by James Glaser
August 24, 2005

People who support the President are more than willing to call those who are against Bush's War, communists, and will even say the anti-war people are "aiding and abetting the enemy."

I don't know about you, but for me, those are fighting words. Yes, it is true, I am against this war that George Bush has started in Iraq, but I am not a pacifist. I would like to be, but I haven't made that commitment yet. Some one attacks and occupies America, and I would be an insurgent, just like many Iraqis are insurgents. If America was faced with an occupier, I don't know how I would deal with those Americans who would collaborate with our enemy. That would be a real problem for me, and I bet it is for many Iraqis.

George Bush has done an incredible job at dividing this country and I'm not talking about Red State verses Blue State. I am talking about brothers against brothers, parents against children, and friends against friends. It has gotten so people don't even want to bring up anything about our government, because Bush has gotten us so polarized about what is going on, we can't even discuss things civilly.

We have religious leaders like Pat Robertson, telling the country that it is OK, if our country assassinates the President of another country. And there are many from the Religious Right who will not say that Robertson is wrong.

It is almost like we have one group backing President Bush that is really into killing, and we have another group, who are against killing.

What is so strange, is that those who push for more killing, are the very people who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. That would be the Jesus Christ, who told us to love our neighbors and our enemies. These people tend to follow the teachings of ministers, not the teachings of Christ.

Those against killing seem more likely to be the true conservative Christian, who reads the teachings of Jesus in the Bible.

So, we have a real division in the Christian faith here in the United States. Both sides claim to follow the same teachings, but some how, one group condones killing, while the other doesn't.

One group has Ministers, who push for more war, condone more killing, and claim God is only on our side. The other group reads the Word of God in the Bible and believes that they are following the Prince of Peace, who said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

The major difference between the two sides, is that Right Wing Ministers read the Bible for those who follow them, and claim some killing is OK, while on the other side, Conservative Christians, read the words of Jesus for themselves, and believe that those words are telling them that killing is wrong.

Jesus gave us the Bible so that we all could read his words, and make our own decision on how we should follow his teachings. Read his words yourself, and follow your own heart. Don't put a man, even a Minister, between you and Jesus.