See No EvilA Few Observations By Ima Curmudgeon
Church Silence Promotes Violence: an Article Series From All-Creatures.org

Church silence promotes violence to humans, to animals, to our environment, to our economy, to our education, to our finances, and to our health.
By: Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman

Long enough have I been politely patient and long-suffering in presenting the folly and self-destructiveness of our violent society. I have decided to liberate my writing. No more “nice guy.” I have decided to let myself fall to the level of those indulging themselves in editorial tantrums.

What is it about humans that makes us cling to cruelty with such tenacity? On one hand we claim to love and honor “life,” and on the other hand we do everything possible to undermine our physical, emotional, and spiritual health with our insatiable obsession with killing and destroying in a myriad of diabolical ways. Nothing is sacred to us: we plunder our fellow humans in wars, or in “socially acceptable” ways in business or with gossip, in violent forms of “entertainment.” In every conceivable way night and day, we use our resources to annihilate other humans, animals, and the environment. Our meddling contaminates even Antarctica and space. Our grubby hands cannot leave anything alone. Everything has to be “improved” or in some way manipulated, “restored,” etc. All the while billions of dollars are raised for “charities” that ravage animals in the name of one of our modern “gods”: “scientific research.” All so that a “cure” can be found for this or that “disease” that more often than not has been brought upon ourselves by our refusal to live lives of true charity: kindness. We turn our backs on the modern Holocaust of “food” animals just so we can feed our faces while ignoring the enormous damage to our environment and health. One might think that we did not live on this planet that we are destroying.

We decimate populations of animals in nature, and then send out slick mailings to solicit money for the “reintroduction” of this or that animal. Wolves are an example of this manipulation. And after “re-introducing” the wolves, we have the “chutzpah” to whine (in the same mailing) about cattle ranchers who are destroying the reintroduced wolves. It is ridiculous schemes such as these that cause me to despair of humankind’s ever leaving well enough alone.

We teach hunting to children in schools, churches, and tax-exempt religious institutions and wrap it all up in patriotic or religious rhetoric. (Like the huge flag displayed at the start of rodeos. Apparently that’s supposed to shut up any opposition to the ungodly torture of innocent animals that is about to be flaunted.) Someone once said that scoundrels hide behind religion and patriotism. So true!

We create a bloodthirsty “God” and then have the nerve to invoke His blessing on the carcasses of the mutilated animals we serve, with never a word of acknowledgement concerning the suffering of these creatures of God. (The fact that we serve these abominations in our churches in this day and age, two thousand years after Christ’s final sacrifice, says a lot about the true state of our souls.)

Some might criticize me for being so “fanatic.” Others may say that I show no “love” for my fellow human beings. Some may say that I am indulging my anger and “hurting” the cause of animal liberation. I say it is time to tell it the way it is. There is no longer any excuse for our ignorance of the facts. In today’s world the facts are all out there every way we turn. We are bombarded with information, so we are all culpable.

Go on to next article: A Love of Fishing Causes Emotional Violence
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Church Silence Promotes Violence
The intent of this series is to wake up and encourage the Church to greater works of love and compassion (John 14:12).  It is not to condemn the Church, in general, or any individual, any more than Jesus condemned the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus said to her, "...go your way.  From now on sin no more." (John 8:11)  And this is our message to the Church:  Recognize our sins of the past and go forth seeking to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), correcting the sins of the past, for that is the only way we can truly show the world that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, might, and mind, including the whole of creation, which includes our neighbors whom we are to love as ourselves.