Hartford Police Chief A Big Hit At National Day of Prayer
May 6th, 2008 by Peter
My previous post on Mayor Perez withdrawing from the National Day of Prayer event at the state Capitol got the attention of far left bloggers and a liberal radio host. Perhaps unsuprisingly, the actual event held far less interest for them.
That’s unfortunate for the same reason Mayor Perez’ withdrawal is unfortunate. Many of our opponents say they are Christians and, in fact, in a Courant op-ed published after the 2004 election, (“Kerry Lost The Values Vote”) Mayor Perez himself wrote that
to regain status as the national majority party, [Democrats] must be willing to embrace those for whom faith in God is a key component of civic participation.
Whatever our differences, one would hope prayer would be an activity where we could–sometimes, at least–come together.
But if our opponents had attended the NDP event at the Capitol it is true that they would have found their culturally left views under serious challenge. Only the challenge wasn’t coming from me…it was coming from the Hartford dignitary who did attend, Police Chief Daryll Roberts.
Speaking to a group that at one point reached standing-room-only size, Chief Roberts’ talk made a tremendous impact on the crowd. He called himself “a praying chief” and noted that he was a deacon in his church (his pastor was present). He asked us to work and pray that kids will be brought to God. He said he deals with the kids who are not coming to God, the ones who will kill you over a minor disagreement.
The Chief sees faith as the solution to the problems he faces on the streets of Hartford and was not afraid to say so. In fact, he chastised those who oppose public prayer.
And that’s not all. The Chief noted that we teach sex ed in the public schools, but, he said, not abstinence. He went on to criticize the fact that they took prayer out of the schools but put sex ed in. When sex ed is allowed but prayer is not, the Chief said, something is wrong.
The Chief’s message got a rousing reception from the crowd. He is certainly someone who knows firsthand the havoc the cultural left’s hostility to faith and family has wrought on the streets of Hartford.
That same culturally left crowd–chuckling over Mayor Perez’s withdrawal from the NDP–will likely miss the Chief’s point. But let’s pray that they don’t.
Hartford Police Chief Roberts appearance and words indeed did lend much grace to the NDP event at the Capitol. His humility and service to the City goes without question. The multible Pastors there, like himself, deal with the debilitating effects of social liberalism in our torn culture – picking up the pieces of human lives. Regardless of different social perspectives, the least a City like Hartford can do is show solidarity in a prayer event. The presence of so many races and denominations did speak well for the event regardless of the political tension evoked by the mayor’s cancellation.
I was so thrilled with what Police Chief Roberts shared that morning at the NDP rally! His speech reinforced the whole reason we were there! It was such an incredible meeting that day! I believe we made history at the State Capitol building, though it was not publicized. I saw that day that the people of God stood up and boldly declared the Kingdom of Christ in that place. There was no fear, no inhibitions. I believe we Christians in Connecticut have turned a corner now. We will see more and more of us becoming bold in our stand for Jesus.
What to everyone must seem to be such a unique and unusual thing, to have such a man as Police Chief Roberts, I see as odd. I say odd, in the manner that we don’t have more men and women like him. But I can completely understand why we don’t see very many. They have been driven from the workplace in much the same way that God and prayer have been forced out of the workplace. At one time in our culture, in the not too distant past, we had many such men and women of virtue in all walks of life.
When I speak of Police Chief Roberts as being a man of virtue, I mean that he is a man of faith, prayer and social service. I mean that he, through his faith must practice the Cardinal Virtues and uphold the greatest Virtues, those of Faith, Hope and Charity. A Deacon in his Church must do all these things. With these virtues, he serves his pastor and his parish. Service is best rendered to society when a man (or woman) of virtue is dedicated by faith in Service to God and then by serving God through service of neighbor. These truly are the greatest commandments, to Love God above all, and to love your neighbor as yourself. In Service to One; In Service to All you might say.
Anti religious institutions see faith as an obstacle to justice and community service when in truth faith is a sure pathway to justice and social service. When we see God in our neighbor, we serve God by ministering to our neighbor. One cannot be in service to God without being in service to all God’s children. One cannot be a faith filled Christian or Jew without living out that faith not just on the Sabbath day, but being a witness to that faith each and every day. I say, service is best rendered to others only in vocations where faith is a primary and daily profession of one’s religious beliefs. The greatest workers are those who are the greatest servants. It is easier to work if we offer up everything we do, to God. When we offer up our work, whatever our job is, if we offer what we do to God in every thought and action everything we do becomes a prayer. We must see God in every person we meet, in every person we work with and in every person we serve and even those who serve us if we are to serve God.
One can simply look for the greatest example of this by witnessing to the life of Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Through her service to the poorest of the poor, the downtrodden, the discarded, the outcast, the unwanted, the abandoned sick and dying, she herself taught her sisters, to see Jesus Christ, disguised in the most horrific visage of the diseased, sick and dying person. To see the dignity of the person by realizing the dignity of Christ, even in the least of these. Mother herself has been quoted as saying “Be Jesus to everyone you meet. And in everyone you meet, see Jesus.”
While we may be amazed at such a person of faith, prayer and service in such a high position as Police Chief Roberts, one can only look at a painting by Norman Rockwell to see such men and women of virtue that once was this country’s greatest asset. I believe it still is our greatest asset and it is represented in every American such as Chief Roberts and by those like him who instill these virtues in their own children. There are many Chief Roberts. They are Cops, fireman, nurses, doctors, attorneys, construction workers, teachers and men and women from every walk of life. Yes, even legislators. God Bless them all!
“There are many Chief Roberts. They are Cops, fireman, nurses, doctors, attorneys, construction workers, teachers and men and women from every walk of life. Yes, even legislators.”
Yes there is, and many of them are LGBT people, or single parents, or have been divorced or of other religions. You know, those people that you attack on a daily basis. There are many people who don’t fit your mold of acceptable who are part of the backbone of this country and work daily for it and it’s people. There are many who work among the poor, who work with substance abusers, who were the ONLY ones who would help those with AIDS in the early days. Maybe they aren’t called Mother or Father but what they do is as holy and divinely inspired as those you exalt over others. It’s your choice to look at us as the enemy, but never fear, we will still continue to strive to help others, to support our gov’t, to serve God in the way we believe God is leading us, and if you ever get in to serious trouble or fall on hard times, we will be among those who come to your aid. I wonder, do you despise us so much that you would refuse our help?
“chuckling over Mayor Perez’s withdrawal ”
and no doubt you have proof that some are doing so?
Um, yeah. I made reference to bloggers and a talk show host in the first sentence of this post…and I quote one in the comments thread of the previous NDP post.
Also, David, you prattle on about how we supposedly despise you. But this controversy was kicked off by Mayor Perez’s apparent refusal to pray with those who oppose same-sex marriage. Tell me again, which side is it that views their opponents as nothing more than opponents and not as persons? Because after the Perez incident it’s a lot harder for you to claim that it’s us.
In five paragraphs of praising a man like the Chief and those like him, you find something to accuse by saying “You know, those people that you attack on a daily basis.” You see what is not there but you see what you want to see.
When we rightfully defend our faith traditions and our sacred beliefs handed down and taught for centuries, you accuse us of attacks. The only thing being attacked here is being attacked from within you. It is your moral conscience that attacks you; and so you respond as you do. While we defend our institutions, others attack us. Marriage is attacked, parental rights are attacked and the family is attacked and so on. We move to defend these institutions and are accused of attacking.
No one is being labeled or attacked by any here who support FIC, Family, Faith and Freedom. But I see attacking and I also see labeling coming from you. When I speak of ‘people’ you continue to refer to yourself and others as labels such as LGBT or Gay or Lesbian etc. I don’t understand how a ‘person’ would identify themselves by a particular sexual act or preferance instead of saying rightly when asked, “What is your sexual identity” I am a man or I am a woman. To label yourself as such, denies your inherent dignity. You seek to create yourself in your own image and likeness.
What I do know is this, when a person, any person, who lives a life of immorality, no matter how much that person may try to persuade themselves that the wrong they do is right, no matter how much they try to convince their own conscience that it is otherwise, it weighs on them. That person will never be truly happy as long as they keep living the way they are living. True happiness will not even come should society try and convince them that it is okay for them to live that way. Let’s be inclusive. Let’s be tolerant. They will instead become more miserable. Misery loves company.
With this internal unhappiness, those people will seek to surround themselves with other like individuals. But no matter how many like minded persons they identify themselves with, their moral conscience still will not let them rest. When conscience and morality keep gnawing at these peoples souls, they seek instead to remove anything that reminds them of their immorality thinking it will solve the turmoil within them.
This is the reason for the attack on Faith and Morals. Hence the attempted removal of anything that proclaims Objective Truth and upholds Morality. Hence the attack on Church and the Ten Commandments. But even should they remove such obstacles of truth, they shall still be miserable. Only when one accepts the divine truths of God and His creation; only when one aligns themselves with God’s ways and walks in His path of righteousness, can anyone find true peace. One does not find God by pursuing their own will; one must follow the Divine will of God.
One need only to look at the former life of St. Augustine, a man immersed in immorality, sexual perversion, lust for power and knowledge and then one can one see what happens when one gives in to his conscience, when one submits to their hearts true desire, to their souls true yearning, when one submits to God’s will and says “Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee?
Um, no. You made reference to them in this post but not one word about what was said. Your comment on the other post, though you giggled about how it was them mising the point, shows that their sarcasm wasn’t heavy enough for you to catch it.;
Regardless, you still haven’t offered a shred of evidence that Perez refused to be part of it because of your presence or your antigay beliefs. If it existed I have not doubt you would have already provided it. I can understand your last sentence because you still and likely always will refuse to understand the impact of your crusade on innocent human beings. Y’all can whine about someone not wanting to pray with you but until I see a law presented attempting to prevent you from attending your church, or raising your children, or marrying or otherwise attempting to control the quality of your life, then I will accept you have a point. When I senators and governors and even president’s parroting the lunatic fringe of the anti-religion crowd and cooperating in any official capacity to move your agenda forward, then you’ve got my attention. When Christians are verbally and/or physically assaulted for their beliefs I will acknowledge that there is a problem. Until then what you claim is hot air. Yes, there are people that despise Christians or conservative Christians, or any religion but they are not attempting to do what you are with LGBT people. I also acknowledge that under the pretense of educational balance some places have gone to far in teaching Islam, or purging any reference to religion. But, you fight rabidly against any positive mention of homosexuality or of the contributions of homosexuals to society in public education thus removing any balance on the topic in a secular environment. No one can interfere with what is taught in your religion based schools funded with private money(though I notice that it is mostly conservative Christians who advocate controling the curriculum in Muslim schools), so you have plenty of opportunities to indoctrinate the next generation with your antigay fervor.
The Perez non-incident indeed points out a potential conflict of interest if he was influenced by “liberals” to distance himself, but only a true fanatic can interpret it as an act of hatred or intolerance on the side of SSM advocates. In rereading your article I realize that Roberts was spouting the same old boring and false idea, liberal bad, conservative good, education bad, mythology good. You say he talked about kids killing each other on a moment’s notice because they don’t come to God – and that’s because religious people never kill each other right? There are serious problems facing this city and this country, and prayer certainly can be part of the solution, propaganda
cannot and it appears at least from what you report above, that is all Roberts had to offer, or maybe that’s all you could hear. In case you are unaware of the truth of Hartford’s problems, they are focused in specific neighborhoods, the same ones that are packed with churches of all kinds. Apparently they have as much impact on the problem as the amazing number of hair salons in the same neigborhoods. How much time have any of you actually spent talking to children growing up on the streets of our toughest neighborhoods or have a clue of what they really face. Many of these kids have grown up in church, clearly something was missing eh? Perhaps if the opportunity for people to learn about God, develop relationship with God and grow in faith was offered rather than ritual, lip-service , law, law, law, law,and robot religion it might make a difference. Blame liberal policy if it makes you fell superior but the fact is the problems are caused by much more than that, and the solution requires far more thought than pray in school and don’t have sex. Robert’s certainly is aware and I don’t believe that he would present such a simplistic approach to the issues but he sure is good at saying what the audience wants to hear. And no, I’m not saying prayer or faith are simplistic or that all the churches in town are paralyzed.
Do forgive me for prattling on, I have that problem when it comes to advocating reality over fiction.
“Marriage is attacked, parental rights are attacked and the family is attacked and so on”
Please provide concrete, real life, actual examples of such things happening, especially as a direct result of LGBT people attempting to be treated equally under the law. Name one marriage that has been diminished or broken by two men forming a covenant relationship. What family has been destroyed by that other than those who destroy themselves by casting their children out into the street for their sexual orientation. Are you denied the right to teach your children what you choose in your home, as anyone tried to pass a law against that?
Bob, you don’t speak of people, you speak in generalizations, lofty ideas about the fight of good and evil (very well written and enjoyable to read BTW) while totally failing to even attempt to understand what destruction the attempts to enshrine your beliefs in this country’s law will cause among those you target. You may claim that you are on the side of God but I refuse to believe tht God wants families pulled apart, children denied access to their parents, same sex couples denied the basic things that couples who are considered acceptable have – hospital visitation of loved ones with terminal illnesses, a voice in their medical treatment, insurance coverage of a partner, inheritance rights, the list goes on and on. Imagine knowing that the one you have vowed to spend your life with, who if you are lucky you have shared life with for many years, is nearby dying and you are not allowed to see them, to provide comfort in their dying moment, then tell e what you are fighting for is God’s will. Imagine getting tossed from the home you shared with your partner because of a missing signature on a will or some other legal kink. You think God looks at that and says “serves them right, their relationship was false”. These are all things that are common because you and the others feel that what you believe should be the law for all of us. Call it God, call it whatever you want but the fact is that you are hurting people and families, exactly what you claim to be fighting for and if that is the will of some god, it sure ain’t the one that I see in the Bible. Jesus did not say “go ye into all the world and shred people’s lives in my name”.
The funny thing is that if your name was not at the top of your comment I would swear that it was someone else on here. I have to give your church credit for getting you to memorize the script! No one is telling you cannot practice your religion, period. But in your lovely, poetic words you are quite clearly saying that we have to live the life you believe we should and YOU (God is not theissue here) will do your best to make us pay for it in anyway you can. And as I have said to others who read from the same script as you – you don’t know a thing about how I live, what I believe about God, or anything else, yet you feel free to go on and on about living in sin etc simply because I have identifed my sexual orientation (which in your ignorance you tie to a sexual act or call it a preference), one TINY aspect of my life, but the one that you and so many others believe they have the right to focus on and judge me on. Such arrogance is dangerous sir. Look to your own spiritual issues not mine.
While neighborhoods may be “packed with churches” (whatever that means) it does not mean that the churches are themselves packed. While troubled youth may indeed live in neighborhoods that have churches, it does not mean that they attend them. If they attend them, it does not mean that they are hearing the Word of God proclaimed. More often than not, they may end up hearing an Oprah Winfrey sermon and are told that God loves you no matter what.
We don’t blame liberal policy, the liberal policy failures do that on their own. We just point to the fact that they fail. Not only fail, they are complete miserable disasters that more and more tax payer money is thrown at it. It is not the churches or what they preach that is really the problem, it is the fact that there is no moral foundation in school, ino morality n public life or even in society anymore. There is no moral basis in families broken by the liberal failure of divorce that wreaks havoc on children and single parents left to pick up the pieces. It is the failure of men to be men of virtue and fathers to their children.
One hour in church on Sunday is not a formation for any Christian. It must be wittnessed to in the family and in the workplace and by the teachers in the school. When you abolish God from society, when you worship sex and sexual perversion, when abortion is the sacrament of the religion of liberalism, children are meaningless, life is meaningless to children and so there is killing. No Christian, true Christian would ever murder; rather they would lay down their own life for the sake of the beloved.
David said quote…” “same sex couples denied the basic things that couples who are considered acceptable have – hospital visitation of loved ones with terminal illnesses, a voice in their medical treatment, insurance coverage of a partner, inheritance rights, the list goes on and on.”” …unquote
Connecticut enacted a civil union law in 2005 that provides same-sex couples with all of the same legal rights and responsibilities as marriage. Tell me that wasn’t resolved giving you everything you asked for?