in the open space: God & culture

Go here . For more, see The New York Times , Dream for Darfur , and Save Darfur . Here's what's on this blog . Hat tip Questing Parson .

From a new report from ENOUGH via Coalition for Darfur : A recent opinion piece in The Washington Post stated as “fact” that genocide has “concluded” in Darfur. However, the notion that there has been a definable transition “from genocide to anarchy,” as Alex de Waal and Julie Flint titled their piece, misses the broader context of the process that is underway in Darfur. The Darfur these authors melodramatically describe—a “murky world of tribes-in-arms and warlords who serve the highest bidder” —is precisely what the architects of genocide in Khartoum had in mind when, beginning in mid-2003, Sudan’s government set forth to destroy and displace the civilian support base for Darfur’s rebel groups. The promotion of anarchy and inter-communal (or, popularly, “inter-tribal”) fighting is part and parcel of Khartoum’s genocidal counter-insurgency campaign. The conditions in Darfur and eastern Chad today are not evidence of an end to genocide and the onset of an entirely new and different w...

Coalition for Darfur recently alerted those of us on their blogroll to a joint statement on Darfur released Jan. 17 by the UN agencies working in Sudan regarding the escalating violence, deterioration of conditions and increased threat to aid workers. Last month, World Vision posted a similar statement of concern with five other agencies, calling for all parties to “urgently agree — and maintain — a ceasefire with immediate effect. They must ensure that aid workers are able to reach people in need." The UN release is below: Over the last two years the efforts of humanitarian agencies in Darfur have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians caught up in the region's conflict. During this time mortality rates were brought below emergency levels, global malnutrition was halved from the height of the crisis in mid-2004 and nearly three-quarters of all Darfurians now have access to safe drinking water. In 2006 alone, 400,000 metric tons of food were delivered. In the...

Eugene of Coalition for Darfur sent out links and snippets from two of Nicholas Kristof's recent columns from Chad, a region experiencing a spill-over of violence from Darfur, where since February 2003 an on-going genocide has left as many as 400,000 killed and 3.5 million driven from their homes and living in the squalor of displaced persons camps. First up, Poisoned arrows vs. machine guns : Around this remote market town are janjaweed, the Sudanese-sponsored Arab militias that hunt down black Africans and shoot or rape them. The janjaweed are armed with AK-47s, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns mounted on pickup trucks. Here in Koukou, the Africans are waiting for the attackers — with bows and arrows. The international community has shamefully abandoned the people of eastern Chad, allowing the Darfur genocide to spread relentlessly. Incredibly, this year some 15,000 Chadians have sought security by fleeing into Darfur. So the people in little Chadian towns like Koukou ar...

Hat tip to Deb at An Unfinished Symphony (via RevGalBlog ) for the heads up on a seventh grade social studies class in Highland Park, Illinois , that is undertaking a very creative project to help end the crisis in Darfur, where since February 2003 an on-going genocide has left as many as 400,000 killed and 3.5 million driven from their homes and living in the squalor of displaced persons camps. The students hope to collect 400,000 decorated paper dolls to send to Senator Barack Obama “in hopes of demonstrating to him our belief that something needs to be done to stop this atrocity.” Why 400,000? Because it represents the number of lives lost in the genocide taking place there. And we can help. Download a template for the dolls (they’re very easy to cut and make) and then send your simple creations to the class by June 2007. Like other bloggers, I think this is a creative and easy way to draw attention to the crisis in Sudan. Why is that important? As this blog has said many times b...

Last week, Eugene at Coalition for Darfur posted a few links to some important articles concerning the ongoing crisis in that region of Sudan, where since February 2003 an on-going genocide has left as many as 400,000 killed and 3.5 million driven from their homes and living in the squalor of displaced persons camps. Particularly distressing are the stories told by former Janjaweed militia fighters (who testify that they were trained and supported by the Sudanese government) about the training, tactics and motives of that group. Please, go read them. While heartbreaking, I passionately believe these stories must be told—and we must hear them and tell them to others. Stories and testimonies like these take the sanitized evening news and give those African villages a smell, a sound, a feel. The people begin to take shape with faces and names—and the horror of the acts we read about as “atrocities” shake your heart. Stories like these put human faces on the masses, and I believe that i...

Coalition for Darfur compiled several important articles over the last week, and asked members of the Coalition to pass them on. What’s up with Darfur? As I’ve outlined before on this blog , millions in Darfur are living in horrible conditions after being driven from their villages, livelihood and homes by the civil war in Sudan - often by the Janjaweed, an Arab militia recruited from local tribes and armed by the government. Many live in squalid conditions in Internal Displaced Person (IDP) camps, and hundreds of thousands are effectively cut off from aid because of the region’s remoteness. Tens of thousands have already died of starvation and disease while those who live in the camps and surrounding areas continue to face killings, torture and rape by government forces and militias. What can we do? God hates injustice and calls us to do something about it. As followers of Jesus, this means we first must pray fervently for God to intercede, for men and women to be raised up with the ...

The crisis in Darfur is near to my heart. Today, Eugene of Coalition for Darfur (of which this blog is a member) sent out an update on the crisis and asked member bloggers to spread it where they can. He says: Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, made a vitally important briefing to the Security Council today warning that "all of our nightmares have become realities" in Darfur and that without fast and robust action "hundreds of thousands could be needlessly lost." “We need immediate action on the political front to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe with massive loss of life,” says Egeland. “Since 2004 we have seen tens of thousands of deaths each year. If the humanitarian operation were to collapse, we could see hundreds of thousands of deaths. In short, we may end up with a man-made catastrophe of an unprecedented scale in Darfur.” To read the rest of Egeland’s speech—in which he explores the factors leading to this briefing—see Coal...

Of great concern to this blog is the plight of children in northern Uganda . CNN International reports on recent Times and BBC stories about LRA leader Joseph Kony’s statements that he is willing to enter peace talks as well as his declaration that he is innocent of the crimes against humanity charges that have been levied against him in international court. While this blog hopes Kony is legit in his willingness to enter peace talks, we’re dubious about his claims of innocence—as are international human rights groups and other organizations whom, as the CNN report says, “charge the LRA has abducted some 30,000 children and forced them to become fighters, porters or concubines. Rights groups also accuse the LRA of killing thousands of civilians and forcing more than 1 million people to flee their homes. Many of the charges against the LRA have emerged from accounts of boys and girls who have managed to escape the force.” For more on this crisis (and how you can make a difference), se...

Here are some more God-talk tidbits out there: 1. Rick Warren announces that he’s been invited—and has accepted that invitation—to preach in North Korea. Is he concerned the invitation is laced with ulterior motives? "I know they're going to use me," Warren said . . . . "So I'm going to use them." 2. Baptist Standard reports on a presentation by Atlanta church planter Jake Myers on how the emerging movement might be a fit with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. 3. Terry Mattingly of GetReligion reports on the Money of the past vs. Money of the future (updated) , which focuses on the current situation/crisis within the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. 4. When you’re done with that one, Mattingly has an op-ed up at USA Today: The media, God and gaffes. The bottom line? “Bias is a problem. But, in my experience, apathy and ignorance cause most of these laugh-to-keep-from-crying gaffes. It would help if newsroom executives spent more time thinki...

Here are a few links to go with your morning coffee: 1. The Daily Scribe points to Jewschool post “Scientists Discover Why Torah Learning is So Friggin’ Great” which points to USC article “ Thirst for knowledge may be opium craving: The brain's reward for getting a concept is a shot of natural opiates ” (follow that trail, heh). Anyway, here’s the first couple graphs of the USC piece: “Neuroscientists have proposed a simple explanation for the pleasure of grasping a new concept: The brain is getting its fix. The ‘click’ of comprehension triggers a biochemical cascade that rewards the brain with a shot of natural opium-like substances, said Irving Biederman of the University of Southern California. He presents his theory in an invited article in the latest issue of American Scientist. ‘While you're trying to understand a difficult theorem, it's not fun,’ said Biederman, professor of neuroscience in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. ‘But once you get it, you ...

If you drop in on this blog every so often, you know Darfur and northern Uganda are of concern. It is my firm belief that God’s ancient call for his people to speak up for those suffering injustice and unable to speak for themselves urgently applies to us today. We must not only cry out for justice but also act for the people trying to survive this very day in these two regions of Africa. Thankfully, the media has picked up on these humanitarian crises and is running articles about them often (including several well-done, moving pieces ). Recently, the NY Times ran Truce is talk, agony is real in Darfur war , which reports that attacks in Darfur continue even though a cease fire between the Sudan government and at least one major rebel group went into affect a couple of weeks ago. Last Sunday, the NY Times ran an op-ed that underscores this reality, pointing out that we have a small window of opportunity to bring peace to that region—and that window is shrinking. I’m not savvy enoug...

Kudos to GetReligion’s Mollie Ziegler for picking out some news stories that catch a religion angle to the Darfur rallies. In Yes, it’s a big religion story , Ziegler, who went Sunday to the Darfur rally on the Mall, pulls together some mainstream press coverage that commented on the fact that there were many people from different religions at the rally, supporting the same cause. Particularly of note, is the strong presence of Jews, who vocally connected the genocide in Darfur with the Holocaust—a noteworthy (and, in my book, commendable) occurance. It’s a short piece, and worth the read. Though not directly related, also of note today is the Associated Press report that the African Union Extends Darfur Deadline . In Nigeria, “The African Union extended the Tuesday midnight deadline for a peace pact aimed at resolving violence in Sudan's Darfur region that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, the chief AU mediator said. The 48-hour extension came as the United States, Britain ...

Yesterday saw thousands rally to draw attention to the genocide in Darfur, where (as I’ve outlined on this blog before ) millions are living in horrible conditions in IDP camps after being driven from their villages, livelihood and homes by the civil war in Sudan - often by the Janjaweed, an Arab militia recruited from local tribes and armed by the government. Hundreds of thousands are effectively cut off from aid because of the region’s remoteness. Tens of thousands have already died of starvation and disease while those who live in the camps and surrounding areas continue to face killings, torture and rape by government forces and militias. Here are a couple of reports about the rallies (courtesy of Coalition for Darfur ). I’ve included the first paragraph or two of each. The first is from the NY Times : WASHINGTON, April 30 — In front of thousands of people rallying on Sunday on the Mall, religious leaders, politicians and celebrities urged the American people and the Bush administr...

Last Thursday, ER aired “ No Place to Hide ,” the second of three episodes set in Darfur. “ Darfur ” (the first of the series) aired March 2, and the last one (“ There Are No Angels Here ”) airs May 4. These last two episodes appropriately bookend the scheduled April 30 demonstrations in cities across the nation aimed at drawing attention to crisis in that region of Sudan. (For more info on those demonstrations, see SaveDarfur .) What’s the big deal about Darfur? As I’ve outlined before on this blog , millions in Darfur are living in horrible conditions after being driven from their villages, livelihood and homes by the civil war in Sudan - often by the Janjaweed, an Arab militia recruited from local tribes and armed by the government. Many live in squalid conditions in Internal Displaced Person (IDP) camps, and hundreds of thousands are effectively cut off from aid because of the region’s remoteness. Tens of thousands have already died of starvation and disease while those who live i...

The slow pace at which the world is moving to stop the death and violence in Darfur and northern Uganda is utterly maddening. While world governments loiter (or, at best, slowly plod), men, women and children are being raped, killed and herded into refugee camps as a result of a bloodbath that world governments can stop—if they act. A recent NY Times op-ed ( Fiddling While Darfur Burns ) expresses this frustration well. It’s opening sets the tone for the short editorial: “It is enormously distressing to watch the sausage-making that passes for the world's attempt to do something about the carnage in Darfur.” The editorial exposes what’s holding things up (U.N. “dawdling” and “diplomatic cover to Sudan” by some Security Council members) as well as some of the things being accomplished (like the Bush administration’s push on the U.N. and an upcoming April 30 rally in Washington), but the last word is one of infuriating aggravation: “Rwanda should have taught us all something; it...

A noteworthy editorial ran in the NY Times this morning: Spreading Genocide to Chad . The editorial begins: After the Holocaust, the world vowed it wouldn't stand back and allow genocide to happen again. Bosnia, Cambodia and Rwanda showed how empty that promise was. Darfur was yet another reminder that when it comes to standing up to stop the slaughter of entire peoples, the nations of the world remain pitifully inadequate. The editorial moves immediately to the spread of violence in Darfur to Chad, a country to Sudan’s west, and a report from a NY Times journalist, Nicholas Kristof, who has visited regions in Chad where the janjaweed (Arab militias reportedly sponsored by the Sudan government) “have unleashed their fury on villages in Chad, riding in and killing and raping:” Mr. Kristof is one of the few journalists willing to venture into the lawless region. He took along NBC's Ann Curry of the Today show on his trip this month, and wrote about a market town in Chad near t...

Here’s an update on significant news surrounding the crises in Darfur and northern Uganda. Regarding Uganda, a March 17 Reuters press release reports: The U.N., donors and the government have failed 1.6 million people uprooted by two decades of civil war in northern Uganda, but a new initiative provides a glimmer of hope, a U.N. aid official said on Friday. Dennis McNamara, the United Nations special adviser on internal displacement, said some members of the Security Council remained reluctant to put the conflict on its agenda. But he said meetings next week among the U.N., Uganda and donors would aim to forge a plan to end the suffering. "There is a very intense international effort, which has not happened before," McNamara told reporters in Kampala. He gave no further details. Northern Uganda's people live in scores of squalid camps, sheltering from fighting between government troops and rebels from the cult-like Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) -- notorious for kidnap...

The crises in northern Uganda and the Darfur region of Sudan are topics this blog visits frequently. In that vein, I’ve added two links to this page and encourage you to visit them. The first is Invisible Children , an organization moving powerfully at the grassroots level dedicated to publicizing the plight of and providing financial resources for children in northern Uganda. They’re doing this by documenting their true, untold stories in a creative and relevant way, moving people to action to end to the plight. Visit the sight to see how you can get involved. The second is Coalition for Darfur , a blog run by “a Southern conservative and a Northern liberal” and dedicated to raising awareness of this continuing genocide as well as raising money for Save the Children and Catholic Relief services . Coalition for Darfur tracks news coming out of and about Darfur at an incredible pace, saving bloggers like me the time and energy it takes to stay on top of it. Periodically, you will see l...