Last night, thousands of people of faith took part in an online gathering for #ChristiansforKamala. I planned on attending but the program ran late. But let me tell you why so many Christians are endorsing the Harris-Watz ticket! ⬇️
Christians for Kamala from Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie on Vimeo.
Get involved and donate: https://kamalaharris.com. Follow Kamala Harris on social media.
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Oregonians should applaud the decision by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to commute the sentences of those on Oregon’s death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As a minister in the United Church of Christ, a denomination long opposed to the death penalty as both immoral and ineffective as a deterrent to crime, I appreciate Gov. Brown’s moral leadership on a politically fraught issue.
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As I wrote last week in an op-ed for Religion News Service, I've decided to leave Twitter in response to the social media platform’s lurch to the far-right under Elon Musk.
But that brought up another question: why stay on Facebook or Instagram?
My public Facebook page has been restricted since last spring when I said a MAGA activist would find comfort in Nazi Germany. Readership has dropped close to 90%.
Instagram, unlike Twitter and Facebook, refuses to verify my account. They also refuse to take down any of the accounts that steal my photos and impersonate me.
For now, I’ve deleted all my social media accounts besides this blog which is rarely visited these days. This isn't 2006 and the heyday of blogging.
But maybe I’ll share a few thoughts here, like in the old days.
Peace be with you.
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Frances (left) and Katherine (right) turn 16 today! We are so proud of these two! They are caring, informed, studious young people. Every day we are amazed by them.
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Oregon Governor Kate Brown is to be commended for the Stay at Home order that she issued a short time ago. It is imperative for faith communities not just to support this law but to communicate the importance of social distancing to parishioners so that we might stop the spread of COVID-19. So many churches, temples, and mosques have done just that by moving services online. But not all. Some of the most significant outbreaks in South Korea, New York City, and Washington, D.C., have occurred in houses of worship. We must practice a #FaithfulDistance to protect public health. As we do so, social distancing cannot become social isolation. It is critical that all Oregonians pick-up the phone and check on neighbors, particularly the most vulnerable. This is a time to live out the Greatest Commandment. We must love our neighbors by doing our part to stop the spread of this illness.
Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, university chaplain and director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality, Pacific University
Oregon Governor Kate Brown has issued a new #StayAtHome order to contain #COVIDー19. This is a helpful response from @OregonGovBrown that will save lives. I urge people of faith to support this order. We need to keep a #FaithfulDistance to protect public health. #StayHomeStaySafe pic.twitter.com/n9Jr77hCWQ
— Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) March 23, 2020
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As both a citizen of the United States of America and an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, I strongly concur with Article VI, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which states: ”...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
Still, for many people of diverse religious traditions, faith informs our political beliefs. On the issue of climate change, a charged political topic which has lead Oregon Senate Republicans to twice flee the state to deny a quorum for voting on legislation addressing the climate crisis, religious bodies nearly uniformly support measures to protect God's Creation.
Specifically, Oregon Republicans oppose Senate Bill 1530, which ”would set a gradually more stringent cap on statewide carbon dioxide emissions and require polluters from the transportation fuels, utility and industrial sectors to acquire ’emissions allowances” to cover every metric ton of their emissions,” according to reporting by The Oregonian.
The Pew Research Center notes that Christian evangelicals make up a large percentage of Oregon GOP voters. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is the umbrella group for these churches in the United States, and they have been clear about what they believe the Christian response to climate change should be: (We) ”...are commanded to care for the earth and all its creatures, because the earth belongs to God, not to us. We do this for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the creator, owner, sustainer, redeemer, and heir of all creation,” wrote the NAE in ”Caring For God’s Creation: A Call to Action.”
Sen. Herman Baertschiger, the GOP minority leader in the Oregon Senate, identifies as a Lutheran on his public Facebook page. “Creation groans under the weight of human action and inaction,” states the Lutheran World Federation.
GOP Rep. Cedric Hayden is a vocal opponent of action by the Oregon Legislature to confront climate change. He is also a former Seventh Day Adventist missionary, a church that says: ”The ecological crisis is rooted in humankind's greed and refusal to practice good and faithful stewardship.”
GOP Senator Bill Hansell, one of those who has left his post in Salem to oppose SB1530, is a Baptist Sunday School teacher. Human activity is ”sometimes productive and caring, but often reckless...sinful,” reads ”A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change.”
Democrat Betty Johnson is the lone member of her party in the Oregon Senate to support the walkout. Senator Betsy Johnson claims membership in the Episcopal Church, which supports a ”carbon tax and carbon offsets” as part of their Jesus Movement for Creation Care.
Republicans and Democrats both compete for religious voters. Pope Francis has said: "The protection of the home given to us by the Creator cannot be neglected.” The General Synod of the United Church of Christ adopted a resolution that declared that the ”vision and urgency of the Green New Deal are what is needed to preserve and restore God’s great gift of creation.”
Leading Jewish rabbis have issued ”Elijah’s Covenant Between the Generations to Heal Our Endangered Earth: A New Rabbinic Call to Action On the Climate Crisis,” which reads in part: ”Our children and grandchildren face deep misery and death unless we act. They have turned their hearts toward us. Our hearts, our minds, our arms and legs, are not yet fully turned toward them.”
The faith-based organization, Islamic Relief Worldwide, has declared: ”We have no right to abuse creation or impair it. Our faith commands us to treat all things with care, compassion (rahmah) and utmost good (ihsan).”
GOP leaders in Oregon will tell you they are not defying religious beliefs by refusing to take action to address the climate crisis. Instead, they will claim to be representing rural Oregon. Yet ”rural America has already experienced impacts of climate change related weather effects, including crop and livestock loss from severe drought and flooding, damage to levees and roads from extreme storms, shifts in planting and harvesting times, and large-scale losses from fires and other weather-related disasters, ” notes the most recent National Climate Assessment.
It will only get worse. Both religion and science offer wisdom for our elected leaders to consider when it comes to climate change, and politics could use an infusion of wisdom right now.
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God of many faiths,
A new virus has emerged.
With it comes grief, suffering, and fear.
Heal the sick, we pray.
Comfort the afflicted, we pray.
God of all nations,
Your people are quarantined in cities and on ships.
Help those impacted find hope.
Help relieve fear.
Spark courage in all your people.
God of all people,
Help us to reach out with compassion.
Remind us to reject bigotry.
Encourage us to lift up reason.
Demand that we respond with love to those in need.
Healing God,
We ask for your blessings on scientists.
We ask for your blessings on doctors and first responders.
We ask for wisdom for government officials the world over.
Bring comfort to all.
We pray all this and more to a God who knows no borders, who loves all people, and who heals the sick and broken-hearted.
Amen.
A prayer written by The Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, a minister in the United Church of Christ, and director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and university chaplain at Pacific University.
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When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice;
when the wicked rule, the people groan.—Proverbs 29:2
Donald Trump is the ”chosen one” has been the theological defense used by white evangelical Christian leaders to defend their support of Donald Trump since 2016. Just listen to Jerry Falwell, Jr., Franklin Graham, Paula White, Robert Jeffress, and now Rick Perry. It’s also their defense against impeachment. How can Congress remove a man God has ordained to be president? This is theological malpractice. God does not pick presidents. Ultimately, the Electoral College does. For those of us who are Christian, we should understand that God wants leaders who will seek a just society and stand with the vulnerable over those who would oppress God’s people. Still, the ”chosen one” defense is powerful. It turns the election and the impeachment inquiry into a Holy War. Good people of faith must oppose this and use the democratic framework of the United States to advance the rule of law, the idea of pluralism, and the belief freedom - including religious freedom for all - can only exist when even powerful leaders are help accountable for their actions.
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