The Christian Right: I Remember You! (Was going to make the title: The Right Shall Rise Again! You're welcome that I didn't)

This a longer post than I would like to and normally do write.  Please bear with me (there is a special treat for you at the end)

It was the year 2000, and I was an Evangelical Charismatic Conservative Fundamentalist (Quite the title I know; though not as good as the one I give myself now: Ambiguous Kierkegaardian Christian Existentialist).  My relationship with a very particular section of the Religious Right is a strange, intimate, and difficult one.  During Y2k, Lou Engle, then at Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena California, of Jesus Camp fame, was putting together a rally at the Washington Mall entitled "The Call."  It was to be a gathering of one million (The Call website puts the actual number that day at 400,000) Christians praying and fasting to turn this nation back to God.  I say this without any snark, but as someone who watched Lou Engle in those days often, turning the nation back to God seemed very much about abortion and reinstating prayer in schools (gay marriage had yet to explode on the national scene).  I remember skate boarding with Lou Engle's kids outside of his home, and hanging out with his eldest son at a retreat.

It was the year 2002, and I took a trip up to Chico, California to meet with the prominent leader of a evangelical campus ministry organization.  The thing that sticks out in my mind about that trip was a story that was told to me about his mother, a prophetic woman of prayer as they called her, who had personally met with Senator Sam Brownback and told him that God was going to make him president.  Back then I was like who the hell is Sam Brownback, and then when I saw him running for president in 2008 I was like oh ****. He did not make it past any primaries.

I tell you this because in the last few days I have had the curious feeling of being sucked back into the vortex of that world as I read this article, came upon this website, and finally on this last article.  For those of you who don't want to read, the first article is about Texas Governor Rick Perry meeting with prominent conservative pastors.  The second is the official website for an event, hosted by Rick Perry, called "The  Response."  A response because:  America is in the midst of a historic crisis.  We have been besieged by financial debt, terrorism, and a multitude of natural disasters.  The youth of America are in grave peril economically, socially, and most of all, moral. The last article is entitled "Texas Governor Perry Likely to Run in 2012."

I am not not not trying to connect some crazy dots in a conspiracy theory.  What I am trying to say is that after being somewhat dormant in presidential politics since 2004 (though ask gay couples in California and elsewhere if they have been dormant in state politics), the Christian right has not gone away.  2008 was a weird time for them where a decidedly not very evangelical Republican was running against a black socialist.  2012 could shape up to be a year where a Mormon closet liberal is running against a super black socialist.  But the Christian right won't let that happen without a fight.

Protestants for the Common Good was largely founded in response to a nation whose view of the Church was dominated by conservative fundamentalists.  We are not all that way, and I thought we were (albeit sloooowly) moving in a positive direction where I wouldn't have to explain to everyone that their Jesus is not my Jesus.  God, let us keep moving in that direction.

Finally I leave you with this. Don't ask me why.  I just needed to lighten the mood a little.

-Tim

One Bottle at a Time: Oh the Shame

From an Onion article shared by a reader yesterday (hilarious and sadly true as all things 

are):

WASHINGTON — Wishing to dispose of the empty plastic container, and failing to spot a recycling bin nearby, an estimated 30 million Americans asked themselves Monday how bad throwing away a single bottle of water could really be. 

"It's fine, it's fine," thought Maine native Sheila Hodge, echoing the exact sentiments of Chicago-area resident Phillip Ragowski, recent Florida transplant Margaret Lowery, and Kansas City business owner Brian McMillan, as they tossed the polyethylene terephthalate object into an awaiting trash can. "It's just one bottle. And I'm usually pretty good about this sort of thing."

"Not a big deal," continued roughly one-tenth of the nation's population

.

We all do this from time to time, or all of the time.  The reality is that unless wide spread 

changes occur, my one bottle in the correct bin won’t mean a thing.  I know that, but 

what keeps me going is shame.  The shame I would feel telling people the environment

 was important to preserve and proceeding to do nothing about it.  Shame is a great 

motivator.   

-Tim

New Logo

A big thank you to Betsy Neely for designing our fine new logo (displayed on the right side here)! Consequently, if you hate it, you can blame her...

-Tim

The Progressive Christian Message: Am I Convincing You Yet?

The other day I made a criticism in front of a group about how many progressive Christian theologies take out small snippets of scripture and apply them to social issues more or less in the same disingenuous ways that the Christian Right does. However, my beef was not so much against this action in and of itself but that such an approach does little to convince anyone who is already not on the same side.  To this, someone asked if I thought the point of such theologies were to convince an opponent of THE true truth.  This a fair question.  When a progressive Christian, or really anyone for that matter, constructs some sort of argument or makes a particular case, is there an implication that the constructor has THE truth that all others ought conform to?

When I tell people that the Fresh Prince of Bel Air is the best show of all time (click here for all the evidence you need), I believe I am in possession of a truth that all who disagree are too blind to see.  If only they’d open their unfunny eyes.  But in this case, whether or not someone agrees with me is largely inconsequential.  The Fresh Prince has been off the air since the Clinton era and all the DVDs have been released.  I don’t need to convince people lest it be cancelled or Will Smith not become a giant tool.

A progressive Christian agenda is another matter.  In hoping to institute real change in America on behalf of the widows and orphans, both literally and metaphorically, we need to get as many people on our side as possible.  To answer my original question, I think that any rational argument is designed to be convincing to somebody, otherwise we’d just say, “Don’t worry about it.”  Is it THE truth?  There is no way for me to really know, but bringing as many people to our cause is essential.  This is not a matter of being an evangelizing zealot, or a cultural imperialist.  That’s what one liners and guns are for.  So how do we do it then?

Peter Laarman over at Religion Dispatches provides an interesting answer where he champions relationship building, narrative honesty, and interpersonal means of conversation and debate.  Seems like a good start to me.

I should note that my previous post regarding global warming flies in the face of everything I just said.  I won't try to defend myself (but I was genuinely curious!).  I apologize.   


-Tim

Why Do Some Christians Think Global Warming Blows?

Ok, so no one wanted to respond to my question in part one.  That is fine.  I know all of you are too ashamed to admit being terrible stewards of the environment.

I am trying today to understand why so many Christians oppose global warming, or climate change, as some sort of evil hoax.  What is it about the idea that human beings are contributing to harmful changes in the atmosphere that makes certain people who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord who saves them from eternal damnation so upset?

I found this website, entitled "Free Sunday School Lessons" with an entry called "Global Warming: More Than a Hoax."  It is kind of great, mostly because it is rather long and dense and boring for Sunday school (If I remember Sunday school, we sang songs about Father Abraham, made macaroni Jesus fish, and awkwardly went through puberty together in a sexually repressive environment).  I'll save you the trouble of looking through the whole thing, though I recommend it, and leave you with a few choice excerpts:
"There is an underlying need in sinful human nature to be able to predict the future. It used to be that false prophets were dealt with severely. Today, they win the Nobel Peace prize."
"God made it clear to Job that it is arrogance to believe that man can control the climate."
"What the Bible says:
Genesis 8:22: 'As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.'”
"These people believe “anything.” They do not discern, but believe every word anybody speaks.
On the contrary, we are to be prudent, sensible people."
" Take this global warming issue as an opportunity to spread the Gospel."
"It is a battle between faith in science or the Bible. Like many doomsday prophecies, there are underlying motivations. We have identified two—politics and money."

I will stop here for now, but there is definitely something that motivates this anti-global warming faction (this being one example).  I have identified two - the need to hold onto biblical inerrancy, and a hatred of anything championed by secular humanists and hairy people (I also have a suspicion that is has something to do with a love for Kirk Cameron, but I can't prove that).

-Tim

Here Comes the Sun Again

Just a reminder, I think mostly for myself, that there is beauty in the world.  May your day be blessed (despite all the bad we try to fight, there is still something insane about flying in an airplane and looking out the window).

Cap-and-trade Vs Politics

Ezra Klein: Climate hawks are trying to pinpoint where they went wrong in their campaign to combat global warming. Brad Plumer rather sensibly suggests that they’re overlooking the possibility that the problem wasn’t tactical deficiencies on the part of the green movement, but rather the result of things just not working out on the issue. I think that’s mostly correct, but would add that trying to understand what happened to cap-and-trade by looking specifically at the cap-and-trade debate is almost certainly the wrong way to go about it. Rather, cap-and-trade, like many other issues, is a casualty of larger forces driving our politics.

An Honest Confession About Being Green

On a scale of 1-10 for environmental consciousness and action (1 being someone who clubs baby seals for sport and drives from their garage to the end of the driveway to put out the trash, and 10 being someone who never showers to save water and eats meat only if its carrion) I would put myself at a 6. I am well aware of environmental policy issues (cap and trade, etc.), try to recycle when possible, bike when possible, turn off lights and appliances when possible, and even though it hurts like hell because its like sand paper, I often buy recycled toilet paper.

But there are tons of things I don't do. I actually lied. I drive a lot because it is so convenient, and because I am always late to things. I take long showers because hot water feels so nice. Sometimes at night I have bad dreams and then sleep with the lights on. I have an air conditioner, and eat all kinds of earth destroying fast food. I once strangled a panda to death.

This morning I read an article about how youth these days are part of a new Green Generation, where six-year-old kids are telling their Earth-hating-parents to unplug unused appliances. Then I read another article that says the Green Generation isn't very green at all. Then I read another article about how young professionals these days want to work for jobs that matter, i.e., environmental sustainability.

It seems to me that there a number of factors that contribute to the youth and young adult population being more environmentally conscious than previous generations, and there are also a number of factors I can think of that somewhat cancel out higher consciousness in the name of self convenience. Most people I know personally fall somewhere around a 5 or 6 on my completely arbitrary scale of environmental consciousness and action. Which makes me feel a little bit better about myself, though I feel shameful that that makes me feel better about myself. Where might you put yourself?

More to come.

-Tim