Saturday, March 10, 2012

Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J "Arrested More Times Than He Can Count"

Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J being arrested
Many great minds have questioned the logic of retributive violence, but perhaps none as persistently and unwaveringly as Father Daniel Berrigan, S.J.. Today, the lifelong social justice activist and renegade Jesuit priest turns 90 years old. At a time when self-proclaimed Christian politicians espouse a Tea Party-inspired theology of xenophobia and vengeance, Berrigan is a rare soul that continues tirelessly opposing violence in its many forms.  Along with his late brother Phillip, he has publicly opposed aid to alleged anti-Communist forces in Southeast Asia, the use of American forces in Grenada, the installation of Pershing missiles in West Germany, aid to the Contras in Nicaragua, intervention in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, the Cold War, and the Gulf War.  Berrigan also vocally opposed the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.[1]  For Berrigan, Christianity is a counter-cultural practice directly at odds with the prevailing national culture of retributive justice. Arrested more times than he can count -- but “fewer than I should have been,” Berrigan says -- he has spent over half a century digging mock graves on the Pentagon’s front lawn, pouring vials of his own blood on Capitol Hill, vandalizing army airplanes, hammering on nuclear nosecones, turning his back on judges during his sentencing hearings, staging hunger strikes in prisons, undergoing strip searches for educating his fellow inmates, and standing in court on charges ranging from “criminal mischief” to “destruction of government property” to, most egregiously, “failure to quit.” [2]  Berrigan fears moral suicide over physical death and regards moral autonomy as more liberating than physical freedom.
Link (here) to the communist inspired website Commondreams

3 comments:

The Wound Dresser said...

Daniel Berrigan is the sanest man on the planet.Dan's birthday is May 9, when he will be 91.

Anonymous said...

How is Common Dreams "communist- inspired"? I looked through their description and links and there wasn't a word about communism. Is that description meant to be funny? Or is it just a bold, cheap falsehood like the McCarthy stuff in the '50s?
I can't imaging any blogger using such strong, unmistakable language without rock-solid proof. You didn't say "progressive" or "liberal" you said communist. So what am I missing?

Anonymous said...

I agree with Anonymous. This only further demonstrates how bankrupt and empty the political rhetoric is from the right as it begs to find some kind of issue beyond abortion to make political hay.