Mennonite Church USA says defund the police

[JimFoxvog]

My son, who works with incarcerated people, shared this video with me:

[temporal1]

My son, who works with incarcerated people, shared this video with me:
[media]https]

Robin Hood is a still-popular, romantic, legend, possibly based on a real guy.

Definition of Robin Hood
: a person or group likened to a heroic outlaw
especially : one that robs the rich and gives to the poor

First Known Use of Robin Hood
15th century, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for Robin Hood
Robin Hood, legendary English outlaw who gave to the poor what he stole from the rich
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Robin%20Hood

Robin Hood was not Jesus Christ, nor is there evidence he was a follower.
Pirates are pirates, even when well-intended.

Jesus represents unexpected responses. What if churches led to Jesus, and not to the public treasury?

“What if?” ..
What if the Floyd family reached out to D Chauvin and his family with forgiveness, seeking reconciliation?

(Not to say there should be no earthly consequences, investigations, trials, etc.) Many of these things, legal processes, are NOT in any individual’s control.

What is in every individual’s control? .. Jesus offers His way.

“What if?” .. churches led to Jesus.

i continue to be surprised at the silence regarding UNION complicity in keeping incompetent and/or corrupt employees on the job.
(i guess) - unions are so popular/powerful they are given a pass, while “the world” scrambles to respond to certain failures so big they can’t be ignored. people love Robin Hood, and unions. false gods.

Jesus wasn’t Robin Hood. He wasn’t a union or political organizer, either. He easily could have been!! Nope. Not His way.

There can be fleshly delight in taking from others, maybe moreso when convinced the results make it justifiable. Egos.

Does Jesus purport situational theft? Institutional theft? More likely the opposite.

[Ernie]

now videos are shown of anabaptists at Jan 6th capital march

I hadn't heard about this. Can you direct me to a link?

[JimFoxvog]

Robin Hood is a still-popular, romantic, legend, possibly based on a real guy.
...
Does Jesus purport situational theft? Institutional theft? More likely the opposite.

So are you saying that funding the police is theft? Or moving some of the funds that presently go to the police to other more helpful uses is theft from the police? Or is all tax money theft? Or just when it helps people?

[Ken]

now videos are shown of anabaptists at Jan 6th capital march

I hadn't heard about this. Can you direct me to a link?

As I recall, there were pics of Anabaptist-looking folks at the 1/6 rally. Indeed there were some here who were promoting it. But I don't recall any pictures or videos of Anabaptists involved in the storming of the Capitol that came after.

As I recall, there was first a big rally in front of the White House, then later came the violent storming of the capital with a smaller group.

[temporal1]

Robin Hood is a still-popular, romantic, legend, possibly based on a real guy.
...
Does Jesus purport situational theft? Institutional theft? More likely the opposite.

So are you saying that funding the police is theft? Or moving some of the funds that presently go to the police to other more helpful uses is theft from the police? Or is all tax money theft? Or just when it helps people?

(i think) things become confused. subjectively appropriating funds is questionable logic.

if there is defunding of any program or policy, the funds in question should be immediately returned to tax payers.
then, if different programs are deemed wanted/needed, let those programs go thru the process of approval.

the public treasury should not be viewed as a convenient petty cash drawer, open to “whatever.”

taxpayers should be assured, taxes for approved+paid for services will not be confiscated for other purposes.
(Social Security is reported to be an example of abuse.)

i believe the present mentality of “remove+replace” (whatever mobs demand) is a bad, unnecessary, intolerant path.

not to mention, crime, including violent crime, has increased following these brilliant, forward-thinking ideas,
communities, real people, are hurting and asking for return to or increase of police presence.

no one mentions, police policies are in constant change, true for decades.

i persist in believing unions are at fault for returning bad apples to active duty (not just police unions). without the union, i seriously doubt D Chauvin would have been on active duty to cross paths with G Floyd.

but people love their unions. sacred cows.

[ohio jones]

now videos are shown of anabaptists at Jan 6th capital march

I hadn't heard about this. Can you direct me to a link?

http://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php?p=115540#p115540

[Ken]

I have done a pretty extensive search looking for evidence of plain Anabaptist folks attending the 1/6 Trump rally and subsequent storming of the Capitol and came up empty. Either there isn’t photo/video evidence of such, or it is well scrubbed or not tagged in a way to make it easy to find. One can find plenty of examples of plain folks attending Trump rallies during the campaign. Those are all over the media. But I found nothing specifically related to 1/6. For example, these sorts of images were all over the news during the campaign. But none of them were from 1/6

Of course there could have been plenty of Anabaptist folks there who were not dressed in an obvious plain way but you couldn’t know that from any photos unless you knew who they were.

[mennonitemom1]

Mennonite USA has released a 9 week "Bible study" ??? Or "course" that is about defunding the police

They say "Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) has released a new, multimedia, online curriculum to help congregations and individuals understand and address issues of systemic police brutality."

What are your thoughts and theology on this when it come to policing and personal and community safety in a Biblical context.

I think all the police should get raises and bad police should be let go.....

[temporal1]

Mennonite USA has released a 9 week "Bible study" ??? Or "course" that is about defunding the police

They say "Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) has released a new, multimedia, online curriculum to help congregations and individuals understand and address issues of systemic police brutality."

What are your thoughts and theology on this when it come to policing and personal and community safety in a Biblical context.

I think all the police should get raises and bad police should be let go.....

i agree.
police unions, like teachers’ unions, and possibly all unions, are at the center of the problem of returning “bad apples,” whether corrupt or just incompetent, to active duty. unions are powerful and popular. they are political.

i’m not against unions per se. i’m against ANY human entity going without accountability/scrutiny.
no matter what good intentions, corruption (and incompetence) find a way in.

i can’t think of any high-visibility case against police that happened “out of the blue.”
but MANY people who are certain defunding is the answer - will not speak a word against unions.

keeping bad apples on the job is demoralizing to everyone, including responsible, capable, good employees!
there is no up-side. it happens everywhere there are unions. people GRUMBLE. and put up with it.

puzzling how that is.