A talk given by Art Laffin at Pax Christi Metro D.C. Gathering,
St. John the Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, October 23, 2004.

      Thank you for inviting me to share with you today.
      I would like to begin by asking you to place your hands on your heart. Let us thank God for the miracle of this new day and the life we've been given. God created us out of love... God gives us the breath of life... It is because of God that we are alive right now.. .God is the source of all life.. .God loves us unconditionally... We are all created by the same God therefore, we are all part of God... We are all part of one another...Let us thank God for the miracle of life... Let us thank God for our beating hearts and for the beating hearts of all humankind. ..Let us praise God for the gift of life, may we never take it for granted.
      Let us call into our presence the cloud of witnesses all the martyrs and saints who have gone before us and who continue to inspire us and intercede for us. Let us also remember all the prisoners of conscience, including Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu who is still not free, plowshares, SO A and Vieques prisoners as well as Camilo Mejia who is serving a 1 year prison term as a conscientious objector to the illegal US war against Iraq. Let us also remember all Muslims during this time of Ramadan. Let us remember, too, Kim Lamberty, our Pax Christi friend who ministered here at St. John's—she and Chris Brown were attacked and beaten recently by Jewish settlers in Hebron where they are members of the Christian Peacemaker Team.
      I've been asked to speak about how we can be faithful citizens and participate in the political process other than voting. Or to put it another way, what can we do beyond voting to establish God's reign of justice and peace for our world.
Politics is derived from the Greek word "polis." The word is rooted in the concept of "city", "civil" "citizen". Anything involving people intentionally living together is "political." In a statement issued by the Administrative Committee of the US Catholic Bishops on The Challenge of Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, the Bishops declare that "Politics should be about an old idea with new power—the common good...In this election year we ask who has a place at the table of life in our nation and around the world. We need a new kind of politics—focused on moral principles, not on polls; on the needs of the vulnerable, not the contributions of the powerful; and on the pursuit of the common good, not the demands of special interests... Believers are called to be a community of conscience within the larger society... A consistent ethic of life should be the moral framework to address issues in the political arena."
      I agree with and support the 15 planks that the U.S. Catholic Bishops put forth in their 2000 document on Faithful Citizenship. I also endorse their call to have the consistent life ethic as a basis for evaluating a political candidate. I like a lot of what the bishops say in their statement on political responsibility. But I believe the Bishops fall short when it comes to applying Jesus radical call to discipleship vis a vis our response to a political and economic order that is predicated on violence, exploitation and greed. As Christians the question we should always ask is: What would Jesus have us do?
      As Jesus begins His public ministry in Galilee, He declares in Mark's Gospel: "The time is fulfilled and the reign of God has come near, repent and believe in the Good News." (Mk. 1:15) I submit this is where we must begin our discussion about how we view the political process. Jesus tells us that the prerequisites for true discipleship centers on repentance, accepting God's reign and believing and proclaiming the Good News. The disciples main work then is to proclaim God's reign, not the reign of any earthly ideology or power.
      We know something about what the hallmarks of God's reign involves when Jesus read from Isaiah in a Nazareth synagogue: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:16)
      For those of us raised in the US we were taught to believe that, above all else, we are citizens who must dutifully accept the government and political order as it is. But from a Christian standpoint, can a follower of Jesus pledge their allegiance to a nation-state or political ideology? St. Paul writes in Philippians that "our citizenship is in heaven." (Phil. 3:20) Our primary allegiance then is first with God, not with any state or government. In John's Gospel Jesus says my kingdom is not of this world. Ultimately, Jesus is executed because the political and religious powers rejected the reign of God.
      As Christians seeking to follow the nonviolent Jesus who commands us to love unconditionally and renounce idolatry, how do we participate in a nation and government that has its origins in genocide and slavery and which uses force and violence to assert its power and control? Dr. King called the US government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world." This is evidenced by the US spending over $20 trillion of the public treasury on the military since the early 1940's, the fact that the US, since 1900, has militarily intervened over 130 times in other nations, and that the US has military bases in over 130 countries.
      How do we respond to a government that is committed to empire and global domination (see Project for a New American Century report), preemptive war and which possesses weapons of mass murder to enforce its will? How do we relate to a political system that is primarily concerned about self-interest and funded by the rich and powerful? These are just some of the questions we need to take to heart as we discern what it means to be a Christian in what is arguably the most violent empire in history!
      I submit that we live in a plutocracy and national security state, not a democracy. The rich control both political parties. Both Bush and Kerry are each spending some $100 million to get elected. Both are backed by powerful corporate interests. With respect to US military and foreign policy, the public is excluded from decision-making. For example, the whole nuclear program has been shrouded in secrecy. There has never been a public referendum as to whether we should have nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons could be used tomorrow, just like they were in Japan in 1945, without the consent of the American people. Moreover, the government continues to lie to and mislead the public as evidenced by the occupation and invasion of Iraq. 14 years of US bombing and sanctions have resulted in genocide against the Iraqi people—over 1 million Iraqis have died, over half of whom are children. I have witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by the US in Iraq and am forever haunted by Zahra Ali, an Iraqi baby girl I met who was dying from malnutrition.
       Our church and its bishops should be prophetic and bold in its proclamation that the reign of the US empire is antithetical to God's reign of justice and peace. Here are some things that the US Bishops should call the government and Catholics to do.

      * That all political decisions should focus on three questions which Bishop Tom Gumbleton speaks of: What does it do to the poor? What does it do for the poor? Does it include the participation of the poor?
      * That the US, which is only 6% of the world's population and controls and consumes nearly half of the world's resources, stop stealing the earth resources and commit to a just redistribution of the earth's resources, the total cancellation of the Third World debt, and the eradication of poverty and preventable diseases worldwide.
      * That the US develop sustainable renewable energy and environmentally friendly technologies and drastically alter our reliance on oil. Clearly, oil is the main reason why the US is in Iraq and Afghanistan.
      * That the US renounce all multinational efforts to privatize the world's water supply.
      * God gave us an absolute command: Thou Shalt not Kill. We can't change it or make exceptions to this command. And Jesus said we must "love our enemies." Thus the bishops should therefore say that all war and all killing, violates God's command and is sinful. Catholics should reject the use of all forms violence by the US government and refuse to work in any job that involves killing or exploiting others. This would mean that no Catholic should participate in the military, be involved in killing the unborn or in carrying out capital punishment. It would also mean not paying government taxes that support killing or warmaking. (Last March during Lent, I sent letters to the Papal Nuncio, Most. Rev. Gabriel Montalvo, and to the head of the Military Archdiocese, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, asking for a meeting to discuss the following appeal: "If the Pope and the US Catholic Bishops said the US war against Iraq was unjust than they should call upon all Catholic soldiers to come home from Iraq immediately and refuse to participate in this unjust war." Needless to say, they would not meet with me. Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and Jonah House also issued a statement last February appealing to US soldiers going to Iraq to "refuse to fight and refuse to kill." This statement was signed by over 500 people).
      * That all weapons—from handguns to nuclear weapons be immediately dismantled and abolished and that the US stop militarizing space.
      * That the just-war theory be scrapped and that nonviolent conflict resolution be adopted as the means to resolve conflict. If we are to survive as a human family we must end the nuclear threat and outlaw war.
      * That we reject the way nationalism is used to justify US intervention around the world.
      * That we reject the way political parties and candidates define issues in terms of what is "good for America" because it prevents people from seeing what our responsibility is to help the rest of the world.
      * That we reject the sins of racism, sexism and discrimination.
      * That we stop the demonizing of our adversaries and using "Axis of Evil" rhetoric, for it leads to placing a higher value on American lives than other lives. If we want to see an end to terrorism in our world, the US government must stop practicing terrorism—it must stop intervening in the affairs of other nations. There is no "axis of evil" or we/they according to God. An American life is not more precious than an Iraqi life. All life is sacred and equally precious before God.
      * Finally, I feel that the Bishops should take the Pax Christi vow of nonviolence and call upon all Catholic to do the same.
      In a talk Fr. Dan Berrigan SJ. gave at the tenth anniversary celebration of the Agape Community in Ware, Massachusetts, he stated that the word "to vote" is derived from the latin word voveo—"to vow." Dan said: "We need to take a very deep promise which renders one's life in certain directions as opposed to certain others. To vote is to pronounce a vow. I can understand totally from the context of vow and my experience of religious life that to take a vow, to make a promise is to head one's life in a very particular direction. And that began to resonate with my experience of the world, where certain people would beckon my life in a certain way. Great women and men would, in an almost forgotten way, cast a vote by way of pronouncing a vow...
      The real vow is both beckoning and irresistible, not a command, but an invitation which heads us in a certain direction. There are constellations of words that come from voveo—devoted, devotion.... We have a whole vocabulary of depth in the human. Then we have this whole other kind of nonsense where we cast a vote as though one were casting away one's conscience, as though from that frivolous moment one could justify the inhuman. While the fate of children and the unborn, and those on death row and the poor, and the people dying in the next war is left to others. Casting a vote versus taking a vow..."
      Dan's words summon us to a deeper meaning of what it means to be political. They simply echo the call of Jesus for us to vow to live according to God's reign. Just think how different our church would be if the vow of nonviolence was incorporated into the sacrament of confirmation!
      I believe in shaping a politics for the common good and trying to do what Peter Maurin advocated: "build a new society in the shell of the old." I'm not here to tell you what you should do on November 2nd, but to share what my faith has led me to do.
      For me as a Catholic Worker, I follow the example of Dorothy Day who did not vote. I can't vote for or support any political party, system or government that sanctions killing, war and the exploitation of human beings. By definition, the President is the commander-in-chief of the military and can authorize war and killing. I believe any nation that possesses weapons of mass destruction is a criminal government. All of the political parties support violence and killing in some way. There is no party that espouses a consistent life ethic. I cannot support the lesser of two evils approach for, in the end, you are still supporting evil. Gandhi and Jesus taught that the means you use must be contained in the end you seek.
      Gandhi said "be the change you want to see in the world." Peter Maurin said "The future will be different if we make the present different." Thoreau said: "Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely." Thus I believe in voting with your life. I believe that what we do every day is a way of casting a vote. Practicing personalism and voluntary poverty, doing the works of mercy, serving the poor, nonviolently resisting violence and state-sanctioned killing, living simply and sharing your resources, caring for and being good stewards of the earth, standing for and working in solidarity with the victims and trying to create the beloved community, are the best ways I know how to participate in the political life of our society and world.
      I deeply believe that as we seek to proclaim the reign of God that we try to model what that means in community. In my experience of living in community for over 25 years, I have been able to grow in understanding what true discipleship really means. The Catholic Worker is by no means perfect, but is an attempt to try to lead a Gospel way of life. We don't focus on just one issue at the Catholic Worker. Rather, the Catholic Worker is a school where we learn about faith, community, sharing, service, resistance, patience, forgiveness and living in the hope of the cross and resurrection.
      Any hope for real change will not come from Bush, Kerry or from the present political order. Real change is already being initiated at the grassroots by sisters and brothers worldwide who are struggling for justice, peace and equality, some at the cost of their freedom and lives. The global movements for justice, peace and protecting the environment are just some of the great signs of hope. If true change is to occur, each person must take personal responsibility to bring it about.     We can't ask somebody else to change if we are not willing to change ourselves. Ultimately, I think that by vowing to be the change you want to see in the world—by trying to live a Gospel alternative, is the best way I know how to be a faithful disciple and participate in the political process.
      In closing I would like to offer the following:
Contemporary Adaptation of Psalm 146: A Biblical Admonition in this
Election Season.

Praise God our Creator, Source of all life. I will sing praise to God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes and presidents, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When they die they, too, return to earth; on that very day, their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is in God,
whose hope is in the Lord, their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
To all earthly rulers,
to all who hold political power, to people everywhere—
Take notice: do what God requires—
execute justice for the oppressed;
follow God's commands, not opinion polls.
End all killing and warmaking;
beat all swords into plowshares;
renounce all idolatry;
Follow the Lord your God; For it is the Lord who sets prisoners free, And opens the eyes of the blind, The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down
and loves those who do what is right. The Lord watches over the strangers, refugees and homeless and upholds the orphan and the widow.
But the way of the wicked—those who commit acts of violence, who kill, exploit, wage war, perpetrate injustice, trust in idols, are brought to ruin!
God is sovereign over all earthly rulers and powers.
God, alone, is our Judge—it is God who will have the last word!
God will reign forever—
not presidents, judges or generals,
the rich and powerful.
Happy are those who put their trust in God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, who care for the earth and practice unconditional love, who work for peace and reconciliation for all peoples, who resist all violence, killing and warmaking, for they shall be called children of God.
Let everyone praise and follow God, source of all life and Author of creation. Blessed be God forever!