Challenging Cultures of Death: Call for Papers

by Institute for Feminism and Religion - IFR Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:45

Below is an article in today's Irish Times by the co-ordinator of the conference, Dr. Mary Condren. It is in the Rite and Reason column.

As some plot Armageddon, what gods do we worship?

Author: Mary Condren Th.D

On the very same day that the U.S. Government announced it was to supply 20 billion dollars worth of advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia , and 30 billion to Israel, a friend sent a small Internet video.

Taken by Max Blumenthal (Jewish), the video reported on a July Washington conference organised by Christians United for Israel. Delegates comprised several former and current US senators: Joseph Lieberman, Tom DeLay, and Rich Santorum. Presidential candidate, John McCain, paid a surprise visit.

Delegates were asked about the Second Coming. DeLay announced that he was looking forward to it: others pitied those who would be left behind in the Rapture. Since the Second Coming was presumably going to happen in Israel, it was imperative that good relations with Israel be maintained. For these reasons, CUFI lobby Congress to oppose a two state solution between Israel and Palestine and encourage a pre-emptive strike on Iran.

Calmly envisaging the destruction of a country with 70 million people, they argued that if we don't take out Iran, or if we move out of Iraq, Muslims (who have Satan behind them) will take over and follow us here.

They looked forward to Armageddon. Some had their bags packed: others wore tee shirts comparing lesbians, gays, and bisexuals to animals, and waited for the earth to be cleansed.

A problem arose. The Anti-Christ. What would such a person look like? Some delegates announced gravely that the Anti-Christ would be a Peacemaker: one who had promoted peace for many years and who would force Israel into a peace treaty with the Arabs.

Delay Armageddon and you delay the Rapture, forcing conference delegates back to the harsh realities of the daily grind from which their omnipotent fantasies had protected them.

Had a mere human being expressed such fantasies, any junior psychiatrist would have instigated appropriate medical procedures. Any police officer would have prosecuted such hate speech on the spot. Expressed under the auspices of religion, however, such views receive immunity.

We are not dealing with religious beliefs, but omnipotent fantasies of Empire backed by the most devastating weapons known to humankind. When paranoid delusions are backed up with 50 billion dollars of weapons we need to question freedom of speech, and ask the questions: whose speech, whose trade, whose victims?

Studies are now emerging about the lethal role such fantasies played in the run up to the Iraqi invasion. The presence of distinguished current and former members of the US legislature at that conference speaks volumes about the ongoing ability of such fantasies to inform decision making at the highest levels.

What does this have to do with Ireland? Robert Fisk's magnificent work, The Great War for Civilization, outlines the despair of Iraqi doctors in the face of their attempts to treat cancer patients, victims of the uranium tipped weapons showered on their homes, and the half a million children who died through sanctions against Iraq. He patiently traces back the origins of some of the weapons used to decimate villages, shatter families, cripple or blind little children, back to their manufacturers: the manicured lawns of the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland (and now Ireland) concealed behind their manicured receptionists' desks.

In the face of Fisk's incontrovertible evidence of the carnage wreaked on innocent children, manufacturers argued: No, we do not make weapons here. Only computer parts. We are not responsible for their uses. Well quite. They leave that to the propaganda generating machinery of religious and political fundamentalisms, passively supported by other's silences, and legally supported by dubious notions of free speech.

In contrast, the current Irish Government's Three Monkeys (freedom not to hear, see, or speak of evil) approach to the ethics of weapon's parts manufacturing in Ireland, and the use of Shannon Airport facilitates a build up to what is potentially one of the greatest threats to the future of humankind.

Religious fundamentalisms, political fundamentalisms - each achieve their identities sacrificially, that is to say, at someone else's expense.

In the past, influenced by missionary envoys, Ireland often led the world on international policy. Today, the challenge is much greater; the stakes much higher; the consequences, immeasurable.

Asked about the deaths of at least 500,000 Iraqi children through UN sanctions, Madeleine Albright commented that it was worth it. Her comment still evokes a sense of horror.

But in Ireland, we must ask questions of our own fundamentalisms. What gods do we now worship? What fantasies sustain our well being? At whose expense do we remain silent?

What price might we be willing to pay in the cause of pre-emptive peace? And lastly: is our present policy worth it?

8min video
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/07...l.php

Mary Condren Th.D. is co-ordinator of the forthcoming conference: Challenging Cultures of Death: Mercy Not Sacrifice. http://www.instituteforfeminismandreligion.org

by Feudal castrato Wed Aug 15, 2007 03:30

link no longer works. would like to see this video.
Any chance someone could post a working link? Thanks!

by Feudal castrato Wed Aug 15, 2007 08:37

http://84.media.vimeo.com/d1/5/39/31/vimeo.251385.3a120...f.flv

the original link is working again but for those who want a local copy of the video, this link might be more convenient