Guest guest Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/kohls6.html The Ninth of August by Gary G. Kohls <gkohls On the 9^th of August, 1945, an all-Christian B-29 bomber crew took off from Tinian Island in the South Pacific, with the blessings of its Catholic and Protestant chaplains. In the plane's hold was the second of the only two nuclear bombs to ever be used against human targets in wartime. The primary target, Kokura, Japan, was clouded over, so the plane, named Bock's Car, headed for the secondary target, Nagasaki. St. Mary's Urakami Cathedral, a massive Nagasaki landmark that the bombardier had been briefed on for weeks before the bombing, was briefly seen through the thin clouds and targeted as ground zero. The Urakami Cathedral was the oldest and largest Christian church in the Orient, and Nagasaki was the oldest and most influential Christian community in Japan, having been founded by Francis Xaviar in 1550. The Nagasaki Christian community was legendary in the history of Oriental Christianity because of its two centuries of catacomb-like existence during the horrible persecutions by the Imperial Japanese government including mass crucifixions of faithful Christians who refused to give up the faith. Despite the persecutions, and the outlawing of Christianity (as a capital crime to be a Christian for 250 years), Nagasaki Christianity survived and ultimately flourished until 11:02 am, August 9, 1945. What Imperial Japan could not do over two centuries of brutal persecution, fellow American Christians did in 9 seconds. The Cathedral was destroyed by the plutonium bomb (named Fat Man after Winston Churchill), thousands of Nagasaki Chrristians were mortally burned, carbonized or vaporized and the subsequent radiation-induced disease and deformities among the survivors and their progeny continues to this day as a gruesome testament to the horrors of nuclear war. But Nagasaki Christianity's spirit lives on. On the 9^th of August, 1943, Franz Jaegerstaetter, a devout Austrian Christian pacifist, was beheaded by German Christians for refusing to fight and kill in Hitler's army. Because of his conscientious objection to war and killing, he had been abandoned by his bishop and pastor, as well as by his family and friends, all of whom had tried to convince him to do his patriotic duty and kill for " Volk, Führer und Vaterland. " They all tried to convince him that his commitment to Christian nonviolence was futile. Instead, being obedient to his God rather than to men, he died by guillotine at Brandenburg Prison, at the hands of obedient baptized Christian soldiers, whose belt buckles read * " Gott Mit Uns " * (God With Us). And yet Jaegerstaetter's spirit lives on. *On the 9^th of August, 1942,* Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a Jewish Catholic Carmelite nun, was murdered by fellow German Christians at Auschwitz. *Gott Mit Uns* was stamped on their belt buckles too. The German Christian churches had, by their collaboration or by their silence, endorsed the Nazi?s rabid nationalism, militarism, racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and " legal " right to kill other children of God. Ironically, two years later, Sister Teresa's Carmel in Cologne was incinerated during the massive American and British saturation bombing of various civilian targets, making it a moot point precisely which Christian warriors killed her, Nazis or Allied. Teresa has since been sainted in the Roman Catholic Church, and her spirit lives on. The 509th Composite Group, whose responsibilities were to deliver the two radioactive weapons of mass destruction, had two Christian chaplains. The Catholic chaplain, George Zabelka, spoke of societal attitudes at the time: " The whole structure of secular, religious and military society told me clearly that it was all right to "let the Japs have it. God was on our side. " Father Zabelka knew what his bomber crews were doing to innocent people and their defenseless cities in the summer of 1945, and yet " I said nothing. " He regretted that silence for the rest of his life. Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, the foremost apostle of Christian nonviolence in America today, has dedicated his life and ministry to raising the consciousness of the church to the truth of Jesus' nonviolent teachings. McCarthy says: Today, as for most of the last 1700 years, most Christians continue to justify as consistent with the spirit of Christ those energies, understandings, and emotions which lead inevitably to August 9. Today most Christians still do not unequivocally teach what Jesus unequivocally taught on the subject of violence. Today most Christians still refuse to proclaim that violence is not the Christian way, that violence is not the Holy way, that violence is not the way of Jesus. Every summer, to call the Christian community to repent and to return to the truth that violence is not the way of Christ, Father McCarthy leads a fast from solid foods for 40 days, breaking it on August 9. In August 1995 he was at Nagasaki, leading one of the 50^th anniversary events. It is suggested that fellow peacemakers remember all the victims of past August Ninths in their prayers on the upcoming 60^th anniversary commemoration. It is hoped that conscientious Christians consider a day-long fast in remembrance of the hundreds of millions of war dead, the hundreds of millions of physically and psychologically traumatized survivors of war violence, and the billions of spiritually dead victims, both soldier-perpetrators and their civilian victims, innocents who continue to suffer from the starvation, homelessness, poverty, sickness and hopelessness that follows every war. /July 15, 2006/ Gary Kohls, MD [send him mail <gkohls], an associate of Every Church a Peace Church <http://www.ecapc.org/>, is a practicing physician in Duluth, MN. Copyright © 2006 Gary G. Kohls, MD My response to this post on one of the groups I belong to: All that Jesus taught by word an example was Unconditional Love. The men that created the christian religion distorted his teaching for power & control over people. The men that created both the old & new testaments made second class citzens out of half the people - WOMEN. Because women are the life-givers, nurturers. If women were equal, men wouldn't be able continue their murdering, conquering ways. Wake-up people you're being used! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 a must read http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/magazine/16epidemiology-t.html?ex=1190606400 & e\ n=6f2433873fafc89c & ei=5070 & emc=eta1 - Sunday, September 16, 2007 7:47 AM Re: Re: apprenticeship Thank you, Dia. I am licensed in both California and Arizona, currently practicing in Arizona, so I will need to contact both boards before I consider pursuing this. The fact that I am licensed only 5 out of the 10 required years would likely be a sticking point with the CA board, but I will be doing this in Arizona. Still, knowing the CA board, it would be an issue with them. I noticed your PhD in Theology. Are you a practicing minister in addition to an acupuncturist? Spiritual leadership has long been an interest of mine, and I am a frequent lay leader in congregations. Do you combine this training with your work as an acupuncturist, and if so, how? If the answers to these questions are too far afield of this forum, please contact me privately. Thanks again, Andrea Beth Dia Vickery <moonwillow wrote: The CA Acupuncture Board states in Business and Professions Code (Laws): 4940. (a) The board shall establish standards for the approval of tutorial programs for education and training in the practice of acupuncture, that satisfy the requirements of Section 4938. The board shall also establish standards for the approved supervising acupuncturists. (b) An acupuncturist shall be approved to supervise a trainee, provided the supervisor meets the following conditions: (1) Is licensed to practice acupuncture in this state and that license is current, valid, and has not been suspended or revoked or otherwise subject to disciplinary action. (2) Has filed an application with the board. (3) Files with the board the name of each trainee to be trained or employed and a training program satisfactory to the board. (4) Does not train or employ more than two acupuncture trainees at any one time. (5) Has at least 10 years of experience practicing as an acupuncturist and has been licensed in this state for at least five years. (6) Is found by the board to have the knowledge necessary to educate and train the trainee in the practice of an acupuncturist. The amendments made to this section at the 1993 portion of the 1993-94 Regular Session of the Legislature shall not affect the approval of any supervising acupuncturist which has been issued prior to the effective date of those amendments. and in California Code of Regulations (Regs) 1399.420 - .432 which is long and you can read for yourself at http://acupuncture.ca.gov/education/edu_require.htm but essentially states that tutorial programmes still exist. The western science requirements are usually taken at a junior college or an amenable OM school. The reality is that by accepting someone as your trainee and offering a tutorial to them, you are opening your clinic to the CAB's scrutiny. And, sadly, the success rate for trainees is low - they almost always fail their board exams (you can check the results on the board website at http://acupuncture.ca.gov/exams/statistics.htm) Best of luck - Dia Dia Vickery, PhD(Theology), LAc Licensed Acupuncturist / Herbalist Ordained Clergy dia Chinese Herbal Medicine offers various professional services, including a practitioner's directory and a moderated discussion forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.