Georgetown/On Faith

ISLAM AND THE WEST

By Daniel Brumberg

On February 1, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to his native land aboard an Air France jumbo jet. Ten tumultuous days later the Islamic Republic was born.

Iran is now witnessing the 31st anniversary of this dramatic period, which Iran's founding revolutionaries once heralded as the "Days of Dawn."

But there's a small problem: many of those revolutionaries, including several young idealists who accompanied Khomeini on his return to Iran, are now in open revolt. These disillusioned, gray-haired leaders are calling upon their young followers to transform February 11--a day of ritual of mass obeisance to the state --into a political sacrament of peaceful resistance to tyranny.

True to form, the regime has pledged to meet such defiance with brute force. Telegraphing that promise--and by way of a follow-up to the hanging of two protesters--the regime appears ready to execute another 10 young protesters. Council of Guardians Secretary Ayatollah Jannati has even declared that anyone who assails the government is a moharrab--an "enemy of God" who deserves death.

FAITH IN ACTION

By Katherine Marshall

Last week's National Prayer Breakfast cast a spotlight on the gaps between what people of faith say (and pray) and what they actually do. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both discussed the puzzle of how religion can be such a uniting force, but also such a divisive one.

Obama pointed to the fractious political divisions we suffer at home. "We become absorbed with our abstract arguments, our ideological disputes, our contests for power. And in this Tower of Babel, we lose the sound of God's voice," Obama said. "And this erosion of civility in the public square sows division and distrust among our citizens. It poisons the well of public opinion. It leaves each side little room to negotiate with the other. It makes politics an all-or-nothing sport, where one side is either always right or always wrong when, in reality, neither side has a monopoly on truth. And then we lose sight of the children without food and the men without shelter and the families without health care."

This Catholic's View

By Thomas J. Reese, S.J.

You are going to hate this column.

When I first arrived in Washington over 30 years ago, we were experiencing the first of a series of energy crises. There were long lines at gas stations. We were shocked to pay $1 a gallon for gasoline. I had a Volkswagen Beetle so I did not have to gas up very often, but those with big cars regretted it and there was a run on small cars at auto dealerships.

Then gas lines disappeared, gasoline prices came down and we began buying big cars again. This boom and bust cycle repeated itself again and again but we never learned, nor did Detroit or Washington. SUVs and the GM bailout happened because we refused to learn.

Even 30 years ago, economists knew what to do: increase the tax on oil. Higher oil taxes would send a signal though the market to consumers to drive less, switch to mass transit where possible and buy more fuel efficient cars.

No politician had the guts to preach this gospel to the voters. Republicans called for lower taxes on oil producers, even though they pay little taxes already. Republicans also wanted more oil drilling offshore and in wilderness areas. They never thought that we might need to preserve this oil for our grandchildren, who would have safer methods for extracting the oil.

Democrats, at least those not living in Michigan, wanted higher efficiency standards for cars and subsidies to encourage insulation, energy conservation and alternative sources of energy. Politicians from farm states pushed subsidies for ethanol, an expensive and inefficient fuel made from corn and other agricultural products.

Unlike all the complicated government gimmicks to encourage conservation and alternative sources of energy, a tax on oil is simple. It tells consumers to consume less and it tells investors that prices will stay high so they can safely invest in the production of alternative energy.

You might think that a recession is a bad time to put a big fat tax on oil. You are right, but it is not a bad time to start with a small tax. A proposal that makes a lot of economic sense is imposing a tax of one cent a gallon on oil and raising that tax by one cent each month.

Such a tax would not hit consumers over the head with a club, but the hand writing on the wall would be clear: Times have changed and the good old days of cheap energy will not return. Automakers and buyers would know that the days of making and buying gas guzzlers is over. The market would encourage people to insulate their homes, turn down thermostats and buy energy efficient appliances. To the extent it cut down on carbon emissions, it would also slow down global warming.

The tax also makes fiscal sense because it would bring in more money in the future when the recession is over. With future deficits off the charts, new sources of revenue are needed.

Republicans will fear that the money will just be used for more government programs. One way to avoid that is to dedicate the revenue from the tax to paying down the national debt. As an extra incentive, the tax could continue to rise by one cent a month until the Federal budget is balanced. If the budget is balanced for a year, the tax would be reduced by one cent a gallon the following year. If the budget turns red again, the tax goes up the following year.

I told you you would hate this column. But you should love this tax. It responds to four crises that have flummoxed our country: the energy crisis, the fiscal crisis, global warming and terrorism.

Terrorism? Because of our dependency on foreign oil, we are held hostage to Middle Eastern oil producers. Some of these countries use their oil money to support radical Islam and terrorism. In other words, we are paying for both sides of the war on terrorism.

Creation, including oil, is God's gift to us and future generations. If we burn up what took many millennia to create and in the process ruin the environment and put our nation at risk, then we have failed God, our nation and future generations.

Yes, you should love this tax. If you disagree, use the comment below to describe a better program that will deal with the four problems facing our country: the energy crisis, the fiscal crisis, global warming and terrorism.

Thomas J. Reese, S.J., is a Senior Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University.

FAITH IN ACTION
By Katherine Marshall

Sulak Sivaraksa exudes a rare blend of calm and passion for action. Carrying a tall gnarled staff, dressed in a baggy outfit, and with an everpresent cloth bag stuffed with copies of his books, he's a presence wherever he goes. He prides himself on the many labels people attach to him: intellectual, troublemaker, jailbird, engaged Buddhist, spiritual leader. He carries them all with a smile, wise words, and a barb or two.

Born in Siam (he still uses that name for Thailand), Sulak was a rebel as a teenager, finding solace as a monk, then in his studies in the United Kingdom. But he was dissatisfied with what he was taught about Buddhism. His teachers argued that religious leaders who meddled in society and politics lost their spirituality. Sulak believed that was fundamentally wrong. Practicing meditation and mindfulness without engaging with poverty "is escapism, not Buddhism." As he puts it, "To be Buddhist, you should not only adhere to the main teachings - not killing, stealing, having sexual misconducts, or lying - but you also have to distance yourself consciously from the structures of violence that frame our lives. Maybe you do not kill directly, but you kill through the social structure. You don't steal directly, but you let the bank steal."

This Catholic's View

By Thomas J. Reese, S.J.

As I was thinking about this column, there was a part of me that knew I had to write about Haiti and there was another part that simply wanted to ignore it.

On the one hand, we are faced with a humanitarian disaster in Porte-au-Prince that cannot be ignored. An estimated 200,000 people have died. Thousands have been traumatically injured, and many of them will die of their injuries or disease. These people are not just statistics, they are men and women and children with faces and names and feelings. Those who survive will be living in a ruined country without hospitals, utilities or housing. Finding water and food is a daily struggle. Haiti was a basket case before the earthquake and now there is not even a basket.

On the other hand, I want to ignore Haiti. I am suffering from what has been called compassion fatigue. Or maybe it is simply despair. The economy of the world is in the toilet. Unemployment in the U.S. will stay around 10 percent for the rest of the year. Wars are going on in Iraq, Afghanistan and all over Africa. There are millions of refugees around the world. Because of global warming, humanity is heading pell-mell toward an ecological cataclysm that will make the Haitian disaster pale to insignificance. And partisan politics has created gridlock in Washington making it impossible to deal with any of these crises.

FAITH IN ACTION

By Katherine Marhsall

A monkey, so goes an ancient eastern parable, passed by a stream and saw a fish in the water. Assuming that it must be struggling for breath, he "rescued" it. On dry land, the fish flopped about as the monkey rejoiced in its liberation. But the fish soon died. The monkey was sad that his rescue had come too late.

The monkey/fish parable is often told to highlight the dangers of an imperialist spirit and of aggressive religious proselytizing. The obvious message is that the desire to help others may be gravely misdirected. It's a story that speaks to the arrogance of power.

An unfolding story from Madagascar has poignant echoes of the tale of the monkey and the fish. The global environmental movement is cast as the monkey, the local population as the fish.

JUST LAW AND RELIGION

Michael Kessler

As ABC News first reported, Trijicon, a Michigan company, has been supplying rifle scopes to the U.S. military with serial numbers containing scriptural citations. (Thursday, the company decided to stop doing that and to help erase the existing cites.) Was it a stupid practice? Probably. Unconstitutional? Not likely. More interesting to me is how responses to story reflect some fundamental divides among Christians about how they reconcile their religious convictions with military action.

FAITH IN ACTION

By Katherine Marshall

Zilda Arns Neumann, sometimes called Brazil's Mother Teresa, was among those who died tragically during Haiti's earthquake. She was in Port-au-Prince to share lessons from the enormous church-based child health program she established in Brazil.

A pediatrician and public health specialist with 50 years of experience, Dr. Arns Neumann zeroed in on the tragedy of child mortality and malnutrition. The Child Pastoral (Pastoral da Criança) mobilizes some 240,000 volunteers who care for and watch over newborns and their mothers. Its work is practical and tangible and it has grown from tiny roots into a nationwide program that is now being replicated in other countries. Tightly integrated with the Brazilian government's health service and with the Church, the program is world famous for its intensive monitoring and learning systems.

It is also admired because it has achieved extraordinary results. The program and Dr. Arns Neumann have received numerous awards, including the million dollar Opus Prize.

GEORGETOWN/ON FAITH

By Thomas Banchoff

Religious leaders lead the faithful. But what do they have to say to others? Not much in a world where religion is a private matter and politics is secular.

But like it or not, that is not our world.

Where policy questions have an ethical dimension, religious leaders have a public voice. On issues ranging from abortion to stem cell research and same-sex marriage to climate change, they speak out of their traditions on problems of the day - often on both sides of a given controversy.

Increasingly the same is true of economic issues.

This Catholic's View

By Thomas J. Reese, S.J.

Almost 300 years ago, the first Catholic sisters arrived in America and began a ministry that would not just shape American Catholicism but the nation itself. "Women and Spirit," an exhibit that just opened at the Smithsonian Institution, tells the story of these Spirit-filled women and how they served the people of the United States in education, health care and social justice.

At a time when American sisters are under investigation by the Vatican, this exhibit shows how much we as a nation owe a deep debt of gratitude to these women. Perhaps if the members of the Vatican Congregation for Religious visited this wonderful exhibit, they would find better things to do with their time than harass these dedicated women.

ISLAM AND THE WEST

By Daniel Brumberg

THE Islamic Republic of Iran is not about to implode. Nevertheless, the misguided idea that it may do so is becoming enshrined as conventional wisdom in Washington.
-- Flynt and Hillary Leverett, New York Times, January 5, 2010.

I can't think of a foreign policy op/ed that has provoked more heat than that of the Leveretts. Employing their characteristic, in-your-face style, they have done their utmost to discredit the idea that the Ahsura protests that broke out some three weeks ago signal an eminent fall of the Iranian regime.