I’ve wrestled for years with a Christian faith that focuses on personal salvation, on many levels, some of which I’m still excavating. First, the emphasis on individual salvation always seemed ironically selfish for a faith that seemed otherwise to be about putting yourself second to others. I also struggled with the idea that Christianity is about getting a certain set of beliefs right, articulating them before a group of peers through a statement of faith and then you were official. Is it really so rote? So didactic? So … human?
All my life, I’ve heard stories of people who felt utterly transformed by their faith proclamation, or at the moment of baptism, in the throngs of prayer or during some particularly stirring worship service. They spoke of these feelings for which I longed. I wanted the mountaintop experience, after which I would never be the same. I wanted to be turned inside-out by God, illuminated by the Holy Spirit with a fire that never subsided. I wanted to feel what all these other Christians claimed to be feeling.
I’ve been to literally thousands of worship services in my life. I’ve been back and forth through the Bible, taken communion more than a thousand times, was baptized, sang the songs, said the prayers, and yes, I’ve had moments when I felt as if God was so close I could nearly reach out and touch whatever it was that I sensed.
In an attempt to make sense of the 2012 election and the unfolding David Petraeus sex scandal, I consulted the Bible and the Sayings of the Fathers, a collection of sage rabbinic teachings written between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D.
Turns out the ancient perceptions about politics and ethics are as insightful today as when they were first uttered.
I am appalled when clergy of any religion endorse candidates by name in the run-up to an election. Priests, ministers, rabbis and imams, of course, have every right to vote for any particular person they choose, thanks to the secret ballot. The clergy also have the right — indeed, the obligation — to discuss and debate the critical issues facing society. But religious leaders err and undermine their own authority when they publicly call for the election or defeat of a specific individual.
Last month “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” was sponsored by a group called the Alliance Defending Freedom. Nearly 1,500 Christian ministers openly backed various candidates as they tested the U.S. tax code, which forbids non-profit organizations (including houses of worship) from speaking out for or against political candidates. Such actions endanger their tax-exempt status, but the ADF sees that restriction as an incursion on freedom of religion and speech.
The Huffington Post reports:
It's been a sobering few decades for Christians who work alongside the poor, claim their feminism, respect scientific discovery, care for the earth, and yearn for marriage equality. We felt like the voice of Christianity had been captured by some strange ventriloquist, and it was proclaiming things that often contradicted our faith. We became frustrated with our own irrelevance, as our speech in the public square seemed to be on permanent mute.
And yet, we worked alongside the poor, remembering Mary, the mother of Jesus, a single woman expecting a child. Mary magnificently proclaimed that God had exalted the humble, filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich empty away.
Read more here.
Christianity Today reports:
As violence flares anew between Hamas and Israel, which is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas rocket attacks reaching as far as Tel Aviv, CT checked in with Jerusalem-based reconciliation ministry Musalaha for an update on reconciliation efforts between Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews.
In 2009, CT reported how three weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting—which killed 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis—left Gaza's beleaguered Christians beginning 2009 in their worst situation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. However, reconciliation work between Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews continued.
Read more here.
Current reports:
“Viewpoint” host Eliot Spitzer and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, react to Mitt Romney’s remark that Latinos — among others — voted for Obama because he gave them “gifts.”
Gutierrez argues that not all Republicans would agree with Romney’s assessment: “There are many, many Republicans who don’t have the view that Mitt Romney has. They’re looking at ways to expand their party.”
And one of these expansion-minded Republicans may be Romney’s former running mate, Paul Ryan. Gutierrez recounts a conversation he had with the Wisconsin congressman this morning on the subject of immigration reform: “You know what Ryan told me? ‘I’m not going to do it because it’s political.’ … He says, ‘I want to do it because it’s the right thing to do.’”
Read more here.
Think Progress reports:
Income inequality has grown in nearly every state in the country over the last three decades and continues to climb across the nation, according to new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute.
While a slow recovery from the Great Recession for middle- and low-income families has exacerbated income inequality in the short-term, government policies that are preferential to the wealthy and the long-term stagnation of wages have caused significant growth in the gap between the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans and the poorest fifth, the report found. Across the country, the richest 20 percent make eight times more than the average income of the bottom 20 percent, a ratio that didn’t exist in a single state 30 years ago:In the United States as a whole, the poorest fifth of households had an average income of $20,510, while the top fifth had an average income of $164,490 — eight times as much. In 15 states, this top-to-bottom ratio exceeded 8.0. In the late 1970s, in contrast, no state had a top-to-bottom ratio exceeding 8.0.
Read more here.
Our country just hit a tipping point. Leading up to the election, contentious posts filled our Facebook feeds, and bickering pundits caused more stress than is healthy. We split ourselves down the middle. But in the aftermath of the election, out of the rubble, a new consensus is forming—that we need to come together to solve the nation’s most pressing and impending problems.
We believe what we need right now is to come together and have a robust discussion about the “Common Good.” It’s an old concept that’s being reinvented by a new generation. From caring for our neighbors, whether next door and across the glove, it’s also the theme of Jim Wallis’ newest book, On God's Side, set to release from Brazos Press in early February of 2012.
Jim’s book is the beginning of the conversation, but he can’t have it by himself. An essential part of the common good is a multi-faceted, community-driven exploration of what that really means.
This is where you come in.
We’re looking for one- to three-minute submitted videos that examine what the common good means to you. We’ll send you an advance copy of Jim’s book for inspiration, and you take it from there.
The best part? We’ll pay you $1,000.
Afterwards, we’ll promote your video on all our platforms. You can expect nationwide publicity, and a huge bump in your viewership. Your portfolio will thank you.
Here’s the process:
Start applying today, November 16th. The application is HERE. It’s pretty straightforward. Submission deadline is December 10th, and we’ll let you know by the 12th if you’re 1 of 3 finalists. You send us a rough cut by January 16th, and a final cut on January 30th. January 30th comes, we get a final cut, and you get $1,000.
Want in?