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Boatswain’s Log September 22^nd. Gee Whiz guys.

 

New discovery, the artist Rachel Yamagata is really impressive. She’s got this really jazzy sound that reminds me of Natalie Closner and Courtney Fortune at the same time. It makes me happy. You may not know Natalie or Courtney, but really…they’ve got some pipes. Why do I bring it up? Because I found her on my music device and I am listening to her now.

 

Moving on.

 

Spanish class today was interesting. We played with the subjunctive and what do you know…it isn’t that hard when you actually get practice. No thanks go out to SPU on that one. Although, perhaps I should have done practice on my own. Yet, on the other hand you figure that this sort of practice would be facilitated for Spanish majors…

 

After class a few folks and I went to a meeting with a Theologian who teaches at Fuller Seminary and at another seminary here in San Jose. We asked him all sorts of questions about Liberation Theology and stuff. He had some good things to say, like “Theology is all based in context.” I came away from what he had to say feeling like I was really lucky to have read Oscar Romero. The theologian said that his problem with Liberation Theology was that there was no spiritual formation as a part of it, it became too social. That made me so happy to read Oscar Romero because his homilies were a mixture of calling people to relationship with the Lord and calling people to be faithful to what that calling meant. He loved Jesus and loved people. He managed a prophetic message to the world and at the end of the day they killed him for it, but I guess if I had to have a  modern day example to follow…that would be the one I would follow. Calling people to love their neighbor in action and love Jesus isn’t a bad thing. Reminds me of those apostles…

 

Theologian man (whose name I have forgotten) also had lots of great things to say about a faith in Christ being the anchor that holds us when things get rough and the particular theology we hold on to doesn’t work in the context. He also made the point that there was a growing amount of people saying they’re not religious in Costa Rica while the catholics and the evangelicals bicker.

 

The other day (Sunday) I walked to the internet café after reading all day like I said that I would. I totally got splashed by a car, just like happens in those rainy movie scenes. It was funny, but at the same time I was wet. I proceeded to update the blog and check the email and whatnot. I was mentally processing my reading the whole way. People in the books I was reading were trying to make Oscar Romero out to be this man who supported the revolutionary violence in El Salvador. That made me worried for a while, but after reading his homilies there is absolutely no way that he would be about that. He made hard statements about violence not solving anything in his homilies for 3 years. At the same time he also stated the church’s opinion that revolutionary violence in certain situations is okay in one pastor letter and specified the sorts of violence that occur in another. This is a complex issue.

 

Clearly as Archbishop of a nation the man’s words made a difference, if they didn’t I doubt that he would have been killed. Furthermore (as one author pointed out) if he made too much of sweeping claims against the violence of the revolutionaries he would be supporting the government’s “just war” ideas. So he separated out the sorts of violence that existed in order to have moral command over the ground (which he was given as Archbishop) on which everyone stood. He condemned the repressive violence and structural violence of the government most and with good reason called it the source of the rest of the violence that existed. He also spoke out against violence in general every single Sunday in homilies. Sometimes directed against the rebels and mostly directed at the government. The following is the one of the many reasons I cannot say that he was okay with the violence in any way.

 

“This is the fundamental thought of my preaching:

Nothing is so important to me as human life.

Taking life is something so serious, so grave-

More than the violation of any other human right-

Because it is the life of God’s children,

And because such bloodshed only negates love,

Awakens new hatreds,

Makes reconciliation and peace impossible.”

March 16^th, 1980

 

That is clear right? I think so too. The man had to say what the church had already said was valid, especially as a good catholic archbishop. But he only did that in 2 pastoral letters. Furthermore I am not sure that his words are not taken out of context by the authors trying to back up the revolutionary violence as valid. If a man preaches 3 years of Sundays with messages like the one above and states twice the opinion of the church…I think that we can tell what he meant to get across.

 

Anyhow, I thought about that a lot. At the end of the day though, I have to acknowledge the fact that our heroes are flawed people. Every single one, except for Jesus. At the end of the day out heroes may disappoint us, not to say that Oscar Romero disappointed me…and yes he is one of my heroes. People let you down though, Jesus doesn’t. I guess that at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how many people are against you or let you down, if you are truly following the will of God and living what Jesus wants…He won’t let you down.

 

So anyhow, I hung out with my family for awhile this evening and watched the simpsons in Spanish. Fun times. Then I talked to my parents on the phone about the situation in the US. I swear, you step out of the country for a month and everything goes awry. Financial system failure, almost great depression number 2, Republicans calling Barack Obama’s citizenship sketchy…balls guys. I dunno about you, and I am sorry if I offend you people who are republicans…but I really don’t think the world or our country can take another republican president. I don’t want another man in office who sells our people lies like trickle-down economics, sells the world lies about Free Trade Agreements, and is okay with using torture when it is convenient. Really. Maybe the third one won’t change, but if the other 2 do…I think lots of people will be better off.

 

Something that really frustrates me in life is the tendency of so many Christians to vote solely based on one category: abortion. Yes life is important. I agree with what Monseñor Romero said up there. But let’s ponder something. The Republicans have talked smack about being pro-life for a long time, but A) they don’t do anything about the abortions that exist and B) they, like most presidents, kill people in wars in a rather heartless manner.

 

The Ronald Reagan that lots of the Republicans hail as one of the best presidents ever gave money/arms/military training to the El Salvador government so they could “stop communism”. What happened was a continued slaughter of innocent people by the government…with better guns and training via the US.

 

George Bush Senor did the same thing in other countries. George W. started or allowed Guantanamo Bay internment camp, which is generally agreed upon as a severe violation of human rights in the international community.

 

So…you see where my frustration with their claim of “pro-life” comes from. Are they just pro-life with regards to fetuses or in general? I guess that is an important question one should ask, because if it’s just about babies then I don’t think one can call that “pro-life” maybe it should be qualified to “pro-babylife” or “pro-lifeforunbornkidsinjusttheunitedstates” (we don’t care too much about other nations kids, I think the things we do in foreign policy reflect that pretty clearly…)

 

I guess that might have made some of you angry, frustrated, or uncomfortable…but when a Costa Rican woman tells you that “a lot of people are going to suffering soon and it will be the US’ fault.” It makes you think, plus now lots of you know what I actually think about politics. Maybe we can engage in fun discussion. You never know.

 

Hey. If you’re not doing anything right now, maybe you should read the news on BBC.com or research the claims I made. I think that we could use a few more informed people in the US.