The tragedy in Orlando will define our Christian faith - love/hate

I am sorry, but I simply do not understand some Christians and I am a Christian. We preach ‘grace’, forgiveness, love, not to judge, compassion, humility and etc., but let something horrible happen in the Gay community or let a terrible act of Mother Nature happen and there are some Christians (a minority) that immediately start blaming the Gay Community.  I am saddened by some of the comments posted by Christians on public sites regarding the Orlando terrorist attack – they are totally without any ‘grace’.

I have read, “They got what they deserved”, “I am glad it was a bunch of queers and not black folks”, about the ones trapped in the restroom – “They probably forgot to try and knock a wall out because they were too busy having sex with each other”, “God got those that are destroying our children”, “May they all burn in hell” and “I wish he would have killed them all and someone would attack every gay bar in the United States.”

It is a great time to read Luke 13:1-5. 

Do you think God finds our self-righteous judgment of the Gay Community acceptable? We all sin and come short of the glory of God.  Our righteousness does not come by our deeds it comes through Christ paying our sin debt on the cross. Our heart  is not any less obstinate and wicked than those at the gay bar in Orlando.

If you think God takes delight in the death of the wicked (sinners) maybe you should read Ezekiel 18:23 and neither should those who claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit take delight in their death.

If you believe the Bible states emphatically that homosexuality is a sin before you start talking trash about Orlando and the Gay Community read  Luke 13:34 - Weep over death and the widespread grief that accompanies it and  John 11:35 - But don't utter a word of condescending judgment — because your own sinfulness earns you no less than an eternity under God's anger.

Now is the time to help and pray for fellow human beings who have been hurt. The shooting was a hate crime against the Gay Community carried out by a radical Islamic terrorist, but more importantly it is a crime against human beings made in the image of God, and this should be the only reason Christians need to help those effected by this tragedy. Human beings were hurt and as a Christian, we are called to love and help our neighbor.

I am aware there will be some calling themselves Christians who will celebrate this tragedy. Westboro Baptist Church has already responded by saying, “God sent the shooter,” and, “God still hates fags.” Please do not join them.  If I believed these lies I could not serve the God I do.

As Christians, our marching orders are clear. Jesus tells us, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Our neighbors have been attacked, and we need to show love to them. Paul tells us that true love “does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres” (I Corinthians 13:6-7). “The Lord is . . . not wishing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9).

I would like to add I do not believe Christians are responsible for this happening as some in the media have claimed. The terrorist that carried out this act did not care what Christians believe concerning homosexuals. He was in no way influenced by Christian teachings. I also do not believe gun control was a factor regardless what gun laws we have he would have gotten his weapon of choice one way or the another. How we respond in this crisis is not a conservative or liberal issue, Democrat or Republican issues it is a CHRISTIAN issue.

Christians must be part of creating a world where the kind of hatred and intolerance which motivated Omar S Mateen simply cannot prevail. We should not listen to men like Pastor Steven Anderson. He said the victims deserved to die. This is the same man that ask Christians to pray that President Obama would die.

Just hours after American’s worst mass shooting came to an end, Steven Anderson, pastor at Faithful Word Baptist Church in suburban Phoenix, unleashed a sickening tirade in which he said the victims deserved to die. The man is a bigot, a lunatic, a bitter/angry man, with a poisoned heart and a disgrace to the Christian religion. As they all do he quoted different scriptures from the Bible that suited his needs and the Book of Leviticus as he tried to justify the terror attack at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. Let us not forget Leviticus tells us to kill our children if they talk back to us. Christians should not listen to these voices and not just react, but respond in love to this tragedy.

Unlimited Surveillance is carrying surveillance too far and not working

If Washington was really interested in reforming NSA why would they appoint Senator Dianne Feinstein to oversee primary oversight of NSA? She has long been a supporter of the U.S. national security industry. This is one area where she often voted against her fellow Democrat Representatives and Senators. Does she not have a conflict of interest when much of her husband’s income is derived from military contracts?  Senator Feinstein in my opinion is like putting the fox in charge of hen house.

Dianne Feinstein has argued in USA Today that metadata collection of all Americans’ telephone records is not surveillance at all because the actual conversations are not recorded. I think when the U.S. government knows when you called, who you called, who called you, length of each call and frequency of calls that is surveillance and an invasion of privacy.  When they can do the same with your emails that is surveillance and invasion of privacy. It gives the government a clear picture of your associations, activities and a general picture of your daily routine when pieced together. Why should the government have the right to know if you are using a dating service, contacting a gay or lesbian organization, seeking help from an addiction clinic or HIV clinic, etc.?

An August 2010 document that Snowden released to the public revealed that the U.S. spied on members of the United Nation so they would have a heads-up on how they intended to vote on upcoming votes. Edward Snowden’s revelations for the first time allowed people to know the true extent of the surveillance capabilities of the U.S. Government and the dangers it posed to a democratic governance. Privacy is at the very core of our being free people.

NSA does not have to listen to every call we make or read every email we send just the thought that they can is enough to cause people to fear and fall in line. That is really the intent of state surveillance. The threat of government surveillance psychologically inhibits our freedom of speech. If the surveillance worked you may could concede we need it, but it does not work we have seen that over and over just recently in Orlando, Florida.

We all have secrets. We all have personal information that we do not want to share with the public and that does not mean the information is wrong or illegal. I did not as a child want people to know my father was an alcoholic. It took many years in ministry before I would share that I had a sister who had been married five times and divorced. That is not something Catholics, especially Catholic priest want to make public. Washington is quite aware that the mere existence of government surveillance stifles the ability for one to dissent that is why it is so important to them.

NSA databases store information about your political views, your medical history, your relationships and they tell us we have nothing to worry about. I do not trust human nature enough not to be concerned. I certainly do not trust the hypocrites in Washington that have no real convictions except a thirst for more power.  The IRS has conveniently leak private information in the past, especially when an administration is trying to defeat a particular candidate and so will the NSA.

The true measure of a society’s freedom is how it treats dissident and marginalized groups not how it treats good loyalist. Even the worst tyrants protect their loyalist from abuse. In a democracy we should not have to be loyalist to the present administration to feel safe. Some of the richest people in the Philippines today were loyalist of Marcos and had their futures protected regardless if Marcos remained in power or not.

In 2013 the Pew Research Center revealed 70%  of U.S. citizens surveyed thought the U.S. government uses information gathered from surveillance for things other than terrorism. It was even more revealing that the majority now feel Americans should be more concerned about government surveillance than terrorism. Forty-seven percent said they knew the government had taken surveillance too far and abused it.

The indifference or support for unlimited surveillance by government is generally held by those who think themselves exempt from abusive government power. That kind of complacency by the people always leads to abuse. The Japanese Americans never thought that they would be hauled off and put in camps, but during World War II they were. Most of us never thought government surveillance would be used against anyone in the U.S. except Muslims, but it is.

The communication of the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras or spying on negotiation sessions at an economic summit or targeting the democratically elected leaders of allied nations or collecting all Americans communications records has nothing to do with terrorism. Terrorism is a pretext to allow unlimited surveillance of our citizens. Did it stop the 2012 Boston Marathon bombing, did it stop the San Bernardino slayings, did it stop the attempted bombing of an airline over Detroit, did it stop the plans to blow up Times Square or the plans to attack the New York Subway?  Did it stop the major international attacks from London to Mumbai to Madrid?

CBS News host Bob Schieffer denounce Snowden as a “narcissistic young man who thinks he is smarter than the rest of us.”  Politico’s Roger Simon called Snowden a loser because he dropped out of high school. Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called Snowden a coward. Congressman Mike Rogers  switched from calling him a spy for China to a spy for Russia without any proof whatsoever. The truth is Edward Snowden was going to Latin America via Russia and when the plane arrived in Russia he was forced to stay there because the U.S. government had cancel his passport. He is not in Russia by choice.  

I NOW believe Edward Snowden has done more for America and freedom than Schieffer, Simon, Schultz, Rogers and all the other Snowden detractors put together. Pardon Edward Snowden and let him come home if he still wants to come home - I do not know if I would or not!