Jim Wallis: Vote Out Poverty

We’re in the homestretch for Pentecost 2007: Taking the Vision to the Streets. It promises to be an informative and inspiring event: a Sunday evening justice revival; a presidential candidates forum focusing on faith, values, and poverty; an organizing institute; and discussion on how to put poverty on the agenda of your local church. We will sing, pray, learn, and strategize together.

This conference is the next step in a vital campaign aimed at the critical presidential election year of 2008. Our plan is nothing less than to put poverty on the national agenda, and to compel candidates from both parties to present the nation with their plans for dramatic poverty reduction both at home and globally. I believe we can vote out poverty, but only if we are all in it together.

As we make the final preparations for the candidates forum, we’re excited to have our constituents playing a critical role in this history-making event – suggesting questions, voting on questions, and hosting watch parties on Monday evening. After the forum, participants in the watch parties will dial in to an exclusive conference call with Mike McCurry and Brian McLaren to react to the forum and kick off our "Vote Out Poverty" campaign to put overcoming poverty on the national agenda.

There are now more than 150 watch parties scheduled in 40 states. If you have not yet signed up to attend, click here to find one in your area. Watch the forum with other people of faith – then discuss what was said.

If there’s not one scheduled in your area, there is still time to host a gathering. We’ll give you a guide with everything you need to make your event a success. Click here to sign up. And, if you haven’t yet, you can still vote for your favorite question to be asked on Monday.

I’m looking forward to discussing putting our faith into action, building a new commitment to a society where all have genuine access to the resources needed to live a decent life. I know our time together in Washington will be filled with hope, inspiration, and ideas. And I hope you believe, as I do, that in our unity we can further the biblical imperative to overcome poverty.

Adam Taylor: Making Good on Our Promises to Africa

On Wednesday President Bush made a second major speech on the crisis of HIV/AIDS announcing a major commitment to double U.S. funding for global prevention and treatment programs around the world to reach a level of $30 billion over another five years. We should applaud this increased funding and the way in which President Bush has made fighting AIDS in Africa arguably the most positive part of his legacy. Even as we celebrate, though, we must also bear in mind that even this bold step will fall short of stemming this epidemic.

The crisis of HIV/AIDS continues to outpace even our best response, with an estimated 4.3 million new infections last year. The epidemic tracks the fault lines of poverty and vulnerability. The real U.S. share of the cost of meeting the global need to fight AIDS is more in the order of $50 billion by 2013, which would include continuing to provide life-prolonging treatment to one-third of the people in clinical need.

The president made his announcement in advance of the upcoming G8 summit, which takes place in Heiligendamm, Germany, from June 4-6. The German Chancellor Merkel will preside over an agenda that includes a focus on global warming, primary school education, and the crisis of extreme poverty.

Since the 2005 G-8 summit at Gleneagles raised the bar for global leadership, this year’s summit faces a crisis of expectations. With the exception of the U.K. and Japan, other G-8 nations, including the United States, have dragged their feet in realizing many of the solemn promises made to the continent of Africa, the largest of which was to double the levels of aid by 2010. Collectively, G-8 assistance to sub-Saharan Africa has increased by only $2.3 billion since 2004, instead of the $5.4 billion promised.

Tragically, promises are much easier to make than to keep. While the U.S. has made important steps toward increasing its aid through the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Millennium Challenge Account, and contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, the U.S. must increase its aid by nearly $1 billion in order to remain on track.

At the turn of the new millennium, the global AIDS crisis was only beginning to grab headlines and prick the conscience of our nation. I was converted to the cause of ending AIDS by the opening remarks of Judge Edwin Cameroon’s speech at the International AIDS Conference in 2000 in South Africa, when he prophetically said, “I represent the inequality of this world…because of my job and skin color I had access to drugs that brought me from the brink of death back to life…. But this disease still represents a death sentence to the majority of people living in poverty across this world.” These words highlighted in sobering terms how a preventable and treatable disease like AIDS must lend the urgency necessary to bring an end to extreme global poverty.

Through media savvy and celebrity-driven efforts like the ONE campaign, the cause of ending HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty has become more widely embraced. Seven years ago, it would have been almost impossible to imagine regular commercials featuring your favorite movie stars or a millions calling in to American Idol to raise awareness and money to fight poverty and AIDS in Africa. While we have reached a tipping point in public awareness and even public opinion, we are far from a tipping point in public action. Changing the politics of delay and incremental leadership will also require a dedicated constituency of committed leaders who are willing to put their faith to the test. Join us in taking action in advance of this year’s G-8 meeting by joining forces with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in telling G-8 nations to keep their promises to Africa!

On June 6, the leaders of the wealthiest nations will meet in Germany at the G-8 Summit. But this is not just any meeting. It's a meeting where life and death decisions will be made, affecting the lives of millions of people.

You can help. Join Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and tell G8 nations to keep their promises!

The commitments made by the G-8 leaders in 2005 on poverty, aid to poor countries, HIV/AIDS, health systems, and education, are solemn promises, made to impoverished people. Breaking these promises is morally unacceptable. Yet, the G-8 is not on track to keep these promises:

• Less than half of all people in urgent need of AIDS treatment by 2010 will be receiving it;



• 77 million children have no access to school; and



• Africa alone faces a shortage of nearly 1.5 million health workers.

This petition calls for the G-8 nations to agree on a financing plan to reach the promise of universal access to all AIDS services by 2010, to fully support a coordinated plan to strengthen health systems, and to provide full funding for education so every child can have the chance to go to school.

Tell the G8 leaders they must get AIDS and education funding back to the promised level. Take Action!

Thank you for making a difference!


Adam Taylor is director of campaigns and organizing for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Jim Rice: Evangelicals and Creation Care

David Gushee thinks he understands why some conservative evangelicals have opposed "creation care" (i.e., taking care of the environment). He writes:

... it seems to me that those who resist creation care sometimes are motivated by a misreading of scripture. I have been in conversations where people suggest that stewardship primarily means mastery of earth to use it as we please or need; or that human beings do not have the power to do real harm to creation; or that God has promised ever since Noah never to allow humans to do serious harm to creation; or that the earth will be destroyed by fire anyway, and soon, so what we do now to the earth isn’t really all that significant.

He goes on to name three other factors that have led to this conservative opposition to protecting our earth: a "profound mishandling of science," an "inordinate loyalty to laissez-faire capitalism," and an "inordinate loyalty to political leaders."

He concludes:

I believe that all of these ideas are erroneous, and that we need to keep working deeply on the theology of creation care to move beyond them.

Gushee is convinced that if the great body of evangelical Christians get behind creation care, "our nation's culture and politics will change rapidly," which he thinks "will be one of the best contributions we will ever make to this country and to the world."

Jim Rice is editor of Sojourners magazine.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on the justice department, Africa, presidential politics, AIDS, Iraq, Lebanon, World Bank, G-8, Russia, education, ape extinction threat, Malaysian Christian, Billy Graham Library, and select Op-Eds.


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Full news summary:

AIDS. Bush wants to boost AIDS spending "President Bush said that he would ask Congress to increase U.S. support for the global fight against HIV/AIDS to $30 billion over five years from the current commitment of $15 billion." Bush Requests $30 Billion to Fight AIDS "The initiative, if approved, would build on a program that grew out of the president's 2003 State of the Union address, when he asked for $15 billion over five years for prevention, treatment and care of AIDS patients in developing countries." US pledges $30bn to fight Aids "This would make the US by far the biggest single donor to the campaign against HIV/Aids and is in addition to the $15bn Washington has been spending since 2003."

Africa. Blair issues Africa action call "Tony Blair has used a keynote speech in South Africa to say there is a "moral obligation" to use political action "to make the world better".

Presidential politics. Thompson Bid Would Stir GOP Race "Fred D. Thompson will offer himself as a down-home antidote to Washington politics in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, running a campaign out of Nashville while promising leadership on a conservative agenda that will appeal to his party's base, advisers said yesterday." Thompson wants to be 2008's outsider "In an interview with USA TODAY, the former Tennessee senator not only makes it clear that he plans to run, he describes how he aims to do it."

Obama and Romney Lay Out Positions on Iraq and Beyond "Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney outline their respective foreign policy visions in lengthy articles in the next issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, offering sharp contrasts on issues including the war in Iraq and climate change."

Iraq. Bush sees long-term role for troops "President Bush would like to see the U.S. military provide long-term stability in Iraq as it has in South Korea, where thousands of American troops have been based for more than half a century,"

Justice Department. Political hiring case widens "The Justice Department is expanding its internal inquiry to look into new allegations that senior department officials improperly filled career jobs based on applicants' Republican or conservative credentials." Details emerge in Justice's upset with Heffelfinger "it came as a surprise -- and something of a mystery -- when he turned up on the list of U.S. attorneys who had been targeted for dismissal. Part of the reason, government documents and other evidence suggest, is that he tried to protect Indians' voting rights."

Lebanon. U.N. Council Backs Tribunal For Lebanon "A sharply divided U.N. Security Council voted to create an international criminal tribunal to prosecute the masterminds of the February 2005 suicide bombing that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri and 22 others."

World Bank. Bush's Nominee Has New Agenda for Bank "The World Bank that Robert B. Zoellick stands ready to inherit may be battered, fractious and rudderless. But he said that he saw himself not simply as a healer but as a leader ready to establish a new agenda to help the world's poor." Tasks for next World Bank chief: heal rifts, tackle poverty "He'll have to heal rifts opened by the ouster of current bank president Paul Wolfowitz, while tackling the crucial issue of poverty in the world's poorest countries. And he'll be working in a truly international institution - an environment perhaps like none he's experienced before."

G-8. Germany prepares for G-8 summit "The tear gas is stocked and the police are helmeted and ready for tens of thousands of anarchists and anti-globalization protesters who are planning rallies and guerrilla-inspired mischief to disrupt the upcoming Group of 8 summit in this Baltic Sea resort." G-8 to take up climate change "The international squabble over climate change - who's to blame and how to deal with it - is coming to a boil as many of the major players prepare to meet in Germany next week."

Russia. Rice, Russian Clash Over Kosovo Plan, Missile Shield "Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tangled fiercely over U.S. proposals to grant Kosovo independence and build a missile defense shield." Rice Clashes With Russian on Kosovo and Missiles "The United States and Russia, with relations between them at their most contentious since the collapse of the Soviet Union, openly sparred here at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of 8 industrialized nations." Bush Reaches to Putin as Relations Continue to Slide "President Bush yesterday launched a high-stakes effort to repair the dramatically deteriorating U.S. relationship with Russia by inviting President Vladimir Putin to visit the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, after weeks of rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War."

Education. Ohio School Fears Cuts Will Rewrite Its Success Story"The success of an experimental high school in Dayton may not be enough to save it from a budget cut." A struggling school finds reason for hope "By forming community partnerships, Hope High School in Rhode Island and other struggling public schools are showing signs of improvement."

Ape extinction threat. World's great apes face disaster "One of the world's most prominent conservation experts yesterday issued a rallying cry to save the great apes, man's closest biological cousins, which are under serious threat of extinction."

Mideast. Israel air strike hits Gaza "At least two Palestinians have been injured in an Israeli air strike against rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip," Qassams hit two Sderot apartment houses; IAF strike kills two Hamas militants "Two of six Qassam rockets to hit the western Negev yesterday struck two residential buildings in Sderot, causing several residents to go into shock. But there were no injuries." Jihadist Groups Fill a Palestinian Power Vacuum"A standoff between the Lebanese Army and Islamists at a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon has focused attention on a jihadist element taking root there as well as a radicalization in the Palestinian areas themselves."

Malaysian Christian. Malaysian woman loses bid to be recognized as Christian "Malaysia's top civil court on Wednesday rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country."

Billy Graham library. New library: Grand, but with Graham at its heart "As his older son tells the story, Billy Graham had to be talked into it. A presidential-style museum with his name all over it?"

Op-Eds.

CEOs vs. Slaves (Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet) "Recent findings shed new light on t he increasingly unequal terrain of American society. The new "top" involves pay in the hundreds of millions, a private jet and a few acres of Nantucket. The new bottom is slavery."

Cindy Sheehan Steps Down as the Face of the Antiwar Movement (Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!) "Peace activist Cindy Sheehan has announced she is stepping back from her role as a leading campaigner against the Iraq war. Amy Goodman talks with her about her decision."

Seeking Sudan's pressure point (Boston Globe) "The sanctions on Sudan that President Bush announced Tuesday are justified as expressions of solidarity with the 2.5 million people of Darfur and eastern Chad who are trapped in refugee camps, prey to government-backed janjaweed militiamen, disease, and malnutrition. But there is no reason to believe the new sanctions are enough to compel Sudan's president, Lieutenant General Omar Bashir, to end the Darfur genocide."

Time for 'Plan B-H' in Iraq? (David Ignatius, Washington Post) "President Bush said publicly last Thursday what his top aides have been discussing privately for weeks. He talked about a transition to "a different configuration" in Iraq after the surge of U.S. troops is completed this summer. When pressed on whether he was talking about a post-surge Plan B, Bush answered: "Actually, I would call that a plan recommended by Baker-Hamilton, so that would be a Plan B-H."

Endgame Ahead (David S. Broder, Washington Post)"the end is coming into view -- not soon enough to spare every precious life, but sooner than President Bush and Vice President Cheney may wish. The dynamic in Congress has been set in motion that will bring this war to an end -- or at least reduce the scale of American involvement and redefine the mission of U.S. troops."

Verse of the Day: Rest and Redistribution

For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat.

- Exodus 23:10-11

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Voice of the Day: Norman Wirzba

Christ is the true philosopher because he embodies in his ministry the welcoming and caring reception of others so that they might more fully be the beings they are meant to be. Indeed, in the Christlike effort to understand, serve, heal, feed, and reconcile the earth and its communities we show forth the highest wisdom.

- Norman Wirzba
excerpt from the essay "Placing the Soul: An Agrarian Philosophical Principle" in The Essential Agraian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land, edited by Wirzba. (c) 2003.

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Duane Shank: Your Comments on the Daily Digest

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment about the Daily Digest. I’ve read them all. I’m pleased that so many of you find the compilation useful. And thanks also for the helpful suggestions.

On the news sources I use. Several of you suggested The Wall Street Journal. I personally read the Journal and find it very useful. The problem with using it for this kind of compilation is that the online material is available to subscribers only, so linking to stories isn’t possible. A number of others suggested I read a McClatchy paper for a more “center of the nation” view. That’s a good idea - I have seen some good stories from their reporters. I’ll begin with the Kansas City Star - today’s Digest has several McClatchy stories from the Star. Others suggested more “small town newspapers,” although also noting that most of their stories come from wire services and their own coverage is mostly local news. That’s true, and there is also the matter of time – putting the digest together isn’t my only job. But I will try to watch out for more local stories from various parts of the country.

A large number of suggestions were related to including more news from international sources. Several of you noted Canada – a good suggestion. I’ll begin skimming the Globe & Mail and Toronto Star for a Canadian perspective. Other good suggestions were to include stories from Africa, Latin America, and Asia that go beyond violence and crisis. And more from “old Europe,” perhaps France's Le Monde. Within the time available, I will try to do that.

There were suggestions for non-newspaper sources. Several of you mentioned blogs. I read a number of blogs, but I tend to think of them as more opinion than news. But if I find interesting things, I’ll throw some in the mix every now and then. Same with magazines. I don’t read many magazines, but again, I will look for useful pieces. And then there is the suggestion of FOX News. My personal bias is in favor of the print media rather than television. I rarely watch television news, so I haven’t included those stories here. And it’s not just FOX - I also don’t look at MSNBC, CNN, or the major networks. I’ll think about it.

On topics. Some of you would like more on education, health care, human rights, and indigenous people. And a suggestion that there is an over-emphasis on Iraq and Iran and that there should be more stories on poverty, housing, living wage, etc. I agree, but remember, I’m not creating the news, just compiling what is in the news. And these days that is a lot of Iraq and Iran. But I’ll try to be more alert to good pieces on poverty-related issues.

Thanks again for the responses. Feel free to post a comment any day to the Daily Digest – I always look. And pray for our world as you read the news. I often recall the saying of Karl Barth, who “advised young theologians ‘to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.’”


Duane Shank is the issues and policy adviser for Sojourners/Call to Renewal - in addition to being our resident news junkie.

Diana Butler Bass: A Post-Colonial Pageant

I have a confession to make: I watched the Miss Universe pageant Monday night. I could make some lame excuse like “nothing else was on television.” But the truth of the matter is that when choosing between elevating my mind with Al Gore’s new book and sinking into the comfy armchair in front of the flat-screen, I chose Miss Universe – live from Mexico City.

Miss Universe is a particularly embarrassing show to admit watching. Unlike Miss America, a pageant with a modicum of socially redeeming value (scholarships!), Miss Universe is an out-and-out ball gown and bathing suit spectacular. For decades, it was dominated by the blond-haired, blue-eyed likes of Miss Sweden, Miss France, and Miss USA. But this year was a different story.

Of the top 10 finalists, only one – Miss USA – represented the Anglo-European world. No Miss Sweden in sight (she actually dropped out because of social pressure at home that beauty pageants demean women). The other nine included: Miss Brazil, Miss India, Miss Japan (the eventual winner), Miss Angola, Miss Venezuela, Miss Korea, Miss Tanzania, Miss Nicaragua, and Miss Mexico, all citizens of the non-Western, post-colonial world. Even though they had been “Hollywoodized” to resemble Vogue models, they still carried distinctive aspects of their own cultures. Miss Tanzania was nearly bald – I have never seen a bald beauty pageant contestant before. Miss Japan’s modest evening gown looked more like a kimono than Christian Dior. Miss Brazil paraded around stage with Carnival flair.

In a kind of geo-political beauty contest metaphor, Miss USA tripped and fell during the evening gown competition. When she actually made the top five finalists, the Mexican audience jeered and booed like an angry soccer crowd. Were they irritated by our new immigration legislation? Maybe they don’t like George Bush? Whatever the case, Miss USA smiled graciously, and placed fourth.

The best moment, however, came when Miss Korea offered her testimony. While answering a question directed by the judges, she deftly said that she cared about missionary work more than anything else in the world – and that she wanted to be very rich so she could give much money to support the work of missionaries. Except for the accent, she sounded every bit like a Southern Baptist beauty contestant from Tennessee.

As I watched, I realized that I was witnessing a kind of Philip Jenkins (The Next Christendom) meets Miss Universe, a pop culture sort of post-colonial, post-feminist, and post-modern global gala – one to which Western Europeans were not being invited.

Of course, we were not very good hosts when we were the ones handing out invitations, as we expected everyone to come to our party our way. But as the gravity of pop culture moves south – as the gravity of religion already has – it might help for Miss USA’s fellow citizens to be prepared for some big changes, shifts in power, influence, understandings of truth, and yes, even the idea of beauty. I cannot fathom entirely what Miss Universe might portend for the future, but I do know that I do not want my nation to be booed off the world stage.


Although not many people know it, Diana Butler Bass (http://www.dianabutlerbass.com/) was once a debutante and was asked to compete in Miss Teen Arizona (she declined). Thirty years later, she holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of six books, including her award-winning Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church i s Transforming the Faith (Harper San Francisco, 2006).

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on AIDS, immigration, Iran, Iraq, pay discrimination, Sudan-Darfur, Mideast, World Bank, Russia, Poll- Bible is God's Word, peace making, and select Op-Eds.


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Full news summary:

Immigration. Bush defends reform "Firing back at conservative critics, President Bush defended his plan to overhaul immigration laws and accused its opponents of "trying to rile up people's emotions" with misinformation." Bush Takes On Conservatives Over Immigration "If you want to scare the American people, what you say is the bill's an amnesty bill," Mr. Bush said … "That's empty political rhetoric trying to frighten our citizens." Bush hits foes of alien bill "President Bush yesterday rebuked members of his own political party for trying to "frighten people" into opposing his immigration bill, prompting a quick backlash from some Republicans." U.S. to raise citizenship, green card fees "Applicants will see an average 66% increase in July. Immigrant advocates call it a 'wall' for the poor but agency says it will speed service."

AIDS. Bush to Seek Extension of AIDS Effort "President Bush will call on Congress today to provide $30 billion toward battling the global AIDS crisis over the first five years after he leaves office, a doubling of the current U.S. commitment. The increase in the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) would provide lifesaving treatment to 2.5 million people -- about 1.4 million more than the program now serves."

Iraq. U.S. toll in Iraq climbs "Six U.S. soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing attack and two more in a helicopter crash in Diyala, … Those fatalities and two others announced Tuesday brought the U.S. troop death toll in May to 117, making it the deadliest month for American forces this year," 10 American Soldiers Killed in Iraq "U.S. officials have warned that the strategy of putting more American troops on the streets and in small combat outposts, part of a security plan launched in February, would lead to higher U.S. casualties. But Tuesday's carnage suggested that the effort had not created a safer security environment." Some Hitherto Staunch G.O.P. Voters Souring on Iraq"While a majority of Republican voters continue to support Mr. Bush and the Iraq war, including the recent increase in American troops deployed, there are concerns that the war is undermining the party's political position."

Iran. Iran links Iraq and nuclear issue "A senior Iranian official has said that direct Iran-US talks about security in Iraq will have an impact on the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme." Rice wants UN to stand firm on Iran "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested the U.N. nuclear enforcement chief should stay out of a long-running diplomatic standoff with Iran." Tehran charges 3 detained U.S. citizens as spies "Three Iranian Americans, including U.S. academic Haleh Esfandiari, have been charged with espionage and endangering national security, The charges, denied by relatives and colleagues of the three, were another example of Iran's stepped-up accusations that the U.S. is trying to use internal critics to destabilize the government." Tehran officials charge three Americans with spying "Iran charged three Americans with spying and national security offences yesterday in a move that intensified suspicion surrounding intellectuals with US ties."

Pay discrimination. Justices' Ruling Limits Suits on Pay Disparity "The Supreme Court made it harder for many workers to sue their employers for discrimination in pay, insisting in a 5-to-4 decision on a tight time frame to file such cases. The dissenters said the ruling ignored workplace realities."

Sudan-Darfur. President Imposes New Sanctions on Sudan "In announcing new U.S. sanctions on Sudan, President Bush made clear his frustration with the inability of his administration and the United Nations to halt the violence in Darfur, which he has described as ongoing "genocide." Bush's action on Sudan may fall short "President Bush's decision to exert new pressure on Sudan to end the violence in Darfur may have a limited effect because many of the people and businesses he targeted already are getting around existing sanctions, according to experts and business officials." Bush orders Darfur sanctions after grassroots pressure "George Bush yesterday bowed before America's most successful experiment in grassroots organisation - the coalition of Hollywood, religious groups and student activists on Darfur - and ordered economic sanctions against Sudan." Oil May Allow Sudan to Escape Sanctions' Pain"But the sanctions will do little to stem Sudan's oil exports, which are the main source of the country's wealth, analysts said. They also noted that existing sanctions against Sudan, which date back to 1997, have been unevenly enforced."

Genocide diplomacy in Darfur (Editorial, Christian Science Monitor) "Bush's call for harsher sanctions should force China to exercise a stronger hand over its friends in Khartoum. If China doesn't go along, the humanitarian crisis and the genocide in Darfur may only worsen." A Big Enough Stick for Sudan (Michael Gerson, Washngton Post) "The choice here is far from obvious. Escalation has risks; if not done in earnest, it is better not to begin at all. America is understandably weary and distracted. But a question hangs over the history of our time: Are we too tired to oppose genocide?"

Mideast. Palestinian and Israeli Leaders to Meet Next Week, as Tensions Remain High Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, will meet next week, their offices said Tuesday, in a continuation of a Washington-sponsored dialogue that will inevitably focus on another round of Israeli-Palestinian warfare." Hamas leader says attacks on Israel will go on "Khaled Mashal, the influential political leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, insists attacks on Israel will continue despite overwhelming Israeli retaliation that has cost scores of lives in the Gaza Strip in the past two weeks."

World Bank. Bush to Pick Zoellick for World Bank "President Bush today plans to name Robert B. Zoellick, a career diplomat and trade negotiator, to head the World Bank, seeking to dispatch the leadership crisis that has gripped the institution under Paul D. Wolfowitz," US diplomat to head World Bank "The White House moved last night to mend fences with the international community when it indicated it would nominate a respected veteran diplomat, Robert Zoellick, to replace Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank."

Russia. Russia adds to arms race fears "Russia yesterday threatened a new cold war-style arms race with the United States by announcing that it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of penetrating American defences." Russia claims new missiles negate shield "Russia tested new missiles that a Kremlin official boasted could penetrate any defense system, and President Vladimir Putin warned that U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe would turn the region into a "powder keg."

Poll- Bible is God's Word. Polls: Most believe Bible as God's word - "More than three-quarters of Americans believe the Bible is literally the word of God or inspired by the word of God, according to a trio of Gallup surveys, with 19 percent saying the Good Book is a compendium of myth and legend."

Peacemaking. In pictures Christians teams working for peace in divided Hebron BBC photo essay on Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron.

Essay The Shackles in the Shadows of History "In 1619, 12 years after Jamestown's settlement, two British privateers sailed into the James River with African captives for sale. The Africans had Portuguese names; they apparently knew Christianity, according to John Thornton and Linda Heywood, a husband-and-wife team of Boston University historians. Those first Africans came from the kingdom of Ndongo, now Angola, which had been penetrated by Portuguese missionaries and traders who soon stopped praying with the Africans and started selling them."

Op-Eds.

I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty. (Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington Post) "Parents who lose children, whether through accident or illness, inevitably wonder what they could have done to prevent their loss. When my son was killed in Iraq earlier this month at age 27, I found myself pondering my responsibility for his death."

The Dems' healthcare gamble (Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times) "The best chance for reaching (or even nearing) universal healthcare coverage is a system of shared responsibility that requires government, individuals and business to all contribute. The ideas percolating in the states, and among the leading Democratic presidential contenders, move in that direction. But unless big employers also finally act on their stake in reform, healthcare for all is likely to remain out of reach - at great cost not only to the national interest but to corporate America's own bottom line."

Passing. Politician Carried On A Civil Rights Legacy"Parren J. Mitchell, 85, a Baltimore civil rights activist who became Maryland's first black member of Congress in 1970, died May 28 … A founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and chairman of the House Small Business Committee, Mitchell (D) worked for years to ensure minority participation in contracts let under federal public works programs."

Voice of the Day: Thomas Merton

Religious silence is silence that is undertaken as an act of worship. Whether I hear God or not makes no difference.

- Thomas Merton
quoted in Alive Now! November/December 1990

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Verse of the Day: Lies of False Prophets

The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, say to it: You are a land that is not cleansed, not rained upon in the day of indignation. Its princes within it are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows within it. ... Its officials within it are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. Its prophets have smeared whitewash on their behalf, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, "Thus says the Lord God," when the Lord has not spoken.

- Ezekiel 22:23-28

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Brian McLaren: Fact and Friction

I confess to being a fan of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I also confess that when I’m watching “normal” news shows, especially “fair and balanced” cable news, I frequently experience moments of disorientation, during which I can’t tell if I’m witnessing an intentional parody of honest reporting or an unintentional one. The old friction between reality and faux reality has been greased, so one keeps sliding into the other when you aren’t looking.

The recent stories of fictional reporting by our military intensify the oddness of a world where fake news and real news are too often equally fake.

Maybe that’s why when “serious” reporters and pundits play out the old, familiar, reactive scripts of left and right, liberal and conservative, many of us find ourselves laughing at the wrong times, not realizing they aren’t joking. Perhaps parody provides the only serious way to respond to the old paralyzing ideological polarities of left and right, liberal and conservative.

A new friend I met in my recent travels, Wendell Jones, offers a proposal that won’t allow the last laugh to go to polarized thinkers. Wendell is a career physical scientist whose personal crisis in addiction left him identifying deeply with the weak and the broken. He creates this imaginative scenario:

Imagine that it is 2020 and the U.S. is secure as the wealthiest nation in the world. Our best and most productive citizens remain the world’s wealthiest leaders. Tax burdens are at all time lows. Entitlement drains on the GDP have been essentially eliminated. Illegal immigration is a minor issue. Federal government spending is almost completely focused on defense and homeland security capabilities allowing the U.S. to proactively intersect all threats. The voting public is nearly unanimous in support of the government and its policies. Voters uniformly feel that taxation is reasonable and that policy rewards them for their productivity.

This vision contrasts sharply with the status quo he describes:

A number of observers in the U.S. have noted the peculiar characteristic of the American political structure that taxes the best and most proficient citizens to support those unable to contribute their fair share to the overall well-being. The growing recognition that this is unfair and damaging is fueling criticism of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. In addition, trends in tax and bankruptcy law reflect the awareness that non-contributors put the success of our best citizens, and the nation as a whole, at risk. This wealth redistribution through social entitlements is a relatively new phenomenon in U.S. history.

If this kind of analysis rings some of your bells (one way or the other), I hope you’ll read his whole proposal – down to the last sentence. Don’t let its modesty fool you: Jones is making a deadly serious proposal. It’s a "moment of Zen," an eagle’s soaring flight into "truthiness," and restores some friction into fact.

Brian McLaren is an author and speaker, also serving as board chair for Sojourners/Call to Renewal. His most recent book was just released in softcover and is highly rated for group studies and discussions. Nobody is sure if the title is sincere or ironic. See his Web site for more details (brianmclaren.net).

Bob Francis: A Reluctant Patriot

Memorial Day has always been one of the most important holidays for my family. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I am from what can safely be called a military family, with my father, one grandfather, and five uncles all serving in our armed forces, representing all four major branches among them. It is on this day each year that we pause to give special thanks to those who have served in our country’s military, according the highest respect to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice of their very lives to secure and protect our freedoms. Given my military family heritage, it is not surprising that I was socialized from the earliest age into an unquestioned, devout patriotism, which was never on display so proudly and publicly as on Memorial Day.

I was home for Memorial Day this year, which allowed me to rehearse many of our family rituals from my youth. My 12-hour day yesterday consisted of two Memorial Day services (with accompanying parades) in two different towns, three picnics, and visits to five cemeteries to lay flowers and pay respects. In many ways, the events of the day were as touching, sincere, and heartfelt as I remembered them. I even shed a tear at one service when the local marching band played the Marine's Hymn, which brought to mind my Marine father on this first Memorial Day without him.

However, despite recollections of cherished memories, my adult sensibilities intruded, giving me a much more discerning eye through which to observe the day’s events. The patriotic premises I uncritically absorbed in my childhood have long since evolved, tempered over the years by a healthy dose of biblically-informed skepticism of nationalism and militarism. I was reminded that the inextricable linkage of patriotism, militarism, and American Christianity in our national narrative is alive and well - a marriage that I find distressing and theologically dubious at best.

At least in small towns like those where my family lives, Memorial Day services put on display the way in which the Christian faith remains co-opted by the national and military narratives of the American people. Expectedly, both services I attended rehearsed our cherished freedoms and honored our servicemen and women for their sacrifices. But the commendations went much further than that. There were prayers to God for national blessing and undisputed claims of America being the greatest nation on earth. Imagery abounded of America as a distinctly Christian nation and the related need for us to get God back into the public square "where He belongs." It was implied throughout that God guides our national ship, and consequently, our national causes must be the very causes of God. On this day, unlike any other, we see pastors and soldiers side by side, as if there were no contradiction between the kingdoms of God and America.

What concerns me in this display of Christian patriotism is how easily we think that God is on our side and that what America does may as well be what God is doing in the world - especially regarding our military. It can perpetuate a dangerous “us vs. them” mentality, with “us” always being on God’s side of the ledger and our causes always being just, simply because it involves our troops. Also alarming is the uncritical way in which our American and Christian identities no longer seem separate, making it anathema to suggest that our patriotism might need correction (instead of unabashed support) from our biblical faith.

Like most touchy and complicated issues, nuance is often lost in our world of sound bites, fundraising, and political gain. But I’d like to try and walk the fine line as a reluctant patriot. I want to honor those men and women who have bravely and nobly served our country, for in doing so, I honor my own family. I want to be grateful for America’s successes, not taking for granted the many ways in which America truly has been a noble and even unprecedented experiment in democracy. And I want to acknowledge the freedoms we indeed enjoy, ones only longed for by many in other lands and times. But I want to stop short of worshipping America. I never want to place America where only Christ should be, and I want my allegiances to be properly ordered and never confused.

If I could have scripted yesterday’s events, I would have liked to hear more talk about peace, not war. The fact that men and women of any nation must die in combat reveals that we live in a fallen and imperfect world, one waiting to be redeemed. It reveals what we have not yet learned – not the art of war – but the art of peace. In these times of violence, I would be more comforted by images of swords beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, instead of battleships and soldiers never coming home. I would like America to honor our peacemakers as reverently as our soldiers. And if we want to invoke God, I would like to hear about God’s kingdom, the one where the lion lays down with the lamb. And we could rehearse God’s promises – not for military victory (which I don’t find in my Bible anyway) – but about how a suffering servant, who told us to turn the other cheek and offered no word in his own defense before being led to death, has somehow overcome the world. That would be my idea of a Memorial Day.

Bob Francis is the organizing and policy assistant for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on Sudan-Darfur, Iran, G8-climate change, immigration, Iraq, Iran, nuclear power, Presidential politics, Cindy Sheehan, Billy Grahan, and select op-eds.


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Full news summary:

Immigration. Debate still surrounds 'imperfect bill' - "Immigration overhaul is a top priority of the U.S. business community, which faces a growing array of conflicting state and local laws that require businesses to police workers' immigration status and that impose fines on firms that hire illegal workers." Immigration screening could snag too many workers - "A system to verify the legality of every employee within 3 years -- key to the Senate's measure -- is controversial." Change on Immigration Turns Senator Kyl Into Lightning Rod - "Angry calls poured into Senator Jon Kyl's office this week by the thousands, expressing outrage beyond anything he said he had witnessed in his 20-year political career. The callers were inflamed by Mr. Kyl's role in shaping the bipartisan immigration compromise." Bill Adds Fuel to Flames in a Divided Border State- "While cultural and economic ties to Mexico run deep in Arizona, the country's fastest-growing state, it is also where more people cross illegally from Mexico than anywhere else along the 2,000-mile border."

Iraq. Iraq likely to miss goals set by U.S. - "U.S. military leaders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that most of the broad political goals President Bush laid out early this year in his announcement of a troop buildup will not be met this summer and are seeking ways to redefine success." Militants Widen Reach as Terror Seeps Out of Iraq- "The Iraq war, which for years has drawn militants from around the world, is beginning to export fighters and tactics to neighboring countries and beyond." As Allies Turn Foe, Disillusion Rises in Some G.I.'s- "in interviews with more than a dozen soldiers in this 83-man unit over a one-week period, most said they were disillusioned by repeated deployments, by what they saw as the abysmal performance of Iraqi security forces and by a conflict that they considered a civil war, one they had no ability to stop." Strife Foreseen in Iraq Exit, but Experts Split on Degree- "Would the pullback of American forces unleash an even bloodier round of civil conflict that would lead to the implosion of the Iraqi government? Or would it put pressure on Iraqi politicians to finally reconcile their differences? More bluntly: how bad would things get?" Analysts' Warnings of Iraq Chaos Detailed - "Months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies predicted that it would be likely to spark violent sectarian divides and provide al-Qaeda with new opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Sudan-Darfur. Bush Looks To Intensify Pressure On Sudan - "President Bush has decided to implement a plan to pressure Sudan's government into cooperating with international efforts to halt the violence in its troubled Darfur region, where his administration said almost three years ago that genocide was taking place." Bush to Tighten Fiscal Penalties Against Sudan- "President Bush will announce Tuesday that he is imposing stiff economic sanctions against Sudan - including penalties against two senior government officials and a rebel leader - and that he will press the United Nations for additional actions to end the violence in Darfur" U.N. presses for peace in Darfur - "U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has put his personal diplomatic clout on the line to end the bloodshed in Darfur, demanding a cease-fire and fresh peace talks in a letter to Sudan's president,"

Iran U.S., Iran Open Dialogue On Iraq - "The United States and Iran held their first official high-level, face-to-face talks in almost 30 years Monday to discuss the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, and officials emerged generally upbeat about the renewed dialogue," U.S. and Iranian Officials Meet in Baghdad, but Talks Yield No Breakthroughs- "The United States and Iran held rare face-to-face talks in Baghdad on Monday, adhering to an agenda that focused strictly on the war in Iraq and on ways the two bitter adversaries could help improve conditions here." U.S., Iran reach Iraq consensus - "The U.S. ambassador met with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad on Monday in the first formal bilateral talks between the two nations in more than a quarter century, though the talks alone were characterized by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker as unlikely to lead to specific gains to reduce violence in Iraq." US and Iran finally break the ice - "Against a background of renewed international tension, with the US conducting large-scale war games in the Gulf, the two sides met in Baghdad for discussions described by both as "positive". Iran held out the prospect of a further meeting within the next month."

Nuclear power. Arabs make plans for nuclear power - "As Iran races ahead with an illicit uranium enrichment effort, nearly a dozen other Middle East nations are moving forward on their own civilian nuclear programs."

G8-Climate change. U.S. Rejects G-8 Climate Proposal - "U.S. officials have raised a second round of unusually bluntly worded objections to a proposed global-warming declaration that Germany prepared for next month's Group of Eight summit,"

Presidential politics. Can GOP find leader to suit evangelicals? - "With President Bush, the evangelical-in-chief, leaving the White House in 19 months, conservative Christians are desperately searching for a new standard-bearer -- and they're not finding him among the three GOP poll leaders." John Edwards' populism is a risky bet - "In adopting poverty and low-wage work as his themes, Edwards has struck a far more combative, populist tone than in his 2004 presidential campaign….But Edwards' 2008 strategy carries risks, in part because it speaks most directly to a slice of the electorate that has notably little political clout."

Cindy Sheehan. Sheehan quits as face of US anti-war fight - "Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq three years ago, said yesterday she was stepping down from her role as the figurehead of the US campaign against the war. "This is my resignation letter as the 'face' of the American anti-war movement," she wrote in a sometimes bitter diary entry on the website Daily Kos."

Billy Graham. Billy Graham, tourist attraction - "The other day, Billy Graham toured the showy museum that will soon open here to honor his six decades of bringing God's word to the high and the humble."

Op-Ed. The Rise Of the Bottom Fifth (By Ron Haskins, The Washington Post) - "This increase in earnings and total income by low-income families is the biggest success in American social policy of recent decades."

Voice of the Day: on True Compassion

Honest, direct confrontation is a true expression of compassion…The illusion of power must be unmasked, idolatry must be undone, oppression and exploitation must be fought, and all who participate in these evils must be confronted. This is compassion.

- Donald P. McNeill et al.
from “Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life”

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Verse of the Day: Righteousness

For the righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever. They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord. Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor. The wicked see it and are angry; they gnash their teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.

- Psalms 112:6-10

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Duane Shank: Dissecting the Daily Digest

After nine months, the Daily Digest is now being received by more than 20,000 people. So, I thought I’d solicit some reader opinion.

First an explanation. I use the following U.S. newspapers that cover the spectrum: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, USA Today, and The Christian Science Monitor – and others if specific stories come to my attention. For an international take, BBC and The Guardian. For the Mideast, Haaretz and al Jazeera. The news I try to cover coincides with Sojourners/Call to Renewal’s platform – war/peace, poverty and budget priorities, the environment, life issues, marriage and family, religion in general, and faith and politics in particular.

What do you think, both of the range of sources and news? Are there important sources I’m not using? Important issues I don’t include enough? If you’d like to comment, just post it in the comments for this blog post. I’ll read them all, and respond as possible.

Rose Marie Berger: James Loney’s Living Forgiveness

“Norman, Harmeet and I have forgiven our captors,” says Jim Loney in yesterday’s op-ed to The Toronto Star. “Our reason is very simple. We've had enough with bombs and guns and gallows.”

Sojourners and I spent many an anxious moment while our compatriots in Christ with the Christian Peacemaker Teams were held captive in Baghdad between November 2005 and March 2006 (see Sojourners December 2006). In the end, this saga of modern martyrdom ended in the tragic death of Tom Fox and the ultimate release of Jim Loney, 42, Harmeet Singh Sooden, 34, and Norman Kember, 75, by British and American soldiers.

In November 2006, Jim, Harmeet, and Norman were told that an unspecified number of men alleged to be their kidnappers were in U.S. custody. According to Loney, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Scotland Yard asked them to testify in a trial to be conducted in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (see Paul Brenner’s authorization for the formation of the CCCI). An RCMP officer indicated, "The death penalty is on the table."

A recent report from the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq says the CCCI "consistently failed to meet minimum fair trial standards." Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark calls the CCCI a "meat grinder." "It reminds me of the reign of terror in Paris," he says. "You guillotine some, imprison others--it's unclear who's more fortunate." Amnesty International (AI) says at least 100 people have been executed and at least 270 more have been condemned to death by the CCCI.

In a May 23 op-ed to The Toronto Star, Loney told the RCMP that he won’t testify:

I cannot participate in a judicial process where the prospects of a fair trial are negligible, and more crucially, where the death penalty is a possibility. The death penalty is the legalization of blood vengeance. It is a cruel, degrading and irrevocable judgment. Take away the fancy legal rationale and the dignified court proceedings and what remains is an act of murder, plain and simple, no different than what was done to Tom Fox. Capital punishment is a manifestation of the very violence it claims to deter. Those who kidnapped us and murdered Tom were swept into a vicious cycle of violence and retribution for violence that was put in motion in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq and its continuing occupation.

Jim ends his statement by saying, “We want to see an end to all killing, regardless of the reason. Capital punishment is simply the legal face of the dead-end cycle of violence and retribution for violence that is destroying Iraq. We want to see something genuinely new and different, a future that begins with the power of forgiveness.”

This is an example of who we are as Christians. Death – and all its attendant principalities and powers of violence cloaked in the lie of necessary evil – has no dominion over us. This is the freedom that we are offered in Christ.

Rose Marie Berger is an associate editor of Sojourners magazine.

Katie Van Loo: Food for Thought

Around the lunch table the other day, a few coworkers and I discussed food, healthy eating, and body image (brought on by an amateur analysis of trans- and partially-hydrogenated fats and their banning in NYC). Yesterday while scanning my iGoogle (I love that thing), I ran across this Alternet article on a similar topic. The article spends a decent amount of time talking about deceptive lures and health risks of diet pills (has anyone seen Requiem for a Dream?) as well as some interesting points regarding the myth of obesity, a section about other countries’ diets, and the "set point weight" of our bodies.

It is important that we figure out a way to advocate for healthy bodies (not just thinner bodies). A high point of the lunchtime conversation was our distinction between approaching nutrition from a “good/bad” perspective versus what is healthy, and presenting alternatives of how to better utilize what our bodies have and need. For example, we talked about "good cholesterol/bad cholesterol" and "good fats/bad fats" versus all cholesterol is good and all natural fats are good, and it is the amount, ratio, and source of each that we put into our bodies that matters.

In regard to the media’s manipulative depictions of health (read: thinness) and the idea of skinnier = happier, while the equation is hooey, it often does play out in an individual’s social circles and even their own psyche. Though damaging, distorted, and deceptive, I have found some real-life experiential evidence for that equation. After I dropped 35 pounds in about a month during my senior year in high school, there was a significant increase in the attention that I received (as well as it being much friendlier). I also felt better about myself (self-confidence, success, and good-feeling neurochemicals = a synergistic boost to the self-esteem) and enjoyed the positive reinforcement I was receiving from those around me. You really do feel “happier” sometimes - proud of yourself. And if you do not internally feel happy (but instead distressed, irritable, anxious, consumed), other people are telling you that you should be happy through their constant affirmation.

Further, in contrast to the feminist critique that women are told “to be less powerful, less emotional, less hungry, and to assume less space in the world,” from my experience and conversations with friends, this criticism is not always widely felt. By more recent ideals for women, we are expected to be successful, professional, and to excel at everything; we are to be the best, to be noticed, and to be thin and beautiful. This is the unattainable perfection we have been charged with.

In addition, I am a little wary of the “love your body day" mentioned in the article because of the way these types of reactions to an unjust point of view are often perceived by the masses. Instead of “I love my body and thus do not need to listen to people who tear me down, but at the same time realize the importance of taking good care of my body,” it is usually, “I’m just fine the way I am even if I’m at risk of a heart attack because I starve myself while binging and purging or because I am obese and stressing my body, so screw you,” and nothing is accomplished.

All of these things together contribute to a false idea, even a false reality, of what women should be and are, what health should be and is, and how both can be and are achieved. I would like to see a more holistic approach to body acceptance and love, nutrition, and overall physical, emotional, and psychological health. It seems obvious, but here in the United States we seem to be having a rather hard time at achieving such a healthy state.

Katie Van Loo is the marketing and circulation assistant for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.


+ Read more about food justice in Sojourners magazine's special issue from May 2006

Gabriel Salguero: Where Do We Go From Here?

As announced on CNN last week, we're hosting a forum of the leading Democratic presidential candidates at our Pentecost 2007 event. We invited several of our bloggers to discuss their questions for the candidates, but we've also compiled the best questions submitted by our readers', and now you can vote on the one we'll ask on live television: + Click here to vote

The famous query of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where do we go from here? Chaos or community?” is still a very pertinent question for today. In light of the noticeable disagreement around policies that seek to address economic, educational, and immigration reform, my queries to the presidential candidates would focus on that directional and strategic question, “Where do we go from here?” These queries underline and imply an initial stock-taking of where the candidates see the nation now and where do they see the necessary future trajectory we need to take as a nation. Below is a list of questions I submit for their examination:

Savage Inequalities

Some years ago, Jonathon Kozol wrote Savage Inequalities highlighting the severe disparities in educational spending in school districts around the country. What educational reform do you propose as necessary to close the disparities between economically stable public schools districts and those with serious economic challenges? What role, if any, do you see Affirmative Action playing in the area of education?

The rising cost of healthcare in the United States manifests a gap between the haves and the have-nots. What would you do as president to ameliorate the burden of healthcare for the working poor and the unemployed?

It is no secret that many undocumented immigrants are migrating to the United States, and parts of Europe because of poverty (not to mention war, genocide, and disease). What foreign and domestic policies would you advocate to address the glaring and growing economic and digital divide between many countries in the Global North and the Global South? How would these policies respond to the multitudes of men, women and children in Latin America, Africa, and Asia who are struggling for survival and coming into the U.S. undocumented?

Life and Quality of Life

Many people of faith, including me, underline the importance of honoring life and ensuring, as far as possible, a decent quality of life how do you respond to their concerns on these issues of life...

· Given the realities and complexities of economics, race, and gender in our country, should capital punishment still be a part of U.S. societies dealing with the most heinous of crimes?

· What foreign policy should the U.S. pursue in the cases of genocide as seen in Rwanda and Burundi?

· How would you address the concerns of many around the large number of abortions in the U.S.?

· What policies should be enacted to ensure healthcare, quality education, and housing of many children born to poor single parents?

· How can we ensure a better quality of life for the people working in the United States who can not earn enough for subsistence?

Civil Discourse

In the days following 9/11, the tone of national discourse was an inspirational note of civility and mutual respect. It appears that once again the hostility in discourse and divisiveness has returned, particularly around comprehensive immigration reform, same-sex unions, and the war in Iraq (among other issu es) in many parts of the country. What model of discourse would your administration set that could serve as a healthy model for Republicans, Democrats, Independents, etc. all around the country? This is a critical query in light of the many examples of the demonization of "the other" that our children are hearing from all quarters of public life.

I pray that these questions (certainly there are many more of equal importance) would stimulate a necessary and healthy dialogue for people of faith, secularists, and all people of good-will around the U.S. that helps us underline what we really hold true and dear and how we treat each other.


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.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on minimum wage, Iraq-Congress, immigration, Iraq-President Bush, North Korea, Iran, ethics and select op-eds.


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Full news summary:

Immigration. Senate Votes to Keep Plan to Make Immigrants Legal - "The Senate turned aside the most significant challenge to the comprehensive immigration bill now under debate, voting 66 to 29 to keep a provision that offers legal status to most of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants." Amendments to dilute immigration bill are defeated - "Supporters of a comprehensive immigration bill repelled a series of attacks on it on the Senate floor this week, significantly raising the prospects that the Senate will pass the controversial measure." Senate narrowly rejects additions to immigration bill - "Supporters of the bipartisan immigration reform package are heading into the Memorial Day recess with an air of cautious optimism after the Senate struck down a series of proposals that threatened to throw off the delicate balance of the legislation and erode support for the bill." Immigration Bill Provisions Gain Wide Support in Poll - "As opponents from the right and left challenge an immigration bill before Congress, there is broad support among Americans - Democrats, Republicans and independents alike - for the major provisions in the legislation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll."

Minimum wage. Congress Passes Increase in the Minimum Wage- "Congress handed a major victory to low-income workers by approving the first increase in the federal minimum wage rate in a decade." Congress Approves Minimum Wage Hike - "The bill, which a spokesman for President Bush said he would sign, would end the longest stretch without an increase in the federal minimum wage since it was established in 1938."

Iraq-Congress. Congress Passes Deadline-Free War Funding Bill - "Congress sent President Bush a new Iraq funding bill that lacked troop withdrawal deadlines demanded by liberal Democrats, but party leaders vowed it was only a temporary setback in their efforts to bring home American troops." Congress Passes War Funds Bill, Ending Impasse- "The measure does not set a date to withdraw troops but sets benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet." Congress passes war funding bill - "Bringing to a close an extended showdown between Congress and President Bush over the Iraq war, overwhelmingly united Republicans and deeply divided Democrats passed a $120-billion emergency war spending bill that would not require U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn." Congress OKs Iraq funds, benchmarks- "The outcome resolves the immediate stalemate over withdrawal dates in Bush's favor. But it binds the president even more closely to a highly unpopular war, and it postpones only until fall the next open battle between the Democratic-controlled Congress and Republican White House."

Iraq-President Bush. After Victory on Hill, President Shifts Tone on Iraq - "President Bush faced reporters for his first full-scale, solo news conference in three months savoring what may be a last victory in his battle with Congress over the course of the war in Iraq." U.S. Casualties May Spike This Summer, Bush Warns - "On a day when he expressed satisfaction with a deal in Congress that would finance American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan without the schedules for withdrawal from Iraq that Democrats had sought, Mr. Bush nonetheless said: "We're going to expect heavy fighting in the weeks and months. We can expect more American and Iraqi casualties." He added, "It could be a bloody - it could be a very difficult August."

Iraq. Radical cleric resurfaces in Iraq - "Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia cleric, today resurfaced in public in Iraq for the first time since a US security crackdown in Baghdad began in February." Sadr Back in Iraq, U.S. Generals Say - "Moqtada al-Sadr, the influential Shiite cleric and militia leader who went into hiding before the launch of a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive in February, is in the southern city of Kufa, senior U.S. military commanders."

North Korea. North Korea tests missiles - "North Korea today reportedly fired several short-range missiles towards the Sea of Japan in the latest provocative act from the unpredictable regime." North Korea test-fires missiles North Korea's missile development, along with its nuclear weapons programme, has been a major source of concern in the region."

Iran. Stakes rise in US-Iran standoff - "Iran says it will not succumb to "enemy" efforts to halt its nuclear program, as a US armada deployed in the Persian Gulf - setting the stage for an important week in Iran's standoff with the United States and other world powers." U.S. Urges New Sanctions as Iran Stands Firm on Nuclear Policy - "President Bush said that the administration will pres s the United Nations to adopt new, expanded sanctions against Iran, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran would "never retreat even one step" from its nuclear enrichment program."

Ethics. Ethics Legislation Easily Passes House - "Prodded by Democratic leaders and by freshmen elected partly on promises to clean up Washington, the House approved new ethics legislation that would penalize lawmakers who receive a wide range of favors from special interests, and would require lobbyists to disclose the campaign contributions they collect and deliver to lawmakers." House Votes to Lift Veil Over Donations From Lobbyists- "The House voted to drag into public view the role that registered lobbyists play in soliciting and collecting contributions for political campaigns, exposing for the first time one of the most effective ways that influence-seekers ingratiate themselves with lawmakers and presidents."

Op-Eds.

Happy birthday to a visionary following his faith (Eugene Cullen Kennedy, Chicago Tribune) - "At this time when many observers bewail the lack of great leaders, a truly great one marks a milestone. Father Theodore Hesburgh celebrates his 90th birthday Friday. Hesburgh, who led the University of Notre Dame for 35 years and is now president emeritus, could still take on the papacy or the presidency and lead the Catholic Church or the United States with great distinction."

Letting Fear Rule (Michael Gerson, Washington Post) - "In 1882, Congress passed and President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act. Today we don't name laws as bluntly as we used to. But anti-immigrant sentiments are very much alive, this time expressed in opposition to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007."

The New Establishment (Hanna Rosin, Washington Post) - "Goodling is part of a new generation of evangelicals ushered in by Falwell, who insisted that Christians get involved in politics. They are graduates of the exploding number of evangelical colleges, which no longer aim to create a parallel subculture but instead to train "Christian leaders to change the world," as the Regent mission statement reads."

My wife, a prisoner in Iran (Shaul Bakhash, teaches Middle Eastern history at George Mason University in Virginia, Los Angeles Times) - "ON MAY 8, the walls of Tehran's Evin prison closed around my wife, Haleh Esfandiari, a 67-year-old scholar, grandmother and dual citizen of Iran and the United States."

Voice of the Day: Joan Chittister

Why do people think the spiritual life demands withdrawal drom the ordinary? Because they've been taught, at least by implication, that the physical is a block to the spiritual. When we assume that the spiritual, unlike the physical, is impervious to corrosion, then we assume that all things material are not to be honored. But the fact of the matter is, the material is the vehicle of the spiritual.

- Joan Chittister
from Alive Now! July/August 1994

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Verse of the Day: Fear the Lord

You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

- Leviticus 19:13-14

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Elizabeth Palmberg: There They Go Again (And Again...)

Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams has allegedly “blessed” an undercover CIA attempt to destabilize the government of Iran. Abrams was, of course, involved in an earlier covert attempt to undermine a foreign government (of Nicaragua) which involved illegally selling arms to Iran. This November will be the 16th anniversary of Abrams’ conviction of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. We suggest that he celebrate with cake, ice cream, and maybe taking some time to talk with other administration officials about blowback.

The term “blowback” was, it turns out, first used by the CIA to describe unintended negative consequences of its 1953 plot to overthrow the elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadeq.

To be fair, the current alleged plan against the Iranian government is not licensed to kill anyone, and so far does not appear to involve lying to Congress.

Elizabeth Palmberg is an assistant editor for Sojourners.

Jim Wallis: What's Acceptable? What's Possible?

This column is adapted from a commencement address that Jim delivered at Georgetown University on Sunday, May 20.

Each new generation has a chance to alter two very basic definitions of reality in our world - what is acceptable and what is possible.

First, what is acceptable?

There are always great inhumanities that we inflict upon one another in this world, great injustices that cry out to God for redress, and great gaps in our moral recognition of them. When the really big offenses are finally corrected, finally changed, it is always and only because something has happened to change our perception of the moral issues at stake. The moral contradiction we have long lived with is no longer acceptable to us. What we accepted, or ignored, or denied, finally gets our attention and we decide that we just cannot, and will not, live with it any longer. But until that happens, the injustice and misery continue.

It often takes a new generation to make that decision - that something that people have long tolerated just won't be tolerated any more.

So the question to you as graduates, as ambassadors for a new generation, is this: what are you going to no longer accept in our world, what will you refuse to tolerate now that you will be making the decisions that matter?

Will it be acceptable to you that 3 billion people in our world today - half of God's children - live on less that $2 per day, that more than 1 billion live on less than $1 per day, that the gap between the life expectancy in the rich places and the poor places in the world is now 40 years, and that 30,000 children globally will die today - on the day of your graduation - from needless, senseless, and utterly preventable poverty and disease? It's what Bono calls "stupid poverty."

Many people don't really know that, or sort of do but have never really focused on the reality or given it a second thought. And that's the way it usually is. We don't know, or we have the easy explanations about why poverty or some other calamity exists and why it can't really be changed - all of which makes us feel better about ourselves - or we are just more concerned with lots of other things. We really don't have to care. So we tolerate it and keep looking the other way.

But then something changes. Something gets our attention, something goes deeper than it has before and hooks us in the places we call the heart, the soul, the spirit. And once we've crossed over into really seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting the injustice we can never really look back again. It is now unacceptable to us.

What we see now offends us, offends our understanding of the sanctity and dignity of life, offends our notions of fairness and justice, offends our most basic values; violates our idea of the common good, and starts to tug at our deepest places. We cross the line of unacceptability. We become intolerant of the injustice.

But just changing our notion of what is unacceptable isn't enough, however. We must also change our perception of what is possible.

In that regard, I would encourage each of you to think about your vocation more than just your career. And there is a difference. From the outside, those two tracks may look very much alike, but asking the vocational question rather than just considering the career options will take you much deeper. The key is to ask why you might take one path instead of another - the real reasons you would do something, more than just because you can. The key is to ask who you really are and what you want to become. It is to ask what you believe you are supposed to do.

You do have great potential, but that potential will be most fulfilled if you follow the leanings of conscience and the language of the heart more than just the d ictates of the market, whether economic or political. They want smart people like you to just manage the systems of the world. But rather than managing or merely fitting into systems, ask how you can change them. You're both smart enough and talented enough to do that. That's your greatest potential.

Ask where your gifts intersect with the groaning needs of the world - there is your vocation.

The antidote to cynicism is not optimism but action. And action is finally born out of hope. Try to remember that. At college, you often believe you can think your way into a new way of living, but that's actually not the way it works. Out in the world, it's more likely that you will live your way into a new way of thinking.

The key is to believe that the world can be changed, because it is only that belief that ever changes the world. And if not us, who will believe? If not you, who?

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Mary Nelson: Questions from a Community Development Veteran

As announced on CNN last week, we're hosting a forum of the leading Democratic presidential candidates at our Pentecost 2007 event (Mary will also be speaking at the conference). We've invited several of our bloggers to discuss their questions for the candidates, but we're also asking our readers to submit their questions, and TOMORROW will let YOU vote on the ones we should use!

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Little of the campaign rhetoric has touched on the issues and concerns of our low-income, minority communities, and how to help people move out of poverty. We know that it will take personal responsibility, government action, and partnership efforts with communities of faith and the corporate sector. But it will take presidential leadership to move forward.

Jonathan Kozol, in the Shame of the Nation, calls the re-segregation of public schools and the great disparity between schools in wealthy communities and in low income communities the damnation of our future, perpetuated by financing schools on property taxes and our public lack of concern for equity in education. What is your plan, candidates, for enabling quality public education for every child? For fairness in funding of public education?

Rising costs, gentrification of communities, drastically reduced government subsidies and incentives have created a dire shortage of decent housing affordable for low income people; most poor are paying over 50 percent of their income for crammed substandard housing. What are your plans to deal with this crisis? How do we help enable mixed-income communities, with spaces and places for “community” to happen?

Rising fuel costs and reduced air quality mandate a redirection of federal transportation dollars and incentives toward public mass transportation. Yet highways still get most of the transportation funds and incentives, and public transportation is struggling to stay afloat. What are your plans to deal with redirecting our efforts towards fast, efficient, and affordable public transportation?

Mary Nelson is president and CEO of Bethel New Life, a 24-year-old faith-based community development corporation on the west side of Chicago. She is also a board member of Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on immigration, the justice department, nuclear weapons-Iran, Iraq-Congress, Iraq-war, Iraq-terrorism, Nuclear weapons-U.S., nuclear weapons, Iran, Europe-missiles, Mideast, Darfur, Pope Benedict, and select editorials.


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Full news summary:

Immigration. Senate gets tougher on border in immigration bill Sen. Judd Gregg's amendment to beef up security in a bipartisan measure sparks a clash before it passes. Senate OKs tweaks to immigration bill The fragile immigration bill weathered a series of legislative hits Wednesday as senators approved amendments to alter key provisions of the framework for bringing in temporary guest workers and enforcing security along U.S. borders. Senate Scales Down Proposed Guest-Worker Program The Senate slashed the size of a proposed guest-worker program for foreign laborers yesterday, dealing the first real blow to a fragile overhaul of the nation's immigration laws since it reached the Senate floor"

Divisive bill stokes GOP anger; base rejects path to citizenship The bipartisan immigration bill being pushed by the White House and Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, is fracturing rather than "saving" the Republican Party nationally, No. 2 Senate Republican Calls for Passage of Immigration Bill Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi defended the grand bargain, which has come under heavy fire from the right and the left. Chertoff to immigration bill's critics: Get real - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday said Republican conservatives working to block an immigration bill risk endorsing a "silent amnesty" by insisting on deportations that are "not going to happen."

Iraq-Congress. On War Funds, Democrats Saw No Option but to Cede Ground to Bush - The decision by the Democratic majority to strip the measure of a timetable for troop withdrawal has raised the prospect that it could be approved mainly by Republicans with scattered Democrat support. Plan funds war without troop withdrawals A Democratic-led Congress eager to end the war in Iraq is expected to send President Bush a bill as early as today that would continue war funding without demands for troop withdrawals. Antiwar Groups Press Democrats to Vote Against Iraq BillAntiwar groups waged a last-ditch effort to block an Iraq spending bill after Democrats, conceding that they did not have enough votes to override a threatened veto from President Bush, dropped deadlines for troop withdrawals from the legislation.

Iraq-war. Morgue Data Show Increase In Sectarian Killings in Iraq More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again. 9 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq; Abducted Soldier Found Dead Nine U.S. soldiers and Marines were killed in Iraq, and the military said that the body of a man found in the Euphrates River was that of an American soldier abducted during a deadly ambush south of Baghdad almost two weeks ago, U.S. officials said.

Iraq-terrorism. Bush Says Iraq Pullout Would Leave U.S. at Risk President Bush, addressing head-on the criticism that Iraq has turned into another Vietnam, argued Wednesday that withdrawing from Iraq would be dangerous because, unlike the enemy in Vietnam, terrorists in Iraq had the ability and desire to strike Americans at home. Bush declassifies selected Al Qaeda intelligence reports President Bush, who repeatedly has declassified select snippets of U.S. intelligence to justify the war in Iraq, revealed new details of an Al Qaeda attempt two years ago to coordinate attacks against the U.S. with operatives based in Iraq.

Nuclear weapons-US. New Nuclear Warhead's Funding Eliminated The House Appropriations subcommittee that controls the U.S. nuclear weapons complex's funding voted to eliminate all money that would have paid for engineering and cost studies for the new nuclear warhead that the Bush administration hoped to put in production in 2012. Unpaid U.S. dues hit nuke-test monitoring The international organization administering the nuclear test-ban treaty has warned that it would not be able to complete a global network of stations monitoring testing unless the United States, its largest contributor, pays millions of dollars in arrears.

Nuclear weapons-Iran. Iranian Defiance of U.N. Over Enrichment Detailed - "Iran has again defied U.N. demands to suspend its nuclear enrichment programs, according to a report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency, U.S., Annoyed by U.N. Report on Iran and Uranium, Hopes to Use It to Widen Sanct ions - The Bush administration said that it would use a new report detailing Irans progress in enriching uranium to encourage European and Asian allies to seek a major expansion of sanctions against Tehran, Iran makes steep nuclear gains Defying the international community, Iran has sharply upgraded its capacity to enrich uranium in recent months while the outside world's access to and grasp of Tehran's nuclear program "has deteriorated," according to an unusually blunt report by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran 'three to eight years' away from nuclear weapon Iran is between three and eight years away from producing a nuclear weapon if it chooses to do so, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Europe-missiles. Putin denounces US plan for missile shield President Vladimir Putin travelled to the heart of Europe yesterday to denounce the Bush administration's plans to deploy a missile defence shield in the region.

Mideast. Israelis arrest 33 Hamas officials - Responding to a week of rocket attacks, Israeli troops today arrested 33 senior members of Hamas, including the Palestinian Authority's education minister, three members of parliament and six mayors, Fatah and Hamas Chiefs Meet on Cease-FireThe Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, met privately with Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas to try to secure a cease-fire between their factions and to discuss how to calm an escalating conflict with Israel,

Darfur. Crisis appeal for Darfur region UK charities have launched an emergency appeal to save lives in Sudan's Darfur region and neighbouring countries. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) says 4.5m people are affected by the conflict in the region while looming rain threatens to bring further misery.

Justice department. Goodling Says She 'Crossed the Line' A former senior aide to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales leveled serious new accusations against him and his deputy yesterday, describing an "uncomfortable" attempt by Gonzales to discuss the firings of U.S. attorneys as Congress and the Justice Department were intensifying their investigation Ex-Justice Aide Admits Politics Affected HiringA former top Justice Department aide testified on that she had crossed the line in considering the political beliefs of applicants for nonpartisan legal jobs.

Pope Benedict. Pope recognizes colonial injustices Confronted with continued anger in Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesda y acknowledged that the Christian colonization of Indian populations was not as rosy as he portrayed in a major speech earlier this month in Brazil.

Editorials.

Immigration bill is credible start to a formidable task (USA Today) If the test of a good legislative compromise is whether it makes both sides angry, the new immigration reform bill in the Senate certainly passes. In the week since the deal was announced, critics on the left have denounced it as inhumane and overly strict; critics on the right say it's much too tolerant of rampant illegality.

Pay the poor for good behavior? (Christian Science Monitor) New York Mayor Bloomberg wants to reduce poverty through cash incentives. It just could work. What if poor parents were paid to talk with their kid's teacher? Or to visit a dentist, or get job training? New York's mayor believes such incentives can reduce the nearly 20 percent poverty rate in his city. Kudos to him for taking a new crack at an old problem.

Voice of the Day: Thomas Aquinas

God acts mercifully not by contradicting his justice but by doing what is over and above it .... Mercy does not displace justice; rather it is the fullness of justice.

- Thomas Aquinas

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Verse of the Day: Judgement

The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his 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 3:14-15

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The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his 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 3:14-15

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Diana Butler Bass: American Muslims and Religious Freedom

Driving around yesterday afternoon, I was flipping between the news on two radio stations – a local talk station and BBC World Radio. During the same hour, both stations covered the same story about Islam: the findings of the first-ever nationwide survey of American Muslims, a study conducted by The Pew Research Center.

The commercial station led with the finding that one in four younger American Muslims support – under some circumstances – the practice of suicide bombing in defense of Islam. The BBC report highlighted the fact that American Muslims are far more middle class and assimilated to mainstream culture than European Muslims. The two stations, one sensationalistic and the other measured, seemed as if they were reporting on entirely different research! I went home and downloaded the whole study to check it out for myself.

Needless to say, the commercial station lifted the edgiest finding – one tempered by the fact that Muslim Americans reject religious terrorism by a much larger margin than do Muslims in other western countries. Older American Muslims almost completely reject Islamic terrorism, and half are “very concerned” about Islamic extremism throughout the world. And 53 percent also say that since Sept. 11 it has become “harder” to be a Muslim in the U.S.

The BBC got the big story right. According to the survey, American Muslims are happy, politically and socially moderate, and middle class. The data counters conventional wisdom. U.S. Muslims are better educated, have higher incomes, and express a higher degree of life satisfaction than European Muslims. Fifty-three percent think of themselves as “American” first and “Muslim” second. They believe the American dream: 71 percent agree that people who work hard can get ahead. Almost two-thirds said that “life is better” for Muslim women in America than in Muslim countries.

Muslim satisfaction with American life is a pleasant surprise; a result that should cause all Americans to consider how well immigration can work. However interesting that data may be, the story behind the story – that of the contrasts between U.S. and European Muslims – strikes me as more provocative. In Britain, France, Germany, and Spain, Muslims are much poorer than other citizens. Eighty-one percent of British Muslims consider themselves “Muslim” first and “British” second. French, German, and Spanish Muslims express little concern over Islamic extremism. Of all western Muslims, those living in Germany and Spain expressed greatest life dissatisfaction. Germany and Spain were, of course, places where the Sept. 11 terrorists had cells and financial support.

The primary historical difference regarding religion between the United States and these western European nations is the separation of church and state. Britain, France, Germany, and Spain have long – and often violent – histories of church-state establishments, often having made Christianity (or some form of Christianity) their official religion. In some cases, religious toleration was forced (either slowly or violently) upon European governments, not developing as a natural part of the society’s internal sense of identity. As recently as 2000, during the writing of the European Union Constitution, many Europeans still argued that Europe was “Christian,” and that religious identity should be part of the Union’s legal apparatus.

In the United States, Christianity was the religion of vast numbers of early settlers and political leaders. But it was never of a singular form, allowing for religious diversity since the nation’s founding (and, please, remember the native religions that inhabited this land). Diversity made it impossible for one church to gain hegemony over politics thus necessitating the establishment clause and guarantees for religious freedom. Eventually, the experience of religious diversity, a de sire for toleration, and the prohibition of establishment led to the contemporary doctrine of the separation of church and state. At its best, America has a heritage of Christian liberality, intellectually influenced by Christianity but open to a wide range of ideas and peoples through the practice of religious toleration. Religious freedom is the great American contribution to classical liberalism and the foundation of contemporary liberal movements.

With its contrast between the U.S. and Europe, the Pew study suggests that the separation of church and state works to create a more generous, open, and safer society in regard to terrorism. In his recent book, Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism, Paul Starr argues:

[T]he guarantees of religious toleration and freedom of conscience exemplify the logic of liberalism as a foundation for a stable policy. Internecine religious conflicts and wars of religion, like revenge feuds, deplete the powers of states and societies. Religious toleration serves not only to allow people to worship differently but also to reduce conflict, facilitate economic exchange, and create a wider pool of talent for productive work and the state itself (p. 22).

Since Sept. 11, some Christians have called for an end to the separation of church and state to combat terrorism, claiming a stronger national Christian identity, a “Christian America,” is the way to defeat Islamic extremism – a tactic employed by some reactionary European political parties. The Pew study shows that approach is wrong-headed. The path to peace between Christians and Muslims is that of religious freedom, separation of church and state, and appreciative toleration in the best traditions of liberality.


Diana Butler Bass (www.dianabutlerbass.com) is the author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith (Harper San Francisco), an award-winning study of mainline Protestant spirituality and congregational life.

Rev. Derrick Harkins: Immigration and Family Values

The immigration system in America is beyond broken; it is in crisis. Because it is not simply a crisis limited to issues of documentation and border enforcement, but rather one that is tearing at the very fabric of individuals, families, and communities, it is a crisis that the church is, in my opinion, compelled to address.

The Hebrew prophet Micah declared that God’s expectation of the faithful is to “do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” We take in part, from that mandate, the understanding of bringing both justice and compassion to circumstances of human need. And also we understand the need to soberly, humbly, and prayerfully consider the response from the church to this crisis in order that far more light than heat is added to the present dialogue and subsequent solutions.

I commend Congress as it begins the “heavy lifting” of crafting legislation that is fair and comprehensive, that keeps our nation secure, and that preserves family values as well as strengthening the economic and social fabric of our society.

But I also come to you today with a pastor’s heart, and with the deeply held concern that any laws enacted consider the very American tradition of compassion. The heart of what we teach, preach, and live is anchored in the Good News, Christ’s saving and liberating love and compassion that has not built walls, but “broken every barrier down.”

Family, in its strongest and most stable structure, is an essential pillar of our society. Within the church the institution of family is supported, encouraged, and applauded. In my own congregation, I see again and again - and am truly thankful for - the examples of family strength and values in the homes and lives of those who have immigrated to the United States.

The limitation of family-based immigration by the reduction of family reunification visas would impair that family structure in significant measure. Siblings, adult children, and parents (those directly affected by any potential reduction) are in many examples and cultural contexts core, and not merely “extended,” family. It is also important to note here the idea of “chain” immigration, the concept asserting that immigrants sponsor an uncontrollable number of family members, is without basis. In reality, only immigrants who have already gained legal permanent residency or U.S. citizenship are able to sponsor relatives, and on average only 1.2 family members are sponsored.

It is within the structure of families that immigration reform can wield the most enduring benefits. Through a process of restitution, integration into the larger community, and a pathway to earned citizenship, we will do away with a system that has kept millions of hard-working individuals who wish to become productive, law-abiding members of our society in the shadows, and has prevented numerous families from being fully intact and stable (two conditions that benefit society).

Finally, let me say that many within the historically African-American church have made their voices heard in support of comprehensive immigration reform. Like the overwhelming majority of all Americans, African-American voters support immigration reform that includes enforcement and a path to citizenship. It is the legitimate continuing legacy of the civil rights struggle and part of the very nature of the African-American church that one should speak for those who have no voice, advocate for those who have no power, and stand for those who are not represented. But with a fair and compassionate earned pathway to citizenship, those who are now in the shadows will be able to speak, be empowered, and stand for themselves.

Rev. Derrick Harkins is Senior Pastor of the Nine teenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. He previously has served as a pastor in Dallas, Texas, and as the Assistant Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. He is a member of the Board of Directors for World Relief, and a vice president of the North American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. This post is adapted from his testimony to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law in the House of Representatives on May 22, 2007.

Ryan Rodrick Beiler: Conventional Wisdom Catches up with the Prophetic

Katie Barge at Faith in Public Life has a great compilation of Falwell legacy coverage that demonstrates that the major media seems to be finally "getting it" that evangelicals really are far more diverse and broad in their political interests than previously assumed.

It was not so long ago that I regularly spent a portion of my morning sending reporters compilations of news articles demonstrating evangelical activism agenda around issues such as climate change, global AIDS, Darfur, and immigration, to make the case that evangelicals are not in fact monolithic. Alan Cooperman’s Washington Post story, “Evangelicals Broaden Their Moral Agenda” (October 16, 2006), signaled a shift, but it was a seen a break with conventional wisdom.

The coverage of evangelicalism following Rev. Jerry Falwell’s passing has convinced me that my morning routine is no longer necessary. The old conventional wisdom about evangelicals – that they care only about abortion and same-sex marriage – is out. And the new conventional wisdom – that evangelicals are not monolithic and care about a broad range of compassion issues – is in.

She then follows with links from the AP, The New York Times, NPR, Time, The Washington Post, and CNN all supporting this new conventional wisdom. And I'll add one more from yesterday's Washington Post:

[A] sometimes bitter debate is pitting evangelicals who want to keep their political activity tightly focused on a few issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, against those who want to embrace a broader agenda, including climate change and global poverty.

Of course, we've been proclaiming for a while now that the monologue of the Religious Right is over - but it's gratifying to see that now even the mainstream media are reaching a consensus that this shift has taken place. Of course, evangelicals are still far from consensus on which moral values issues matter most, but the breadth and depth of the new conversation is encouraging. It's nice when the conventional wisdom finally catches up with a prophetic word.



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

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on Iraq-Congress, immigration, U.S. Muslims, Iraq-war policy, Iran, immigration, Falwell's funeral, the Anglican Church, Mideast, and select Op-Eds.

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Full news summary:

Iraq-Congress. Democrats capitulate on war funds - "Congressional Democrats backed down in the standoff with the White House over war funds, abandoning their veto-instigating effort to link deadlines for withdrawing troops from Iraq to President Bush's request for more than $100 billion in emergency spending." Democrats drop Iraq troop deadline - "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) characterized the compromise as progress in the Democratic drive to bring the U.S. combat role in Iraq to an end, saying the bill was not a "blank check." Democrats Pull Troop Deadline From Iraq Bill- "The decision to back down was a wrenching reversal for leading Democrats, who saw their election triumph in November as a call to force an end to the war." Democrats Relent On Pullout Timetable - "Democrats gave up their demand for troop-withdrawal deadlines in an Iraq war spending package, abandoning their top goal of bringing U.S. troops home and handing President Bush a victory in a debate that has roiled Congress for months."

Iraq-war policy. New Strategy for War Stresses Iraqi Politics - "Top U.S. commanders and diplomats in Iraq are completing a far-reaching campaign plan for a new U.S. strategy, laying out military and political goals and endorsing the selective removal of hardened sectarian actors from Iraq's security forces and government." Bush turn to UN for Iraq solution - "The Bush administration is developing plans to "internationalise" the Iraq crisis, including an expanded role for the United Nations, as a way of reducing overall US responsibility for Iraq's future and limiting domestic political fallout from the war as the 2008 election season approaches." In Baghdad, fighting their 'Alamo' - "U.S. troops in the Iraq security push face daunting foes: snipers and bombs. A captain fears it may be 'their surge, not ours."

Iran. Nine U.S. warships in Gulf for show of force- "ABOARD USS JOHN C. STENNIS (Reuters) - The largest daytime assembly of U.S. warships in the Gulf since the 2003 Iraq war prepared on Wednesday to hold drills off Iran's coast in a major U.S. show of force that unnerved oil markets. U.S. Navy officials said Iran was not notified of plans to sail nine ships, inc luding two aircraft carriers, through the Straits of Hormuz," Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran - "The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com."

Immigration. Guest worker program survives - "A controversial bill that would overhaul the nation's immigration system survived its first major test when the Senate overwhelmingly defeated a bid by two Democratic senators to eliminate a key component: a program to allow foreign workers into the country temporarily." Proposal For Guest Workers Survives - "Democrats vowed they would come back to the program again and again, with amendments to cut the guest-worker program's size in half, to add an expiration date, to torpedo the program if workers do not comply with the rules, and to bolster worker protections for participants." Senate Votes to Keep Temporary Worker Program - "If the guest worker program, part of the "grand bargain" negotiated with the Bush administration by a bipartisan group of 12 senators, had been stripped from the bill, the fragile deal could have collapsed."

Falwell funeral. Farewell to Falwell - "Thousands of mourners, many arriving before dawn, yesterday bade farewell to the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Baptist evangelist who became a leader in winning souls to Christ, founder of Liberty Baptist University, and a moral force in national politics." During His Funeral, Falwell Is Praised for Activist Style - "Before the doors opened for the 1 p.m. service, the line of students and the elderly, toddlers and parents had wrapped around the building and extended for blocks. The Bush administration sent a representative, Tim Goeglein, the deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison at the White House, and evangelical leaders active in Republican politics, including Par Robertson, streamed into the church."

Anglican church. Gay and Dissident Bishops Excluded From '08 Meeting- "The archbishop of Canterbury sent out more than 800 invitations to a once-a-decade global gathering of Anglican bishops. But he did not invite the openly gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire and the bishop in Virginia who heads a conservative cluster of disaffected American churches affiliated with the archbishop of Nigeria."

Mideast. Israel threatens Hamas - "The Israeli government said it would consider assassinating the Palestinian prime minister as the town of Sderot emptied following the first death from a Qassam rocket in six months." Israelis Don't Want Gaza to Be Their Next Lebanon - "For the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, badly battered by last summer's inconclusive war against the rockets of Hezbollah, launched from Lebanon, the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip seems a similarly intractable problem with no easy, popular response." Furious Street Battles Remind Lebanon of Its Past- "The stark reality of the three-day battle in this seaside refugee camp became apparent Tuesday on a drive through the area during a brief but dangerous lull in the fighting."

U.S. Muslims. Survey: U.S. Muslims Assimilated, Opposed to Extremism - "Unlike Muslim minorities in many European countries, U.S. Muslims are highly assimilated, close to parity with other Americans in income and overwhelmingly opposed to Islamic extremism, according to the first major, nationwide random survey of Muslims." American Muslims reject extremes - "The USA's estimated 2.4 million Muslims hold more moderate political views than Muslims elsewhere in the world and are mostly middle class and willing to adopt the American way of life," US Muslims more assimilated than British - "The detailed survey, conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre, found that American Muslims tended to have a better standard of living than their counterparts in Europe and were more comfortable with a society in which a majority believed in God compared with secular Europe." The Pew Research Center survey is titled "Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream."

Op-Ed.

Immigration's Future (Tamar Jacoby, Washington Post) - "The immigration deal the Senate produced last week is far from perfect, and its critics, left and right, make many valid points. But much of the criticism misses the forest for the trees. Left out of the debate: the historic scope and significance of the deal -- its ambition to deliver an immigration system that grapples with globalization and the choices it poses for America."

Giuliani's Abortion Muddle (Michael Gerson, Washington Post) - "Giuliani is now attempting a political vault with the highest degree of difficulty: winning the GOP presidential nomination as a pro-choice candidate. … There is, however, a question that comes before politics: Does Giuliani's position on abortion actually make sense?"

Voice of the Day: Naim Ateek

To keep struggling against hate and to practice forgiveness need not mean abdicating one's rights or renouncing justice. This should be emphasized over and over again. It is part of loving one's enemy that Christians must remind the "enemy" of justice and right. It is part of loving to speak the truth.

- Naim Ateek
from "Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation"

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Verse of the Day: Hypocrisy

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, "Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.

- Luke 6:41-42

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John Dear: The Narrow Path

Years ago my friend Gerry Straub underwent a spectacular modern-day conversion, from successful Hollywood TV producer and practicing atheist to downwardly mobile disciple of Jesus, following his hero, St. Francis of Assisi. Soon, he founded a Franciscan-based non-profit, the San Damiano Foundation, where he now makes groundbreaking films documenting the poorest of the world’s poor.

This week, his latest film premieres, touching upon a slightly different topic - of all things, me. It's about my life in the New Mexico desert, my efforts to teach gospel nonviolence, and my tales from 25 years in the Christian peace movement.

Church groups and universities everywhere have shown his films, with titles such as: Endless Exodus, Embracing the Leper, Rescue Me, When Did I See You Hungry?, The Patients of a Saint, and Where Love Is. “I fervently believe film can touch hearts and minds,” Gerry told the Los Angeles Times. To The New York Times, he said, “My message is for Christians who show an utter lack of concern or compassion for people who have nothing.”

Gerry’s new film about gospel nonviolence, The Narrow Path, developed over the course of some years. Gerry and I talk frequently (St. Francis is passion for both of us). During one conversation, when Gerry grew animated over the saint’s voluntary poverty and his great love for the poor and marginalized, I suggested that Francis embodied radical nonviolence, as well.

From there Gerry spun out his idea. “Let’s do a film about you in the New Mexico desert,” he said. “We’ll film you walking through the high desert, talking about the nonviolence of Jesus, and we’ll culminate with the annual Christian gathering at Los Alamos.” That’s where hundreds of us go each Hiroshima Day to sit in sackcloth and ashes to repent of the sin of war and nuclear weapons, just like the people of Nineveh did long ago.

Thus, a movie is born. The Narrow Path, some 90 minutes long on DVD - with cameos from Daniel Berrigan, Martin Sheen, Cindy Sheehan, Kathy Kelly, Ron Kovic and music by Jackson Browne, “Lives in the Balance,” and Joan Baez, “Let it Be” - is a movie set in the austere beauty of the desert where I live, atop a mesa some 7,000 feet in the air, overlooking miles of spectacular scenery, the land teeming with jackrabbits, ravens, horses, coyotes, scorpions, tarantulas, and rattlers (plus my cat) ... And in the distance - the nuclear hellhole of Los Alamos.

It’s awkward undertaking such a project, but the risks notwithstanding, I hope it will spur people, especially young people, toward a life of peace work and active nonviolence; to take up the gospel journey and walk forward on that "narrow path" of gospel nonviolence toward a new world without war, poverty, or nuclear weapons.

Watch the trailer:



John Dear is a Jesuit priest, peace activist, and the author of more than 20 books. He has also just released his latest book, Transfiguration (from Doubleday), and writes a weekly column for the National Catholic Reporter, at www.ncrcafe.org. The Narrow Path DVD can be shown in short chapter segments, and is an excellent resource for church groups, classes, or family viewing. Learn more at www.sandamianofoundation.org. For further information about John, or for discount bulk orders, contact: http://www.johndear.org/.

William Cavanaugh: Moral Reasoning or Just Trust the President?

History does not tend to be kind to Christian theologians who demand war.

Peter Steinfels recently called attention to a contemporary history lesson drawn in an ongoing debate between Catholic neo-cons who have supported the Iraq war and the popes and bishops who have not (“A Catholic Debate Mounts on the Meaning of ‘Just War,’” The New York Times, April 14). In the April issue of First Things, George Weigel revisits his arguments for the justice and necessity of the Iraq war and refuses to admit regret. Weigel instead casts blame for the failures in Iraq in two directions: the U.S. foreign policy community who failed adequately to plan for the war’s aftermath, and the Arab Islamic political culture whose “irresponsibility, authoritarian brutality, rage and self-delusion” has caused them to refuse “the foreigner’s gift” of political freedom that we have brought them. (I’m not making that up.)

The history lesson is delivered in a commentary by the editors in Commonweal (“Bishops and Their Critics,” April 20), who remind their readers of Weigel’s original well-publicized arguments in favor of the invasion back in 2003. They focus on one key point: In the face of vociferous objections to the impending war by the pope and the U.S. bishops, Weigel argued that Catholics should defer to the president’s judgment on whether or not this war, or any war, met the just war criteria.

Weigel’s argument on this point was two-fold: 1) the president has access to privileged information, and 2) the president, by virtue of his office, exercises a “charism of political discernment” not shared by leaders of the church. The Commonweal editorial wonders whether all the mistakes that Weigel points to in his recent article undermine his claim of the special charism enjoyed by the president. Commonweal remarks that, in retrospect, the Catholic bishops’ charism in matters of war and peace looks pretty darn good compared to that of the president.

Weigel’s argument here is self-defeating. In the case of the Iraq war, the more he insists on point number one, then the more point two is proven false. If the president did indeed have access to privileged information, then he either misinterpreted that information or deliberately lied about it to make a case for the war. This conclusion seems inescapable, given what we now know about how pre-war intelligence was handled.

Regardless of the facts of this particular case, moral judgments about war, like all moral judgments, are not primarily a matter of good information. Good information is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for sound moral judgments. Sound moral judgments depend on being formed in certain virtues. Why a Christian should assume that the president of a secular nation-state would be so formed – much less enjoy a certain “charism” of moral judgment – is a mystery to me. “Charism” is a theological term denoting a gift of the Holy Spirit. To apply such a term to whomever the electoral process of a secular nation-state happens to cough up does not strike me as theologically sound or practically wise.

The fundamental issue here is of much greater importance than arguments about the justice (or lack thereof) of this particular war. Weigel would have the church effectively abdicate its moral judgment in matters of war to the leaders of the nation-state. It is hard to imagine what could do greater damage to both church and nation. If the church does not have an independent pro cess of discernment to bring the gospel to bear on matters of war and peace, then any hope that the Prince of Peace will be heard over the din of self-interest and fear will be lost. History is already littered with the wreckage caused by Christian capitulation to reasons of state.

William Cavanaugh is associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and author of Theopolitical Imagination and Torture and Eucharist.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on climate change, Iran, Lebanon, immigration, Iraq, Richardson's announcement, faith and politics, Darfur, Colombia, and select editorials.


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Full news summary:

Immigration. Strife over immigration bill as debate begins in the Senate - "even before lawmakers voted 69 to 23 to begin the debate, the bill's opponents promised a bruising fight, taking to the Senate floor to protest the way the measure was written, the way it will be debated and what it would do." Immigration Compromise Faces New Opposition - "The Senate voted to move forward on an overhaul of immigration laws, but even proponents of the delicate compromise proposal conceded that the furor over the deal was surpassing their expectations and endangering the plan." Critics in Senate Vowing to Alter Immigration Bill- "Lawmakers from both parties are seeking to alter a comprehensive immigration bill substantially." Senate to open debate on immigration bill - "The Senate voted to begin debate on an immigration-reform bill, turning aside objections from senators who said the legislation is being rushed and acting even as Senate offices were being flooded with calls and faxes urging the deal be blocked." Time to Scrutinize Bill Begins - "a breakdown of what the bill does, and where critics have said it falls short."

Iraq. Iran's plan to force US out of Iraq - "Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say." Democrats drop insistence on Iraq withdrawal timeline - "Scrambling to send President Bush an emergency war spending bill he will sign, Democratic leaders have decided to drop their insistence on a timeline for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq."

Richardson announces. New Mexico Gov. Richardson officially enters presidential race - "Flanked by local Latino leaders and a large contingent of politicians from his home state, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson formally entered the 2008 presidential campaign Monday, saying that his thick resume offered him an ability unmatched by others in the race to tackle the country's problems at home and abroad."

Faith & politics. Evangelicals at a Crossroads As Falwell's Generation Fades - "Although Falwell's personal influence had been waning for years, his death at age 73 last week threw into stark relief the current headless state of the political movement he founded with the establishment of the Moral Majority in 1978."

Iran. American Scholar Is Charged in Iran - "Noted American scholar and Potomac resident Haleh Esfandiari has been charged with "seeking to topple the ruling Islamic establishment," Tehran's state-controlled television reported yesterday." Iran Accuses American of Revolution Plot - "The Islamic Republic of Iran yesterday accused a prominent American academic it imprisoned two weeks ago of conspiring to foment a velvet revolution there."

Climate change. Global carbon emissions in overdrive - "From 2000 to 2004, emissions grew at a rate of 3 percent a year - more than the highest rates used in recent key UN reports." Worldwide carbon dioxide emissions soar - "Warnings about global warming may not be dire enough, according to a climate study that describes a runaway-train acceleration of industrial carbon dioxide emissions."

Lebanon. Lebanese bombardment renewed - "Lebanese forces today renewed their bombardment of a Palestinian refugee camp where hundreds of Islamist militants have vowed to fight to the "last shot". Shelling of the Nahr al-Bared camp just outside the northern port of Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, started at dawn," Lebanese Army and Islamists Battle for 2nd Day- "Lebanese tanks and artillery pounded a Palestinian refugee camp in this northern Lebanese city for the second straight day on Monday, battling members of a radical Islamist group and raising concerns for thousands trapped inside." Lebanon Confronts A Fierce Adversary - "A little-known Islamic militant group based in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon battled government troops Monday in some of the country's fiercest fighting since the civil war ended in 1990," Lebanon's stability under fire - "An obscure Palestinian group with ties to Al Qaeda and perhaps to Syrian intelligence has emerged virtually overnight as the latest threat to Lebanon's fragile stability."

Darfur. In Darfur, some Arabs now fight alongside rebels - "Rebel leaders claim that dozens of janjaweed commanders are joining their struggle against the Sudanese government after prom ises of land, cattle, and money proved worthless." Speakers urge Angelenos to aid Darfur - "Sunday's observance was developed after two Jewish organizations, the American Jewish Committee and Jewish World Watch, approached First AME and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to find ways to spur further activism. Eventually, the effort was joined by a coalition of dozens of religious and human rights groups, including the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Islamic Center of Southern California and the UCLA African Studies Center."

Colombia. Paramilitary Ties to Elite In Colombia Are Detailed - "Top paramilitary commanders have in recent days confirmed what human rights groups and others have long alleged: Some of Colombia's most influential political, military and business figures helped build a powerful anti-guerrilla movement that operated with impunity."

Editorial. (Washington Times) - Traditional values and voters - "In 2004, voters who emphasize traditional values played a crucial role in re-electing President Bush and increasing Republican control of both chambers of Congress. In 2006, however, traditional-values voters were unable to stem the Democratic tide, and, based on exit-polling data, some even contributed to it. Last year Democrats captured control of both bodies of Congress by defeating six incumbent Republican senators and winning 30 House seats held by Republicans."

Voice of the Day: Rabbi Jack Riemer on Prayer and Action

We cannot merely pray to You, O God to end war:
For we know You made the world in a way
That we must find our own path of peace
Within ourselves and with our neighbor.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to root out prejudice:
For you have already given us eyes
With which to see the good in all people
If we would only use them rightly.

- Rabbi Jack Riemer
excerpt from a prayer entitled "Social Action" found in "Living God's Justice: Reflections and Prayers."

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Verse of the Day: Obeying the Lord

Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I tell you?

- Luke 6:46

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Audio: Shane Claiborne on NPR's Speaking of Faith

Here's the summary that Speaking of Faith posted about Krista Tippett's conversation with Red Letter Christian Shane Claiborne:

Shane Claiborne is an original voice, a creative spirit, in a gathering movement of young people known as the "new monastics." With virtues like simplicity and imagination, they are engaging great contradictions of our culture – beginning with the gap between the churches they were raised in, the needs of the poor, and the "loneliness" they find in our culture's vision of adulthood.

+ Download mp3 audio of the broadcast (49MB 53:18)
+ Listen to a streaming audio version (53:00)
+ Read and learn more on Speaking of Faith's Web site, including
+ Full, unedited audio of Krista Tippett's interviews with Shane

Sarah Osmer: Florida Farmworkers Make Peace with McDonald's

A glimmer of Isaiah’s vision of the peaceable kingdom (Isaiah 11:6-9) – a vision of peace, reconciliation, and justice – is realized in the partnership recently formed between the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the McDonald’s corporation. The CIW, a farmworker organization based in rural Southwest Florida, has led two successful efforts to improve wages and working conditions in the fields, first winning an agreement with Taco Bell, and now with the McDonald’s, the two largest fast-food chains in the world. McDonald’s will now work with the CIW to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes directly to the farmworkers who harvest its tomatoes, enforce a stronger code of conduct based on the principle of worker participation, collaboratively develop a third-party mechanism for monitoring conditions in the fields, and investigate workers’ complaints of abuse.

For two years, a war of words was waged between the farmworker organization from Immokalee and the fast-food giant. The CIW and Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida, a faith-based partner to the CIW, educated consumers across the country about the sweatshop and slavery conditions facing farmworkers in the agricultural industry today. Florida tomato pickers must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn just $50 in a day, a pay rate that’s been stagnant for almost 30 years. They regularly work 10-12 hour days with no overtime pay, no health insurance, no right to organize, no sick days, and no benefits whatsoever. Recognizing the tremendous market power of fast-food corporations like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King to control conditions and push down prices in their supply chains, the CIW focused its “Campaign for Fair Food” on calling these companies to address the inhumane conditions of farmworkers who harvest their tomatoes.

McDonald’s, however, initially chose to view the situation in its suppliers’ fields not as a human rights crisis to be addressed but as a public relations fire to be extinguished. The company responded to the CIW with a public relations campaign, undertaking a series of moves aimed more at quelling the public outcry than changing the underlying exploitation faced daily by workers in the fields.

Christians and people of faith from many traditions joined the farmworkers’ struggle for justice. Interfaith Action’s national network and people of faith across the country took action - clergy wrote letters to McDonald’s, denominational bodies passed resolutions in support of the Campaign for Fair Food, mission committees invited CIW farmworkers to speak in their churches, hundreds of people of faith organized peaceful protests and marched alongside the farmworkers, congregations lodged and fed CIW members during national tours, and Sojourners’ action alert generated several thousand e-mails to the McDonald’s executives.

It seemed, at times, that the day when the CIW and McDonald’s would work together as partners would never come, and that an unjust status quo might prevail. But on April 9 of this year, it finally happened! As a result of the growing call of the CIW, people of faith, and consumers across the country, the farmworkers and the corporate giant McDonald’s reached a historic agreement for dignity and justice for tomato pickers. Now, we’ve seen a glimpse of God’s peaceable kingdom that Isaiah describes – the lion is living with the lamb, the high-power corporate executives are joining together with exploited farmworkers – for justice and dignity.

Today, the CIW is calling on Burger King to do the same, as the m ovement for fair food and justice for farmworkers continues to grow. You too can be a part of this vibrant movement! Visit http://www.ciw-online.org/ and http://www.allianceforfairfood.org/faith.html for more information and ways to become involved.

Sarah Osmer is co-coordinator of Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida, an ally organization of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) that educates and animates people of faith to partner with the CIW in their efforts to improve wages and working conditions for farmworkers and put an end to modern-day slavery in the agricultural industry.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on faith and politics, Iraq-policy, immigration, Mideast, Iraq-war, Iraq-Carter v. Bush, Europe, wealth gap, political parties online, and select Op-Eds.


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Full news summary:

Faith & politics. Emphasis Shifts for New Breed of Evangelicals - "The evangelical Christian movement, which has been pivotal in reshaping the country's political landscape since the 1980s, has shifted in potentially momentous ways in recent years, broadening its agenda and exposing new fissures." The Right: Down, but Maybe Not Out - "WITH the death on Tuesday of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Baptist minister and founder of the Moral Majority, and the announcement on Thursday that Paul D. Wolfowitz would resign from the presidency of the World Bank, two major figures in the modern conservative movement exited the political stage." GOP's commitment on social issues tested - "For decades, Christian conservatives have turned out in Republican primaries and had great influence. Giuliani's candidacy is testing their clout, and some analysts predict it will be a turning point. "The era of the religious right being able to call the tune to which Republican candidates will dance is over," says GOP strategist Rich Galen," Gingrich Assails 'Radical Secularism' - "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decried a "growing culture of radical secularism" Saturday morning as he hailed the life of Liberty University's late founder, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, in an address to the school's 2007 graduating class."

Immmigration. Discord on the Immigration Accord - "There is little doubt about how grass-roots organizations feel about a bipartisan immigration compromise reached in the Senate: They don't like it." In Congress, a long road ahead for immigration bill - "After months of quiet negotiations, a historic immigration bill debuts in the Senate on Monday, where it faces a bruising floor fight - and even more uncertain prospects later this summer in the House." Few senators support the illegals bill - "Fewer than 20 senators are publicly committed to supporting the immigration deal that hits the Senate floor today while nearly 40 are already opposed or have serious concerns." Businesses, families have a lot riding on immigration change - "As the U.S. Senate prepares this week to debate the most sweeping proposed change to the nation's immigration system in more than four decades, Irvine technology executive Bruce Warren and Los Angeles homemaker Monsorat Jaldon symbolize the high stakes looming for millions of families, businesses and workers." After Aiding Bill on Immigration, Employers Balk- "Employers, who helped shape a major immigration bill over the last three months, said on Sunday that they were unhappy with the result because it would not cure the severe labor shortages they foresee in the coming decade."

Mideast. Dozens Slain as Lebanese Army Fights Islamists- "Fierce clashes erupted between Lebanese Army soldiers and Islamic militants in the vicinity of a Palestinian refugee camp, leaving 22 Lebanese soldiers and 17 militants dead and dozens injured in one of the most significant challenges to the army since the end of Lebanon's bloody civil war." 8 Killed as Israel Hits a Hamas Politician's Gaza Home - "The Israeli Air Force struck the home of a Hamas Parliament member in Gaza, killing eight people, Palestinian hospital officials said. The Parliament member, Khalil al-Hayya, was not in the house at the time."

Iraq-war. 7 U.S. Soldiers Die in Iraq, 6 in Sweep of Baghdad- "Six American soldiers and their interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad on Saturday, the military said Sunday, in one of the deadliest single attacks against American troops in the capital in recent months. … A soldier assigned to the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), a supply unit, was killed Saturday when a bomb struck his armored vehicle" Edging Their Way Into Sadr City - "The U.S. military is engaged in delicate negotiations inside Sadr City to clear the way for a gradual push in coming weeks by more American and Iraqi forces into the volatile Shiite enclave of more than 2 million people, one of the most daunting challenges of the campaign to stabilize Baghdad."

Iraq-policy. Second Life for Study Group - "After an initially tepid reception from policymakers, the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group are getting a second look from the White House and Congress, as officials continue to scour for bipartisan solutions to salvage the American engagement in Iraq." U.S. fears pullout of British troops by Blair successor - "U.S. officials are bracing for the prospect that Gordon Brown -- Tony Blair's almost certain successor as British prime minister -- will act quickly to reduce his country's military commitment in Iraq." Iraq decision was right - Brown - "Gordon Brown has stuck by the decision to go to war in Iraq amid protests at a Labour le adership hustings event. Mr Brown said the government was working with the people of Iraq to enable them to run their own security, and did not place a timescale on when British involvement might end."

Iraq-Carter v. Bush. Carter Criticizes Bush and Blair on War in Iraq- "Former President Jimmy Carter criticized George W. Bush's presidency in interviews released Saturday as "the worst in history" in international relations and faulted Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain for his loyal relationship with Mr. Bush." White House doesn't turn the other cheek - "Perhaps not since Herbert Hoover took issue with the blame heaped on him for the Great Depression by Franklin D. Roosevelt have two presidents or their spokesmen feuded quite so publicly - and angrily - as former President Carter and President Bush."

Europe. New Leadership Trio Could Put Europe Back on Political Map - "Europe is undergoing its most dramatic changing of the guard in more than a decade. New leaders in the European Union's three preeminent countries -- Britain, France and Germany -- not only may transform their nations individually but also have the collective clout to blast Europe out of its lethargy and revitalize it as a global and diplomatic powerhouse."

Wealth gap. Generation gap? About $200,000- "The growing divide between the rich and poor in America is more generation gap than class conflict, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal government data. The rich are getting richer, but what's received little attention is who these rich people are. Overwhelmingly, they're older folks."

Parties online. Online, GOP Is Playing Catch-Up - "One reason for the disparity between the parties, political insiders say, is that the top Republican candidates are not exciting voters the way the Democratic front-runners are. Another is that it takes a certain level of technical skill and understanding to be an online strategist, and Republicans admit that "the pool of talent in the Democrats' side is much bigger than ours."

Opinion.

What is a 'real' Christian? (Dan Gilgoff, USA Today) - "Placing strong in polls of Republican voters and encouraged to run by some leading party activists, actor and former senator Fred Thompson has emerged as the biggest X factor of the 2008 presidential race. … But a wrinkle has appeared in that strategy. Focus on the Family's founder, James Dobson, said recently that Thompson does not appear to be Christian - and that such an impression would make it difficult for him to connect with the GOP's evangelical base."

How Ch urch and State Made Their Match(Lou Cannon, New York Times) - "JERRY FALWELL, who died on Tuesday, would no doubt be pleased that so many obituaries gave him credit for putting Ronald Reagan in the White House. Mr. Falwell encouraged this view of his influence, as well as the related notion that he and Mr. Reagan were cut from the same conservative cloth. The record does not support either claim."

Voice of the Day: Thomas Merton

I have the immense joy of being [human], a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

- Thomas Merton
from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

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Verse of the Day: "Go, Sell your Possessions"

Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

- Matthew 19:21-22

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Jim Rice: Bill Moyers Protests Loss of Independent Voices

Publishing an independent niche magazine has always been a risky business. Many excellent-but-small periodicals in the faith and justice genre have fallen off the cliff of financial precariousness – Christianity & Crisis and The Other Side are two late-and-lamented notables that come to mind.

One factor that can make or break small publications is the cost of mailing each issue to subscribers. A few-cents-per-ounce increase in the cost of postage costs a magazine tens of thousands of dollars, which can easily be the difference between breaking even and going bottoms-up.

As Bill Moyers points out on his blog, the U.S. Postal Service is about to implement a significant rate increase that threatens to cripple small journals. Moyers says:

An impending rate hike, worked out by postal regulators, with almost no public input but plenty of corporate lobbying, would reward big publishers like Time Warner, while forcing these smaller periodicals into higher subscription fees, big cutbacks and even bankruptcy.

It's not too late. The postal service is a monopoly, but if its governors, and especially members of Congress, hear from enough citizens, they could have a change of heart.

Moyers argues that small publications make “a unique contribution to the conversation of democracy.” Postal increases like these – that in effect punish small nonprofits to the benefit of huge multinational conglomerates – carry the very real risk of making that conversation much narrower in the years to come.

Jim Rice is Editor of Sojourners magazine.

Video: Larry King, Jim Wallis, and Others on Faith in Politics

We posted video of CNN's announcement of our presidential forum at Pentecost 2007 from this show earlier this week, but now we thank our friends at Faith in Public Life for posting video of the entire show, which included Rev. Albert Mohler, Jr. of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, David Kuo, former Deputy Director of the Bush Administration's Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, Rev. Barry Lynn, Executive Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and David Gergen, former White House Adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Clinton.

Here's the opening segment, and you can click here for the rest of the show.

Jim Wallis: The Family Research Council vs. Lou Dobbs

In the midst of my "conversation" with Lou Dobbs, an unlikely organization has spoken out on the behalf of myself and other religious leaders of the Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Give the Family Research Council credit for making a clear non-partisan appeal in defense of faith-inspired activism:

CNN host Lou Dobbs is a man of strong opinions - but last week he offered a wrong opinion. Dobbs challenged the First Amendment rights of pastors and asked his viewers in an online poll whether they believe "churches and religious institutions that engage in political activity should have their federal tax exemptions revoked." He attacked church leaders for speaking out on the immigration debate.

There is much disagreement on immigration, but these leaders have every right to express their views. Last year, Lou Dobbs said the "intrusion of religion into our political lives, in my opinion, should be rejected in the same fashion that we constitutionally guarantee government will not interfere with religion."

Throughout American history, church leaders have spoken out on the vital moral issues of the day - whether it be slavery, civil rights, or in defense of the family and the dignity of human life. One of the enduring lessons the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught is the power a religious community can have in society. Reverend King said, "The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority."

Rose Marie Berger: The Tehran Two-Step

While the Iranian government plays a complicated game of international roulette regarding its nuclear power and weapons capacity, its role in stabilizing (or de-stabilizing Iraq), and its work to stem the flow of drugs through the Middle East, one thing - sadly - has remained consistent: human rights abuses.

Less than three weeks before the much touted U.S-Iran meetings on May 28, Iranian security forces have abducted and imprisoned Haleh Esfandiari, the 67-year-old director of the Middle East Program at the Washington, D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Dr. Esfandiari, who has lived in the U.S since 1980 and traveled to Iran to visit her 93-year-old mother, has been held for a week at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

“Her arrest,” reported a London-based Iranian agency, “came amid increasing restrictions on Iranian rights groups, particularly women's organizations, and other critics by the hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian authorities have stepped up their warnings that the U.S. aims to use internal critics to destabilize the Iranian government amid the mounting tensions between the two countries.” Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, who has herself been imprisoned at Evin, has agreed to defend Esfandiari through Ebadi’s organization, the Human Rights Defenders Center.

“Gracefully she approached, in a dress of bright blue silk,” writes Iranian poet Simin Behbahani. “With an olive branch in her hand, and many tales of sorrows in her eyes. Running to her, I greeted her, and took her hand in mine: Pulses could still be felt in her veins; warm was still her body with life.” We pray for Haleh Esfandiari’s safety and the protection of her grace and dignity.

If Iran is going to make a place for itself - and its 70 million citizens, 60 percent of whom are under 30 - in the world, then it must reclaim and restore a vision of government and society that preferences human rights over state secrecy and diversity of opinion and thought over social control. Only then can human dignity be elevated and souls mature as God intended. +Sign the petition for Haleh Esfandiari’s release

Rose Marie Berger is an Associate Editor of Sojourners magazine.

Sue Badeau: A Mom's Questions

It’s the week after Mother’s Day, and after being feted with handmade cards, sticky kisses, and a delicious meal I did not have to cook (or clean up after) I am back at work - surrounded by evidence that neither my city of Philadelphia nor my country are particularly hospitable places for us moms. Whether the news is about funding for the war, the dismal state of our local schools, the most recent homicide on our mean streets, or the “idols” being worshiped on TV, there are plenty of opportunities for a mom to become depressed about the world her children will inhabit. So it is with my mom hat on that I would like to propose three critical questions for the Democratic candidates that will speak at Pentecost 2007 next month.

1. Perhaps the single most important thing we can provide for all of our children are connections – connections to stable, loving families and communities, connections that last a lifetime, connections to parents, mentors, and teachers. Yet every night in our country, more than half a million children go to bed in a foster home, not knowing if they will sleep in the same bed tomorrow night, or attend the same school next week. Over a million children in America are homeless each year. Many more live at the fringes of our society, disconnected youth, living out their own personal terrors, and at times staving off their own loneliness and fear by creating terror on our streets and in our schools. Please describe your strategy for ensuring that all of our children can have the opportunity to grow up in safe, stable families and communities where they are securely connected to caring adults.

2. A good education is often seen as the great equalizer – a place where every child can feast at the great American opportunity table. And yet, we know that a child whose belly is rumbling with hunger, or who was awake all night hearing gunshots and sirens outside her window, or who attends a school with no textbooks cannot fully benefit from the American dream of a free and public education for all children. What is first thing you will do, if elected, to ensure that every child in America can have a fighting chance to succeed and achieve in school?

3. Like the mother of Seung-Hui Cho, I have a son with a mental illness. Like the mother of Emilio Gonzales, I have a son with severe disabilities requiring feeding tubes, multiple medications and round-the-clock care. Like Sherry Grace, I am the mother of an incarcerated son who struggled with drugs and addiction. What hope do you offer to mothers, like us, who live with children in pain, children struggling to cope with physical, mental, and emotional challenges every day? We go into our communities seeking help for our children and doors are closed in our faces – for lack of insurance, lack of access, lack of public will. When our children struggle, act-out, or “fail,” we are often vilified and blamed, rarely supported and helped. How will you ensure that all of our nation’s children have access to the health care, mental health services, dental care and other supports they need to grow up strong and healthy?

"If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. " (Mark 9:42)


Susan H. Badeau is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Children's Commission, a parent of 22 children by birth, foster care, and adoption, a life-long advocate and a Sojourners/Philadelphia volunteer. This article was part of the inspiration for this post.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on immigration, World Bank, Gordon Brown-PM, Bush and Blair, Iraq, Gaza, Colombia, promise keepers, and select Op-Eds.


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Full news summary:

Immigration. Accord on Immigration Reached - "The Bush administration and a bipartisan group of senators reached agreement on a sprawling overhaul of the nation's immigration laws that would bring an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants out of society's shadows while stiffening border protections" Senators in Bipartisan Deal on Immigration Bill- "If the bill becomes law, it would result in the biggest changes in immigration law and policy in more than 20 years." Senators craft immigration compromise - "The plan to legalize most of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants and to create a temporary-worker program would not start until steps were completed to strengthen border security and workplace enforcement." Adversaries praise a relentless Kennedy - "Kennedy, the Senate's consummate dealmaker -- still indefatigable at 75 -- pushed hard at his fellow Democrats, wavering Republican moderates, and even members of the Bush administration, insisting that the deal-makers work all night Wednesday to beat the deadline imposed by the Senate leadership."

Compromise greeted with skepticism by advocates, opponents - "Advocates called the compromise bill a good starting point, but said they had serious concerns about many of its provisions," Immigration deal feels heat from left and right - "Conservatives groups' anger at yesterday's immigration deal may be overshadowed only by that of some liberal and immigrant rights' groups, which said they will fight to change or block the agreement." Immigration bill faces a wall of opposition - "But the attacks from both left and right that met the proposal suggested the latest push for change, although representing a potential breakthrough, could again end in a stalemate."

World Bank. Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank- "Paul D. Wolfowitz, ending a furor over favoritism that blew up into a global fight over American leadership, announced his resignation as president of the World Bank after the bank's board accepted his claim that his mistakes at the bank were made in good faith." Wolfowitz resigns after battle - "Paul Wolfowitz lost his battle to hang on to his job as president of the World Bank, announcing his resignation after a bitter international controversy." For Washington Insider, Job Was an Uneasy Fit - "others, including some friends and admirers, saw the seeds of Wolfowitz's demise in the arc of his 34-year Washington career -- a steady rise through the State Department and the Pentagon … Wolfowitz built a reputation as a foreign policy iconoclast, a mild-mannered intellectual with a steely ideological core, and an inept manager."

Bush & Blair. Bush, Blair reaffirm their alliance - "President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair passionately defended one another and their wartime alliance, saying they still believed they did the right thing by invading Iraq and had confidence that history would one day validate that decision." From one embattled leader to another, a fond farewell - "The language in the Rose Garden never seemed as rosy as it sounded when President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared to be competing over how much they admired each other."

Gordon Brown-PM. Labor Party Picks Brown to Succeed Blair in Britain- "Opening a new era in British politics, the governing Labor Party confirmed that Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the Exchequer, had emerged as the sole candidate to assume the party leadership and thus succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair when he steps down in June." Brown: A quest fulfilled - "After waiting 13 years to acquire his crown, Gordon Brown is king without a contest. For more than a decade Brown endured phases of misplaced hope when he assumed that Tony Blair was about to stand aside. Even worse, there were periods when he wondered whether he would ever get the top job." Britain's two prime ministers - "Britain began an unprecedented six week transitional government as Gordon Brown accepted his landslide nomination as Labour leader."

Iraq. Congress and Bush Striving for Compromise on War Funds- "Congressional leaders and the White House began what they said they hoped were the final talks on an Iraq war spending bill as Democrats braced for potential defections by lawmakers leery of any compromise with President Bush." 60 Die in Iraq; Study Warns of Collapse- "More than 60 people were killed and doze ns wounded in mortar strikes, drive-by shootings, roadside explosions, suicide bombings and other violent attacks in Iraq, as a new study warned that the country was close to becoming a "failed state."

Gaza. Israel targets Gaza for second day - "Israel today launched air strikes in Gaza for a second day running in response to continued rocket attacks from Hamas militants." Tanks edge into Gaza, air strikes is intensify - "The Israel Defense Forces sent tanks a short way into the Gaza Strip for the first time since November yesterday in response to continued heavy rocket fire on southern Israel." Fatah Troops Enter Gaza With Israeli Assent - "Israel this week allowed the Palestinian party Fatah to bring into the Gaza Strip as many as 500 fresh troops trained under a U.S.-coordinated program to counter Hamas," 9 killed in Gaza Strip as Israel targets Hamas - "Ratcheting up its response to militant rocket attacks, Israel moved tanks across its border with the Gaza Strip and pounded Hamas targets in a series of air strikes Thursday and early Friday, killing nine Palestinians and wounding more than 40, medical officials said."

Colombia. Colombian leader denies link to paramilitaries - "President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia has made an impassioned plea to be seen as a warrior against terrorism, despite a scandal linking his political allies with rightwing death squads." From the Colombian jungle, word of vanished hostages - "An escaped captive tells of seeing a politician and 3 Americans alive. On April 28, Pinchao escaped a camp in this country's eastern jungle lowlands where several hostages were being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Pinchao claims he saw the Americans and Betancourt the day he fled."

Promise Keepers. Christian men called back to fill 'Gap' - "Christian men are being called back to the Mall this fall for a 10th-anniversary celebration of the 1997 Promise Keepers "Stand in the Gap" event that attracted about 1 million followers for prayer and worship."

Op-Ed.

Tony Blair's Unshaken Logic (Michael Gerson, The Washington Post) - "More than that of any other world leader, Blair's foreign policy approach is a rigorous, logical argument. Like advancements in communications and the global economy, political challenges, Blair contends, have "immediate impact, an ability to cross frontiers." Irresponsible and failing states become bases of operation for terrorist, crime and drug syndicates. This chaos is tamed, in his view, by promoting economic development, treating killer diseases, fighting global warming and achieving peace in the Middle East."

China Up Against the Wall (Nat Hentoff, Village Voice) - "Next March, China will start the longest Olympic torch march in history, described by the Associated Press as "an 85,000-mile, 130-day route that will cross five countries and scale Mount Everest." Among those cheering on the route will be celebrators - but also some involved in a growing worldwide campaign to boycott the "Genocide Olympics" and otherwise shame China for its deep criminal involvement in Darfur as Sudan's chief investor, arms supplier, and protector at the U.N. Security Council."

The GOP's Crisis of Faith (E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post) - " It isn't always easy to notice, but this year's Republican presidential campaign has become the occasion for the collapse of conservative orthodoxy. In Tuesday's Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, every leading candidate declared independence from some piece of dogma or another."

Verse of the Day: Facing Christ among the Least of These

If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not eaten from it ... if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or a poor person without covering, whose loins have not blessed me, and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have raised my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had supporters at the gate; then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

- Job 31:16-23

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Voice of the Day: Thomas Merton

I believe the basis for valid political action can only be the recognition that the true solution to our problems is not accessible to any one isolated party or nation but that all must arrive at it by working together.

--Thomas Merton

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Amy Ard: I'm Harboring an Undocumented Person

It’ll feel good to get this off my chest: I’m harboring an undocumented person. Growing at the rate of half a pound each week, somewhere between my rib cage and my bladder, this interloper is preparing to make his/her grand entrance sometime in the next four to seven weeks - and for the life of me, I can’t figure out whether he or she is a true-blooded U.S. citizen.

Unlike many of our uninvited, hard-working guests currently in the United States, this little stowaway doesn’t have so much as a library card for documentation. And what about this meaningless “birth certificate” I’ll sign with the aid of my coyote (okay, midwife)? I’ve looked that document over, and as far as I can tell it doesn’t offer any guarantee that this new citizen will be productive, good looking, or give a hoot about U.S. foreign policy. Do we really want such an unpredictable kid running wild on the streets of Washington, D.C.?

So what exactly has this child done to deserve U.S. citizenship? Should he/she expect a free ride on the American Dream Expressway just for passing through the birth canal of a tax-paying, hard-working, U.S.-citizen mother? Talk about cheating the system! This small fry hasn’t paid one cent of taxes (and if I read the IRS materials correctly, I actually get to pay less when he/she hits the scene!), I’d be surprised if he/she can speak more than a few words of English within a year of arriving on U.S. soil, and instead of contributing to the U.S. economy this little person will just take, take, take.

Right now the U.S. Senate is working hard to hammer out the details of building big fences on the border (mostly concerning themselves with the one to the south) and finding ways to make immigrants pay for the great honor of picking tomatoes for our Big Macs and turning down the sheets at our Hilton Hotels. They’re suggesting that these workers pay $5,000 (over 20 percent of the average yearly salary for an agricultural worker) and return to their country of origin to get a nice stamp in a visa book before returning to pick up where they left off in those high-paying gigs.

What’s wrong with coming up with a way to make sure that those lucky enough to be born on U.S. soil actually deserve the benefits of citizenship that are so casually bestowed to them when they arrive, all wrinkled-up and screaming? If some folks are willing to walk across a burning desert with no money, little water, and no guarantee they’ll make it past some over-caffeinated Minuteman’s pickup truck, shouldn’t we ensure that those who make the comparatively easy trip down the birth canal work a little bit harder for their journey to citizenship?

Here’s my proposal: nobody gets automatic U.S. citizenship. Instead, we give ourselves some time to get to know these new recruits. How about instituting a review board for toddlers? For those who show anti-social tendencies (remember, we've grown terrorists here, too) we’ll go ahead and install some wiretaps and video-cams for closer observation. And imagine having all 12-year-olds pass an English language and citizenship test. Additionally, the $5,000 citizenship fee should be extended to all who wish to live and work in this great land. Or, better yet, we institute a progressive fee determined by an individual’s net worth. Rich kids will pay more. A large number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. currently pay taxes, so that’s no excuse for those of us born here - from here on out you pay your taxes and you pay for the unwarranted privilege of being born in Atlanta, Georgia, Granville, Ohio, Sacramento, California, etc. Fair is fair.

Oh, and these kids shouldn’t be allowed to vote until enough pollsters have been dispatched to figure out exactly which way they swing. If they promise to disrupt the balance of power, we won’t allow them in the voting booth. Our democracy depend s on stability and predictability. Who knows what upstarts are being born right now?

As one or two country music musicians remind us: freedom isn't free. And U.S. citizenship shouldn’t be either. A note to the little kick boxer in my belly – Immigration and Customs Enforcement may not be knocking down the door to our birthing room, but don’t think because you’re scheduled to be born on the 4th of July it means you deserve high-priced healthcare and the freedom to own a gun. Kid, you’re going to have to prove you deserved to be born here.

Amy Ard is the National Field Organizer for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Jim Wallis: Falwell's Legacy

I watched much of the cable television coverage of Jerry Falwell’s death and legacy. And I did a lot of grimacing, in response to both the uncritical adulations of his allies (who just passed over the divisive character of much of Falwell’s rhetoric), and also the ugly vitriol from some of Falwell’s enemies (who attacked both his character and his faith). And there were even some who attacked all people of faith. I ended up being glad that I had passed up all the invitations to be on those shows. On the day of Rev. Jerry Falwell’s death, I was content to offer a brief statement, which read:

I was saddened to learn that Rev. Jerry Falwell passed away this morning at age 73. Rev. Falwell and I met many times over the years, as the media often paired us as debate partners on issues of faith and politics. I respected his passionate commitment to his beliefs, and our shared commitment to bringing moral debate to the public square, although we didn’t agree on many things. At this time, however, what matters most is our prayers for comfort and peace for his family and friends.

Two days later, I might add that Falwell, in his own way, did help to teach Christians that their faith should express itself in the public square and I am grateful for that, even if the positions Falwell took were often at great variance with my own. I spent much of my early Christian life fighting the privatizing of faith, characterized by the withdrawal of any concern for the world (so as to not be “worldly”) and an exclusive focus on private matters. If God so loved the world, God must care a great deal about what happens to it and in it. Falwell agreed with that, and blew the trumpet that awakened fundamentalist Christians to engage the world with their faith and moral values. And that commitment is a good thing. Jerry and I debated often about how faith should impact public life and what all the great moral issues of our time really are.

But many conservative Christians are now also embracing poverty, HIV/AIDS, Darfur, sex trafficking, and even the war in Iraq as matters of faith and moral imperatives. It would have been nice to hear on those TV shows that Jerry Falwell, too, had moved to embrace a broader agenda than just abortion and homosexuality. Rev. Falwell, who was admittedly racist during the civil rights movement, was in later years honored by the Lynchburg NAACP for his turn-about on the issue of race, showing the famous founder of the Religious Right’s capacity to grow and change. But two nights ago on television, I saw the pain on the face of gay Christian Mel White, who lamented that despite his and other’s efforts, Falwell never did even moderate his strong and often inflammatory language (even if maintaining his religious convictions) against gay and lesbian people. They still feel the most wounded by the fundamentalist minister’s statements; that healing has yet to be done.

Ralph Reed said that Jerry Falwell presided over the “marriage ceremony” between religious fundamentalists and the Republican Party. That’s still a concern about the Religious Right for many of us, and should be a warning for the relationship of any so-called religious left with the Democrats. But perhaps in the overly partisan mistakes that Jerry Falwell made - and actually pioneered - we can all be instructed in how to forge a faith that is principled but not ideological, political but not partisan, engaged but not used. That’s how the Catholic Bishops put it, and it is a better guide than the direction we got from the Moral Majority. But Falwell proclaimed a public faith, not a private one. And I am with him on that. As I like to say, God is personal, but never private. So let’s pray for Jerry Falwell’s family, the members of his Thomas R oad Baptist Church, and all the students at his Liberty University. And let’s learn from his legacy - about how and how not to best apply our faith to politics.

Duane Shank: Daily News Digest

The latest news on Iraq-Congress, Passing-Yolanda King, the budget, Iraq-military, Iran, the World Bank, immigration, U.S. minority populations, Palestine, and select op-eds.


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Full news summary:

Iraq-Congress. Symbolic Measure to End War Voted Down 67 to 29 in Senate - "The Senate soundly rejected a symbolic bid to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq within a year, underscoring the lingering divisions within the Democratic Party over how hard to push President Bush to end the war." Senate Rejects Iraq Troop Withdrawal - "Congressional Democratic leaders signaled on that they were ready to give ground to end an impasse with President Bush over war spending after the Senate soundly rejected a Democratic plan to block money for major combat operations in Iraq beginning next spring." Democrats move to the left on war, define stance as GOP courts the party base - "All four Democratic senators running for president voted to advance a measure that would cut off funding for the Iraq war by March 2008, a reversal of the lawmakers' 2006 votes on the same issue." Votes build in Senate to rein in Bush on Iraq - "Forty-four Republican senators backed a plan to tie continued economic aid to Iraq to the performance of its government, the strongest demonstration yet of GOP willingness to impose limits on President Bush's management of the war."

Iraq-military. Perhaps for God, England and St. George, but Not Harry - "after weeks of speculation about the risks not just to him but also to soldiers under his command, Britain announced that Prince Harry, the 22-year-old third-in-line to the throne, would not, after all, be heading out with his regiment when it deploys to the Basra region." Veterans take antiwar call on road - "The Boston chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, formed this month in an Allston restaurant by a handful of former soldiers and Marines, is planning to take its call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq to all major military bases along the East Coast." Anti-war ads star retired generals - "Since last week, two retired Army generals have called on Johnson and seven other congressional Republicans in television advertisements aired in their districts to take action to wind down the war in Iraq." To 'War Czar,' Solution to Iraq Conflict Won't Be Purely Military - "In selecting Lt. Gen. Dougla s E. Lute to manage the war in Iraq, President Bush has chosen a soldier who believes there is no purely military solution to the conflict and wants to forge a political accommodation among Iraqi factions that may fall short of full reconciliation but could lead to an exit strategy."

Iran. Iran and US to hold Iraq talks - "Iran and the US are to hold ambassadorial level talks on Iraq, the Iranian foreign minister said today, in the first substantive contacts between the countries for years." Iran leader takes hard line in backing talks with US - "Iran's supreme leader gave his backing yesterday to US-Iran talks about Iraq's security. But he took a tough line, insisting the meeting would deal only with fixing American policies in Iraq, not changing Iran's."

World Bank. Wolfowitz Said to Push for Deal to Quit- "After six weeks of combating efforts to oust him as president of the World Bank, Paul D. Wolfowitz began to negotiate the terms under which he would resign," Wolfowitz negotiates resignation terms - "A crucial meeting of the World Bank's executive board adjourned without a decision on Paul Wolfowitz's future as president." World Bank's woes go beyond scandal - "Now the bank is struggling to maintain its relevance in a 21st Century global economy where many countries it helped, and still helps, can get all the capital they need from private sources and where fighting poverty, its main mission, has proved to be extraordinarily difficult, especially in Africa."

Immigration. Lawmakers Near Agreement on New Immigration Rules - "Senators from both parties said that they were close to agreement on a new system of selecting immigrants that would give greater weight to education and to job skills deemed helpful to the economy." Immigration Overhaul Is Closer to Senate Floor - "Senate negotiators reached a tentative agreement on a broad overhaul of the nation's immigration laws that would offer virtually all of the nation's 12 million undocumented workers a route to legal status while shifting migration preferences away from the extended families of citizens toward more skilled and educated workers." White House backs off alien safeguards - "The Bush administration, trying to win an immigration agreement with Democrats, is backing away from safeguards designed to target businesses that hire illegal aliens and to prevent a repeat of the rampant fraud that resulted from the 1986 amnesty."

Budget. Democrats Agree on a $2.9 Trillion Budget - "House and Senate Democratic leaders reached agreement on a $2.9 trillion budget for 2008 that envisions a return to budget surpluses by 2012 and assumes that some of President Bush's tax cuts will be allowed to expire. The five-year blueprint … calls for more money for children's health care, education and a wide variety of other domestic programs."

US minority populations. USA's minority numbers top 100M - "The nation's minority population has topped 100 million for the first time and now makes up about a third of the USA, a symbolic milestone that signals more challenges for communities adapting to diversity." New Demographic Racial Gap Emerges - "That development may portend a nation split between an older, whiter electorate and a younger overall population that is more Hispanic, black and Asian and that presses sometimes competing agendas and priorities."

Palestine. Unity Fractures as Palestinians Battle in Gaza- "At least 19 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday - more than 40 have been killed over the past four days - in fighting between Fatah and Hamas as their unity government fractures and rage rises on both sides." Hamas suicide bombings threat - "Hamas today threatened to resume suicide bombings in Israel after an Israeli air strike on one of its compounds killed at least one person and injured more than 45."

Passing-Yolanda King. Yolanda King, 51, Actor and Dr. King's Daughter, Dies - "Yolanda King was the eldest child of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who melded her father's message of racial equality and nonviolence with her own calling as an actor and a motivational speaker."

Four good features from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

YOLANDA KING: 1955 - 2007: MEMORIES OF YOLANDA KING: Friendship spanned decades, extended to public, private moments

YOLANDA KING: 1955 - 2007: To father's dismay, being an actress was her passion

YOLANDA KING: 1955 - 2007: In roles on film, TV and stage, her art often imitated life

YOLANDA KING: 1955-2007: Firstborn King child's death stuns loved ones

Op-Eds.

Who Exiled New Orleans' Poor? (Judith Browne-Dianis, Washington Post) - "Mary Ann Wright has been waiting to return home to the Lafitte public housing development in New Orleans for 20 months, but the federal government stands in her way. She's used to waiting for a f ederal response to Hurricane Katrina. After all, she was left in the floodwaters like thousands of other low-income African Americans."

The legacy of Jerry Falwell (Cal Thomas, Washington Times) - "The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who died in his office on Tuesday at age 73, was a seminal figure in the rise of what liberals despairingly called the "Religious Right." Without him, it is doubtful Christian fundamentalist, Evangelical Christians and conservative Roman Catholics would ever have mobilized into the significant voting bloc that elected Ronald Reagan twice, George H.W. Bush once and the current President Bush.

Voice of the Day: Joan Chittister

We are not disembodied spirits. God apparently values the material enough to endow it with the spiritual. That's what the Incarnation is all about. We've come at this whole notion of the exaltation of the spirit by losing respect for the vehicle of the divine, which is the body. Where do we see God? We see God in nature and the people around us.

- Joan Chittister
from Alive Now, July/August 1994

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Verse of the Day: "Rise up, O Lord!"

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever. Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail; let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord; let the nations know that they are only human.

- Psalms 9:18-20

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Ryan Rodrick Beiler: Falwell Commentary Round-Up

Since Tuesday's news of the sudden passing of Rev. Jerry Falwell, there has been no shortage of commentaries on his life and legacy. Here are a few examples from across the political spectrum that I've found interesting and helpful as I've reflected on such a controversial and influential religious figure:

From Rev. Jennifer Butler of Faith in Public Life:

With his passing, one of the landmarks of the American religious landscape has passed as well; our discourse on religion and public life is sure to be impacted in ways we cannot yet fully imagine.

From Rod Dreher, Crunchy Con:

[N]obody can deny the significance of Falwell to U.S. politics. Christian conservatives like me may not have liked Falwell's style much of the time, or some of the causes he championed. ... His passing today is not only the passing of a man, but the passing of an era. The next generation of engaged Evangelical pastors aren't like him and his generation. I'm generalizing, of course, but they are conservative, but not so partisan, and not as eager to cast their lot with the GOP. And they care about bringing their Christian faith to bear on a wider range of issues than that which galvanized the Falwell generation.

Ralph Reed, on National Review Online:

Falwell’s liberal critics saw him only through the prism of secularism, and so they never grasped what a groundbreaking progressive he was within fundamentalism. He insisted that the Moral Majority work with Catholics, Jews, charismatic Protestants, and Mormons, who were anathema to some of his fundamentalist colleagues. But this break with the separatist, isolationist past of fundamentalism was critical to building cooperation across denominational and doctrinal lines in the pro-family movement. It is one of his most significant and lasting achievements. ... When he founded the Moral Majority in 1979, he awakened the slumbering giant of the evangelical vote. The marriage of that vote to an ascendant, confident Republican party is among the most important political demographic changes of the last century.

Fred Barnes, on Fox's Special Report with Brit Hume:

[H]e spurred one of the most important transformations of modern times and basically taking a group, millions of conservative Christians who'd been apathetic about politics, really since the 1920s and turned them into an active, lively, concerned voting block, that basically joined the Republican Party and gave the Republican party rough parity with Democrats.

From Jesse Lava of Faithful Democrats:

[W]e would be remiss to let this moment pass without reflecting on one of the most regrettable features of the Falwell legacy — or at least, of the political movement that Falwell and his co-thinkers have left us: the notion that there’s a heavenly link between Christianity and the Republican Party. ... [L]et’s not make the same mistakes that Falwell did. We would be wise to emulate his passion and effectiveness; we would be downright sacrilegious to conflate our church with our party — a habit which, ultimately, renders Christ our pawn instead of our king.

From David Kuo's J-Walking blog:

It is ironic and a bit sad that the man who stood on the sidelines during the civil rights movement - saying pastors needed to preach Jesus, not politics - became the leading person marketing Jesus for political ends in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and that he will be remembered not as a great spiritual leader but a powerful political one.

Joseph Loconte on the National Review Online:

Falwell’s contradictions continue to define too much of conservative Christianity in America. The assumption that America lays claim to a “covenant” relationship with God, the confusion of the gospel of Christ with a party platform, the narrow definition of a “moral agenda” in American politics — all were among the unseemly aspects of Falwell’s activism that survive his death.

Yet there are other elements of Falwell’s legacy that are worth recalling on both sides of the Atlantic. For one thing, he helped religious believers of all stripes take their civic and political responsibilities more seriously. Today Christian conservatives are perhaps the most politically active and important voting bloc in America. Though many find aspects of their agenda objectionable — their pro-life position or support for Israel, for example — their impressive advocacy on behalf of international human rights is widely respected. No constituency has fought harder for peace in Sudan, for laws against the sexual trafficking of women, or for America’s global AIDS policy. No group has done more to bring attention to the human rights atrocities of the North Korean regime. Sadly, these issues were never taken up by the Moral Majority, but it helped to lay the groundwork for this kind of engagement.

From Mike Lee at Faithfully Liberal:

I didn’t like Jerry Falwell, yet I mourn the passing of one of my fellow human beings. All those with a heart for love must do the same. Here we have a perfect example of the Christ ethic - we must love our enemies, we must pray for those that persecuted us.

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

Virginia Lohmann Bauman: Women Standing To Save the World

For many of us, Mother’s Day is now a check mark on the “to-do” list, an “x” on the calendar, a card tucked into a drawer or scrapbook. But before the flowers wilt, I wanted to share the power and witness of thousands of women who stood in silence on Mother’s Day, 2007, to manifest a dream to save the world.

The movement started with a book Sharon Mehdi wrote for her granddaughter called The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering. A quick summary of the story: A busboy who worked in a café whose window faced the public park noticed that two grandmotherly looking women had been standing in the park all day without moving at all and without talking. They were dressed up in their Sunday best, and were just staring at the town hall. He asked the other patrons in the café what they thought the women were up to. Then, a 5-year-old spoke up and said, "One of them is my grandmother and I know what they are doing. They are standing there to save the world." All of the men in the café hooted and howled and laughed. On his way home the busboy decided to ask the women what they were doing - and sure enough, their answer was, "We are saving the world." Over dinner that evening the busboy told his parents, and he and his father hooted and howled, but his mother was totally silent. After dinner, the mother called her best friends to tell them. The next morning the busboy looked out the café window and the two women were back, along with his mother, her friends, and the women who had been in the café the day before. All were standing in silence staring at the town hall. Again, the men hooted and howled and said things like, "You can't save the world by standing in the park. That is what we have armies for," and, "Everyone knows you have to have banners and slogans to save the world - you can't do it by just standing in the park." The next day, the women were joined by the women who were in the café the day before and a number of their friends. The news quickly spread and soon women were standing all over the country. The story ended with women standing in every country throughout the globe; standing to save the world.

Like the women in the story, on May 13, 2007, thousands upon thousands of women in 75 nations gathered in 3,586 different locations and stood to save the world. I was one of those women, along with my mother and my daughter – three generations standing in a little park across from a church in Granville, Ohio, standing to save the world on Mother’s Day. As we gathered in a circle with the other women in town – young, old, babies, and children – one of the grandmothers rang a bell and said:

“Today we will be standing for the world’s children and grandchildren, and for the seven generations beyond them. We dream of a world where all of our children have safe drinking water, clean air to breathe, and enough food to eat. A world where they have access to a basic education to develop their minds, and healthcare to nurture their growing bodies. A world where they have a warm, safe, and loving place to call home. A world where they don’t live in fear of violence – in their home, in their neighborhood, in their school, or in their world. This is the world of which we dream. This is the cause for which we stand.”

The bell again rang at the end of our silent witness. As my young daughter ran to see a friend, I saw my mother wipe a tear. And I knew without a doubt that if she could make it so, we would save the world – for her children, for her grandchildren, and for the seven generations beyond them.

Virginia Lohmann Bauman is a Field Organizer for Sojourners/Call to Renewal. For more information on Standing Women and next steps, see www.StandingWomen.org .

Shane Claiborne: Questions for an Empire's Candidates

As announced on CNN last night, we're hosting a forum of the leading Democratic presidential candidates at our Pentecost 2007 event (Shane will also be speaking at the conference). We've invited several of our bloggers to discuss their questions for the candidates, but we're also asking our readers to submit their questions, and will let YOU vote on the ones we should use!
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Don’t let anyone make you think that God has chosen America as [God's] divine messianic force to be reckoned with.” There are compelling voices who claim that God has chosen America (not the church) as a special embodiment of hope for the world, and then there are times (perhaps in more recent history) when it seems America embodies an antithesis of what God hopes for. U.S. flags colonize the altars and the money is branded “In God We Trust,” but the economy is an eerie reflection of the seven deadly sins listed in scripture, with a culture dangerously close to the sins of Sodom, a culture the prophet Ezekiel describes as “arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned.” Given the fact that America and God’s kingdom are not the same - and are often at odds - how do we resist the temptation of thinking that America, rather than God or God’s church, is the hope of the world?

Perhaps reflect on the following words from George W. Bush: “The ideal of America is the hope of all mankind ... That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” And the recent words of Barack Obama on the Late Show with David Letterman, “This country is still the last best hope on earth.” As Christians, how do we reconcile where our ultimate faith lies, especially within an empire as mesmerizing as Rome or America?


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 immigration, the World Bank, Iraq, Jerry Falwell, Russia, Iran, Republican debate, Colombia, food stamps, Brazil, and select commentaries.


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Full news summary:

Jerry Falwell. Rev. Jerry Falwell dies, leader of evangelicals - "The Rev. Jerry Falwell, one of the founders of the so-called religious right and a friend and ally of Republican presidents, died yesterday from a heart rhythm abnormality in his office on the campus of the Lynchburg university he founded." Other stories:

New York Times - Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority Founder, Dies at 73

Washington Post - Harnessed The Political Power of Evangelicals

Los Angeles Times - Preacher built religious right into a political force

Falwell's Legacy in the Pulpit and Politics - "At his death yesterday, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the founding father and long the public face of the religious right, left behind a university, a megachurch and a movement that are likely to carry on his legacy." Church, state and the legacy of Jerry Falwell (Cal Thomas, USA Today) - "Jerry Falwell was a simple country preacher who rose from obscurity and the founding of his church in a defunct soft drink bottling plant in his hometown of Lynchburg, Va., to become, in the 1980s, the face of much of Evangelical Christianity and "moral politics."

Immigration. Senators Report Progress on a Complicated Bill on Immigration - "With the new Congress poised to take its first vote on immigration, senators from both parties stepped up the pace of negotiations in hopes of cutting a deal on a comprehensive bill that would increase enforcement at the border and offer legal status to millions of undocumented workers." Senate nearing immigration bill - "Senators negotiating a bipartisan immigration reform bill have settled on the details of a plan that would immediately grant legal status to all illegal immigrants currently in the United States." Bush, Kennedy join forces over immigration law - "As he presses for legacy-building immigration legislation, President Bush finds himself aligned with the same unlikely ally who helped enact his first major domestic initiative." Latino Groups Play Key Role on Hill - "After laboring in obscurity for decades, groups such as the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the National Immigration Forum are virtually being granted veto power over perhaps the biggest domestic issue coming before Congress this year."

World Bank. Wolfowitz pleads case to World Bank board - "A day after World Bank directors accused Paul D. Wolfowitz of breaking ethics rules in negotiating a promotion and salary raise for his companion, the bank president pleaded with them to give him another chance at leading the anti-poverty lender." Wolfowitz under fire from Europe - "European governments are preparing to take a hard line against Paul Wolfowitz remaining as head of the World Bank, pushing ahead with a possible vote of no confidence and brushing off US proposals to delay judging the embattled president over his ethical violations." White House Support for Wolfowitz Wavers - "The Bush administration softened its support for World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz, signaling a willingness to replace him if the bank's executive board resolves an ethics controversy without firing him." Bush Opens Door to Wolfowitz's Resigning - "The Bush administration, shifting strategy in the face of mounting opposition to Paul D. Wolfowitz, opened the door to his resigning voluntarily as World Bank president if the bank board dropped its drive to declare him unfit to remain in office."

Iraq. Bush Taps Skeptic of Buildup as 'War Czar' - "President Bush tapped Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute to serve as a new White House "war czar" overseeing the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, choosing a low-key soldier who privately expressed skepticism about sending more troops to Iraq during last winter's strategy review." Bush Picks General to Coordinate War Policy- "The White House said that President Bush ended his lengthy search for a so-called war czar to carry out Iraq and Afghanistan policy by offering the job to an active duty three-star Army general who said in his interview that he had been skeptical of the troop buildup in Iraq." Iraq Attacks Stayed Steady Despite Troop Increase, Data Show - "Newly declassified data show that as additional American troops began streaming into Iraq in March and April, the number of attacks on civilians and security forces there stayed relatively steady or at most declined slightly, in the clearest indication yet that the troop increase could take months to have a widespread impact on security."

Russia. Rice nudg es Putin away from tough talk aimed at U.S. - "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin to tone down the harsh words used by the Kremlin against Washington in recent months, though their talks failed to yield any breakthroughs on Kosovo independence or U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe." After Rice and Putin Meet, Russia Agrees to Soften Language- "Russia agreed to tone down the harsh language its senior officials have used against the United States in recent months, but the two countries remained at an impasse on several issues that have strained relations."

Iran. U.S. cautious about Iran nuclear report - "Bush administration officials reacted cautiously to indications that Iran has improved its ability to enrich uranium as fuel for nuclear reactors, a crucial step toward nuclear weapons."

Republican debate. Republicans Debate Their Conservative Bona Fides - "The leading Republican presidential candidates parried accusations from their rivals that they have strayed too far from their party's conservative philosophies on abortion, taxes and immigration in a debate that featured some of the most direct exchanges of the 2008 battle for the GOP nomination." Lively exchanges fill second GOP debate - "Ten Republican candidates for president, standing nearly toe-to-toe, teased out their differences over immigration, abortion and conservative purity in a feisty debate that sharpened distinctions among the party's top White House contenders."

Colombia. Death-Squad Scandal Circles Closer to Colombia's President - "President Álvaro Uribe, the Bush administration's closest ally in Latin America, faces an intensifying scandal after a jailed former commander of paramilitary death squads testified that Mr. Uribe's defense minister had tried to plot with the outlawed private militias to upset the rule of a former president."

Food stamps. Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries - "Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), co-chairmen of the House Hunger Caucus, called on lawmakers to take the "Food Stamp Challenge" to raise awareness of hunger and what they say are inadequate benefits for food stamp recipients." Lawmakers live on food-stamp budget - "the politicians are trying to spend seven days in the life of someone living on food stamps to highlight the difficulties of eating healthy while stretching resources."

Brazil. Brazilian rancher guilty in nun's slaying - "The verdict was met here with celebratory music, tearful embraces and thunderous applause among farmers gathered in a public square. Human rights experts hailed the decision as a long-awaited break after years of impunity afforded to large landowners in the rain forest region."

Commentary

Same war, different goals (Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times) - "Though Blair and Bush marched into war together, they did so in the service of distinct and even opposing visions. Long before 9/11, Blair argued that no single nation could solve the 21st century's toughest problems. Only through international cooperation could the world confront challenges from global warming to global terror."

Sick kids lost in gap (Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune) - "Residents of the nation's capital woke up one recent morning to the sort of bad news that we like to think doesn't happen in America: A child died from lack of dental care."

Voice of the Day: Richard Foster

We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us, so we talk in order to straighten out their understanding. ... One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let our justification rest entirely with God.

- Richard Foster
from Celebration of Discipline

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Verse of the Day: Blessed are the Poor

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

- Luke 6:20-23

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Jim Wallis: The Passing of Rev. Jerry Falwell

I was saddened to learn that Rev. Jerry Falwell passed away this morning at age 73. Rev. Falwell and I met many times over the years, as the media often paired us as debate partners on issues of faith and politics. I respected his passionate commitment to his beliefs, and our shared commitment to bringing moral debate to the public square, although we didn’t agree on many things. At this time, however, what matters most is our prayers for comfort and peace for his family and friends.

Elizabeth Palmberg: New Day or Bad Gamble?

Why is it so ironic that, last Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that congressional leaders had reached a compromise with the Bush administration to make proposed trade agreements with Peru and Panama somewhat less terrible, and would now encourage Congress to approve those agreements?

Less than a week earlier, U.S. trade negotiators admitted that - oops! - back in the early 1990s, at the start of the WTO, they’d accidentally committed the entire nation to provide completely unfettered access to foreign Internet casinos:

the United States did not intend to adopt commitments that were inconsistent with its own laws … gambling or betting services are generally prohibited or highly restricted in the United States for reasons of public morality, law enforcement and protection of minors and other vulnerable groups.

We only noticed the blooper when casino host country Antigua filed a successful trade lawsuit (European countries were expected to follow suit). And what the government isn’t emphasizing now is that, in order to withdraw our gambling market from WTO jurisdiction and protect countless state and local gambling laws, we’re going to have to pay through the nose to Antigua and any other country that feels cut out of the action.

So, when Pelosi tells Congress, and the rest of us, that it’s “a new day,” and that all the problems with the proposed U.S-Peru and U.S.-Panama trade agreements - extraordinarily complex, binding treaties - are fixed now, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do you feel lucky?

Well, do you?

Elizabeth Palmberg is an Assistant Editor for Sojourners magazine. + Learn more in Sojourners' May special issue on trade justice