Hacking Christianity

Can we stop calling Qur'an burners a Church?

Some facts about the church and the pastor:

Dove World Outreach lost its tax-exemption for a time due to the fact that the pastor ran a furniture business out of its location.

"Its property has served as a sometime storage site for Jones' furniture business, a violation of Dove's tax-exempt status that was punished with a county fine and partial loss of nonprofit standing, The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun reported. Jones previously founded a small church in Germany, the Christian Community of Cologne, and was accused by his daughter and a former church elder of using donations to enrich himself, the Sun reported."

The pastor's certification came from the Internet. If I knew it was that easy, I woulda ditched the UMC a long time ago with all it's "education" and "accountability" requirements. Sheesh.

"[Jones] says he was given the diploma by the California Graduate School of Theology, an obscure school that boasts on its Web site that it's so independent, it has never been accredited. In 2002, Jones was convicted by a Cologne administrative court of falsely using the title and was fined $3,800, German media reported."

The rule book for members entering the Dove World Outreach tells youth to not contact family members or go home even in case of a funeral.

"During Academy you are not allowed to visit family members or friends or receive visitors...family occasions like weddings, funerals, and Birthdays are no exception to this rule."

In other words, a church that has (a) lost its tax-exempt status for selling furniture (b) has a pastor ordained over the internet and (c) does not practice grace or forgiveness with rigid isolationism...this location represents Christianity and America to the international Muslim world? Ugh.

The Qur'an burners no more represent Christianity than the 9/11 terrorists represent Islam.

Glenn Beck v. United Methodists, part deux

Yesterday's post on Glenn Beck netted 20 comments, 12 retweets, and a mention on UMReporter. Maybe I should try partisan sniping more often to get more readers. Naah, the ends don't justify the means, don't worry.

But the responses here and elsewhere have been enlightening as to just how many people are looking for a reason to avoid talking about justice and society's ills due to a suspicion it's code language for Democrats. Is that the true audience of Beck's remarks? People who are looking for a reason to leave their church that encourages them to set society to rights? Being a pastor, I know all it takes is a little backup to self-justify behavior. Sigh.

But to revisit the issue, today (March 11th 2010) Mr. Beck addressed the issue again:

Today, Beck returned to the subject, insisting that the notion of social justice is "a perversion of the Gospel," and "not what Jesus would say." He went on to say that Americans should be skeptical of religious leaders who are "basing their religion on social justice," and explained his fear that concern for social justice is a problem "infecting all" faith traditions.

Here's his specific words:

"There are members [of Beck's church] who preach social justice all the time. It is a perversion of the Gospel. Nowhere does Jesus say, "hey if someone asks for your shirt, give your coat to the government"...That's not what Jesus would say. You want to help out, you help out. It changes you. That's what the Gospel is all about you...you, you change it, not have the government dictate it."

Again, Mr. Beck makes the same mistake: equating social justice as a code word for the Democratic platform. From the blogtalk I've witnessed, it's an equating of social justice with the social welfare programs so bitterly hated by that edge of politics. But as talked about 18 different ways on the internets, social justice is beyond Beck's comprehension in scope and its reflection of the Gospel.

I like all of these, but I like what Eugene Cho says the best:

But [Cho's church] Quest does speak (and attempts) of pursue mercy, justice, and humility not because they are code words for some sort of agenda but because they are central to the Triune God. How can you read the Scriptures or examine the life and ministry of Christ and not sense that mercy, justice, and compassion – particularly to those who are marginalized – aren’t dear to the heart of God?

Please don’t leave your churches just because they have the words “social justice” on their website. If you want a good reason to leave your churches: Leave if the gospel of Christ isn’t being preached and lived out. And thankfully, justice is an integral part to the gospel of Christ.

Boom.

Thoughts?

Glenn Beck declares War on United Methodists

::update 3/14/2010:: followup posts here (Glenn Beck v. UMC, part deux) and here (Welcome UMC.org readers! Let's talk about Justice!)

Again, I don't talk partisan politics on this blog (there's plenty of that on the internets for all of us), but sometimes things are just so egregious and misinformed that they bear discussion.

Last week, conservative talk show host Glenn Beck said the following about churches that preach "social justice."

"I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"

~ Glenn Beck 03/02/2010

So, church websites with "social justice" huh? Glenn Beck declares that social justice is a code word for fascism and communism and everything. And people should leave churches that preach it.

If you believe him, then everyone in America better leave the UMC:

The United Methodist Church has a long history of concern for social justice. Its members have often taken forthright positions on controversial issues involving Christian principles. Early Methodists expressed their opposition to the slave trade, to smuggling, and to the cruel treatment of prisoners.

~ UMC Social Principles (original in 1908)

And you'd better dig up John Wesley and flay him (h/t Kevin Watson):

Directly opposite to this is the gospel of Christ. Solitary religion is not to be found there. ‘Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers. The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness.

John Wesley, “Preface to 1739 Hymns and Sacred Poems”

There is no holiness but social holiness. Any call to leave a church because of "code words" is laughable, but any call to leave a church because of a commitment to social justice is antithetical to the Gospel and ought be exposed as such.

Great Depression, Part Deux? [quote]

We had a study last night on the history of the Christian Church when this quote came up. This was written in 1985 by Justo Gonzalez in The Story of Christianity: Volume Two - The Reformation to the Present Day about the Great Depression in the 1930. I have bolded the interesting sections...remember this was writtin in 1985.

On October 24, 1929, panic gripped the New York Stock Exchange. With short periods of slight recovery, the market continued dropping until the middle of 1930. By then, most of the western world was in the middle of a great economic depression. One-fourth of the labor force in the United States was unemployed. Britain and other nations had social security systems and unemployment insurance. In the United States, fear of socialism had prevented such measures; therefore, the unemployed found themselves entirely on their own, or forced to seek charity from relatives, friends, or churches. Soup kitchens and breadlines became common sights in all major cities and many smaller towns. Runs on banks, bankruptcies, and foreclosures reached a record high.

At first, the nation faced the Great Depression with the optimism that had characterized earlier decades. President Hoover and his cabinet continued denying the existence of a depression for months after the market had crashed. When they finally admitted that there was a depression, they insisted that the American economy was sufficiently sound to rebound by itself, and that the free workings of the marketplace were the best way to ensure an economic recovery. Although the president himself was a compassionate man who suffered with the plight of the unemployed, there were around him those who rejoiced in the hope that the Depression would break the labor unions. When finally the government intervened to prevent further bankruptcies in industry and commerce, comedian Will Rogers quipped that money was being given to those at the top hoping that it would “trickle down to the needy.’

Gonzalez, 1985, 376

Still don't think there are parallels to today? Foreclosures at record highs? Fears of socialism? An entire school's union fired? Bailouts at the top hoping to trickle down to the bottom? Wow.

This isn't a partisan political discussion...but it is an interesting parallel that the Church has to decide how to respond. How do we offer hope in the midst of similar despair? How do we not repeat the mistakes of the past and seek new relevance today?

Thoughts?

Since WHEN does Kingdom = Dominion?

[[edit: 500th post at Hacking Christianity! w00t!]]

One of the important conversations coming out of the Uganda "kill the gays" bill is the theology behind those supporting and espousing it. Box Turtle Bulletin has a lot on it specifically here but in this space I'll be looking more at the theological concerns.

In short, it's been dubbed "Seven Mountains Theology" and here's a brief description from an adherent's website:

[We must be] Kingdom-Minded: Priorities are revealed in the proportionate use of time, funds and abilities directed to seeking His Kingdom with a perspective that intends to His Pleasure. The Kingdom must be our top priority, the principal thing to place before others as most important.

To establish The Kingdom of God on the earth, we must claim and possess The Seven Mountains of Culture namely: Business, Government, Religion, Family, Media, Education and Entertainment.

Here's a video that outlines it with computer-graphicy goodness:

Read on to talk more about the tension between kingdom and dominion.

To adherents, the name "Seven Mountains" is a reference to the seven mountains that the whore of babylon sat upon and ruled the world in Revelation. It is from these seven mountains that culture is influenced and if the whore is to be toppled, Christians must control these mountains.

For them, influence = control. From the video above:

When we lose our influence, we lose the culture.
When we lose the culture, we fail to advance the kingdom of God.

They embrace the term "kingdom" wholeheartedly, with its hierarchical structure as the top exhibits the strongest authority. A great band name ministry called Extreme Prophetic has this to say about what the kingdom looks like (video at minute 22, h/t Throckmorton):

While Christians are in pursuit of the supernatural, or the glory or prosperity, but they’re missing the apostolic assignment. They are to take over spheres and adminstrate them for the glory of God. They’re to take over spheres and administrate them for the glory of God. That’s the only way you can teach nations is when you take over a sphere and administrate it for the glory of God.

If your kingdom is top-down dominion, then yes, from the top of these "mountains" seems the best way to go about it.

In response, however, I can't help but be influenced by the Advent season where we welcome the Christ-child who came not as a conquering Messiah but as a powerless infant to a family in the midst of a top-down genocide (Herod's purge of the infants). A Christ-child who let the authorities kill him rather than dictate culture from the top-down (which he could have easily done and the Romans were so afraid of the possibility).

Of course, this church suckled up to Constantine and allowed the seven mountains to dictate its theology ever since the 4th century. So it is little wonder that hierarchical expressions of the kingdom get intertwined and find historical/biblical support against the reality of the Christ. It is little wonder that people who want to find something will find it in our history to justify their own positions today.

I think the Kingdom is more bottom-up than top-down, and these efforts to control spheres of culture are not only wayward but dangerous (look at Uganda's religiously-supported bill) and lead us closer to a cynical Constantine than to a compassionate Christ.

So, your turn:

Is the kingdom dominion, in that we are to control the spheres of culture and influence how the world or our communities operate?
Is the kingdom weakness, in that we are not to control the spheres but operate within them with grace and integrity?

Thoughts?

Followup: Purpose Driven Genocide

This is a followup to the Purpose Driven Genocide post a week or so ago.

In response to the Uganda issues, Rick Warren has posted a video where he outlines his opposition to the bill. He has 5 points that he makes:

First, the potential law is unjust, extreme and un-Christian toward homosexuals, requiring the death penalty in some cases. If I am reading the proposed bill correctly, this law would also imprison anyone convicted of homosexual practice.

Second, the law would force pastors to report their pastoral conversations with homosexuals to authorities.

Third, it would have a chilling effect on your ministry to the hurting. As you know, in Africa, it is the churches that are bearing the primary burden of providing care for people infected with HIV/AIDS. If this bill passed, homosexuals who are HIV positive will be reluctant to seek or receive care, comfort and compassion from our churches out of fear of being reported. You and I know that the churches of Uganda are the truly caring communities where people receive hope and help, not condemnation.

Fourth, ALL life, no matter how humble or broken, whether unborn or dying, is precious to God. My wife, Kay, and I have devoted our lives and our ministry to saving the lives of people, including homosexuals, who are HIV positive. It would be inconsistent to save some lives and wish death on others. We’re not just pro-life. We are whole life.

Finally, the freedom to make moral choices and our right to free expression are gifts endowed by God. Uganda is a democratic country with remarkable and wise people, and in a democracy everyone has a right to speak up. For these reasons, I urge you, the pastors of Uganda, to speak out against the proposed law.

Good points.

My one beef is that, in his words, since he didn't "rush to make a statement," Warren said he was being characterized as supporting the bill. In FACT, the Uganda bill was previewed 9 months ago, has been in the news for at least 4 months, and the full-text has been available for 2 months. There's a difference between "not rushing" and sitting on the sidelines waiting for it to blow over or seizing a media-savvy moment to speak up. I speak with an air of judgment, I admit, but people who can speak have a responsibility to do so.

As posted previously, Warren has changed his mind on many issues and I'm glad he saw the people through the politics in this situation and has come out forcefully against it. Thanks for your prayers too.

Purpose-Driven Genocide [bad.hack]

It's no secret that this blog is not a fan of Rick Warren's theology and his advocacy of assassination, his advocacy against gay rights, and his advocacy of passive Christian exclusivity.

But even in our bias we didn't think he could combine all three into passively accepting state-sanctioned death to gays. Wow.

Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a people group. In Uganda, the government is deliberating a bill that would criminalize homosexuality, call for the death penalty of gay persons with AIDS, restrict free speech, and harsh punishment for straight people who do not turn in gay acquaintances. There really is no other term to describe this bill other than genocide...the state-sanctioned kind. If such a law was passed in America, that's what we would call it. For complete coverage, scroll to the links on Box Turtle Bulletin and watch the video on Matt Algren's page.

Why is this being posted here? Because Rick Warren is personally involved in this process. He contributed to the rise to power of Pastor Martin Ssempa (pictured to the left), one of the main proponents of this bill.

Ssempa is known for his boisterous crusading. Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.

Rick Warren is actively involved in Uganda and made Martin Ssempa the super-pastor he is today (he was a frequent guest in his pulpit and is pictured to the right with Rick Warren's spouse Kay)...and now refuses to critique his involvement or his former accomplice. While Warren states that he has separated from Ssempa as of 2007, he won't comment or involve his organization or himself on this issue of genocide.

Why? Warren states that he doesn't want to get involved in the political process of other nations. In his own words:

"The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations."

That's a bit hard to swallow when Warren advocated that the Iranian President be assassinated a year ago and has clearly shaped the political process in his work on AIDS advocacy in Uganda itself.

So when will Warren "enter" the political world to stop a state-sponsored genocide of sexual minorities? Here's the tipping point:

"Our role, and the role of the PEACE Plan, whether in Uganda or any other country, is always pastoral and never political. We vigorously oppose anything that hinders the goals of the PEACE Plan: Promoting reconciliation, Equipping ethical leaders, Assisting the poor, Caring for the sick, and Educating the next generation."

Again, just using his own words....if the bill becomes law, the A and C parts of the PEACE Plan would become ineffective. A human rights commission states:

"HIV prevention activities in Uganda, which rely on an ability to talk frankly about sexuality and provide condoms and other safer-sex materials, will be seriously compromised. Women, sex workers, people living with AIDS, and other marginalized groups may also find their activities tracked and criminalized through this bill"

Rick Warren has no excuses left. He made the political power behind the bill, he has said he would oppose any measure that hurts his Plan, and clearly has no problems getting involved in the political process. Rick Warren, by his silence and disregard, is contributing to the genocide of a people group. Andrew Sullivan summarizes it better than me:

Just as [Warren] publicly inveighed in favor of stripping gay couples of civil equality in California, and then pretended he didn't, now he distances himself from Ssempe, while refusing to condemn this law reminiscent of early attempts to wipe out minorities in Serbia, Nazi Germany, and Rwanda. This is classic avoidance in an atmosphere of extreme danger. It is the same as the Catholic church's disgraceful neutrality in Rwanda and Nazi Germany, as they saw a chance to enable others to wipe out a minority they wished could be wiped off the face of the earth...

[Warren] has taken sides, whenever possible, to stigmatize, demonize and now physically threaten the lives of gay people in his own country and abroad. And his silence on this issue means the deaths of others. Warren needs to come out and condemn this law as evil, which it is. And to stop hiding his own enmeshment with the most virulent forms of fundamentalist hatred under the veil of media-savvy benevolence.

A bad.hack on this blog is one that closes a Christian system down and denies God's grace. As Sullivan writes above, anytime a Christian system chooses silence and disregard for human life over action and speaking up for minority groups, they are closing the door in the face of prophetic engagement with culture. For decades Christians have become increasingly involved in politics...why stop now when human lives are on the line?

In conclusion, many atrocities can happen when the people look away when people need them. As my pastor friend Karen Oliveto remarks "to do/say nothing in the face of injustice is to already take a side." Rick Warren knows this as he twittered on Tuesday "Globally last yr 146,000 Christians were put to death because of their faith. No one, except Christians, said anything." By posting that and condemning the rest of the world for passive acceptance, he acknowledges that the Christian response is to respond, to take a side, because silence is itself passive acceptance. And yet he refuses to do so himself.

It is my hope and prayer that Warren, who has changed his mind in the past on important issues, comes around and brings the full weight of his organization and social witness against this issue. Even if you find homosexuality incompatible with being Christian and outside the human condition, I hope you join in that prayer for the sake of saving people's lives.

Thoughts?

Prooftexting, Psalm 109:8, & Obama [bad.hack]

Prooftexting is taking verses from the Bible or a religious text and using them to buttress one's points or as "bullet" points to teach sinners a lesson. We prooftext often when answering a question about Christian beliefs or in calling another person to accounting for their sin. Dr. McGrath has a good summary of prooftexting's follies here, including out-of-context shenanigans and its sheer uselessness given the diversity of voices in religious texts.

But prooftexting reached a new low in recent weeks. On the Rachel Maddow show (video starting at 3:25ish), she highlighted a Christian merchandising move that sells "Pray for Obama, Psalm 109:8" t-shirts and bumper stickers. Here's my exact reaction process of seeing the t-shirt for the first time:

Hey, they are finally praying for Obama instead of shouting at him...progress! I wonder what that Psalm is...[grabs bible]
Psalm 109:8 "Let his days be few and another take his office." OH, it's SNARK! Ha! Good one. But there's no election of leaders in the ancient world...so for a leader to leave office he would have to...oh, this can't be good. I wonder what the context is...[reads next verse]
Psalm 109:9 "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." OH, it's CALLING for a leader's DEATH. Yea for Christians calling for assassinations! UGH. [weeps]

So, there you have it. The email forward you thought was clever and witty is actually calling for the assassination of a President, or at least the quick death of one. Awesome. And another example of religion being used to promote hatred and violence.

Too bad the guys didn't read the rest of Psalm 109:

Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame; and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

bad.hack indeed.

Don't Cut Up Your Bible [bad.hack]

Thomas Jefferson disagreed with parts of the New Testament and considered them irrelevant (or too "supernatural") to the core parts of the Christian faith. He famously published his own New Testament with sections edited out, entire books missing. It's been called the Jefferson Bible.

History repeats itself with the advent of the Conservative Bible Project, an online effort to re-translate (or perhaps rewrite) the bible to better reflect their concept of conservative ideals. From the link (yes, this is serious):

As of 2009, there is no fully conservative translation of the Bible which satisfies the following ten guidelines:

Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias

Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity

Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level

Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms as they develop;defective translations use the word "comrade" three times as often as "volunteer"; similarly, updating words which have a change in meaning, such as "word", "peace", and "miracle".

Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction by using modern terms for it, such as "gamble" rather than "cast lots";using modern political terms, such as "register" rather than "enroll" for the census

Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.

Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning

Exclude Later-Inserted Liberal Passages: excluding the later-inserted liberal passages that are not authentic, such as the adulteress story

Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels

Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word "Lord" rather than "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" or "Lord God."

Thus, a project has begun among members of Conservapedia to translate the Bible in accordance with these principles.

Read the rest of the entry, including the "examples" and try to not either cry/weep/laugh/or HULK SMASH. It is just insane. I cannot pretend to have a neutral position on this. As Rod Dreher says:

It's like what you'd get if you crossed the Jesus Seminar with the College Republican chapter at a rural institution of Bible learnin'...These jokers don't worship God. They worship ideology.

Truth. Even the Jesus Seminar or Red-Letter Christians don't cut out parts of the bible...they merely elevate verses over others. Everybody does that, even the hardest of literalists. So this is a farce. There, I said it. It would be funny if it weren't obviously an honest effort.

This is a bad.hack, one that negates the dissonance that every follower of Christ ought to experience and replacing it with a biblical echo-chamber that only sends back conservative rainbows in reply. It either will hurt Christianity by playing to people's (especially, typically, conservatives') need for certainty, or will expose the bible as neutered without the dissonance of thought and expression.

But don't take my words for it...the author of a 2004 translation/compendium of the original Jefferson bible had this to say:

[Jefferson] decided that the rules of the club to which he wished to belong were not the rules he wanted to play by. So instead of changing clubs, he changed the rule book by literally cutting and pasting together only the sections that he found relevant to his interpretation.

In short, this has no more place in public discourse than the LOLcats Bible...except that one is HILarious. This Project is just scary dumb, written by people without any of the values of either Conservatives or Liberals, and hopefully in the annals of time it too will end up on the cutting-room floor.

Thoughts?

Jesus the Dot-Communist

One of the commonly posited notions is that the early disciples were socialists: group authority, sharing everything, trading MP3s on Nazareth's Napster. But can we fit this contemporary political tag onto a first-century system?

I think that perhaps for the first time in history, we can. Wired's most recent magazine has an article on the Web 2.0 and collaborative online ventures as "The New Socialism." One of the interesting points that Kevin Kelly makes is that socialism is usually defined as a tension between individual autonomy and the authority of the state. More authority? Socialism. More autonomy? Free market. Give and take, zero-sum trades, very little in-between.

Emerging from the web these days is "The New Socialism," which, according to Kelly, is decentralized public coordination to solve problems and create things that neither pure communism nor pure capitalism can:

The largely unarticulated but intuitively understood goal of communitarian technology is this: to maximize both individual autonomy and the power of people working together. (Wired, June 2009, 120)

This articulation of socialism resonates with the biblical notion of socialism in Acts 2, Acts 4 and even echoes back to Exodus 16. Gone are the antiquainted notions of socialism as centralized authority and controlled information and resources channels, replaced by distributed authority and open transparency. And wasn't that what the Apostles were doing? Distributed authority among them all? Open transparency that replaced the rigidly controlled temple system?

These days we call the US government socialist, and I don't think that definition fits with the Apostles. But this new socialism, I think, finally describes accurately what the original Apostles considered to be the best way for the creative experience and expression of the Spirit to emerge.

Thoughts?

Swine Flu: Injustice Anywhere...

LONDON - DECEMBER 11: Spider Pig, a character...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

At my local church two summers ago, I preached about the human rights and environmental violations occurring at Smithfield Food properties, especially the hog farm in North Carolina, where unions were discouraged and environmental waste from pigs was overwhelming the local environment.

Interfaith Worker Justice (PDF - see page 2)
Rolling Stone: Pork's Dirty Secret (lots of cursing...all of it justified)

We reflected on how violations anywhere affect people everywhere.

This Sunday I feel called to revisit that conversation and reflect on how Smithfield-affiliated hog farms may be involved with this swine flu outbreak and now the festering violations threaten global health.

Regardless of whether or not this Smithfield subsidary is ground zero, pig farms breed resistant forms of diseases thanks to the chemicals used to break down pig feces and chemicals used to keep pigs healthy enough to become food.

Of course, worker injustice didn't cause this any more than immorality caused Hurricane Katrina. But it is worth reflecting on how terrible environmental conditions are not localized to the workers themselves, but can expand to threaten entire areas with health concerns.

We are reminded today that there's a reason why we are called to be advocates for justice. Echoing MLK, we are called to oppose injustice anywhere, no matter what kind, before injustice morphs and threatens our global relations everywhere.

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"You make God sound like an opportunistic virus"

Last week I contributed to a "Finances and Faith" piece in the local paper on how parishes are reacting to the economic crisis. I think all the churches in the piece did well talking about how church finances are struggling but we continue to offer the same message of hope and liberation. However, during the interview, I did not respond well to a question along the lines of "are you encouraged by higher attendance?" These are people's lives who are being fractured, broken people coming to the doors...even if there are more of them, why should I get excited about it? It's nothing to take advantage of or be encouraged by.

Thankfully, we have the Colbert Report to back me up. Colbert nails how I've seen some churches marketing and "taking advantage" of the economic situation. I think this is a good clip on how churches need reflection on how we react to the economic crisis. Watch the clip, but here's the exchange at 4:40:

Fr. Martin: "When people feel more vulnerable, like in times of recession and poverty, their defenses are lowered so it is easier for God to break through."
S. Colbert: "You make God sound like an opportunistic virus."
Fr. Martin: "It's more that we keep God at bay. We have our defenses. When they are not there any more, it's easier for God to break in...It's not that God is any more present, it's that we are more open."

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Turning to Religion - Jim Martin

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

Thoughts? Is there a level of unintentional preying on uncertainties by churches close to you, like a virus? Or are we preaching the same message as before: that God is present, God is faithful, and God will walk with us through this mess?

20 Oklahoma Reps object to Clergy Prayer

Wow, this is a short take, but since we talked about Rick Warren's invocation a bit, let's hit a bit closer to my hometown. On the opening day of the new years' legislature, a UCC pastor gave the invocation . And invocations are always recorded in the minutes.

But someone objected to it being recorded and placed in the official record. Why? Because the pastor is gay and referenced his partner in the prayer preface. And since someone objected, it was put to a vote as to whether the prayer should be included in the minutes. And this is where it gets both shameful and comical:

Twenty legislators, including Rep. Kern voted against recording the prayer. Sixty-seven voted in favor. And get this: as many as seventeen fled the room so they could be counted as absent.
Source: Box Turtle Bulletin

Seriously, what kind of "hate the sin, love the sinner" is that? Are 20 people really scared enough of catching gay that they would vote to strike a clergy's words from the minutes?

Sad.

EDIT: Here's Rev. Jones' prayer. THE BLASPHEMY!!!

Gruesome Graph

This graph is scary beyond belief. To interpret, the blue is the 1990 recession, the red is the 2001 recession...and the green is the past 13 months.

See more here.

If your church isn't talking about job losses, then you are out of touch with your community. Period.

Wake up and start talking about it.

Can we fill this gap?

As churches everywhere struggle over how to maintain ministry (either by firing staff or by cutting programs), the global Church as Peacemaker needs to realize a sobering statistic that may call for further sacrifice on our parts: missions to third-world countries

The scariest statistic to come down the economic pike in recent months? Not the ILO's prediction of 51 million unemployed worldwide in 2009. Not China's estimate of 20 million migrant workers in that country having lost their jobs. Not the projections of first quarter U.S. economic contraction passing the Fourth Quarter's 3.8 percent contraction at a trot. It's the Institute for International Finance's estimate that net private sector capital flows into the emerging world will fall in 2009 to one fifth their 2007 levels. That's, right, an 80 percent reduction in private sector cash into a group of fragile countries for whom such cash is the peace-keeper, the hope-giver.

Oh my. Often it is the financial incentives that businesses offer that keep nations from fighting. Without this capital, violence is surely to increase.

Can the Church's missions and money possibly fill this gap and save thousands (if not millions) of lives? If so, why aren't we doing it? Suddenly my church budget seems petty in the face of such a giant problem.

Thoughts?

Rule of Conscience?

Image via WikipediaOne of the last acts that President Bush took in the past few months was to issue a "health care conscience rule" that would shield individuals from performing functions of their jobs that they found "morally objectionable." Sounds pretty decent, right? I'd hate to be told that my job involved neutering dolphins or that I would be forced to drink alcohol as a pastor? That would be good, right?

Well, it would be, except in the following cases this kind of "conscience" shield are at the intersections of religion and morality.

As a small case, a Christian bus driver refused to drive a bus that had an atheist advertisement on the side. I think s/he missed a great opportunity to provide a different sort of witness while on the job!
As a scarily-more-common case, Pharmacists can refuse to dispense birth control or morning-after pills because of their religious beliefs about abortion or contraception.
And on the ridiculously extreme front, a nurse admitted removing an IUD because considered them to be a type of abortion. Um, besides the medical facts, this is scary!

But under the "conscience" legislation, and under legislation being pushed in a dozen states, these acts are all legal and have been called "moral" because they do not force practitioners to do things against their religious beliefs.

I beg to differ.

So tell me what is moral about this scenario: What if you are the only pharmacist in a rural town...and you refuse to give out birth control? What sort of moral choice are you forcing on people who then have to drive to the next town or county? We in urban America don't have this difficulty, but it is very real in rural America.

I've got a dozen other scenarios, but the round point is this: if you are in a profession, then you have an obligation to act professionally. Any medical person now knows that part of the job of being a pharmacist is dealing with birth control and RU-486s, so if you find that morally-objectionable, work in another field! Because your "morals" are getting in the way of patients' rights:

"This ['conscience rule'] is a very significant threat to patients' rights in the United States," said Lois Uttley of the MergerWatch project, who is helping organize a conference in New York to plot a counterstrategy. "We need to protect the patient's right to use their own religious or ethical values to make medical decisions."

In short, pharmacists have a level of control over their patients' lives. By choosing to control their actions by refusing to fill prescriptions one finds "morally objectionable" you are exerting power-over a person, which is not the power that Christ calls us to. The Apostle Paul calls us to be made perfect in weakness, in offering ourselves as powerless. This is none of that.

Thoughts on this controversy? If you found yourself in a profession that forced you to make morally-objectionable actions, would you get out of the profession or just stop offering care to those in need?

Discuss.

Lest We Forget...

(hat tip: Blake Huggins shared items, original at DashHouse)

"My Church is not perfect"

In the midst of contention, with the Episcopal Church facing schizm and other denominations weathering storms of their own making, what if we are able to say this:

Two years from now, I want the people to be able to say, "My Church is not perfect; there are some things my pastor does that get on my nerves. But you know what? I feel like the Church is working for me. I feel like it's accountable. I feel like it's transparent. I feel that I am well informed about what church actions are being taken. I feel that this is a Pastor and a Ministry Team that admits when it makes mistakes and adapts itself to new information, that believes in making decisions based on reason and on faith as opposed to what is politically expedient." Those are some of the intangibles that I hope people two years from now can claim.

Edited (mentions of government, etc replaced by Church, etc) from Time's "Person of the Year" interview with Barack Obama.

Thoughts? How will you foster this sea-change in your own church and make the church struggle together instead of drift apart?

Reserved Holiday Pews? SERIOUSLY? [bad.hack]

Is The Onion on this? Is this National Lampoons ? Or Landover Baptist ? Or the Daily Show ?

Check this out: German Politicians want holiday pews reserved for regular congregants, not the holiday-only attendees. Yes, it's true!

Politicians from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) told Tuesday's daily Bild newspaper it was unfair if regular attendants of church services couldn't find a seat at Christmas.

"I support making services on December 24 open only to those who pay their church tax," a member of the CDU board in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, Thomas Volk, told the mass-market daily. Germans pay church tax along with their income tax unless they opt out.

The head of the FDP's parliamentary group in Berlin, Martin Lindner, said it was intolerable that in the past, active members of church congregations - often the elderly - had been forced to stand through the Christmas service because the pews were full.

"Church tax payers should not be kept outside during such important services," he said. "Church members should be given tickets, for example, to give them priority seating."

A few short thoughts:

Thank God for a non-national church in America. This way no politician can tell me what to do with my parish.
Church attendance is a privilege, not a right.
My favorite shorthand for holiday parishioners is CEOs (Christmas-Easter-Only's). Har har har...whew.
First shall be last, last shall be first anyone?

Luckily, the Churches themselves have their heads on straight:

"We should not be giving the impression that there is a two-class society in the church," said Stefan Foerner, spokesman for Berlin's Roman Catholic Archbishop. "Jesus would not ask whether someone paid their church tax or is baptised."

SERIOUSLY???

Never thought I would see the day...

That a church prayed over SUVs...

No real comment; I'm not in their dire situation.
Just very....very....unimaginable.

(hat tip: Pam's House Blend)

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