Sailabrating the War of 1812 in Baltimore

This past weekend Maryland kicked off its observance of the bicentennial of the War of 1812 with the Star-Spangled Sailabration, which featured a gathering of tall ships and naval vessels from several countries. I was busy on Saturday and Sunday, so I didn't get to see the Blue Angels performances. By Monday, when I made it to Baltimore's Inner Harbor where the event was taking place, some of the ships, including the USCG Cutter Eagle, had already left. But four of the international visitors were still present, and I went aboard three of them.

When I arrived at 11 AM, the lines for the two largest ships looked long, so I started with the somewhat smaller Indonesian vessel, KRI Dewaruci.

The Dewaruci is named after a mythological figure, who appears as the ship's figurehead, and whose story is presented in terribly broken English (as with all the photos, you can click on it to see it in a larger size).

The masts were decorated with what looked like traditional art, including a trio of scary-looking masks. (And, yes, they were flying the skull and crossbones among their flags!)

The ship's compass up close.

The ship's mainmast and foremast against the cloudy sky. The sky was gray all day, with light rain about half the time.

While I was aboard the Dewaruci, the 19th-century sloop of war, USS Constellation, which is permanently docked in Baltimore, fired one of its guns at noon. Then, a few minutes later, another local tallship, the Pride of Baltimore II, answered with its own gun. Here you can still see a bit of the smoke from the latter, the black and gold ship in the foreground.

My next stop was the BAE Guayas, from Ecuador, my favorite of the three vessels.

The ship's figurehead was a condor, which also appears atop Ecuador's coat of arms.

As with many such ships, each mast of the Guayas has a name. From front to rear, they are named Popeyes, Duke, and Corsarios.

A local pirate stands guard at the gangplank. His empty left hand cries out for a cutlass or a mug of grog!

One of the vessels permanently on display at the Inner Harbor is the retired USCG Cutter Taney.

In its previous life as a naval vessel, the Taney survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. Its battle honors include shooting down a few enemy aircraft and several successful drug interdictions.

This screw-pile lighthouse, which formerly marked the entrance to the Patapsco River at Seven Foot Knoll, was moved to Baltimore 25 years ago and is now open to tourists.

Among the displays in the lighthouse is this model of the Baltimore clipper Harvey, which served as a privateer during the War of 1812 before settling into the more mundane life of a cargo carrier.

The Harvey was very similar to the Pride of Baltimore II, shown here docking by the USS Constellation.

A better view of the Constellation.

The Sailabration festivities also included several modern naval vessels.

The Urban Pirates' vessel Fearless stalks the harbor.

My final stop was the ARM Cuauhtémoc, from Mexico.

A Mexican officer in summer whites stands in front of the ship's boat answering visitors' questions.

The War of 1812 actually continued into 1815, so the local commemoration of the war will continue until 2015.

Two Heads

On iGoogle, I have an "Art of the Day" widget that shows me a different work of art whenever I sign in to view my St. Vlad's e-mail. Today it showed me Hieronymus Bosch's small painting, Two Male Heads. Googling the title of the painting brought up numerous sites that wanted to show me or sell me the painting. I learned that it is an oil painting on a wood panel and that it is currently located at the Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam. But not one word about the painting's content.

To me, the head on the left looks like it is topped by something resembling a miter. And the one on the right reminds me of a Mongol khan. Could this be Bosch's attempt to depict the meeting of Pope Leo I with Attila the Hun?

My guess probably tells you more about where my head is these days (the fifth century) than about where Bosch's was when he painted this little work.

Great and Holy Friday

Then shall I not be put to shame,
as I give heed unto all thy commandments.
The Master of all creation is here seen lying dead,
and in a new tomb he is laid,
who hath emptied the tombs of their dead.

The way of thine ordinances make me to understand,
and I shall meditate on thy wondrous works.
As a mortal man thou diest willingly, O Saviour,
but as God thou didst raise up the dead
from their tombs and from the abyss of their sins.

(Psalm 118/119, verses 6 and 27, with the accompanying troparia from the first stasis of the Lamentations, from Orthros of Holy Saturday.)

Lyrics for a World in Turmoil

In recent weeks, with Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan dominating the news, this song by Warren Zevon has been running through my head a lot. The title song of his 1982 album, The Envoy, it is his tribute to U.S. diplomat Philip Habib, who served as President Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East during the Lebanese Civil War. Reagan later sent Habib to the Philippines and Central America on missions of peace. You can here Zevon perform the song live here.


The Envoy

Nuclear arms in the Middle East
Israel's attacking the Iraqis
The Syrians are mad at the Lebanese
And Baghdad does whatever she please
Looks like another threat to world peace
For the envoy

Things got hot in El Salvador
CIA got caught and couldn't do no more
He's got diplomatic immunity
He's got a lethal weapon that nobody sees
Looks like another threat to world peace
For the envoy

Send the envoy
Send the envoy

Whenever there's a crisis
The President sends his envoy in
Guns in Damascus
Oh, Jerusalem

Nuclear arms in the Middle East
Israel's attacking the Iraqis
The Syrians are mad at the Lebanese
And Baghdad do whatever she please
Looks like another threat to world peace
For the envoy
Send the envoy
Send the envoy
Send for me
Send for me
Send for me

Christian Missions: Cultural Imperialism?

Back in December, one of my frequent e-mail correspondents sent me a link to a post on the Via Meadia blog, “The Missionaries Win: Christianity Becomes Global Religious Superpower”, in which Walter Russell Mead comments on a report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which looks at the growth of the world’s Christian population over the past century. I forwarded the link to a few friends with a special interest in Christian missions, including Brad, a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators. A lively discussion was sparked by one reader, Micha, who posted a comment equating proselytism with cultural imperialism. I liked Brad’s response so much that I asked if I could re-post it here.


Micha: I’d like to make a couple of points in reply to your post:

1. You seem to hold the view, like a lot of people, that no one “religion” is better than another, but they are just a personal choice, influenced largely by culture. Under that view it is “rude” to try to get someone to change their religion. It’s like fans of one sports team trying to get fans of other teams to switch to their team. That can be okay if done politely, but it can also get bothersome, sometimes even rude or violent. But most people, even avid sports fans, would agree that it ultimately just doesn’t matter. Cardinals fans are not going to convert Cubs fans, Yankees fans are not going to convert Red Sox fans, and it doesn’t really matter. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is how you view religion.

The reason you are not understanding posters coming from a Christian perspective is that we see religion differently. We see it as a statement or set of beliefs about reality, not just an opinion. So to us, there really is one right answer. The statement “Christians don’t believe that non-Christian religion has as much value to people as Christianity does.” is offensive to you in the same way that the statement “Being a Cubs fan does not have as much value as being a Cardinals fan” would be to a Cubs fan. The bottom line is that there is no underlying reality, it is just a matter of opinion.

But what if someone were to say “Cancer treatment X has more value than cancer treatment Y”? That would be a question of immense importance to cancer sufferers. This is the way Christians, Muslims, and other religious people see the question of religion. It is crucial to get it right. It’s okay to say “I’m right and you’re wrong.” We do it all the time about medicine (and lots of other subjects, of course). But if we do it about religion we are labeled “intolerant.”

2. At worst, your low opinion of missionary efforts has some basis in reality. You see it as “cultural imperialism.” Sadly, it has been that in some cases. But the vast majority of Christian mission organizations today (I can’t speak for Islam or others) are much more aware of cross-cultural issues than they were in the past. Specifically, they strive to separate the religious reality from its cultural baggage. This is known as the “contextualization of theology” and will make no sense to you if I have correctly described the way you view religion in pt 1 above (sports fan analogy). You will see religion as inseparable from culture. But for the Christian the two are separable. Of course, there is no simple formula for separating the theological “non-negotiables” from the cultural trappings. That’s why mission organizations today send not only evangelists (as well as doctors, teachers, etc), but also anthropologists, linguists, sociolinguists, ethnomusicologists, ethnographers, etc. We don’t always get it right, but we are trying to bring our message in a way that values the local culture. Our view is that all cultures, including our own, have aspects that are good and aspects that are bad. All cultures need to be examined in light of our religious beliefs. Again, this will make no sense if religion is just an opinion that doesn’t really matter. I think the global success of Christianity in the past 100 years, as noted by Mead’s article, is at least in part a result of this new wave of missionaries trying to get it right.

3. On cultural imperialism, you need to read Spirit of the Rainforest by Ritchie. It is a mind-blowing account told by the Yanomamo people of Brazil/Venezuala. This is the group that anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon wrote about. The traditional Yanomamo culture is heavily steeped in revenge killing, rape, and slavery, encouraged by the spirit world of their religious system. The book documents the coming of secular anthropologists as well as missionaries. The missionaries came to teach love and forgiveness, and also brought modern medical techniques, literacy, etc. The anthropologists just came to study the people. One village wanted a “white person” to come because they had heard of the good things that missionaries brought. But to their eventual disappointment, they got a (non-religious) athropologist. They took a sick child to this anthropologist, and he told them to treat the child their traditional way. He took notes. The child got worse. He took notes. The child died. He took notes.

Eventually, when a number of Yanomamo had become Christians, they founded a village. This village refused to participate in revenge killings. Other villages fought against them in one of their traditional ways – two by two with clubs. The Christian village was able to defend itself in this, well not “non-violent,” but at least “non-deadly” way. Eventually, due to good medical care and the absence of revenge killing, this villge grew strong enough that no other villages dared attack it. It became a place of refuge, healing and forgiveness for those seeking safety. Yet, the secular anthropologists were enraged by the “cultural imperialism” of Christians. They wanted people to hang on to their killings, rape, wife-beating and inadequate medical care so they could be studied. This is the point at which anthropology becomes imperialistic, wanting to keep people in a sort of “cultural zoo” so they can be studied.

Note that the cancer treatment analogy I made above is actually not totally metaphorical. It is a metaphor for how we see religion, but it also has literal examples in how some people have been denied life-saving treatment in the name of “cultural sensitivity.” What if a culture had a cure for cancer, but didn’t give it to us because the way we treat cancer was so fascinating that they wanted to study it? Would we thank them for their cultural sensitivity?

The other fascinating thing about this book is how the Yanomamo spiritual beliefs dovetailed with the teachings of Christianity. They discovered that the spirits they were following were evil and leading them into more and more suffering. Nothing conflicted with their traditional belief system, but they switched their allegiance to a different set of spirits, and ultimately the “greatest spirit” whom they formerly called the “enemy spirit.” I obviously can’t do the book justice here. You’ll just have to read it.

4. You may be wanting to say “Lots of conflicts would be avoided if only nobody held religion as a statement about reality.” That is undoubtedly true, but does not bear on the question. Religion is either a statement about reality or it isn’t. Either/Or. If something is true, we should not disbelieve it just because we don’t like the consequences of believing it. All religious people need to interact in love and respect with adherents of other religions.

I hope some of this resonates with you. I probably haven’t changed your mind, but I hope you can understand a bit better why we feel religion is worth spreading. Sorry for such a long post. Thanks for reading, and have a happy new year.

Welcome to Linthicum

Welcome to a new year: 2012. Here in Maryland this year we are commemorating the War of 1812, which took place 200 years ago. I will return to this topic shortly.

After I returned to Maryland at the end of July, it took six trips to the MVA to get my car registration and driver's license transferred to Maryland. And, for various reasons, it took me until well into October to get settled in my new apartment in the town of Linthicum (which some, including the U.S. Postal Service, insist on calling Linthicum Heights), just outside the Baltimore Beltway near Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Apart from being just two blocks from church, the thing I like most about my new neighborhood is its walkability. I often walk to the library and the post office, and I sometimes go for walks on weekends when the weather is nice. I took my camera on a couple of my early walks, back when there were still fall leaves on the trees. My tour begins at the park featuring the new Veterans Memorial (above). The sign below gives a brief history of the town and the importance of the railroad to its development.

Just across the tracks from the sign is the old Linthicum railroad station.

Across the street from the station is the entrance to J. Charles Linthicum Memorial Park. The park is a trail that runs along the west side of railroad, which is now used for light rail. Not far into the park is a memorial to Mr. Linthicum.

It is interesting that the accomplishment chosen for emphasis was Rep. Linthicum's authorship of the bill to recognize "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem (which he first submitted in 1918), rather than his leadership of the effort to repeal prohibition or his reform of the foreign service. Because it was written just off the shore of Maryland during the British bombardment of nearby Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, Marylanders take a proprietary interest in our national anthem. (That explains the state's current license plate design, which you saw at the beginning of this post.) The top of the memorial is a relief plaque of the sheet music of the first verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner".

Continuing along the trail, I watch a two-car train zip past.

In the middle of the park is the Linthicum Light Rail Station.

I walk through the station, cross the tracks, and proceed towards downtown Linthicum. Here is the fire station, with the water tower looming behind it.

Across the street is the main shopping center. Not listed on the sign: the U.S. Post Office.

The hardware store and the water tower.

Returning to the light rail station.

Proceeding to the other side of the station and continuing for three blocks, I reach the Linthicum Branch of the Anne Arundel County Public Library. I have been borrowing a lot of recorded books to listen to while cooking and driving.

By the time I get back to the Veteran's Memorial, across the street from church, it is starting to get dark.