Author: ppadmin

It is "directly contrary to the nature of Christ Jesus . . . that throats of men should be torne out for his sake." — Roger Williams, founder of the first Baptist congregation in the “New World” and champion of religious liberty

As the British political philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote: “Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow.” In the absence of protections for the weak and the vulnerable, free markets can lead to oppression just as surely as unjust governments. In the name of freedom, taxes for the super-rich are cut. In the name of freedom, companies lobby to drop the minimum wage and raise working hours. In the same cause, US insurers lobby Congress to thwart effective public healthcare; the government rips up our planning laws; big business trashes the biosphere. This is the freedom of the powerful to exploit the weak, the rich to exploit the poor. Freedom? Always ask, for whom? — George Monbiot

He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. It is impossible even to begin the act of loving one's enemies without the prior acceptance of the necessity, over and over again, of forgiving those who inflict evil and injury upon us. Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. — Martin Luther King Jr.

Commenting on news that US Marines were filmed urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan: “Reserve Marine Lt. Col. Paul Hackett, who teaches the law of war to Marines before they are sent off to Afghanistan, made it clear Friday that he was not condoning the Marines’ actions. But he warned against judging them too harshly, saying: 'When you ask young men to kill people for a living, it takes a whole lot of effort to rein that in.'” — Associated Press

Obfuscation: When words hide the truth What they said: “The demands of industrialization took a heavy toll on the river.” What they mean: The river got screwed. — Public Broadcasting Service story about the history of the Haw River in North Carolina

Sacrifice is absolutely essential for human growth; yet the abiding disposition of sacrifice is rarely established without some experience of suffering. Of course suffering itself does not make one holy and can even lead to despair. Despair is suffering that fails to teach. — Thomas Keating

As Vicki Divoll, a former CIA lawyer who now teaches at the U.S. Naval Academy, observed, "People are a lot more comfortable with a Predator strike that kills many people than with a throat-slitting that kills one." — Jonathan Tran

Those who will not slip beneath the still surface on the well of grief, turning downward through its black water to the place we cannot breathe, will never know the source from which we drink the secret water, cold and clear, nor find in the darkness glimmering the small round coins thrown by those who wished for something else. — David Whyte

Yes, as through this world I've wandered, I've seen lots of funny men. Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen. And as through your life your travel, Yes, as through your life your roam, You won't never see an outlaw Drive a family from their home. — Woody Guthrie

I mined in your mines, and I gathered in your corn. I been working, mister, since the day I was born. Now I worry all the time like I never did before, 'Cause I ain't got no home in this world anymore. Now as I look around, it's mighty plain to see, This world is such a great and a funny place to be. Oh, the gamblin' man is rich, an' the workin' man is poor, And I ain't got no home in this world anymore. — Woody Guthrie