"Open Letter to a Peace and Justice Activist #2"
or "America is An Empire, and What That Means to the Church"
by Gary G. Kohls, M.D.

Thanks for keeping me informed about happenings in Colombia. The new Colombian law you talked about in your last letter is just another example of creeping corporate fascism that is fueled by those faceless economic entities that are salivating over yet another small, helpless, resource-rich country. (These entities also always seem to be backed up by the state police, privately paid militias or the country's armies, and the news of their immoral activities are always properly censored out of our consciousness by the corporate-controlled media.)

These bureaucracies seem to be endlessly on the prowl to exploit others weaker, less wealthy or less clever than themselves, even sovereign nations, always victimizing the poor. In Colombia this time they are doing it under the guise of drug interdiction; the last times under the guise of getting rid of military dictators who were previous favored allies of the US in Serbia, Somalia, Panama, Iraq, El Salvador, Guatemala, etc, etc, ad nauseum and ad infinitum.

We have to keep reminding ourselves that an evil unnamed is an evil that will flourish, so I think we have to boldly identify, out loud, what is going on. This evil's true name is fascism, and its American face, carefully crafted for media consumption, is a friendly and photogenic one (picture, for starters, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and our last string of presidents since Reagan, all lapdogs for an amoral corporate world). Of course, for the 2/3 world, it is a ruthless and deadly face.

What else besides fascism should we call a movement whose major media is so heavily censored and whose consumers are so obliviously brain-washed? What is a more appropriatename for an ideology that is so heavily militarized, so anti-democratic, so rabidly anti-socialist and whose ruling elite are such ruthless capitalists? What else should we call a nation that so consistently favors the dominate race, the wealthy, the over-privileged, the aristocracy, the celebrities and the military elite over the poor and non-white and has such ingrained racist, anti-female, xenophobic and homophobic attitudes? What else to call a government which has, in positions of power and control and influence so many fanatically right-wing leaders, both politically AND religiously? What should we call a nation that is the gunrunner to the world and is teeming with law and order types who try hard to imprison (in what surely are concentration camps) anyone that doesn't fit in with their particular set of morals?

I am afraid that it is too late for Columbia to get justice from our unaccountable Pentagon and its conservative and neo-liberal supporters in the White House, Congress and Supreme Court. Until there are progressive, courageous, strongly pro-democracy candidates on ballots and a groundswell of truly compassionate and critical thinkers to vote for them (voters who are fully aware of the massive injustices that our nation is perpetrating on the world's underprivileged) there will be no reason for America's powerful elite and its military to change. And there will be no justice. And therefore there will be no peace for Colombia or anyone else.

It is futile to write letters to the congressional offices of right-wing hardliners like Jesse Helms or any of the other similarly corporate-owned conservatives (as well as, it must be admitted, the vast majority of "liberal" corporate-owned Congresspersons who may be just a few goose steps to his left).

Of course we can't abandon the current resistance movements of the organizations to which we belong, which certainly have their unforeseen benefits for the future (in recruiting, in consciousness-raising, etc), but we also have to be sowing seeds that might sprout and fruit to possibly save the next generation from more of the same soul-destroying un-peace and injustice.

Is there any new hope on the horizon? I believe that there is, so at the risk of sounding repetitive, I'll say it once again! The lumbering giant called the Christian church contains a massive amount of potential for peace and justice in the world. But the laypeople of American Christianity have to be the ones that tap into that power by aggressively challenging its leaders (whether clergy or lay) to speak out, and then to mobilize and ask for empowerment to do the Christ-like thing and actively and courageously, but nonviolently, resist evil wherever it exists. That should be job 1 for every follower of Jesus and if it isn't, then weak little countries like Columbia and Peru and Ecuador and Nigeria will continue to strangle under the American military/industrial/congressional complex's cruel jackboot.

The big question is: Will the church instead continue to look upon the carnage (that is so obvious to informed observers) as if it is helpless, as it has done for too many centuries now?

The church does have enormous potential for promoting peace among the nations, which it currently seems to be squandering (with a few notable exceptions), by spending 90% of its mind, time and money on homebound ministries, evangelizing the un-churched (local and abroad), maintaining its staff and beautifying its temples, mostly worthy efforts and essential for average organizations. To its credit, it does promote charitable giving (heavy on the charity, light on the justice), and occasionally gives a tip of the hat to its peace and justice committees, if they exist at all.

It seems to me, given the massive suffering that our nation's Christian-dominated corporate institutions impose on the rest of the world, that any church that proclaims discipleship to Jesus Christ (and therefore presumably Jesus' ethical teachings in the Sermon on the Mount) but is also conspicuously silent in the face of the human agony those institutions are creating, must be either transformed or abandoned for some other better way to stop the suffering.

(I apologize to any reader who may feel offended by this criticism of an otherwise respectable church, but in my 50+ years of active participation in organized Christianity, I have not seen many in positions of church leadership meaningfully confront their pro-military membership with the realities of US imperialism that Witness For Peace, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Voices in the Wilderness, Women Against Military Madness, Veterans For Peace, Pax Christi, Fellowship of Reconciliation and the denominational peace fellowships keep pounding the table about.) Naturally, we activists in the pews get disillusioned after awhile and either give up on an apparently uncaring church or raise the issue up again at progressively higher decibel levels, until there is either a "yes, a no or a maybe" extracted from the leadership. And if the answer is "No, this particular church can't afford to participate actively and openly in your desire to do deeds of Christ-like love and mercy -- at least not quite yet," then faith-based peace and justice advocates need to find other organizations to commit to. Being the eternal optimist, I am reluctant to abandon the church of my childhood that I love and grieve over, so I, for one, will stay as long as I am not drummed out and there is still a glimmer of hope.

Of course, the innumerable Christian faith-based NGOs like Witness For Peace must continue their efforts out in the field, but they all need to consider entering into an active "partnership" with the one movement that I think can ground them all (or "umbrella them all"). If this is done, then perhaps some previously untapped strength will develop out of the collaboration of various faith-based peace groups which will certainly feed larger numbers of activists into the ranks of faith-based NGO like yours.

Of course I'm talking about Every Church A Peace Church (ECAPC), whose web page is up and running strongly now at <www.ecapc.org>. Check it out soon. There is a link to WFP and some of the denominational peace fellowships. ECAPC's goal of having every church become a true peace church is the world's best long-term hope for true peace, brought to you by the ones who should have been doing this all along since Jesus gave us the model and the commission.

© Gary G. Kohls, MD, 1306 E.8th St., Duluth, MN 55805 Ph/fax (218) 728-9756, email: gkohls@cpinternet.com, Midwest Coordinator for Every Church A Peace Church (http://www.ecapc.org).