The very commonness of everyday things harbors the eternal marvel and silent mystery of God.
– Karl Rahner, Karl Rahner in Dialogue: Conversations and Interviews, 1965–1982
The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.
– C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
February 14, 2012
by Hannah
When did loving Israel become a crime? When did Judaism become something to apologize for?
Dr. Mark Braverman recently gave a speech at the UIUC Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. In it, as Julie Levitt described in a February 12th Letter-to-the-Editor in the Daily Illini, Dr. Braverman equated Zionism with racism and accused Jews of secretly controlling the United States.
Dr. Braverman’s allegations are as false as they are insidious. For millennia, anti-Semites have tried to displace Jews from land that is lawfully theirs. And for millennia, anti-Semites have accused Jews of disproportionate power and influence in a nation to try and stir up hate against them. But here at a modern university shouldn’t we be learning how to expose such tactics, instead of learning how to celebrate them?
The U.S. is a land of individuals, and spitefully claiming that all influential members of a religious minority are banding together for a sinister common cause assumes a level of group-think not seen outside of totalitarianism. Additionally, Israel is home to people of many different races and histories, hailing from Ethiopia, Europe, the U.S., Iraq, etc., making it anything but “racist.”
If Zionism is racist, why did Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. support Israel, saying: “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.”
Students cannot use such facts to repudiate anti-Semitism if they are only supplied with a steady stream of propaganda.
The people who attended this talk may have silently acquiesced to Dr. Braverman’s destructive statements, but I refuse to do so. There is too much at stake. Dr. Braverman’s ideas extend not only to the Arab-Israeli conflict happening a continent away; they extend to every Jewish person on this campus, and to everyone (Jews and non-Jews alike) who supports Israel.
He is telling Jews that that their heritage is something to be ashamed of. And he is telling everyone that affection for the Jewish state of Israel is illegitimate and destructive.
Instead of placing a megaphone in the hands of an anti-Semite, our University must invite speakers who have at least a modicum of understanding about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and who champion human dignity instead of promulgating destructive stereotypes.
January 10, 2012
by Hannah
At a Bible study I was at recently, a preacher shared these questions to ask yourself before saying anything:
Is it true?
Is it necessary?
Is it beneficial?
Do I have permission?
What is my motive?
Originally published on August 10, 2012 at 21:21
February 21, 2010
by Hannah
My Invite to the Film Maafa 21
(6:08PM Friday, February 19, 2010)
Hi!
You’re invited to a film showing and discussion held in honor of Black History Month. The film is Maafa 21, and it features many different speakers, including Alveda King, Martin Luther King’s niece. It addresses the leading cause of death among African-Americans, which is not heart disease, stroke, or cancer — it’s abortion [refs 1, 2].
Maafa 21 shows how Planned Parenthood has been killing Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. (As Alveda says, this is the civil rights issue of our day). It documents the racist roots and current strategies of the modern abortion industry. From the beginning, Planned Parenthood has been targeting minority populations. Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood’s founder, did not see abortion as a choice for a woman dealing with a difficult decision, but as a necessity for subjugating others. The effects of Planned Parenthood’s marketing is seen today, in the neighborhoods that Planned Parenthood places its locations, and in the number of minority deaths that it is accountable for. I know that it’s time to address Planned Parenthood’s aggressive agenda against minorities, and I know that it starts with raising awareness about their history.
Feel free to invite anyone who might be interested. Here is the date, time, and place:What: Maafa 21 film showing and discussion
Where: Newman Center (St. Paul room, in the basement)
When: 6:30PM Monday, February 22
Sponsored by: Illini Collegians for LifePlease feel free to contact me with any questions.References:[1] Schuberg, Karen. “Abortion Kills More Black Americans than the Seven Leading Causes of Death Combined, Says CDC Data.” CNSNews.com. 2009. 23 Oct 2009 <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/55956 >.
Where: Newman Center (St. Paul room, in the basement)
When: 6:30PM Monday, February 22
Sponsored by: Illini Collegians for LifePlease feel free to contact me with any questions.References:[1] Schuberg, Karen. “Abortion Kills More Black Americans than the Seven Leading Causes of Death Combined, Says CDC Data.” CNSNews.com. 2009. 23 Oct 2009 <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/
[2] Gamble, Sonya, et al. “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2005.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Nov. 2008 (SS13): 1-32.. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 12 Feb. 2010 <http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
Reply from Donald
(4:41PM Saturday, February 20, 2010)
cnsnews.com is a right-wing information machine that enjoys the support of fundamentalist, evangelical Christians and Neo-conservatives.
——
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/
http://www.campusprogress.org/
Reply from Cynthia
(5:56PM Saturday, February 20, 2010)
Here we go again, with the stupid abortion debate… The M1 social list is STILL not an appropriate venue for this conversation.
Hannah:
I can only assume that your email was intended to be inflammatory.
If you’re going to criticize Margaret Sanger & Planned Parenthood, at least get your facts straight. Sanger advocated for birth control & sex education, not abortion. She repeatedly condemned abortions, calling them “a disgrace to civilization.” And as for planned parenthood… This is a fantastic organization that provides birth control, STD vaccination & testing, sex education, counseling and prenatal services to people who might not otherwise have access to such things. By “Planned Parenthood’s aggressive agenda against minorities,” do you mean showering them with condoms and birth control pills?
My reply to Cynthia
(11:18PM, February 10, 2010)
Cynthia:
Thank you very much for your reply. The film itself accurately represents Margaret Sanger’s preference for birth control, while in my email I mistakenly conflated Sanger and Planned Parenthood’s methods of subjugation. I appreciate your correcting me. Sanger and her organization have the same goal, it’s just that their preferred methods do not always coincide. Their “eugenic” goal is to build a race of “thoroughbreds” by exterminating those races deemed inferior. Sanger preferred birth control and sterilization, while abortion among other methods currently suits Planned Parenthood best.
Here’s what Sanger had to say about those in the African-American community who might object to what she called her “Negro Project”: “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” As quoted in Linda Gordon, Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right (New York: Grossman, 1974, 1976) 332-333.
In 1970, then-Planned Parenthood President (and former Vice President of the American Eugenics Society) Alan Guttmacher wrote: “If you’re going to curb population, it’s extremely important not to have it done by the [expletive] Yankees, but by the UN. Because, the thing is, then it’s not considered genocide. If the United States goes to the black man or the yellow man and says slow down your reproductive rate, we’re immediately suspected of having ulterior motives to keep the white man dominant in the world. If you can send in a colorful UN force, you’ve got much better leverage.” Article: “Dr. Guttmacher – Still Optimistic About the Population Problem.”
(Further notes on sterilization): Sanger outlined her “Plan for Peace” in the April 1932 issue of her publication The Birth Control Review. Part d of her plan was “…to apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.” (p. 107) Part f was “to give certain dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization.”