Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I'm excited to share the news that I've been named the new Associate Director of The Westar Institute, one of our nation's most important academic bodies focusing on the critical study of religion.  For many, the work undertaken by the Westar Institute is a beacon of hope to anyone wishing to embrace a spiritual life that has more intellectual integrity.  The Westar Institute is best known as the home of the Jesus Seminar.

Just recently The Westar Institute relocated from California to the campus of Willamette University.  Dr. Stephen Patterson, Geo. H. Atkinson Professor of Religious and Ethical Studies at Willamette University, is the director of The Westar Institute.  We've known each other both from Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis and Salem's First Congregational United Church of Christ.

You can read more about my appointment on the website of The Westar Institute.  I hope that all my friends and colleagues will consider becoming a supporter of The Westar institute either as an associate member or as a contributor.  Biblical scholars can apply to become Westar Fellows.

And make sure you become a fan on Facebook!

I look forward to working with all those associated with The Westar Institute - but particularly with the membership and the churches that take advantage of the educational programs we offer.  

In addition, I look forward to continuing my work toward a Doctor of Ministry degree at Chicago Theological Seminary and will also be transferring my church membership to Ainsworth United Church of Christ in NE Portland, where our family lives.  Ainsworth UCC is a multi-racial, open and affirming, just peace church with a long tradition of active community involvement.  I will retain my standing as an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.   

Sincerely,

Rev. Chuck Currie
Associate Director
Westar Institute

Read the press release from The Westar Institute below the fold:

Today the Oregon Department of Education announced that last school year over 20,000 children experiencing homelessness attended public school in Oregon.  That any child is homeless is evidence of a moral crisis is our state.  As a long-time advocate on these issues, I commend our state officials and local school districts for working to assist these children.  All the evidence points to the reality that getting kids who are homeless into public schools benefits them in many tangible ways.  Yet at the same time we are failing as a state and nation to deal with the reality of growing homelessness and poverty.  These numbers provide more evidence why Congress needs to pass President Obama's proposed American Jobs Act.  At the same time, Oregon leaders need to take family homelessness more seriously and dedicate additional resources during a difficult economic period to assist children struggling to learn while living in shelters, motels, camps, and cars.  We can do better.        

- Rev. Chuck Currie

Reprinted from the National Council of Churches

New York, September 21, 2011 -- Equal and quality education for all children is the focus of four brief web videos released today by the National Council of Churches.

The videos are embedded with a study guide on the Council’s website at http://www.ncccusa.org/elmc/publiceducationwebisodes.html 

The four films, each six or seven minutes long, feature Dr. Diane Ravitch, education historian at New York University and author of the best selling book, The Death and Life of the Great American School District; and Dr. John Jackson, President and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education. 

Jackson and Ravitch discuss foundational values that have historically defined society’s commitment to public education but which the Council believes have become controversial:

● Educational Opportunity for All 
● Public Schools and the Common Good 
● Public Schools, Part of the Community or Marketplace? 
● Supporting Our Teachers 

The films, created by the NCC’s Committee on Public Education and Literacy were designed to stimulate conversation about issues raised by the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches in a May 18, 2010 Pastoral Letter  that was sent to the President, Congress, and the Secretary of Education. 

In the letter, the Governing Board declared, “At a moment when childhood poverty is shamefully widespread, when many families are under constant stress, and when schools are often limited by lack of funds or resources, we know that public schools cannot be improved by concentrating on public schools alone… In this context we must address with prayerful determination the issues of race and class, which threaten both public education and democracy in America.” 

The Governing Board also questioned test-based accountability as the philosophy that dominates today’s media conversation around public education: “We worry that our society has come to view what is good as what can be measured and compared… As people of faith we do not view our children as products to be tested and managed but instead as unique human beings, created in the image of God, to be nurtured and educated.”

In the short clip that introduces each video, the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, NCC general secretary, endorses public school justice reform as a priority for the churches. 

“Each child has special, sacred gifts that need to be nurtured, and all children are special and precious in God’s eyes,” Kinnamon declares, “which means that a system in which some children have access to excellent instruction while others don’t is simply unacceptable.”

Jan Resseger of the United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries, chair of the Council’s Committee on Public Education and Literacy, said she “looks to the four short films as a comfortable context for church study groups to confront what have become heated issues and to read and reconsider last year’s NCC Pastoral Letter in the context of the values the videos explore.”

Tonight there was another gathering of the GOP's 2012 presidential field. At their last encounter the crowd cheered when one of the candidates was asked if an uninsured man should simply be allowed to die. Tonight when an American serviceman proclaimed his relief at no longer having to hide his sexual orientation the crowd widely cheered as the GOP field pledged to re-instate DADT. The candidates also pledged to undo President Obama's health care reform efforts that just extended coverage to 1 million young people.  One by one they attacked President Obama's immigration reform plans - which have strong backing in polls and support from both progressive and conservative religious leaders.  And despite overwhelming support from the American people for President Obama's proposed Buffett Rule - that millionaires should pay their fair share of taxes - the GOP candidates pledged not to raise taxes on the wealthy. One candidate even promised to do away with all corporate taxes. I believe like John F. Kennedy that: "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." This is not a time is step back from our responsibilities as a national community to help our neighbors but a time to embrace such a challenge. Again tonight, the GOP showed they do not have the moral courage or imagination to face the difficulties of our time.

We just got back from watching the taping of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! The NPR News Quiz.  Normally the show is broadcast from Chicago but they travel from time to time and this week made their way back to Portland.  Wait Wait is the best program on radio bar none.  I listen every week (mostly from the free podcast) and have always wanted to see the show live.  Tonight was my chance thanks to Liz, my wife.  The tickets were a birthday gift this past winter.

Jefferson Smith, founder of the civic engagement effort known as the Bus Project and a state representative from East Portland, announced his campaign for mayor of Portland on Tuesday.  I've worked in one capacity or another with each mayor since Bud Clark was in office during the 1980s (when I was a very young activist working on poverty issues).  Our city has been adrift for a long-time.  We need an activist mayor with a vision of how to engage the citizens of this great city.  Jefferson Smith has that vision and that set of skills.

He is also a leader who understands Portland isn't just about downtown Portland or the hip inner-city neighborhoods.  As a leader in East Portland, Jefferson understands inequity and what it means for people to feel abandoned by their government.  He'll fight for jobs, affordable housing, safe streets, youth programs, efforts to support our schools, and the environment of the precious place we call home.  On the first day of his campaign - on his website and in interviews - Jefferson was talking about the issues that matter most.  One of the other leading candidates in this race (who has been running for months and raising lots of cash) hasn't issued a platform or gone on the record about how she'd govern.  It's still early in the campaign and I think all the candidates are great Portlanders but the race for mayor ought to be a contest over ideas and not fund raising. 

I hope that all Portlanders will meet the candidates, attend forums and debates, and talk one-on-one with those who hope to be the next mayor.  I've known Jefferson Smith for a number of years now and believe he'll inspire a new generation of leaders in Portland to public service at a time we need all hands on deck to solve the difficult challenges of our time.

As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I trust deeply in the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state and my endorsement is therefore a personal one and does not reflect on my denomination. But as a citizen I believe that all Americans must engage in the political process as individuals for democracy to thrive. So I choose to participate in the political process as an individual when appropriate.  This is one of those times. 

Photo: Taken at a Kitzhaber for Governor event in 2010 that Jefferson Smith spoke at.    

President Obama unveiled his American Jobs Act in a bold speech before a joint session of Congress last week. In short, the president offered up a moral vision of what America should be and in doing so he provided a stark contrast with the Tea Party Congress and their Ayn Rand devotees in the GOP leadership. Congress should pass the American Jobs Acts immediately and put politics aside to address the jobs crisis.

That might be wishful thinking. We all remember what U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell said in the aftermath of the 2010 elections. When asked what the #1 priority of Congressional republicans was he said to deny President Obama a second term. Not to create jobs. Not to address the deficit.

On the House side, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the budget committee, has said his inspiration in crafting policy comes from Any Rand who once said: "Nobody has ever given a reason why man should be his brothers' keeper." Rand rejected a basic Biblical concept but she also strongly rejected Christianity. Ryan hands out her books as gifts.

Christian leaders have looked at GOP budget proposals and said:

Budgets are moral documents, and how we reduce future deficits are historic and defining moral choices. As Christian leaders, we urge Congress and the administration to give moral priority to programs that protect the life and dignity of poor and vulnerable people in these difficult times, our broken economy, and our wounded world. It is the vocation and obligation of the church to speak and act on behalf of those Jesus called "the least of these." This is our calling, and we will strive to be faithful in carrying out this mission.

It is time to change course and embrace a vision of America where no one is left behind. Creating jobs now will lower the unemployment rate, reduce poverty and instill hope for the future.

In addition, the Americans Jobs Act proposed by President Obama will rehire laid off teachers - making sure young children get the support they need to learn in the classroom - and will put workers on the job fixing up crumbling schools, like the one my children attend that is nearly 75 years old and without seismic upgrades.

The American Jobs Act will also extend unemployment benefits to workers left jobless during a prolonged period of economic difficulty. We abandon these workers now and they will become the next wave of homeless families seeking shelter in facilities that are already full.

Our churches and other faith communities are overburdened by the human tidal wave of need that has been showing up since poverty began to explode in 2001 - the same time our government abandoned economic policies that reduced poverty in favor of tax cuts for the wealthiest and reductions in federal support for critical human service programs. Faith communities have opened shelters, built housing, organized volunteers, and hosted job fairs. But it is not enough.

Churches have never had resources equal to the government or equal to the task of dealing with all America's social ills. Nor should the faith community be expected to play such a role. Taking care of our neighbors is a task all Americans must share and government is the only vehicle we have that can marshal all the partners we need to meet the needs: business, labor, non-profits, students and the faith community. We need partnerships with government paying the bigger bills that create infrastructure, such as schools and affordable housing. President Obama was absolutely right when he said last week:

We have to ask ourselves, "What's the best way to grow the economy and create jobs?" Should we keep tax loopholes for oil companies? Or should we use that money to give small business owners a tax credit when they hire new workers? Because we can't afford to do both. Should we keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires? Or should we put teachers back to work so our kids can graduate ready for college and good jobs? Right now, we can't afford to do both. This isn't political grandstanding. This isn't class warfare. This is simple math. These are real choices that we have to make. And I'm pretty sure I know what most Americans would choose. It's not even close. And it's time for us to do what's right for our future.

We have to decide who we are going to be as a people.

Will we continue to allow children to live homeless and in poverty?

Will we scrape Social Security?

Or will we be our brother's keeper, our sister's keeper and fight to make our national community a place where once again there is hope in the future and security for families?

We need the American Jobs Act now. Tell Congress.

The Oregon GOP is moving to the moral center while the national GOP in moving warp speed further and further to the right.  The Oregonian reports:

Oregon Republicans have stripped anti-gay language from their 2012 party platform, a shift toward the political center in a state where the GOP has struggled mightily in recent years. 

Wording that essentially condemned same-sex marriage and civil unions, and that stated such couples were unfit to be parents, was removed from the official party platform during a weekend convention in Bend. 

"We want the public to take another look at the Republican Party and our policies," said Greg Leo, spokesman for the state party. "It's fair to say we're more centrist." 

The once-dominant party has faded in Oregon. Democrats hold every statewide office and no Republican has been elected governor since 1987. The one bright spot is the Oregon House, where Republicans managed a 30-30 split with Democrats last election. 

Leo said the next election is going to be all about jobs and the economy, and the party does not want social issues to become a distraction.

Oregon GOP leaders should be applauded.  

Creator God, ten years after terror reigned we mourn still.
We grieve for the civilians killed in a crime against all humanity.
We grieve for the first responders who rushed to offer aid and perished.
And we grieve with all those who have suffered in anguish since.

We pray for all those who have perished in wars the last decade, soldiers and civilians.
We pray for Americans, Iraqis, Pakistanis, and Afghans.
We pray for Christians, Jews, Muslims and other people of faith.
And yes, O Lord, we pray for our enemies.  

Help us to bring about a new decade of peace between your people.
Let us find a path that brings us from darkness to light.
Open our hearts to new ways of creating moments of reconciliation.  
Lead us to create in our souls spaces of hope that sustain us.

Ten years ago men of terror set the course for decade.
The lives they stole will never be forgotten.
In their precious memories, let us move forward as the children of God.
By your grace, we pray we succeed.

Amen  

- The Rev. Chuck Currie

Related Post:  Holding On To Hope Ten Years After 9/11

The evidence of our times is harsh. Still, I have hope. It is hope born out of my faith and from the experience of living through the last decade.

My latest op-ed on The Huffington Post.

President Obama addressed the unemployment crisis today in moral terms that once again offered a progressive and positive vision for the United States - a start contrast to the Tea Party mentality.  I've just finished a conference call with senior White House officials who have offered more specific information on the president's proposed American Jobs Act.

Here's the basic outline, as offered by Think Progress:

President Obama tonight laid out a $450 billion job creation plan before a joint session of Congress, challenging lawmakers to repeatedly to “pass this jobs bill.” “Regardless of the arguments we’ve had in the past, regardless of the arguments we’ll have in the future, this plan is the right thing to do right now. You should pass it. And I intend to take that message to every corner of this country,” he said.

Obama called for a reduction in the payroll tax, investments in infrastructure, a plan to modernize up to 35,000 schools, as well as tax breaks for new hires and a plan to reform the corporate tax code that currently “stands as a monument to special interest influence in Washington.” Obama emphasized that many of these ideas have, in the past, garnered bipartisan support and he threw in some Republican favorites, such as approving pending free trade agreements.

However, despite drawing cheers from the Republicans in the crowd when he mentioned eliminating or streamlining regulations, Obama said that he would not use the economic crisis as an excuse to engage in a regulatory race to the bottom...

Many of these items are the ones anti-poverty advocates recommended to the president in advance of his speech.

The White House explains the American Jobs Act in these terms:

First, it provides a tax cut for small businesses, not big corporations, to help them hire and expand now, and provides an additional tax cut to any business that hires or increases wages. 

Second, it puts more people back to work, including up to 280,000 teachers laid off by state-budget cuts, first responders and veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, and construction workers repairing crumbling bridges, roads and more than 35,000 public schools, with projects chosen by need and impact, not earmarks and politics.   And, it expands job opportunities for hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults through a new Pathways Back to Work Fund that supports summer and year round jobs for youth; innovative new job training programs to connect low-income workers to jobs quickly; and successful programs to encourage employers to bring on disadvantaged workers.  

Third, it helps out-of-work Americans by extending unemployment benefits to help them support their families while looking for work and reforming the system with training programs that build real skills, connect to real jobs and help the long-term unemployed.    It bans employers from discriminating against the unemployed when hiring, and provides a new tax credit to employers hiring workers who have been out of a job for over 6 months. 

Fourth, it puts more money in the pockets of working and middle class Americans by cutting in half the payroll tax that comes out of every worker's paycheck, saving families an average of $1,500 a year’ and taking executive action to remove the barriers that exist in the current federal refinancing program (HARP) to help more Americans refinance their mortgages at historically low rates, save money and stay in their homes.   

Last, the plan won’t add a dime to the deficit and is fully paid for through a balanced deficit reduction plan that includes closing corporate tax loopholes and asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share.

Asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share has been a demand of many U.S. religious leaders to Congress and so I deeply appreciated it when President Obama said tonight:

We have to ask ourselves, “What’s the best way to grow the economy and create jobs?”

Should we keep tax loopholes for oil companies?  Or should we use that money to give small business owners a tax credit when they hire new workers?  Because we can’t afford to do both.  Should we keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires?  Or should we put teachers back to work so our kids can graduate ready for college and good jobs?  Right now, we can’t afford to do both.  

This isn’t political grandstanding.  This isn’t class warfare.  This is simple math.  These are real choices that we have to make.  And I’m pretty sure I know what most Americans would choose.  It’s not even close.  And it’s time for us to do what’s right for our future. 

We'll hear more in the coming days.  But I believe that President Obama is setting the right course.

Photo Credit: WhiteHouse.gov 

The American Thinker - a web site that leans to the right of the Tea Party, apparently - is making waves with an article that argues that people living in poverty shouldn't be allowed to vote:

Why are left-wing activist groups so keen on registering the poor to vote?

Because they know the poor can be counted on to vote themselves more benefits by electing redistributionist politicians.  Welfare recipients are particularly open to demagoguery and bribery. 

Registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals.  It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote. 

Maybe we could just buy the poor people and count them as 3/5ths a person...

This piece is about as unAmerican as it gets.

Do something great: send a donation to the National Coalition for the Homeless to support their efforts to register homeless Americans - because everyone deserves the right to vote! 

National Coalition for the Homeless

2201 P St NW

Washington, DC 20037

h/t CampusProgress

The GOP field gathered again tonight for another debate - this time at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.  In reality, this was a debate between two candidates: Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.  The other candidates helped to illuminate the factions within the GOP today but Romney and Perry are clearly, at this point, the front runners. 

All things being equal, it seems almost obvious at this point that barring a personal scandal of some sort that Perry will be the GOP's nominee in 2012.  But plenty of front-runners have faltered...  Still, he would be the most far-right, extremest nominee in U.S. history.  Perhaps he would be the only major party nominee who has threatened to succeed from the union.

None of the candidates could provide an answer for how to fix the economy.  In fact, they all endorsed the basic economic philosophy of George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, which led to massive deficits and increased poverty. 

It is, of course, disheartening to hear the candidates bash President Obama's health care reform efforts, which will expand health care to over 30 million Americans.  Perry presides over a state in which 25% of the people have no coverage and yet he could offer no real ideas for how to resolve the problem.  Under President Obama, Texans won't be forgotten.  Health care reform has been strongly supported by religious leaders.

It was also frustrating to hear the GOP field play politics with the issue of immigration reform.  Their answer for how to solve the problem:  do nothing.  The American people strongly support President Obama's immigration reform plans - even the conservative Southern Baptist Convention has endorsed the president's plans - and we're all tired of politicians trying to divide people along regional, cultural and racial lines.

Perry is one of those politicians who preach a "pro-life" platform but abandon children at birth.  "Facing a $27 billion budget deficit this year, Perry decided to gut child support services, despite a report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities that found nearly one in four Texas children lived beneath the poverty line," notes Think Progress.

The Texas governor also tonight defended his belief that Social Security never should have been implemented.  He called the program a "monstrous lie" that he would transition away from.  To do so would leave the elderly once again at the whim of the markets and trapped in poverty - as they were before the New Deal.

Even Romney found fault with Perry over Social Security.  But with Romney - who was for universal health care before he was against it - it is unclear what his core principles are.  

Oregon is an interesting place to be a person of faith - no matter the faith.  Only around 25% of Oregonians identify with a religious tradition (more would self-identify as "spiritual").

I've never seen any polling on this but I'd venture to say that the vast majority of Oregonians are respectful of religious people and institutions even if they don't hold a faith of their own.  But a small minority of Oregonians (mostly centered in urban Portland) are openly hostile toward religion - sometimes with good reason, I'll concede.

Want proof? 

God of love and justice, we come to You this Labor Day asking for Your presence and guidance. You have asked us to walk with our brothers and sisters and told us there are no strangers among us. Yet, we still turn against You and the law You have given us to love one another as we love ourselves. As the Psalm says, we know that good will comes to those who are generous and lend freely, and to those who conduct their affairs with justice. However, we have sometimes failed to be generous with our time and resources, and have neglected opportunities to treat others with human dignity.

God, as we remember those who are struggling and organizing for a living wage, healthcare, and human dignity in their workplaces, remind us this Labor Day that You have called us to walk in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, as we conduct our affairs with love and justice. May it be so.

- reprinted from Interfaith Worker Justice

“To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin. For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation . . . for humans to degrade the integrity of Earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the Earth of its natural forests, or destroying its wetlands . . . for humans to injure other humans with disease . . . for humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life, with poisonous substances . . . these are sins.”

- Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 2005

We spent the early part of the Labor Day weekend at Suttle Lake where we had spectacular views of the Shadow Lake fire raging in the Mt. Washington area.  500 people were evaucated from Big Lake last night as the fire grew.  It began over a week ago after a lightening strike.

We witnessed helicopters taking water from smaller water bodies in the area they then used to dump on the fire.  As of today, however, the fire is reported as 0% contained.  At Suttle Lake - besides the view - the only impact we felt was the occassion smell of smoke.  Suttle Lake Lodge, part of the complex we stayed at, has burned down three times in the past.  The most recent fire at Suttle Lake was six years ago.  

Fires are hiting Oregon very hard right now.  Part of this is the natural cycle of life in the Pacific Northwest, of course.  Yet the impact of fires have been made worse in recent years - and this point has to be stressed - because of on-going climate change. 

Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell recently told Congress:

"Throughout the country, we're seeing longer fire seasons, and we're seeing snowpacks that, on average, are disappearing a little earlier every spring," he said, as well as devastating droughts. As a result, fire seasons have lengthened by more than 30 days, on average.

"Our scientists believe this is due to a change in climate," said Tidwell.

We can pretend this isn't true but we do so at our peril.  I cannot say that the Shadow Lake fire is a direct result of climate change or not but it is clear that climate change is increasing the severity of forest fires across the globe.  It is a sin to ignore our responsibility to act as stewards of creation.