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May 31, 2007
The Hindu Right and the Christian Right
Posted by Jesus Politics
Martha Nussbaum has written an interesting article on the Hindu Right and the problems of democracy in India that may shed some light on some similar problems we have here in the United States.
From the article, "Fears for Democracy in India:"
While Americans have focused on President Bush's "war on terror," Iraq, and the Middle East, democracy has been under siege in another part of the world. India — the most populous of all democracies, and a country whose Constitution protects human rights even more comprehensively than our own — has been in crisis. Until the spring of 2004, its parliamentary government was increasingly controlled by right-wing Hindu extremists who condoned and in some cases actively supported violence against minority groups, especially Muslims.
What has been happening in India is a serious threat to the future of democracy in the world. The fact that it has yet to make it onto the radar screen of most Americans is evidence of the way in which terrorism and the war on Iraq have distracted us from events and issues of fundamental significance. If we really want to understand the impact of religious nationalism on democratic values, India currently provides a deeply troubling example, and one without which any understanding of the more general phenomenon is dangerously incomplete. It also provides an example of how democracy can survive the assault of religious extremism. [ ]
The real "clash of civilizations" is not between "Islam" and "the West," but instead within virtually all modern nations — between people who are prepared to live on terms of equal respect with others who are different, and those who seek the protection of homogeneity and the domination of a single "pure" religious and ethnic tradition. At a deeper level, as Gandhi claimed, it is a clash within the individual self, between the urge to dominate and defile the other and a willingness to live respectfully on terms of compassion and equality, with all the vulnerability that such a life entails.
This argument about India suggests a way to see America, which is also torn between two different pictures of itself. One shows the country as good and pure, its enemies as an external "axis of evil." The other picture, the fruit of internal self-criticism, shows America as complex and flawed, torn between forces bent on control and hierarchy and forces that promote democratic equality. At what I've called the Gandhian level, the argument about India shows Americans to themselves as individuals, each of whom is capable of both respect and aggression, both democratic mutuality and anxious domination. Americans have a great deal to gain by learning more about India and pondering the ideas of some of her most significant political thinkers, such as Sir Rabindranath Tagore and Mohandas Gandhi, whose ruminations about nationalism and the roots of violence are intensely pertinent to today's conflicts. [ ]
It is comforting for Americans to talk about a clash of civilizations. That thesis tells us that evil is outside, distant, other, and that we are perfectly all right as we are. All we need do is to remain ourselves and fight the good fight. But the case of Gujarat shows us that the world is very different. The forces that assail democracy are internal to many, if not most, democratic nations, and they are not foreign: They are our own ideas and voices, meaning the voices of aggressive European nationalism, refracted back against the original aggressor with the extra bile of resentment born of a long experience of domination and humiliation.
The implication is that all nations, Western and non-Western, need to examine themselves with the most fearless exercise of critical capacities, looking for the roots of domination within and devising effective institutional and educational countermeasures. At a deeper level, the case of Gujarat shows us what Gandhi and Tagore, in their different ways, knew: that the real root of domination lies deep in the human personality. It would be so convenient if Americans were pure and free from flaw, but that fantasy is yet another form that the resourceful narcissism of the human personality takes on the way to bad behavior.
Posted by Jesus Politics at 04:38 AM | Comments (2)
May 26, 2007
Chris Hedges on Sam Harris
Posted by Jesus Politics
The rise of religious fundamentalism has prompted a growing number of people to adopt an anti-religious attitude. Christian friendly Chris Hedges recently debated the anti-religious Sam Harris.
A couple of quick quotes from Hedges' opening statement at the debate with Sam Harris:
The danger of Sam's simplistic worldview is that it does what fundamentalists do: It creates the illusion of a binary world of us and them, of reason versus irrationality, of the forces of light battling the forces of darkness. And once you set up this world you are permitted to view as justified military intervention, brutal occupation and even torture, anything, in short, that will subdue what is defined as irrational and dangerous. All this is done in the name of reason, in the name of his god, which looks, like all idols, an awful lot like Sam Harris. [ ]
The point of religion, authentic religion, is that it is not, in the end, about us. It is about the other, about the stranger lying beaten and robbed on the side of the road, about the poor, the outcasts, the marginalized, the sick, the destitute, about those who are being abused and beaten in cells in Guantanamo and a host of other secret locations, about what we do to gays and lesbians in this country, what we do to the 47 million Americans without health insurance, the illegal immigrants who live among us without rights or protection, their suffering as invisible as the suffering of the mentally ill we have relegated to heating grates or prison cells. It is about them.
We have forgotten who we were meant to be, who we were created to be, because we have forgotten that we find God not in ourselves, finally, but in our care for our neighbor, in the stranger, including those outside the nation and the faith. The religious life is not designed to make you happy, or safe or content; it is not designed to make you whole or complete, to free you from anxieties and fear; it is designed to save you from yourself, to make possible human community, to lead you to understand that the greatest force in life is not power or reason but love.
Posted by Jesus Politics at 04:57 AM | Comments (7)
May 23, 2007
Right Wing Christian Terrorist Bomb Plot Stopped at Falwell Funeral
Posted by Faithful Progressive
Following my usual policy, I have not commented on the death of Rev. Jerry Falwell (my policy is to wait until someone is buried to comment on their death if my comment would be more negative than positive). But the fact that a Christian Right terrorist plot was hatched at the time of his funeral speaks volumes about his hateful legacy. That the alleged terrorist was a student at Falwell's Liberty University says even more...
I am all for religious tolerance, but one thing is clear: the followers of Jesus simply don't manufacture bombs. Nothing could be more remote from the teaching of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Further, nothing could be less associated with the reverence at the heart of the sacred than the indiscriminate violence of terrorism. Terrorism is terrorism, and it is always both morally wrong and anti-religious in the most profound sense of holding on to the idea of the sacred.
May 22, 2007 —
Even in death, the Rev. Jerry Falwell rouses the most volatile of emotions. A small group of protesters gathered near the funeral services to criticize the man who mobilized Christian evangelicals and made them a major force in American politics -- often by playing on social prejudices.
A group of students from Falwell's Liberty University staged a counterprotest.
And Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car. The student, 19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent, a law enforcement official told ABC News' Pierre Thomas. They were "slow burn," according to the official, and would not have been very destructive.
"There were indications that there were others involved in the manufacturing of these devices and we are still investigating these individuals with the assistance of ATF [Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms], Virginia State Police and FBI. At this time it is not believed that these devices were going to be used to interrupt the funeral services at Liberty University," the Campbell County Sheriff's Office said in a release.
Three other suspects are being sought, one of whom is a soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., and another is a high school student. No information was available on the third suspect.
Posted by Faithful Progressive at 03:40 PM | Comments (7)
May 17, 2007
Is the Religious Right Dying?
Posted by Jesus Politics
Talk2Action's Frederick Clarkson highlights a recent article about Falwell and the Christian Right by the Rev. Peter Laarman. Laarman is responding to the tendency to interpret the death of Rev. Jerry Falwell as one more sign that the Christian Right is losing its influence.
Some excerpts:
What I hope we won't do is conclude that the original group of Christian Right leaders -- Falwell, Robertson, Kennedy, et al -- represented the high water mark of their movement, and that things will get better as each of these elders receives his just reward beyond the grave. [ ]
Dionne and others tried to suggest that the era of the Christian Right is now drawing to a close and that we are moving toward a healthier middle ground, with big segments of Evangelical leaders breaking ranks with the hard right on issues of poverty, climate change, and overall foreign and military policy.
I demurred because (a) I think this viewpoint represents a misreading of what successful movement building means-and these Christian Right elders, with their networks and "universities" and media apparatus, undoubtedly were movement builders; and (b) I think this viewpoint underestimates how much the new so-called "common ground agenda" has already yielded to the Christian Right in significant and damaging ways. [ ]
Sure, there is some fragmentation, and the movement has been badly hurt by its very own lame duck "Christian" president and his catastrophic war. But let us also remember that this is a movement fueled by cultural resentment and false nostagia-two very potent fuels indeed, at a time when the movement's "base" is suffering acute identity and economic anxieties.
I am told by reliable observers that the next Big Thing that the Christian Right will be focusing on to rally its troops is potentially much bigger than the Gay Agenda ever was. They are going to hitch their wagon to the threat of Evil Muslims In Our Midst. If I were James Dobson, I might well be planning to lift this banner. It is perfect in many ways for the coming electoral cycle.
Posted by Jesus Politics at 07:34 AM | Comments (3)
May 15, 2007
Help Secure Children's Health Care
Posted by Faithful Progressive
c/o UCC Advocacy Center
Secure Children's Health Care
Congress has pledged $50 billon in the budget for children’s health coverage through the State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization. SCHIP must be reauthorized by September 30, 2007. SCHIP was a great bipartisan achievement, and now is the time to strengthen it with a strong reauthorization bill. A Republican Congress and a Democratic President enacted the SCHIP program in 1997. Both Republican and Democratic governors aggressively moved to utilize the SCHIP funding and flexibility to expand coverage for children. Congress must build on this success to help states finish the job. Congress should expand and strengthen the program, particularly by enabling states to cover the millions of children eligible but not enrolled in SCHIP and Medicaid. The $50 billion pledged by Congress for children’s health care should focus on improving Medicaid and SCHIP.
Take action here.
Posted by Faithful Progressive at 01:07 PM | Comments (4)
May 10, 2007
On Atheism
Posted by Jesus Politics
Many people are talking lately about the growing popularity of an outspoken form of atheism. Brian McLaren responds to this atheistic movement in a way that Christian progressives may appreciate.
Some excerpts:
So when the world’s second largest religion seems (to many people) too tolerant of terrorism and sectarian violence, and sometimes even encourages and justifies them, we shouldn’t be surprised that many people reject religion.
When the world’s largest religion seems (to many people) too tolerant of militarism, unjustified war, and consumerism, and sometimes even encourages and justifies them, we should be even less surprised. When both religions do too little to promote active peacemaking, care for the poor, concern for the environment, and the renewal of communities, when they seem more concerned with “straining out gnats” of religious trivia than “swallowing camels of massive social injustice, we should only be surprised that more people haven’t become atheists. [ ]
The atheists are right: there is a lot of unhealthy, unsavory religion out there. But they are not necessarily right that the world would be better off if religion just went away and everyone joined them in their atheism. Their aggressive posture will, I think, have the unintended consequence of increasing the reactivity of the religious … and perhaps the arrogance of the irreligious too. A world with more reactive religious people and more arrogant irreligious people is not a pleasant thought. [ ]
There’s a better alternative than a death-match between religion and atheism: for people of faith (including readers of this blog) to seek to take the logs out of our own religious eyes by dealing with the racism, militarism, imperialism, terrorism, sectarianism, consumerism, judgmentalism, nominalism, and other –isms that are corrupting our religious communities … and to collaborate for the common good, to make our world more the kind of place that our Creator would desire, working side by side with everyone who is willing, including those who don’t believe in a Creator.
Posted by Jesus Politics at 07:13 AM | Comments (10)
May 03, 2007
Mr. President: This place is not your place
Posted by Jesus Politics
President Bush is scheduled to give a commencement address next week at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. It is noteworthy that a former president of this Catholic college has written an op-ed piece denouncing Bush's visit.
Some excerpts:
On Friday, May 11, President Bush is scheduled to give the commencement address at St. Vincent College in Latrobe. To honor the leader of this country would seem a unique opportunity. However, President Bush and his administration have so often violated Christian, Catholic and Benedictine teaching and tradition that I firmly oppose this distinction. [ ]
Four years ago, I was heartsick when President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. At that time I endorsed the words of Pope John Paul II as he opposed this ill-fated, immoral adventure. I was pleased that in 2005 the leadership of Benedictine men and women, 2,357 strong, issued the Benedictine Peace Statement: "We believe that violence does not yield peace. We are concerned about the military and political ethos of our own country where justice is defined on the basis of our self-interest rather than on a consciousness that we are part of a common humanity."
I am disturbed that my alma mater will place before graduating seniors one whose leadership and administration have violated and ignored this exhortation. [ ]
Mr. Bush calls himself a born-again Christian; he quotes the Bible; conservative Christians form his political base. Yet, in Matthew 25 we read that Jesus identifies with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the imprisoned. This gospel further challenges us: If we do not care for the least and the lowest, we cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Has Mr. Bush led us to care for the powerless and the marginalized? The numbers of poor, homeless and imprisoned people in this country continue to rise. The gap between the rich and poor grows exponentially: According to the most recent figures, the top 1 percent of Americans -- whose average income was $1.1 million a year -- received 21.8 percent of the nation's income. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 37 million Americans, or 12.6 percent of our population, were living in poverty in 2005. I cannot forget the many pictures of American poor struggling for survival after Katrina. Many continue to suffer so many years later. [ ]
When I was president of St. Vincent College, I was proud to stand before the graduates and encourage them to engage the world with wholesome gospel values. A commencement speaker is a living example of such virtue, sending graduates forth with vision and hope. I have serious misgivings that President Bush can fulfill this exalted role.
Posted by Jesus Politics at 07:54 AM | Comments (2)
