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I've not read her book (yet) but tonight there was a good interview on The Colbert Report with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend on faith and politics. Check it out:
I've sent her publisher a request for a review copy and once it arrives I'll read it and post more.
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Four out of the five members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon are now co-sponsors of legislation to "to begin investigations on impeachment" for Alberto Gonzales, America's disgraced Attorney General, according to Loaded Orygun. You gotta love this state and our political leaders.
Related Post: Impeach Alberto Gonzales If DOJ Fails To Appoint Special Prosecutor
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Action Alert from Children's Defense Fund
Over the past ten years, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been effective at reducing the number of uninsured children. However, nine million children are still uninsured and millions more are underinsured. That means millions of children in America are not getting the care they need to lead healthy and happy lives.
Congress is considering legislation to renew funding for SCHIP this week. Although our ultimate goal is to provide comprehensive health coverage to all children and pregnant women in America, supporting the SCHIP legislation currently under consideration in Congress, is a step towards this critical goal.
Take a few minutes right now to send a message to Congress to take this first step and support the SCHIP legislation currently under consideration in Congress. It's easy, it only takes a few minutes, and children cannot wait.
Related Post: George W. Bush: Putting Tobacco Companies Before Kids
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Many religious leaders across the United States questioned the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to serve as the Attorney General of the United States – I was one of them. Gonzales already had a reputation at that point for being dishonest but worse than that he was also the one who gave the White House the (faulty and immoral) legal justification for torturing so-called enemy combatants.
His tenure at the Justice Department has resulted in one scandal after another and even Republicans in the U.S. Senate are calling on him to resign or for the president to fire him. Each time he testifies before Congress he tells one lie after another to either protect himself or his masters in the West Wing.
This weekend The New York Times ran an editorial that said:
Democratic lawmakers are asking for a special prosecutor to look into Mr. Gonzales’s words and deeds. Solicitor General Paul Clement has a last chance to show that the Justice Department is still minimally functional by fulfilling that request.
If that does not happen, Congress should impeach Mr. Gonzales.
Impeaching the president and/or the vice-president is a cause championed by some on the left but that is a fool’s errand. Impeaching Gonzales, on the other hand, seems doable and it may be necessary to restore law and order to the nation.
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Last week low-income working Americans finally got a raise when the federal minimum wage was increased after years of growing poverty levels. Pehaps no one was more responsible for this than The Rev. Dr. Paul Sherry, the founder of Let Justice Roll, a project of the National Council of Churches, and the former general minister and president of the United Church of Christ. At a press conference held this week with Congressional leaders he said:
This is a good day, isn't it? After ten long years, America's low wage workers and families are getting a break. It's about time -- and Let Justice Roll is very glad to be part of it. Let Justice Roll is a nonpartisan coalition of over 90 faith-based, community-based, labor and business organizations united around one single goal -- working together to establish a living wage for all of our country's working people.
We have worked alongside many others to raise the minimum wage in a growing number of states -- Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. We have worked in support of city and county-wide living wage ordinances. And we have worked in support of the federal legislation we celebrate today. All with one purpose: reaching a living wage for all of America's working people -- a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
We believe that a job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.
With Martin Luther King, we believe, "There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American (worker) whether he (or she) is a hospital worker, laundry worker, maid, or day laborer."
And with the prophet Amos, we envision a renewed society wherein "justice rolls down like living waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream." That is the very definition of a good and decent society.
Yes, today is a good day. But, even as we celebrate, we know that we have a long way to go if justice is to be done for America's low wage working people.
Even at $7.25 an hour in 2009, the minimum wage, in inflation adjusted dollars, will be more than $2 below what it was in the year 1968 -- four decades ago. We do have a long way to go.
In the meantime, low wage working families will continue to struggle mightily with the ever increasing costs of health care, housing, education, and so much else.
When the Fair Labor Standards Act was established, way back in 1938, the Act was designed "to eliminate labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for the health, efficiency and general well-being of workers." The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which Dr. King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, called for a national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living. How far we are from those noble and visionary goals. We do have a long way to go.
A just minimum wage is not only ethically right; it is also economically right. A just minimum wage is good for workers. A just minimum wage is good for business and the economy. Speaking of business, nearly 800 business owners and executives representing every state in the nation have signed a statement endorsing a minimum wage increase at www.businessforafairminimumwage.org.
A just minimum wage is good for our common future. So, we dare not and we will not cease our efforts until all working people receive a living wage.
Let Justice Roll will work, along with many others, in support of future federal legislation to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. We will work in support of minimum wage legislation at the state level and for living wage ordinances at the local and state level -- places like Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma and Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
We will continue to make the case that raising the minimum wage is a central moral and economic issue of our time. Morality demands that a job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.
Yes this is a good day, a day to celebrate. On this day, even as we celebrate, let us look forward to an even better day. A day when all working people will receive a truly living wage -- a wage that will give all of America's families a decent standard of living. On that day, justice will roll down like living waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Let's do it!
Congratulations to all who worked hard for this victory. Now let's all get back to work. My friend Rev. Sherry is right that we still have along way to go.
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All across the globe people off all faiths are praying for the safe release of South Korean hostages being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. This week the World Council of Churches wrote Korean church leaders to express solidarity:
[Letter to Rev. Oh-sung Kwon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Korea]
Geneva, 24 July 2007
Dear Rev. Oh-sung Kwon,
On behalf of the fellowship of WCC member churches, please be assured that we are praying in earnest for the 23 Koreans who are held hostage in Afghanistan. Their abduction on 19 July and the pending threat of their execution have shocked many people around the world.
As negotiations between the Taliban and the South Korean government continue, we pray for the immediate release of those being held, for their reunion with their families and for true peace in Afghanistan. We pray also for the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, that through his help, negotiations may be strengthened.
We are calling the entire ecumenical family to join in prayer, asking God to intercede so that the hostages will be released and brought to safety.
We stand in solidarity with the families and churches affected, and with all the Korean people as they live through this difficult and trying time.
Yours in Christ,
William Temu
Acting General Secretary
The strength of the Taliban today reflects the colossal failure of American foreign policy.
Please join with others in praying this week for the Korean Christians.
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More this week on the campaign by the Bush Administration to suppress important public health information. The Washington Post reports:
A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.
The report described the link between poverty and poor health, urged the U.S. government to help combat widespread diseases as a key aim of its foreign policy, and called on corporations to help improve health conditions in the countries where they operate. A copy of the report was obtained by The Washington Post.
Three people directly involved in its preparation said its publication was blocked by William R. Steiger, a specialist in education and a scholar of Latin American history whose family has long ties to President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Since 2001, Steiger has run the Office of Global Health Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Richard H. Carmona, who commissioned the "Call to Action on Global Health" while serving as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, recently cited its suppression as an example of the Bush administration's frequent efforts during his tenure to give scientific documents a political twist.
As each day passes the more I believe that those in power in the executive branch today care little or nothing for the general welfare of the people of the world. Withholding public health information for purely political reasons isn't just gross - it is immoral.
Related Post: Bush, Bush, Bush: Say It Three Times Fast
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This week both The Portland Mercury and Just Out noted my note to "Concerned Oregonians." As careful observers of this blog will remember, Concerned Oregonians is an anti-gay, anti-civil rights organizations which sent a letter to my office asking for my help as a pastor in repealing two new state laws offering domestic partner benefits and banning discrimination in housing and employment for gays and lesbians. I said no. My thanks to The Portland Mercury and Just Out for helping to remind Oregonians that the Christian faith isn't entirely made up of narrow minded bigots who promote hate and intolerance. In fact, Jesus preached compassion and love for all. Even poor JustADog.
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Portland is all aflutter over the grand opening of a new Ikea store. The anticipation has been so great that I actually first heard Ikea was opening a store in Portland when I was back attending seminary in St. Louis a few years ago. The opening this week came complete with traffic jams and television news helicopters competing for air space with planes landing at PDX (next to where Ikea is located).
We went tonight in search of a small sofa for my study. Ikea is known for inexpensive furniture and we found just what we were looking for after dropping the kids off in Ikea’s Disneyland-like play area. Too bad we’d already eaten dinner. Ikea’s own restaurant featured a salmon dinner for under six bucks.
But what did we think of the place? “If there is a fire we’re all going to die,” said my wife Liz as we made our way through crowds that you’d expect to find at a rock concert and not a discount furniture store. Don’t trust the exit signs. Ikea’s exit signs force you to walk through every single department of the store before finally depositing you in a check-out lane. It felt like we wandered endlessly and for a few minutes I wondered if we'd ever find Frances and Katherine again or if the play area was just part of an elaborate plot to kidnap our children so they could be raised as new Ikea employees. A store clerk told us she’d been lost for several minutes as she tried to find her way back to her post. There were enough police outside to direct crowds and traffic control (which really actually seemed mild on the outside) that you would have thought a major police action was taking place.
Was it all worth it? I’ll let you know after the dogs and I get comfortable on our new couch. Hugo and Hazel are second class citizens around here and only get to lounge in my study, the kitchen area and our backyard…but at least they’ll get to sleep now on a new Ikea mini-sofa.
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This week The Washington's Post "On Faith" web site has a really good series on Islam:
Back in April, “On Faith” and Georgetown University co-sponsored a panel discussion on "What It Means to Be Muslim in America.” During that event, Georgetown's Imam Yahya Hendi questioned why U.S. media rarely acknowledged condemnations of violence and terrorism by Muslim leaders. His question prompted “On Faith” co-moderator Sally Quinn to propose devoting a full week of “On Faith” to a discussion among Muslim scholars and authorities on Islam's views on violence, human rights, and interfaith relations. “Muslims Speak Out” is that week-long, online discussion.
"On Faith" and Georgetown University asked nearly 60 Muslim leaders from around the world to participate by responding to questions on the three topics. About a third of the leaders agreed to do so, and their answers will be featured in the coming days.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life provided analysis of public opinion surveys. A number of the world’s most prominent voices – including former President Jimmy Carter, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus -- will offer their perspective. And readers will be encouraged to add their questions and comments to the mix.
“On Faith" and "Muslims Speak Out" are efforts by the Washington Post Company to foster informative and productive online conversations about religion and its impact on world events and our lives. We believe that such conversations are critical if we are to begin to address the many conflicts being waged today in the name of faith.
Read Muslims Speak Out: What Islam Says About Violence, Human Rights and Other Religions.
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Action Alert from Church World Service
After nearly 30 hours of markup spanning three days, the House Agriculture Committee reported out their version of the farm bill with a voice vote last week. It is expected to be voted on Thursday, July 26.
The Agriculture Committee’s version of the farm bill does little to help struggling farm and rural families in the United States, or hungry people here and around the world. It leaves largely untouched our current commodity programs, which concentrate payments in the hands of a few. The committee’s farm bill would also do nothing to change policies that make it more difficult for farmers in poor countries to sell their crops and feed their families.
Action Needed
Visit the CWS Speak Out website to email Rep. Earl Blumenauer, and ask for a new farm bill that will:
Background:
The Farm Bill is a law renewed about every five years governing food and agriculture policy in the United States including federal farm support, food stamps, agricultural trade, marketing, conservation and rural development. In 1933, as part of the New Deal program, President Franklin D. Roosevelt first implemented the agricultural policies that helped much of rural America recover from the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Since then, the U.S. Congress has reformulated the Farm Bill in several ways. The current Farm Bill was enacted in 2002, with 10 different areas or “titles,” ranging from commodities and conservation to research and food safety.
The farm bill was initially designed to be a safety net to help farmers when they faced poor crop production, or low prices. The current farm bill does not live up to this original purpose. Church World Service is calling for reform of the current U.S. Farm Bill to help alleviate the suffering experienced by small holder farmers in the U.S. and around the world who bear the negative impacts of fluctuating crop prices brought on by an export-oriented agriculture system increasingly dominated by global food corporations.
Market deregulation has facilitated growing market concentration in the agriculture and food industries encouraging costly and unsustainable overproduction and dumping of strategic agricultural commodities onto world markets at prices substantially below the cost of production. This practice, in turn, has resulted in sustained downward pressure on world commodity prices, threatening farmers and farmworkers around the world.
The dumping of agricultural commodities undercuts the ability of small holder farmers in developing countries to sell their goods at fair prices in their own domestic markets. In many of these countries, more than fifty percent of the population makes its living from agriculture. Without border controls like quotas and tariffs, developing countries would have nothing in place to shield their farmers from utter destruction; but these mechanisms are also threatened as developing countries face demands to dismantle their remaining quotas and tariffs in the name of increasing “market access.”
In the United States, subsidies kick in to stabilize some U.S. farmer’s income when prices are low. Still family farmers are finding it difficult to survive and commodity overproduction is creating widespread environmental damage. While major agribusiness corporations reap profits, farmers are denied a fair price for their crops and taxpayers are forced to foot the bill.
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Parkrose Community United Church of Christ (www.parkroseucc.org) in Northeast Portland received a letter today from Mr. David Crowe with Concerned Oregonians asking that I, as the church’s pastor, distribute petitions to church members calling for HB 2007 and SB 2 to be over turned.
HB 2007 and SB 2, both of which had wide support from religious leaders in Oregon, provide domestic partner benefits and outlaw discrimination against gays and lesbians in areas such as employment.
I e-mailed Concerned Oregonians immediately after receiving their letter:
Your letter states that that 'marriage and morality are under attack.' Mr. Crowe, it is your actions in support of legal discrimination that damage the moral fabric of our state. Jesus calls on us to be a people of justice and reconciliation. Discrimination is incompatible with Christianity.
As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I was proud to stand with religious leaders from across Oregon in support of HB 2007 and SB 2. While Parkrose Community United Church of Christ has not taken a stand on these issues as of yet we are an "Open and Affirming" church that celebrates the gift of human diversity given to us by God. Furthermore, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ has called for full legal equality for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.
I will work and pray for the defeat of your efforts.
Copies of the letter from Concerned Oregonians and my full response are available here .
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Want to visit Israel and Palestine?
The Jewish Voice for Peace Health and Human Rights Project (formerly Jewish American Medical Project) announces its next delegation to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our prospective dates are 20 October – 3 November 2007. Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a progressive, national, grassroots, membership organization dedicated to a resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict based on principles of democracy, human rights and respect for international law.
We are seeking delegation members who are committed to participating in non-violent solidarity work with Palestinians and Israelis and who share our vision of working for a just and peaceful end to the Occupation. To that end, we are recruiting new members to participate in our delegation. The purpose of this application is to gather information about your interest and reasons for becoming part of the delegation.
For the past four years, we have sent delegations to work with our partner organizations, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel), as well as other Palestinian civil society organizations and Israeli peace and human rights groups. While we began as a primarily medical-aid effort, we have broadened our scope. Our goal is to connect delegation members with their counterparts in Israel/Palestine where they can provide assistance, while learning first-hand of the situation on the ground. We expect that upon their return to the U.S. (or other home country), delegation members will utilize their experience to help educate others.
Click here for more.
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We spent three great days this week on Orcas Island enjoying the sights and visiting with the whales. Click here for more photos.
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This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our Scripture readings included Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-20 and John 14:6. My sermon topic was: "Finding Your Path(s) To God."
Use the below link to download the podcast of my sermon for your iPod or personal computer.
(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).
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It's true. This pro-choice United Church of Christ minister beleives that abortion should be legal, safe and rare. But does the Religious Right really want to reduce abortions? Sometimes I get they feeling they could care less about the issue and only see it as a chance to fill their coffers. Faith in Public Life is asking the same question:
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an initiative that aims to reduce the number of abortions in this country without further limiting the legal availability of the procedure.
The legislation, sponsored by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Tim Ryan (D-OH), provides more funding for pregnancy prevention programs as well as for social support programs that help women lacking in financial and social resources feel better equipped to raise an unexpected child.
"It is our moral obligation to address those issues with which all side agree," said Ryan. "Whether you are pro-life like me or pro-choice like my friend Congresswoman DeLauro, the common ground we must build upon is our serious desire to reduce the rate of abortions."
Prevention and support initiatives have been proven to reduce abortions and unintended pregnancies, and it is a big step forward for those working for practical solutions to this thorny issue.
A big question mark is the reaction of self-identified “pro-life” groups such as Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. These powerful religious right groups make a big deal of (and a lot of money from) their anti-abortion stance, but so far, as even they will admit, their efforts haven’t actually reduced abortion rates.
Will the religious right reach out and take this opportunity to collaborate across ideological lines for something they truly believe in, or will they continue their current course of advocacy, which so far has done a lot more for conservative politicians than it has for fetuses?
So does the Religious Right really want to lower the number of abortions or do they just want to use this issue as one to divide the American people with? Anyone want to start placing bets (Methodist, of course, excluded from all betting).
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If you're a member of the United Church of Christ and looking for ways to help your congregation grow be sure to check out the website Congregational Vitality.
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I'll be joining in this fast for a day in solidarity with my colleague in ministry David Duncombe.
The central event of the 2007 Sabbath year will be the 40-day Cancel Debt Fast calling for debt cancellation and an end to global poverty.
Individuals, congregations, and local organizations can participate in the Cancel Debt Fast by committing to fast for a day or more and on the same day to contact or meet with their Member of Congress, asking the congressperson to support the JUBILEE Act as well as just trade and poverty-focused development assistance to fight global poverty. On any given day during the 40-day Cancel Debt Fast, debt cancellation advocates across the United States and around the world will be engaging in this powerful act of solidarity with those who are bound by the chains of unjust and oppressive debts.
You may contact Jubilee USA or visit our website to receive talking points, helpful advice, and assistance about talking to your member of Congress about the JUBILEE Act.
The fast will take place from September 6 to October 15 and will be organized in tandem with a public ministry of prayer and fasting led by the Rev. David Duncombe in support of the debt cancellation that is necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The Rev. Duncombe’s ministry will involve an open-ended fast, beginning on September 6, 2007. As he fasts, Rev. Duncombe will visit House and Senate offices key to the passage of debt cancellation legislation, talking specifically to the office staff and to the office holder whenever possible about how their faith relates to the objectives of debt cancellation and an end to global poverty and hunger.
Jubilee supporters are welcome to join with Rev. Duncombe in Washington, DC for part or all of the 40-day fast, but they can also offer support in their communities by registering to participate in the worldwide cancel debt fast and by spreading the word to others in their community.
Please visit www.canceldebtfast.org to learn more.
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Action Alert from Jubilee USA
New Bill Urges Bush Administration to Keep Its Promises to Impoverished Countries and Raises the Bar on Responsible Lending Practices
Thursday, June 7, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) re-introduced the Jubilee Act.
The Jubilee Act addresses the unfinished agenda on debt, and is introduced as the G8 meet in Germany, ignoring this unfinished agenda. With the re-introduction of this bill, we show the rest of the world that people in the US still care and will continue to work for an end to the debt crisis.
The Jubilee Act is the centerpiece of Jubilee’s 2007 Sabbath Year campaign. The Jubilee Act:
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As leaders of the Religious Right get ready to rally in support of Israel leaders of the National Council of Churches remind us that Christians across the globe support both Israel and Palestine:
New York City, July 16, 2007-As Pastor John Hagee prepares for his annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) gathering this week in Washington, D.C., two leaders of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC) are reminding observers that most Christians do not share CUFI's stated goals.
"John Hagee's message differs greatly with what theologians have taught for centuries," said Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, NCC's Associated General Secretary for International Affairs and Peace.
"The Christian Gospel is clear that salvation came through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ," said Dr. Kireopoulos. "To supplement this message is to pervert the Gospel Hagee claims to preach."
Pastor Hagee's efforts are the latest in a century old apocalyptic movement that began in earnest in the 19th century. Sometimes called Christian Zionism because of its uncritical support for the State of Israel, it is based on a literal reading of Biblical apocalyptic texts.
CUFI's position of uncritical support for Israel separates it from the Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and traditional Protestant Churches, all of whom support Israel while at the same time advocate for a Palestinian state, Kireopoulos said.
The NCC advocates for a two-state solution, with a secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state. The NCC position, approved by the NCC's 35 member denominations, is based on the Christian imperative to seek justice for all people. The NCC has stated the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories is unsupportable. This position is shared by Churches worldwide, and is counter to the position espoused by CUFI.
"Only a just solution will bring peace to the Middle East," said Kireopoulos. "CUFI stands apart from the historic Churches still present in the Holy Land. All of these Churches serve Palestinian Christians, who are adversely affected by the policies supported by Hagee and CUFI. As a result of these policies, Christian communities in the Holy Land are diminishing and are threatened with extinction."
"CUFI's ongoing vilification of Islam is also unacceptable," said the Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, NCC's Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations.
"The NCC continues to urge Christians to build relationships with Muslim people, the vast majority of whom are peace-loving, law-abiding people," Premawardhana said.
Hagee's group has also advocated going to war with Iran.
"Such a war is totally unacceptable," said Premawardhana. "The NCC believes that high level dialogues with Iran and other Middle Eastern partners is the proper method of dealing with Iran."
The National Council of Churches USA is the ecumenical voice of 35 of America's Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, historic African American and traditional peace churches. These NCC denominations have 45 million faithful members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.
The authentic Christian voice is always one speaking for peace and reconciliation.
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Once again our president is showing his true face:
WASHINGTON, July 14 — The White House said on Saturday that President Bush would veto a bipartisan plan to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program, drafted over the last six months by senior members of the Senate Finance Committee.
The vow puts Mr. Bush at odds with the Democratic majority in Congress, with a substantial number of Republican lawmakers and with many governors of both parties, who want to expand the popular program to cover some of the nation’s eight million uninsured children.
Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said: “The president’s senior advisers will certainly recommend a veto of this proposal. And there is no question that the president would veto it.”
The program, which insured 7.4 million people at some time in the last year, is set to expire Sept. 30.
Why the veto promise?
The proposal would increase current levels of spending by $35 billion over the next five years, bringing the total to $60 billion. The Congressional Budget Office says the plan would reduce the number of uninsured children by 4.1 million.
The new spending would be financed by an increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco products. The tax on cigarettes would rise to $1 a pack, from the current 39 cents.
Mr. Fratto, the White House spokesman, said, “Tax increases are neither necessary nor advisable to fund the program appropriately.”
The president cares more about the profits of tobacco companies than he does about kids.
Send your own message to Congress. Tell them to expand health care for kids. Don't let the president and his tobacco company executive buddies keep America's children from getting the health care they need to thrive.
Related Link: The False "Public Versus Private" Choice For Children’s Health Coverage
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This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our Scripture readings included Genesis 3:1-19 and Romans 5:12, 18-19. My sermon dealt with "The Problem of Sin."
Use the below link to download the podcast of my sermon for your iPod or personal computer.
(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).
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Reprinted from United Church News
Written by J. Bennett Guess
July 12, 2007
The UCC's ecumenical officer described a new Vatican document as "upsetting" and "distressing," but also cautioned church leaders to recognize the on-the-ground progress that has been established between Catholics and Protestants.
The Rev. Lydia Veliko's written remarks, prepared for church leaders, came in response to a July 10 Vatican document that reasserts the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and calls other Christian churches defective. The papal-approved statement describes Protestant denominations as not even churches "in the proper sense."
The document has received a cold response from global Protestant leaders who have expressed sentiments ranging from quiet concern to outspoken rebuke.
"It is most upsetting to read persistent language, not new yet still distressing, characterizing the Protestant churches as not having 'preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery,' thus relegating us to a category of 'ecclesial communities' rather than 'church,'" wrote Veliko, the UCC's ecumenical officer, in a response circulated to UCC Conference Ministers. "However much we may disagree, those of us who have been involved in dialogue with Roman Catholics are quite familiar with this perspective, and understand how Roman Catholics come to this view within the logic of their own ecclesiological convictions. Nevertheless, that the Vatican again feels the need to remind us of this is, at the very least, troubling."
The Vatican statement, which was "ratified and confirmed" by Pope Benedict XVI and published with his approval, reiterates some of the most controversial ideas in a 2000 Vatican declaration published under Benedict's authority when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The four-page document purports to correct "erroneous interpretation" and "misunderstanding" of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, which paved the way for ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and other Christian churches.
Veliko, however, remained positive about Catholic-Protestant-Orthodox relationships, especially in the United States.
"We appreciate the many ways in which Roman Catholics … work collaboratively and collegially with Protestant and Orthodox colleagues, in many cases exhibiting the very best of the ecumenical spirit to which they made visible commitment in the days following Vatican II," she said. "The UCC, as well as many of our partners, have been positively impacted by the Roman Catholic Church's commitment to dialogue in the last 40 years. This work has enhanced the pastoral, liturgical, and theological life of all of our churches."
The World Alliance of Reformed Churches, of which the UCC is an active and longstanding member, offered strong negative reaction to the document in a letter of response to the Vatican.
The statement takes us back to the kind of thinking and atmosphere that was prevalent prior to the Second Vatican Council," WARC officials said, in a prepared release.
Related Post: Pope Damages Ecumenical Movement With Statement
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We can be proud this week by the vote taken in the U.S. House of Representatives to require an end to the failed Iraq War.
Speaker Pelosi was right to call for a new direction in Iraq because the policy followed by the Bush Administration has done nothing but to increase the risk of terrorism, and caused too many civilian and military deaths.
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Like all Oregonians, I was shocked when it was announced that The Simpson's live not in Springfield, Oregon but in Springfield, Vermont, a town not worthy of mention. Matt Groening, the show's creator, clearly modeled Springfield after Oregon. One can only assume that Groening has now been possessed by the Devil and I am prepared to perform an exorcism at the earliest possible opportunity. In the meantime, I was glad to learn that U.S. Congressman Peter DeFazio has called on the Justice Department to investigate. Below is the congressman's letter:
Alberto R. Gonzalez
Attorney General
Office of Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy Building
950 Pennsylvania, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20530-2000
Heidely Ho Attorney General Gonzales:
I write to you to express the outrage that I, and all Oregonians, feel regarding a recent event. I know there is a strong possibility that you may come back and say that you "don't recall" to what I am referring, so let me refresh your memory. Recently, 20th Century Fox launched The Simpson's Movie Springfield Challenge where people could vote on the real-life location of the home of The Simpsons. Naturally, most Oregonians felt confident that we would win, since it is obvious to everyone that Simpson's creator Matt Groening, who was raised in Oregon, modeled Springfield after his childhood home. Oregon has over 363 miles of the most beautiful coastline in America, the Cascade Mountains, and is the grass seed capital of the world. What does Vermont have? Maple syrup.
This travesty must not stand. Springfield, Vermont is a town of only nine thousand people; yet this community received over fifteen thousand votes. Unless they passed a law giving cows the right to vote, this smacks of election fraud. It also once again highlights the need for electronic voting with a valid paper trail. Was Diebold in any way involved in tabulating the results?
Additionally, it's my understanding that Springfield, Vermont entered the competition after the deadline. That's clearly an election violation since they should not have been listed on the ballot in the first place.
Some people will say that we were rolled by the giant pink doughnut, but I believe there were significant voting irregularities. Knowing how passionately the Bush Administration feels about counting every vote, I'm sure you will want to investigate this matter. Additionally, I urge you to petition the Supreme Court to review the facts and consider whether or not this election should be set aside. Given the Court's recent rulings on election proceedings, I'm sure they will be eager to review the case. I demand that you investigate this miscarriage of justice and restore Oregon as the definitive home of The Simpsons.
Okiliydokily,
PETER DeFAZIO
Member of Congress
P.S. Also, to see proof beyond a shadow of a doubt where the real Simpsons are live, go to http://www.defazio.house.gov/images/zoom/LGKSWV/simpsonspad.jpg and see for yourself. Photos don't lie.
P.P.S. Vote Quimby!
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Every television news program is carrying the same story this week: we are at risk for another terrorist attack. Information from the intelligence community has confirmed that Al-Qaeda remains a clear and present danger to the America people. The Washington Post reports:
Six years after the Bush administration declared war on al-Qaeda, the terrorist network is gaining strength and has established a safe haven in remote tribal areas of western Pakistan for training and planning attacks, according to a new Bush administration intelligence report…
U.S. intelligence has proven faulty at best but few would seriously doubt that Al-Qaeda wants to do serious harm to our nation and will do so if given the opportunity.
Only the villains behind Al-Qaeda can be held responsible for the violence they wage but President George W. Bush’s policies have allowed Al-Qaeda to grow and remain a serious threat.
In a survey of national security experts conducted by the Center for American Progress it was report that:
More than two-thirds of the experts believe that Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism and 88 percent think that operations in Iraq are undermining U.S. national security….
The Bush administration’s misguided tactics in the fight against global terrorist networks are making the United States a more dangerous place. Eighty-two percent of the experts expect another 9/11-scale attack on the United States sometime in the next decade, and 83 percent believe that the Taliban, Hamas, and Hezbollah have all strengthened over the past year. An overwhelming 91 percent urge the United States to dramatically increase pressure on Pakistan, which many believe will become the next Al Qaeda stronghold. The United States needs to turn its attention away from Iraq if it hopes to contain these terrorist groups.
If we are attacked again it would represent a failure of colossal proportions on the part of President Bush. The war in Iraq has only further destabilized the world and allowed terrorist networks to grow.
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This is the kind of creative and thoughtful thinking our city needs:
Restrooms located on the first floor of City Hall will be open overnight as part of the Mayor’s Street Access for Everyone (SAFE) Initiative to increase downtown livability.
The new hours, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., are expected to be in place by August 2nd. Currently, City Hall restrooms are open to the public from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The additional hours will increase the City’s public restroom capacity during hours when no other public restrooms are available.
The SAFE Initiative was launched on May 24, 2006 to develop comprehensive and community-driven strategies to make Portland’s streets open and accessible for all members of the community.
The initiative includes providing day shelters for the homeless during hours when most shelters providing services are closed; increasing the number of benches; opening public restrooms and enacting a sidewalk obstruction ordinance that prohibits sitting or lying on sidewalks in the downtown and Lloyd District during business hours.
The City Council voted last month to require 24-hour access to restrooms before the sidewalk obstruction ordinance could take effect.
I was one of those who told the city 24-hour access to restrooms was needed and Mayor Potter has responded to that request. I’m not surprised. When he was the police chief he once offered to open up the Police Bureau as an emergency shelter on cold winter nights.
As I recall, the City Council also required that before the sit-lie ordinance goes in effect the city would provide additional benches for people to sleep on.
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As a Christian minister, this makes me sick.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Three protesters disrupted a prayer by a Hindu chaplain Thursday at the opening of a Senate hearing, calling it an abomination and shouting slogans about Jesus Christ.
It was the first time the daily prayer that opens Senate proceedings was said by a Hindu chaplain.
Capitol police said two women and one man were arrested and charged with causing a disruption in the public gallery of the Senate. The three started shouting when guest Chaplain Rajan Zed, a Hindu from Nevada, began his prayer.
They shouted "No Lord but Jesus Christ" and "There's only one true God," and used the term "abomination."
Who is to blame? The loons at the American Family Association, the Religious Right’s preeminent hate group, sent out action alerts demanding that Congress uninvite Chaplain Zed.
In their action alert they say:
"This is not a religion that has produced great things in the world…You look at India, you look at Nepal -- there's persecution going in both of those countries that is gendered by the religious belief that is present there, and Hindu dominates in both of those countries.
Never produced anything great? Anyone ever hear of Gandhi?
Yes, there is discrimination in the world but the sad fact is that Christians have often been the ones promoting that discrimination. Need evidence?
Three protesters disrupted a prayer by a Hindu chaplain Thursday at the opening of a Senate hearing, calling it an abomination and shouting slogans about Jesus Christ.
My advice to the US Senate tonight: invite Chaplain Zed back and give him a proper welcome.
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A not very ecumenical statement from His Holiness was issued this week:
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican on July 10 reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, calling other Christian churches defective and saying Protestant denominations are not even churches "in the proper sense."
The statement, which was "ratified and confirmed" by Pope Benedict XVI and published with his approval, reiterates some of the most controversial ideas in a 2000 Vatican declaration published under Benedict's authority when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Tuesday's four-page document purports to correct "erroneous interpretation" and "misunderstanding" of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, which paved the way for ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and other Christian churches.
The new document said Vatican II "neither changed nor intended to change" the teaching that the "one Church of Christ ... subsists in the Catholic Church" alone. Other Christian denominations, it argues, can also be "instruments of salvation," but "suffer from defects" insofar as they depart from Catholicism.
Eastern Orthodox churches, though lacking communion with Rome, nonetheless deserve the term "Church" because their priests follow in the succession of bishops and priests that started in the early church, the document explains.
Protestant denominations, however, "because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery," and are therefore to be termed mere "Christian Communities."
The National Council of Churches USA and the Evangelical Luthern Church of America have offered very charitable views of the Pope's statement but I agree with the statement issued by the Presbyterian Church USA which says in part that: "Roman Catholic leadership has mischaracterized our own faith and re-opened questions of Christian unity for all church bodies." This new statement from the Pope does damage to the ecumenical movement.
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We've heard for years now how President Bush's White House has tried to suppress important scientific information on issues from the environment to health care. Now one former top Bush official is talking. The New York Times reports:
WASHINGTON, July 10 — Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.
The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to “water down” a landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm.
Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.
This White House has governed for 6 years as if the health and safety of the American people is secondary to the well-being and profit margin of their largest contributors. Their behavior is deeply immoral. Their disregard for scientific truth in favor of political expediency is sickening.
Update: Check out this quote from The Washington Post's coverage:
"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried," he (Carmona) said. "The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds."
Amen to that.
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The big secret is out of the closet thanks to the top-notch reporting of Focus on the Family: the United Church of Christ supports same sex marriage. In a release sent out today - July 9, 2007 - Focus on the Family bemoans the shocking news...
The general council of the United Church of Christ (UCC) last week voted in favor of a resolution that affirms "equal rights for couples regardless of gender," BBC News reported.
The nonbinding resolution does not require pastors to marry same-sex couples.
The Rev. John Thomas, president and general minister of the UCC, said "On this July 4, the United Church of Christ has courageously acted to develop freedom, affirming the civil rights of gay… couples to have their relationships recognized as marriages by the state," he said, "and encourages our local churches celebrate those marriages."
Caleb Price, research analyst for Focus on the Family, said while UCC declared 20 years ago that it accepted homosexual members, this recent general synod resolution provides more evidence of just how far from biblical truth the denomination's leadership has strayed.
"While the UCC is a denomination that claims to be Christian, clearly it is a group that has conformed to culture," he said, "rather than heeding the biblical call to come out of the surrounding culture and conform to God and his precepts."
Only problem with this fast breaking story: it is two years old. The General Synod of the United Church of Christ voted in 2005 to support gay marriage - not last week. Actually, I'm pretty sure Focus on the Family issued a statement bemoaning the news back then as well. Why the repeat? Perhaps the news was so stunning to our conservative brothers and sisters that they're having PTSD-inspired flash blacks or maybe the air is too thin at their Colorado mountain secret lair. There could be any number of reasons.
But here is the really great part: when the UCC did endorse same sex marriage in 2005 groups like Focus on the Family practically said it was the end of the Christian church as we know it.
It turns out, however, support for gays and lesbian in the church hasn't hurt anything at all. The church still stands. Two years later Focus on the Family has already forgotten it happened in the first place.
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This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our scripture readings included Exodus 35:2, Leviticus 25:39-46, and 1 Tim 2:11-12. The sermon topic was "How We Read The Bible Matters." If you look at the readings you'll see a theme.
Use the below link to download the podcast of my sermon for your iPod or personal computer.
Download ParkroseHowWeReadTheBible.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).
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Frances and Katherine turn three today. This photo was from their birthday party held yesterday. Wasn't it just last week that they were born? Time flies. Happy birthday, my not so little baby girls!
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More news that speaks directly to the character of Fred Thompson...
Fred Thompson gained an image as a tough-minded investigative counsel for the Senate Watergate committee. Yet President Nixon and his top aides viewed the fellow Republican as a willing, if not too bright, ally, according to White House tapes.
Thompson, now preparing a bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, won fame in 1973 for asking a committee witness the bombshell question that revealed Nixon had installed hidden listening devices and taping equipment in the Oval Office.
Those tapes show Thompson played a behind-the-scenes role that was very different from his public image three decades ago. He comes across as a partisan willing to cooperate with the Nixon White House's effort to discredit the committee's star witness.
It was Thompson who tipped off the White House that the Senate committee knew about the tapes...
Thompson, then 30, was appointed counsel by his political mentor, Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker, the top Republican on the Senate investigative committee. Thompson had been an assistant U.S. attorney in Nashville, Tenn., and had managed Baker's re-election campaign. Thompson later was a senator himself.
Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called "dumb as hell." The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee's Democratic counsel....
Publicly, Baker and Thompson presented themselves as dedicated to uncovering the truth. But Baker had secret meetings and conversations with Nixon and his top aides, while Thompson worked cooperatively with the White House and accepted coaching from Nixon's lawyer, J. Fred Buzhardt, the tapes and transcripts show.
The more we all learn about Thompson the more it becomes clear that he doesn't have the moral fitness to hold the office of president. History shows he was Nixon's mole in the Senate when his job called for him to be independent and above politics. But Thompson put ethics aside to defend Richard Nixon. That's pretty darn sad. America can do better than Fred Thompson.
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Every religion has used violence for one purpose or another. Christians have at different points in history have been brutal. But do violent acts committed in the name of one religion or another reflect on all believers? Muslims have been dealing with these kinds of questions in very personal ways ever since the 9/11 attacks.
Dilshad D. Ali, Beliefnet Islam Editor, writes this month:
Every few months another story hits the news: Terrorist plot uncovered, Muslims implicated. Since the tragedy of 9/11, Muslims have remained under intense scrutiny, and more than a few Americans have called the religion "evil." People still wonder: Why aren't Muslims saying--or doing--enough to condemn terrorism and violence? Is Islam really a religion of violence?
The truth is, American Muslims are constantly condemning terrorism and religious extremism, unambiguously and in the strongest possible ways. But, many Muslims complain, their words and actions are not being heard. So Beliefnet sought out some of the country's most prominent Muslims, who battle these misconceptions everyday, to get their answers on this question:
What is it about Islam, the Qur'an, and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad that drives Muslims to reject extremism and terrorism?
Click here to hear their answers in this important Beliefnet story.
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The Religious Right is worried. Back in 2000 their dream candidate, George W. Bush, was in the race and nothing could be better. These days their choices are a little more difficult. Pro-choice Rudy Giuliani supports abortion rights and gay rights (he even took up residence with a gay couple after one of his several divorces). The Religious Right is still mad at John McCain for pushing campaign finance reform. Mitt Romney is, well, Mormon and many conservative evangelicals think that means he belongs to a devil worshipping cult.
Enter Fred Thompson. The former Tennessee senator turned television star is set to announce his campaign for the Republican nomination shortly and many in the Religious Right see him as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. But this little story in The Los Angeles Times might give their enthusiasm some pause:
Fred D. Thompson, who is campaigning for president as an antiabortion Republican, accepted an assignment from a family-planning group to lobby the first Bush White House to ease a controversial abortion restriction, according to a 1991 document and several people familiar with the matter.
A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say that the group hired Thompson that year.
His task was to urge the administration of President George H. W. Bush to withdraw or relax a rule that barred abortion counseling at clinics that received federal money, according to the records and to people who worked on the matter….
Minutes from the board's meeting of Sept. 14, 1991 — a copy of which DeSarno gave to The Times — say: "Judy [DeSarno] reported that the association had hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration" on the abortion counseling rule.
Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), a colleague at the lobbying and law firm where Thompson worked, said that DeSarno had asked him to recommend someone for the lobbying work and that he had suggested Thompson. He said it was "absolutely bizarre" for Thompson to deny that he lobbied against the abortion counseling rule.
"I talked to him while he was doing it, and I talked to [DeSarno] about the fact that she was very pleased with the work that he was doing for her organization," said Barnes. "I have strong, total recollection of that. This is not something I dreamed up or she dreamed up. This is fact."
DeSarno said that Thompson, after being hired, reported to her that he had held multiple conversations about the abortion rule with Sununu, who was then the White House chief of staff and the president's point man on the rule.
Thompson kept her updated on his progress in telephone conversations and over meals at Washington restaurants, including dinner at Galileo and lunch at the Monocle, she said. At one of the meals, she recalled, Thompson told her that Sununu had just given him tickets for a VIP tour of the White House for one of Thompson's sons and his wife.
"It would be an odd thing for me to construct that thing out of whole cloth," DeSarno said. "It happened, and I think it's quite astonishing they're denying it."
Sununu said in a telephone interview: "I don't recall him ever lobbying me on that at all. I don't think that ever happened. In fact, I know that never happened." He added that he had "absolutely no idea" whether Thompson had met with anybody else at the White House, but said it would have been a waste of time, given the president's opposition to abortion rights.
In response to Sununu's denial, DeSarno said Thompson "owes NFPRHA a bunch of money" if he never talked to Sununu as he said he had.
So was Thompson lying about his work in 1991 and billing for meetings that never occurred (a crime of there ever was one) or his he lying now because he knows how damaging this story will be? One way or another it would appear Thompson is lying to someone about what it is he believes and what kind of person he is. Don't we want a president who is more honest than this?
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Here's a question that I've faced time and time again in both my professional and personal life: when it is ethical to commit a person involuntarily into a medical facility? Should the bar be set so high that only those who are a danger to themselves or others can taken into medical custody against their will? Or should other factors be taken into account? When, for example, does involuntarily commitment take away the civil rights of people who are mentally-ill? Those are some of questions being asked this week on PBS's Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. You can click here to read or watch their thoughtful story.
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Another Republican jumps ship:
WASHINGTON, July 5 — Support among Republicans for President Bush’s Iraq policy eroded further on Thursday as another senior lawmaker, Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, broke with the White House just as Congressional Democrats prepared to renew their challenge to the war.
“We cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress,” said Mr. Domenici, a six-term senator who has been a steadfast supporter of the president.
Thus Mr. Domenici joined a growing number of Republican voices in opposition to the war just as Senate Democratic leaders are readying plans to put the political and policy focus back on Iraq next week.
Pretty soon the only member of the Senate still supporting President Bush’s war will be Joe Lieberman.
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If World War III broke out I'm pretty sure it would sound a little like Portland at this hour as our neighbors attempt to out due each other with the size of their 4th of July explosives fireworks. Actually, I so want to be out there blowing things up but as the responsible parent of nearly 3-year old twins I'm sitting at home and just watching the festivities out my window. We did manage to take the little ones out for ice cream tonight and then to Washington Park to run around. Nothing is better than ice cream on a hot summer day. Hope everyone out there is enjoying their 4th of July.
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The Declaration of Independence
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
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Stories like this one from Associsted Baptist Press are a good sign:
WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Worship infused with music and missions, cooperation and communion, and doses of laughter marked a historic reunion of Baptists June 29 in the nation’s capital city.
The American Baptist Churches USA and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship held their first national joint worship service -- a long-awaited coming together of Baptists whose shared commitment to missions and Baptist principles once was shattered by slavery.
“This is an awesome God moment,” ABC General Secretary Roy Medley told the crowd of almost 4,000 participants, divided almost evenly between representatives of both groups.
“It gladdens the heart of God. It makes God happy to see us working together. … What an awesome moment. It gladdens our hearts too.”
The service in Washington's convention center marked the end of the Fellowship’s annual general assembly and the beginning of ABC’s 100th anniversary celebration. Program organizers noted the joint ABC/Fellowship session had been five years in planning. Actually, it was 162 years in the making.
Baptists in the United States first united to support missions in 1814, but they divided acrimoniously in 1845. Baptists in the North, who later reorganized as the American Baptist Churches in 1907, opposed slavery. The Southern Baptist Convention split from them because of their support for slavery. The Fellowship formed out of the SBC in 1991 after more than a decade of conflict with fundamentalists. Although some Fellowship churches still relate to the SBC and some do not, almost all of them trace their roots to the Southern convention.
The strong presence of the Washington-based Progressive National Baptist Convention -- one of four historic African-American Baptist groups -- underscored the racial nature of the old division. But the Progressive National Baptists’ presence also projected an even larger reunion. The Fellowship, American Baptists and Progressive National Baptists are among the key groups promoting a “celebration” of the New Baptist Covenant, which will be held in Atlanta Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2008.
Click here for the full story.
Baptists have always had so much to offer the faith but in recent years their churches have been torn apart as divisive figures such as Albert Mohler and other fundamentalist have sought to silence those who do not agree with their rigid theologies.
Anytime Christians break away from fundamentalism and work toward unity it is a good moment.
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IFCO/Pastors for Peace Action Alert
Call your Senators and Representatives (202- 224-3121) and Email Your Senators http://www.senate.gov/ and Representatives http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Please pass this on to your email lists and phone trees!
Homeland Security Officials "Detain" Medical Supplies Destined for Cuba at Maine/Québec Border Despite Earlier Successful Crossings Today With Five Tons of Medical Aid Collected by Canadians for Cuba.
The aid collected in Québec by the Caravane d'amitié Québec-Cuba and destined for maternity clinics and nursing homes in Cuba, included a breast pump for nursing mothers, stethoscopes, used eyeglasses, a Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) and surgical gowns.
Pastors for Peace spent six hours in a standoff with Homeland Security attempting to negotiate passage of the medical aid before the shipment was detained for thirty days to investigate it's security threat to the U.S. According to Greg Pease, (207- 297-2554) the Homeland Security officer in charge, he received instructions not to permit anything in transit to Cuba into the U.S.
"This detention by Homeland Security is outrageous." said Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. "While Cuba is offering full scholarships to U.S. students to study medicine in Cuba, the U.S. government is denying transit of such basic items as breast pumps and surgical gowns. Why does the Maine border patrol have and ax to grind over breast pumps and surgical gowns? The contradictions are incredibly mean-spirited."
"Actions like these illustrate even further the issues raised by Michael Moore's film SiCKO."
"This precious cargo, bound for Cuba was collected by Canadians who will link up with U.S. routes of the 18th Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan. We intend to deliver these supplies to Cuba." added Rev. Walker.
This holiday weekend is the launch of the Friendshipment Caravan. Earlier crossings today into the U.S. from Vancouver into Blaine, WA and Winnipeg into Pembina ND occurred without incident.
Fourteen routes will stop in 125 U.S. cities, collecting aid and speaking out against the 45 year blockade of Cuba by the U.S. Over the course of two weeks, the Caravan expects to collect 100 tons of medical aid for Cuba.
On July 17, the Caravan intends to cross the U.S. border into Reynosa, Mexico. In past years, U.S. officials have attempted to seize the humanitarian aid it carried. According to Rev. Walker, anything is possible this year, given the continued antagonism by the Bush administration towards Cuba.
More information about the Pastors for Peace Caravan can be found at: www.pastorsforpeace.org or contact Lucia Bruno at 347-423-4330 or 212 926-5757.
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Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on President Bush’s commutation of Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence today:
"The President's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people.
"The President said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case. By his action today, the President shows his word is not to be believed. He has abandoned all sense of fairness when it comes to justice, he has failed to uphold the rule of law, and he has failed to hold his Administration accountable.”
These guys are corrupt. There's nothing more to say.
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This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our scripture readings included Deuteronomy 10:17-19 and Matthew 25:35-41. My sermon focused on immigration reform in light of what God expresses in Deuteronomy:
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Use the below link to download the podcast of the sermon for your iPod or personal computer.
Download ParkroseDeuteronomy.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).
Photo credit: Christian Peacemaker Teams
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