This is interesting. Typically I bypass my Internet provider's home page news, as it more often than not some kind of Ashlee Simpson related story.
However, I found this fascinating
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - A coalition of American churches sharply denounced the U.S.-led war in Iraq on Saturday, accusing Washington of "raining down terror" and apologizing to other nations for "the violence, degradation and poverty our nation has sown."
The statement, issued at the largest gathering of Christian churches in nearly a decade, also warned the United States was pushing the world toward environmental catastrophe with a "culture of consumption" and its refusal to back international accords seeking to battle global warming.
More on the flip.
I myself am not a religious person. I believe that people have a right to express themselves in a religious way, as long as it doesn't infringe on my rights or the rights of others.
As a gay man, I look typically towards "churches" in this country with a wary eye. Fiery rhetoric about limiting my civil liberties is something I must endure with increasingly alarming regularity.
Then I came across this story. I couldn't believe what I was reading. In fact so much so, I read the whole darned thing.
"We lament with special anguish the war in Iraq, launched in deception and violating global norms of justice and human rights," said the statement from representatives of the 34 U.S. members of World Council of Churches. "We mourn all who have died or been injured in this war. We acknowledge with shame abuses carried out in our name."
The World Council of Churches includes more than 350 mainstream Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches; the Roman Catholic Church is not a member. The U.S. groups in the WCC include the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, several Orthodox churches and Baptist denominations, among others.
The statement is part of widening religious pressure on the Bush administration, which still counts on the support of evangelical churches and other conservative denominations but is widely unpopular with liberal-minded Protestant congregations.
This is what I thought religion was supposed to be about. Togetherness. Kindness. Understanding. Love.
No wonder Mr. Rogers (may God rest his soul) was an ordained Presbyterian minister. He lived the values that, in my opinion, a truly religous person should embody. He saw the good in everyone he met, and was prepared to treat them as a neighbor, regardless of their race, background or any other such nosensical divisions.
I am proud of this coalition of American Churches. It's about time, boys and girls. It's about bloody time.
Makes one wonder why they chose Brazil to make this announcement, though. Hmm...