-Caveat Lector-
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 12:58:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Franklin Wayne Poley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [LIFE-GAZETTE] Re: Quaker "Culture of Life"
On Fri, 14 Mar 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> On Friday, March 14, 2003, Franklin Wayne Poley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Life Gazette, as a tabloid in the 1980's, used the expressions "Culture of Life" and
> "Culture of Death" before the script writers of pope and president picked up on them.
>
> Suppose the Quakers applied to the White House for a grant under "faith-based public
> works" to design and build a model city plus surroundings, just one exemplification
> of a Culture of Life.
>
> What would it be like?
>
> FWP
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
> Franklin,
>
> Quakers comprise much less than one one-thousandth of the population of the
USA.
Hi John:
I just checked the World Almanac (1986) and it gives a total of only
108,000 in the US. Nevertheless, it takes only one to answer my question
as the 1989 World Almanac says "The essence of their faith is that every
individual has the power of direct communication with God who will guide
him into the ways of truth" (p.446). The only Quaker I have met in person
is Lyndon Larouche, Jr. I went into his jail in Washington, DC, and
met with him in the context of my Life Gazette journalism, ca. 1990.
I wondered if he was indeed a political prisoner as he claimed to be or
simply the leader of an organization which an FBI agent summed up in an
interview as, in a word, "bogus". But since that time I have come to
wonder if modern religion is not so fundamentally flawed and corrupt that
"bogus" applies to all denominations. Should we have a Canadian
counterpart to your RICO laws and should we target bogus churchianity as a
category of racketeering which is a particular menace to the public?
Larouche has published a book with the title of "Christian Economics" and
I had a letter published in his newspaper, the New Federalist, in 1994
which asked what just one Christian City plus surroundings would be like.
I am still awaiting an answer. Apparently, the time which Larouche spent
in jail did not reform him. But, in fairness, no other religious
denomination has answered my persistent question either. It is rank
hypocrisy that various religions send "missionaries" into thousands of
pagan cultures where they transform them radically, yet they cannot or
will not describe their own culture. Who will send a missionary into
"deepest, darkest Vancouver" to answer my question?
> 'Model (planned) cities' already exist -- one of them is Columbia, Maryland.
There are global precedents like Jubail, Saudi Arabia, New Bombay, India
and the village of PREVI, Peru, which was designed and built under UN
auspices in the 1970's as a future village for the benefit of all of
humanity. The team of 13 architects from 13 countries was led by Peter
Land, now at Illinois Institute of Technology (say hello for me if you
contact him). Peter also stayed on as general contractor for PREVI.
> I can tell you right now that Quakers do not want to design and build
model-anythings. It would be more accurate to say that we want to transform
everything. However, it would also be accurate to say that we are not utopian.
"Utopian" is a red herring as it has unfortunate connotations. The question
has to do with "how shall we then live" as that question was asked in the
work of the Christian writer Francis Sheaffer. That is also the essence of
Zionism as I understand it, to link this with the CERJ Zionism thread.
Even if you call your city "secular", it must have some kind of value
system as its ideological underpinning. Charles Correa was an architect on
Peter Land's team. He was also chief architect for New Bombay (Navi
Mumbai). In his book, "The New Landscape", Correa illustrates a city plan
from Ancient India with the "mandala" (religious symbol) which was its
ideological foundation.
> Figure it out.
OK, if you transform everything and we have a city in which we "do all for
the glory of God" (I Cor.) or "pray without ceasing", then our entire way
of life is a service to God which is the summarization of the book of
Ecclesiastes. Now a City (Culture of Life) in service to God rather than
the vanity of man would be very much in keeping with a Canada which, by
Constitution is "founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of
God and the rule of law". Or, as a motto at Harvard Law School says, NON
SUB HOMINE SED SUB DEO ET LEGE. We are not ruled by men but by God and the
rule of law. This City of Life could be called by many names. When the
pope was in Toronto recently, he called for the building of a City of God.
Maybe Quakers would like to call it a City of Truth or a City of Peace.
> I think, though, that this message may point to an unhealthy dynamic o
f people waiting around for The Quaker to say something.
I am still waiting for Larouche, the Quaker, to tell me what a city built
according to his "Christian Economics" would be like. Whether you build it
anew or reform an existing city, does not matter to me. But conceptually
it is easier to walk out onto a field of snow and imagine a city built
anew. It also hearkens to Isaiah, "Though your sins be as scarlet, yet
they shall become as white as snow".
Imagine your Peace City - "Babylon II" built on the Babylon Restoration
Site as a UN project under "faith-based public works" in the aftermath of
the present conflict in that region. What might it be like? Ask Peter
Land about the concrete planning details after you figure it out as to
what kind of design would be most in accordance with the ideology of
"America-the-Good". You know what de Toqueville said about
America-the-Good. And St. Luke said of the mission of Jesus Christ, "(He)
went about doing good".
___________________ is a good feature of this city because ________________
BTW, I looked up the word "Babylon" and apparently it comes from the
original Hebrew which meant, "Gate of God".
My Quakerism tells me I have no more, nor less, to offer than any of the rest
of you. I have a special skill in facilitating and moderating,
perhaps -- one that I am still working on.
>
> We need more of you speaking up like Franklin is.
I hope you are interested in continuing this topic. If Bush invades Iraq
as we expect, that country will need a lot of "restorative justice".
> P.S.: I believe that if Quakers have a special gift, it is in peacemaking
and conflict resolution. Ironically, most Quakers don't realize we have it!
That's tragic.
Conceptualize a "City of Peace" in Iraq for the benefit of the entire
global community, realizing that only about 30 UN members out of 200 have
supported in any way the US alternative of war. Given that, it could not
be a US sponsored project but rather it would have to be a UN project as
PREVI was. Iraq at peace and a City of Peace could have been accomplished
without war but it seems that both Bush and Saddam have agreed to that
path instead of peace. Since most of the community of nations would prefer
peace, perhaps a City of Peace can emerge from the carnage we now expect.
FWP
> ==================================
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> -------------------------------------------
> John Wilmerding, Convener and List Manager
> Coalition for Equity-Restorative Justice (CERJ)
> 1 Chestnut Hill, Brattleboro, VT, ZIP: 05301-6073
> Phone: 1-802-254-2826 | 1-802-380-0664 (cellular)
> CERJ was founded in New York in May, 1997.
> -------------------------------------------
> "Work together to reinvent justice using methods
> that are fair; that conserve, restore, and even
> create harmony, equity and good will in society."
> -------------------------------------------
> To join (or leave) the CERJ email list, kindly send
> me an email message at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> or at [EMAIL PROTECTED] I'll need your first & last name,
> your email address, and your state, province or
> country of residence. Thank you! -- John W.
> ==================================
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***** What would a Model City plus surroundings for "Good Doers" of the "Axis of Good"
be like, vs. a contrasting city for "Evil Doers" in the "Axis of Evil"? *****
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