Chuck Gutenson: Is Universal Healthcare Unbiblical?

The question of universal healthcare is shaping up to be a rather serious focus in this election cycle. With costs out of control and each year seeing more and more of us without access to affordable health insurance or health care, many see universal health coverage as the best (and, perhaps, only) longer term solution to the problem. This piece on NPR focused on the difficulties of “making ends meet without health insurance.” It isn’t a pretty sight.

While many Christians embrace the extent to which this, too, is a moral issue, sadly we still have those who seek to erect ideological boundaries by misusing scripture. On my blog, I examine one of the common arguments against universal health care offered by a writer on the Religious Right. This writer seems to think that the primary motivators of a biblical position is one that is driven by “tough love” and “personal responsibility.” Yet:

Throughout the bible, God continually models giving people far better than they deserve. In fact, if one looks at Jesus' own ministry wherein he feeds the hungry, heals the sick, and both characterizes and models God as one who blesses others without regard to merit (in the Sermon, God's goodness itself is characterized as blessing without regard to merit), the value system espoused by this writer would make Jesus, oddly, pretty unbiblical!

The author then moves to his central argument that universal healthcare is socialism, and socialism is unbiblical (presumably, something we all just know). Again, the author misses important points:

One does not have to argue that socialism is the only form of economy scripture allows, but to argue that it is precluded overlooks too much. Oddly, this writer would have to judge numerous of God's commands as "unbiblical." For example, God commands years of release, wherein debts are forgiven every seven years, as well as years of Jubilee, wherein lands are returned to their ancestral owners. God commands that garments offered as collateral by the poor be returned at night, since the poor would require them to stay warm. Amos 2 gives pretty harsh judgment of those who do not obey this command. Scripture requires that profit maximization be set aside to allow food to be gathered from the fields by the poor. Jesus commands that we give to those who ask from us, and in the Great Judgment of Matthew 25, he makes it quite clear that care for those on the margins is central to his assessment of our lives. These aspects of scripture were not missed by C.S. Lewis, who argued that, to be biblical, an economy would be more socialistic than not.

Sadly, the most serious underlying problem in the author’s evaluation is that it is driven mostly by a rather unbiblical set of precommitments:

In short, this writer has absolutized a particular vision of economies and has missed that what God intends us to make foundational is very different. [Rather than absolutizing markets and an abstract sense of freedom as the right to maximize profits, scripture makes convenental relationships central, as Walter Brueggemann notes.] We are called both to model and to defend economic relations that make neither dependence nor independence primary, but which instead make central the idea of mutual interdependence. It is the mutuality of relations that come from our owning our obligations to each other - whether embodied in governments or not - that determines whether a given system is biblical or not. Sadly, the writer missed this altogether, and, thus, missed giving us a Christian analysis.

For my full art icle, go here.


Chuck Gutenson is a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary and blogs at http://www.imitatiochristi.blogs.com/

Soong-Chan Rah: Shame and Anger

The dust has settled. Most - if not all - of the cameras and the national media have vacated Blacksburg, Virginia. America, and even the Virginia Tech campus, seems to be trying to move on. There’s a presidential race to dissect. American Idol is headed towards its stretch run. The Virginia Tech shooting becomes another American tragedy that slips into the American subconscious.

I must admit that as a Korean-American I have tried to stay under the radar on the recent events at Virginia Tech. I’m almost glad that the slaughter is no longer a lead story. There was too much shame, there was too much pain.

When it was first announced that the shooter was a Korean-American, there was a visceral reaction on my part. This is an individual with a funny sounding name, just like mine. This is an individual who grew up in an immigrant home in the Washington, D.C., area, just like me. This could have been someone who once sat in the back of my youth group, deliberately lowering his eyes and avoiding all human contact.

How did I treat the misfit when he showed up at church? There is a collective shame felt by the Korean-American community for not taking care of one of our own and possibly preventing a national tragedy. It's not completely rational, but it is reflective of the valuing of community among Asians. Maybe collective shame is a good thing to feel every once in awhile. Maybe then, the shame of racism will be a social issue rather than being reduced to an attempt to absolve individual guilt (and what individual is actually guilty of racism? It is so much easier to scapegoat Imus and pretend that corporate racism doesn’t actually exist). So I, personally, feel the shame of someone that looks like me being responsible for the slaughter of innocent lives.

After the initial shock and sense of shame came the frustration and anger. Why do the newscasters continue to point out that the shooter was a South Korean national when he was more American than Korean? Why is the South Korean government issuing not one, but two public apologies on behalf of an individual who was clearly more shaped by American culture than by his Korean origins? Why would anyone feel the need to lash out against the entire Asian-American community for the actions of an individual? Why can’t even one national newscaster pronounce his name right?

Believe me, I have no sympathy for the shooter. My sympathy is with the families of the victims. I just hope the circle of sympathy doesn’t have to spread too far.

Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah is Milton B. Engebretson Assistant Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary and a member of the Sojourners/Call to Renewal board. He blogs at: http://www.xanga.com/scrah

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on Darfur, Iran, Immigration, Iraq, Africa-US military, Colombia, US-India nuclear deal, Episcopal church, faith-Barak Obama, faith- Rev James Forbes, Tenet book, and select commentaries.


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Full news summary:

Darfur. World rallies for Darfur action - "Organisers of the Global Day for Darfur said events were taking place in 35 capitals to mark the fourth anniversary of the conflict." Britain gives Sudan days to meet demands - "As public consciousness of the grim situation in Darfur grows, the difficulty of prosecuting what is often popularly called genocide is becoming clearer." Why genocide is difficult to prosecute - "As public consciousness of the grim situation in Darfur grows, the difficulty of prosecuting what is often popularly called genocide is becoming clearer."

Iraq. Maliki's Office Is Seen Behind Purge in Forces - "A department of the Iraqi prime minister's office is playing a leading role in the arrest and removal of senior Iraqi army and national police officers, some of whom had apparently worked too aggressively to combat violent Shiite militias," U.S. Clashes With Militia in Baghdad - "Militiamen loyal to the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr clashed with American forces in northern Baghdad on Sunday, an Interior Ministry official said, the latest in a series of indications that the militia might be emerging from two months of self-imposed dormancy."

Iraq-military. They also serve their conscience - "Although their numbers are still small compared with the draft-fueled Vietnam veterans' movement four decades ago, California's Iraq veterans are gaining a voice in opposition to America's continued military presence in Iraq. Recent antiwar demonstrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities have seen the first sizable contingents of veterans from the conflict."War Called Riskier Than Vietnam - "President Bush recently said that "there's a lot of differences" between the current war in Iraq and the Vietnam War. As fighting in Iraq enters its fifth year, an increasing number of experts in foreign policy and national strategy are arguing that the biggest difference may be that the Iraq war will inflict greater damage to U.S. interests than Vietnam did."

Iraq-Congress. Congress' vote on Iraq war is only a prelude - "To buy time for his buildup of more than 28,000 troops to show results, Bush asked his commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, to deliver a progress report to the nation in early September. That helped stave o ff Republican defections as Congress debated whether to impose a timetable for troop withdrawals." GOP's Base Helps Keep Unity on Iraq - "The experiences of the few Republicans to vote against the war help explain the remarkable unity that the party has maintained in Washington behind an unpopular president. … That cohesion reflects the views of the GOP's core voters, who see the war in Iraq in fundamentally different terms than Democrats and political independents do," The White House Scales Back Talk of Iraq Progress- "The Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is signs of political progress or greater security until September, and many of Mr. Bush's top advisers now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited,"

Iran. Iran to Attend Regional Talks on Iraq Violence- "The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran announced that it would attend a regional conference on Iraq later this week, setting the stage for the first cabinet-level meeting between Iran and the United States since the end of 2004." Inside the struggle for Iran- "A grand coalition of anti-government forces is planning a second Iranian revolution via the ballot box to deny President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another term in office and break the grip of what they call the "militia state" on public life and personal freedom."

Africa-US military. U.S. force aims to secure Africa - "The United States hopes by year's end to establish an Africa Command that will anchor military operations across a continent seen to be of increasing strategic importance and threatened by transnational terrorists."

Colombia. Colombian Seeks to Persuade Congress to Continue Aid - "Faced with allegations of government ties to paramilitary death squads and criticism from prominent Democrats, President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia is heading to Washington this week to try to unlock frozen American aid and salvage a trade agreement with the United States." Colombian Prosecutor Probes U.S. Firms - "[Colombia's chief prosecutor] spoke ahead of a trip to Washington this week to seek aid for his overburdened office and help obtaining evidence against U.S.-based multinationals he's investigating for allegedly financing the paramilitaries."

Immigration. Senators grasp at a chance for reform - "Lawmakers who back immigration reform, recognizing that their chances are dwindling rapidly, are girding for a last-ditch attempt to pass a sweeping bill before their efforts are swallowed up by an early campaign season and an acrimonious political mood."

US-India nuclear deal. India-U.S. nuclear pact remains stalled - "The high-profile nuclear cooperation deal that lies at the heart of warming ties between India and the U.S. has run into serious trouble over the fine print. Officials on both sides are expressing growing frustration over each other's seeming intransigence in overcoming the final obstacles to sealing the agreement,"

Episcopal church. Visit by Anglican Bishop Draws Episcopal AngerThe Anglican archbishop of Nigeria, a fierce critic of the Episcopal Church for its acceptance of homosexuality, is arriving next week to install a bishop to lead congregations around the country that want to break from it.

Faith-Barack Obama. A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith- "Twenty years ago at Trinity, Mr. Obama, then a community organizer in poor Chicago neighborhoods, found the African-American community he had sought all his life, along with professional credibility as a community organizer and an education in how to inspire followers. He had sampled various faiths but adopted none until he met Mr. Wright, a dynamic pastor who preached Afrocentric theology, dabbled in radical politics and delivered music-and-profanity-spiked sermons."

Faith-Rev. James Forbes. Forbes leaves Riverside pulpit pulling no punches - "as Forbes reflected on his 18 years in one the country's most prestigious and visible pulpits, he hardly sounded wistful. In fact, Forbes, 71, who will officially retire in June, seems fully ready for what he calls a next great chapter - setting his sights on nothing less than the spiritual renewal of the nation."

Tenet book. Tenet Details Efforts to Justify Invading Iraq - "White House and Pentagon officials, and particularly Vice President Cheney, were determined to attack Iraq from the first days of the Bush administration, long before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and repeatedly stretched available intelligence to build support for the war, according to a new book by former CIA director George J. Tenet."

Commentary.

BELIEFS; Moral Plots and Subplots in the Latest Ruling on Abortion (Peter Steinfels, NY Times) - "Life today is lived on slippery slopes. Which ones seize our attention and crystallize our fears? What moral outrages or absurdities, lurking at the bottom, stir our energies? How steep is the incline? Where can we throw up a railing, dig a trench, clear a landing, keep our footing? Questions like these determine a great deal of public moral debate."

Hagel's Stand (Robert D. Novak, Washington Post) - "Sen. Chuck Hagel returned from his fifth visit to Iraq to become one of two Republicans to join Senate Democrats in voting Thursday to begin withedrawal of U.S. troops. It was not an easy vote for a conservative GOP regular and faithful supporter of Pr esident George W. Bush's other policies. A few days earlier, Hagel sat down with me and painted a bleak picture of the war and U.S. policy."

Voice of the Day: Elizabeth O'Connor

It is not what happens to us in any day that gives content to our lives, but whether or not we let its experience sink into us. ... It is one of the highest powers given to anyone. In reflection I come upon feelings that I had been too afraid to experience in the moment. In the quiet of reflection I take the risk and the time to let censored thoughts as well as feelings into consciousness, to discover what is causing the uneasiness in me.

- Elizabeth O'Connor
from Cry Pain, Cry Hope

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Verse of the Day: "The Last Will be First"

Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

- Mark 10:28-31

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Rev. Gabriel Salguero: My Living Paradox

After preaching at an evangelical conference for young Latino/a ministers in Florida some time ago, someone asked me, “Gabriel, how would you define yourself?” This question certainly has a myriad of answers but considering the context of my surroundings I guess I knew what he was asking. The query had to do with how I position myself theologically, socially, and politically. This was a difficult question to answer in light of my embracing what Brian McLaren calls A Generous Orthodoxy. The small biography attached to the programs gave some clues to my theological and social eclecticism. I grew up as a Pentecostal pastor’s kid, serve as a Nazarene pastor, have an M.Div. from a Reformed seminary, and am doing doctoral work at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

Often when speaking to a new group of people, many assumptions are made depending on how I am introduced. If they lead with "Pentecostal" or "Nazarene" I’m pegged as a conservative Republican who has made up his mind about most things. If they lead with "Latino" and "Union Ph.D. student," the assumption is that I am a theological social liberal who has made up his mind about most things. Now I know I'm not the only one who, in searching to be a faithful disciple of Christ, eschews facile definitions too often used to divide and alienate. There are an increasing number of Latino/a, black, white, and Asian evangelicals (just to name a few groups) who in their search to be faithful to the gospel draw from a plethora of sources. Perhaps we are labeled as post-modern believers or anti-traditionalists. The truth is we are part of a long history of Christians struggling to be faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ.

So, who am I? I am just one of a growing group of Latino progressive evangelicals. In the words of John the Baptist, from the Latin Vulgate, “Ego vox clamantis en deserto.” I am Latino, because I was born in New Jersey of Puerto Rican parents and learned both español and Ingles. I am evangelical because I believe in the transforming power of Jesus Christ and the gospel for the individual and the larger social structures. I am progressive because I hold to the prophetic stream in Christian tradition that says we must do better to live more in line with Christian moral imperatives.

What does this mean to the larger Christian church in the United States, independent of nomenclature? Progressive Latino/a evangelicals are a growing group that says, “Hear us. We have something to say to the larger church.” We do not say "amen" to everything just because someone claims to speak from the evangelical perspective. Neither do we nod in affirmation for all who claim to speak from a Latino/a progressive perspective. We understand our paradox quite well. We are usually pro-family and pro-comprehensive immigration reform that gives dignity to the undocumented. The war in Iraq is of deep concern, particularly in light of the loss of life not just of Iraqi non-combatants but also of too many poor whites, Latinos/as, and blacks. We think that poverty, economic inequality, and the environment are just as important moral issues as abortion, stem cell research, and same-sex marriage.

Some years ago I began meeting with Latino/a evangelical colleagues who were working on articulating together who we were. The Latino Leadership Circle is just one manifestation of people living fully and authentically in ways that some call paradox.


Rev. Gabriel Salguero is the pastor of the Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene in New York City, a Ph.D. candidate at Union Theological Seminary, and the director of the Hispanic Leadership Program at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is also a board member for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Jim Rice: Peggy Noonan on Scaring Our Children

Peggy Noonan, a special assistant and speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, isn't exactly my favorite pundit, but she's right on in her OpinionJournal.com column today on the effect on children of our cultural propensity toward in-your-face violence.

Her strongest language is aimed at the callousness of the rich:

We are frightening our children to death, and I'll tell you what makes me angriest. I am not sure the makers of our culture fully notice what they are doing, what impact their work is having, because the makers of our culture are affluent. Affluence buys protection. You can afford to make your children safe. You can afford the constant vigilance needed to protect your children from the culture you produce, from the magazine and the TV and the CD and the radio. ... The lacking, the poor, the working and middle class--they have no protection. Their kids are on their own. And they're scared.

Suffer the little children.

Jim Rice is editor of Sojourners magazine.

Rose Marie Berger: Write to a Soldier?

I’ve gotten a couple of requests from people wanting to know how to contact soldiers. Manhattanville College in New York has a really good My Soldier Program that matches civilians and active duty soldiers for letter exchanges and support. Manhattanville is a college with a strong social justice bent and the program was developed by Iraq veterans in conjunction with students. It puts politics aside while letting U.S. troops know that people back home care. It was co-founded by Sgt. Juan Salas, a 23-year-old Manhattanville student who served 14 months in Iraq and is now back on campus. The letters Juan received meant so much to him that he wanted to generate thousands more for troops who are still deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

By enrolling in the My Soldier Program, you can “adopt” a soldier. Then you will receive guidelines about what kinds of things a soldier might like to receive, as well as a red “My Soldier” bracelet. More than 300,000 people have joined the My Soldier Program, volunteering to write to almost 150,000 soldiers. If you as an individual or your group are looking for a method of connecting with soldiers, I recommend Manhattanville’s My Soldier Program. Once you join, you can download a starter kit and off you go! (Additionally, if you know soldiers looking for letter exchanges with civilians, they also can sign up at the My Soldier Program.)

Additionally, though it’s difficult to write to Iraqis, there are a couple of blogs that can foster connection. Check out Raed in the Middle and Baghdad Burning. Let us know of other people-to-people connections with Iraqis.

Rose Marie Berger is an associate editor of Sojourners magazine.

Jim Wallis: Helpers and Heroes

When tragedies such as last week’s shooting at Virginia Tech happen, the media pay a lot of attention to the horrible facts, the deaths of so many innocents, the profiles of their lives, and, of course, the suffering of their families. That is certainly appropriate even though heart-wrenching. And last week, we ended up knowing more than we probably wanted to about the mentally disturbed young man who committed the shootings, including those hard-to-watch and spine-chilling videos.

But there is another side of the picture that is often underemphasized. It is that these kinds of tragedies almost always have a way of drawing out the most amazing examples of human compassion, caring, bravery, and even heroism. These are often noted in the media, but not always given the attention they deserve. The late children’s TV show host Mr. Rogers often said, “In a crisis, always look for the helpers.” During the 9/11 tragedy, focusing on the helpers was especially important to my young son Luke. And I would say, in tragedies such as the shootings at Virginia Tech, we should always look for the heroes. It’s a way to discover the best of humanity again in such depressing and dehumanizing situations. Let’s look at a few of the heroes of Virginia Tech.

Prof. Liviu Librescu, 76, grew up in Romania, survived the Holocaust where his family was jailed by the Nazis, and then the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. But he died at Virginia Tech when, as The New York Times reported,

Professor Librescu never moved from the door of Room 204 in Norris Hall at Virginia Tech, witnesses said, even as the gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, was shooting. Directing his students to escape through windows, Professor Librescu was fatally shot.

Prof. Librescu was buried last Saturday in Israel. His son had this tribute:

"I believe you are looking at us from above, at this gathering, and saying: 'What, don't you have anything to do? I did what I had to do,' " Arie said. "A hero has to have a combination of characteristics, which you had."

In a long feature on the day in Blacksburg, The Washington Post told of several students in a German class. After an initial round of shots, the shooter left, then suddenly returned.

[Trey] Perkins and two classmates, Derek O'Dell and Katelyn Carney, ran up to the door and put their feet against it to make sure he could not get back in. They would have used a heavy table, but there were none, and the desks weren't strong enough. Soon the gunman tried to get back in. The three students pressed against the door with their arms and legs, straining with their lives at stake. Unable to budge the door, the gunman shot through it four times. Splinters flew from the thick wood. The gunman turned away, again.

Then there were the unnamed heroes. Drs. Davis B. Stoeckle and Holly Wheeling were the surgeons in the emergency room of the hospital in Blacksburg. The Post wrote:

As they worked, Stoeckle and Wheeling heard stories of bravery from the wounded: students pushing others into closets to protect them from the barrage of bullets and helping one another with makeshift tourniquets and bandages.

As we continue to mourn those who died, and pray for their families, let’s also celebrate the helpers – the heroes. When tragedies remind us of the worst, saddest, and darkest elements of humanity, it is crucial to also witness and be reminded of the best and most heroic in us as well. Heroism is the moral response to tragedy.

Bob Francis: Can You Help Me Find the Free and Independent Press?

Bill Moyers Journal aired a great program Wednesday night called "Buying the War," a commentary asking how the mainstream press got Iraq and the question about WMDs so wrong in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion. You can click here to watch it or read a transcript online.

I lived in Amsterdam from November 2002 until September 2003, so I was out of the U.S. media's reach during the time Moyers covers - the time the Bush administration was building the case for war. While Americans were bombarded with ominous messages of fear and imminent danger, I was in a country where the messages were ones of incredulity at the U.S.'s lone-ranger arrogance in the face of the wishes of most of the international community. After the invasion, the European voices turned to anger and defiance, and poured into the streets and squares in protest.

Major European cities, including Amsterdam, held anti-war rallies involving tens and even hundreds of thousands of people in those first months after the invasion. It has taken the U.S. four years to get to that point. While a small number of Americans were against this war from the beginning (including some in the Christian community), it has taken the general public nearly four years to reach the level of disapproval and outrage Europeans voiced since the moment "shock and awe" hit the ground in Baghdad.

That begs the obvious question of input - what were the messages being fed the U.S. public at a time when the rest of the world was seeing things very differently? As Moyers points out, dissenting views in mainstream American media were hard to come by back in 2002 and 2003. While now it might be more "in vogue" for mainstream press to question the war, where were those voices four years ago? This is a serious indictment of our supposed free and independent press, especially during times when it matters most. It is not that some news sources wouldn't have toed the administration's line in the months leading up to the war, but most dismaying is the point Moyers brings out, that any dissenting views were marginalized or wiped away altogether. Dan Rather, who - as did all major network anchors - supported the invasion and bought the "evidence" the administration was peddling, said that unspoken pressures in the newsrooms were that no network wanted to be perceived as unpatriotic or, worse, supportive of terrorism. Concern for viewership and the bottom line overrode concerns for truth and fairness in reporting. Waving the flag loudly and proudly is simply better for ratings, and that remains true today.

Those dissenting voices existed four years ago, but they were not allowed to speak on the biggest stage during the most critical time. Four years and thousands of body bags later, we are the worse off for it. Where was the free and independent press when we needed them?

Bob Francis is the Organizing and Policy Assistant for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

the latest news on Iraq and Congress, the Democratic debate, climate change, missiles in Europe, family, and abortion


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Full news summary:

Iraq-Congress. Senate Passes Bill Seeking Iraq Exit; Veto Is Expected- "The Senate sent President Bush a $124 billion war spending measure that he has promised to veto, forcing Democrats to begin confronting the difficult question of what to do after the president acts." Senate Sends War Timetable To Bush's Desk - "The Senate approved a $124 billion Iraq war spending bill that would force troop withdrawals to begin as early as July 1, inviting President Bush's veto even as party leaders and the White House launch talks to resolve their differences." Senate defies Iraq veto threat - "The Senate's action outlines an exit strategy but also pitches the nation into a period of political brinkmanship and uncertainty as Congress and Bush dig in for what is likely to be a protracted showdown over terms of the bill that would pay for continuing war operations."

Iraq-intelligence. Durbin kept silent on prewar knowledge - "The Senate's No. 2 Democrat says he knew that the American public was being misled into the Iraq war but remained silent because he was sworn to secrecy as a member of the intelligence committee." Ex-C.I.A. Chief, in Book, Assails Cheney on Iraq- "George J. Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, has lashed out against Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials in a new book, saying they pushed the country to war in Iraq without ever conducting a "serious debate" about whether Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States."

Iraq-war. General Says Iraq Pullback Would Increase Violence- "The top military commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, warned that an American troop pullback this fall would lead to an escalation in sectarian killings and worsening violence." Petraeus sees more violence if force shrinks - "Petraeus also offered new details of Iranian involvement in Iraq, addressed U.S. efforts to counter the suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Iraqis in recent months, and warned of the likelihood of additional American casualties." Top US commander warns of worse to come in Iraq - "Gen Petraeus, who was put in charge of the Baghdad troop "surge" to pacify the Iraqi capital, warned of the enormous commitment and sacrifice facing the US in Iraq. His downbeat assessment, in contrast with Mr Bush's optimistic statements, stiffened the resolve of Democrats in Congress pushing for an early withdrawal of US troops."

Democratic debate. In Debate, Democrats Show More Unity Than Strife - "the first Democratic presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, a surprisingly sedate and meandering affair, filled with as many moments of awkward humor as memorable insight into the qualifications of the candidates or the policy differences among them." Candidates Unite in Criticizing Bush - "Democratic presidential candidates largely set aside their differences here Thursday and presented a united front of opposition to President Bush and his Iraq policy, urging the president not to veto newly passed legislation that sets a timetable for beginning the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the conflict." Democrats get their first close-up - "Even as they roundly attacked President Bush's policies on Iraq, the leading Democratic candidates for president sought to burnish their credentials Thursday as tough leaders who would defeat terrorists." Democrats face off in 1st debate - "The leading Democratic candidates for president, attempting to project strength on national security while condemning the war in Iraq, portrayed themselves as resolute in the fight against terrorism."

Missiles in Europe. Putin to Suspend Pact With NATO- "President Vladimir V. Putin said that Russia would suspend its compliance with a treaty on conventional arms in Europe that was forged at the end of the cold war, opening a fresh and intense dispute in the souring relations between NATO and the Kremlin." Putin retaliates for American antimissile plan - "The announcement, made in Putin's annual speech to parliament, further ratcheted up tensions between Russia and the United States over the antimissile system, which Moscow views as a step toward building a much larger system directed at Russia and China." Putin threatens to scrap weapons treaty - "Putin described the US plan to site missile interceptor and radar bases in Poland and the Czech Republic as a "direct threat". Nato countries were "building up military bases on our borders and, what's more, are also planning to station elements of anti-missile defence systems in Poland and the Czech Republic", he said,"

Climate change. Vatican issues green message - "The Vatican added its voice to a rising chorus of warnings from churches around the world that climate change and abuse o f the environment is against God's will, and that the one billion-strong Catholic church must become far greener." States take lead in cutting carbon emissions - "While the US ponders whether to curb greenhouse gases, several states are pushing ahead with plans that already are bearing fruit. At least 21 states and the District of Columbia are on track to create 46,000 megawatts of renewable power by 2020, eliminating 108 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions a year that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere," Public Remains Split on Response to Warming - "Americans in large bipartisan numbers say the heating of the earth's atmosphere is having serious effects on the environment now or will soon and think that it is necessary to take immediate steps to reduce its effects,"

Family. Youths fear decay of family - "The survey asked the 601 youths, 80 percent of whom were born in California, 7 percent elsewhere in the United States and 12 percent outside the United States, to identify "the most pressing issue facing your generation in the world today." Twenty-four percent chose "family breakdown" as their biggest concern, followed by violence in local communities (22 percent), poverty (17 percent) and global warming (14 percent)."

Abortion. States see new fights on abortion - "Buoyed by last week's victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion opponents in various states are dusting off old laws and drafting new ones to curb access to the nation's most controversial medical procedure."

Verse of the Day: Lukewarm Works

I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing." You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

- Revelation 3:15-17

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Voice of the Day: Water

Water ... has an enormous range of meanings for us as human beings. Our bodies are mostly water, and our thirst reminds us to replenish that water. We are born from the waters of the womb, and something about a pool draws us to plunge back into it and covers ourselves. But if we stay under for too long, it means death. Coming up to the surface and breathing again is almost like being reborn. ... Water washes us clean and makes us feel fresh and new again. Baptism takes - and adds to - all these meanings.

- Hoyt L. Hickman

from the Workbook on Communion and Baptism

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Jim Wallis: Taking the Vision to the Streets

I want to personally invite you to Washington, D.C., on June 3-6 to participate in Pentecost 2007: Taking the Vision to the Streets. I'm asking you to come because this is not just another conference: This will be an important step in a campaign aimed at the critical presidential election year of 2008. What is the plan? We hope to do nothing less than put poverty on the national agenda, and challenge candidates from both parties to present the nation with their plans for dramatic poverty reduction both at home and globally. I believe we can really make a difference, but only if we are all in it together.

Last year, we launched "From Poverty to Opportunity: A Covenant for a New America," a powerful tool for breaking the liberal-conservative paralysis on poverty, transcending the frozen ideological debate that traps the poor between false alternatives, calling the nation to a results-based program, and moving us all to higher ground. This year, we will take the Covenant to a new level by calling on our national leaders to put poverty near the top of the political agenda.

Taking the Vision to the Streets begins with a Sunday night revival, where I will share the preaching with Rev. Sam Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and Rev. Freddie Haynes, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. We will also have inspiring gospel music to lift our souls for the work ahead.

A panel of church leaders and activists, including Brian McLaren, Sam Rodriquez, Rich Nathan, and Shane Claiborne will lead a discussion on “How to Put Poverty on the Agenda of your Local Church.” Marshall Ganz will lead an organizing institute to give you practical skills for putting poverty on the agenda.

We’ll be giving our 6th annual Amos and Joseph Awards. This year’s “Amos,” a person who faithfully uses a position of influence to benefit those in poverty, is Gary Haugen, president of International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression. Our “Joseph,” a person who comes from a humble background to serve God and community, is Rev. Romal Tune, president of Clergy Strategic Alliances, which works to equip pastors and congregations with the skills necessary to build power and improve their communities.

And, in its fourth year now, our Emerging Leaders program (for faith-inspired activists younger than 30) may be one of the most exciting offerings of the conference. This includes a special evening with Christa Mazzone. Here, young leaders have the opportunity to establish relationships that could last a lifetime as we all seek to build a new movement.

We are also finishing the details on our presidential candidates forum on faith, values, and poverty. I’ll have an exciting announcement tomorrow about who will be joining us; you don’t want to miss it.

As a participant, you will join workshops and seminars offering very practical training in how to use the Covenant, develop organizing skills, learn how to do effective media work, round out your knowledge of the issues, deepen your understanding of "prophetic advocacy," and network with other faith-based advocates, especially from your region.

Click here to learn more about Pentecost 2007, June 3 - 6 in Washington, D.C.!

Pentecost 2007 is the next step in a campaign that will last through the 2008 election year season and beyond - don't miss this important event.

Vote with your feet. Take the vision to the s treets. Show up to make a difference. Tell the media, by your presence, that the faith community cares about our neighbors in poverty. Tell your political representatives the kind of leadership that you expect from them - we'll set up the appointments for you. And there will be a Capitol Hill reception, like last year, at which both Democratic and Republican leaders will speak.

So do come. And bring some friends. Send this invitation to others. Bring a delegation from your community, church, or school. Drive if you live a day's drive away or less, or make your plane reservations today.

Click here to register for Pentecost 2007.

We need you to sign up right away: Make a statement about your faith and its implications. Washington needs to hear from you, and we need your help and support. See you soon!
And stay tuned for the exciting announcement tomorrow on our presidential forum.

Mairead Corrigan Maguire: Nobel Peace Laureate Shot with Israeli Rubber-coated Steel Bullet

Violence by terrorist groups has caused great suffering for Israelis, and has served as the rationale for many of Israel's most restrictive policies regarding Palestinians. For that reason, it is all the more important to hear stories of Palestinians and international activists that are opposing Israeli policies nonviolently. Mairead Corrigan Maguire received the Nobel peace prize in 1976 for her work as co-founder of the Community of Peace People (www.peacepeople.com) in Northern Ireland. This is her story:

On Friday, April 20, outside Ramallah, Palestine, Ann Patterson and I attended the Second Bil’in International Conference on Non-violence. We joined the Bil’in Popular Committee on their weekly nonviolent protest march to the Israeli “apartheid wall” to bring attention to the wall that separates Palestinians from their land and, in this case, cedes land to expand Jewish settlements in the area. Together with Israeli peace activists and internationalists from more than 20 countries, we made the trek to the wall. The internationals came from France, the United States, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, and India. It was at the “security wall” that I was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet and gassed by Israeli Defense Forces [photos]. Watch the video:



Before the peace vigil, I participated in a press conference with the Palestinian Minister for Information, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, in front of the international press corps. Minister Barghouti praised the nonviolent vigil of the Bil’in people and the nonviolent resistance of many people around Palestine, saying that Bil’in is a model and example to all. He called for a stop to building the wall, and for the upholding of Palestinian rights under international law. I supported his call and thanked the people of Bil’in – offering my support for the nonviolent resistance to the wall because it contravenes international law, including the International Court of Justice decision in The Hague. I also called for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine, which soon will mark its 40th year. I called for recognition by the international community of the Palestinian government, together with restoration of economic and political rights of the people.

Both Dr. Barghouti and I called for the release of the BBC journalist Alan Johnston, held by Palestinian militants in Gaza. I also called for the protection of journalists all over the world, whose ability to cover the truth is being infringed upon by violence. During the press conference the Israeli military drove through the gate onto Palestinian land, with many foot soldiers. They surrounded the international press gathered and warned us that if we did not disperse they would attack in five minutes. Dr. Barghouti and I condemned this as an abuse of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and of a peoples’ right to peaceful protest.

After the press conference, we returned to the village of Bil’in and joined the peace vigil as it moved down the road towards the wall. Several hundred people participated with the Palestinians leading the march. I walked with my Palestinian inte rpreter who told me his home was on the other side of the wall. His 12-acre land had been confiscated by Israeli authorities and his 400- year-old olive trees uprooted and taken to Jerusalem to be planted in new Israeli settlements.

When those participating in the vigil got half way down the road, the Israeli soldiers started firing tear gas and plastic bullets directly at us. At another point they used water canons. We were a completely unarmed peaceful gathering. The soldiers blocked the upper part of the road, which prevented Dr. Barghouti and some of the Palestinians from joining the main vigil group. Then those of us in the main group were tear-gassed. As I was helping a French woman retreat, I was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet.

Two young women - one from the U.S. and one from New Zealand - helped me towards an ambulance. I saw an elderly Palestinian mother carried on a stretcher into the ambulance. She had been shot in the back with a plastic bullet. I saw a man whose face was covered in blood and a Palestinian youth overcome with the gas. About 20 people were injured.

When we could, Ann Patterson and I went back to the protest, where the people were being viciously attacked with tear gas and plastic bullets. I was overcome with gas and had a nose bleed that resulted in being carried to ambulance for treatment. We were advised by medial staff not to return to vigil and obliged to leave our friends several hours later still heroically trying to get near the wall. This attack from the Israeli soldiers was a totally unprovoked attack upon civilians.

We were all traumatized by our experience. With the gas still in the air, the words came flowing back to me from a Palestinian doctor who said, “The whole Palestinian people, after 40 years of occupation, the whole people of Palestine are traumatized. It is time the international community acted to put a stop to this suffering and injustice of our people.” I agree: Enough is enough. It is time for action to force the Israeli government to enter into unconditional talks to end this tragedy of tragedies against the Palestinian people.

Click the link below to the speech Ms. Maguire's gave at the nonviolence conference before the demonstration:

Nonviolence: The Way Forward for the Human Family
An address by Nobel peace laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire

Salaam Aleikom, Shalom, my Friends,

I am very happy to be here and I would like to thank the organizers of this conference for their kind invitation to speak to you. I have chosen to speak on the subject “Nonviolence–the Way forward for the Human Family.” I am deeply conscious that many Palestinians have committed their lives to working for a nonviolent solution to the Israeli/Palestinian problem, and they are committed to the nonviolent Palestinian resistance movement, to resist the wall and Israeli occupation. I fully support this movement, as I believe that all forms of nonviolent resistance to the wall are legal, as the wall itself contravenes international law, including the International Court of Justice decision in The Hague. I believe the separation wall is a monument to fear and failed politics. I look forward to joining you in nonviolent resistance at the wall.

I am aware that there is a strong Palestinian tradition of nonviolent resistance, and your history records that Palestinians responded to the Israeli occupation with a well-organized nonviolent resistance movement. I am aware, too, of the risk attached to participating in this movement, as at demonstrations, etc., many are targeted by police and picked up later, being ‘ charged’ with being at demonstrations - and their confessions are used to pick up others that they name under duress. Some are Palestinian children, 14 or so. This practice by Israeli security should cease immediately if there is to be any hope for peace. Yet, you continue to struggle in spite of daily hardships, checkpoints, oppression, and humiliation, in trying to do the basic things of life, like getting to work, educating and feeding your children.

I believe for many Palestinians daily living is so hard, it is indeed an act of resistance. I thank you all for this. I am honored to join in solidarity with you in your rightful demand for equality, freedom, and the upholding of human dignity through the full implementation of U.N. resolutions, human rights and international laws, which are currently being broken and violated by the Israeli government. I believe the European Council and all governments of the European Union should recognize the Palestinian government and cancel all economic, social, and political restrictions which have been placed upon it. The EU Council and Governments of the European Union should recognize the opportunity to revive the peace process with Israel and Palestinian governments.

I fully support and encourage you as you continue to peacefully organize, protest and resist, and to continue building your nonviolent grassroots peoples’ movement which will be the cornerstone of a new Palestine/Israel, and a new Middle East.

I am conscious, too, that there are many international peace activists here in Bil’in and in the occupied territories. The inspirational work of the International Solidarity Movement is well known, and I would like to thank them for their work. I would also like to pay tribute to all peace activists who come from many countries to join in solidarity and support for those suffering injustice. These activists are people of courage, with hearts of compassion, and they have the wisdom to know an injustice to one is an injustice to all, and must be nonviolently resisted, until justice and peace is established. They pay a high price in stepping out of their comfort zones, into highly militarized, dangerous areas.

Sometimes much is asked of them, as in the case of Rachel Corrie, who gave her life protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes by Israeli military. But it is the Rachels of this world who reminds us that we are responsible for each other, and we are interconnected in a mysteriously spiritual and beautiful way. Recognizing this, as the human family, each one of us has to stretch beyond self-interest, or the concern of just our own family, friends, community, religion, culture, nation, and seek ways in which we can help the whole community of life on earth, and protect the earth, our communal home. These courageous people disarmed in mind and hearts, and coming armed with love to serve, in organizations, such as International Solidarity Movement, the Israeli peace movement, Christian peacemakers, Rabbis for Human Rights and against the demolitions of Palestinian homes, Doctors without Borders, and many NGOs, show us it is possible for each of us to move beyond selfishness, tribalism, nationalism, and identify with the whole human family and the earth itself. This movement of nonviolent people, united in working for justice and equality, and irrespective of nationality or religion, unarmed and willing to take risks protecting civilians in danger, is one of the most hopeful and inspiring movements of our time.

I myself am very hopeful for the future of the Middle East. I first visited Israel/Palestine at the invitation of the Rabbis for Human Rights and against the demolition of Palestinian homes. I stood in the ruins of Palestinian Homes and I sat at the Military Trial of Abu Faiz, a Palestinian father of 13 children, whose only crime was to build a home for his family. Since then I have returned many times to participate in various ecumenical and peace activities. I also support people here working for a Middle East Nuclear weapons free zone, and the abolition of war.

From where do I get my hope? From the people of this place, and those Israeli/Palestinian peace activists who believe passionately that given justice and equality for all its citizens, peace and human security is possible in this holy land. I take hope, too, from the courage of the young Israeli reservists, who, following their conscience have refused military duty in the territories. (I hope that more British and U.S. soldiers will follow their conscience and refuse to participate in the continuing U.S./U.K. immoral and illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, and further unnecessary and illegal wars, so that much continuing unnecessary suffering and death can be avoided.)

But I have watched, too, those in the resistance movements, who believe justice will only come through violence, and in their frustration, pain and anger, have turned to armed resistance, suicide bombs. Suicide bombs tragically take the life of those who use them, and have taken the lives of many Israeli people, and others, and such actions can never be justified. I would therefore like to appeal to those who use such violence, (including those who use the threat of violence by calling for the destruction of Israel) to abandon these immoral and illegal methods, and use nonviolent language and means of working for justice and freedom. They can take inspiration, as I do, from the words of Abdul Khaffer Khan, a great nonviolent Muslim leader who demonstrated the power of courageous Islamic nonviolence through the unarmed Servants of God’s army and parallel government to liberate the Pathan people from British colonial rule in India’s North-West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan). Abdul Khaffer Khan, also taught: “The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into the world and taught us ‘that man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God’s creatures. Belief in God is to love one’s fellowmen’.”

From our own experience in Northern Ireland, we have learned that violence begets violence, and paramilitarism, militarism, violence, and war, do not solve the problems, but indeed are the cause of much reciprocal violence. We have also learned in Northern Ireland that when a government tries to deal with terrorism by curtailing civil liberties, or by complete disregarding and violating international norms and standards, then this only adds fuel to the pain, anger and fear, and is the cause of much reciprocal violence. If we want justice, peace, and human security, then the means must be consistent with the ends, we must use good means to achieve good ends. This lesson is important both for the Israeli government and the Palestinian authorities, and all citizens of Israel/Palestine if there is to be real progress towards peace.

I hope you will take inspiration from the peace process in Northern Ireland. We too, in our most recent history, have been in dark places where it seemed injustice and its child of violence was in danger of destroying us. In l976 we were on the brink of civil war, and the cycle of violence seemed impossible to break. Sadly a tragedy happened with the death of my sister Ann’s three young children (Joanne, John, and Andrew) in a violent clash between the Irish Republic Army and British Army. Out of this tragedy, there arose a massive grassroots peace movement, demanding an end to violence, and offering nonviolence as a way forward for the Northern Irish people.

Many other social movements, and efforts by the civil community, took place to resist violence and demand justice and peace. It was a spontaneous people's movement. Ordinary people from all walks of life joining in solidarity saying ‘enough is enough’ there is another way of nonviolence to solve our problems. We took our inspiration from Jesus/Gandhi/King arguing that nonviolence is not weak; it is active, powerful, because it comes from the soul and it therefore has the power of truth, and is simply the r ight thing to do. We refused to carry arms and refused armed protection. Our nonviolence was risky and dangerous, we received death threats from all sides, our property destroyed, were verbally and physically attacked, but we had the joy of witnessing in the first six months of the movement, a 70 percent decrease in the rate of violence, and the beginning of peace.

It was a long, difficult, and dangerous path; often we though things were so bad peace would never come. It took a long time for the message of nonviolence to be heard, but it was finally, and ended up in all inclusive dialogue when the British/Dublin Governments spoke to their enemies through representatives of the paramilitary groups, and all the Political parties. This all inclusive dialogue, eventually lead in l998 to the Good Friday Agreement, then to the historic meeting in March 2007 of Dr. Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party) and Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein) sitting at the same table and agreeing to share power in Northern Ireland on 8th May, 2007, when there will be a devolved Government in Northern Ireland, a Power Sharing executive and an Assembly. Truly miracles do happen, and should give hope to others!

There are many lessons to be learned from the Northern Irish Peace Process, one being that peace is possible, but it takes courageous political leadership, and also the civil community to compromise and take risks for peace. Perhaps the most important lesson is recognition by those in power that militarism, paramilitarism, and the so-called ‘war on terrorism’ does no solve these deeply complex ethical/political problems, and that nonviolent conflict resolution does work.

Here in Israel/Palestine I believe, it will also take a recognition that Israeli security lies not in oppressing the Palestinian people, but in dialogue and negotiations that recognize their right to equality and freedom. I hope the Israeli government will follow our example in Northern Ireland, and enter unconditional talks with their partners, the Palestinian authority in order to find solutions together. Peace is possible, if we act justly, accept and celebrate the diversity we encounter, give and accept forgiveness, work to heal the divisions of the past, and above all choose the path of non-killing and nonviolence, then we can build non-killing communities and a world civilization with a compassionate heart. Building such communities, starts in our own hearts, in our families, and then reaching out to the other with mercy, compassion and kindness. An important part of building peace is the need for Palestinians and Israelis, in spite of the fear and pain, to reach out to each others in forgiveness, and to build trust. This can only be done by a grassroots people to people contact and the Israeli Government can help this process by removing all restrictions which make it impossible for Israeli/Palestinian people to meet and work together. To build a peace process people must see improvement in their every day lives, through freedom of movement, economic development.

But there are no quick fixes to peace. It is hard every day struggle to be more peaceful ourselves, and to have the courage to accept diversity and difference, yet all the while listening to others with a deep respect for their perspectives and views no matter how different from our own. Trust building and friendship making are foundation stones for peaceful, democratic societies, and we the people of the world, no matter where we live, must do the work of laying these stones, and building the bridges with our enemies. Here in the Middle East, the task of making friends with your enemies is necessary, in order to open up the long-term possibility for an everlasting peace.

As in Northern Ireland, Protestants and Catholics, must become their own best friends and build a shared future together, so too Jews and Arabs must become their own best friends, and build a shared future together. Here, in this holy land, the three great world religions, (there are many paths to God) united in their faith and love of Abraham, by working together, can become an ethical and spiritual force for good in the World.

These religions can teach that the holiest thing is the life of a human being and we have no right to kill each other, and are called to love our enemies and love the stranger. Such a clear peace message coming out of the heart of the holy land would change the world. But there is an obstacle to peace, and it is fear. We humans are often fearful and anxious, and sometimes we get stuck in the past, feeding our fear and negativity thus destroying our imagination and creativity. In order to overcome this fear let us remember Allah loves each one of us equally, the kingdom of God lives in every one’s heart, and this connects us as the human family, who need each others’ love and support in the difficult, yet joyous journey of life.

Salaam Aleikum, Shalom, my friends.

Mairead Corrigan Maguire received the Nobel peace prize in 1976 for her work as co-founder of the Community of Peace People (www.peacepeople.com) in Northern Ireland. She gave this talk at the Second Annual Conference on Nonviolence in Bil’in, Palestine held April 18-20, 2007.

For more on Abdul Khaffer Khan see Nonviolent Soldier of Islam by Eknath Easwaran and My Life and Struggle: Autobiography of Badshah Khan.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on Iraq-Congress, Latinos and religion, Iran, McCain announces campaign, deomcractic debate, climate change, Somalia, housing loans, abortion, Christianity around the world, and select op-eds.


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Full news summary:

Iraq-Congress.House Passes Iraq Pullout Timetable - "The House last night brushed aside weeks of angry White House rhetoric and veto threats to narrowly approve a $124 billion war spending bill that requires troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, with a goal of ending U.S. combat operations there by next March." War Bill Passes House, Requiring an Iraq Pullout- "The narrow approval of the measure sets the stage for the first veto fight between President Bush and majority Democrats." Dems toss down gauntlet, press Bush on war, ethics - "With a floor vote, a rhetorical flourish and a fistful of subpoenas, congressional Democrats escalated a fight with the Bush administration over Iraq and ethics on Wednesday -- another sign that party leaders believe the same issues they credit for House and Senate gains last fall could pay off in 2008 as well."

Iraq. U.N. report and Times data paint grim Iraq picture - "Academics are being assassinated, prisoners are being tortured, women are being murdered by their own families in so-called "honor killings," and civilians continue to be cut down by rampant violence, the United Nations said in a report painting a grim picture of life in Iraq." UN accuses Iraq of covering up rise in civilian deaths - "The UN accused the Iraqi government of trying to cover up a rise in civilian casualties from sectarian violence since the troop surge ordered by George Bush earlier this year. Iraq's government had withheld civilian casualty statistics because it feared the data would be used to depict a "very grim" security situation, claimed the UN officials in Baghdad." Baghdad's Fissures and Mistrust Keep Political Goals Out of Reach - "U.S. military commanders say a key goal of the ongoing security offensive is to buy time for Iraq's leaders to reach political benchmarks that can unite its fractured coalition government and persuade insurgents to stop fighting. But in pressuring the Iraqis to speed up, U.S. officials are encountering a variety of hurdles."

McCain announces campaign. McCain makes 2008 bid official - "Eight years after he opened his first presidential bid, Sen. John McCain became a full-fledged candidate once again, portraying himself as the senior statesman the country needs to lead it through broken politics and a difficult war." McCain touts experience, declares run - "Sen. John McCain officially declared his candidacy for president, kicking off a key stretch in which the Arizona Republican will be under pressure to revitalize a campaign that has gone far worse than many expected for a man once seen as the dominant GOP candidate in the race." McCain Launches Candidacy With Bush Critique- "Senator John McCain formally began his second bid for the White House on with a thinly veiled critique of the Bush administration, pledging that he would restore competence to foreign and domestic policy and welcome compromise with Democrats."

Democratic debate. Democrats to debate in South Carolina - "In an early taste of the debates that will help shape the crowded contest for the White House, all eight declared Democratic presidential candidates will climb onto the stage in a college auditorium to face 90 minutes of questions before a national television audience." Race is onstage in South Carolina debate - "The issues likely to come up in tonight's Democratic presidential debate are familiar ones - the war in Iraq, healthcare, the economy, education. The big difference in South Carolina is race, which overlays just about every policy discussion in the state, as it has since Emancipation and reconstruction."

Latinos and religion. Latinos like lively masses, study says - "The nation's Latino population overwhelmingly expresses its faith in church services with a charismatic style of worship and says religious beliefs influence its political thinking, according to one of the largest efforts to collect information about Latinos and religion." Study Says Hispanics Alter U.S. Catholicism - "The study, conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, found that half of Hispanic Catholics practice a "distinctive form" of charismatic Catholicism that includes speaking in tongues, miraculous healings and prophesying - practices more often associated with Pentecostalism." Latinos reshaping nation's religious landscape, study says - "The growing numbers of Latinos in the United States, and that population's embrace of charismatic styles of worship, are reshaping the Roman Catholic Church and the nation's religious landscape, according to a major study of Latinos and faith." For the Pew report - Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion"

Climate change. '08 h opefuls tout climate-change plans - "Liberal or conservative, declared or undeclared, candidates eyeing the 2008 presidential election are feeling political heat on climate change. They're reading polls showing that most Americans think global warming is a serious problem, and they're being pressured by interest groups who are keeping a close eye on candidates' positions."

Iran. Iran and EU 'closer' to nuclear deal - "Iran and the EU could be moving closer to an eventual deal to end the international deadlock over Tehran's nuclear programme, negotiators said after talks today."

Somalia. Tanks pound Somali insurgents - "Ethiopian and government troops are in control of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after nine days of battles, the prime minister says." Somalia crisis deepens - "Somalia today lurched closer to a humanitarian catastrophe as a new offensive began against insurgents in the capital, Mogadishu."

Housing loans. Minorities hit by subprime loans costs - "Across the nation, black and Hispanic borrowers helped fuel a multiyear housing boom, accounting for 49% of the increase in homeowners from 1995 to 2005, says Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. But Hispanics and African-Americans were far more likely to leverage the American dream with subprime loans - higher-cost products for buyers with impaired credit - that are now going bad at an alarming rate."

Abortion. Spitzer Pushing Bill to Shore Up Abortion Rights- "Gov. Eliot Spitzer said that he planned to introduce legislation to overhaul the state's pioneering but antiquated abortion law, shoring up abortion rights in New York."

Christianity around the world. Boom in Christianity Reshapes Methodists - "The United Methodist Church is the latest Protestant group caught in the shifting currents of world Christianity. While the American denomination is shrinking at home, its congregations in the developing world are growing explosively." Turkey's Christians face backlash - "As evangelical groups … make inroads among a largely Islamic population, their visibility has vexed many Turks who seem them as foreign interlopers. An increasingly violent nationalist backlash, fed by both secular and religious rhetoric from politicians and the media, church leaders say, has had deadly consequences for Turkey's growing evangelical community."

Opinion. Bush's Barricade (Robert Novak, Washington Post) - "Bush, never entranced with life in Washington, detests dealing with a Democratic Congress. Reflecting annoyance and fatigue, he is unwilling to withstand incessant attacks from the likes of Reid and is ready to fight it out for the over 20 months left in his term. Retaining Gonzales means Bush has slipped behind the barricades."

Verse of the Day: "The Lord is Their Refuge"

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous. You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.

- Psalms 14:4-6

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Voice of the Day: Eugene H. Peterson

Be still and know. Civilization is littered with unsolved problems, baffling impasses. The best minds of the world are at the end of their tether. The most knowledgeable observers of our condition are badly frightened. The most relevant contribution that Christians make at these points is the act of prayer -determined, repeated, leisurely meetings with the personal and living God. New life is conceived in these meetings.

- Eugene H. Peterson

from "Earth to Altar"

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Diana Butler Bass: 'Elaborate Lies'

Two events this week should cause all Christians to stop and consider the relationship between truth and war. Both the congressional hearings in the Tillman/Lynch cases and the Bill Moyers PBS special about the media and Iraq point out one of the dimensions of war: lying.

When religious people protest war, they most often protest killing and the loss of life. Indeed, Christian ethicist (and just-war theorist) Jean Bethke Elshtain makes the case that “the national identity that we assume, or yearn for, is historically inseparable from war. The nation-state, including our own, rests on mounds of bodies.” Those bodies include both soldiers and citizens – the direct result of the “nationalistic enthusiasm” that sustains war in a democracy.

But how does a democracy create a necessary climate for ordinary folks to kill or be willing to be killed? Well, it appears that they sometimes have to lie. And it isn’t just the “big” lies about cooking military intelligence for war – those lies can be much smaller.

Take the cases of Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch, two soldiers whose stories were “hyped” by someone (that’s what the congressional panel is trying to determine) who apparently wanted to deflect attention away from the less-glamorous aspects of American action in Iraq (including, evidently, the Abu Ghraib torture scandal). The image of the good soldier motivates heroism, giving people a reason to kill and die. Heroes are necessary for war.

Christian ethicists, both pacifists and just-war theorists, criticize contemporary warfare because war depends on absolute loyalty to the state – and the state has a tendency to bend morality to fit its purposes to create heroes. As Stanley Hauerwas has written, “The state needs to convince its citizens that it can give them a meaningful identity because the state is the only means of achieving the common good. …To preserve themselves, all states, even democracies, must ask their citizens to die for them.”

Is that what Christians believe? That – no matter what – the state maintains the common good? The Christian tradition says "no." It teaches that the common good is grounded in God, founded on charity, lived through the church, and modeled by the saints.

War teaches a rival belief: that the common good is grounded in a political system, founded in courage, lived through citizenship, and modeled by soldiers. Indeed, in warfare, soldiers replace saints as cultural heroes – the military maintains an elaborate cult of sainthood that celebrates obedience, self-sacrifice for the state, and death in battle; its virtues resemble that of pagan antiquity more than that of the church. (For more on this argument, read Stanley Hauerwas and Charles Pinches, “Courage Exemplified,” 1993.) Anything that forwards the state serves the good. Of that, philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre says that being asked to die for a modern state is “like being asked to die for the telephone company.”

Consider this observation of Randolph Bourne from 1918, during the Great War:

“War – or at least modern war waged by a democratic republic against a powerful enemy – seems to achieve for a nation almost all that the most inflamed political idealist could desire. Citizens are no longer indifferent to their Government, but each cell of the body politic is brimming with life and activity ... in a nation at war, every citizen identifies himself with the whole, and feels immensely strengthened by that identification.”

The hyped cases of Tillman and Lynch offered some “inflamed political idealist” a perfect moment to promote the cause, to bend the truth in service to the state’s good. Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch were ideal candidates for sainthood. Of all American youth, who moves us more than a star football player and the girl-next-door? They served as ultimate American archetypes, young people whose sacrifice helped us identify “with the whole,” giving others a reason to die for the state. Somewhere in the government, some very smart person knew that Tillman and Lynch were the perfect PR vehicles for war. Lies were told. Lies that could sustain the greater lie that the Iraq war is good, necessary, and just. The hyping of their stories was both cynical and immoral.

Those lies echoed through the pulpits of our nation – through television, radio, and the internet. Without a willing media (the focus of Bill Moyers’ special), the stories of Tillman and Lynch would have never been known (indeed, news stations broadcast Tillman’s funeral and a TV movie was made about Lynch). For true believers, critique is not allowed, only true doctrine permitted in the “church” of modern warfare is acceptable. The media was lied to, bought lies, broadcast lies, and proclaimed lies. Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch were lied about for the dark – and probably political – purposes of sustaining nationalistic fervor.

The irony is, of course, that Mr. Tillman and Ms. Lynch are heroes. Not for their hyped-up stories, but because the lies told about them are leading, finally, to truth. Speaking for their son, the Tillman family believes that Pat was victimized by the lies. Pat Tillman’s brother, Kevin (also in the military) said, “The least this country can do for [Pat] in return is to uncover who was responsible for his death, who lied and covered it up, and who instigated those lies and benefited from them.” Ms. Lynch insisted to Congress that she is not a hero (as she has insisted in many venues): “... the American people are capable of determining their own ideals for heroes, and they don’t need to be told elaborate lies.”

Thank you, Mr. Tillman and Ms. Lynch, for witnessing to truth. It is hard to believe that shards of honesty are emerging from all these lies.


Diana Butler Bass (www.dianabutlerbass.com) is an independent commentator on religion and American culture. She is the author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith (Harper San Francisco), which was recently awarded Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.

Tony Campolo: Religious Leaders Propose a Way Out of Iraq

Charles De Gaulle once said that politics is far too serious to be left in the hands of politicians. I agree!

The politicians in Washington are painfully divided over what should be done about the war in Iraq. The Republicans talk about “staying the course,” which our nation can ill afford. The Democrats, on the other hand, propose a “cut and run” policy, and everyone knows that this would leave a vacuum to be filled with the chaos of all-out civil war. But some of us in the religious community propose a third option, which we believe could get America out of Iraq without leaving a total mess behind. Our plan has three parts.

First, we propose that American and British troops be replaced by an international police force composed of those who better understand the Iraqi culture. Leaders in Saudi Arabia proposed such a solution almost three years ago. Americans and Brits are not only devoid of any grasp of the language and the religion of the Iraqi people, but are defined by many Muslims as a Christian army that has invaded a sacred Islamic land. Our army’s presence is perceived by many in the Muslim world as a rebirth of the medieval crusades.

Second, we propose that the United States appropriate $50 billion to rebuild the towns and cities that the invasion of Iraq has left in shambles. This would be a small price to pay, considering the $2 billion we are presently spending every week in order to keep this war going.

Third, we propose that our president go before the United Nations and ask the world to forgive America for what we have done to Iraq, and how we have set back efforts for world peace. He should point out that he is asking forgiveness on behalf of almost all Americans – because we overwhelmingly lent support to the invasion of Iraq some four years ago. He should further point out that our original intentions were good! We Americans were told that we were invading in order to remove the threat of what we thought were Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Repentance of this kind is necessary because we need to re-establish our moral standing in the world, and confessing wrongdoing is a start for doing that. It is not weakness to admit that we did wrong, especially when the whole world knows that we did. Now is the time for us to live out that verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14, which reads:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

If you are willing to support this proposal, go to www.tikkun.org/iraqpeace. You will find an expanded version of this proposal there, along with an opportunity to sign on with us. Do it now, because time is short and the days are filled with evil (Ephesians 5:16).

Tony Campolo is founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education (EAPE) and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on housing discrimination, abortion, aid for Africa, Iraq- Congress, Iraq-war, Darfur, worker safety, nuclear weapons, Ethiopia, education, poverty, and select op-eds.

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Full news summary:

Iraq-Congress. Bush, Congress reach for war's reins - "In a move that both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have anticipated for weeks, Congress and President Bush are heading into their first direct confrontation over funding the Iraq war." War votes target GOP lawmakers - "As congressional Democrats move to force President Bush to veto a war spending bill that would start a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, they are simultaneously pursuing a carefully crafted offensive aimed at another target: Republican lawmakers." Bush and Cheney Chide Democrats on Iraq Deadline- "President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney aggressively challenged the motives of Congressional Democrats, as the House and Senate prepared to consider a war spending bill." Senate Leader Becomes Chief Critic of BushSenate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid accused President Bush this week of living in a "state of denial," of having ignored warnings from military leaders about his Iraq strategy, and of becoming "isolated" and "obstinate" as public support for the war dwindled."

Iraq-war. Group claiming to have killed 9 U.S. troops issues threats - "A group said to be affiliated with Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed nine U.S. soldiers and wounded 20 others in one of the deadliest single attacks against American troops in Iraq." Outpost Attack Highlights Troop Vulnerabilities- "U.S. forces are increasingly exposed to danger and death as they step up their presence in Baghdad and volatile areas such as Anbar and Diyala provinces. Once housed in vast, highly secured bases, many now live in hostile neighborhoods inside isolated combat outposts," UN claims Iraq underplays civilian death toll - "The UN criticised the Iraqi government for failing to provide civilian casualty figures and rejected the accusation that it is using the information in "inappropriate fashion".

Abortion. Mexico City OKs abortion - "Lawmakers voted to legalize abortions in the Mexican capital during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, capping a heated debate in a Roman Catholi c nation that now will have one of Latin America's most liberal abortion policies." Mexico City legalizes first-trimester abortions - "PRD supporters said the law was meant to address a widespread and hidden public health crisis: the deaths of thousands of women in Mexico each year as a result of illegal and unsafe abortions." Mexico City Legalizes Abortion Early in Term - "Feminists hailed the vote as a clear victory. For decades, poor women here have resorted to clandestine clinics, traditional midwives and herbal potions to end unwanted pregnancies. Scores die every year in botched abortions."

Darfur. Darfur refugees appeal to UN official for better security - "Refugee leaders pleaded with the visiting UN refugee chief for better security as he toured camps around this increasingly lawless regional capital, where feared janjaweed militiamen roam freely and have infiltrated the police forces." Darfur peacekeepers understaffed, underequipped and now under fire - "The African Union Mission in Sudan (Amis) was heralded by the international community as an "African solution to an African problem". Its role is to protect civilians from attacks by government-backed militia and rebel groups. But Amis is not even able to protect itself. It is under-staffed, underequipped and increasingly under fire from rebel groups."

Housing discrimination. New Orleans' blacks see rental block - "African Americans seeking rental housing in the New Orleans metropolitan area face significant discrimination and fewer accommodations to choose from since Hurricane Katrina,"

Worker safety. OSHA Leaves Worker Safety in Hands of Industry- "Across Washington, political appointees - often former officials of the industries they now oversee - have eased regulations or weakened enforcement of rules on issues like driving hours for truckers, logging in forests and corporate mergers."

Nuclear weapons. U.S. nuclear arms policy for future is ill-defined, panel says - "The United States lacks a clear policy on the future of its nuclear weapons forces, complicating an effort to develop a new generation of bombs, a group of highly influential scientists said."

Aid for Africa. Only 10% of G8 pledge raised - "In 2005, G8 pledged $50bn to help Africa, but now West accused of putting lives at risk. The west's foot-dragging over aid pledges to Africa was described last night as "grotesque" and a threat to the lives of the world's poor by the body set up by Tony B lair to monitor the results of Britain's Gleneagles summit."

Ethiopia. Ethnic Somali rebels kill 74 at oilfield in Ethiopia - "Rebels stormed a Chinese-run oilfield in eastern Ethiopia, killing 74 workers and destroying the facility, guerrillas and government officials said." Ethiopian Rebels Kill 70 at Chinese-Run Oil Field- "Dozens of gunmen crept up to the oil field at dawn and unleashed a barrage of machine-gun fire at Ethiopian soldiers posted outside."

Education. Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort- "Eli Broad and Bill Gates, two of the most important philanthropists in American public education, have pumped more than $2 billion into improving schools. But now, dissatisfied with the pace of change, they are joining forces for a $60 million foray into politics in an effort to vault education high onto the agenda of the 2008 presidential race. Under the slogan "Ed in '08," the project, called Strong American Schools, will include television and radio advertising in battleground states."

Poverty. Group Proposes Detailed Plan to Reduce Poverty by Half - "With a large increase in the minimum wage and a handful of other measures to raise the income of low-end workers, the United States could cut the number of people living in poverty by half within a decade, a report from a liberal research group says." In Mexican Town, Maybe a Way to Reduce Poverty in New York - "It may seem strange that one of the world's financial capitals should look to a small mountain town for answers to its own urban ills. But since this program got its start in rural Mexico in 1997, it has been heralded by the World Bank and others as a powerful model for fighting chronic poverty. …The percentage of Mexicans living in extreme poverty has fallen by 17 percentage points since 1996."

Opinion.

Democrats still silent on gun control (Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe) - "The Democrats, not officially beholden to the National Rifle Association, have been cowards more concerned about reelection in centrist districts than the trauma to American children. The same Reid who bemoans the loss of life over a failed Iraq war said about Virginia Tech, "I hope there's not a rush to do anything. We need to take a deep breath."

Dead-ender presidency (Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times) - "GEORGE W. BUSH'S presidency is devolving into an extended holding action. On too many fronts, his top priority now appears to be delaying the inevitable."

Court Knows Best (Ruth Marcus, Washington Post) - "How nice of Justice Kennedy to look out for m e. Goodness knows, if I didn't have the justice and his buddies hovering, I might make a terrible mistake. I mean, I'm so impulsive and muddle-headed, I sometimes don't know what's in my own best interest. Luckily, the Supreme Court does. I'm referring, of course, to the court's insulting throwback of a ruling upholding the federal ban on the procedure known as "partial birth abortion."

The challenge facing abortion-rights advocates (Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune) - "The challenge for abortion-rights advocates is not that this law will prevent abortions or impair the health of women getting them. It's that it treats the fetus as more than a disposable inconvenience - as a living entity entitled to a measure of respect and protection. Once you take that step, there is no telling where it may lead."

Voice of the Day: Frederick D Haynes III

Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated as the Dreamer. He was more than a dreamer, however; he was a visionary who drum-majored a liberation parade that challenged and changed the status quo. He was not killed for dreaming. He was assassinated because his vision prophetically spoke truth to a powerful status quo. A God-sized vision will always challenge the territorial custodians of what has been. Change is painful and must be nurtured and negotiated, or the vision or pastoral tenure will be assassinated!

- Frederick D. Haynes III

"From Vision to Action: Principles of Organizing a Theologically Grounded and Vision-Driven Church to Effectively Implement Ministries at the Local, National and Global Levels."

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Verse of the Day: Turning Against the Needy

Surely one does not turn against the needy, when in disaster they cry for help. Did I not weep for those whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.

- Job 30:24-26

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Nontando Hadebe: Where is Christ in Zimbabwe's Crisis?

The crisis in Zimbabwe has become the crisis of the church. How can we, as Christians and Zimbabweans, be the church in this context? When the apostle Paul describes the church in 1 Corinthians 12, he uses the metaphor of the body in order to capture the relatedness, interdependence, and diversity of the church. I want to pick up just two aspects of Paul’s description of the church in my discussion on the current role of the church in Zimbabwe. The two verses I want to focus on are verse 17 (“If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?”) and verse 26 (“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it”).

In verse 17 Paul recognizes the different roles and ministries within the church that compliment each other, just as the different parts of the body. The prophetic voice represents the “mouth” of the church, the naming of injustice, articulating the issues and pointing out a vision of justice that is informed by faith in a just and liberating God. The prophetic voice of the church is present in Zimbabwe. There is an emergence of a distinctive prophetic voice that is breaking denominational divisions. An example of an emerging prophetic voice is the newly formed Christian Alliance. This is how they define themselves and their mission in Zimbabwe at this time - I will quote directly from their founding statement.

The Christian Alliance is an organized network of Christian leaders and organizations who felt called by God to be instrumental in resolving the crisis in the country peacefully and permanently so that Zimbabweans can again live in freedom, peace and prosperity. It was born as a result of pressure from Zimbabweans who had become disillusioned on issues of corruption and human rights abuses by the government, the security forces and the militias.

The CA was officially launched at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Bulawayo on February 3, 2006. Over 200 pastors, priests and church leaders from various churches and denominations attended the colorful all day event marked by singing, praying and preaching. They came from across the country as far as Mutare and Victoria Falls.

Lawyer and church pastor, Reverend Lucky Moyo, one of the organizers of CA said about its work, "All dialogue will be pursued following Christian principles of non-violence and ethical debate. The war ethos prevailing in Zimbabwe must be broken. We are not going to war; neither do we expect to be attacked. This is simply a platform to engage in meaningful discussion for the greater good of all Zimbabweans."

There are other initiatives, but this one is of particular interest because of its Christian ethos and representation across denominations.

The other equally essential ministry of the church is the pastoral role, the “walking with” people in great pain and suffering, instilling hope and courage for the harsh realities of everyday life. The political crisis affects the day-to-day life of ordinary Zimbabweans. Examples include the ongoing stress of making ends meet in the context of inflation of over 1700 percent and the failure to pay for the basics of life such as education, foods, health and the ongoing devastation of HIV & AIDS. The pastoral work in this context can best be illustrated by the narrative in Daniel 3 about the three Hebrew young men who were thrown into the fire for disobeying the orders of the king. The text I want to focus on is verse 25: He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and th e fourth looks like a son of the gods."

The fire represents the harsh realities of life, and pastoral care is mediating the presence of God in the midst of suffering so that people are not destroyed by the situation. This ministry is carried out faithfully by pastors and lay people as they encourage, pray, preach, and be present to others. The church in Zimbabwe is growing, and many people are under the pastoral care of pastors. Their pastoral work is as essential as the prophetic voice, because a country is as strong as the soul and character of its people.

The challenge is to keep the prophetic and pastoral connected. The prophetic needs the pastoral to keep in touch with the experiences and voices of the people. The pastoral needs the prophetic to connect the political to the personal. Together the prophetic and pastoral empower Christians to go beyond survival to participating in creating a new vision for Zimbabwe that we can all be a part of.

The last text I want to look at is 1 Corinthians 12, verse 26a: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” The church in Zimbabwe is part of the world wide church, and if the church in Zimbabwe is suffering, then the whole body of Christ is suffering too. Geography does not separate us; Christ has made us one. Therefore the question is not “What is the church in Zimbabwe doing?” but “What am I - as a member or community of believers in Christ - doing?”


Nontando Hadebe, a former Sojourners intern, is originally from Zimbabwe and is now pursuing graduate studies in theology in South Africa.

Elizabeth Palmberg: Down on the Farm?

Don’t think the farm bill (currently up for its 5-year revamp) affects you? As this handy article by Michael Pollan points out, the farm bill is really an eater’s bill, and the current setup is fanning the flames of the country’s high-fructose obesity epidemic. It’s also an environmental bill, driving what happens to almost half of the privately owned land in America. And it’s an immigration bill, as it pushes down the price of U.S. farm products, driving small farmers in Mexico and elsewhere off their land (and, often, across the border into the U.S.). So, if you think that the price of Twinkies should not be so, well, artificially low in comparison to vegetables, or if you’re concerned with whether or not factory farms are pouring chemicals into our land or water, check out Pollan’s article.

Then go to Bread for the World to read about how the farm bill - as-usual - is no picnic for U.S. farmers either. (And for a view on how trade organizations and agreements - such as the WTO and CAFTA - affect farmers in other countries, see World Market 101 in this month’s Sojourners.)

Elizabeth Palmberg is Assistant Editor of Sojourners magazine.

Verse of the Day: Good and Bad Fruit

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

- Luke 6:43-45

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Voice of the Day: Naim Ateek

It is part of the genius of the Bible that it preserved a record both of the good and of the bad.

- Naim Ateek

from "Justice, and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation"

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Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

the latest reports on Iraq and Congress, Iran, the minimum wage, Virginia Tech, Darfur, abortion, trafficking, capital punishment, George McGovern, and the passing of Boris Yeltsin

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Full news summary:

Iraq-Congress. Democrats Back Date for Start of Iraq Pullout- "Congressional Democrats agreed to ignore President Bush's veto threat and send him a $124 billion war spending bill that orders the administration to begin pulling troops out of Iraq by Oct. 1." Democrats set date to begin troop pullout - "Setting in motion a promised showdown with the White House, Democratic congressional leaders united behind an emergency war spending measure that requires the president to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq no later than this fall." Bill to limit U.S. in Iraq advances - "The Democrat-controlled Congress moved to limit U.S. combat operations in Iraq immediately and withdraw troops as early as July, hardening its stance for a veto showdown with President Bush over war funding."

Iraq-war. Iraq Blast Kills 9 GIs, Injures 20 At Outpost - "A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-rigged truck into a U.S. military outpost near Baqubah on Monday, killing nine soldiers and wounding 20 in one of the deadliest single ground attacks on U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq," Despair stalks Baghdad as plan falters - "Trying to get into the centre of Baghdad earlier this week offered one view of how far away the Americans and Iraqi authorities are from gaining control here." Huge outcry halts work on Baghdad's 'Great Wall' - "The U.S. military calls it the Great Wall of Adhamiyah, outraged Iraqis have dubbed it the Sectarian Wall and Arab commentators are drawing dark comparisons with the security barrier Israel is building in the West Bank." Frustration Over Wall Unites Sunni and Shiite - "The unexpected outcry about the proposed construction of a wall around a Sunni Arab neighborhood has revealed the depths of Iraqi frustration with the petty humiliations created by the new security plan intended to protect them."

Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech Struggles to Return to Normal- "On its first day of classes after the shooting that left 33 dead and 24 injured, the campus was still struggling to decide how to resume a semblance of a normal life." Classes Res ume Amid Empty Desks - "It would not be a normal day. But it would be a collective effort toward one. Everywhere, there were signs of someone trying to move on."

Minimum wage. A deal is set on minimum wage hike - "The first federal minimum wage hike in a decade will boost starting pay for hourly workers from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour under an agreement between congressional Democrats, a deal that couples the increase with nearly $5 billion in business tax cuts to draw political support from Republicans." A Deal on the Minimum Wage(New York Times editorial) - "Congress is to be commended for making the minimum wage bill a priority and should look for every opportunity to send it to Mr. Bush. But to really move the nation in a new direction, lawmakers will have to temper their enthusiasm for never-ending tax cuts."

Darfur. Sudanese want action on Darfur - "among both opposition politicians and ordinary people in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, there appears to be a growing sense of impatience with the government's inability to work with the international community to stem the crisis in Darfur."

Iran. Rice Urges Iran To Attend Mideast Meeting on Iraq - "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Iran not to boycott a conference next week of the major countries and parties with a stake in the future of Iraq, at which the United States and Iran would have an opportunity for senior-level talks." EU agrees Iran nuclear sanctions - "EU foreign ministers have agreed to implement sanctions against Iran after its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. The sanctions go further than those already agreed by the United Nations." U.S. targets arms flow to, from Syria and Iran - "The United States has imposed sanctions on 14 foreign people, companies and government agencies, including the Syrian navy and air force, as it boosts efforts to stop transfers of advanced weaponry to and from Iran and Syria." Britain to rethink relations with Iran - "Britain is to protest formally to Iran as part of a "recalibration" of relations with the Islamic Republic since the seizure of 15 sailors and marines in the Shatt al-Arab waterway this month."

Abortion. Vote could end Mexico's abortion subculture - "Mexico City's Legislative Assembly is scheduled to vote today on a measure that would legalize abortion in this city of more than 8 million people. The legislation, which is expected to win approval, could signal the demise of a subculture that profits from the desperation of thousands of women."

Trafficking . When American Dream Leads to Servitude - "Although human trafficking has been a federal crime since 2000, efforts in the New York State Assembly to criminalize human trafficking and provide services for its victims have yet to succeed while advocates and politicians struggle to reconcile competing concerns over punishment and assistance."

Capital punishment. Drugs Used in Executions May Cause Paralysis, Pain for Conscious Inmates - "The cocktail of drugs used for lethal injections is unreliable and could render inmates paralyzed but not unconscious, unable to cry out as they experience excruciating pain and eventually suffocate, according to a new scientific analysis."

Opinion. Cheney is wrong about me, wrong about war (George McGovern, Los Angeles Times) - "VICE PRESIDENT Dick Cheney recently attacked my 1972 presidential platform and contended that today's Democratic Party has reverted to the views I advocated in 1972. In a sense, this is a compliment, both to me and the Democratic Party. Cheney intended no such compliment. Instead, he twisted my views and those of my party beyond recognition."

Passing. Boris N. Yeltsin, Who Buried the U.S.S.R., Dies at 76 - "Boris N. Yelstin, the burly provincial politician who became a Soviet-era reformer and later a towering figure of his time as the first freely elected leader of Russia, presiding over the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the demise of the Communist Party, died yesterday in Moscow." Boris Yeltsin - "While Gorbachev presided over the decline of the Communist party and the end of the Soviet empire in eastern Europe, it was Yeltsin, Russia's first elected president, who buried the Soviet Union itself." Clinton to attend Yeltsin's funeral - "The former US presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush senior will be among a host of world leaders expected to attend the funeral in Moscow tomorrow of Boris Yeltsin, the Kremlin announced this morning."

Ryan Rodrick Beiler: Christianity Today Challenges Dobson's Hard Line

Readers of this blog already know about the letter from James Dobson, et al., attacking Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals for his activism on global warming. Bloggers Brian McLaren, Lyndsay Moseley, Bill McKibben, and Randall Balmer all rallied to Cizik's defense, and Jim Wallis' invitation to Dobson for a debate on the "great moral issues of our time" still stands.

What's also significant – and greatly encouraging – is that Christianity Today, the flagship publication of mainstream evangelicalism, has now also made a strong editorial statement criticizing Dobson's tactics and defending Cizik:

There are many problems with the letter, not least being that the signatories, as they acknowledge, don't even belong to the NAE. Does Dobson think it would be appropriate for members of the NAE to call publicly for his resignation?

But the letter's most troubling assumption is that a conservative approach to social issues represents the sum total of the NAE's mandate and the evangelical political calling. Citing USA Today, the letter notes, "We believe that some of [the secular media's] misunderstanding about evangelicalism and its 'conservative views on politics, economics, and biblical morality' can be laid at Richard Cizik's door."

Actually, restricting evangelicals to the narrower agenda of "conservative views on politics, economics, and biblical morality" is the bigger problem. This plays into convenient mainstream stereotypes of Christians being obsessed with sexual issues or pawns of the Republican Party.

It also underestimates the scope of modern evangelicalism, as well as Christ's call for us to be salt and light in all spheres of life. Historically, Christian leaders from John Chrysostom to William Wilberforce to Carl F. H. Henry have addressed a broad array of issues. They did not give in to fear of diluting the gospel message, nor did they make common cause with non-Christians uncritically. While some Christians may question global warming, none can doubt our responsibility to be stewards of God's creation.

CT goes on to affirm the breadth, depth, and diversity of evangelical social concern - and challenges anyone who would assume the role of evangelical gatekeeper:

And yes, as the letter notes, evangelicals have not reached a consensus on the magnitude of global warming, its causes, or the remedy. So? Evangelicals don't agree about the Iraq War or the formula for immigration reform or even the best strategy to halt abortion. No evangelical group – Right or Left – can claim to represent all evangelicals. ...

This diversity – even if it risks misunderstanding in the media – is something we should celebrate. That a wide spectrum of evangelicals feel called to engage in social justice is good for evangelicalism, the nation, and the world. But determining priorities and strategies is a matter of prudential judgment, and anyone who thinks they have the very mind of God on any matter should take heed. ...

So let's stop questioning each other's evangelical credentials and just do the work we believe God has called us to.

Ryan Rodrick Beiler is the Web Editor for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Senator Tim Mathern: Red State Passes Peace Resolution

I've been told that some Americans can't find North Dakota on the map. We can be considered backward (like some of the folks in the movie Fargo), which is untrue. Our state legislature recently passed North Dakota's own Peace Resolution (Senate Concurrent Resolution 4022), a progressive piece of legislation that has thrived in this red state. The resolution calls for the pursuit of peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. It voices support for our troops, urging their return - with or without a successful conclusion of their efforts.

The secrets to our success:

1) Public opinion in North Dakota disapproves of the escalation of war in Iraq.
2) The resolution had bipartisan sponsorship.
3) North Dakota's peace community rallied around the resolution with all of their force and grace.
4) The military community was welcomed as an ally in the mutual goal of supporting our troops.

Some of my colleagues argued that the language could have been stronger. Yes, the resolution could have set a timeline for withdrawal or addressed specific foreign policy. I am pleased with the outcome of this process, however. We made it as challenging as we could for risk-averse legislators to vote their conscience and their hope - peace in the Middle East.

In my 20 years as a senator, I have never heard the word peace with such frequency in the legislative halls. This is better than a good start. In the Peace Garden state, this may be the least that we will do.

Tim Mathern is a North Dakota state senator and attended Harvard's Kennedy School of Government when Jim Wallis taught a class there in 2000.

Francis Ng’ambi: A Sabbath Year in Africa

I come from South Africa. I’m working for the Economic Justice Network, which is a network of church organizations in 11 countries. We are working on debt, development, aid, and trade. This year is going to be a special year for us because it’s seven years after the Jubilee [movement] was formed; for us it’s a Sabbath year whereby we want to renew our commitment to fighting for debt cancellation.

Debt is one of the biggest problems in southern Africa. There are some countries that are paying up to 50% of their budget just to service foreign debt. There are other countries that have received debt relief, and some have received 100% debt cancellation. But we still see that there are problems, and fundamental questions that we need to answer. And as churches, we need to bring in more values from the churches about the whole issue of debt.

Why are we fighting for debt cancellation? We are fighting for debt cancellation because we want to free that money so that it can be injected into the social welfare of the people. There are so many children dying of malaria; so many children who cannot access ARVs [antiretroviral AIDS medicines]. There are so many people who are HIV positive. Money, if it is freed from debt service, can be injected into health, education, agriculture, and other useful things.

You want to give a free start to these highly indebted countries. Let them use that money to develop their own countries, to promote the welfare of their own people.

And therefore debt is, for us, a moral issue - we don’t want to see countries be enslaved perpetually. No, every seventh year, according to the Bible, the land is supposed to be given time to [lie] fallow. People are supposed to be given new life, the chance to begin again.

We are also trying to link the debt issue to trade. In trade we have policies that are not conducive for the well-being of people in Africa. At the same time they have got this huge foreign debt that they have to service. We see trade as a means - not as an end - so that money can be used for development.

On the other side, too, we are connecting debt, trade, and aid. If you look at the Millennium Development Goals for 2015, the need for reform is apparent — countries will not be able to achieve the MDGs because they are using money to service debt. On the other hand, they are not getting a good deal from trade. At the same time, aid they are getting has many conditionalities attached. So if you combine the three things, it's a big problem for southern Africa; it compromises the region's ability to make a leap forward. And that’s why we at the Economic Justice Network are fighting for fair trade, debt cancellation, and meaningful aid.


Francis Ng’ambi is an economist who is the Budget Monitoring Officer at the Economic Justice Network of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa. Sojourners spoke with him in March at Ecumenical Advocacy Days.

+ Learn more about trade justice in Sojourners' new special issue

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

the latest reports on Iraq and Congress, nuclear weapons, sanctions, Virginia Tech, infant death rate, Congress and the budget, presidential politics, values-based investing, and select editorials and opinion pieces

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Full news summary:

Iraq-Congress. Democrats brace for next vote on war funds - "Four years after the fall of Baghdad, as US forces see the highest casualty levels of the war, Congress faces votes this week over the terms under which it will continue to fund the Iraq campaign." Democrats weigh options for Iraq after expected veto - "Democrats are considering their next step after President Bush's inevitable veto of their war-spending proposal, including a possible short-term funding bill that would force Congress to revisit the issue this summer."

Iraq-war. Top U.S. Officers See Mixed Results From Iraq 'Surge' - "Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the ongoing increase of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in the country has achieved "modest progress" but has also met with setbacks such as a rise in devastating suicide bombings" Maliki's political survival tied to security effort - "Iraq's first constitutionally elected government may rise or fall with the success of an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad." 'Gated Communities' For the War-Ravaged - "The U.S. military is walling off at least 10 of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods and using biometric technology to track some of their residents, creating what officers call "gated communities" in an attempt to carve out oases of safety in this war-ravaged city." Iraqi Premier Orders Work Stopped on Wall- "Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Sunday that he was ordering a halt to construction of a controversial wall that would block a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad from other areas, saying it reminded people of "other walls."

Sanctions. Treasury wields financial sanctions - "When it comes to diplomacy, the arm of the Treasury Depar tment is getting longer. The use of financial tools to cut off cash to terrorist supporters and nuclear proliferators -- from Iran and North Korea to Sudan and the Palestinian Authority -- has become central to the administration's strategy in getting regimes to change their behavior."

Virginia Tech. 'It Is Something That Affects All of Us' - "From corporate conference rooms to churches and college campuses, Americans draped themselves in burnt orange and maroon and became a united Hokie Nation [Saturday], as a national day of mourning honored the 32 people massacred at Virginia Tech." RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES' RESPONSE: Clergy Speak of Evil and Suffering, Love and Strength - "As they gathered in prayer this weekend on the campus where the blood was shed and at houses of worship in the Washington area and across the nation, the evil that struck Virginia Tech a week ago was unavoidable." Congress hesitant on legislation - "Despite calls for legislative action in the wake of last week's massacre at Virginia Tech, Democratic congressional leaders have no plans to bring up major gun control bills for votes, and supporters of stricter gun laws concede that significant gun legislation is highly unlikely to get serious consideration this year."

Infant death rate rising. In Turnabout, Infant Deaths Climb in South- "For decades, Mississippi and neighboring states with large black populations and expanses of enduring poverty made steady progress in reducing infant death. But, in what health experts call an ominous portent, progress has stalled and in recent years the death rate has risen in Mississippi and several other states."

Congress-budget. 'Pay-As-You-Go' Threatens Dems' Agenda- "Other Democratic promises also are in peril because Democrats revived the pay-as-you-go _ or pay-go, for short _ rule that prevailed during Bill Clinton's presidency and helped produce surpluses instead of deficits on the government's books. Among them are boosting health care for poor children, reforming a hidden middle-class tax increase and easing scheduled cuts in Medicare payments to doctors."

Nuclear weapons. Congress Skeptical of Warhead Plan- "Congressional hearings over the past several weeks have shown that the Bush administration's plan to move ahead with a new generation of nuclear warheads faces strong opposition from House and Senate members concerned that the effort lacks any strategic underpinning and could lead to a new nuclear arms race."India Debates Its Right to Nuclear Testing - "A nuclear accord hailed as the centerpiece of India's deepening friendship with the United States appears to be in jeopardy, as Indian officials argue about whether its limitations on their nuclear a ctivities offend the country's sense of sovereignty."

Presidential politics. Debates Losing a Bit of Luster in a Big Field - "A flood of invitations is besieging Republican and Democratic presidential candidates alike this year, thrusting them into a complicated political vortex as they struggle to balance their own needs with the demands of sensitive and powerful debate sponsors whom candidates are eager not to offend." Abortion aside, conservative Christians like Giuliani for 2008 - "And therein lies a startling aspect of Giuliani's candidacy: Nationwide, he is the No. 1 choice of white conservative Christians for the Republican nomination. A Times poll this month found 26% of them favor Giuliani - more than double the portion supporting either of his top rivals, John McCain or Mitt Romney."

"Values-based" investing. Social conservatives rally an investor army - "Morally responsible" or "val­ues based" investing, they say, has been an underutilized tool in their quest to rid society of abortion, pornography, and domestic-partner benefits for homosexual couples. It's a tool whose time has come."

Editorials.

Health care for more kids (Chicago Tribune) - "Reps. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), along with several of their House colleagues, have introduced a bill to reauthorize and significantly expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program through the Healthy Kids Act of 2007. The Bush administration has no intention of allowing such an expansion."

The unending agony of Darfur (Boston Globe) - "Ban's brief for diplomatic patience can only help Bashir play for more time. Instead, the international community should apply pressure on Sudan's point of greatest vulnerability -- the role of China as major stakeholder in Sudan's oil industry, trade partner, arms supplier, and diplomatic defender."

Opinion.

The two types of violence (James Carroll, Boston Globe) - "There is neither physical nor moral equivalence between the carnage at Virginia Tech and the latest explosions in the US-sparked Sunni-Shi'ite civil war, yet such outbreaks draw attention to an underlying force that has taken both nations hostage: violence. At a time like this, it is necessary to step back from politics and grief to think about violence as such."

Voice of the Day: James Baldwin

Time catches up with kingdoms and crushes them, gets its teeth into doctrines and rends them; time reveals the foundations on which any kingdom rests, and eats at those foundations, and it destroys doctrines by proving them to be untrue.

- James Baldwin
from "The Fire Next Time"

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Verse of the Day: 'The spoil of the poor'

The Lord rises to argue his case; he stands to judge the peoples. The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of the people: It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

- Isaiah 3:13-15

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Jim Wallis: Abortion - From Symbol to Substance

In a long-awaited decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a congressional ban on the procedure called “partial birth abortion,” the first time a specific abortion procedure has been banned. “Pro-life” forces are claiming a great victory, and “pro-choice” advocates are lamenting a terrible defeat. Both sides hope or fear a slippery slope toward, or away from, their ultimate goals.

The procedure in question is a particularly objectionable form of abortion that Sojourners has long opposed, and even some pro-choice supporters have had problems with. And the law in question had strong bipartisan support when it passed Congress in 2003 – a 281-142 vote in the House (including 63 Democrats) and a 64-34 vote in the Senate (with 17 Democrats.) In a 2003 Gallup poll, 68 percent of Americans thought that "late term" or "partial birth" abortions should be made illegal.

The procedure involves very few abortions - about 2,200 out of 1.31 million in 2000, the last year for which numbers are available. And simply banning one procedure means that there are alternative procedures that will now be used. But the furious arguments on both sides again show how mostly symbolic the abortion debate remains when focused on primarily legal questions. After ten years of heated debate, the Court's decision does nothing to reduce the number of abortions.

Most Americans are alarmed at the nation’s high abortion rate, but don’t support criminalizing it. They want to keep abortion legal, but make it genuinely rare. In 2005, 68 percent of Americans agreed that abortion should be legal, at least in the first three months of pregnancy. We have supported a "consistent life ethic" - which seeks a dramatic reduction in the actual abortion rate in America, without criminalizing what is always a tragic choice and often a desperate one. Others also question if total abortion bans are really pro-life because of the likely consequences of back-alley abortions, especially for poor women.

It’s time for concrete action that would actually and seriously reduce the number of abortions in America. A better approach than the symbolic legal battle would be to gather new energy for a commitment to advancing real solutions. A constructive dialogue should include how best to prevent unwanted pregnancies, support pregnant women who find themselves in an unexpected situation, and effectively reduce the abortion rate.

Legislation that could make a real difference in changing the circumstances that make abortions more likely has been introduced again in the new Congress. The Reducing the Need for Abortions and Supporting Parents Act, introduced by Reps. Tim Ryan and Rosa DeLauro “aims to reduce the abortion rate by preventing unintended pregnancies, supporting pregnant women, and assisting new parents. One in five abortions are obtained by a teenager and 60 percent are obtained by women with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty line.” We supported this legislation in the last Congress and will again. Other legislation may be introduced again by Rep. Lincoln Davis, and Democrats for Life continues to promote its 95/10 Initiative, which is still a good one.

It’s time that both pro-life and pro-choice supporters come together and support these measures, and actually do something serious and substantial in reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and dramatically reducing the abortion rate. Who could be against that? Let’s indeed save unborn lives. It’s time to move from symbols to substance.

Adam Taylor: For God’s Sake, Save Darfur! End the Politics of Delay

A recent survey showed that 59 percent of all Americans know “a lot” or “some” about the conflict in Darfur, compared to levels reported in 2004, when only 14 percent said they were familiar with the conflict. This shift has been caused in large part due to a growing movement of public education, vigils, paid media ads, lobbying, and rallies all across the country. We now face the challenge of increasing this momentum and translating this growing awareness into intensified public pressure.

After four years of protracted bloodshed and unbearable suffering, a degree of cynicism is justified in reaction to the recent promise by the Khartoum government to allow 3,000 U.N. military personnel to enter Darfur. This critical action would complete phase two of a desperately needed – and long overdue – three-phase process toward deploying a more robust, hybrid United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force to prevent further killing and restore security to the beleaguered region. This concession repeats an all too familiar cycle, in which President Bashir plays a manipulative game of deterrence with the international community, making new promises as soon as the world’s patience starts running out or the United States and other nations reach the brink of taking punitive action. There will be no quick fixes or easy solutions. But where the politics of delay have failed, the power of our movement calling for bold leadership will succeed.

On Wednesday, with the Holocaust museum as his backdrop, President Bush gave what was arguably his strongest speech to date about the moral imperative to end the genocide in Darfur, saying:

Just this week, Sudan's government reached an agreement with the United Nations to allow 3,000 U.N. troops and their equipment into the country to support the A.U. force. The world has heard these promises from Sudan before. President Bashir's record has been to promise cooperation while finding new ways to subvert and obstruct the U.N.'s efforts to bring peace to his country. The time for promises is over – President Bashir must act.

In deference to recently appointed United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s diplomatic effort to secure an agreement from Khartoum, President Bush agreed to hold off on imposing a series of stringent economic sanctions on Sudanese companies and individuals, and postponed pursuing a new Security Council resolution against Sudan. These sanctions have been under discussion for months as a part of the so-far-empty threat of engaging in a set of coercive actions under what has been termed “Plan B.” After meetings with State Department officials and with the special envoy to Darfur, Andrew Natsios, I’m convinced that there are many people with the administration that are working diligently to end this genocide. However, they have faced competing foreign policy priorities, a reticence to take costly action, and bureaucratic inertia.

History shows that moving the Sudanese government requires both real carrots and real sticks. So far the U.S. approach has been unable to muster enough of either. We have been engaged in a protracted chess game with a regime that has brutalized the Darfuri region. In a recent strategy paper, John Prendergast argues that:

[T]he central paradigm must be to move away from the current policy of constructive engagement without any leverage ... to a more muscular policy focused on walking softly and carrying – and using – a bigger stick.

A robust U.N./A.U. force is necessary to stop the killing and create an enabling environment for renewing a peace process that can addresses the underlying causes of this crisis.

As Christians called to be peacemakers, we should support aggressive diplomacy, choosing military action through a no-fly zone, blockade, etc., only a s a last resort. In the case of Sudan we haven’t used all of the economic and political tools at our disposal. Broader economic sanctions will send a strong signal to government in Khartoum that we are unwilling to play politics with the lives of our brothers and sisters in Darfur. We must also continue to pressure European countries, China, Russia, and the Arab League to follow our lead in imposing stricter sanctions. Bush’s promise of sanctions with greater teeth on companies and individuals, as well as his promise to initiate a new Security Council resolution, should be applauded. The devil lies in the details of Bush’s promise to act within a short timeframe. After four horrific years of this genocide we cannot bear much patience for the word “short.” Short timeframes have too often resulted in empty threats, broken promises, and empty rhetoric. We are far beyond a short timeframe.

We must remember Dr. Martin Luther King’s words from a speech at Riverside church, exactly 40 years ago to the month, when he said:

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is the thief of time … Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: “Too late.”

Sojourners/Call to Renewal is partnering with the Save Darfur Coalition during the 3rd Annual “Global Days for Darfur,” April 23 to April 30, 2007. This week of rallies, marches, and vigils will call attention to the escalating violence and the continued failure of the international community to adequately respond to this crisis. Our unified message is that "time is running out" for the people of Darfur. “Global Days for Darfur” currently consists of 273 events in 175 cities and 42 states (and D.C.) across the country, as well as events in 20 countries, and the number is growing daily. I pray that you will join us in proclaiming the message that it is not too late for Darfur. For God’s sake, save Darfur!


Adam Taylor is Director of Campaigns and Organizing for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

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Ryan Rodrick Beiler: Comic Relief

On Monday, in my homage to Kurt Vonnegut, I affirmed his assertion that:

Laughs are exactly as honorable as tears. Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion, to the futility of thinking and striving anymore. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward - and since I can start thinking and striving again that much sooner.

Looking back at the events that unfolded later that day in Blacksburg, I have to question if this is always true. There is plenty of absurdity in that tragedy, but little to laugh at.

I did, however, smile upon reading a recent piece by Ethics Daily's Bob Allen on a Pew Research Center poll comparing Fox "News" watchers to fans of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. (Sorry, I always have to put sarcasm quotes around "news" when it's next to the word Fox.)

Allen reports:

Along with education, income and political interest, researchers found where people get their news had a significant impact on how much they know. Fifty-four percent of those ranked with high knowledge of current events said they watched "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" with Stephen Colbert, the same percentage as readers of major newspaper Web sites and one point ahead of "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS.

That compared to 35 percent in the high-knowledge category that get their news from Fox and/or their local TV news and 34 percent who watch network morning shows.

Daily Show and Report fans shouldn't be too smug, however:

Other programs with a high percentage of very knowledgeable viewers and listeners included "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News (51 percent) and Rush Limbaugh's radio show (50 percent).

Still, it would seem that smart and funny beats smart and mean 54% to 51%. There is hope. The poll apparently makes no mention of Fox's attempt at satire, The 1/2 Hour News Hour, likely because it contains neither news nor humor.

But even - or especially - during a week like this, I guess I still agree with Vonnegut about laughter. As I wrote in Sojourners a few years back about The Daily Show: "Satire can be a vital tonic to those numbed by current events—a way of engaging the powers that be without going crazy."

We need that medicine now more than ever. Get a double dose with an archive clip of Jon Stewart's interview of Vonnegut - showing his age, but still plenty of edge.

Ryan Rodrick Beiler is the Web Editor for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on Iraq, gun control, DC voting rights, Virginia Tech, the attorney general, abortion, Congress, Iran, Columbia, religious worker visas, and selct op-eds.

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Full news summary:

Iraq. Leading Democrat in Senate Tells Reporters, 'This War Is Lost' -"As Congressional Democrats sought to reconcile their differences and send an Iraq spending bill to the White House, Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said that "this war is lost," U.S. signals impatience with Iraq's pace - "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Iraq with a message that American patience with the slow pace of political reconciliation measures is limited." Gates Warns Iraq Leaders That 'Clock Is Ticking' on U.S. Presence - "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Baghdad to convey a blunt message to Iraq's leadership three months after the United States began an increase of more than 28,000 troops in the country. "The clock is ticking," he said." Gates Presses Iraq Premier on Healing Sectarian Divide - "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here intending to press Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq to move faster on Sunni-Shiite reconciliation at a moment when Mr. Maliki's ability to deliver appears limited," GOP Sen. Snowe sponsoring Iraq withdrawal bill - "In another sign of Republican unease with the president's Iraq policies, a third GOP senator expressed support for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq under certain conditions." Baghdad troop deaths up; Anbar down - "U.S. combat deaths in Baghdad have risen steadily since February, when the U.S. military launched an initiative to secure the capital, Pentagon records show. Meanwhile, a hotbed of the Iraqi insurgency has become significantly safer for U.S. troops."

Virginia Tech.In Shadow of a Tragedy, Longing for Normalcy but Enveloped by Grief - "In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, there were vigils and crowds. Now many of the students have gone home, and some may not be back this semester." NBC bashed for airing Virginia Tech killer's rants - "NBC's decision to broadcast portions of Seung-hui Cho's angry rants triggered a storm of condemnation from viewers and victims' relatives, illuminating the treacherous middle ground between exposure and exploitation in a fast-moving news cycle." NBC News Defends Its Use of Material Sent by the Killer - "NBC News fought back against a growing backlash over the way it handled the pictures and writings of the student who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech." Kaine Gives Panel Latitude to Probe Campus Killings - "Gov. Timothy M. Kaine created an eight-member independent panel, including former U.S. homeland security secretary Tom Ridge, to review all aspects of the Virginia Tech massacre," Appointees to Virginia Tech Review Panel - the panel members appointed by Gov. Kaine. Anger of Killer Was on Exhibit in His Writings- "Professors and students in the English department at Virginia Tech knew of the mental turmoil of Cho Seung-Hui through his writings and images."

Gun control. Killings spur delicate gun debate - "In the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech, gun-rights advocates and proponents of tougher weapons laws are wading into the debate about American gun culture. But what seems uncertain is whether there is the will to make a significant push to change gun laws." Democrats shy away from stricter gun laws - "The muted response on Capitol Hill to the Virginia Tech massacre underscores an evolving willingness among some Democrats from the party's urban and coastal strongholds to recognize the political realities that face colleagues who need rural votes to win office." US support for gun control rises - "quietly, American attitudes toward firearms have shifted. Gun ownership is at the lowest level in three decades, and support for the regulation of firearms, which is always been high, has reached a new peak,"

Attorney General. Gonzales hit from both sides - "Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales lost ground in his battle to boost political support to keep his job as Republicans on a Senate panel harshly criticized his handling of the firings of eight federal prosecutors last year, and an additional GOP lawmaker called on him to quit." Gonzalez defends firings before tough GOP critics - "Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales defended the firings of eight federal prosecutors last year, but was harshly criticized by several conservative Republican senators during a daylong hearing." Senators Chastise Gonzales at Hearing - "Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales came under withering attack from members of his own party over the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys," On a Very Hot Seat With Little Cover and Less Support- "Not a single Republican, with the possible exception of Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, came to Mr. Gonzales's defense - not even his old Texas friend Senator John Cornyn."

Abortion . New Push Likely for Restrictions Over Abortions- "Both sides of the abortion debate expect a new push for restrictions as state lawmakers around the country digest the implications of the Supreme Court decision upholding a federal ban on a type of abortion." Analysis: Roberts Court Moves Right, But With a Measured Step - "The Supreme Court's decision signaling a significant reversal in the way it views government restrictions on abortion may also offer a glimpse of how the court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will proceed on other controversial issues." News Analysis: Adjudging a Moral Harm to Women From Abortions - "That abortion is bad for fetuses is a statement of the obvious. That it is bad for women, too, is a contested premise that nonetheless got five votes at the Supreme Court."

DC Voting Rights. House Approves A Full D.C. Seat - "A bill giving the District its first full seat in Congress cleared the House, marking the city's biggest legislative victory in its quest for voting rights in nearly three decades." House votes to give D.C. a seat - "The House approved congressional voting rights for the District of Columbia, granting the D.C. delegate a vote for the first time in the nation's history and adding a seat in Utah to increase the size of the chamber to 437 members."

Congress. Allowed to Break Ranks This Year, Some in GOP Vote Like Democrats - "The GOP is not about to concede long-term minority status, but ... Democratic control has offered an unexpected sort of freedom, an avenue for junior conservatives to build up their profiles and for endangered swing-state lawmakers to dust off their independent credentials."

Iran . EU to hold nuclear talks with Iran - "The EU foreign policy chief and Iran's top negotiator are to meet for the first time since February in a fresh attempt to break the deadlock over Tehran's nuclear enrichment."

Colombia . Leahy puts Colombia aid on hold- "A U.S. senator has frozen $55.2 million in military aid to Colombia while he discusses with the State Department accusations that Colombia's army chief colluded with illegal paramilitary groups."

Religious worker visas. New rules proposed for religious workers - "Federal immigration officials, trying to get a handle on a years-old problem of rampant fraud among religious worker visa applications, proposed new rules that would require the government to visit churches or other religious groups to make sure they really exist." US eyes fraud in religious visa programs - "The visits are part of an effort by Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, to tighten rules for the religious worker visas after finding fraud in about a third of applications."

Op-Ed. Rice on The Right Tracks(David Ignatius, Washington Post) - "For the past few years, the United States has been in self-imposed diplomatic isolation in the Middle East. But two paths out of that wilderness are becoming visible, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is moving cautiously down each one."

Verse of the Day: "Speak Out For Those Who Cannot Speak"

Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

- Proverbs 31:8-9

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Voice of the Day: Vandana Shiva

We can make the power of those who exploit us irrelevant... Choose to know the truth about global struggles, and live in a way that supports a just alternative.

- Vandana Shiva
from the 2002 World Social Forum

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Jim Wallis: 'No One Deserves a Tragedy'

Monday morning in Blacksburg, Virginia, 32 students and staff at Virginia Tech were killed in the largest single shooting in modern American history. The shooter, an angry and disturbed young man, then killed himself.

Looking at the profiles of the dead, I am struck by their diversity. They ranged in age from 18 to 76; they came from nine states, along with Puerto Rico, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Romania. They were male and female, African-American, Asian, Middle Eastern and Caucasian. They were all people who began Monday little knowing it would suddenly end their lives.

This is not a time to seek easy answers or to assign blame. It is, rather, a time to pray, mourn, and reflect. While this tragedy can perhaps be partially explained by the easy accessibility of guns in our society, by the saturation of violence in our popular culture, by the fact that the visible signs of Cho Seung Hui's troubled life could have been taken more seriously, by concerns about university security, or by any number of other things, ultimately there is no simple explanation. And there are generally no single causes for such horrible events. In the Virginia Tech memorial convocation Tuesday evening, Professor and poet Nikki Giovanni said:

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. … We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

All of us at Sojourners/Call to Renewal join in the national mourning. We offer our prayers and send our condolences to the families and friends of those who died, those who were injured, and to the entire Virginia Tech community. We pray that the comforting presence of God will be felt in the midst of such deep heartache. Sorrow can sometimes prove redemptive in ways no one could have imagined beforehand. It’s time to let sorrow do its reflective and redemptive work, to hold the hands that need to be held, to let our tears open our hearts to change those things that lead to such tragedy, and to trust our pain to the loving arms of God.

Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper: Worship in a Time of Catastrophe

When a gun gets loose on a Virginia campus, or a high school rampage occurs in Colorado; when a building blows up in Oklahoma City, or a plane hits a tower in Manhattan - people follow their horror and disbelief with liturgy and love.

I’ll never forget the little shrines of stuffed animals in Manhattan and Oklahoma City, or the three crosses erected on the hills outside of Columbine High School (which were later taken down by students who “didn’t believe” any more). These street liturgies are the reflex ritualizing that comes when things happen that can’t be explained. They are ritual attempts to explain what can’t be explained.

The cell phone has changed our approach to disaster (we rush to phone someone), but not our approach to worship. We still want face-to-face contact after disaster strikes. What follows here is a small guide to good worship when disaster strikes. The first part is for the professional, the second for the participant.

1. First of all, act quickly. Don’t wait, act. The congregations in Virginia acted swiftly to gather people together. Mazel tov to them. Don’t worry about the quality of the service or music: It will pour out. People want religious leadership at times like these.

2. Create symbols. The white ribbon that the Bronfman Center at New York University is promoting is instructive. People want to say, "We connect. We object to what happened." The Bronfman Center is having a companion event at 2 p.m. today in New York City. They also sent delegations of students to Virginia. Again, mazel tov.

3. Involve diverse constituencies. This (in my view) is not the time to invoke the name of Jesus so much as the name of the God beyond God. Don’t alienate people who may never have wanted religious connection before!

4. Sing. Help people to cry. Especially help people who have been victims of previous violence. You know who they are. Invite them especially.

5. Follow up on anniversaries. Put on your calendar the one-year anniversary and have some other kind of remembrance.

6. Don’t expect the relatives of the victims to speak, or be able to speak. Invite them and let them be surrounded by the clumsy love of the service.

7. Give people THINGS TO DO, even if it is distributing leaflets or phoning people or cleaning up the room where the remembrance will be held.

8. Be careful not to accuse the perpetrator of the violence. Leave the anger for later. Resist the temptation to join the hate you oppose.

These instructions go to religious professionals as we go beyond street liturgy into human gatherings with awesome spiritual content. For those who are not professionals, the point is to participate. Show up some place. Act like you care. Isolation is our biggest enemy when terrible things happen.

My own Sept. 11 day in Miami went like this: I found my daughter and was the first parent to take a child home from school. Next, I fed my animals, got money out of the bank, packed food, and went to the church. I was then Senior Minister of the Coral Gables Congregational Church in Miami. I realized my process was strangely, almost absurdly, practical. I got my daughter, age 16, to start calling the youth group on their cell phones. We got almost all the youth group to the church. Then we called the whole congregation, using all the cells and phone lines. We called 900 people that day to see if they were okay. By 4 p.m. we had put out a press release that we were having worship that night at 7 p.m. - and over a thousand people came. The best thing that happened in that worship was that we invited a Muslim woman, a Pakistani-American doctor at the local hospital, to speak. She was brilliant, and received a standi ng ovation. We worshipped and wept and put a finger in the dike of anti-Muslim hatred. We liturgized love in the face of hate.

As we move into the aftermath of yet another violent disaster, we can imagine a range of responses. They will be a collage of the revenge and awe, fragility and the concomitant preciousness of daily life, fear and insecurity, all packaged in as practical (and absurd) a way as removing our shoes at the airport. This nearly absurd but very holy experience is what ritual and liturgy are all about: They bring together our longings for love and our opposition to hate and violence. They matter more than we can ever know, because they have the last word. They fill up the space where hate has tried to come with its opposite. They prevail.

Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper has served as the Senior Minister of the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, New York City, since 2005. She blogs at Dolly Mama.

Shane Claiborne: When Violence Kills Itself

I’ve always heard the old adage, “violence is a weapon of the weak.” But after events like the Virginia Tech massacre, it’s easy to think that violence has ultimate power. After all, we’ve learned history through the lens of war. And we read the news through acts of violence rather than the hidden acts of love that keep hope alive.

But there is a common thread in many of the most horrific perpetrators of violence that begs our attention – they kill themselves. Violence kills the image of God in us. It is a cry of desperation, a weak and cowardly cry of a person suffocated of hope. Violence goes against everything that we are created for – to love and to be loved – so it inevitably ends in misery and suicide. When people succumb to violence it ultimately infects them like a disease or a poison that leads to their own death. Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a violent kiss, ends his life by hanging himself with a noose. After his notorious persecutions, the Emperor Nero’s story ends as he stabs himself. Hitler passed out suicide pills to all his heads of staff, and ended his life as one of the most pitifully lonely people to walk the earth. We see the same in the case of Columbine, the 2007 Amish school shootings, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and this recent Virginia Tech massacre – each ends in suicide.

Violence is suicidal. Suicide rates of folks in the military and working the chambers of death row execution are astronomical; they kill themselves as they feel the image of God dying in them.
It is in moments like these violent times that grace looks so magnificent. It is in the shadow of such violence, as was the case after the Amish school shooting, that the victims' grace to the murderer’s family shines so brightly. Sometimes all the peacemakers need to do is practice revolutionary patience, and steadfast hope – for the universe bends toward justice, and the entire Christian story demonstrates the triumph of love. And it makes it even more scandalous to think of killing someone who kills – for they, more than anyone in the world, need to hear that they are created for something better than that.

I am reminded of a letter I got from someone currently on death row. After reading some of my writing, he wrote to me to share that he was a living testimony against the myth of redemptive violence (the idea that violence can bring redemption or peace). This fellow on death row told me that the family of his victim argued that he should not be killed for what he did, that he was not beyond redemption, and so he did not receive the death penalty for his crime. “That gave me a lot of time to think about grace,” he said. And he became a Christian in prison. Another story of scandalous love and grace.

So in these days after Easter, even as we see the horror of death, may we be reminded that in the end love wins. Mercy triumphs. Life is more powerful than death. And even those who have committed great violence can have the image of God come to life again within them as they hear the whisper of love. May the whisper of love grow louder than the thunder of violence. May we love loudly.

Shane Claiborne is a Red Letter Christian, author of The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, and a founding partner of The Simple Way community, a radical faith community that lives among and serves the homeless in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on abortion ruling, Darfur, Iraq war, Virginia Tech shooting, Iran, immigration, global warming, presidential politics, and select editorials.

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Full news summary:

Abortion ruling. Partial-birth abortion ban upheld - "The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a federal law prohibiting partial-birth abortion, marking the first time a specific abortion procedure has been successfully outlawed." High Court Upholds Curb on Abortion - "The Supreme Court broke new ground yesterday in upholding federal restrictions on abortion, with President Bush's two appointees joining a court majority that said Congress was exercising its license to "promote respect for life, including the life of the unborn." In Reversal, Justices Back Ban on Method of Abortion - "The Supreme Court reversed course on abortion, upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-to-4 decision that promises to reframe the abortion debate and define the young Roberts court." Abortion law is upheld - "Experts on both sides of the abortion divide predicted the ruling would encourage state and federal governments to impose tighter regulations on abortion, but said there was no indication the high court was any closer to reversing Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that guaranteed women the right to terminate a pregnancy." The complete Court opinion.

Abortion ruling politics. Ruling Draws Lawmakers Toward Political Minefield - "The Supreme Court ruling resurrects the politically charged issue of reproductive rights just in time for the 2008 campaign season, but it may not be a fight the Democrats want." Court Ruling Catapults Abortion Back Into '08 Race- "Both sides in the abortion struggle predicted that the Supreme Court's decision would escalate the drive for new abortion restrictions in state legislatures and push the issue of abortion rights - and the Supreme Court - squarely into the 2008 presidential election." Ruling opens abortion debate for '08 - "The Supreme Court decision upholding a federal ban on partial-birth abortion predictably pleased the Republican presidential contenders and disappointed Democratic candidates." Abortion foes to push for stricter limits - "Elated and emboldened, antiabortion activists in state after state are planning to push for stringent new limits on second- and third-trimester abortions in the hope of building on their victory in the Supreme Court."

Iraq war. Wave of Bombings Continues in Iraq - "Bombs ravaged Baghdad in five horrific explosions aimed mainly at Shiite crowds, killing at least 171 people in the deadliest day in the capital since the American-led security plan for the city took effect two months ago." Car bombs kill at least 172 in Baghdad - "Four of the bombs targeted predominantly Shiite Muslim neighborhoods, sparking heated criticism of the security plan and heightening fears of revenge attacks and death squad killings." Bombers Defy Security Push, Killing at Least 158 in Baghdad - "The attacks followed brazen bombings that demonstrated the insurgents' ability to circumvent the U.S. and Iraqi security plan for Baghdad, and renewed fears of reprisal killings by Shiites."

Iraq war funding. Democrats Would Make Iraq Timetable in Bill 'Advisory' - "Congressional Democratic leaders are moving to make their proposed timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq "advisory" as they seek to reconcile two versions of war spending legislation into a single bill" No budge on Iraq war funding bill - "Moving closer to a showdown over funding the war in Iraq, President Bush and congressional Democratic leaders emerged from a much-anticipated White House meeting without progress toward ending an impasse over an emergency spending bill." No Solution in Sight as Bush and Lawmakers Discuss Iraq Spending Measure- "Mr. Bush met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the White House for nearly an hour, the first face-to-face discussion since the House and Senate passed emergency Iraq spending bills last month with provisions to end the war."

Virginia Tech shooting. Gunman Sent Video During Lull In Slaughter - "Cho Seung Hui paused Monday morning during the shootings at Virginia Tech to stop at a post office and mail to NBC News in New York a disturbing package of pictures, writings and video before returning to the rampage." Gunman sent video manifesto - "Days before he massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech and took his own life, Cho Seung Hui concocted a vicious and meticulous multimedia plan for how he hoped to be remembered. He got his wish Wednesday night." Officials Knew Troubled State of Killer in '05- "Campus authorities were aware 17 months ago of the troubled mental state of the student who shot and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech," Gunman had presented an 'imminent danger' in 2005 - "The student who is accused of the murderous rampage that claimed 33 lives at Virginia Tech presented an imminent danger in 2005, when, campus police said today, two women complained that he was stalking them by computer and telephone." U.S. a worldbeater at owning guns - "Although no place in today's world is immune to the kind of senseless violence that devastated Virginia Tech, much of the globe remains transfixed by what one European newspaper described as "the defining feature of the United States to the outside world." In an Instant, Bright Futures Become Memories - "Their names are emerging now, the roster of the slain. Their stories are emerging, too. People who knew them, people who loved them, search for words." Profiles of those who died.

Darfur. Bush Presses Sudan on Darfur, Citing Possible U.S. Sanctions - "President Bush invoked the powerful imagery of the Holocaust to intensify pressure on Sudan, warning that the United States would impose stiff economic sanctions and seek others from the United Nations if President Omar Hassan al-Bashir does not bring a quick end to the brutal violence in Darfur." Bush warns Sudan over Darfur crisis - "President Bush that the United States would expand and tighten economic sanctions on Sudan if efforts by the United Nations to bring peace to Darfur did not bear fruit soon." Bush Unveils And Delays Sanctions For Sudan - "President Bush unveiled a new package of sanctions against Sudan for failing to cooperate with international efforts to end what he described as the "genocide" in the Darfur region -- but promptly postponed it to give the U.N. secretary general time to pursue a diplomatic solution to the crisis."

Iran. Atomic Agency Confirms Advances by Iran's Nuclear Program - "Iran has now begun enriching small amounts of uranium in more than 1,300 centrifuges at a newly opened underground site at its main nuclear complex, the International Atomic Energy Agency's top inspector said." Iran begins producing nuclear fuel, says UN watchdog - "Iran has begun producing nuclear fuel in its underground uranium enrichment plant, a confidential U N atomic watchdog document said, ratcheting up its defiance of the United Nations." US accuses Iran of supplying arms to Taliban - "The war of words between the US and Iran has spilled into Afghanistan after US allegations that Iran is secretly supporting the Taliban insurgency. The charges, expressed in carefully calibrated language, represent the first time senior US officials have publicly aired rumours that have circulated privately in Afghanistan since last year."

Immigration. Public favors giving illegal immigrants a break - "While Congress and the White House remain divided over what to do with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the USA, a new poll shows the American public appears to have reached a consensus on the question. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken last weekend found that 78% of respondents feel people now in the country illegally should be given a chance at citizenship."

Global warming. Could global warming cause war? - "For years, the debate over global warming has focused on the three big "E's": environment, energy, and economic impact. This week it officially entered the realm of national security threats and avoiding wars as well."

Presidential politics. Thompson tests conservative waters - "Evidence of former Sen. Fred Thompson's presidential appeal to victory-seeking conservatives is growing, including drawing more than 50 House Republicans yesterday to hear his pitch" Thompson Meets With House GOP; Does Not Say if He's a Candidate - "Former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) met with more than 50 Republican House members on Capitol Hill, fielding questions about his views on issues such as abortion and immigration and even his relationship with his first wife,"

Editorials.

No More Delay on Darfur(New York Times) "Tougher American sanctions - and tougher action from the Security Council - are long overdue. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush decided to delay them further to give the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, more time to try to cut a deal with Sudan to admit an international peacekeeping force that may be too small to stop the killing."

The court takes on abortion (Chicago Tribune) "The battle over a medical procedure that critics refer to as partial-birth abortion has been long and bitter, and it is a long way from being over." Denying the Right to Choose(New York Times) "The Supreme Court has handed the Bush administration and other opponents of women's reproductive rights the big political victory they were hoping to get from the conservative judges President Bush has added to the bench." A Shift on Abortions (Washington Post) "Yesterday'sSupreme Court ruling upholding the ban on the procedure known as partial-birth abortion is not apt to prevent any abortions: Most likely, the tiny percentage of women who would have undergone this admittedly gruesome procedure will instead opt to terminate their pregnancies by another procedure." A limited and humane decision (Washington Times) "The limited and careful 5-4 ruling upholds the broadly bipartisan Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, which outlaws intentional partial-birth abortion with exceptions for endangerment to a mother's life."

Voice of the Day: Jean McMullan

Blinding light assaults the darkness;
Children wait for guns to cease.
In the midst of war’s confusion,
Make us instruments of peace.

Hungry for your visitation,
We are waiting –
lost,
afraid.

You alone,
O God,
can save us.
Heal the wounds that we have made.

-Jean McMullan
Written the morning after the war erupted on the Persian Gulf.

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Verse of the Day: Calling out to God

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication. In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.

- Psalms 86:1-7

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Diana Butler Bass: The Silence of a Murderer's Mother

This morning, on my way to Dulles Airport to catch a flight, I was listening to radio coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. The reporter was talking about shooter Cho Seung Hui, analyzing his personality and background, and trying to understand what may have motivated the college student to murder 32 people and then commit suicide.

In the recitation, the reporter made a point of Cho’s religious background. Evidently, his mother is a devout Christian. Cho, the reporter said, experienced a rift with his mother over issues of faith and had rejected her beliefs. Since the shooting, Cho’s family has remained in isolation, issuing no statement to the press. One news outlet reported that his mother had been hospitalized for shock.

Other than being the mother of one of the murdered students, I can imagine nothing worse than being the mother of the murderer, a murderer who committed suicide. How isolated she must be. She, too, is grieving, mourning the loss of her only son, mourning her dreams for him, and mourning her memories of his childhood. She has little – except confusion, guilt (however misplaced that may be) and questions.

One of the things I regularly do as a writer is to listen to stories – happy ones and tragic ones; old ones and unfolding ones – and try to understand the experiences of all those involved. In the Virginia Tech shootings, attention has been rightly directed toward the innocent and toward the guilty. But the grieving mother? Where is she in this story? Other than “Mrs. Cho,” I do not even know her name. This morning’s Washington Post quoted her neighbors as saying that she is “quiet, modest, and hardworking.” No one seems to have known her well.

I am not calling for a media pursuit of this anguished woman. Rather, her absence from the story strikes a heart-breaking cord, causing me – also a Christian and mother – to wonder about her silence.

That silence brings to mind another silence: the silence of Eve. In Genesis, the first words uttered by Eve after the expulsion from the garden are those of joy at the birth of Cain, her son: “I have gotten a man from the LORD!” No long thereafter, she bore Abel, a second son.

But joy turns to tragedy as the two grow to manhood. Cain, jealous of his younger brother, killed Abel. And there, in Genesis chapter 4, right at the beginning of biblical history, the first murder occurs. God chastises Cain and punishes him by making him a “fugitive and a vagabond” upon the earth.

Throughout the story, however, Eve says nothing. She is silent. One can only imagine her anguish: Have I birthed this violence into the world? My son, my beloved son, the firstborn of all humanity, is a murderer. He has killed his brother. Is this my fault? What have I done?

Finally, at the very end of the tale, Eve says one thing. She bore a third son, named Seth. “For God,” said Eve, “has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” Cain is not only a fugitive from the earth but banished from his own family, exiled from his mother’s heart. Only Abel is remembered; Seth replaces him, the beloved son. The sin of murder destroyed more than life – it destroyed memory and motherhood. For all intents and purposes, Cain was dead, too. Eve birthed both victim and perpetrator. No wonder she was silent.

Silence may well be the primal response to sin: a mother’s choked pain, the pain of birthing sin, and the pain of birthing children victimized by sin. What can one say in the face of it all? Nothing, absolutely nothing. We are mute. But we are not entirely alone; we are embraced by the silence of Eve.


Diana Butler Bass (www.dianabutlerbass.com) holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University. She is the author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith (Harper San Francisco).

Julie Clendenin: Talking to Children About Tragedy

Monday was a heavy day. That night, my family sat down for our usual routine - some quiet moments before dinner when we sit and pray together. My two younger daughters, ages 9 and 7, were in their places as their daddy began to pray, "God, we're so grateful for all the good things you give us." But this night, he included something else in our prayer. As he asked God to comfort the people and families affected by the students at Virginia Tech, the girls both looked up. "What happened?!?" they asked, almost in unison. My husband's answer was short and simple: A young man was upset and confused and did something that is completely beyond our understanding. There is no way to know why he did what he did and it's very sad that no one was able to stop him.

I guess I should mention that my children don't watch TV news and that we often hide the front page of the paper in an effort to shield them from the shock of our daily news. We want to break things to them gently and remind them that God is alive and at work in this world despite all the hate and anger around us. I want them to know God's touch first, so that they can manage the barrage of frightening events around them.

So, how do parents explain this kind of thing to their young children? We can't. There are too many unanswerable questions. Who is this shooter? Why did he kill? Who could have, or should have, protected the young ones who are now lost? My daughters want to understand - and so do I. But we don't.

The one mystery I can explain is this: God will be the comforter and the peacemaker in this kind of situation. We say it and we believe it, but this truth does not explain things and it doesn't make events seem any more reasonable. I'm reminded of the ancient prayer: "O God, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."

Julie Clendenin works in the media department at Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news at Virginia Tech memorial, Darfur, Global HIV/AIDS, Virginia Tech-the shooter, the victims, and on-going news, missiles in Europe, climate change, and select Op-eds.

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Full news summary:

Virginia Tech memorial. Thousands gather for on-campus memorial service - "As Virginia Tech remained in shock from Monday's mass killing, thousands of grieving students, staff and family members gathered today for a memorial service during which President Bush asked those present to "reach out to those who ache for sons and daughters who will never come home." Amid the anguish, solidarity and resolve - "The campus took tentative first steps toward rebounding from Monday's horrific events, receiving condolences from President Bush even as school administrators announced that classes would resume next week." Community shares tears, grief - "As the last light faded Tuesday night, thousands of Virginia Tech students, faculty, families and friends converged on the university's grassy Drillfield to light candles against the darkness and raise them in remembrance of those lost in Monday's massacre." President Again Takes On Role of 'Consoler in Chief' - "President Bush addressed a somber convocation at Virginia Tech, telling thousands of grieving students, staff and family members huddled in the university's basketball arena that "people all over this country are thinking about you, and asking God to provide comfort for all who have been affected." At Virginia Tech, Trying to Explain the Unexplainable - "Sometimes, the Rev. William King says, the answers to the tough questions just don't come. And when they do, they don't come easily, or often they come up short. "There is an incredible temptation to explain, to domesticate, to tie up all the loose ends of something so horrible," said King, the Lutheran campus minister at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., since 1984. "Sometimes, one just has to be quiet."

Virginia Tech-the shooter. Shooter plotted in silent rage - "The 23-year-old student who went on a bloody rampage at Virginia Tech had prepared the attack for weeks - buying two semiautomatic pistols and writing a dark, hate-filled rant in his dormitory room before setting out with a backpack of ammunition to kill students and teachers," He Wrote About Death and Spoke in Whispers, But Few Imagined What Cho Seung Hui Would Do - "They met across the professor's desk. One on one. The chairman of the English department and the silent, brooding student who never took his sunglasses off." Danger signs festered below aloof surface - "On a sprawling campus of more than 25,000, in a building of 895, he was one. A stoic face in the hallway. A silent classmate. To some, just "a creep." Rage gestated inside him, but he still was just one. Rarely noticed. Insignificant. Gunman Showed Hints of Anger and Isolation- "Cho Seung-Hui rarely spoke to his own dormitory roommate. His teachers were so disturbed by some of his writing that they referred him to counseling. And when Mr. Cho finally and horrifyingly came to the world's attention on Monday, he did so after writing a note that bitterly lashed out at his fellow students for what he deemed their moral decay."

Virginia Tech-the victims. Intersecting on a Fateful Day, Lives That Spanned the Country and the World- "They may have been living in Blacksburg, Va., but they came from all over the world. And even many of those from places like Saugus, Mass., or Roanoke, Va., were undertaking global pursuits like studying French or German or majoring in international relations. But with one devastating act, the 32 men and women from places as far apart as Romania, Peru and Quebec were united in a horrifying fate," Virginia Tech professor gave his life to save students - "Liviu Librescu had survived the Holocaust. He died Monday holding the classroom door shut against a youthful gunman. If you were lucky enough to have a choice, there were only two ways to go Monday morning on the campus of Virginia Tech: away from danger or toward it. Seventy-six-year-old engineering professor Liviu Librescu chose the second option, saved a classroom full of students and became a hero - at the cost of his life." Remembering the Victims - A Washington Post photo gallery of those who died on April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech-ongoing news. The official Virginia Tech Web site, and the student newspaper Collegiate Times blog.

Darfur. Sudan Flying Arms to Darfur, Panel Reports- "A confidential United Nations report says the government of Sudan is flying arms and heavy military equipment into Darfur in violation of Security Council resolutions and painting Sudanese military planes white to disguise them as United Nations or African Union a ircraft." Administration Still Weighing Sudan Options - "President Bush will use an appearance today at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to address the crisis in Darfur. But as of late yesterday, administration officials were still weighing how far the president will go after a last-minute gambit by the Sudanese president that seemed designed, at least in part, to head off coercive U.S. action." Why Sudan is now allowing UN troops in Darfur - "International pressure from the United Nations, Arab leaders, and the United States played a role in Sudan's concession this week to allow 3,000 UN peacekeepers into the country's troubled Darfur region. So, apparently, did the image concerns of China."

Missiles in Europe. U.S. pitching missile plan - "The Bush administration will step up its effort to build an anti-ballistic-missile system in Eastern Europe when high-ranking military and diplomatic officials travel to Brussels on Thursday to brief skeptical North Atlantic Treaty Organization members on the controversial project."

Climate change. Climate change 'security threat' - "Britain has warned reluctant members of the United Nations that there are few greater threats to global security than climate change, delivering a stark message forecasting armed conflicts over scarce supplies of food, water and land."

Global HIV/AIDS. Better global HIV treatment fails to reach children - "Two million people in poor countries are now being kept alive by Aids drugs, but children still lose out and more money will be needed to reach all those in need, according to a UN report."

Opinion.

More killings, more fear (Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune) - "What our schools need is more people who can serve as antibodies, watching out for troubled students and offering them help. If any sense can come of such senseless killings it may simply be that we have to pay more attention to each other in times of peace, not just terror."

A New Threat In Iraq (David Ignatius, Washington Post) - "While the Bush administration struggles to stabilize Baghdad, a major new threat is emerging in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. If it isn't defused, this crisis could further erode U.S. goals in Iraq -- drawing foreign military intervention, splintering the country further and undermining U.S. hopes for long-term military bases in Kurdistan."

Why we need religion (Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe) - "What prompts these ministers to stick their necks out? Why do they want to be allies of the police in neighborhoods where gangs are ruthless toward "snitches" and other good citizens? For that matter, why do they go into urban ministry in the first place? Surely there are easier, safer, or more lucrative ways to make a living. There are. But the ministers are driven by a Judeo-Christian moral calculus in which goodness and devotion to others are worth more than an easy, safe, or lucrative career."

Voice of the Day: Douglas V. Steere

Yet, for all this lukewarmness, we hunger. And we know well enough the there is a response. There is an answering back to the Grace of God on your part and on mine that is all-important. We know, too, that the redeeming of our time calls for nothing less than the blazing up out of our prostrate bodies of an authentic, original, passionate, interior life in answer to the Living Flame that confronts us.

-Douglas V. Steere

from “Together in Solitude”

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Verse of the Day: "Here I Am"

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.

- Isaiah 58:9-10

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Brian McLaren: Sorrow Can Make Us Better, Not Bitter

When tragedies like the Virginia Tech massacre occur, we all share certain questions.

Why did this happen? How could this happen? Should anyone be blamed? Should someone be punished?

Often these questions lead us to seek a kind of rational explanation - so that the irrational can be folded into our sense of order in the universe. Often these questions send us on a search for someone to blame - a person, a group, the devil, even God.

I have found that our understandable need for an explanation - often including the need to name someone to blame - springs not just from our rational minds, but also from our hearts, from levels we are barely conscious of.

We feel grief at the loss, pain for our neighbors who suffer, confusion at the irrationality, and anger at the injustice of it all. Sometimes all of these emotions seem to coalesce in a kind of vague rage that simmers inside us, building up like steam in a closed chamber.

We hope that the pressure can be released and the rage relieved by finding an outlet in explaining ... or in naming, blaming, and shaming someone for being at fault.

There is certainly a time for seeking explanations, including investigating fault.

But I find we make a mistake in believing that explaining and blaming will help us escape our pain. Pain in times like this, I believe, is not simply something to be escaped, resolved, fixed.

Instead, it is something to be suffered, something that must, in a sense, crash over us like a wave or knock us down like a fever, shake us so that we truly feel our feelings and name them; so that we can speak of them and share them and feel an exchange with others of sympathy, empathy, common grief, and common sorrow.

This kind of sorrow doesn't make us bitter; it makes us better. It doesn't make us smug at having an explanation; it makes us humble as we understand our shared vulnerability. It doesn't make us put up walls of blame; it tears down walls as we feel our common humanity. In so doing, it teaches us wisdom - wisdom that, in the scriptures, is often associated with pain and struggle. It softens us, makes us more sensitive to the pain that others suffer but we often ignore. It forms compassion in us.

We often are tempted to run from this softening process, which is understandable. But as we all share in this experience of tragedy, as we walk through the un-rushable process of feeling and then healing, may we allow the spirit of God to form us into more gracious, compassionate, and wise people. Doing so will raise other questions:

How can I help? Who around me needs to talk? What question can I ask that will allow my neighbors to share their pain, their fear, their anger, their sorrow? How can we open ourselves to the healing presence of God so we can walk together through "the valley of the shadow of death" - so that, even in great sadness, we "fear no evil?" (Psalm 23)

I found myself looking back today on other moments of shared sadness - the terrible assassinations of the 1960's, the loss of the space shuttle crews, the terrorist attacks of recent years, the outbreak of wars, the 2004 tsunami, Hurricane Katrina ... there have been many. I find myself now praying that our current shared sadness will do in us what it can and should. We're all in this - all of us, all of this - together. Lord, have mercy.


Brian McLaren (brianmclaren.net) is an author, speaker, Red Letter Christian, and serves as board chair for Sojourners/Call to Renewal. His next book, due out in October, will be called Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope.

Jim Wallis: A Time for Silence and Prayer

The shooting deaths of 32 students and staff of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, is the latest example of the senseless violence that seems so often to enter our daily lives.

In the midst of the shock such events bring, it is difficult to know what to say.

So, I was moved by an editorial in the Los Angeles Times this morning:

IN THE BIBLICAL Book of Job, the anguished hero is visited by three friends who attempt to comfort him by drawing airy and sententious lessons from his agonies. Of course, they end up adding to his troubles; Job endures not only the real pains of grief and sickness but the indignity of having his suffering milked for rhetorical effect.

If only it were true that Monday's mass murder on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was the kind of tragedy that moves us to quiet reflection. In fact, the shootings that killed more than 30 people and wounded nearly 30 others occasioned a blizzard of hasty conclusions, instant position-taking and the rehashing of old arguments. For the sake of the dead, for the sake of the living, and even for the sake of honoring this grim milestone — the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history — we should remember that there are times when silence is the best response.

Events like these are almost impossible to react to sanely. A group of people you don't know have been killed in a senseless crime. Too young to have established much of a past, they've been robbed of present and future; the weight of the offense, the rotten meaninglessness of it, makes it awkward not to have something to say.

The editorial notes that there will be discussions about gun control and other political issues, but concludes: "There will be time for both in the days to come. But now is a time to respect, quietly, the tears and the pain of this terrible event."

Along with the rest of our country and the world, all of us at the God’s Politics blog send our condolences and prayers to the families and friends of those who died, and to the entire Virginia Tech community. We pray that the comforting presence of God will be felt in the midst of this unexplainable tragedy.

Mirabai Starr: God in the Midst of Grief

While we're still reeling from the news of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, we offer this excerpted reflection from the November 2004 issue of Sojourners magazine:

Soon after Sept. 11, 2001, my 14-year-old daughter, Jenny, was killed in a car accident. In that moment, the global grief I had been witnessing at a distance became intensely personal for me. I shared the pain of every mother everywhere—American, Afghani, Iraqi—as she struggled to bear the unbearable.

When my daughter died, she was at the beginning of her blossoming, filled with indignation against injustice, hunger for justice, and the early flames of spiritual love. I had believed that Jenny would grow up to consciously help alleviate the suffering in this world. The loss of such potential, coupled with the primal agony of missing her, threatened to destroy me.

But there was another reality just beyond the edges of my anguish. A palpable sense of holiness began to pervade the emptiness carved by my shattering. As my family and community rallied to support me in those first hours and days of my loss, filling the air with their prayers, tears, and singing, I noticed a radiance wash over my heart and the hearts of my circle of support. God was with us. And Jenny was with God. The exaltation accompanying this phenomenon confused me. The most terrible thing imaginable had happened and, while my suffering was acute, I was also being soothed and lifted by this ineffable holy joy.

For a year or more, all I could do was tentatively face the fire of my feelings, offering quiet prayers for peace on the planet and in the hearts of all who were grieving. I sat amid the wreckage of my own heart, allowing the broken fragments to re-form according to the inscrutable timetable of the Divine, relinquishing any last illusions that I had control of anything in this life.

Eventually, like so many victims of tragedy, I turned my attention to service. This was the only path that made any sense. The ordinary concerns of daily life had dissolved in the inferno of my loss. Struck by the rarified awareness that had begun to grow in me, I became intensely interested in those whose own losses had acted as a catalyst for spiritual transformation in their lives.

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Mirabai Starr, the author of translations of Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross and The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila, was a certified grief counselor and an adjunct professor of philosophy and religious studies at the University of New Mexico, Taos, when this article appeared.

Alan Storey: An African 'Palm Sunday' Sermon

One terrifying tragedy about the situation in Zimbabwe is the complicit silence of South Africa. In contrast to this, the Palm-Sunday-weeping-and-shouting-and-cleansing Jesus challenges us to speak out for the sake of our neighbor, Zimbabwe.

On Palm Sunday we remember Jesus’ journey into Jerusalem … and how he wept. He wept over the city of Jerusalem that was now blind to the things that make for peace. On Palm Sunday we remember Jesus’ cleansing protest in the temple … and how he shouted. He shouted at those who had turned the all-welcoming presence of God into a place of exclusion and exploitation. On Palm Sunday we witness Jesus challenge the two “sacred cows” of his day: the holy city and the holy temple.

On Palm Sunday we learn that once-hopeful places can turn into desperate places of despair. We learn that institutions meant for generous welcome can turn into greedy places of corruption. We learn that holy places can turn horrible! On Palm Sunday we learn that when the powers FALL they need to be wept over, shouted at, and cleansed.

Zimbabwe, once a sign of God’s liberating grace, needs to be wept over, shouted at, and cleansed!

Yet what is of great concern is that those who should be leading us in our grief and protest remain almost silent – namely those who govern South Africa. Strange, for they were the courageous ones who called the world to weep and shout and cleanse us of our apartheid past. Have their eyes forgotten how to cry? Does freedom really make one forget so soon?

Yet what is even further worrying is that we, the people of this land, find it so difficult to weep and wail over our silent leaders. Even the church struggles to find its prophetic voice. Is it because many of our leaders carry such impeccable “struggle” credentials – through whom God’s liberating grace once touched us all – that we are either intimidated or overly (idolatrously) respectful of them? Have they become for us like the Holy City and Holy Temple – to be forever revered?

Oh Jesus, give us all strength to challenge the sacred cows of our day. Come and heal the once holy, now horrible.

Alan Storey is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and senior minister of Calvary Methodist Church, Midrand, situated halfway between Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The lates news on shootings at Virginia Tech, Darfur, EITC, gun control, Iraq, climate change, Urban League- State of Black America, immigration, DC voting rights, A woman of courage, war on terror, and select op-eds.
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Full news summary:

Shootings at Virginia Tech. Virginia Gunman Identified as a Student - "The gunman who killed 32 people and himself on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute Monday was identified today as a student who lived in a dormitory on campus. Law enforcement authorities said the name of the gunman was Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a South Korean who was a resident alien in the United States." 33 Dead, 30 Injured at Virginia Tech In Deadliest Shooting in U.S. History - "An outburst of gunfire at a Virginia Tech dormitory, followed two hours later by a ruthless string of attacks at a classroom building, killed 32 students, faculty and staff and wounded about 30 others yesterday in the deadliest shooting rampage in the nation's history." Drumbeat of Shots, Broken by Pauses to Reload- "The gunshots were so slow and steady that some students thought they came from a nearby construction site, until they saw the police officers with rifles pointed at Norris Hall," Bloodied campus asks: Where were the warnings? - "With dizzying speed and deadly accuracy, a man armed with at least two guns murdered 30 people in a Virginia Tech engineering building Monday morning and then killed himself." 2-Hour Gap Leaves Room For Questions - "A single question stood out yesterday at Virginia Tech: Would more students be alive if the university had stopped them from going to class after a shooting occurred in a campus dorm?" Slow reaction spurs anger - "Hours after two victims were fatally wounded by gunfire on the Virginia Tech campus, students and faculty were still going to classes without any warning, even as a second violent spree claimed 30 other victims and a gunman's life."

Gun control. Gun control debate resumes, on one side - "Monday's deadly rampage at Virginia Tech sparked a largely one-sided response in the long-running debate over guns. Gun control advocates said the shootings pointed to the need for tougher laws, while supporters of gun rights generally kept their heads down." Shock, Sympathy And Denunciation Of U.S. Gun Laws - "The Virginia Tech shootings received extensive news coverage around the world, leading many to question how such violence could keep happening in the United States."

Darfur. Sudan agrees to UN deployment - "Sudan agreed Monday to let 3,000 UN peacekeepers deploy in Darfur with attack helicopters, opening the door to the first significant UN force to help beleaguered African Union soldiers who have been unable to halt the region's four-year war." Sudan To Allow U.N. Force In Darfur - "Sudan agreed to allow more than 3,000 heavily armed U.N. and African peacekeepers in Darfur to reinforce a beleaguered African Union force of 7,000 that has struggled to prevent the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians during the past four years." Sudan Drops Objections to U.N. Aid in Darfur- "Sudan said that it had dropped its objections to large-scale United Nations assistance to the overwhelmed African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, setting the stage for the possible assignment there of United Nations peacekeepers." Deal allows U.N. forces to enter Darfur - "Sudan agreed yesterday to allow the deployment of U.N. attack helicopters and 3,000 peacekeepers to its Darfur region, but the United States criticized the decision for allowing limits on the number of non-African troops in the U.N. force."

Iraq. Al-Sadr followers quit cabinet - "Six cabinet ministers loyal to the anti-American Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled out of Iraq's national unity government, citing the refusal of the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to commit to a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops." Shiite Cleric Has Six Quit Cabinet in Iraq Shake-Up- "It was the first time Mr. Sadr had followed through with a threat to cut some of his ties with the government and with Mr. Maliki, a conservative Shiite whose grip on authority largely rests on Mr. Sadr's political support." Gates' trip to focus on Iran, Iraq - "Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates arrived in Jordan, the first stop on a tour of several Middle Eastern countries designed to drum up support for Iraq's government and continue talks with allies on how to counter Iranian influence."

Climate change. Climate change called a security threat - "Global warming poses a "serious threat to America's national security" and the military should act now to minimize the destabilizing consequences of rising temperatures, a panel of retired generals and admirals warned." Warming May Take a Severe Toll on U.S. - "Climate change will exact a major cost on North America's timber industry and could drive as much as 40 percent of its plant and animal species to extinction in a matter of decades."

EITC. Tax Credit Seen as Helping More Parents - "More than one in six taxpayers in 2004 received the Earned Income Tax Credit, highlighting its growing role in bolstering the incomes of struggling low-income parents."

Urban League - State of Black America Group says worst crisis in US faced by black men - "Citing bleak data on incarceration, joblessness, and AIDS, the National Urban League said yesterday that problems facing black men represent America's most serious social crisis and proposed an aggressive campaign to provide them with more opportunities."

Immigration. For Illegal Immigrants, Housing Slump Takes Toll- "Some of the casualties of America's housing bust are easy to spot up and down California's Central Valley. … But another set of losers is less visible: the immigrant workers, mostly illegal, who rode the construction boom while it lasted and now find jobs on building sites few and far between."

DC Voting rights. Getting Out to Get a Vote - "Braving stiff winds and an icy drizzle, thousands of people led by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty marched to the U.S. Capitol yesterday in the biggest demonstration in decades for full representation for the District in Congress." Marchers call on Congress to pass voting rights bill - "Thousands of D.C. residents and officials marched to the U.S. Capitol and called on Congress to pass a bill that would grant the District voting rights, braving fierce winds and a chilling rain that threatened to ruin the protest."

A woman of courage. A woman of courage "Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has been detained by Burma's military regime for nearly 20 years, is a true hero for our times, writes the chancellor, Gordon Brown, in this extract from his new book." (Courage: Eight Portraits)

War on terror. 'War on terror' phrase helps terrorists, minister warns - "President George Bush's "war on terror" rhetoric has strengthened terrorist groups by helping them to create a shared identity, [UK] development secretary, Hilary Benn, warned yesterday."

Opinion.

Debate about Imus isn't just about words (Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune) - "Imus has ignited a national conversation. Let's keep it going. We have a lot to teach each other."

The Ills Behind That Slur (E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post) - "Why is it that I am experiencing a terrible bout of cynicism watching all the post-Imus hand-wringing?"

Too terrible for words (Editorial, Chicago Tribune) - "IN THE BIBLICAL Book of Job, the anguished hero is visited by three friends who attempt to comfort him by drawing airy and sententious lessons from his agonies. Of course, they end up adding to his troubles; Job endures not only the real pains of grief and sickness but the indignity of having his suffering milked for rhetorical effect."

Passing. Mollie Orshansky, Statistician, Dies at 91 - "Mollie Orshansky, a statistician and economist who in the 1960s developed the federal poverty line, a measurement that shaped decades of social policy and welfare programs, died Dec. 18 at her home in Manhattan … Miss Orshansky, whose parents had known poverty in Ukraine, worked for the Social Security Administration from 1958 until she retired in 1982. She was "one of a respected but mostly invisible cadre of women research professionals based at S.S.A. and other government agencies during the postwar years," the historian Alice O'Connor wrote in "Poverty Knowledge," a 2001 history of poverty research."

Voice of the Day: Fred Rogers on grieving

Confronting our feelings and giving them appropriate expression always takes strength, not weakness. It takes strength to acknowledge our anger, and sometimes more strength yet to curb the aggressive urges anger may bring and to channel them into nonviolent outlets. It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our anger flow in tears when they need to. It takes strength to talk about our feelings and to reach out for help and comfort when we need it.

- Fred Rogers
from "The World According to Mr. Rogers."

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Verse of the Day: "The Lord will Comfort"

For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

- Isaiah 51:3

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Video: Tony Campolo on Jesus and Taxes

Tony Campolo offers some thoughts on "rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's."

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+ Read more about war tax resistance in the SojoMail archives

Diana Butler Bass: Don Imus, Duke Lacrosse, and Our Pornified Culture

While most of the media has been consumed by Don Imus’ racial slur against the Rutgers women’s basketball team, I have been thinking about that other case: the case of the Duke lacrosse players.

My friends will probably laugh, because, for the sake of full disclosure, I went to Duke. But more than familial loyalty has me contemplating the Duke lacrosse case. The contrasts between it and the Imus situation – contrasts that emerged when the two stories collided in last week’s media cycle – are worth exploring as revelatory about our culture.

The Imus case seemed pretty clear. The foul-mouthed (but admittedly funny and often politically insightful) talk show host attacked a group of girls, demeaning them on the basis of both their race and gender. When they deserved praise for their accomplishments (one of which was to beat the Duke women’s basketball team – a fact over which I’m still stewing!), Imus debased them with sexual contempt. The young ladies – and they proved themselves ladies – reacted with grace. Although Imus lost his job, the situation was surprisingly redemptive as the women demonstrated the power of practicing forgiveness.

But the Duke story is a bit murkier. This morning’s Washington Post ran a story comparing the case of the Duke men to that of the Rutgers women, focusing on the media’s failure to apologize to the men. The media owe the young men an apology for their rush to judgment. However, as I listened to the press conference in which they were exonerated, one line (from the North Carolina official who cleared them) struck me: “LET ME REPEAT, THESE BOYS ARE INNOCENT.”

Yes, they are innocent: innocent of rape, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Completely innocent of any crime. Undeserving of prosecution, injury, and innuendo.

But they were not morally guiltless. After all, the team hired a stripper to perform for them; they (appeared to have) watched an act of live pornography. Unlike the innocent Rutgers women, the actions that led to the media assault against the Duke men were, while not criminal, hardly praiseworthy. Although few have said so, the men were engaged in pornography. Pornography created the climate in which a false accusation could occur and be believed by a good number of smart people. A rush to judgment? Yes. But an illogical imaginative leap? Probably not.

That is what I suspect has led to the media’s strange silence. I do not think, as some commentators have supposed, that this is an incident of reverse racism – apologizing to the black (and two white) women while ignoring the case of the white men. Instead, the Duke case seems to point in another direction: the tacit acceptance of, and inability to intelligently address, pornography as an important social issue. It is hard to apologize when there exists awkwardness about something that is morally wrong but legally permissible – and economically profitable.

In her insightful book, Pornified: How Pornography is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families, Pamela Paul traces how pornography has been "mainstreamed" into American culture, with devastating effects on society. She says that pornography functions beyond “right” and “left” arguments: “Most people don’t talk about whether they’re ‘for’ or ‘against’ pornography anymore.” As Ms. Paul writes, “Through complacency and carelessness, the majority of Americans shrug or laugh off the issue as inconsequential and irrelevant to their lives.” But, as her work shows, pornography is an “alienating product of a consumer culture.” Its social costs are enormous – especially to young adults whose lives, intimate identities, and relationships are being shaped 24/7 by a culture of easy and crude sex.

The Rutgers and Duke stories are not only about race and gender. They are about pornography. As a result of the Rutgers case, some journalists promised to address the pornog raphic tendencies of rap and hip-hop. But what about pornography in general? Can we sensibly critique – and offer sound policy solutions regarding – the pornified culture? A culture where privileged men can think it is acceptable to hire a poor black woman to perform sexual acts for them? A culture where adult entertainment companies, X-rated Web sites, and “gentlemen’s clubs” rake in huge profits?

Both the Rutgers women and the Duke men are victims of pornography – the women were overt victims (don’t forget the woman in the Duke case); the men victims of culture that stresses control over women and easy sexual gratification. It is tempting to see the men only as perpetrators of a sin (hence the silence); yet that seems too simplistic. The lacrosse players “bought” an idea about porn and sex that has been culturally “sold” to them. Ultimately, pornography victimized them all – their self-esteem, sexuality, gender identity, wholeness, and in these two cases, public reputations.

This is not a liberal or conservative issue; a black or white issue; or a male or female one. It is not even a Christian or secular one. Contemporary pornography whittles away at our humanity, the goodness of intimacy, and the love of beauty. Pornography turns people into products that others consume for profit or pleasure – and not just the audience or actors who “have a choice.” Pornography affects all of us. Maybe we should ask the young women and men in both cases how their lives have been changed by pornified culture.


Diana Butler Bass (www.dianabutlerbass.com) holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University. She is the author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith (Harper San Francisco).

Ryan Rodrick Beiler: Kurt Vonnegut, 'Christ-Worshipping Agnostic'

I'm not an evangelical who reads only what affirms my theology, or failing that, tries to pretend that the artists I like somehow conform to my beliefs. (I tire of the endless debates in evangelical circles about whether Bono is a "real" Christian or not - as if meeting certain criteria would make his music or his activism any more or less legitimate.) I prefer to engage artists on their own terms, and allow them to challenge, provoke, and encourage me to hone my own beliefs - even if my faith is the target of their criticism or satire.

Kurt Vonnegut, who passed away last Wednesday at age 84, was and is my favorite author. If I'm honest, it's mostly because he's hilarious. Yes, he uses coarse language. Yes, he seemed to have difficulty with women, both as characters in his books and in his real-life relationships. But his ability to engage a suffering world with humor is what has endeared me most to his work. As he wrote:

Laughs are exactly as honorable as tears. Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion, to the futility of thinking and striving anymore. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward - and since I can start thinking and striving again that much sooner.

That quote comes from Vonnegut's book Palm Sunday, from a sermon he delivered on Palm Sunday in 1980. I recently bought this book after some belabored indecision among the decaying stacks in the used book store, really wanting a funny novel for honeymoon reading more than this compilation of essays and biography. But it was the day before my wedding on Palm Sunday Eve, and I couldn't resist the convergence. Perhaps because of these deliberations, the book ended up costing me $256 due to a ticket I received for unwittingly parking in a poorly-marked handicapped zone. In the spirit of Vonnegut, I could only curse and laugh: So it goes.

With his death following only 12 days later, I'm glad now to have the added insight into his life that this book provided, filling in the cracks that before I had only pieced together from the biographical fragments present in his fiction. So, as my new wife and I enjoyed our first Sunday as a married couple at a remote West Virginia cabin, Vonnegut provided our Palm Sunday sermon, which I excerpt for you free of charge:

I am enchanted by the Sermon on the Mount. Being merciful, it seems to me, is the only good idea we have received so far. Perhaps we will get another idea that good by and by - and then we will have two good ideas. What might that second good idea be? I don't know. How could I know? I will make a wild guess that it will come from music somehow. ...

I choose as my text the first eight verses of John 12, which deal not with Palm Sunday but with the night before - with Palm Sunday Eve, with what we might call "Spikenard Saturday." I hope that will be close enough to Palm Sunday to leave you more or less satisfied. ...

Now, as to the verses about Palm Sunday Eve: I choose them because Jesus says something in the eighth verse which many people I have known have taken as proof that Jesus himself occasionally got sick and tired of people who needed mercy all the time. I read from the Revised Standard Bible rather than the King James, because it is easier for me to understand. Also, I will argue afterward that Jesus was only joking, and it is impossible to joke in King James English. The funniest joke in the world, if told in King James English, is doomed to sound like Charlton Heston.

I read: "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him supper; Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those at table with him."

"Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment."

"But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him) said, 'Why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?' This, he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and, as he had the money box, he used to take what was put into it. "

"Jesus said, 'Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.'" ...

Whatever it was that Jesus really said to Judas was said in Aramaic, of course - and has come to us through Hebrew and Greek and Latin and archaic English. Maybe he only said something a lot like, "The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me." Perhaps a little something has been lost in translation. And let us remember, too, that in translations jokes are commonly the first things to go.

I would like to recapture what has been lost. Why? Because I, as a Christ-worshipping agnostic, have seen so much un-Christian impatience with the poor encouraged by the quotation "For the poor always ye have with you."
...

This is too much for that envious hypocrite Judas, who says, trying to be more Catholic than the Pope: "Hey-this is very un-Christian. Instead of wasting that stuff on Your feet, we should have sold it and given the money to the poor people." To which Jesus replies in Aramaic: "Judas, don't worry about it. There will still be plenty of poor people left long after I'm gone."

This is about what Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln would have said under similar circumstances.

If Jesus did in fact say that, it is a divine black joke, well-suited to the occasion. It says everything about hypocrisy and nothing about the poor. It is a Christian joke, which allows Jesus to remain civil to Judas, but to chide him for his hypocrisy all the same.

"Judas, don't worry about it. There will still be plenty of poor people left long after I'm gone." Shall I re-garble it for you? "The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me."

My own translation does no violence to the words in the Bible. I have changed their order some, not merely to make them into the joke the situation calls for but to harmonize them, too, with the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount suggests a mercifulness that can never waver or fade.

This has no doubt been a silly sermon. I am sure you do not mind. People don't come to church for preachments, of course, but to daydream about God.

If you doubt our evangelical creds for reading an agnostic to observe Palm Sunday, you may be alternately reassured that we watched The Passion of the Christ on Good Friday, un-reassured that we watched Life of Brian on Holy Saturday, and were once again sanctified by reading N.T. Wright on Easter as we drove the six hours back to D.C. We've now gone an entire week without sacrilege, and we could use a good laugh.

Ryan Rodrick Beiler is the Web Editor for Sojourners/Call to Renewal. He is newly and happily married to Ingrid Rodrick Beiler.

Bob Francis: Charity and Justice after Katrina

Much has been written about Katrina since that devastating storm ravaged the Gulf Coast a year and a half ago. Many organizations, including Sojourners/Call to Renewal, have seized upon this situation to remind us that there are still two Americas – one poor and forgotten and the other rich and resourced – and that while charity can rebuild houses, governments must rebuild levees.

While I believe that those things are true, my week-long visit to the Gulf Coast last week showed me how complicated this situation is on the ground. Like the twisted piles of debris filling lots and dotting residential curbs, there are many convolutions to the story, and there seems to be enough praise and blame to go around. It might be years before we've unraveled all that happened and how we can avoid reliving it.

Notwithstanding the important task of backward-looking and learning from past mistakes, Hurricane Katrina has now provided our nation with an opportunity, going forward, to show how effectively we can rebuild, revitalize, and replenish the Gulf Coast for all residents - if all sectors work in concert. It will take both private and public money, personal and political will, step ladders and savvy legislation. It is not an issue for just the Right or the Left, only Republicans or Democrats. It will take sweat equity and compassionate public policy. But what we must agree upon is to rebuild the coast and its cities for ALL residents, not just those with certain means. As one advocate asked in an e-mail, “How do we do justice to the families who lost everything (including the lives of friends and family members) and were forced to leave during the 2005 disasters? How do we make sure that everyone has a home to return to?”

As expected, the church has responded with overwhelming financial and manual support – thousands of volunteers and millions of dollars have rebuilt countless homes and lives, work not necessarily possible (or fitting) for the government to handle. But if our involvement stops there, we will have failed, for that is only half of the story. It is charity and justice we seek.

Fierce local legislative battles are already underway about such issues as affordable housing policy, development practices, and insurance and government reparations (or the lack thereof).
Band-aids of bricks and mortar do not address the underlying policies that currently have made it virtually impossible for thousands of families to come home and rebuild their lives. Some municipalities have seen this disaster as an opportunity to rid their towns of “undesirable elements” like public housing and the poor, and advocates on the ground are in daily fights to win even the slightest consideration for “the least of these” among us.

It is apparent upon visiting the Mississippi coast that the market and local policy has freely allowed casinos, condos, hotels, and restaurant chains to quickly rebuild. But the call of Christ is to a kingdom where the last are first and in which we have a preferential option to the poor. Unless that priority is intentionally built into the public policy and practice of rebuilding, they will not be remembered. It is up to us – not just to paint walls – but to make sure, on every level, that those that the market forgets have a place they can call home.

Bob Francis is the Policy and Organizing Assistant for Sojourners/Call to Renewal. He traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi, in support of the United Church of Christ's Back Bay Mission with five fellow staff members in partnership with a work team from Pilgrim UCC of Wheaton, Maryland.

+ See multimedia from Sojourners/Call to Renewal's first Gulf Coast work project in July 2006

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on Jackie Robinson, Iraqi children, health insurance, Iraq-war, Iraq-US politics, Israel-Palestine, Iran, Darfur, World Bank, global warming, health insurance, immigration, Imus, COGIC presiding bishop, religion, and select op-eds.


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Full news summary:

Jackie Robinson. For Robinson anniversary, a big-league day for celebration - "Major leaguers across the country wore his No. 42. The Padres-Dodgers game was nationally televised. Throughout the day, television and radio outlets gave Jackie Robinson Day lengthy treatment." Robinson's legacy is colorblind - "All players are better off for his breakthrough 60 years ago, regardless of the changing racial composition of baseball." Taking a Bat to Prejudice (George Will, Washington Post) - "Like many New Yorkers leaving home for work on April 15, 1947, he wore a suit, tie and camel-hair overcoat as he headed for the subway. To his wife he said, "Just in case you have trouble picking me out, I'll be wearing number 42." Jackie Robinson cleared a path for minority athletes by becoming the first African American to play Major League Baseball in 1947. A Washington Post slideshow.

USA TODAY PHOTO GALLERY: Teams honor Jackie Robinson

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Rare footage of Robinson's debut

Income tax. Tax Returns Rise for Immigrants in U.S. Illegally- "The increase in filings comes amid talk of an immigration overhaul, with some proposals introduced in Congress linking amnesty to the payment of taxes." I.R.S. Audits Middle Class More Often, More Quickly- "Since 2000, authorities at the Internal Revenue Service have nearly tripled audits of tax returns filed by people making $25,000 to $100,000 as part of a broad change in audit strategy." Fewer keeping the nation afloat - "An estimated 50 million Americans won't pay any federal income tax this year. That's nearly a third of all adults, up from 18% in 1980." As US tax rates drop, government's reach grows - "Slightly over half of all Americans - 52.6 percent - now receive significant income from government prog rams, according to an analysis by Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J. That's up from 49.4 percent in 2000 and far above the 28.3 percent of Americans in 1950." Among Taxpayers, Inequality May Equal Cheating - "Essentially, said Kim Bloomquist, a senior economist at the IRS in Washington, the more people you have at the upper and lower ends of the income spectrum … the more tax evasion you are likely to see. A central cause of cheating, in other words, might be inequality."

Iraq-war. U.S. Bolstering Force in Deadly Diyala - "As thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers descend on Baghdad, U.S. commanders say, insurgents are moving north into Diyala, a province smaller than Maryland where the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq has waged a brutal campaign of terror." Attacks Surge as Iraq Militants Overshadow City- "The Sunni guerrillas and extremists who now overshadow this city demonstrate a sophistication and lethality born of years of confronting American military tactics." McCain Sees 'No Plan B' for Iraq War- "Senator John McCain said that the buildup of American forces in Iraq represented the only viable option to avoid failure in Iraq and that he had yet to identify an effective fallback if the current strategy failed."

Iraqi children. Trauma severe for Iraqi children - "About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health." Iraqis fear war's long-term cost to kids - "Iraqi psychiatrists worry about the long-term consequences of a generation that has been constantly exposed to explosions, gunfights, kidnappings and sectarian murders."

Iraq-US politics. Political winds shift on prairie - "Nebraska's two U.S. senators cast the critical votes last month to pass a bill that would force President Bush to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. And one - Republican Chuck Hagel - has become one of the war's most fiery critics. Hagel, who was an infantryman in Vietnam, recently suggested Bush could be impeached for defying the will of the American people."

Israel-Palestine. Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Open Regular Peace Talks - "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel a