Religion in the Public Square

Charles Krauthammer gets it right on the place of religion in the public square:

Now, there's nothing wrong with having a spirited debate on the place of religion in politics. But the candidates are confusing two arguments. The first, which conservatives are winning, is defending the legitimacy of religion in the public square. The second, which conservatives are bound to lose, is proclaiming the privileged status of religion in political life.

A certain kind of liberal argues that having a religious underpinning for any public policy is disqualifying because it is an imposition of religion on others. Thus, if your opposition to embryonic stem cell research comes from a religious belief in the ensoulment of life at conception, you're somehow violating the separation of church and state by making other people bend to your religion.

This is absurd. Abolitionism, civil rights, temperance, opposition to the death penalty -- a host of policies, even political movements, have been rooted for many people in religious teaching or interpretation. It's ridiculous to say that therefore abolitionism, civil rights, etc., constitute an imposition of religion on others.

Imposing religion means the mandating of religious practice. It does not mean the mandating of social policy that some people may have come to support for religious reasons.

But a certain kind of conservative is not content to argue that a religious underpinning for a policy is not disqualifying. He insists that it is uniquely qualifying, indeed that it confers some special status.

Romney has been faulted for not throwing at least one bone of acknowledgment to nonbelievers in his big religion speech recently. But he couldn't, because the theme of the speech was that there was something special about having your values drawn from religious faith. Indeed, faith is politically indispensable. "Freedom requires religion," Romney declared, "just as religion requires freedom."

But this is nonsense -- as Romney then proceeded to demonstrate in that very same speech. He spoke of the empty cathedrals in Europe. He's right about that: Postwar Europe has experienced the most precipitous decline in religious belief in the history of the West. Yet Europe is one of the freest precincts on the planet. It is an open, vibrant, tolerant community of more than two dozen disparate nations living in a pan-continental harmony and freedom unseen in all previous European history.

Krauthammer is right to qualify liberal with a "certain kind" because religious liberals have been making religiously based arguments at least since the Civil War; there is nothing wrong with that and religious conservatives have the same right to put forth arguments for public policy based on their religious principles. But religious conservatives do not have an open line to the mind of God; they could be and often are wrong. And theirs is not the only religious argument or moral argument. As Krauthammer points out with the example of Europe it is quite possible to be secular and moral. I find progressive religious reasoning helpful and meaningful, but it isn't the only way to get to or be the best kind of people we can be.

Hard-liners for Jesus

Harold Meyerson comments on the vast chasm between the Jesus of the Gospels and God's Own Party:

As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it's a fitting moment to contemplate the mountain of moral, and mortal, hypocrisy that is our Christianized Republican Party....

My concern isn't the rift that has opened between Republican political practice and the vision of the nation's Founders, who made very clear in the Constitution that there would be no religious test for officeholders in their enlightened new republic. Rather, it's the gap between the teachings of the Gospels and the preachings of the Gospel's Own Party that has widened past the point of absurdity, even as the ostensible Christianization of the party proceeds apace.

The policies of the president, for instance, can be defended in greater or (more frequently) lesser degree within a framework of worldly standards. But if Bush can conform his advocacy of preemptive war with Jesus's Sermon on the Mount admonition to turn the other cheek, he's a more creative theologian than we have given him credit for. Likewise his support of torture, which he highlighted again this month when he threatened to veto House-passed legislation that would explicitly ban waterboarding.

It's not just Bush whose catechism is a merry mix of torture and piety. Virtually the entire Republican House delegation opposed the ban on waterboarding. Among the Republican presidential candidates, only Huckabee and the not-very-religious John McCain have come out against torture, while only libertarian Ron Paul has questioned the doctrine of preemptive war.

But it's on their policies concerning immigrants where Republicans -- candidates and voters alike -- really run afoul of biblical writ. Not on immigration as such but on the treatment of immigrants who are already here. Consider: Christmas, after all, celebrates not just Jesus's birth but his family's flight from Herod's wrath into Egypt, a journey obviously undertaken without benefit of legal documentation. The Bible isn't big on immigrant documentation. "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him," Exodus says the Lord told Moses on Mount Sinai, "for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."

Yet the distinctive cry coming from the Republican base this year isn't simply to control the flow of immigrants across our borders but to punish the undocumented immigrants already here, children and parents alike.

The Military-Industrial Complex

Eisenhower must be rolling in his grave:

Last week, both houses of Congress approved the conference report on the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Authorization bill, H.R. 1585. The bill includes $506.9 billion for the Department of Defense and the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy. The bill also authorizes $189.4 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This funding is NOT counted as part of the $506.9 billion.

Center for Arms Control and Non Proliferation has an itemized description of what's in the budget.

The amount of Cold War lard is truly astonishing, especially given the fact that the military itself is hollering from the hilltops that it can't be responsible for all of our national security needs and that today's problems just don't have military (read "Cold War weapons systems") answers.

Keep in mind, today's defense spending is 14% above the height of the Korean War, 33% above the height of the Vietnam War, 25% above the height of the "Reagan Era" buildup and is 76% above the Cold War average

In fact, since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the annual defense budget - not including the costs of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan - has gone up 34%. Including war costs, defense spending has gone up 86% since 2001.

Rape Victim Receives Saudi King's Pardon

Saudi King Abdullah has pardoned a rape victim who had been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison. She was pardoned, which is very good, but the justice system that convicted and sentenced her and the religious system that essentially held that she got what she deserved because she was meeting with a man in public is still in place, which is very bad.

Senator Chris Dodd is a Statesman

It almost makes me want to vote for him. He left his campaign in Iowa today to return to Washington to lead a filibuster against the FISA bill that would grant telecommunications companies immunity for breaking the law when they cooperated with the Bush Administration in spying on Americans. (And we now know this was going on before 9/11.) Inexplicably, Harry Reid was carrying water for the Administration on this bill; one wonders how much money he is taking in from these companies. But in the face of Dodd's threatened filibuster Reid pulled the bill until at least next year.

Glenn Greenwald has all the sorry and happy details. The good guys finally win a round.

Toleration is not Relativism

I don't know if I have ever read anything in the Weekly Standard that I agree with until today. But Kenneth Anderson has an article entitled Mormons, Muslims, and Multiculturalism that I found interesting and compelling. Anderson was once a Mormon and has no beef against Mormons despite being an ex-Mormon:

Although I once three decades ago served a Mormon mission in Peru, and am proud that I did, I am not a Mormon believer and have not been for a very long time. I hold no brief for the religion. On the contrary, I gave it up because I found I could not continue to say I believed a religion that had been rash enough to make many historical claims, the testability of which was not safely back in the mists of time in the way that protects Christian belief and worldly reason from meeting up to implode like matter and antimatter.

I might disagree about Christian belief being protected by "the mists of time" but what I agree with is his real beef with the idea that some liberals hold (not as many as he thinks, I would guess) - and according to Anderson Mitt Romney too - that toleration of many religious faiths in the public square means that we hold that all expressions of faith are equally valid and therefore we have to allow them to be themselves, even if being themselves might involve them denying the essential teachings of our American experience or even holding that it is right to harm others in the name of their religion.

Anderson takes up the history of Mormonism in America as an example and notes that in the 19th century the Mormons were forced by the government to give up on one of their religious practices based on their scriptures - polygamy. What they believed about Jesus and Satan and planets and gods was their business because those beliefs did not bleed into the realm of how they lived their lives among their fellow citizens, but their beliefs about polygamy were a matter of public discussion and concern because this belief affected the lives of real people, some of them women too young to make adult decisions.

Mormons, Anderson says, came around over time and changed their practices on marriage to the point where they fit in seamlessly in American culture despite holding other religious beliefs very different from many of their fellow Americans.

Anderson's real concern is how we respond to the influx of Muslims in America and to the rise of Muslim extremism around the world. Again, the fact that a Muslim might believe something very different about Jesus than a Christian isn't important. But what they believe about the separation of church and state, the treatment of women, and the meaning of jihad, etc. is important because all of these beliefs have broader implications for American society.

Anderson thinks we have lost sight of the meaning of the unique American value of toleration, a legacy of the Enlightenment which holds that we both respect other faith traditions and bring to bear reason and critical thinking to those beliefs when they impact matters in the public square:

On the one hand, religion has been regarded as something that can be shaped by rational discourse and necessarily sometimes even the application of political and state power. An individual in this light must consider the rationality of his or her religious beliefs and subject them to reason. On the other hand, religion also has an accidental and immutable quality to it which, in the extreme case of one's eternal soul, can force an individual to the most harrowing choice. Liberal toleration has always taken account of both of these things. The canonical instance of the state forcing the issue in the United States was the outlawing of Mormon polygamy in the 19th century--and these were harrowing cases indeed, breaking apart families, even if they were not families recognized by the good Christians of the eastern United States.

Despite this history, Western liberalism has unaccountably decided to treat Islam and Muslims--not just Islamism or so-called "political Islam," but Islam as such--as though only one prong of religiosity mattered, the immutable part. Islam is treated as a race, ethnicity, or skin color--an immutable characteristic not alterable by believers and therefore not a proper moral basis on which to judge them. The consequence has been, particularly in Europe, to put anything claimed to be Islamic beyond the bounds not merely of rational debate but of public regulation or even public protest.

...Toleration is not an assertion of relativism. It is, rather, the forbearance from judging and acting on judgments in the public sphere that one might well believe oneself entitled to make in private. Toleration entails the suspension of public disbelief, or at least political action thereupon, about matters that one might nonetheless consider well within the realm of private moral judgment. Relativism, by contrast, is denial of grounds for judging at all. They could not be more different--and, crucially, relativism removes the possibility of toleration because it removes the possibility of reasoned judgment.

This is why I am not a pure multiculturalist and definitely not a moral relativist. I do not hold that Christianity is superior to other faith traditions. I welcome the involvement of all faith traditions in the public square. I believe in religious toleration and in no force in religion or no religious test for public office. I also believe that what a person believes about God, the afterlife, and a host of doctrinal issues is a matter of personal belief.

But when a personal belief leads to actions that may adversely affect others, especially the most vulnerable, or to attempting to legislate beliefs that run counter to hard-won liberal (in the broadest sense) values then I think we have a right to challenge those beliefs and to "fight it out" in the public square.

I fear that we are slowly but surely losing sight of this great American value. I fear that the proliferation of private religious schools and the ascent of "values" voters and "Christian" candidates are eroding the value of toleration. I fear that the actions of the Christian right are paving the way for religious struggles ahead that would appall them if it were Muslims making the same kind of arguments as they are making today.

So take your medicine and go read this article.

Jesus' Conservative Cred Questioned

All these Republicans are claiming Jesus as their most trusted advisor, but this ad questions his conservative credentials



Via Andrew Sullivan.

Heeeerrrrrrreeeee's Jon!

Yesterday morning while rapidly preparing a church display for Liberalchurch's upcoming Open Circle's Best Spiritual Film with a Faith, Hope, and/or Love Theme in February, I discovered that contrary to my previous posting last week, Regis F. is NOT the host of the 2008 Academy Awards Ceremony to be held Sunday Feb. 24th. The host of the upcoming Oscar ceremony will instead be comedian Jon Stewart from The Daily Show!

First, I'm wondering how I got my info wrong because I read it in the NYTimes. Maybe Regis is hosting the Golden Globes? Or the Emmy's? Next, I'm just plain relieved! Stewart is both funny and quite clever and will make it a memorable evening regardless of who the winners/losers are!

Please don't forget to post a comment below to submit your own personal nomination(s) for the Open Circle Church selection for the Best Spiritual Film with a Faith, Hope, and/or Love theme along with a one sentence description of why you think it deserves to be a nominee.

Unofficial Rules for this Unoffical Contest:
1)You need not be a member of Liberalchurch to nominate.

2)Nominees need not be 2007 release films, so you can go back in film history as long as you want!

3)Nominations need to be submitted by Jan. 13, 2008.

The top 4 nominees will be announced on Sunday Jan. 20, 2008 at the LiberalChurch Sunday service @ 10am. During the month of February we will be having weekend movie nights at the church to show some of the nominees (dates/times TBD). The films will also be featured and excerpted during the messages each Sunday during the month of February.

So who's popping the popcorn?!

Truth or Tradition?

The "ticker" that runs ads across the top of my g-mail this morning had an advertisement that caught my eye. It was a question on the topic of The Trinity asking if the Trinity was "Truth or Tradition".

Just last week in Bible Study we were commenting on The Holy Spirit descending upon Mary to accomplish the virgin birth in Mark's version of Jesus' birth story. This raised a few questions on The Trinity and The Holy Spirit for further study at a later time.

The advertisement said that the concept of the Trinity was being discussed on this website. So I visited the website and found a long "hot list" of controversial Christian topics and this Christian sect's answers whether each topic is truth or tradition. It was interesting--even though most of their beliefs don't match up to mine necessarily.

It is amazing just how many flavors of Christianity are out there--and more and more are being created every day!

LiberalChurchlady has a Saturday Night Live Flashback

I got a call on my cell phone from an Evangelical Christian group this morning.

This is very rare on two counts--that Evangelicals would be calling me and that I'd get a call on my cell phone (which happened to be turned on, charged, and sitting next to me)!

The male caller started by telling me I'd been "referred" by my husband's aunt and uncle. (His uncle has been deceased at least 7 years, so this was another oddity.) He then asked me whether I thought there was too much sex and violence on television today.

All I could think about was the old Saturday Night Live sketch where Chevy Chase on the Weekend News Update newscast asks commentator Emily Latella, played by the late and great Gilda Radner, the exact same question.

Emily's reply was, "Too much sax and violins? No! I LOVE sax and violins. Why do you want to stop the music on television?...and on she continued..."

Instead of:
a) Giving the Emily Latella answer
b) Laughing into the receiver
c) Satisfying my curiosity about this strange call and engaging the caller in conversation so I could investigate further; or
d) Hanging up immediately without response,

I chose Plan E--my standard answer for all phone calls. I politely indicated that we do not respond to telephone solicitations at our home and asked to be placed on this organization's "Do Not Call List". I then thanked the caller, and then hung up--as he was still trying to talk to me!

He's no Billy Crystal!

It has been announced today--76 year old Regis Philbin will host the Academy Awards Ceremony this year which will be aired live on Sunday evening February 24th. I'm not a Regis fan, but I'll try to keep an open mind.

This year LiberalChurch will be holding their own Oscar award process. From now until Jan. 12th Open Circle members and friends can nominate favorite films that contain some message of faith, hope, and love.

Nominees will be shown on Friday or Saturday "family nights" at church throughout the month of February and excerpts will be featured and the movies discussed during the Sunday messages. We'll hold a final vote on the nominees the week of Feb. 17-24 and on Sunday Feb. 24th we'll announce our own Open Circle Oscar for "Best Film with a Faith, Hope, and Love Message".

If you'd like to nominate a movie, please post a comment including the title of the film and a brief explanation why you are nominating this film. There is no limit on the number of films you can nominate.

(Disclaimer: Price Waterhouse or any other public accounting firm will NOT be employed to certify the integrity of the nomination or voting process!)

Palestinians and others Seeking A Better Life Tragically Drown off Turkish Coast

This news item was posted on the CNN from the Associated Press. Since I didn't read "the hard news" yesterday this may be old news to some of you. Liberalchurch will be hosting a guest speaker, Bill McGrath on 1/13/08. Following the assembly of kits for Church World Service and a lunch buffet of Middle Eastern foods McGrath will give a powerpoint program at 1pm with photos and commentary on his experience living a month on both the Israeli and Palistinian sides of The West Bank.

I wonder whether Bill McGrath met any of the victims of this tragedy while he was living in Palestine...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- A boat carrying illegal migrants sank off Turkey's Aegean coast and at least 43 died, an official said Monday.

A Turkish news agency said 51 died, and authorities feared the death toll could rise because some of the passengers were missing.

The 50-foot boat sank in rough weather late Saturday off the coast of Seferihisar, a town south of the city of Izmir, said Gov. Orhan Sefik Guldibi. Six migrants were rescued and hospitalized, mostly for shock.

Citing survivors, the Coast Guard said a total of 85 people were on board. Guldibi said 43 bodies, all male, had been recovered. Dogan news agency said 51 died.

"We are trying to keep our hopes alive but the possibility of more survivors is diminishing," Guldibi said.

"Boats and helicopters are searching for more migrants in the sea," Guldibi said. "Because of the strong wind, we think the bodies should be closer to the coast than where this boat sank. But they are searching far off the coast as well."

The survivors, who stayed afloat by wearing inflated inner tubes around their waists, swam to shore late Sunday and shouted for help, according to Guldibi. Residents heard their shouts and called the police.

The migrants were mostly Palestinians, Somalis and Iraqis, Guldibi said.

The passengers met up in Izmir Saturday evening and were taken to the coast from where they boarded the boat in the dark. The vessel capsized around two hours after setting sail, Guldibi said.

Strong winds and rough seas hampered rescue work, private NTV television reported. Rescuers were also searching areas close to the Greek island of Chios for bodies, the report said.

Thousands of immigrants from Asia and Africa enter Turkey illegally on their way to European Union countries in search of jobs and a better life. Smugglers often take the migrants from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands on fragile and overcrowded boats, and accidents are common.

The EU, which Turkey wants to join, wants the country to crack down on illegal immigration.

EU-member Greece, which has an 8,000-mile coastline dotted with thousands of islands, has accused Turkish authorities of not doing enough to halt the flow of illegal migrants.

Turkey has increased patrols along its Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, but boats still get through

Romney's Speech

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave his "Mormon" speech last night. You can read it here. I don't think he should need to say anything about his faith, but he is trying to win the votes of Evangelical Christians, some of whom think that Mormonism is a cult, so it was probably inevitable that he would need to address the issue. However, he said virtually nothing about the details of his faith except to acknowledge in one sentence the fact that his beliefs about Christ may be slightly different than orthodox Christian beliefs.

Mormonism, by the way, is a cult - in the language of religious studies. A cult is any new religious movement. A sect, on the other hand, is any variation of longstanding religious movements. Presbyterians and Catholics and Brethren are sects of Christianity. Mormonism is a cult movement in the sense that compared to its religious peers it is not very old. Christianity itself was once a cult movement amidst its more ancient pagan and Jewish religious peers. Interestingly, Mormonism is growing today at the same kind of rapid rate that Christianity once grew. Cult movements often do this.

Mormonism does have some "strange" beliefs. Mormon theology teaches, for instance, that there are many gods and that each Mormon man has the potential of exaltation, becoming a god. But, then, Christianity has some "strange" beliefs too, like the idea that a young woman was impregnated by God and gave birth to a child who was the Son of God. I find it strange that anyone in the twenty-first century would take either of these beliefs to be literal truths; I read them both as metaphor and myth. But, then, we seem to be living in strange times.

Mitt Romney was not the first Presidential candidate to address his religious beliefs. In 1960 John Kennedy felt the need to speak to how his Catholic faith would influence his decision-making if elected President. His words bear reading again:

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute- where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be a Catholic) how to act and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote- where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference-and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish-where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source-where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials-and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

For, while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew-or a Quaker- or a Unitarian-or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that led to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today, I may be the victim-but tomorrow it may be you-until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped apart at a time of great national peril.

Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end- where all men and all churches are treated as equal-where every man has the same right to attend or not to attend the church of his choice- where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind-and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, both the lay and the pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

I leave it to you to decide if, after reading Romney's speech side by side with Kennedy's, we have made any progress in the last half century.

Real Good Storm

Here in Minnesota we have been getting a couple medium-sized snowfalls over the past week about every 2 days. None of them has been timed such that it has shut down too many activities.

More snow is on the way for Thursday and Saturday say the forecasters. But it sounds like they too will me "moderate amounts" of snowfall.

I was listening to my new Peter Mayer "Novelties" CD yesterday and hoping that one of these snows might be a "Real Good Storm" as Mayer's song (track 13 of this disc) describes.

Here's the lyrics:

This winter please, dear Lord
Send us a real good storm
One where we're all snowed in
That makes people neighbors wave and grin
Stranded in our own yard
We might as well play cards
And get out game boards
So send us a real good storm

We who get so uptight
Need a good snowball fight
And should be forced to ski
To rent a DVD
So heap it up to the window sill
Make the mad world stand still
Bury us Lord
Under a real good storm

We'll pile onto the old wood sled
Scream when we see a tree ahead
Make a man with a carrot nose
Then come back in and have hot cocoa

We'll cheer when the radio
Says that our school is closed
We'll make a big snow pile
Dig it out and crawl inside
Decorate it with Christmas lights
Laugh and sing songs all night
And we'll stay warm
inside of that real good storm
So stir it up Lord
Send us a real good storm.

Anybody want to have a snowball fight? I've got a wooden toboggan and a pair of cross country skis that are very dusty! I love making snowpeople and snowigloos. I've even got a spare set of Christmas lights to light it up! Let me know if you've got game!

Unbeliefable

Fox Entertainment Group has acquired Beliefnet:

“FEG’s vast resources will enable Beliefnet to expand our audience, enhance our offerings and more effectively carry out our mission to help people find and walk a spiritual path that brings comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness,” said Steven Waldman, Beliefnet’s CEO, Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder.

FEG is not only home to the worlds most shameless news program but is a regular purveyor of smut as news (here too).

Plague in the kingdom of Spamalot!

In the StarTribune today is an article about a rare neurological disorder suffered by a number of workers in the pork processing section of Hormel--makers of SPAM--in Austin, MN. The disease which causes the immune system to attack the sheath surrounding the nerve was identified in 1975 by a doctor from the Mayo Clinic.

While assurances have been issued by both Hormel's public relations and state epidemologists that this is not something that is transmitted by virus but is somehow a production related problem that is unique to plant workers, it does give one pause. I keep telling myself that perhaps the time is ripe to again open all those vegetarian cookbooks I invested in and used regularly for about 5 years back in the 90s!

I'm finally getting around to reading about the adventure and exploits of Barbara Kingslover's family as they raise and process their own food which she has documented in her recent book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle! Local zoning ordances--not to mention my spouse--would prohibit me from operating my own "free range farm" in our backyard. So producing my own livestock in the burbs is not an option. I'd have to go veggie again.

A Former Republican Legislator States the Obvious

From my side of the political aisle, it has been quite obvious what the Tax Payers' League and the Governor have done to the state with their slavish devotion to "no new taxes." Our schools aren't funded, our bridges are collapsing and our infrastructure is deteriorating, we are losing jobs, and our social service network is frayed to the breaking point. But today in the Star Tribune, former Republican legislator Dave Bishop says the same thing, and adds that the Republican Party has also been decimated as a result:

And what has been the real result of this illogical and extreme tax policy? Galloping property taxes, excess levy referendums for school costs that can't keep up with inflation. Also deteriorating roads, declining support for higher education -- in fact, a total of declining quality of our life in Minnesota.

And we also learn this morning that the Governor is unwilling to call a special session of the legislature to pass a bonding bill to jump-start road construction. Same old story; he doesn't want to create government jobs; he wants to cut taxes again.

Counting down the days.

Romney's Mormonism

We are told that Mitt Romney is going to address the issue of his Mormon faith this Thursday. There was probably no way for Romney to avoid this at some point, so it will be interesting to see what he has to say. But it really shouldn't matter, as Richard Cohen rightly argues in the Washington Post. Cohen notes that on Sunday morning Mike Huckabee was asked by ABC's George Stephanopoulis whether Romney was a Christian. Huckabee smiled and punted. Shame on him, Cohen says:

It is absurd that Romney feels compelled to deliver a speech defending his beliefs and that Huckabee does not have to explain how, in this day and age, he does not believe in evolution. But it is singularly appropriate that Romney's speech be delivered at the Bush library. For it is the 41st president's underachieving son who put such emphasis on religious belief -- and has shown us all, with his appalling record, that faith is no substitute for thought. A mind honed on the whetstone of doubt might have kept us out of Iraq.

The Republican presidential field has some feeble minds and some dangerous ones as well, but none has done as much damage as Huckabee has. Religion does not belong in the political arena. It does not lend itself to compromise. It is about belief, not reason, and is ordinarily immutable. Romney is a shifty fellow, but he will always be a Mormon, and it will never make a difference. Should he become president, he will still light the national Christmas tree and pardon the Thanksgiving turkey and host the Easter egg roll on the White House lawn.

I might quibble a bit with his comment that faith is about belief and not reason. I disagree. But we have had entirely too much talk about religion from our political candidates. We have learned that you can be a person of faith and be a disaster as President. There are far more important qualifications.

Believe Not a Word He Says

He knew before he made the explosive threat of World War III:

President Bush got the world's attention this fall when he warned that a nuclear-armed Iran might lead to World War III. But his stark warning came at least a month or two after he had first been told about fresh indications that Iran had actually halted its nuclear weapons program.

He simply cannot be trusted.

Highway of Holiness

When I was returning from my trip in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago, I sat on a plane next to a woman from Texas who was coming to MN to be part of a prayer team praying along I35, which runs from MN to Texas. She was taking time off from her job as school teacher to do this. A recent Minnesota Monitor post fills me in on the context of this prayer event:

Running right through the heart of the Twin Cities is a spiritual road that dozens of evangelical churches say is specifically mentioned in the Bible as the "Way of Holiness." They call it the "Highway of Holiness." Others call it Interstate 35.

Evangelicals throughout the Midwest, from Laredo, Texas, to Duluth, Minn., have been praying at 24-hour prayer rooms for a month for Interstate 35 in order to "light the highway." Young people in the movement have been holding "purity sieges" in front of LGBT businesses, abortion clinics and stores that sell pornography. So far, Minnesota has been spared of "purity sieges," but 24-hour prayer rooms have been set up in Minneapolis, Albert Lea and Duluth.

The scriptural basis for the new movement comes from Isaiah 35:8, which reads, "And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it." Because of chapter 35, believers say the highway mentioned must be Interstate 35. In addition, a number of people in the "Highway of Holiness" movement claim to have had prophetic experiences that involve Interstate 35.

Andy Birkey :: Holy Highway: Evangelicals Pray to "Light" Interstate 35 Highway to Holiness prophet Cindy Jacobs told CBN News that it was an unnamed German prophet who saw the significance of Interstate 35 back in 1984. "And in this dream he saw a highway that went from the bottom of someplace to the top that had a '35' sign on it. And God showed him that revival was going to begin at the bottom of this highway and go to the top."

The collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis in August has also been a topic of discussion among the "Highway of Holiness" believers. "I don't usually send what the Lord is downloading to me, however this is very timely and significant I believe," Highway of Holiness Community Coordinator Christine Pickett of Little Canada wrote to the movement's Web site.

Pickett says that last year's election of U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a Muslim, and his announcement of a trip to Israel the very same day of the collapse could be an omen. "I think the Lord may be saying that this man and his district and what he is about doing in Israel is connected. I could be wrong -- however, I just have to look at the timing and the fear of the Lord comes upon me."

"We are tired of seeing the destruction of what sin has brought on the world," Caleb Valdez, a student at Heartland Ministries in Dallas told TV station WFAA. "And so, we believe God has ordained this highway for us to go up and down ... to see lives transformed, to see people revolutionized for God [and] for the betterment of this place."

I don't usually send what the Lord is downloading to me either.

Spanking

While I was gone I missed the story on spanking that is making its way through the MN court system. Here is the gist of the story from a Star Tribune article a few days ago:

When Shawn Fraser's discipline failed to rein in his 12-year-old son, he turned to his religion, taking a wooden paddle to Gerard's upper thighs and posting Bible verses on the refrigerator, Fraser's lawyer told the state Supreme Court on Wednesday.

But after 36 blows, delivered in 12-blow increments, the 195-pound boy called authorities. Now the state Supreme Court will determine when discipline of a child crosses the line into physical abuse that requires a social worker's intervention.

He turned to his religion? To justify beating his son? I don't know what the Supreme Court will decide. I know that punishment by parents is a gray area in the law. But this was not punishment. This was a beating, regardless of whether the blows caused bruising. 36 blows with a wooden paddle is not spanking and it is not punishment.

Naturally, though, the Star Tribune's conservative Christian columnist Katherine Kersten sides with the parents in her column today. I was almost led to tears as she described the anguish of these parents trying to deal with their twelve year old son who was on the verge of turning into a career criminal. What choice did his father have but to pick up a wooden paddle - a "small" paddle - and beat his son repeatedly on the back of his thighs? How could the state dare to intervene to stop this God-fearing father from using the rod so that the son would not be spoiled?

Another stain on the name of Christianity and a sad story about a dysfunctional family in serious need of counseling.

Awarding Failure

Paul Wolfowitz is back. As one of the chief architects of the Iraq war, Wolfowitz left the Administration in disgrace. He moved on to run the World Bank, where he was also a disgrace. His time there was marked chiefly by his run-ins with their ethics board over his continuing efforts to get his girlfriend a high-paid job for which she had no qualifications (and what is it with Republicans and their girlfriends). So he fails miserably at two high-profile jobs, which makes him a perfect candidate to serve once again in the Bush Administration:

Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank—amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend—he's in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel, according to two department sources who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters. The 18-member panel, which has access to highly classified intelligence, advises Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters. "We think he is well suited and will do an excellent job," said one senior official.

We Are The People We Have Been Waiting For

World leaders are getting ready to meet in Bali for the next round of talks, after Kyoto, on climate change. As the New York Times opines today, nothing serious will happen until the United States takes this issue seriously; and that isn't going to happen until we have a new President. Meanwhile Thomas Friedman takes heart because others in the US are doing something:

While the Bush team came into office brain dead on the climate issue and will leave office with a perfect record of having done nothing significant to mitigate climate change, I’m heartened that our country is increasingly alive on this challenge.

First, Google said last week that it was going to invest millions in developing its own energy business. Google described its goal as “RE <>

Its primary focus, said Google.org’s energy expert, Dan Reicher, will be to advance new solar thermal, geothermal and wind solutions “across the valley of death.” That is, so many good ideas work in the lab but never get a chance to scale up because they get swallowed by a lack of financing or difficulties in implementation. Do not underestimate these people.

Last week, I also met with two groups of M.I.T. students who blew me away. One was the M.I.T. Energy Club, which was founded in 2004 by a few grad students discussing energy over beers at a campus bar. Today it has 600-plus members who have put on scores of events focused on building energy expertise among M.I.T. students and faculty, and “fact-based analysis,” including a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Then I got together with three engineering undergrads who helped launch the Vehicle Design Summit — a global, open-source, collaborative effort, managed by M.I.T. students, that has 25 college teams around the world, including in India and China, working together to build a plug-in electric hybrid within three years. Each team contributes a different set of parts or designs. I thought writing for my college newspaper was cool. These kids are building a hyper-efficient car, which, they hope, “will demonstrate a 95 percent reduction in embodied energy, materials and toxicity from cradle to cradle to grave” and provide “200 m.p.g. energy equivalency or better.” The Linux of cars!

They’re not waiting for G.M. Their goal, they explain on their Web site — vds.mit.edu — is “to identify the key characteristics of events like the race to the moon and then transpose this energy, passion, focus and urgency” on catalyzing a global team to build a clean car. I just love their tag line. It’s what gives me hope:

“We are the people we have been waiting for.”

Advent Message

Back from PA and a blogging hiatus. Thanks to ProgressiveChurchLady for keeping the home fires burning on this site. Here are my notes from Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent:

In my Sunday messages I don't usually follow the lectionary, the suggested scripture texts that many Christian traditions and churches follow. But I want to read today's suggested gospel passage, the reading for the first Sunday in Advent:

Matthew 24:36-44
36 ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

This passage is part of a series of "you better be ready" passages that Matthew has collected together in chapters 24 and 25. While each of the parables and stories in these passages might have had a different meaning when and if they were spoken by Jesus, the writer of Matthew has grouped them together for a purpose. He uses these passages to convey a particular message for his community in the midst of their situation.

That situation is the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 CE, a moment when we know from both Jewish and Christian writers when many who lived through it believed would be followed by a decisive response from God. Apocalyptic fever was in the air; the center of God's presence in the world had been destroyed; God had to respond.

Matthew uses these passages to tell his community that yes, we should expect God's coming, but don't be fooled by the "obvious" signs that everyone is pointing to. Be patient. Be good. Be ready. When it happens it happens. But more importantly, he brackets these passages with the larger story of Jesus. And he doesn't end his gospel with an apocalyptic message, but with a mission from Jesus to go out into the world making disciples.

But let me tell you what I find interesting about these passages as they are used by Matthew. They suggest to me that some people in this early Christian community were not entirely satisfied with what they got in Jesus. The first showing apparently didn't quite satisfy. The Son of God appeared and not much changed in the world. In fact, within 40 years things got much worse for Jews and members of the Jesus movement centered around Jerusalem. And so some early Christians began to hope that he would come again - this time in a big, dramatic way, decisive way. And of course some Christians have been reading these passages ever since and trying to figure out when is the big event going to happen.

But what if there wasn't going to be another big event. What if the first visit was all there was. What if who Jesus was, his vision, how he lived, what he taught, was the whole package? What if God had appeared in a unique way in Jesus in this not entirely satisfying manner and this was the whole point?

That is what I think. I think there isn't going to be any second coming of Jesus. I think there isn't going to be any big decisive end-time act by God. I think we may very well bring about the end of our world at some point through environmental degradation or nuclear destruction, but it won't be an act of God; it will be because we have made God absent.

I think one of the central points of the Jesus story is the setting of when and where he lived: the poverty, the Roman occupation. It was right there in the midst of this difficult moment in time that the presence of God was experienced in an unexpected, new way. The birth stories of Matthew and Luke, different as they are from one another, both make this very point. Who would have thought that the Son of God would appear in a stable, to the parents of a not-yet married couple, in the backwater town of Bethlehem.

But the real story of Jesus is that he didn't just appear for a moment and make a flash and then go home with a promise that he would pop back in some day in the future. While he was here he shared what he knew. What he saw, the way he lived - it was possible for others to do too. We are all sons and daughters of God. We can all learn to live into that.

We can learn to see the presence of the divine in the unexpected, the difficult, the ordinary, the not entirely satisfying reality that is so often a part of life. We can learn to be mindful of who we are. We can learn to use our time, exercise our gifts, be a force for hope and love and healing in our world. We can surprise people - who is this person? That is what they said about Jesus - who is this person. We know him; we know his family; where did he get this gift? We can learn to be surprised again every day by wonder and beauty and joy - to see beauty in the lilies of the field.

It is Advent. It is a time of getting ready, attuning our senses and spirits once again to presence of God who came and who continues to be right here in our midst.

Somewhere Over the Artic

There has been much of fuss about the upcoming movie, The Golden Compass--similar to the prerelease angst before the movie of The Da Vinci Code came to the big screen. Not having read this fantasy series of novels yet, I've been wondering what all the fuss was about. It seems that the author of the novels is an atheist and some Catholics feel this book is "atheist propaganda". (Note--the screenplay was written by someone else and ends earlier and cheerier than the novel apparently.)

I wonder if they said the same thing about Frank L. Baum? Here's an explanation of all the fuss from today's New York Times. Now I will head to my county library's website to reserve a copy of the book so we can read it before go see this movie over the holidays!

Post Thanksgiving Post

Liberalpastor is gone visiting family in Pennsylvania and ProgressiveChurchlady has taken a week long break from posting. But it is time to return!

Last night I took a pause from a too busy day and went for the first time to the "new" (now almost 2 months old) Wednesday evening meditative service at Liberalchurch in Burnsville.

Joe led the service. He began the meditation time by reading, as the wind whistled through the trees around the church on this very cold November evening, verse he had written himself for the service.

Untitled
by Joe Mayer
(copyright 2007)

The earth has turned away for now
From the hum of sunlit motion
To the inventing of autumn darkness
Moist roots continue to earnestly pull water
As leaves burrow into the cool soil
The earth churns them
Mixing them with its own bare flesh
Ready to unite them with seed
So as to burst up again into form
Bare branches witness these cycles
Millions of years of loving
Stretched out now to catch the snowflakes of the days ahead
The implausible orchestra of labor
All working for creation
In the secret of darkness now

So, too, this miracle is now happening in each of our human struggles
Carrying on inside of us
This rich darkness churning in our spirits
Birthing new forms
Moving us through our own creation cycle
Losses we weep into yesterday
Boundaries we reassemble
Abuses we need to reject
Vision we begin to imagine for healing, for new life, for new possibility,
For justice, for truth telling
Movement surges within us for courage to reach out and stand up for the vulnerable
Determination ferments in our hearts
To deeply forgive many, most urgently, ourselves

Lastly, this great cycle, this great planet, this great mother,
Brewing these beautiful new concoctions from our darkness, cries for
Our loving defense of herself, for she has left herself in our dreams
And in our hands

No Intelligence Allowed

My spouse and I used to watch "Win Ben Stein's Money" on The Comedy Channel every night for laughs. Even though Stein was once a speech writer for Richard Nixon, I forgive him and laugh at his jokes. He's a smart guy and the concept was funny and Jimmy Kimmel who was the quiz master on the show was just obnoxious and quick enough to make an interesting and humorous foil to Stein to embarrass him or keep him humble.

I just saw an Internet trailer of Stein's upcoming movie that he co-wrote and stars in. It is titled "Expelled" and the subtitle is "No Intelligence Allowed". From the looks of the trailer, it appears that it might just be a jab at either or both the "free exercise of religion" or the "separation of church and state" concepts as they get applied to education. I'll also guess it may have something to do with Creationism vs. Evolution debate.

"Expelled" has not yet been rated. Here's the trailer. It doesn't give you much to go on, but take a look at it and make your own guesses.

It's Jamma Day!

Last Saturday several members and friends from Liberalchurch went to a CD release concert at the Fitzgerald Theatre performed by the singer/songwriter Peter Mayer and his musical accompanists (band doesn't seem to be the right word for Mayer's group of talented musicial friends).

Mayer happens to be the brother and uncle of other Liberalchurch members so he had a built in "fan club"--not to mention he and his wife were generous enough to donate tickets and new CDs to Liberalchurch which generated some much-needed operating income. (Thanks to Liberalchurch's PLT member Lisa for working with the Mayer family to secure the donation of these tickets and CDs!)

Since first hearing Mayer's song "Holy Now" covered by another duo about 6 years ago, I've been waiting to hear him sing his own songs live. He didn't disappoint!

His new CD "Novelties" that he highlighted in the concert is a collection of songs which are humorous or have some ironic twist--novelty songs as the recording industry calls them. They are often one-hit wonders and something you play while waiting for the more serious stuff.

However there were several songs including one about his father's love for his mother's pie which were more than humorous. I particularly liked this song (Unfortunately I can't remember the exact titles of the songs. I didn't think about taking notes to write a concert review for Liberalpastor's blog until too late and I'm awaiting my own copy of the new CD) along with a song titled "Jamma Day". Jamma Day has a reggae beat and celebrates those days when you just don't feel like getting dressed.

Today is Jamma Day at my kids' school and I just got back from driving them there in my pajamas and robe. Since I'm volunteering to help serve and monitor lunch and to escort 3rd graders to the library later this afternoon, I've decided to celebrate Jamma Day with them today!

As a depression sufferer I've had lots of Jamma Days in my life. Usually these days were NOT celebrations. There was no choice involved for me. I simply didn't have the energy to get dressed on those days. Today happily I've got that choice! For the first time in months, I'm choosing to stay in my jammies.

After escorting my 3rd grader and her classmates to the Galaxie Library and back, around 3pm I will go home and change into "street clothes" run the retail/grocery store errands, cook dinner, take my daughter to tutoring, go to the Midweek Gathering at Liberalchurch, go home and get back into pajamas.

For this choice to wear pajamas most of the day today, I am extremely thankful!

The Supreme Court Chooses to Tackle the Second Amendment

Minnesota's own Louie Anderson wrote a priceless comedy routine about Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that he used to perform back in the 1980s. It all hinged on the limiting clauses to this amendment which relate the right to keep and bear arms in one's home to the sustainence of a militia for public safety. The Second Amendment was written at a time in U.S. History when the state of the art in weapon technology was a musket. Muskets took time to load and fire and reload. Current weapon technology is light years more advanced than the musket. The weaponry we have available to us today screams out for better gun control to protect people in their homes from careless accidents that lead to tragedies far too frequently.

The Supreme Court has decided to hear an appeal of a case where what appeared to be a very reasonable state gun control law was overturned on the grounds it violated the Second Amendment by a U.S. Circuit Ct. of Appeals. I am trying to remain hopeful and optimist that the U.S. Supreme Court will get this ruling right. Everyone, (including the NYTimes Op Ed writers) will be watching this case closely. Much is at stake--not the least of which are many lives of people who are killed by gun accidents on a daily basis.

Race for the Cure

Ten years from now, the scientific history that looks back on what is going on today in stem cell research will be fascinating. We are on the home stretch to gaining the ability to help cure some of humanities' most vexing illnesses. I am cheering all of these scientists on! The latest of their findings is reported in today's New York Times.

Inside Mormon Fundamentalism

Recently several books have been written revealing the pain and recovery by some individuals born to parents in the Fundamentalist Mormon sect. The book group I belonged to read one of them authored by the mountain climber John Krackhauer who had previously written a best seller Into Thin Air. (I unfortunately can't remember the title of his book about story of growing up in a Mormon family.)

Ever since a child, the Mormon faith has been a mystery to me. This feeling of mystery is shared by many others. In the 1980s my dad responded to the t.v. invitation to get your own free copy of The Book of Mormon just so he could try to gain his own understanding of how the hurtful practices of some sects derive from the Mormon text.

The cloud of cult mystery that shrouds Mormonism is one reason why the former governor of Massachusetts is having difficulty in his bid to be come the presidential nominee of the Republican party. This article in today's New York Times about the trial of a Mormon leader will not help much. At least it explains the difference between "mainstream" Mormonism and Fundamentalist Mormonism in broad strokes.

Liberalchurch meets Classic Education

In October liberalpastor's messages focused on the historic unfolding of the Reformation and how it has led to the many facets of Protestant Christian faith we see around us today. It was a good education and taught or reviewed many concepts and persons that I had not studied or thought about for decades--if at all. As it turns out it was a primer for some of the children who attend Liberalchurch also!

My daughters attend a local public charter school, Paideia Academy. This school was created with a focus on the Core Knowledge Sequence curriculum developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation. This foundation was begun by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. the author of the popular book from the '80s, Cultural Literacy. The past few weeks, the 5th graders have been studying the Renaissance and Reformation. In their textbooks they have been learning how the Islamic teachings were translated into Latin and how liberal arts universities sprang up across Europe. They learned of the birth of the Renaissance in Florence and the contributions of the Medici family. They had also studied individuals important to this period such as Castiglione, Machiavelli, Martin Luther, Calvin, and St. Ignatious of Loyola. Today and tomorrow the 5th graders will be presenting their poster projects. My daughter and others in her group studied Gutenberg while her best friend and others in her group studied Zwingli.

I suspect the poster projects of Paideia Academy 5th graders will be on display after the Thanksgiving holiday break for readers who are interested in viewing students' work. If interested please contact me or Paideia Academy School Board and Liberalchurch member, Mary Hall, either of us will be happy to give you a tour of students' work displays.

Tis the Season...for junk mail!

Last night I came home after 9pm for the night to a 4" stack of mail. I am generous as to how I classify the mail we receive. My spouse considers e-mail solicitations from non-profits junk mail and would have considered at least 90% of it to be junk. I'm not so harsh. If the mail originates from an organization that we have had some connection with and is trying to contact us, than I don't classify it as junk. However, if it is from some place that has purchased my name and address from someone else--that's pure junk! (And, I'd like to know which company or organization sold my name and address so I can cancel my subscription or stop making a contribution.)

Junk mail is bad for our environment because it is wasteful and studies show that the average US household receives 41 lbs. per year. Now a nonprofit organization has been started aptly named 41 Pounds to help stop junk mail from coming to your mailbox. If you sign up for their service, they will contribute to another nonprofit charity!

Here's the address to the 41 Pounds website.

The War & Global Warming

My Newsletter article this week:

There are two great tragedies related to the war in Iraq. The first is the war itself with all of its human suffering and its mind-boggling drain on our nation's resources. Just to focus on the financial aspect, I think it is impossible to fully grasp its impact because the numbers are so huge. As an example this morning in the Star Tribune Senator Joe Biden had an editorial with suggestions about how we should respond to events in Pakistan. Among his suggestions was an infusion of foreign aid to the tune of $1.5 billion a year. An enormous sum of money, he acknowledges, but then he reminds us that this is what we are spending in Iraq every week. $1.5 billion a week. How is that possible?

The war is such a tragedy and travesty at so many levels. One of those levels is the way it is distracting us from addressing what is a real threat to the future of our planet: global warming. In my recent issue of Audubon Magazine, there is a distressing story about the rapid melting of the Arctic ice shield and the unfolding tragedy there as the food chain begins to collapse. What is already happening there could be a harbinger of what to expect around the globe. This is where we need to be spending our nation's vast resources of brain power and wealth.

There is plenty of reason to be down about the state of our country and world right now. We have big problems. And yet I remain hopeful. For one thing, I am hopeful that the political climate and direction of our country will soon change. Unfortunately, there is still plenty of time for more damage to be done, but the end-game is in sight for what I believe to be the worst political leadership in the history of our country.

But I am also hopeful because as threatening as global warming is to the future of life on our planet, there are very simple and concrete things we can do to address this issue. This is one of those problems that you and I can do something about today. In that same issue of Audubon Magazine there is, for instance, a reminder that changing the light bulbs we burn in our homes is the simplest and single-most important action we can take to make an immediate difference in global warming.

One incandescent light bulb requires 82 pounds of coal to keep it lit over its lifespan. One fluorescent bulb burns a tenth as much coal. According to the article "if every household replaced three 60-watt incandescent bulbs with CFLs, the nation would reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by an amount equivalent to taking 3.5 million cars off the highways."

I can do that, and so can you. We can also be mindful of our energy use in countless other ways. Of course, we are going to need real political leadership here too. But we don't have to wait for it to come. Everyone of us can respond today to what will likely be the biggest challenge our children will face during their lifetimes. We can begin making a difference for them right now.

Jesus, The Disciples, and Thanksgiving

That ecumenical purveyor of mirth, JibJab, has come up with their own line of videogreetings to create revnue. Here's a priceless one based upon DaVinci's "The Last Supper", and Jesus' take on Thanksgiving as it relates to one of The Seven Deadly Sins. Enjoy!

Politically Progressive Christians Unite with Politically Progressive Seculars

This morning I am happy to read an e-mail that tells me that African-American Ministers in Action are teaming up with People for the American Way to empower the progressive political movement. Here's what's happening due to the efforts of a member of both the organizations who is uniting their efforts:

PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY November 15, 2007

Help me block the Right's Black Church power play.



Dear [Liberalchurchlady],

Right-wing political leaders think about building political power as a long-term process -- and one of their key strategies is to divide the progressive community where they can.

They've had their eyes on the Black Church for a long time -- believing that they can win elections and shift the long-term balance of power to the Right if they can just peel a percentage of black voters away from the progressive community.

As a PFAW supporter, you're probably well aware that my community is a favorite target of the Right for voter suppression because, let's face it, in addition to being vulnerable in many ways the African American vote is pretty solidly progressive. This progressivism comes from a rich tradition of commitment to moral issues like civil rights, public education and economic and social justice. That tradition is now under attack by the Right.

I'm writing to you today to tell you just how aggressively the Right is courting black pastors -- and why People For's African American Ministers In Action program is the best line of defense.

Right-wing attempts to forge alliances with black churches on wedge issues like gay marriage and private school vouchers have unfortunately been too successful. And don't think the Bush administration didn't play its part in the Right's wooing of black churches. Soon after creating the "Office of Faith-Based Initiatives" and funneling money to certain churches, it wasn't that surprising to see some pastors saying nice things about President Bush, and even his Supreme Court nominees.

The threat is real. That's why People For the American Way is pushing back hard. And that's why I'm helping.

We need your help too.

The Right's outreach to black pastors is built largely on lies. "Progressives are against religion and out to silence the Church." "Gay rights advocates have 'hijacked' and 'raped' the civil rights movement."

I'm deeply saddened that any of my colleagues would buy into this poisonous rhetoric. But as head of African American Ministers In Action, I'm fighting back. Our network already reaches 5,000 churches, but with your help we can:

Recruit more pastors into African American Ministers In Action
Give media training to more pastors willing to be strong advocates for progressive values and take on the false prophets of the far right
Create the toolkits and other materials that pastors and lay leaders can use to educate and mobilize their congregations and communities
Get more progressive African American voices into mainstream and Christian media
And much more...
Help us restore the historic prophetic role of the black church and the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr. to educate black pastors and mobilize them in the cause of justice.

As a young pastor, I worked in Dr. King's former church. And it infuriates me to hear right-wing politicians and pastors citing King to advance their agenda. Dr. King didn't cozy up to power -- he challenged it. He didn't try to use religion as a divisive political force -- he drew on his faith, and his faith in America, to challenge people of all faiths to make the nation live up to its ideals.

At the recent "Values Voter Summit," Bishop Harry Jackson -- one of the Religious Right's African American superstars -- hosted a workshop in which one panelist predicted that stronger partnerships between conservative white evangelicals and black pastors and churches could decide the 2008 election.

Let's make sure that if anyone's outreach impacts the 2008 election, it's ours and not the Right's.

Thank you.

Rev. Timothy McDonald III
Chair of African American Ministers In Action
Board Member of People For the American Way

http://www.kintera.org/site/lookup.asp?c=hqKNKWNMF&b=3586719

The Big Democracy Chill

The Democratic leadership of our country continues to stifle actions launched by the progressives in its own party. The following article from Common Dreams reports how the Democratic party is treating one of its brightest and bravest progressive leaders.
-----------------------------------------------

Published on Monday, November 12, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
The Courage of Kucinich in Pelosi’s House of Wacks
by Linda Milazzo
Was it retaliation by the the Democratic Leadership that exempted Dennis Kucinich from appearing with fellow Presidential candidates at Friday’s Jefferson Jackson Day fundraiser in Iowa?

Was it Speaker Pelosi’s vindictive payback to Kucinich for his impudent dismissal of her “impeachment is off the table” dictum that kept Kucinich out of the Jefferson Jackson Day party? After all, hadn’t Kucinich introduced HR 333 on the House Floor just that week, calling for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney, in defiance of the prescripted cowardice in Pelosi’s House of Wacks?

Until that moment when Congressman Kucinich introduced impeachment resolution HR 333 on to the House Floor, members of Pelosi’s Democratic majority had fallen spinelessly in line, kowtowing to Pelosi’s disavowal of Article I Section 2 of the Constitution, which grants the House the authority to impeach.

Speaker Pelosi’s wanton subversion of the Constitution, which has subjected this nation and the world to the continued atrocities of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, will be far more relevant in the annals of history than her singular honor as the nation’s first woman Speaker of the House. Pelosi’s legacy (thus far), as the most powerful woman in the history of this land, has been shamefully tarnished by catastrophic failures in leadership and courage - predicated principally on her refusal to hold President Bush and Vice President Cheney accountable for their crimes.

On the heels of September 11, 2001, George W. Bush squandered his chance to capitalize on the support of the world by not taking the appropriate multilateral actions against the rogues who’d assaulted our nation from without.

On the heels of January 4, 2007, after becoming Speaker, Nancy Pelosi squandered her chance to capitalize on the support of the world by not taking the appropriate multilateral actions against the rogues who’d assaulted our nation from within - namely George Bush and Dick Cheney.

Pelosi’s failure to form the necessary coalitions to pursue Bush and Cheney for their crimes against America is as damaging as George Bush’s failure to form the necessary coalitions to pursue Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri for theirs. As Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri plot further assaults from without against America, Bush and Cheney plot further assaults from within. Some may argue the difference between the two-evil-duos is that Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri knowingly harmed America, while Bush and Cheney’s harm is unwitting. Unwitting or not, Bush and Cheney have done more long-term damage to the safety and stability of America than Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri had ever hoped to achieve.

It’s this failure on the part of Pelosi to use her authority to thwart Bush and Cheney that has incensed Democrats, and growing numbers of Republicans, all across this land. It’s Pelosi’s suppression of the members of her House, and their willingness to be suppressed, that has incensed Americans all across this land. Sadly, to the lawmakers ensconced inside the Washington bubble, the intensity of Americans’ anger is likely not known - which makes the need to intensify the levels of activism, including outreach to their offices, that much more necessary. Constant contact is critical to make them understand.

If only both Houses of Wacks would empty in 2008 - to follow the Great White. If only we could replenish them all with real leaders.

During the dozen years the Republicans held the majorities in the U.S. Senate and House, there was ample sympathy from the frustrated constituents of the long suffering Democratic minority. It was believed, and certainly hoped, that if given control, the Democrats would summon the courage and moral authority to end the war and reinstate America’s Constitutional principles and respectability in the world. Now, a full year has passed since November of 2006 and nothing of the sort has happened. In retrospect, it was sheer whimsy.

Instead, over the past year, Congress members, under the leadership of the well-mannered, genteel Speaker Pelosi, and Senators, under the leadership of the well-mannered, genteel Senator Reid, are fodder for brawling Republicans. Instead of backbone, Democrats govern by courtesy. How does one quantify how many American lives have been lost in Iraq due to courtesy? Or how many limbs have been lost? Or how many Iraqis have been murdered, maimed and displaced? How many Iraqi children have been orphaned? How many emergency rooms in America would still be open? How many Americans would have health care? How many homes would be rebuilt in New Orleans? How many fire-fighting planes would have flown over California? How many? How many? We will never know.

In different times - less urgent times - there is much to be said for courtesy. But these are not those times!!!

Then there is Dennis Kucinich - the diminutive giant in the House of Representatives. The American Congressman from the 10th District of Ohio who refuses to be silenced. The Democratic candidate for President who passionately upholds his oath to protect the people and Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies both foreign and domestic. Not as an oral exercise when sworn into office - but as a moral exercise every day in office.

For Dennis Kucinich, nothing and no one will suppress his allegiance to his country and to his abiding principle of “strength through peace.”

So when Speaker Pelosi tells the cowards in her House that “impeachment is off the table” because the fight to impeach is too hard, Kucinich doesn’t believe her. No one ever told him being a Congressman would be easy. No one ever told him maintaining democracy was a cinch. When the President and Vice President commit acts as egregious as lying the nation into illegal war, illegally surveilling their own citizens, endorsing and allowing torture, and more, the strong don’t stay quiet. It’s the weak, like Pelosi, Hoyer, Emanuel, Clyburne, Boehner, Murtha, Blunt, and over 400 others in Pelosi’s House of Wacks - Democrats and Republicans alike - who do. As do Reid, Durbin, Lott, McConnell, Feinstein and around 93 more in the Senate House of Wacks - absent Boxer and Feingold who have earned our respect.

At the October 31st Democratic candidates’ debate in Philadelphia, NBC’s Tim Russert tried to discredit Dennis Kucinich by questioning him about a UFO. Kucinich, accustomed to being blind-sided by agenda-minded practitioners like Russert, fielded the question with resilience and cool. Working in tandem, the networks and Democratic Leadership were trying to force Kucinich out of the running. It’s amazing how much pressure the honest must endure, while the compliant seem to get a free ride.

At Friday’s Jefferson Jackson Day Democratic fundraiser in De Moines, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel weren’t invited. Gravel, in all likelihood, was persona non grata to the Democratic Leadership for challenging his “fellows” on their lies, deceits and inadequacies. Gravel never seemed to “get” that his “fellows” can’t handle the truth!!

Iowa Democrats, when challenged on Kucinich and Gravel’s absence from the Jefferson Jackson Day event, stated that Kucinich and Gravel were ineligible to attend because they didn’t have an office or staff in Iowa. Point of fact, Kucinich had garnered more than enough popularity amongst Democrats to warrant his inclusion. He’s been polling quite high over the past two months, often running 4th in the field of eight.

For those who understand the politics of Pelosi’s House of Wacks, it’s clear Kucinich’s dismissal of her no impeachment bray, ensured his own dismissal from her Jefferson Jackson Day. Particularly since, Pelosi, herself, was emcee.

As of now, Kucinich’s House Resolution 333 to impeach Vice President Cheney has been sent to the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by former progressive hero, John Conyers. Hopefully, Congressman Conyers will be the fortunate recipient of countless letters, phone calls, faxes and emails asking him to give HR 333 serious consideration when it comes to his committee. He can change the House of Wacks to a House of Facts - and restore his nation to sanity.

Et tu John Conyers? Will you remain silent, as you have, since winning re-election on November 7, 2006? Or will you remember Article I Section 2 of the Constitution and the oath you swore to uphold it?

Support Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s House Resolution 333 to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney.

Contact Congressman Conyers at:

Email: John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

IN WASHINGTON, DC:
2426 Rayburn Building,
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5126
Fax: (202) 225-0072

IN MICHIGAN:
2615 West Jefferson,
Trenton, MI 48183
Phone: (734) 675-4084
Fax: (734) 675-4218

IN MICHIGAN:
669 Federal Building
231 W. Lafayette,
Detroit, MI 48226
Phone: (313) 961-5670
Fax: (313) 226 2085

Linda Milazzo is a Los Angeles based writer, educator and activist. Her writing has appeared in numerous domestic and international newspapers, magazines and journals. Over the past three decades, Linda has divided her time between the entertainment industry, community development projects and education.

Churches Chasing Money

After a hiatus from "hard news" I was reading the local and national online newspapers this morning to come out from hibernation. This story caught my eye. I'd not heard of a church that has sued over a memorial gift in a will to contest the donor's competency to change his/her will. I wonder how much money that the church wasted on attorneys' fees? Or did they have a litigation attorney in the membership who took this case pro bono? Either way, how sad this story is on a number of levels!

Environmentalism from the Bottom Up

Please don't squeeze the Charmin! That was the Madison Ave. ad campaign for toilet paper in the 60s & 70s. So how do we get the word out about which toilet paper is the most environmentally friendly--yet effective and efficient and "gentle"? Here's the results from Grist staff's unscientific test on toilet paper reported today in their newsletter article titled "The Bottom Line".

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The Bottom Line



The Wipe Stuff
A review of recycled toilet-paper brands
By Sarah van Schagen
06 Nov 2007

Time for a new roll, but what's your type?

Deciding what kind of toilet paper to buy is a delicate issue. Perhaps most significantly because you want to protect those delicates -- but what about this delicate planet of ours?

According to the NRDC, if every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll (500 sheets) of virgin-fiber toilet paper with 100 percent recycled TP, we'd save almost half a million trees. So the question becomes: Is it possible to protect both the earth and your bum? I was determined to find out.

Grist's Pick
Seventh Generation Double Rolls

400 sheets per roll/100 percent recycled/80 percent post-consumer

$3.99 for a 4-pack at Whole Foods
To aid me in my quest for chafe-free choices, I enlisted the help of the Grist staff and a few unsuspecting visitors -- including eco-model Summer Rayne Oakes, who happened to be in town for Seattle's Green Fashion Week. To each bum, his own, right?

After doing some research online (try explaining to the IT guy the appearance of PoopReport.com in your internet history), I decided on several nationally available brands of recycled TP: Seventh Generation, Green Forest, and Whole Foods' brand 365 Everyday Value. According to the NRDC's shopper's guide (and the TP packages), those three brands are all 100 percent recycled fiber, at least 40 percent post-consumer fiber, and processed chlorine-free.

A last-minute tip about two-plys from Grist kahuna Chip Giller got me thinking about double versus single rolls, so I bought both where applicable. I also picked up a pack of Cottonelle -- a zero percent recycled, zero percent post-consumer roll made by the oft-vilified Kimberly-Clark -- to have something to compare with the recycled brands in our blind test.

Though it sparked a slew of giggles and some interesting discussions (including a particularly heated one about which way rolls should unravel), the completely unscientific experiment went well, effectively wiping clean any misgivings staffers had about TMI.


Here are the results:

Seventh Generation Single Roll
2 ply/ 260 sheets per roll/ 4.5"x4" sheet/ 130 sq. ft.
$2.69 for a 4-pack at Whole Foods
Recycled content: 100 percent
Post-consumer recycled content: 80 percent minimum
Color: white (processed without chlorine)
Pattern: flowers
Absorbency: 3.7 out of 5 (8 reviewers)
Overall comfort: 3.7 out of 5 (8 reviewers)

"A good, clean wipe," wrote one reviewer of this roll. Receiving the second-highest ratings of all the recycled rolls, this one is a good buy, though the double-roll will keep you from hitting the store so often (and at a cost of 1 cent per sheet, will actually save you a dime or so).

Seventh Generation Double Roll
2 ply/ 400 sheets per roll/ 4.5"x4" sheet/ 200 sq. ft.
$3.99 for a 4-pack at Whole Foods
Recycled content: 100 percent
Post-consumer recycled content: 80 percent minimum
Color: white (processed without chlorine)
Pattern: flowers
Absorbency: 4.1 out of 5 (9 reviewers)
Overall comfort: 4.4 out of 5 (9 reviewers)

Some reviewers questioned whether this roll was even recycled -- quite the compliment for TP that boasts a minimum 80 percent post-consumer content. Though the tree-felling Cottonelle roll beat it by one-tenth of a point in overall comfort, this little recycled-roll-that-could ruled in absorbency. Even Summer said it was "nice on the tush!"

365 Everyday Value Single Roll
2 ply/ 180 sheets per roll/ 4.3"x3.66" sheet/ 78.6 sq. ft.
$1.69 for a 4-pack at Whole Foods
Recycled content: 100 percent
Post-consumer recycled content: 40 percent minimum
Color: white (processed without chlorine)
Pattern: hearts
Absorbency: 2.7 out of 5 (6 reviewers)
Overall comfort: 2.4 out of 5 (7 reviewers)

Since this roll received the lowest marks of any of the brands tested, I recommend keeping it off your TP repertoire. I personally had an unpleasant experience with this one, as it literally fell apart in my fingers. I will give this roll credit, though, for eliciting perhaps the most awesome staff comment: "Rough, but I deserve it."

365 Everyday Value Double Roll
2 ply/ 360 sheets per roll/ 4.3"x3.66" sheet/ 157.3 sq. ft.
$2.99 for a 4-pack at Whole Foods
Recycled content: 100 percent
Post-consumer recycled content: 40 percent minimum
Color: white (processed without chlorine)
Pattern: hearts
Absorbency: 3.1 out of 5 (8 reviewers)
Overall comfort: 2.7 out of 5 (8 reviewers)

While boasting twice as many sheets as its single cousin, this roll failed to impress the masses. One reviewer mentioned that more sheets were needed to do the job than expected. Note that both of the 365 Everyday Value rolls have smaller dimensions than any of the other sheets.

Green Forest Single Roll
2 ply/ 198 sheets per roll/ 4.5"x4" sheet/ 99 sq. ft.
$1.99 for a 4-pack at Whole Foods
Recycled content: 100 percent
Post-consumer recycled content: 40 percent minimum
Color: white (processed without chlorine)
Pattern: flower patchwork
Absorbency: 2.3 out of 5 (8 reviewers)
Overall comfort: 3.4 out of 5 (8 reviewers)

This roll was soft, but a bit thin and flimsy when it came to doing its dooty. It is, however, one of the cheaper four-packs -- but I say saving that ass is better than saving that cash.

Cottonelle Double Roll
1 ply/ 352 sheets per roll/ 4.5"x4" sheet/ 176 sq. ft.
$3.39 for a 4-pack at Rite Aid
Recycled content: 0 percent
Post-consumer recycled content: 0 percent
Color: white (chlorine!)
Pattern: vertical lines
Absorbency: 4.0 out of 5 (8 reviewers)
Overall comfort: 4.5 out of 5 (8 reviewers)

As expected, this non-recycled roll -- included in the mix as a control -- received high marks for overall comfort. While this one felt quite easy on the arse, some staffers reported feeling only guilt, as they suspected it wasn't so easy on the earth. Others had complaints about the vertical-line pattern on the 1-ply paper.

The bottom line: You can protect your bum without being a bummer for the earth. For maximum absorbency and (guilt-free) comfort, we suggest Seventh Generation double rolls.
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Note--The staff of The Grist does not weigh in on how much toilet paper to use "per wipe" in their article. I'm awaiting that next column! As posted earlier on this blog, Sheryl Crow says 2 squares is plenty. It'd be a good Family Feud question!

"How many squares of toilet paper do you use to wipe after going to the bathroom?...One Hundred People surveyed said..."

ENDA Passes House--History Made Yesterday

Although I've not posted this week, I couldn't let this historic moment go by without noting it. Here's what the President of the Human Rights Campaign had to say about it yesterday...

Today, I witnessed something that just a year ago seemed nearly impossible. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

We are one step closer to our ultimate goal of ensuring that all GLBT Americans no longer live in fear of losing their jobs.

The progress we've made today is historic - it is the first time either house of Congress has passed employment protections of this kind. It took over 30 years of lobbying and grassroots political work to get to this point, and while the bill that finally passed was not the fully inclusive version we sought, this represents a major advance - and the best way to move towards our long-term goal of protecting our entire community.

HRC first helped introduce ENDA 13 years ago, to prevent workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. This year, gender identity was added to the bill. Unfortunately, gender identity was not covered in the version that passed today, but this vote was a first and absolutely necessary step towards equality for GLBT people in the workplace.

That's why HRC joined with a coalition of major civil rights groups who declared support for the bill before the final vote, including the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR includes more than 192 national civil rights organizations), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and the National Education Association (NEA).

Supporting this version of the bill was a difficult and painful decision. But, without a doubt, the only path to achieving a bill protecting our whole community was by achieving the successful House vote today. A defeat of ENDA would have set back the possibility of an inclusive bill for many, many years.

HRC remains 100% committed to doing the hard work necessary to pass legislation that protects our entire community, including transgender workers who remain especially vulnerable to workplace discrimination.

Today, we continue our determined march towards progress. And we recommit ourselves to educating our leaders and our neighbors, to speed the day when our community will be protected, as one.

Your support has enabled HRC to lead the way in this struggle. We have formed strategic alliances in Congress, activated an unprecedented number of grassroots supporters, met with editorial boards, brought clergy to Washington to lobby their elected officials, and worked with the corporate community to expand GLBT workplace protections.

We spent years defending ourselves from anti-GLBT attacks from the radical right. Now we are on the offense. But make no mistake: the extremists who work against us every day will be working overtime to hold back our progress.

Our fight will not be won overnight - it will be won one step at a time. This has been a grueling few weeks for our community, but we have never once given up on achieving our ultimate goal of workplace equality for GLBT Americans.

Along this road, there will be challenges, but we must not allow them to divide us. We know we are working towards the same goal: equal rights for all.

We can get there, together, and we will.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President

P.S. I would also like to share with you some insights of former HRC Executive Director Vic Basile - whose op-ed was published last week. I think it helps put today's victory into context as we continue down the road to a fully inclusive ENDA.

Daylight Saving Time and SAD

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a form of depression that stems from deprivation to direct sunlight and those of us living closer to the poles may be more prone to it during our winter months. For me, it hits hard in November after the daylight saving time change. When I was diagnosed with SAD back in the early 90s, I purchased a lightbox (then not covered by insurance, now it may be covered if I had to replace it). The Beyond Blue blog on Beliefnet today talks about SAD and refers to an excellent summary of the affliction and treatment options from John's Hopkins

This is definately a LIBERALCHURCH!

The Human Rights Campaign's Equally Speaking newscast today reports about a church that allowed their transgenered pastor a name change.

Who You Gonna Call? Depression Busters!

This priceless list appeared on Beliefnet's "Beyond Blue" blog today.

The Day of the Dead--All Saint's Day

A good friend of mine from college and law school, Carol, told me about how she and her brother would torture their faithful--but forgetful--Catholic mother when they were kids. Catholics have Holy Days of Obligation which are days other than Sunday where attending mass is required for the saving of the soul. Carol and her brother on days like Ash Wednesday (always a Wednesday, but not the same Wednesday each year) and All Saint's Day (always Nov. 1 but could fall on any day of the week) would wait until around bedtime--always after the last mass of the day had ended--and question their mother, "Hey mom, today was a Holy Day, wasn't it?" This would of course send her into a fit of pique as she anxiously worried about the salvation of her family until she could drag herself and her family to the next confession.

Nov. 1 is All Saint's Day or The Day of the Dead one of the Holy Days. People around the world will "commune" with the spirits of their departed ancestors. I located this article on how to make your own Day of the Dead Altar in case you'd like to commemorate your departed loved one today in the Latino style.

Now its time to read my copy of The Complete Idiots Guide to Psychic Awareness that I picked up in the checkout line of the grocery store. I'm not sure which of my deceased family members' spirits I want to try to communicate with today...