Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

Governor Kitzhaber, Fix The Plumbing

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber's radical plan to put an 18 month lifetime limit on those receiving public assistance in the form of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) financial support is deeply immoral. Read my op-ed in The Oregonian to learn why and how children and their families will suffer.

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Help Church World Service With U.S. Tornado Relief Efforts

Church World Service will be in need of assistance as they respond to the violent storms that have hit the Midwest and Southern U.S. this week:

CWS emergency response specialists are in contact with state and local officials across the southern U.S. following a rampage of violent storms. Our initial response in any U.S. emergency is to provide CWS Kits and emergency response grants to community groups helping in recovery.

Our hallmark, however is in supporting affected communities in the long term as they work to fulfill unmet needs in vulnerable communities. More information on our long-term response will take shape as the disaster unfolds.

Click here to donate. CWS is already engaged in relief efforts in Japan, Haiti and many other places across the globe.


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Invocation At Oregon Workers Memorial Day Observance

Today at Noon in front of the state of Oregon Labor building a ceremony was held to mark Workers Memorial Day. . I was honored to offer the invocation at the start the event (which can be found below). Secretary of State Kate Brown and State Treasurer Ted Wheeler then read the names of the 34 Oregonians killed last year either in the workplace or while serving in the Armed Forces. I'll update this post with those names when I receive the full list.  Watch the below video for the reading of the names. The Oregon AFL-CIO is to be thanked for sponsoring the gathering in partnership with state officials.

Prayer of Invocation

Gracious God,

This Workers Memorial Day we lift up to you the names of Oregonians who have fallen.
Keep them and bless them.
Bestow on their families all manner of goodness.
Let their names never be forgotten.

We rejoice that safety standards have improved over time.
But we know there is more work to be done.
Workers should be afforded every protection.
Their lives are as precious to you as those with power and wealth, perhaps more so.

We gather this day as people from different faiths all united in our love of Oregon and in our commitment to justice.
Help us to make conditions even safer for workers.
Help us to build bridges between labor and business that promote the common good.

During this time of economic hardship, O God, let us never forget our shared responsibilities for one another.
We are our brother’s keeper.
We are our sister’s keeper.
Let us live out that mandate from you in ways that build up the Beloved Community.

Amen.

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Happy Easter: A Video Message From Rev. Chuck Currie

Happy Easter from The Reverend Chuck Currie 2011 from The Rev. Chuck Currie on Vimeo.

An Easter Message from the National Council of Churches

Is it nothing to you, all who pass by?

The phrase is from the Hebrew scriptures -- Lamentations 1:12 -- but for many Christians, it's an Easter provocation. A Lutheran church in Pottstown, Pa., places a crude wooden cross on its front lawn on one of the borough's busiest streets, and drapes it with a pointed question: "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?"

Persons passing by must think of the question as a rebuke, insinuating that for many of us, the true meaning of Easter is lost amid stacks of candy and hats and other finery.

The truth is, it's not an easy question to hear. As the world's 2 billion Christians enter the holiest time of their year, the contrast between what many believe and what they do can be upsetting.

In simple terms, this is the story. "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). God "has anointed me," Jesus said in the midst of his earthly ministry that led up to his Easter sacrifice, "to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19).

That's the good news.

The bad news is that God's intervention in human history seems to have lost its power in many human hearts. The lilt of Easter joy is hard to hear amid the din of sin.

As we prepare to celebrate the victory of the Prince of Peace over death and decay, human violence is as rife as at any time in our history. Peaceful revolutions against oppressive regimes in Northern Africa are collapsing into bloody civil wars. Autocrats on the continent of Africa, some of them professed Christians, use torture, murder and rape against their opponents. Drug cartels in the Americas show utter contempt for human life as they assault law enforcement officers and market their poisons. Belligerence and horrific violence replace peace talks between the Palestinian Authority in Israel.

Here in the United States, the debate over the national budget has ignored the most vulnerable members of our society -- millions of the working poor, the homeless, children, and disabled persons -- while political leaders of both parties jockey for tactical advantages as if they were more interested in pursuing power and office than a balanced budget. Incessant gun violence continues to take thousands of lives and injures tens of thousands more.

Given this background, the common prayer of the 37 member communions of the National Council of Churches is this: that the true and complete meaning of Easter be visited upon us all. May peace be restored in human hearts and on battlegrounds around the world. May the poor hear God's good news. May those who live in oppressive lands experience God's justice and freedom. May the blind and uninformed see God's truth. And may God's economic justice be experienced by all.

"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?"

This Easter, may the message of the cross change hearts and lives forever.

The Lord is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member communions -- from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches -- include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation. 

Moving Through Holy Week

Had a wonderful Maundy Thursday service this evening  at Salem's First Congregational United Church of Christ.  We started Holy Week off with a special Palm Sunday Service.  Tomorrow - Good Friday -- our church Sanctuary will be open from 12 noon to 3 p.m. for prayer, music and meditative reading.  Easter morning we have two services at 9 am and 11 am.  At 10:15 am there will be a Easter Egg hunt for the children.  As this picture shows, even my home office is in the Easter spirit.

My homily tonight dealt with Jesus' final commandment as related in the Gospel of John - to love one another as Jesus loved the disciples (and by extension us).  That's a pretty radical request as the love Jesus has for us comes from God.  We are tasked with reaching deep within ourselves to find that divine spark that is within each of us and to love one another as God loved Jesus and as Jesus loved us - even to love our enemies.  We are to love so deeply, even strangers, that we are willing to carry the cross if needed.  But that Jesus was preaching love and compassion - even as Jesus knew death was coming at the hands of the Roman Imperial forces who executed Jesus for crimes against the state - should come as no surprise.  

Tonight I leave you with the passage we shared in worship tonight:

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (NRSV)   

God vs Rome: A Palm Sunday Sermon

Below is a video of the sermon that I delivered this morning for the Palm Sunday service at Salem's First Congregational United Church of Christ.

God vs Rome: A Palm Sunday Sermon from Rev. Chuck Currie from The Rev. Chuck Currie on Vimeo.

The sermon is based on Matthew 21:1-11 and is a revision of a sermon I first delievered in 2007.

Donald Trump and "The Blacks"

Donald Trump just doesn't understand why African-American voters support Barack Obama. "The blacks," as the New York business man / reality tv star calls African-Americans, should be more diverse in their politics. Apparently, Trump knows better than "the blacks" about how they should vote (and live their lives, I suspect). It would seem that by virtue of his skin color that Trump is smarter than "the blacks" and thus able to inform them how to think, vote, etc.

I'm sure the African-American community's strong support for President Obama has nothing to do with his political agenda. "The blacks" also strongly supported John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, Jimmy Carter, George McGovern, Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Johnson in modern times. Note that all of them were white. Why? Democrats have supported civil rights while the GOP has fought them. The same goes for social policies that address economic inequality. African-American support for President Obama and the Democratic Party is not based in inherent stupidity. And Obama had to earn that support when he started as the underdog in 2008.

Trump himself is on something of a racist crusade of late trying once again to prove that President Obama was born in Africa. This appears to be Trump's only issue as he considers a run against the president in 2012. It is sad. It is pathetic. And yes, it is racist. Only the truly desperate (i.e. Sarah Palin) try to keep rumors about the President's birthday place alive despite all the conclusive legal evidence to the contrary. In doing so they hope to create the impression that this black man isn't really a true American but something "other" than one of us. You know, like "the blacks."

And Trump wonders why the GOP has a hard time gaining ground with minority voters. Yes, it's a mystery.


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President Obama Offers Moral Vision, Faith Leaders Must Press For More

Faith leaders in the United States should applaud President Obama for offering a moral vision for the nation while carefully monitoring how the White House and Congress proceed.

My response to President Obama's budget speech in The Huffington Post.

Institute on Religion and Democracy Continues Campaign Of Disinformation

My latest op-ed in The Huffington Post.

Where Gingrich and I Find Common Ground: Our Criminal Justice System Is Broken

Oregonians, at the request of conservative political leaders, have voted time and time again to build more prisons.  We have so many, in fact, that some sit empty.  This is the American criminal justice system today.  We have more people sitting in jails than just about any other nation on earth.  It makes no sense and it robs tax payers of resources that could be spent on bettering our schools, improving our roads, and providing quality health care for seniors.

That is why the NAACP has lanuched a new campaign to reform the criminal justice system in the United States.  That campaign has been endorsed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.  Gingrich, who is also exploring a 2012 presidential campaign, writes:

Last year alone, we spent $68 billion on corrections in the United States - 300 percent more than 25 years ago. With this increased spending, one would hope that we would have seen successes in rehabilitation, recidivism rates, and stronger and safer communities. The results are mostly disappointing: half of this year’s released prisoners are expected to return to prison within three years. If our prison policies are failing half of the time, and we know that there are more humane alternatives – especially alternatives that do not involve spending billions more on more prisons —it is time to fundamentally rethink how we treat and rehabilitate our prisoners. 

The NAACP report that is being released today, “Misplaced Priorities: Over Incarcerate, Under Educate,” is a critical step in advancing our national dialogue on criminal justice reform. The report highlights the ways in which our budget priorities have been skewed in recent decades, but goes on to illuminate many of the promising practices that have allowed states to intelligently reduce their prison populations and use limited resources more humanely and effectively. 

The states have proven that there are innovative, data-driven approaches to reform, from community supervision programs, to more far-reaching treatment services, to more effective reentry programs. From the excellent reentry programs being developed in Michigan, to the Texas reforms that have prioritized treatment over prison time for drug offenders, the states are leading the way in building criminal justice institutions that serve our communities best. 

These issues transcend partisan lines and should be of concern to Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives alike. Conservatives, such as myself, should not consider criminal justice reform off-limits, and I am pleased that our movement has begun to tackle these issues head-on.

This should be an issue that transcends party lines and I commend Speaker Gingrich for speaking out on this critical topic.

GOP Sets Fire To Matthew 25; Will President Obama Put Out The Flames?

The GOP's budget proposals - which I've already called immoral - keep getting worse.  Their latest fiscal blueprint, offered up by U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan, would continue tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while cutting $4 trillion from the budget over ten years - 3/4 of which will come from programs meant to support the most vulnerable in America.  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports: 

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan would get about two-thirds of its more than $4 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years from programs that serve people of limited means, which violates basic principles of fairness and stands a core principle of President Obama’s fiscal commission on its head.

The plan of Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who co-chaired President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, established, as a basic principle, that deficit reduction should not increase poverty or inequality or hurt the disadvantaged. The Ryan plan, which the chairman unveiled in a news conference, speech, and Wall Street Journal op-ed today, charts a different course, turning its biggest cannons on these people.

So what exactly does the GOP hope to cut while they protect tax cuts for millionaries?

$2.17 trillion in reductions from Medicaid and related health care. The plan shows Medicaid cuts of $771 billion, plus savings of $1.4 trillion from repealing the health reform law’s Medicaid expansion and its subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people purchase health insurance.

$350 billion in cuts in mandatory programs serving low-income Americans (other than Medicaid).  The budget documents that Chairman Ryan issued today show that he is proposing $715 billion in cuts in mandatory programs other than Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, but do not specify how much will be cut from various programs (although they imply that cuts in the food stamp program will be large). In this analysis, we make the conservative assumption that savings from low-income mandatory programs (other than Medicaid) would be proportionate to their share of spending in this category. Thus, we derive the $350 billion figure from the fact that about half of mandatory spending other than for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security goes for programs for low- and moderate-income individuals and families. This likely substantially understates the cuts that the plan would make in low-income programs. The Ryan documents show that $380 billion in cuts would come from programs in the income security portion of the budget (function 600), and the overwhelming bulk of the mandatory spending in that category goes for low-income programs. The documents also show $126 billion in mandatory cuts in the education, training, employment, and social services portion of the budget (function 500), which, based on the discussion in those documents, would likely come mainly from cuts in the mandatory portion of the Pell Grant program for low-income students.

$400 billion in cuts in low-income discretionary programs. The Ryan budget documents show that he is proposing $1.6 trillion in cuts in non-security discretionary programs, but again do not provide details about the size of cuts to specific programs. (The documents do identify some major low-income program areas, including Pell Grants and low-income housing, as prime targets for cuts.) Here, too, we make the conservative assumption that low-income programs in this category would bear a proportionate share of the cuts. Thus, we derive the $400 billion figure from the fact that about a quarter of non-security discretionary spending goes for programs for low- and moderate-income individuals and families.

You'll continue to see the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Council of Churches, among others, work to oppose these cuts because:

There is no greater concern among the churches of Christ than for those in this nation who live in poverty. This could hardly be otherwise because Jesus himself lived among the poor: loving them, eating and drinking with them, healing them, and speaking words of justice and assurance that God's own love for the poor is unsurpassed.

This question is what will President Obama will do?  We know what we need him to do.  But as we await his speech this Wednesday on the economy it appears that he is letting the GOP set the agenda.  His Wednesday address needs to offer up a vision for America that is starkly different from the GOP's and inline with his historic 2008 campaign.

Government Shutdown Must Be Avoided But Federal Budget Must Protect Poor, Advance Common Good

Has the issue of whether or not the federal government will shut down later tonight really come down to this?

If Congress fails to reach a budget deal, the government will shut down at midnight tonight — an event that would hinder economic recoveryand withhold payment to soldiers. But congressional leaders are at loggerheads over one issue: family planning. Though it has zero impact on the federal budget, House Republicans are insisting that Democrats agree to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood or make billions more in cuts.

via ThinkProgress

From the Roman Catholic Church to the United Church of Christ - two denominations that disagree on the issue of abortion - the issue has been clear, as it has from religious leaders across the country with the exception of the far fringes of the religious right, the federal budget must promote the common good, help people lift themselves out of poverty, protect the middle class, and advance efforts to reverse the impact of human caused climate change.

Republicans should stop trying to use the budget to advance their campaign to undermine women's health care and environmental protections - and President Obama and congressional Democrats need to forcefully protect health care, anti-poverty efforts, community development programs, and the hard won successes from the president's economic policies that are finally turning the economy around after eight years of GOP rule.

Portland Stand With Planned Parenthood Rally from The Rev. Chuck Currie on Vimeo.

Love. Commitment. Marriage.

Via http://love.marriagemattersoregon.org/

Tweet this: The @RevChuckCurrie believes #marriageequality honors the golden rule. I do too! http://bit.ly/hSLSIf via @basicrights Pls RT

Related Link: It Is Good: Family & Community In The Tradition Of Jesus (A Sermon For Pride Sunday)

Did Lars Larson Call Me A Nut? @LarsLarsonShow

A friend called today to say that Lars Larson called me a "nut" on-air yesterday. Is this true? Who knows why he would say it but we disagree on most issues and I find it ironic that this Washington State resident drives into Oregon every day where he uses the public airs ways (for free - a massive form of corporate welfare) to bash people living in poverty - along with just about everyone else in the great state of Oregon. Most responsible Oregonians refuse to go on his show. I've known Larson for nearly 25 years and tried to give him every benefit of the doubt as he made the transition from journalist to right-wing radio talk show host. But I finally had to say enough is enough and decline requests to appear on his program as his voice became more shrill and hateful. As we begin the 2012 election cycle, however, I'll make this offer to Lars: I'll debate you on the issues of the day - the issues you talk about on your show and that I talk about in my sermons, blog posts and op-ed pieces for The Huffington Post - in a neutral forum, such as one of Oregon's fine public universities. I know, I know. You won't have control of the mute button and a moderator might actually require that you answer questions instead of simply shouting out sound bites but serious times call for serious conversations, Lars. Can you engage in a real debate or is being stuck behind a microphone making disparaging remarks all that is left of Lars Larson?


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UN Workers Killed After Flordia Pastor Burns Qur'an; Terry Jones Dishonors God

Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who last year threatened to burn the Qur'an on the anniversary of 9/11, followed through on his threat this week when his church put the Islam holy book on trial and then burned it.  In response, a riot broke out in Afghanistan in which at least 12 people have been killed, most of them workers with the United Nations.  Jones had been repeatedly warned his actions could provoke a violent response.  Religion News Service reports:

"Showing blatant disrespect for Muslims by burning their scriptures directly contradicts the example and spirit of Jesus, who taught us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves," said Galen Carey, director of government affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals.

"Those who burned the Quran do not represent the vast majority of Christians, who wish to live in peace and harmony with their neighbors."

The Rev. Welton C. Gaddy, president of the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance, called the riots an "unacceptable" response to the Quran burning, but said they show that actions in the U.S. can have consequences overseas.

The New York Times reports on the trial held by Jone's church:

Sitting in judgment was a jury of 12 members of Mr. Jones’s church, the Dove World Outreach Center. After listening to evidence and arguments from both sides, the jury pronounced the Koran guilty of five “crimes against humanity,” including the promotion of terrorist acts and “the death, rape and torture of people worldwide whose only crime is not being of the Islamic faith.”

Punishment was determined by the results of an online poll. Besides burning, the options included shredding, drowning and facing a firing squad. Mr. Jones, a nondenominational evangelical pastor, announced that voters had chosen to set fire to the book, according to a video of the proceedings.

Jones' "trial" took place shortly after U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, held hearings of the loyalty of American Muslims.  The hearings were criticized by religious leaders across the United States who feared King's true agenda is to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria as a tool to divide Americans on religious lines.

In response, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, chaired by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, held hearings to examine civil rights violations perpetrated against Muslim Americans.  Again, RNS reports:

Durbin's star witness was Thomas Perez, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for civil rights. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, a "steady stream of violence and discrimination" has targeted Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs and South Asians in the United States, he said.

Perez noted that the Justice Department passed a grim milestone last month when it secured a guilty plea from a man who torched a playground at a Texas mosque: He was the 50th defendant charged in a federal criminal case of post-Sept. 11 backlash.

Muslim complaints about workplace discrimination have increased 150 percent since Sept. 11, Perez said, but he and other witnesses seemed most upset by reports that many Muslim children are harassed at school — called "terrorists" and told to "go home."

"We have a growing docket of cases involving Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian students," he said. Muslim students form the largest category of religious discrimination cases handled by the Department of Justice's education division, Perez added.

Threats to Muslim Americans are certainly real.  Last week, the head of the right-wing American Family Association, Bryan Fischer, said that Muslims should not be granted First Amendment protections.  Fischer said:

Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy. While there certainly ought to be a presumption of religious liberty for non-Christian religious traditions in America, the Founders were not writing a suicide pact when they wrote the First Amendment.

Our government has no obligation to allow a treasonous ideology to receive special protections in America, but this is exactly what the Democrats are trying to do right now with Islam.

From a constitutional point of view, Muslims have no First Amendment right to build mosques in America. They have that privilege at the moment, but it is a privilege that can be revoked if, as is in fact the case, Islam is a totalitarian ideology dedicated to the destruction of the United States. The Constitution, it bears repeating, is not a suicide pact. For Muslims, patriotism is not the last refuge of a scoundrel, but the First Amendment is.

Clearly, the killing of the United Nations personnel must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.  There is no excuse for this kind of violence.  At the same time, Jones must be held morally accountable for fanning the flames of hatred.  Terry Jones, Peter King and Bryan Fischer seek to use religion to divide the people of the world during a time where we need reconciliation and peace.  Their actions will only increase the likelihood of terrorism and violence, and put American soldiers and civilians at further risk.  As people of faith, we must stand up against them and proclaim that the Beloved Community is the ideal we seek and reject efforts to divide humanity in the name of the Almighty.