Torture
I am a passionate participant in the growing anti-torture movement, led by David Gushee and others. I recently blogged about a disturbing report, indicating that Southern White Evangelicals are more likely to support torture than Americans in general. So a number of us are making this request for your expression of support. I hope you'll take a moment and respond ... and I hope you'll ask the religious leaders in your life if they have take a stand yet. This tide must be turned.
+++++
Our nation, our allies, and our enemies now know that the United States has committed torture against foreign detainees. And regardless of the motivation for doing so, torture is a nonnegotiable moral issue that we need to end once and for all.
That's why, last June, I was one of more than 200 military, security, and faith leaders who signed a nonpartisan Declaration of Principles calling on the President to issue an Executive Order to ban torture. Since then, thousands of citizens have joined us, and I hope that you'll consider doing so, too.
You can read a *summary of the effort* in this recent God's Politics blog post:
And you can *sign the Declaration* here.
I hope that you'll sign on, and that you'll in turn send this message to your friends and colleagues. Thank you for taking this stand with me.
Sign the Declaration!
*TORTURE IS UN-AMERICAN, IMMORAL, AND BAD FOR SECURITY.
*
0 Comments1 Minutes
interesting question …
I just received this email from a chaplain ...
I am a chaplain in a minimum security prison for women, and I am looking for good Bible study materials that would support the "New Kind of Christian." I have one inmate in particular who was reared by parents who were atheists, and Brian McLaren's books are having a tremendous influence on her life as she is coming to a new-found faith. Most Bible study material, particularly anything that is free to inmates, is definitely not of a "generous orthodoxy!"
Two things struck me as I thought about this question. First, I've been noticing more than ever how many chaplains are "ahead of the curve" in dealing with the "great emergence" we're part of. Many (not all!) pastors, professors, and denominational officials can stay in their comfortable echo chambers in a way that chaplains can't - whether they're serving in hospitals, prisons, universities, retirement centers, or elsewhere.
Second, whether it's for adult Bible study or kids and youth curriculum, we need some creative people to generate "a new kind of curriculum" to help folks.
Maybe this thread should be picked up elsewhere - maybe at the emergentvillage.com blog, which, if you haven't checked it out lately, is better-than-ever. A number of questions come to mind - what's unhelpful about existing curricula, what heuristic changes are needed, and what content innovations are needed so the Bible can be liberated from the modernist, colonialist, chauvinist, individualist, etc. etc. biases under which it is often held captive?
0 Comments2 Minutes
Tonight’s VP Debate … Civility?
As I watch tonight's debate, I'm going to keep this pledge in mind ...
I hereby pledge:
1) To take into account a candidate's civility when voting. I understand that electoral politics requires offense, defense, and sharp elbows, but I will consider personal attacks made by candidates and their surrogates to be marks of dishonor and warning signs of a divisive leader to come.
2) To model civil politics in my own life. I will argue for what I believe in and against those with whom I disagree, but I will show respect for my opponents by assuming that they are as sincere in their beliefs as I am in mine. Knowing how moralistic and self-righteous we all are, I will refrain from assuming the worst about the motives and character of those I disagree with. I will criticize their ideas instead.
You can learn more about this pledge here ...
Also - Jonathan Haidt's TED video on the underlying differences between liberals and conservatives is well worth the 18 minutes to watch it. (Thanks, Paul Harder!)
0 Comments1 Minutes
How do you see the world?
The first image portrays war casualties in the latter half of the twentieth century, and the second projects wealth distribution by nation for 2015. Note especially the relative sizes of Africa.
Source: Andrew Sullivan.
0 Comments1 Minute