“Though most religions shun warfare and hold nonviolence as the only moral route toward political change, religion and its language have been co-opted by the violent people who govern societies. If someone were to come along who would not compromise, a rebel who insisted on taking the only moral path, rejecting violence in all of its forms, such a person would seem so menacing that he would have to be killed, and after his death he would be canonized or deified, because a saint is less dangerous than a rebel. This has happened numerous times, but the first prominent example was a Jew named Jesus.”
— Mark Kurlansky. 2006. ‘Nonviolence: Twenty-five lessons from the history of a Dangerous idea’
I just finished this book recently, which I would highly recommend, and was struck by this statement. Rob Bell actually mentioned it in a sermon he preached at Mars Hill about being Peacemakers. I think we miss seeing Jesus in this way, and I found Mark’s words extremely profound and challenging.
The point is that, though most religions teach the danger of violence and lay out a moral path, few if any are willing to follow that path in all of its implications. Jesus was a Moral man, thus a rebel. Isn’t that interesting? We live in a society and a world, and many believe in religions, that esteem values and morals that we choose not to live up too. I’m not just talking about Christians, I think every single one of us, if we are honest with ourselves recognize that we are hypocrites. I think every parent has probably come to a point were they acknowledge they are trying to teach their children values they know are right, but they themselves do not even live up to, even more they choose not to live up to those values at times.
And so Jesus is a radical, he is a rebel. In a society that says one thing and does another, a person who would have the audacity to actually follow through and live out his beliefs must be killed and hidden. Jesus has been hidden, his radical life has been hidden in our deification of him. Regardless of whether you believe Jesus Christ is a deity or not, at the least we need to recognize that his life was far more rebellious then we acknowledge.
Corporate Responsibility Mondays enters the footwear industry. As always, 
There is a great company doing a world of good as a shoe shop. The mission is simple: When you buy a pair of shoes, and a pair is given to a child on your behalf. 
All those looking for a comeback of their old converse need look no further. Both No Sweat Apparel and Adbusters have their own fair trade version of these classic shoes. 
Adbusters is a little more in-your-face when it comes to their product tactics with their 
The options thin out a little when you start looking for a sports ready shoe. I’m not sure of soccer cleats or the like available from a union or fair trade store out there. One option for running shoes though is high quality, custom made, by a guy and his wife up in Maine. If you want a shoe with a story behind it and quality at that, 
In the Month of November, my friend Zach Swee wrote a fiction book, 
Let me give you an idea of the magnitude of this. As the days led up to the G8 summit we read article after article about the 20,000 police and military were being trained to handle the protesters. That is were your tax dollars were going 20,000 officers specifically trained in riot training, and this was under the ‘
Finally, the G8 protest in Brunswick GA was attended by about 200 protesters at most. That’s nearly 100 riot cops and military for each of us protesters (a little absurd I know). Our experience was a positive one, and I’m happy to say I was not struck by a baton, rubber bullet or tear gas and the police were generally respectable. Starring at a line of riot cops standing in front of you with their giant shields, not flinching and not moving, and apparently there for nothing more then to intimidate the snot out of anyone was a disturbing experience. The reason there was only 200 protesters at this event is because of the gross injustice and violence that was experienced less then a year earlier at the Miami FTA Meetings. I found a video that is about 1.5 hours long that I think captures a lot of the violence that scared and intimidated people from coming to another event. Riot cops shot rubber bullets into crowds, sprayed mace at masses of people, and beat people with clubs when it was completely unnecessary. 
Fast forward a number of months. I saw an advertisement calling for volunteers to protect people’s right to vote and remembering Dr. Jackson’s words, I was compelled to sign-up. Election Protection is a non-partisan initiative to make sure every citizen of this country has a fair and equal opportunity to vote. Injustice exist.
I shared that and encouraged a room full of 50+ college republicans (and later to 15 college democrats) to spend their election day watching polls to make sure that all people had a chance to vote. In other words, for our country to actually run as a democracy. Not one Republican came out and only one Democrat. It made me realize we aren’t so much concerned about democracy as that “our side” wins.