Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

Mitt Romney's America: Not a Good Deal For Seniors, Children

If you want to see the nation nearly completely abandon our solemn commitment to children, seniors and those forced into poverty during difficult economic times then a Mitt Romney presidency is just what you're waiting for.  The non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports:

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's proposals to cap total spending, boost defense spending, cut taxes, and balance the budget would require extraordinarily large cuts in nondefense programs.  If policymakers cut all nondefense programs by the same percentage, the cuts would measure 21 percent in 2016 and 36 percent in 2021.  If policymakers exempted Social Security from the cuts and then cut all other nondefense programs by the same percentage, the cuts would rise to 30 percent in 2016 and 54 percent in 2021. 

For nondefense discretionary programs, these cuts would comeon top of the 17-percent cut already in law due to the discretionary funding caps of the Budget Control Act that Congress enacted last August and the automatic cuts (or "sequestration") scheduled to start in January 2013.  Our estimates of the depth of cuts that the Romney proposals would require are consistent with what Governor Romney himself has said about the required cuts.

These cuts are far deeper than those that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) austere budget plan would require.  They would shrink nondefense discretionary spending — which, over the past 30 years, has averaged 3.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and never fallen below 3.2 percent  — to just 1.7 percent of GDP by 2021.

What we need right now are public investments - like President Obama's American Jobs Act - and economic policies and programs that help people lift themselves out of poverty.

But, as the Occupy Wall Street movement has helped to clearly demonstrate, it will take a lot of work to reverse the growing economic inequality in our nation that continues to force families in poverty, homelessness and hunger.

People of faith can continue to press both political parties to address these important moral issues by joining the Circle of Protection, a campaign by religious groups to protect America's most vulnerable.

The State Of The Union: Progressive Progress Or Return To A Failed Past?

President Obama once again offered a progressive, moral vision for America during last night's State of the Union Address - a choice between an America where we're all in this together or where some people put their personal self interests ahead of the common good, a return to the policies of the past.

“….The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive.  No challenge is more urgent.  No debate is more important.  We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by.  Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.  What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values.  We have to reclaim them.” 

President Obama inherited the most broken economy since the Great Depression.  And some want to return to the policies that brought us to that point?  President Obama is correct to call for increased investments in education and our public infrastructure.  We need to continue creating jobs. 

Last night, in the GOP response, Gov. Mitch Daniels made the claim that President Obama is "pro-poverty." That's absurd - particularly coming from George W. Bush's budget director whose policies created the poverty crisis we face in the United States today.  President Obama's stimulus program, opposed by every GOP member of Congress, kept 30 million additional Americans from falling into poverty (or deeper into poverty) during the worst part of the recession.  No president in recent memory has done more on this issue. 

My hope is that sometime soon President Obama will take the opportunity to speak directly to those living in poverty in America - the numbers are too high - and offer hope directly to those who struggle each day to find food and shelter, many while working. We cannot afford cuts in anti-poverty programs in the new budget.  But make no mistake:  President Obama's economic agenda will help reduce poverty if the GOP gets out of the way and stops playing politics with the economy.

I'm deeply proud of our president for again articulating a moral vision for the United States.  

Photo Credit:  Whitehouse.gov

"Observe the Roe v. Wade Anniversary by Staying Vigilant and Taking Action"

Message from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

As the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice celebrates the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the war on women rages on, and we who trust women and respect their decisions must renew our commitment to protecting this landmark Supreme Court ruling. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court said, in simple terms, that women have a constitutional right to privacy to make decisions about whether to have an abortion. Because this decision involves moral as well as medical considerations, the Court ruled, a woman has the right to consider her personal circumstances and the dictates of her conscience.

It’s especially important for the pro-faith community to speak out now. For the past year, zealots in Congress and state legislatures – many of whom preach the sanctity of privacy and freedom from government – have relentlessly waged a vicious war on women’s access to health care. More than 1,000 bills were introduced in state legislatures, including the Ohio “heartbeat” bill banning abortion after the 6th or 7th week of gestation, and numerous bills requiring pregnant women to have ultrasounds. In 2011, 92 anti-abortion provisions were enacted – the most in any year since Roe v. Wade was decided!

Click here for more.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My Letter To President Obama @HuffPostRelig Regarding Poverty #SOTU

I urge you to use this State of the Union Address to speak of hope and change to the millions of Americans -- most of whom are children -- who live in poverty today. We need your voice in this important moment.

Click here.

Catch Me On Fox News Live 11am P / 2pm E Talking GOP, Faith & Politics #2012

I'm scheduled to be on Fox News Live at 11am Pacific / 2 pm Eastern to talk about the South Carolina primary, faith and politics. Before going on air let me take a moment to put in writing some thoughts on the state of the race.

For most Americans, I think, the GOP nomination contest has been disappointing.  Rather than engaging in a serious discussion of the issues - to match the serious policy proposals offered by President Obama on issues ranging from the economy to health care to immigration - we've seen the Republicans contenders offer homage to Tea Party activists and their principles while offering tired old trickle down economic policy proposals that helped drive the country off the cliff in the first place. 

Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, both Roman Catholics, oppose Roman Catholic teachings on immigration, poverty alleviation, economic inequality, and the environment when these issues are front and center.  On many issues, Barack Obama is closer to the Roman Catholic Church. 

Gingrich's open marriage and three divorces might be explained away to evangelical voters.  People change, Rick Perry said when endorsing Perry.  But Gingrich's hypocrisy in preaching "family values" all these years while not practicing them will - and should - upset a lot of voters.  Does he have a moral center?  That's an open question.  

It is further disappointing that Gingrich and Santorum have engaged in racial politics with their attacks on "black" welfare recipients (most people on public assistance are, in fact, white). 

And then there is Mitt Romney.  He's still having trouble selling his campaign for a few reasons.  One - let's be honest - is religious bigotry against Mormons.  Religious intolerance has no place in American politics but evangelical activists are trying to stop Romney's campaign, in part, because of his faith.  Still, no one knows where Romney stands.  You can't run one decade as the pro-choice, pro-gay candidate and a decade later run as the anti-choice, anti-gay candidate.  Voters, regardless of faith, will question your values and principles.  On the economy, Romney wants to take us right back to the presidency of George W. Bush - and Bush's tax cuts (thanks to congressional Republicans) - are still driving up the deficit, increasing unemployment, and forcing families into poverty.  Romney has embraced the Tea party line.  And he's shown in his private sector work that he'll put his own private interests above anyone or anything else. 

Sometimes I disagree with him on policy matters but I think Americans want a president like President Obama who will always put the common good before personal gain.

Update: Watch a segment from the interview here.

Tea Party Jesus: Sermon on the Mall (The Movie)

via Tea Party Jesus

People of Faith Should Consider Cornilles' Views On Climate Change #OR1

As voters cast ballots in Oregon's First Congressional District it is particularly important for people of faith to weigh the issue of climate change. 

Rob Cornilles, the GOP nominee, has declared that he is running for Congress and not "scientist" but that he believes that there is still serious scientific debate over the issue.  There isn't.  Climate change skeptics have become the moral equivalent of birthers, who despite all the evidence believe that President Obama was born on Mars, or wherever.

The National Council of Churches USA (mostly mainline and orthodox Christians), the National Association of Evangelicals (mostly conservative Christians) and the U.S. Conference of Bishops (Roman Catholic) have all issued statements in recent years supporting the science behind climate change and arguing from a Biblical perspective that we have an obligation to protect creation. 

In 2005, more than 1,000 mainline Christian leaders from across the United States (including many from Oregon) issued a statement entitled God's Mandate: Care for Creation that read, in part:

To continue to walk the current path of ecological destruction is not only folly; it is sin. As voiced by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who has taken the lead among senior religious leaders in his concern for creation: "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." We have become un-Creators. Earth is in jeopardy at our hands.

For Christians and other people of faith, this is one of the most serious issues of our time.  Sadly, when God presented humanity with dominion over the earth many believe we were given control over creation to do as we please -- for the benefit of humankind above all else.  That's where you get the "drill-baby-drill" mentality. "We have interpreted the 'dominion' granted to humankind as giving us raw power to exploit and abuse the rest of creation, rather than as requiring mature responsibility of us to show respect and loving care for creation," writes The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr. in his book Whose Gospel? "Like rebellious adolescents, we have been inclined to see the gifts of God as ours to use as we choose."

Rob Cornilles might not be running for scientist but members of Congress are charged with passing laws that set environmental policy.  It takes an informed and curious mind to deal with complex issues that have such important moral implications.  Will we leave the world better for our children and generations to come or will greed - and yes, sin - allow us to continue on the current path of ecological destruction that is already having profound impacts across our globe and right here in Oregon?

I do not believe that God endorses candidates and not all Democrats get this answer right, but Susan Bonamici does.  Voters should take that into account.   

Disclaimer: 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.

We Are The Inheritors Of The Dream #MLKDay

If in this moment of history you are waiting for a great prophet from God to arise and led us from darkness to light remember that God is calling us all to this struggle. We are the inheritors of the dream and whether we like it or not, whether it is convenient or not, whether we are ready or not, for the future of our children and their children and their children, for the future of creation itself, we must loudly answer God's call by saying: Here I am, Lord.

- Rev. Chuck Currie, If You're Out There, A Sermon Celebrating The Ministry of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2009)

Photo credit: Life, Paul Schutzer. Portrait of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at 'prayer pilgramage for freedom' at Lincoln Memorial, 1957.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

"Christian" Talk Show Host Bill Post: "Is there a line for peeing on Taliban?" #gomarines #peeontaliban @bpradioshow

In response to a recent tweet of mine about Christian support for environmental protections, I received a series of unsolicited tweets from Oregon radio talk show host Bill Post.  He's against environment protections and upset that the National Council of Churches (mainline and orthodox Christians), the National Association of Evangelicals and the U.S. Conference of Bishops (Roman Catholic) have come out in strong support of such protections and have defended the science that proves climate change is caused by humans:

So Mr. Post disagrees with the majority of Christians across the globe.  Based on what?  Not sure.  He was particularly upset with the idea that evangelicals support climate change protections:

Mr. Post was apparently unaware that his own church is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals.  I found that somewhat surprising for someone who is an "elder" in the church but when I asked he said he had no theological education so perhaps that explains his confusion.

But he wanted it clear he was a real Christian and belonged to a true Christian church - Salem Evangelical Church -  (unlike, apparently, the vast majority of other Christian churches):

Well, clearly Mr. Post at least is missing the idea that God gave us stewardship over creation not to exploit creation but to protect it.  I think it is pretty fair to say Mr. Post is missing that part of Christianity.  Whether or not his entire congregation - in which he serves as an elder - believes as he does, I just don't know.

But I saw another tweet from Mr. Post today that gave me pause and made me think he was missing something even more fundamental about Christianity.  He tweeted:

This international news story has been making the rounds.  The New York Times reports:

The United States Marine Corps has identified the four Marines shown in a video urinating on what appear to be dead Taliban fighters, without releasing any names, and has named a lead investigating officer to decide whether they should be charged, Marine officials said Friday...

The top American general in Afghanistan, Gen. John R. Allen of the Marines, expressed his disgust over the video on Friday, saying the images “are in direct opposition to everything the military stands for.”

His comments echoed those of Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a day earlier, when both promised a thorough investigation. “Such acts violate the sanctity of the dead and are deplorable and must be condemned in the strongest manner possible,” the general said. “We will support the investigation of these acts in every way for a swift determination of the facts.”

Yes, Mr. Post missed something in Sunday School.  And I fear anyone in a church in which he serves as an elder might miss it as well.  It's called the Greatest Commandment:

Matthew 22:36-40

³⁶‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ ³⁷He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ 

And perhaps Mr. Post might benefit from this lesson as well:

Matthew 5:43-45

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

What passes for Christianity in his tweets is impossible to recognize.  

Read comments on this post from Facebook.

Read additional comments from Facebook.

Be Very Quiet. Mitt Romney Doesn't Want To Hear About Income Inequality.

Mitt Romney - who is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $250 million - says discussions about income inequality are "...about envy. I think it's about class warfare."

"I think it's fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like," Romney said. "But the president has made this part of his campaign rally. Everywhere he goes we hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires and executives and Wall Street. It's a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach and I think it'll fail."

Quiet rooms?

We ought to be talking about these issues in every venue because, as William Jennings Bryan once said, every great economic question is in reality a great moral question.

It isn't about envy.  It is about homeless children and their families sleeping outdoors because of economic policies that benefit the wealthy while those Jesus would have called the "least of these" are left behind.  It's about growing hunger in a land of plenty.  For Christians and other people of faith, it is a matter of justice. 

As the Center for American Progress notes,  the increase in income inequality over the last 30 years is equivalent to a $1.1 trillion transfer from the 99% to the 1% every year.

President Obama was right when he said in Kansas last month:

Look at the statistics. In the last few decades, the average income of the top 1 percent has gone up by more than 250 percent to $1.2 million per year. I’m not talking about millionaires, people who have a million dollars. I’m saying people who make a million dollars every single year. For the top one hundredth of 1 percent, the average income is now $27 million per year. The typical CEO who used to earn about 30 times more than his or her worker now earns 110 times more. And yet, over the last decade the incomes of most Americans have actually fallen by about 6 percent.

Now, this kind of inequality -- a level that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression -- hurts us all. When middle-class families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling, when people are slipping out of the middle class, it drags down the entire economy from top to bottom. America was built on the idea of broad-based prosperity, of strong consumers all across the country. That’s why a CEO like Henry Ford made it his mission to pay his workers enough so that they could buy the cars he made. It’s also why a recent study showed that countries with less inequality tend to have stronger and steadier economic growth over the long run.

Inequality also distorts our democracy. It gives an outsized voice to the few who can afford high-priced lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions, and it runs the risk of selling out our democracy to the highest bidder. It leaves everyone else rightly suspicious that the system in Washington is rigged against them, that our elected representatives aren’t looking out for the interests of most Americans.

But there’s an even more fundamental issue at stake. This kind of gaping inequality gives lie to the promise that’s at the very heart of America: that this is a place where you can make it if you try. We tell people -- we tell our kids -- that in this country, even if you’re born with nothing, work hard and you can get into the middle class. We tell them that your children will have a chance to do even better than you do.

Mitt Romney doesn't want to have this debate.  But without it our nation will continue to falter and our nation fail unless we do and fix the economic system that once produced a strong middle class. 

The Role Of The Religious Right In The GOP Presidential Nominating Process

Is the Religious Right trying to stage a coup of sorts and name the GOP nominee? Listen to my interview this morning with KPOJ here:

Related Post: Will Conservative Church Leaders Pick GOP Nominee?

GOP Kansas House Speaker Prays For Death Of President Obama

Update: Angry with Speaker O'Neal?  Don't call or email me - I'm the one calling him out for his hateful comments.  You can call the Speaker at 785-296-2302 or e-mail [email protected].  Leave a respectful message about how you feel.  Don't get down to his level. - Rev. Chuck Currie

On the day we honor the memory of those killed in Tuscon and recognize the bravery of those who survived - on a day we remember the need for civility in our politics in a time of super heated and even violent rhetoric - we learn that the GOP Speaker of the Kansas House of Representative is praying for the death of President Obama and referring to the First Lady as "Mrs. YoMama."

Pat Cunningham reports that Speaker Mike O’Neal compared Michelle Obama to the Grinch in e-mails and later wrote over the holiday: "“I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Mrs. YoMama a wonderful, long Hawaii Christmas vacation — at our expense, of course."

In another e-mail, Speaker O'Neal forwarded Psalm 109, which reads: "May his days be few; may another seize his position..." and continues:

May his children be fatherless  and his wife a widow.

May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes.

May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.

O’Neal wrote: “At last — I can honestly voice a Biblical prayer for our president! Look it up — it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray. Brothers and Sisters, can I get an AMEN? AMEN!!!!!!”

One year ago U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot and many others were killed and injured by a mentally-ill man during a time of white hot political debate.

President Obama said in the days that followed:

I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here - they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

There is no place in our politics for Speaker Mike O’Neal's hateful comments.  America deserves - needs - better.

May God soften Speaker O'Neal's heart.

Will Conservative Church Leaders Pick GOP Nominee?

In the United States there are suppose to be no religious tests to hold public office.  That's right there in the Constitution (a document conservatives claim to love).  But religious conservatives seem to be doing all in their considerable power to decide who the GOP nominee for president will be.  In short, they trying to imposing a religious test on the presidency.  Separation of church of state doesn't mean that people of faith should refrain from the political process but - in the words of the United Methodist Church - the integrity of church and state "is best served when both institutions do not try to control the other" and church officials attempting to decide who the GOP nominee is goes too far.  That is exactly what is happening today.  Otherwise, why are officials of the Southern Baptist Convention like Richard Land weighing in on the GOP nomination process?  We cannot afford to allow our democracy to devolve into a theocracy.  Religious liberty is at stake in 2012.     

Related Post:  The Politics Of Jesus In 2012

Religious People Must Condemn New York Attacks

All people of faith - and all Americans in general - must condemn the firebomb attacks this weekend in New York against a Mosque, a small temple where Hindu services are performed, and two other locations (one a Muslim owned business and another a private home where Christians live).  Governor Andrew Cuomo was absolutely correct to say that the attacks "go against everything we stand for as New Yorkers and Americans."  100 worshippers were in the Mosque at the time of the bombing.  Thankfully, there were no injuries.   

We are living during a time of increased religious bigotry directed largely at Muslims and orchestrated as part of a political campaign to divide Americans along religious lines.  Our nation was founded on religious freedom and has grown onto to most religiously pluralistic society on earth.  That diversity has brought many gifts to the United States.  Those who seek to undermine religious freedom seek to undermine the core principles of our democracy.  It is particularly important that those of us who are Christian - the dominant faith tradition in the U.S. - stand up for religious minorities and their right to worship freely.  As The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  

When one faith is under attack all faiths are under attack.

Nine Years Ago Today

Happy anniversay to us!

"A Prayer for the New Year (2012)" from Living the Questions #2012

"A Prayer for the New Year (2012)" from Living the Questions from Living the Questions on Vimeo.

"A Prayer for the New Year (2012)" from Living the Questions