"politics"

Rick Warren Can Pray, Right?

Before too many people begin to wonder what on earth Obama is thinking by inviting Rev. Rick Warren to the inauguration, please read The Audacity of Hope, Chapter 6 entitled, "Faith."

In this chapter, a relational theology is set out. One in which the longing for a divine relationship that is eternal and present is set out. In seeking a faith to deal with the existential reality of loneliness, Obama speaks frankly about his mother's spirituality, and his search that led him to faith.

In speaking about his Christian faith, Obama sounds like some of the classic Baptist leaders of the past, especially Roger Williams (I mean the long ago past!), and not much like contemporary liberal or conservative Christian leaders. In fact, he comes out as a bit of an oddball. An oddball that would be too liberal for conservatives and too conservative for liberals. It not just politacal pragmatism, it is a stance that finds much of the certainties and the abiguities of faith too profound to be limited to one "camp" or another.

I think Rick Warren, especially because of his commitment to end poverty, provide HIV care to those in need, and his growing awareness to the validity of a truly social gospel makes Rev. Warren an excellent, albeit initially surprising, choice.

Hot Topics

One of the simple things I enjoy after a hard workout at the gym is to sit in the dry sauna. It's a hundred seventy degrees in there. If that's not hot enough, the men and women in there start talking. Usually it starts with a comment about prices of groceries and gas, childcare, and traffic. Mundane stuff, but if folks stay in there long enough, the conversations turn political, comments arise about values, then eventually God is invoked (pietistically or in blasphemy).

Yesterday it was about the prices dropping in the housing market. There were some well-to-do retirees there who worried about their retirement investments and there were a couple middle-aged folks concerned about their equity. One guy, though, mentioned the destabilization in the neighborhoods due to foreclosures. At first some got drawn into that conversation because any drain on the neighborhood, was a strain on their property investments. But then an amazing thing happened. People began to talk about how neighborhoods needed to share in more meaningful community, people getting to know their neighbors and caring about each other. The conversation skipped the politic (which in Idaho usually means blaming the Democrats) and went to straight to the values we share in common.

One of the books I am going through now is Barak Obama's The Audacity of Hope. In the opening chapter, he makes the point that we really want to be able to talk to each other outside the ideological positions. In fact, until can get out of the red-state/blue-state mentality we will not be capable of any real reform in government.

When the sauna conversation skipped politics and went straight to shared values and hopes, we skipped the ideological/political stage. It's been only a few weeks since the election, but are we rally beginning to take seriously the idea of listening to each other? I hope this becomes a habit.

A Black Eye to Racism

I am sure that last night's victory for Barak Obama was not the final blow to racism in America, but it was a powerful one.

Right before falling asleep last night, I remembered my sister's fight against racism when we were small children. Her friend, Phylis was crying. When my sister asked why, Phylis explained that a boy (who has become rather (in)famous nowadays, so shall remain nameless) had called her a name. I think my sister was about 7 or 8 years old. The word that made Phylis cry was the "n-word". Up to that point, we never really thought of Phylis or her little brother as African-American, they were just neighbors and playmates.

Though I wasn't there, the report was basically that my sister went up to Nameless Boy and socked him in the eye. He had a black eye.

Racism has always been a black eye on America. Last night, I thought something was beginning to change. Maybe we are finally growing up enough to see beyond the color of someone's skin. Maybe we are actually entering a new era. I am proud of my sister being a part of a long line of people beating down racism, she was a part of the process that found fruition in yesterday's election.

Way to go Sis!

Common Purpose

Reading today's email from Sojonet quoted at length a recent speech from Gordon Brown, the new PM in Britain. The Prime Minister's entire speech in online at: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page12755.asp

It seems as if the people of Great Britain are fortunate to have a leader that understands that the international push of the Jubilee initiatives from the Vatican and rocker Bono are moving too slowly. Inspired by the call for Jubilee, the UN developed the Millennium Development Goals.

Brown said that we're moving too slowly and that, "our pace is too slow; our direction too uncertain; our vision at risk. ... We cannot allow our promises that became pledges to descend into just aspirations, and then wishful thinking, and then only words that symbolize broken promises."

He then challenged his audience:

And so my argument is simple: The greatest of evils that touches the deepest places of conscience demands the greatest of endeavor. The greatest of challenges now demands the boldest of initiatives. To address the worst of poverty we urgently need to summon up the best efforts of humanity.

I want to summon into existence the greatest coalition of conscience in pursuit of the greatest of causes. And I firmly believe that if we can discover common purpose there is no failing in today's world that cannot be addressed by mobilizing our strengths, no individual struggle that drags people down that cannot benefit from a renewed public purpose that can lift people up.

To find that common purpose, he said:

Our objectives cannot be achieved by governments alone, however well-intentioned; or private sector alone, however generous; or NGOs or faith groups alone, however well-meaning or determined—it can only be achieved in a genuine partnership together.

After addressing governments and businesses, the prime minister went on:

Let me say to faith groups and NGOs—your moral outrage at avoidable poverty has led you to work for the greatest of causes, the highest of ideals, and become the leaders of the campaign to make poverty history. Imagine what more you can accomplish if the energy to oppose and expose harnessed to the energy to propose and inspire is given more support by the rest of us—businesses, citizens, and governments.

Reflecting momentarily on the theological nature of the call to a common purpose to depose poverty, the struggle of common purposes is what alludes us. A missional ecclesiology needs to take into consideration the opportunity to join in a common task to serve a common earth in a common need. Yet, there are numerous NGOs that are religious in orientation that refuse to work together. Many reasons are used to justify the lack of shared effort. But one that is often noticeable is the theological filters that keep us from being "unequally yoked" with others who may not share the same theological commitments.

For instance, in my state there are many social ills. There is a great need for community development to organize and meet these shared needs. However, there are several religious bodies that will not work together if other religious bodies come to the table. A hope arising from a postfoundational posture is that we might be able to come to a common text (not only sacred writings, but demographics, narratives of social experiences, etc) and hear these together. But as long as we come with foundational assumptions of "right" and "left", we are bound to leave the poor in their poverty while we waste our time wondering if we are more correct that others, or less sullied by their presence.

So much for today's rant....