Philip Berrigan - "King - Making" (March 19, 1975)

Download
- Rights
- No Re-Use
  In Copyright
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP3
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4gx48w3n?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4gx48w3n
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

-	Would you stand as we sing	0:05
	a beautiful hymn considered by many	0:08
	the Negro national Anthem, Lift every voice and sing.	0:13
	♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪	0:39
	♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪	0:46
	♪ Ring with the harmonies of liberty ♪	0:52
	♪ Let our rejoicing rise ♪	1:03
	♪ High as the listening skies ♪	1:10
	♪ Let it resound loud as the rolling sea ♪	1:16
	♪ Sing a song full of the faith ♪	1:26
	♪ That the darkness has taught us ♪	1:32
	♪ Sing a song full of the hope ♪	1:37
	♪ That the present has brought us ♪	1:43
	♪ Facing the rising sun ♪	1:51
	♪ Of our new day begun ♪	1:58
	♪ Let us march on till victory is won ♪	2:05
	♪ God of our weary years ♪	2:15
	♪ God of our silent tears ♪	2:21
	♪ Thou who has brought us thus far along the way ♪	2:27
	♪ Thou who has by Thy might led us into the light ♪	2:38
	♪ Keep us forever in Thy path, we pray ♪	2:52
	♪ Lest our feet stray from the places, our God ♪	3:02
	♪ Where we met Thee ♪	3:09
	♪ Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world ♪	3:13
	♪ We forget Thee ♪	3:21
	♪ Shadowed beneath Thy hand ♪	3:27
	♪ May we forever stand ♪	3:34
	♪ True to our God ♪	3:41
	♪ True to our native land ♪	3:45
	The second selection we have been asked to do	3:55
	is a congregational type number.	3:58
	Oh freedom, oh freedom.	4:02
	Oh freedom over me.	4:04
	And before I'll be a slave,	4:10
	I'll be buried in my grave	4:13
	and go home to my Lord, and be free.	4:17
	The second verse song in the same tune is,	4:22
	"God Almighty, God Almighty.	4:25
	God Almighty over me.	4:26
	And before I'll be a slave,	4:33
	I'll be buried in my grave	4:36
	and go home to my Lord, and be free.	4:39
	Same ole sunshine.	4:45
	Same ole sunshine, same ole sunshine over me.	4:48
	And before I'll be a slave,	4:54
	I'll be buried in my grave	4:58
	and go home to my Lord and be free.	5:00
	Will you join us in this congregational number.	5:05
	(slow organ music)	5:09
	♪ Oh freedom, oh freedom ♪	5:25
	♪ Oh freedom over me ♪	5:33
	♪ And before I'll be a slave ♪	5:41
	♪ I'll be buried in my grave ♪	5:46
	♪ And go home to my Lord and be free ♪	5:50
	♪ God Almighty, God Almighty ♪	5:59
	♪ God Almighty over me ♪	6:07
	♪ And before I'd be a slave ♪	6:15
	♪ I'll be buried in my grave ♪	6:20
	♪ And go home to my Lord and be free ♪	6:24
	♪ Same ole sunshine, same ole sunshine ♪	6:33
	♪ Same ole sunshine over me ♪	6:41
	♪ And before I'll be a slave ♪	6:48
	♪ I'll be buried in my grave ♪	6:53
	♪ And go home to my Lord and be free ♪	6:57
-	The reverend and Mrs. John Borons	7:31
	led our singing and we're grateful.	7:34
-	Will you pray with me.	7:42
-	Almighty God.	7:49
-	In this holy season,	7:54
-	We remember that you have brought life out of death,	8:00
	light out of darkness, hope out of despair,	8:09
	in Jesus Christ our Lord.	8:19
	Raise us up. Oh God, one by one	8:26
	and all together,	8:29
	from despair that is based on our own strengths,	8:33
	to a new and living hope grounded in you.	8:39
	Lift our lives out of deadly routine,	8:48
	and give to them a lively adventure.	8:54
	Oh God of love whose desire is that	9:01
	none of your children should perish	9:08
	but that all should know life to the full.	9:13
	Take from us those attitudes and actions,	9:19
	which are deadly to others.	9:26
-	Oh, God help us to cause wars to cease.	9:33
-	Heal the wounds of conflict in Ireland,	9:44
	Vietnam, Cambodia,	9:47
	the Middle east.	9:51
	And bring Shalom to troubled lands.	9:55
	In this nation,	10:04
	may our brothers and sisters and we	10:08
	know peace and justice.	10:14
	Oh God, again, in this holy season, make us humble.	10:21
	As we bow in the shadow of the cross	10:27
	of our Lord Jesus Christ.	10:29
	May each of us experience anew the truth,	10:34
	that you loved us enough to give your son.	10:39
	Now, oh God, as we remember	10:47
	that Christ surely did give of himself for us,	10:49
	Help us to give of ourselves	10:56
	in loving, caring service to one another.	11:00
-	In the name and in the spirit of Jesus Christ.	11:10
	Amen.	11:19
	Following the service tonight,	11:27
	we are all invited to Flowers Lounge	11:31
	for some conversation, feedback, dialogue,	11:36
	continuation of interchange with Phillip Berrigan	11:42
	and with Ned Murphy,	11:49
	who has been with Phillip on this trip yesterday and today.	11:53
	And if they both survive through tomorrow.	12:00
	Ned, they'll see Phil in a few minutes.	12:04
	I wonder if you would stand	12:07
	so that those who have not met you thus far.	12:08
	Ned Murphy, colleague, coworker with Phil.	12:11
	Philip Berrigan comes tonight.	12:20
	That's not, what's supposed to be next.	12:29
	Let me read for you, for us from God's word.	12:37
	The passage which Phillip would use	12:46
	as a basis of his meditation.	12:51
	From first Samuel, chapter eight, beginning at verse seven.	12:54
	Hear the word.	13:03
	The Lord said to Samuel	13:07
	hearken to the voice of the people	13:11
	and all that they say to you	13:12
	for they have not rejected you,	13:16
	but they have rejected me from being king over them.	13:19
	According to all the deeds which they have done to me	13:24
	from the day I brought them out of Egypt,	13:27
	even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods.	13:29
	So they are also doing to you.	13:34
	Now then, hearken to their voice.	13:38
	Only you shall solemnly warn them	13:42
	and show them the ways of the king	13:45
	who shall reign over them.	13:47
	So Samuel told all the words of the Lord	13:50
	to the people who were asking a king from him.	13:52
	He said, these will be the ways of the king,	13:55
	who will reign over you.	13:59
	He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots	14:02
	and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.	14:08
	And he will appoint for himself,	14:13
	commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties	14:15
	and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest	14:18
	and to make his implements of war	14:22
	and the equipment of his chariots.	14:23
	He will take your daughters to be perfumers	14:27
	and cooks and bakers.	14:29
	He will take the best of your fields	14:32
	and vineyards and olive orchards	14:34
	and give them to his servants.	14:36
	He will take the 10th of your grain and of your vineyards	14:39
	and give it to his officers and to his servants.	14:43
	He will take your men servants and your maid servants	14:46
	and the best of your cattle	14:49
	and your asses and put them to work.	14:50
	He will take a 10th of your flock	14:54
	and you shall be his slaves.	14:56
	And in that day you will cry out because of your king,	14:59
	whom you have chosen to yourselves.	15:02
	But the Lord will not answer you in that day.	15:05
	But the people refuse to listen to the voice of Samuel.	15:11
	And they said, no,	15:14
	but we will have a king over us	15:16
	that we may also be like all the other nations	15:18
	so that our king may govern us	15:21
	and go out before us and fight our battles.	15:23
	And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people,	15:27
	he repeated them in the ears of the Lord.	15:30
	And the Lord said to Samuel.	15:34
	Listen to their voice and make them a king.	15:36
	Phillip Berrigan comes tonight to share himself with us.	15:46
	He comes also to give his words from God's word.	15:51
	It was a privilege for me to meet him this morning	15:59
	because I like you, have known him, his courage,	16:04
	his commitment, his convictions, his concern.	16:10
	We have seen him from afar and respected him.	16:16
	We've witnessed for right justice,	16:24
	for life and hope for others,	16:29
	for freedom and wholeness for the oppressed	16:34
	has its price.	16:39
	One reads about Brother Phillip Berrigan,	16:43
	and is reminded of Paul's recitation of his experiences.	16:49
	Philip has been through four political trials	16:58
	in the past four years.	17:02
	Involved with the	17:05
	Harrisburg conspiracy, the Catonsville Nine Trial.	17:06
	I'm told that 40 out of the last 40 months	17:13
	out of the last four years,	17:16
	he has spent in federal prison or in jail.	17:19
	He was ordained to the priesthood in 55.	17:25
	And has been recently ex-communicated	17:30
	from the church and the priesthood.	17:34
	Now living with his wife, Elizabeth McAlister,	17:39
	who preached in this chapel about three years ago,	17:42
	I think it was.	17:45
	And Ned and 10 other adults.	17:47
	Ned tells me, Ned Clark tells me there's one baby there	17:50
	and one expected momentarily	17:53
	and twins expected there this summer.	17:55
	In a place called Jonah House.	18:00
	A house where there is a community of concerned persons	18:05
	who are reflecting on our roots as a people	18:08
	and reflecting on what's happening in the world today.	18:14
	And are offering movements of resistance.	18:19
	Profit, priest, pastor, poet,	18:22
	man of deep devotion.	18:29
	And on the back of his most recent book,	18:32
	entitled, "Writing from jails, widen the prison gates".	18:34
	A book which I'm sure	18:41
	the Gothic bookstore would be glad to order.	18:42
	These words describe Phillip Berrigan,	18:47
	funny. earthy, shrewd, deeply spiritual,	18:51
	tough, dedicated to non-violence,	19:01
	a human being alternately boyd, buoyed, bored,	19:07
	bitter, angry, resigned,	19:13
	jealous, generous and hopeful.	19:17
	As are some of us,	19:24
	and as our brothers and sisters and mankind.	19:26
	Phillip, we welcome you to the service	19:33
	and we hear your word,	19:38
	which you bring to us from God at this time.	19:41
-	Thank you Bob, sisters and brothers.	20:02
-	Perhaps I can, or we can start together on a light note,	20:10
	with a little story.	20:17
	I increasingly place reliance upon stories	20:19
	because I think that they're good.	20:24
	They have so much to tell us about our life	20:27
	and its potential.	20:30
	And also our present predicament.	20:31
	It seems that a couple who had twin sons	20:37
	early in their young lives ran into a dilemma	20:42
	with the two little boys.	20:45
	The dilemma was traceable to the fact that	20:51
	their sons were as different as night and day.	20:54
	One was a sour, jaundiced, little character	21:02
	who sort of wind away his waking hours.	21:07
	Nothing in this lad's life went right.	21:15
	And he seemed to have no grasp of	21:19
	the love with which his brother	21:21
	and his parents surrounded him.	21:23
	It made no impression upon him.	21:25
	His brother in contrast	21:29
	was sort of the habitual optimist.	21:30
	He was bright and cheerful	21:34
	and appreciative of everything done for him.	21:38
	The parents were concerned enough about this contrast,	21:43
	this difference in their twin sons	21:47
	to go to a doctor about it.	21:50
	And he listened to them at length.	21:53
	And he said, well, Christmas is coming up,	21:56
	let's try a little experiment.	21:58
	On Christmas morning,	22:03
	give all the presents to the little pessimist.	22:04
	Load him up and see if we can inject a little cheerfulness	22:10
	into that sour little life.	22:14
	As for the other, he says it might be worthwhile	22:20
	to demean him, even humiliate him.	22:25
	Give him some absurd gift	22:27
	or give him nothing at all.	22:33
	He says, "I'll be around on Christmas morning	22:36
	to see how it goes".	22:38
	So he showed up	22:40
	and there was the little pessimist	22:43
	loaded up with trinkets and gifts,	22:44
	but they had changed him not one particle.	22:49
	And everything given him seemed to be the wrong thing.	22:53
	So the train didn't run fast enough	22:59
	and the boxing gloves were too heavy.	23:01
	And the stereo that his parents gave him	23:04
	had the wrong records.	23:06
	On and on and on, endlessly.	23:08
	So he turned from that sorrowful scene	23:14
	to the other little brother.	23:18
	And he noticed the little guy toddling around the house	23:20
	with a tiny bucket of horse manure.	23:24
	He was radiant as always.	23:31
	And the headman was astonished.	23:35
	And he talked to the little guy and he said,	23:40
	"What do you have there"?	23:44
	And the kid looked at him as though he were a bit retarded.	23:46
	He held it out and he says,	23:51
	"I've got a bucket of horse manure".	23:53
	And the doctor said,	23:57
	"Well, are you pleased with that as a Christmas gift?"	23:58
	And in turn, the lads astonishment grew	24:05
	and he looked at the doctor	24:07
	as though he were a village idiot.	24:09
	And he said, well, of course I'm happy.	24:13
	He says, if I have this,	24:15
	there must be a pony around here somewhere.	24:17
	Perhaps, the pony is peace.	24:31
	And we're searching for it as the lad did.	24:41
	Despite the other symbol.	24:46
	A society, which sometimes reeks like manure.	24:50
	Despite the obstacle of that.	24:57
	I want to thank Bob for his prayer and for his words.	25:04
	And I hope you'll forgive me repeating	25:09
	portions of the biblical account that he shared with you.	25:12
	I'd like to use the Bible	25:19
	and this section of the book of Samuel.	25:20
	And because the Bible as with you,	25:24
	the Bible for me is thee handbook of life.	25:27
	As well as being a profound political commentary.	25:35
	The negative side of all of that of course,	25:41
	would be an observation like the following that	25:44
	we as a people are somewhat biblically illiterate,	25:47
	and therefore,	25:53
	almost necessarily we're ignorant of how to live	25:54
	and how to die.	25:58
	So I would say there again from the negative side	26:01
	that the present dilemmas and despairs	26:05
	and accesses of both the United States	26:07
	and the so-called Christian West	26:11
	lends some credence to that charge.	26:14
	In any case and here I repeat.	26:19
	The prophet Samuel had two sons,	26:21
	which he appointed judges over Israel	26:24
	and his sons proved corrupt.	26:26
	So Jewish elders appealed to him for a king.	26:29
	The idea displeased Samuel, and he prayed to God for light.	26:34
	And the answer came. It is not you they reject,	26:38
	they are rejecting me as their king.	26:42
	As they treated me from the day I brought them out of Egypt,	26:45
	deserting me and worshiping strange gods.	26:49
	Now, do they treat you also.	26:52
	Now grant their request	26:57
	and inform them of the rights of the king,	26:59
	who will rule them.	27:03
	And Samuel delivered the message of the Lord in full	27:06
	to those who were asking him for a king.	27:08
	And he told them the rights of the king	27:11
	who will rule you will be as follows,	27:14
	and he'll take your sons and assign them	27:18
	to his chariots and horses	27:20
	and they'll run before his chariot.	27:21
	And he will also appoint from among them	27:24
	his commanders of groups of a thousand	27:26
	and of a hundred soldiers.	27:29
	And he will set them to do his plowing and his harvesting	27:31
	and to make as implements of war	27:34
	and the equipment of his chariots.	27:36
	And he will use your daughters as ointment makers,	27:38
	as cooks and as bakers.	27:41
	And he will take the best of your fields,	27:43
	vineyards and olive groves, and give them to his officials.	27:45
	And he will take your crops and your vineyards	27:51
	and give the revenues to his unix and to his slaves.	27:53
	And he'll take your male and female servants	27:58
	as well as your best oxen and your asses	28:00
	and use them to do his work.	28:03
	And he will take your flocks and you yourselves	28:06
	will become his slaves..	28:10
	And the people, however,	28:14
	refused to listen to Samuel's warning	28:15
	and said, "Not so,	28:17
	there must be a king over us.	28:22
	We too must be like other nations with a king to rule us	28:25
	and to lead us in warfare and to fight our battles".	28:28
	And when Samuel had listened to all the people had to say,	28:31
	he repeated it to the Lord who said to him,	28:35
	grant their request and appoint a king to rule over them.	28:38
	I think we should note that up to this period,	28:45
	Israel was remarkable for the integrity	28:48
	and independence of its people.	28:53
	Its society was admirably classless, and egalitarian.	28:56
	What therefore does the text say to us,	29:01
	of an internal decline from independence to slavery.	29:04
	Number one, the text says,	29:10
	"Rejection of God as Lord and judge. Number two,	29:12
	substitution of false gods for the real God.	29:17
	God's like exclusivism, money, power, war.	29:20
	Number three, a false king to rule over false gods".	29:26
	We might agree that that's the function of a king.	29:32
	"Number four, slavery for the people.	29:38
	Number five, a conviction on the part of the people	29:42
	that slavery really is not slavery".	29:45
	Now, I know you are making connections	29:53
	between that reality and our own.	29:56
	Between that ancient failure and our contemporary one.	29:58
	The Bible's value lies with its genius	30:03
	for exposing human tragedies and glories,	30:06
	whether ancient or contemporary.	30:09
	It emphasizes once again, as the text explains	30:12
	that our cardinal human crimes	30:16
	are neither ingenious, nor are they new.	30:18
	Hence an application of the text to our society,	30:23
	and to our prospects.	30:27
	Have we to ask the blunt questions of the Bible.	30:31
	Have we rejected God?	30:35
	Are our idols who are false gods,	30:38
	essentially the same as those of the ancient Jews.	30:40
	Exclusivism, money, power, war.	30:44
	Do we, or have we for a long time insisted on a king	30:50
	in the United States, Nixon or other.	30:54
	With a bicentennial upon us in a few short years,	31:00
	are we from a biblical and democratic point of view, slaves?	31:03
	And finally,	31:10
	are we like those who went to Samuel under the delusion	31:11
	that slavery, really is not slavery.	31:14
	I would guess that Americans as a rule	31:21
	would tend either to evade or to register an emphatic, no,	31:23
	to questions like these.	31:27
	Like the people that faced Samuel,	31:31
	they will tend to assert, "Not so".	31:32
	When he predicted that king making	31:37
	would mean slave making and that they would be the slaves.	31:39
	"Not so", they protested.	31:44
	"There must be a king over us".	31:49
	They told him "We too must be like other nations	31:50
	with a king to rule us and lead us in warfare	31:53
	and to fight our battles".	31:56
	Let us look a little more closely at the passage	32:00
	from independence to slavery.	32:03
	Acceptance of God from a biblical point of view	32:11
	always means acceptance of the victims.	32:14
	It is loving everyone with the same immeasurable love	32:21
	that God gives to us.	32:23
	But especially the victims,	32:26
	the ill, the poor, the bombed, the weak,	32:28
	the starving, the imprisoned.	32:31
	Now, when the idols or false gods or our selfishness,	32:36
	militates against that command, that invitation,	32:42
	we reject God to favor surrogates	32:46
	like exclusivism, like money, power, war.	32:49
	Now idols like these need a king.	32:56
	A king to pretend a ministration to the victims,	32:58
	and only the people can minister to the victims,	33:05
	a king never.	33:10
	A king to legitimize the idols	33:13
	and to wage war to protect them.	33:16
	False gods, therefore demand of false king.	33:20
	The two go hand in hand with slavery.	33:23
	In sequence therefore, false gods, a false king,	33:27
	and a race of slaves.	33:31
	He'll take your sons and assign them to his chariots	33:34
	and horses. He will use your daughters	33:37
	as ointment makers, as cooks and as bakers.	33:39
	He'll take your flocks	33:42
	and you yourselves will be his slaves.	33:43
	So the text reminds us.	33:47
	Americans of course have a ready reply.	33:51
	They say, "Not so. The scripture does not apply to us.	33:54
	We have not rejected God.	34:00
	Our temples dot this land.	34:02
	Everywhere are church related institutions, schools,	34:04
	hospitals, orphanages, universities.	34:08
	Men of God sit with the Congress	34:12
	and act as special advisor to the president.	34:14
	As Father McLaughlin did.	34:17
	No people worship as intensely or as regularly as we do.	34:21
	And nowhere does the church so interact	34:25
	with major institutions.	34:28
	Nowhere does it so criticize it's government".	34:30
	As for the charge of false gods,	34:38
	that is met with incredulity, even anger.	34:40
	Americans assert for example,	34:46
	our blacks enjoy better conditions	34:49
	here than anywhere else in the world.	34:51
	And we give enormous sums away,	34:53
	personally and officially.	34:55
	As for power, we have used it benignly,	34:57
	mostly in protection of freedom.	35:02
	Moreover, we have waged war discreetly	35:04
	and even mercifully in fidelity to our allies.	35:07
	Concerning kings and king making	35:13
	even a greater incomprehension reigns.	35:15
	We have a president.	35:18
	Americans will say, "We choose one every four years.	35:20
	Ours is a citizens government subject to the people.	35:23
	It is a flawed experiment, that's true,	35:28
	but it's still the best in history".	35:31
	And finally slaves,	35:36
	slaves of whom?	35:41
	Not Nixon nor Ford, certainly. The press got Nixon.	35:43
	And finally the courts backed up the original charges	35:50
	of the press. Slaves of ourselves?	35:54
	No, we say what we please, we worship or not worship,	35:57
	as we choose. We insist on a free press.	36:00
	We meet and assemble on every conceivable issue.	36:04
	Slaves of whom?	36:08
	As for asserting that slavery is not slavery.	36:17
	Americans will say,	36:21
	"No, we've never heard of George Orwell.	36:22
	That's true or doublespeak.	36:24
	Delusions might strike us as they strike other people,	36:28
	but that's not one of them. Not so.	36:31
	there's another side of course,	36:38
	to the controversy and it hinges on war.	36:39
	As the text says,	36:46
	we too must be like other nations	36:47
	with a king to rule over us	36:48
	and to lead us in warfare and to fight our battles.	36:50
	To the people of Samuel's day	36:54
	the main function of a king	36:55
	was ruling and leadership in war.	36:57
	In fact, the text makes it clear that ruling	36:59
	and war were two sides to one coin.	37:02
	Economics, in a word.	37:05
	The people wanted prosperity	37:09
	and they wanted a rising standard of living.	37:11
	They wanted ruling, they wanted war.	37:14
	An impressive case can be made for the claim	37:21
	that Americans want, what the Jews wanted.	37:23
	We want prosperity, therefore we want ruling,	37:29
	therefore we want war.	37:31
	If we didn't, we would gather resolution to and effort	37:34
	to stop the American adventure in war making,	37:37
	which is the most massive one in history.	37:40
	Yes, it seems to me that we wanted to eclipse other nations.	37:46
	We wanted kings or presidents to rule over us	37:50
	and to lead us in warfare and to fight our battles.	37:53
	Of our kings from Washington to Nixon or to Ford,	37:58
	if they have any crowning fault,	38:02
	it is their fidelity to the people.	38:04
	Since our inception as a nation,	38:09
	they have unconstitutionally committed our troops	38:11
	abroad more than once every year.	38:14
	Since 1946, our Kings have spent $1.3 trillion	38:21
	of your money for war making.	38:26
	More than all the rest of humanity combined	38:29
	during the same period.	38:32
	Our Kings have dropped atomic weapons on Japanese flesh	38:36
	as a threat to the Russians,	38:38
	when Japan was tottering and suing for surrender.	38:41
	Our Kings wage wage perpetual war in Indochina.	38:45
	And that's an orgy of scorched earth and genocide.	38:49
	Still continuing to the volume of 610,000 dead,	38:54
	wounded and homeless	39:00
	since the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.	39:01
	Our Kings have escalated the insanity	39:05
	of the thermo-nuclear arms race	39:07
	by striving now to develop a first strike capacity	39:11
	against Russian missile sites.	39:13
	Building a weapon, as one commentator put it,	39:17
	and then finding a purpose for it.	39:21
	Our Kings for the sake of our prosperity	39:30
	have flooded the developing countries with obsolete arms	39:33
	and some not so obsolete.	39:36
	Anywhere from eight to nine	39:40
	to 14 to $15 billion worth annually.	39:42
	Including to both sides in all of the most recent wars.	39:47
	Now, if Americans want prosperity,	39:55
	they want a king and they want war.	39:59
	Our kings have been all too faithful	40:03
	to the desires of the people.	40:05
	And I apply that to Nixon especially,	40:09
	because he's recent in our memory.	40:13
	Who entirely apart from the puny and pitiful dodges	40:17
	and connivings of Watergate	40:20
	is one of the three great criminals of the 20th century.	40:21
	Ranking with Stalin and Hitler.	40:25
	So in all good faith had King Richard	40:30
	done this in all due obedience to the people,	40:33
	or as he might explain in his mono-syllabic fashion,	40:38
	"I was only doing my job".	40:42
	So most protest and say,	40:53
	"That's too fast and that's too simple."	40:56
	Nixon and the satellites	41:01
	represent the banks and multinationals,	41:02
	not us, not the people.	41:05
	Such a counter charge of course might be true to a point,	41:11
	but only to a minor point,	41:14
	the banks and multinational corporations	41:16
	institutionalized the American preoccupation with property.	41:18
	A preoccupation, which eclipses fidelity to God	41:23
	or compassion for those suffering.	41:27
	How many Americans have faithful and self-sacrificing	41:33
	alternatives to banks and to the vast economic empires	41:37
	that call multinationals.	41:41
	One might claim	41:49
	that from the biblical text under consideration,	41:50
	that we are indeed into king making	41:52
	and therefore well progressed into slave making.	41:55
	Slave making might be of an apparently comfortable	42:02
	and secure nature.	42:04
	Having attached to it a whole range of alosery freedoms,	42:06
	but it is still slave making simply because the God,	42:10
	that Americans profess is a God of peace,	42:14
	while they pay war taxes and remain silent	42:19
	while the American war criminals	42:22
	heap up their crimes and their victims.	42:24
	So this is the reality it seems to me that we all face.	42:35
	And the reality that our choices must grapple for.	42:39
	From a view of which honors life	42:43
	and struggles against death, that death,	42:45
	that Bob referred to in his prayer.	42:47
	That is a radical view.	42:52
	One must live as though the survival of humanity	42:54
	where the overarching issue.	42:57
	One must act as custodian of the whole race	43:00
	and was one must do this in face of a badly demoralized	43:04
	public that no longer desires to hear of Indochina	43:08
	or Slessinger's hardcore killers called MaRV	43:12
	or how Nixon or Ford	43:16
	or the war department spend their money.	43:18
	I recall an Austrian priest,	43:23
	Australian priest coming to talk with us last summer.	43:25
	He was a guy who was dedicated	43:30
	to the workers of the third world.	43:32
	And he came directly from Indochina and Malaysia.	43:34
	And he asked one question repeatedly.	43:38
	One which can be paraphrased to fit our exchange.	43:41
	The question was,	43:46
	"What has happened to descent in the United States?	43:48
	What are students thinking?	43:53
	Why are people so emphatically backed into	43:55
	kings and king making and their own slavery?	43:58
	Why do Americans display so little questioning?	44:04
	So little outrage or energy at the crimes of leadership".	44:07
	He was a man who saw those crimes of exploitation	44:13
	and murder all over our interior world.	44:16
	One who had seen them strike with brutal force	44:20
	in the flesh of the poor and defenseless.	44:23
	And so he could ask with a sort of balanced anguish.	44:27
	Why?	44:31
	And he asked his why not of Nixon	44:35
	or of the war profiteers from the multinationals	44:39
	or of the war chieftains of the Pentagon,	44:42
	but why, of the American people.	44:45
	Why of you and of me	44:49
	In the late thirties	44:56
	when humanity teetered on the brink of World War II,	44:57
	Gandhi fought to forestall the war from India.	45:01
	And he wrote the following. He says,	45:04
	"Millions sacrifice themselves in war without any guarantee	45:08
	that the world will be better as a result	45:12
	or even that the enemy will be defeated.	45:15
	Yet who does not fiercely resent	45:19
	the suggestion that anybody die in deliberate	45:23
	non-violent sacrifice.	45:26
	Of course, to forestall war.	45:29
	I remember the umbrage that Americans took	45:36
	at the act of self-immolation on the part of some Americans	45:41
	during the course of the Indochina war.	45:45
	It's almost like rebelling against the idea that measures	45:53
	like this were necessary.	45:56
	I don't know if they were, and I don't know if they weren't,	46:00
	but maybe the valuable part of that sacrifice was the	46:07
	suggestion that they were.	46:10
	And as commentary upon what he was talking about.	46:21
	That is this tiny little man,	46:24
	this wise man from the east.	46:29
	50 million people died in World War II,	46:31
	over a hundred million more were wounded and crippled.	46:37
	And now we can multiply that carnage	46:42
	and that damage a dozen times in a few minutes.	46:44
	We might argue that human beings haven't changed. Have they?	46:54
	Neither the Jews who went to Samuel or those in 1939.	46:58
	The people that Gandhi was speaking about,	47:04
	or those today. There seems to be this Pall Mall desire	47:06
	to scorn God, to run medley after the idols,	47:12
	to get into kings and king making.	47:16
	To relish slavery, and then deny that we are slaves.	47:18
	But not with all and not with all of you.	47:28
	That ought to be our hope and our prayer tonight.	47:33
	Some of you, if not all of you will see the peril	47:37
	and will comprehend that we have peace, or we have nothing.	47:42
	Some of you will take truth as an utter	47:47
	and an ineffable priority for your lives.	47:49
	And you will seek the God who is truth	47:52
	and the service of human suffering,	47:55
	human beings that is truth.	47:58
	And some of you will treasure freedom enough to pay for it	48:01
	and perhaps sacrifice your freedom	48:07
	and even your lives for it.	48:09
	And some of you will discern that Ford's Washington	48:13
	or Brezhnev's Moscow or Mao's Peking	48:16
	are exaggerations of the abominations of king making.	48:21
	They are use of patience	48:25
	of God's sovereignty over life and death.	48:26
	And some of you will refuse to be slaves.	48:29
	And some of you will, in closing,	48:34
	become women and men of peace.	48:37
	So that's our hope.	48:41
	And I suggest that should be our prayer tonight.	48:42
	Thank you. And God bless you.	48:47
-	Would you stand and sing with us?	49:25
	Oh, freedom, oh, freedom.	49:27
	Oh freedom over me.	49:31
	♪ Oh freedom, Oh freedom ♪	49:53
	♪ Oh freedom over me ♪	50:02
	♪ And before I'll be a slave ♪	50:09
	♪ I'll be buried in my grave ♪	50:15
	♪ And go home to my Lord and be free ♪	50:19
	♪ God Almighty, God Almighty ♪	50:29
	♪ God Almighty over me ♪	50:38
	♪ And before I'll be a slave ♪	50:45
	♪ I'll be buried in my grave. ♪	50:51
	♪ And go home to my Lord and be free ♪	50:55
	♪ Same ole sunshine, same ole sunshine ♪	51:05
	♪ Same ole sunshine over me ♪	51:13
	♪ And before I'll be a slave ♪	51:21
	♪ I'll be buried in my grave ♪	51:26
	♪ And go home to my Lord and be free ♪	51:30
-	And now to Thee, eternal God.	51:42
	We lift our hearts in praise and thanksgiving to Thee.	51:49
	We ask oh God for strength and courage and wisdom	51:55
	to hear and do the things pleasing in Thy sight.	52:01
	By the grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ,	52:06
	of the communion and fellowship of the holy spirit	52:10
	sustained by the love of God, all mighty.	52:14
	Amen.	52:19

Item Info

Title:

Philip Berrigan - "King - Making" (March 19, 1975)

Description:

As it was for Samuel’s people, who wanted a King to rule over them in economic and militaristic power, America wants to rule in greed, power and waging war. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: Since 1946, our kings have spent 13 trillion million dollars of your money for war-making, more than all the rest of humanity combined during the same period. Our kings have dropped atomic weapons of Japanese flesh as a threat to the Russians. When japan was tottering on sewing for surrender. Our kings wage perpetual war on Indochina and that’s an orgy of scorched earth and genocide. Still continuing, to the volume of 610 thousand dead since the signing of the Paris peace accord, our kings have escalated the insanity of the thermo nuclear arms race… Now, if Americans want prosperity, they want a King and they want war. Our kings have been all too faithful to the desires of the people.

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4gx48w3n

Date:

March 19, 1975

Speaker:

Berrigan, Philip

Liturgical Calendar:

Lent

Biblical Book:

1 Samuel

Chapter and Verse:

1 Samuel 8:7-9

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0755
ref6711_8zd
uachapelsermaud
duke:628435
dcrau002725
ark:/87924/r4gx48w3n
3512397d-1ec1-4e1c-8a01-6e75a57b49aa

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Philip Berrigan - "King - Making" (March 19, 1975)

Transcript

Item Info

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options