[News] The True Meaning of Easter
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Apr 2 12:24:30 EDT 2010
http://www.counterpunch.org/alberts04022010.html
April 2 - 4, 2010
The True Meaning of Easter
Resurrection is for the Living
By Rev. WILLIAM E. ALBERTS
At Easter, throughout America, throngs of
Christians will fill their churches
enthusiastically singing hymns of “the
resurrection of the dead,” while their
government’s “Christian soldiers” are “marching
as to war,” killing, maiming, and uprooting
throngs of faceless Muslim men, women and
children and other non-Christians in their name.
Christians of various denominations will lift up
their voices and shout, “Alleluia! . . . The
strife is o’er, the battle done; the victory of
life is won.” (Words: Anonymous; Music: Giovanni
P. De Palestrina, The United Methodist Hymnal,
1989) In the face of the continuing “strife” in
Iraq, where well over one million civilians have
been killed and some four million more uprooted,
as a result of the Easter worshippers’
government’s falsely based illegal invasion and
occupation of Iraq in their name. (See “Civilian
deaths may top 1 million, poll data indicate,”
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 14, 2007) And in
Pakistan, the number of civilians made internal
refugees just by the recent US-pressured
Pakistani military’s “battle” against Taliban
havens is estimated to be between 2 and 3
million, creating terrible humanitarian “strife.”
(See “Pakistan’s Refugee Disaster,” by Stewart J.
Lawrence, Counterpunch, Dec. 18-20, 2009).
Followers of a “risen Christ” will crowd into
sanctuaries across America and sing a favorite resurrection song”:
Love’s redeeming work is done,
Fought the fight, the battle won,
Death in vain forbids him rise,
Christ has opened Paradise.
(“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” Words: Charles
Wesley; Music: Lyra Davidica, The United Methodist Hymnal.)
And far away their government’s military’s
pilotless drones and Special Forces helicopters
continue putting to death civilians of all ages
in Afghanistan and Pakistan in their name. But
the Easter worshippers may find comfort in the
prescribed apology of top US commander, General
Stanley A. McChrystal, who said, in response to
the latest airstrike that ended any earthly
“paradise” for 27 Afghan civilians, “We are
extremely saddened by this tragic loss of
innocent lives.” His next words also were
intended to salve the consciences of the Easter
masses more than to reassure the Afghan people:
“I have made it clear to our forces that we are
here to protect the Afghan people [italics
added].” For good measure, he added, “I pledge
to strengthen our efforts to regain your trust to
build a brighter future for all Afghans.” (The New York Times, Feb. 23, 2010.)
“We are here to protect the Afghan people.” It
is as if the US military were invited rather than
having mercilessly bombed and then invaded
Afghanistan. The arrogance of American
imperialistic exceptionalism. That redefines
invading as invited, killing as “protecting,”
destroying as “building” and controlling as
“trusting.” Such exceptionalistic words are
music to the ears of like-minded
exceptionalistic-believing Christians, especially
at Easter-time when their “risen Christ” is proof
of Christianity’s own uniqueness and superiority.
General McChrystal’s public relations assault on
reality makes disappear the violent termination
of “a brighter future” for the Muslims who get in
the way of or resist the “goodness” of America’s
imperialistic foreign policy. A foreign policy
whose assumed aim is not “to build a brighter
future for all Afghans,” but to brighten profits
for America’s military-industrial complex. The
other assumed aim is controlling Afghanistan
because of the strategic access it provides for
the huge oil and natural gas resources in the
Caspian Sea area. (See, “The US War in
Afghanistan: Another Oil War?,” by David Michael
Smith,
<http://www.impactpress.com/>www.impactpress.com,
June-July, 2002) Like Iraq with its enormous oil
reserves, America’s mission in Afghanistan is
fuel and profits for the political-controlling
corporate elite not “the bright future” of
freedom and peace for the Afghan people. Facts
most Christians do not want to be disturbed by,
especially on their holiest of Sundays when they
are worshipping “the resurrection of the dead.”
For most Christians, Easter is about a sunrise
that brightens an empty tomb. “Lives again our
glorious King,” they harmonize, “Where, O death,
is now they sting? . . . Once he died our souls
to save [italics added], Where’s thy victory,
boasting grave?” (Ibid) Faith in an eternally
loving god in the face of death especially is
very comforting for many people. It meets very
human needs. Easter, however, for most
Christians, is about individual salvation not
interpersonal solidarity. It is about personal
resurrection from the dead not community
restoration for the living. It is about an
“open” tomb that is restricted. It is for
believers only not justice for all. It is about
eternity not ethics, about right belief not just
behavior. It is about the resurrection of the
dead not the living. And in its exceptionalistic
extreme, it invites those narcissistic voices of
the Christian faith to drown out the “sting of
death” and the graves and grief of faceless
Muslims and other human beings and their loved
ones. They are victims of internationally
condemned American crimes against humanity
committed by the Easter worshippers’ government in their name,
Thus, at Easter, two of the world’s worst war
criminals, former president George W. Bush and
his vice president, Dick Cheney, will be warmly
greeted in their respective United Methodist
Churches, and may even join in singing,
Crown him the Lord of peace,
whose powers a scepter sways
from pole to pole, that wars may cease,
and all be prayer and praise.
`His reign shall know no end,
and round his pierced feet
fair flowers of paradise extend
their fragrance ever sweet.
(“Crown Him with Many Crowns,” Words: Matthew
Bridges; Music: George J. Elvey, The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989)
A self-portrayed man of prayer especially, former
President Bush “preyed” America into one war
after another. (See Alberts, “Faith-Based
Deceptions: On Bended Knee,”
<http://www.counterpunch.com/>www.counterpunch.com,
Oct. 22/24, 2004) Still cloaking his war crimes
in piety, he recently said that his “faith helped
in tough times as president.” (Associated Press,
USA TODAY.com, Mar. 1, 2010) His “tough times”
were when he lied about Iraq possessing weapons
of mass destruction to justify his
administration’s criminal war against
Iraq. “Tough times” that became deadly and
destructive times for millions of Iraqi mothers
and fathers and their childrenand for close to
4400 American sons and daughters killed and an
estimated over one hundred thousand
wounded. (See, www.anti.war.com/casualties)
According to former vice president Cheney, all
the deaths and destruction in Iraq were worth
it. He recently criticized the Obama
administration for “wrongly trying to take credit
for any progress in Iraq,” when they opposed the
war. “If we’d followed the policies they’d
pursued from the outset or advocated from the
outset,” Cheney commented, “Saddam Hussein would
still be in power in Baghdad today.” (The New
York Times, Feb. 15, 2010) Probably. And all
the dead and wounded Iraqi and American human
beings would still be alive and whole. And the
UN weapons inspectors would have finished their
work, which the Bush administration’s invasion of
Iraq conveniently aborted, and found that Hussein
had no weapons of mass destructionnor ties to Al
Qaeda, which Bush and Cheney repeatedly claimed
to justify their administration’s pre-emptive war against Iraq.
“Tough times.” Not for formers president Bush
and vice president Cheney. In the face of their
glaring war crimes, the United Methodist Church,
with some resistance, has created the George W.
Bush Presidential Center, with its library and
museum, at Southern Methodist University in
Dallas. And Bush’s “tough times” as president
earned him a book deal worth $7 million from
Random House’s Crown Publishing Group. (“Bush
Book Deal Worth $7 million,” The Daily Beast,
Mar. 19, 2009). Bush’s criminal co-conspirator
Cheney has also signed a book contract, with
Simon and Schuster, reportedly for over $2
million. (“Cheney inks book deal - $2 million
plus,” by Michael Calderon, Politico, June 24,
2009) And surely not “tough times” but lucrative
times for Halliburton, where Cheney was CEO
before becoming vice president. Halliburton is
the largest corporate contractor in Iraq, and by
2005 reportedly received over $9 billion in
no-bid contracts for providing various support
services to the US troops, the total “mounting at
about $6 billion a year, according to Army
documents and officials.” (“Halliburton: $9.6
Billion in Iraq So Far,” by Pamela Hess, United
Press International, Feb. 25, 2005) The fact
that Bush and Cheney remain free and receive
exceptional treatment is a commentary on the
moral numbness of so many Easter worshippers.
The ethnocentric and exceptionalistic “love of
God and country” undermining America’s morality
and security is also seen in the recent Academy
Award presentation for “Best Picture” to The Hurt
Locker. This acclaimed Hollywood film provides
another measure of America’s immoral
temperature. Its portrayal of the bravery of
American servicemen who locate and diffuse bombs
in Iraq conveniently overshadows the US
military’s illegal massive “shock and awe”
bombing of Iraq, which indiscriminately killed
and wounded tens of thousands of civilians and
greatly impacted the country’s life-sustaining
infrastructure. The Hurt Locker is assumed to be
an extension of the status quo’s guardian
mainstream media’s role of covering up rather
than uncovering the lies upon which grave
injustices are perpetuated by the US government abroad and at home.
At Easter, multitudes of Christians will pack
churches and celebrate “the resurrection of the
dead.” Tragically, the hearts of many are
deadened to the victims of their government’s
oppressive policies in their name. They have
been manipulated by and bought into political and
corporate and religious fear- and
war-mongering. Rather than believing in animal
sacrifice to ward off evil spirits, Christians
believe in human sacrifice, i.e., the sacrificing
of other people and their childrenand even their
own childrento ward off the evil spirits of
those their government and its guardian media and
corporate profiteers and accommodating religious
leaders designate as “terrorists.” Sadly, they
are victims of their own ethnocentric and
exceptionalistic Christian beliefs. Beliefs that
prevent them from seeing other persons as
individuals who love and strive and laugh and cry
as they do. Their designated enemies are not
“terrorists” but human beings whose numbers will
grow and whose grief and anger and desire for
revenge against America will surely intensify.
America’s strength is not found in military force
but in the universally understood Golden
Rule. It is in treating others as we want to be
treated that we discover a shared way to eternal
life. It is about the resurrection of the
living. The Biblical story of The Good Samaritan points the way.
A lawyer asked Jesus, “ ‘Teacher, what must I do
to inherit eternal life?’” When Jesus asked him,
“What is written in the law,” he correctly
replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart . . . and your neighbor as
yourself.” Then the lawyer, “wanting to justify
himself,” asked the question which leads to the
resurrection of the living: “And who is my
neighbor?” The real neighbor, Jesus said, was
not a priest nor a Levite who “passed by on the
other side” of a beaten and robbed traveler, but
a Samaritan who dared to “come near him . . . was
moved by pity . . . bandaged his wounds” and
continued to provide care for him. (Luke 10: 25-37)
Easter is about waking up to reality and saying
no to the injustices our government is committing
in our name. It is about saying yes to and
redressing America’s victimsin Afghanistan and
Pakistan and Iraq and the Palestinian territories
and Haiti and elsewhere. Easter is about drawing
near to and empathizing with and binding up the
wounds of the fallen and honoring their human rights.
Easter is about the resurrection of the living.
Rev. William E. Alberts, Ph.D. is a hospital
chaplain and a diplomate in the College of
Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy. Both a
Unitarian Universalist and a United Methodist
minister, he has written research reports, essays
and articles on racism, war, politics and
religion. He can be reached at
<mailto:william.alberts at bmc.org>william.alberts at bmc.org.
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