Will President-elect Obama and Congress "make life more difficult for the unborn?"  That's the charge made by Household of Faith Community Church, which is promoting a new "pro-life" film entitled "Come What May."

The Oregon-based congregation sent my office an invitation to a screening of the film.  Read their hyper-partisan invite and my response calling on them to support common ground approaches advocated by the president-elect to reduce the number of abortions and to support families.

Response from Rev. Chuck Currie to Household of Faith Community Church.    

(Note how they assume all pastors are men).

Update:  I should have done a little more homework.  It turns out this film was made before the election.  It was hoped it would become popular enough to sway voters, according to Christian Film News.

Willamette Week today (12/03/08) posted a small article about my letter to Household of Faith Community Church.  Read the story here.

"For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

"With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country....

"I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

--Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to his daughter

It is a Thanksgiving tradition of mine to post this letter from Mr. Franklin.  I wonder if we would be eating Eagle today had he won the debate?  Happy Thanksgiving!

It was three years ago this week that I was diagnosed with a pheochromocytoma, a nasty little tumor "which arises from the adrenal medulla and overproduces adrenaline" it can "be a deadly tumor because of the severe elevation in blood pressure it causes," according to Endrocrine.com. 

Dr. Greg Baker in St. Louis first caught it (a very good catch - these tumors are often found in autopsies and not before) and Dr. William Connor from OHSU (a friend of mine from Portland's First United Methodist Church) had me on a plane the next day to come home for treatment.  I was in my final two weeks of M.Div. studies at Eden Theologocal Seminary in Missouri when all this took place.  Academic Dean Deb Krause and the faculty arranged for my final papers to be turned in after surgery.

Dr. Bart Duell and Dr. Brett C. Sheppard put me back together again over the course of a couple of weeks.  Dr. Sheppard was the top-notch suregon who took the tumor out (with only 24-hours in the ICU afterwards) and Dr. Duell became my endocrinologist.  Dr. Duell checks me up every six months and so far so good.  I'm forever in debt to all those who helped me out.  That's certainly true 10x over for Liz and the rest of my family

There is a five year window on these types of tumors.  If one has not reoccurred after five years you are pretty much in the clear.  Only two more years of tests before they let me go for good.  I'm thankful for the gift of life, all the good care, the last three years with my chidren, and I'm thankful to have a future to look forward to.      

We are still early into the news of terrorist attacks in India. Reports suggest several attacks have taken place that may have targeted Westerners. Our prayers are with the people of India as rescue efforts are underway.  Click here for more.

Use the below link to download the podcast of this message from Rev. Chuck Currie your iPod or personal computer.

Download WEDNOV262008.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).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to Rev. Currie's podcasts on ITunes. 

Good for the people of Silverton, Oregon.  This election cycle they voted into office Stu Rasmussen, a transgender person.  Silverton is no hotbed of liberalism.  Sarah Palin would have even called this community part of her "real America" - though I suspect she would have resended the remark.  But the people of Silverton saw a good and decent public servant and voted to make Stu Rasmussen their mayor.  Now he can be judged on his effectiveness in office instead of anything else. 

This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our Scripture readings included Psalm 123 and Matthew 25:14-30. My sermon dealt with Thanksgiving, America’s deepening economic crisis and stewardship. As many are aware, the economic crisis has been felt in churches across the United State. Donations and investments are down.

Use the below link to download the podcast of the sermon for your iPod or personal computer.

Download WS310008.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).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes. Just open the ITunes application and use the search function to find

"Chuck Currie"

then click on the "Subscribe" button.

And it isn't even 2012 yet.

Related Link: The Right Explains Prop. 8's Success

Related Link: California's Prop 8 passage prompts UCC ad

Statement from The Rev. Susie B. Smith On The Controversy Surrounding St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville

Related Post:  South Carolina Roman Catholic Priest Says No Communion For Obama Voters

A priest in my home state of South Carolina has told his members that Obama voters shouldn't present themselves for communion. 

"Exit polls showed that Obama won 54 percent of the Catholic vote," according to The Washington Post.

A number of prominent pro-life Roman Catholics supported the Obama campaign (see here and here).

So if they start excluding Obama voters from the table a lot of people are going to go missing (this reminds of a story four years ago from North Carolina).

What else is going on in South Carolina today?  A new report was released that should be of interest to people of faith:

There are 132,000 uninsured children in South Carolina-more than one out of nine children in the state (12.2 percent)-according to a new report released today by Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers.

The report, based on new Census Bureau data, shows that the number of uninsured children continues to grow in the state. The most recent data are for the three-year period 2005-2007 and therefore do not reflect the worsening economic situation in 2008.

You'll remember that the outgoing president vetoed legislation to extend health care benefits to children.  President-elect Obama has promised to sign such legislation. 

And what's going on across the world?

In developing countries nearly 16 million children die every year from preventable and treatable causes. Sixty percent of these deaths are from hunger and malnutrition.

In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.

16 million kids die each year from hunger.  16 million actual living kids.  Bread for the World has more.

Communion shouldn't be used as a political weapon.  It's God's table.  All are welcome.

If The Rev. Jay Scott Newman, preist at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville, doesn't understand that there is a new church start in nearby Greenville - Peace Congregational United Church of Christ - that will. 

It's true (no matter what the media says).

"It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force. I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism. That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did. When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.”

- U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA)

Frankly, it sounds more than a little crazy.  It's down right nutty.

There is nothing wrong with opponents of the president-elect arguing their differences.  Democracy, of course, is built on the notion that ideas ought to be debated and whatever policy proposals made by the new administration are fair game.

But Broun is continuing down that dangerous path the Sarah Palin walked:  questioning the loyalty of the president-elect to the most basic of America principles.  How did that turn out for Palin (besides getting trounced at the polls)?  Newsweek reports in their current edition:

"I'm worried," Gregory Craig said to a NEWSWEEK reporter in mid-October. He was concerned that the frenzied atmosphere at the Palin rallies would encourage someone to do something violent toward Obama. He was not the only one in the Obama campaign thinking the unthinkable. The campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and very disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October. Michelle was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates.

People like Broun and Palin need to know that their words have consequences.  The fire they play with clearly has a cost in the form increased death threats against the president-elect.  Do they really think their own partisan goals are worth the risks to our nation?  You can debate the issues forcefully without endangering the fabric of our democracy. 

The New York Times has the story.

Mainline church leaders should develop an agenda and present it to the president-elect.

We gathered with friends tonight – along with our children – watched election returns and then listened to President-elect Barack Obama’s speech. We were awed. Fireworks could be heard outside. On television they are talking about the historic nature of tonight’s election – a theme the President-elect himself spoke of – and all I can think about is how my mother was born in the segregated South and tonight my daughters watched the political equivalent of men first walking on the moon. We did watch history in the making today and I’m so proud of our country. Finally, we can begin to address the deep problems our nation faces. Will there be real and lasting change? The incumbent president has left us in two wars and an economy in crisis. Change will not come easy nor will it be quick. My hope is that our churches will support the new president’s agenda when it is appropriate and push and prod when needed. As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I will pray for our new president and work for the agendas put forth by the church. But for the moment I’m just excited and somewhat astounded at what President-elect Barack Obama has accomplished.

Alice Smith, an attorney from the Bay Area monitoring voting in Ohio, was on BBC's World Have Your Say both yesterday and today.  Besides being a world class attorney, Alice is my mother-in-law.  You can download the programs here.

The RNC left messages yesterday and this morning reminding us to get our ballots in.  Don't worry.  We already did.  But please, please keep calling Multnomah County residents.  I appreciate the RNC's efforts to turn our Obama voters.

If you live in the great state of Oregon please remember it is way too late to mail your ballot back to the election division.  Here is a county-by-county list of places where you can drop-off your ballot.  "Ballots must be received at a county elections office or a designated dropsite by 8pm on election day," reports the Secretary of State.  Now go vote! 

This Sunday at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our Scripture readings included Micah 3:5-12, Psalms 43 and Matthew 23:1-12.  My sermon dealt with the topic:  Who Is A Christian? 

Use the below link to download the podcast of the sermon for your iPod or personal computer. 

Download WhoIsAChristian?.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).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes. Just open the ITunes application and use the search function to find

"Chuck Currie"

then click on the "Subscribe" button.

Since the end of World War II the United States has seen successful politician after successful politician exploit race, national security, gender, religion, sexuality, class, etc. Running fear based campaigns has generally worked. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are good examples at the White House level but the same tactics that put those men in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have put others in the House, Senate and State Houses across the country. Think Joseph McCarthy, George Wallace or Strom Thurmond. All these figures ran on different issues but they shared in common a willingness to divide the American people and to exploit sexism and racism (or other “isms”) to win their offices.

The person in the 2008 elections who most personifies this class of politician is Sarah Palin. She has campaigned on the notion that there is a “real” America and thus a “fake” America. Palin, of course, represents what is real and for her real America is found in culturally conservative small towns. New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC – all places the terrorists attacked in 2001 – aren’t part of Palin’s real America.

She has also been the loudest voice to try and link Barack Obama to terrorists. Right-wing extremist groups have been attempting this for years by falsely linking Senator Obama to Islam. Palin declares we don’t know enough about Obama at her rallies – where people have been heard to yell “kill him” and where her supporters have asserted before the media that the senator is a secret Islamic follower. Senator Obama is, of course, a Christian. He was baptized in the United Church of Christ, my denomination.

Thus far Palin’s tactics seem to have backfired. Polls suggest that she is a drag on John McCain’s ticket. Tomorrow might find her on a plane back to Alaska with a lot of Republicans blaming her in large part of a GOP defeat.

But she did manage to rally the party’s base in a way John McCain couldn’t. And she did it back acting like Nixon, Reagan and Bush.

Tomorrow it appears the politics of hope and change articulated by Barack Obama and Joe Biden will triumph over the politics of fear and hate embodied so well this election cycle by Sarah Palin. But don’t count Palin out. Republicans see something familiar in her they like: a candidate willing to do or say anything to win. No matter how badly it divides the country.

The Rev. Dr. Andrew Weaver, a United Methodist minister and author, died last week.  Talk to Action has the story.  Andrew is perhaps best know for his work uncovering the connections between the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) and right-wing political figures and funding sources.  IRD often vilified Andrew for his work but his scholarship was solid and he brought to light IRD's attempts to undermine the mainline Christian prophetic voice.  Andrew's books on pastoral care belong in the library of every clergy person.

Andrew and I became friends because of this blog.  He made contact with me nearly five years ago and we've keep up a correspondence since then.  We met once in person and talked on the phone occasionally.  He was a strong supporter of this blog - sometimes commenting himself or sending along story ideas - and I'll miss him.  My prayers are with his family and friends.  One of the real gifts of the internet is that it has brought me into contact with people like Andrew.  Andrew was a true blessing for the United Methodist Church.