You Have Asked For More About Faith, Religion & Spirituality
From “The Highjacking of Jesus”
This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060424/wakefield
Taking Back the Faith
by DAN WAKEFIELD
[from the April 24, 2006 issue]
Until the wake-up shock of Bush II’s re-election, I was one of the great slumber party of mainline American Protestant “liberals” (as we were then still known) whose response to the outrages of those who stole our identity as Christians was the cheap and comfortable scorn and smugger-than-thou ridicule of the disengaged. My own religious-political alarm had begun to ring during the summer before the 2004 election, when I reviewed for The Nation Warren Goldstein’s biography William Sloane Coffin Jr.: A Holy Impatience. The book brought back to me in stirring detail the work of leaders like Reverend Coffin, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Father Daniel Berrigan and their Jewish allies like Rabbi Abraham Heschel in battling racism, unjust war, nuclear proliferation, poverty and threats to civil liberties. I wrote that “their inspiring example raises a disturbing question: Where are their counterparts now?”
In the past year I put that question to religious leaders and lay people as I traveled around the country trying to understand what has brought us to the political-religious crisis of our time and what, if anything, is being done about it. When asked who is the contemporary equivalent of Coffin, the white Protestant firebrand of civil rights and the anti-Vietnam War movement, several mainline Christians sighed and said, “Well, I guess–Coffin.”
Long retired from active ministry and in his 80s, Coffin writes and speaks out against the war in Iraq and the religious right more than most mainline leaders today, though he has suffered a stroke and is largely confined to a Barcalounger by the living-room window of his home in New Hampshire.
Lacking an active Reverend Coffin, several people suggest his potential successor might be his actual successor at New York’s Riverside Church, the popular African-American preacher James Forbes. Both of the people who named Forbes live in New York, though; he has done little to make himself known in the nation at large.
One afternoon over tea in the lounge of the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, I ask a bright young pastor of a mainline Protestant church in an affluent suburb who he thinks is the contemporary Christian counterpart to William Sloane Coffin in the 1960s. After some minutes of silent musing, he shakes his head, then smiles and says, “Rabbi Lerner.” This minister is not the only Christian who named Michael Lerner, founder and editor of Tikkun, a Jewish and interfaith magazine, as the person who is doing the most significant work in opposing the religious right’s theft of the meaning and the message of Christianity for the political power of the neocon Republican con men.
The most consistent answer to my question is the Rev. Jim Wallis, whose barnstorming book tour for his bestselling God’s Politics took him to fifty-six cities in twenty weeks and brought him into question-and-answer sessions with crowds of 1,000 to 2,000 people at a time. Michael Lerner’s new book, The Left Hand of God–which turns out to be almost a companion volume to God’s Politics–is on target to elicit a similar grassroots response.
The unlikely duo of Lerner and Wallis, a rabbi and an evangelical Christian, are the names most often cited in my homemade, unofficial poll of Christians looking for leadership in opposing the religious right not only with words but also with deeds. But they are not forming any kind of partnership except in the sense of being friendly allies who have similar goals. Both men are known as loners, and they don’t even agree on the way to go about reaching their common goal of opposing the power of the religious right. While Lerner wants to form a “spiritual left,” Wallis doesn’t want to use the term “left,” or even “progressive,” and least of all “liberal” in his own work.
At this stage, however, as the first meaningful response to the religious right is finally taking form, terminology–left, middle or center and red, white or blue–is not the most crucial issue. There’s no debating what flag you will fly until you have ammunition, troops and a battle plan, a strategy.
Wallis tells me:
Bill Moyers and others say, “You’ve helped put out a progressive religious message–not just a progressive political message–now you’ve got to institutionalize this.” So we’re talking about a media platform that would involve some kind of radio–we’re in discussions with people in radio about a progressive religious show or regular commentaries. Also, I do a lot of op-ed pieces, and we’re going to see if one of the syndicates would like a weekly commentary from me on the whole area of religion, values and ethics. We’ll use the Internet very heavily, with much more streaming, much more using speaking events. That’s kind of the “air war.” James Dobson of Focus on the Family is out there on 3,000 stations a day, and you need to have a response–not specifically to him, but to have an alternative voice.
Wallis, Lerner and other religious progressives are up against a long-entrenched and formidable foe, especially on radio and TV. The Republican activist Paul Weyrich told a group of neocon advisers Bush had brought to the White House that they had no excuse for failing to get their message out. “There are 1,500 conservative radio talk-show hosts. You have Fox News. You have the Internet, where all the successful sites are conservative. The ability to reach people with our point of view is like nothing we have ever seen before.”
Wallis realizes that even if he gets a toehold in radio and television, it’s only a start. “You can’t just be on the air and in the media, so we’ve been having extensive conversations at our magazine Sojourners and at our Call to Renewal movement about organizational strategies. We’ve had lots of other organizations and groups come by who’d like to make alliances and partnerships, so we’re talking about a pastors’ network, a congregational network.”
I ask Wallis if he has any plans for trying to do the kind of grassroots political work the religious right has done so successfully in getting people elected to school boards and local offices. “I’ve met lots of local elected officials,” he says, “who have a progressive faith perspective–state senators and representatives, mayors, school board commissioners. They’ve urged us to have a gathering for state and local officials. We’d have hundreds for such a conference. I’ve got former students from Harvard running for office around this agenda, running for city councils already, and some of them are going to be running for state offices. The right does it in an overtly partisan way, almost like a power bloc within the Republican Party. I see us doing more like a civil rights movement kind of thing, rather than what the Christian Coalition did. We want to build a movement around issues like poverty and hold politicians accountable, more than just joining the political party and trying to gain power within the party.”
* * *
“We realize this time it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation.”
–Dave Robinson, director of Pax Christi, the Roman Catholic progressive movement for peace and justice
The jacket of Robert Edgar’s suit is off, and his shirt is crisp and white, his tie straight, his glasses clear. Before becoming general secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCC), Edgar was a six-term member of the House of Representatives, the first Democrat in more than 120 years to be elected from the heavily Republican Seventh District of Pennsylvania. He also served as a minister to Methodist congregations and as a college chaplain before coming to New York in 2000 to run the NCC from his office in “the God Box,” a building on Upper Broadway that serves as headquarters for the NCC and a number of Protestant denominations.
“We’ve been Sleeping Beauty,” he says, “but the actions of the Bush Administration to force us into war in Iraq was the kiss that woke us up.” One result of the wake-up, Edgar says, is the website started by the NCC, called FaithfulAmerica.org. “Is that in response to the religious right?” I ask. Edgar sighs:
Almost everything we do is in response to the religious right. They have done an excellent job over the last forty years in silencing moderate to progressive voices. We’re trying to be silent no more, we’re trying to stand up when they’re telling us to sit down, and we’re trying to speak out when they tell us to be silent. Here we’re using some new energy and techniques to go after those who are trying to take us down the wrong road.
We watched how MoveOn.org and Working Assets and other advocacy groups have formed, and about a year ago we said, Can’t we invent that same kind of technology for the faith communities? In May of last year we had 2,000 e-mail addresses, and now there are over 125,000 who we talk to about once every ten days.
Churches that stand for something grow. Not just conservative churches but liberal churches that take the Gospel seriously are increasing in membership. But many of our pastors haven’t figured that out yet.
I ask if some ministers today are fearful of speaking out because of the current atmosphere of divisiveness and the intimidation by the Bush Administration and their religious right followers. “Absolutely,” says Edgar.
The question I ask is: How do you instill courage and the ability to risk in pastors today? In the 1960s there were a number of pastors willing to be fired over the war in Vietnam and the issues of segregation and civil rights. I see a negative trend recently that many pastors are waiting to retire or don’t want to rock the boat in their congregations. They love to tell Bible stories as opposed to taking their spiritual gifts out of the Scripture and relating them to life and work issues. Ministers are under that kind of threat, balancing their call by God to their vocation to the poor and nonviolence and justice with the practical call of where do they get the money to pay their mortgage–it’s a serious challenge.
I ask if there’s anyone comparable now, in liberal religion, to William Sloane Coffin. Edgar says:
There’s a cluster of people who meet every Thursday by telephone. It just started in the last two years, with Jim Wallis, Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund, David Beckman of Bread for the World, George Regas, who was pastor of the big Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Jim Forbes of Riverside Church. The problem with liberals is we don’t follow very well. We brand our organizations instead of our issues; the religious right is better at branding their issues. We’ve changed over the last three years, and said there really are only three issues–poverty, environment, justice. All others are important, but we have to brand those issues until we actually see changes in the trend lines on poverty, on the healing of the earth.
“What about the war in Iraq?” I ask. Edgar replies:
It’s first… I led a delegation to Baghdad, and we sent delegates to talk with Tony Blair, Schröder, Putin, Chirac and the Pope. Three thousand five hundred people gathered on Martin Luther King’s holiday in 2003 to oppose the war, before any body bags were coming back. It was held at the National Cathedral in Washington, and another event at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. With Vietnam it took years to get opposition to the war, but here before it started most religious leaders were opposed to war–except our conservative colleagues, who were reading the Scriptures through the eyes of Armageddon.
We fell asleep in the 1970s, laughed at the early formation of the Moral Majority–we didn’t take them seriously. Now the Methodists have a $2 million campaign to try to get people to come to their churches.
The Episcopalians and the United Church of Christ also have recruitment campaigns, using TV advertising. Now mainline Protestantism has discovered the Internet, whose most successful websites are operated by the churches and organizations of the religious right, which has had them up and running for years. They rule the radio airwaves, and as for television, Jan Love of the Methodist Women’s Division says:
Twenty years ago, the mainline Protestant churches made a decision not to get heavily into television–and that was stupid. We didn’t know how stupid at the time. Bob Edgar has got us on the Internet. He has also organized meetings with high-level Christian leaders and progressive movements across the country, trying to see if there’s a common strategy that can be articulated across the denominations. Bob Edgar is at the heart of those things. And Bill Moyers has helped pull one of these together.
Bob Edgar’s work has stirred the religious right to label him “Antichrist,” which now must be a term of honor among spiritual progressives.
Baptist minister Bill Moyers began the new academic year at Union Theological Seminary in the fall of 2005 by invoking the ghosts of the great teacher-scholars who made that place the bastion of liberal theology–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr. Moyers said their heritage was now at risk:
Listen quietly on such an occasion as this and you can hear that chorus of voices–the legions who have passed this way–calling us back to prophetic witness…. They are saying, “Union, religion has bowed again to power and privilege. Stand for justice–and the faith that liberates God from partisan agendas.”
Grassroots groups around the country have not required the ghosts of Tillich and Niebuhr to galvanize them; the words of Bush, Rumsfeld, Frist, Falwell and Robertson have been frightening enough to raise the opposition of ordinary citizens against the current political/religious regime that has led us to war and near national bankruptcy while invoking a God who stands for war on foreign countries as well as on the middle and lower classes of our own country.
A group of citizens led by a healthcare worker rallied in front of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, in August 2005 to deliver a “declaration to the leaders of the religious right,” saying, “You do not speak for us or for our politics. We say ‘No’ to the way you are using the name and language of Christianity to advance what we see as extremist political goals.” The group was organized four months earlier as the Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP) and held its rally in front of a church ministered by Pastor Jerry Vines, a local Falwell-Robertson clone who had made headlines in 2002 for calling the Prophet Muhammad “a demon-possessed pedophile.”
The group’s protest against the religious right, locally symbolized by Pastor Vines, immediately brought support for CAP from Professor Omid Safi, a co-founder of the Progressive Muslim Union and professor of philosophy and religion at Colgate University, who said the positions taken by CAP reflected those of the PMU. “I think groups like this should be working hand in hand,” he said. CAP founder Patrick Mrotek, a healthcare-management consultant, says the group has recruited community organizers in twenty cities across the country and will also join and support the work of Wallis’s Call to Renewal movement.
The Rev. George Regas, in his twenty-eight years as rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California (whose numbers qualify it as a “mega-church”), led his congregation to oppose the Vietnam War, the nuclear arms race and the Gulf War and to support a whole range of human needs, such as an AIDS service center. After retiring from the ministry, he founded and serves as director of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace.
Reverend Regas tells me:
Some people say the reason mainline churches have lost membership is they were too much involved in peace and justice work–I think they’ve declined because they haven’t done it enough! They’ve been too timid in that commitment, and that’s not attractive to anyone. The mainline is timid today–there was a day when it wasn’t. In those days we weren’t facing a religious right–it wasn’t part of the story at all. It’s sure a new day now. But we can’t compete with the religious right if we have no financial resources. At least there’s a consciousness now in the mainline churches that we have to change and create our own.
Dave Robinson of Pax Christi says: “I think that this is a very hopeful time for progressive religious groups in our country. The events of the past four years have energized some of our traditional groups and have also given birth to new, exciting efforts within the progressive religious community.”
Perhaps most significant will be a new group of progressive evangelicals, led by Jim Wallis and his Call to Renewal group, and other leaders who want no part of the Falwell-Robertson rhetoric or politics. They’re calling it Red Letter Christians, alluding to the words of Jesus in many versions of the New Testament, which are printed in red type. The name also avoids identifying the group with any political party. These politically liberal dissidents make up as much as 35 percent of the evangelical movement, amounting to millions, according to Tony Campolo, professor emeritus at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, and a popular evangelical author and speaker.
These movements are serious, sincere and dedicated; the meetings of Christian leaders called by Bob Edgar are hopeful, the rhetoric of Wallis and Lerner is inspiring, and even more positive, they are taking concrete action.
Then look at all these efforts next to just one example of the way the religious right is already arming and organizing for the next battle: In August 2005 a website appeared that launched the Ohio Restoration Project, whose purpose is to enlist thousands of “Patriot Pastors” to get out religious right voters for the 2006 elections. The Columbus minister who heads the project calls these midterm Congressional elections a battle between “the forces of righteousness and the hordes of hell.”
At the same time, the people they call “the hordes of hell”–the representatives of mainstream religion from the NCC–were still trying to agree on a common strategy. Part of the strategy that remains a conundrum to most progressive religious leaders is not only how to avoid the blows from the armies of the right but also how to overcome the hostility of people who ought to be their allies on the secular left but treat them with scorn, condescension or indifference.
A young man in Boston came up to Wallis after one of his bookstore talks and said, “I’m gay, and I want to thank you for making me feel welcome tonight. But you know, it’s easier to come out being gay in Boston than it is coming out as religious in the Democratic Party.”
The African-American attorney Van Jones, founder and executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland (which challenges human rights abuses in the prison system) wrote on the Internet: “It is still commonplace to hear so-called radicals stereotyping all religious people as stupid dupes–and spitting out the word ‘Christian’ as if it were an insult, or the name of a disease. I thought progressives were supposed to be the standard-bearers of tolerance and inclusion.”
Former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, an adviser to Union Theological Seminary, says:
You don’t go into a liberal community and talk about your faith and your prayers–they snicker. So in divorcing it you lose track of it, you forget why we should care about social justice–is it just so we could be fair? What’s the underlying principle of equality? We didn’t talk about the values that underlie policy–why are we against racism, poverty? A lot of these issues I believe in come from my religious upbringing.
A majority of Americans have had some kind of religious upbringing, and 90 percent of them say that they believe in God. The Democratic Party and progressive politicians and activists need not adopt their faith, but they had better take that belief into account if they hope to regain national power in the years to come.
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16 Responses to “You Have Asked For More About Faith, Religion & Spirituality”
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It is sad to see everyone who claims to be right or left, Democrat or Republican, this or that…..I think there is only one God, and only one set of rules that he has given us to live by, there is no grey with Gods word & directives!
It is unfortunate that there is poor translations at times, imperfect human minds that have to interperate teachings from good or poor teachers/Holy men and such. In the case of Republicans they claim to save the babys from abortions, yet are killing, letting the old and poor die in our country (saves SS and good for taxes). The Democrats claim to be about saving the poor & old, while supporting the killing of babies,….(another stupid and unkind attitude, to let my selfish self centered attitude to take anothers life if I don’t want a child, I thought a mother, the mothers womb should be the safest place in the world)
By the way for those of us who have terminated life(s) God can forgive…..another issue……and there is life after death…God is about LOVE & RESTORATION!
The Athesists & Agnostics I have more respect for, except Athesists who are a bit too closed minded for me, not very smart or ignorant I think. It is a wiser man who remains open to new discoveries and realizes his little mind really dosen’t know to much about this world let alone the universe.
Posted on 28-May-06 at 4:51 pm | PermalinkSomewhere out there, is a sister “Someone or other”—She was on a talk show months ago along with a Rabbi, Priest, and a theologian who had written a book.Excellent mind. I THINK it was Russert’s show, but can’t remember for sure. So much sense in her answers and conversation.
Posted on 28-May-06 at 7:10 pm | PermalinkThis was an excellent article. And as usual, with Michael’s blogs—-much to think about.
Thank you,
Peace
The Davinci Code BLEW MY MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted on 28-May-06 at 10:37 pm | PermalinkGo and see this MOVIE!!It will take you out of yourself for a moment and mike you think long after, no matter what you believe in.
Right, Left, Christian/Jewish I really dont care as long as you arent worshipping the Devil!!!!Live and Love your life and each other!! Peace MB……Love, Lisa
Perhaps we might all turn towards the sun of what unites us, rather than all that is divisive.
Let us cultivate purity and simplicity, the quiet graces of the flowers.
###
{Thank you Michael for your passionate dedication to educare - the light is all there ever was, is now and will be.}~A
Posted on 29-May-06 at 2:59 am | PermalinkMoral Authority
Re: Taking Back the Faith, by DAN WAKEFIELD
If left leaning religious folks want to stand up to the current rightwing onslaught, more power to them. The question is, what in the hell have they been waiting for? Or, to put it more respectfully, what in God’s name have they been waiting for?
What I have to object to, when it comes from the right or the left, is the notion that morality follows from religion. Rather, in my humble opinion, morality and religion both emanate from basic human instincts. Like our fellow planet dwellers in the animal kingdom, our behaviors have evolved over countless generations. As with all species, our adaptations have allowed our survival. We generally know what is right or wrong, even in our tender years. Cultural biases can slant us for better or for worse, of course. For example, slavery was perfectly acceptable to the early culture of this country, even though many knew in their hearts that it was wrong.
The training of young businessmen at MBA programs, and lawyers, involves “ethics†classes. I sometimes think these kinds of classes are more about how to circumvent well known standards than to protect them. We are well aware when we are about to screw somebody, a university degree isn’t needed.
The rightwing recently lost a major court case over whether or not “intelligent design†should be part of a science curriculum. In a remarkable decision, the judge pointed out that the ardent Christians that were pressing this issue lied repeatedly during the trial. The holier than thou crowd kept saying that “creationism†had nothing to do with intelligent design when, in fact, they had lifted their arguments right out of the creationism literature and just eliminated the word “Godâ€.
We could go on and on about centuries of horrible abuses by religions of every kind, from the burning of women at the stake, to the inquisition, to marching into war with belt buckles stamped “Gott mit unsâ€. What becomes clear is that religious people are not inherently, or at least consistently, moral.
The authors of the Declaration of Independence did mention “Nature’s God†and the “creatorâ€, as they did the “Laws of Natureâ€, in setting forth the reason to “institute new Governmentâ€. What they didn’t say is that God was directing this endeavor, but rather, it is “we the People†that are going to throw out the “divine right of Kingsâ€.
We ought never to abdicate to any religion a moral authority. Religions have flourished in this country not because they guide us, but because we allow them. Religions serve us for their spiritual entertainment, but it is our core human values that must sustain us.
Respectfully,
Patrick Hunter
Posted on 29-May-06 at 8:05 am | PermalinkWow, this is a great article and I have learned so much lately by reading the previous blogs. No matter they are about being “right” or “left”. I am neautral on this. Too many struggles for believers and non believers in opposite polarity: God and Truth.
I believe we are all in one.
I like to understand why religion started back in 625BC. Judaism, Crusaders and Muslems were in the battle to grab the Holy Land. The Muslems won the battle. Now, history repeats itself again and again. Our soldiers are battling on t heir Holy Land, strange, huh?
Buddhism isn’t a religion. They do not believe in God. They came from their own culture beliefs. They practice using the right sound of mind and calmness in the soul. On the other hand, I respect the Buddha teachings. I keep my mind open to learn and experience new things.
Love and Forgiveness are the best medicines for all of us!
Keep the flame in our hearts all the time and have compassion.
There is a DVD named “The Secret”. It is all about the mind power called the “Law of Attraction” but little about God and spirituality.
Posted on 29-May-06 at 11:43 am | Permalinkhttp://thesecret.tv/home.html
#5 Pat, I understand your observation & feelings, but I have observed that natural mind/heart may know at their core (soul) + & - power/ideas, but the nature of man like animal is survival of the fittest! Animals are totaly about dominance, biggest baddest creature survives or rules the pack,fastest one to the food & eats the fastest surrives, its an animal eat animal world don’t u know? Yes creationism is in full force with mans mind & body overiding the soul, man is actually worst than animal when absent from spiritual surrender to God and Gods Truths, again it is an individual challenge to seek and knock on the door of God, to show us Mans Truth(s) the God of this world, from THE GOD of all the universe, and those TRUTH(s).
I do have awsome respect and appreciation for those who will allow themselves to be tortured, maimed or killed/murdered rather than fight back and kill. Jesus (real name given to him by his parents is Yeshua, I dislike translation of persons names, out of respect I should try & learn and say. The letter “J” is new to language within the last 500 years or so)
Yeshua was an awsome example of such non violence, Pat are you at this level of LOVE? Are any of us there, yet? Perhaps then all of this “hell” on earth will depart from us.
How do we overide the mind/emotions & flesh to avenge wrongs, & sins & evil with this LOVE?; to complete forgiveness on the slightest of wrongs to forgiveness of the most horrid of wrongs doen to us, family & friends.
How do we define “sins” without religion? How do we condem the “sin” and continue to “LOVE” the sinner?
If I was in the culture of head hunters, it is ok to kill and eat your neighbor/enemy…..a sin?…..really not that much different today, just other things to kill and fight over.
Anyone read author & Harvard University educator & psychiatrist Dr. Scott Peck, wrote “The Road Less Traveled” & “People Of The Lie” 1985 or so, yellow cover & red letter. “People Of The Lie” is very facinating, Might give you several clues.
Remember all phylosophies & religions contain truth and erroe, some a lot more than others, ask God to show each one of us his golden thread of Truth in the things of man & nature, it’s there to be found and reveiled to the true seeker>
LOVE can be tough at times, most of the time, it is almost impossible to LOVE someone who has tortured & raped & molested & stolen & killed/murdered you or your family the list goes on and on, what is LOVE?
Blessings to all
Posted on 29-May-06 at 2:07 pm | PermalinkMV
Isn’t it telling that the one issue that gets some of the most responses, is the one about Faith/religion/Spirituality. The reason being I believe, is because all our behaviors, whether we are Christian, Muslim, Sihk, Jewish, Mormon, Atheist etc, all our behaviors are influenced by our belief systems. Our politics, our economics, our everyday values are our spirituality demonstrated, how could they not be? Even in a supposedly secular society, (and I’m not talking about the U.S today) politics are truely our spirituality ‘demonstrated’ as we make decisions about what is a priority to society and what isn’t, is education? is profit? is war? is health, we decide, we call it politics. So when we look at our behavior, it seems to suggest that a lot of our belief systems are no longer serving us, in terms of where we say we want to go as a civilisation. If all religions could be ‘Big’ enough to stop trying to answer all the questions and perhaps start asking deeper questions about life, the universe, humanity, we might be able to start moving forward in a healthier way. If all religions could say ‘Ours is not the only way, ours is just another way’ wouldn’t that foster humility and respect for others let alone reduce the squabbling about the ‘right’ way to get to God. We know now undeniably that all of life is inextricably linked, ‘we are all one’ even the word Universe means- ‘one song’ how beautifully, unwittingly apt. How can we acknowledge our differences and celebrate our diversity without needing to be ‘Right’ all the time? I’m sure there’s a way, as I’m sure that God didn’t stop talking to us 2000 years ago, the dialogue can be found within ourselves, our daily interactions with eachother, how loving do we choose to relate to eachother, how honestly to ourselves, where do we choose to go next, what do we prioritise? This is one thing we all feel passionately about, our belief systems, so much so that we kill for them. You are all right above, we need to find a way to house open discussions about our belief systems, those that truely serve us, those that don’t, we need a grass roots movement for the soul/spirit of mankind.
http://www.humanitysteam.org
Posted on 30-May-06 at 3:02 am | PermalinkTo: #7 Tom Harper & All….very well stated!….I support a new political adgenda & “religion” (soul/sprit) as you suggest in “grass roots movement”…..shall we be labeled with a new name?….any one with suggestions?….the Party of
“Hair”& LOVE & RESPECT”…or “”Hair” Lovers for LOVE & Respect”.
Do you remember the “We Are The World” movement some looong years ago, 70’s? I am ready to go forth with such a “religious” & “political” platform.
Who wants to “grass roots”, draft such?
Posted on 30-May-06 at 7:50 am | PermalinkMichael Butler
R U up to running for President? Perhaps not president of the USA, but much more world wide?
With a new platform (not really new, been around from the begining of time)… that is neither right or left but Right On!
The challenge is to identify the “Golden thread of TRUTH” in all religions/politics.
Perhaps we could start with the 10 Commandments, with updated contempoary language. We will have some contentions as to what day(s) are consider the Sabbath, but one day of rest is good. The issue of klling/murder is another, wife/husband swapers have another contention too…..how do we define LOVE?……very confusing to me as to what people call “love” and how they show it.
Michael Von Schlobohm
Posted on 30-May-06 at 8:42 am | PermalinkMiracle Zone
All:
As an evangelical minister who believes that the “Christian Right, like the Moral Majority before it, is neither,†I wanted to comment on a couple of things said here.
Pat said, “If left-leaning religious folks want to stand up to the current rightwing onslaught, more power to them. The question is, what…have they been waiting for?â€
As Pat infers, there has always been a moderate Christian base. However, the so-called Christian Right is partially an outgrowth of and partly an adjunct to the same ultra-conservative think tanks that brought us the neocon political agenda and movement, and they have been successful in monopolizing the “public eye†– i.e., media, etc. – for quite some time. As well, the “Christian Right†has always had “leaders†(Robertson, Falwell, Buchanan, et al) espousing its narrow, unloving, unforgiving and ultimately un-Christian views, and new leaders (Dobson, Reed et al) have been carefully cultivated by the “old guard.†In this regard, it may have taken too long, but the moderate evangelical community is finally coming together behind leaders (Wallis, Lerner, Forbes et al) who have the stature and ideas to get media attention as well. And this group refuses to see their faith as based on a small number of “hot-button†issues (abortion, homosexuality, stem cell research, etc.), but rather, as Tom says, something which informs their ENTIRE socio-politic, including broad issues like war, poverty, hunger, homelessness, etc.
Pat also notes “centuries of horrible abuses of religions of every kind…†I want to thank Pat for calling them “abusesâ€; too many people “broad-brush†the abuses of various religions, seeing them as “intrinsic,” which they are not. [N.B. It is worth noting that for all the talk of the wars and atrocities perpetrated in the name of “God,†the more than 100,000,000 murdered under atheists like Stalin, Lenin, Hitler (who was not Christian), Pol Pot and others is 10 times the number estimated to have been killed during the Crusades, Inquisition and all the “holy wars†throughout history.]
Pat also notes “belief” vis-à -vis the Declaration of Independence, and infers the “separation of church and state.†I, too, believe this to be a cornerstone of our country, one which the Christian Right and the politicians beholden to it do not understand in its proper context. [I have, perhaps ironically, signed the petition by the New York chapter of American Atheists calling for the complete separation of church and state.]
Michael V says, “How do we condemn the sin but not the sinner?†This one can be answered directly from Scripture. We all know the story of the adulteress about to be stoned. Jesus famously says, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.†But most people forget (or ignore) what comes next. He turns to the woman and says, “Where are thy accusers?†She says, “They have gone.†He then says, “Neither do I condemn thee. Now go, and sin no more.†Think about that. Although He does not condemn her, he tells her to “go, and sin no more.†And although He is well aware that she may sin again, it is nevertheless a “command.†But in saying this, he is telling her, “I do not condemn you. But what you are doing is wrong. If you continue to do it, I may not be there next time to save you.†Thus, He creates a situation in which she will be “self-convicted†if she returns to her sin.
This also goes to responding to Michael V’s comment and question, “It is almost impossible to love someone who has tortured and raped and molested and stolen and killed/murdered you or your family…How do we override the mind/emotions and flesh…to complete forgiveness…of the most horrid of wrongs done to us, family and friends?†At the risk of sounding absurd, you simply “do it.†It helps to consider that true “evil†is rare, and that most “bad†people are simply horribly misguided. How can one judge or condemn a misguided person? Rather, they are to be pitied (though pity is not the proper response either…) This does not mean that one should not express anger, resentment, grief, etc. Those are natural human emotions, and it would be impossible to “override†them. But ACTING on those emotions – via vengeance or other improper response - is a CHOICE.
[Someone once gave me a hypothetical situation. A man is holding a knife to your child’s throat. You have the opportunity to shoot him without harming your child. What do you do? Setting aside that I would never have a gun in the first place, I told him that I would not shoot. He asked, “You would let your child die?†I answered that I would do everything possible to prevent that – but would not resort to violence to do so. He called me “stupid†and a “coward.†I told him I was sorry that he felt that way.]
Tom Harper asks, “If all religions could say, ‘Ours is not the only way, ours is just another way,’ wouldn’t that foster humility and respect for others…?†I am not sure that believing in an “exclusivist†faith and displaying humility and respect toward others and their beliefs are mutually exclusive. I believe in an “exclusivist†faith. However, it is how I EXPRESS that belief – how I interact with others – that defines whether that “exclusivist†belief is lacking in humility and respect. The fact that most “Christians” are either unaware or dismissive of this fact is lamentable. However, it is my firm belief that, practiced in the form in which Jesus clearly meant it to be (since HE lived it that way) – with love, peace, forgiveness, humility, compassion, patience, charity, selflessness, service, justice and truth – Christianity can remain “exclusivist†without being arrogant, disrespectful, dismissive or narrow-minded.
I apologize for the “sermonizing.†(LOL) As MB knows, I fully support the socio-political mindset and agenda of Civic, and have done so for a couple of years now. And I agree with 90% of what has been said in response to the article. I simply felt the need to “defend†the faith I believe in. Indeed, that “need†would seem to be in keeping with gist of the article, and the continued (though seemingly - and hopefully - slipping) “hold†that the “Christian Right†has on Christianity.
I leave you with an old saw re faith and religion: “Religion is about laws, rules and behavior. Faith is about a relationship with God.†Sadly, the “Christian Right†focuses on the former, almost to the exclusion of the latter. Yet it is the latter that is the FAR more important of the two.
Peace.
Posted on 30-May-06 at 11:45 am | PermalinkThe world is seen as a reflection of the mind set , of those , who inhabit this planet . Change the mind set , change the world !
And it’s sad to see all the time and money that’s being spent on war .
How much is being spent on peace ?
Nothing , fortunately peace doesn’t cost a cent .
Peace is possible and it starts with you , me and each individual .
Remember ,the world is made up of individuals who share this gift called life .
When we are in touch with that peace within inside , the earth does change . Isn’t that what happened in the 60’s-70’s ?
Peace isn’t just a word or slogan it is an experience !
Posted on 30-May-06 at 11:55 am | PermalinkBruce:
Bravo! Ditto! “Peace isn’t just a word or a slogan it is an experience.” Simple, concise, and axiomatic. I have ended every letter, e-mail and phone call for over 20 years with the word “peace.” Not just to hear myself say it, or because it’s “nice,” but because it is the most important word - and thought, experience and action - in the world!
Peace!
Posted on 30-May-06 at 5:12 pm | PermalinkTo #7, Michael V, thank you for bringing this up on Scott Peck’s two books. I had forgotten all about them and had revived them in my memories. I read them while living in Charleston, SC for my photography trek in the early 80’s. One of Beck’s books, The People of The Lies, had helped me elevated my knowledge of what between good and evil in people. And to protect myself from being friendly to the bad people.
back in the late 60’s and’70’s, I was an ignorant and being cynical over Jesus Christ and God and started to research on these mysterious forces in the 80’s to find the answers. It had changed my perceptive and started to respect and tolerance in their beliefs. I am not a follower because the way I was raised with parents who were nonbelievers and never took me to church. I believe the soul is the temple, no need to go to church.
I don’t believe in sins…it does instill FEAR in the minds and emotions. I have no tolerance in people who think they are “sinners” and go to church to make them feel better.
I believe doing good deeds and be kind to others. If I act wrong, I step in and correct to with open mind and make changes for the better life. And learn to get along with others. Do NOT judge others. it. No one is perfect and we all do make mistakes.
Forgive others as well yourself..
The book, “The Road Less Traveled” taught me to understand the teachings of love with our spirtitual values. I came home a transformed person. My friends and parents didn’t recognized me at first. I knew I changed a lot from the mistakes in the 70’s. I gave up my self centeredness and overcame deep shyness into compassion and learned to get along with our fellowships. I was glad that I did.
You asked what is LOVE? It has many definitions to describe it. Love your animals, love your parents, your lover, so on. Love is always in the flame in your heart .We are not in the highest PURE love level unless we keep use our mind focus on Love all the time. Beauty comes from within. Love is beauty. Earth has so much to give us to enjoy its creation and beauty.
I understand some people who had a hard life have trouble loving themselves to be able to express their love to others. I know it’s not easy task. They need spiritual counselors who can understand on both sides of realities to guide them to break free from anger, pain, and depression into Love. Teach them to forgive.
Don’t forget about Pope John Paul’s forgiveness his would be assassin with Compassion and Love. He believed in God and Love. Wow, he had a powerful compassion in any kind of people with flaws. Look at Mother Teresa, whose love and humility she expressed and demonstrated her selfless and Compassion for the poor.
Mind and heart/soul are in one…Some people born with compassion and love in their hearts. I have these gifts and I always love people no matter who they are. My problem is I don’t know how to hate even though someone out there hates me. I still love them with my understanding of their ignorance. I guess my mind isn’t full of stereotypes or labels to judge others. I look at them no matter who they are. If they judge me outside, I do the same thing. Thoughts can create reality. “Law of Attraction” do really attract good or unpleasant events in our lives.
Hate is the destructive force.
Love is simple if we are open mind and willing to change: look inside your heart and forgive your mistakes as well forgive their mistakes. Love your enemy! No regrets at all. There is no regretful, this are the lessons for all of us to learn and grow and improve in our lives and to get along with others in peace.
~Peace and Love~
Posted on 30-May-06 at 8:41 pm | PermalinkHello Ian, Roxanne, Bruce, Michael, Tom, Brigit, Alisa, Lisa, Pat and All Others:
Yes, Love is simple - right Roxanne?
Yes, Ian - “Peace isn’t just a word or a slogan it is an experience.†How right you are today.
Yes, Bruce - “Peace is possible and it starts with you , me and each individual.” How insightful.
Yes, Michael V - “We Are The Worldâ€.
I might add;
Peace and Love is not a fashion, it is an ignorant remover that gladdens the earth space and makes you and I a realization for another day!
“How many times have you seen the birds fly on bye? How many times have you seen me cry?
How many times have you expressed your love to me, saying there’s just not enough flowers for thee? How many times, how many times?” (1)
“You’ve got to be moving on - maybe you love me and that’s the truth!!!” (1).
Another method to hold our hands - outstreached for you and you and you.
You are “my friends until the end. You are my joy, you are my youth - you are my friends, ’til the end.” (2).
“Head over heels for you - and you’re melting my heart - it’s true.
Why have I not seen this beauty before now…” (2)
“Long have I hid behind my eyes.
Oh! My heartaches, Oh! my heartbreaks…
Your hands are healing, your body so warm…look at all the stars in the sky.” (2).
“We will always be together, but if we’re not…I can remember too, your eyes how they sparkle, your hair how it shines…” (2).
“Your hands are healing…” (2)
“Most tender love…head over heels for you.” (2)
“Yes, I’m head over heels for you…you’re melting my heart it’s true…head over heels for you.” (2).
Love is deeper, love is pure…peace is fleeting so capture it. When you have attained LOve, it is our gain.
______________
Posted on 06-Jun-06 at 6:45 pm | PermalinkLyrics provided by two songs composed by Lyle K’ang, ‘Head Over Heels For You, 2006 (2).’ and ‘How Many Times, 1974 (1).’ (c) 2006 Lyle K’ang
I believe I have seen the face of God, or beingness or which ever name you choose in the preceding words of everyone here. How inspiring.
Posted on 05-Jul-06 at 4:35 pm | Permalink