Daniel, my old ministry colleague over at the Old First blog has posted some good insights about Blackwater and its connection to Calvin College.
Worth reading and reflecting upon.
Check it out.
Back during my days as a Calvin student I wrestled with the questions of Just War and the right to protest as Student Senate tried to send a letter of protest to President Bush. The student body voted to rescind the protest, but that experience taught me a lot about the community and our struggle to live our theology and convictions.
Perhaps the post will spark some interesting dialogue on this fair blog.
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3 comments:
What an unfortunate connection. Yes, hopefully Calvin rummages up the conviction to do something about it. Sadly, seeing as large amounts of money are involved, I don't foresee that happening. As alumni, perhaps we could make a statement of some type saying that as long as criminals like Erik Prince are giving to Calvin, we will not. Just an idea....
I think we should reserve judgement a little longer, until all the facts are in. Does anyone remember Haditha? Rep. Murtha (D)falsely accused our troops of the cold blooded killing of civilians and is now being sued for libel. While Blackwater must be held accountable for any wrong doing, let's not forget that they have a very important and very dangerous job, protecting our people from terrorists. They have not lost a single person under their protection, but 30 Blackwater personnel have been lost. Terrorists often use civilians as cover, I've read about people firing as they hold small children, so the situations can be quite complicated.
I saw Erik Prince two night ago on Charlie Rose (my late night TV company when my wife is away overnight) and his interview was rather engaging. However, he refused to answer any of the mounting number of reports that shred Blackwater's account of the events. So, a nice press offensive, but nothing else.
I do think that a lot has changed at Calvin, especially when we put a comparison between WWII and the present. If we are in a war like WWII at the moment, as one poster on this site might believe, it might be wise to look at Calvin's conduct during that war. The future president of the college (Spoelhof) was in the OSS-the forerunner to the CIA, and just about every Calvin male (including my grandfather-who was in Torch and a MP of German prisoners in Africa) was in the services as well. This country was facing an opponent far worse than what we are facing today, but American military conduct never denigrated to the levels of the Nazis in terms of conduct to POWs. In this day and age, while we do face an array of persons who do seem to hold much of humanity as rubbish, we have also resorted to interrogation efforts that are parallel to those used by the Nazi machine. Being forced to respond in the language of our enemies is a clear sign that we have lost our moral standing that has long shaped our military conduct. Blackwater personnel, while in a dangerous profession, must be held to the standards of military conduct as authorized by the US government, and should have their records open to the public just as any US military operation does.
As far as Calvin's role in all this, I do think that we all carry a responsibility for speaking up, just as AD and JVP have done so on this site. The conduct of the church since 2001, on both the left and right, has been lethargic and insipid on the very questions of our liberties and the state. Calvin does a great job talking about renewing God's world by training the hearts and minds of individual students, but is largely silent on the role of communal responsibility, a silence that has been very loud since the college and denomination became suburbanized after WWII.
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