Fri 21 Sep 2007
Demonstration for Peace at ACU
Posted by ME under ACU, peace, war
Tags: Abilene Christian University, Greg Kendall-Ball, Iraq, peace demonstrations
My friend and blog-brother GKB tells a lot more with images on his blog these days than he does with words.
Today, he was fortunate enough to witness something that not many of us get to see and he had his camera with him:
A peace demonstration on a Christian [Church of Christ] college campus.
Approximately twenty Abilene Christian University students held an anti-war/pro-peace demonstration on their campus today to celebrate the UN’s International Day of Peace.
And, in the truest and best fashion of public discourse, there was a counter-demonstration by a pro-war group of about the same size.
You can see Greg’s excellent photos of the event here and here.
You can leave comments for him here or at over at his place.
Yeah, I’m jealous.
18 Responses to “ Demonstration for Peace at ACU ”
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Pingback from Anti-War Protest at PreacherMike
September 21st, 2007 at 5:26 pm[...] Scenes from the ACU students anti-war protest for UN Day of Peace. (Read more here.) [...]
September 21st, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Thanks for the link-lovin’, ME…
But, to clarify, the counter-protesters were not organized. They merely shouted Pro-Bush, pro-war slogans as they walked by. It seemed to me that they were trying to provoke a response from the silent protesters. It didn’t work.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:05 pm
As is usually the case with passionate and creative expressions of speach, the demonstration photos both inspire and appal the average viewer. I found the idea of personal responsibility to be compelling and relevant, but the “Jesus is a dead Iraqi Child” poster was over the top and offensive.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:05 pm
People still know Pro-Bush slogans?!?
September 21st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Randy:
In the move away from Penal Substitutionary Atonement, there is a move toward seeing Jesus as identifying with and taking the side of the victim (an Iraqi child, perhaps?) rather than the oppressors. It’s what happens when you let Bible majors make protest signs…
September 21st, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I was thinking more like “Jesus Loves Dead Iraqi Children.” But then you sound like you’re saying Jesus loves the fact that their dead, and that’s not good.
How about, “Jesus Loves the Little Children, ALL the Children of the World!”
September 21st, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Kudos to ACU. Whether or not their signs and methods were politically kosher, they presented their views to their classmates: classmates who are most likely to disagree 100%. That’s bold and necessary.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:22 pm
I was wondering why there weren’t very many pictures of the “anti-protest-protest” I was afraid of a one-sided view. but I should know better.
not to be judgemental but I love the stark contrast of “protestors”
the anti-war side, mostly long haired, hippy-ish, scrwany
the pro-war, walking by in army tshirts, looking like bulked up football players.
my favorite has to be the anti-guy with his “Jesus loves porn stars” tshirt.
A. really? what are you trying to say.
B. I really hate christian, capitalist propaganda-like, popculture rip off, tshirts.
and the joke jesus tshirts that came after that. Jesus is not my home-boy.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Jesus did say, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.” Iraqi children are some of the least of these. Therefore, bombing Iraqi children = bombing Jesus.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Good for the students at ACU. Why is that nobody protests anymore? Is it because we do our protesting with blogs, media, and text messages now?
I personally find W scaring the nation into a frenzy with unfounded threats of WMD’s to be offensive and over the top.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Randy and jdproctor,
Following up with GKB, the idea of identifying Jesus with the victim (and not just blandly having Jesus love the victim from some distance) is HOW the engine of violence is stopped. If Jesus is always standing with MY victims how can I continue my violence? This is precisely the action Jesus took to save Saul on the road to Damascus:
Saul: Who are you?
Jesus: I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.
That is, the IDENTITY of Jesus is IDENTITY of the victim. This realization, and only this, saved Saul. And salvation for Saul was to move from violence (recall what he was going to Damascus for) to stand with the people he was trying to kill.
This is the gospel. This is how Jesus saves us.
September 21st, 2007 at 8:29 pm
I think this protester has Jesus confused with the descendants of Ishmael, but I also think I understand the connotation of his sign. All this makes me sigh for the days when a protest was really a protest and everyone on campus got arrested. Those were the days…
September 21st, 2007 at 10:14 pm
I am the guy in the yellow shirt.
3.bliss, You should know that I find my own shirt a little too kitschy even for my taste, and it is the only “Christian” t-shirt I own (except, I guess the number of ACU shirts you end up with after going to ACU for three years. “Our middle name is Christian” and all that.). I wear it for one reason: pornography is an epidemic in our churches and on our campus. It needs to be brought to light in as many ways as possible, even in ways that seem a little too propaganda-ish.
Please check out http://www.xxxchurch.com, which is where I got the shirt. They’re not perfect, and they have even more of what you’re criticizing, but they’ve helped a lot of people.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Thanks for the comment and the witness, Zach.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:18 am
Why does the guy in the yellow shirt holding the sign blame Mark Elrod for war?
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:44 pm
I get the point of the sign, and I think that the message is important. It’s a question of taste and practicality. You’ve got to fit a message like, “Jesus is a dead Iraqi child” into a context where it can be heard by people if you actually want to change minds. Slogans need to be straight-forward and clear to the people reading the signs.
GKB - your comment about letting Bible majors make signs is dead on. Let the theologians craft the ideas and vision, but bring in some marketing majors and poli-sci folks to create the signs and sound-bites.
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:23 pm
“the ‘Jesus is a dead Iraqi Child’ poster was over the top and offensive.”
And it missed it’s targeted audience. The poster should have been written in Arabic and Farsi so those creating the “dead Iraqi Children” aka Jesus, could have read the message.
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Why is the guy in the picture (whom we all now know is Zach) putting all the blame on ME? He’s just one man with one blog.
Seriously I’m a smidge envious too. You go Zach & co.