Today was a sad day in the life of The United Methodist Church. 

United Methodist News Service reports:

HOUSTON (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Judicial Council has reversed an appeals court ruling in the case of a lesbian pastor, restoring the original trial court ruling and verdict that had resulted in the minister losing her clergy credentials.

The Rev. Irene Elizabeth "Beth" Stroud, an associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in Germantown, Pa., was convicted by a clergy trial court last December after stating that she was a practicing lesbian -- a violation of church law, which forbids the ordination and appointment of "self-avowed practicing" homosexuals. The trial court revoked Stroud's credentials, but a jurisdictional court of appeals set aside that ruling in April. The Oct. 31 decision by the denomination's top court restores the original decision.

"The Northeast Jurisdiction Committee on Appeals erred in reversing and setting aside the verdict and penalty from Rev. Stroud's trial," the court said in its eight-page ruling.

Click here for the full story.

Stroud recently preached at Eden Theological Seminary on the meaning of being called to ministry.

And if you think the decision to defrock her was a bad one.... just wait until you read this:

HOUSTON (UMNS) -- United Methodist ministers do have the power to decide who becomes a member of the local church, the denomination's top court has ruled, supporting a pastor who blocked an openly gay man from joining the congregation.

The United Methodist Judicial Council, holding its regular fall meeting Oct. 26-29, issued two decisions related to the case of Rev. Ed Johnson, who was serving as senior pastor at South Hill (Va.) United Methodist Church until he was placed on involuntary leave of absence in June....

The Virginia case involved an openly gay man who was participating in the South Hill church in a variety of ways, including singing in the choir. The man wanted to transfer his membership from another denomination, and Johnson began a series of meetings with him. The man's sexual orientation was a significant part of the discussions. Johnson refused to receive the man into membership because he said the man would neither repent nor seek to live a different lifestyle.

The church's associate pastor, who disagreed with Johnson, contacted the district superintendent, and a disciplinary process began that eventually resulted in Johnson being placed on involuntary leave by a vote of his fellow ministers at the 2005 clergy session of the Virginia Annual Conference.

Click here for the full story.

These are sad days for the people of the United Methodist Church.  Their slogan "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors" needs to be rewritten to end with the words "As Long As You're Not Gay."

Related Link: Tale of two courts

The Religious Right is predictably praising the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, Chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, released the following statement this morning:

"President Bush is to be applauded for his choice of Judge Samuel Alito to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Court. The President has kept his commitment to appoint an individual who will faithfully interpret the Constitution. Judge Alito is an experienced judge with an extensive record of decisions in his 29 years of public service including 15 years as a judge. He has the well-reasoned judicial philosophy that is needed at this moment in history on the Court. I intend to work full-time for as long as it takes to get Judge Alito confirmed by the Senate."

The Traditional Values Coalition and their partners (groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council) are opposed to basic civil rights for women and other minorities. 

Many leaders of the Religious Right opposed the president's first choice for the court, Harriett Miers, for not being conservative enough.  Alito is clearly more to their liking and has a record of sharing their views.

The nomination, however, is drawing fire from civil rights organizations. 

Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, released a statement today saying:

"Caving to the will of the radical right, President Bush has nominated a judicial activist with a record hostile to civil rights, individual rights, and the rights of women. If confirmed, Judge Samuel Alito - affectionately called "Scalito" by conservatives - would destroy the delicate balance Sandra Day O'Connor has brought to the Supreme Court and swing the Court far to the right.

America wants a mainstream nominee, not one who will turn back the clock on civil rights progress, worker protections, environmental safeguards, and our health and safety. With the nomination of Alito, all of those rights are now at risk.

We urge the Senate to conduct a complete, thorough, and probing review of Alito's record. For a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, the Senate must take all the time it needs to investigate not only his qualifications, but also his judicial philosophy."

The Leadership Council on Civil Rights is a coalition of religious groups and civil rights organizations.  Among the members are the African Methodist Episcopal Church, American Baptist Churches, U.S.A. - National Ministries, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Catholic Charities, USA, Episcopal Church - Public Affairs Office, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, National Council of Churches, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society, and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. 

You can expect that many Christians and other people of faith will oppose this nomination because of Alito's record on civil rights and women's health care issues.

Read comments on this post from Street Prophets

The religious right is going to be pretty happy.

President Bush will nominate Samual Alito (reportedly nicknamed "Scalito" for his similar judicial outlook to ultra conservative Antonin Scalia) to the Supreme Court.

ThinkProgress has the details on Alito's record:

ALITO WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE: In his dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito concurred with the majority in supporting the restrictive abortion-related measures passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in the late 1980's. Alito went further, however, saying the majority was wrong to strike down a requirement that women notify their spouses before having an abortion. The Supreme Court later rejected Alito's view, voting to reaffirm Roe v. Wade. [Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1991]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority explained that Alito would have protected racist employers by "immuniz[ing] an employer from the reach of Title VII if the employer's belief that it had selected the `best' candidate was the result of conscious racial bias." [Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW DISABILITY-BASED DISCRIMINATION: In Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, the majority said the standard for proving disability-based discrimination articulated in Alito's dissent was so restrictive that "few if any...cases would survive summary judgment." [Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1991]

ALITO WOULD STRIKE DOWN THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT: The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) "guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one." The 2003 Supreme Court ruling upholding FMLA [Nevada v. Hibbs, 2003] essentially reversed a 2000 decision by Alito which found that Congress exceeded its power in passing the law. [Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, 2000]

ALITO SUPPORTS UNAUTHORIZED STRIP SEARCHES: In Doe v. Groody, Alito agued that police officers had not violated constitutional rights when they strip searched a mother and her ten-year-old daughter while carrying out a search warrant that authorized only the search of a man and his home. [Doe v. Groody, 2004]

ALITO HOSTILE TOWARD IMMIGRANTS: In two cases involving the deportation of immigrants, the majority twice noted Alito's disregard of settled law. In Dia v. Ashcroft, the majority opinion states that Alito's dissent "guts the statutory standard" and "ignores our precedent." In Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, the majority stated Alito's opinion contradicted "well-recognized rules of statutory construction." [Dia v. Ashcroft, 2003; Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, 2004]

Visit Save Our Courts throughout the nomination process for updated information.

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Last week The Rev. John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, had some strong words of condemnation against the Republican Party aligned Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) and their allies:

"Groups like the Evangelical Association of Reformed, Christian and Congregational Churches and the Biblical Witness Fellowship are increasingly being exposed even as they are increasingly aggressive," Thomas said. "Their relationship to the right-wing Institute for Religion and Democracy and its long-term agenda of silencing a progressive religious voice while enlisting the church in an unholy alliance with right-wing politics is now longer deniable. ... United Church of Christ folk like to be `nice,' to be hospitable. But, to play with a verse of scripture just a bit, we doves innocently entertain these serpents in our midst at our own peril."

I recently wrote that the groups named by Thomas have worked actively to sow division in UCC congregations and in other national mainline churches. IRD, for example, is funded by extremists such as Richard Mellon Scaife and staffed by Republican Party activists and has a stated goal of "reforming" all mainline churches. Biblical Witness Fellowship is a group affiliated with IRD. Their aim is to silence the prophetic voice of mainline churches on issues such as war and peace and economic justice for the least of these. These groups confuse partisan political activity in support of the Republican Party with living out the Gospel message.

This week IRD fired back at Thomas and the UCC:

The IRD, unlike the UCC's own Washington lobby office, does not usually take positions on legislation before Congress.  It does not endorse or oppose candidates for public office, either explicitly or implicitly.  IRD publications, besides reporting critically on the one-sided political activities of denominations like the UCC, confine themselves to sketching general, non-partisan principles for Christian civic engagement.

Click here for their full statement.

The IRD statement was written by IRD staffer John Lomperis.  Lomperis was a volunteer on the Bush / Cheney 2004 campaign - a fact he has not disclosed in numerous articles written for IRD attacking mainline churches for not supporting the president's policies.

And what are the "non-partisan principles for Christian civic engagement" that IRD advocates:

*    Support for the war in Iraq.
*    Support for Bush's tax policies that have benefited the wealthy at the expense of the "least of these" and opposition to social service programs that lift people out of poverty.
*    Opposition to marriage for gays and lesbians and other civil rights protections for other minority groups.

You would be hard pressed to find an example of where the IRD has ever strayed from the Republican Party line since they first emerged in the early 1980s.  Why would they?  Their staff and funders are Republican activists representing the extremes of the right-wing in American politics.

Don't try accusing mainline churches of doing just the same on the other end of the political spectrum.  The United Church of Christ, National Council of Churches, and most other mainline churches were critical of the Clinton Administration, for example, on issues related to welfare and Iraq.  Mainline church bodies understand that their loyalty belongs to God and not a political party.

That's a lesson IRD has never learned in their on-going campaigns to defame and destroy Christian leaders and denominational bodies that continue to speak prophetically in difficult times.

Read comments on this post from Street Prophets

Statement from the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Thursday, Oct. 27 – On Oct. 26, two violent attacks were launched against Israel and its citizens. In a speech, the president of Iran, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, quoted the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stating that Israel “must be wiped off the map.”  Later in the day, a Palestinian suicide bomber claimed the lives of five Israeli citizens in Hadera, in central Israel. 

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ roundly condemn both instances of violence. Such violent rhetoric and violent action incite violent reactions, adding momentum to an already senseless spiral. These attacks are in direct contradiction to our two churches’ clear positions affirming Israel’s right to exist securely next to a viable Palestinian state, and opposing violence in all its manifestations. With our partner the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, we assert the moral reprehensibility of suicide bombing. The hateful and violent intent of President Ahmadinejad’s remarks are never acceptable in political discourse.

In condemning this violence against Israel, we are faithful to our firm commitment to overcome violence everywhere, and to our conviction that justice in this world must be attained through peaceful means. In proclaiming a message of peace, we are again moved by the violence in the troubled Middle East to state the urgency of reaching a comprehensive resolution of the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Dedication to Israel’s security within recognized borders goes hand in hand with an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.  We strongly encourage the US Administration to engage actively and fully with all its partners, including Israelis and Palestinians, to seek a fair and durable solution to this conflict.  It is in the best interests of Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the US, and of Jews, Christians, and Muslims the world over.

We are painfully aware that force or the threat of force are too-common realities in the Middle East—the most militarized region in the world.  We are intimately aware that the US—the most militarized country in the world—has demonstrated its willingness to use force in pursuing its interests and perceived threats to them.  It is our prayer that all would reject the inclination to resort to force rather than seek policies of engagement and reconciliation to resolve differences..  Palestinians and Israelis have suffered at each other’s hands for too long for the status quo of occupation and terror to continue.  Lessons of Iraq teach us that American military might cannot force peace and security, and therefore we would urge the US to resist the temptation to use this occasion to elevate its threats or advance proposals for US intervention in Iran or elsewhere in the Middle East.

We pray that leaders and people no longer choose the actions or rhetoric of violence; that violence may not beget violence; and that the urgency for peace and justice be recognized, so that violence will have no place.

The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ

The Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins
General Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

The Rev. David Vargas
President, Disciples’ Division of Overseas Ministries
Co-Executive, Common Global Ministries Board

The Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte
Executive Minister, Wider Church Ministries, UCC
Co-Executive, Common Global Ministries Board

Peter E. Makari
Executive, Middle East and Europe
Common Global Ministries Board

Related Story:  Click here

A senior White House official has been indicted for betraying the nation.

The president’s Supreme Court nominee has been forced to resign after the right-wing agreed that while Harriett Miers was a practitioner of the Dark Side of the Force she wasn’t evil enough to serve their will.

And Rosa Parks – hero of the nation – has passed away.

I wish I had the time this week to blog about all this.

This is Reading Week at the old seminary.  It is a week without classes where we can catch up on the mountains of books needed to be read before the fall semester starts to come to a close.  I'm using the week to do just that - and to catch up on spending some time with the twins, my wife, and extended family and friends.  So I just don't have time to blog much this week.

Head over to Street Prophets - the other site I write at - if you want to read some quality and updated stuff.

This weekend the Central Pacific Conference of the United Church of Christ called an Ecclesiastical Council to vote on whether or not to approve me for ordination.  The council vote came after the conference's committee on ministry had made a recommendation to approve my ordination.  After a short presentation from me and questions from clergy and lay people the Ecclesiastical Council voted to accept that recommendation and approved my ordination pending a call to serve a local congregation.  The Rev. Dr. Hector Lopez (pictured), The Rev. Dr. Pat Ross, and The Rev. Bill Greene led the meeting and all helped to guide me through the process (along with a lot of help from the The Rev. Gene Ross, now retired).  Liz and the twins were able to come and so was my mother.  Thanks to everyone involved for all the prayers and support.  All I need now is a call.

This blog first went live two years ago. In that time there have been:

1600+ posts

3800+ comments

340,000+ hits

Two years ago I couldn’t have imagined the response to this site. It has been mentioned in newspapers and radio shows and drawn both praise and criticism.

What I’ve been debating internally is what to do with the site in the future. My original intention was to publish this site during my seminary carrier and that phase of my life is coming to a close in less than two months. I’m really tempted to keep with that original plan and retire from blogging by the end of the year.

But I enjoy being able to highlight the work being done by progressive Christians across the country and even the world. So maybe I’ll stick around for a bit longer. Stay tuned.

National Council of Churches USA
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115

October 19, 2005

Dear Member of Congress:

As leaders of America’s major faith communities, we write to you at a moment of great moral urgency for our nation when hundreds of thousands of our most vulnerable citizens are at risk. We urge you to put aside partisan politics and pass a federal budget that reflects the moral priorities of the wide majority of Americans. We urge you to work for, not against, the common good of all of America’s citizens and not just a privileged few.

This is a grave time in our nation. We are in the midst of a tremendous social and economic crisis, thrust vividly into public view by the recent natural disasters along the Gulf Coast. The times demand profound changes if the quality of life is to improve for millions of families. The United States budget is a reflection of who we are and what our priorities are as a nation. It is inconceivable—in the wake of the devastating impact of the recent natural disasters—that Congress would propose $50 billion in cuts for child care benefits, Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Head Start, student loans, and other vital services for people in need. In the aftermath of these disasters, such catastrophic cuts can only deepen the pain and suffering and dramatically increase the number of people living in poverty in this nation.

We watched as members of Congress vowed to help rebuild the Gulf Coast. We heard our representatives promise to make helping those affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita a national priority. Yet despite those pledges, members of Congress now stand ready to cut $50 billion in essential programs that help those in need, while maintaining excessive tax cuts that help only the wealthy. The hurricanes were a natural disaster. But this proposed budget reconciliation would be a moral disaster of monumental proportion—and it is one that can be avoided.

The role of government is to protect its people and work for the common good. This is not the time for the budget reconciliation process to create greater hardships for those who are already experiencing great suffering.

To do so is not only unjust; it is a sin. It violates all the fundamental Christian principles of loving thy neighbor, caring for the poor, and showing mercy. As religious leaders, this violation is unacceptable to us.

How is it that we show mercy for oil millionaires and not hurricane survivors? We urge you to change this destructive course of action for the sake of our nation and for generations to come.

The outrage  expressed by Americans across the country to the images of injustice following Hurricane Katrina—and the subsequent outpouring of generosity from these same citizens—is a message from the grassroots that our government’s priorities and budget must reflect American values by helping those most in need at their time of need.  Please call a halt to budget reconciliation negotiations that are detrimental and direct your attention to healing rather than harming our society.

Respectfully submitted,

Signed (as of October 19, 2005)

Bishop Thomas Hoyt, Jr.
National Council of Churches USA

Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar
National Council of Churches USA

The Rev. Dr. Stan Hastey
Alliance of Baptists

His Grace Bishop Vicken Aykazian
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Friend Retha McCutchen
Friends United Meeting

Friend Thomas H. Jeavons
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

His Grace Bishop Dimitrios
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Rev. Michael E. Livingston
International Council of Community Churches

His Grace Metropolitan Zachariah Nicholovos
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

The Rev. David L. Wickmann
Moravian Church in America

Rev. William Shaw
National Baptist Convention USA

Dr. Melvin Wade
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America

The Most Reverend Robert M. Nemkovich
Polish National Catholic Church of America

The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

The Rev. Dr. Major L. Jemison
Progressive National Baptist Convention

Rev. Tyrone Pitts
Progressive National Baptist Convention

Ms. Christine Laintner
Swedenborgian Church

The Rev. John H. Thomas
United Church of Christ

Mr. James Winkler
General Board of Church and Society
United Methodist Church

Related Link: National Council of Churches Press Release

It is easy - and completely appropriate - to feel under siege by the activities undertaken by the Religious Right in America.  Groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council preach a radical message of exclusion that is at odds with how many of us read the Gospels.  Meanwhile, political groups aligned with the Republican Party such as the Institute on Religion and Democracy seek with intention to undermine the prophetic voices of our churches by organizing smear campaigns against our leaders and denominations.  Together these organizations are out to reshape America in their image - not God's - and the vision they articulate is one of division and often hate.

Is it possible that the "religious left" in America could become the "mirror image" of the Religious Right?  John Danforth thinks so.  The former Republican senator from Missouri, Episcopal priest, and critic of the Religious Right spoke before the "Values, Vision and the Via Media" conference held in Washington, DC this week. ENS reports:

The idea for the conference took root after last year's presidential election, when progressive Christians organized to protest attempts by the Religious Right to co-opt the name of the church in America. Exit polls indicated that voters associated "moral values" with narrow and divisive issues -- such as abortion and gay marriage -- instead of a broader Christian agenda. This, experts agree, focused public attention on the church as guardian of personal morality rather than the church as defender against racism, poverty and war.

Conservative groups have countered that liberal Christians do have a voice in the values debate, but that more Americans support conservative Christians on many values.

Danforth cautioned, however, that "you have to be a little... humble about claiming to know what's God's will."

"When people believe that they're fighting a religious battle, nothing is more energizing then `I'm on God's side,' " he said. "But there's also nothing more divisive than that. Because once you believe that you're on God's side, therefore people who disagree with you are not on God's side, or are even enemies of God. Then there's no room for the... stuff of politics. And there's a lot of room for real hatred and animosity and bitterness."

Recapturing the values debate from the Religious Right was among the subjects conference goers discussed during Thursday seminars, and it continued to be a popular topic of conversation among those seated in the cathedral as they waited for Danforth to speak.

Cindy Marcillas, who was visiting from San Francisco to attend the conference, said she hoped Danforth's remarks would encourage conference-goers to "take back the values debate" from the Religious Right.

"It's appalling how far right this administration has gone," said Marcillas. "It's downright frightening."

Danforth, however, urged his listeners to recognize the worth of arguments being made by those who identify with the Religious Right.

"One of the points they have to make is what they believe is the loss of our moral compass as a country, and they're right," Danforth said. "They're concerned about the coarsening of America, and all you have to do is turn on the TV or go to the movies.

"They're concerned with respect to the institutions of marriage and the family -- that we have lost our bearings. And when you look at the divorce rate and the out-of-wedlock births, they've got a point.

"You may disagree with everything they say and every position they take and every candidate they support, but they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and they too read the Bible, and they too try to be faithful."

The question of whether religion in politics should be divisive, Danforth said, is itself debatable. He noted that some people use Scripture to support the notion that religious beliefs should divide, while others use the Bible to support the view that it shouldn't.

"I believe that the heart of the New Testament is the message of reconciliation and inclusiveness," said Danforth, who represented Missouri in the U.S. Senate for 18 years before retiring in 1994.

Click here to read the full story.

I don't think for a moment that the leaders of the Religious Right have the best interests of the American people at heart or that they act out of Christian intentions.  James Dobson and his allies lust for power for than anything else and have proven that they'll do or say nearly anything - even to warp the Gospel teachings into a Republican partisan message - to do it.

But the people who make up the heart of the conservative movement are not evil.  Misguided. Intolerant.  Frightened by change.  But not evil. 

There are times when they pick up on issues like violence in popular culture that progressives often overlook.

There are things that progressives can learn by listening to their voices.   

Wise words from former senator Gary Hart:

Belief in the ineffectiveness of government, as we have seen in recent weeks, is self-fulfilling. For some, it is also deadly. It is a cause for wonder that those most critical of government are among those most eager to secure its power. Not believing in government, however, a conservative either does not know or care to know how to make it effective.

Response to hurricane Katrina is not proof of government’s failure; it is proof of George W. Bush’s failure to govern effectively.

The failure to govern well is a natural and a predictable result of disbelief in government. It is a brief step from disbelief in government to disbelief in governance. With many Democrats in tow, conservatives have demonized government: “Government is not the answer; government is the problem,” was Ronald Reagan’s inaugural pronouncement. How does one, not believing in government, respond when given its reins? In the case of the incumbent and previous conservative presidents the response is to not take it too seriously. Work out a couple of hours a day. Take a nap. Watch television in the evenings. Resist foreign travel and engagement in the great events of the times. Delegate authority, in many cases to incompetent people, because it really doesn’t matter much. Most of all avoid responsibility and, at all costs, accept accountability only reluctantly.

The most obvious problem with this theory of management, if you wish to call it that, is that people die. On January 31, 2001, the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, the most comprehensive review of national security in more than half a century which I co-chaired with Warren Rudman, warned of terrorist attacks and urged President Bush to create a Department of Homeland Security. Eight months later, 9.11 occurred. He was warned. He neglected to act. Another nine months went by before he reluctantly acceded to our recommendation. A year and a half was lost. He was never called to account.

Four years later hurricane Katrina revealed how slip-shod, mismanaged, uncoordinated, lackadaisical that agency still was. The president took little or no interest. He could not be bothered. This was “government” and he does not believe in government. When in public office, I heard chanted like a mantra, Why can’t we run government like a business? Perhaps only George W. Bush can imagine running a giant corporation like he tries to run the government of the world’s greatest super-power. It would soon be on the verge of bankruptcy, its customers would have fled, its management would be in chaos, and any board of directors worth its salt would have fired him. Does he really want to be held to serious business standards? As Edmund Burke had it, “a great empire and little minds go ill together.”

The columnist David Brooks recently asked how “a comprehensive governmental failure is going to restore America’s faith in big government.” It shouldn’t. But it should now cause Americans to wake up to the difference between ineffective and effective government and the consequence of electing a “leader” who not only doesn’t believe in government, he doesn’t believe in governance. To judge the effectiveness of government by the performance of the most incompetent president in modern times is a shabby refuge for discredited conservatism.

Click here for more.

People for the American Way reports:

Aid brought to a Red Cross shelter by PFAW board member Rev. Timothy McDonald's church was rejected. Why? Unlike the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, McDonald's First Iconium Baptist Church didn't have exclusive rights granted through the Red Cross to serve food.

Exclusive rights to serve food?  In a disaster? 

Click here for the full story.

Read comments on this post from Street Prophets

This weekend communities of faith have been observing Children's Sabbaths, a project organized by the Children's Defense Fund.

Endorsed by more than 200 denominations and religious organizations, the National Observance of Children's Sabbaths weekend unites tens of thousands of religious congregations of many faiths in speaking out and acting faithfully for children and families.

These are not good days to be a child.

Bread for the World reports that "in developing countries, 6 million children die each year, mostly from hunger-related causes."

In the United States, CDF reminds us that one American child or teen is killed by gun violence every three hours.

Somehow we manage to leave the needs of children out of national and international considerations and children suffer greatly because of it.

Marian Wright Edelman, CDF's executive director and a powerful Christian activist, wrote the prayer below.  We used in it worship this morning and I share it with you now and ask that you find reason to lift up the needs of children in your houses of worship and to share on this site times you have.

We pray for children
Who sneak popsicles before supper,
Who erase holes in math workbooks,
Who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those
Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
Who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
Who never "counted potatoes,"
Who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead,
Who never go to the circus,
Who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children
Who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
And we pray for those
Who never get dessert,
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
Who watch their parents watch them die,
Who can't find any bread to steal,
Who don't have any rooms to clean up,
Whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
Whose monsters are real.

We pray for children
Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
Who like ghost stories,
Who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub,
Who get visits from the tooth fairy,
Who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
Who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
Whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those
Whose nightmares come in the daytime,
Who will eat anything,
Who have never seen a dentist,
Who aren't spoiled by anybody,
Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
Who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must,
For those we never give up on and for those who don't get a second chance.
For those we smother ... and for those who will grab the hand of
anybody kind enough to offer it.

Amen.

The Rev. John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, had some difficult but truthful words this weekend for those seeking to undermine the congregations that make up the UCC in light of our General Synod’s decision to support gay marriage. United Church News reports:

“Groups like the Evangelical Association of Reformed, Christian and Congregational Churches and the Biblical Witness Fellowship are increasingly being exposed even as they are increasingly aggressive,” Thomas said. “Their relationship to the right-wing Institute for Religion and Democracy and its long-term agenda of silencing a progressive religious voice while enlisting the church in an unholy alliance with right-wing politics is now longer deniable. … United Church of Christ folk like to be ‘nice,’ to be hospitable. But, to play with a verse of scripture just a bit, we doves innocently entertain these serpents in our midst at our own peril.”

Take a look at the Evangelical Association of Reformed, Christian and Congregational Churches and note their all nearly all white and all male leadership and remember the praise recently given to IRD by the Klu Klux Klan.

Thomas made the comments after reporting that donations to the national denomination are down in 2005 and that “estimated 15 to 20 churches have voted to sever ties with the denomination, even though he indicated that several non-UCC churches have made overtures about joining.”

The groups named by Thomas have worked actively to sow division in UCC congregations and in other national mainline churches. IRD, for example, is funded by extremists such as Richard Mellon Scaife and staffed by Republican Party activists and has a stated goal of “reforming” all mainline churches. Biblical Witness Fellowship is a group affiliated with IRD. Their aim is to silence the prophetic voice of mainline churches on issues such as war and peace and economic justice for the least of these. These groups confuse partisan political activity in support of the Republican Party with living out the Gospel message.

There is clearly wide spread support in the UCC for the social justice work undertaken by the denomination since it was first established. That does not mean there isn’t also division. Our congregations are not forced to tow a party line like Southern Baptist churches are and that means we have great diversity of theologies at work in our churches. That is a source of strength for us. Biblical Witness Fellowship and IRD – along with groups like the Evangelical Association of Reformed, Christian and Congregational Churches – want the UCC to be more like the Southern Baptists and that will not happen.

But Thomas saw something more at work in the difficulties we face as a denomination than just attacks from outside political groups:

Challenging the “older brother in our midst,” the Rev. John H. Thomas told the 80-member UCC Executive Council on Oct. 14 that, during the three months since the General Synod voted overwhelmingly to affirm a same-gender marriage equality resolution, he has seen ample evidence of “the older brother who resents the celebration of his brother’s restoration to home.”

“There is in each of our souls, and in the soul of the United Church of Christ, an older brother who undermines our faithfulness as surely as the storm surge overwhelmed New Orleans’ levees,” said Thomas, the UCC’s general minister and president since 1999.

“It is the older brother who long ago dismissed the prodigal brother, who never stands eagerly waiting with his father, eyeing with hope the far horizon,” he said. “It is the older brother who would never dream of going in search of that brother for fear of being tainted by the impurities of that alien and ambiguous far off place…..”

“We know there are those in our church who struggle out of their own sense of biblical integrity over the church’s welcome and affirmation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people,” he said. “But when I receive emails and letters from UCC members railing against such a welcome, angry that God’s gracious love is lavished on the unworthy, bitter that the church’s attention is being directed to the lost rather than to those who have faithfully tended the farm, then I sense the voice of the older brother in our midst.”

These are challenging times for all churches. As I have mentioned before, Marcus Borg has written that this conflict in interpretation is “the single greatest issue facing Christians today.”

The conflict about the Bible is most publicly visible in discussion of three issues.

First, in some Christian circles, ‘creation versus evolution’ is the primary litmus test of loyalty to the Bible.

The second issue is homosexuality: May practicing gays and lesbians be full members of the church? May the unions of gays and lesbian couples be blessed? May gays and lesbians be ordained? This debate is often cast in the form of accepting or rejecting biblical authority.

A third lightning rod for the conflict is contemporary historical Jesus scholarship. For the least decade, the quest for the historical Jesus has attracted widespread media attention and public interest, especially among mainline Christians. But it has generated a strong negative reaction among fundamentalist and conservative-evangelical Christians. From their point of view, questioning the historical factuality of the gospels strikes at the very founds of Christianity.

To be true to our faith progressive Christians have to be willing to navigate the stormy waters ahead and hold true to our faith in a just and loving God. It won’t be easy work. But that is part of the call of this generation of Christians.

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The president and his allies in Congress are continuing to advocate for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and cuts backs in health care and other essential social services for the poorest of the poor. United Church News reports:

UCC General Minister and President John H. Thomas joined with Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid on Oct. 13 to call upon members of Congress to abandon the federal budget reconciliation process, saying the proposed document was immoral because it drastically weakens programs for the poor.

“More and more people are walking on a tightrope over a flawed safety net,” said Thomas, speaking to a group of about 10 national reporters assembled by conference call.

Thomas gave a new twist to the wildly-popular, yet wildly-fictitious “Left Behind” book series by Tim LeHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, which tells stories of persons being ‘left behind’ after believers are raptured to heaven.

“What we saw in New Orleans is the reality of those ‘left behind’ after the rupture of the social contract in this country,” Thomas said, emphasizing that poverty was and is one of Jesus’ primary concerns. “[Tax cuts for the wealthy] is a failed approach. More and more people are being left behind.”

Reid, a Mormon who has represented Nevada in the Senate since 1987, said the budget -- which passed the House and Senate earlier this year -- includes $35 billion in cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and student loans, while it rewards the rich with $70 billion in tax cuts.

All three leaders said that, despite the new fiscal realities that have come to light after Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing war in Iraq, the budget reconciliation process seems to continue without regard to the need for newer numbers and priorities.

Thomas said the budget process now requires “a complete rethinking of how we address the challenging problems affecting this country.”

Griswold, who leads the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church in the United States, used strong words for the proposed budget, referring to it as “blasphemy” and “heresy,” and said the Bush Administration was out of lock step with mainstream Republicans and Democrats alike when it wrapped itself in religious platitudes but ignored the needs of the poor, especially after Hurricane Katrina.

“Nothing could be more clearly stated in the gospels than Jesus’ identification with the poor,” Griswold said. “… I feel morally obliged to call upon Congress to abandon the budget reconciliation process … a budget that further impoverishes poor people.”

Click here for more.

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Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel;

  for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or loyalty,

  and no knowledge of God in the land.

Swearing, lying, and murder,

  and stealing and adultery break out;

  bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Therefore the land mourns,

  and all who live in it languish;

together with the wild animals

  and the birds of the air,

  even the fish of the sea are perishing.

- Hosea 4:1-3 (NRSV)

Care for creation is a primary obligation of all Christians and yet our environment continues to decline.

More Christians in the United States – mainline and evangelical – are beginning to take these issues seriously and across the pond this week the Archbishop of Canterbury again lent his moral voice to the cause.

When God tells Adam in the first chapter of Genesis that he is to subdue and have dominion over the earth, many would say that this is the beginning of a tragic and disgraceful story – the story of how human beings ravaged and exploited the earth for their own purposes, exhausting its resources and ruining it for future generations. Those who are now most deeply concerned about our environment often accuse the Jewish-Christian tradition of being responsible for a history of greed and abuse directed at the natural world. If we are at last to take our proper responsibility for the earth, we must leave behind this particular religious legacy and find another way of understanding our place on the earth, a way that is more sensitive to the sacredness of our environment.

This is understandable in many ways. But there is much more to be said; and some of it is said in Genesis, some in this morning’s reading from the Gospel. First of all, let’s look at the rest of what our story from Genesis tells us. It says that human beings are made in God’s image; and it tells us that God looked on the whole of what he had made and saw that it was good….

So if humans are to ‘subdue’ the world, the one thing this cannot mean is that they are licensed to treat the creation with indifference or violence or disrespect. The first thing they must do is surely to look at it as God looks; to delight in the joyful order of God’s mind as it is shown in what God makes. Humans must understand that creation is precious to God because it reflects his joy in his own beauty. Before ever human beings are on the scene, creation is looked at by God with this loving joy.

Click here to read the full sermon.

Related Story: Archbishop of Canterbury makes biblical case against ecological destruction

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The House Majority Leader has been indicted.

The Senate Majority Leader has been subpoenaed.

The White House is under investigation for playing politics with nation security.

Who can the Republicans turn to in their hour of need?

You guessed it: the man who told his wife he wanted a divorce while she was undergoing chemotherapy and later had an affair with a subordinate and was forced to resign his office in disgrace.

Our only problem is the other party doesn’t seem to have a leader to offer.

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Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.

“O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.” “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

- Micah 6:1-8 (NRSV)

Jubilee USA Network is excited to announce the Fall 2005 Global Connections Tour: Drop the Debt, Invest in People kicking off in October.

The tour will focus on Jubilee USA’s call for economic justice and debt cancellation for impoverished countries. The tour will stop in five areas: San Diego, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Western Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Columbus, Ohio. Each city is planning three to four days of education and advocacy including teach-ins, forums, film screenings, discussions, dinners, and activist strategy sessions as well as meetings with the press and local congressional offices.

The tour will educate and raise awareness of the need for full debt cancellation for impoverished nations as a critical step towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

The tour will also link the crisis of debt faced by impoverished nations with issues such as development assistance, health, trade, environment and human rights.

Three leading debt and development campaigners from Latin America, Asia, and Africa will travel with the tour to educate the public, make connections between debt and other global justice issues, and provide action opportunities for people around the United States to engage in activism and advocacy.

Click here to read more and see tour dates and locations.

Many of the planet’s so called “third-world” nations owe huge debts to Western countries. Those debts require that governments pay interest on money borrowed instead of investing in health care, schools, and basic infrastructure. Much of the money loaned by Western nations was handed over to dictators and oppressive governments which the West backed politically for various reasons. Few of those governments are still in place but the people living in those nations are forced to pay so much in interest that their countries cannot afford basic human services.

There has been some positive movement this year on debt relief – but not enough.

The United States and other western nations can easily afford to absorb the loss. Most of the loans have already been repaid several times over. The interest payments are literally keeping food and health care out of reach for millions and the issue has taken on new urgency for tsunami ravaged nations that are being forced to pay interests payments while at the same time trying to pay for relief efforts. Jubilee is a Biblical practice in which debts are forgiven so that poverty does not trap one generation after the next. The concept is explained this way by the Jubilee USA group:

Early Israel prevented the accumulation of wealth in that everything was shared and ultimately "owned" by God. However, between the 10th and 8th centuries BCE (BC), another economic model was introduced, whereby distribution was not equal, and God's ownership not respected. Some Israelites were forced into debt in order to keep from starving, and, because of high interest rates, slavery resulted. This situation can be paralleled to the astronomical rises in interest rates on international loans in the early 1980s. Countries today have been forced to use state industries and national forests to pay off their loans, distribution of resources is not equal and God's ownership again is not respected. International debt has become a contemporary form of slavery.

The issue of international debt illustrates for us in a very real way how Micah’s teachings – and really the teaching of the entire Bible – come alive for us in relevant and meaningful ways. Can you imagine how different the world would be if our economic, social, and political institutions were based on these Biblical teachings?

For more information visit Jubilee USA Network.

The Republican Party aligned-Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) is on the war path again against gays and lesbians. A piece posted on their site – written by 2004 Bush campaign worker John Lomperis - attacks two United Methodist bishops for supporting the ordination of homosexuals.

IRD is a group funded by people like extremist Richard Mellon Scaife and has a stated goal of “reforming” all mainline churches. The true intention of their supporters – some of the most conservative political activists in America – is to undermine the prophetic voice of Christianity to further their own political and personal goals.

Wouldn’t the president love it if his party could finally silence the churches from speaking out against his preemptive war and economic policies that benefit the wealthy at the expense of the least of these?

IRD’s anti-civil rights agenda has drawn support (unwelcome from IRD because of the obvious public relations implications) from the Klu Klux Klan.

One of their frequent targets has been Beth Stroud. Stroud, a United Methodist minister who has come out as a lesbian, has been put on trial by her denomination (which prohibits open homosexuals from serving as clergy) because of her sexual orientation. She was convicted of “practices incompatible with Christianity” and stripped of her ministerial credentials. Stroud is now involved in an appeals process.

Many United Methodists, however, oppose the official UMC policy regarding ordination are working to overturn it.

Stroud recently preached at the chapel at Eden Theological Seminary. She spoke about the call to ministry.

The story of Moses’ call begins with these words: “The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of their slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.”

That’s how Moses’ call begins: with not one word about Moses. It begins with the pain of the people of Israel, with their cry for help, and with God’s hearing their cry and taking notice of their pain and remembering God’s covenant with them. That’s where it all starts. The pain and the need of the people are primary; Moses himself is secondary. It’s very dramatic when God speaks to Moses out of the burning bush, but the drama is not grounded in Moses’ potential for leadership; the drama is grounded in the human suffering of which God has taken notice.

Once God has Moses’ attention, God’s first complete sentences are not about Moses but about the people. God says, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” It’s only after all of that has been said that God says, “I will send you.”

Then, God promises to make a way. Moses has reasonable objections to God’s calling him, beginning with, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” And what I notice is that God never answers that question. God never does tell Moses who he is that he should go. Maybe there’s no good answer to that question. God responds by saying, “I will be with you.” Moses asks, “Who am I?” and God responds as if to say, “Who you are is not the point; the point is who I am.”

It’s taken me a while to learn that my calling is not about me. It’s still often hard to remain clear about that. It’s not about my gifts and potential, and it’s not about my limitations, either. It’s always about a need or a hurt in the world that God has seen, a cry that God has heard, and what God intends to do about it.

Click here to read her full sermon.

God calls all of us to ministry in one way or another and plenty of imperfect people have heard the call to ordained ministry. Stroud is quick to point out her own imperfections. However, homosexuality, at least from my understanding of God, is not an imperfection but is in fact as much as a gift as my heterosexuality is. We are all created in God’s image.

IRD does not base their political stands in understandings of God (though they may mask them that way) but instead seek to divide the body of Christ to further their own interests.

IRD nearly goes so far as to equate the platform of the Republican Party for the Gospel teachings of Jesus.

This group supports war, opposes civil rights, fights against programs that help lift people out of poverty, and works to tear churches apart.

Standing in their way are people like Beth Stroud. She has been called by God to minister to all of us – even the supporters and staff of IRD. Let us pray that they take a deep breathe, let the Holy Spirit move them just as God has moved so many others from stands of oppression, and allow the love of Christ to fill their hearts so that they might abandon their campaigns of division. And while we pray for that let those of us who care for God’s justice pray that we learn new ways of sharing the Gospel that does not inflame people but instead inspires.

It is fair to say that Beth Stroud is helping to show us the way. Praise be to God for calling Beth to ministry.

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People for the American Way have obtained notes from a telephone conference call between leaders representing the White House and the religious right. The discussion: Harriett Miers:

According to Southern Baptist leader Richard Land, there are two values in Texas: courage and loyalty. On a conference call held by national right-wing leaders to convince grassroots activists to support Miers, Land argued that Miers can be trusted to rule the way Bush expects – anything else would be a personal betrayal. GOP Chair Ken Mehlman touted Miers’ willingness to support Bush’s actions in the war on terror. And Religious Right attorney Jay Sekulow said he wanted her vote for an upcoming Supreme Court case on restricting abortion rights.

Grab a cold beer (or a good mug of fair trade coffee) and sit back and listen to what the wizards of the Right had to say:

Click here to read the full post on Street Prophets.

Is the Vatican getting ready to adopt a US-military style policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as it concerns gay priests? Religion News Service reports:

Vatican City, Oct. 7 - A forthcoming Vatican document on homosexuality is expected to restrict gay men's entry into the priesthood but not ban them outright, providing they have been celibate for at least three years and have not publicly disclosed their homosexuality.

Candidates who participate in gay pride rallies or associate with other forms of "gay culture," including books, film and Internet sites, are also excluded from becoming priests, according to detailed reports published Friday.

Italy's leading daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, which first reported on the new guidelines, said that candidates must "show an adequate capacity for self-control" and must "live in chastity" for three years. The report did not say how seminaries are to determine who fails to meet these criteria.

Well, I guess this is more like Don’t Tell, But We’re Going To Investigate.

DignityUSA has more on the Vatican’s emerging new policies on homosexuality and the priesthood.

Related Post: "DignityUSA Condemns Seminary Visitation as Witch Hunt"

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. (Psalm 46: 1-3 NRSV)

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to study in southern India for part of a summer. Each night our group would hold a vespers service which we would open by reading Psalm 46.

These were the first words that entered my heart when the tsunami devastated so many of the places we had visited. I thought about them again when the Hurricane Katrina hit.

And I lift them up again for you today as our prayers and good thoughts go out to the people of Asia in another moment of suffering.

Want to help? Visit Church World Service. CSW is the ecumenical relief agency that works across the globe saving lives and promoting justice. There might never have been a time in their history when help was needed more.

Scholarly work related to the Christian faith is often controversial and sometimes outright avoided by churches (frequently out of fear for talking about difficult issues and sometimes because there are those who believe all you have to do is read the Bible to understand what faith is all about).

Over the course of the past few weeks I’ve been leading a lay group through the Living the Questions curriculum. Many of the folks involved with the Jesus Seminar (a group that studies the historical Jesus) and other Christian social justice advocates were involved in the development of this series. The people participating in our group – most of whom would consider themselves traditionalists theologically and conservative politically – impress me with their willingness to at least consider material that is common place in mainline seminaries like mine.

Clergy really should trust lay people more and engage congregants in the same discussions that occur in seminaries and other theological education settings.

There is some good news on that front coming out of Chattanooga. A “Jesus Conference” will be held on November 5th and is sponsored by Baptist, United Church of Christ, Episcopal, and United Methodist congregations, according to chattanoogan.com.

A conference designed to examine two questions “Who is Jesus?” and “What is the significance of Jesus for people today?” is set for Nov. 5 at 9 a.m. at First Baptist Church downtown. Sponsored by several downtown churches, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, First-Centenary United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church, Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ and Christ Church Episcopal, the Jesus Conference will feature a panel of six widely recognized Jesus scholars.

According to Dr. James Catanzaro, Chattanooga State president and conference moderator, “Jesus has been savior and companion for millions of Christians worldwide; nevertheless, controversy has surrounded the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. The six distinguished panelists will respond to the two foundational questions and to questions of attendees who will be part of one the most important faith events in our community’s history.”

Dr. Stephen Patterson, professor of New Testament studies at Eden Theological Seminary and author of the book The God of Jesus, is one of the panelists. I’ve studies with Dr. Patterson and highly recommend the work of this noted UCC scholar.

Conferences like this are a real gift and I urge people to take advantage of them when offered or to organize ones like them through your own faith communities.

Bush criticised for claiming God made him go to war.

There is more on this from Renee at Street Prophets.

God is still speaking but this president seems to be listening to a different power.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” – Matthew 5:9 (NRSV)

It was just last month that Human Rights Watch issued a new report charging that US soldiers in Iraq used torture against prisoners

(New York, September 24, 2005) -- U.S. Army troops subjected Iraqi detainees to severe beatings and other torture at a base in central Iraq from 2003 through 2004, often under orders or with the approval of superior officers, according to accounts from soldiers released by Human Rights Watch today.

The new report, “Leadership Failure: Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division,” provides soldiers’ accounts of abuses against detainees committed by troops of the 82nd Airborne stationed at Forward Operating Base Mercury (FOB Mercury), near Fallujah.

Three U.S. army personnel—two sergeants and a captain—describe routine, severe beatings of prisoners and other cruel and inhumane treatment. In one incident, a soldier is alleged to have broken a detainee’s leg with a baseball bat. Detainees were also forced to hold five-gallon jugs of water with their arms outstretched and perform other acts until they passed out. Soldiers also applied chemical substances to detainees’ skin and eyes, and subjected detainees to forced stress positions, sleep deprivation, and extremes of hot and cold. Detainees were also stacked into human pyramids and denied food and water. The soldiers also described abuses they witnessed or participated in at another base in Iraq and during earlier deployments in Afghanistan.

In a rare moment of bi-partisanship the US Senate this week passed legislation by a lopsided margin – legislation opposed by President Bush – setting “new limits on interrogating detainees in Iraq and elsewhere, underscoring Congress's growing concerns about reports of abuse of suspected terrorists and others in military custody,” according to the Washington Post.

The legislation was championed by Republican senators John McCain (a man who endured years of torture as a POW), Lindsey O. Graham, and John W. Warner. Click here to read McCain's statement on the bill.

The president has promised to veto the bill.

The world’s leading Christian organizations – both Protestant and Roman Catholic – have issued many statements over the years opposing torture. The National Council of Churches USA, referring to the situation at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, said last year:

Our concern is based on the fundamental Christian belief in the dignity of the human person created in the image of God, and on the rights accorded all persons by virtue of their humanity. As affirmed in a NCCCUSA policy statement on human rights, dated December 6, 1963, “Christians believe that man is made in the image of God, that every person is of intrinsic worth before God, and that every individual has a right to the fullest possible opportunity for the development of life abundant and eternal. Denials of rights and freedoms that inhere in man’s worth before God are not simply a crime against humanity; they are a sin against God.”

89 members of the United States Senate made clear this week that they share that sentiment. It is sad that the president of the United States does not.

George W. Bush promised to appoint people to the Supreme Court in the mold of Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.

The facts are these: the president has appointed judges – at all levels of the federal courts – that are extremely conservative. He has kept his promise.

But news of the president’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court sent shock waves through many right wing organizations who hoped for a name they recognized. Miers, who has no judicial experience, does not have a record on many of the issues important to social conservatives. She has not been one of the religious right’s cultural warriors.

This appointment was undoubtedly made because the president is in a weak political position and he knew a fight on a nomination to the Supreme Court could cripple the rest of his agenda. A woman with no record is easier to confirm than a man with a track record opposing abortion and affirmative action in judicial rulings.

In effect, as many commentators have pointed out, the president is asking his political base on the extreme right of American politics to trust him.

James Dobson, leader of the Republican Party-aligned Focus on the Family, told supporters today that he supported the president’s choice and trusted his judgment.

"I don't believe he would have nominated Harriet Miers if he knew that she was going to assassinate what he believed in and that the court would not be reformed the way he wants it to be…."

"She is a deeply committed Christian," Dobson said. "She has been a believer in Jesus Christ since the late 1970s. I know the person who led her to the Lord. I know the church that she goes to. I know it's a very conservative church. I know that she is a tithe-paying member at that church. I know that she has deep convictions about things. I have talked at length to people that know her—and have known her for a long time. Some of them have been a close personal friend of hers for 25 years. I trust these people because I know them—I know who they are and I know their character and I know what they stand their heart for the Lord."

“Lord,” of course, is a code word here for “GOP/Religious Right agenda.”

"I believe in trusting this president at this time because of the stand that he has taken and has implemented consistently over the last four years."

Trust the president. Trust James Dobson. Trust me.

Harriet Miers will reflect this president’s values and that will prove a disaster for all those concerned about civil rights, a woman’s right to choose, and Constitutional democracy. The theocracy dreamed about by the religious right is coming.

What looks to be a good conference featuring speakers like Jim Wallis and former Senator (and Episcopal priest) John Danforth will be taking place on October 13-15 in Washington, DC.

Who speaks for "Christian Values" in America today? Does the Religious Right speak for all Christians or is there a progressive perspective on Christian Values that has been sadly lacking in the public discourse?

Since November 2004, progressive Christians across the country have been mobilizing to respond to those questions—organizing to claim their tradition, to work as a united front for social justice, and to publicly disavow the fringe radicals who have attempted to co-opt the name of the church in America.

Responding to that need "Values, Vision and the Via Media" was born. On October 13-15 at the National Cathedral in Washington DC this groundbreaking conference will reclaim the values debate from the Religious Right, exploring how Anglicans have historically made ethical decisions and take action in our Christian tradition.

"Values, Vision and the Via Media" will offer an articulate representation of progressive Christian values held by the majority of moderate Americans, Republican and Democrat alike, offering progressive Christianity a public face. Theologians, activists and lay persons will use case studies, panel discussions and plenary sessions to explore how to make a difference personally, locally and globally in the areas of:

Economic Justice, Environment, Family Values, Peacemaking, Racism/ social oppressions

Click here for more.

Here is some good news from New Orleans.

Dillard University, the highly regarded historic black university with ties to the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church, plans to re-open as early as this January. Dillard’s campus was heavily damaged during the floods brought about by Hurricane Katrina and a subsequent fire.

New Orleans, Louisiana – Dillard University officials today announced that plans are underway to commence classes as early as January 2006 at a site in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dillard University has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tulane University to provide temporary facilities for Dillard “back home” while the Dillard campus undergoes extensive repairs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In making the decision to relocate in New Orleans, President Marvalene Hughes, Ph.D., said: “The board of trustees, in consultation with various stakeholders, sought a solution that would reconnect the Dillard community physically, emotionally and spiritually, as well as enable the important work of teaching and learning to commence without further interruption.

Click here to read the full press release.

One of the buses evacuating Dillard students also caught fire. No one was injured but many students lost all their possessions.

Dillard is an exceptional institution. This community has endured much. If you are looking for a place to make donations this school should be on your short list.

The school’s chaplain, The Rev. Gail Bowman, also has an important message this week that speaks to all those who wonder what God’s role is during such disasters:

There was something about the re-evacuation that got to me. Friends who were struggling to settle themselves in new places were suddenly on the road again, this time accompanied by those who had taken them in, all of them seeking a second shelter. This was a new kind of “awful.”

You may have survived Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath without asking Why, O God? But when Hurricane Rita followed so quickly after Katrina, many of us were not able to avoid posing the question of why all of this is happening. Self-appointed experts on the subject of God’s motives have enthusiastically told me that Katrina was God’s punishment for New Orleans’ sins. However, this answer is a little too simplistic for me. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” [Romans 3:23]. If God undertook to punish sin in earthly time and in any kind of comprehensive way, “who shall stand?” [Psalm 130:3] Besides, in Katrina’s aftermath, many who suffered and died were poor people, and the Bible indicates God is especially partial to and tender toward the poor.

Events like the hurricanes, and the December 26, 2004 tsunami for that matter, raise the question of God’s participation in so-called “acts of God.” Like many believing people, I am able to accept that God allows natural disasters but I will not accept that God initiates natural disasters, especially as a punishment. Disasters are one of the ways we tell the difference between heaven and earth (this is, most decidedly, earth) but the whole story is not told in the disaster and what seems to have been lost. There is also story, God’s story, in what is gained and learned in strife. But even in these two pieces the story is incomplete, because there is yet more story that lives within unknown God-touched areas in each of us, and in the mysterious places between heaven and earth where God works in seclusion and with brilliance.

‘God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are God’s ways our ways,’ [Isaiah 55:8]. The elegance of this truth is that when it comes to human beings and what God is saying to us and teaching us, there are no limitations, and there is always more. This is not a good time to put what we think God is saying into words; this is a time to listen.

Let us keep Dillard University and her students, faculty and staff in our prayers.

Baylor University, affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has charged Starbucks with “promoting homosexuality” through a paper coffee cup. Baptist Press reports:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--After nearly a decade of lying low, Starbucks has reentered the homosexual rights movement in a few ways that have put at least one conservative watchdog group on alert.

The world’s most famous coffee shop chain has begun a program called “The Way I See It,” which is a collection of thoughts, opinions and expressions provided by notable figures that now appear on Starbucks coffee cups, according to the chain’s website.

But one particular quote -- #43 -- blatantly pushes the homosexual agenda. It’s by Armistead Maupin, who wrote “Tales of the City,” a bestseller-turned-PBS drama advocating the homosexual lifestyle, and it reads:

“My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don’t make that mistake yourself. Life’s too [expletive] short.”

Concerned Women for America, one of the nation’s leading conservative public policy organizations, is sounding the alarm about the cups after one of its employees received one when she purchased coffee from one of the stores.

Agape Press has the story about Baylor's response.

For the record: my wife and I drink Starbucks every morning and do not find their marketing to be a threat to our traditional marriage (or a threat to our children, for that matter). We buy fair trade (which Starbucks carries) and encourage others to do the same.

Hate sure manifests in weird ways. When will we ever surrender to God’s extravagant welcome?

Related Post: Homosexuality and the Bible

Focus on the Family’s political wing is running ads against Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow for voting against John Roberts.

A Focus on the Family Action newspaper ad takes Sen. Debbie Stabenow to task for voting against the recently confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts.

The ad calls on readers to contact the Michigan Democrat to urge her to fairly consider the president's nominee to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"We are disappointed that Sen. Stabenow would vote against John Roberts, who is eminently qualified to succeed William Rehnquist as chief justice of the United States," said Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action. "Her vote is a slap in the face of the voters of Michigan, who understand that the Constitution is clear on the nomination of judges: The president has the authority to nominate as he chooses and the Senate provides consent on the basis of a nominee's qualifications, not ideology."

Minnery said the president is under no constraint to nominate individuals who will maintain "balance" on the court.

"Partisan politics have no place in the consideration and confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee," he said, "either the nominee is qualified and is confirmed, or he or she is unqualified and the Senate rejects the nomination."

Click here to read the full FOF press release.

Partisan politics?

FOF the family is in fact one of the most partisan political organizations around. Their founder and still leader James Dobson is active in Republican politics and has threatened to organize campaigns against several democratic senators.

Senator Stabenow had solid reasons for voting against the nomination.

“The Constitution grants all Americans the same rights, liberties and freedoms under the law. These are the sacred, bedrock values upon which the United States of America was founded. And we count on the Supreme Court to protect these constitutional rights at all times, whether they are popular or not.

“Unfortunately, Judge Roberts refused to answer most substantive questions about how he would protect our fundamental constitutional rights. Because of his failure to answer questions on the major legal issues of our time in a forthright manner, I feel compelled to base my decision on his writings and opinions.

“When you closely examine these documents, you see a forceful and instinctive opposition toward protecting the fundamental rights of all Americans. In case after case, Judge Roberts argued that the Constitution did not protect workers, voters, women, minorities and the disabled from discrimination. He also argued that the Constitution does not firmly establish the right of privacy for all Americans.

“In all of his memos, writings and briefs, Judge Roberts took the view that the Constitution only protects Americans in the most narrow and technical ways, and does not convey to us fundamental rights, liberties and freedoms. Because of these views, after much deliberation, I have concluded that Judge Roberts is the wrong choice for a lifetime appointment as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court – where he may well be making decisions on the rights of our children and grandchildren for the next 30 to 40 years.

“Judge Roberts is certainly an intelligent man with a record of public service. However, that alone does not qualify him to lead the entire third branch of our government. I believe that his philosophy undermines our most cherished and fundamental rights, liberties and freedoms as Americans, and for that reason, I will be voting no on his nomination next week.”

Click here to read her full statement and click here to send her a statement thanking the senator for defending the Constitution.

Statement from People for the American Way

President Bush’s nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers requires close scrutiny by the Senate and straightforward answers by the nominee, said Ralph G. Neas, President of People For the American Way.

“President Bush has nominated his personal lawyer and long-time friend to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. His choice raises serious questions about whether he has found a nominee who has the requisite qualifications and independence for the nation’s highest court.   This nomination will require the closest scrutiny by the Senate,” said Neas.  “With no past judicial experience for the senators to consider, the burden will be on Miers to be forthright with the Senate and the American people.  She must outline her judicial philosophy and provide direct answers to questions about how – and whether – she will uphold fundamental rights, liberties and legal protections on which Americans rely.”

If confirmed, Miers would replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the key vote on many crucial 5-4 decisions on the Supreme Court.  Justice O’Connor cast a number of decisive votes protecting the right of privacy, reproductive freedom for women, the constitutional principle of government neutrality toward religion, effective civil rights remedies, environmental protection, congressional authority to protect Americans’ rights and more.

“The stakes could not be higher, and the Senate should proceed with care.  There must be no rush to judgment.  Poll after poll shows that the American people do not want to see dramatic change on the Supreme Court, and that they value the rights and freedoms that have been guaranteed to them by the Court.  Will Harriet Miers uphold these rights, or will she vote to roll back seven decades of legal progress in civil rights and personal freedom?”  Neas asked.  “We need Supreme Court justices who are committed to equal justice under the law for all, and who will uphold the role of the federal government in preserving those rights and acting to protect the common good.  The next several months could determine the law of the land for the next several decades.”

This morning I preached a sermon concerning World Communion Sunday (which is, of course, today).  You can download the audio here:

Download ChuckCurrieIsaiahSermon.m4a

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

You can listen to the audio on your computer or IPod. 

The sermon was based on Isaiah 5:1-7.

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;

I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!

And Philippians 3:4b-14.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Message from Church World Service

Violence has increased this past month in south and west Darfur, with humanitarian convoys regularly ambushed, civilians robbed, and villagers forced to flee.

In the past two years more than 2 million people in the Darfur region have been uprooted from their homes by militia violence, including the burning of villages. As many as 400,000 people have been killed or have died from hunger or disease. The U.S. Congress and others have named it genocide.

In the recent escalation, Arab militia also attacked a refugee camp, killing more than two dozen people and causing many more to flee into the mountains. African Union peacekeepers were able to restore calm to one area.

CWS partners are helping to provide a vital lifeline to people living in some of the most vulnerable parts of Darfur.

On October 6, the CWS-supported Dear Sudan campaign is supporting in an International Solidarity Fast for Darfur. The fast hopes to involve individuals and communities around the world in order to send a message that the international community recognizes its responsibility to protect the world's populations from humanitarian crises.

For more information about the Solidarity Fast for Sudan, visit www.darfurfast.org. For more on the situation in Sudan and CWS response, please visit www.churchworldservice.org/news/Sudan.

Related Post:  Darfur Genocide Continues

This week the US House of Representatives passed – with the support of the Bush Administration – a new version of the Endangered Species Act that rips the heart out of this important legislation. The National Resources Defense Council reports:

"It would be scandalous to pass this bill into law. This legislation would do nothing to protect wildlife and, in fact, would lead to more extinctions. "Of the many damaging provisions in this bill, one of the worst would repeal rules that protect endangered species from pesticides like DDT, which nearly killed off the bald eagle years ago.

"The bill also would fleece U.S. taxpayers by paying wealthy developers to comply with endangered species protections. Under a loose compensation scheme, land developers would be able to name their price for lost profits. In America we don't pay people not to pollute.

"Most damaging to species recovery, however, is the bill's complete elimination of essential habitat protections. It defies common sense to expect an endangered species to recover if the place it calls home is converted to condos or paved for a parking lot."

Many mainline Christian organizations – including the National Council of Churches USA – opposed the legislation.

"In Scripture, God expresses awe and pleasure with all of God's creation, paying attention to even the seemingly least significant creature. In the story of Noah's ark, God reveals the desire that all life be preserved. We, as human members of God's family, are called to care for God's creation and all of God's creatures.

In recent decades, one way to show this compassion and fulfill our stewardship duty has been to implement the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act has worked to prevent extinctions, stabilize declining species, and bring some at-risk species to the point of recovery. Scientists have estimated that nearly 200 more species would have gone extinct without the Endangered Species Act and over 40 percent of the species protected by the Endangered Species Act have stabilized or improved their populations.

Legislation championed by Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (HR 3824) would effectively weaken the Endangered Species Act. We urge you to oppose HR 3824 on the moral grounds that extinction is not stewardship and that one of humanity's responsibilities is to care for all living things. We disavow misleading economic interests that would drive us to sacrifice the wonder, beauty, usefulness, and graciousness of the gifts God has given us all. We firmly hold that we are called to live our lives to glorify God and that development and profit at the expense of God's glory, of which the environment and all the species are but part, is sinful.

We oppose bills that would weaken the Endangered Species Act. As people of faith and as a society, let us ensure that species needing protection are put on the Endangered Species list, that science is allowed to inform those decisions, that the habitat of endangered species is safeguarded, and that endangered species programs receive adequate funding.

As part of our commitment to God we must remember and honor God's covenant with us all: "the sign of the covenant I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations" (Genesis 9:12).

Sincerely, Commission on Religion in Appalachia, Episcopal Church, Washington Office, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Washington Office, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church, Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, Mennonite Central Committee, National Council of Churches USA, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington Office, United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

The bill now heads for the Senate.