercide? There's a certain grotesque irony when developed nations adamantly fight for women's right to chose but that same choice elsewhere has literally annihilated generations of females.

How can you respond to 100 MILLION (assuming the number is accurate, but what's the difference between 1, 1000, 1 million, or 100 MILLION?) lost humans?

The final element that I noted in the news pertaining to social justice was the story close to home about a baby who finally died in hospital. His name was Isaiah and his parents had to fight doctors to keep him on machines to keep him alive. I'm not going to wade too far into what was right or wrong in this case, (although given a choice between life or death I would opt to be wrong and chose life over the chance of being wrong or right and choosing death), but I will say that some of the anonymous internet comments about the news pointed out a dismantling of what it means to be human.

Too many people mused aloud as to why, "1000's of dollars were spent keeping this one child alive when hundreds could be fed for a day...." Hungry kids are a travesty, but killing babies to feed hungry kids isn't a decision we should have to contemplate. Economists, actuaries, army generals, perhaps they all weigh greater good questions when faced with balancing lives (better to kill 1 then 100, or one death of x person is worth z amount), but that type of thinking leads to dehumanization at best and genocide at worst.

Humanity should value what is human--life, beauty, culture, relationship, love, spirituality, etc. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a world where we momentarily forget who we are. It's in those times that regular people must rise to the occasion and re-align what's wrong back in line to what's right.

There's still hope for what's right, plenty of hope.