Religious communities need to counsel Americans that we have sold our birthright of freedom and justice for a blather of national security, which says, "I can only preserve the security of my country by threatening the security of yours." This must transform itself into something more in line with the religious version that proclaims, "Our common security insists that no one is safe unless we are all safe." Our faith and spirituality cannot be passive, it has to go forth, in order to assault the conscience and excite the imagination. Our faith and spirit should not be used merely for support, like a lamppost for a drunk, but for our illumination.
No tyranny, no narcissistic madman, no aggressive government can take from the hearts of man the desire of our spirits for the living waters, for it is born and thrives in the hearts of all humanity.
For, after all, "truth is so pure and simple; the angels have no difficulty accepting it. Only man casts his shadow upon it. For it is faithless men, who have created wretchedness and poverty and grief, and taken the roof from the widows and orphans."
Jesus and Socrates, two teachers of virtue and love, were executed because of the unsettling power of their spirits and souls; that was revealed in their personal lives. For, in the end, our spiritual, political and humanitarian challenge is to develop commentaries on the amazingness of how love can overcome the differences in all species of mankind.
St. Theresa said it all: It is not great deeds that will ensure our salvation, it is great love. Love, love, love.
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