Thank you Rev. Beckmann for your thoughtful piece.

I find it interesting that some of the responses here pose the question of why "God allows" widespread hunger and poverty.

A better question is why "people of faith allow" the problem to exist and persist. If you stop and look at the big picture, you'll realize that there are enough resources available in the world to ensure that no one goes hungry. As people of faith, we must realize that those resources came from God.

Are those of us who have been given control (some would say "blessed with") those resources practicing good stewardship? Are we practicing justice (fairness) in our economic policies?

That is the real question we must answer.

It is difficult to even think about of a child going without nourishment particularly when so many of our children are "stuffing" themselves into obesity.
It is also difficult to understand why adults would intentionally bring childen into an environment where they are sure to go hungry, if not starve. The cruelty of intents simply magnifies the cruelty of neglect.

Dont forget to inform yourself on the current 2008 Farm Bill and inform your Senators and Congressman to remove any subsidies that will impact on poor developing countries. This bill is too bloated as Pres. Bush has said.
Too, support Pres. Bush on his efforts to reach an agreement with all developing nations on removing their agricultural subsidies.

PS Obama and Clinton voted for passage of the bloated and harmful Farm Bill. THey are sooo compassionate don't you know.

McCain voted against it!

Jim above is correct about "free markets."
The following is from kickaas.typepad.com/
Kick All Agricultural Subsidies (kickAAS)

"October 05, 2007
Subsidies: dig a hole and bury them
The US has just revealed new figures showing that it spent $16 billion in subsidies to its farmers every year between 2002 and 2005. Who cares? Very few people apparently. It's only money after all. Yet the truth is the US (and all the other subsidy junkies) would be doing the world a favour if, instead of handing out taxpayers money to farmers, they simply buried it in a big hole in the ground. The US would be no worse off but millions of people in developing countries suddenly would be able to grow crops such as sugar beet and cotton that they are prevented from at the moment because of subsidised competition.. But, of course, if they didn't bury it the US would have $16 billion more to spend on things that really matter."

And:

"June 30, 2007
A tale of two planets
The world produced enough food to feed 12 billion people last year - almost twice the world's population according to UN official Jean Ziegler, yet 854 million people went without food. The reason? $350 billion dollars are being spent on agricultural subsidies by industrialised countries.
So what is being done about it? It's business as usual in the US where a subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee unanimously rubberstamped an extension of existing commodity farm subsidies for the next five years, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, an organization that monitors excessive government spending."

Check the site out. Lead to many stories on subsidies and world hunger.

I agree that the requirement to feed the hungry would certainly be a reasonable interpretation of the New Testament. It would also be an imperative of secular theories of social justice, of Islam, Judaism, social democracy. and of well, human decency. Does somebody think, like Scrooge, that we ought to let the poor die and resolve the problem of surplus population?

I have resolved to make a substantial donation to Oxfam this year as well as one to Planned Parenthood. Besides handouts we ought to help people be more self sufficient and to help relocate people who are living in areas that can no longer sustain population due to poor growing conditions and desertification.

But avoidance of human hunger also requires readily available contraception, which religious groups, especially the Catholic church, have done everything possible to obstruct, to their shame and discredit. It's time to have an honest conversation about this. The Green Revolution permitted this issue to be placed on the back burner for a few decades, but current conditions make Malthusian mathematics inescapable. I really believe most people would be happy to limit family size to the number of children they can afford to feed and educate if provided the means to do so , as one observes people doing voluntarily all over the Western world. Permitting human population to be controlled by war, pestilence and famine is unspeakably stupid and cruel.

No one would give their kid a rock if he or she asked for a roll.

Do you guys even care about the starving issue or the God issue? Cause it certainly seems like a lot of people here care more about bashing other people's beliefs than.

You people asking "How can a merciful God exist if he makes people suffer blah blah blah" (1) Have a very skewed true concept of what God or a god is and (2) have some really absurd prejudice against religions and believers that would make the founding fathers roll in their graves. I'm embarassed to say I live in the same country as you (this presupposes that you live in the US)

It's not any religion's fault (or the God therein for that matter.) It never was. Nor is it politics, education, civilization. It's only people's fault. God/Mother Nature/The start the blew up before the Solar System was made only put us and the resources here. Their deal is to worry about what happens AFTER us.

In fact, not only is it not God's fault, it's ALWAYS people's fault. It's the people who take advantage of the system, or people who don't know how to use it correctly, people who are too short sighted to see the bigger picture, people who see the bigger picture and decide they can't do anything about it.

Two final thoughts:

1) Assuming all Christians are conservatives tells me that you're probably atheist, or in the least not very devout in what you claim, and that you probably listen to the pope more than most Christians do.

2) Claiming secularism/atheism as a reason to ignore starvation is a horrible excuse. Ignorance is an epidemic itself that, unfortunately, has no end in sight either.

Ya know what, get off your ivory towers, log off the net for a minute, pick up a can of food and feed someone who needs it.

Fred Evil

I liked Sam Kinison a lot, but I never would have elected him to an office. He was hilarious even though there were a lot of logic flaws in his stand-up and maybe because there were a lot of flaws.

And then there is historical perspective. "Of course there's nothing holding these people where they are, they are more than likely very capable of moving themselves to where the FOOD IS!!" was said at a time before AIDS devastated Africa, leaving 12 million orphaned children behind not capable of moving themselves anywhere. One trip to really spend time with people in extreme poverty would convince anyone that assistance is necessary.

Fred Evil

I liked Sam Kinison a lot, but I never would have elected him to an office. He was hilarious even though there were a lot of logic flaws in his stand-up and maybe because there were a lot of flaws.

And then there is historical perspective. "Of course there's nothing holding these people where they are, they are more than likely very capable of moving themselves to where the FOOD IS!!" was said at a time before AIDS devastated Africa, leaving 12 million orphaned children behind not capable of moving themselves anywhere. One trip to visit people in extreme poverty would convince anyone that assistance is necessary.

Garyd,

Please give us the website and info for the org that you are working with to launch war against governments that use starvation as a political tool to control and or exterminate their opposition. There is much work to do in the movement against poverty and we need everyone to be engaged. Rev Beckmann does much in the area that he is trained and experienced in as an economist and a Christian leader, but he is only one person. We need people like you to help with all facets of this large and complex problem...as long as you're referring to a metaphorical war, that is...

What a two faced turn around for the Washington Post.After years of cheap unfounded slander directed toward Biblical Christianity you tourn around and give space to a christain who makes sense? What hypocricy. People have been starving for years. why didn't you support christain thinking years earlier? As a matter of fact why haven't you supported christain thinking consistantly.

What a silly piece, it's "sacred" to fight hunger?

I'm reminded of an old bit by Sam Kinison.

In it, he wondered why we are always airlifting food, water and supplies to people who live in absolutely terrible conditions. Folks who live in the desert, in wastelands, and who can't feed themselves.

Of course there's nothing holding these people where they are, they are more than likely very capable of moving themselves to where the FOOD IS!! Doesn't THAT sound like a good idea?

As an "evangelical" pastor I would have to say one of the greatest sin of evangelicals is being so Heaven bound we can be no earthly good. Feeding the world is an absolute for all people of faith.

And I must end with a commentary: To all the grumpy, accusatory atheists...While it is true Christians have a long hall of shame, we have historically done great things to relieve human suffering. For example: Just ask the people in rural areas effected by Hurricane Katrina what they think of FEMA....or Methodist-Baptists-and Catholics. I rest my case.

Rev. Beckmann is right on target. If the statistics he presents do not motivate, perhaps Matthew 25:31-46 will; "Lord when did I see you hungry... I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least, you did it for me."

Would it not be easier if God said" Let there be enough food for all" and there would enough food for all?

With all due respect, is there actually anyone who needs a deity to tell them that they should not let children starve?
Feeding the hungry is the moral choice whether there is a God or not. It is not "sacred work," it is human work and no cause is advanced, no good done by suggesting that a divine reason is needed to take the moral choice.

Anyone know how much money Arabs give to the world for hungry mouths? My guess is minimal. This from a muslim web site:

Islam ( Mohammadanism ) give money only to Moslems not those pig infidels that we know Allah hates just as much as we do.

If you are a Christian, you are most likely a conservative.

If you are a conservative, you subscribe to a political ideology which is self-centered, greedy, and concerned primarily with "my land, my guns, and my money."

The problem of hunger, like so many other immensely huge problems, cannot be addressed adequately without help from the government.

Help from the government requires money to spend on the problem.

Federal money comes from one source: taxes.

Christian conservatives will never give up their money to taxes to fight hunger, and so this problem will never be adequately addressed as long as Christian conservatives hold the reins of power in the US.

Thank you, David Beckmann, for you excellent leadership in keeping us informed on hunger issues. If I were starving, I would hope that someone would help me obtain food.

So when are you going to launch your war against governments that Use starvation as a political tool to control and or exterminate their opposition Pastor Beckman.

As a Christian pastor, I am so glad to see that David Beckmann and others are continuing to call all people to God's vision that we are all family. Those are not just statistics who are dying of hunger. They are our brothers and sisters, our children, and just like we would do everything we could to feed our own family. We need to do everything we can to make sure that everyone at least has enough to eat!

Mark Twain says;

"During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church, after doing its duty in but a lazy and indolent way for eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumbscrews, and firebrands, and set about its Holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood.

Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. Who discovered that there was no such thing as a witch - the priest? the parson? No. These never discover anything. At Salem the parson clung pathetically to his witch text after the laity had abandoned it in remorse and tears for the crimes and cruelties it has persuaded them to do. The parson wanted more blood , more shame, more brutalities, it was the unconsecrated laity that stayed his hand.
There are no witches. The witch text remains; only the practice has changed. Hell-fire is gone, but the text remains; infant damnation is gone, but the text remains. More than two hundred death penalties are gone from the law books but the texts that authorised them remain."

Mark Twain, "Bible Teaching and Religious Practice" as quoted in "The Portable Atheist" page 121. pub.by DaCapo Press

I look forward to God, Jesus, AND the Holy Spirit solving this food crisis.

Perhaps, Mary, St. Patrick, and Mother Theresa will also help out.

Bgone,

I'm definitely not going to defend Bush quotes, but I do appreciate your admission that you could be wrong. Your comments seem reflect a surface level familiarity about a few Christian stories, but a lack of basic understanding about the Christian view of Jesus, his mission, and what might bring about a 2nd coming. I make it a point not to sarcastically mock another person's faith unless I fully understand the religion and that person's views and relationship to it. Since that's pretty much impossible, esp over the internet, I just wouldn't do it.

Far better stick to the discussion at hand...poverty and how to overcome it. I don't believe the "religion operators don't give a hoot about starving people" any more than I believe that atheists are not compassionate. The job of those of us in the movement to end hunger is to help move people from apathy, hopelessness, or ignorance to action, inspiration and education. Then, we can work effectively to talk about things like overpopulation, climate change, and commodity distribution and work on solutions without running each other down.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I really don't think so.

Some of you have complained that the issue of God's existence is peripherial to the world food crisis, and should be avoided by the thoughtful contributors to this thread. I agree with the first of these sentiments, but God's existence, desires, and actions are central to Beckmann's argument. Beckmann's inane clam that we should fight hunger because God fights hunger is not just fair game; it is an important point of discussion.

A few of you have emphasized that Beckmann's organization works alongside secular efforts. That's great! This fact also belies Beckmann's argument.

I'm all for making sure people don't starve to death, but can't we fight hunger simply because people are hungry?

Thank you for this commentary. All of us need to be aware of hunger issues.
As a resident of Albuquerque, NM, I belong to a community where we alleviate hunger in our immediate area.
We haven't experienced the hunger level of Haiti however. Last weekend our church community collected 400 letters for Bread For The World.

Thanks,
Ellen

Michael Everett: - being the eternal optimist that I am I have the solution and it's sure-fire.

"Go to your churches, temples, synagogues, mosques and pray." Those are the first words spoken by our president, "W" 9-11-2001. If the president doesn't know what to do then nobody knows what to do.

Oops! Later I heard him say, "we are all sinners." If he and his would just stopped sinning then Jesus would come and do the "loaves and fishes" trick -food shortage problem solved. We must prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. Then all our problems are solved.

I could be wrong you know.

Pam: - being the eternal optimist that I am I have a solution but it's far from sure-fire. Global warming could be a blessing though it's difficult to make that case.

Alaska produces the biggest vegetables, where they can be grown over a somewhat short growing season. As the polar ice caps melt Alaska warms so more of it's mega acres can be put into food production. There will be mass starvation before that happens for the reasons you stated though. We've dug ourselves into a "rabbit bred" hole and there is no simple way out.

The religion operators don't give a hoot about starving people. It's a blessing to them, allows them to collect money from guilty feeling folks of which only a small percentage if any at all ever gets used to buy food to feed the hungry. There are still plenty of, way too many malnourished American children.

Global warming is caused by people. Unfortunately there is no known cure for people. Nothing will stop the earth from heating because people must cook and heat their homes. Once heat is created it just hangs around with no where to go. That makes global warming a reality that must be dealt with as such. It's not the problem but a symptom of a much larger and much more difficult to deal with problem, population.

The Recipe for Hope is crucial at a time like this. In our comfortable lives we need to be afflicted by the knowledge that people are dying. The Recipe for Despair reminds us of the need. Sit and count five seconds to yourself. Then think, "A child just died." Count five more. See how long you can keep that up before you have the overwhelming need to do something about it. It took me 10 seconds.

That's where the Recipe for Hope comes in. Once you are motivated to do something about the growing hunger of pepople around the world, it presents you with something to do, something very concrete.

The amount of food the earth can produce is not infinite. Arable land is shrinking from urbanization and desertification. Fisheries are crashing, pollinating bees are dieing off. Acquifers are being pumped dry and oil prices are driving up the costs of fertilizer. What can we do? Rising food prices will drive people to plant their back yards if they have them. Waste will be reduced. Everyone but the very rich will move their diet downward on the food chain. Rainforest, wilderness, and park land will be cleared and devoted to food production. And science will continue to produce beneficial tweaks.

Global population continues to expand at a rate of 75 million a year so each year we have to produce food for 75 million more than the year before. So as demand rises, supply will continue to drop. The world's ability to produce food is finite. Food production tracks the population. When it can no longer track population, the difference will be made up by starvation and ultimately a mass die-off. People like to say we can leave it all to science. They always come up with the right invention just in time. But remember, we haven't even found a viable form of alternative energy and alternative food isn't even on the remote horizon.

The only possible remedy is that the Lord will deliver an adequate food supply so long as we pray and go to church. So far this hasn't happened and many have died, though thankfully very few were Christian. Perhaps the Lord is waiting until the Christian nations start becoming hungry and then will deliver us as he has so many time before.

May the Good Lord bless and keep you.

Michael E.

Bgone is right - this isn't a problem that can be solved by throwing money at it. There is only so much arable land, and most of it is already in production. We are now using some of it (more every day) to grow FUEL, not food - a very bad sign for humanity.

The problem, as someone said, is the population bomb.

If we had some way to equitably distribute all the foodstuff currently produced (we don't, and never will have), there would be enough CALORIES to feed the current population, but not enough protein. Soon everyone would develop kwashiorkor (Google it).

With fewer people, almost all of our current problems go away - no more global warming, no more starvation, no more extinctions from loss of habitat, no more crowded conditions with their attendant sanitation problems... I could go on and on.

Yet the religious go on saying that God will provide, and the fundamentalists go on breeding like rabbits because of their "quiverful" philosophy (Google that, too).

We've reached the point where it's become irresponsible for anyone to produce more than one child, if that. And religion ( "be fruitful and multiply...") is a large part of the problem, and a huge hindrance in educating the world about this.

Brambleton:

Food shortage not money shortage is the problem. There isn't enough food to feed everyone, unless you intend to feed them money. Money can't buy food that doesn't exist.

Can't we rely on God's word, the Bible to guide us? It says the solution to famine is for the government to collect up all the food and put a slave in charge of it. We don't have any slaves so guess we'll have to rely on God's representatives, ministers to take charge of the food. Now I see why it's money and not food you have in mind.

Didn't Jesus say something about the birds don't work yet the heavenly father takes care of them? Guess Jesus was only talking about God feeding ministers. Ministers have plenty of food already? That's why money is the solution to the food shortage problem, ministers still collecting all of that they can get? Jesus was probably talking about money, don't you imagine?

I just am sad to see so many spend time not finding ways to help, but instead questioning why people believe in G-d. Besides the fact that Mr. Beckmann gave an opinion on why there's so much suffering (it's our own fault as the shepherds of the earth), this was not even the point of his article. The point was that we should stand up and help other people. Keep the religious debate for another time, there are more important arguments to this article.

Hillman,

CCYL is right. We are all responsible, Christian and secular alike, for helping those who can't help themselves.

While I believe your example is laughable, I'll use one just like it to prove the point. How much money was spent creating and producing the movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" and how much money was spent by the public to see it? How about $22 million in sales the first weekend! That's $22 million that was spent to see an R-rated, political hatchet job, that was akin to a 60 minute ad full of left-wing rhetoric.

Maybe some of the $22 million that weekend could've been used to help the homeless? The hungry? Those fighting AIDS?

Bob Davis;

Splendid comment. I agree with you totally,as I do with other nonbeliever comments here. Sure is some kind of god we got going for us. What a loser.

Those poor folk, many of whom pray five times a day facing Mecca; the Christianists and the Buddhists swept away in tsunamis and cyclones, or buried under concrete rubble in earthquakes or under ash in volcanoes, or starving to death in famines.
Could there be an actual godperson looking out for us, he is always asleep at the wheel. He does nothing about anything ever. Never lifts a finger.
Is it because he's got better things to do? A meeting perhaps - in some far off galaxy? Or is he busy spying on abortionists and sexual deviates to see who is being bad, and needs to be sent to hell when they die? (Someone's got to do it)
Or is it possible that like the atheists say, that god is just make believe, invented by our ancestors in a primitive attempt to understand existence? Gee, I wouldn't be surprised. That would be a most reasonable conclusion. It makes sense. After all, nobody has ever seen him, or heard him, or even heard of anybody who has. So yes, there probably is no god.

I happen to personally agree with Rev. Beckmann and celebrate discussion of poverty issues in a national venue.

However, I think some of this on-line discussion about God and whether or not God "allows" poverty to persist is a bit of a red herring. In order to eradicate extreme poverty, it is going to require the efforts of non-believers and believers alike. A great example of this kind of teamwork can be seen in the way that Rev. Beckmann's group, Bread for the World (which contains non-Christian members and staffers, by the way), works side by side with RESULTS, a secular anti-poverty organization. Both orgs are highly effective and dedicated to building the political will to end poverty. Last year, they held a joint event in Washington D.C. together to hear members of Congress and and the Millennium Campaign speak. I was present and don't recall any heated debate over God's existence or intentions. Just an inspirational gathering of hundreds of people with a common purpose to end poverty.

If you don't agree with Rev. Beckmann's faith, it does not mean you cannot work to end poverty. Not being Christian does not excuse anyone from working toward social justice. Not being Muslim does not mean you can be blind to the suffering of others. If there were ever a issue that should be bi-partisan and embraced by all people, it should be the movement to end poverty.

Whether you believe in God or not, you can visit www.bread.org or www.results.org to find out how people of all different belief systems are fighting for people in need.

Perhaps if the millions of dollars and countless hours and resources (both physical and political) spent fighting gay marriage had only been spent on food and hunger issues...

But I guess it was more important to Jesus that an elderly lesbian be denied the automatic right to see her dying partner in the hospital?

Surely Jesus would have let innocent African children die from starvation in order to prevent a destitute old gay man in Alabama from applying for survivor benefits after his partner of 40 years dies, right?

Anyone care to explain that to those now dying from preventable hunger?

God has been doing exactly nothing.

We alone let it happen.

This article, as many have pointed out, is totally asinine.

God has alleviated poverty in recent decades? Well excuse me, but I'd say its been democracy and capitalism that has done this work.

And if God can alleviate poverty, what stops him from disallowing it to occur in the first place.

This is the contradiction of believers. God didn't cause the pain but he can relieve it.

Sorry to inform you, but God's warriors have never brought peace despite their incredible numbers. The last thing we need is more belief.

"One child dies each 5 seconds from hunger-caused reasons". "God is still moving, but God expects us to do our part". I have no doubt of Mr. Beckman's belief, but, as a non-believer of a good part of his reasoning, I have only to wonder what kind of "all-powerful and loving God" would permit such suffering? A logical conclusion would be that this God plays board games with the people of his earth and enjoys watching them stumble, fall and suffer, when He(?), if "all powerful", has the power to end the inequality and suffering with one powerful action. I believe that God did not make Man in his (?) image, rather Man has "constructed" God in Man's image, complete with all of Man's weaknesses, faults and unwillingness to solve such problems as hunger, suffering and inequality. I think that the ancient men (no women) wrote to the best of their beliefs but with limited knowledge. Maybe it is time for a modern review of the old
accepted "truths".

Bob,

I guess this "insane practice" must persist because nobody has given the question of God much thought over the years. Likewise with the problem of pain. Maybe when humanity gets around to asking these tough questions we will all come to realize how obvious the answers are.

Bob,

When you say, "Fortunately, and despite some religious affiliations, there are groups who realize that we can't wait for an ineffectual god to solve the problem", what problem solving are you referring to? I'd be interested to know who these groups are and what they've solved. Because last I checked, there are numerous atrocities that have gone unresolved.

Not a sermon, just a thought.

When is this insane practice of believing in a god going to end? Why would you believe in a god that allows starvation, famine, war, disease, etc. to devastate "his children?" Certainly, a "loving" god would never allow these things to happen. And what about all the prayers prayed to this "god" throughout the ages? Does he ignore pleas for world peace, an end to hunger, cures for diseases? It would seem so. Not only that but this god has never intervened in the multitude of genocides that have occurred over the centuries. Is this a loving, caring god? The stories about this god were written by people who had no toilets, no electricity and little scientific or medical knowledge in a society where most could neither read nor write. How can anyone think that these cretins had answers to the mysteries of life? Isn't it odd that the alleged Jesus could feed thousands with a few loaves of bread and some fish and yet this god has never allowed this "miracle" to be replicated. Sounds like a pretty nasty god to me. If hunger is to be eradicated, it will be up to humans, alone, to carry out the task. Evidently, not enough humans see this as a priority. Fortunately, and despite some religious affiliations, there are groups who realize that we can't wait for an ineffectual god to solve the problem. One would be better off praying to Santa Claus since the odds are higher that there will at least be a present under a tree -- the poor and starving notwithstanding.

Why does God receive all the credit for alleviating global poverty over this past century, but no censure for the fact that poverty has been endemic throughout all of human history?

Even limiting our discussion to current events: why is it that God wants us to end the global food crisis, when he, being an omnipotent entity, brought it about in the first place?

I laud David Beckmann for dedicating himself to the cause of ending world hunger. But why can't he acknowledge that faith in an omnipotent being requires that such a being be held responsible for all human suffering?

NOTICE TO SUE "NEWS CORP., aka WASHiNGTONPOST et al::
NOTICE TO SUE "NEWS CORP., aka WASHiNGTONPOST et al:

Att: NEWS CORP., PLAGEIZERs, Intellectual Property Theives, "WAPO", aka National & International Influence & news maker/creators, as if G-D et al:

Note: Since Newsweek.washingtonpost.com via "ONFAiTH" or "ONRELiGiON" Blogg here , have Discriminated & Blocked & Prejudiced Us ECLAT{ARiAN}'s , aka APOCALYPTARiAN's, aka ECLAT{-i-}{ON's}, aka HU{MATE's} aka JOKTANian Eberu Race. that One is not alloweed to type This:

.A
..S
...T
....R
.....O
......N
.......O
........M
.........Y

2009
(dot)
ORG

Please type these 9-Letter & 4 numbers & (.) & 3-letters , on a straight line & hit "Post'.

----

But Now WAPO via Myspace now allows

the Above with a catch 22. aka twist!

http://www.myspace.com/2009yearofastronomy

Wow!

----

Shame Newsweek! Wow!

WAPO, aka NEWS CORP. & Crew et al, are a bunch of Low Lifes!

Mr. WATERS! MRS. QUiNN! Mr. Zakaria, et al!

We will be seeing you in court soon!

Ye Scum of the Earth!

May 20, 2008 1:34 PM | Report Offensive Comments

Posted on May 20, 2008 13:34

Testa testa EClat{Arian} again. Wapo_Myspace?:
http://www.myspace.com/2009yearofastronomy

May 20, 2008 12:45 PM | Report Offensive Comments

Posted on May 20, 2008 12:45

testing testing for Federal Law Suit against "NEWS CORP" et al:
www.myspace.com/2009yearofastronomy

May 20, 2008 12:39 PM

---

SERVED Properly & ELECTRONiCALLY, according to ANY, EVERY & ALL "FEDERAL", STATE(s), LOCAL(s) & International LAW(s), STATUTE(s), RULE(s), REGULATiON(s), .....

---

NOTE: in all fairness; This entire Blogg is Photographed & ReCorded for Court Purposes Only!!

Yours Truly:

Served by JACOB

Please go To:

.J
..O
...Z
....E
.....V
......Z
(dot)
US

Thank-o-Shame!

May 20, 2008 1:45 PM

NOTICE TO SUE "NEWS CORP., aka WASHiNGTONPOST et al:

Att: NEWS CORP., PLAGEIZERs, Intellectual Property Theives, "WAPO", aka National & International Influence & news maker/creators, as if G-D et al:

Note: Since Newsweek.washingtonpost.com via "ONFAiTH" or "ONRELiGiON" Blogg here , have Discriminated & Blocked & Prejudiced Us ECLAT{ARiAN}'s , aka APOCALYPTARiAN's, aka ECLAT{-i-}{ON's}, aka HU{MATE's} aka JOKTANian Eberu Race. that One is not alloweed to type This:

.A
..S
...T
....R
.....O
......N
.......O
........M
.........Y

2009
(dot)
ORG

Please type these 9-Letter & 4 numbers & (.) & 3-letters , on a straight line & hit "Post'.

----

But Now WAPO via Myspace now allows

the Above with a catch 22. aka twist!

http://www.myspace.com/2009yearofastronomy

Wow!

----

Shame Newsweek! Wow!

WAPO, aka NEWS CORP. & Crew et al, are a bunch of Low Lifes!

Mr. WATERS! MRS. QUiNN! Mr. Zakaria, et al!

We will be seeing you in court soon!

Ye Scum of the Earth!

May 20, 2008 1:34 PM | Report Offensive Comments

Posted on May 20, 2008 13:34

Testa testa EClat{Arian} again. Wapo_Myspace?:
http://www.myspace.com/2009yearofastronomy

May 20, 2008 12:45 PM | Report Offensive Comments

Posted on May 20, 2008 12:45

testing testing for Federal Law Suit against "NEWS CORP" et al:
www.myspace.com/2009yearofastronomy

May 20, 2008 12:39 PM

---

SERVED Properly & ELECTRONiCALLY, according to ANY, EVERY & ALL "FEDERAL", STATE(s), LOCAL(s) & International LAW(s), STATUTE(s), RULE(s), REGULATiON(s), .....

---

NOTE: in all fairness; This entire Blogg is Photographed & ReCorded for Court Purposes Only!!

Yours Truly:

Served by JACOB

Please go To:

.J
..O
...Z
....E
.....V
......Z
(dot)
US

Thank-o-Shame!

Oh yes, of, course, it is the fault of the Catholic church again. It must be somewhat satisfying to be able to reduce complex issues to a level where they can so easily be understood in their totality.

Just thinking about what hoax-buster.org says makes the pope's head hurt. Don anything different for your head as you watch people die of starvation?

Global food shortage? There must be a global land shortage because food comes from the land. "The Farmer He Must Feed Them All"

There's good news, Gospel you might say. The earth is warming and the polar ice caps are melting. What may be the most productive not-yet-farm-able land on earth could soon become farm-able. Alaska and Siberia are now worthless frozen wastelands. And of course, Antarctica is a huge wasted land mass at present. Waste not want not!!!

While we wait for God to save us from sure starvation brought about by embracing the hoax as God's word, the Bible we can help God out and speed up the process. Be sure to do your part. Burn lots of oil to cook your food, (what you have left) heat your house and get around town in high style driving your gas guzzling yuppimobile.

At least a 100 year supply of oil is known to exist. It's located in places where drilling will spoil the breath taking view to say nothing of upsetting the delicate natural balance. Your choices are simple. Let the oil lay there and starve or redefine what's beautiful. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" still applies.

Let me help you with the latter, redefining what's beautiful. Wouldn't an oil rig that belonged to you do ever so much for your front yard? You can enjoy your breakfast while it's snout goes down and then back up delivering another barrel of $128 beautiful oil. What a breath taking view that would truly be.

It's too late now. There are too many people on earth generating heat. Solar water heaters trap the rays of the sun and heat the atmosphere. So do solar electric cells. Just imagine the size of the fire if all the flame used to cook food and heat homes was combined into one. Yes, burning oil makes heat but people will make heat somehow and all the heat people make goes into the atmosphere warming it. Global warming is a function of population and not any particular "stoppable" thing like generating CO2.

There is no escape but who wants out anyhow. It will be a wonderful world when bikini's become commonplace along the north shore of Siberia. The rush north is on for that is where the future lies. Now lets suck some of that black gold out of the earth so we can get to the Arctic shore Alaskan beach in style and comfort.

Sigh . . . the Church, especially the Vatican, has played a major role in CAUSING the FOOD Problem. The senseless religious taboos against family planning have tipped us past being able to preserve the environment, create enough energy and produce enough food and clean water. We're on the bloody slope down to famine, destruction and war . . .and it has absolutely nothing to do with any illusions about a "second coming". Duh!!! It is the Population Bomb.

thank you for your work, mr. beckmann. i've forwarded the link to your organization to my church community. you're right; we MUST take action.

S. Heriger,

I agree with you. What I am concerned about, however, is the tendency to treat other people as a means to an end, the end being the mollification of our own fractured consciences.

Jim

Jim,

I fully support free markets as well, but developing free markets doesn't help people who starve to death daily. They need much more "direct" and immediate help (food in their stomachs). Plus, I don't view feeding starving people as charity, but as a justice issue. Relying entirely on a disembodied economic policy to ensure justice simply doesn't work at the lower levels. It requires willful action by compassionate people, regardless of beliefs, religious or otherwise. You may have already looked at Bread for the World's website, but if not, it's worth a look. Their work involves development and the creation of opportunity as well as simply feeding hungry people. You might have already read it, but Jeffrey Sach's book "The End of Poverty," is also an excellent read.

Peace
S. Heriger

Encourage the development of truly free markets around the world. This is the most direct route to sufficiency if not abundance and it will most fully honor the Individual. I believe in charity as it affirms the dignity of the Individual (as an end, not a means); therefore I believe in systems that work for the betterment of Individuals. Free markets are the most hopeful and helpful instruments to address this problem. When a better solution comes along I will embrace it.

From a secular viewpoint (such as the one I had most of my life), I found it easy to ignore the problem of feeding the hungry. I certainly felt compassion toward them, and wanted to help, but felt overwhelmed by the scope of the problem. As always, I was looking for the answer to the question of why such atrocities as starvation and genocide are allowed to exist, particularly if there really was a loving God. It’s a fair question, and the answer has always been with us...but usually ignored because few want to own up to the responsibility that comes with discovering the answer.

So why would a loving God allow such a thing to happen? There may be several answers to this question, but as a Christian, I can find a satisfactory answer within my faith, an answer that has been provided to us in the second chapter of Genesis. I find the Christian answer particularly powerful because in it we learn that we’ve been asking the wrong question all along.

The right question, the proper question, should be, “Why do we allow it to happen?”

In the Christian response, we find that God has made us stewards of the Creation. We are our brothers’ keepers in every sense of the term. It’s a job that’s been entrusted to us since the moment God first breathed His spirit into Mankind. Yet it appears that so few of us are truly up to the task. When I think of all the wasted time and energy that some Christians put into attacking others, for wagging their fingers and pointing out how everyone else seems to be getting it wrong, I can’t help but think how much better our world would be if those same Christians put their time, money and energies into making the world a better place for the less fortunate, for “the least of these,” as Christ calls them. I can empathize with the secular world for feeling frustrated with the problem, but I cannot understand why so many Christians seem to think that death by starvation and disease is someone else’s problem. I find it terribly sad that even some of my own Christian friends feel this way. They simply shrug it off and say, in some form or another, “That’s the way it goes sometimes.” They’re saddened by it, but feel any singular effort on their part would go unnoticed anyway. I know this because I’m often one of those people, and it pains me to admit it. I do donate my time and money when I can, but I mostly feel ineffective, as though I am working alone and trying to fill up the ocean one drop of water at a time.

Yet the solution is simple, and these are the facts...

There is no excuse for anyone dying of starvation. Period. In this world today we absolutely have the resources, the money and the means to ensure that every single person on this planet is properly fed, clothed and sheltered. Every single one, without exception. That doesn't mean lifting them up to the standards of the West, but simply ensuring that they aren't dying from starvation and exposure.

The problem is that those of us in a position to help—the wealthy countries, and all the individuals who live in them, such as you and I—lack the collective will to fix the problem. We’re often too wrapped up in our own lives to look this sort of death and evil in the eye and commit to fighting it in a collective effort. We’re content to let it have it’s way elsewhere in the world, just as long as it stays out of our backyard, just as long as it stays out of sight in some country that’s too far away to worry about.

Yet Christ tells us this in no uncertain terms in Matthew 25:37-40: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me… Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

I'm a member of Bread for the World, and I think it's an excellent organization. I thank Mr. Beckmann for his post, and hope all who read it and wish to take action will visit the organization online and become involved. Peace.