Some insights from Al Gore on the common thread/common function shared by all fundamentalist religions appear in an article in the New Yorker entitled The Wilderness Campaign: Gore’s mouth tightened. A Southern Baptist, he, too, had declared himself born again, but he clearly had disdain for Bush’s public kind of faith. “It’s a particular kind of religiosity,” he said. “It’s the American version of the same fundamentalist impulse that we see in Saudi Arabia, in Kashmir, in religions around the world: Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Muslim. They all have certain features in common. In a world of disconcerting change, when large and complex forces threaten familiar and comfortable guideposts, the natural impulse is to grab hold of the tree trunk that seems to have the deepest roots and hold on for dear life and never question the possibility that it’s not going to be the source of your salvation. And the deepest roots are in philosophical and religious traditions that go way back. You don’t hear very much from them about the Sermon on the Mount, you don’t hear very much about the teachings of Jesus on giving to the poor, or the beatitudes. It’s the vengeance, the brimstone.”

I have been thinking that there must be a way to take back September 11 from George Bush and his neoconservative agenda, or to reframe it, neutralize it as a part of his "stay afraid, and know that only I can protect you" campaign strategy. (It really galls me to still see September 11 used as justification to attack whoever this administration says we should attack--long ago Iraq passed the United States in the number of innocent lives lost. When, exactly, can we finally be done "retaliating" against the wrong people?) Today I will share with you some September 12 events that support a different worldview from the one espoused by the Bush administration: "In Pursuit of Peace" takes place in New York City, with Marianne Williamson. Interdependence Day (in Rome, Italy, and in communities around the world)

Thought I would post something a little different that some people here might not have heard of, but might enjoy. My husband and I first heard Roy Zimmerman a couple months ago on the Dr. Demento Show, singing a song called "Saddam Shame." We thought his style was "Tom Lehrer-esque" even before we knew he was billed that way. At the time, Roy didn't have his own web site (although a comprehensive fan site was online). Click here to listen to some of his songs online. Check out "Jerry Falwell's God" in particular--I think a lot of you would appreciate it.

Just wanted to share something here...I believe Dr. Tony Campolo is deserving of our support. I learned this in an e-mail: A retired pastor shared some very upsetting news about his trying to find Tony Compolo¹s new book, "Speaking My Mind." He went to a "Christian Book Store" near Lebanon, Ohio to buy the book and was told that the store had taken all the books off the shelve because one chapter in the book was "Unacceptable". I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing this could be because Campolo says that Evangelical Christians should "get out of the judging business"--in particular about GLBT issues. Click here for a review of Campolo's book on the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance web site. Tony Campolo is a bit of a maverick: an Evangelical Christian with conservative theological beliefs, who is also a social progressive. He disproves the commonly held belief that, as he writes:"...evangelicals are clones." He notes that non-Evangelicals often "see us as people who have a single way of thinking and talking. Recently, I heard someone refer to evangelicals as 'cookie-cutter Christians.' To be credible, we must demonstrate that we are a body of individuals, each of whom can think for herself or himself. I have made an attempt in this book to do that."

Rev. Jim Wallis and Rev. Jerry Falwell will appear "live" tonight on CNN's popular television program "Anderson Cooper 360." The hour-long program airs at 7 p.m. EST, and the Wallis-Falwell segment is scheduled to run closer to 7:30 p.m. Please check your local listings for more information. The "God is Not a Republican...or a Democrat" petition is being well-received by the media. Look for another overview of Sojourners' press coverage in Friday's SojoMail, including commentary by Jim Wallis on President Bush's convention speech. Also, you might be interested to know that the survey on the Anderson Cooper 360 site asks which party best represents a Christian political agenda.

Here is an article by Andrew Greeley in the National Catholic Reporter: Cover story: Mary makes a comeback Like Charlene Spretnak, I would like to think of myself as a pro-Mary progressive. I would like to believe that it is the genius of Catholicism to say “both … and.” I would like to be able to persuade myself that one can say “both ecumenism and Mary,” “both liturgy and the rosary,” “both Mary and dialogue with Islam” (which devotes a whole chapter of the Quran to her), and “both the Council and the ‘Salve Regina.’ ” It would seem that such deviation is not permitted. In these critical days of the fight for gender equality, such messy paradigms are intolerable. At the end of Father Greeley's review of the book is an interview with Charlene Spretnak about her book. Click here for an article from Life Magazine about The Mystery of Mary

Of late I have been drawn to all things Marian. For me this isn't really a new thing, but more of a resurgence of a continuing theme for me. Mary seems to follow me even when I am not associated with the Catholic church. So, I sense a theme coming on... Yesterday I found the book Missing Mary at the library. It was written by Charlene Spretnak, a liberal Catholic who has also written about Green politics and ecofeminism. Read more about the book here: She offers fresh reflections on the meaning of Mary, situating the Marian renewal in the larger context of contemporary efforts to correct the barrenness and sterility of modernity. Spretnak also notes that much of the cosmological symbolism traditionally associated with Mary as the Queen of Heaven and the maternal matrix is simpatico with recent discoveries in scientific cosmology about the profoundly relational nature of the Creation. And, on a tangentially related note, this looks interesting: The Feminist's Rosary - A New Way of Seeing Jesus

Just saw this on Sojourners. Actually, I had seen the "God is not a Republican. Or a Democrat" headline a number of times, but I was not yet aware that it was connected to a petition. There is a really good Flash animation, "The Heavenly Convention" with actual quotes from Falwell and Robertson here. Don't see a credit on it, but it's got to be Mark Fiore's work. Printable petition (PDF) here It says, in part: We believe that sincere Christians and other people of faith can choose to vote for President Bush or Senator Kerry—for reasons deeply rooted in their faith. We believe all candidates should be examined by measuring their policies against the complete range of Christian ethics and values. Read more here

I have been asked to help spread the word about a new web resource: ProgressiveStart.com: Start-Page for the Progressive Movement Since the site creator is asking for feedback, maybe we can help him fill in the religious progressive shaped gap in the directory... Right now is version 1 -- out the gate fast. And some have criticized "it's too much! simplify it". Give it time. DeanPort, I can assure you, has almost twice the number of links -- but when a web user interface designer connects with this information design scheme, the whole thing will look -- and be -- much more manageable. Help it grow by sending in suggestions for links to top-level resources that are missing from the current list. Check out what's already there, and offer suggestions of links to add.

8-year-old Celiac sufferer's First Communion Declared Not Valid What purpose could this possibly serve? This story just breaks my heart... An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating Roman Catholic doctrine. Now, Haley Waldman's mother is pushing the Diocese of Trenton and the Vatican to make an exception, saying the girl's condition should not exclude her from the sacrament, which commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion. The mother believes a rice Communion wafer would suffice. "It's just not a viable option. How does it corrupt the tradition of the Last Supper? It's just rice versus wheat," said Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman. Church doctrine holds that Communion wafers, like the bread served at the Last Supper, must have at least some unleavened wheat. Church leaders are reluctant to change anything about the sacrament. ... After the church's pastor refused to allow a substitute, a priest at a nearby parish volunteered to offer one, and in May, Haley wore a white Communion dress, and received the sacrament alongside her mother, who had not taken Communion since she herself was diagnosed with the disease. Last month, the diocese told the priest that the church would not validate Haley's sacrament because of the substitute wafer. "I struggled with telling her that the sacrament did not happen," said Pelly-Waldman. "She lives in a world of rules. She says `Mommy, do we want to break a rule? Are we breaking a rule?'" Pelly-Waldman is seeking help from the Pope and has written to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, challenging the church's policy.

At Blog for America, I have seen some comments recently from people who have had aggravating discussions with friends/family/acquaintances who are voting based on "wedge issues". For example, a person said she would be voting for Bush because of all he has done to end abortion. The posts reminded me that I have seen some web sites and resources addressing these particular issues. I am going to post the ones I know about here, and encourage you to add any others that you know of. PublicChristian.com Check out this site for a paper about why many Christians support Kerry/Edwards. Another article on the site addresses why pro-life Christians should consider voting for pro-choice candidates. Or just click the home page go see the other important topics that are addressed. Also, Sojourners has a special section for articles related to the election. Among the articles is one by Jim Wallis about pro-life Democrats. Other issues addressed include the environment, school vouchers, trade and globalization, immigration, national security, GLBT issues, health care, and taxes.

Some things I learned in church today... Today we had a lay preacher, Jeanne, who I was looking forward to hearing. I had enjoyed her insights when she and I were in a class together in July. It was taught by our rector, George, right after the service. We would discuss the readings for the following week's service, knowing that some of our own thoughts might show up in that week's sermon. Or at least thoughts inspired by our thoughts. Jeanne's sermon today was on faith--our faith in God, and God's faith in us. She shared a story of a time in her life when she felt she had failed in her work, and that this period of time could not have been part of God's plan for her--only to find out years later that the seeds she had sown back then had borne abundant fruit. I like this kind of story, probably because it connects so well with what I am coming to realize. We are always right where we need to be, but we need faith and patience to see the eventual results. But here's what I learned that I didn't know. Apparently Sting sings about God a fair bit. Okay, maybe I'm the last person to find this out, but I really didn't know that before. She quoted some of his lyrics: Some would say I was a lost man in a lost world You could say I lost my faith in the people on T.V. You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians They all seemed like game show hosts to me If I ever lose my faith in you There'd be nothing left for me to do I could be lost inside their lies without a trace But every time I close my eyes, I see your face One of these days I will have to come up with the intestinal fortitude to volunteer to be a lay preacher. One of these days. After church, I saw that some of my fellow parishioners had copies of a new book that I had not heard of: Why Bush Must Go: A Bishop's Faith-Based Challenge by Bennett J. Sims When I came home, I got online to learn more about the book, and the first thing I found was a review of the book in Whosoever, written by our own Candace. Here is an excerpt from her review: Sims sees our current leaders as practicing unilateral leadership, "the top-down, tight-box command style." Instead, Sims believes our country, as well as our world, would be a better, non-violent place if leaders of all stripes practiced a relational style of leadership that he has dubbed "Servant Leadership." Instead of "top-down," Servant Leadership "takes roughly the shape of a circular network, with the leader as the focus of shared authority and responsive to the automatic feedback loops that are part of the structure of the arrangement. William L. Ury contrasts the two models in a vivid sentence: 'Pyramids are held together by coercion; networks are held together by mutual consent.'" Sims admits that Servant Leadership, while greatly admired, is the least practiced form of management, but he insists that "Servant Leaders are the people who can pull the world back to sanity - back from the teetering brink of weaponized self-destruction under bellicose unilateral American leadership." I will definitely have to get my hands on a copy of that book.

According to an article in the Chicago Sun Times, "Superstars from several diverse genres in rock and country -- among them Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and the Dixie Chicks -- are among the more than 20 bands taking part in the Vote for Change tour." Springsteen has written an editorial for the New York Times: Through my work, I've always tried to ask hard questions. Why is it that the wealthiest nation in the world finds it so hard to keep its promise and faith with its weakest citizens? Why do we continue to find it so difficult to see beyond the veil of race? How do we conduct ourselves during difficult times without killing the things we hold dear? Why does the fulfillment of our promise as a people always seem to be just within grasp yet forever out of reach? Asking questions. I like that he sees the value in trying to ask the right questions. I am sure some people will read this and have the knee-jerk "What do celebrities know about these things, anyway?" reaction. But hopefully some people will be reached by this--by hearing admired non-politicians asking questions about things that matter. I don't want people to vote a certain way just because "The Boss" tells them to, but we know that people imitate role models. It would be good to see people imitating role models by thinking and asking questions, and talking about the kind of country we want America to be. The editorial continues: Like many others, in the aftermath of 9/11, I felt the country's unity. I don't remember anything quite like it. I supported the decision to enter Afghanistan and I hoped that the seriousness of the times would bring forth strength, humility and wisdom in our leaders. Instead, we dived headlong into an unnecessary war in Iraq, offering up the lives of our young men and women under circumstances that are now discredited. We ran record deficits, while simultaneously cutting and squeezing services like afterschool programs. We granted tax cuts to the richest 1 percent (corporate bigwigs, well-to-do guitar players), increasing the division of wealth that threatens to destroy our social contract with one another and render mute the promise of "one nation indivisible." It is through the truthful exercising of the best of human qualities - respect for others, honesty about ourselves, faith in our ideals - that we come to life in God's eyes. It is how our soul, as a nation and as individuals, is revealed. Our American government has strayed too far from American values. It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.

I don't really have any content or thoughts of my own to add, but felt this needed as wide an audience as possible. What can we do? Holocaust Museum Calls Crisis in Sudan 'Genocide Emergency' The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has elevated its assessment of the crisis in the Darfur region in western Sudan to a 'genocide emergency' in response to the increasing level of violence and death. This is the first time in the museum's 11-year history that it has made such a declaration, which is intended to draw world attention to the situation and to apply pressure for a response from Sudan's government. Museum officials say they will open a display about Darfur on Monday to allow to the public to view the devastation in the Darfur region, where government-backed Arab militia members have been attacking black residents, most of them also Muslims. After a unanimous decision by both houses of Congress last week to call the deteriorating situation in Darfur genocide, the designation by the nation's official Holocaust memorial further underscores the urgency of the situation.

In case you haven't heard, it was reported in the Lancaster New Era that Bush has been appealing to his "higher Father" again. In a meeting with a group of Old Order Amish in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Bush was reported as saying, “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.’’ Of course, I find this troubling, because, as we know, when God speaks through George Bush it invariably ends up sounding a lot like George Bush and his fellow neocons. It never sounds like God, who I know to be loving and compassionate. Granted, She is also challenging sometimes--trying to nudge us to do things we don't want to do (or think we can't do) but really, doesn't any good parent do that? This, for example, doesn't sound very much like God to me: "According to Abbas, Bush said: 'God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.'" It is times like this that I sometimes wish that God would just appear to everyone, like in a scene in a Monty Python movie and boom, "I said no such thing! Don't listen to him!" Now I can imagine God saying to me, like in an old Bill Cosby sketch about Noah's Ark, "You know I don't work like that!" "But someone has to tell the people--the Christians who do take Bush at his word when he says he is doing your will--that Bush's will is not what you want for the earth!" "Please don't look at me like that. I'm no good at this sort of thing!" "Could I at least have some help?" Fortunately, once I start looking, I discover that I have a lot of help available to me. Bill Moyers, for example, recently wrote: Let's get Jesus back. The Jesus who inspired a Methodist ship-caulker named Edward Rogers to crusade across New England for an eight-hour work day. Let's get back the Jesus who caused Frances William to rise up against the sweatshop. The Jesus who called a young priest named John Ryan to champion child labor laws, unemployment insurance, a minimum wage, and decent housing for the poor - 10 years before the New Deal. The Jesus in whose name Dorothy Day challenged the church to march alongside auto workers in Michigan, fishermen and textile workers in Massachusetts, brewery workers in New York, and marble cutters in Vermont. The Jesus who led Martin Luther King to Memphis to join sanitation workers in their struggle for a decent wage. I like that. People need to be reminded of that Jesus, who was really big on caring for the poor and disenfranchised, and urged us to love our neighbors as ouselves--even to the point of loving our enemies.

Sort of the antithesis to the "Catholic Voters Guide"--the National Council of Churches USA is releasing "Christian Principles in an Election Year". It is available as a PDF that you can print and share--especially, one supposes with anyone who wants to convince you that the five non-negotiable issues in an election are abortion, euthanasia, stem-cell research, human cloning, and same-sex marriage. Our Christian faith compels us to address the world through the lens of our relationship to God and to one another. Public discourse is enhanced as we engage civic leaders on the values and ethics affirmed by our faith. At the same time, religious liberty and the integrity of our democracy will be protected as candidates refrain from using faith-based organizations and institutions for partisan gain. We offer these ten principles to those seeking to accept the responsibility that comes with holding public office. Click here to read the principles, which emphasize peacemaking and cooperation, global, economic, racial, and enviromental justice, a restorative, not retributive, approach to the criminal justice system, affordable and accessible health care for all, and a commitment to equal educational opportunity for all.

Is there anything we can or should be doing to help support Rev. Barry Lynn and Americans United in this effort? Americans United: IRS Should Investigate Partisan Political Activity By Jerry Falwell Ministries, Says Americans United TV preacher Jerry Falwell has used his Jerry Falwell Ministries to endorse President George W. Bush's re-election in apparent violation of federal tax law, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told the Internal Revenue Service. In a complaint to the federal tax agency, Americans United told the IRS that Falwell endorsed Bush in a July 1 e-mail to supporters and also urged followers to send money to a political action committee that supports Republican candidates. Falwell also posted the partisan election-year appeal on his ministry website. The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, said Falwell's action clearly merits an IRS investigation. Falwell, in his "Falwell Confidential" bulletin, wrote, "For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush. The alternative, in my mind, is simply unthinkable. To the pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, pro-America voters in this nation, we must determine that President Bush is the man with our interests at heart. It is that simple." Falwell continued, "However, simply voting may not be enough. I believe it is the responsibility of every political conservative, every evangelical Christian, every pro-life Catholic, every traditional Jew, every Reagan Democrat, and everyone in between to get serious about re-electing President Bush. That is why I am utilizing this column to urge you to support the Campaign for Working Families, which is headed by Gary Bauer. It is the organization that I believe can have the greatest impact in re-electing Mr. Bush to the Oval Office." Here is an excerpt from the New York Times article about Lynn's appeal to the IRS: In an interview yesterday, Mr. Falwell said that an affiliated tax-exempt lobbying organization, not his religious organization, Jerry Falwell Ministries, had paid for the e-mail message and the Web site. Mr. Falwell also argued that his comments constituted only his personal view, and not an endorsement by his lobbying organization, Liberty Alliance. "We report news, write editorials, etc., all of which is protected by the First Amendment," he said. Despite the urgency of his calls to "get serious about re-electing President Bush,'' Mr. Falwell said the lobbying organization "doesn't support candidates or endorse them.'' He said, "It speaks to moral and social issues and it does encourage contributions to organizations like Gary Bauer's." Mr. Falwell defended the right of a pastor to endorse political candidates in his personal capacity, even from the pulpit. Mr. Falwell said he often did this at his church, the Thomas Road Baptist Church. "I support President Bush,'' he said. "I support him on Sunday mornings from the pulpit where it doesn't cost the church or anybody anything. I make it very clear, just like at most African-American churches and many liberal churches, that as a tax-paying citizen I vote. And I tell people who I vote for." He called Mr. Lynn's charges "a fright tactic" intended to silence conservative Christians. "His problem is that I am a Ronald Reagan, George Bush conservative evangelist," Mr. Falwell said.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation is having a national conference in Los Angeles, August 5-9. ORGANIZING THE REAL SUPERPOWER: People of the World Choose Peace Kathy Kelly, organizer of Voices in the Wilderness Rev. James Lawson, one of the principal architects of the civil rights movement Dorothy Cotton, who worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bishop Gene Robinson, first openly gay bishop ordained in the Episcopal Church of the United States. Donzaleigh Abernathy, daughter of Ralph Abernathy, who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Cindy and Craig Corrie, who lost their daughter, Rachel, when she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip Fernando Suarez del Solar, A member of Military Families Speak Out, a national advocacy group of over 600 families, Suarez has traveled around the country speaking out against the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Program workshops will cover a wide variety of issues such as workers' and immigrants' rights, military disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, conscientious objection to war, Muslim-Jewish / interfaith peace relations, the protection of civil liberties and legal rights, end of capital punishment, regional focus on Colombia, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, racial reconciliation, non-violence training and education, and more.

I have a favor to ask... Here you can find an updated version of a 4th of July flyer Demetrius and I offered last year. While the Bush administration was busy pushing "support our troops--don't ask any questions" as the way to be patriotic, I set to Googling and Demetrius started working on graphics layout, and we created a flyer illustrating the values upon which the United States was founded. One might even consider them to be liberal values. But the idea was to take a subtle approach--rather then whacking people over the head with anything overtly anti-Bush (which many people shut out right away)--we were just letting the words of the Founding Fathers remind them of what this country was meant to stand for. Last year around this time, I had a lot more spare time, apparently, because I managed to e-mail a bunch of bloggers and some major ones put up a link to the flyer. Tom Tomorrow's blog, This Modern World put up a link to it, and we got so many hits that we had to upgrade our web service. In the end, we made good use of that upgrade, because we used it to offer free grassroots graphics at The Peace Pretzel and People-Powered Graphics. This year the flyer has been updated a bit, to show more diversity, but is still more "historical" than current, showcasing the wisdom of our forefathers and mothers. Mathew Gross was kind enough to put up a link to the flyer a little while back, which I really appreciate, after I posted a link to it in the comments section on his blog. I just don't have the time to post about this and e-mail lots of people, but since the 4th is coming up so soon, I would really like to see this reach as wide an audience as possible. So, if you like the flyer, I would really appreciate any help you can give as far as spreading the word about it. You know, you tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on...

The Human Rights Campaign has posted an example of an ad that was released in Ohio, supporting the Federal Marriage Amendment. The text of the ad starts with, "Why Don't [Ohio] Senators DeWine and Voinovich Believe Every Child Needs a Mother and a Father?" and continues with: "...Here's the bottom line: homosexual marriage intentionally creates fatherless families or motherless families. Think about it. Every child understands how important a mom and a dad are. Help make your senators as smart as a kid. Pick up the phone and tell their staffs you support the Federal Marriage Amendment, and they should too." That is so offensive and hateful, it leaves me speechless, at least at the moment. If you, however, are not speechless right now, please speak out.