Jimmy Crack Corn and I Do Care
Preface: I most often do not read chain emails, and I do not pass them on for numerous reasons.
Last night I received a chain email by the title of Jimmy Crack Corn… And I Don’t Care (read it here). I know this email reflects the feelings of many Americans, but it is appalling to me both as an American and as a Christian.
As an American I care because:
- When we abuse, kill, or mistreat our Arab prisoners it fosters more hate against us in the middle east (and elsewhere).
- Abuse of prisoners violates international law, and the USA is not above the law (or at least shouldn’t be).
- America should be focused on justice not on retaliation or revenge.
As a Christian I care because:
- Christians are supposed to be advocates of justice and peace.
- Jesus would not torture.
- Romans 12:17-21.
- Two wrongs don’t make a right.
November 16th, 2005 at 10:06 am
Wow … that email was pretty infuriating. I had to stop after the first couple “I’ll care” lines.
Thanks for the great link to Sojourners. Although when I tried to sign up for their e-mail list I got a ColdFusion error. Is there any ColdFusion powered site out there that actually works properly?
November 19th, 2005 at 1:51 am
Interesting… makes me wish more people actually understood Islam… then they might realize that there are a lot of similarities between it and Christianity (I took an Islam class in college - can even speak a tiny smidge of Arabic). People get too wrapped up in their own self-righteousness to even entertain the possibility that we, as a people - as a country, could do anything wrong. Yes, a terrible thing happened on September 11, and yes, it happened to be done by Islamic extremists… but that doesn’t mean that we have the right to demean an entire race of people - an entire religion - because of the actions of a few of its members. This whole “war on terror” thing… I agree that something needed to be done following September 11, but the way things have been handled, it reminds me of a child throwing a temper tantrum when things don’t go the way they want them to. It’s one thing to be patriotic… but it’s quite another to parade around like you own the world, not caring how you treat people - because you’re American, so you must be right. Unfortunately, many Americans believe it.
Stepping down from my soapbox now…