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I'm always a bit anxious in new worship environments. As I settle into my plastic chair at New Beginnings Lutheran Church, I realize that now is certainly no different. At least, I think to myself, my cell phone won't go off in worship; it was confiscated by the guard before I went through the metal detector.

New Beginnings is a congregation on the inside of the Denver Women's Correctional Facility, and I've come with three others from my own community to share in their worship service. My anxiety is not at all lessened by the praise music - of which I have an almost irrational aversion - coming out of the jam box behind the purple-draped altar. Seriously, I'm sinfully snotty about this issue.

The problem is that, as the women file into the room in their dark green scrubs and black boots, many immediately pick up the song sheets and begin singing along. I've always associated what I call "Jesus-is-my-boyfriend music" with privileged white suburban mega-churches. But here in front of me are women of untold sin and sorrow, worn, unlike many of us, on the outside; singing "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" - singing about how faithful and marvelous God is from the inside of a prison.

I feel moved - and not by the emotionalism of the overproduced praise music. I'm moved again by how God seems to continually show up in ways I find objectionable. Like John the Baptist attempting to talk Jesus out of being baptized, and the disciples scandalized by Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well, and Peter's "God forbid that ever happen to you" at the news of how his messiah would die, I too object. God forbid that God's own redeeming work in the world be done through music and theology I find abhorrent. It's totally annoying and absolutely predictable. It happens every time.

Nadia Bolz-Weber is a Lutheran vicar living in Denver, Colorado where she is developing a new emerging church, House for all Sinners and Saints.  She blogs at www.sarcasticlutheran.com and has a book for Seabury Press coming out this Fall; a theological and cultural commentary based on having watched 24 consecutive hours of Trinity Broadcasting Network and survived.

Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

- Matthew 12:33-33

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I haven't yet read the whole study released yesterday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life titled, "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," just some of today's news reports. But what I have read confirms what I see on the road every week. U.S. citizens are on the move religiously. Many people are not staying in the churches of their upbringings. "This is not your parents' church," many now could say as they show up on Sunday mornings. But where are they going? What we have known for a long time now is backed by the data—namely that many evangelical churches are growing, and especially congregations that are "non-denominational" or "unaffiliated." And a decline in Catholic Church attendance is being somewhat offset by an influx into the country of Catholic immigrants.

But what most struck me about the Pew Study was that U.S. citizens are moving to places where faith is "personal." I bumped into one of the authors of the new study, John Green, at the Washington, D.C., CNN studios this afternoon where we were both doing commentary on the results. And John confirmed the conclusion about the attractiveness of more personal, dynamic, and vibrant faith communities. But, as I said to the CNN correspondent who, of course, asked about the political implications of all this, personal doesn't necessarily mean private, conservative, Republican, Religious Right, abortion, and gay marriage.

On the contrary, what I see rising up all around the country is a new evangelical agenda focusing on poverty, the environment and climate change, human rights, war and peace, and, yes, the sanctity of human life - but much more broadly applied to include places like Darfur and the 30,000 children who died again today globally of unnecessary poverty and disease. Why pit unborn children against poor children? Rather, let's see them all in the category of the vulnerable that Jesus calls us to defend. In fact, my observation is that a concern for social justice is breaking out precisely at the places and in the people where faith is more personal. After all, as I often preach on the road, "God is personal, but never private." Many people are now hungry for a faith that is powerful enough to change their lives, their relationships, their neighborhoods, their nation, and their world. Churches that just focus on doctrine or on principles will continue to lose people to churches that offer a personal faith that cares for the world. When faith is no longer restricted to just our private lives, but breaks out into the world, new things can happen. Like revival.

Christian Peacemaker Teams has had a team in Kurdistan for over one year. CPT has been slowly learning that the effects of the war and the relationship with the U.S. are much different for the Kurdish people than for the Arab people of central and south Iraq.

The Kurds are scattered throughout Turkey, Iran, Syria, and northern Iraq with the majority residing in Turkey. Turkey and Syria present the most repressive policies towards Kurds in not allowing them to speak their language or identify themselves as Kurdish.

The Iraqi Kurds by far have the best shot at becoming autonomous, but they have a long way to go before they can become their own nation. They are struggling to build an economic base. They are surrounded by hostile neighbors and know that a good defense system will involve diplomacy and trade.

When the U.S. took out Saddam, the Iraqi Kurds were ecstatic. In our first weeks here, Kurds initially shared their love for America. But when we engaged people long enough in conversation, they expressed their doubts, especially with regard to U.S. foreign policy. Still, they hoped that the U.S. would support them politically and economically.

In December 2007, the Turkish military attacked Kurds inside Iraq. The justification was to launch an attack against the PKK, a Kurdish militia based in the mountains that border Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. The PKK are considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and Turkey. The war between the PKK and Turkey has been going on for three decades.

In attempt to appease Turkey, the U.S. shared military intelligence and allowed Turkish bombers to fly inside Iraq. Turkey attacked more than 60 villages - killing and injuring civilians, displacing thousands of villagers, killing hundreds of livestock, and causing extensive property damage.

The Kurds felt betrayed. They had hoped that the U.S. would push Turkey towards the diplomatic table in order to work out the problems with the PKK peacefully. At the very least, they expected the U.S. to protect them since that is one of the responsibilities of an occupying country. Instead, the U.S. opened up the airspace inside Iraq, which allowed for the attacks. These attacks have been ongoing, including a major incursion by Turkish ground troops last week.

The once quiet criticism of the U.S. is now quite vocal. The U.S. is quickly losing an ally and further alienating itself in the Middle East. Anti-American sentiment grows deeper. When will we learn?

Michele Naar-Obed, lives in Duluth, Minnesota, and is a member of the Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker Community providing temporary housing to homeless families and individuals. She is a part time volunteer with the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), has gone to Iraq five times with CPT, and is currently in Iraqi Kurdistan. Michele blogs at: duluthcpt.net

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We are painfully reminded once again of the cascading violence in the U.S. after the senseless killing of six and wounding of many others at Northern Illinois University. But in my low-income Chicago community, the violence and killing have almost numbed us. I hear gunshots out my window regularly in the summer, and the annual homicide toll from guns in our two-square-mile community is often more than 30. The Children's Defense Fund indicates that almost 3,000 youth die in the U.S. annually from gun violence.

David Walsh points out the strange dichotomy between our shared nonviolent, cooperative values and the values of the marketplace and TV programs imposed on our children. Eighty percent of Nintendo games have a violent theme. Violence, sex, and humor are the themes that sell TV ads; 80.3 percent of all TV programs contain acts of violence. It's hard to find a popular movie without significant violence.

We are a violent nation. We label people enemies, inflict shock-and-awe violence, and promote first strike weapons. Soldiers come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with violent responses and post traumatic stress disorder. Kids bring guns into schools, women carry guns in purses, and automatic weapons abound - doing much more damage than good. One hundred twenty U.S. mayors have called for national leadership to wage war on gun violence. Marian Wright Edelman urges, "There must be a movement to end gun violence and stop the proliferation of guns."

A recent Christian Organization Board discussion of a group of parents whose children died from gun violence admonished the leader/speaker not to get "political." When are we going to say "enough is enough" and get political? Jesus challenged us to try a different approach to violence. Why not do it?

Mary Nelson is president emeritus of Bethel New Life, a faith-based community development corporation on the west side of Chicago. She is also a board member of Sojourners.

And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

Matthew 9:10-13

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In the absence of Jesus’ physical leadership, a new power to lead emerges among the disciples. Like the disciples, we honor Jesus’ absence when, as Christian communities, we do not look for a single leader to ride into town on a white horse and save us. We honor Jesus’ absence when we do not "look up" to a single human leader on whom we can depend for everything. We honor Jesus’ absence when we discover the Spirit of Jesus the Servant animating us as a Christian community of faith.

- Thomas R. Hawkins
Faithful Leadership

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I was in Lebanon and Syria in January and saw up close the agony of the war.

In Damascus, young Iraqi refugees have created a youth choir at the Good Shepherd Center. After singing for us, many came forward to tell us their stories. One young woman told us of fleeing with her father and disabled brother after being threatened in a town near Baghdad. The family thought it was most dangerous for the disabled child and thought that the 15-year-old daughter could act as a mother to him. Now they are worried because the mother and other children are in constant danger.

An 18-year-old spoke of coming with his mother, who has cancer. His father is still in Iraq and is working to support the mother and son in Syria. They are hoping to be able to relocate to a third country, but they have already been waiting over a year and his mother is getting sicker. He does not know what will happen to them.

The Iraqi chorus leader told us that they come together to try to learn from each others' suffering, both when they were in Iraq and now in Syria. He told us, "We smile, but inside our hearts we suffer in our own way. Jesus told us to love one another, but also we must ask what is next. What is our future? We want a solution to two problems—our having to leave AND the reason for leaving…the war. We were born free but now we do not have the freedom to make our own solutions."

It is with these words echoing in my mind and heart that I know we must respond to the needs of the refugees. We as a nation can do better than admitting fewer than 6,000 refugees in five years. We can welcome in those who have been displaced by this war.

AND we must work to end the violence in Iraq. We need to build peace through international involvement. We must end the U.S. occupation, internationalize a peacekeeping force, and have a surge of diplomacy both internally in Iraq and in the region. Only by changing our policy and tactics will these victims of the war have any freedom to make their own solutions. We must act now.

Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, is a religious leader, attorney, and poet with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change. In Washington, she lobbies on issues of peace building and economic justice. In January, she was a member of a delegation of eight Catholic Sisters sponsored by Catholic Relief Services who traveled to Lebanon and Syria to meet with Iraqi refugees, Christian and Islamic leaders, representatives of religious and civil NGOs, U.S. diplomatic personnel, a Syrian Parliament Member, and UNHCR regional representatives.

No words can really communicate the essence of what we are doing here. For that, you'd need Smell-O-Vision.

In case you didn't know, Smell-O-Vision was a system developed in the 1950s that released odors during the projection of a movie so that the viewer could actually smell what was happening onscreen. Thirty years later, cult filmmaker John Waters tried the same thing with scratch and sniff cards. In both cases, the idea was to take advantage of the scientific fact that smell is easily the strongest and most vivid of our senses when it comes to processing emotional experiences. If you've ever smelled something and had memories you hadn't thought of in years come flooding back, you know what I'm talking about.

What you may not know, however, is what the scent of urine in a hallway tells you about a low-rent apartment building, or what the combination of cigarette smoke and baby formula on an infant's blanket tells you about a family, or what cheap liquor on an addict's early morning breath tells you about the rest of their day, or maybe the rest of their life. These are some of the smells I'm learning these days.

I know a few already. At the grocery store the other day, I didn't even need to turn around, let alone ask any questions to be sure the man behind me had no house, no car, no job, and nobody looking after him. What I needed instead was the intestinal fortitude to talk with him like a friend even though he was mentally unstable, and to offer him a ride to the soup kitchen even though it would take half a day to get his stench out of my van.

I know marijuana in the afternoon air means I'm going to have to answer a lot of bizarre theological questions from my street corner buddies Richie and Big Mike. I know the smell of mold and too many cats means helping a friend pass her Section Eight housing inspection is going to take more than a morning, and the smell of an open electric oven means we might as well not bother because her lousy slumlord still hasn't fixed the furnace. And, unfortunately, I know the smell of fecal matter coming out from under a dirty set of clothes means it doesn't much matter how skillful I am as an after-school tutor.

There are wonderful smells here too, of course – ammonia in the spotless kitchen of a single mother with two jobs, soul food in a neighborhood restaurant, talcum powder on the older church ladies, my warm house at the end of a long day – but not nearly enough to cover the others. If you are highly sensitive in that way, like my wife Marty, how much you can love poor people sometimes boils down to how long you can hold your breath.

There is more to it than that, though. As I said earlier, smelling things is probably the most powerful way that we feel where we are and what we're doing at a particular moment in time. No wonder a hospital administrator recently told me that his boss devoted an entire staff meeting to making sure their hospital smells as clean as it is, in order to subconsciously instill confidence in their patients' families. For better and for worse, smells communicate things that words just can't.

The bad smells here do not instill confidence at all. On the contrary, what they communicate is a deep, visceral sense of neglect and decay and futility that threatens to overwhelm this whole neighborhood and our hope along with it. So then, when I tell you that my dream is to motivate and organize folks to clean things up around here, you can rest assured I mean that quite literally. We have plenty of souls to soothe, to be sure, but we also have bodies to bathe and clothes to wash, basements to clean out and houses to renovate.

I know we can't change everything in our poor little neighborhood. Honestly, my best guess is that we can't even change very much. But even on my most dismal days, when the odors of brokenness around me are more than I can stand, I believe we can, at the very least, leave some places and some people around here perfumed with the sweet smells of care, healing, and hope. After all, most of those smells are simply a matter of soap and water, hammers and nails, and meat and potatoes.

In the meantime, since you don't have Smell-O-Vision, or Odorama, or probably even a good aroma therapy kit, I guess you'll have to take my word for it that loving poor people can be an awfully smelly business. Then again, maybe not. Maybe you just know a different set of smells than I do, because you are trying to love a different kind of poor people. I hope so, because I suspect that at least part of the reason God calls us to all this smelly loving in the first place is so we aren't completely knocked out when we're the ones who stink.

Bart Campolo is a veteran urban minister and activist who speaks, writes, and blogs www.bartcampolo.com about grace, faith, loving relationships and social justice. Bart is the leader of The Walnut Hills Fellowship www.thewalnuthillsfellowship.org in inner-city Cincinnati. He is also founder of Mission Year www.missionyear.org, which recruits committed young adults to live and work among the poor in inner-city neighborhoods across the USA, and executive director of EAPE, which develops and supports innovative, cost-effective mission projects around the world.

Do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give others.

- Saint Peter Chrysologus
Sermon 43

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Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him--though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "For we too are his offspring.'

- Acts 17:22-28

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"Now, more than ever, America needs our moral witness. We need a surge in troops in the nonviolent army of the Lord. We need a surge in conscience and a surge in activism and a surge in truth-telling for a change." (Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, Christian Peace Witness service at the Washington National Cathedral, 3/16/2007)

"Love your enemies" wasn't on any of the valentines I received this year, or on that heart candy so popular in elementary schools. I didn't notice "pray for those who persecute you" either.

Yet across the U.S., Christians are sacrificing their time and money to live these words of Jesus. One movement, Christian Peace Witness for Iraq (CPWI), invites Christians to hold local vigils as long as the war lasts, and to come to Washington, D.C., on March 7 for worship and a public witness.

CPWI gathers Christians because we believe in Jesus and that he has it right—humans cannot bear the cost of war. This year we join with our peace-minded sisters and brothers of other faiths, proclaiming together that we are committed to the way of peace and we stand firmly against war.

Society cannot afford war. For what we spend on just ONE DAY of the Iraq War (approximately $720 million), we could provide:

· 12,478 elementary school teachers, or
· 163,525 people with health care, or
· 6,482 families with homes.

Soldiers cannot afford war. Early reports are that one in six soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and one in three show symptoms. Increasing numbers of military parents are losing custody of their children following deployments as judges rule their home life is unstable. And the number of American military casualties in Iraq will soon reach 4,000.

Iraqis cannot afford war. In October of 2007, the average home in Baghdad had electricity only six hours a day. Most people lack clean drinking water, which is electrically pumped to residents. We are unable to count the number of Iraqis who have died because of the war; estimates vary from 81,000 to well over 1 million .

The U.S. cannot afford war. No country, especially one that seeks moral standing throughout the world, can afford to make war. As Christians, our hearts are wrenched when our sisters and brothers around the world associate the actions of the U.S. government with Christian beliefs. We at CPWI believe all torture is wrong, because we honor each human being as a child of God. We believe that violence overseas is directly related to the violence in our communities.

Please join us in Washington, D.C., on March 7! We need your help to create an authentically Christian, nonviolent witness to end war and speak the love of Jesus to our communities, our country, and our government. Next year, see if you can fit this on a Valentine: "Enemies: ya just gotta love 'em!"

Susan Mark Landis is the peace advocate for the Mennonite Church USA and a organizer of the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq. + Click to watch a slideshow of past actions

Susan sat on her bed, looking frightened and sad. The 27-year-old had lost the lower half of her left leg when at 2 a.m. Dec. 16, Turkish fighter planes dropped four bombs on her home in a village along the northeastern Iraq-Iran border.

"When the fourth bomb exploded, everything was fire, and I heard my daughter screaming," recounted Susan's father. For several hours planes flew overhead. The blasts also killed their cows and sheep. "It was several hours later when we were able to carry her to a car that could take her to a hospital," he said. The next day they were among the estimated 3,000 persons or 800 Iraqi Kurdish families who fled border areas out of fear.

Of all Iraqis, the Kurds have been the most supportive of U.S. military presence in their country. However, U.S. policies concerning Turkish incursions into Iraqi border areas have not only caused suffering to the Kurdish victims, they have increased Kurds' anger toward and mistrust of the U.S. Such policies perpetuate the cycles of violence in these conflicts, when what is needed is leadership toward peaceful resolution.

"I have no hope for my life now," Susan told us. "I am not good physically or psychologically. I cry all day long."

This was the Christian Peacemaker Teams Iraq team's second visit to Susan's family as part of a project to monitor this border conflict and be prepared to accompany displaced families back to their villages. Tomorrow Susan has an appointment with a Kurdish organization to assess whether she is able to participate in their six-month rehabilitation and vocational program for amputees.

Susan's family isn't the only one questioning the role the U.S. has taken in allowing Turkey to fly over Iraqi air space in its anti-terrorism campaign. Kurdish Iraqis express little support for the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), whom they consider terrorists, operating in more remote areas of the Qandil Mountains. They expected the U.S., as the occupying force in Iraq, to protect civilians in their care. Many Iraqi Kurds believe that Turkey's real motives for Turkey's invasions into Iraq are to sabotage the possibility of a strong independent Kurdish state in northeastern Iraq, and to take control of the oil fields of Kirkuk province.

In the past five years, the actions and policies of the U.S. government have eroded most of the initial gratefulness Iraqi people had for getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Excessive violence, domination of Iraqi political and economic structures, and the U.S.'s failure to rebuild the physical, social, and medical infrastructures of Iraqi society feed into the increasing anger and violent resistance that have emerged.

Peggy Gish is a fulltime worker with Christian Peacemaker Teams, which seeks to enlist the whole church in organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict. CPT initiated a long-term presence in Iraq in October 2002. She is the author of Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace.

Power understood as the ability to accomplish desired ends is present in human relationships no matter how particular communities or societies are organized. Nevertheless, Christian communities recognize that the source of power in their life is the love of Christ which inspires and directs them. This is a style of power not of coercion but of empowerment of others.... It also connects to those at the margins of society who search for word of God’s love and justice.

- Letty M. Russell
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... it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

- Ecclesiastes 1:13-14

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As I wrote here last week, this year's Oscars, which take place on Sunday night, seem to have caught a cultural mood in cinema that's worthy of reflection – films that take ethical themes seriously are all jockeying for position, with the highest quality slate of Best Picture nominees in years. To my mind, the Academy Awards only matter inasmuch as they provide a snapshot of a cultural moment, and that they sometimes help decent but overlooked films reach a wider audience. And it is, of course, a valuable and often beautiful thing when artists recognize the achievements of other artists – in spite of the superficial glamour and absurd over-statement that often accompanies the ceremony.

So, in the spirit of gentle reminder that there are some pretty wonderful films out there, here are my predictions for what might happen on Sunday. (All made, of course, in the knowledge that false prophets put themselves at great risk – I trust readers will treat me with compassion for the categories where I am proven wrong!)

The Iraq war film No End in Sight is likely to take the documentary award, proving that at least some pop culture mavens have not forgotten that moral disaster. Julie Christie will probably win Best Actress for her work as an Alzheimer's sufferer in the tender Away from Her, although Marion Cotillard more than deserves the award for showing - with near preternatural incarnation - the irony of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, a woman known for singing about having no regrets, but who in reality suffered torments of almost biblical proportions.

While any one of the Best Picture nominees is worthy, (Juno's delicate and witty story of unplanned pregnancy - a likely Best Original Screenplay winner; Michael Clayton's puncturing of the myth of the moral neutrality of big business economics; Atonement's suggestion that it's title is impossible; There Will Be Blood's raging portrayal of greed), the Academy is likely to reward the Coen Brothers for career achievement by giving the statuette to No Country for Old Men – a film that has divided commenters on this blog between those who see it as a cry for a change of direction in a violent world, or simply a bleak vision that suggests human nature is irredeemable. However I still consider it to be one of the most humane cinematic treatments of violence I've ever seen. It also has the potential to provoke a serious discussion about just how to end the cycle of dog-eat-dog without resorting to the same methods. The fact that this discussion has been largely ignored, having been acclaimed by most critics merely on its entertainment merits, may be something that the Coen Brothers – who will share the Best Director award - themselves consider an ironic postscript. Their film, which is so profoundly aware of the damage that violence does, has been praised for the 'beauty' of its violence, and the only performance in it that will be recognized is Javier Bardem's chilling portrayal of a psychopath when he wins Best Supporting Actor. (Although even the brilliant Bardem agrees that Hal Holbrook should be winning for his performance in Into the Wild, his exceptionally tender essay of a sage Christian who has been too committed to self-discipline to actually allow his life to breathe reminded me of the deep value of respecting your elders. The Academy should take note and give him the award.)

Daniel Day-Lewis will win Best Actor for There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson's discordantly compelling near-opera of early 20th century greed; in which one man's lust for oil and another's pseudo-religious mania are shown to be two sides of a coin: the love of money as the root of all evil. There are of course echoes of our contemporary ways of expressing power, but this film is not an allegory – it's just a magnificently told story about how selfishness is at the heart of all sin; and Day-Lewis happens to be the strongest physical performer in movies today.

Meanwhile, rat-lovers and gourmands everywhere will go home happy when Ratatouille takes the Best Animated Film trophy – and while I know everybody praises this film til the sauce boils over, it really is that rare thing – a kids' film that works better for adults; and does more than bring a wry smile of delight to its audience. It actually reminds us that life could be better, and that sometimes it just takes a change of perspective to get us there. And from a - not purely ethnocentric - Irish perspective, I hope beyond hope that Once, my favourite film of last year, is recognized with a Best Song award. This film said something about modern relationships that reminded me of the possibility that, as Rowan Williams once wrote, no human face has no divine secret to reveal. Like I said, the Oscars are only important inasmuch as they indicate a cultural mood. On this evidence, the mood looks like the marriage between a Hebrew Bible prophet and a hopeful comedian. And I suppose you could do worse than to live in that particular universe...

Gareth Higgins is a Christian writer and activist in Belfast, Northern Ireland. For the past decade he was the founder/director of the zero28 project, an initiative addressing questions of peace, justice, and culture. He is the author of the insightful How Movies Helped Save My Soul and blogs at www.godisnotelsewhere.blogspot.com. He is also one of the judges of this year's Beliefnet Film Awards, which seek to recognise the best films with spiritual themes. Find out more at http://www.beliefnet.com/bfa/

March 19 will be the fifth anniversary of the war with Iraq. In this season of Lent, we are called to lament and repent for an ongoing war that is being waged by our country, financed by our taxes, and fought by our brothers and sisters. After five years, we all lament the suffering and violence in Iraq. We mourn the nearly 4,000 Americans who have lost their lives, the tens of thousands wounded in body and mind, and the unknown hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died.

Recent U.S. claims of modest security gains in certain sectors of Iraq do not justify extending the U.S occupation - especially when five years of occupation has not produced the political reconciliation necessary for real security and stability. The fragile security improvements are not sustainable without a political solution, which is simply not forthcoming. And without a clear path to political progress, we will simply see more of the same failed strategy and a scenario of American occupation in the midst of bloody sectarian warfare with absolutely no end in sight—and with a real prospect of compounding the tragedy by attacking Iran as well.

On this anniversary, we should all repent for America's actions. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said about the war in Vietnam: "How can I pray when I have on my conscience the awareness that I am co-responsible for the death of innocent people in Vietnam? In a free society, some are guilty, all are responsible." It is a good lesson for those of us who oppose the war – it is still funded by our tax dollars and supported by our elected leaders. That is a responsibility for which we all must repent.

But repentance means more than just being sorry. It means both admitting that the course we have been on is wrong and committing to begin walking in a new direction. Repentance has to do with transformation, and that's exactly what the American church needs to break out of its conformity to the American government's foreign policy of fear and war. We must pursue our future foreign policy in ways that are consistent with moral principles, wise political judgments, and international law - rejecting unilateral preemptive wars for multilateral cooperation. We need a new definition of our national security. There is a better way. The global church feels it, and the world is hungry for it.

Given how important the issues of Iraq, Iran, and U.S. foreign policy will be in the 2008 elections, there is no better time than now for U.S. churches to offer words and acts of repentance for their misguided and misleading support for America's mistakes. It's finally time for the American churches to find their voice for Jesus' way of peacemaking and to demonstrate—in matters of war, peace, and the critical area of conflict resolution—just who we belong to.

For the next four weeks, God's Politics will be featuring posts from a variety of voices on Iraq. We'll hear from Iraqis, U.S. veterans and parents, Christians from other countries, pastors, and peacemakers - all reflecting on the cost of the war. Together, we can dedicate ourselves to a world where war is not the answer.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

- Matthew 23:27-28

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Because of the secularization of modern society, “fasting” (if it is done at all) is usually motivated either by vanity or by the desire for power. That is not to say that those forms of “fasting” are wrong necessarily, but their objective is different from the fasting described in Scripture. Biblical fasting always centers on spiritual purposes.

Richard Foster
Celebration of Discipline

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God is doing something new through a new generation of conspirators. They are comprised by at least four streams: emerging, missional, multicultural, and monastic. You can read about what God is doing through a new generation of innovators in The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time.

The emerging stream had its beginnings with young leaders in Britain who wanted to create new ways to engage a postmodern generation. They have fashioned a range of imaginative new expressions - from cafes to art centers - that engage those that would never come to a traditional church. You can find a large number of emerging leaders all over the U.S. struggling to create new forms of church. They are connected to groups like Emergent Village, Soularize, and Youth Specialities.

There are a few theologians who question the biblical orthodoxy of some of these leaders. The emerging leaders I have had an opportunity to work with have a very high view of scripture. But they tend to approach scripture more as narrative - story and mystery with a welcome humility.

There are three major characteristics that impress me about the emerging stream that come directly out of their commitment to scripture:

First, they are not only concerned about orthodoxy but orthopraxy. They are interested in seeing a more authentic whole life faith than is often found in established. They are keen to see a faith that impacts every aspect of their lives and lifestyles.

Second, they want to be involved in expressions of church in which word and deed mission is central, not marginal. As a consequence, many emerging churches are often more outwardly focused on the lives and communities in which they serve.

Third, even though many of these young leaders come from evangelical roots, they have left the ideologies of the religious right and political right behind and have started doing their own thinking. As a consequence, they tend to embrace views that transcend right and left. They value family integrity and care for the vulnerable, but also are typically strong advocates of social justice and care of creation.

Next week: the missional stream.

Tom Sine founded Mustard Seed Associates in 1989. He has worked as a consultant in futures research and planning for numerous nonprofit organizations and speaks at gatherings all over the world with his wife, Christine. His newest book, The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time, comes out next month. Join the New Conspirators, Feb. 28-29 and Mar. 1 at Bethany Community Church in Seattle and discover what God is doing through a new generation of risk takers. Join this festival of imagination and create new ways to be a difference in uncertain times: www.thenewconspirators.wordpress.com

It's true: the religious radio/TV waves are still pretty crowded with 24/7 programming that proclaims a less-than-integral understanding of the Christian gospel and its social implications. But on the bookshelves, thankfully, it's a different story.

Another recent treasure is E.J. Dionne's Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right. I recently participated in an online discussion of the book at TPMCafe ... you can read part one and part two of my contributions - as well as posts by E.J., Alexia Kelley, and others. The comments are enlightening (and occasionally a little disturbing) as well.

Good books like this one and other recent releases announced on this blog ... along with associated online discussions and interactive regional gatherings - not to mention the important one-to-one conversations they stimulate at dinner tables, coffee shops, and water coolers - are waking up more and more of us churchly folk to the deeper and broader implications of the Christian gospel. Jim may be right: we may indeed soon have a great awakening on our hands, inspiring followers of Christ to "works of faith and labors of love and endurance in hope" (I Thessalonians 1:3) - all for the common good.

Brian McLaren (brianmclaren.net) is board chair for Sojourners. Click here to see some of his video blogs, and learn about his Everything Must Change tour at deepshift.org.

In March, just prior to the fifth anniversary of the war of terror in Iraq, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will be shaking the dust off a decades-old heritage of accountability and oversight in combat by its participants. The independent media has already reported that the gathering will focus on war crimes and atrocities; that my brethren and I plan to focus on describing gross moral negligence and criminal contempt on the part of our commanders and other leaders. While I cannot speak for the more than 75 veterans who will share their experiences during the weekend, not every vet shares those convictions.

My brothers at arms while in Iraq were largely respectable and law-abiding, and I am honored to have served with them. Of the few outright violations of international or moral law, each instance displayed a clear lapse in their character, and were quickly corrected and dealt with judiciously. At every rare opportunity, we provided relief and assistance to Iraqis and other nationals, even other combatants. I was then, and remain to this day, relieved that vigilante justice was rarely dolled out to hostile forces. My deployment to Iraq was an experience in patience and a lesson in humility (though it should be noted that not all veterans of OIF share my optimistic hindsight).

The question, then, is why are we testifying and what do we have to say if not merely to indict higher leadership?

As I have already stated, I am not concerned with war crimes and atrocities because it is my experience that the war itself is criminal and atrocious. An atmosphere of disregard to both the rule of law and the rule of the Lord pervades our society - corroding our collective consciousness and dislocating our moral center. Furthermore, I am only minimally concerned with legality, since it is too often relative and victim to misinterpretation (everything Hitler did in Germany was legally sanctioned, horrifically reminiscent of our own national leaders' ethical dyslexia). In my six years, no unit I came in contact with was briefed on the Law of Land Warfare (Army Field Manual 27-10) or the implications of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (ratified into US Law in 1959). Despite my own unit's best efforts, we could not de-criminalize the occupation in the eyes of the oppressed (which was our mission; "to win hearts and minds"). No amount of Iraqi Dinars or "As-salaam alaykums" could undo the harm our nation had caused its neighbors.

What does compel me to testify, however, is diakonia. As a soldier, it was my duty to serve the greater good. Selfless service is one of the core Army values, as well as a core discipline of Christian practice. Upon entering both the Church and the military, I made comparable covenants of obedience and submission.

Where the two allegiances intertwine, I have submitted to both Church and state. Where they have been mutually exclusive, I have obeyed God rather than men. In IVAW's Winter Soldier hearings, I have once again found that the two allegiances converge.

I, for one, am testifying in an effort to serve my country as well as the Church, to illuminate the injustice of this war based on my personal experience and reflection. For too long, I have let my heart harden and grow brittle, the painful emotions that could help heal me growing decrepit with neglect. Not long ago, I shared a bit of them here, but it has come time to really grapple with the demons and angels within me. My motivations for testifying are not unlike communion - where many of us take bread and drink wine (or grape juice) to remind us that Christ shared Himself with us; that we are not just to remember His sacrifice, but also to allow it to transform us. In the same way, I feel communion amongst us and within our communities must include not only the body and blood of Christ, but our own being as well. We are called to lives of interdependence, to lives of sharing and koinonia not unlike our communion with Him. It is in this light, and with this hope, that I will be testifying in March. It will difficult. It will be painful. However, I hope that this service, our testimony, may fuel the transformation of our country, our communities, and our Church. As precarious a path I am compelled to forge between patriotism and piety, I pray it may serve not only our fellow citizens, but the people of Iraq. After all, we ARE our brothers' and sisters' keepers.

Logan Laituri is a six-year Army veteran with combatant service in Iraq during OIF II and experience with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Israel and the West Bank. He is an active member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and currently resides in Camden, New Jersey, in an intentional Christian community called Camden House, where he continues to seek ways to wage peace wherever he goes. He blogs at courageouscoward.blogspot.com.

The responsibility for war rests not only with those who directly
cause war, but also with those who do not do everything in their
power to prevent it.

- Pope John Paul II
Catholic Relief Services: the Beginning Years by Eileen Egan (NY: Catholic Relief Services, 1988), pp. 155-156

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The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness--
on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

- Isaiah 9:2-6

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Emergents seek a theological rationale for their political engagement. The thing is, that rationale varies from issue to issue, which makes the emergents an infuriatingly moving target for those with more traditional political viewpoints. For instance, the Christian speaker Len Sweet, a longtime friend of Emergent, recently spoke out against the movement in Relevant magazine, saying:

We got to this point in the '70s where you could not tell the difference between the Democratic Party platform and the Church's portrayal of the Kingdom of God. I think that any intrusion of Christianity into politics—whether right or left—is ugly. So I don't see Jesus as coming with a political agenda. Yes, there are radical social and economic consequences to His message, but to claim that Jesus' message was a political one [is incorrect]. It's Jim Wallis's evangelical updating of the Social Gospel movement, or liberalism's liberation theology of the '70s and '80s.

In the article, Sweet charges that emergent Christians are nothing but the New Christian Left, based primarily, it seems, on Brian McLaren's increasingly political writings. But to those inside Emergent, the criticism missed the mark, as do the protestations of the lefties when emergents don't play by their rules either. For gathered around the Emergent table are Republicans and Democrats, pro-lifers and pro-choicers, laissez-faire free-market capitalists and communitarian socialists. There is no ideological requirement to join, just a shared commitment to robust, theological dialogue about issues that matter.

And surely, most emergents vehemently disagree with Sweet's claim that Jesus' message was apolitical. This school of thought—that Jesus was interested in the kingdom of God, not in the machinations of human politics—is not shared by emergents. The emergents are activists—even political activists—just not in the conventional sense. If "politics" means the way that human beings collectively make things happen, then this supremely interested Jesus.

But where Sweet is right is to claim that Jesus was not co-opted by any of the political parties of his day. Emergents have grown up in the dire shadow of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, who too closely allied with the Republicans in the 1980s and 1990s. From the emergent perspective, this partnership was a match made in hell, a marriage in which one partner (the Republican Party) will inevitably corrupt the other (the Christian Right). Thus in my travels, many emergents have expressed to me great hesitation about the building momentum of leftward or progressive groups (such as Tikkun magazine, Sojourners/Call to Renewal, and FaithfulDemocrats.org). Their fear is that these groups will make the same mistakes that their conservative brethren did 30 years ago: lose their independence by aligning with a political party. Politics is a dirty business, which is why political scientists refer to the compromises required as the "theory of dirty hands." In other words, for politics to work in a liberal democracy, elected officials cannot stand unbudgingly on principle. To get things done—like getting legislation passed—politicians have to compromise. That's just how it works.

But this very compromise has drawn the ire of Stanley Hauerwas, dubbed by Time magazine as America's most influential theologian (and known by many as the theologian with the saltiest tongue). Looking back on the 20th century, Hauerwas is supremely disheartened by the compromises of his coreligionists. The American mainline—Hauerwas is a Methodist—forsook many of their distinctives in order to have influence in society. Many flowery prayers have opened the session of the U.S. Senate as a result, but the radical and liberating gospel got lost. Hauerwas and his legion of acolytes respond by saying that Christians operate according to a rationality and language that is mutually exclusive from the compromises required in a democracy. Hauerwas himself has gone so far as to say that Christians should not run for political office.

While the Hauerwasian position appeals to many emergents, others find it an overreaction and agree with the Princeton University philosopher Jeffrey Stout, who charges Hauerwas with creating a "Christian enclave theory." Emergents seem stuck in a no-man's-land: on the one hand, they're committed to a deep, political engagement in American society, but on the other hand, they vow not to be co-opted by a political party. This is driven both by the belief that the national parties are ultimately concerned with self-perpetuation (not a gospel value) and by the clear inference in the Gospels that Jesus remained independent from all of the political parties of the day: the Essenes, Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, and Herodians all appear on the biblical stage, yet Jesus identifies with none of them. The one thing predictable about Jesus' interactions with the powers that be: he was predictably unpredictable.

Consequently, emergents are looking for a couple of things. First, they're intent on finding and supporting politicians who will change the political landscape, those who will resist doing business as usual. This may not differ appreciably from many politically engaged Americans, but the emergents may be the generation of Christians to represent a critical mass, a tipping point to upset the political apple cart. Second, emergents will look at political engagement as an art rather than a science. Therefore, they will artfully look for points of intersection and moments of potential cooperation with politicians on both sides of the aisle. The junctures of the gospel and political engagement are myriad, and they will surely not line up exclusively with the ideology of one political party. But the independence of emergents does not preclude activism. In fact, it begets activism.


Tony Jones is the national coordinator of Emergent Village. This post is excerpted from his new book, The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier.  In the book, Tony gives an insider's view of the emergent church movement and an analysis of American Christianity as a whole.

What about the mosaic revival is comforting? As a Latino evangelical leader, one of the things I am asking is moving beyond polarization. In this mosaic revival, we know that though politics is not the whole solution, it will be a vital part. We need the nexus of clergy, good government, activists, entrepreneurs, moms and dads, educators, etc. As a Christian who is part of the mosaic revival, I cling to one thing: my commitment is to Christ and the gospel first, not to any political party. As a citizen who values justice, my commitment is to justice first and not any political party. In the mosaic revival, we reserve the right to criticize any party that violates and oppresses the least of these. That list is a long one (not exhaustive):

· people oppressed by poverty all over the world,
· the educationally deprived,
· unborn babies,
· mothers who are left without quality care for newborns,
· victims in Darfur, Rwanda,
· those who are impacted by AIDS/HIV,
· a planet with ecological challenges,
· abused woman and children,
· victims of violence in urban centers and college campuses,
· indigenous and immigrant groups that are displaced or marginalized.

The mosaic revival says this is beyond the Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. The kaleidoscope convention says, "How can we respond in ethical and nuanced ways to these global crises?"

Before I was a pastor, I was a Pentecostal evangelist that spoke to thousands of young people in revivals across the U.S. and Latin America. I think I hear them more clearly now than I ever did before. They're saying what I heard Jim Wallis say a month ago in New York: "How do we speak to two great hungers, spiritual revival and social justice?" The mosaic revival, or "awakening" as Jim may say it, says we understand Wilberforce, Charles Finney, Mother Teresa and Marting Luther King Jr., just to name a few heroes. Our commitment is to speak pastorally and prophetically to our nation and the world. We also recognize, as Christians, that we cannot do it alone. There is a deep mystical and spiritual element to this work.

On Tuesday, Feb. 12, Bishop John Gimenez left to be with the Lord. He was the pastor of the Rock Church in Virginia and a respected leader in the Latino evangelical community. Like my father, he was a former heroin junkie who had a radical conversion experience. I met Bishop John several years ago in New York at Bishop Luciano Padilla Jr.'s church. Although ideologically we were not always in 100 percent agreement, the bishop said to me something I'll never forget: "Believe the gospel can transform and let God work through it and you to change the world."

So when I'm asked, "What gives you the right to speak as a Latino evangelical? My response is, "The gospel mandate and the call of Jesus in Luke 4 as he quoted from the prophet Isaiah." The mosaic revival is not about blue or red states or liberal or conservative. It is, in the words of Gandhi, "Being the change you want to see in the world." Miguel de Unamuno, the Spanish poet said it best, "If not you, who? If not now, when?" The mosaic revival says always put the gospel (as a Christian) and your fundamental commitments to justice (as a citizen, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, secular, etc.,) ahead of partisanship.

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 Sojourners board member.

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Jesus had a remarkable way of being a friend to every person he met. We sense in him the ability to welcome the stranger, to find the hidden gift in those others called sinners, to strengthen the ability of the loving to love more. He loved some by confronting them with the ways in which they were unloving and exploitative of others. He challenged the hypocritical in those who made it their right to judge others with constant reminders that we not only must not but cannot judge another. He found important ways to invite all to discover and cherish the lovable in themselves.

- Paula Ripple
Called to Be Friends

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And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

- Matthew 6:5-6

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I once asked a fellow Minnesotan why he voted for former professional wrestler, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, for governor in 1998. He said, "It was my way of giving the finger to the Democrats and the Republicans."

There's a growing sense among emergents that the polarization in U.S. politics isn't real—it's a script written by the two political parties and the U.S. media. They wrote this script and they perpetuate it because they have the most to gain from its perpetuation. The unnuanced maps showing states as "red" or "blue" disregards the fact that in a red state, as many as 49 percent of the voters are blue, and vice versa.

But even more important, it ignores what we all know to be true: each one of us is a complex mélange of viewpoints and opinions, and very few of us line up with every plank in a party's platform. Being that postmodern Christians are acutely aware of micronarratives and justifiably incredulous toward metanarratives, they are particularly suspicious of the spokespersons of left and right who often begin their pufferies with "Americans believe . . ." But having two sides makes for good television; have six nuanced positions does not.

From a theoretical point of view, both the good and the bad of our democracy in its present state seem to be driven by the concept of unalienable, individual human rights. Dubbed as believable as "witches and unicorns" by the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, the modern version of individual rights was invented by John Locke (1632–1704) and written into the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution by Thomas Jefferson and his posse. Carried into the modern world by the French and American revolutions, individual rights became the foundation of liberal democracy, clearly the most robust and equitable of all systems of government yet conceived. And although it happened more slowly than many people would have liked, the concept of individual rights brought about great goods like ending government-backed slavery, women's suffrage, and the civil rights movement.

However, it is also responsible for some serious ills, including the rampant consumerism ("You deserve that new iPod!") that has led to the average U.S. adult carrying a credit card balance of $8,000. And, it seems, the premise of individual rights means that some arguments just aren't winnable - the rights of the mother versus the rights of the unborn child; my right to define "marriage" versus your right to define "marriage." For all its achievements, the shortcomings of social contract theory are now in view.

Emergents don't have a problem with Lockean individual rights per se - their problem is with the fact that unalienable, individual rights is not a biblical-theological virtue. The Bible's call is not to protect the self but to sacrifice the self. Jesus says clearly to his followers, "Drop everything and follow me. ... Let the dead bury their own dead. ... Sell everything you own, give the money to the poor, and follow me. ... Take up your cross daily." An anecdote that corroborates this is supplied by the Roman Catholic spiritual leader Brennan Manning. Years ago, he asked his Jewish friend and poet Shel Silverstein what Jesus meant to him. Silverstein responded a few weeks later when he gave Manning The Giving Tree, now a perpetual best-seller in children's literature. In the simple story, a tree literally gives his life, piece by piece, to a boy as he becomes a man. It's beautiful and poignant, and it represents the self-sacrifice at the center of Jesus' life.

To that, the Apostle Paul adds a score of exhortations to self-control, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Supplement this with the fact that every word of the Hebrew and Christian scripture was written to human beings living in community (the nation of Israel in the former, the early church in the latter), and it becomes untenable for a Christian to base her life on the philosophy that "it's all about me and my rights."

Tony Jones is the national coordinator of Emergent Village. This post is excerpted from his new book, The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier.  In the book, Tony gives and insider's view of the emergent church movement and an analysis of American Christianity as a whole. 

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The Bush administration wants Congress to sign off on an administration-negotiated trade agreement with Colombia, alleging that to do otherwise is, as one analyst put it, to "turn our back on our friends." But with friends like this, Colombia really doesn't need enemies. Consider:

Friends don't let friends murder labor unionists. More thantwo hundred people were killed in Colombia from 2004-2006 alone just for joining or working for trade unions, and the government hasn't put a stop to the problem. The Bush-negotiated trade agreement offers some labor protections in theory – but enforcement is left entirely up to the very Colombian government that has failed to deal with the labor unionist murders.

Also not so friendly: displacing large numbers of farmers in a country already wracked with a civil war and narco-trafficking. By exposing small farmers to competition with the machine-, fuel-, and subsidy-intensive farms of the U.S., NAFTA took away the livelihood of more than a million Mexican small farmers. Those folks had some chance of finding factory work in Mexican cities or undocumented service-sector jobs in the U.S.; in Colombia, economic need will force many into the right-wing paramilitaries or left-wing FARC, both of whom violate human rights and profit from the drug trade.

But wait, there's more! In addition to hurting farmers and fuelling drug trafficking and the civil war, the trade agreement would also hurt the environment, encourage bio-piracy, help displace indigenous people and Afro-Colombians, and hinder access to lifesaving medicines.

P.S. Oh, and there's also this:

Noting that Colombian goods already flow freely to the U.S. under the Andean trade promotion agreement, [U.S. officials] say any economic impact is likely to be in the U.S.'s favor, since American goods would enter Colombia freely under an FTA.

Elizabeth Palmberg is an assistant editor for Sojourners.

In the 2008 election, "change" has emerged as the new catch-all buzzword. I reported on the God's Politics blog a few of the positive signs of social change I've been observing recently as a religious satirist. When I was interviewed in a recent Living Church article profiling emerging churches, I quoted Diana Butler Bass' astute observations that "she finds vitality and growth in those mainline churches who are mining the resources of their tradition while tapping into a global spirit that infuses religion, politics and the culture at large, transcending organizations and individuals."

Lately, I am noticing a number of emergent church leaders who have interpreted this spiritual sea change by endorsing a particular candidate. While one can say that emergent is a conversation, once you are seen as a published author/pastor/spokesman of any religious enterprise, your words carry weight when uttered in any public forum, be it book or blog.

Something in my bones tells me we're on the precipice of a slippery slope where before we know it, certain groups will be perceived as political pawns. When I was researching my dysfunctional family tree I learned I'm a direct descendent of Rev. Roger Williams, the founder of the state of Rhode Island and a champion of religious freedom. The more I delve into my 12th and 13th great-grandfather's work, I realize we're very similar souls.

So perhaps Williams' writings can provide some added perspective here. Despite constant threats of persecution, book burnings, and other means of oppression employed by the crown, he continued to advocate for the preservation of "soul liberty," a term that means that neither the state nor the church can judge anyone's conscience regardless of their religious beliefs. According to Williams, individual conscience must be free from the tyranny of the majority. As he noted, state sponsorship of religion would yield an unhappy situation wherein "the whole world must rule and govern the Church." The merger of church and state remains "opposite to the souls of all men who by persecutions are ravished into a dissembled worship which their hearts embrace not." 

So we don't all get seasick during this sea change, perhaps we should all we heed Williams' wisdom. So, what role should those seen as religious leaders and spokespersons assume during the 2008 presidential election? Should they express their presidential preferences in public forums like blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace? And on a more personal level, what if a church elder wants to wear a campaign button or T-shirt to the church picnic? How do we walk this fine line between preserving the right to free speech versus the need for the church and those seen as her leaders to be prophetic voices and not political pawns?

This bantering by all the candidates claiming to be the champion of change brings to mind previous campaign slogans such as "Compassionate Conservatism," "Putting People First," and "Kinder, Gentler Nation" that have been utilized to galvanize voters to rally behind a certain candidate. A quick run-through of the politics enacted during any president's term reveals that their rhetoric fell short of their results one they were in office and reality set in.

During the 2006 midterm elections, I commented on The Ooze how "this foolish quest to conform Christ's teachings to the whims of a particular political party has really started hitting the faith and it's been stinking up the local churches big time. I know Jesus was born in a barn but do churches have to smell like one as well? I dunno about you, but I think it's high time we started mucking out the stables." Tony Compolo's infamous quote about the mixing of church and politics should serve as a cautionary reminder here. "Evangelicalism getting wedded to any political party is like ice cream mixing with horse manure. It's not going to hurt the horse manure, but it sure will mess up the ice cream."

Becky Garrison explores how the church can be a prophetic voice without becoming a political pawn in her books The New Atheist Crusaders and Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church.

Who has not, at some time, been lonely in the midst of a social event? The feeling of our separation from the rest of life is most acute when we are surrounded by it in noise and talk. We realize then much more than in moments of solitude how strange we are t oeach other, how estrangede life is from life.... The walls of distance, in time and space, have been removed by technical progress; but the walls of estrangement between heart and heart have been incredibly strengthened

- Paul Tillich
The Shaking of the Foundations

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all. For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.

- Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

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This is part two of my reflections concerning Election 2008 and Generation X, Y, and next. As I said before, this is an exciting time in the national landscape. A revival is taking place that incorporates thousands of younger evangelicals with pioneers in the faith. This is a broad coalition of Moseses and Joshuas and Deborahs, to use biblical language. In my last posting here concerning the election in kaleidoscope, I received some e-mails, phone calls, and postings that demonstrate the need for this conversation.

The question is what does this Mosaic revival reveal? Simply, that we recognize that to promote real movement it will take a broad coalition across racial/ethnic, gender, generational, and denominational lines. Much has been rumored of the tension between black and brown or Asian and black voters. Other tensions have been pointed about differences between female and male voters or young and elderly voters. We're working for a new day. This revival is pleading for people of good will to change the national conversation screen to high-definition.

Let me be clear about some of the challenges to this mosaic in concrete election 2008 terms:

• Refusing to vote for Senator McCain because of his age (ageism);
• Refusing to vote for Senator Obama because of his race (racism).
• Refusing to vote for Senator Clinton because of her gender (sexism).
• Refusing to vote for Governors Romney or Huckabee because of their religion (sectarianism).
• Voting for them only because of any of these criteria presents its own myopia.

I vote for a candidate based on where they stand on the issues that most closely reflect Jesus' ethic of love of God and creation (this is a very long discussion worth having in another forum). I am hopeful that there is a new and creative conversation surging. In this new conversation, leaders in the Asian, Euro-American, Latino, Native-American, African-American, etc., communities are emphasizing the "ties that bind" and not the walls that separate.

In this new kaleidoscopic way of doing policy perhaps we should think of endorsements in another way. What candidates are endorsing policies that are mindful of this global and U.S. mosaic? In a politics-as-usual model, candidates exploit tensions—perceived or real—among demographics. This really needs to stop. A new kind of conversation seeks creative solutions that take particularity seriously but does away with the politics of animosity. There are signs of hope.

Recently, I've joined an organization called New York Faith and Justice and I've learned something about a new wave of voters. Two of the prominent leaders are an African American Cherokee Chickasaw woman, Lisa Sharon Harper, and a white evangelical man, Peter Heltzel. Lisa and Peter are an example of this emerging mosaic. They welcome my Latino perspective and continually want to be challenged and informed by it. Peter and Lisa are working hard to ensure that issues important to multiple constituencies are at the forefront of our city-wide and national dialogue.

Similarly, I've been working closely with Adam Taylor and Patty Kupfer of Sojourners on immigration reform issues. The conversation between this black man, white woman, and myself are a sign of the mosaic that represents the diversity of the kingdom of God. We don't always agree on everything, but we are committed to mutuality and respect and working on behalf of the beloved community - stated in Revelation 7:9 - "from every tribe, nation, people and language." These are signs of hopefulness that the presidential candidates need to heed. What is critical here is that there is not an attempt to assimilate but rather to keep unity while respecting diversity.

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 Sojourners board member.

When Kevin Rudd was elected prime minister of Australia, I wrote that he was a committed Catholic who was thinking about how to apply Catholic social teaching to public policy. This week, on the day after his swearing in as prime minister, in the first act of his new government, Rudd delivered a speech of apology to the aboriginal people as "Government business, motion number one." [Watch A historic speech]

He began,

I move, That today we honor the indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history. The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

Then, to "cheers and tears," he continued

We apologize especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities, and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants, and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

For Australia's aboriginal people, news reports called it a day for healing:

Aboriginal leaders who gathered in Canberra to hear today's apology have reacted with joy and relief at the long-overdue event. The co-chairwoman of the Stolen Generation Alliance, Christine King, said, "This has been a journey of all our people, so all voices have to be heard, all pain has to be acknowledged, all grief has to be shared and this is the way forward."

And, not being content only with words, the government and the opposition party agreed to form a joint "war cabinet" to develop policies that make the apology real. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Rudd "proposed the following tasks: to provide every indigenous four-year-old in a remote community with early childhood education within five years; to halve the gap between white and black Australia in literacy, numeracy, and literacy within a decade; to halve the infant mortality rates within a generation; and close the life expectancy gap."

I expected Kevin Rudd to be a new kind of political leader who seeks to practice moral politics. His initial act of apology for past wrongs begins to fulfill that hope and is a great start to his new government.

Who said:

"There still persists a macho mentality that ignores the novelty of Christianity, which recognizes and proclaims the equal dignity and responsibility of women with respect to men. There are certain places and cultures where women are discriminated against and undervalued just for the fact that they are women. In the face of such grave and persistent phenomena the commitment of Christians appears all the more urgent, so that they become everywhere the promoters of a culture that recognizes the dignity that belongs to women in law and in reality."

Was it:

a) Hillary Clinton
b) Jimmy Carter
c) Katharine Jefferts Schori
d) Pope Benedict XVI
e) Billy Graham

Click this link for the answer and full statement

Black and white, we waited like I had waited in the mosh pit for Rage Against the Machine two weeks earlier. Yet the main feature on this day, a day that so many had been waiting for, working for, praying for, was just one word: "Sorry."

Matty is one of the many awesome kids in our neighbourhood who don't mind that we are white and often hang out at our houses. As one kid put it, "it's not shame 'cause youse are different." (It must be the dreads.) Matty likes hip hop and reckons Jesus would love Aussie Rules footy (football). Matty just started his first year at high school and though it was a school day, this 13-year-old excitedly wanted me to pick him up before six in the morning so we could get to the Perth foreshore in time because, as Matty told me, "Mum reckons it's important for us."

I added, "I think it's really important for us wadjelas [white people] as well!"

Crammed at the sides of the thousands of people stacked into the "Music Box" before seven in the morning, the crowd was amazingly civil considering the wait: 200 plus years. The first hour of sun light shone through the gum leaves hitting us as we waited to watch Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd live from Australia's capital. Matty turned to me and said:

"This is history, unna?" ["This has made history, yeah?"]

I heard a number of people, both white and Black, who had been waiting for such a long time, say, "I don't know what to feel." I heard one aboriginal friend put it, "This is a day of celebration!" Yet another friend just down the street said: "I saw it on television and just cried. He's not like most them that are all talk no action. I couldn't stop crying. I just kept thinking of mum and my dad, my cousins. All ripped away from home and family."

She shared later, "things are different now." Somehow wrapped up in this one little word, "sorry," was a new future. This strong aboriginal woman, who I'm proud to call my friend, was saying that in this word a new day is possible for her people and our nation. In this word, grief can now find its energy in change rather than despair. The cries of mothers who have had their babies torn from their arms and stolen from their breast have finally reached the halls of government. And miraculously, government has started to repent from the legacy of racism and colonialism.

Yet Matty's question still hangs in the air: "This is history, unna?"

If we think a couple of speeches is going to solve a history of genocide and colonization or the reality that Indigenous Australians die 17 years earlier on average than the rest the country; or the poverty of remote indigenous communities in one of the richest countries on earth; or the fact that when I go into prisons in Australia I see white systemic sin expressed in black incarceration, my answer to Matty is, "no." A number of years back, the famous indigenous activist "Uncle Kev" Buzzacott told me while we were on a Peace Pilgrimage that, "It's recon-silly-ation if reconciliation talk doesn't come with justice for us."

Yet, if instead, "sorry" is a call to enact real reconciliation which is not seeking to appease one's guilt but seeking to put right the wrong we have done, my answer is, "yes." If "sorry" looks like the healing justice we see in Christ and experience in relationship with God, and have seen in the ministry of peacemakers like Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Bishop Desmond Tutu, and many others, my answer to Matty is, "yes."

By God's grace, maybe the call to action and healing which has started to flow out of Sorry Day can be an icon for the church to hear how the cross and the empowerment of grace is a call to active witness to the ministry of reconciliation that is ours in Christ. I think on Sorry Day I heard afresh from the empty tomb the whisper of the Holy Spirit in the words of a 13-year-old Indigenous boy asking if my life witnessed too:

"This is history unna?"

Jarrod McKenna is seeking to live God's love. He's a co-founder of the Peace Tree Christian Commune serving the marginalized in one of the poorest of areas in his city, and is the founder and creative director of Empowering Peacemakers (EPYC), for which he has received an Australian peace award in his work for peace and (eco)justice.

The dance is a symbol of the universal order and can be compared with the dance of the stars. For prayer is a spiritual dance.... God leads the ring dance of the heavenly bodies. God leads inside the ring.

- Raffaello delle Colombe
(1622)

Many peoples shall come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths."
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.

- Isaiah 2:3-4

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Without question the 2008 election is a historic time. Much has been said about the momentous nature of this presidential election. A woman, an African American, and a Latino were all trying to make history, albeit on one side of the political aisle. This moment in U.S. history should not be understated. As a Latino evangelical leader, I've been watching this election closely. It's an excellent time to talk about national voting in terms of a kaleidoscope. As a man who grew up in poor urban neighborhood in New Jersey and today pastors a multiethnic congregation in New York, I recognize the fragile nature of these conversations. Despite the complexity of this conversation, this election is an opportune moment to engage this much needed dialogue. The mixed legacy of race relations in the U.S. demands a broader conversation. In the 21st century, where many watch television in high-definition, national politics must be done in technicolor.

Everyone knows there is a Latino boom in the U.S. We are no longer, to paraphrase Black novelist, Ralph Ellison, The Invisible People. By most accounts, Latinos are the nation's fastest growing minority group. About 15 percent of the U.S. population—more than 45 million people—are of Hispanic descent. Although Hispanics are under 10 percent of the U.S. electorate, the Hispanic electorate looms large in several "swing states." According to a Pew Hispanic Center report, Hispanics make up 14 percent of the electorate in Florida, 12 percent in Nevada and Colorado, and 37 percent in New Mexico. There is no mystery to why both parties held Spanish-language debates on Univision. Latinos and Latinas matter.

This Latino(a) demographic boom is not bad news, nor as some might erroneously argue, an ominous sign of an invasion. Still, we cannot ignore the racism that still exists in many communities, Latinos included. Growing up in the "projects" I saw this happen too often. The urban plight often caused Blacks, poor Whites, and Latinos to struggle for resources. Regrettably, there is still a tendency by some in the media, politics, and culture to make the Latino population explosion a menacing sign. My response: scapegoating is not an option. It's time to change the channel to high-definition technicolor and create new solutions. Let's move into a sophisticated conversation that listens to all voices respectfully.

Any candidate that ignores the Latino evangelical electorates is making a serious mistake. Any leader, religious or political, that assumes how Latinos or evangelicals should vote by arguing that one party is the Christian or evangelical party is not speaking the language of the technicolor revival. There is a shift going on among evangelicals, and the more than 8 million Latino evangelicals cannot be easily politically pigeon-holed. Latino evangelicals are seeking an inclusive and broad coalition for social justice that values them at the table. Immigration, HIV/AIDS, issues concerning life, housing, healthcare, genocide, urban ecology, and education are all on their list of priorities. No candidate in 2008 can assume they know how Latino evangelicals will vote.

"Evangelical" and "Latino" need not equal Democrat, Republican, or Independent. This is about a movement that transcends the 2008 election - but will certainly influence it. We seek the beloved community, biblical justice, and the political genius that elevates the national conversation and transcends racial-ethnic divides and partisanship.

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 Sojourners board member.

Tuesday night, I spoke at the historic Park Street Church in Boston, where the second Great Awakening evangelist Charles Finney preached in 1831, calling people to faith in Jesus Christ and then to enlist in the anti-slavery campaign. William Lloyd Garrison delivered his first abolitionist speech here when he was only 23 years old. I was facing a packed church on a Tuesday night, full of 600 20-something evangelicals who want to be a generation of new abolitionists - focusing on the most vulnerable in our world, those suffering people whom they think Jesus would care about. The sense of history and the possibilities of this moment were palpable. Several other constituencies were also there—and you could feel the energy of a movement.

That's what this Great Awakening book tour has been like. It's a book for a movement. Many of you have supported the new book and, by doing so, are supporting a movement. Enough of you bought The Great Awakening in the first two weeks to put us on The New York Times Best Seller List. This puts the book in the front of book stores across the country where, of course, more people see it, buy it, and read it. Thank you. This is a book that is helping to spark and support a revival movement that could change big things.

When you buy your own copy of The Great Awakening in these first few weeks, and then buy it for friends and family, fellow church members and neighbors, you literally help spread the message and the movement. Go to Amazon and see part of the proceeds from your book purchase go to Sojourners or to your local Barnes and Noble, Borders, or your favorite local independent book store.

Several people have already told me that they are starting book studies in their congregations and communities. They asked me if there was a downloadable study guide for small groups. I told them that we already have one—a free study guide for book study groups. Take the book to your congregation or meet up with others in your community to begin a Great Awakening Study Group. Make it a Lenten study book, or an Easter book study, or a discussion group focused on what people can practically do in their own families or congregations to influence public policy.

And while you're at it, support the other "movement books" that are out now—Tony Campolo's Red Letter Christians, Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change, Amy Sullivan's The Party Faithful, E.J. Dionne's Souled Out, and Shane Claiborne's Jesus for President (coming soon). These are all progressive Christian "movement books," and we are blessed to have so many out there now. What a change from just a few years ago! I've read them all and can heartily recommend them as very important books for a movement. Please support them all.

We see the conservative movement strategically support their movement books all the time and put their spokespeople on the best-seller lists and onto the talk shows non-stop. There is no other way to explain how people like Ann Coulter keep getting the microphone to say such outrageous things. A string of six bestsellers that all spew venom against liberals keeps Coulter on the air. So it's a good thing to see progressive Christians supporting our own movement books.

I am on the road now, visiting 22 cities in six weeks. And our Sojourners staff told me yesterday that I had just completed my 80^th media interview in the past three weeks. I wasn't really tired until I heard that! So please keep me in your prayers.

Reporters used to say to me, "So you are a progressive evangelical; isn't that a misnomer?" Now the misnomer has become a movement. And just this morning, a highly rated drive-time talk show host on the East Coast asked me to tell him about this new progressive Christian movement.

Something is clearly happening across this nation and it is very exciting indeed. But your support for this new book and for these book events when we come to your city is absolutely critical. Go to the Great Awakening Web site that our staff has prepared to see what other people are saying about the book, or to download the study guide for your book study group. And follow the hopeful stories from our book tour and reports from the road on our God's Politics blog. It's a great time to start a Great Awakening study group in your church or community and bring the movement home.

I believe that a genuine revival is coming and a that new great awakening may soon be here. God is good.

God’s love sets me free to enter into community with other people—even when the community is a very limited one and is not the total communion that my heart desires. Only when I live in communion with God can I live in a community that is not perfect. Only then can I love the other person and create a space in which we might be quite distant or very close, but we can still allow something new to be born—a child, friendship, joy, community, a space where strangers and guests can be received.

- Henri Nouwen
Lecture at Scarritt-Bennett Center

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and he said to them, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.

- Acts 10:28-28

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The Oscars are a little under two weeks from now - with the threat of the writer's strike leading to an unexpected interruption of one of the most surreal nights of the pop culture year now gone. Rich and famous folk slapping each other on the back, handing out gold statuettes for works of art that many of us haven't seen. It has always surprised me how the winning speeches rarely seem to mention the films that have led to their success – family members, agents, even pets get name-checked – but few awardees talk about the feelings the film may have stirred in the audience. It's as if the heady emotions that are caused at the cinema are too … human … to talk about at something so tawdry as an awards ceremony. Just imagine Jack Nicholson or Nicole Kidman or Will Ferrell discoursing on questions such as the power dynamics in The Godfather, or the sense of loss in American Beauty, or the hope exemplified in Magnolia on the Kodak Theatre stage, and you'll get the picture.

But every now and then, of course, we get the kind of standout moment exemplified by Michael Moore's none-too-subtle attempt at culturally impeaching the president by invoking both the Dixie Chicks and Pope John Paul II at the red-carpetless ceremony that took place just a few days after the war in Iraq began in 2003. In spite of its clunkiness, here at least was a sincere stab at using one of the biggest platforms on earth to make a difference for the common good.

The interesting thing this year is that the films speak for themselves as ethical statements. Each of the five Best Picture nominees represents a high quality attempt at exploring a question of morality, and each takes its purpose seriously enough to propose a response that could stand alongside the kind of ethical positions people who seek to embody progressive spirituality might take.

Michael Clayton is a David and Goliath story about one flawed individual's refusal to continue to be complicit in injustice on a massive scale – and manages to show just how much it costs to stand up for what is right - although it's always better to be poor on the outside than the other way round.

No Country for Old Men pictures a world in which kindness is not enough to defeat darkness, and where evil indulges itself relentlessly; but has an ending that, while oblique, may actually be teaching the audience something very profound about the nature of human relationships and the abuse of power.

Juno is that rare thing – a liberal pro-life comedy, in which the families are honest and loving but don't feel like stereotypes.

Atonement, a remarkably accomplished film, does not offer much hope for those who wish to make peace with the past, and bleakly presents a vision of the world where its title is impossible.

And There Will Be Blood is a unique piece of cinema – illustrating a crisis at the intersection of greed and passion, money and family, religion and oil.

Who wins doesn't much matter to me (well, except for my hope that Marion Cotillard's almost preternatural embodiment of Edith Piaf in La vie en Rose is rewarded, given that, in my book, it's one of the finest pieces of acting I've ever seen), as long as films such as these find a wider audience. Paul Tillich wrote that the church should provide an 'answering theology' – that is, it should seek to answer the questions that society is asking. This year, the movies seem to have got there before the church; and it may well be that the Oscars seem to have found the moral pulse of our society.

Gareth Higgins is a Christian writer and activist in Belfast, Northern Ireland. For the past decade he was the founder/director of the zero28 project, an initiative addressing questions of peace, justice, and culture. He is the author of the insightful How Movies Helped Save My Soul and blogs at www.godisnotelsewhere.blogspot.com

Running interference for genocide is not an Olympic sport. And now Nobel laureates such as Shirin Ebadi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are joining with former Beijing 2008 Olympic Games artistic advisor Stephen Spielberg to say just that to China, which has repeatedly used its diplomatic and economic clout to shelter its oil supplier Sudan. China's support has emboldened the regime in Khartoum to keep up its policy of genocide in Darfur.

Pressure on China can work – last year it caused China to pressure their pals in Khartoum to agree to U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur. But then China backed off, and now Khartoum is doing all it can to undermine the U.N. mission – for example, by saying the peacekeepers can't work after dark. Also, by having the Sudanese military shoot at them.

Khartoum has been shamelessly trying to claim that Darfur is home only to a civil war, not a genocide – but that doesn't explain the government's arming proxy militias to kill, rape, or displace millions of civilians. It doesn't explain why Khartoum recently appointed the documented genocide leader Musa Hilal, whom Human Rights Watch calls "the poster child for Janjaweed atrocities in Darfur," to a high government position.

Khartoum's recent progress towards destabilizing its neighbor Chad is an aggravation of the problem, not an excuse (Chad's government is no beacon of democracy, but it's not responsible for mass murder).

I'm definitely not suggesting that spectators boycott the Olympics, which would be a disservice to hardworking athletes. I'm saying that the world must use the international spotlight of the games to shame China into helping solve, rather than enable, the crisis in Darfur. Spielberg's withdrawal from helping to plan the games' opening and closing ceremonies is a perfect example – it sends a message without harming the athletes' chance to compete. Many athletes are considering using victory speeches to send a similar message of solidarity with the victims in Darfur.

If you were planning to go to the Olympics this summer, by all means do – just wear a Save Darfur t-shirt. And anytime you can, be sure to tell anyone you can how much the Olympic athletes' spirit of international cooperation contrasts with China's shameful defense of Khartoum.

The rest of us shouldn't wait for this summer to keep building the pressure on the U.S. government to use real economic, political, and diplomatic force on Khartoum.

Elizabeth Palmberg is an assistant editor of Sojourners.

...I pledged to stay away from this site for a couple of weeks to see if the discussion could possibly turn more civil and not be dominated by one person. Since I had a half hour to kill before leaving for the evening, I broke my pledge (weakness on my part) and checked the most recent blog on sojo.net just to see if anything at all had changed. Regretably, if this one blog is any indication, it's only gotten worse. When will I learn??? If I make another comment before February 20th, please have the moderator ban me for life!

Your cries for blog comment justice have reached our ears. Actually, our team of moderators are intimately aware of the problem with commenters that habitually violate the rules of conduct. But we also appreciate your grace as we try to digest your many comments and apply the rules fairly with limited time and competing projects. (We are a nonprofit, after all.) Ultimately, we'd like to move toward a peer moderation model, but it will be some time before we have the technical solutions in place to make that possible. Know also that some comments are suspended due to automatic filters that use complex criteria and keywords that may snag "innocent" posts. We have been working through a series of logistical and technical challenges to make good on the promise we made in December to begin blocking users who are disruptive. We agree with this comment:

if the guidelines mean anything at all, action should certainly be taken. 

So, the message below was sent out to 11 frequent commenters on our blog. We would have liked to have included a personalized message to each of them that included a compilation of their comments that warranted it, but we just don't have the resources for that kind of hand-holding at this point. Some of our sharpest critics and staunchest supporters got this warning. We hope they all take it as an admonishment to remain active members of our online community, but by expressing their views in accordance with our rules of conduct and simple good faith respect for others in the conversation.

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As we've previously stated, we feel as though we've opened our "house" to you all for some vigorous conversation. We expect strong views to be expressed. But like any good host, we will ask a rude guest to leave if they are being abusive. This is common practice on other blogs and a far milder solution than some who have shut down comments altogether and only respond to hand-picked comments via e-mail - an option we'd rather not take.

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The most considerable evidence that we’re entering a “post-Religious Right America” is the shifting political agenda and theological emphasis of a new generation of 20-something evangelicals. I meet them all the time on the road; they are coming out of the woodwork for The Great Awakening book events in mass numbers.

I travel with one of these young evangelicals, a missionary kid who grew up in the former Soviet Union and who recently graduated from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. From the conversations he and I have been having with those in attendance at book events, churches, and evangelical college campuses, it’s clear that churchgoers growing up in conservative pews are finally coming of age.

Last week at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California, they packed the venue, with some sitting on the floor. Many of these students are disillusioned with the models of engaging the faith with which they were raised. This emerging generation of evangelical pastors and theologians realize that Christianity has an image problem: it is seen as hypocritical, judgmental, too focused on the afterlife, and too political. They desire something radically new and different, yet still solidly rooted in Jesus.

The quantitative picture painted by Barna pollster David Kinnaman in his recently released book, unChristian, is qualitatively borne out in this group of Generation Y "insiders"—those raised inside the church but frustrated with the status quo. They will shake things up in the years ahead, both politically and theologically.

Politically, these 20-somethings are less likely to associate with the Republican Party than ever before, as discovered by a recent Pew Research Center poll. It showed that party identification among white evangelicals ages 18-29 decreased from 55% to 40% between 2005 and 2007. That’s 15 points in just two years.

This doesn’t mean young evangelicals are automatically becoming Democrats (and I don’t think they should). It does mean that their agenda is broader and deeper, no longer beholden to a single partisan ideology – more concerned with 30,000 children dying daily of poverty and disease than with gay marriage amendments in Ohio.

Theologically, these 20-somethings are abandoning a worldview that reduces the gospel of Jesus Christ to an afterlife-oriented, fire-insurance, salvation pitch. These are Matthew 25, Luke 4, and “Sermon on the Mount” Christians. They really believe that the kingdom of God represents God’s best hopes and dreams for this present age, not only for the life to come.

From coffee-infused, late-night seminary conversations to missions trips bringing them into relationship with single mothers living in the crumbling remains of America’s inner cities, with children living on garbage dumps in Mexico, with teenage girls rescued out of Southeast Asia’s sex industry, and with the boy soldiers of sub-Saharan Africa – the 20-something evangelical worldview is being disciplined by a new global context.

This new generation—the Fuller Seminary Generation—isn’t responding to The Great Awakening message because of what we’re doing; they’re responding because of what they already see happening all around them. They are summoning the confidence to articulate a new vision for Christianity for the 21st century, rooted in the timeless orthodoxy of a first-century rabbi. And once it emerges, it could change everything.

When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

- Matthew 28:17-20

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Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.

- Paul Tillich

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As reported by the BBC, the Archbishop of Canterbury has attracted widespread criticism after appearing to back the adoption of some aspects of Sharia law in the U.K. This article goes on to explain that "under English law, people may devise their own way to settle a dispute in front of an agreed third party as long as both sides agree to the process. Muslim Sharia courts and Orthodox Jewish courts which already exist in the U.K. come into this category."

In response, the senior member of the Church of England's governing body, the General Synod, who insisted on remaining anonymous, told The Times: "A lot of people will now have lost confidence in him. I am just so shocked, and cannot believe a man of his intelligence could be so gullible. I can only assume that all the Muslims he meets are senior leaders of the community who tell him what a wonderful book the Koran is."

My friend Jonny Baker posted via his blog that "Richard Sudworth has an excellent response to this controversy." In this article, Sudworth observes that "For most people sharia = stonings for adultery, hands chopped off for stealing and institutionalised misogyny." However, he challenges this misperception. "The vast bulk of Islamic laws that are invoked within Muslim communities (yes, present tense because it is a current reality here in Britain) concern family relationships (divorce and separation), and inheritance matters. The trouble is, the media and our beloved political establishment are either not intelligent enough to know this or, and God forbid this be the case, prefer to play to the simplistic public perception of sharia = stonings for short-term electoral expediency."

Becky Garrison explores reaching those for whom church is not in their vocabulary in her book Rising from the Ashes: Rethinking Church.

Lately I keep wishing I was somebody else. Somebody different. Somebody better than me.

Don't worry. I'm not depressed. I am well aware that I have many good qualities and many more good friends. My marriage is strong. My kids are fine. Moreover, I am ever increasingly convinced that the God of love loves me, no matter what I do or don't do.

Unfortunately, none of those things changes the fact that, after nearly 45 years of countless growth opportunities, I remain essentially the same careless, undisciplined fool I've always been. Everybody makes mistakes, of course, but mine are almost always the kind a more thoughtful, more focused person could easily avoid.

On Christmas Eve, on my way to the YMCA with my son Roman, I ran a stop sign and hit a car just a block from my house. The other driver was young and furious and both Roman and I thought we were in real trouble. We might have been, too, if he hadn't recognized me as a friend of his nephews. Even so, I cost my family our $1000 insurance deductible, not to mention the rate hike sure to come when this claim gets added to the massive speeding ticket I got a few months earlier, while Miranda and I were visiting colleges in North Carolina. Because we were late for an appointment. Because I didn't read over the directions the night before. Because I'm an idiot.

I'm not kidding, either. Believe me, there's nothing funny about missing a plane and paying the change fee and getting stranded alone in Honolulu for two days at the end of a 10-day speaking trip, all because you didn't bother to double-check your departure time. Nobody laughs when you leave your son waiting in the rain outside his school because you lost track of time at the office, or blow a valuable new friendship because you didn't even call after you forgot a lunch appointment, or let your wife down for the millionth time because you got so wrapped up in a conversation with somebody else.

If you're wondering why I'm beating myself up this way, well, it's because a few days ago I wasted a bunch of money, too. I got hustled out of it, actually, but only after I carelessly violated just about every urban ministry principle I've taught for the past 20 years. Honestly, the guy who hustled me wasn't half as slick as I was stupid.

It all started when our friend Mark and I, along with a bunch of college kids, rebuilt the porch and cleared out the basement of this old twin house he bought in our neighborhood, where we have our offices, board a few interns, and rent an apartment to a really cool woman we're trying to draw into our fellowship. Anyway, we ended up with a ton of junk in the front yard -- including about 50 old cans of paint -- that needed to go to the local landfill. The next day, as we were sorting it out, a friendly man came by and offered to load it all up and haul it away for a mere $50.

"I'm a strong, Christian man and I need the work," he told me. "I'm not one of these other black guys out here stealing to buy drugs. My cousin owns that truck over there and a buddy of ours has a junkyard on the other side of town. We can do the job right now. It sure would be a blessing if you could trust me to help you out."

I should have said no, of course. In the first place, Mark and I were perfectly capable of hauling the stuff in his truck the next day, as planned. It was going to cost us a lot more than $50 to dispose of it properly, of course, not to mention our time, but we didn't need any help. Moreover, even if we had, we had 10 friends within three blocks who needed the work as much, or more, than this guy. Even so, I hesitated. Looking back, I can see I was afraid.

I didn't want to seem like an untrusting racist. I felt guilty for being so much better off. I didn't want to disappoint this guy - even though I barely knew him. And besides, the deal itself was too good to be true.

So then, before you could say "there's a sucker born every minute," I was off to the ATM for $80 in cash, which I promptly deposited in my new friend's hand, so that he and his cousin could gas up their truck and get some dinner before commencing to work that evening. He pumped my hand and hugged me in gratitude. The job would be finished by the time I got back in the morning, he assured me, but we exchanged cell phone numbers just in case.

You already know the rest of the story.

Why didn't I just tell that guy to come back and work with us the next day? Why didn't I insist on paying with a check, and even then only when the job was done? Why didn't I call to ask my wife what she thought I should do? Why didn't I worry about the probability that our toxic waste would be illegally dumped? Why didn't I recognize the red flags of race talk and Christian talk and trust talk that indicate an urban con job?

The short answer, of course, is that I am a careless, undisciplined fool. But in this case, there's more to it than that. In this case, even after more than 20 years of urban ministry, racial reconsideration, and earnest soul-searching, it is painfully evident that I still have enough unfocused white guilt to make me vulnerable to just about anyone shrewd or desperate enough to work that angle. Living where and how I do these days that could be quite a problem.

I really do want to be better, not only for my neighbors here in Walnut Hills, but even more so for my family and friends. It is perhaps to my credit that I am so adept at confessing and apologizing and winning back people's trust, but it embarrasses me that I've had so many opportunities to practice those skills. I'm tired of saying I'm sorry for the same things - over and over again.

God knows I've changed before. Now God knows I want to change again. And now you know too.

Bart Campolo is a veteran urban minister and activist who speaks, writes, and blogs www.bartcampolo.com about grace, faith, loving relationships and social justice. Bart is the leader of The Walnut Hills Fellowship www.thewalnuthillsfellowship.org in inner-city Cincinnati. He is also founder of Mission Year www.missionyear.org, which recruits committed young adults to live and work among the poor in inner-city neighborhoods across the USA, and executive director of EAPE, which develops and supports innovative, cost-effective mission projects around the world.

The circumstances of our lives are another medium of God’s communication with us. God opens some doors and closes others.... Through the wisdom of our bodies, God tells us to slow down or reorder our priorities. The happy coincidences and frustrating impasses of daily life are laden with messages. Patient listening and the grace of the Spirit are the decoding devices of prayer. It is a good habit to ask, What is God saying to me in this situation? Listening to our lives is part of prayer.

- Marjorie J. Thompson
Soul Feast

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The haughty eyes of people shall be brought low,
and the pride of everyone shall be humbled;
and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
For the Lord of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up and high

- Isaiah 2:11-12

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Sunday morning a week ago I preached at the beautiful Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California. Their service blends the best of the Anglo/Catholic Episcopal tradition with the creative San Francisco one—this time beginning the recessional with dragons celebrating the Chinese New Year. Offering a sermon on hope with the light of a dozen stained glass windows dancing in the huge Gothic Cathedral was an absolute delight.

Dressed head to foot in flowing clerical robes, a religious train of participants processed in, calling the congregation to worship. While my uniform of choice while preaching is usually limited to dark jacket and black turtleneck, this day I threw on the robes and joined in the pomp and circumstance. My wife Joy, formerly an Anglican vicar, would have loved to see me all dressed up like that.

In a surprisingly similar experience, I was a guest at the State of the Union address the other week for the very first time, sitting up in the gallery. What I saw unfold below almost rivaled the pageantry of Grace Cathedral with everybody processing in.

First came the representatives. Then the senators. Then the Supreme Court justices. Then the military brass of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And finally, with that now famous call to worship, "Madame Speaker, the president of the United States!"

Everyone stood up to give the president a standing ovation, then sat down, only to stand up again when the Republican commander in chief was introduced by the Democratic speaker of the house. It's a time-honored ritual in the best traditions of high-church Washington politics.

Of course, the air was full of murmuring political expectations and questions. Would Barack and Hillary shake hands? (They didn't.) Would either shake hands with President Bush? (Barack did, but Hillary had her back turned as the president passed by.)

I know many of the legislators who were down on the floor and like many of them. But watching them scurrying around below, a realization hit me. "These people often think they are at the center of the universe; they think they are the most powerful, important, people in the world."

But history offers a different perspective.

History suggests that change doesn't start inside the beltway, inside our chambers of power, inside the heads of politicians. Change begins outside Washington, D.C., in the hearts and minds of those who first experience society's brokenness, envision a different future, and then bet their lives on a new vision. That's how social movements begin.

The wind generated by these movements changes politics, rushing into places like the U.S. Capitol where politicians throughout the United States' history have always held wet fingers in the air, gauging its direction. Our leaders often respond long after the country does, and they are usually the last to change.

That's what we are talking about every night on the Great Awakening book tour—how change begins with us, all of us, and that betting our lives on new visions is always what changes the big things.

And from the response we are getting on the road, something new has already begun.

Friday morning I posted about Bush legalizing waterboarding. That evening, Bill Moyers' Journal had a compelling and disturbing segment on the use of torture by U.S. forces. It was about the Oscar-nominated documentary film, Taxi to the Dark Side, directed by Alex Gibney who made Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. The Moyers segment includes excerpts from the film and testimony of prisoners falsely accused and tortured in Afghanistan and Iraq. Watch it.

Key quote:

Despite Rumsfeld's and Cheney's and President Bush's allegations that these guys are the worst of the worst, that they were all captured on the battlefield, recent studies of the whole compendium of the government's documents show that only five percent of these people were picked up by the United States. Only eight percent of them are accused of being members of the Al Qaeda. Over 90 percent of them were picked up by Northern Alliance or Pakistani forces in exchange for bounties.

Ryan Rodrick Beiler is the Web editor for Sojourners.

A pastor of a large metropolitan church once sought me out for some advice. He was told by several other people that as far as solving his church growth dilemma, namely, drawing Native Americans to the church, I was the "go to guy." Disregarding whether or not those assumptions were correct, I agreed to have a meeting with him over breakfast the next day. He began our meeting by laying out his failures in attracting a significant First Nations crowd, even though the neighborhood demographics suggested they should have a much larger native constituency. He summed up his case, and then looked at his watch to inform me we had about 10 minutes before he needed to leave. I saved him nine minutes that morning. …

My short answer was simple. I told him to put Native Americans in real leadership positions and he would see the growth he was looking for. His response: "but they are not ready for the responsibility." To most ethnic minorities this retort is very familiar. I perceived that what he really meant was that, "we," (meaning the White majority) "are not ready for them to lead us." And when it comes to healing the old racial divides in the United States, this could be the rub.

With just a few exceptions, this may be especially true among evangelicals. Pick any evangelical college, seminary, church, new movement, etc. and go to their website. Unless it began as a minority institution out of reaction to this problem, you will find very few (and often no) ethnic minorities in key leadership positions. While most of us would like to believe that we have left racism behind in the 20th century, this one test could determine our progress.

And, if there are models out there of Blacks leading Hispanic churches, Native Americans leading White Christian seminaries, Asians leading black colleges or a whole host of other wonderfully multi-hued possibilities—then by all means—let's make them known!

The causes of the problem are historic, deeply imbedded and multi-faceted, but they are not complex. It boils down to trust and humility. In the case of Christians, this trust and humility becomes a weapon in a stance of faith against an evil social construction that has kept us away from "the other" for far too long. We must ask ourselves uncomfortable questions such as, "Is the cross really the great leveler of all humanity? Do I believe the equality that Christ brings to the point of losing my own social/personal controls? Do I believe in the dignity of others enough to prove it by submitting myself to other ethnic/cultural norms and expectations?"

What I am calling for is truly uncomfortable and it will take years to work out - but it is a clear possibility. I am not saying that solving the crisis of multi-ethnic leadership will end all racism. I am saying it is about as practical and as serious a solution as could be enacted in the very near future. I believe actions leading to increased ethnic minority leadership among Whites will not only show good faith in resolving racism, but it will result in greater paradigms of respect and healing than we could imagine. Given the United States' history, such paradigms would resemble what Jesus referred to as the "kingdom of God."

Rev. Randy Woodley is a Keetoowah Cherokee Indian teacher, lecturer, poet, activist, pastor and the author of Living in Color: Embracing God's Passion for Ethnic Diversity (InterVarsity Press). http://www.eagleswingsministry.com/

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Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city.

- Ecclesiastes 7:19-19

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Words of prayer are commitments. We stand for what we utter. The word of prayer is like a pledge in the making.

- Abraham Joshua Heschel

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The Internet has made it possible for every person to have channels of significant influence at their fingertips, regardless of credibility or content. This can be used for good or for bad. And in the case of Cedarville University, we have the bad. I was supposed to speak at Cedarville University in Ohio. At the last minute they cancelled, the VP's job was threatened, all kinds of ugliness. A small group of people have used an impersonal, indirect means of communication to try and tear down something they disagree with. Unfortunately Cedarville gave validity to this group of bloggers by reacting to their demands … and as we all know, dissension spreads like fire -- or yeast, as Jesus said.

A university must believe its students are able to "test the spirits" and work out their salvation "with fear and trembling." We are not talking about junior high kids, but young adults who are capable of discerning truth from fiction, and who need to be trusted with and exposed to diverse perspectives.

If there is anything I've learned from both conservatives and liberals, it's that we can have all the "right" answers and still be mean. And when you're mean, it's hard for people to listen to, much less desire, your truth.

We have nothing to fear from people who disagree with us. Folks who see things differently from us are our best teachers.

I would love to have a conversation with these folks who disagree with me. I have often said that one of our great witnesses to the rest of society is how well we can disagree. In fact, I offered to use the honorarium Cedarville promised to fly in the angry bloggers so we can have a public conversation. I take all criticism very seriously. I will prayerfully listen to every critique and concern that is expressed directly to me. My address is on our Web site (thesimpleway.org). And I respond personally to every one, usually with an invitation to have dinner together (hmmm, I can feel the surge of "angry" letters from folks looking for a free meal, haha!).

Unfortunately it's difficult to communicate with folks who will not talk to you, who only talk around you, as in this case. I do not have time to hunt down every rogue Web site. There's too much constructive work to do for the Kingdom for us to spend our energies constantly reacting to every destructive voice, especially those who do not honor Matthew's admonition to speak directly with one another in love (Matthew 18). And there is too much brokenness in the world to spend time tearing each other apart.

I am excited to say that these bloggers do not represent the majority of Christians -- who want to see evangelism and social justice kiss, and who know that what we believe must affect the way in which we live. This is evidenced by the surge of energy from other local communities and congregations who contacted us immediately after the cancellation with hopes of hosting the evening. We have worked carefully and respectfully with Cedarville University and the many folks in the area to organize an event on Monday night, autonomous of the university. It will be an evening of sharing worship and prayer hosted by Apex Community in Dayton.

So while I am disappointed that the institution itself at Cedarville was not secure enough to stand up to these vigilante voices, I am deeply encouraged by the faith and courage of the students, local residents, and members of the faculty and administration who have not allowed this minority voice to hijack goodness. I pray that our time together on Monday will move all of us closer to Jesus and to the Kingdom of God. It would also be nice if an angry blogger or two showed up so we can have communion together.

Shane Claiborne is the author of Jesus for President, a Red Letter Christian, 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.

Last week I shared a snapshot of the new monastics. This week I will look at the mosaics. God is doing something new through a new generation of multicultural church planters.

Efrem Smith, who coauthored The Hip-Hop Church, will be keynoting our conference on the theme of Dr. Martin King's vision of "The Beloved Community." By 2060 the United States will become the first Western country in which Europeans will no longer be the dominant demographic group. We will become a richly multicultural society, and Smith will explain how the church can help us welcome this future.

Smith has planted Sanctuary Covenant Church, compelling evidence that God is doing something new through young people from different races and cultures. They are experiencing something of the richness of God's kingdom not only in their worship but in their life together across race and class.

The emerging church movement tends to be very white and male. But Tommy Kyllonen, a multicultural church planter in Florida, states in Un.orthodox: Church. Hip-Hop. Culture that the emerging church is also the young black male in the hood. It is the second-generation Mexican in L.A. and the child of the Chinese immigrant in Houston. The emerging church is the Puerto Rican female on Wall Street.

Smith tells me that urban hip-hop culture isn't just postmodern but also post-institutional, post-soul, and post-civil rights too. I find that multicultural churches, like the best of emerging and missional churches, tend to be more outwardly focused in mission. For example, Smith's church invests more than 50% of their giving in local and global mission.

As we race into an increasingly multicultural future, all of our largely monocultural churches are going to need to build bridges to the growing numbers of multicultural immigrant and ethnic congregations sharing life and mission. Read more at www.thenewconspirators.com

Tom Sine founded Mustard Seed Associates in 1989. He has worked as a consultant in futures research and planning for numerous nonprofit organizations and speaks at gatherings all over the world with his wife, Christine. His newest book, The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time, comes out next month. Discover what God is doing through a new generation of risk takers, innovators, and prophets February 28-March 1 in Seattle. Visit: www.thenewconspirators.wordpress.com

Late last week, The Great Awakening book tour brought me to Seattle, Washington. On the media circuit we had a day packed with four back-to-back radio interviews. Almost more interesting than the interviews themselves was the diversity of listening audiences represented by each station.

Interviews ranged from a progressive Seattle rock station (the first to break the news of Kurt Cobain's death back in 1994), to moderate NPR, to conservative talk-show host Michael Medved, to Salem Christian radio. The appearances on these shows has become archetypal of the ways we are reaching people across the spectrum—all the way from left-wing Air America (the previous day in Portland), to NPR, to centrist AM talk radio, to right-wing talk radio, to conservative Christian stations.

I ended the day with Thor Tolo [you can download the mp3], a conservative evangelical radio talk-show host, and had perhaps one of the most thoughtful interviews I've ever engaged in on a Salem radio station—and one of the most interesting of the book tour so far.

When our discussion turned to the subject of poverty, I brought up how all too often our lack of relationship with the poor is a deeper problem than our ideological debates about how to solve poverty – how very few of us, including liberal Democrats, including Christians, have real relationships with the poor.

As a committed Christian and committed conservative, Thor believes it's primarily the church's responsibility to address poverty—not the government's. Even so, he admitted, "I feel very convicted by what you just said," and admitted his lack of relationship with poor people, even though he had concerns about government helping to promote a cycle of dependency.

I said we need a grand alliance between conservatives and liberals on the issue, an alliance that calls on liberals to address family breakdown, out-of-wedlock births, and other dimensions of poverty involving personal responsibility, and for conservatives to champion strategic investments in housing, health care, and education—with clear outcomes and results.

But I added, "When did Jesus ever call his followers to serve only the deserving poor?"

Smiling, he conceded the point. It's hard to disagree with Jesus.

Uncertainty about the consistency of conservative convictions was part of what killed the campaign of Mitt "Double Guantanamo" Romney, and it was coverage of the "suspension" of his campaign that nearly drowned out another important story yesterday.

Contrast that criticism of Romney with a familiar defense of George W. Bush: "Well, you might disagree with him, but at least you know where he stands." Though this faint praise could be applied to any number of universally condemned leaders throughout history, I keep running into people that sincerely mean it as a compliment, as if sincerity made up for bad choices--something I would think most conservatives would disagree with.

Well, if you want to torture this logic any further, know that waterboarding--or as the Spanish Inquisition called it, water torture--is legal according to the Bush White House. Under certain circumstances. Such as, whenever the president says so. The L.A. Times reports:

... in remarks that were greeted with disbelief by some members of Congress and human rights groups, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that waterboarding was a legal technique that could be employed again "under certain circumstances."

Fratto said the nation's top intelligence officials "didn't rule anything out" during congressional testimony Tuesday on CIA interrogation methods, and he indicated that Bush might consider reauthorizing waterboarding or other harsh techniques in extreme cases ....

I've always assumed that our clandestine forces used torture either directly or by proxy--because of history that's well documented in places like Guatemala, Colombia, Vietnam, and elsewhere. What I don't usually expect is official admissions of torture. Perhaps a wink and a nod as plausible deniability is established. Perhaps official consternation when the underlings get caught operating outside of conventions that high officials themselves have called "quaint." What's especially troubling is that history demonstrates that with official sanction or not, whatever these forces are actually doing is often several degrees worse than official admissions--and viciously specific in contrast to the vague official pronouncements about "harsh techniques." So if they're legalizing actual torture techniques now, I'm even more concerned about what's actually going on in the cells and chambers that we're never meant to know about. For national security. Because our enemies hate our freedom.

And if you think it's only "bad people" who get tortured, listen to the testimony of survivors.

Ryan Rodrick Beiler is Web editor for Sojourners.

When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

- Matthew 10:19-22

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In the Christian context, we do not mean by a "mystery" merely that which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. A mystery is, on the contrary, something that is revealed for our understanding, but which we never understand exhaustively because it leads into the depth or the darkness of God. The eyes are closed—but they are also opened.

- Kallistos Ware
The Orthodox Way

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This afternoon's top news is Mitt Romney's announcement that he is ending his run for the presidency. Romney's candidacy raised the issue of whether a Mormon could be elected president. The media stories were about evangelicals who didn't like him because they thought Mormonism was an un-Christian sect.

I was born and raised in Michigan. My governor in the late 1960s was George Romney, Mitt's father. He was a moderate Republican, a good governor, and ran for president himself. I never remember his Mormonism being a factor or even an issue of discussion, and his candidacy failed for other reasons.

I also don't believe that Mitt Romney's campaign failed because of his Mormon religion. I have frequently said that no candidate's theology or doctrine should be a factor in voting, but rather the focus should be on their moral compass – what shapes their political values, leadership, and policies. Romney failed by not demonstrating a consistent moral compass, and many didn't believe he had one.

He often changed his positions, depending on whose votes he was trying to get. He was a liberal Republican who was pro-choice and pro-gay rights when he ran for governor of Massachusetts, and then shifted dramatically to being a very conservative Republican with the opposite views when trying to court the conservative Republican base in his run for the presidency. He became the most virulent attacker of undocumented people when he realized the political advantage of that position in the primaries. He became an outside populist against insider Washington when he sensed after the early primaries that change was in the air, and then he became a competent businessman when recession became a leading issue.

Romney's problem was not that he was a Mormon, but that he was a Mormon sitting on top of a weather vane changing his positions every time the wind blew in a different direction. He showed no moral compass people could trust, and his candidacy was doomed.

(Note: This post was updated on February 7, 2008, at 1:35 p.m. following Mitt Romney's decision to suspend his presidential campaign.)

Conservative pundits and Religious Right power-brokers went into extra innings to ensure that Mitt Romney would score some serious home runs on Super Tuesday. As they stepped up to the plate, some of their plays veered into foul territory.

For example, Ann Coulter struck out by stating that if McCain wins the nomination, she will actually campaign for Hillary Clinton. When asked on Inside Edition what she thought of Coulter's compliment, Clinton burst out laughing and then said with a smile, "See I told you I could bring this country together." Some days the material just writes itself.

While Coulter appeared to make this comment tongue in cheek, given her penchant for outrageous antics, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that Coulter could pretend to be "a Hillary girl." After all, this primary season has proven to be full of surprises (for starters, I never thought I'd see Oprah step into the political ring.)

Speaking of unexpected moves, Dr. Dobson hit a sacrifice fly when he proclaimed that if the choice for president boils down to McCain vs. Clinton, he won't vote. Back in April 2007, Religion News Service named Dobson as one of the "Top Ten Religious Right Power Brokers." But as David Kuo comments on his blog, J-Walking, "By putting himself out there so forcefully, Dr. Dobson risks playing the role of Dr. Kevorkian in ushering in the end of the old-line religious right."

Given the Religious Right's ability to reclaim their stronghold in 1994 after the Moral Majority was declared DOA, I don't assume that these lumbering giants can't reawaken from their slumber. But for now, these former godly gurus seem to have lost the spiritual stronghold they once had on the evangelical vote. The Super Tuesday poll results indicated such desperate moves on the part of Dobson and Coulter failed to sway voters to select their preferred candidate. Instead, the Bible Belt voters showed their support for Mike Huckabee, with John McCain following a close second.

Does this mean that their millions of followers are no longer following Dobson and Coulter? Time will tell. I suspect Dobson and Coulter offered their anti-McCain claims with the hopes of convincing virtuous voters into supporting Romney. Given Mitt Romney's poor showing on Super Tuesday, which resulted in his decision to suspend his presidential campaign, clearly Dobson and Coulter's scare tactics failed miserably. Now that it looks very likely that McCain will become the Republican presidential nominee, will Dobson fade into the political background?

Still, something tells me the odds of Ann and Hillary holding hands and singing "It's a Small World" are slim to none. Call it a strong hunch.

Becky Garrison’s critiques of Ann Coulter can be found in her book The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail and the Amazon.com short Contemplating Coulter Christianity.

In late January I had the great honor of being a participant in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. I was invited to participate in dialogue among Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders about "improving the state of the world." I imagine I was invited because of my previous work in interreligious understanding, and because of my new book Everything Must Change, which deals with global crises, including the intensification of religious conflict. I also had the chance to participate in a wonderful panel about the power of fiction to tell the truth. In my free time, I attended a number of sessions about sustainability – one of my main passions these days.

A moment on the last night of the gathering will stay with me as an icon of what we were about. I was speaking with a rabbi with whom I had been in several sessions. A Muslim woman from our group came up with her husband and we began saying our goodbyes. The rabbi looked at the two Muslims and said, "I see the light of God in you. You are radiant with the image of God." The Muslim woman said, "I feel I have a new brother in my family." A small gesture, you might say, fragile as a snowflake, easily extinguished by the avalanche of weapons and tsunamis of propaganda that sow distrust rather than mutual regard and affection. But I couldn't help but think of Paul's pregnant phrase: love never fails.

Another moment – when a Muslim conversation partner introduced me to a group of Muslims I hadn't met: "This is my friend, Brian." When people stop being "that Jew" or "that Christian" or "that Muslim," and instead become "my friend," followed by a real name … the state of the world improves a little bit.

And another – sitting with a Muslim scholar who explained to me, "If you want to understand our struggle, think of your own Declaration of Independence." She rehearsed the lines, known by heart: "… we hold these truths to be self-evident … created equal … endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." She asked me what these lines were intended to do, to accomplish. I replied, "To counter the pre-modern notion of the divine right of kings with a new notion – of the God-given rights of individuals." Why, she asked, was it important to bring God in? "Because God represents an authority higher than a king's authority. If God gives individuals rights, a king loses his right to abrogate them."

Then she said, "This is a primary reason why there is such a religious revival in Islam. Millions of Muslims live under dictatorships. They need to have their human rights validated theologically so they can gain freedom from dictators, just as American colonists wanted to gain freedom from the king in 1776." Sadly, she added, many of these dictators have remained in power with U.S. support, which helps explain much of the antipathy toward U.S. foreign policy. A simple thought, perhaps obvious to many, but it clicked for me as never before.

Cynics will find a lot to criticize at Davos, but if my experience is an indicator, it is a place where uncommon conversations can happen, friendships can be born, and moments of insight can occur … each of which in some small way can improve the state of the world.

Brian McLaren (brianmclaren.net) is board chair for Sojourners. He is on a tour in 11 cities this winter and spring, mobilizing people to respond to four global crises. He posted two short video blogs from Davos.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

- Matthew 23:29-30

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Christ moves among the pots and pans.

- Teresa of Avila

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Schools in the U.S. have been resegregating themselves at a fast clip for the past 15 years or so, and the racial demographics of some districts are approaching Old South numbers. Why should we care? I can tell you.

I was born in the Philippines and grew up in New Zealand, where 78 percent of the population is of European descent. The rest is mostly foreign-born, recently immigrated, and, in some cases, extremely socially segregated. There were disconcerting (albeit infrequent) experiences with xenophobia and racism: my dad and his South Indian colleague being refused service in a bar during a business trip, my parents whispering quietly in Tagalog with a friend who had his tires slashed and a swastika scrawled over his garage.

Growing up was awkward, difficult, and sometimes painful. I always just chalked it up to being a weird little person, until my family moved to Fremont, California, when I was 10. Only then did I realize how what should have been an idyllic childhood, in a country with more sheep than people, was instead marred by segregation and racism. In Fremont my school was incredibly diverse. I felt a lot of freedom and peace in my own identity once I saw how secure and confident the members of other minority groups were.

When I was 14 my family moved again—to Pleasanton, a suburb only 30 minutes away. The cultural shock was as startling as the move from New Zealand—in reverse. Like New Zealand, 80 percent of Pleasanton's population identifies as white. In my first few weeks at the new school, I remember standing in line for PE behind an Indian kid named Nikhil when he was called a "sand-nigger." I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me?!" I grew even more afraid as no one else in the line stepped in to defend Nik or protest the slur.

I don't count myself as oppressed or downtrodden—one of the good things about going to a majority white school in California is that it pretty much correlates to receiving an excellent public education (once you put all the privileged kids in the same institution, their privilege usually follows them). I made it into University of California-Berkeley straight out of high school, so I guess being called a "chink" once a year was totally worth it.

Here's something I learned at Berkeley: Ever since the initial breakthroughs in the years following Brown v. Board, schools have been tending toward resegregation through redistricting, strategic community planning, and prohibitive housing costs. In some school counties now it's Jim Crow in all but name, and that's a real shame. Diversifying schools gives more minorities the resources to earn their way to college in a less symbolically violent atmosphere. It's going to take effort on all levels – policy, institutions, community, and individual – to reintegrate neighborhoods and schools in a meaningful and lasting way.

Anna Almendrala is the marketing and circulation assistant for Sojourners.

At last week's New Baptist Unity Conference in Atlanta, an estimated 20,000 Baptists spanning the moderate to progressive spectrum gathered for three days of worship, fellowship, and training. Even though Southern Baptists were conspicuously missing, the conference united members of denominations from the American Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, National Baptist Convention USA, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, among others, to collectively represent over 17 million U.S. Christians.

As the core convener and patron of the event, the longstanding Baptist Bible study leader and former President Jimmy Carter opened the conference with a challenge that strikes at the heart of division within the Baptist and Christian church at large. Carter named the wedge issues that have fragmented the church - from the ordination of women to homosexuality, abortion, capital punishment, etc. - and then asked the participants whether a shared belief in the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ and a commitment to spreading the gospel was more important than all these divisions combined. Carter compared these divisions to the ones that Paul addressed in his letters to the early church in Corinth. According to Carter, "these animosities have become a cancer that is metastasizing in the body of Christ."

The conference provided ample testimony to the ways in which Baptists are uniting across theology, ideology, geography, and race. It placed a particular emphasis on the themes of diversity, good news to the poor, and welcoming the stranger. Speakers included Rev.Tony Campolo, Marian Wright Edelman, Dr. William Shaw, Senator Charles Grassley, and Bill Clinton. While many in the media and conservative circles cynically accused the conference as an attempt to baptize the Democratic Party, the event upheld a staunch commitment to nonpartisanship and offered a prophetic challenge to both Democrats and Republicans. As an associate minister at a church that's a member of both the American Baptist Church and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, I straddle the historic black and predominantly white Baptist worlds. It was significant that this gathering took place in the seat of the South and demonstrated a genuine commitment to uniting across the racial divide. An entire worship service focused on the theme of welcoming the stranger and dealt head-on with the polemical issue of immigration - emphasizing the need for a biblically-based response characterized by compassion, mercy, and justice.

Historically, Baptists have been reluctant to engage in politics, due in part to an abiding belief in the separation between church and state. It was a Baptist minister that played an instrumental role in convincing the founding fathers that this separation represented the best way to protect religion from the interference of the state and the best way to safeguard the state from the interference of religion. Throughout the plenary sessions and workshops, I sensed a growing recognition that this separation should not lead to a fast from politics. Baptists' voices are expressing a growing desire to address the great moral issues of our time, including poverty, climate change, religious freedom, and HIV/AIDS. While real disagreements still exist, particularly around the differences between charity and justice or systemic change and personal transformation, momentum is growing favoring deeper and broader political engagement. Perhaps one of the greatest and most hopeful signs of this nascent tidal wave was on display at a luncheon featuring former Vice President Al Gore. In contrast to the Southern Baptists, who spurned Gore's advocacy to open eyes around the intensifying crisis of global warming, thousands of conference participants gave a rousing standing ovation to his now famous hour-long Power Point presentation, as Baptist leaders listened to ways in which we have shown contempt for God's creation.

The conference recognized the difficulties that lie ahead in sustaining this movement. Organizers seem committed to avoiding the creation of a new organization or reinventing the wheel. I have been struck by the degree to which Baptist denominations lack a substantial staff presence in Washington, D.C., working to influence public policy and advocate around Baptist concerns. While most mainline churches have full-time policy staff and Washington-based offices, Baptists are often under-represented. This is not to equate a presence in Washington with policy change, yet a more mobilized constituency of 17 million Baptists would have a profound degree of influence. One concrete outcome of this New Covenant Baptist movement would be to combine efforts and resources across these Baptist denominations to establish a joint advocacy presence to better represent the voices of progressive and moderate Baptists across the country. A Baptist constituency united around shared biblical values and a focused agenda on common ground issues like ending poverty would represent good news for the church and our nation.

Adam Taylor is director of campaigns and organizing for Sojourners.

You shall find books and sermons everywhere, in the land and in the sea, in the earth and in the skies, and you shall learn from every living beast, and bird, and fish, and insect, and from every useful or useless plant that springs from the ground.

Charles H. Spurgeon
First published sermon, “Harvest Time”

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Is is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.

- Ecclesiastes 7:5

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Looking for parallels to the Dobson versus conservative evangelical rank-and-file phenomenon, I'm struck by the Democratic vote in Massachusetts. Despite endorsements from Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, Governor Deval Patrick, and The Boston Globe, the state broke for Sen. Hillary Clinton. I find it encouraging that official endorsements don't mean that much to the average voter, and though my sense is that in general Clinton enjoys more support from the Democratic establishment than Obama, here's one state in which the rank-and-file voted contrary to their leading party voices. 

Another phenomenon of the establishment versus Joe and Jane Schmoe in the Democratic Party is the concept of superdelegates. Those are delegates who need not heed election results, but can do whatever they want--often based on loyalties and influence exchanged in high circles of political power. By current measurements at this moment on CNN, Clinton leads with 193 superdelegates to Obama's 106. This while Obama leads Clinton with pledged delegates, 129 to 113. Frankly, the phenomenon frustrates my small "d" democratic sensibilities. It seems unfair that the candidate with the most popular votes could still be defeated by the party elite. Such a system seems to automatically favor the establishment candidate and disadvantage a more grassroots movement.

Maybe by tomorrow morning, the delegate and superdelegate counts will agree with each other. But it would seem that both on the Religious Right and the Democratic establishment, the voices of regular folks need to be heard--and count--more than they have. (And don't get me started on the Electoral College....)

Interesting exit poll results from five southern "Bible-belt" states. Of those who identify as "Born-again or evangelical Christians," Mike Huckabee won their votes. In all but one, John McCain came in second, and Mitt Romney third. Here are the numbers:

GA – 64% of R voters
43% - Huckabee
29% - Romney
24% - McCain

AL– 78% of R voters
48 – Huckabee
31 – McCain
16 – Romney

TN – 73% of R voters
41 – Huckabee
26 – McCain
19 – Romney

OK – 73& of R voters
39 – Huckabee
29 – McCain
25 – Romney

ARK– 73% of R voters
63 – Huckabee
19 – McCain
11 – Romney
(of course, this is Huckabee's home state)

The conclusion? Despite no support from established Religious Right leaders, Huckabee is winning the evangelical vote. And despite active opposition by James Dobson and others, McCain is coming in second among those voters.

(For exit polls, go to www.cnn.com/POLITICS/ and click on the state)

Back in October, Diana Butler Bass asked on this blog, "What Will Dobson Do?" Back then, Guiliani was the frontrunner and Dobson was threatening to bolt the party if he became the nominee. Today, he sent an alert to Focus on the Family Action lamenting:

I am deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems poised to select a nominee who did not support a Constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, voted for embryonic stem-cell research to kill nascent human beings, opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, has little regard for freedom of speech, organized the Gang of 14 to preserve filibusters in judicial hearings, and has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language. ...

But what a sad and melancholy decision this is for me and many other conservatives. Should Sen. McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime. I certainly can't vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama based on their virulently anti-family policy positions. If these are the nominees in November, I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life. These decisions are my personal views and do not represent the organization with which I am affiliated. They do reflect my deeply held convictions about the institution of the family, about moral and spiritual beliefs, and about the welfare of our country.

While Dobson maintains that he is endorsing no candidate, Focus and friends have certainly warmed to Romney while criticizing Huckabee. Was Huckabee's social conservatism just not enough to win their support for his economic populism? Reading the list of issues cited above, one wonders if electability had more to do with the Religious Right's support for Romney over Huckabee--since from my understanding neither of them use "foul or obscene language." With results so far seeming to favor McCain over Romney, are there any regrets among these erstwhile kingmakers? At this point, as Dobson threatens a boycott of the presidential vote, one wonders if he wishes he'd been more vocal in his support of Huckabee--who's winning southern states where conservative evangelicals are a strong segment of the electorate.

The earliest reports this evening are from Georgia, where polls closed at 7:00 p.m. CNN reports the exit polls, and they did it again.

The Democratic exit poll asks the standard questions about church attendance (where Barack Obama swept the board among those who attend more than weekly, weekly, monthly, a few times a year, or never), and about religion (Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, other, or none-where Obama also won all categories). In the Republican exit poll, they asked the same two questions, but then also asked whether the person was a "born-again or evangelical Christian").

I've also just looked at the exit polls from Arkansas and Tennessee – same thing. I'm assuming they use the same exit poll in every state, so once again, the media finds it unimportant to ask Democratic voters if they are evangelicals. Maybe they are afraid to because it would probably demolish their received wisdom that all evangelicals are Republicans.

There's something in the air: Super Tuesday. I haven't seen as much interest around a primary election in a long time. Despite the experiences of defeat around issues so important to my low-income community - the fear of recession, the dragged out Iraq war and the billions of dollars diverted for war that we need spent on improving the health and future of our youth - there is an tangible sense of hope and possibilities. As Caroline Kennedy told of her own experience, youth are speaking out to their parents about the future, about the candidates, and getting involved. There will be change in whoever becomes president, and that gives us hope for a new direction for the country, especially in how we spend our money. Remember the "budget are moral documents" efforts?

Having a sense of future is so important, especially in a low-income community. Children's Defense Fund documents that the single most influential factor in reducing teenage pregnancy is youth having a sense of future. A sense of possibilities other than the one-way train to prison is so critical for the young men hanging out of our street corners. But we can't afford to dash the hope and sense of future with false promises. It will be difficult for any president to turn around our war-mongering, our selfish claims to tax relief when others are left out, and our inadequate public education. There are forces that will push the other direction. But, as the saying goes, "Now is the time, and we are the ones we've been waiting for." We have a chance to make a difference.

Cornell West spoke last night, reminding us that we must work hard for our candidate, celebrate victories without rancor, and then take up the task of prophets of old, holding presidents and others accountable to God's justice.

Mary Nelson is president emeritus of Bethel New Life, a faith-based community development corporation on the west side of Chicago. She is also a board member of Sojourners.

On this Super Tuesday, there will no doubt be a lot of discussion (again) about the role of religion – and especially evangelical religion - in the election cycle. I wish more of them had the intelligence of a recent piece by NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof.

Speaking of evangelicals, Kristoff said:

Liberals believe deeply in tolerance and over the last century have led the battles against prejudices of all kinds, but we have a blind spot about Christian evangelicals. They constitute one of the few minorities that, on the American coasts or university campuses, it remains fashionable to mock. ... Bleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives.

Kristof quotes The Great Awakening, where Jim Wallis says, "Evangelicals are going to vote this year in part on climate change, on Darfur, on poverty." Kristof then adds that, according to a CBS News poll, this year white evangelicals consider the fight against poverty to be the top moral issue, displacing abortion to a distant second.

I could see this shift in action a few weeks ago in Davos at the World Economic Forum. I got to see Rick Warren in action, motivating business and political leaders to put poverty, disease, and peace-making higher on their agenda. Kristof tells a story about Warren, who for many years didn't pay much attention to these issues of social justice and compassion. Then, during a 2003 visit to Africa, Rick came into a ramshackle tent where a little church was caring for 25 AIDS orphans.

Rick said, "I realized they were doing more for the poor than my entire megachurch. ... It was like a knife in the heart." Kristof recounts how Rick turned this heartbreak into action: mobilizing his church to constructive action in 68 countries, recruiting 7,500 members to pay their own way to serve poor people around the world – experiencing a transformation in their own values and priorities in the process.

Kristoff quotes CARE's Helene Gayle about evangelicals' work against global poverty: they "have made some incredible contributions … We don't give them credit for the changes they've made." Similarly, Environmental Defense president Fred Krupp said, "Many evangelical leaders have been key to taking the climate issue across the cultural divide."

Kristof concludes, "In parts of Africa where bandits and warlords shoot or rape anything that moves, you often find that the only groups still operating are Doctors Without Borders and religious aid workers: crazy doctors and crazy Christians."

As an evangelical, I occasionally watch late-night religious broadcasting and the word "crazy" comes to mind in a different way. But thankfully, Kristoff is right: there's a new kind of craziness spreading among evangelicals. It's the belief that the impossible can happen – that yes, we can stop global warming, yes, we can redirect the economy to benefit the poor majority, and yes, we can build bridges of peace instead of razor-wire-topped walls of distrust.

It will be interesting to see how that craziness manifests itself in today's elections.

Brian McLaren (brianmclaren.net) is board chair for Sojourners. Click here to see some of his video blogs, and learn about his Everything Must Change tour at deepshift.org.

Snapshots from the road: Portland, Oregon.

Last week we began the national 20-city book tour for The Great Awakening in Portland, Oregon, at a majestic old venue called the Bagdad theater. It's a renovated 1920's era cinema, one part Grand Old Opry and two parts Ali-baba – complete with a retro, neon-lit marquee. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up to the theater to find my name up in lights immediately above the name of the feature film screening later that evening. It read…

AMERICAN GANGSTER
JIM WALLIS

Talk about kicking off the book tour in style.

Earlier that same day, Donald Miller, the author of runaway best-seller Blue Like Jazz, had me over to his home along with several dozen local evangelical leaders.

I told him, "I meet a number of young people for whom your books have been faith-saving." He smiled humbly, "that's huge."

It would prove to be an intimate discussion about authentically pursuing our faith while engaging movements for social justice – a conversation all seemed hungry for. It's certainly the beginning of a new friendship between Don and me that I'm encouraged to continue.

More to come...

[Correction: With the arrival of the photo, we realized that we had the correct order of Jim's name and the movie title on the sign transposed in the original post. We've corrected this in the text and title above.]

The Eucharist is the very heart of Christian worship because it is so rich and far-reaching in its significance; because it eludes thought, eludes emotion, relies on simple contact, humble and childlike receptiveness, sense quenching soul. It mixes together the extremes of mystery and homeliness; takes our common earthly experience of suffering, love abandonment, death, and makes them inexpressibly holy and fruitful; takes the food of our natural life and transforms that into a channel of Divine Life.

- Evelyn Underhill
Daily Readings with a Modern Mystic

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Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

- Acts 4:32-35

During the 2004 election cycle, I was bombarded repeatedly with messages about how young voters had failed to be involved in the electoral process. My generation—the Millennials—was failing to live up to its potential, it seemed. This time we're starting to shake things up—and people are taking note.

Motivated by growing economic inequalities, a declining environment, excessive war, and a Third World desperately in need of attention, the Millennials are demanding change. It's no coincidence that the word has become the rallying cry of those seeking the presidency.

In the February issue of Sojourners, I discuss how the Millennials are reviving the environmental movement through creative means such as the National Campus Energy Challenge (you can follow the February 2008 contest here). At PowerShift, a youth conference confronting climate crisis, I was amazed by the energy and enthusiasm that surrounded me.

In Sunday's Washington Post, Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais cite the energy evidenced by "thousands of young people filling an arena" last week at American University, when Senator Edward M. Kennedy offered his endorsement of Barack Obama. They describe "civic-minded millenials," as coming of age. "Civic generations," they wrote, "react against the idealist generations' efforts to use politics to advance their own moral causes and focus instead on reenergizing social, political, and government institutions to solve pressing national issues." It would seem—borrowing terminology from Jim Wallis—that my generation is finally waking up. And it's high time.

Instead of using the political system to advance key moral issues, let us use those moral motivations to re-energize the system. Concern for the environment is a moral issue—let's demand of our political leaders that action be taken. If we want to reduce the number of abortions, let's fund systems that help low-income mothers and mothers unprepared to deal with unexpected pregnancy. If we want this war to stop claiming lives—and we're not just talking about U.S. soldiers here, Christ weeps for the countless Iraqi civilians, too—let's work to confront our elected officials, demanding they take concrete steps to bring us home.

It's an exciting time, a time filled with the hope of change. I'm proud to be part of a generation that's demanding it. Let's keep it up.

Cara Boekeloo is an editorial assistant for Sojourners.

A common question from over the last few years has been for proof that the movement I describe has a real and measurable constituency. "Give us a sign," they say. The headline from the latest Barna Group report is another such sign: Born Again Voters No Longer Favor Republican Candidates. (Barna defines "born again Christians" this way: "people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.") In the report's words:

One of the most reliable constituencies of the Republican Party in recent years has been born again Christians. A new national survey of likely voters conducted by The Barna Group, however, shows that the Republicans have lost the allegiance of many born again voters. The November election is truly up for grabs - and if the election were held today, most born again voters would select the Democratic Party nominee for president, whoever that might be. … The new Barna study shows that if the election were to be held today, 40 percent of all born again adults who are likely to vote in November would choose the Democratic candidate and just 29 percent would choose the Republican candidate. The remaining 28 percent are currently not sure whom they would choose ...

Barna also polls what they call "A subset of the born again population – evangelicals …," (defined by Barna as the most theologically conservative), who they say "remained firmly committed to conservative ideals and, to a lesser extent, to the Republican Party." Yet here too is an amazing shift:

If the election were held today, only 45 percent of evangelicals say they would support the Republican nominee for president, and 11 percent would support the Democratic representative. Most significant is that a whopping 40 percent of evangelicals are undecided. This is extraordinary, given that 62 percent of evangelicals voted for the Republican candidate in 1992, 67 percent did so in 1996, along with 67 percent in 2000 and 85 percent in 2004.

Now, let me be clear that this shift does not by itself necessarily equal a movement for social justice - such a movement must never be the property of any political party. But this poll does demonstrate seismic shifts in the issues most important to this critical constituency. The old litmus tests no longer apply, and a broader set of issues now compel their votes. Who the candidates are and their position on a broad range of issues will matter. As Barna concludes (emphasis added):

Today we have a greater proportion of faith-driven voters who are concerned about issues that are often thought of as 'liberal' social policy concerns, such as poverty and health care. Abortion and family protection remain significant issues to the faith constituency, but they are not the only issues that matter to the group - or even the driving issues. Relying upon traditional stereotypes of born again or evangelical voters will not serve candidates well this year.

Because I was born in 1963, I qualify as a bottom-of-the-barrel "baby boomer" (a person born between 1946 and 1964). I'm not ready to make a post-workforce transition or second-half of life vocational shift, but I'm watching my elders who are.

In Sunday's Washington Post, there was an article by Marc Freedman – founder of Civic Ventures – called " No Country for Old People?" (playing off the title of Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel and the Coen brothers' current movie). Freedman writes:

Millions of boomers are headed not for endless vacation but for a new stage of work, driven both by the desire to remain productive and the need to make ends meet over longer life spans. In the next decade, the number of workers over 55 will grow at more than five times the rate of the overall workforce, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected last month. That could mean the biggest transformation of work and the workforce in the U.S. since women broke through to new roles decades ago.

One of the people Freedman profiles is Rev. Sally Bingham, who decided in her mid-40's to become an Episcopal priest. Sojourners ran an interview with Sally May-June 2002. (See Preaching God's Green Gospel). She now runs The Regeneration Project, a San Francisco nonprofit that's leading a religious response to global warming.

As Christians, we know that "vocation" starts with baptism and ends when God calls us home. (See We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For by Jim Wallis) We don't "retire" in the market capitalism sense. We have seasons of different kinds of work responding to different aspects of God's call on our lives. Because we believe in the inherent dignity of each human being, we do not define people by whether or not they are wage-earners, but by how they are serving the common good and God's New Creation.

However, we also need adequate social policies that allow people a moderate dignified life where they can still contribute to social needs even when they are no longer part of the mainstream work force. Freedman says:

By helping millions in search of both money and meaning find work that realizes their aspirations, our society can turn the necessity of longer working lives into a genuine virtue. By establishing better routes to significant "encore careers," as I've come to call them, we can reinvest the baby boomers' huge pool of human capital in areas where it's most needed.

Is it time for a "GI Bill" that supports first-wave boomers - the largest, healthiest, best-educated and longest-living generation in American history - in "common good" second careers or later-in-life vocations such as teaching, nursing, civil service, or work in the non-profit sector? Maybe this is a question we can put to the current presidential candidates. Their ages range from 47 to 78. With the exception of McCain, Gavel, and Paul, they are all "boomers" on a major career track.

Rose Marie Berger, a Sojourners associate editor, is a Catholic peace activist and poet.

For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor,
I will gasp and pant.
I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
I will lead the blind
by a road they do not know,
by paths they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.

- Isaiah 42:14-16

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At a certain point in the spiritual journey God will draw a person from the beginning stage to a more advanced stage.... Such souls will likely experience what is called "the dark night of the soul." The "dark night" is when those persons lose all the pleasure that they once experienced in their devotional life. This happens because God wants to purify them and move them on to greater heights.

- John of the Cross
The Dark Night of the Soul

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A comment thread from Jim's "Moral State of the Union" post frustrated me a bit until I was encouraged later in the week by a sermon mp3 by N.T. Wright. (I like to listen to sermon podcasts during my morning hikes in the park.) Here's an initial comment on Monday's post:

"Together, we can end the moral scandal of poverty, the degradation of God's creation, the cultural assault on our families and children, and seeing war as the only way to confront evil." --This statement sums up well the problem with contemporary liberalism, which refuses to acknowledge the fallenness of man and creation. You can no more "end" these things than you can eradicate sin.

Here's a representative response:

You know, just because you don't think you can eradicate war, poverty, or environmental degradation, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try. And it certainly doesn't mean you should decry other people who make an effort. If you live your life with a foundation of hopelessness and inevitability, your time on this earth will be complacent. Why discourage people who live with a sense of purpose and redemption for the here and now?

These two general perspectives (though not necessarily these two commenters) then proceed to nuance, clarify, and occasionally insult each other as usual. (BTW, comment moderators have been making a list and checking it twice, and the first round of warnings before blocking abusive commenters is nigh—REPENT! BE NICE!)

But even if the original commenter didn't mean that because sin is inevitable we shouldn't even try to fight social injustice, I agree with the comment that such objections to messages of hope and challenge is counterproductive. It reminds me of when I mentioned Ron Sider's Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger to one of my college Christian fellowship leaders and he asked if I'd heard of a counterpoint book: Prosperous Christians in an Age of Guilt-Mongering. (I kid you not.) As if there was such an epidemic of guilt-ridden Christians giving so much of their money away to the poor in sacrificial generosity that a book-length response was imperative. As opposed to a real epidemic of global hunger and starvation in the face of which much of the church was indifferent (especially Evangelicals in 1978 when Rich Christians first came out and was accused of being communist—ah, remember Cold War fundamentalism?)

Much has changed to awaken the church's conscience since then, but back to that N.T. Wright sermon that puts this debate in some helpful perspective (really, you should click here for an audio excerpt with additional context, and here for the full talk):

If somebody came to you and said, "Look, I have real difficulty with battling with sin. I find that I'm tripped up with temptation and I sin a whole lot. And I don't seem to be able to help it. But the good news is that after all, God is going to redeem me one day and I'm going to be with him in heaven or in the new earth or whatever, and so I really don't need to bother about it now, do I?"

Now, if somebody said that to you, I hope you would hit them with a fairly strong dose of inaugurated eschatology. You mightn't call it that. You would want to say: Precisely because God's going to do that for you in the future, you need to get to work on that now in the power of the Spirit. Now, supposing we were to run the same about the way the world is right now. ...

We won't build the Kingdom of God by our own efforts in the present. It remains God's gift, by his grace and by his power. But we can produce signs of the kingdom: In love and justice and beauty and healing and fresh community work of all sorts—internationally, locally, all over the place.

That last point, which some of the detractors on the blog claimed was their original point, is precisely the core of The Great Awakening as I read it. Here's a direct quote from the book:

It may be that only a revival of faith can spark the necessary changes in public opinion and political will on the really big issues, and that a spiritual transformation is necessary for social change. It's about changing hearts and minds on many of the biggest moral issues of public life that fundamentally challenge who we are and what we believe. Revival is always about what God can do through us, and is now doing afresh. ...

Far from advancing a "politics only" solution, because evil and sin are real, and because they are manifest in our worst social problems, it takes a work of the Spirit to really change things. So is the thread that sparked this post an argument merely about emphasis? If both sides affirm the basic Christian concepts that: a) creation—including humanity—can only be fully restored by God at the eschaton, and b) the church is called to promote that restoration in every sphere of influence in the meantime? If so, then get over it—and get to work!

Ryan Rodrick Beiler is the Web editor for Sojourners.

This post is drawn from a message I sent to our staff at Sojourners, thanking them for their hard work and support as I begin the exhausting pace of The Great Awakening book tour. I'd like to share it with you as well. I really need your prayers, and wanted to share with you the prayer that I will be saying everyday—likely again and again! It is from Charles de Foucauld. He was a French aristocrat who joined the French army in Algeria, then left it, lived there identifying with the people, serving the poor, learning the language, etc., and sought to found a new religious order, which became The Little Brothers of Jesus. His is a compelling story about how "great awakenings" begin with faithful journeys of discipleship. Charles de Foucauld lived from 1858 to 1916, a Catholic contemplative at the time of the 19^th century revivals.

Here is his prayer that I will be using during the book tour. It's called The Prayer of Abandonment—something that I am not particularly good at. Maybe his prayer might also be helpful to you, and perhaps we could pray it together during these important days for this movement of faith justice. Thank you all. I hope and pray that it will further the mission that draws together all among you who consider yourselves Sojourners.

Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures -
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.

Discover what God is doing through a new generation of risk-takers, innovators, and prophets at The New Conspirators. We have asked these young conspirators, who comprise at least four new streams, to share their stories, dreams, and struggles on Feb. 28-March 1, 2008, in Seattle. These four streams include: the new monasticism, the mosaic (multicultural), the missional, and the emergent. I want to share snapshots of these four streams, starting with the new monastics.

Shane Claiborne will be at our gathering sharing about the new monasticism movement and from his new book, Jesus For President. Over the past two decades, a new Protestant movement very much like the Franciscan order has emerged. Like many in the traditional Franciscan order, they have moved into the poorest urban communities in our world, live in community as families and singles, and care for the poor, often living at the same lifestyle level of the poor around them. A number of them have even developed a rule of life. These include groups like Word Made Flesh, InnerCHANGE, Servant Partners, Servants to Asia's Urban Poor, and Urban Neighbours of Hope (UNOH).

In 2005, a group of several hundred primarily younger people convened in Raleigh-Durham to discuss the need for a New Monasticism movement to more faithfully live out the gospel of Christ in our troubled world. As we met together, I was impressed by the desire of these young people to give more authentic expression to their faith.

Their communities include Rutba House in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Communality in Lexington, Kentucky; Camden House in New Jersey; and the Simple Way in Philadelphia. They are also connected to older intentional Christian communities, including Reba Place in Chicago and the Church of the Sojourners in San Francisco. Together, they have published a book, School(s) for Conversion: Twelve Marks of a New Monasticism, and they run Schools of Conversion for those who want to find their own way forward.

What makes the new monastics distinct from the other four streams is that they have no interest in planting new expressions of church; rather, they are creating new forms of community in which they seek to embody the gospel and reach out to those in need. Shane says, "Our deserts are the inner city and the abandoned places of the empire." This stream offers the most robust critique of modern culture, but also has the strongest voice for social justice and the care of God's creation.

Tom Sine founded Mustard Seed Associates in 1989. He has worked as a consultant in futures research and planning for numerous nonprofit organizations and speaks at gatherings all over the world with his wife, Christine. His newest book, The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time, comes out next month.

The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,
and the pride of everyone shall be brought low;
and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

- Isaiah 2:17

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The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, “Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you.... Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.” Both harder and easier than what we are all trying to do.

C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity

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