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Month: November 2006

pursuing all of the agenda of jesus

pursuing all of the agenda of jesus

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It is refreshing to hear of Christian leaders who are not boxed in by particular political constituencies, right or left, who are eager to follow where Jesus leads.

My quarrel with the religious right is that is often a lot more right than religious, that its priorities seem determined more by political ideology than genuine faith. So it was refreshing to hear today the concerns of mega-church pastor Joel Hunter. Hunter is a nationally-known leader in evangelical circles, recently tapped as the next president of the Christian Coalition.

Hunter has resigned the position, citing “differences in philosophy and vision.” He sought to broaden the agenda of the Coalition, to chart a new direction for the organization, addressing not only abortion and gay marriage, but also what he calls “all the agenda of Jesus, the compassion issues as well as the moral issues,” issues of poverty and care for the environment.

When we listen to Jesus, there is hope. There is hope that we will not get stuck in entrenched ideological warfare, but be able to listen to each other as we listen together to Jesus. People like Joel Hunter raise my hopes for future of the church.

The Christian Coalition’s founder, Pat Robertson, has done much to bring public shame to the name, “Christian,” with his narrow-visioned, arrogant, and even hateful pronouncements. Whether you agree or not with Joel Hunter’s positions on the issues — and quite frankly, I know very little other than what I have gleaned from this report — his humility, his sensitivity to the message of Jesus, and his desire to unite, not further divide, the followers of Jesus, is refreshing.

Listen to the NPR report and read a summary of the story.

early fallout from global warming

early fallout from global warming

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By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | November 21, 2006

WASHINGTON — Animal and plant species have begun dying off or changing sooner than predicted because of global warming, a review of hundreds of research studies contends.

These fast-moving adaptations come as a surprise even to biologists and ecologists because they are occurring so rapidly.

At least 70 species of frogs, mostly mountain-dwellers that had nowhere to go to escape the creeping heat, have gone extinct because of climate change, the analysis says. It also reports that between 100 and 200 other cold-dependent animal species, such as penguins and polar bears are in deep trouble.

“We are finally seeing species going extinct,” said University of Texas biologist Camille Parmesan, author of the study. “Now we’ve got the evidence. It’s here. It’s real. This is not just biologists’ intuition. It’s what’s happening.”

Read the rest of Borenstein’s article about the findings of Camille Parmesan’s study.

We are not powerless to reverse the effects or at least the momentum of global warming, but we must act soon, or it may be too late. We means all of us, all of us acting in concert, which means all of us as represented by a government of, by, and for the people. We must not ignore the evidence, downplay the threat, stall for time. We have to act now and acting now requires that we admit there is a problem, a crisis.

We can take baby steps as individuals, to reduce our “carbon footprint,” to offset our contribution to atmospheric greenhouse gases by investing in carbon-reduction technologies, but only acting together can we make reasonable headway to slow the momentum of global warming, only if our national leaders take it seriously and take action.

Too many of God’s creatures are already paying the price for our inaction …

so we will not forget …

so we will not forget …

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The images are disturbing, heart-breaking, horrific … but we cannot forget, we cannot ignore, the human cost of war, the cost to those who are not on any “side,” but find themselves caught in the middle.

how the church gets it backwards

how the church gets it backwards

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Jesus was always on the move.

Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lie down and rest.

Jesus was always on the move, going to the people, seeking out the people.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Jesus was always on the move, seeking out the people, and inviting them to follow.

Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people.

Any fisherman knows — you don’t even have to be a good fisherman — you don’t catch fish by waiting for them to jump in the boat! You catch fish by seeking them out, by knowing their haunts and their habits, by learning to think … like a fish!

It seems to me that much of the time the church gets it backwards. Much of the time, I get it backwards. We aren’t moving, seeking, catching. We are holed up in our sanctuaries wondering why the masses aren’t streaming in the doors asking to be saved. We build it and wonder why they don’t come.

Jesus tells us to follow, to go where he goes, to do what he does.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

Which means in the same way, in the same fashion. Instead of developing evangelism strategies designed to get people in the doors and grow the membership of our churches, we need to develop evangelism strategies designed — to evangelize! — to get the Good News to the people who most need to hear it. There are churches that do it well, but most of us need to stop doing it backwards, turn ourselves around, go out the doors, and follow Jesus.

wise words from amnesty international on the saddam verdict

wise words from amnesty international on the saddam verdict

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From Malcolm Smart of Amnesty International:

Every accused has a right to a fair trial, whatever the magnitude of the charge against them. This plain fact was routinely ignored through the decades of Saddam Hussein’s tyranny. His overthrow opened the opportunity to restore this basic right and, at the same time, to ensure, fairly, accountability for the crimes of the past. It is an opportunity missed and made worse by the imposition of the death penalty.

Read the rest of the Amnesty International commentary on the Saddam trial.

Tony Blair also acknowledged Britain’s opposition to the death sentence: We are against the death penalty … whether it’s Saddam or anybody else.

a breath of fresh air in the abortion debate

a breath of fresh air in the abortion debate

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From a Christian Century editorial, A third way:

The Pregnant Women Support Act, introduced by Lincoln Davis (D., Tenn.) and Chris Smith (R., N.J.), and the Reducing the Need for Abortion Act, sponsored by Tim Ryan (D., Ohio) and Rose DeLauro (D., Conn.), are the most comprehensive bills yet formulated to address the social issues that lie behind the decision to have an abortion. The Ryan-DeLauro bill is notable for bringing together a member of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus (Ryan) and a member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus (DeLauro). Ryan said the proposal is aimed at “broadening the stagnant debate that too often accompanies this issue.”

An organization calling itself, Third Way: A Strategy Center for Progressives, has published a summary of the bill on its website. Here is an excerpt:

Representatives Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), with the backing of both pro-life and pro-choice members, just introduced a new bill, The “Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act.” The legislation is an initiative that will work to reduce the number of abortions in America by both preventing unintended pregnancies and supporting pregnant women and new parents. This bill enables pro-life and pro-choice advocates to find common ground to reduce the number of abortions in America while protecting personal liberties. To measure its success, the legislation both provides grants to states to encourage effective collection and reporting of abortion surveillance data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with an explicit preclusion from reporting any individually identifiable information, and calls for the Institute of Medicine to study why women choose to have an abortion.

Read the rest of the summary here.

tough talk on torture

tough talk on torture

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Listen to a Unitarian minister from New Haven debate Bill O’Reilly on the recently passed detainee bill: an intelligent, passionate, and disciplined defense of the implications of taking Jesus seriously when he says, “Love your enemy …”

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