| VIEWPOINTS MAKE THE CONNECTION 
JOHN COLEMAN JR. | Real dangers, deserve our attention Weapons of mass destruction, he calls them. No, not President Bush warning of Saddam Husseins alleged nuclear and biological arsenal. This is how Bishop Felton Edwin May describes weapons that are more insidious and probably more devastating. They include poverty, disease, violence, addiction, hatred, injustice, oppression, ignorance, racism, global warming. Yes, there are more. The list can become numbing to ones senses and perhaps too easy to ignore, especially at a distance. Many of us grieve over the alarming statistics on Africa, the casualties from AIDS and other illnesses, starvation, illiteracy, economic exploitation, and internecine conflict. The denominations recent consultation in Senegal to devise a Holistic Strategy on Africa was overdue. Sadly, the actions that follow may never catch up to the relentless pace of destruction happening there. But we must try. Some in our conference are already raising funds, sending medical supplies, and supporting African churches and institutions. More of us must endeavor to help in every way imaginable. The same crippling conditions, in varying degrees, prevail in India and other parts of Asia. They, too, demand our attention and response. There are logs needing extraction from our own eyes as well: escalating violence in our streets and homes; school drop-out rates of up to 70 percent in Baltimore and other cities; the bewildering prevalence of AIDS, poverty, hunger, drug abuse and addiction; the persistence of racism and hate-violence. Fortunately, determined individuals and churches in our conference and elsewhere are waging battle against the causes and effects of these terrible conditions. They seek to expose, reduce and eliminate many of the real weapons of mass destruction. The Rev. Douglas Sands, pastor of Simpson-Hamline UMC in Washington, D.C., persists against apathy in leading Love or Perish non-violence workshops throughout the conference. The Rev. Hal Henderson and his son, Kevin Henderson, both at Congress Heights UMC in Washington, helped launch the interfaith Resurrection Drug Treatment Coalition to offer education, referrals, spirituality and support to people seeking recovery from addiction. The Rev. Walter Edmonds, pastor of the Damascus and Friendship UMCs in Damascus, took a stand in September against white supremacists trying to promote their racist message and recruit members locally. We need to name evil where we see it, he wrote on page one of the church newsletter, the Beacon. At the UMConnection, we know there are many such heroes lay and clergy and we hope to shed more light on their courageous and creative witness. Are we Christ-centered or crisis-centered? asks Bishop May. The question compels us to consider the daunting problems we face here and abroad, and then to focus on engendered in a spirit of faith and obedience to God. Were called to light candles rather than curse the darkness. Or as social activists railing against the establishment three decades ago would say, If youre not part of the solution, then youre part of the problem. We dont know, yet, if Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. But there are human, social and ecological weapons aimed at us, by us. The grave damage they wreak is visible if we but look. So are the solutions. In many ways, the old comics character, Pogo, got it right: We have met the enemy, and he is us. I pray that greater numbers of us will recognize that truth and strive to overcome it. |
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