Christmas and Guantanamo Bay
Rachelle M. Smith
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
HAVE YOU ever seen the movie, “The Bishop’s Wife?” I love that movie, even though it’s about an angel and angels have always scared me. Given what the Bible says about them, I suspect these messengers of God are far from the cute and fluffy depictions we see in books and on cards. Despite all the help Dudley gave him, the bishop was very glad to see him go. Personally, I’d just as soon never meet an angel — unless of course they actually DO look like Cary Grant.
No, I like the movie because it points out that everybody gets a Christmas present on Christmas, except Jesus. Now, how fair is that? In my family, we make sure my brother-in-law Merl, whose birthday is Dec. 24, always gets a full set of both birthday and Christmas presents. Why should he get shorted just because his birthday falls so close to the biggest gift-giving day of the year? The same goes for Jesus: just because He is the “reason for the season” is no reason not also to remember Him at Christmas — after all, it’s His birthday.
In the last few years, I’ve made it a point to give Jesus a gift for Christmas. Unlike my sister Patty, who never likes anything I get her, Jesus seems easy to please. Lots of people give Jesus gifts in the spirit of Christmas. We drop coins in the Salvation Army buckets, we say hello to a new neighbor who doesn’t speak Eng;ish, we buy presents for children who otherwise would receive none.
But this year, Jesus deserves more.
Our nation’s beliefs about freedom, equality and justice for everyone are very much in keeping with Jesus’ teachings. I think that’s why so many of us have had a growing sense of dismay over how our government has conducted the War on Terror. Don’t get me wrong; many brave men and women acted swiftly in the days following 9/11 to ensure our safety. They did their jobs in a time of great fear and confusion and they rightfully deserve our gratitude. But more than six years later, it’s clear that some of those decisions our authorities made were bad ones.
The worst decision is the way we have treated the men and boys, some as young as 13, imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.
Torturing those individuals, even with the goal to save lives, was wrong. Continuing to torture them years after any military information they may have about terrorism is long out of date is simply barbaric. We didn’t torture the German and Japanese prisoners captured in WWII, nor do we torture our own citizens. Saying the Guatanamo prisoners don’t deserve the protections of the Geneva Conventions is a legal fiction that violates the basic human rights all people deserve. And human rights are the bedrock upon which this country was founded.
Worse, the way we’ve conducted the War on Terror has made us less safe. It has jeopardized our men and women in uniform by emboldening our enemies to deny them the protections of international law.
Isn’t it better for America to fight her enemies openly, rather than risk making someone like Bin Laden into a martyr? We cannot allow fear to cloud our reason and make of us moral cowards. It’s our job as citizens and Christians to speak up and say so.
The spirit of Christmas transcends all political parties, all religious creeds. At its heart is the simple yet profound command to love one another. Liberty’s torch reflects that light the shepherds saw more than 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem: it shines not just for us, but for ages yet to come. Liberty’s light must guide the steps of countless Americans yet unborn if the promise of America is to endure. Let’s clear away the fog of confusion and fear that presently obscures that light and threatens our basic values as Americans and send a loud message to our elected officials that America does not need to torture anyone to protect her people.
Let’s shut down Guantanamo Bay now.
That’s the gift I’d like to give to Jesus this Christmas. As He said, let’s do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Won’t you join me and help make it a reality? Please write our members of Congress and urge them to end this abuse now.