Stuck in the middle with you

"Trying to make some sense of it all,But I can see that it makes no sense at all,
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor,
'Cause I don't think that I can take anymore
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you."

~Joe Egan;Gerry Rafferty (AKA Stealer's Wheel) 1973

"It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes."

~Ecclesiastes 7:18

During Jesus time there were two dominant groups of religious leaders, you might think of them like political parties. 

On the one hand, there were the Sadducees, they emphasized man's total free-will, our ability to choose good or evil, but they did not believe in an afterlife or a spiritual realm. Sound's a lot like some liberals today; secularist and skeptical, respecting only the hear and now, what they can understand empirically and operating systematically.

A lot of Christians (especially conservative or "Evangelical" ones) fear and loath folks like that. They blame relativism and rationalism for everything wrong with the world. But I don't think we should view them as the enemy, rather, they are our neighbors. And how did Jesus tell us to treat our neighbors?

On the other hand, there were the Pharisees. Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees did believe in life after death, but they also believed in a little thing called predestination- the idea that you think you have free-will, but God has destined some people for salvation and others for damnation. They were hyper-religious and legalistic, they believed that you had to be absolutely meticulous about keeping all the rules because you never know which rules will be more important. 

A lot of intelligent thinkers and progressives are suspicious people who act and think like Pharisees today because they see them as being inflexible, uncompromising, volatile and aggressively working to shore-up their influence in society.

If you read the New Testament, the Pharisees are the guys who were always trying to trap Jesus and ultimately plotted to have Him killed because they were paranoid that either He would usurp their own power and influence, or disrupt the comfortable arrangement they had built up with the Roman occupation. 

The thing is, BOTH extremes are wrong. A secular humanism on the one side, may have good motives for making society better, but it's farsighted with it's optimistic view of human nature and attempts at applying systems and structures. It doesn't account for how messy and imperfect life can get or how importance of the intangibles in life.

On the other hand, fundamentalists, Calvinists, conservative Evangelicals and the religious-right are just as wrong and their absolutism and legalism are just as or more dangerous than the relativism that they're constantly railing and ranting about. They're NEARsighted with their obsessive focus on personal piety and individual responsibility at the expense of massive societal, corporate, and institutional evils.

They're the ones Jesus was talking about when He said they strain out a gnat but swallow a camel (Matt.23:24).

They're adamantly opposed to teaching the theory of evolution in Biology classes in public schools, yet they blindly accept and live by the tenants of Social-Darwinism.

They vehemently oppose abortion yet they oppose programs to reduce poverty and social safety programs, support capitol punishment and applaud unprovoked military action.

They ardently oppose secularism in all forms, yet laud an atheist hedonist like Ayn Rand as a heroine of individual responsibility and economic liberty!

They claim that they uphold the U.S. Constitution strictly and abhor activist jurists, unless the activism favors their ideology.

How can you grant First Amendment rights to Corporations and Political Action Committees but deny 14th Amendment rights to real human beings because of their sexual orientation, race, or immigration status?

These are the white-washed tombs Jesus talked about (Matt 23:27) who hypocritically talk about returning to traditional values and religious heritage but  care nothing about justice, mercy and faithfulness. But prophets like Malachi, Zechariah, Micah, Amos and Hosea all  stand ready to indict them.

So here we are in the middle. On the extreme left, we have unspiritual Sadducees and on the extreme right, we have hyper-legalistic Pharisees. Ultimately both succumb to the idolatry of self-worship. Each thinks they know best. On the left they say everyone makes their own way, on the right they demand that you follow only their way because they believe that only they know best.

Instead, we should be confident enough to trust that there is such a thing as truth, yet humble enough to recognize that we may never be mature enough, experienced enough, wise enough or enlightened enough to have an absolute monopoly on that truth.

If we truly follow Jesus Christ, we can not trust our own vision. We cannot be either farsighted and miss what's right under our noses, namely that God is real and loves us and that people need Him. Nor should we be nearsighted and be so caught up in our own little kingdoms that we fail to see the world around us and how much they need our help, effort, intercession, and inclusion- not just our scrutiny and condemnation.

Instead of using God and religion to defend our political and philosophical opinions, we should consider how Jesus spent his time and listen to His teachings and imitate Him and implement His directives. We need to wash the inside of the cup, and not just the outside (Matt.23:25).

We have to recognize that as citizens of the greatest and most successful empire on Earth and throughout history, we Americans are especially vulnerable to complacency, greed, and self-indulgence and we have to ask God to help us repent of that and to keep us from being too comfortable with it and defensive and protective of the false god of our standard of living and our unique privileges.

We can't be Christians of Emperor Constantine, but instead of a poor, homeless Palestinian Jewish carpenter who hung out with fishermen, prostitutes and tax collectors.

Perhaps I've rambled too long here, but this post is really emblematic of the main purpose of this blog. That is to give a voice to those who believe and love Jesus, yet feel that the much of American Christianity is often short-sighted and not necessarily following Jesus with blind faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) but unfortunately are too often acting as blind guides (Matt. 23:16).

I want all Christians to know that you don't have to conform to a monolithic Republican way of thinking politically and philosophically- and that if you read Matthew 5 (and 23) and see a Jesus who perhaps aligns more with progressive (dare I even say liberal) values, you are not alone.

And I want secular, agnostic, atheist, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and other liberals to realize that Jesus is not a rich white American, He's not homophobic, xenophobic, plutocratic, Machiavellian, oligarchic, militaristic, nationalistic, or nihilistic. He's not imperialistic.

He's loving, patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, and He is humble. He does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered,  keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. What's more, He's real, He's alive, He's here, He's now, and He loves them enough to die for them.

I think that often, Christians are afraid to step out of the Pharisee camp because they're afraid that any lack of condemnation, and (Heaven-forbid) any engagement whatsoever with the Sadducee camp will be misinterpreted as condoning falsehood. I say both sides are sometimes wrong but both sides are sometimes right. During the Reformation many parishioners told Martin Luther that they were afraid of making mistakes in what they did and taught and how they worshiped because they were so used to simply obeying the Pope. Luther told them to "Sin Boldly." I guess that's what I do by ranting on this blog, sinning boldly.

Alas, being in the middle not only means being caught in the cross-fire between the two extremes, it means that both sides perceive you as at best uncommitted and at worst, traitorous. But as Martin Luther famously said, "here I stand, I can do no other."

Ayn Rand influenced Ryan Plan

From http://www.faithfulamerica.org

What would inspire Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote to take away healthcare for the elderly and working families -- all while protecting tax breaks for the wealthy -- like they did just weeks ago?

Well, Paul Ryan, the author of the Republican plan, credits radical right wing author Ayn Rand as his inspiration to enter politics -- and even gives copies of her books to his staff.

So what does Ayn Rand believe?

• Altruism is evil.
• The "weak" do not deserve love.
• All religions, majority rule/democracy, and any regulations on capitalism should be destroyed.

Tell Paul Ryan to put down Ayn Rand

This is the vision that’s driving his budget proposal. We think it’s time Ryan got some new reading material, starting with a text with a moral vision that couldn’t be more different from Rand’s: the Bible.

Paul Ryan is now even defending his budget as consistent with his Roman Catholic faith -- even claiming the Catholic bishops support his proposal when in fact they have criticized its cuts to the poor.

We're not sure how Paul Ryan could think a budget out of an Ayn Rand novel could uphold faith values, so we're sending him a reminder of just what those values are.

Tell Paul Ryan to put down Ayn Rand … and pick up the Bible.

For every 1,000 signatures we get, we’ll deliver one Bible to Paul Ryan.

We’re not asking Congress to base laws on the Bible, but we do think Ryan and all the other politicians who voted for draconian budget cuts while touting their faith could use a reminder of moral principles like this:

If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then 

your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. (Isaiah 58:10)

And this:

Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25: 40)

Irresistible book

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Not sure where to begin. I seem to be suffering from writer's block lately. I'll say what I told the friend who suggested this author to me- he is convicting and challenging yet warm, engaging and funny.

Claiborne really exposes what huge hypocrites most of us soft, complacent, selfish, American "Christians" are! We really have let the contemporary Pharisees tell us what Christianity is supposed to be instead of listening to what Jesus has really said Himself. This is a radically different interpretation of discipleship, stewardship, and fellowship than you will find in most Christian bookstores, between the Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck biographies.

I wish my head wasn't so full of DayQuill, so that I could do this book justice. All I can say is that I want my conservative Christian friends to open their eyes, ears, and hearts to recognize that the right wing may be right on some things, but they're certainly not right on ALL things.

I want my progressive and liberal friends to know that Jesus does not hate, condemn and dispossess them, indeed, His truth may be closer to the compassion and concern already in their hearts.

Most of all,  I want all of those who like me, have felt pulled by the presumably conflicting passions to love the Lord and also love they neighbor are not so paradoxical or mutually exclusive after all- AND, you are not alone! Not all followers of Jesus are purveyors of laissez-faire economics, anti-intellectualism, and right-wing demagoguery (even if it might seem that way sometimes).



View all my reviews

Fear and Loathing in America

Another great example of how 1 John 4:18 is definitely not the dominant mood of our country right now.

(click here to view)

Tim Eagan The Press DemocratSep 2, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

Jesus loves Mexicans, and wants us to help poor people

I am weary. Many of the people I otherwise respect and love can't understand how I can call myself a Christian and hold so many politically liberal positions. Could it be that I don't believe it's right to give special preferences to huge corporations? Could it be that I believe that health and education are things that should be considered rights, and not luxuries? Public services and not commodities?

The right wing says that it is immoral to help people, offering welfare, medicare/medicaid, any kind of government support to poor people, they say teaches them to be irresponsible and to become dependent on the government. Tell that to the 40 year old who had a brain tumor when they were a child and have been in assisted living ever since.

I believe that Lincoln was right, that ours is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people- not of the partisan by the lobbyists and for the corporations. Accuse me of not separating church-and state if you want to. My religion tells me to help the less fortunate, the best tool I have for doing that is the federal government, since as a citizen I am part of it. The right sees it as an evil that they want to shrink or get rid of. I see it as an implement for helping others.

Here is a list of Bible verses that influence my politics. Funny how conservatives like to admonish that we can't pick-and-choose which parts of the Bible we believe in when it comes to their issues- but it sure looks like they don't believe many of these.

Frankly, I found most of these by doing a concordance search of the word "alien," because I've been so frustrated by recent debate about the new Arizona immigration law. Funny, weren't the people on the Mayflower immigrants? Were they legal? They were supposed to settle in Virginia, not Massachusetts- not that King James asked permission from the Iroquois Confederacy first anyway.

I would love to win over my neighbors, friends and relatives who seem so worried by the shouts of socialism made by modern day cable TV news and AM radio demagogues, but I realize that that's unlikely. So for them, I just hope and keep praying that they will at least recognize that I'm not a malevolent anti-American, terrorist sympathizer but that my intellectual, philosophical, political, and even my theological positions are well thought out and not irrational.

For the rest of you, maybe you can use some of these verses the next time a right-winger accuses you of not having well-reasoned positions or of not being true to your (their) faith traditions.

Exodus 22:25
"If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest.

Leviticus 25:37
You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit.

Ezekiel 18:13
He lends at usury and takes excessive interest. Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head.

Numbers 15:15-16
The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD : 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.' "

Deuteronomy 10:18-19
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were once aliens.

Deuteronomy 23:7
Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as an alien in his country.

Deuteronomy 24:14
Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.

Deuteronomy 24:17
Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.

Deuteronomy 24:19
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Deuteronomy 26:12
When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. (Gee, that ones kinda sounds like a requirement, like a tax, not just a suggested donation. Hmmmm.)

Deuteronomy 27:19
"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" (Yikes, I wouldn't want to be Glenn Beck or Sheriff Joe)

Deuteronomy 28:43
The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. (this has ALWAYS been a nation of immigrants. Like it or not, Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the US- I'd be careful how you treat them because they're on their way up)

Zechariah 7:10
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'

Malachi 3:5
"So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.

Ephesians 2:19
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 25:40
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

It's all in their world view. Law or Gospel?

Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives by George Lakoff


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Fascinating. Lakoff is a "cognitive linguist," some of his observations remind me of the symbols and archetypes of Carl Jung. Enlightening.

If there's 3 things I like it's psychology, good writing, and politics. This book has all 3, but don' t let my comment about Carl Jung put you off- this is a breeze to read. Fun and easy.

Lakoff explores the perceptual "frames" or world-views of the left and the right and explains why language is so powerful. He thinks that it is important to be able to articulate your values clearly and speak in terms of positive assertions rather than negative criticisms or reactions.

His basic preface is that there seems to be two basic world-views in America right now, the "Strict-Father Family" model and the "Nurturant-Parents Family" model. At first I thought it correlated with Thomas Hobbes and John Locke- but now I realize that it is much more like the differences between the Puritans and the Quakers. On the right you have the punishing rugged individualism of James Dobson's "Focus on the Family," and on the left you have the empathetic, community-orientation of Jim Faye's "Love and Logic."

I really think that this book would be good for both liberals AND conservatives, and even independents. I don't think that he maligns or libels conservatives, if anything, I believe he just clarifies what most Republicans already know about themselves and in many cases already admit about themselves.

What I wish would happen is that other, "casual" conservatives and independents would read this book and have their eyes opened- so that they'd become aware of the broader strategy and the powerful propaganda that the far-right has been using to take advantage of them. But as soon as they find out that it was written by a Berkley professor- I'm sure that their "frame" would kick in and not let them even give it a chance.

I hope you'll give it a chance because, bottom line, he explains why & how they've been winning for the last thirty years and what we progressives need to do to compete more effectively in the marketplace of ideas.

View all my reviews

Check out these great links to progressive social/political action Web sites

TrueMajority.org

From Jerry or Ben & Jerry's. Home of the famous Oreo cookie viral video.

AlterNet

Alternative News magazine with depth and insight.

Change.org

The Internet way to get involved, sign petitions, write letters to public officials and media outlets.

Nixon had his tapes, Bush has 22 MILLION emails!

Nixon had his tapes, Bush has 2 or 3 YEARS worth of emails
• bogus intel to sell the Iraq war
• Valerie Plame CIA blown cover
• torture memos
• Abu Ghraib
• Guantanimo
• US Attorney firings
Who knows what other skeletons are in the closet!

Read or listen to the story on NPR this morning

If you really trust God, do you have to advertise to everybody that you do?

Will NBC be surprised??

Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in God, as a nation..

NBC is presently taking a poll on "In God We Trust" to stay on our American currency.

Please send this to every Christian you know so they can vote on this important subject.

Please do it right away, before NBC takes this off their web page. Poll is still open so you can vote:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

This is not sent for discussion. If you agree forward it, if you don't, delete it.

By my forwarding it, you know how I feel.
I'll bet this is going to be a surprise to NBC.

Sorry, I can't help it- discussion is going to happen, I'd like to help inform it. I am neither for or against removing this mottos- so don't get assume that I'm arguing one side or the other. I just want to offer food for thought. I'm not here for a fight or a debate, I just want people to know what they're arguing about when they argue with each other (not me) about it.

First of all, a check of Snopes.com says that this is not a hoax, there is such a poll.

Next, if you're interested in the history of the 'In God We Trust' motto and the controversy surrounding it, visit the Wikipedia page about it.

Republican President Teddy Roosevelt (member of the Dutch Reformed Church) opposed putting the motto on money because he thought it was blasphemous to put His name on "Mammon" (money).

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6:24

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." Mark 12:13-17

The other question is, which god? The dollar bill has a Masonic symbol of an Egyptian pyramid with an all-seeing eye on it. Is that a pre-Judeao/Christian god? An ecumenical/universalist concept of a higher-power? A Mesopotamian or Mediterranean or Egyptian god? Many of the founding fathers were Deists, agnostics, Masons, and even athiests.

If you were really going to honor God, shouldn't it say "In Jesus Christ we trust?" Then what happens to the pluralism and religious tolerance which allowed Evangelical Christianity to flourish in the United States?

If we throw that out and throw out the establishment clause of the First Amendment with it, which Christian Denomination will get to set up the new Christian Theocracy? Catholics might not like it if a bunch of Lutherans or Presbyterians got to do it. As a Lutheran, I shutter to imagine a country where the Baptists or Fundamentalists got to dominate legislation. I'm sure many Methodists and Quakers would find it difficult too. What about groups like the Mormons, Adventists, and Jahovah's Witnesses who think of themselves as Christian but don't cut the doctrinal mustard with most other, more orthodox denominations? The reason the founders separated church and state is because European Christians had been killing EACH OTHER (not just Muslims, Pagans, Jews, Occultists and Atheists) for over a thousand years because Christians couldn't agree and kept trying to control each other.

While "In God we trust" has been on our money since the Civil War, was adopted by Congress as an "official" motto in the 1950's. Why? To truly and humbly honor the God of the Bible, or to puff ourselves up as better than the godless Communists during the height of the cold war? "Hey God! Look at ME! I'm not like THEM! I honor You, You should bless me and smite THEM!"

'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector! Luke 18:9-14

Riding the wave of the red-scare, politicians used God to get votes.

This is a red herring, a straw-man. Between war in Afghanistan, the worst unemployment in 26 years, the worst recession since the Great Depression, staggering health care costs, a continuing housing crisis and a likely H1N1 pandemic we have MUCH more important fish to fry that this highly emotionally charged, pseudo-pious, pseudo-patriotic non-issue.

Why does it matter? It's fine that it's on our money, but no one needs to get bent out of shape is a few people think it shouldn't.

NBC isn't some terrible liberal media force trying to debase our godly heritage, in spite of the fact that MSNBC seems to have become the anti-FOX NEWS in the last year or two. NBC is owned by General Electric- one of the largest military/defense contractors there is, they have every reason to promote right-wing politics. What NBC is is a big commercial interest, a corporation that makes money by selling ads by increasing ratings by drawing attention to or creating controversy. Controversy=Conflict=Drama, just like junior high, but it sells.

MSNBC has developed a left-wing line up in the last year and a half because there was a niche. Keith Oberman was drawing viewers from people who were sick of Bill O'Rielly. It's money, which direction the political wind is blowing, not actual idealogical principles. Back in 2003 MSNBC fired their lone liberal, Phil Donahue, even though he had good ratings, because he was opposed to the invasion of Iraq.

And by the way, if this viral email forward alarmed you- this poll was started back in 2005!

Stealing from families

These practices are not just morally reprehensible, but they’re bad for the economy. When unscrupulous employers break the law, they’re robbing families of money to put food on the table, they’re robbing communities of spending power, and they’re robbing governments of vital tax revenues.

- Annette Bernhardt, co-director of the National Employment Law Project and an author of a study showing that low-wage workers are routinely cheated out of overtime pay and workers' compensation, and are often paid less than the minimum wage. (Source: The New York Times)

I worked for the same grocery store chain as my brother for a few summers in college. He's older than me and had been working there for several years already and had a reputation for having a strong work ethic. At the time he was fiercely loyal to the company. I think it was also pretty important that I not make him look bad because I remember him telling me that if I was on the clock (not on break or lunch) but wasn't working, it was tantamount to theft. If you're just standing around and not working, but getting paid for that time, it was the same as stealing.

That left a powerful impression on me. Perhaps as much as anything our father taught us or anything I'd learned in school or at church.

Annette Bernhardt's quote from featured in Sojourner Magazine's weekly e-newsletter makes every bit as powerful a statement, only rather than warning the potentially slothful worker, hers is an indictment of the unethical employer and poor corporate citizen in America today.

Whenever people get bent out of shape about illegal immigration, I wonder about the businesses that hire them- or in many cases recruit them. Since they're payed "under-the table," they not only don't have to pay benefits to the worker, let alone minimum wage or over time, they don't with hold or report taxes either. It's unlikely that they bother with minimum safety regulations either.

What about the businesses that schedule workers for 30-39 hours a week- too much to have time or energy to look for a better paying job, but too few to have to pay benefits like insurance or retirement pension. It's practically slavery.

And how many American businesses have out-sourced jobs, moved production facilities over seas or relocated their headquarters off shore in order to lower over-head, avoid regulation or shelter profits from being taxed? No, it's not like every corporation out there has their product manufactured in a third world sweat shop for starvation wages and knowingly poisons the environment, but it certainly is hard to find ANYTHING that says "Made in America"on it anymore.

It makes you think. All this "globalization," de-unionization, and immigration has been happening under decidedly conservative, some would argue pro-corporatist, political administrations- Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush. Was it NAFTA? Was it "cancer-stage" unfettered capitalism? Was it just natural coincidence?

I don't know, but it is frightening that just 50 years ago CEOs were paid 8 times what their average worker was paid and now days they get paid as much as 800 times as much.

I'm not calling for Marxist revolution, but I do believe that we need a revival of responsibility, accountability and community altruism in this country. Call me crazy, but I think that responsibility, accountability and altruism are conservative values. So why don't people who claim to be social and political conservatives advocate for them? Is noblesse oblige really dead? Is it just too inconvenient?

When Republicans talk about personal responsibility, half of them think they're talking about not getting pregnant outside of marriage and not doing drugs, but the other half is talking about being on your own to develop survival instincts so that you can eat or be eaten. That's not Jesus, that's Darwin- which I find disturbingly ironic.

What about corporate responsibility? What about all being in this together? Being on the same team? What about being our brother's keeper?

When did Prince John become the one we all want to be like instead of Robin Hood? The religious right likes to whine about how upside down and twisted our values have become and how we should be holding on to absolutist black and white concepts of right and wrong. They use this to rant about evolution and gay marriage. But didn't looking out for the little guy used to be an American virtue? Didn't fairness and equality used to be the right think? So when did our values get turned on their head? Why is cunning and craftiness rewarded and hard work and playing by the rules laughed at and looked down upon? Why is it that cheating isn't wrong anymore- just being stupid enough to get caught?

Yes, people should be willing to work hard and not cheat their employers, but businesses should care for their workers like they're human beings, maybe even like they were family- not take advantage of them like disposable, expendable resources. Where's Teddy Roosevelt and his "Square Deal" when we need him?

Here's some more Biblical food for thought to chew on:

Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.
Deuteronomy 24:13-15

'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.
Leviticus 25:34-36

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.
Deuteronomy 15:6-8

My whole being will exclaim, "Who is like you, O LORD? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them."
Psalm 35:9-11

Pray for unity

From: http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org/100days/content/index.asp

For a spirit of collegiality and teamwork for members of the cabinet as they partner together to do the best for the American people
So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city.
—Judges 20:11

Precious Lord, Scripture tells us that when the Israelites were faced with the great challenge of coming against the atrocities of the men of Gibeah, they did so in utter unity, as one man. They were committed to fight together for a just cause, an example to us today of the strength of unity. Thank You, O God, for this reminder.

As we intercede for President Obama’s cabinet, we also know that political partisanship can so easily undermine unity, sapping our nation’s leaders of the collective strength. So Lord, we pray that You would intervene mightily, and bring teamwork and togetherness to the men and women appointed to serve our president. Enable them, Lord, to accomplish great things for the betterment of our country as they unite as one. In Your name, amen.

The mess we're in

"Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing, and does not give them their wages; who says, "I will build myself a spacious house with large upper rooms," and who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar, and painting it with vermilion. Are you a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? says the Lord."

- Jeremiah 22:13-16

Yeah, that's in the Bible, THE Bible. Yeah. Conspicuous consumption, giant McMansions and huge SUV's. Not necessarily WWJD when you think about it.

The truth is somewhere in the middle

"It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes." ~Ecclesiastes 7:18

This is exactly why I love how Lutheran theology stresses a balance of both law AND gospel. Too liberal and you either think that all roads lead to Heaven and you don't need Jesus, or that He's just a social reformer or great teacher but not God. Too conservative and your doctrine and dogma or "traditional values" start to become your god instead of letting Jesus be God and you scare people away who might otherwise find His mercy and grace.

I love how at least Mike Huckabee and Obama started to get Evangelicals thinking that hey, maybe unprovoked war and poverty and good stewardship of the environment can be Christian issues too, there's more to faith that these never ceasing "culture wars."

I also hope that Lutherans, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, AME, Quaker and everybody else have started to figure out that the so called "Evangelicals" (whoever that is anyway, Baptist & Assembly of God, I think) are not the only Christians in the United States and they shouldn't be the only ones who get to drive the national conversation about faith let alone get to be who gets to define what a Christian is to unbelievers and people of other religions out there.

I ♥ Shoe

How I can be a "liberal" and still be Christian?

I've heard a lot of Evangelicals talk about how we in this relativist, post-modern world shouldn't "pick and choose" which part of the Bible we believe in. Usually they do this because they think that Romans 1 makes it okay to hate homosexuals or that Genesis 2 should be taught in public schools.

But it seems to me sometimes that Republican Christians believe in Matthew 28, but choose to ignore Matthew 25. Helping the poor and upholding justice for aliens and widows shows up far more often than almost anything else in the Bible.

Spread it around

If one had taken what is necessary to cover one's needs and had left the rest to those who are in need, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, no one would be in need.

- Saint Basil,
fourth century theologian and monastic

Oh, ouch! Gee, dang, is that "Socialism?" Snap! Poor Republicans, they just think it's SO wrong to regulate business or to have a progressive tax structure that benefits the middle class. Boy, Hmmm, what WOULD Jesus do?

A Means or the Ends?

"About the general connection between Christianity and politics, our position is more delicate. Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow over into their political life, for the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster. On the other hand we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but failing that, as a means to anything- even social justice."

~His Abysmal Sublimity Undersecretary
(demon supervisor) Screwtape, T.E., B.S., etc.
(from 'the Screwtape Letters' by C.S. Lewis, 1959

I thought this was a fascinating excerpt. One extreme in theology is the fundamentalist who thinks they alone have the absolute true interpretation of God's Word, the other is the liberal who gets so bogged down in historical-critical analysis that he not only loses the meat of God's message, but imagines that anyone's subjective interpretation is valid. Both fail by putting human interpretation before Divine revelation. One extreme in temporal and civil concerns (politics) is to put too much power in the hands of a select leader, party, ideology or cast at the expense of the rights and liberties of the masses- usually in an effort to protect the privileges and liberties of those holding power. The other extreme is to legislate and litigate the rights and needs of the masses to the point of eroding many of the liberties and privileges of the individual.

In this chapter of his famous satire, Lewis has Screwtape go on to explain to his nephew (a junior tempter) that Hell would want the human to fall in love with social justice first and Jesus second, so that Christianity is nothing more than a means for advancing the end of social justice. True enough, we liberals and progressives need to be careful not to miss the real Jesus by making civil rights or social justice our god. But likewise, I've often seen Christians fall prey to worshiping the pro-life movement, traditional marriage, family values, creationism, and conservativism and utilizing Christianity as a means to advancing the political, philosophical or social ends.

Both Republicans and Democrats need to be careful that we don't make Jesus into either a CEO, director, manager, coach OR some kind of prophet, protester, leader, status quo breaker, or example setter. He is SO much more than either false perceptions. He wants to be our Father and brother and most importantly our savior, the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins. Yet at the same time, being mindful not to prevent Him from also being all those other things in addition.

What I think C.S. Lewis is warning us against is abusing our Christianity as leverage to get other things that we want more than a relationship with Jesus. We ALL have to guard against using "religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon."

A corollary to yesterday's post about political bedfellows

George W. Bush Bush dumped $848,000 worth of Harken Energy stock back in 1990, two months before the company announced a $23.2 million loss; he was 34 weeks late in filing a form the Securities and Exchange Commission required to record the sale... According to Time Magazine, "...Harken concealed losses by selling most of a subsidiary to an off-the-books entity controlled by company insiders. Bush was on the audit committee, which, at least in theory, approved the deal. It's the same tactic used by Enron—on a massive, more pernicious scale..."

Time reported in the same issue that "Halliburton, while Cheney was CEO, greased the books to boost the firm's flagging fortunes." Creative accounting.

Dennis Kozolowski, Ken Lay, Merrill Lynch, Enron, Andersen, Halliburton, Adelphia, R.J. Reynolds, Tyco, Bristol-Meyers, Global Crossing, the list goes on and on of individuals and corporations involved in abuse and corruption during early part of Bush's FIRST term. It's as if there was no S.E.C. no accountability or transparency or ethics of any kind in business, finance, and government.

The Bush years were a new gilded age or cancer-stage capitalism. A culture of corruption flourished.

Is it any wonder that we're now dealing with the likes of Bernard L. Madoff, Goldman Sacs, Lehman Brothers, the entire mortgage-based-securities, and auto executives flying in on private jets to ask Congress for bailouts?

Obscene greed. Yet Conservative Christians only get worked up about abortion and gay marriage. When I wrote columns scrutinizing John McCain's connection to the "Keating 5" and the S&L bailout scandal of the 1980's and how his role in deregulation of the financial sector may have helped lead to our current meltdown I was raked over the coals as some kind of unpatriotic, America-hating, abortion promoting liberal.

Transparency and accountability, and a whole lot of self-discipline is what America needs now.
Time for Relief, Recovery, and a whole lot of REFORM.

But what do I know? People have labeled me a "liberal" and now I have to wear that label like a scarlet letter.

RNC Candidate Distributes 'Barack The Magic Negro' Song

RNC Candidate Distributes 'Barack The Magic Negro' Song
No, I'm sorry, this is not a case of bleeding heart liberals being "politically correct," this is a case of top level Republicans showing their true colors- mean spirited, ugly, racist colors.

Can you believe this? Chip Saltsman included this CD in his Christmas card, along with a letter asking members of the RNC to make him their chairman? Friends, even if this were not blatant racism, it is not acceptable, mature behavior for reasonable adults seeking power and responsibility.

And this is the kind or tripe that Rush Limbaugh puts on his show all the time??!! And you "Ditto Heads" think it's funny? Please take a good long look and consider what he really stands for stands for.

Racism, bigotry, intolerance, and xenophobia are not "Family Values." I'd say that some prominent Republicans had better denounce this fast and loud if they ever want to be taken seriously again on "moral" issues! What Jokes Would Jesus Tell (WJWJT)?

Bad Fruit

From October 2007 on my main blog-

I've offended dearly loved friends by being so frustrated with them for seeing the Bush administration in a favorable light. I'm sorry, sue me.

Right is right and wrong is wrong, or as they teach you when learning how to mount a horse, "left is right and right is wrong."

You'll know a tree by it's fruit. Jesus said that. So okay, look at Republican policies and this Administration, then look at all those "bleeding heart liberals" (including Jimmy Carter) that you think are such America-haters and unpatriotic, slimy socialist- Which group has the right kind of fruit? Check out Galatians chapter 5 (it's in the Bible).

Bad Apples;

• sexual immorality (Senator Craig, Senator Foley, Pastor Ted Haggard...)
  
• impurity and debauchery
• idolatry (Ronald Reagan, god of all that is 'Right') and
  
• witchcraft (Nancy Reagan's Astrologers)
  
• hatred (nooses in trees, torture at Abu Ghraib, xenophobia, racial profiling, gay bashing, alarm about illegal immigration, etc. etc....)
  
• discord (The religious right, the Big-business right, the internationalist right, the Neo-Con right, the gun-nut right, the nut-job in the woods in a militia and or white supremist group right....)
  
• jealousy (First Bill Clinton, now Hillary Clinton)
  
• fits of rage ( Vice President Cheney telling people to "F--- Off" all the time)
  
• selfish ambition (MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY, MONEY... big oil, Enron, stock portfolios, the Carlyle Group, Haliburton, did I mention big oil?
  
• dissensions
• factions and
  
• envy (did I mention the Clintons?)
  
• drunkenness (Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, and oh yeah, is 'W' a "dry-drunk?" How come no one cares that he usded to have a cocaine problem, but they freaked out when they heard that Bill Clinton once tried pot?)
  
• orgies, and the like (well, okay, who doesn't like a good orgy? Republican or Democrat)
  

Good Fruit:

• love (see also compassion, empathy, caring...)
  
• joy
  
• peace (blessed are the peacemakers, who said that? Hmmmm)
  
• patience (okay, not me)
  
• kindness
  
• goodness
• faithfulness
• gentleness and (you're right, not me again, or any other political humorist or cartoonist)
  
• self-control (yeah, I know- obviously I need to work on this one otherwise I wouldn't go off on rants like this or let my blood pressure go up every time someone compares George W. Bush to Abe Lincoln or Jesus or whoever. Breath, breath, find your happy place...)