A Different Street

Fred Clark had some sane things to say about Glenn Beck’s latest insane screed about rejecting churches whose missions include social justice. But it was this, from commenter JJ, that really got me out of the weeds:

JOHN THE DISCIPLE: Jesus! What is best in life?

JESUS: To krosh yore enemies, to see dem driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of der vimmen!!!

DISCIPLES: ARRRRRGGHH! YAAAAAA!

JOHN THE DISCIPLE: That is good!

–The Gospel Of John Milius, Oliver Stone and Robert E. Howard.

(Here’s the joke referent.)

Via a tweet from Thom Hartmann, here is Jeremy Rifkin radically reconsidering the role of the classic American dream in the worldwide economic and ecological crises (emphasis mine):

… our long held beliefs about human nature, and by extension, the institutions we have created to express those beliefs, played no small role in precipitating the very crisis that now faces the country. In a nation that has come to think of human nature as competitive, even predatory, self serving, acquisitive and utilitarian, is it any wonder that those very values have led to a “winner take all” syndrome in the marketplace in which the rich get richer while everyone else becomes marginalized, and the well-being of the larger community, including the biosphere, becomes eroded?

[...]

The new sensibilities of the younger generation are beginning to usher in a different idea about human nature and the dream that accompanies it. Today’s youth find little value in the Enlightenment caricature of human nature as rational, calculating, detached, and utilitarian. They prefer to think of human nature as empathic, mindful, engaged, and driven by the intrinsic value and interconnectedness of life. Homo sapien is being eclipsed by homo empathicus, as they shift their horizon from national markets and nation-state borders to a global economy and a planetary community. Even their preferred indicators of economic progress are shifting, from the crude calculation of gross domestic product and per-capita income to more sensitive social indicators — like health and longevity, social equality, safe communities, clean environment, etc. — that measure the well-being of the broader community.

I would go so far as to suggest that this is exactly where enlightened Christians need to take a stand. The need for Great Commandment/social justice ministries has never been so urgent.

Last night I went to hear John Nichols and Robert McChesney speak about their new book The Death and Life of American Journalism. It was as sobering an evening as I’ve had in awhile.

The authors painted a devastating portrait of the decline and collapse of traditional media: the steady loss of newspapers, national and international news bureaus and journalists, and the continuing concentration of media ownership in the hands of the few powerful. I was aware of all these things, but the collective numbers were a gut-punch.

The authors also made a convincing case that a free press is essential to the operation of a healthy democracy. Anyone who has grieved over decisions made or swayed by what are delicately called “low information voters” and the people who prey on them would have to agree. We can’t be good stewards of our democracy unless we know what is going on, from sources other than those with vested interests.

So: there we were, some 70-80 of us — the median age probably 50 — staring the ugly facts in the face. What hope did the authors offer? Many of their suggestions can be found on the Free Press website. They include stopping further media consolidation, maintaining the free flow of information on the Internet, drastically increasing the number of publicly-funded media outlets, and working to provide under-served communities access to media.

God bless them, I say. I hope it works.

I’ve been listening to the BBC’s radio program World Have Your Say on the Haiti earthquake. Several people in the audience responded to the news that reporters are arriving in Port-au-Prince but that relief supplies are stymied by concerns about the infrastructure at Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Why, they asked, couldn’t the reporters carry in the water, blankets, and first aid supplies that are so desperately needed? Sure, it would be largely symbolic, but symbols have power.

The reporters, whatever their intentions, are basically there to take: news, information, photographs. Of course the reports may inspire others to give (we can only hope so), but the fact remains that what is needed, immediately, is giving. The contrast is stark.

Speaking of giving: here are some links to ways to help the devastated people of Haiti. I’m particularly partial to MercyCorps, but anything, anywhere, will help.

This is so good that, like virgomusic at Street Prophets, I want to quote the whole thing. But here’s how Bishop Spong’s manifesto begins:

I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is “an abomination to God,” about how homosexuality is a “chosen lifestyle,” or about how through prayer and “spiritual counseling” homosexual persons can be “cured.” Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy.

Imagine me standing and cheering wildly.

On the topic of modern American Christianity and sexuality, particularly GLBT sexuality, Timothy Palmer is far more patient, generous, and hopeful than I:

With the exception of the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalists and the Jewish Reform and Reconstructionist movements, much of organized religion still struggles to shed its homophobic past and to liberate its sexual ethic from moralism and shame. No wonder growing numbers of Americans find the Church irrelevant to their lives, particularly their sexual lives.

This is not to say the Church is a hopeless case. Far from it. As this summer’s actions at the Episcopal and Lutheran general assemblies demonstrated, our religious communities are finding their way forward on the long journey from “sexuality is sinful” to “sexuality is holy,” and from “God created sex for procreation” to “God created sex for pleasure.” That journey requires a transformation in religious thinking, followed by a transformation in religious teaching.

Could I possibly say “Good luck with that” without sounding/being snarky? ‘Tis a transformation devoutly to be wished, to be sure.

I look to The Rude Pundit for bracing and unapologetic takes on current events, and he did not disappoint today, taking on the topic of a recent apology offered by the Senate to Native Americans (not for those offended by strong language):

While some Indian groups and others find it to be a step in the right direction, it’s not inappropriate to say that in many quarters of Indian America, the resolution, which explicitly denies reparations or claims against the United States for, you know, genocide, treaty-breaking, etcetera, etcetera, has been met with, “Hey, fuck you. Howzabout some fuckin’ help instead?” Like Kevin Abourezk, a Lakota journalist, who writes, “Each year, we watch the health, safety and education of our children erode like the sandy banks of a raging river. But rather than improved health care or justice programs, Native people get this: an apology from the Senate.” To their credit, South Dakota Senators Tim Johnson, a Democrat, and John Thune, a Republican, said that this was a nice, if empty, start, and that more needs to be done for Indian communities.

Like maybe doing something about, for instance, this from Amnesty International regarding crime on America’s reservations: “One in three women will be raped in her lifetime. Half the reported murders and 72% of child sex crimes are never prosecuted. Ninety percent of sexual assaults on native women are committed by men from the dominant ethnic groups.” You may as well toss in a jump in the youth suicide rate, a rise in gang activities on the reservation, and unending domestic abuse of native women.

Umm, sorry?

Warning: Vulgar language alert!

I had a conversation this morning with some parents at our elementary school that really set me off.

Backstory: When a new school was added to the district this year, the elementary boundaries were re-drawn, which caused considerable heartburn among some of the families who formerly attended one of the two newer schools (5 and 10 years old) and are now attending our school (69 years old). When the decision was announced, some of them actually stood up at a school board meeting — I kid you not — and complained about their kids having to attend “the poor school” with “those people who live in apartments.” The incandescence of my rage at the time could not be measured, but as time went on (and as we labored long and well to reassure the new families that our school is not a dingy penetentiary), I allowed myself to forget and get on with it.

Well, the sad news is that not only has that attitude persisted, but the people who have it are now on the PTA and still openly displaying this ugly (and, I suspect, largely racist) prejudice against families who don’t live in upscale single-family homes. So far this year, I’ve basked in my short-timer’s/burnout status and stayed away from the PTA, but I will be goddamned if I will let these fuckers piss all over the community I’ve helped to nurture at this school for the last five years, and import the snotty classist attitudes that prevail in the newer schools. Fuck them! Do the words “public school” mean nothing? Does it really need explaining that kids from lower-income/single-parent families deserve exactly as good an education as everyone else? I don’t know what it will take to expose and root out this garbage, but by God I am going to do it or know the reason why.

::: deep cleansing breath :::

Anyway! Stephen Suh tells a good story over at Cogitamus. Please, go read while I pull myself together.

Nezua at The Unapologetic Mexican analyzes a moment from Fox News, and concludes:

Well, here you have three white dudes talking about how wrong and how it is an “abuse of power” that a hate crimes bill was added to a defense spending bill.

The three rich white men also discuss how the Defense spending bill omits cashola for their new lusty F22 plane which McCain laments has never seen action in either Iraq or Afghanistan. (Isn’t that a dear smile on the old chap’s face?)

So. They want more money to kill brown people overseas and they call the protection of brown people here in the US an “abuse of power” by US government. And they end by saying (as you can see by the lil subtitle at the bottom of the image) that this combo leaves ‘us’ with inadequate defense.

Which ought to make you wonder…Whatchoo mean “us”?!

As Jake T. Snake notes at Whiskey Fire, “us” (“normal”) = white, middle class, and Republican — an assumption that must be vigorously challenged whenever it occurs.

The very delightful Margaret at Leave It Lay Where Jesus Flang It anticipates the discussion at the Episcopal Church’s upcoming General Conference over divisive issues of inclusivity:

And to not grapple with the issues of sexuality–well, the church will have lost its salt, will be sicker if it does not –will be as disordered and wrong as the disciples trying to keep ‘the little ones’ away from Jesus, or the crowd sternly ordering a blind man to be quiet….

It is the crowd, the disciples that get it wrong. Over and over again.

The Church cannot offer healing in this; the Church is what must be healed–the church is the blind man sitting in the gutter begging. The Church must recognize its blindness, cry to see again. Clearly. And receive the testimony and blessings of those who have been told to shut up, who have already regained their sight. The ones who are already proclaiming God’s glory.