Are you listening?

I speak english in this tale, but they don’t listen, / so I speak in fireballs, the language they hear, / the nightmare they dropped, the monster they created.

- Bao Phi, “The Godzilla Sestina”

 There are those unwilling to listen. How we speak and what we say should make a difference, but in many cases it does not. Their hearts are hardened. They seem more interested in confrontation. They are estranged from us by what? Ideology?

Since giving up means giving over control to those consumed with themselves, where do we take this?  We start with those who are willing to engage in discourse. It begins with questions, and lots of listening.  

Using our language against someone leads nowhere.

We often need to have difficult conversations about things we disagree on to reach solutions, particularly with family, partners, and close friends. Sarah DiGiulio is a New York City-based writer and editor who covers psychology, mental health, fitness and sleep, among other health and wellness topics. She's come up with nine tips for talking to people you disagree with.

1. Decide if you want to go there. ...
2. Ask if you can ask about it. ...
3. Keep it neutral. ...
4. Start off the conversation with understanding. ...
5. Look for where you agree. ...
6. Talk less. ...
7. Avoid using the word 'but' ...
8. Tell stories ...
9. Resist the current vogue to be provocative ...

Simply saying, "Let's agree to disagree," is not a solution. It sets up barriers. There's no chance of finding common ground. The solution may take on Biblical proportions. "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet." -Matthew 10:14 

There will always those who refuse to hear. It's not your fault. 

Abuse by the Ruling Class

 

The Conceit of the Ruling Class

Recent revelations of boarding schools for Native Children sent me searching for the reasons the US Government and their Christian partners used to justify this cruel practice. Focus now is on the mass graves of kids who were abused and tortured in the name of God. When they died from cruel neglect, they were buried without thought for their parents. But then, their parents were seen as inept and unimportant. The practice of separating children from their parents continued up to just a couple of years ago in South Dakota. In 2017 the ACLU reported since 2010, more than 1,000 Native-American children in Pennington County, home to Rapid City, have been removed from their families by state welfare workers and placed in foster care, disproportionately in non-Indian homes.

Oppression is always cruel

The colonizers justified their cruelty, their oppression, by invoking God’s will. They saw themselves as benevolent overlords. The enslaving of native people, the spread of smallpox, the barbarity of war, were all signs that God was on their side. It was pre-ordained. It was manifest destiny that this land was given to white Christians. Crystal Pardue brings the issue into focus.

It gets worse

"The European colonizers and conquerors did not misinterpret the bible. They did not twist the bible’s words. No, their actions were truly supported by biblical commandments, because the bible is violent and the Abrahamic god is “the most unpleasant character in all fiction,” fittingly described by author Dan Barker. The bible calls for, and Jehovah-God advocates for righteous violence — precisely what empowered the conquerors and colonizers to attack the First People."

Literal translation -A King James justification

Among conservatives in the Church is the desire to take the bible literally. The belief is, the words were all handed down through God to the men who wrote the books in the bible. The preferred translation among literalists seems to be King James Version. Conversely, I grew up in the Wesleyan tradition that encouraged interpretation of the bible through discussion and study.

Three Passages

“If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; . . . Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.”¹⁵ (Deuteronomy 17:2 KJV:)

Psalms 2:8 states “Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”

Romans 13:2 says, “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”

 

Taking these children away from their parents, and then burying them in unmarked graves comes from the conceit of the upper caste. Their whiteness and ethnicity (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), they thought, gave them God’s endorsement. The Catholics were complicit in this lie by taking on the task of running these schools.

Maybe Christians aren’t listening

The bible is still used today to inflict widespread oppression and cultural cleansing throughout the world, all in the name of “saving souls.” Churches feel righteously justified to “spread the gospel” — but that will unavoidably mean the cleansing and eradicating of cultural practices that do not align with biblical doctrines (living in nakedness, matriarchies, and same-sex relationships, just to name a few). As a society, we need to talk about the ugly truth behind the world-wide spread of the gospel — a truth that includes genocide, a truth that includes oppression, a truth that includes racism, and a truth that includes silencing. - Crystal Pardue Christian Devils: How the Bible Was Used to Mobilize Oppression of Native Americans


The interpretations used to justify stealing children from their parents run up against contradictory passages within the Bible. The simplest is this one: "A new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." - Jesus of Nazareth  My understanding is, there are no exceptions.