RadicalJesus.Org

What would you do?

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:20:00 +0000

Setting the record straight

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:29:00 +0000

The Real Dr. King

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:49:00 +0000

Today is Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day. The Rev was a rebel, a radical, and a dissenter. Will that man be celebrated today? This video asks us to do just that:

Strange tree

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:30:00 +0000

I found this strange tree on a morning hike near the Blackstone river.

Nobody tells the King NO

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:36:00 +0000

In the first chapter of the book of Exodus, the Bible gives us the first instance of organized worker resistance to the authority of the Boss. The midwives Shiphrah and Puah are ordered by Pharaoh to kill all the male Hebrew children born to Jewish women. They don’t, because as the story says,

“The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” (Exodus 1:17-18)

But my favorite part of the story is when Pharaoh discovered the midwives were allowing male children to live he summoned Shiphrah and Puah before him to explain themselves. Shiphrah and Puah flat out lie to him. “Pharaoh, listen,” they say too the King (in my words), “these Hebrew woman, they’re tough….the babies are born before we get there. There is just nothing we can do!” HA!

Now imagine the scene: Pharaoh is the most powerful man in the world. He is sitting on his throne probably surrounded by sycophants, advisers, yes-men, and most certainly armed guards. Nobody tells him NO. He can have anyone he wants tortured and killed for the pettiest insolence and here come these two slave women….. nobodies and nothings….property in every sense of the word….. before him after defying an order…..and they lie straight to his face. What does God think of this lie? He loves it! He rewards the women workers with the blessings of large families…..the most valuable reward possible to a people living under oppression. He gave them people to love them…to protect them…and to carry on their struggle!

What do I learn from this story?

1. The power of authority seeks to serve only the power of authority. Remember why Pharaoh wanted the boys killed: he was protecting his own power over the Jewish slaves. He needed a compliant workforce and he needed fear to keep his workers in order.

2. Freedom is born through the power of organized workers. They are called midwives, but Shiphrah and Puah are “just” workers. Their organized act of defiance, the first such act against the earthly authority of a Boss in the Bible, gives freedom a chance to survive among oppression. And their action is supported through their solidarity. Either one of them could have ratted out the other one when they were standing their before the King but they stuck together and through their defiance saved their people.

3. God loves people who stand up to the Boss. God rewarded the defiant act…and the lie told to cover it up….with the best blessing a slave people could have on earth…families.

Could Shiphrah or Puah been so defiant if they had acted alone? Maybe…but would one of them alone been as successful? Who knows, but I doubt it. What I do know is the power of organized women workers is something to be celebrated because it is the pathway to freedom and justice. It is organized women workers standing up and defying their Boss that God loves, not the power of the Boss to decide for all what is right and wrong.

The dangerous notion of love

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:58:00 +0000

Beauty is power?

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:23:00 +0000

Driving down the street the other day I passed a billboard that read, in part "Beauty is POWER." It was selling the services of vein removal and other such amenities.

A few miles further down the road was a woman dressed up as a the Statue of Liberty hawking the services of a tax preparer. It was cold and raining and she did not look beautiful or powerful.

Making the enemies of justice nervous

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:28:00 +0000

Notorious television host Glenn Beck seems ready to start a jihad against the type of Christianity that was practiced by.....Jesus Christ. Could it be that those who fear freedom are lashing out to keep people in bondage?

This is what Mr. Beck said:

"I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"

One gets the idea that Mr. Beck personifies the character of the Pharisees in this section from the Gospel of Mark:

23One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.
24The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
25He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."

27Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Today's Court Schedule on the murder of Jason Ng

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:45:00 +0000

Today's Court Schedule

Federal Building and Courthouse
One Exchange Terrace
Providence, RI 02903

March 03, 2010
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM CA09-53S Lin Li Qu, et al. v. Central
Falls Detention Facility Corp., et al.
-- COURTROOM 2
Hearing on Defendant United States of America's Motion to
Dismiss
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM CA09-53S Lin Li Qu, et al. v. Central
Falls Detention Facility Corp., et al.
-- CHAMBERS
In Chambers Conference

Who will tell the story of Lui Hiu Ng?

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:46:00 +0000

“Frankly, I’m looking at it like I’m running a Motel 6. I don’t care if it’s Guantanamo Bay. We want to fill the beds.” – Fired Wyatt Detention Center Chairman Daniel Cooney

This week a trial will start in Federal Court about a wrongful death suit filed by the family of Lui Hiu Ng (some people called him Jason), a 34 year old man from China who died while in the custody of our Government. His crime? Not having his paperwork in order.

Mr. Ng’s death, murder, really, is yesterday’s news. The media has moved on, ignoring once again the life of a little person; someone disposable and easily discarded. Tomorrow morning when we go about the business of our daily lives, most of us probably won’t have the time to give a thought to Mr. Ng, his family, his friends, or what his death represents.

What does it represent? That all of us are disposable. That each and every one of us has no value as a person if our lives get in the way of the pursuit of profit.

The judge, by the way, will be deciding whether or not to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit. Can you believe it? The first order of business will be to decide whether or not the government corporation that killed Jason Ng can even be considered to be held accountable.

Some of us will be present to bear witness and this new blog, www.radicaljesus.org, will chronicle the events as best we can. Someone has to…

Welcome to RadicalJesus.org

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Crowley) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:41:00 +0000

What are we doing here? What's happened to us? What has happened to the message of Jesus and how has The Way been lost? I don't know, I really don't, but I can guess, and the answers are disturbing.