Filibustering People of Faith?

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"There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq. To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a 'just war.'"

- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, May 2, 2003.

Source: Catholic Peace Fellowship

During the 2004 election campaign, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson virtually said Christians could only vote for George W. Bush. Many of you, along with other Christians and people of faith, responded with letters to the editor, newspaper ads, and even bumper stickers reminding America that "God is not a Republican...or a Democrat." Then the Republican National Committee circulated lists of "duties" to local churches, which included turning over their congregational membership lists. The RNC also sent postcards to voters in some states with images of a Bible being banned and a man putting a wedding ring on another man - warning that this was what "liberal" politicians planned to do.

Now the Religious Right is saying that supporting the president's judicial nominations is a test of orthodoxy. This is a dramatic new and serious breach in the relationship between faith and politics.

James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Prison Fellowship's Chuck Colson, and Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler are hosting "Justice Sunday," a telecast this weekend from a mega-church in Louisville, Kentucky. Their message is that those who don't support President Bush's judicial nominees are hostile to "people of faith."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to join them by video to get political support for his effort to end the Senate practice known as the filibuster, which is designed to delay a vote on controversial issues in order to protect strong minorities from being overrun by majorities. The Republican leader's appearance at this event endorses the Religious Right's claim that the Democratic filibuster of a small number of very conservative judges is "a filibuster against people of faith."

Despite the fact that Democrats oppose these judges for their views on a variety of subjects, conservative leaders have singled out abortion and gay marriage as their chief concerns and only want judges who support their agenda. Despite the fact that many Democrats who oppose some of President Bush's nominees are themselves people of faith, Republicans and their religious supporters are questioning the faith and religious integrity of their opponents.

That is an escalation of the religious/political war. And the two together sound like assertions of a Republican theocracy. Behind these activities lies a fundamental assumption by Republican operatives and their conservative religious allies that they own religion in America. They demand that religious people vote only their way. They claim that "values voters" in America belong to them, and they disrespect the faith of those who disagree with their agenda. There are better words for this than just "politically divisive" or "morally irresponsible." For these are not merely political offenses, they are religious ones. And for offenses such as these, theological terms are better - terms such as idolatry and blasphemy.

We should bring our religious convictions about all moral issues to the public square - such as the uplifting of the poor, the protection of the environment, the ethics of war, or the tragic number of abortions in America - without attacking the sincerity of other people's faith, or demanding that we should win because we are religious. We must make moral arguments and mobilize effective movements for social change that can powerfully persuade our fellow citizens, religious or not, on what is best for the common good.

What I hear, from one end of this country to the other, is how tired we are of ideological religion and how hungry we are for prophetic faith. Join me in sending a message to Senator Frist that we are people of faith, and these Religious Right leaders do not speak for us.

+ Take action: Tell Bill Frist to stop playing the faith card!

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I have no doubt that Pope Benedict will uphold the consistent moral stance of Catholic social teaching to the world at large. He will continue to speak clearly about economic justice, a consistent ethic of life, and a strong opposition to war. He stated in his first homily a "determination to continue the commitment to implement the Second Vatican Council" - which will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year - and noted that the teachings are particularly relevant to the "new needs of the Church and the present globalized society."

What the church needs most is a pope who will apply the moral clarity and pastoral mercy of Catholic social teaching to the internal life of the Catholic Church. We do not need a reactionary leader, as Cardinal Ratzinger has proved himself to be, who misidentifies plurality of discourse as heresy, elevates gender apartheid to the level of sanctity, and who views accountability as an attack on authority.

Yes, the church needs a leader deeply rooted in the wisdom gained from 2,000 years of history. But just as importantly it needs a confident leader who welcomes diversity within the church, who empowers local church authority, who teaches moral discernment and the development of conscience in a way that addresses the vast complexities of the age in which we actually live....

In a 180-degree turn from his former self, Pope Benedict stated yesterday that "theological dialogue is necessary." This will be critically important if he is to lead less like the law-invoking Pharisees and more like Mary Magdalene when she said, "I have seen the Lord" (John 20:18). As Cardinal Ratzinger, he did not meet the qualifications of what the church needs now. As Pope Benedict XVI, I pray that they will say of him what they said of Salvadoran Archbishop Romero - that he was a "converted bishop."

May Benedict XVI be a "converted pope."

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More than 500 readers have signed up to host God's Politics meet-ups in their local communities. In response to this demand, Sojourners has produced a free study guide to enable you to use the book as a movement-building tool. The monologue of the Religious Right is over, and a new national dialogue has begun - start your own study group today!

+ Click here to host a God's Politics meet-up event

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Nonviolent civil disobedience is the name of the game at Washington University in St. Louis, where members of the Student Workers Association (SWA) have been participating in a living-wage sit-in since April 4. Their demand: that the university provide its sub-contracted service workers with benefits and pay starting at $10.05 per hour - the amount necessary to support a family of three in St. Louis. University wages currently start at $7.50. Their tactics: occupying Brookings Hall, the administration building, and launching a six-day hunger strike in addition to the sit-in. The hunger strike ended on Saturday, April 16, when Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton agreed to address some of the students' concerns.

The demonstration follows a 10-day living-wage hunger strike at Georgetown University in March. Responding to pressure from more than 20 student strikers, Georgetown President John J. DeGioia agreed to raise wages for service workers from a minimum of $11.33 to $13 per hour on July 1 and $14 per hour in July 2007.

+ Read more about the Washington University sit-in in the university's student paper

+ Read about the Georgetown hunger strike in The Washington Post

+ Read about the proliferation of campus strikes this spring in The Kansas City Star

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Israeli peace activists Nina Mayorek (left) of Checkpoint Watch and Ruti al-Raz of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions observe the separation wall their government has built through the center of Palestinian East Jerusalem. (MCC photo by Ryan Beiler)

Nina Mayorek, for instance, is a Jewish Israeli, a senior biochemist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Her aunt and her grandmother died in Nazi concentration camps, her grandfather died in a Russian concentration camp, and she and her husband fled Poland in 1968 to escape the anti-Semitism of that country. She knows the Jewish story of fleeing for survival and seeking safety and security in Israel. She also knows the dark side of the Israeli occupation of Palestine from her work monitoring Israeli checkpoints.

"It's terribly difficult to belong to a nation of victimizers," Mayorek said of her Israeli citizenship, "especially when you have been a victim."

+ Read the full article

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With increasing scrutiny directed at "Minutemen" vigilante patrols along the U.S./Mexico border, a coalition of religious organizations has released a statement of concern:

"As churches and faith-based organizations, we are compelled to respond to the actions of the "Minutemen" in Southern Arizona. Their intent to corral and harass the migrants they encounter is an affront to internationally protected rights and to our nation's history of hospitality. Law enforcement officials have been properly charged with the role of monitoring immigration along our Southern border. Any attempt to usurp these duties is inappropriate....

As Christians, we believe that we are called to welcome the stranger. We recognize the gifts that migrants bring to our communities. Those who sacrifice in order to assure the survival of their families are to be admired and applauded."

+ Read the full statement

+ Sojourners subscribers read about this alarming development first in 2003

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If Christianity - without losing its soul - is yet to avoid losing touch with the world, it must constantly update itself by dialogue with all the intellectual currents of today. To this end, the author proposes a necessary two-way dialectic between theology and the world, an ongoing dialectic ultimately essential to both church and world. $25 hardcover. To order call (313) 624-9784. Dove Booksellers, 13904 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, Michigan, 48126. www.dovebook.com

"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."

- Soren Kierkegaard

Source: Daily Dig

Click these multimedia links for recent and popular interviews with Jim Wallis:

+ AUDIO: Grace Cathedral forum with the Very Rev. Alan Jones

+ AUDIO: Podcast interview with Landon Wittsitt of Louisville Presbyterian Seminary

+ VIDEO: Jim Wallis' sermon at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

+ AUDIO: NPR's Talk of the Nation interview

+ AUDIO: NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross interview

+ VIDEO: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

+ See more links, coverage, and free downloads

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I found the opening sentence of David Batstone's recent opinion piece, "Dying and Dignity," [SojoMail 4/13/2005] to be irresponsible and insulting. As a medical student, I am impressed every day by the compassion of the faculty here and their determination to pass that compassion on to us. Most of them spend their "free time" and money working for charity, and at least one oversees a charity clinic of his own. Yes, many people have stories about a mistake at a hospital or a cold physician. Many people also have stories about an unfair school teacher or a power-abusing police officer, but you aren't maligning those noble professions. To imply that physicians and nurses care only about a patient's net worth is to ignore all of the good work that they do for everyday people. Health-care workers are not perfect, and the health-care system in America needs work, but don't insult good, compassionate people in a selfish attempt at a clever opening sentence.

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Sally May writes from Cambridge, Vermont:

David Batstone's commentary on the current plight of the U.S. health-care system was a breath of fresh air. As someone who has worked in the health-care industry (and industry is what it is) in both clinical and administrative positions for close to 25 years, his observations help me to remember why we within the broken system continue to do what we do - because we do care!

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Cynthia B. Astle writes from Dallas, Texas:

I read David Batstone's column in SojoMail about two hours after my father-in-law, Bill Justice, died in the same hospice where Terri Schiavo died. While I agree with his premise that medical care is increasingly restricted, I want Sojourners readers to know that Hospice of the Florida Suncoast is a model for compassionate dying, a model that deserves to be replicated throughout America.

Because Hospice of the Florida Suncoast is a nonprofit organization, my in-laws were charged for Bill's care according to their ability to pay. We were allowed to visit him any time and stay as long as we wanted. The nurses, nurses' aides, and other caregivers regularly checked on Bill, asking not only if there was something he needed, but whether there was something that we, his family, needed. We never once entered his room without someone on the staff asking if we'd like refreshments, extra folding chairs, etc. Once a nurse's aide found me sobbing in the hallway outside his room, and held me until I could compose myself.

By ironic coincidence, we were present the day that Michael Schiavo held a memorial service in the garden for Terri's friends, including her caregivers and officers of the Pinellas Park, Florida, Police Department who stood guard over her. The death in our family was not publicized as was the Schiavos', but we are no less grateful to the Woodside Hospice staff, because they made Grandpa's last six days of life the most comfortable they could have been. Woodside staff shepherded our entire family through Bill's last journey.

In the past three years I have attended the deaths of my mother, my aunt, and now my father-in-law, and I plan to spend the rest of my life serving as an advocate for compassionate, dignified end-of-life care for all. My ultimate model will always be the Woodside staff and Hospice of the Florida Suncoast.

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Melanie Holwerda Hommes writes from Tegucigalpa, Honduras:

Thanks for mentioning the victorious outcome of the Taco Bell boycott ["Tomato pickers, Taco Bell reach agreement to end boycott," SojoMail 4/6/2005]. It's great to see a workers' movement triumphing, and a large corporation taking on such a strong position for workers' rights.

Unfortunately not all fast-food chains are so enlightened. In contrast to Taco Bell, Burger King Corp. seems to be willfully ignoring rights violations in some of its franchises. In Tegucigalpa, Honduras - where I live - several dozen workers have been fired from Burger King, Church's Chicken, and Little Caesar's restaurants (all run in Honduras by the same company) merely for expressing interest in organizing. The restaurants have also withheld severance pay that Honduran law requires them to pay the workers. Burger King Corporation has not taken any substantive action to set its Honduran franchises straight, despite having been informed of the situation. To learn more or join the fight, check out www.ajshonduras.org/burgerking.htm

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