Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

Two Groups Attack National Council of Churches USA

Two ultra-conservative groups are taking new pot shots at the National Council of Churches USA (NCC).

The Institute on Religion and Democracy, a group funded by Republican aligned organizations, continues their assault on NCC with articles posted on their web site about the group’s meeting last fall in St. Louis. IRD staffer and Bush campaign worker John Lomperis criticizes NCC for not being Republican enough:

On November 8, the day before the Assembly began, nearly two dozen mainline Protestants (and one Orthodox woman) gathered for a day-long “Young Adult Pre-Event.” They were treated to a speech by Catholic columnist Colleen Carroll Campbell, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and current fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. She spoke on her recent book, The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy.

Campbell is a conservative political operative and writer. Wouldn’t you think Lomperis and IRD would be happy she was invited to speak? Doesn’t this show NCC wants to hear voices across the religious spectrum regardless of politics? Not according to IRD:

It is not clear why council staffers chose Campbell as a speaker. Her presentation was not well received by the audience of young activists selected by NCC denominations. Later in the week, members of that audience repeatedly emphasized that they had little in common with “the new faithful” of whom Campbell spoke. They and the NCC did not show much interest or appreciation for “the new faithful.” Indeed, the council seems to be headed precisely in the opposite direction from the movement described by Campbell. Rather than welcoming the movement as a source of new energy for ecumenism in the coming century, NCC leaders appear determined to drive it away.

NCC gave Campbell a prominent speaking slot at the gathering and promoted her heavily on their web site. Every effort was made to include her voice. Campbell’s failure, as reported by Lomperis, to connect with her audience seems to have been more about her message than anything else. Plenty of religious people reject the politics of division that many associate with the president. Lomperis arrived at the NCC conference fresh from working with the Bush campaign in Ohio. You can bet he would have attacked NCC if they hadn't invited someone like Campell.

Frontpagemag.com is the place you’ll find the second hit piece on NCC this week. No one will be surprised to read they quote from IRD sources in their article. Why are they writing about NCC? They're worried about communists.

Founded in 1950, the New York City-based NCC has, for more than half a century, remained faithful to the legacy of its forerunner, the Communist front-group known as the Federal Council of Churches. At one time an unabashed apostle of the Communist cause, the NCC has today recast itself as a leading representative of the so-called religious Left. Adhering to what it has described as “liberation theology”—that is, Marxist ideology disguised as Christianity—the NCC lays claim to a membership of 36 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox Christian denominations, and some 50 million members in over 140,000 congregations.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the NCC has soft-pedaled its radical message, dressing up its demands for global collectivization and its rejection of democratic capitalism in the garb of religious teachings. Yet the organization’s history suggests that it was—and remains—a devout backer of a gallery of socialist governments. In the 1950s and 1960s, under cover of charity, the NCC provided financial succor to the Communist regimes in Yugoslavia and Poland, funneling money to both through its relief agency, the Church World Service. In the 1970s, working with its Geneva-based parent organization, the World Council of Churches, the NCC supplied financial support for Soviet-sponsored incursions into Africa, aiding the terrorist rampages of Communist guerillas in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, and Angola.

There is no point in responding to such fantasy.

The article blames NCC for a host of world problems, attacks the group for promoting peace, criticizes NCC for financial problems in the mid-1990s, and then criticizes the group for fixing those problems over the last few years.

Further complicating the NCC’s situation is its history of financial mismanagement. Despite doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of various leftist causes, the NCC been saddled with fiscal woes. The NCC’s leadership has long spent beyond the organization’s means, and in 1998, the NCC found itself facing a deficit of $1.5 million….

That has prompted the NCC to turn elsewhere for support. Compensating somewhat for sagging private donations, the NCC has received funding from a handful of left-wing foundations in recent years. In 2000, the NCC took in $100,000 from the Ford Foundation; $149,400 from the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2000-20001; $150,000 from the Beldon Fund in 2001; $500,000 from the Lilly Endowment in 2002; $50,000 from the Rasmussen Foundation in 2003 and $75,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund that same year.

Who would have thought of these foundations as "left-wing?"

Frontpagemag.com seems to be most frustrated that NCC keeps inferring that God might be concerned about the least of the these, war, and creation.

The NCC’s programmatic opposition to U.S. foreign policy is another manifestation of its deep-rooted leftist politics. Taking refuge in the counsel of the New Testament – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9) – the NCC has repeatedly condemned U.S. military interventions. In 1991, the NCC played a central role in The Return of the Peace Movement, a coalition of leftwing religious groups arrayed against the first Gulf war, when American forces repulsed the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. At that time, the leaders of 32 NCC churches announced that the risk of military intervention was “out of proportion to any conceivable gain.”

The NCC’s assessment of the second Gulf War was equally dismissive. In January of 2003, the NCC’s current president, Methodist preacher Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt Jr, joined 46 other religious leaders in signing a letter to President Bush. The letter expressed the signatories’ “continuing uneasiness about the moral justification for war on Iraq,” and suggested that the President accord them the “opportunity to bring this message to you in person.” Citing scheduling conflicts, Mr. Bush, through a spokesman, politely declined. John Kerry, on the other hand, proved a receptive vehicle for the NCC’s pulpit pacifism. During an October 2004 campaign swing through Florida churches, the Democratic candidate, still struggling to stake out a tenable position on the Iraq war, found himself incanting from an NCC-authored list of 10 “Christian principles in an election year.” The first principle held that “war is contrary to the will of God.” In what was arguably the most desperate bid to rally religious opposition to the war, the NCC’s Edgar even took to claiming that the U.S. military intended to massacre Iraqi civilians, declaring that, “The ordinary people in Iraq are going to be the targets of the bombing.” Having failed to thwart U.S. military intervention, the NCC did not reconsider its reflexive opposition to U.S. policy following the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. Rejecting the notion that America could play the role of a post-war peacemaker, the NCC, in May of 2004, issued yet another letter—which it encouraged member pastors to read to their congregations— urging the U.S. to abdicate authority in Iraq in favor of the United Nations. “We would ask that members of our churches, as they feel appropriate, contact their respective congressional delegations to urge the U.S. to change course in Iraq,” the letter noted.

Even as it has dissociated itself from U.S. foreign policy, the NCC has continuously injected itself into debates on domestic policy. Here, again, the NCC’s strategy involves veiling its leftwing politics in expressions of religious faith. In 2002, the NCC was a party to an environmentalist campaign against the automobile industry. Called “What would Jesus drive?” the campaign, which exhorted car manufactures to embrace stricter emission standards, was engineered by the Evangelical Environmental Network, a coalition of left-leaning religious groups that views “‘environmental’ problems as fundamentally spiritual problems.” The NCC also levied an opposition campaign against the Bush administration’s environmental initiative, the Clean Air Act. In an ad placed in The New York Times, the NCC leadership wrote, “In a spirit of shared faith and respect, we feel called to express grave moral concern about your ‘Clear Skies’ initiative—which we believe is the Administration’s continuous effort to weaken critical environmental standards to protect God’s creation.” Nor was this the first time that the NCC employed such tactics. While proclaiming the virtues of the Kyoto protocol in 1998, the NCC’s then-General Secretary, Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, insisted that an acceptance of the [radical] environmentalist movement’s assertions about global warming ought to be made a “litmus test for the faith community.”

What do these attack articles show? One possibility is that the powers and principalities in control today are worried that religious leaders are regaining their prophetic voice. What happens to the conservative agenda if religious leaders organize a mass movement of Christians to oppose war, poverty and environmental deregulation? Those in charge now would loose power. IRD and Frontpagemag.com don’t want that to happen. After all, IRD gets a lot of their money from Richard Mellon Scaife, Adolph Coors, the John M. Olin Foundation, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee. These folks really know how to be political (and in the most nasty ways).

I also attended the NCC meeting in St. Louis.  Check out these posts to learn more about what really went on:

NCC Holds General Assembly In St. Louis I The Rev. Bob Edgar Visits Eden Theological Seminary I Let Just Roll Campaign Will Keep Rolling On I St. Louis Professor Receives National Recognition For His Work To Bring Churches Together I Eden Theological Seminary Students Recognized At NCC Dinner

US Christian Group Takes Muslim Orphans To Raise As Christians

This post has been updated

Shouldn’t we call this kidnapping?

A Virginia-based missionary group said this week that it has airlifted 300 "tsunami orphans" from the Muslim province of Banda Aceh to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, where it plans to raise them in a Christian children's home.

The missionary group, WorldHelp, is one of dozens of Christian, Muslim and Jewish charities providing humanitarian relief to victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that devastated countries around the Indian Ocean, taking more than 150,000 lives…

"Normally, Banda Aceh is closed to foreigners and closed to the gospel. But, because of this catastrophe, our partners there are earning the right to be heard and providing entrance for the gospel," WorldHelp said in an appeal for funds on its Web site this week….

(The Rev. Vernon) Brewer said the Indonesian government gave permission for the orphans to be flown to Jakarta last week and was aware that they would be raised as Christians.

"We have no knowledge of this," Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said today in Jakarta. "If confirmed, this would constitute a serious violation of the standing ban by the Indonesian government on the adoption of Acehnese children affected by the tsunami disaster and appropriate steps would be taken accordingly." He added that he did not believe any Indonesian official would have approved the transfer of the children.

Full story

This is a serious betrayal of the trust given to American aid groups by people in Southeast Asia. The US government should intervene. If the Indonesian government did not give permission for this – and I’m sure they didn’t – I hope their government brings charges against Brewer and his aid group.

Imagine this: America is devastated by a natural disaster and Muslims from across the globe rush to our aid. But in the process they find Christian orphans and whisk them off somewhere to be brought up Muslim. How would Christians in America react?

Related post: FaithfulAmerica: Rescue or Revival?

Update: "The Virginia-based missionary group WorldHelp has dropped its plans to place 300 Muslim "tsunami orphans" in a Christian children's home, the group's president, the Rev. Vernon Brewer, told news agencies yesterday," reports The Washington Post.  Full story.

No WMD In Iraq. Can We Have All The Money & Lives Lost Back Now?

Any chance the president will admit he was wrong?

By Dafna Linzer

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 12, 2005; Page A01

The hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq has come to an end nearly two years after President Bush ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein. The top CIA weapons hunter is home, and analysts are back at Langley.

In interviews, officials who served with the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) said the violence in Iraq, coupled with a lack of new information, led them to fold up the effort shortly before Christmas.

Four months after Charles A. Duelfer, who led the weapons hunt in 2004, submitted an interim report to Congress that contradicted nearly every prewar assertion about Iraq made by top Bush administration officials, a senior intelligence official said the findings will stand as the ISG's final conclusions and will be published this spring.

President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other top administration officials asserted before the U.S. invasion in March 2003 that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program, had chemical and biological weapons, and maintained links to al Qaeda affiliates to whom it might give such weapons to use against the United States.

I sure wish we were getting ready to swear-in Howard Dean.

UCC Pastor Joins Christian Peacemaker Teams in Columbia

The Rev. Tracy Hughes is a United Church of Christ pastor in Ohio.  She has an amazing background which was profiled yesterday by the Advertiser-Tribune.  Hughes (who is a graduate of Eden Theological Seminary - but a few years before my time here) is getting ready to leave Ohio to become a full-time worker with Christian Peacemaker Teams.  She'll be placed in Columbia, South America.  Hughes has already been there once with CPT, according to the article, and has also served time with CPT in Mexico and the West Bank.  The mission of CPT is to offer "an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and other forms of lethal inter-group conflict. CPT provides organizational support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy.  CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations. CPT projects connect intimately with the spiritual lives of its constituent congregations. Gifts of prayer, money and time from these churches undergird CPT peacemaking ministries."  You can donate to CPT by clicking here.    

Bush: "I don’t see how you can be President...without a relationship to the Lord"

This guy just keeps giving Christians a bad name.

Jewish leaders are rightfully asking for a little clarification from the President:

Press statement from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism:

Reform Jewish Leader Calls on President Bush to Clarify That There Should Be No Religious Tests for Political Office, Including the Office of the United States President

In response to President Bush’s remarks in The Washington Times, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement noting," I urge the President to clarify his remarks given in an interview with the Washington Times, January 11, 2005, in which he stated that: “… I don’t see how you can be President at least from my perspective, how you can be President, without a relationship to the Lord.”

Contact: Alexis Rice or  Eric Gold 202.387.2800

WASHINGTON, January 12, 2005 — In response to President Bush’s remarks in The Washington Times, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:

I urge the President to clarify his remarks given in an interview with the Washington Times, January 11, 2005, in which he stated that:  “… I don’t see how you can be President at least from my perspective, how you can be President, without a relationship to the Lord.” 

While the Reform Jewish Movement has had differences with this Administration on separation of church and state policies, we have worked with the President on religious freedom issues and have seen his commitment to and appreciation of religious diversity both here and abroad.  But on its face, the President’s comments imply that only people with faith in God would be suitable for the office of President of the United States.  This would suggest that millions of Americans whose religious beliefs do not accept monotheism, and millions of non-believers, are unfit to be the President of our nation.  This is difficult to reconcile with the clear spirit and intent of the Constitution’s ban of a religious test in order to hold public office.  It undermines the genius of our Founders’ promise, inherent in the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of our Constitution, that in America one’s rights and opportunities as a citizen should never depend upon his or her religious identity, practices, or beliefs.   

I do not believe that this is what the President intended, and I urge him to clarify this off-the-cuff statement in a manner that affirms the President’s oft-stated commitment to religious pluralism, tolerance, and equality.

###

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose more than 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 1800 Reform rabbis.

A Good New Blog

Check out Towanda's Window - written by an United Church of Christ member in Oregon.

Oregon UCC Church Honors MLK and Protests Inauguration of George W. Bush

Not all Christians are the same.  Media reports after November claimed that the president won the election because of the Christian vote.  But plenty of Christians opposed the president during the election and continue to oppose his policies now.  Just take a look at the good folks at Bridgeport United Church of Christ in Portland, Oregon.  They are honoring the life and message of Martin Luther King and giving the people of Portland a chance grieve the inauguration of George W. Bush (the money involved and the policies he represents) - all at the same time.  MLK would like this congregation.

Press release from Bridgeport United Church of Christ

Bridgeport United Church of Christ presents Sound the Call for Freedom! on inauguration day: Thursday, Jan. 20th at 7 pm at First Congregational UCC (1136 SW Park - please note change in location).  This benefit concert celebrates the memory of Martlin Luther King by raising voices in the spirit of hope, compassion, and peace.  Featured performers include favorite local group Fallen Angels as well as writer Judith Barrington. 

Bridgeport UCC offers the Portland community an opportunity to express grief over the inauguration of George W. Bush, but more importantly, to meet the day with a renewed and vigorous commitment to peace, justice, compassion, and non-violence. Concert performers will offer spoken and sung clarion calls of freedom; in addition to the featured guests, other performers include folksinger Eireen Cullen, writers Wendy Thompson and Trece Greene, and members of the Bridgeport community.

Bridgeport UCC is a community of progressive political people exploring and celebrating the Christian faith. Members share the essential theological conviction that we must all do whatever we can, whenever we can, to work for justice and peace in the world - social, economic, political and environmental.

Proceeds from ticket sales and suggested donations will go toward the cost of a Bridgeport educational/spiritual trip to Mexico. This trip is in coordination with Borderlinks, a non-profit organization providing education about the social, economic, faith, and political issues at play in the border region between the United States and Mexico. The primary goal of the trip is to help members of Bridgeport discern and focus their energy to advocate for and be outspoken regarding peace and justice issues, both locally and globally.

Admission to the January 20th concert is $10.  Tickets may be purchased at the door. 

FaithfulAmerica: Rescue or Revival?

The National Council of Churches USA has a team in Southeast Asia working to assess ways that denominations in the United States might be helpful to churches torn apart by the tsunami and with relief efforts in general. Vince Foster, director of NCC’s FaithfulAmerica.org project, is part of the team and is writing a blog that reports on their experiences. One of the questions Foster has encountered is the appropriate role for Western churches to play. Are we there to provide relief, evangelize, or both. Foster writes:

January 10, 2005, Colombo, Sri Lanka -- In an earlier post I mentioned that on the heels of the disaster some Christian evangelists were using the tsunami as an opportunity to evangelize and convert Sri Lankans from Buddhism or Islam to Christianity. Today we traveled to a small coastal village near Colombo to visit an orphanage ruined by the wave. On our way we came upon a boy dressed in new jeans and a bright white Yankees t-shirt, and carrying a brand new Bible. We stopped and asked where he was going and he told us, “To the prayer.” We learned that there would be some fifty survivors from this fishing village attending the meeting led by an American evangelist.

What is interesting -- and this is purely speculation -– but there is a better than average chance that this young man, or at least some of the fifty in attendance, were Buddhists –- at least before tonight. This illustration touches at the heart of the tension between Buddhist leaders and visiting Christian groups, some of which, such as FaithfulAmerica, are here not to evangelize but to help provide relief. There are some who say evangelists are exploiting this nation’s bad fortune to gain converts, while some evangelists believe they are doing exactly what their faith commands them to do.

A couple of years ago I took a class in evangelism and walked away believing that Western Christians (particularly white ones) should not be allowed to conduct evangelism in other nations (or in communities other than their own). True evangelism can only take place when it occurs with two groups of people who have equal power in the relationship. Handing out relief aid in Southeast Asia post- tsunami at a Bible study is not evangelism – it is extortion.

M. Thomas Thangaraj is a professor at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is from southern India – where I traveled in 2003 – and has served as a pastor in congregations of the Church of South India. He writes in his book The Common Task: A Theology of Christian Mission that:

Mission is possible only in a spirit of mutuality in the sphere of interhuman relations. There are no longer “missioners” and the “missioned.” All are missionaries in a relationship of mutuality.

He further writes:

History proves that we have not always appreciated the mode of mutuality in our relationships. Humans have related to each other in an I-It relationship rather than an I-Thou relationship. The tragic history of slavery bears ample witness to this. Similarly, the way in which various societies have organized themselves in the past and continue to do so is indicative of this lack of mutuality. In the history of Christian missionary movements of the last three centuries, for example, one can detect this problem. The very term “mission field” to denote a group of people of nations is symptomatic of the kind of I-It relationship the missionary enterprise had entailed.

Our task right now in Southeast Asia should not be about evangelism – it should be about relief, about finding ways to work in interfaith partnerships with Buddhists and Muslims, and about working with local Christian communities to support their efforts.

Samaritan's Purse is one of the best known Christian relief agencies in the world today. It is lead by Franklin Graham, son of Bill Graham. They intertwine relief efforts with evangelism in a way that shows an utter contempt for mutuality. Their web site tells the story of how Franklin Graham got involved with the organization and it offers us great insight into his theology:

In the summer of 1973, Bob Pierce (founder of Samaritan’s Purse) met his eventual successor, an adventurous young student—Franklin Graham—with a growing heart for world missions. Intrigued by his many stories from the field, Franklin began to spend more and more time with the seasoned Christian statesman. In 1975, he accompanied Bob on a life-changing tour of some of the world’s neediest mission fields, where Franklin saw the poverty of pagan religions and the utter despair of the people they enslave. God had captured his heart for missions.

Graham and his group see disasters like this as an opportunity to swoop in and save souls. That is not what the people of Southeast Asia need right now (or ever for that matter). Let the Christian churches in India worry about evangelism efforts among their own people. When Americans try and accomplish the same task we often end up supporting oppressive governments and economic policies that only benefit the west. Western Christians, for example, supported the colonial powers that ruled Southeast Asia until the end of World War II. The poverty in the world has nothing to do with pagan religious – it has everything to do with those in the West who advocate economic policies that benefit our own people and which essentially attempt to re-colonize the “third-world.”

Our job as Christians today should simply be to respond to the crisis and to honor the requests made by local churches. People are dying and there is a job to do.

Link: FaithfulAmerica: Rescue or Revival?.

Send A Health Kit To South Asia

Youth Sunday is coming up at the congregation I’m serving this year as part of contextual education.  Yesterday I met with some of the teens involved and they wanted to know what kind of “hands-on” project they could get involved with to provide relief for those caught in the tsunami.  What they’ve settled on is collecting donations of personal hygiene items that can be put into health kits and sent directly into the disaster zone through Church World Service.  These kits consist of one hand towel, one washcloth, one comb, one metal nail file or nail clipper, one bar of soap (bath size), one toothbrush, one tube of toothpaste (4-7 ounces), and six Band-Aids.  CSW is also collecting baby kits, school kits, and Heart-to-Heart Kids kits.  This is an easy project that any church or community group could become involved with.  Click here to learn more.

Dalits Denied Tsunamis Aid - They Need Our Help

Urgent:  Please consider e-mailing out this information to those you know (friends and families) and please link to this post if you have a blog.

The Dalits are the “least of these.” India has, as most people know, a caste system. In that system Dalits are seen as nearly subhuman. The Dalits live in horrid conditions without safe drinking water or sanitation. When I traveled in Southern India we visited Dalit slums and villages, read stories in newspapers of massacres against Dalit people that occurred while we were there, and learned about Dalit liberation theology (a form of Christian theology that has great appeal to church leaders and Dalits). The tsunamis certainly didn’t do anything to improve their condition. But this report from Deutsche Presse-Agentur shows you that inhumanity has no bounds:

Stories of discrimination have poured out of several relief camps in Tamil Nadu, India's worst-affected state, which reported 7,932 of the country's 9,691 reported deaths.

More than 6,000 people died in Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam district, where dalits were reportedly thrown out of relief camps and forced to eat stale food.

"The dalits are being discriminated against by the fishermen. In many relief camps the government is not given them aid, saying the dalits have not been affected by the tsunamis," said Ravi Chandran of Village Development Society (VDS), a non-government organisation.

Chandran worked in Nagapattinam, where more than 91,000 people live in 96 relief camps, and Cuddalore district, where more than 24,000 people are crowded into 38 camps. He said dalits formed 10 per cent of the affected population.

"We sent a petition two days back to the police and state government to speed up aid for the dalits because they were not receiving anything. There has been no response," Chandran told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in a telephone interview from Nagapattinam.

"What is worse is that both the police and the affected fishermen are not allowing our people to deliver food and water to the dalits. About four days back police severely beat up and then arrested a dalit for taking rice from an aid agency. They even demolished what was left of his house," Chandran claimed.

The article recounts many other stories of discrimination against Dalit people. The Church of South India and seminaries in Tamil Nadu (the state I visited) do an amazing amount of work to help the Dalit people organize against their oppressors. Not all Indians support the apartheid forced upon the Dalits. We were told by several church leaders that they hoped one day Americans would became as concerned about the Dalits as we were in fighting the apartheid system in South Africa.

Here are three steps that I recommend for those who want to help the Dalits:

First, learn more about their cause by visiting the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights web site.

Second, give money only to those aid organizations you trust will not enforce the caste system. Church World Church, for example, works with ecumenical partners throughout Southeast Asia that have taken an active role in supporting the Dalit cause.

Finally, contact the Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen by e-mail and ask him to promise that aid being sent from the United States will not be denied to the Dalit people. Also ask that he personally guaranty that the reports from Deutsche Presse-Agentur will be investigated and that those who have undertaken these acts of hatred will be held responsible.

Surprise Snow Storm

With all the doom and gloom in the world (and reported on this blog) I thought it might be nice to share a happier sight:  our dogs Hugo and Hazel playing last night in the backyard after a surprise snow storm.  I promise Hazel isn't being beaten up.  She's actually the stronger and smarter of the two.  Hugo's only advantage is weight.

CWS Tsunami Aid Arrives in Sri Lanka -- CWS Raises Tsunami Appeal to $5 Million

Statement from Church World Service

NEW YORK – International humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) announced this morning a $5 million public fundraising campaign for victims of the Southern Asia tsunami disaster. Of the agency’s initial $1 million aid shipment airlifted last week, a first shipment of shelter kits arrived for distribution in Sri Lanka on Sunday.

"In the first two or three days following the disaster, we quickly surpassed a startup million dollar goal for contributions from our supporting denominations," says CWS Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough, "and that was without benefit of our national direct mail campaign, which is in the mail this week."

But much more is needed, says McCullough, to support Church World Service’s tsunami recovery efforts -- in a region where the agency has longstanding presence providing self-help development, refugee assistance, and emergency relief.

"Additional airlifts are planned to provide much needed commodities for immediate needs and long-term recovery," McCullough said. CWS is establishing a regional emergency staging area to support its Southern Asia recovery efforts.

The New York-headquartered agency provided emergency rapid response grants to its partners in India and to the CWS office in Indonesia immediately after the disaster struck.

Church World Service Emergency Response Program Director Rick Augsburger, scheduled to be in the devastated region this week, says CWS was positioned to respond quickly to the disaster.

"The agency has longstanding presence in Southern Asia, with offices in Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia," Augsburger said. "With over 100 staff in our Indonesia office we responded immediately."

CWS Pakistan’s Emergency Response Team is now in Sri Lanka assisting its longstanding partner the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) in distribution of shelter and other material assistance and to assess further emergency needs.

In Indonesia, hardest hit and with an estimated death toll to date of 94,000, a Church World Service team is now in the Sumatran province of Aceh completing its initial assessment and administering CWS relief.

For initial response to coastal Thailand’s affected area, CWS has offered to provide Emergency Medical Boxes for a shipment that the Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C., is facilitating from the United States. Augsburger said CWS has been active in Thailand for many years as a founding member of the Thai-Burmese Border Consortium in Bangkok.

CWS Associate Director for International Emergency Response Donna Derr, CWS Emergency Response Staff Specialist Jane Strachen, and CWS Tsunami Relief Coordinator Menno Wiebe will join Augsburger and regional CWS response staff to begin further assessment needs in the region and detail additional immediate and long-term response and recovery actions.

To assist Church World Service in meeting urgent needs throughout Southern Asia, Pakistan International Airlines and Singapore Airlines have agreed to provide gratis air lifts of material aid to Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The CWS response: long-term, many-faceted

Maurice Bloem, CWS Indonesia Country Director, whose program has focused on trauma recovery in the politically challenged region, says, "Children experienced an emotionally painful event in which they have lost a parent or both parents and were separated from siblings and significant others. They are in shock from the sudden fleeing from their homes and distressed by the overcrowding of camps (for the displaced).

"We hope to provide much-needed psychosocial activities for 2,000 children who have been displaced by the disaster. The program would focus on activities for children ages 6-12 in internally displaced camps in Aceh. This will be just one part of our ongoing relief and recovery program.

"Early intervention is critical to help children who have suffered trauma due to disaster," he noted. The proposed program will provide children with a gradual routine after the catastrophic events of the last week.

Agency sees three-year emergency response and long-term recovery effort

CWS is committed to long-term recovery in South Asia, McCullough says. “We see the emergency response phase itself lasting a significant period of time until basic needs are stabilized. It is already clear that long-term recovery for those in affected areas will take many years.

"For now, in addition to getting food, medical supplies, shelter, and aid delivered to people," he says, "we are beginning to plan long-term rehabilitation efforts. We join with those millions in mourning their tragic losses. There is no way to lessen that pain."

McCullough says one of Church World Service’s strengths "lies in its ability to rally support from grassroots Americans and through the interfaith community."

CWS is supported in part by 36 U.S. denominations. "We communicated with the leaders of our supporting communions immediately after the earthquakes and tsunami," McCullough said, urging them to join with us in an unprecedented and united ecumenical effort."

"The denominations have come forth with record support already," reports CWS’s McCullough, who cited initial pledges from the United Church of Christ; Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)--Week of Compassion; United Methodist Committee on Relief; International Orthodox Christian Charities; Reformed Church of America; Presbyterian Disaster Assistance; Episcopal Relief and Development; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; and the Church of the Brethren.

"Faith-based response in the U.S. is proving a major supporter for victims of this tragedy– now and for the long-term," says McCullough. "Church World Service will also be pursuing possibilities with member communions for other joint fundraising opportunities and responses."

###

Contributions to support CWS Tsunami Recovery efforts may be sent to:

Church World Service
Tsunami Recovery
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515

Credit card contributions may be made by calling 800-297-1516, or online at www.churchworldservice.org. 

Institute on Religion and Democracy Works To Undermine United Methodist Church

The Institute on Religion and Democracy (a group funded by Republican political activists) published an article just before Christmas that was critical of worship services being held by the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society. IRD staffer John Lomperis (and Bush campaign volunteer? - we've met and it sure looks like him) attended a World AIDS Day service and wrote that the worship experience "makes one wonder if the Wednesday GBCS services are exclusively for and by people who identify with the “progressive” (i.e., liberal) theology and politics of the GBCS staff."  The on-going mission of IRD is to work politically to destabilizing mainline churches in hopes of promoting a conservative takeover of denominations like the United Methodist Church in the same way conservatives took over the Southern Baptist denomination in the 1970s and 80s.

GBCS director James Winkler responded to John Lomperis' article with one of his own.  "I find it disgraceful that the Institute on Religion and Democracy’s UMAction committee has now set out to make what is sacred appear scandalous. John Lomperis, an IRD staffer, attended both the December 1 and 8 worship services in the guise of a “reporter.” The fact that he is watching and not worshiping is apparent. John does not participate in any way in the service. He does not rise for scripture readings, join in singing the hymns, take communion, or participate in litanies and unison prayers. He takes copious notes, particularly during the sermon and as worship participants voice their prayer requests. His behavior speaks loudly and clearly that even as we open ourselves to God, the IRD/UMAction is taking notes," writes Winkler.

Winkler goes on to write that "I believe that only those with malice and hate in their souls would attend a worship service intent on writing a twisted, nasty, destructive account of it. A brief review of the articles and newsletters prepared by IRD and UMAction over the years makes it apparent they only write scathing, accusatory and half-truthful accounts of the work and ministry of The United Methodist Church.  Based on his attendance at exactly two of the hundreds of worship services in Simpson Memorial Chapel, John Lomperis has asserted that the 'Wednesday services are exclusively for and by people who identify with the ‘progressive’ theology and politics of the GBCS staff.'  Of all the many shameful activities carried out by IRD and UMAction over the years, nothing sinks to the level of demeaning the worship of Jesus Christ or of intimidating worshippers from praying from their hearts and souls."

Good for Winkler.  No one should be confused about what is going on.  IRD is not a disgruntled conservative United Methodist group.  They are a political organization funded by political activists with a political agenda that is anti-civil rights, anti-gay, anti-choice, and pro-war.  Their backers hope IRD can silence the prophetic voice in mainline churches through, as Winkler says, distortion and intimidation.  The good news:  the United Methodist Church still has leaders like Winkler speaking the truth and fighting back.      

Appeal from the Church of North India

Statement from the Church of North India

Through electronic and printed media reports, all of us are aware of the horror, destruction and loss of life because of unfamiliar and unknown disaster called “tsunami”. According to the United Nation’s estimate, the death-toil figure has crossed 150,000 dead. Without undermining the gravity of the loss and destruction in other parts of our own country and in the South West Asia and while we express our empathy and solidarity with our counterparts in those areas/countries, we, in the CHURCH OF NORTH INDIA have suffered a great loss as one of our Diocese, the Diocese of Andman and Nicobar Islands has been the worst hit.

In a radius of ten kilometer in Car Nicoabar Island there were eleven large church buildings.  According to the unconfirmed sources, as communication in these islands have been totally disrupted, nine large church buildings in Chukchuka, Tamalu, Terka, Malakka, Kakana, Kimeos, Awrong and Sawai villages in Car Nicobar Islands have been washed away and the Car Nicobar island itself has been splitted into three islands due to change of course of the sea and these villages where these churches were standing have now turned into sea beach by the killer tidal wave.  Only two churches viz. St. Thomas’ Cathedral in Mus and St. Andrews in Kenyuka are standing though partially damaged.

Out of the forty-five clergies, according to the latest information reaching us three Clergies with their families have died and one lost his children and got himself injured.

We however praise God that Bishop Christopher Paul, who was consecrated in 2003, is reported to be alive along with his family.  Mr. Appolos, Diocesan Secretary is all right and will soon join the relief camp in Port Blair.  The total population of the islands is reported to be approximately 35,000 and more than 4,000 are now in Relief Camps in Port Blair, 20 to 25 thousands are expected to be surviving in the jungles of Nicobar and not less than 10,000 is reported to be killed.

The Most Rev. Z. James Terom, Moderator, CNI, immediately constituted a high power CNI DISASTER MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE with Bishop P.S.P. Raju as Chairman, The Rev. Enos Das Pradhan, Mr. K.R.P. Kosala, Dr. Samuel Kishan, Dr. Shailendra Awale, Mr. Sudipto Singh, Bishop Christopher Paul, Mr. J.B. Jayaraj, Mr. Appollos, Mr. Rig David, Mrs. Christen, Mr. Kalvin Roberts and Mr. Stephen Gosalves as members.  Mr. Khogendra Nath Das, the former SBSS Consultant has been appointed, as the Resident Relief Coordinator.  He is based in Port Blair.

A team of six members with Mr. Sudipto Singh as the team leader, Mrs. Reena Bose of CNI SBHS, Mr. Rajiv Prasad, Mr. Sunil Mahajan and Mr. R. John Suresh Kumar of CNI SBSS and Mr. K.N. Das reached Port Blair on December 31, 2004 with relief materials and medicines.  The team has joined hands with other four Christian relief organizations operating in Port Blair.

CNI Relief Control Room has been opened at the Bishop’s House, Goal Ghar, near Phoenix Bay, Port Blair, Phone No. 03192 231 362. Mr. K.N. Das, Relief Coordinator will be operating from this control room. Any relief materials for tsunami victims may be sent directly at the above address or may be sent to the Bishop’s House, 51 Chowringhee Road, Calcutta 700 071.

Your contributions by cheque or demand draft may be sent to the Treasurer, Church of North India, 16 Pandit Pant Marg, New Delhi 110 001, India.  The cheque/draft should be drawn in favor of CHURCH OF NORTH INDIA SYNOD.

New Blogs & One New Site

Well, these sites might not all actually be new, but they're new on my list of links.  Go visit Talking Donkeys, Frederick Clarkson, and Philosophy Over Coffee for some good blog reading.  Then head over and visit Church Folks for a Better America, a group started by Dr. George Hunsinger of Princeton Theological Seminary.  Dr. Hunsinger was the one responsible for the open letter from religious leaders to Alberto Gonzales.

Epiphany letter calls UCC members to be welcoming into ‘consoling embrace of Christ’

UCC general minister and president stresses Jesus’ radical welcome

By Barb Powell
United Church News

Jan. 6, 2005

CLEVELAND -- The Rev. John H. Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ today (Jan. 6) released a pastoral Epiphany letter calling UCC members to a deeper understanding of Jesus' radical welcome.

Highlighting the UCC's December 2004 television ad campaign, Thomas wrote, "The attention the commercial controversy drew to our church provided a unique opportunity to speak the Gospel in an accent not often heard in our culture. Coming in the wake of a political season laced with commercials marked by deception and trading on fear, a message frequently echoed by the highly visible theology and values of the extreme religious and cultural right, our voice broadcast an often-silenced message of grace."

"I believe we have been given a unique opportunity to help recast the public debate over values in this country and to reshape the public perception of the nature and purpose of Christian faith and Christian community," wrote Thomas. "Seizing this opportunity will take courage, for resistance to our message is formidable, cutting against the prevailing grain of a society frightened by the stranger, suspicious of difference, and easily seduced by appeals to a future secured with narrowly defined theological boundaries and well defended national borders. Living out the welcome promised in our ad will take commitment to continued growth in congregational cultures of hospitality."

While citing that more than 137,000 people used the "find a church" search engine on the two UCC websites -- ucc.org and stillspeaking.com, Thomas also cautioned UCC members against self-righteousness on the one hand, and complacency on the other.

"The deeper danger for us is that we will grow content with a message of inclusion and welcome," said Thomas. "An invitation to a community of amiable tolerance is certainly to be preferred to the mean-spirited exclusion around us, but as our prayer suggests, the hands we reach forth are to be an embodiment of the outstretched arms of Christ in his passion. The welcome we extend is to a baptism that names us children of God and members of the church, a baptism that does not bless us and the culture in which we live, but reshapes us for costly discipleship, resisting those elements of our culture that demean, diminish and destroy. The invitation we give at the Table is not an offer of friendly dinner conversation, but an encounter with Jesus, crucified and risen, and with a vision of the realm of God that contends with the violence and injustices of our day. The Jesus who never turns anyone away is the same Jesus who asks us to take up the cross."

'"God is still speaking' invites us and those who may join us to an identity that at the deepest level is a 'putting on Christ,' and therefore a process of repentance for those things in our lives that separate us from Christ," Thomas continued. " … The Stillspeaking God, whose prayer "that they may all be one" led to the formation of our church, calls us today to discern and receive the gifts of other Christians even as we celebrate our own, and to repent of all those things that continue to divide the Body of Christ."

The pastoral letter concluded with praise for the outpouring of gifts from the UCC and its ecumenical partners for Asia tsunami relief, which Thomas called "gifts that reflect the deep compassion of God."

"Once again we were reminded that vital responses to urgent need require vital churches deeply attentive to neighbors," wrote Thomas in closing. "Our hospitality ultimately must be a welcome to the consoling embrace of Christ."

An Epiphany Letter from
The Rev. John H. Thomas
UCC General Minister and President

Jan. 6, 2005

Dear Friends,

While on a silent retreat at the National Cathedral in Washington during the week following the public controversy over the refusal of the networks to air our television commercial, I encountered this prayer in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.

This prayer, mirroring the extravagant welcome of our commercial - "Jesus didn't turn people away; neither do we." - roots our message of hospitality in the person and passion of Christ, and invites us to a deeper reflection on the purpose of that welcome.

The attention the commercial controversy drew to our church provided a unique opportunity to speak the Gospel in an accent not often heard in our culture. Coming in the wake of a political season laced with commercials marked by deception and trading on fear, a message frequently echoed by the highly visible theology and values of the extreme religious and cultural right, our voice broadcast an often-silenced message of grace. Hundreds of letters and emails received in response to the ad suggest that such a message was a source of profound and unexpected encouragement and hope to persons who have believed themselves to be outside the reach of Christ's outstretched arms and for whom the cross is experienced only as judgment, never as embrace. Many who saw the ad took the further step of seeking out a United Church of Christ congregation. Over 137,000 people used the "find a church" feature at ucc.org or stillspeaking.com in December, compared with 5,700 in November.

I believe we have been given a unique opportunity to help recast the public debate over values in this country and to reshape the public perception of the nature and purpose of Christian faith and Christian community. Seizing this opportunity will take courage, for resistance to our message is formidable, cutting against the prevailing grain of a society frightened by the stranger, suspicious of difference, and easily seduced by appeals to a future secured with narrowly defined theological boundaries and well defended national borders. Living out the welcome promised in our ad will take commitment to continued growth in congregational cultures of hospitality. Taking advantage of this moment will require a level of generosity unprecedented in the United Church of Christ, for if the ad controversy taught us anything, it was the power of the media to thrust heretofore quiet voices and perspectives into amazing, almost unnerving prominence.

The giddy experience of seeing our church featured on television, in newspaper reports, on editorial pages, and even in the daily political cartoon lends itself to two dangers. One is a self-righteousness that tempts us to "think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think." The other is a complacency that forgets the short attention span of our culture and assumes our point has been made, and is remembered. Will we be courageous enough, committed enough, and generous enough to seize this unique moment with humility and confidence?

The deeper danger for us is that we will grow content with a message of inclusion and welcome. An invitation to a community of amiable tolerance is certainly to be preferred to the mean-spirited exclusion around us, but as our prayer suggests, the hands we reach forth are to be an embodiment of the outstretched arms of Christ in his passion. The welcome we extend is to a baptism that names us children of God and members of the church, a baptism that does not bless us and the culture in which we live, but reshapes us for costly discipleship, resisting those elements of our culture that demean, diminish and destroy. The invitation we give at the Table is not an offer of friendly dinner conversation, but an encounter with Jesus, crucified and risen, and with a vision of the realm of God that contends with the violence and injustices of our day. The Jesus who never turns anyone away is the same Jesus who asks us to take up the cross.

Thus, our "God is still speaking" identity campaign is not just about getting our name more visible, or helping our people remember their heritage of "firsts," or joining in playful musings on the theology of "the comma," no matter how valuable and helpful these might be. And, as a "united and uniting church" for whom the ecumenical vocation is at the core of our identity, it cannot be our presumption that a distinctive Gospel voice makes us superior to others with their own distinctive and critical voice. No, "God is still speaking" invites us and those who may join us to an identity that at the deepest level is a "putting on Christ," and therefore a process of repentance for those things in our lives that separate us from Christ.

What are those things? The Stillspeaking God who inspired the Amistad captives and their New England supporters calls us today to repent of the racism that continues to deny dignity and distort community in our nation and in our church. The Stillspeaking God who called missionaries to live sacrificial lives among the poor and the oppressed throughout the world calls us today to repent of the consumerism that holds our spirits captive, impoverishes most of the world in a global system lavishly feeding the few at the expense of the many, and imperils the very creation that sustains us. The Stillspeaking God who led our generation to welcome and affirm gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians into membership and ministry in the church calls us to repent of all forms of exclusion that diminish or demean persons and families in church and society. The Stillspeaking God who led a courageous few of our forebears to be arrested rather than support the creation of our weapons of mass destruction calls us today to repent of the militarism that no longer seeks merely to restrain evil but now would impose an imperial agenda on the rest of the world. The Stillspeaking God whose prayer "that they may all be one" led to the formation of our church calls us today to discern and receive the gifts of other Christians even as we celebrate our own, and to repent of all those things that continue to divide the Body of Christ.

During Christmas the world witnessed the horror of destruction caused by the tsunami in Southern Asia and parts of Africa. We also witnessed the beginning of an outpouring of gifts from the United Church of Christ and our ecumenical partners, gifts that reflect the deep compassion of God. Once again we were reminded that vital responses to urgent need require vital churches deeply attentive to neighbors. Our hospitality ultimately must be a welcome to the consoling embrace of Christ.

The day of Epiphany concludes our celebration of the incarnation, a mystery of divine visitation and halting human hospitality, where welcoming the stranger includes welcoming the Christ and the vision Christ brings. For all the hospitality announced and extended through our Stillspeaking Initiative in December, we confess what the poet acknowledges: "Once again as in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed to do more than entertain it as an agreeable possibility" (W. H. Auden). Thus may we be clothed with the Spirit that the One revealed may more and more become the One welcomed. With the whole church may we discover deeper dimensions of that welcome, praying on Epiphany,

Radiant Morning Star, you are both guidance and mystery.
Visit our rest with disturbing dreams, and our journeys with strange companions.
Grace us with the hospitality to open our hearts and homes
to visitors filled with unfamiliar wisdom bearing profound and unusual gifts. Amen.

(Revised Common Lectionary
Prayers of the Consultation on Common Texts)

Jewish Leaders Question Alberto Gonzales’ Nomination

Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and Jane B. Wishner, Chair of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, have written the Senate Judiciary Committee asking that they ask “difficult questions” of Alberto Gonzales, the president's nominee for Attorney General. Gonzales, in his role as White House counsel, has argued that the United States does not need to heed international prohibitions on torture.

More broadly, we hope that the nomination process will provide Mr. Gonzales an opportunity to discuss his prospective role in shaping the overall civil rights record of the Administration. In September, the United States Commission on Civil Rights published a 166-page draft report that provided a critical assessment of the Administration’s record in its first term. It is important that Mr. Gonzales be asked about the role of the Attorney General in addressing the issues raised by the report.

Finally, we also urge you to question Mr. Gonzales about his view on religious liberty issues, in relation to both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment. We have been concerned, for example, about efforts to pass constitutional amendments and laws that would substantially weaken or eliminate the establishment clause, and would ask you to explore Mr. Gonzales’ role in those efforts.

Click here to read their full press statement and letter.

Related post: An Open Letter to Alberto R. Gonzales From Religious Leaders

FaithfulAmerica Launches "Hands Across the Waters" for Tsunami Victims

FaithfulAmerica.org, the online advocacy project of the National Council of Churches USA, has started a blog where their staff is reporting on relief efforts in Southeast Asia.

A delegation from FaithfulAmerica.org and The National Council of Churches USA departs on Wednesday, Jan. 5, on a two-week mission to the two countries hardest hit by the recent Asian tsunami, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Shanta Premawardhana, head of Interfaith Relations for the National Council of Churches, and Vince Isner, Director of FaithfulAmerica.org will arrive in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Friday to meet with survivors as well as leaders of various faith groups in the region to determine need and set out a strategy for the long haul.

Make sure you visit the new site to learn more about their visit.

Link: FaithfulAmerica: FaithfulAmerica Launches "Hands Across the Waters" for Tsunami Victims.

An Open Letter to Alberto R. Gonzales From Religious Leaders

The United States Senate Judiciary Committee will begin holding hearings this week on the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to serve as the new US Attorney General.  Over 250 religious leaders have written Mr. Gonzales asking that he "declare that any attempt to undermine international standards on torture, renditions, or habeas corpus is not only wrong but sinful."  I am one of those who has signed the letter.  Mr. Gonzales is the current White House counsel that declared torture can be used by the United States.  Here is the text of the letter which was released at a press conference this morning:

January 4, 2005

Hon. Alberto R. Gonzales

Counsel to the President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC   20500

Dear Judge Gonzales:

We, the undersigned religious leaders, greet your nomination to be Attorney General of the United States with grave concern.

As a self-professed evangelical Christian, you surely know that all people are created in the image of God. You see it as a moral imperative to treat each human being with reverence and dignity. We invite you to affirm with us that we are all are made in the image of God – every human being. We invite you to acknowledge that no legal category created by mere mortals can revoke that status. You understand that torture – the deliberate effort to undermine human dignity – is a grave sin and affront to God. You would not deny that the systemic use of torture on prisoners at Abu Ghraib was fundamentally immoral, as is the deliberate rendering of any detainee to authorities likely to commit torture.

We urge you to declare that any attempt to undermine international standards on torture, renditions, or habeas corpus is not only wrong but sinful. We are concerned that as White House counsel you have shown a troubling disregard for international laws against torture, for the legal rights of suspected "enemy combatants," and for the adverse consequences your decisions have had at home and abroad.

How could you have written a series of legal memos that disrespected international law and invited these abuses? How could you have justified the use of torture and disavowed protections for prisoners of war? How could you have referred to the Geneva Conventions as “quaint” and “obsolete.” We fear that your legal judgments have paved the way to torture and abuse.

We therefore call upon you

•  To denounce the use of torture under any circumstances;

•  To affirm, with the Supreme Court, that it is unconstitutional to imprison anyone designated as an "enemy combatant" for months without access to lawyers or the right to challenge their detentions in court;

•  To affirm the binding legality of the Geneva Conventions and the laws of war;

•  And to reject the practice of "extraordinary rendition," at home and abroad, by which terrorist suspects are sent to countries that practice torture for interrogation.

We believe, as you do, that the United States must be an example of moral leadership in the world community. However, the events at Abu Ghraib have gravely compromised America's moral authority. We ask that you commit yourself as Attorney General to repairing that damage by articulating and enforcing legal policies that reject the use of torture, embrace and advance standards of international law, and honor the dignity of all of God's creation.

With prayers for wisdom and grace,

Rev. Dr. George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary 

       Coordinator: Church Folks for a Better America

Dr. C. René Padilla, General Secretary for Latin America, IFES

Sr. Dianna Ortiz, director, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center

Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB

Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, President, Chicago Theological Seminary

Mr. Jim Wallis, Editor, Sojourners

Dr. Ron Sider,   President,   Evangelicals for Social Action

Dr. Anthony Campolo, Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education

Dr. Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, St. Louis University

Dr. Juanita Jartu Jolly, Agape Christian Tabernacle

Rev. Victor Aloyo, Jr., Director of Vocations, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, Executive Director, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice

Pastor Amaury Tañón-Santos, American Baptist Churches

The Rev. John E. Denaro, Episcopal Migration Ministries

Rabbi Michael Lerner, The TIKKUN Community

Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, The Divinity School of Duke University

Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Aux. Bishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit

Bishop James H. Burch, Catholic Diocese of One Spirit

Rev. Dr. Joseph C. Hough, Jr., President, Union Theological Seminary

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, The Shefa Fund

Rev. Dr. James H. Cone, Union Theological Seminary

Dr. Teresa Whitehurst, Jesus on the Family Institute

Dr. Glen Stassen, Fuller Theological Seminary

Rabbi Brian Walt, Rabbis for Human Rights North America

Rev. Romal Tune, African American Ministers Council

Rev. Dr. Therese M. Becker, Department of Spiritual Care, University of Chicago Hospitals

Rabbi Shirley Idelson, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion

Rev. Theophlus Caviness, Greater Abyssinia, Cleveland, OH

Rev. Violete Dease, Abyssinian Baptist, Harlem, NY

Dr. Paul H. Sherry, National Council of Churches of Christ

Iftekhar Hussain, Secretary General, American Muslim Society of the Tristate Area

Rev. Victoria J. Furio

The Rev. Julio Torres

Rev. Timothy McDonald, African Amer. Ministers Council & First Iconium Baptist

Dr. Tarunjit Singh, Secretary General World Sikh Council - America Region

Dr. William Werpehowski, Center for Peace and Justice Education, Villanova University

Mr. Dave Robinson, Executive Director, Pax Christi USA

Mahdi Bray, Executive Director Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation

Sheila Musaji, Editor, The American Muslim Magazine

Mohammed Kaiseruddin, President, Muslim Community Center, Chicago

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Dr. A.S. Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad, Africana Islamic Institute

Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Sound Vision Foundation

Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs

Rev. Meg Riley, Unitarian Universalist Association

The Rev. Frank Morales, St. Marks Church

Rabbi Gerry Serotta, Temple Shalom

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assoc. (Past President)

Dr. E. Glenn Hinson, Professor Emeritus, Baptist Theological Seminary

The Rev. Robert Moore, Coalition for Peace Action & Peace Action Education Fund

Rev. Dr. Donald W. Shriver, President Emeritus, Union Theological Seminary, NYC

Sr. Betty Obal, SL, UN NGO Representative, Loretto Community

Rev. Dr.  Frederick R. Trost, Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ

Bishop Charles Wesley Jordan

Mr. Jason Byassee, Assistant Editor, Christian Century

David W. Reid, Publisher, Vital Theology

Richard V. Pierard, Stephen Phillips Professor of History, Gordon College

Dr. Barbara DeConcini, Executive Director, American Academy of Religion

Rev. Steven C. Baines, People For the American Way Foundation

Dr. Tarunjit Singh, Secretary General World Sikh Council - America Region

Bishop Marshall L. Meadors, Jr. Bishop in Residence Candler School of Theology Emory

The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

The Very Rev. Dr. Ann J. Broomell, Dean Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Rev. Dr. Albert M. Pennybacker, Chair/CEO, Clergy and Laity Network

Rev. Vicky A. Fleming

The Reverend K. Dennis Winslow, St. Peter's Episcopal Church

Rev. Dr. James E. Fitzgerald, Minister for Mission and Social Justice, The Riverside Church

Dr. Sondra Wheeler, Martha Ashby Carr Professor of Christian Ethics, Wesley Theological Seminary

Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson

Dr. George F. Regas, The Regas Institute

Dr. Charles Hunter, Presbyterian Minister, Parish Associate at the Oak Cliff Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas

Rev. Dr. Charles Raynal, Director of Advanced Studies, Columbia Theological Seminary

Mark A. Chancey, Religious Studies, Southern Methodist University

The Rev. Gary R. Weaver

Julie M. Hill

Scott R. Gansl, president, World Congress of GLBT Jewish Organisations: Keshet Ga'ava

Dr. S.M. Ghazanfar, Professor of Economics University of Idaho

Dana Regan, First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR

Rev. Dr. William G. Brockman

Bob Morris

Helga Scow Stern

Chuck Currie, United Church of Christ Seminarian, Central Pacific Conference UCC

Rev. Jay R. Newlin, OSL, Pastor Jenkintown United Methodist Church

Rev. Melody C. Porter, First United Methodist Church of Germantown

Ruth Messinger

Anne Ewing

The Rev. Meg A. Riley, Unitarian Universalist Association

Rabbi Nancy Flam, Institute for Jewish Spirituality

Rabbi Alana Suskin, Congregation Adas Israel

Rabbi Dr. Andrew Vogel Ettin, Wake Forest University and Temple Israel

Rev. David Wesley Brown

Dr. S. Huw Anwyl, Senior Minister & CEO Shepherd of the Hills Church

Rev. Dexter Lanctot

Rabbi Suzanne Griffel

Rabbi Laura Geller, Los Angeles

Rabbi Douglas E. Krantz

Rabbi Neil Kominsky, Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley

The Rev. James F. McIntire, MDiv, JD, The United Methodist Church of Bala Cynwyd

Eric Mount, Centre College (Rodes Professor Religion Emeritus)

Rev. Robert G. Coombe Pastor:   Union United Methodist Church

Elizabeth Memel, Ojai, CA

Haim Dov Beliak

Rev. Susan Cole

Rev. Michael Kinnamon The Allen and Dottie Miller Professor of Mission and Peace, Eden Theological Seminary

Rev. Charlene F. Gaspar, Gladwyne United Methodist Church

Rev. Al Krass, Philadelphia Area Interfaith Peace Network

Rev. Kaye Edwards Director of Family and Children's Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

The Rev. Patricia Pearce Tabernacle United Church, Philadelphia, PA

Rev. Linda M. Maloney, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Enosburg Falls, VT

Dr. Alicia Ostriker, Professor of English, Rutgers University

Rev. Dr. F. Mark Mealing, Kaslo, B.C., Canada

Wil Gafney, Assistant Professor of Hebrew Scripture and Homiletics, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

Phyllis T. Albritton, Blacksburg VA

Sidney Callahan, Ph.D

Gaile M. Pohlhaus, Ph.D., Villanova University

Dr. Malcolm Nazareth and Ms. Mariani Nazareth, St. Cloud, MN

Rabbi Avi Winokur, Society Hill Synagogue

Dr. Nan Gefen, President, Chochmat HaLev

Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man, Berkeley, CA

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann, Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives

Dorothea Dorenz

Rev. Peter Laarman, Progressive Christians Uniting

Dr. Mary E. Hunt, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual

Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, Director, Faith Voices Institute and Lift Every Voice!

Charles Rooney, Catholics for the Common Good

Rev. Dr. Elsie McKee, Ph.D., Archibald Alexander Professor of Reformation Studies and the History of Worship, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. Daniel Meeter, Pastor, Old First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, NY

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Westmont College

Reb ZalmanSchachter-Shalomi Rabbinic Chair, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal;

Rabbi Hillel Cohn

Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer, Claremont, California

Rabbi Howard A. Cohen, Congregation Beth El

Rabbi Dennis Beck-Berman Past President, OHALAH:Association of Rabbis for

Jewish Renewal

Dr. M. Douglas Meeks, The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University

The Rev. Dr. Christian T. Iosso, Scarborough Presbyterian Church

Rev. Kenneth Samual, Victory Church, Atlanta, GA

Rev. A.W. Howard, Baltimore, MD

Rabbi Roberto D. Graetz Temple Isaiah Lafayette, Ca

Rabbi Laurence L. Edwards Congregation Or Chadash

Rabbi Phyllis Berman, Riverside Language Center

Rabbi David Greenstein, The Academy for Jewish Religion, NY

Rev. Robert Shine, Baracha Baptist, Philadelphia, PA

Rev. Clarence Pemberton, New Hope Baptist, Philadelphia, PA

Rev. James Sampson, First Mount Zion, Jacksonville, FL

Rev. Michael Harrison, Union Baptist, Youngstown, OH

Rev. Michael Pfleger, St. Sabina, Chicago, IL

Rev. Olen Arrington, Second Baptist, Kenosha, WI

J. Ross Wagner, Princeton Theological Seminary

Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary

The Rev. Dr. John McEntyre, PCUSA

The Rev. C. Clifton Black, Dept. of Biblical Studies, Princeton Theological Seminary

Barbara Levatich

Dr. Geffrey B. Kelly, La Salle University

Dr. Robert DeFina, Villanova University

Prof. Ellen Charry Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Bryan Langlands, St. Luke UMC, Sanford, NC

Rev. Muriel Burrows, Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church

Anne Gibbons, Associate Chaplain and Director of SERVE, Lynchburg College

The Rev. Robert L. Livingston. United Church of Christ

Rev. Patricia Daley

William Stacy Johnson, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Douglas King

Dr. Alexander J. McKelway

Rev. James M. Collie, Presbytery of Santa Fe

Rev. Theresa F. Latini

The Rev. Fleming Rutledge

Rev. Todd Cioffi, Princeton Seminary

Dr. Jacqueline Lapsley, Princeton Seminary

Dr. Brian K. Blount, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary

The Rev. Dr. Laura Delaplain (UMC)

Dr. Catherine Keller, Theological School of Drew University

The Rev. Dr. Gary Wehrwein

Ftr. Lawrence H. Kaiser

Rev. Gloria H. Albrecht, Ph.D. (Presbyterian Church, USA)

Rev. Sally Osmer, Director at The Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton

Dr. Cherith Fee Nordling, Director of Christian Formation, Calvin College

Rev. Richard Broderick

Rev. Ann Marie Coleman, Co-Senior Minister of University Church

Rev. Don Coleman, Co-Senior Minister of University Church

The Rev. Lisa Keppeler

The Rev. Geo. Anthony Hoeltzel

The Rev. Dr. Frank J. Alagna

The Rev. Dr. Peregrine L. Murphy

The Rev. Elizabeth G. Maxwell, Church of the Holy Apostles

The Rev. Ralph E Fogg

The Rev. Carol R. Fox

Rabbi Chaim Leib Schneider, Santa Cruz, CA

Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs, Temple Kol Tikvah, Woodland Hills, CA

Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Stanford University

Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, Beth Shir Sholom, Santa Monica, CA

The Rev. Chloe Breyer, St. Mary's Manhattanville

Rev. Dr. Lois Malcolm, Luther Seminary

The Reverend Canon Brady J. Vardemann, Episcopal Diocese of Montana

Dr. Mark S. Burrows, Andover Newton Theological School

Rev. Dr. Betty Jane Bailey

Rev. Dr. J. Martin Bailey

Dr. Kathryn L. Johnson, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Rev. Joan LaLiberté, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

The Rev. Barbara J. Haddon, Pastor First Presbyterian Church

Rev. Donald F. Hanchon

Rev. Paul Feuerstein

The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, Starr King School for the Ministry

Dr. John Cobb, Claremont School of Theology (Emeritus)

Rev. Matthew Freeman, Assistant Minister, Asbury United Methodist Church

Rev. Jophn Soderberg

Rev. Dave Weissbard, Senior Minister, The Unitarian Universalist Church

Dr. Walter Lowe, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

Rev. Sarah Craig Freeman, Assistant Minister at Asbury United Methodist Church

Bonnie Jones Shinneman

The Rev. Prof. Harold R. Bronk, Jr., Grace Episcopal Church

The Rev. Chuck Kramer

Rev. Dawson Tunnell

Frank Kromkowski

Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director, Greater New York Labor-Religion

Coalition

Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, Institute for Jewish Spirituality

Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, Graduate Theological Urban Studies, Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education

Rev. Dr. Daniel L. Migliore, Princeton Theological Seminary

Suzie Armstrong, Vice President, The Interfaith Alliance

Rev. Dr. Amy Laura Hall, Professor, Duke University Divinity School

Dr. Creston Davis, Fellow of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia

Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, Dept. of Theology/Religious Studies, University of Scranton

Dr. Brigid Curtin Frein, Department of Theology, University of Scranton

Dr. Joel James Shuman, Department of Theology, King's College

Dr. R. David Kaylor, Davidson College (emeritus)

Dr. Deanna A. Thompson, Ph.D., Chair & Associate Professor of Religion, Hamline University

Re. Dr. Richard Fenn, Princeton Theological Seminary

The Rev. Joicy Becker-Richards, Director of Educational Media, Princeton Theological Seminary

affiliations listed for identification only

United Church of Christ ups its commitment, pledges $300,000 to aid tsunami victims

Statement from the United Church of Christ

Says 'extravagant welcome' must be matched by 'extravagant generosity'

CLEVELAND -- Saying its outspoken commitment to "extravagant welcome" must be matched equally with an outpouring of "extravagant generosity," the United Church of Christ announced today (Jan. 4) that it is pledging $300,000 to assist victims of the disastrous Dec. 26 tsunami that has left millions homeless, injured or dead throughout southern Asia.

In addition to $93,000 in assistance shared within hours of the tragedy, the 1.3-million-member United Church of Christ is raising an additional $207,000 from church members and friends to support the denomination's long-established ecumenical partners in the affected regions.

"The fact that we were able to wire funding on Monday, Dec. 27, within hours of the disaster, is because UCC people had given generously last year to One Great Hour of Sharing [the UCC's special mission offering that supports disaster response]," says Susan M. Sanders, the UCC's Minister for the Global Sharing of Resources. "Now we turn to our members and friends to expand our response and to express the UCC's commitment to extravagant generosity."

The UCC has established the Asia Tsunami Relief Fund to supplement its relief, recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the region, Sanders said, with almost 600 UCC members and friends already contributing nearly $70,000 through the church's initial, online appeal.

In the past week, Sanders said, the UCC has relied on additional staff assistance at its national offices in Cleveland to process church members' extra contributions, offered online and through the mail.

On Sunday, Jan. 2, many of the UCC's 6,000 congregations received special offerings in support of the denomination's efforts, Sanders said, and several congregations were preparing "health kits" for the ecumenical Church World Service (CWS), of which the UCC is a founding member. CWS already has airlifted 40,000 health kits to serve tsunami victims.

"In the UCC, there is a long-standing, ecumenical value that affirms that we can better serve by joining with others rather than believing we can do it all by ourselves," Sanders said. "We are able to share the love of Christ far further."

The UCC is also a founding member of Action by Churches Together, an international entity that is working with dozens of denominations to coordinate and expedite faith-based disaster response.

As part of its recovery plan, the UCC is partnering with church bodies in Southern Asia with long ties to the U.S. denomination: the Church of North India, Church of South India, the Jaffna Diocese in the Church of South India (Sri Lanka), the Church of Christ in Thailand and the Church's Auxiliary for Social Action in India.

"We weren't trying to find out last Sunday who to call," Sanders said. "We work with long-term, established partners. The system is there, and it's well developed."

Global Ministries -- the joint mission board of the UCC and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) -- has two foreign missionaries serving in affected regions of Sri Lanka. As part of the two denomination's relief efforts, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has pledged $250,000 in disaster recovery assistance, in addition to the UCC's $300,000 commitment.

"Anyone who is in need is who we serve," Sanders said. "In our eyes, when it comes to need, there is no race, creed or caste. If you are in need, we stand willing to respond."

Sanders said church members are praying for tsunami victims, but also providing much-needed financial resources that will provide food, clothing, shelter, clean water, medicine, medical care, trauma counseling and housing reconstruction for those struggling to recover from the disaster.

The United Church of Christ was formed in 1957 by the union of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

Church World Service Response Update: Tsunami Recovery

Below is the latest update from Church World Service regarding relief efforts in Southeast Asia.  Please visit their site to learn more and to donate.  The web site for the National Council of Churches USA also has updated information.  You can learn on that site what different ways churches are responding all across the US to this crisis.

SITUATION:
Humanitarian access to the affected province of Aceh, Indonesia, remains extremely limited, a Church World Service assessment team working in the area reported today.

In an initial report detailing the team's findings, team members described a tense and dispiriting situation in which most of those displaced by last week's tsunami "have no shelter, experience shortage of food, no doctors, no hygiene materials, no cooking utensils and no blankets."

Those displaced by the disaster are likely "to be living in camps longer than expected" because of the scope of the disaster, said the team's report. The team was coordinated by CWS Indonesia emergencies Program Manager Henry Pirade, who is now in Medan, Indonesia.

Among the problems hampering relief assistance into Aceh are limited transportation and access; relief items clogged at major airports; a limited supply of fresh and clean water; and poor communication access.

Nearly half of the province's residents are reported to have lost at least one relative, and trauma from the disaster has taken a serious toll on residents as they cope with the disaster.

Among the recommendations made by the team as CWS provides assistance to the region are:

++ Working directly with the displaced to best determine distribution methods and coordination efforts.

++ Aside from planned material assistance, making sure that "psychosocial intervention" is part of any response in the region.

++ Installation of temporary water and sanitation facilities in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps.

CWS Indonesia is developing a proposal with local partners to provide 2,000 children who have been displaced by the disaster much-needed psychosocial activities. The program would focus on programs/activities for children ages 6-12 and in internally displaced camps located in Aceh. This will be one of several components of CWS's multi-tiered recovery effort in Aceh.

Another part of the CWS response is air lifting 5,000 light-weight CWS Blankets and 35,000 CWS "Gift of the Heart" Health Kits to Indonesia for distribution in Aceh. (Total value: $486,750.)

Contributions to support CWS Tsunami Recovery efforts may be sent to your denomination or to:

Church World Service
Tsunami Recovery (Acct. #6970)
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515

Contributions may also be made by credit card by calling: (800) 297-1516, ext. 222, or online at www.churchworldservice.org.

For further information about disasters to which Church World Service is responding please visit www.churchworldservice.org or call the CWS Hotline, (800) 297-1516.

Shirley Chisholm: A Congresswoman Who Had Guts

Former United States Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm has died.  She served the good people of urban New York in the US House of Representatives from 1969 – 1983.  Congresswoman Chisholm ran for the democratic nomination for president in 1972.  "I ran for the Presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo," Chisholm said in her book "The Good Fight." "The next time a woman runs, or a black, a Jew or anyone from a group that the country is 'not ready' to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start," reported CNN.  I got to meet Congresswoman Chisholm at a political event held in Portland back in 1988 (see above photo).  She told me a little about her run for President and time in Congress.  It was a great honor for me to speak with her.  "She was an activist and she never stopped fighting," Jesse Jackson told The Associated Press from Ohio (and reported via CNN.com). "She refused to accept the ordinary, and she had high expectations for herself and all people around her."  America was lucky to have a voice like hers.  Shirley Chisholm will be missed. 

Bush & Clinton Will Help With Tsunami Crisis

The president announced today that former President Bush and former President Clinton would organize a fund raising campaign to assist victims of the earthquake and tidal waves in Southeast Asia.  This is a move in the right direction by the White House and should be applauded.  Visit USA Freedom Corps to learn more about relief efforts. 

World Council of Churches Reacts Quickly To Tidal Wave Crisis

Last week the World Council of Churches issued a Pastoral Letter concerning the events in Southeast Asia and began relief efforts with member denominations. Ecumenical News International reports:

" We are greatly encouraged by the exemplary efforts of our member churches in responding even with meagre resources to bandage the wounded," said WCC general secretary Sam Kobia and the council's moderator Catholicos Aram I in a joint message to member churches in Asia and other countries affected by the tidal waves.

The WCC leaders urged their member churches to "let us know in what other ways you would wish the global ecumenical community to be in solidarity with you as you try to come to terms with this unprecedented catastrophe".

They said, "One lesson to learn from this tsunami tragedy is the need for the international community and the religious communities to unite in one spirit and reinvent the capacity for preparedness to face such tragedies together. It is also a moment to be re-awakened to our God-given responsibility to care not only for one another but for the health of the creation as well."

Read the full story.

The World Council of Churches responds to such disasters through their partner agency ACT International.

“ACT is a global alliance of Protestant and Orthodox churches and their related agencies from the membership of the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation,” according to their web site.

ACT provided over $50 million in relief aid during 2003. Figures for 2004 are not yet available. Visit their web site to learn more about the international church response to this crisis.

The Religious Right Gets Ready To Rumble

While millions of Christians across the globe are setting aside partisan politics to focus on Christmas celebrations, the New Year, and the disaster in Southeast Asia, the religious right in the United States is keeping their eye focused on the next election period.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson sent out a letter this week to one million of his supporters warning Democratic senators not to oppose the president’s right-wing judicial nominees. In the letter:

Dr. Dobson recalled the conservative efforts that helped in the November defeat of Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Senate minority leader who led Democrats in using the filibuster to block 10 of Mr. Bush's judicial nominees.

"Let his colleagues beware," Dr. Dobson warned, "especially those representing 'red' states. Many of them will be in the 'bull's-eye' the next time they seek re-election."

He singled out Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Bill Nelson of Florida. All six are up for re-election in 2006.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice reports that a recent poll shows that 59% of Americans want the president to appoint judges that will uphold Roe vs. Wade. Make sure you visit their site to learn more about how Christians and other people of faith can defend a woman’s right to choose.

Of course, abortion is only one of the important issues that our courts face. The president has nominated several judges, for example, that have opposed basic civil and voting rights legislation.

It would be appropriate if we could focus these next weeks and months on helping the world recover from this devastating earthquake and associated tidal waves. But Dobson and his extremist conservative allies are not going to stop their assault on the Constitution and progressives need to be ready for them.

Visit the Interfaith Alliance to learn more.

Before The Tidal Waves

This morning when preaching I shared with the congregation some pictures of southeast India from the trip I took in 2003.

The above photo was the place we spent our first night in India.  It is directly on the coast just north of Chennai.  Our group from Eden went swimming here just after arriving.  If the building is still intact and the people working there alive it would be nothing short of a miracle.

These folks are all members of a congregation near Chennai that is part of the Church of South India.  Chennai itself is a city of nearly 11 million people.  The Church of South India was formed in 1947 following a merger of Methodists, Congregationalists, Anglicans, and others.  This is a model for the ecumenical movement.  Only 3% of Indians are Christian.  Some of the churches we visited - like this one - seemed very Western.  Other congregations incorporated local languages, music, and other customs into their worship practice.

Christians in India are fierce advocates for the rights of the Dalit people. Dalits are the “lowest of the lowest” in the caste system. The government harasses Christian workers because of their support for Dalits and their opposition to economic globalization.  These women all lived in a slum in Chennai that served as both their home and a garbage dump for the city.  Our hosts in Chennai where the faculty, staff, and students at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute.  The school is deeply involved with the lives of those living in the slums.  This picture is from a group of women working in an employment program sponsored by Gurukul.  You have to hope and pray that they and their families are safe.

India is a country of children.  Over 1 billion people live there and somewhere around half are under the age of 18.  It is thought that more than 50% of those killed in the massive tidal waves were children.  The kids in this picture are from another dalit slum.  You can find some good background information on the Dalits at the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights web site.

Make sure to visit the Church World Service web site for updates on the relief efforts.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from our family to yours.