Faithful Philly Forum

There was a congruence of stories I noticed in the news this week, across a wide gulf of cutlure, affluence and faiths. While the monks of Burma are being controlled by force of the gun and being kept in bounds, a church in Pasadena is being hemmed in by the IRS. All Saints Episcopal Church, a large, affluent, socially active congregation was investigated for electioneering from the pulpit in the 2004 election–with the threat to cut off tax exempt status. This month, the IRS simply closed the case, thus leaving it unresolved–will they be investigated again? I think we should all think of ways to call our tax exempt status into question. How will I transcent the putative controls the government and culture seems to have on my willingness to speak out? What would it take for me to launch into the streets with my bowl in the air?

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The photo showed 20,000 orange-clad and bald Buddhist monks of varous ages sitting in prayer in protest of the policies of the ruling junta in Myanmar in Monday’s Metro PHiladelphia (Sept 24, 2007). (This is the same group who seized power and overturned the democratically elected Suu Kyi and kept her in detention and under house arrest for 11 of the last 18 years.) Now today the news is that  despite resistance from the military, they are still protesting, with chants and upturned bowls (which is an insult) as their weapons of choice. Asa result of course, the public now feels free to also join in and protest the repressive regime and its economic policies that have terrorized and famished the country. Has anyone noticed the spiritual power that these religious people are tapped into? Or, the quandary this action creates for the ruling junta?

These protests began nearly a month ago and now the whole world is watching. Let us pray for our Buddhist brothers and sisters and perhaps pray for ourselves that it will be a lesson the peacemakers in the US will learn. Spiritual power trumps military might.

It appears the homeless in New York City are not taking the bureaucrats’
answer of “no.” Refusing to go “home” that the city insists they have even though it is to live with people or in places that are unsafe or unwelcome or not acceptable, they are simply camping out at the office building after hours, going to the city shelters, and then returning to make new applications. Some have done this for months.

It seems these citizens won’t be bossed around to their own detriment! I like that because I think it bodes well for democracy. It is indeed time to stand up to the bureaucracies that are making decisions for us to our own detriment. The planned war on Iran comes to mind.