Hard to Hold to Hypocrisy about Democracy

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today seem to resonate with the struggle of the people of Eqypt to achieve a new start as a democracy in the Middle East. The impact of the established order on the proponents of change can be deadly. The Gospel of Mark tells us that Herod was intrigued and perhaps intimidated by the prophetic person who told it like it was, and spoke truth to power This bought execution from one who was offended by the presentation of the truth. The dictatorships in the Middle East are being challenged with the truth that freedom and democracy are values which inspire people to give their very lives to bring the fruit of `setting the captives free` to their society. Christians are advised in the Letter to the Hebrews to stick to the moral compass they have developed in intimate relationship with the Divine through Jesus. The western democracies and the State of Israel have found themselves too often forgetting that freedom is at the core of their national spirits and the supporting of dictators in the region is not sustainable if the moral core of theses societies is to be kept in tack. The irony that the freedom fighters of Egypt have more of the democratic spirit and practice than the societies who laud the attributes of the lands of the free is hard to avoid.