Friday, August 7, 2015
An Open Letter to Pope Francis
Dear Friend,
I write to you now, happy to imagine you will listen to me, a simple carpenter in New York City, taking a break from working in my shop to steal some time upstairs in my little office, clearing away the sawdust to write a letter to you, in the Holy Spirit of justice. First of all, I am so happy that you are alive. You are a gift to the Church, and to history. The Church has been longing for a leader with a flair for social justice, like a lover pines for a long lost love. Your recent encyclical on the environment was gutsy and great. I know you are coming to New York City today to lead an interfaith service at Ground Zero. There is something I wanted you to know about Ground Zero, and the matter is urgent.
In the spirit of inter-faith understanding, turn your fatherly gaze for a moment onto an ugly truth few will look at: an insidious hoax has been perpetrated on the followers of Islam. Our fellow Children of Abraham have been blamed for the 9/11 attacks, and two wars have been waged on Islamic nations, in the name of the War on Terror.
Many advocates of social justice don’t have the spiritual skill to see through this thick illusion: that the case for the guilt of the Islamic “terrorists” was never made, never proven, and can no longer be taken seriously by anyone with penetrating insight, common sense, or high school science. There are just too many anomalies. George W. Bush is guilty of murder and fraud, according to leading authors about his Iraq War. I assert that 9/11 was an even greater fraud. It was the product of a heart drained of love. It was the product of a cynicism so frigid, one could almost call it demonic.
In the words of Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, of the Center for Christian Nonviolence, “According to the laws of physics the three WTC buildings could not have been destroyed, as they were, by a plane flying into two of them.” Steel framed structures have never collapsed before, due to fire. When the 9/11 Commission tried to look into the financial backing of the terrorists, they were stymied, until they finally just gave up.
But we don’t have to give up. This financial issue of the source of 9/11 is a gateway to a broader understanding between nations, and a big step away from modern war-mongering. The truth about this issue will destabilize the secrecy and fear that rules so many today.
Here’s something we can all do about it, and the time is now. There were 28 pages blacked out and with-held from the public, by George W. Bush, from the Congressional Joint Inquiry’s 9/11 Report. These pages implicate the Saudis, who have worked closely with the CIA, Israel, and the Bush Family, for years. This issue has gained a wide following in the US Senate and Congress, and has enjoyed major media exposure.
A part your challenge today, at Ground Zero, is to go beyond the cheap sentimentalization and knee-jerk hate that the 9/11 memory often brings up in New York City. For far too long, people who have asked deeper questions about 9/11 have been silenced, or ridiculed.
But we are the people of great hope. We can reclaim the legacy of Jesus, and re-make Christianity, not as a standard-bearer for more war and invasions against oil-rich Muslim nations, but as a springboard into a time of global non-violence. You, my brother Francis, can help us lead into a time of radical Jesus-based non-violence.
Now there is legislation in the US Congress (HR14) and the Senate (S1471) and we need your prayers, and your positive pressure on President Obama, and your public support. You will help us release the 28 pages? Please Holy Father. We are so close.
What would Jesus do? I love how he said, about the Pharisees, “Don’t fear them, for there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.” For 14 years, a lot of us in New York have heard the call to make our work for peace and non-violence linked into a deep digging for the truth about 9/11. The 28 Pages will be released, but we need all the prophets, and all the peace-lovers, and we need a Pope, too, to stand with us.
In the Love and Peace of Jesus Christ,
Sander Hicks
Co-Signers, please Co-Sign and Comment, below.
An Open Letter to Pope Francis
Dear Friend,
I write to you now, happy to imagine you will listen to me, a simple carpenter in New York City, taking a break from working in my shop to steal some time upstairs in my little office, clearing away the sawdust to write a letter to you, in the Holy Spirit of justice. First of all, I am so happy that you are alive. You are a gift to the Church, and to history. The Church has been longing for a leader with a flair for social justice, like a lover pines for a long lost love. Your recent encyclical on the environment was gutsy and great. I know you are coming to New York City today to lead an interfaith service at Ground Zero. There is something I wanted you to know about Ground Zero, and the matter is urgent.
In the spirit of inter-faith understanding, turn your fatherly gaze for a moment onto an ugly truth few will look at: an insidious hoax has been perpetrated on the followers of Islam. Our fellow Children of Abraham have been blamed for the 9/11 attacks, and two wars have been waged on Islamic nations, in the name of the War on Terror.
Many advocates of social justice don’t have the spiritual skill to see through this thick illusion: that the case for the guilt of the Islamic “terrorists” was never made, never proven, and can no longer be taken seriously by anyone with penetrating insight, common sense, or high school science. There are just too many anomalies. George W. Bush is guilty of murder and fraud, according to leading authors about his Iraq War. I assert that 9/11 was an even greater fraud. It was the product of a heart drained of love. It was the product of a cynicism so frigid, one could almost call it demonic.
In the words of Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, of the Center for Christian Nonviolence, “According to the laws of physics the three WTC buildings could not have been destroyed, as they were, by a plane flying into two of them.” Steel framed structures have never collapsed before, due to fire. When the 9/11 Commission tried to look into the financial backing of the terrorists, they were stymied, until they finally just gave up.
But we don’t have to give up. This financial issue of the source of 9/11 is a gateway to a broader understanding between nations, and a big step away from modern war-mongering. The truth about this issue will destabilize the secrecy and fear that rules so many today.
Here’s something we can all do about it, and the time is now. There were 28 pages blacked out and with-held from the public, by George W. Bush, from the Congressional Joint Inquiry’s 9/11 Report. These pages implicate the Saudis, who have worked closely with the CIA, Israel, and the Bush Family, for years. This issue has gained a wide following in the US Senate and Congress, and has enjoyed major media exposure.
A part your challenge today, at Ground Zero, is to go beyond the cheap sentimentalization and knee-jerk hate that the 9/11 memory often brings up in New York City. For far too long, people who have asked deeper questions about 9/11 have been silenced, or ridiculed.
But we are the people of great hope. We can reclaim the legacy of Jesus, and re-make Christianity, not as a standard-bearer for more war and invasions against oil-rich Muslim nations, but as a springboard into a time of global non-violence. You, my brother Francis, can help us lead into a time of radical Jesus-based non-violence.
Now there is legislation in the US Congress (HR14) and the Senate (S1471) and we need your prayers, and your positive pressure on President Obama, and your public support. You will help us release the 28 pages? Please Holy Father. We are so close.
What would Jesus do? I love how he said, about the Pharisees, “Don’t fear them, for there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.” For 14 years, a lot of us in New York have heard the call to make our work for peace and non-violence linked into a deep digging for the truth about 9/11. The 28 Pages will be released, but we need all the prophets, and all the peace-lovers, and we need a Pope, too, to stand with us.
In the Love and Peace of Jesus Christ,
Sander Hicks
Co-Signers, please Co-Sign and Comment, below.
Cathleen McGuire
ReplyDelete"... the truth shall set you free." John 8:32
Amen!
ReplyDelete