Washblog

Torture is a crime against humanity.  

It destroys both those who are tortured, and those who inflict the torture.  Torture, the willed infliction of severe pain on helpless, vulnerable captives, leads inevitably to further and further cruelty until the ones who do the torturing become the very evil they hate.  It seeps out of the torture room into the body politic and changes the character of the nation.

 We move from a people of optimistic idealism into the sewer of a people wallowing in fear, filth, despair, and cynicism.  We move from being a light to the nations, to being the deepening darkness that extinguishes the light of life itself.

As a Christian Pastor, and a follower of One who was himself tortured, rendered, and murdered by political agents for imperial purposes, I declare that followers of Jesus Christ are forbidden to engage in, or support practices of torture.   Such activity is Demonic, and is a further crucifixion of Jesus. Christians are summoned by the Holy Spirit to publicly oppose the use of torture.

Indeed, one cannot sing the hymns of faith on Sunday, and partake of, or benefit from the instruments of terror on Monday.  For Christian soldiers and intelligence agents this means that in the name of Christ you must stand down and disobey your orders when called upon to break faith with God.

 For those involved in rendering prisoners to other nations for torture, in the name of Christ you must stand down, and disobey those orders.

 For Christian citizens, in the name of Christ, you must support those who are disobedient to the State but faithful to God.

 You must do all in your power, including civil disobedience, to expose, and end the evil being done in our name.

 To do otherwise is a denial of Christian faith and practice.  To do nothing is to remain complicit with evil, and thereby desecrate the body and blood of the living and risen Christ.

In other words, there is no moral distinction between America's use of torture, and the German Christian capitulation to the holocaust of the Jews.  Indeed, one leads inevitably to the other.

 A nation so devoid of moral reason that it practices, and approves of torture, is a nation well on its way to the slaughter of countless innocents.

  In those days the victims were the Jews, in our time, Muslims.

As a nation we have crossed a line of evil that we had pledged we would never cross.  Without repentance there will be nothing but sorrows for our future.

As a Christian Pastor, I appeal to both fellow Christians, and all who will hear, that we renounce this activity of fascism, expose it to the light of day, and cast out those who have betrayed this nation, who have broken covenant with humanity, and who have opened up the gates of Hell on earth.

Let's compare this resume with any ministerial personality advocating that citizens make choices and take action:

Who is Rich Lang? The following from Trinity United Methodist Church

    MY CALL INTO MINISTRY:

I was converted to the values and vision of Jesus from a lifestyle of adolescent drug-abuse, alcoholism and its resulting despair in 1975. My conversion was a very powerful mystical experience that changed my way of thinking, acting and feeling.

Since that moment I have known that my life would be in service to promoting the good news of God's power and ability to redeem. I never much cared for the institutional form of Christian expression.

I interpreted the Church as an institution of hypocrisy and mediocrity. I wrestled with and rebelled against becoming an "institutionalized Christian".

But over the years I have learned that institutions (although not perfect) are necessary. Institutions, like persons, can be redeemed to work for justice and the care of the earth. My call to be an "institutionalized clergy" is an opportunity to proclaim the person of Jesus and his power to redeem.

My current ministry allows me to work with a congregation that seeks to role model justice, peace, compassion and kindness in our care of creation and each other. I consider myself a Liberation Theologian that is intrigued by the vision of Jubilee (canceling debt, creating a limit on wealth and a floor under poverty).

Thinkers who have influenced me greatly are Ernest Becker, Jacques Ellul, Ted Peters, Robert Jewett, Walter Wink, Walter Brueggemann, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rosemary Ruether, Mark Noll, Ched Myers, David Korten and Noam Chomsky.

I try to read deeply into the field of politics, Biblical studies and theology so that I might be useful to the congregations I serve. I very much believe that America is currently undergoing severe change as it moves into the fullness of Empire with a corresponding perversion of media-driven Christianity which I call Christian Fascism.

The good news is that God is a great anarchist that constantly subverts the plans of control freaks and the power hungry.

 Rich married Cathy in 1983 and they have two sons, Mike and Andy.

 Rich has been honored with the following community awards:

 Ballard Community (2006)

 Taking the Bull by the Horn "& for Courageous Social Justice Leadership

 Sacred Activists (2006)

 Ordinary People/Extraordinary Outcomes Award

 Rauschenbusch Center for Spirit and Action (2005)

 For leadership in the Social Gospel.

 Volunteers of America: Heroic Leadership (Spokane) (1995)


 He has published articles in

Yes Magazine, Zion's Herald, Real Change, and various newspapers and websites.

 CLERGY EXPERIENCE:

 Seattle: Trinity UMC July 2000 to the present

 Spokane: Central UMC July 1995-2000

 LaConner-Bay View UMC July 1989-1995