First Read: "Six months ago, how many Republicans would have believed: 1) that the Obama White House would have backed a plan to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years; 2) that the president would agree to link the debt limit to spending cuts; and 3) that Obama would put Medicare and Social Security on the table? The Tea Party and deficit hawks like Jim DeMint would have won the argument when it comes to debt, and they would have achieved something -- especially on Medicare and Social Security -- they'd probably never get under a Republican president, unless he or she had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. But Republicans walked away from the deal, because they wouldn't give up the one thing that Democrats were asking for in return: any increases in tax hikes for the rich."
Source: Teagan Goddard's Political Wire
If you don't know what the acronym IDFK means, I can't help you. Either way, you should know that I am not even going to attempt to answer that question. I don't really know WJWD for most things that occur in my life. Would Jesus take the Green Line to work or the bus? Would Jesus go eat at Ribs N Bibs even though their employees are so mean? Would Jesus pass gas in an elevator if he was in there alone? I truly can't say.
With all the federal budget drama going on, encompassed nicely in this little paragraph above, I am inclined to wonder about how people of faith should respond to such things. Implicitly, if you are Christian at least, this does have something to do with the question of what Jesus would do. Today in a staff meeting, Protestant's for the Common Good Executive Director Al Sharp said something like (I can't remember anything anymore), "You cannot be religious without being political." Lest Sam Harris have an aneurism, I don't think that statement is as simple as it sounds. It is not Tim+Jesus=Ihatecloning. It is something like that, but its more like Tim+(Overarching Life View)=Ihatecloning.
I certainly don't know what Jesus would do about the debt ceiling. Quite honestly, he probably wouldn't have concerned himself with it. But he is not Tim, and I am not Jesus. But I do have an overarching life view, that involves Jesus, and I can't help but use that in thinking about What Would Tim Do About the Debt Ceiling (answer: I would drill domestically for oil).
Btw, I am almost certain Jesus would have no problem farting in an elevator.
A blog from Protestants for the Common Good about faith and politics.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Blanket Beliefs (Abortion!)
Pro-Life Protest in Daley Plaza-Chicago, IL-July 11th, 2011
I took this picture right outside of the Protestants for the Common Good office. It has been quite some time since I have seen a protest like this, and I don't know if that is because I have housed myself within spheres of pro-choice normativity but there is nothing like the site of mutilated fetus' to cause one to pause.
What is interesting to me about the abortion debate is the clear dichotomy, split right down an imaginary and all too real political line that divides our political parties regarding the issue. That's fine and to be expected, as you have some who are pro-choice and some pro-life (I don't like that name, pro-life. If I am pro-choice that does not mean I hope the choice is 100% abortion all the time. I like life too...I think). But what is terribly bizarre is why being pro-choice or pro-life automatically must set ones other views on things like taxation, foreign policy, social welfare, healthcare, etc. Someone who thinks that abortion is murder should not necessarily think that extension of the Bush tax cuts is a good thing. It is pretty clear that causation runs in some sort of direction and is motivated by certain factors, and I mean that 100% on both sides of the coin. Someone who thinks abortion should be legal should not necessarily support affirmative action.
What's the deal? Are we all too lazy to really think about what we support? Are certain issues like abortion of such a high priority that we'll take whatever we can get?
What's the deal? Are we all too lazy to really think about what we support? Are certain issues like abortion of such a high priority that we'll take whatever we can get?
Friday, July 8, 2011
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
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
Thursday, July 7, 2011
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
-Tim
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