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Okay, so Kirk Cameron, star of such epic movies as “Left Behind”, goes on CNN and says homosexuality is unnatural. The host, in a later interview, says that Kirk was brave to say such a thing. In my opinion he would be braver if he had the courage to study biology with an open mind and be honest about the what he discovered. Gay bashing is bullying, and bullies always attack vulnerable parts of the population. How is that ever brave?
Issues of reproduction are sometimes called “women’s issues”, but if you have even one woman in your life who you care about, whether it be partner, sister, mother or daughter, then “women’s issues” are also your issues.
Whether it is private prisons, war abroad, or war at home, there is always big money to be made from human suffering.
“So much money has gone into armoring and arming local law-enforcement since 9/11 that the federal government could have rebuilt post-Katrina New Orleans five times over and had enough money left in the kitty to provide job training and housing for every one of the record 41,000-plus homeless people in New York City. It could have added in the growing population of 15,000 homeless in Philadelphia, my hometown, and still have had money to spare. Add disintegrating Detroit, Newark, and Camden to the list. Throw in some crumbling bridges and roads, too.” -Stephan Salisbury
When I first graduated from seminary and began to preach, I barely noticed the flag that stands by most pulpits in the U.S. If we see a flag on a ship at sea, or on the car of a diplomat, we understand those vehicles are set aside to represent the United States. It did not occur to me that the flag by the pulpit bore the same meaning.
If a Roman emperor required a statue of himself to be placed in an early church, everyone would understand what that statue really meant. The statue would be a reminder that people could worship however they wished, so long as their first loyalty was to the empire. The flag can also stand as a boundary that American preachers are not to cross. We may pray for our troops, but not for our enemy’s. We may pray for healing, but not for health care. We may pray for the poor, but we must never question the capitalist system that makes them poor.
What does it mean when we tell preachers not to be political, but place a flag by the pulpit as though the flag were not itself a political statement? Is the flag not a warning? Does the flag not bear a command? “You shall not speak of any other politics than that of the American Empire. You are not to worship a God who is bigger than your nation. You shall not hold the actions of your nation to a universal standard.”
The flag by the pulpit reminds us that the American Empire and the capitalism for which it now stands, lies in the background of everything the church can do, or even think, so long as nationalism is the context from within which we try to be ethical. Knowing this, who would not take the flag down? We should take down very cross itself, if it ever prevented us from showing the love of Christ to those who are not Christian. There is one universal love to which every other lesser loyalty must submit. We do not love America less, for loving humankind more.
What follows is a letter from Georgetown University’s President DeGioia’s responding to Rush Limbaugh.
“In recent days, a law student of Georgetown, Sandra Fluke, offered her testimony regarding the proposed regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services before a group of members of Congress. She was respectful, sincere, and spoke with conviction. She provided a model of civil discourse. This expression of conscience was in the tradition of the deepest values we share as a people. One need not agree with her substantive position to support her right to respectful free expression. And yet, some of those who disagreed with her position – including Rush Limbaugh and commentators throughout the blogosphere and in various other media channels – responded with behavior that can only be described as misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student.
In our vibrant and diverse society, there always are important differences that need to be debated, with strong and legitimate beliefs held on all sides of challenging issues. The greatest contribution of the American project is the recognition that together, we can rely on civil discourse to engage the tensions that characterize these difficult issues, and work towards resolutions that balance deeply held and different perspectives. We have learned through painful experience that we must respect one another and we acknowledge that the best way to confront our differences is through constructive public debate. At times, the exercise of one person’s freedom may conflict with another’s. As Americans, we accept that the only answer to our differences is further engagement.
In an earlier time, St. Augustine captured the sense of what is required in civil discourse: “Let us, on both sides, lay aside all arrogance. Let us not, on either side, claim that we have already discovered the truth. Let us seek it together as something which is known to neither of us. For then only may we seek it, lovingly and tranquilly, if there be no bold presumption that it is already discovered and possessed.”
In 2008, Vanity Fair published an investigative report on Monsanto’s tactics. “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” charges:
“As interviews and reams of court documents reveal, Monsanto relies on a shadowy army of private investigators and agents in the American heartland to strike fear into farm country. They fan out into fields and farm towns, where they secretly videotape and photograph farmers, store owners, and co-ops; infiltrate community meetings; and gather information from informants about farming activities. Farmers say that some Monsanto agents pretend to be surveyors. Others confront farmers on their land and try to pressure them to sign papers giving Monsanto access to their private records. Farmers call them the “seed police” and use words such as “Gestapo” and “Mafia” to describe their tactics.”
Complexity is a good thing. Critical analysis of the candidate you support is a good thing. And, it is a very good sign to see someone from within Obama’s fold criticize the President’s complicity with corporate criminals. Last term, the President surrounded himself with corporate insiders that would make any real change impossible. Is the President beginning to surround himself with actual progressives for his second term? It’s too early to know, but as I say, this could be a good sign. You are not being disloyal when you criticize your candidate, and you are not really being helpful when you walk lockstep with his or her supporters.
To read article, read here.
One of my favorite articles of the week, but then anything Naomi Klein does is worth reading. As long as people are thinking about saving the planet within the constraints of an economic system, they are uselessly insane. Unfortunately, that is the only way most Americans think at all. Those words may sound harsh, but they are not as harsh as extinction will be. It’s time to stop measuring the worth of life by economic standards, and start evaluating economic systems by whether they serve life on planet earth.
To read article, click here
Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they aren’t just lying. Rush and several leading Republicans are in sore need of basic knowledge of the birds and bees. Rush seemed to think that women who have more sex must pay for more birth control pills. Other anti-abortion crusaders seem to not understand the gestation period. One writer has tried to summarize what some of those lessons might be.
To read article, click here
It sounds like a lot of money until you consider the devastation to the coastlands, and the profits an oil company really makes. Because government has become “business friendly” paying a financial penalty for killing workers and minimal cleanup for polution is just a cost of doing business.
To read article, click here