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June 17, 2005
Transforming the Moral Values Debate: Ten Reasons to be Hopeful
by Faithful Progressive
Sometimes I just get sick of all the negativity associated with political discussion, including even my own critiques of the extreme Christian Right. There’s no doubt that we need to counter the extremists who preach intolerance and self-righteousness, but trying to counter the extreme right agenda can wear you out. Worst of all, it can keep us from getting our own positive message of love for all of God’s creation out. So for this week’s post, which I’m hoping will include you in the Comments section, I would like to stay positive and just offer up some of the many ways that moderate and progressive Christians are transforming the political debate and giving us reasons for hope. This is not meant as any kind of definitive list, just a few things that I stumbled upon this week. Please add your own links and suggestions in the Comments section.
1.) This site! The reaction to this site over the past month has been nothing short of amazing. Thousands of you have signed up to Join the Movement, and nearly half of those have also taken the time to sign the Jacksonville Declaration. As a recent e-mail from our Founder, Patrick Mrotek and others put it...
"What a great month! 30 days ago we launched our Web site, with a strong belief that there are millions of Christians around the country who are tired of seeing their faith used to promote a political agenda they don’t agree with, and don’t think is consistent with their Christian values. Its obvious people are ready to reclaim Christianity in America. We’ve been overwhelmed by the response of thousands who are excited and ready to stand up for the values that Jesus taught and say “Enough!” to the leaders of the Religious Right...we’re also getting noticed by the Religious Right. They understand that when challenged on the basis of the Gospels, their political agenda doesn’t stand up to scrutiny—and they’re curious. In the past two weeks, we’ve appeared on the Michael Medved Show and The David Allen Show, (conservative religious broadcasters).We’re aiming to raise our profile and will be holding press conferences in Jacksonville, Florida and Washington, D.C. next week. We’ll be letting you know about it and in the meantime, if you haven’t already, sign on to our Jacksonville Declaration and pass it on. Let the Political and Church Leaders of the Religious Right know they do not speak for you. Help them hear a different understanding of Christian values. We need local community organizing to get the word out and begin building forces in your area. Let us know if you are interested in leading that effort. info@christianalliance.org
2.) A start on Debt Relief
PHILADELPHIA, PA – June 14 — The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an international social justice organization, praises the recent cancellation of the multilateral debt owed by fourteen African countries. However, the Service Committee stresses that these nations represent only a small portion of the countries in urgent need of debt cancellation.
“After twenty years of involvement with the global campaign to cancel debt, AFSC is delighted that Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and 11 other impoverished countries in Africa now have the ability to invest in their own development,” said Imani Countess, coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee Africa Program, which over the past two years, has sponsored a Life Over Debt campaign designed to increase awareness of Africa’s debt and the need for cancellation.
“The life and death urgency of these issues demand we remain committed to this cause,” stressed Mary Ellen McNish, AFSC general secretary. “Global economic justice is the bedrock of a peaceful world. We can celebrate this victory while continuing to call attention to the plight of other struggling nations.”
3.) Pressure grows for an Iraq Exit Strategy c/o Common Dreams
4.) Building the Beloved Community Freedom and Faith Tour and Peace Not Poverty Campaign
The media took note of the recent Freedom and Faith bus tour of the group Building the Beloved Community. A passionate anti-Iraq War message was delivered by Cindy Sheehan, as the local Lexington, KY paper reported.
Our friend RJ at DeSententia, one of the principal authors of the Declaration of the peace not poverty campaign, also reported:
"Last week the tour rolled into Chicago, and this week it stopped in Lexington, Kentucky, where it received some favorable press. Although the main thrust of the Lexington story was on Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, Professor Glenn Hinson of the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky stated the message well:
Quoting scripture and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hinson suggested the nation is greedy and morally bankrupt and warned that America's fear of terrorism is excessive and unhealthy. Denouncing "fear that immobilizes, fear that causes you to lash out mindlessly, fear that prompts a nation to launch a preemptive strike against an imagined enemy, fear in excess," Hinson said, "Only God's love can bring that kind of fear under control."
5.) Our recent victory (c/o Chuck Currie) on behalf of farmworkers against Taco Bell, which we no longer boycott.
NPR had a wonderful story today about how workers, students and moderate and liberal religious groups worked together. This is also being extended to other fast food companies. See Think Inside the Bun
6.) The New Let Justice Roll Campaign for Economic Justice
Grassroots Groups Launch Coordinated State Raise the Minimum Wage Campaigns
Let Justice Roll, a national coalition of faith-based and community-based organizations supported by the Center for Community Change and the National Council of Churches, is launching a national and multi-state campaign to increase the wages of America’s working poor. Along with a key partner, ACORN – the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now – Let Justice Roll is holding a series of state-level events between June 27 and 30 in communities near you. Each event will call on federal and state legislation to increase the minimum wage.
Local Events:
Former United States Senator John Edwards and ACORN President Maude Hurd will be featured at all of these events. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches will participate in the Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio events.
Phoenix, Arizona – June 28 at 12:45 PM at Church of the Beatitudes
For more information, contact Sarah Markey, ACORN at 602-254-5299 or Rev. Jan Olav Flaaten of the Arizona Ecumenical Council at 602-468-3818.
Albuquerque, New Mexico – June 28 at 4:20 PM at City Hall
For more information, contact Bonnie Greathouse, ACORN at 503-319-9023 or Julian Phillips of the New Mexico Conference of Churches at 505-319-9023.
Lansing, Michigan – June 29 at 11:00 AM outside the Capitol
For more information, contact Luke Canfora, ACORN at 517-487-5966 or Jess Dewitt at 734-424-2860 or go to www.miaflcio.org
Cleveland, Ohio – June 30 at 11:50 AM at Trinity Cathedral
For more information, contact Stuart Katzenberg, ACORN at 216-973-0210 or Paul Sherry at 216-736-3710..
Columbus, Ohio – June 30 at 4:00 PM at TBA
For more information contact Katie Gall, ACORN at 614-390-1042 or Rev. Ron Hooker at 614-322-0777.
7.) City clergy to double efforts on violence
Boston:14 hot spots targeted for meetings, walks
By Suzanne Smalley, Boston Globe Staff | June 15, 2005
Determined to avoid a repeat of last year's bloody summer, clergy are taking the lead in targeting 14 crime hot spots across Boston with nighttime walks, community meetings, and prayer vigils, ministers said yesterday.
8.) Trinity UCC church in Chicago
Every progressive Christian should be blessed to visit this incredible and thriving church in Chicago, led by the dynamic Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is committed to a 10-point Vision:
A congregation committed to ADORATION.
A congregation preaching SALVATION.
A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY
9.) Progressive Churches in North Carolina as linked by Bath Maine UCC Faith Blog, which was one of the first congregations to link this site.
10.)Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
For over thirty years the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) has been a leader of the corporate social responsibility movement. ICCR's membership is an association of 275 faith- based institutional investors, including national denominations, religious communities, pension funds, endowments, hospital corporations, economic development funds and publishing companies. ICCR and its members press companies to be socially and environmentally responsible. Each year ICCR- member religious institutional investors sponsor over 100 shareholder resolutions on major social and environmental issues. The combined portfolio value of ICCR's member organizations is estimated to be $110 billion
PLEASE ADD YOUR OWN LINKS and/or other reasons to be hopeful.
Posted by Faithful Progressive at June 17, 2005 12:02 AM
Comments
Okay, FP, here's one group I support on one of your key issues, povertyand tax fairness.
"In my work on the issue of overcoming poverty, I have come to rely on United for a Fair Economy as one of my premier sources of information. UFE's research and action on the growing wealth gap is always timely, consistently credible, and exceptionally useful. Simply put, UFE does the best work in the country on the gap between rich and poor, which is for many of us in the religious community, a fundamentally moral and biblical issue. UFE has become an integral part of a growing movement for economic justice."
— Jim Wallis, Convener, Call to Renewal; Editor, Sojourners
http://www.faireconomy.org/
Posted by: Julie S at June 17, 2005 04:32 PM
I am not among the faithful, but there are many in my family -- and particularly my wife's family -- who are, and deeply so. They share with the Christian Right a profound discomfort with abortion, pornography, and what they see as a general licentiousness of the Left. They also share with the Right a deep commitment to what they consider to be "traditional values." But, for all of that, they are disgusted by the strident intolerance and judgmentalism of James Dobson and his ilk. They are searching, genuinely searching, for a voice (which they do not get from their pulpits unfortunately) that will help them reconcile their morality and religious faith with their commitment to love, tolerance and progressivism. For their sakes, and for the sake of both religion and the Republic, I applaud, and genuinely hope you succeed in, your mission of providing such a voice.
Below are links to two pieces I wrote last year, shortly after the election, recounting (inter alia) a discussion I had with some of my relatives on these issues and exploring some of what I saw as the implications of those discussions. (This part starts half way through the first post and continues in the second). I don't know if you will find any of this useful for your purposes, but if you do, please feel free to use it.
http://parentheticals.blogspot.com/2004/12/battle-over-gay-marriagecivil-unions.html
http://parentheticals.blogspot.com/2004/12/traditional-values-contd.html
In any event, Good luck!
Bill Patberg
Posted by: Bill at June 22, 2005 05:05 PM
Could you provide a section in your web page a list of progressive churches in all 50 states? I know this is a huge undertaking, but it would be an extremely valuable resource to those of us tired of conservative churches. Thank you!
Posted by: Clayton at June 24, 2005 12:19 AM
In the spirit of positive news I offer the beautiful editorial by John C. Danforth "Onward Moderate Christian Soldiers", New York Times, June 17. Here the Episcipol minister and former Republican Senator delivered a stirring and uplifting message that devout Christians have many views, often quite divergent from those presented by the most conservative members of the faith. He urges humility and tolerance, noting that the Commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves takes precedence. I hope you find it as inspiring as I do.
Posted by: Munsell McPhillips at June 24, 2005 05:40 PM
