Archive for the ‘empire’ Category

“What do you think about Obama’s Afghanistan plan?” That was the question posed by RELEVANT magazine. “Tonight, President Obama is giving a speech detailing his new Afghanistan strategy, which includes a surge of 30,000 troops. What do you think of his plan?”

Response of Travis Keller:

“Peace is love. Violence is not. Militarization brings death… either physically or by fear. What if Afghanistan sent 30,000 troops to the U.S.?”

To contextualize my comment I will disclose that I am neither anti- or pro-Obama. I did vote for him. I would also qualify RELEVANT’s question by noting that the plan is not “his” plan but rather a plan that was developed by a team of people which includes military strategists and advisors. Additionally, I have a brother-in-law who is in the United States Air Force. My wife and I love him. He has been to Afghanistan and currently is stationed in the U.S. where he controls mechanisms on the Predator Drone planes that fly in Afghanistan.

What is your response to my response (or the original question)?

In honor of our most recent Election Day in the U.S. I decided to republish this post from the archives:

I am somewhat frequently interviewed by students here at MVNU for Research Writing projects, Public Speaking presentations, or Christian Life and Ministry papers. Tonight I was interviewed by Daniel Coutz. It was one of the more thoughtful interviews that I have experienced and I appreciated the approach. The conversation went something like this:

Daniel: “Respond to this statement: The United States is a Christian Nation.”

Travis: “No earthly empire is distinctively in keeping with the way of Jesus. Those who claim the United States to be a Christian nation need to enroll in a post-reformation church history course that discusses the period of American colonization. Also helpful would be a study in theology and philosophy to explore the definitions of theism, deism, and idolatry.

Daniel: “Do you feel the American flag should be displayed in churches? Why or why not?”

Travis: “No. The church is laced with a history of symbol and icon for visual engagement in worship and when one considers what the American flag represents I would have to question what one is worshiping. I would have no problem with displaying a flag in a church if it was displayed beside every other flag of every other nation so long as the symbol is understood to represent equality and unity.

Daniel: “Respond to this statement: The loyalty of a person belongs first to his country.”

Travis: “Why would one view an earthly empire as something to which giving loyalty is necessary or a priority? My suggestion is that most would give said loyalty due to an enculturation that promotes a sense of loyalty as nessecary. I would also suggest it has something to do with the supposed ‘safety’ provided by the military branch of a certain country’s government. Fear would be that which fuels loyalty to an earthly empire.”

Daniel: “Respond to this statement. Christians living in the United States should be patriotic about the United States.”

Travis: “One’s definition of patriotism would be primary. I find it problematic for a follower of Jesus to pledge his allegiance to an earthly nation. So in the sense that the recitation of the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ is patriotic, then patriotism may be considered contrary to ‘worshipping no other gods.’”

In a communicative speech given only minutes ago this first day of June, two-thousand nine anno domini, the United States empire’s president Barack Obama stated the government’s defense for the bankruptcy filing by the automobile manufacturer, General Motors. Evident by the majority shares purchase, Obama, his automotive task force, and the Department of the Treasury support the bankruptcy and the suppossed coming rise of a "new, leaner and stronger GM." Obama remarked toward the end of his address that the ultimate end is for American business to compete globally.

So…

If U.S. businesses are intended to "compete globally" then is the U.S. government ultimately seeking to send people who function within the economic system of another nation into the same type of jobless recession that the U.S. is currently experiencing? Is the drive to compete in business fueled by the longing for self-absorbtion, self-fulfillment, and self-gratification while promoting oppression of others? There are those who think that the people of the U.S. "deserve to be on top." Does such a philosophy reveal an ever-present racism?

What ever happened to loyalty? To friendship? To mutual respect and sharing? Why do our lives center around having more and being the best? What ever happened to Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream? Did that only apply to Americans?

And while I’m at it, why are we so dependent on automobiles?

Competition is violent. Just ask the gladiators in the Colosseum. Ask the guards on the offensive line. Ask the economically oppressed nations.

“Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.”
Henri Nouwen

When I opened up christianitytoday.com to read today’s interview formatted article with Rob Bell talking about his most recent book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians , I laughed out loud. Sitting right in the midst of the text was an dynamic (technical term, not descriptive of the ad content) ad "From the Creators of Facing the Giants: Fireproof on DVD, Never Leave Your Partner Behind." "Christian"^ marketing kills me. Of course and unfortunately, the marketers for "Facing the Giants" had to play off the "Left Behind"^^ language. The Christian life is about so much more than getting "left behind." As Bell eloquently presents in his book, salvation is not confined to the afterlife or to individual reconciliation with God. There is salvation in this life from systems of tyranny and injustice. Here is a bit from the article in CT that I particularly liked:

Question to Bell :
Are you a pacifist, or do you think that a truly Christian church has to be a pacifist church?

Rob’s Response :
My dad is a U.S. Federal District Judge and gets lots of death threats. On Father’s Day a couple of years ago, there were bodyguards in the driveway at our house. And I am okay with that.

But I sit right in that tension. Sometimes people say no police, no armed forces, no anything. And the truth is, whether I am falling short of Jesus’ teaching or not, there are situations where I am really glad that there is a policeman standing right there and that he has a gun. So I don’t know how exactly you work that out in detail.

But my hope would be that as a Christian, you would have a larger imagination. Take Saddam Hussein. Your first impulse would be, "Man, if he wasn’t in power, it would be great—and the only way is to bring in a hundred thousand troops." To me, the third way of Jesus is always asking if there is an imaginative, subversive, brilliant, creative path.

^ Christian is used in quotation marks to designate "Christian" in its use as a quasi-psuedo-popular subculture rather than a term that describes a person reflecting the image of Jesus.

^^ I do not recommend the "Left Behind" series – just so we’re clear about that.

Click the following title to read the article by Shane Claiborne, "Why I Got Arrested on Good Friday. "

When I hung out a little with and observed Shane this summer at the Envision Conference at Princeton I found out that he likes to have fun. I remember distinctly when all sorts of intellectual-ish and rather serious-personalitied ecclesial leaders were lounging around a campus green space eating lunch together. I was sitting with a graduate assistant from Yale listening to him share about his Iranian reconciliation ministry and process a session on religious pluralism with Samir Selmanovic . I looked over his shoulder and there stood Shane dancing around with bowling pins and juggling with a friend. It was beautiful! I envision him laughing all the way to the police station all-the-while remaining internally crushed and authentically in touch with the suffering of Jesus.

My friend Matt Frye commented on my last post about parenting. I was simply going to reply in the comments but his thought were too funny and legit to leave there. Here is his comment followed by my response:

"dude, remember that scene in ‘the little memaid’ where flounder and that seagull and ariel (spelling?) are naming things. like they named that fork something strange. and then she started combing her hair like it was spaghetti. man, that was funny. i don’t know why ‘the littler mermaid’ came to mind, but it did. maybe because of that scene and because of flounder the fish. and because the dad in the movie is awesome. remember that beard? and his deep voice. and his trident. and also, i feel that one does not have to be a parent, or a good parent to offer good words about parenting. like i’ve never been deep sea diving before, but if i read a few books about it i am sure that i could offer some good words. especially if the book was written by sebastion the lobster. or was he a crab? and why did he have a sweet caribean accent and everyone else spoke plain english. ok i’m done. see you daddy."

MY RESPONSE :

I know why "The Little Mermaid" came to mind. It is Kyla’s favorite movie and Ariel is her favorite character. Well… I’m not sure… she also really likes "Annie" and "Monsters, Inc." I like her favorite movies because Ariel has a substantial identity crisis and subverts the imperial reign of her father the king (though I don’t hope that I’ll need to be subverted; nor do I plan on bearing a trident or running for political office). I really hope that Kyla realizes that her identity is "in Christ" rather than being defined by voices that represent the popular appeal to human goodness or self-hatred. The fork is called a "dinglehopper" and, yes, Kyla always tries to comb her hair with her fork (which she is now beginning to use quite well unless she is stabbing peas). Sebastian is a crab not a lobster. All crabs have Caribbean accents. Or… do they? Maybe crabs speak "normally" and we’re all just too arrogant to realize that we (whoever "we" is) are the ones with the accents.

On to other movies… Annie. Annie is an orphan and Kyla loves her. Enough said. Monsters, Inc. employees Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan are just plain funny and Kyla looks and acts like "Boo." The children in the movie are like the "untouchables" of 1c. Israel (except that children get scared by monsters in their closets and I don’t think that ever really happened). "Sully" ends up being the figure that redeems the monsters’ relationship with the children. Rather than scaring the "dangerous" children, Sully leads the energy-creating-and-capturing-monster-world-industry to not fear the children. Interestingly, those named "monsters" are the ones who must learn to not fear the "unclean" and "untouchable."

Sarah and I were talking about all the hype surrounding the inauguration event for the 44th president of the United States. It is, indeed, fascinating to observe the opinions and thoughts of a people who all-too-typically refuse to recognize the limited power of a supposed leader of a national empire governed by hopes and aspirations to prove its greatness over-and-above all other empires. Though Barack Obama’s position is historic and formative with globally astounding implications, a new man in office is just that: a new man in office.

The monetary salary for the presidential office is approximately 400,000 U.S. dollars (I’m not quite sure what that is in Pounds or Japanese Yen). Sarah was amazed that the elected "leader" of a nation is paid a mere $400,000 compared to the multi-millions "earned" by athletic competitors in the same nation.^ Though the inauguration events fascinate and entertain me, I am more astounded when I consider that citizens complain about taxes that provide public services and government salaries yet "happily" spend great amounts of money on their favorite team jerseys or tickets to "the big game" which supply the salaries of professional athletes.

If one worships an empire, are gladiator-type events entertaining enough to ease one’s consciousness when the empire cannot sufficiently live up to its imposed messianic expectations?

^ Quotations indicate a term frequently used that may or may not be an adequate and/or correct descriptor.

The 2008 election is just over a month passed. Barack Obama has yet to be inaugurated (coming to an unfair and unbalanced new station piping through an overpriced plasma/LCD screen near you on January 20, 2009). During October and the first couple days of November many people had changed their Facebook profile pictures to images of campaign propaganda or the smiling face of one’s preferred presidential candidate. Conversation about political issues was a seeming constant. Debate. Argument. Bantering. Battering.

Does anyone even care anymore? I have been trying to keep on the president elect’s office appointments. There is a life altering "economic crisis" going on. Yet I don’t hear all the conversation and political engagment. Is our reality determined by the media attention given to any certain issue at any certain time? Does anyone even care anymore? Where have all the politicians gone?

With many new posts in mind I found myself unable to log in to my blog. It was devastating. OK… not devastating but awful. OK… not awful but… well, yeah. I had changed the code in my sidebar and I was in turn prevented from logging in. I found a way around it and am now back into my console/dashboard.

Thanks to all those who continued to comment even though I could not moderate and approve your posts. So… here come some more posts with thoughts on consumerism and the economy from the perspective of a supposed follower of Jesus who is theologically inclusive, economically anti-empire, and relationally centered yet awkward. What does that even mean? Let me know if you know… if we are able to know anything at all.

Suppossed citizens of the United States cast their ballots to elect new "leaders" for an earthly empire. I would argue that we are global citizens and neighborhood communities (or pseudo-communities) rather than national citizens (that is another post for another time such as soon). I did end up "voting" (whether or not a vote matters is yet again another post for another time). I was one of the voters in Knox County , Ohio that selected Barack Obama on my computerized touch screen. John McCain won Knox Co. 59%-39% (16,207 to 10,702) yet the state of Ohio favored Barack Obama 51%-47% (2,683,043-2,483,805). The Obama campaign used language such "The New Hope" and "Change We Need." My questions I must consider are these: "Is Barack Obama ‘The New Hope?’" "Is Barack Obama the ‘Change We Need?’" What is hope? From where does hope come? What is change?