Trying to follow

The recent issue of Geez Magazine was one I was really looking forward to. Geez is a fresh perspective on faith and each issue has challenged me to consider a different perspective and a new way of thinking. The latest issue: Let’s Get Evangelical, was exciting for me because I was hoping to see an articulate take on Christianity and “Evangelicalism” that would help me put some of my own thoughts into words.
Overall the articles were good, but they weren’t quite what I was looking for. Geez seems a little more on the skeptic fringe then I thought they would be. However, I was just reading the last article in the magazine, and I got through the first paragraph and realized it deserved a post.

Here’s Bill McKibben on How a Faithful Nation Gets Jesus Wrong:

Only 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments, and a scant half can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels. Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. This failure to recall the specifics of our Christian heritage may be further evidence of our nation’s educational decline, but it probably doesn’t matter all that much in spiritual or political terms. Here is a statistic that does matter: Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.” That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. The thing is, not only is Franklin’s wisdom not biblical; it’s counter-biblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor. On this essential matter, most Americans–most American Christians–are simply wrong, as if 75 percent of American scientists believed that Newton proved gravity causes apples to fly up. Asking Christians what Christ taught isn’t a trick. When we say we are a Christian nation–and, overwhelmingly, we do–it means something. People who go to church absorb lessons there and make real decisions based on those lessons; increasingly, these lessons inform their politics. (One poll found that 11 percent of U.S. churchgoers were urged by their clergy to vote in a particular way in the 2004 election, up from 6 percent in 2000.) When George Bush says that Jesus Christ is his favorite philosopher, he may or may not be sincere, but he is reflecting the sincere beliefs of the vast majority of Americans. And therein is the paradox. America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior. That paradox–more important, perhaps, than the much touted ability of French women to stay thin on a diet of chocolate and cheese–illuminates the hollow at the core of our boastful, careening culture.

Read the Whole Article (Previously published)

What’s your take?

I know this is an old video but I find it disturbing nonetheless.

Bush’s fear-mongering tactics are troublesome. It’s even more troublesome that he actually believes in what he’s doing, regardless of what countless polls and voices are telling him.

There is a lot to be said for this video: from the standing up interview full of intimidating fingerprinting to the avoiding of accusations of water boarding (torture). I just watched Road to Guantanamo the other night and seeing this sure lends evidence to how we got ourselves in this human rights violating state.

Any thoughts?

I’ve posted here and there about racism in the past on this blog, venturing the thought that we need to be intentionally anti-racist if we are to keep from supporting the racist structures that exist within our society. Zach and I went to an MLK Rally last Monday and heard a speech from the new TN NAACP President. Her brief speech was about a Report Card the NAACP put together on a number of companies consumers frequent.

After a decade of tracking and observing how some of the nation’s largest companies and industries treat consumers of color, the NAACP reports that while positive change is occurring, companies across all industries need to commit to continuous improvements in order to break through to the next level of performance.

“African Americans pump roughly $650 billion into the American economy annually,” said NAACP President & CEO Bruce S. Gordon. “We should spend wisely and have readily available information to be assured that those we do business with are reinvesting in our community, employing a diverse work force, utilizing minority vendors and supporting our causes. Those not practicing such measures should not benefit from the economic power we provide. There continues to be opportunities for major corporations to improve their performance.”

I definitly think this report should have authority and validity beyond the African American community. In order to move from our racist structures, people of all races need to be concerned about the well-being of others. Therefore, this report should influence my purchasing power as well as yours. Here’s a glimpse at the section on lodging:

Download the PDF of the Report Card Here.

Tonight, Mindy and I co-lead our community group in a discussion about Jesus’ Third Way. We talked about non-violence, and read Walter Wink’s informative break down of the passage in Matthew:

“You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. And if anyone takes you to court and sues you for your outer garment, give your undergarment as well. If one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two.”

Our common perception is Jesus’ seemingly condoning a cowardly, get trampled on form of submission, but when you really understand what he’s saying with in it’s cultural context you realize it’s brilliantly creative resistance. I’ll give you just a taste so you get the idea:

Jesus’ third example is “If one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two.” Now these packs weighed 65 to 85 pounds, not counting weapons. These soldiers had to move quickly to get to the borders where trouble had broken out. The military law made it permissible for a soldier to grab a civilian and force the civilian to carry the pack, but only one mile. There were mile markers on every Roman road. If — and this is the part we have left out — the civilian were forced to carry the pack more than one mile, the soldier was in infraction of military code, and military code was always more strictly enforced than civilian. So Jesus is saying, “All right. The next time the soldier forces you to carry his pack, cooperate. Carry it and then when you come to the mile marker, keep going.”

The soldier suddenly finds himself in a position he has never been in before. He has always known before exactly what you would do. You would mutter and you would complain, but you would carry it. As soon as the mile marker came, you would drop it. Suddenly, this person is carrying the pack on. The soldier doesn’t know why, but he also knows that he is in infraction of military law and if his centurion finds out about this, he is in deep trouble. Jesus is teaching these people how to take the initiative away from their oppressors and within the situation of that old order, find a new way of being.

Make sure to read the whole thing, to enjoy a very enlightening study of Jesus’ words.

Our discussion went really well. We discussed 5 basic questions after reading:

1. Do you think Christ was Non-Violent?
2. Express some of the negative feelings that this advice about nonviolence stirs up in you.
3. Can you recall a time when you or someone you know used nonviolent direct action creatively?
4. What major social struggles have used nonviolence? Did it “work”? Does that matter?
5. What implications does a Non-Violent Christianity have for your day to day living and faith?

It was fun to discuss some of the stories of creative nonviolent action that we had heard of. It was also good to hear of some of the negative feelings this stirred up. I expressed my feeling already of protecting my child and the anger I might feel of anyone who would want to harm my baby (who isn’t even born yet). Then I acknowledge that if I have that much love for my child, how much more so does the Creator love it’s creation, enemies and violent people included.

I concluded by pointing out that as Christians (since the folks in that group all consider themselves Christians) we are called to be faithful to God, regardless of our personal logic on the given task. That is to say, if Christ was non-violent and we are to be imitators of Christ, then we should be non-violent regardless of whether or not we think non-violence “works.”

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic. And if you want a nice readable, booklet form of the article and discussion questions, you can use this link to the pdf I made for community group.

Zach sent me this video the other day, which we both found very disturbing.

I understand the police reasoning is maybe, possibly, within the law, but it is laws that should be questioned then. These folks had homes until the police destroyed them. Can you imagine being homeless in a country like this? So much wealth and resources and yet, for one reason or another, you can’t make ends meet. Now your just trying to survive on the streets and the police, supposedly there to protect citizens, are destroying your homes, kicking you out of places you’ve found rest and safety in, and leaving you to wander.

Does this bother anyone else?