1. The Sunday school answers are not enough any more. They really never were.
2. The churches I've found are unable to engage me in critical areas.
3. Things are happening in the world around me, and the church fails to address them.
I awoke this morning with many questions. It's Sunday, and I'd like to think I could go to church and find some people who could help me find some answers. Some people with open enough minds to engage me in some discussion of the events in the world from some position other than 'conservative' or 'liberal', to really dig into the issues. I have seldom found such people in the churches I've attended.
These kinds of people are to be found on campuses, in the halls of nonprofits, on street corners holding signs, in halls of power and even living under bridges. Why not at church? Don't misunderstand me, I crave community and fellowship and believe these are necessary for the church to thrive, but why do I have to look elsewhere when I want to use my brain?
Believe me, I've looked for years now. I've read enough to know I'm not the only one with this struggle. Maybe this blog will help remedy the situation in some fashion. I will always offer references to the sources of my information before, during, or after each installment.
I will address such topics and people as:
- ideology
- democracy uprisings here and there
- social justice
- unions
- corporate crime
- ignorance v niavete
- police states
- big v small government
- military-industrial-congressional complex
- expendable troops
- wikileaks and wikirebels
- the CIA and Wall Street
- progressive political movements
- a viable third party
- 'free' enterprise
- Bradley Manning
- God's will v satan's power
- Paul Robeson
- Chris Hedges
- Project On Government Oversight
- Pat Tillman
- boycotting
- disbarment of SEC and DOJ attorneys
- capitalism in China and abroad
- and much, much more!
1. Ideology: If the practical effect of de-funding Planned Parenthood is that more poor women will seek abortions, why can't so-called pro-lifers understand this? It is actually against the interest of pro-life folks to remove services for women. Enough of this cognitive dissonance.
Without access to affordable contraception, cancer screenings, and trained medical and psychiatric personnel, the effect is life taking, not life giving. The already difficult physical, mental, spiritual, and socio-economic lives of the women seeking the services of PP will become worse, not better.
It is not enough to play the 'individual responsibility' card. People are not robots. People make lots of mistakes [are you willing to cast the first stone?]. Especially the uber-rich and their political puppets [see future postings], and they want us to pay for their mistakes so why not keep one of the only safety nets low income women and families have? Do you honestly think Jesus would turn them away? And, if so, where do you get such a message from the Bible? And if you get that message, maybe you need to read it again and again and again until you realize that the message you are getting is the WRONG ONE.
sources: Gothamist, Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now!
2. One Bad Pastor's Kid: So if you were not paying attention, over one hundred thousand citizens of Wisconsin have marched on Madison, the state capitol. All due to the distasteful, and potentially illegal, actions of a pastor's kid. Scott Walker is the new Republican governor of Wisconsin. I'm fairly certain he won't last his full term once the people have chewed him up and spit him out.
Lest you think he is a good Christian boy, consider the following. It all began when...well I don't have time for the entire history, but under the guise of what was dubbed a simple budget bill, emboldened by support from the uber-rich, he decided to try and hide a measure emasculating state employees of their collective bargaining rights, the ones they've had for half a century.
Somewhere in the spin, an average salary of $45,000 and a pension of $19,000 a year for Wisconsin state employees became the source of all economic turmoil in the state's budget, threatening the fiscal future of the state. Really? Ya sure it might not have something to do with "a gigantic criminal fraud scheme where all the banks were taking mismarked mortgage-backed securities, very, very dangerous, toxic subprime loans, they were chopping them up and then packaging them as AAA-rated investments, and then selling them to state pension funds, to insurance companies, to Chinese banks and Dutch banks and Icelandic banks?"
[BTW: Do YOU know how hard it is to live on that kind of salary?] And the unions were even willing to GO LOWER!!! Rather than even give dignity to his constituents [the unions help elect him, mind you], he threatened to call out the National Guard on them! What world is this in which I live? Is 'up' still 'up', and 'down', 'down'?
And what, pray tell, does this have to do with Sunday school answers?
I'll tell you what: governor Walker's behavior is far from Christian, at least from the Christ I know. Union busting, putting more pressure on the already cash strapped citizens of his state, to make up for the financial blunders of the wealthiest top 0.01% and garner political support from the uber-rich, is not Christian.
If you think God is blessing this man due to his hard work and dedication for the betterment of common people, that he is God's instrument for good in a position of power, that his threat to use military force against peaceful demonstrators [remember George Wallace?] was an answer to his prayers for wisdom, PLEASE tell me where you find Biblical support for such things. These are not the kind of decisions made by someone guided by the Holy Spirit, and there is certainly room for repentance [see story of Naboth's Vineyard in I Kings 21:1-29].
sources: Robert Reich, Andrew Kennis, William R. Herzog's Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God
I'm excited to read and think through these issues with you. Thanks for including me. :)
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am far less politically informed than I once was, I think I connect with your frustrations in both of the above areas.
ReplyDeleteI consider myself in favor of Life across the board, but find myself feeling ill at ease with the "pro-life" movement. Could it be they make the same mistake that Christians have been making for a long time when we get more excited about being "right" than being good, caring, or compassionate. I dont think it takes a very in depth reading of Jesus teaching to figure out which side of that fence He would tend to locate Himself.
There are also somewhere around 2000 verses in scripture around caring for the needy, sharing with the less fortunate etc. I know that the teachers salaries are not exactly "poverty" level but it is part of a larger move towards the idea that helping the poor somehow means increasing the wealth of the richest. I'm no economist, admittedly, but feel like I have enough life experience to feel certain that the what rolls down hill is not money...
looking forward to more entries.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe following comment is from my aunt and/or uncle. I thank them for their permission to copy it here from an email.
ReplyDelete1. The Sunday school answers are not enough any more. They really never were.
2. The churches I've found are unable to engage me in critical areas.
3. Things are happening in the world around me, and the church fails to address them.
(whew)
Do It Anyway By Mother Teresa
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self- centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
The above was included in a devotional at the Louisiana UMCOR mission. I'm not wise enough to give advice often, and I'm sure you've thought a lot about this stuff more than I, but (here's the advice part) I guess I'd say go to Church , try to find a small group that is nourishing for you, but the real purpose of going is to worship God, to communicate with God and figure out what He wants for you. Then try to apply it with some of that mother T stuff with real people. Sounds pretty hard to pull off.
There was a interesting note about turning the other cheek I read today in a book by John Ortberg, the me I want to be. (I don't read this kind of book all that often.) He was saying that when Jesus advised people to turn the other cheek, it was to prevent the striker from insultingly backhanding the right cheek, since it was a taboo to use the (unclean) left hand. The backhand was given to a social inferior. Turning the cheek to receive a blow meant the enemy could not make the insult. This meant that the enemy had to either deal as an equal or find another resolution. Ortberg's further translation of the scripture was to be honest , confront the "slapper" and work toward reconciliation.
I'd suppose any thinking person would ask the same questions as you, express the same beefs. Good luck in your spiritual journey.