MORGAN'S MOMENT...
Who is this man…
        Who lives without a home
        And casts his lot with the poor
        And is at odds with his own religion?
Who is this man…
        Bearded in mid-eastern garb
        Speaking an Arabic tongue
        Hated by many
        Loved passionately by a few?
Who is this man…
        For whom believers
        Give all they have…
        Even their lives…
             In his name?
Who is this man…
        In whose name
            Followers march to war
            Righteously slaughtering hoards
            Leaving a shameful history?
Who is this man…
       That the most powerful nation
        Fears his influence…
        Calls for his death?
Who is this man...
        Who calls us hypocrites
        And blasphemers
        And empty vessels?
Who is this man…
        Whose photo I.D.
        Bears the name…
        Jesus ben Joseph?
— Art Morgan 

 
INSPIRATION?
The above “moment” was inspired by the striking resemblance between Sallman’s painting of Jesus and the Lambs and a photo of Osama bin Laden in our newspaper. 
MOMENT MINISTRIES
November 11, 2001
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at  a-morgan@peak.org
“WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
IN THE WORLD…”
This was the report of Church World Service about Afghanistan before September 11.
It hasn't gotten any better.
There were already about 3 million refugees in the area prior to the current bombing. Add another million and a half, mostly women and children since bombing began.
This was already one of the poorest nations on earth. It is in the midst of a 3 year drought. Winter is already beginning. The expected increase in the already high death rate is expected to soar.
The UN and other humanitarian organizations working within the country have been forced out by bombing and other conditions of war. 
What to do? 
Religious sensibilities—regardless of political or nationalistic sympathy—require a humanitarian response to human suffering.
Many on our mailing list are not connected with a religious organization. Presumably those who belong to a church have already donated funds through Week of Compassion, One Great Hour of Sharing, or something similar.
For those outside the system we suggest a gift through Church World Service. Like other organizations it has a network of relief services already in place even before 9/11. Give to
 
Pakistan-Afghanistan Relief
Church World Service
PO Box 968
28606 Phillips St.
Elkhart, IN  46515
Contributions will provide tents, blankets, food and medicine for thousands of innocent and displaced victims of this moment in world history. We are not in the fund-raising or promoting business. This is an exception.

(back page)

CONVERSATION IN A TASTING ROOM
        I had just spent the better part of a day “racking” wine. Actually, I was helping the winemaker, Rob, move wine from the fermentation tanks to barrels. Not a hard job, really. Low tech.
        Anyway, I went to the tasting room to ask a question about finishing up. There was a fellow who was doing some wine tasting. Somehow Rob, the winemaker, got the wine taster going on his understanding of what Osama bin Laden is all about.
        “Its all about heresy.”
        Excuse me? I thought. Theology is my business.
        Somehow or another the wine taster had done some study of early Christian theology and Christian history.  He seemed determined to report his knowledge.
        “Religion has to protect itself from heretics.”
        He began to cite all sorts of historic councils in which heresy was voted down and truth was established in creeds. This led to inquisitions and holy wars and martyrs and efforts to control what people did and thought about religious faith. 
        I attempted one brief interruption to remind him that the Old Testament is full of wonderful stories of bloodshed in which the enemies of the Lord are vanquished. He looked at me in such a way as to make me decide to keep such heretical ideas to myself.
        “When Mohammedanism began to spread in the 600’s, its intent was to purge the world of the heresies in Christianity and Judaism.” He mentioned the Trinity and Virgin Birth and Resurrection as examples of heresies. I didn't mention that many Christian scholars agree with the Koran on those issues.
        “Their goal is to purge the world of all infidels. It is their duty to protect their idea of true religion.”
        Again I could agree that almost every one of the 2,000 or more denominations has some notion that it possesses a unique corner of the truth that needs to be proclaimed and protected. 
        I suspect he was talking about the most radical of Islamic fundamentalists. Most people aren't that worried about infidels. Some of us have wine to rack, or something more pressing.
        I forget where the conversation ended up. I think the point was that the defense by religions against infidels of other beliefs is the norm. Osama bin Laden is apparently doing what religious zealots do. He hopes to unite the Arab world in a sort of Muslim spiritual revival of a conservative form of the Islamic faith. History suggests that such zealots need watching.
        My mind was wandering. I think I still had some barrels to fill. I was hooked on the word “infidel.” We Americans are accused of being “infidels.”
        “Am I an infidel?” I asked myself.
         Let's get real here. We're all infidels of some sort. There is an infidelity of belief and practice of religion in all of us. In fact, I would think it mandatory for any thinking person to be a doubter and non-practitioner of most orthodox religious groups. I would think it mandatory for people claiming Christian connections to admit to unfaithfulness to the call of Christ to have compassion for the poor and fatherless and strangers in our midst. 
        I thought of the file of newspaper articles in which my own country has unilaterally excused itself from participation in long-standing international treaties and agreements. How could I not wonder about my country's world-leading distribution of armaments and munitions to any nation that will buy? Or about our history of actually training and funding terrorist revolutionaries (including Osama bin Laden) when it suits “national interest?” The claim to be a “Christian nation” is questioned when we behave like infidels. To realize that the Christian churches are silent on these matters leads me to conclude that we have a certain infidelity to the spirit of religion, if not to its formulations of faith. 
        As an admitted infidel I find myself in a country of infidels being targeted by another infidel who despairs of converting us. So infidels on two sides revert to historic means of dealing with those of contrary belief. 
        The guy in the tasting room is probably a cynic. And he is probably right. Religion tends to think that an infidel is one that belongs to a different religion, race or nation.  It is more interested in defending its dominance than in performing its teachings toward fellow humans. It declares war to the death in the name of God. Death to the infidels.  Which infidels? I need to get back to work.
— Art Morgan, November 2001