What would Jesus really want?

"Four thousand Iraqi refugees a day come to Syria," Sr. Regina told us.... [M]ore than a million Iraqis have fled to Syria for protection from U.S. bombs and their newly generated internecine strife.

Religion has been at or near the forefront of discussion vis à vis American political discourse and voting patterns. What characterized the outcome of the 2006 election is that issues such as abortion and gay marriage did not prevent a Democratic takeover of Congress, a result quite the opposite of what analysts said about the Republican gains in 2004.

Many Christians see Christianity in a different light. An eloquent spokesperson for the Catholic socially conscious point of view is Sister Joan Chittester. Her writings are always thought provoking; at times they are spiritually jarring. Her article of November 16, 2006, published in the National Catholic Reporter, entitled "Road to Damascus still a place for conversions" is one such literary piece.

Here are excerpts:

The day our small delegation from the Woman's Global Peace Initiative arrived in Syria, CNN ran a ticker tape news flash announcing that a "huge storm was swirling around the tip of Saturn." I smiled at the sight of it. Frankly, I was more concerned about the huge political storm in Syria. Saturn, I figured would take care of itself. Syria, I wasn't sure....

[O]ur delegation went to Syria with one thing in mind: We went to do some citizen-to-citizen diplomacy. We had been invited by the Syrian ambassador in Washington, Imad Moustaffa. "Come," he said. "See for yourselves. Our people need to see Americans who do not hate them."

....Damascus is the longest continuously populated city in human history. More than 7,000 years old, they tell us. We were on the very street that ties the early moments of Christianity with today's struggles....

"Four thousand Iraqi refugees a day come to Syria," Sr. Regina told us. Whatever the daily figure, Archbishop Avak Asadourian told us later, more than a million Iraqis have fled to Syria for protection from U.S. bombs and their newly generated internecine strife....

I looked into their faces while the translator pointed each of them out: this one's son had been killed, these lost their homes, this one saw her family shot to death by American soldiers, these here have nowhere to go.... The list was endless. "I am so sorry," I said to them. "I am so sorry this happened to you. Many, many Americans tried to stop this. All I can do is apologize to you from the center of my heart for the millions of Americans who are concerned for you."

"And what good does that do?" a young teenager said, a sharp edge to her voice....

Suddenly, a woman pushed forward from the back of the jostling crowd, big black eyes fixed on me intently. She turned to the translator for help. "I accept your apology," she said quietly. "I accept your love." Then she put her arms around me, kissed me firmly on the cheek, put her head on my shoulder and began to cry. And so did I.

The whole article is here.