Focus on the Family doesn't believe that AIDS, poverty, human rights and or the environment - four issues to be discussed at an upcoming presidential candidates forum - are fundamental Christian issues.  First, the FOF press release:

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will make their first joint appearance at a public forum with the Rev. Rick Warren on Aug. 16 at California’s Saddleback Church.

“The primaries proved that Americans care deeply about the faith, values, character and leadership convictions of candidates as much as they do about the issues,” Warren said in a news release. “This is a critical time for our nation, and the American people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart – without interruption – in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan ‘gotcha’ questions that typically produce heat instead of light.”

Republican McCain and Democrat Obama will appear separately to discuss what Warren describes as the “main area of focus” – AIDS, poverty, human rights and environment.

Tom Minnery, senior vice president of Focus on the Family Action, said that while those topics are important, he hopes the candidates will also address the issues that are on the minds of the majority of Christians – the sanctity of human life and marriage.

“It will be interesting to see the direction that Rick Warren takes these interviews,” Minnery said. “I am not certain that he will get into deeply religious issues with either of these candidates and that would be disappointing. While the issues of HIV/AIDS and climate are interesting, any secular reporter could ask about those.  He ought to ask questions that go deep to the heart of Christianity.”

Care of creation (for the earth on which we live) and care of the least of these - the sick, those living in poverty - are actually issues central to Scripture and of deep concern to the Christian community.

And I suspect that most Christians don't wake up each morning thinking that today would be a great day if we could just limit civil rights for gay and lesbian people. 

Focus and the Family and their founder James Dobson are at risk of being left behind and left out of political debate.  Their divisive rhetoric - the kind that has divided Americans in the past - isn't listened to so much anymore (except on the very extreme and troubled edges of society).  That's a good thing. 

No one should confuse Saddleback Church, however, with the values and principles upheld by the progressive Christian community.  The people of Saddleback Church are without question our brothers and sisters (so are the people at FOF, for that matter) but their theology and Rick Warren's social views have always been conservative....more akin to FOF than the NCC. 

In political terms it should be remembered (as Fortune points out in this 2005 article) that Warren sent a letter during the 2004 campaign to 150,000 pastors saying that "those of us who accept the Bible as God's word" needed to get out the vote for George W. Bush.

When he did that Warren must not have been thinking about the Biblical issues surrounding AIDS, poverty, human rights and or the environment.  I'm happy that he's thinking in those terms now.

I hope that Senator Obama uses the occasion of the Saddleback Church gathering to deliver a forceful message about the role government can play in addressing these issues and I'm glad that my friends at Faith in Public Life are a co-sponsor.   

It's official:  I'll be heading to Denver next month for the Democratic National Convention.  Any friends going to be there? 

The Rev. Dr. George Hunsinger has taken the stage here at Portland's Interfaith Forum on Ethics of Torture and Human Rights.  Dr. Hunsinger is the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and Hazel Thompson McCord Chair of Systematic Theology at Princeton Seminary.

He has been talking about how small the movement against torture was in 2005 and 2006 when he first formed the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.  Churches and other religious groups failed at first, he suggests, to respond to the crisis to scandal exposed by Abu Ghriab.  Now most major religious organizations have spoken out and demanded an end to torture by the U.S. Government and others.      

Dr. Hunsinger believes that the use of torture is one of the most important moral issues of our time - and he is right.  He is urging both political parties to place planks in their platforms rejecting the use of torture.  Click here to learn more.

The work undertaken by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture provides us with an example of how religious communities can make a difference.   

From the National Religious Campaign Against Torture:

A Statement of Conscience of the
National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Please join the over 26,000 people who have already endorsed this statement.

Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved -- policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.

Nothing less is at stake in the torture abuse crisis than the soul of our nation. What does it signify if torture is condemned in word but allowed in deed? Let America abolish torture now -- without exceptions.

Endorse the Statement Today

Today over 100 people have gathered in NE Portland to attend the Interfaith Forum on Ethics of Torture and Human Rights, an event sponsored in part of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

As background, it should be noted that many Oregon religious leaders - myself included - went on record this year in a letter to U.S. Senator Gordon Smith opposing torture.   

We are Oregon religious leaders representing many faiths, denominations, and regions here in the state of Oregon. We write to express our moral opposition to the use of torture as a method of interrogation by any agency of the U.S. Government, and to ask you to strongly support a provision of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 that applies the interrogation standards of the Army Field Manual to all agencies of the U.S. Government.

Torture is universally condemned by people of faith and conscience as contrary to our most deeply held values. For Christians, opposition is based, in the words of the National Council of Churches “on our fundamental belief in the dignity of the human person created in the image of God and in the rights accorded to all persons by virtue of their humanity.”

This view is also expressed by the National Association of Evangelicals, which has endorsed An Evangelical Declaration Against Torture. This Declaration is grounded in a Christian view of the sanctity of life, and in a commitment to human rights which finds expression in Christian sources dating to long before the Enlightenment. This statement reads in part:

Human rights, which function to protect human dignity and the sanctity of life, cannot be cancelled and should not be overridden. Recognition of human rights creates obligations to act on behalf of others whose rights are being violated. Human rights place a shield around people who otherwise would find themselves at the mercy of those who are angry, aggrieved, or frightened… Among the most significant human rights is the right to security of person, which includes the right not to be tortured.

The Jewish Tradition also strongly condemns torture, and this has been expressed recently when 600 North American Rabbis signed the Rabbinic Letter Against Torture. This letter states that:

We understand that the most fundamental ethical principle, which results from our belief in God as Creator of the world and Parent of all humanity, is that every human being is seen as reflecting the Image of God. Torture shatters and defiles God's Image. 1 The purpose of torture is to remove a person's pride, humiliate that person, or make his or her life so painful that the person does or says whatever the interrogator wants. Torture 'works' by attempting to deprive a human being of will, spirit, and personal dignity. The humanity of the perpetrators, as well as the victims, is inevitably compromised by the use of torture. Jewish tradition calls for humane treatment even of one's adversaries.

Strong statements opposing any use of torture by the US government have also been issued by The Rabbinical Assembly (of Conservative Rabbis), the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Jewish Council on Public Affairs.

The teachings of Islam are also quite powerful, “Oh you who believe! Stand forth for Allah witnessing with justice. And do not let hatred of a people sway you into injustice, but adhere always to justice. That is true piety.” (Qur’an, 5:8) The spirit of this Qur’anic decree calls for an end to torture and for the universal guarantee of humane treatment and due process for all prisoners. For Muslims the use of torture under any circumstances is abhorrent. Such means can never serve the ends of justice and peace.

There are of course other, more pragmatic arguments against the use of torture. The most important of these, is that the U.S. must set a standard of international behavior regarding the use of torture. How can we complain when other nations use torture against our soldiers if we continue to practice torture ourselves?

But ultimately, we believe that this is a moral issue that cannot be compromised regardless of the weight of the pragmatic arguments. We support the Statement of Conscience issued by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture:

Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved -- policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable. Nothing less is at stake in the torture abuse crisis than the soul of our nation. What does it signify if torture is condemned in word but allowed in deed? Let America abolish torture now -- without exceptions.

We ask you, Senator Smith, to act strongly in support of policies that clarify once and for all that no agency of the United States may ever use torture, by supporting the application of the US Army Field Manual interrogation standards to all agencies of the US government, including the CIA, and to all sub-contractors of US government agencies.

The first speaker this morning is Dr. Richard Amesbury, Associate Professor of Ethics; Associate Professor of Religion, Claremont Graduate University.  He is the author of the new book Faith and Human Rights: Christianity and the Global Struggle for Human Dignity (Fortress, 2008). 

This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our Scripture readings included Wisd of Sol 12:13, 16-19 and Matt 13:24-30, 36-43.  A podcast version of my sermon is available.

Download AUD000020.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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Turns out they didn't want me on a jury after all.  Actually, they kicked all but 20 people out of the room and told us to go home.  So now I have time to work on my sermon before heading down to Eugene to watch my nephew play baseball.

My cell mates fellow jurors and I have been in captivity now the jury room waiting for two hours and forty-five minutes.  No one has been called for a case.  We have, however, been offered the opportunity twice now to stand up and get something to drink.  The Today Show has been replaced by a program about Superman's adolescence.  Thankfully, I'm far enough away from the TV that it is hardly audible.  I'm using the time to start William Faulkner's Intruder In the Dust, which begins with the arrival of the sheriff to see Lucas Beauchamp, a black man arrested for the murder of a white man in the Old South. 

The book - along with sitting in a courthouse with a lot of time on my hands - started to remind me of an NPR story that ran a few days ago about prison conditions at Sana Quentin:

All Things Considered, July 7, 2008 · From the moment you walk through the metal doors of what was once Sana Quentin's gymnasium, all you can see are men and bunk beds. Packed together from front wall to back, more than 360 inmates live here because there's no room anywhere else.

A lone correctional officer, Michael McClain, sits on a riser in the middle of the gym, about 6 feet off the floor. Below, the conversations are loud and tense.

"It can get ugly. It can go at any moment, just at the drop of a hat," he says, watching the floor.

The gym is not the only room packed in this way. Officials at Sana Quentin, located in upscale Marin County, less than an hour from Sana Francisco, have set up beds in every available indoor space except the chapel.

Sending inmates to other California prisons isn't an option. In just the past 10 years, the state's already high prison population doubled. Now all of California's prisons are at twice or three times their capacity. And California is not alone: More than 30 states nationwide now house more inmates than their prisons were built for.

Cramming all these inmates into aging facilities has had clear results at Sana Quentin: an increase in violence, filth, racial tensions and the likelihood that inmates will keep coming back. At the same time, prison officials say they have no room for the programs that help inmates stay out — meaning that overcrowding has led to even more overcrowding.

Click here to listen / read the entire story.  What's clear is that our justice system is a mess.  Our policies help create the very criminals we then incarcerate.  A real plan to fight crime and to make our neighborhoods safer would include a massive expansion of mental health programs and alcohol and drug treatment facilities.  Politicians know this but you win votes not by presenting complicated plans that get at the root of societal problems.  Most of the time - unfortunately - you win votes by promising just to lock people up...no matter the long term costs.      

This morning I find myself at the Multnomah County Courthouse where I have been summoned to sit on a jury. More likely is that I've been summoned to sit in the jury waiting room for the next eight hours. The idea that anyone would actually sit me on a jury seems somewhat absurd. After all, I'm a minister / blogger - the worst of all combinations. I have opinions on everything. Besides that my nephew is playing in a baseball game down in Eugene tonight that I wanted to catch. But I'll do my bit for king and country today as any responsible citizen would. Even if I believe the justice system is – like many public institutions – built around the idea of protecting those with institutional power and unfairly targets those with little or no means to mount a reasonable defense.

As a member of Clergy for Choice, it worries me that John McCain can't answer this simple question.

Something only a nut could dream up.

Deadline to register is July 16th

Download the brochure.

Nice profile of Joshua DuBois in The Boston Globe.

FISA (The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) is scheduled for a Senate reauthorization vote this week. Before voting on the bill to reauthorize FISA, the Senate will consider three amendments. Even if amended, this bill weakens constitutional protections against unlawful government action and threatens the fundamental understanding of the separation of powers mandated in the constitution.

On June 20, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a compromise FISA bill that would allow the government to monitor e-mail messages and phone calls without a warrant, and would provide telecommunications companies immunity for providing the government with personal information for the purpose of wiretapping. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the FISA reauthorization proposal this week.

FISA was passed in 1978 in response to surveillance abuses in the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon Administrations. It affirms that the fourth Amendment safeguarding citizens' freedom from surveillance extends to "electronic surveillance" and prohibits wiretapping without a warrant. The current Administration has challenged this position, conducting warrantless wiretaps on citizens, and offering immunity from prosecution for collaborating telecommunications companies in the process. Legislation passed by the House and currently before the Senate would legalize much of the wiretapping activity of the past seven years.

Please take action today by urging your Senator and Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, to oppose warrantless wiretapping and telecom immunity.

Hugo B. Currie, my trusty dog and lovable barking sidekick, died today.  He was only eight.  Hugo leaves behind his life-long companion Hazel.  Both Hugo and Hazel were named after South Carolina hurricanes and they've lived up to those names.  Hugo was born in Cathlamet, Washington and lived with us here in Portland (and during our three-year stay in St. Louis where he was a regular on the Eden campus).  He loved chasing Frisbees.  He was a good old dog. 

Weren't they just born yesterday?

Today at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ we marked the 4th of July holiday with special music and prayers. Use the below link to download the podcast of my sermon this morning reflecting on what it means to be a Christian on the 4th of July in America today.   

Download ParkroseJuly42008.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).

It was a great surprise to have Dr. Damayanthi Niles, Associate Professor of Constructive Theology at UCC-related Eden Theological Seminary, worship with us this morning.

Related Link:  The Fourth of July: How Does a Christian Celebrate?

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then click on the "Subscribe" button. 

We spent tonight afloat on the Sternwheeler Rose on the Willamette River watching the 4th of July fireworks over both downtown and east Portland.

Happy 4th of July!

From The Christian Century:

Although mainline Protestant denominations for decades have been closely linked to liberal causes—civil rights, women's movements, abortion rights and antiwar protests—most of their members have been mainstays of the Republican Party.

However, a recent survey found that 2008 marks "a historic tipping point" in party identification among mainline Protestants, with 46 percent now calling themselves Democrats and 37 percent saying they are Republicans.

That was the first time Democrats outnumbered Republicans in mainline churches since the New Deal era prior to World War II, according to research sponsored by the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College....

Mainline Protestants are just under 20 percent of adult Americans, and their centrists are just 7 percent of the U.S. population, but that could be enough to swing a close election, Smidt said.

Social justice issues and the Iraq war might have been the major influences for change by centrist mainline Protestants, Smidt said.

Sociologists say the partisan identification figures tend to be the most stable indicators of political allegiance. "You may change your voting choice without necessarily changing your party identification," he said. "Over time, if you start voting in a particular fashion, and you think a candidate of the opposing party articulates your own viewpoints, then a change in partisan identification can occur."

Mainline churches were known for having activist leaders who called for change in the social revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s, and in later years brought more women into leadership and struggled with gay issues. "The leadership and clergy acted as the vanguard in the prophetic mode," said Smidt, "and maybe over the years this might have had some impact."

Full story.

As I've said before, people of good faith can come to different conclusions on political issues and, as Jim Wallis would say, "God is neither a Republican...or a Democrat."  But I appreciate that in these recent poll results there is solid evidence that fewer people of faith are identifying themselves with a political movement that has historically taken positions one might call contrary to Biblical teaching.  We need our political parties to be concerned with the environment, with those Jesus called the "least of these" and with the promotion of foreign policy goals where war and violence are a last resort - not a first move.  Does the Democratic Party live up to Biblical ideals?  No.  But maybe we can push them along a little and at the same time promote and protect the pluralistic democratic ideals that have guided this nation when we are at our best.

Related Link:  Why I’m Joining Obama For America: “People of Faith for Barack”    

About 3 am Portland, Oregon was hit with a rare thunderstorm.  Here's a view from our backyard:

The video gets a little more exciting as it goes along.  It wasn't anything like a South Carolina or St. Louis storm but we'll take what we can get around here.  At least we Liz won't have to water later this morning.  Frances and Katherine slept through the entire storm.  On the other hand, Hugo and Hazel had to be given the sedatives we normally reserve for New Years and 4th of July

As the chair of the faith-based working group of the National Coalition for the Homeless, I spent much of 2001 studying how President Bush intended to use faith groups to help implement his public policy position. In the end, the National Coalition for the Homeless joined the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church and many other religious organizations in opposing President Bush’s efforts.

Senator Barack Obama today will call for the creation of a new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Unlike President Bush’s plan, Senator Obama has proposed an effort that is respectful of the Constitution and that seeks to hold all programs obtaining federal funds accountable for outcomes. For example, President Bush did not hold religious charities to the same high standards as secular charities. Senator Obama promises not to make that mistake and will ensure that that government funds are not used to promote religion.

I have spent my entire adult life working to fight poverty, hunger and homelessness. We need partnerships between government, faith communities and the private sector to accomplish our goals. But only the government – with all the vast resources at the state’s disposal – can set the economic conditions that will truly reduce poverty. We need an extension of the Earned Income Tax Credit and universal health care, for example. We need better schools. As Senator Obama will say today, “We need all hands on deck.”

I applaud Senator Obama for his willingness to address poverty so directly and to look outside the box for answers to America’s most pressing problems.

- The Rev. Chuck Currie