Post Christian

Israel Report Pt. 4: Tumbling Down

Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 4:00am - 5 comments

America is a country familiar with and accepting of transient lifestyles. It isn’t at all uncommon for our children to grow up and ‘move away.’ Many of us have moved so often in our careers that it’s almost expected that our kids will do the same. For a Palestinian family, however, this is rarely the case. Not only do the children remain at home, often after marriage they build their house on top of their parent’s home.

When Gwynne and I stayed with a Palestinian family last month, they proudly showed us the ‘factory’ on the first floor – the place where they produced the carvings that support their living – as well as their home on the second floor and then the home of one of their children on the third. When you’re ‘land-locked’ you build up, not beside or across town.

And this is why the home demolition program carried out by the Israelis is so devastating. It is not just the loss of property that Palestinians experience, but the loss of identity. Continue reading…

Israel Report Pt. 3 “In the Beginning”

Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 4:00am - 8 comments

Recently I visited with a young soldier who had just finished his tour of duty. When he discovered that I worked in the field of peace and reconciliation he said, “Can you help me understand what the Middle East conflict is really all about?”

Imagine that – he had been trained in weaponry, in tactical strategies for waging war, how to march and carry out orders, how to kill, shipped to a very unfamiliar part of the world and given his marching orders – but, other than vague statements about ‘terrorists’ and ‘enemy combatants,’ he was never taught anything about the source of the conflict he found himself thrust into. Continue reading…

Israel Report, Pt. 2: ‘Stuck In A Moment’

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 4:00am - 7 comments

The band U2 has a popular song entitled, “Stuck in A Moment.” It’s about those times when life is so difficult, so demanding of our attention that the present moment seems inescapable. For ten days, as I walked the streets of Israel and Palestine, that song was blaring in my mind: “…stuck in a moment and you can’t get out.”

That’s where the people in that part of our world find themselves. It’s where the Jews who choose to live in the Land find themselves (and it should be noted that the majority of Jewish people do not desire to live in the Land. They willfully and happily choose to live throughout the world). It’s where the Palestinians find themselves. It’s the land where the three Abrahamic faiths (Jews, Christians, Muslims) variously offer the best and worst of their traditions, as some admirably choose to die for their spirituality and a non-negotiable belief that God is a God of peace, and others choose to kill for their religion – a religion that says the ‘other’ is an infidel and – according to God’s law – needs to be driven out or killed. Continue reading…

Israel Report, Pt. 1: Ten Days, Twenty Heroes

Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 4:00am - 15 comments

My life does not lack for things to do. I’m a list kinda guy by nature – and my list is long and complicated and filled with large projects each making its case for top billing. And so when the invitation came to join with a small band of unfamiliar people to invest ten days in a land as problematic as any on earth (That is to say, Israel/Palestine) I had to ask: Do I really want to do this? Can I even afford the time away from all that is calling out to me here at home?

Prior to my first trip to the Middle East a decade ago, I’d been aware of the plight of Jews and Palestinians – both locked in a struggle that all-too-often appears as one without answers and maybe even fewer reasons to hold hope for a peaceful resolution.

In a world of conflict, the Israeli/Palestinian situation seemed as deep, complex and constant as any conflict on earth. Continue reading…

Signs of Life Part 6 – Changing ‘Food’ As We Know It

Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 10:30am - 1 comment

Food – it’s literally everywhere, we need it to survive, and yet we know less about it today than ever before. The way food is planted, cultivated, harvested, distributed, prepared and consumed holds the power of life and death for our planet, people, health, and resources. A growing, spontaneous movement is afoot to re-educate ourselves about food and truly celebrate our culinary traditions, rather than just feel confused and guilty about what we’re supposed to eat. What follows is a fairly comprehensive blog and website roundup of the Sustainable Food movement – here you will find diverse-but-complimentary perspectives on how to start an urban (or suburban) garden, how to support regional farmers, what national and international policy changes would support health and freedom, who to connect with to recover local food varieties and swap recipes with – and who to party with!

Bon Appetit!

To Orient

I recommend you begin by viewing Food Systems in Nine Minutes, a brief KedgeForward presentation by Frank Spencer & I

Articles

The Nation’s Food Issue – An excellent starting point (see this summary)

Eating Right – The American Conservative (anytime our flagship progressive & conservative intelligencia publications agree on something, you know it must be true!)