Next Reformation

This blog has moved

2011-10-13T14:56:00.003-04:00

I'm reviving this blog and I've moved it to a new location.

Please visit http://nextreformation.posterous.com

The 9/12 Project

2009-03-05T20:00:00.007-05:00

Fox News host Glenn Beck is doing a program called "9/12 Project" while trying to convince moderate America that their ideals aren't all wingnuttery after all.

“So, how do we show America what’s really behind the curtain? Below are nine simple principles. If you believe in at least seven of them, then we have something in common.”

I decided to take an honest shot at the nine principals, scoring three Yes, two Yes with conditions, and four No. To keep Beck from wanting to water board my UN-‘Murikan ass in Gitmo, I suppose I should start praying to the flag while listening to every Toby Keith album.

Here are the nine principals, along with my agreement or rebuttal:

1. America is good. - NO.

It can be dangerous to label a person, nation, or group simply as “good” or “evil.” Good is as good does. Only deeds should be judged as good or evil. Former President Bush tripling funds to combat AIDS in Africa is an example of a good action. Bush lying to invade Iraq and subsequently causing the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people is an example of an evil action. Most of the wrong done in the world has come from one nation or group of people labeling themselves as “good” and finding somebody different than them to label “evil.” It is the quickest path to discrimination, oppression, and genocide.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life. - NO.

This has absolutely nothing to do with America or government. America was founded as a free nation – a nation of liberty. You cannot be both a nation of freedom and liberty and a theocracy. Religion is a personal choice that has no place in government.

If you want to see what happens when fundamentalist religion gets mixed up with politics look to further than the Taliban. To quote founding father Thomas Jefferson, "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God."

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday. - YES.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government. - YES. BUT…

The government has no place in deciding who is a family, or who can marry. At the time President Obama was born, it would have been illegal for his parents to have been wed in 16 of the states. In 1967 bigots said “Protect the sanctity of marriage: No interracial marriage.” In 2009 bigots of the same ilk say “Protect the sanctity of marriage: No gay marriage.” If you believe #4 is true, you must demand the government stop meddling in personal freedoms and grant the same civil rights to all.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. - NO.

The law is not nor ever should be the decider of what is moral. Our understanding of law and morality evolve over time, and will continue to evolve. Slavery, condoned by even the Bible, was an important institution in our country from before its founding until the passing of the 13th Amendment in 1865. Who today would condemn those, like Harriet Tubman, who broke the law to assist escaped slaves before 1865? Martin Luther King spent many a night in prison for breaking laws that today we find offensive and revolting.

In fact, it was from a jail cell in Birmingham that King wrote to his critics, defending his civil disobedience and open defiance of the law, saying, “One may ask: ‘How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’”

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results. - YES. BUT…

We must grand these rights to all people, not simply those who live within some invisible lines arbitrarily drawn on a map. Human rights are for all people, and it is hypocritical and selfish to say only Americans have these rights. People lived in North America long before there ever was a United States, and I’m sure people will inhabit North America long after the United States is nothing but an ancient relic – the lore of history books.

The day I found inner peace was the day I stopped considering myself an American citizen, and started considering myself a neighbor, and brother, to all of humanity – and pledging to support all people to their right of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable. - NO.

Call me a socialist, if you must, but at least call me a Biblical socialist. For that is where I have drawn my guidance on charity and social justice. The truth is we must pay taxes to fund civilization. Civilization should include roads, police, prisons, and fire fighters. It should include transit, arts, basic housing, food, and clothing, hospitals, and health care. Without adequate health care, for example, many live a shortened life - or a life in pain - in direct opposition to principal #6. Health care is a human right.

Taxes should be about equal sacrifice, not equal percentage. If you don’t like funding civilization, you can join your ilk of Jim Jones or David Koresh in a remote compound somewhere. A nation is only as rich as its poorest citizens. I used to be a libertarian ("anarchy for the rich"), until I found a heart and lost the greed.

As Martin Luther King said, "A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. - YES.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me. - YES.

To quote V for Vendetta, People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Six Steps to Save the Church - Observations by an Ex-Christian - Part 1

2009-02-26T18:54:00.004-05:00

Part 1 - Overcome Fear with Love

Tommy Jackson, a pastor of a rural church in Texas, recently conducted an experiment – he pretended to be a drunk and homeless man wandering the church parking lot.

“Jackson wanted to test his congregation on their compassion for those in need. Playing the part to the fullest, he even had the police called on him. Some church members were [leery], but others offered food and shelter, not knowing who the mystery man was. Jackson revealed himself at the end of the Sunday service.”

Reviews on various websites about the experiment were mixed. One person responded: “Of course people will act righteous. They’re in a church parking lot. They have an audience. I couldn’t even begin to recall all the holy pissing contests I’ve seen among congregations. When I was attending the Christian high school, people tried to out-holy each other all the time–as long as someone was watching. In private, especially off campus, people were considerably less Christ-like.”

Here’s one thing I’ve noticed. Most Christians - the suburban, generally wealthy or middle class ones like we have here in the South - they can deal with one or two people. They can deal with one drunk, one homeless person, one black person, one gay person.

What they can’t deal with is being a minority. They have a great fear when they are the minority in any situation - they feel unsafe, and they feel they don’t have control. I’m a minority in my neighborhood - everybody in my neighborhood is an ethic minority; there is no majority. It’s a pretty safe community but most suburban Christians would never venture here - to them it’s a “ghetto” and “unsafe” - usually code words for “there be black or brown people there.”

This is often why we never see the suburban churches helping with the urban problems. In my city there are over 5,000 homeless and only around 2,000 beds in shelters on any given night. The suburban churches see no issue in building gymnasiums that sit empty for five days a week. They can spend 30,000 on a new video projection system. They fear being out of their comfort zones. They need to be entertained. When a call goes out to collect 5,000 sets of coats and winter clothes for the homeless, local churches give a half-hearted response of around 1/5th of what is needed.

The churches can usually do an okay job at collecting some money or canned food because it doesn’t actually involve having to be around the poor and homeless. I saw photos of a church that recently hosted a “30 Hour famine” event to raise money. The youth group made card board boxes to sleep in on the front lawn of their suburban church, many painting and decorating their boxes. As somebody who has been around the homeless quite a bit over the past few years, it is hard for me to even begin describing how outrageously out of touch with reality are these people.

In fact, I find it rather insulting. It is if they are saying “I pretend to understand you and your situation even though I don’t care enough about you to even meet you, spend time with you, or get to know you.” Why not have the youth group spend the night at a homeless shelter or in a park frequented by homeless? Even better, why not have them meet every week to minister to the poor and homeless – NOT to hand out tracts to them, NOT to simply pass them a couple bucks and scurry away, but to LOVE them like Jesus loved them? Because it isn’t safe? Really? And I thought you believed you had a God watching over you and protecting you? More likely it’s because you’d be so ashamed to be seen with Lazarus, right Rich Man?

Fear has no place in the life of a Christian – except fear of a life of apathy, a life without empathy, and a life of complacency. If you fear being a minority in a group of people radically different that you, then you need to reevaluate what your beliefs. As I’ve heard before “The church needs more martyrs and less celebrities.”

“People sometimes ask if we are scared of the inner city. We say we are more scared of the suburbs. Our Jesus warns that we can fear those things which can harm our bodies or those things which can destroy our souls, but we should be far more fearful of the latter. Those are the subtle demons of suburbia. As Shane’s mother says, “Perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfort, detached from the suffering of others.” We’re scared of apathy and complacency, of detaching ourselves of others. It’s hard to see until our 20/20 hindsight hits us, but every time we lock someone out, we lock ourselves in. Just as we are building walls to keep people out of our comfortable, insulated existence, we are trapping ourselves in a hell of isolation, loneliness, and fear. We have “gated communities” where rich folk live. We put up picket fences around our suburban homes. We place barbed wire and razor wire around our buildings and churches. We put bars on our windows in the ghettos of fear. We build up walls to keep immigrants from entering our country. We guard out borders with those walls – Berlin, Jerusalem, Jericho. And the more walls and gates and fences we have, the closer we are to hell. We, like the rich man, find ourselves locked into our gated homes and far from the tears of Lazarus outside, far from the tears of God." - Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, Jesus for President

How much have you crossed off the pyramid?

2009-02-24T21:38:00.002-05:00

I think fundamentalists Christians fear more than anything else a non-literal interpretation of the Bible and the creation story because it is often the beginning of disbelief for many ex-Christians/atheists.

This idea came from Dan Barker, but it does fit my life as well. Start with a pyramid. The pyramid has a descending order of beliefs. For example, at the top is belief in an all powerful god. Below that is the divinity of Jesus, the resurrection, the Trinity, atonement by the blood of Jesus, the belief in salvation in faith alone, etc.

At the bottom of the pyramid is maybe belief that Baptism is required to enter heaven. Or that Christians can’t work on Sundays. Most Christians don’t believe these are necessary tenants of faith, so go ahead a cross them off your list. As you go up the pyramid, you have various denominational beliefs. Some restrict pastors to being only male, for example.

As you get up the pyramid, you come to issues like belief in a literal creation story. “Well, if the creation story isn’t literal, that’s okay. It was parable, just like Adam & Eve and Cain & Able were parables. The truth is in the message of a parables.” Scratch another level off the pyramid.

Creationists/fundamentalists say “Here’s what we believe, what evidence can we find to support it?” Scientists and freethinkers say “Here’s the evidence, what conclusions can we draw from it?”

“Most of the old testament was written by a primitive people trying to understand god, so I’m not going to take everything literally. Noah was a parable. Moses was a parable. This doesn’t conflict with the belief that god loves us and has a plan for us.” Scratch another level off the pyramid.

As Christians become less literal in their interpretation of the Bible, the fundamentalists have lost control over them. They no longer have the ability to steer Christians in one direction or the other on their political agendas. No longer does it work to cherry pick one or two verses and telling Christians they must interpret this verses literally.

Eventually, as the pyramid gets smaller, you cross off things like Jesus being the only path to heaven, and eventually you doubt the need for Jesus' divinity at all. Like Thomas Jefferson and many other deists, your faith is in the overall message of Jesus, but you don’t take literally the stories of miracles or even the resurrection.

At this point you see many other stories of morality through out the world that are as good or better than the Bible. You see that morality is found outside the church. As Steve Weinberg said:

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

There’s only one block left atop the pyramid now - scratch it off.

Hall House

2009-01-25T14:23:00.003-05:00

There are over 2,000 children in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System who are homeless this winter. Several charities and government agencies came together to transform an empty building into shelter for a hundred families of schoolchildren. This was made possible by the hard work of hundreds of volunteers - young and old, religious & non-believers, who transformed the dilapidated, roach infested, abandoned building into a clean, healthy, safe, and livable home to keep children and their mothers off the streets. This is their story, which I wanted to tell through photography:

The historic Hall House, built in 1940 on Tryon Street as a luxury hotel, sat vacant and in a state of disrepair until just recently. Several charities and government organizations came together to renovate the Charlotte Housing Authority property in order to provide temporary housing for some of the city’s 2,000-plus homeless children and their mothers.

Volunteers showed up by the hundreds January 2nd and 3rd to work on the old structure and prepare it for occupancy. Six floors, each with twenty 600-square-foot units, had to be thoroughly cleaned, painted, have repairs made, and have furniture and beds delivered. Many parents who volunteered brought along their children to help. Three generations of the one family I spoke with showed up Saturday to help with preparations.

Due to fire regulations, all the old stoves had to be removed. Each kitchen will have a working refrigerator and sink, and every floor will have a microwave. A volunteer stated that the bunk beds were built by local Boy Scouts, and that all bedding such as pillowcases, sheets, and blankets have to be new and unused due to health regulations. Many sets of blankets, sporting numbers and bright logos of race car drivers, were donated by NASCAR. Much of the furniture, such as chairs and nightstands, were donated by a local hotel.

Twenty children and their mothers began moving in later thatweek, with 20 more each following week until the Hall House is home to 100 families. The Hall House is planned to be only a temporary shelter, and volunteers hope to find many of the residents permanent housing by July.

To be continued...

A search for the true meaning of Christmas

2008-12-31T17:01:00.008-05:00

It seems almost cliche now for somebody to discover the true meaning of Christmas. After all, we see George Bailey and Ebenezer Scrooge and even the Grinch all find the true meaning of Christmas every year on our televisions while we unwrap our toys and feast in excess.

Early in December I came to understand and accept that I am an atheist. I wondered how this Christmas be different – a Christmas without Jesus. I wanted to tell everybody how Jesus’ birth was just an amalgamation of various solar deities, many of whom predate the New Testament and share a birthday with Jesus. I wanted to tell everybody how Jesus is really just a Santa for adults; how wreaths, Yule logs, and even Christmas trees are from pagan traditions, and are actually condemned by the Bible. I wanted to send out “Axle tilt is the reason for the season” greeting cards. No matter how much I wanted Jesus, or Santa, to be real it would not change the reality that they are both just myths.

The “War on Christmas” flared up again this year, with TV commentators blasting those who want to place displays to other (or no) religions and holidays alongside Christian displays. Pastors railed against those who wish others “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” It all became rather silly as I found myself standing in a Bed, Bath, & Beyond, watching the shoppers endlessly circling the parking lot, rushing in and filling their carts with useless trinkets and devices. Many people would soon exchange gift cards to the same big box stores with each other. “Hmmm” I thought, glancing over at a display. “This lemon zester cost over three days wages in much of the world, and this onion slicer cost almost a month’s salary.” How did we get to this point from celebrating a birthday that was heralded as bringing “peace, goodwill to men” – a person whose life taught us to serve the poor and needy, and love the outcast and alien?

The more I thought about the holiday season, the more I thought about the people in my community. I found out about a local ministry, Clothe Charlotte, was undertaking an ambitious project – collect and distribute sets of winter hats, gloves, and coats for every homeless person in the city. Assisting the homeless and needy in my city is something important to me. I worked to promote Clothe Charlotte and participated in the collection, sorting, and distribution of sets of winter clothes for the homeless. Clothe Charlotte was sponsored by Kinetic Church. It was refreshing to see a church so dedicated to a service project – one that focuses on the “honey” of doing “unto the least of these” rather than focusing on the “vinegar” of handing out tracts and evangelizing, especially when the news features stories of churches kicking out homeless ministries because they didn’t pray and sit through a sermon before eating.

We sorted and packed sets of winter clothes at Freedom Park, and despite the light drizzle spirits were high. I delivered a car load of clothes to CUP Ministry – one of many shelters and ministries throughout the city to receive clothes. As car after car pulled in loaded with winter clothes, the minister clapped his hands loudly as his stood on the back porch of the house-turned-food pantry.

Helping Clothe Charlotte was one of my best holiday memories in years. The holiday season is all about light in the darkness, love in the cold, and taking time from our busy lives to do good in the world. Don’t allow the sectarian and political bickering take focus away from the universal ideals of peace, love, family, and community. Whether we’re Christian, Jewish, or atheist – whether we celebrate Christmas, Winter Solstice, or Festivus – we can all join in the goodwill spirit of season and join together in helping our neighbors.

An introduction to Clothe Charlotte:

Clothe Charlotte '08 from Kinetic Church on Vimeo.

My Flickr slideshow of Clothe Charlotte:

A video of Clothe Charlotte that features several of my photos:

ClotheCLT from ClotheCharlotte on Vimeo.

Small Towns Versus Big Cities - Searching for "Real America"

2008-12-08T18:49:00.006-05:00

I sat on a chilly metal bench at the airport overlook – a small park next to Charlotte-Douglas International that offers a great view of one of the runways. In the distance stands the skyline with tiny little cranes moving back and forth over a new skyscraper going up. With head tilted to one side and arm outstretched, I see if it has yet grown larger than my thumb. As the planes come in, I stretch out my arm and try to pinch them between my index finger and thumb, increasing in size until they are too large to fit in my open palm. This one is the daily flight from Munich, Germany. I often come here to do my thinking. I’ve lived in the heart of the city for several years now, after spending almost my entire life in a rural town an hour or so away. It is just days before the election and the biggest thing on my mind is the rift between perceived “small town values” and “big city values.”

The Republican National Convention had speaker after speaker who espoused the greatness of small town values in "real America." The Daily Show had aired a segment asking “What are these small town values?” Now North Carolina had become the latest battle ground over what is “real America.” Sarah Palin, speaking at a rally outside Greensboro, North Carolina, said “We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation.” Palin nor McCain ever dared to set foot in Charlotte, instead holding a rally outside the city alone a rural stretch of Highway 49. It was here that, before McCain spoke, House Representative Robin Hayes said “Liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God,” a comment he denied making until an audio recording proved otherwise.

I thought back to the summer days of my youth. My father would lift me into the air with his large hands, worn and calloused from many years spent in the local steel mill. His right ring finger half as long as the others, a permanent reminder of his Marine Corp tours in Vietnam. We would spend many summer afternoons in our back yard K-mart kiddy pool. My father was transferred from the steel plant in his boyhood hometown in Alabama when I was still too young to remember. He worked hard to make an honest living for my mother, my sister, and me. My mother worked part time in the local school system driving a bus and serving in the cafeteria. They were always active in my school and church, coaching my T-ball team or leading the children’s ministry with puppets. These were what I leaned were small town values; hard work, honesty, honoring your family, love of God, and love of country.

It is very hard to spot – only after years away from small towns, and from the outside looking in, that I can see the cracks in the so-called “small town values.” There is a great deal of politeness on the surface in rural areas, but it is only skin deep. You're okay as long as you look like everyone else, they think you are a good Christian, and aren't gay or something. Once you get past superficial politeness you'll be shocked at the fear and hate boiling under the surface. Some of it erupted during the election with angry mobs of Republican supporters.

Fear is what drives life in small towns. Fear of change. Fear of a shifting power structure. Fear of something or somebody different. It stems from an “us versus them” mentality and an oversimplification of everything as being either “good” or “evil.” There is no room for gray. Christians, especially, are taught that the world is out to get them – to destroy their country, their community, and their values. Power hungry politicians and pastors (with an increasingly blurred like between the two) demonize those who are different as a method to keep their followers in check. “The gays want to destroy our families, the Mexicans are stealing our jobs, and the blacks steal all the welfare money.” There is no room at the table for opposing views or independent thought. In their minds, good Christian folk are being persecuted. Cable news commentators, and my former pastor, told me the 1950’s were the greatest time in our nation’s history. When I hear that today I’m shocked. After all, in the 1950’s segregation was in full force, Jim Crow laws were in effect, and the glass ceiling was as high and firm as ever.

Along with fear, stereotypes drive small town perceptions of “outsiders.” In small towns, residents tend to lump people into large groups. You have your whites and blacks, all Latinos are labeled as Mexicans, and Asians are Chinese, and then there are those of “terrorist descent.” When you don’t know somebody outside of stereotypes, it is nearly impossible to care about them, and very easy to become wary of them. The small town is the comfort zone for those who fear the poor or foreign. Shane Claiborne said in The Irresistible Revolution, “I asked participants who claimed to be "strong followers of Jesus" whether Jesus spent time with the poor. Nearly 80 percent said yes. Later in the survey, I sneaked in another question, I asked this same group of strong followers whether they spent time with the poor, and less than 2 percent said they did. I learned a powerful lesson: We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.”

Small town America is stubborn and slow to accept progress and grant equality and liberty to all. Living in mostly segregated, rural areas breeds bigotry, racism, xenophobia, a general disregard for the poor and needy, and disdain for people and beliefs other than your own. Small-town-mindedness encourages anti-intellectualism, jingoism, and blind devotion to religion and government (which have an increasingly blurred line between the two). In addition, small town bigotry shifts over time. While segregation was a sacred institution in rural towns for most of this country’s history, many rural residents now take pride in how they “aren’t racist” and even have a token black friend to prove it. In 1968 the battle cry was “Protect the sanctity of marriage; no interracial marriage.” In 2008 it had evolved into “Protect the sanctity of marriage; no gay marriage.” I often hear stories of people from small towns who leave for college. At first they have a prejudice against gays or Muslims or some other group. Maybe their pastor preached on the evils of homosexuality. They believe it, until they actually befriend a gay person. Then they learn to judge their new friend by their character, and not the stereotype hung around their neck by a small minded pastor.

I’ve come to love the city so much that I could never imagine going back to a rural town. There is a great community in the city, an exchange of ideas where everybody has a place at the table. I’ve learned that people that are different than me aren’t the enemy. We’re all different, and that’s what makes us great. Once you get to know people, the stereotypes learned in the small towns are washed away. Eventually, we can stop labeling people all together, and accept them as individuals. It took some time - several years - after initially moving into the city before I realized I had become a liberal. I had come to cherish several important big city values; tolerance, peace, equality, justice, and a desire to treat others as I would want to be treated. I didn’t care about gays until I made gay friends. I didn’t care about the poor until I knew them and, in a way, joined them.

The morning after the election I drove though the small town of my youth. I’d often seen a Confederate flag flying on a pole along the highway just outside of town, but that day it was lowered to half mast. I mentioned it to a friend in Raleigh. “The Confederate flags are flying at half mast in the South today, haha,” he later responded. “Thanks for that joke; I’ve been telling it all morning!” Except, it wasn’t a joke.

I'm Coming Out

2008-12-02T21:46:00.003-05:00

I’m not sure which my parents would be more upset about – that I voted for Barack Obama or that I am now an atheist. The struggle to come to terms with my beliefs was a long, difficult process that took me through the depths of depression and back. I didn’t want to be an atheist. I wanted God to be real. I want church. I miss church. But I have to truthful to myself and to those around me. I can’t live a lie. I have come to terms, though critical thinking and intellectual honesty, what I know is true: There is no God.

Growing up, I was very active in a Southern Baptist church from grade school though college. I became well versed in Southern Baptist theology and served in music, Vacation Bible School, domestic and international mission trips, and youth leadership in my church. I truly believed in God with all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my soul.

I always thought that Christians became atheists because they were mad a God. Surely it is an act of rebellion against giving God total control of their life. The complete opposite happened to me.

I drifted away from the faith for several years, but then I discovered several progressive Christian writers such as Shane Claiborne and Donald Miller, and I felt a renewed zeal to study the Bible and pursue my personal relationship with God. It's funny that this pursuit of God led to my atheism.

Several years ago I traveled to Japan and China and visited Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples and it occurred to me that these people that I was meeting and getting to know have morals and ethics often as great as or greater than most Christians I know. I read Confucius Lives Next Door by T.R. Reid and pondered how can so many Asians have such high moral standards, lower crime rates, stronger communities and families, all without Jesus? Around this same time, over the span of several years, I began to learn more about the world around me. When I was little, God was bigger than I could imagine and there was no truth, no morality outside God. One day I came across this thought exercise: “If God told you to kill someone, would you do it?” Of course the answer would be that God would never ask me to do that. “But if he did tell you, that it was for the greater good, part of his plan?” I would have to answer no. My morals would never allow me to take another life. I’m a firm believer in non-violence and pacifism. At this moment, I was almost shocked to realize what this means: my values go beyond God – go deeper than God. It is as if God got a little smaller, or the universe as I know it got a little larger.

As I studied the Bible more, the more issues with theology I discovered. Perhaps the greatest issue I had was with salvation, or simply “who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.” If salvation is though faith in Jesus alone, then it is unjust to condemn those who have never heard the Gospel, and equally unfair if these people get a “free pass” while those who, to varying degrees, have heard the Gospel are judged. The more and more I learned about the world, the more I disagreed with the exclusivity of faith in Christ. Somebody who earnestly says a prayer accepting Jesus, then goes about life as usual, is more deserving of heaven than a Buddhist monk who dedicates his entire life to feeding the poor and clothing the needy, and caring for the sick? After all, Matthew 25 pretty plainly states that those who do “unto the least of these” are rewarded with heaven and those who selfishly do not are condemned. How do you reconcile “faith alone” with this teaching? How does simply saying a prayer supersede this? Maybe just praying the “Sinner’s prayer” and repenting of sins is not enough.

Jesus teaches that “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.” America is the richest nation on earth, run by greed and a desire to horde wealth. The average American household makes over $50,000.00 a year while much of the world lives on two dollars a day. In fact, Americans spend more on trash bags in a year than most people in third world countries spend on all their purchases. Churches are no different, building hundred-thousand dollar basketball gyms and installing thirty-thousand dollar multi-media systems. A hundred and thirty five million people are expected to die by 2020 due to lack of clean drinking water. Basic sanitation could be provided for most of these people for around ten billion dollars. It sounds like a lot until you consider that Americans will spend nearly 450 billion on Christmas presents this year alone. If what Jesus said about the rich was true, then virtually no American, or even any church in America, deserves to enter the Kingdom of God. In a just world, America deserves to be punished.

I thought that perhaps I am a Universalist – that there are many paths in life and all people will be reconciled to God eventually. But if this is true, then why is there a need to believe in God anyway? What’s the difference, as long as I seek to live out the message of Matthew 25 and seek to “love my neighbor as myself?”

Still, I tried fervently to seek God in spite of growing doubts. I wanted to believe that he existed. I prayed that he would show me the way. I prayed until I cried, begging that he would restore my faith. I read more Christian books and studied the Bible. Eventually I accepted what my heart and mind was telling me – there is not God. It’s not that I didn’t believe in Jesus’ teaching, but that his divinity and the existence of a God seemed increasingly unlikely in light of what I was learning about the world around me. I never stopped believing in the Bible in the sense that it is the greatest source of moral truth in my life. Jesus’ teachings such as the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew 25 form the basis of my ethics. I will always follow my conscience and seek peace, justice, equality for all people through love.

I guess some Christians will say it is okay – people take many paths and all people will be reconciled to God eventually. Some will say that I’ll eventually “come back around.” Some will say that I was never a Christian to begin with. My faith was completely real to me. I was certain that God heard and answered my prayers. I felt his supernatural presence in still quiet moments of worship. But now I realize that it was just a creation of my own mind. I want to be honest with myself and use reason and logic, not blind faith, to explore the world. Life as a human being is very precious, and it is something to be cherished. I want to spend my life creating “heaven” on earth for the “least of these.” I hope Christians will truly follow the teachings of Jesus work with me to do just that.

Why Christians voted for a pro-choice President

2008-11-05T16:12:00.004-05:00

Why did I vote for a pro-choice President?

First, I really focused on what Jesus taught. The Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 25. Do you know how many verses in the Bible directly address abortion? Zero. How many directly address poverty and oppression? Over 2,000. The scandal Poverty is a life issue that is very important to me.

Second, author Jim Wallis did a good job of explaining “pro-life” when he wrote,

“Choosing life” is a constant Biblical theme, so I will choose candidates who have the most consistent ethic of life, addressing all the threats to human life and dignity that we face — not just one. Thirty-thousand children dying globally each day of preventable hunger and disease is a life issue. The genocide in Darfur is a life issue. Health care is a life issue. War is a life issue. The death penalty is a life issue. And on abortion, I will choose candidates who have the best chance to pursue the practical and proven policies which could dramatically reduce the number of abortions in America and therefore save precious unborn lives, rather than those who simply repeat the polarized legal debates and “pro-choice” and “pro-life” mantras from either side.”

Third, the idea that simply overturning Roe v. Wade will end abortion is as outdated as it is uncaring. It is time to try a new approach; addressing the social and economic reasons behind why most women feel the need for an abortion, and doing it out of a feeling of love and genuine kindness towards the women forced to make such difficult decisions. The old way has failed, let’s be willing to open our hearts to a new way of addressing the issue. The website Pro-Life Pro-Obama has some good research on the issue from a Christian perspective.

We Christians need to take a step back for a moment and look at the big picture. We need more dialogue and less shouting from both sides. Consider this thought from Omar Al-Rikabi at God’s Politics:

“On one side, so-called “values voters” rally for the right to life of the baby. But they see my cousin’s death and the displacement of his family (in Iraq) as “collateral damage” in a war for freedom and their own security.

On the other side, so-called “change voters” protest a war that claims the life of innocents. But they see my unborn daughter’s life or death as a “freedom of choice.”
When I look at the reality of my family in light of a consistent ethic of life, all I hear from most politicians and preachers are inconsistencies. Both sides argue freedom for a way of life. But is any of this really about freedom, or just misplaced selfishness? Could it be as Bono once sang that, “what you thought was freedom was just greed.”

Jesus for President

2008-11-03T23:27:00.005-05:00

The air is filled with smoke in the back room of the Philosopher's Stone Tavern Saturday night in downtown Charlotte. Three days from the 2008 Presidential Election and North Carolina has become a battle ground state with McCain and Obama in a statistical dead heat here. Yet as local hip-hop and rock group One Big Love perform, there were several mentions of candidates who will not be on the ballot November 4th, including an impromptu song about the election:

"I don't want to vote for McCain. I don't want to vote for Obama. I want to write in Jesus."

"We all grew up in the country," Josh says. Brothers Josh and Jason form the core of One Big Love, and aren't afraid to share their views on rap, politics, and growing up in rural North Carolina. "What we'd like to accomplish with out music is to get people to open up their mind. It's got to happen with a revolution of information," says Jason before the show. "Do you think all them rich folk out there care about what's going on here?" Throughout the show the guys express their doubts in the two-party system changing the status quo any time soon, summed up by the original artwork on their fliers, which features a donkey and elephant joined together and painted with an upside-down American flag.

Listening to their music you get a message different than most hip-hop on the radio today, more in the vein of Public Enemy's Fight the Power. Lyrically and occasionally musically the group is similar to Colorado intelli-rap group The Flobots, who speak of social justice with Christian overtimes. Josh says, "We're anti-bling, we don't rhyme about any of that. It's so country and so real. We don't say one thing about Cadillacs. We didn't grow up like that. And people out there rhyme about it that don't have that, like Jason says 'congratulations on being wack.'"

A around a year ago I initially started my spiritual journey to rediscover who Jesus really is, looking at the Bible and forgetting the religious dogma and political spin. I started thinking and having ideas, not knowing at the time that I wasn't alone with these thoughts, or that anybody else had come to any similar conclusions. The brothers haven't heard of Shane Claiborne' s book Jesus for President, but they see past what the religious and political parties are telling us to believe. "Write in Jesus!" They proclaimed again later, as Josh holds up one of the posters for the cheering crowd. It is a sort of epiphany where I think, "Maybe there really is a revolution going on here in Jesusland."

"I try to come from a Biblical standpoint, plain and simple, and that's what the world needs right now," Jason says. "This is Babylon, for real, there's so much confusion and I try to be a beacon for truth. Not everyone knows what's going on, and I'm not saying I do. I try to make people think outside what they hear on the radio or on CNN. It's really a positive movement going on."

The Good Spirit

2008-10-24T20:06:00.006-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about "small town values." Various politicians in this election have espoused the virtue of "small town values" and how small towns are the "real America." I grew up in a very small town before I moved into the city, so I've seen both worlds, and this week I've been writing about my observations which I'll post soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share a blog posting that really touched my heart. This is the story of fellow blogger and Charlotte bicycle courier Bill and his encounter with The Good Spirit, "local Charlotte artist who had lived on the streets." This story speaks of our values here in the Queen City; of friendship, respect, and seeking justice.

This Sunday is the 2 year anniversary of the Death of my friend The Good Spirit, David Ray Chisholm. I realize that anniversary dates are sometimes over emphasized to the point of the understanding and true meaning being lost however in this case I can never unlearn the impact this man had on my life. All that took place by knowing Ray and being part of his untimely death has influenced my understanding of not only true justice but of our place in society and I cannot look away from the obvious. The Good Spirit gave me an education that could not be paid for and his life legacy has been part of my inspiration to make photographs, write and share with those who take a peek into the blogosphere. I ask that you take a minute and read my very first post in memory of David Ray Chisholm better known as The Good Spirit......

Photo credit: Bill

Please read the entire post here on Bill's blog

Entitled to Bitterness?

2008-10-13T03:26:00.002-04:00

I was called out recently. I posted on an internet forum and referenced “right wing blowhards” in a confrontational rant about my beliefs about how Christians should act. A response I received was a bit of a wakeup call.

“Guys, please don’t call people names just because they disagree with your stance. There’s nothing Christian about calling conservatives ‘crazy’ or ‘blowhards’. Someone said that in their experience, leftists tend to be more mean-spirited than those on the right. An honest perusal of the posts so far bears this out.”

This got me started thinking about how I feel about the church and how I feel about religious leaders with viewpoints different than my own. I realized I was angry. I was angry and bitter. And worse, I felt entitled to my bitterness. After years of religious indoctrination and institutionalization, I felt deep betrayal and hurt after I finally broke away and formed my own ideas and beliefs about Jesus and His teaching. I was angry because I felt I was always attacked from every side. Not only am I attacked by the secular left for believing in God, but I am attacked by the religious right for dining with the enemy. I’m told no true Christian would vote for this person or hang out with that person or do any number of things on a never ending laundry list.

I’ve been reading several books on religion and Christianity as part of my quest to find my place in today’s church. One of the books is Chris Hedges’ collection of articles based on the Ten Commandments, entitled “Losing Moses on the Freeway.” In his section on the Sabbath, he begins with a story of his time spend in a boarding school, and speaks of tyrannical teachers and regimented life. He writes of the schools formal adherence to religious ritual and doctrine:

“Religion, like learning, was part of the effort to bend us into dutiful and compliant young men. It was meant to curb and thoughts of rebellion, of self expression, of liberation.”

While I had never attended a boarding school, having been at church at least three times a week for twenty-odd years, I understood the feeling of being institutionalized and controlled. While most of the time I didn’t detest it, church was never simply an option for me. While I lived under my father’s roof, I would obey his rules, or so he said.

Chris goes on to talk about one act of rebellion by the boys at the boarding school. The headmaster and teachers instructed all the boys to walk up a hill, collecting rocks so the mowers would not hit them. In a spontaneous act of defiance, the boys began throwing the rocks up at the hastily retreating teachers.

“The prophets spent their days raging against corruption and abuse of power by those in the royal palaces and courts, the mistreatment of the poor, of widows and orphans, in short the hard and difficult struggle of the oppressed to achieve freedom and dignity. They were angry, indignant over the minor infractions. The prophets, I understood years later, would have been standing on the bottom of the hill with us, not at the top with the school officials who ruled us. But the message of the prophets, like all messages passed on to us, was twisted to pressure us to conform.”

I, too, had been throwing rocks of my own, verbal rocks, at religious leaders. After all, am I not entitled to my bitterness? I was like a person in an abusive relationship; I knew it was hurting me but I kept going back. I was dependant on my church. I felt I needed approval from my church. But every time I went back I would hear something that conflicted with my beliefs, and again anger would swell up inside of me. After I severed all ties, I still longed for my old flame, and the approval that I lacked.

During this time I was also reading “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller. I was very moved by his path to Christian spirituality, how he found his place in the church, and I felt as though he was talking to me and understood my situation. I came to a chapter titled “Church. How I go without getting angry.” “Ooh, that is me.” I thought, as read the words with great interest. Don lays out several issues that he has with the church, and says:

“I told [the pastor] it was hard for me to go to church without getting angry, and I think he took that personally. I tried to explain how I felt, but I was speaking a different language. I felt stupid, too, like some bitter idiot all wet and wanting everybody to cater to me, to my ideas about who Jesus is and was and the way He wants us to live.”

Don talks about finding a church where he fits in, and goes on to talk about how he had to let go of any bad attitude.

“I had to tell my heart to love the people from the churches I used to go to, the people who were different than me. This was entirely freeing because when I told my heart to do this, my heart did it, and now I think very fondly of those wacko Republican fundamentalists, and I know that they love me, too, and I know that we will eat together, we will break bread together in heaven, and we will love each other so purely it will hurt because we are a family in Christ.

Don’t hold grudges against any other churches. God love those churches almost as much as He loves yours.”

As I read this, I finally understood how to relate to my former church. I knew my bitterness was only hurting me, hurting my relationship with God, and hurting any efforts to find common ground and understanding with those of different views. What I needed was to love my previous church, and the religious leaders I disagree with, because without love and forgiveness there is no way I could ever have civil discussion or interaction with them again. I prayed for God to take away my bitterness and anger, and now I feel a great deal more peace. Now I can face people of my past with love and understanding. In fact, over the next few weeks I plan on hanging out with several old friends and acquaintances of my former church and hope to have good conversation about faith and sense of place in the church. Bridges are not burnt and I pray they never will be.

On the internet forum, I wrote a reply showing respect for different views and laid out my thoughts in a non-confrontational way. This time I received a better reaction:

“I applaud your chosen way to present your points in the later posts. This is how Christians should discuss differences with one another. Thanks.”

An addendum: Looking back over some of my older posts, I almost don't agree with some of the ways I argued things. I don't want to delete them, though, but understand that this blog is a personal journey of spiritual growth. Views, emotions, and positions may not be permanent.

Can Christians be Pro-Life and Pro-Obama?

2008-10-07T16:45:00.005-04:00

That is the question proposed by www.prolifeproobama.com

The website was created by the Matthew25 Network, and I think it is important for any open-minded Christian to hear what they have to say. For years we’ve been bombarded by they Religious Right’s views on what it means to “pro-life,” so I think it is only right to also listen to what the Christian Left has to say. It can be dangerous when we think one political party or one denomination thinks it is entitled to be sole owner and arbiter of divine truth. I am thankful for, and encourage civil discourse on the issue.

A letter from Doug Kmiec:

We are all called to build a culture of life - but there's more to it than just hoping that the next Supreme Court justice somehow deals with Roe v. Wade. A bad economy is threatening to human life. Women facing the moral tragedy of abortion - are facing it, now, today - and they need a supportive community and tangible help, not condemnation.

As Ronald Reagan's legal counsel and as a dean and professor at Catholic University and Notre Dame, I have worked to put the law on the side of life where it belongs.

But after 35 years, a new approach is needed. Too many unborn lives are being lost as we wait for judges to get it right. Barack Obama's strengthening of support for prenatal care, health care, maternity leave, and adoption will make the difference. Studies confirm it.

Do you think overturning Roe v. Wade will end abortion in the United States? Consider this:

Overturning Roe Vs. Wade, a long time goal of the pro-life movement, would not end abortion in the United States, it would simply send the decision to the states.
If states with more than 45% "pro-life" sentiment chose to outlaw abortion, this would only impact 16 states accounting for 10% of abortions nationwide, or less than 100,000 abortions a year.
Women in these 16 states would still be able to travel to seek an abortion in another state, or seek an illegal abortion, making the impact likely less than a 10% reduction in abortions nation-wide.
States with the highest abortion rates in the country, like California and New York, would be unlikely to outlaw abortion in their states.
Nearly half of all abortions in the world are performed in countries that have made abortion illegal.
The lowest abortion rates in the world - less than 10 per 1,000 women of reproductive age - are in Europe, where abortion is legal and available.
By contrast, in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, where abortion law is most restrictive, the regional rates are 29 and 31 per 1,000 women, respectively.
These countries are also much poorer than the U.S. and provide fewer social services; and a larger proportion of their population lives in poverty.
In Western European countries, in contrast, where more social services are provided and fewer women live in poverty, the abortion rates are consistently the lowest rates in the world.

A Sermon Somewhere in the United States of Jesusland:

2008-10-07T14:03:00.007-04:00

A sermon Sunday morning somewhere in the United States of Jesusland:

Dear Christians, know that when there are troubling times like these we can turn to the Bible. When our way of life feels threatened, the stories and parables can be very comforting.

For example, let us read about how the Israelites were enslaved in the land of Egypt. The Egyptian empire had amassed great wealth and power and had a huge military, but God heard the cries of the oppressed who longed for justice.

God crushed the Egyptian empire and freed the Israelites. Their founding fathers decided to create a Godly Nation, with liberty and justice for all. And God blessed Israel.

Flipping a few books ahead we see Solomon, King of Israel. Israel has been blessed by God and had amassed great wealth, and has built a great military to defend it. And it says that as Israel's wealth grew, they had to build more forts and build a bigger military, to protect their growing wealth, that had to be spent more and more on defense. Hmm, says he also bought and sold chariots. So he was an arms dealer. Oh, and here it talks about Solomon's hundreds of wives and concubines and... slaves. It says Israel had slaves, after they themselves were brought out of slavery. Hmm, and here it says that the prophets told the empire of Israel that God is not pleased with their praise and worship music, and that He hears the cries of the oppressed.

Well, lets just flip ahead in the story a little to where, let's see... oh, Israel is conquered by Babylon? The great city of Jerusalem burned, the temple looted. Those who were not killed are dragged off into... slavery?

Uh, well let's just be thankful that was in the past. And thank goodness history doesn't repeat itself. Congregation, let us pray: Supply-side Jesus, we ask that God Bless Pax Americana. Bless our empire's militaries and markets in which we trust. Thank you for our Godly, Christian government and candidates, and forgive those who oppose them. Grant us oil. And crush our enemies. Amen!

All right congregation, if anybody cares to join us, we will be enjoying lunch at the Steakhouse buffet! Oh, and if anybody needs another yellow ribbon magnet for their SUV, there are some extras at the front. Thank you.

*NOTE: The previous was a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real life sermons or pastors is coincidental. And saddening. May Jesus save the church and have mercy on our country. For more on these ideas, read Jesus Wants to Save Christians

Buffet Lines, Mission Trips, and Baseball Stats

2008-10-04T03:44:00.008-04:00

I am the worst sinner I know.

I find most of my sins are against Christians more than against God. What I mean is, our church had an unwritten but strict code of conduct. You have a beer? Mmm-hmm, you are going on the prayer sheet, but we might be nice and list it as an "unspoken request." It doesn’t matter if the alleged sin is really Biblical or not (that’s an upcoming blog). Listen to non-Christian music? “Garbage in, garbage out! Don’t fill yourself with garbage of the world!” (That’s another upcoming blog post.) I always believed something was wrong because somebody in the church said it was wrong, but can we not make these decisions for ourselves? Perhaps it is more about appearance. Could you imagine if somebody occasionally had a beer, smoked tobacco, and sometimes forgot to wear an American flag pin on their suit? “Sure signs they don’t have Jesus in their life!” my church would say. What if we strip away all these rules that the church has made for us and simply, genuinely strive to follow Christ? No, it definitely all about appearances.

At my old church, it was also all about the stats, as if Christianity were a baseball game. How many people did we dunk in the water this year? How many 5-year-olds “gave their lives to Christ” at Vacation Bible School? How many people came forward to join the church this month? That was always an interesting ritual. See, at the end of every sermon, we would have an alter call where anybody who needed to pray would go down front and do so while the congregation sang all two dozen verses of “Just as I Am.” Of course everybody was thinking “I wonder why so-and-so is down there praying? Maybe they had a beer this past week, or watched ‘Desperate Housewives’ or something pagan like that?” The people wanting to join the church were the worst. Often teary-eyed, they would quietly whisper with the pastor until the hymn ran out of verses. We would graciously resist the urge to hum the "Jeopardy" theme and start over from the beginning of the hymn until that pastor gave the “all clear” so he could then proudly introduce our new church family members. After several services in which we ran out of verses we started having a backup closing hymn, so when some poor sinner was taking too long to make peace with God, we’d slip right into the next song. When you start the second hymn, you start getting mad at whoever is down there weeping at the altar. “Don’t they know they are going to make us late to lunch? That buffet line at Ryan’s Steakhouse is going to be outrageous! The Methodists are going to beat us to lunch! If we go to a third hymn, maybe even the Pentecostals are going to beat us!”

What if I admitted sometimes I have doubt? Would you still want me to go on that mission trip? I remember always being told before going on a mission trip “A mission trip isn’t a time or place to get right with God.” But, I never felt that I was constantly “right with God.” I’m not a Christian that thinks once you have a conversion experience there are roses and sunshine and puppy dogs everywhere and the sky is just little more blue. I feel it has to be a journey. Growth is a process.

Time to check the stats again. How many people converted to Christianity at our street meetings during our mission trip? Only two? “Well, we at least did our job of planting seeds.” Lately I’ve questioned whether we went about the mission trips the right way. Basically, our mindset was “we can’t really do anything for them, except offer them something after they die.” I remember standing on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, a hot, muggy evening. I was a kid, really, young, dumb, and full of Jesus, ready to convert the masses. My white dress shirt and black tie covered in a mix of sweat and dust, I stood on a corner under dim streetlights and spoke into the worn and dented microphone. “Life! What is life?” I forcefully proposed, loud enough to draw a squeal of feedback from the aged speakers. I went on to deliver a passionate, moving three point sermon that would’ve made the divinity students back Gardner-Webb proud. I referenced Psalms and Ecclesiastes and gave a message on how life is only temporary, and heaven awaits those who confess Jesus. I look back now and wish I could go back and say something else. I’m not sure what, maybe something more genuine and from the heart. Over the 5 mission trips to Kingston that would follow, I fell in love with the people. I tried to learn everything I could about their city, they way of life, their hopes and fears, and tried to see life from their perspective. Now I feel disappointed; I feel like I worked so hard to bring them religion. I want to bring them love.

Looking back, I feel disappointed about most everything I’ve done through the church; the sermons, the mission trips, the praise bands, the music and drama. I feel like I did it all for religion and not for love; for Jesus. I want to tear it all down with a wrecking ball, because it wasn’t authentic. I found that I would do what the church wants over what is in my heart, because I’m afraid to share what is in my heart. As a musician, I felt like I mostly needed to play “praise & worship” music, because praise & worship music is safe. Church safe. Oh, how I wish I had known of the music of Derek Webb back then. I want to find a church that isn't judgmental, that understands that we (even us Christians) are imperfect human beings. At my old church, I had to lie and always say everything was going great in order to keep from becoming an outcast. Who would want me to play bass in their praise band if they knew of my struggles? What if I wasn't a perfect Christian? What if they knew I was on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication? Good Christians don't deal with depression and panic attacks, right? It must be some fault of mine; something that I’m doing that is keeping me from God’s love, right? Maybe we’ve fallen in love with church instead of God? Maybe we serve religion over Jesus? I want to find a church where I don't have to pretend to be a perfect being in order to serve. I want a church that is more than a country club; that gets out into the community and does "unto the least of these." I want Christians that I can share my fears and doubts with and know I'm not the only one who is not perfect.

I wanted to start a blog about my attempts to change the church; to bring about the next Great Awaking, the next Reformation. But maybe the reformation in happening to me, inside me. I wanted to bring change, but change is happening to me. I haven't posted in a while, but I'm going to start writing more frequently. I just read Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" and a lot has changed. I'll do a review of it later. Now I'm reading his book "Searching for God Knows What" and next I'm going to read the new book by Rob Bell and Don Golden titled "Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile." Oh, and I'm going to a forum by Donald Miller at UNC Sunday afternoon!

Of Aliens and Bananas

2008-09-10T01:32:00.007-04:00

Growing up in rural North Carolina, politics and religion were the subject of many public conversations. One of the topics frequently brought up was the issue of immigration, though living in a predominately white small town I rarely ever had contact with immigrants. My opinions were formed early in life before I could even drive, and not so much by overheard conservative talk radio blowhards, but by overheard conversations in everyday life. I would hear old men debating in the barbershop, ladies conversing in the grocery line, and whispered concerns in church hallways. “The Mexicans are stealing our jobs!” “Those illegals waste our tax money” “Foreigners are ruining America!” “Deport ‘em all!” These were the politest of the comments.

It is funny how our perception can be changed sometimes by the tiniest of events, the most trivial of acts, if we have an open heart and active conscience. It happened one day while working construction, as I did between starting and actually finishing college. I mixed concrete and operated machinery, and happened to be working for several days with another crew on a job in downtown Greensboro. The other crew was Hispanic with a white boss who generally treated them without respect and lorded over them like there were children, but they did the best they could without being able to speak English. One day lunch break came and I realized I had forgotten my meal that day. As I was hungrily sitting around alone waiting for lunch break to end, one of the Hispanic workers saw me, walked over, and offered a banana from his modest sack lunch. While we were never able to speak in a common language, his warm smile and friendly gesturing said it all. Maybe it was the heat getting to me that summer day, but I felt moved by this trivial act of kindness. I began to think about my own prejudices of people I had hardly met before. Love is such a powerful thing that even in the tiniest of doses it holds the power to tear down the greatest fear, pride, and bigotry.

As I recently began to reevaluate my Christian faith, I found much of what I hear Christians say about immigrates doesn’t match up with what the Bible says about loving aliens and welcoming strangers. Deuteronomy 10 verse18 says

“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.”

According to Matthew 25 verses 37 to 40 Jesus said

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "

The scapegoating of immigrants and vilification of foreigners is not Christian, and is not acceptable policy for our government. Johnston County (NC) Sheriff Steve Bizzell was recently quoted calling Hispanics “trashy” and that they “breed like rabbits.” According to Bizzell “drunk Mexicans” “rape, rob and murder" Americans. Yet in the past decade, as illegal immigration has surged, Johnston County's rate of violent crime has dropped by almost half, according to the State Bureau of Investigation. Property crimes are also down.

Our country must find a way to make immigration fair while respecting the dignity of all human life. It has been a tough issue throughout the history of our country, from the Alien and Sedition Act, to the backlash against Chinese immigrants in the American West, to the open violence in the streets of New York against the "Irish hordes", to the interment camps for Japanese-Americans in WWII. As Thomas Wenski, Bishop of Orlando, has said,

"The so-called “illegals” are so not because they wish to defy the law; but, because the law does not provide them with any channels to regularize their status in our country – which needs their labor: they are not breaking the law, the law is breaking them."

Fellow Christians, we must realize that our faith, that God's church, transcends any imaginary map-line drawn by temporary rulers of earthly kingdoms. We must learn that God loves all people equally, and that we must show Christ's love to other by living out the commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself."

I recommend checking out Justice For Immigrants and National Immigration Forum for a good look at the human element of an over-politicized issue. Also, the detention system in the United States for immigrants and foreigners is confusing and often inhumane; for information on what you can do check out the Detention Watch Network.

I'm very excited about a new film that deals with issues of immigration called "The Visitor." Unfortunately I didn't learn about it in time to catch it in theaters, but it will be available on DVD in early October. The trailer:

I Still Have a Dream

2008-08-28T19:34:00.003-04:00

On this, the 45th anniversary.

These are some of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite preachers and leaders:

The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.

Man was born into barbarism when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating another's flesh.

Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.

Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.

From Conservative Republican Southern Baptist to Progressive Jesus Radical

2008-08-28T02:49:00.006-04:00

This is a bit of a rambling narrative on my thoughts on me going from being a Conservative Republican Southern Baptist to a progressive Jesus radical. Yeah, it is kind of long, but I pose an important question at the end.

I’m on a mission to find where I fit in this great big world of Christianity. Living in the South ( Jesusland) and having attended the same Southern Baptist church from Kindergarten through College, I never really had much choice when it came to what I believed. I grew up in the belly of the Religious Right and Moral Majority, and pretty much all my social and political views came from that understanding. In high school, I started to experiment with other Christian beliefs and denominations. I played guitar and bass with a young man who attended a Pentecostal church. It was so different from my stuffy Southern Baptist church, with a lively praise band and energetic congregation. I honestly didn’t know what to think about all these people being tapped on the forehead and fainting, and I’m still now sure how passing out makes us a better Christian. I’m just glad nobody ever hit me on the forehead. What if I didn’t faint; does that me I’m not a good Christian? I attended some Bible studies in their youth minister’s house, where I was first introduced to speaking and praying in tongues. I wanted to speak in tongues. I tried and tried. And I prayed and prayed. Yet I just couldn’t do it. I went to some Bible studies with some Methodist college students. We had some interesting debates about healing and prosperity Gospel, but it still didn’t seem what Jesus really meant. I went to Christian college and learned a lot of interesting theology and had some lively debates in my Bible classes ranging from the Documentary hypothesis to the Q Gospel to predestination and Calvinism. All the while, I was still attending my home church, but I wasn’t feeling like I was growing spiritually there.

My Southern Baptist church had the same minister from before I was in Kindergarten to while I was in college. When I was in college, our pastor retired and our new pastor was younger and more of an ardent fundamentalist rather than the thoughtful theologian of our retired pastor. This was the riff that eventually drove me away from my church. I can’t point my finger at one instance, but the conservative politics coming from the pulpit were clashing with what I was learning about who Jesus is. My socio-political shift really accelerated when I moved from my small town of a few hundred to Charlotte in 2006. Fresh out of college I took a job working at a call center until something better came along, and it was a horrible company to work for. The workers were treated like little children and constantly walked on by management. These people became my people, and as we worked together to make it through the day I began to see life from a different point of view. In fall of 2006 there was a referendum on the ballot to repeal a ½ cent sales tax that went to fund transit. The conservatives railed against it. “I don’t use transit, why should I pay for it?” I saw every day why we should fund transit; there were single mothers trying to pay their way through college, and guys trying to make a living and support their family on ten dollars an hour. Without transit, many would have no way to get to their jobs, the elderly who couldn't shop for groceries, not to mention the need to reduce the number of poluting cars on the road. I saw their need and became very active in raising support for keeping the half cent sales tax. The transit supporters ended up winning by a two to one margin, and ever since that day I’ve had a new view of what it mean to be political. It was perhaps the first time I’ve supported anything political for the greater good of somebody other than myself. I had stopped voting for me and started voting for us; for what’s best for the people of my community, and eventually the world. "What would Jesus do?" went from bumper sticker slogan to political platform. Maybe this was the point in my life that I became a liberal, though later I would consider myself a radical. My mantra at the time was “The day I became enlightened was the day I stopped thinking of myself as a Christian and an American, and started thinking of myself as a neighbor, and a brother, to the entire world.” I’ve simplified my political view to “vote for whomever will do the most good for the most people though out the world.”

Meanwhile, my church, seemed to be drifting more and more conservative and fundamentalist. The new pastor once said “I think the greatest time for our country was the 1950’s.” My mouth fell open, thinking of how in the 1950’s the south was under the oppression of segregation, Jim Crow laws were still in effect, the “glass ceiling” was as strong as ever. I don’t believe the pastor to be a racist, but I think he’s fallen for such a romanticized idea of the “good ole days” touted by conservative fundamentalists that he is out of touch with the world we live in. The Iraq war in 2003 and subsequent support from churches for an administration who instigated such an immoral and unjust war was the start of my loss of faith in the morality of the church. Richard Land, head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention said “"I still think Iraq is one of the more noble things we've done.” In my pastor’s sermons gays were frequently the scapegoats for why “family values” were eroding in America. If it wasn’t the gays being blamed, then it was the “liberal media” or Hollywood to blame for corrupting this Christian Nation. But surely God wasn’t taking all this immorality in America lying down. No, he struck back with Hurricane Katrina. Surely this was divine retribution for America’s moral corruption? The idea that Katrina was punishment for the evils of the citizens of New Orleans, and especially gays, had me turning my back and walking out on the church. When I saw images of a desperate, crying mother holding a baby outside the Superdome, and then was smugly told of how this was God’s judgment for America’s immorality, I knew the church no longer served the Jesus of the New Testament. Rev. John Hagee proposed it was retribution for planning a Gay parade. If a God would so devastate the guilty with the innocent, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the children, then he is truly not a loving God and we need not worship him.

I was further saddened by the church’s overall lack of concern for social justice, which was one of Jesus most frequent teachings. I participated in a record-a-thon, recording an entire album of music in the month of February with the sole purpose of raising money for Darfur. I petitioned many, many Christians and friends to contribute to the charity yet received very little response. June was National Torture Awareness Month and I contacted several Christian leaders about recognizing the horrors of torture and abuse that has and is happening in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Burma, and throughout the world by this country and others. Churches nationwide hung banners that stated “Torture is a Moral Issue.” None of the churches of people in my area that I contacted hung banners. Only a local Unitarian Universalist church that I drive by daily had a banner. As I saw it every day that month, I would think “If more churches can’t speak up on moral issues like this, then who will?”

Politicians are not a solution to Jesus’ calls for social justice, nor the government. Lately the Church hasn’t seemed like the solution, either. Especially when I see a homeless man turned away hungry from three well-to-do downtown churches. Especially when we’ve not doing for “the least of these” when we have 37.3 million people living in poverty in this country while we’ve building hundred thousand dollar basketball gyms for our social club churches. Especially when we’re not “loving our enemy” and “turning the other cheek” when our churches support a government that has killed tens of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan. The church has become too comfortable and lazy in this country. Christian leaders have gotten drunk off the wine of the Empire; off the taste of political power and the money that comes with it. Now the church is more interested in having its policy implemented into law and legislating a false sense of morality on the nation. Christians are more interested in editing our constitution to be in line with their twisted view of fundamentalist morality instead of follow Jesus’ calls to help the less fortunate. They preach that you must say a prayer to be saved, but then what? We’re then supposed to sit around waiting for heaven, while trying to not sin? I’m not one of those people with a dramatic conversion experience. I wasn’t on the road to Damascus when I was blinded by a light. No, I answered God’s call on my heart just before my teenage years, in s still, quiet moment at home. I’ve seen some Billy Graham and other Christian productions where the climax of the story is when the unbelieving person finally breaks down and accepts God’s grace and mercy. I’ve wondered, "what about the rest of us?" Is the climax of the story of our lives over? I found that I could more relate to a movie like “Saved!” I’m just a Christian trying to make it the best I can, and maybe I’m not right on every issue. Maybe I’m a hypocrite a lot more than I would like. The more I learn and grow as a Christian, the more I realize I don’t know. I’ve decided to stop thinking I know all the answers (though I have a lot of opinions) and start trying to live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God.

Time and time again growing up in my rural church I heard sermons on sin and how not to sin and what good Christians are not supposed to be doing. Rarely, if ever, I would hear about what we should be doing. We shouldn’t be sitting around waiting for heaven; Jesus called for us to pray that the Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven. By grace though faith alone we are saved, but faith without works is dead. You can’t have one without the other. Preaching that people need to be converted without following Jesus' example of how to live is just needless grandstanding. The church has gotten it so wrong for so long that maybe what we need is a new Reformation. We have to do away with everything we’re learned and do away with all the religion and get back to the basics of the early church. Jesus isn't in your church's 30,000 dollar multimedia projection system. He's with the hundreds of thousands of people in developing countries blinded by cataracts for lack of simple medical treatment. Jesus isn't found in your church's hundred thousand dollar basketball gymnasium. He's with the 1.3 million children who will be homeless in America at some point this year. Jesus is not with your fountain filled with crystal clear water in your church's lobby. He's with the 1.2 billion people globally lack safe water to consume and 2.6 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation. I’ve decided to get all the church-stuff religion out of my life, and start over by simply reading what Jesus had to say. I’ve never felt such an amazing renewal as I have by freeing the Bible from the worldly church, but now I come to a point where I ask “now what?” Part of me wants to go back to my old church of 20 years and try to enact change, but I worry I would only run into conflict there. I really understand how Barack Obama felt when he spoke of how he couldn’t disavow his Rev. Jeremiah Wright. I feel the same way about my old church home. I could try to find a new church but I don’t know where to look for a progressive church. The Unitarian Universalist church up the street has theology even more loose and liberal than me. I know living as a “lone ranger” Christian isn’t working for me.

A question for progressive Christians and Jesus radicals: change the church or leave the church? Is it truly broken beyond repair? Is there hope for the salvation of the Southern Baptist Convention? The early Protestant leaders initially set out to change the church before leaving it. What’s a “New-Protestant” to do?

The Pro-Life Myth

2008-08-18T14:48:00.004-04:00

I would like to challenge fellow Christians to take an objective, and Biblical, look at what is known as the "pro-life" movement. The origin of the "pro-life" movement has been the the right wing Christian extremists who seek to use fear and scare tactics in their culture war to drive a wedge between evangelicals and their political rivals. Which party is truly the "pro-life" party? The party that symbolically says it is "pro-life" yet does nothing to reduce abortions? Consider this article; Abortion on rise under Bush's economic policy:

Under President Bush, the decade-long trend of declining abortion rates appears to have reversed," said Glen Stassen, Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical divinity school.
Using data from the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Guttmacher Institute, and reporting by individual states, Stassen found that U.S. abortion rates declined 17.4 per cent in the 1990s to a 24-year low when Bush took office. Many expected that downward trend to continue under the conservative president, but Stassen found the opposite: 52,000 more abortions occurred in 2002 than would have been expected under the pre-2000 conditions.

Responding to Stassen's study, Sojourners magazine editor Jim Wallis stated, "We have seen once again in this campaign the issue of abortion used as a partisan wedge rather than having a serious discussion on how to act to reduce the number of abortions."

Stassen's study found credible linkages between economic hardship and abortion. Two-thirds of women who abort say they cannot afford a child; half of women who abort say they do not have a reliable mate and co-breadwinner; and women of childbearing age are over represented in the 5.2 million additional persons without health coverage since 2000.

"If we are to be truly pro-life, we must focus on real people and the conditions that lead women to seek abortions," said Wallis. "Jobs, healthcare, and a living income must be part of a pro-life agenda."

I often debate fellow Christians on the issue of Abortion. Here are a few issues I have:

You want to outlaw abortion? Okay, how many unwanted children have you adopted? Exactly how much money have you donated to struggling and impoverished mothers raising children? Why are you not handing out contraceptives in schools and elsewhere; a PROVEN way of reducing unwanted pregnancies? Care to put your money where your mouth is?

You call yourself “pro-life” yet many so-called pro-lifers support the death penalty, or the pro-death wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and what have you done to end genocide in Darfur? Or do you just think life begins and conception and ends at birth?

You think abortion is murder? Even though God doesn’t? According to Old Testament law the penalty for causing a miscarriage is not equal to that of murdering somebody. Why do you believe this un-Biblical idea? Because the right wing extremists told you so?

Why do you support candidates who do NOTHING to reduce abortions, like George W. Bush and his good buddy John McSame? Fact: abortions have been UP under Bush. Obama has shown more compassion on the issue, and has a plan to reduce unwanted pregnancies and help struggling mothers.

We won’t see a major decline in abortions, regardless if it is legalized or not, until the church offers a better solution. I think too much emphasis is put on banning abortion (and we see how well banning something worked out with Prohibition and the War on Drugs). Not enough emphasis is places on contraceptive, adoption, financial support for struggling mothers, etc. Some of the right wing extremist Christians seem to just want to outlaw abortions and dump a few boxes of free coat hangers in the inner city and smugly walk away. To paraphrase what somebody mentioned on another blog:

We need to stop asking ourselves IF girls SHOULD get abortions, and start asking ourselves WHY women feel like they NEED abortions. We need solidarity with the struggling and broken, we need to be a community of hope the offers Christ's love to the low and despised. We do not need to be a partisan attack group who protests the actions of the struggling and broken. We need to rethink what it means to be "pro-life" by putting the love of Jesus first in our actions.

As a Bible-believing Christian, I am pro-life. To me, that means I am against war, against the death penalty, against discrimination, against destroying Creation through pollution and oil addiction, in favor of welcoming the alien, reducing unwanted pregnancies, and against policies that lead to violence and poverty around the world. Life doesn’t begin at conception and end at birth. (Matthew Chapters 5 & 25, Luke Chapter 6, Deuteronomy 10:18, etc.)

McCain & Obama at the Saddleback Forum

2008-08-17T12:52:00.007-04:00

Saturday night, Pastor Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life," hosted a forum at Saddleback Church in which he interviewed both Barack Obama and John McCain, whom he both refers to as friends.

It seems like McCain is pulling the same wool over the eyes of Christians that his good buddy Bush did. “Oh I’m pro-life” yet pro-death in Iraq. “I believe life begins at conception” then ends at 18 when I send you to die for oil, or bomb you to pieces. Obama’s answer on abortion, like many answers, were too nuanced and in depth for the typical right-wing Christian. They want to hear things dumbed down like “bomb bomb evil, USA! USA! WAR HERO!” Obama’s answers were more based on the holistic message of the Bible, unlike McCain’s 1 or 2 issues that right wing Bible-shredding Christians have decided to dilute the Bible to.

Twice McCain had a chance to take a stand against discrimination (marriage question and faith-based charities question) and twice he fell flat on his face. He tried to act like he was giving straight answers, but constantly danced around issues, like the one about defining rich, because it seems he panders to the wealthy elite in this country. More wealthy CEO's and big oil companies donate to McCain, while more US soldiers and almost 2 million people have donated to Obama. That says a lot. When asked about his greatest moral failing, McCain replied "the failure of my first marriage," hoping to dance around the issue of his adultery of cheating on his first wife while she was crippled and suffering from a sever car accident. Obviously, his involvement in the Keating Five Scandal wasn't mentioned.

I thought McCain’s performance was disappointing. Pretty much heard nothing more from him than “War hero, war hero, warmongering, warmongering.”

When asked does evil exist and what should we do about it? McCain immediately replied “Defeat it.” Wow, I’m so glad he’s the smug arbiter of all that is good and evil. Good job at defeating around 90,000 “evil” innocent civilians in Iraq. Good job at defeating some poor farmers and peasants with napalm in Vietnam.

Here's another interesting take, from SSP forumer aaron38:

Now granted I'm biased, but what I heard was Obama having a discussion on how he approaches an issue, examines both sides and reaches a decision and not always the easy one. McCain on the other hand seemed flippant. He was talking to a church, but came out like he was on a talkshow, cracking jokes and giving a stump speech.

I wonder how McCain's answer of "Defeat Evil" flies with evangelicals? Is McCain single handedly going to cast out Satan? Because short of that, evil isn't going anywhere. It's the same thing as everything Bush has done. Have a war on a tactic. You can't have a war on terrorism, and you can't have a war on evil. Yet, that's the road McCain would take us down. He'd send out our troops to die in a war against evil that can't ever be won.

But to expand on my view, last night I saw Obama working middle of the road voters, and McCain was far right, shoring up his base. That McCain is still trying to keep his base from staying home isn't a good sign for him, and I don't see what new voters he pulled in.

Christianity Hijacked: A look at the Christian Action League of North Carolina

2008-07-29T20:19:00.005-04:00

The Christian Action League of North Carolina; the state's very own Westboro Baptist Church.

The political lobbying group titled Christian Action League of North Carolina has been getting some press recently regarding it's opposition to a school anti-bullying bill. Yes, you read that correctly.

A recent anti-bullying bill called the School Violence Prevention Act passed the State House but failed to pass the Senate by one vote. The Christian Action League of North Carolina was very active in lobbying against this bill, which reads:

(a) As used in this article, "bullying or harassing behavior" is any pattern of gestures or written, electronic, or verbal communications, or any physical act or any threatening communication, that takes place on school property, at any school‑sponsored function, or on a school bus, and that:
(1) Places a student or school employee in actual and reasonable fear of harm to his or her person or damage to his or her property; or

(2) Has the effect of substantially interfering with or impairing a student's educational performance, opportunities, or benefits.

Bullying or harassing behavior includes, but is not limited to, acts reasonably perceived as being motivated by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, physical appearance, sexual orientation, or mental, physical, or sensory disability, or by association with a person who has or is perceived to have one or more of these characteristics.

(b) No student or school employee shall be subjected to bullying or harassing behavior by school employees or students.

(c) No person shall engage in any act of reprisal or retaliation against a victim, witness, or a person with reliable information about an act of bullying or harassing behavior.

(d) A school employee, student, or volunteer who has witnessed or has reliable information that a student or school employee has been subject to any act of bullying or harassing behavior shall report the incident to the appropriate school official.

The Christian Action League was against this bill because it includes a provision against bullying and harassment based on "gender identity or expression" and "sexual orientation." They felt this would somehow legitimize what they perceive as an "abomination."

It is a sad day for the church when Christianity is used to support discrimination and bigotry. When Christians are standing on the wrong side of civil rights, we need to reevaluate our beliefs. Who would Jesus bully? Who would Jesus discriminate against? Our religion has been hijacked by these radical right wingers who want to force their twisted and immoral interpretation of the Bible and morality on everybody, even if it means being against a bill aimed at preventing schoolchildren from being harassed and bullied.

Think about it; this isn't even about the hot-button wedge issue of gay marriage. This is about how we treat children, and the church is teaching our children that bullying and discrimination are okay. When I was in the 4th grade I was known as "J.R.", and some of the boys thought it fun to call me "gay R." Though they lost interest in this taunting after a week or so, I can only imagine what it must be like to endure years of degrading verbal and possibly physical abuse. Try to put yourself or your child in their shoes for once. Is is no wonder that suicide rates are so incredibly high for gay teens. And it seems some in the church would be smugly pleased at that. I would not be surprised if next Christians spoke against an anti-bullying policy because it protected students who wore turbans, or had brown skin. After all, the Southern Baptist denomination was founded on the right to own slaves.

Churches and groups like the Christian Action League have traded the message of Jesus’ “love your neighbor” and do "unto the least of these" for the message of “persecute your political enemy.” The way these opportunists stay in power and hold sway over churchgoers is simple:

"But after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship....All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

--Hermann Goering statement at the Nuremberg Trials

That's right. The Religious Right has taken a page right out of the Nazi's playbook. Think about it; how do you keep a mass of people under control? Tell them they are being persecuted. Convince them they are under attack from some enemy, and that their way of life is threatened. Fear is a powerful tool, and the church has grown very efficient at it. That's how you get people in the seats and money in the offering plates. According to their own website, the Christian Action League is funneled tens of thousands of dollars from the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

I was really moved today by a posting on The Friendly Atheist that really calls out us Christians who aren't doing enough to stop all the false prophets like the morally bankrupt Christian Action League.

To liberal and mainstream Christians: Bigots are co-opting and hijacking your religion. They’re promoting their hatred, abuse and domination of gays, atheists, the followers of other religions and anybody else who doesn’t exactly agree with them including you, all under the guise of God’s word, the one that you say you value so much. They’re doing despicable things in your God’s name. Your response to this is so small, so weak and so quiet that you will have no effect in stopping them. If you let them keep going they’ll bring back all the vehicles of hate they used to enjoy: racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and despotic authoritarianism. To them, Jesus is just a source of credibility and power. Following his example is not even considered.

If all that you do is to pray about this, forgive me but I don’t think that is going to be enough. I know you don’t rely entirely on prayer to respond to crises; I’ve watched you. You may pray for God’s help with many things, but when the river overflows you also fill sandbags. When your kid is sick you also take her to the doctor. When your neighbors are hungry you also give them food. When someone is being beaten you also drive off the attacker. When your house is on fire you also fight the fire.

Christians, your house is on fire.

This is a living example of Edmund Burke’s maxim, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Ask yourself which is the greater sin: to commit an injustice against others because you believe it is what God wants, or to see what you know is an injustice and stand by doing nothing to stop it.

Fellow Christians, it is time we take back our Religion from the radical right wing bigots and those who only lust after money and political power such as Christian Action League. It is a disgrace and shameful what they do in the name of Jesus. I urge those of you who live in North Carolina to find out if your church supports this hate group. If you are a in a Baptist church, demand your church to leave the Baptist State Convention. We must speak out on this important issue. We must not back down. Contact the Christian Action League of North Carolina and tell them that you DO NOT support the evil they do in the name of Jesus. Together we can bring about this next reformation and restore the church to one that actually follows Jesus' teachings.

Christian Action Network of North Carolina

Contact Online

809 Spring Forest Road
Suite 1000
Raleigh, North Carolina 27609

Phone: 919.787.0606

Fax: 919.786.1509

Director, "Reverend" Mark H. Creech

calact@aol.com

Dinner with Clarence

2008-07-23T18:00:00.006-04:00

"Why are you poor?" It isn't a question we tend ever ask of a beggar or homeless person we meet on the street. Often we ignore them or tell them we can't help, or at best give them a few dollars with the least amount of interaction as possible. We as the church in America have a problem with "loving our neighbor." "But I give money to the homeless," you reply. "I even give to charities and collect canned food!" That is what the majority of the church seems to do today. Why? Because it is easy. It is easy to give out of our abundance. But what about this word "love" in the commandment "love your neighbor?" It isn't love to just give something to someone. Love is built through relationships. Love engages. Love asks questions. If one of your best friends was in need, wouldn't you talk to them? "How did this happen? What can I do to help?"

In the book Poor People the author, William T. Vollmann, poses a question to those living in poverty around the world: "Why are you poor?" We need to listen to their specific stories and only then will we be in the best position to help. I'm sure we've all heard the phrase "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." But what if we're not listening to the poor when they try to tell us they can't fish because the river is polluted and the fish are dead, or they can't afford the government fishing license?

Just after I had read The Irresistible Revolution, I had an encounter with a man while walking down Tryon St. in downtown Charlotte, in front of Ruth Chris' Steakhouse. "Uh, excuse me mister, do you know where a soup kitchen is? I'm trying to get something to eat." My first reaction was one of sadness, because at the time I didn't even know where any soup kitchens or homeless shelters were in the city. In the past, I would have just said I'm sorry and given him a few dollars. Instead, I decided to engage him. "I don't know, sir, but I do know a sandwich shop on the next block we can go to." His reaction was more of surprise than anything else. As we went to get some subs, my unexpected response had spurred him to talk open and candidly. His name was Clarence and he had been to several churches that day but was told they couldn't help him. He had finally gotten a job in hopes of getting off the street, and he would be cleaning office building late at night off of Independence Blvd. Clarence's main concern was getting to work. "I don't know if I'll have bus fare every day to get to work." I then offered to go with him to the terminal and get him a bus pass. By meeting very specific needs, we remove any temptation the poor have to spend money on a temporary comfort like alcohol. Clarence was very grateful, and never actually had asked me for anything, other than prayer. "It's a struggle to keep yourself off the streets. Will you please be praying for me?" I told him I would, and then we parted ways.

I feel like I've made an investment in the future of my city, albeit small. And more importantly, I feel like I've made a connection with Clarence, and I hope someday I have the opportunity to run into him again. This is where "love" starts to replace "giving;" when we try to connect with somebody. But that is what makes it so hard for Christians to actually do, because it forces us to get out of our comfort zone on a daily basis. Honestly, it can be hard. I have to admit, I actually had the though cross my mind "I wonder if people are staring at me eating with this guy." I hope we Christians will have the courage to start getting out of our comfort zones more and more and start to truly "love our neighbors" by making relationships with them, and listening to them. As Shane Claiborne says in The Irresistible Revolution,

"When people begin moving beyond charity and toward justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus did, they get in trouble. Once we are actually friends with the folks in struggle, we start to ask why people are poor, which is never as popular as giving to the charity. One of my friends has a shirt marked with the words of late Catholic bishop Dom Helder Camara: "When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist." Charity wins awards and applause, but joining the poor gets you killed. People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are crucified for helping the poor. People are crucified for joining them."

Evangelicals Turning Their Backs on Dobson as He Attacks Obama

2008-07-22T17:29:00.009-04:00

Right-wing fundamentalist leader James Dobson again attacked Barack Obama, and indicated he may flip-flop and support McCain. Dobson said,

"Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation. His radical positions on life, marriage and national security force me to reevaluate the candidacy of our only other choice, John McCain."

Contradicts everything he believes about the family? Hmmm, like families having affordable health care and clean air to breath? Maybe Dobson would prefer McCain because he is a fan of adultery, divorce, and publicly swearing at your wife?

Obama's radical positions on life? I think Obama, like myself, is pro-life. Being pro-life means I am against war, against the death penalty, against discrimination, against destroying Creation through pollution and oil addiction, in favor of welcoming the alien, reducing unwanted pregnancies, and against policies that lead to violence and poverty around the world. (Matthew chapters 5, 25, etc.) Perhaps some, like Dobson, think that life begins at conception and ends at birth?

Obama's radical positions on marriage? Like wanting civil rights for everyone? We've heard that old song and dance before. Dobson's ilk, 1958: "Protect the sanctity of marriage: no interracial marriage." Dobson's ilk 2008: "Protect the sanctity of marriage: no gay marriage." Time and time again, conservative "Christians" have been on the wrong side of civil rights issues. After all, the Southern Baptist Convention was FOUNDED on the principal of the right to own slaves.

Obama's radical position on national security force? Reminds me of the Shane Claiborn quote I just posted yesterday:

"We in the Church are schizophrenic: we want to be good Christians, but deep down we trust that only the power of the state and its militaries and markets can really make a difference in the world."

Maybe Dobson's interpretation of Scripture doesn't include these teachings; blessed are the peacemakers, love your enemy, turn the other cheek, thou shalt not kill, do not return evil for evil, etc. How else can he justify supporting McCain's plan of extending an immoral and unjust war that has cost the lives of over 4,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis? How can we win a mistake?

But... there is hope. Evangelicals have been turning their backs on the misguided rants of Dobson and his ilk. The website www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com has over 12,000 signatures and growing daily. The side lays out Dobson's distortions of Scripture in his politically (and financially?) motivated attacks on Barack Obama. Also, there is the website Faithful America. Another interesting website is for Matthew 25 Network. A recent email from their mailing list:

Dear Friends,

There’s a little saying I’ve referred to often over the years: The proper response to misuse is not disuse, but wise and proper use. The saying helped me a lot in my twenty-four years as a pastor, and it still helps me in my current work as author, speaker, and activist.

It’s particularly appropriate in this election year. A lot of us feel that we’ve watched large sectors of our Christian community in the U.S. engage in several decades of divisive, ineffective, and downright counterproductive political engagement. At best, many attempts at engagement have been superficial, simplistic, and subject to binary thinking where one or two wedge issues easily distinguish the “good guys” from the bad. At worst, we’ve watched too many of our fellow Christians slip into a “culture war” mindset where neighbors became enemies to be defeated and silenced, not loved as we love ourselves. In addition, we’ve watched too many members of our faith communities be manipulated by cynical politicians who knew what tune to play to get people of faith marching obediently in their parade.

Many of us - sadly, I include myself here - stood on the sidelines and complained about the wrong being done by “the Religious Right.” In private, we might say that the major media figures didn’t speak for us, but we responded to faith-based misuse of the political process with faith-based disuse. We didn’t realize, as we now do, that disuse tends to favor those in power and support the status quo.

As I’ve watched with sadness what has happened in recent years, I’ve promised myself again and again that I wouldn’t just stand on the sidelines complaining this election season. That’s why I’m so thrilled about positive, constructive initiatives like the Matthew 25 Network. Drawing from Jesus’ powerful parable about his solidarity with “the least of these,” this network invites us as people of faith to step beyond individual self-interest, and even beyond the interest-group politics of “what’s best for us” - whether “us” is our denomination, religion, party, or nation. It invites us to consider how to use our vote on behalf of the neediest, the most vulnerable and poverty-stricken … so that their concerns are our own when we vote. For us, this is inherent in what it means to be followers of Jesus.

Based on these values, the Matthew 25 Network has chosen to support Barack Obama. Does that mean that every one of us is in full agreement with every detail of Senator Obama’s campaign? Of course not: we’re electing a president, not a Messiah! Blind, uncritical support is part of the misuse that we’re trying to move beyond.

But it does mean that a wide array of committed Christians - Catholic, Evangelical, Charismatic, and Protestant - are mobilizing pastors, seminarians and theologians, women religious, Sunday school teachers, religious educators, and faithful church-goers to seek to model wise and proper use of the political process this year in hopes that Senator Obama will be our next president.

Learning from past mistakes, we realize it’s not just who we support that matters - it’s how we show that support. So the Matthew 25 Network will be creating honest and positive messages for broadcast on Christian radio, and for publication in Catholic, Evangelical, and other periodicals. We’ll have a vigorous online presence, and we will organize voices on the ground to speak out in appropriate ways and venues. In everything we do, we will seek to model wise and proper engagement in the political process for people who are deeply rooted in Christian faith.

Here are three ways you can help:

1. Go to Matthew25.org right now and SIGN-UP.
2. Please make a DONATION. This is a brand new effort and we can’t do it without support from people like you.
3. TELL your friends about Matthew25.org.

For nearly 2000 years, followers of Christ have sought to live out their faith in the real world - under a variety of political systems: empires, feudal systems, tribal systems, monarchies, totalitarian regimes, anarchy, and democracy. In our American democracy, we have struggled, stumbled, fallen, and gotten up again, and again, learning each time as we moved forward. We have grappled with how our faith related to declaring independence, opposing slavery, confronting child labor and economic depression, embracing the dream of overcoming racism, and so much more.

Now we face unprecedented global crises: caring for our fragile and wounded planet, building a just peace in situations of conflict and fear, and eliminating extreme poverty. Electing the wrong president will set us back even further in these crises - something we cannot afford to do. Electing the better president will not solve everything; it will only be a first step in the next chapter of our history, but it is an important step.

We invite you to step off the sidelines as an observer or critic. We hope you’ll join us … praying for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and seeking to be humble makers of peace, joyful workers for the common good, and dedicated servants of “the least of these.”

Yours,

Brian McLaren
Author and Pastor

PS. Learn more at www.matthew25.org

An introduction - My Testimony

2008-07-21T11:40:00.008-04:00

I grew up in a typical Southern Baptist church. From the time I started school I was in church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. After years of Sunday school I could pretty much recite every Bible story and eventually came to understand my need for Jesus as my personal Savior shortly before entering my teenage years. Throughout my life I was heavily involved in my church, having attended the same church from Kindergarten through college. A few years ago I started to see what I was learning in Church and what I was hearing fellow church members say and do was not matching up with what I've been learning from the Bible.

Over time, these convictions became so great I simply could no longer be a member of my beloved Church, so I stopped attending regularly over two years ago. I felt very betrayed and untrusting of the evangelical church in the United States. It has become so corrupt and morally bankrupt that it no longer resembles any of the teachings of Christ. The Southern Baptists and conservative Christian fundamentalists of the Religious Right have become a misguided group who traded the Gospel of Jesus for the Gospel of American Empire; who traded Jesus' calls to end poverty and violence for the Empire's call to wage war and to profit from the underprivileged. I became so sickened at the notion that I didn't want to have anything to do with their version of God. I felt like the character John Proctor in the Crucible, in my heart screaming out "GOD IS DEAD!" God is dead, and the Church had killed Him, I thought. I wanted nothing to do with the corrupt Church or their "god." I wanted to give up religion and live and do as much good to help the needy of the world as a secular progressive atheist, even though deep down I couldn't truly deny my believe in God.

In fact, it would be by an atheist website that I would come back to fully embracing my faith in Christ. I found an interesting posting on an atheist blog, that lead to a blog called Revolution in Jesusland, which had a review of a book called Jesus for President. This book, by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, is put out by Christian mega-publisher Zondervan. "Uhg," I thought when I saw the title. "Another book about how Christians are supposed to 'take back this Christian Nation with the evangelical church as Head of State and force our twisted view of morality on everybody, and maybe bomb a few heathen countries while we're at it.'" Then I read part of a liturgy from the book:

“With governments that kill…
…we will not comply.
With the theology of empire…
…we will not comply.
With the business of militarism…
…we will not comply.
With the hoarding of riches
…we will not comply.
With the dissemination of fear
…we will not comply.
But today we pledge our allegiance to the kingdom of God…
…we pledge allegiance.
To the peace that is not like Rome’s…
…we pledge allegiance.
To the Gospel of enemy love
…we pledge allegiance.
To the poor and the broken…
…we pledge allegiance….”

Wait. What? What?! After having reread it a 3rd and 4th time, I knew I had to look into this. I rushed out and bought the book, and read the entire thing almost a once. The message of this book hit me so hard I had to catch my breath and reread it to make sure I wasn't imagining it. The introduction says a lot to frame the message of the book:

"This book is a project in renewing the imagination of the church in the United States and of those who would seek to know Jesus. We are seeing more and more that the church has fallen in love with the state and that this love affair is killing the church's imagination. The powerful benefits and temptations of running the world's largest superpower have bent the church's identity. Having power at its fingertips, the church often finds "guiding the course of history" a more alluring goal than following the crucified Christ. Too often the patriotic values of pride and strength triumph over the spiritual values of humility, gentleness, and sacrificial love."

"We in the Church are schizophrenic: we want to be good Christians, but deep down we trust that only the power of the state and its militaries and markets can really make a difference in the world. And so we're hardly able to distinguish between what's American and what's Christian. As a result, power corrupts the church and its goals and practices. When Jesus said, "You cannot serve two masters," he meant that in serving one, you destroy the relationship to the other. Or as our brother and fellow activist Tony Campolo puts it, "Mixing church and state is like mixing ice cream with cow manure. It may not do much to the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream." As Jesus warned, what good is it to gain the whole world if we lose our soul?"

"So what we need is an exploration of the Bible's political imagination, a renovated Christian politics, a new set of hopes, goals, and practices. We believe the growing number of Christians who are transcending the rhetoric of lifeless presidential debates is a sign of this renovation. Amid all the buzz, we are ready to turn off our TVs, pick up our Bibles, and reimagining the world."

"Over the last several years, the Christian relation to the state has become more dubious. The most prevalent example is the Christian language coming from the State Department of the United States. Professing Christians have been at the helm of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, implicitly or explicitly referencing faith in God as part of their leadership. Patriotic pastors insist that America is a Christian nation without questioning the places in distant and recent history where America has not looked like Christ. Rather than placing our hope in a transnational church that embodies God's kingdom, we assume America is God's hope for the world, even when it doesn't look like Christ. Dozens of soldiers who have contacted us confess a paralyzing identity crisis as they feel the collision of their allegiances. At the same time, many Christians are questioning whether God is blessing these wars and whether it's enough for our money to say "In God We Trust" while the daily reality of the global economy seems out of sync with God's concern for the poor."

I've been incredibly inspired by the message of this book, and I encourage every Christian to read it. I feel the call to take back my faith and to in fact take back the church from the powerful leaders that have corrupted it. We need a new Reformation in the church today; to take back the church for Christ and follow His true and righteous teachings; to love God, and to love our neighbor. For He says in Matthew 25: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

I don't claim to know everything about theology and the Bible. One thing I've learned over the years is that the more I learn, the more I learn that I don't know much. I have more questions than answers. I just want to share my ideas about Christianity and hopefully we can learn together on this journey. If you are reading this, I hope you will ask questions and share your opinions; I enjoy educated debate and discussion of issues. I pray the church's eyes will be open in this next reformation.