No Sleep ‘Til New Delhi

Indian youth hold candles and placards as they take part in a candle light vigil following the gang rape of a student last week in the Indian capital during a rally in Ahmedabad on December 23, 2012. (SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images)

And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s (or sister’s) blood is crying to me from the ground.”  Genesis 4:10 (English Standard Version with addition by Me)

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:28 (English Standard Version with emphasis by Me)

Tonight I read some very disturbing news.  The 17 year-old student who was gang-raped on a New Delhi bus in November committed suicide by swallowing poison.  Her death came after local police pressured her to either reach a cash settlement or marry one of her attackers (yes marry).

One cannot begin to imagine the pain the young lady felt when she the victim was made to feel like a villain.  How can one peer inside her soul to see what was occurring when the very authorities that should have protected her, instead pressured her to either just settle for some cash or marry one of her attackers.  My God, I could only imagine the pain and horror she felt; and then the sad resignation that she was totally alone and there was nothing left to live for except unwarranted shame and humiliation.

Thanks to our religions, we have this too long delusion that males are the dominant gender, whereas women are the “weaker” one.  Women are objectified as possessions for men to be used as suited.  This attitude has roots that go back for thousands of years and have cost countless lives.  It has been this attitude that has turned one half of the human race into “the other”.

And for all you boys out there having a praise service thanking God you’re a male, don’t get too happy.  The “other” attitude was later extended to people outside one’s religion, other races, other nationalities, other socioeconomic classes (just stop over in Washington DC and you’ll see); where both men and women suffer.  And for you gals who don’t think such contemptible actions happen here in “God’s Country”, the Good Ol’ US of A, remember Senator Todd Akin?  How about those “good Christians” that want to gut Planned Parenthood? Or how about the rapes women never report here at home for the same reasons that ultimately drove the 17 year-old victim to suicide; so these women (and men) live lives of deep hidden pain.

This shit’s got to stop-at home and abroad!  Too many lives are being destroyed, and their blood’s crying out to the Divine.  And now the Divine’s demanding answers: what are we going to do to stop this?  If you look at Galatians, everyone’s equal to God-regardless of sex, social status, age, color, nationality, etc.  We must treat people as people-especially the objectified: women, children, the “others” amongst us.  If we don’t, we’ll see our very societal fabric torn apart-a fate most undesirable.

No time to sleep on this!  We cannot just say, “too bad” and mutter some half-hearted words.  No!  We can’t sleep until we get to New Delhi; and not just the city in India.  We must not sleep until all the “New Delhi’s” in our world are addressed: here in the West, in Afghanistan, in Nigeria, in Russia, in Mexico, anywhere where the dignity of women is being compromised.

Only then will this stop.  And only then, we’ll move towards that place where the Divine calls us to.

Peace.