Israel is premised on the religion of the Old Testament. Yet the Pope supports the zionist regime. But I suppose he is used to living with irreconcilable differences.
If pope was to not support any country premised on any religion, he should not be speaking to Palestinians at all.
But he does, doesn't he?
Dear
alpine if he's supposed to tend to the sick and suffering
then the people under these oppressive regimes are some of the ones who need the most help.
In general, any time govt gets overrun by religious OR political dogma,
it causes problems when the people LOSE the check on govt, fair due process,
separation of powers. That's what went wrong with Catholic authorities hiding the abuses by priests,
this abused power to bypass due process that would have protected victims and witnesses who complained of crimes.
The problem with why people hide and control things abusing politics
is that we have a culture that seeks to PUNISH and blame people for wrongs.
The tough people get elected for winning the game of excusing what they do
wrong and somehow blaming the other side, so the world is run by bullies.
The focus is not on rewarding people for CORRECTING their wrongs.
That happens in private with spiritual teaching that focuses on self-correction.
This process of bringing justice in a way that HEALS relationships to establish peace is Restorative Justice
while the political process of protecting laws and territory by punishment for deterrence is
Retributive Justice that even CUTS OFF relationships. Bullying has its place, when it comes to defending the innocence against unfair attacks, but right now everyone seems to abuse it.
Restorative Justice is the meaning of Christ Jesus and the path of the church to bring peace.
This is about MUTUAL correction and resolving of problems as EQUALS under law.
This diplomatic process has been derailed by the current wars and politics to defend turf and try to establish who is the dominant authority, or bigger Alpha male of the pack.
Where the state has power to punish and declare war, etc. that's retributive justice.
It should only be used for defense and deterring attacks, but political groups have been attacking each other to try to dominate and control govts, so that gets out of hand.
And where people mix religion with that, it becomes disastrous for people to declare
religious judgments and war on people. So it's important to keep civil checks on govt
especially to avoid abuses of defense, military and punitive authority by govt.
Ultimately the goal is to even unite nations under Restorative Justice,
but as long as we need defense, there is the side of justice that uses retribution
as political force. We have to be careful that is never abused, but sadly we
see a lot more bullying than peacemaking going on right now.
