Please Vote Today!
The day has arrived ... I just received an email from a South African friend who has been watching news reports of people waiting for hours in voting lines, and he said it reminded him of 1994 in his country - not just an election, but a turning point in the story of a nation.
I've spent a lot of time in Indiana over the last several weeks. I can't tell you how many times people came up to me and said something like this:
I've never voted for a Democrat in all my life, but I'm voting for Obama. If the people at my Evangelical church knew, they would ostracize me and never treat me the same. So I'm not making a lot of noise about it, but when I get behind the curtain to vote, I'm voting for hope over fear.
I wonder if this will be known as the "un-bradley effect" - people who publicly seem to fall in step with the ongoing Religious Right dominance of the Evangelical community, but who privately differ and will vote their true conscience when given the chance. We'll know in a few hours!
If you're one of those people, I encourage you to vote all your values, not just one or two.
If you don't know where to vote, you can find out easily here ...
Whoever wins today, I have to say it has been a great honor to be a public supporter of Barack Obama. Here's to the "yes we can!" spirit ...
Here's a prayer I'm praying this morning ... written by Rabbi Michel Lerner (tikkun.org) ...
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Back home …
I just returned from a tremendous weekend in Indianapolis. We had our final EMC event on Saturday at St. Luke's UMC, one of my favorite churches, pastored by one of my favorite pastors, Dr. Kent Millard. I spoke at St. Luke's on Sunday, and then participated in the Spirit and Place public dialogue at Butler University, a delightful experience. Dr. Scott Russell Sanders moderated this conversation with film-maker Julie Dash and author/essayist Richard Rodriguez and me. Monday morning at Butler University, I presented a lecture and led a dialogue on doubt and certainty. I won't forget the weekend for many reasons, but especially because I've never been so physically sick when having to speak ... I came down with the flu on Thursday and am still pretty sick today. With God's help, encouragement from colleagues, and pockets full of throat losenges, I made it through. Now I'll have a few days at home to recuperate.
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this weekend
I'll be in Indianapolis doing our very last EMC tour event ... it's not too late to register. Just sign up here.
I'll also be at the Spirit and Place festival on Sunday and Butler University on Monday. I hope to see many of you in Indiana this weekend!
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Links Round-up
Jonathan Merritt has some good insight on younger Evangelical voters on Religion and Ethics Newsweekly ... here.
My favorite campaign song so far ...
If you haven't heard about Mark Siljander's new book, A Deadly Misunderstanding, I'd encourage you to check out this website and read this book. I'm heartbroken to watch politicians continue to overtly or covertly fan the flames of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab prejudice. I'm even more heartbroken to see Christian leaders doing the same. Mark Siljander courageously reverses this trend - promoting accurate understanding and intelligent engagement rather than prejudice and bigotry.
Here's an interview I did with Wineskins Magazine ... here. It's largely about my newest book, Finding Our Way Again ... also available here.
Several people have asked about where they can get hi-res versions of some of the youtube pieces on my channel. The answer - here.
Here's a provocative response to James Dobson's recent apocalyptic anti-Obama letter. Jim Wallis also offers a good antidote to fear-mongering here and here. And Ryan Beillor adds his insights here.
It's an exciting time to be alive!
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A Generous Orthodoxy in Chinese
I just received a copy of A Generous Orthodoxy in Chinese ...
It's published by Wave/ Campus Evangelical Fellowship, P O Box 13-144, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC.
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