Speak Compassion

When we see injustice in the world and we are silent about it, we are giving it our approval.   In subtle ways we support the injustice by not speaking out in some way.   Maybe it is our fears of speaking out on the injustice, but either way, by not speaking out we have silently nodded our head and said “well I guess its okay”.   Martin Luther King reminded us in the Letter from the Birmingham Jail that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.   Gandhi reminded us that Satyagraha (non-violence) requires that we fight injusitce anywhere we find it.  

Gandhi said:
My soul refuses to be satisfied so long as it is a helpless witness of a single wrong or a single misery. But it is not possible for me, a weak, frail, miserable being, to mend every wrong or to hold myself free of blame for all the wrong I see. The spirit in me pulls one way, the flesh in me pulls in the opposite direction. There is freedom from the action of these two forces, but that freedom is attainable only by slow and painful stages.

I cannot attain freedom by a mechanical refusal to act, but only by intelligent action in a detached manner. This struggle resolves itself into an incessant crucifixion of the flesh so that the spirit may become entirely free.

Recently, a man named Abdur Rahman who is Afghan was to be executed for being a Christian.   I find it barbaric that anyone should be executed for their beliefs in god.   I fully support those who spoke out on this injustice.
 
The majority of those speaking out were fellow Christians, including our President and his administration.   Stacy Harp spoke out.   Randy Thomas of Exodus spoke out.    They started petitions and letter writing campaigns to cry to the authorities of the injustice. The AFA sent out emails.  Two-hundred thousand spoke out.   I am happy they have done this, but I couldn’t help but think about where were the cries when young teenage boys were being hanged in Iran for being gay.   Where were the letter campaigns to save these boy’s lives?   This silence was more violent than the action itself.   Why is it the Christian will yell and scream for their own, but not the lives of those they call sinners?  Did Christ not stand and ask who will throw the first stone?   Where were the cries from Christian organizations and Christian bloggers when children were being executed under the suspicion of being gay?   There wasn’t even proof the young boys were actually gay?   Just accusations of wrong doing and they were hanged.    No ex-gay Christians wrote the president.   No ex-gay Christians wrote petitions.   No ex-gay Christians blogged about the injustice of this.    So much for the love the sinner hate the sin idea.

Is this lack of any attention to the plight of these young boys just a silent approval of the Iranian government’s actions? Is this an Indication of what the conservative Christians really feel about gays, the silent approval of our deaths?  While in their hearts I believe they mean well, their actions are sometimes surprising to me.

Can’t even begin to tell you how sad this makes me.   I am happy this man sounds like he will be set free.   I hope the next time the Iranian Goverment decides to hang children for being gay, the conservatives open their mouths to this injustice with as loud as a voice as they did for this man.  I long for the day when we fight for everyone’s lives, not just those like us.

Update: This is a bigger problem than just two teens, where is the outcry over this.

Gays face persecution in islamic republic

Iraqi cleric wants gays killed in "most severe way"