“Where is love more glorified than when she dwells in the midst of her enemies?.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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As Christians, our scriptures tell us that God sides with the poor and oppressed, that He doesn’t even allow a sparrow to fall without good reason, and that His followers speak for the powerless - those who effectively have no voice. They will give up reputation to stand for a people or stop an unjust war, will give up comfort to preserve even the small things of their God’s creation, and will lose friends and support, defending both single mothers and unborn children. The issues are not simple, but because the Bible claims that God is love, we are told that we cannot even begin to understand Him until our hearts break and our worlds revolve around the same things as the heart of God.

According to Jesus, his work was to bring about a regime change that would affect everything from the youngest baby to the furthest star. When he asks us to “seek first the kingdom of God”, he is asking us to devote our lives to a kingdom that offends every financial, political and religious establishment in existence. Building the Kingdom of God is not pacifism, it is war to the deepest fibres of our being. “Love” is only a popular word when it is reduced to a bland sentiment; in reality it will never favour the powerful so it will only ever meet resistance. Because of this, Jesus’ concept of love was that of an unstoppable force, a tsunami of change that would overcome all barriers without being overcome by any form of compromise. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” (Matt 11:12).

-  ACTION -

Climate Change      West Papua     Peak Oil

“We and the world, my children, will always be at war.

Retreat is impossible.

Arm yourselves.”

Leif Enger

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- CAMPAIGN RESOURCES -

Calendar of Parliamentary Sittings 

Contact details - House of Representatives

Contact details - Senate

Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

How to visit a politician - TEAR

Working with the media (TEAR)

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

Rev. Martin Luther King Jnr.

- WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY -

A January 2008 report by the United Nations looking into treatment of human rights defenders found in West Papua that

“…when defenders expose abuse of authority or other forms of human rights violations committed by the security apparatus, they are labeled as separatists in order to undermine their credibility…”. It also found that people who had been labelled in this way were at serious risk.

Indonesian law allows for imprisonment of separatists. This is a breach of human rights itself[1], but it is even worse when the so-called separatists are actually human rights defenders. As Australia’s “Lombok Treaty” with Indonesia commits us to “non support of separatism”, the international community will logically believe that we support Indonesia’s actions to suppress separatism unless we make it very clear that this is not the case. Australia needs to raise the UN report with President Yudhoyono in an international setting (consistent with the recommendations of the JSCOT report on the Lombok Treaty). We need to make it clear that we do not in any way support Indonesia’s actions, and offer assistance where necessary to combat the ongoing atmosphere of cruelty in West Papua.

Write, making these and any other points to any or all of:

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd,

Foreign Minister Steven Smith or

Member for Eden-Monaro & Secretary of Defence Mike Kelly

at PO Box 6022, House of Representatives, Parliament House,

Canberra ACT 2600

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   “They’re advertising in the skies for people like us.” - U2

Building a Campaign

Use the diagram below to analyse what you need to achieve, then break your campaign down into the components described. Christian campaigning is not about being annoying, it is an effort to see God’s principles enacted on earth (”your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”), so a fully formed campaign needs to address the areas described here and follow these basic principles even if they are expressed differently.

You will almost certainly not be able to deal with all of these facets at once, but if you are passionate about the issue then make a start and as you progress and see the needs developing, pray and look for others that can specialise in the different areas. Each box is descibed below the diagram in greater detail.

 

1. Learn. Research the facts from reliable sources. Find all sides of the story and why it hasn’t been fixed
2. Educate. Expose the story - injustice thrives in an atmosphere of silence (John 3:19). Tell people, make posters, flyers, websites, write to newspapers and relevant authorities that should be made aware. Speak at schools, churches, community groups.
3. Find Solutions. Justice is more about making things right than punishing wrong-doers. Do your research, talk to experts; get people talking together.
4. Advocate. Be a loud voice for those who have none. Visit, email, write to those responsible for the wrong and call them to account. Offer solutions, organise and offer help, insist on good reasons why action has not been taken. Educate and call on others (church, community, community leaders, and international community) to advocate. Expose the inaction of those responsible. Write to newspapers, call radio stations; buy advertising time. Do not manipulate or blackmail - the end is inherent in the means.
5. Intercede. The first step beyond “reasonable action” and the point where we can really start to glimpse God’s heart. To intercede is to “stand in the gap”; to draw fire from the attacker so that their focus is taken from the victim. Advocate to the point that you ignore the unjust warnings and incur the anger of the abuser, but make sure they are being provoked by your good actions and that you give them no other reason. They will cause you pain - respond with love (Matt 5: 38-48). “…the only ultimate way to conquer evil is to let it be smothered within a willing, living human being. When it is absorbed there like blood in a sponge or a spear into one’s heart, it loses it’s power and goes no further” (Old priest quoted by M. Scott Peck). When an innocent intercessor incurs the injustice of an aggressor and responds by returning love for hate, they draw the world’s attention to the situation and awaken the sense of justice that God has created in everyone. The more Christ-like their action and the darker the hatred directed against them, the more the eyes of everyone are opened - able now to both reject the cruel actions and love the character of God that they see in you.
6. Reconcile. The final and possibly most difficult step, yet central to the work of a Christian (2 Cor 5:18-20). Once justice has been achieved, the abuser needs to be forgiven and restored. Both abuser and abused are loved equally by God so you must first reconcile where possible with the abuser, then advocate on their behalf to the ones they have hurt. Look for healing for the broken on both sides, pray, listen, encourage, organise physical help. When both sides are reconciled, then both sides are free.

When can our action be called ‘Christian’?

Adapted from “A Christian response to global warming part one” 

• Christian action is defined by love. Love is the fulfilment of the law (Matt 22:37-39), the mark of a true believer (John 13:35) and without it we cannot begin to understand God, because God is love (1 John 4:8). Any teaching that down-plays love or makes it out to be less important is not Biblical.

• Biblical love is not sentiment but a bold and selfless commitment to put the welfare of others ahead of one’s own (1 John 3:16). Christian action will consider the welfare of others above our own interests. It will not treat one race or religion more kindly than another (Romans 10:12), will not care less for anyone because of their perceived or actual moral failings (1 Peter 4:8), and will not exclude others because of fear of being hurt by them (Matt 5:43-48). There are other philosophies and descriptions of love that are similar, but the difference is the lengths which we are asked to go to. Human philosophy gives personal fulfillment, the escape from emotional turmoil or some other personal gain as the motivation for love. Biblical love is modelled on Christ - it gives to the other regardless of cost to the giver and looks for no reward, be it physical or emotional (II Cor 12:15); with one exception. It is only when we make the attempt to love that we can begin to understand the heart of God (1 John 4:7-8). Because of this, Biblical love goes beyond the natural, reasonable and normal: it is concerned with the extraordinary because it is driven by the extraordinary possibility of deeper relationship with God Himself.
• Love evokes emotion, but it is not in itself an emotional response. If it is Biblical, a course of action will be informed, rational and wise (Phil 1:9). It must take into account all of the relevant science, history and other facts and process them in an atmosphere of faith that God can care for us even if the way ahead is difficult.
• A Christian response recognises that the Bible is God-inspired (II Tim 3:16), so it will accept the authority of the Bible when there is a clear clash with other claims.
• A Christian response is humble, recognising our own limits and deferring to those with abilities we don’t have ourselves (Romans 12:3).
• A Christian response is not bound by culture. For example, despite the present culture to the contrary it recognises our God-given responsibility to care for the environment, that creation is an expression of God’s character (Rom 1:20) and that we will be asked to give account for our stewardship of everything God has given into our care (Matt 25:14-30). This places a weightier responsibility on us to care for the environment than that recognised by the secular community.

  

“Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life”

Lord Melbourne, in opposition to William Wilberforce’s Bill for the Abolition of Slavery

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“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.”

Isaiah 58: 6-8

“God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.”

Bono (Lead Singer U2)

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

Matt 25:34-40

Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’,
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’,
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Bob Dylan (Hard Rain)