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Vistas of Peace: Acting on WaterA Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink of water...' The woman answered, 'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan -- so how can you ask me for a drink?' [John 4:7, 9] Jesus answered, 'Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring which will provide him with life-giving water and give him eternal life.' [John 4:13-14] There are many issues that theologians can pick up from the conversation of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4. Indeed, there is an inter-layering of many issues -- e.g. gender, racial/ethnic, cultural, theological and religious differences. But for now, I would like to take the perspective of water as an issue in itself. Water is a basic human need that cuts across all human differences. Everybody needs water and people will do all they can to have access to water. Access to water however is often obstructed due to various factors. In Asia, certain castes are not allowed to drink from just any water source; some women have to walk long distances to get to a clean water source; water is becoming a too expensive, handy (bottled), and privatized but not necessarily healthy commodity. In our task of theologizing, we may readily speak about water as a religious symbol or biblical image for Christ (i.e. life-giving water that quenches our thirst forever) and leave out water as the matter that is scientifically known as H2O. But today, as we consider facts about overuse, pollution and depletion of water sources, we know that such type of theologizing is not going to solve this serious problem. For so long we have taken for granted that water is an infinite resource. But scientists and environmentalists warn us that ground water takes an average of 1400 years to be replaced! The United Nations has declared every March 22 as World Day of Water (WDW). At the rate of water depletion going on, some people have predicted that the next war would be over water. This is a real threat to life, a cause for more unpeace in the region and throughout the world. The theme for this year's WDW observance is 'Water and Culture'. In Asia, water is especially significant for the different cultural and religious communities. Water is associated with religious rituals throughout the life cycle -- from birth rituals to cleansing and purification, death and funeral rites, and rebirth. Beyond the religious meanings of water, and the healing properties attributed to it, another fact to reckon with is that water can also be a destructive force -- such as flood, typhoon, hurricane or tsunami. Unfortunately, some people theologize this too easily as punishment or judgment by a punitive God on certain people. Instead of resorting to such too easy theologizing, I think what we need in this time and age is a solid understanding of the nature of water (its limits and possibilities). The kind of theologizing we need is that which affirms our interconnectedness to it and which issues in concrete forms of responsible stewardship of the earth's resources for the sake of all life in God's world. By Hope S. Antone, CCA-FMU Staff
posted by hope on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 Vistas of Peace: Responding to CaricaturesMany of us Asian Christians were too shocked to do anything about the cartoons that were published in Danish newspapers a few months ago. Without seeing such cartoons, we could tell that they were in bad taste (to borrow a journalistic jargon) as to caricature the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and thus causing outrage among Muslims all over the world. Unfortunately, such an outrage has been expressed violently in some parts of our region. We deeply mourn with the innocent victims of the violent outrage -- innocent people who had nothing to do at all with the issue at hand. Yet, we have to understand that in our time, when the American-led war against terrorism has increased the stigmatization of Islam and Muslims, cartoons made without any sense of human sensitivity cannot be explained away by simply invoking the journalistic slogan of "press freedom" or the political slogan of "democracy". Our human rights always have to be exercised with care and responsibility. This situation has also brought to light the need for a new form literacy -- i.e. religious literacy. This involves having some depth of knowledge about the teachings of other religions in order to understand them on their own terms. And hopefully, such a religious literacy will help to bring about real understanding and respect for one another as we live together in this religiously plural world. Meanwhile, there are words of wisdom from our Muslim friends as they struggle with the crisis. Mr. Asghar Ali Engineer, a respected Muslim leader from India, who has been to a number of our CCA programs, wrote in his regular column, "Secular Perspective" (Feb. 16-28, 2006): "According to the Qur'an, a believer is one who restrains his anger and pardons (see 3:133). What kind of believers are we that we always talk of killing and punishing rather than restraining and pardoning. It hardly brings any glory to Islam and Muslims. We become even more fanatics and intolerant in their eyes. Also Qur'an lays great emphasis on wisdom and says that 'whoever is given wisdom, he indeed is given great good' (2:269)." Through his column, Mr. Engineer was reminding his people that demonstrations on religious issue should also be with religious dignity and religious values. Another Muslim brother, Mr. Irfan Abubakar from Indonesia, responded to my personal email of solidarity: "As members of religious communities we hope this crisis can help us strengthen our unity and brotherhood. We believe that respect of [each] other's faith is necessary for every member of religion and denomination in order for us to perform our duties to bring [about] a better world for all in the future. It is a world in which the gap between the rich and the poor can be reduced and in which every one can have equal rights and dignity." During this Season of Lent, as we remember the passion of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who came to bring life in its fullness, let us renew our resolve to share that good news of life together in peace with justice for all. By Hope S. Antone, CCA-FMU Staff
posted by hope on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 |
