HCON 362 IH

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the threat posed to international peace, stability in the Middle East, and the vital national security interests of the United States by Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and regional hegemony, and for other purposes.

May 22, 2008

Mr. ACKERMAN (for himself and Mr. PENCE) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the threat posed to international peace, stability in the Middle East, and the vital national security interests of the United States by Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and regional hegemony, and for other purposes.

Whereas Iran is a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), has foresworn the acquisition of nuclear weapons by ratification of the NPT, and is legally bound to declare and place all its nuclear activity under constant monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA);

Whereas for nearly 20 years, in clear contravention of its explicit obligations under the NPT, Iran operated a covert nuclear program until it was revealed by an Iranian opposition group in 2002;

Whereas the IAEA has confirmed such illicit covert nuclear activities as the importation of uranium hexafluoride, construction of a uranium enrichment facility, experimentation with plutonium, importation of centrifuge technology, construction of centrifuges, and importation of designs to convert highly enriched uranium gas into metal and shape it into the core of a nuclear weapon;

Whereas Iran continues to expand the number of centrifuges at its enrichment facility, as made evident by its announced intention to begin installation of 6,000 advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium, in defiance of binding United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding Iran suspend enrichment activities;

Whereas the November 2007 National Intelligence Estimate reported that Iran was secretly working on the design and manufacture of a nuclear warhead until at least 2003, but that Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon as soon as late 2009;

Whereas an Iranian nuclear weapons capability would pose a grave threat to international peace and security by fundamentally altering and destabilizing the strategic balance in the Middle East, and severely undermining the global nonproliferation regime;

Whereas Iran's overt sponsorship of several terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and its close ties to Syria raise the possibility that Iran would share its nuclear materials and technology with others;

Whereas Iran continues to develop ballistic missile technology and is pursuing the capability to field intercontinental ballistic missiles, a delivery system suited almost exclusively to nuclear weapons payloads;

Whereas Iranian leaders have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, and a member of the United Nations;

Whereas the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany have offered, and continue to offer, to negotiate a significant package of economic, diplomatic, and security incentives if Iran complies with the United Nations Security Council's resolutions demanding that Iran suspend uranium enrichment;

Whereas Iran has consistently refused such offers;

Whereas as a result of Iran's failure to comply with the mandates of the United Nations Security Council, taken under Chapter VII of the United Nations' Charter, the international community has imposed limited sanctions over the past 2 years that have begun to have an impact on the Iranian economy;

Whereas Iran's rapid development of its nuclear capabilities is outpacing the slow ratcheting up of economic and diplomatic sanctions;

Whereas Iran has used its banking system, including the Central Bank of Iran, to support its proliferation efforts and its assistance to terrorist groups, leading the Department of Treasury to designate 4 large Iranian banks proliferators and supporters of terrorism;

Whereas Iran's support for Hezbollah has enabled that group to wage war against the Government and people of Lebanon, leading to its political domination of that country;

Whereas Iran's support for Hamas has enabled it to illegally seize control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, and to continuously bombard Israeli civilians with rockets and mortars;

Whereas Iran continues to provide training, weapons, and financial assistance to Shi'a militants inside of Iraq and antigovernment warlords in Afghanistan;

Whereas those Shi'a militant groups and Afghan warlords use Iranian training, weapons, and financing to attack American and allied forces trying to support the legitimate Governments of Iraq and Afghanistan;

Whereas Iran is further destabilizing the Middle East by underwriting a massive rearmament campaign by Syria;

Whereas through these efforts, Iran seeks to establish regional hegemony, threatens longstanding friends and allies of the United States in the Middle East, and endangers vital American national security interests; and

Whereas nothing in this resolution shall be construed as an authorization of the use of force against Iran: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

(1) declares that preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, through all appropriate economic, political, and diplomatic means, is vital to the national security interests of the United States and must be dealt with urgently;

(2) urges the President, in the strongest of terms, to immediately use his existing authority to impose sanctions on--

(A) the Central Bank of Iran and any other Iranian bank engaged in proliferation activities or the support of terrorist groups;

(B) international banks which continue to conduct financial transactions with proscribed Iranian banks;

(C) energy companies that have invested $20,000,000 or more in the Iranian petroleum or natural gas sector in any given year since the enactment of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996; and

(D) all companies which continue to do business with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps;

(3) demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran; and prohibiting the international movement of all Iranian officials not involved in negotiating the suspension of Iran's nuclear program; and

(4) urges the President to lead a sustained, serious, and forceful effort at regional diplomacy to support the legitimate governments in the region against Iranian efforts to destabilize them, to reassure our friends and allies that the United States supports them in their resistance to Iranian efforts at hegemony, and to make clear to the Government of Iran that the United States will protect America's vital national security interests in the Middle East.

i remember as a child (and teenager) having the image in mind of two long lines of people standing in front of the "pearly gates" awaiting the pronouncement of their ability to enter heaven or of their having to go to hell.  yes, i was taught that we are only saved by faith, but "faith" wavers and falters, and i was worried that i might find myself in the wrong line.

after going to the altar four or five times it began to sink in that maybe i really would be in the line leading to heaven (this is an entirely other discussion for another day).  however, i was then plagued by the thought of my friends and family members being in that "other" line leading to hell.  it always struck me as odd that i could possibly be slowly progressing through the line while watching my loved ones and friends move closer to hell and my being unable to do anything about it.  

this thought saddened me to say the least, but it also stirred another thought: how could i enjoy heaven for eternity knowing that my "unsaved" friends and family were on the floor below me burning and suffering for eternity?  how, after seeing the horrible "hell house/judgment house" productions, could i truly move into the room depicting heaven and enjoy heaven when a good friend was being tormented for the rest of eternity?  would this truly be heaven?  could i just forget them?  would their constant torture slip my mind eventually?  after all, eternity is a long time.  

friedrich schleiermacher, writing in the early 19th century, boldly stated that this would not be "heaven."  if we are sympathetic and empathetic beings while on this earth, how much more heightened should our em/sympathy be when we enter our new lives in Christ?  rather idealistically, yet pointedly, he reminds us that we would (hopefully) remember the time in our own lives when we were still sinful and opposed to the spirit of God to some degree, thus, evoking some sense of empathy.

this opens up all sorts of questions concerning which i already have opinions...but i was reminded of that image i used to have as a child and how schleiermacher spoke to it...

is God's justice our justice?  is there no chance that redemption can "win out" over (retributive) justice?  how well are we educating christians to not conceive of heaven and hell as two concrete places...as if you could reach both by a cosmic elevator...akin to something you can see in a looney toons episode where bugs bunny is going back and forth between the two as he's trying to convince the keeper of the gates that he should be let in heaven...ahh...do we really learn our theology moreso from merri melodies than from scripture? 

i'm working on a paper which will examine the intersection of worship and ethical formation - specifically the sacraments/ordinances.  i'm excited about discussing the formative aspects of footwashing, a practice in which a few of us baptists still participate (along with some in the brethren tradition and other denominations who practice it on maundy thursday).  

i think this intrigues me because i grew up in a church in which worship equated to preaching; as i heard even a few sundays ago as i made my return to fwb world, everything prior to the sermon is considered to be a "preliminary" - something through which we must pass in order to get to the sermon - i grit my teeth with you dr. hines.  i wish the eucharist (or Lord's Supper) was the focal point of our worship...argh...

i was able to work a lot of this out during my january term regarding the lord's supper - i think the majority of my time will be spent on baptism and footwashing, and hopefully i'll have a little time to dive into a few other common aspects - communal prayer,  the gathering, the blessing/sending...

i never realized the formative power of words until this past year or two - what you say in one sermon or litany may not matter so much, but if a congregation hears, for example, week after week for year upon year that they are to be a community that embraces the stranger, shows hospitality and forgiveness to the enemy, and they consciously participate in such practices as eucharist, which should stress such "ethics," this will/could play a major part in the development of their character - thanks aristotle.  

granted, there are all sorts of other factors included - their friendships and communities outside of their local christian community, their own agency and choices to engage in certain personal habits and practices, etc., but i think, ideally, the communal time should be...something...the most important - the most formative - influential?  i'm not sure what i want to say.

any thoughts?

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[	Current Music	|	MCR - Famous Last Words	]

getting started is half the battle...that was difficult...

i've taken a little summer hiatus but i must get back - i've had to "reflect" so much for my internship that i wanted to do anything but reflect on this journal

so, i've been rereading hauerwas and willimon's 'resident aliens' - 

in responding to a charge of being tribalistic (being primarily concerned with your group's own identity - over and against other groups or communities) --okay, so this may not be a technically correct definition of tribalistic, but i'm not taking the time to look it up...

...and in countering criticisms of hauerwas's oft-made claim that the church does not have a social ethic, but is a social ethic (the church doesn't decide on a certain way in which to interact with culture, society, nations, etc...but the church is an alternative life-style...social ethic (okay, or should be at least...)

finally, they write...

"We reject the charge of tribalism, particularly from those whose theologies serve to buttress the most nefarious (wicked, evil) brand of tribalism of all - the omnipotent state.  The church is the one political entity in our culture that is global, transnational, transcultural.  Tribalism is not the church determined to serve God rather than Caesar.  Tribalism is the United States of America, which sets up artificial boundaries and defends them with murderous intensity.  And the tribalism of nations occurs most viciously in the absence of a church able to say and to show in its life together, that God, not nations, rules the world.

We must never forget that it was modern, liberal democracy, in fighting to preserver itself, that resorted to the bomb in Hiroshima and the firebombing of Dresden, not to mention Vietnam.  This is the political system that must be preserved in order for Christians to be politically responsible?"

Food for thought...mmm mm

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[	Current Music	|	Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones	]

I thank God that the OFWB (Original Free Will Baptists) is able to tolerate a plethora of religious perspectives - even stupid ones.  

I feel slightly guilty for even propagating such non-sense, but I wanted to share a snippet or two of a recent article printed in the FWB Monthly, and of course, my commentary.  

"In any discipline, the laws of God are set, precise, and constant, i.e., the Law of Gravity.  To go against the laws of God is to create a perversion, such as 1) to go against the law of marriage creates adultery, 2) to go against the law of language creates a lie; 3) to go against the laws of music creates a discord.  Rock and roll music is a known transgression contrary to the normal musical code - music of rebellion."  

Yes...not only do we ordain people who are capable of writing such illogical non-sense, but we also publish their articles for all to read!  Yet, as stated at the beginning, I am thankful (somewhat) to be in a denomination that is "big enough" to allow for divergent perspectives...sigh...

Let's continue...it gets better...

"What would Scofield say today at our Christian rock concerts? Everyone knows that rock music is of the flesh - it's visceral music; it bypasses the brain and goes directly to the body.  It is sensual and carnal, yet we use it today in an attempt to excite devotion and praise to God."  

A little acid reflux just came into the back of my mouth...

"All lawful music has at least three characteristics: rhyme, rhythm, and round.... All rock and roll music places the beat on the backbeat (or usually the unaccented beat).  This syncopation of the beat is a perversion of musical law.  Round.  All good music has a melody, a tune that you can carry around in your head.... In rock music, words are stretched, screeched, and sometimes left out while the beat fills in the gaps.  This is poor poetry and poor music."  

Apparently the criteria for judging the sinfulness of recent movements within the church is as follows...

"Did you know that religious rock first began in England, not amongst Bible-believing Christians, but in the liberal Anglican Church.  The Roman Catholic Church caught on....The Mormon Church sees no wrong in rock and roll music."

But here's an A for effort...

"There are some churches, some denominations, and some colleges that still take a stand against Christian rock.  I want to be part of that group.  I want to be pure when Jesus returns."

shoot me...please...

Yes, I sadly told my friend today at school, I am part of a denomination that allows such ignorance...

Our author ends with a bit of good news - "Can God use rock and roll Gospel?  Yes, He can....He can use Christian rock to bring in the end time deception."  

This is so absurd it merits no comment.