Toy people know that a child who buys one of a set will never settle until they have all of the set if they can. There is something hard wired in us that seems to want more and more, another one, the next one. There was a bank that had a commercial that was based on the idea, "I think my more should be doing more."
Those in power in our legislators seem to think that there are some budget items that should keep getting more and more. The trump budget gives to our military an incredible raise and this is the military complex that is already the largest in the world. Our military spending is already more than the next 25 developed countries in the world and 23 of them are allies of our government. This plus the fact that trump says NATO partners need to pay more of their share so where is the saving going to go? Never enough money in the military ever to make us safe.
There is the fact that in this country the gap between the Corporate executives in major businesses and the salary average of the basic employees is somewhere over 400 times. The CEO's make 400 times the average salary of the employees of their companies. That is the way it was. The paper just reported that the average CEO's salary increased in 2016 by 16 percent, but the average salary of the non-exempt employees barely moved at all. There is never enough money to satisfy the greed of the CEO's.
The same greed and pride is a major component in the disgusting salaries of professional sports. NBA, NFL and MLB all have players who are well compensated but who are claiming they have been disrespected because they are not being paid properly. Never enough money to satisfy the pride of some people.
And of course, the bottom line then from government and corporations is that there is never enough left over to build the best schools, to have health care for all, to provide for the elderly, to give enough money to hire enough counselors for mental health, to get enough workers in all kinds of offices and programs.
Maybe if we did exercise what we were supposed to learn in Kindergarten about sharing, and being peaceful, we might have more to help
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Only one side of the issue
The News and Observer has a picture in the Section A of a church that has a yard sign which reads "11 Muslims killed 2977 Christians on Sept. 11, 2001." I am not sure just what the message might be. I can imagine that they want us to remember the victims of that attack. I suspect that there is an implied attack upon Muslims in that statement. It would fit in with trump's attack on Muslims and his attempt to ban them from this country.
But like so many things in our deeply divided world right now, it does not tell the whole story. It does not tell how many Muslims have been killed by our unnecessary war in Iraq. It does not tell how many Muslims have been killed by the conflicts in Afghanistan that are the results of the forces and sects that have been ignited by the wars in Iraq. It does not recognize the arrogance of American political power in the long history of that region that has been supported by Christian missionary zeal.
They will correctly tell us that they are simply stating the facts. Those are facts, but facts are never independent of context and the context of the long history of American domination of the oil countries and the context of the response to that event which has killed many more than 3,000 cannot be ignore.
But like so many things in our deeply divided world right now, it does not tell the whole story. It does not tell how many Muslims have been killed by our unnecessary war in Iraq. It does not tell how many Muslims have been killed by the conflicts in Afghanistan that are the results of the forces and sects that have been ignited by the wars in Iraq. It does not recognize the arrogance of American political power in the long history of that region that has been supported by Christian missionary zeal.
They will correctly tell us that they are simply stating the facts. Those are facts, but facts are never independent of context and the context of the long history of American domination of the oil countries and the context of the response to that event which has killed many more than 3,000 cannot be ignore.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Church - Politics - always has been
It was supposed to be a big deal. President Trump signed another (he has signed so many) executive order that would allow religious groups to be much more politically active. It will be possible for Pastors and Churches to receive contributions and to make political endorsements of candidates and issues.
But what is the big deal? The evangelical right, fundamentalists group have been doing that kind of thing, passing out voter guides for more than twenty years. The liberal, hippie group used to do that back with the war in Vietnam, Civil Rights and Nixon. Both sides used to try to get the IRS to take away the tax exempt status of the other for engaging in political activities. I guess that will be the only difference.
But the rest of us moderate, middle of the road Christians have to confess that we have also been political active in a much more revolutionary way. It may not appear that we have been very good at it, but we have been promoting an entirely different kingdom. We have been fermenting a completely different society. We have been pushing for a different kind of government. We have been asserting that the powers of this world are illegitimate and corrupt. The values and the standards of this current culture are destructive and transitory: wealth, power, fame, military might are fleeting.
The kingdom of God is permanent and eternal. The life style and the blessings in the other political reality are based on a sacrificial power of love. That the people who live in this other world live by grace, hope and love. There is a refusal to accept as absolute any of the laws and requirement of the worldly powers because we know there is a kingdom where there are higher, better, more justice, more accepting, more compassionate standards. The church declares, when it is being true to its Lord, that refusing to pay hard workers a living wage for their work is a violation of the law of God's kingdom. The church is political when it declares that there is no reason why any on this earth should be hungry when we have food enough. The church is being very political when it says that the profit motive is not nearly as eternal as the stewardship of the water, air, and land that we all live on.
The Church, when it is living and loving as the body of Christ, is a dangerous revolutionary force. It has been the incubator for political change down through the ages. Even when the church has been tempted to act like a political empire, the power of the message of the Cross has spurred reformation and change. The only hope this country has is the possibility that that part of the Christian community will stand up and be the Church.
But what is the big deal? The evangelical right, fundamentalists group have been doing that kind of thing, passing out voter guides for more than twenty years. The liberal, hippie group used to do that back with the war in Vietnam, Civil Rights and Nixon. Both sides used to try to get the IRS to take away the tax exempt status of the other for engaging in political activities. I guess that will be the only difference.
But the rest of us moderate, middle of the road Christians have to confess that we have also been political active in a much more revolutionary way. It may not appear that we have been very good at it, but we have been promoting an entirely different kingdom. We have been fermenting a completely different society. We have been pushing for a different kind of government. We have been asserting that the powers of this world are illegitimate and corrupt. The values and the standards of this current culture are destructive and transitory: wealth, power, fame, military might are fleeting.
The kingdom of God is permanent and eternal. The life style and the blessings in the other political reality are based on a sacrificial power of love. That the people who live in this other world live by grace, hope and love. There is a refusal to accept as absolute any of the laws and requirement of the worldly powers because we know there is a kingdom where there are higher, better, more justice, more accepting, more compassionate standards. The church declares, when it is being true to its Lord, that refusing to pay hard workers a living wage for their work is a violation of the law of God's kingdom. The church is political when it declares that there is no reason why any on this earth should be hungry when we have food enough. The church is being very political when it says that the profit motive is not nearly as eternal as the stewardship of the water, air, and land that we all live on.
The Church, when it is living and loving as the body of Christ, is a dangerous revolutionary force. It has been the incubator for political change down through the ages. Even when the church has been tempted to act like a political empire, the power of the message of the Cross has spurred reformation and change. The only hope this country has is the possibility that that part of the Christian community will stand up and be the Church.
Monday, January 9, 2017
Liberals Hate the Bible?
The email came from a completely unknown person. The subject line had "Why Liberals hate the Bible." The email claimed to have a video that would irritate the Liberals even more and make them hate the Bible with a greater passion. I did not look at the video.
It is not true that liberals hate the Bible. I know a great number of liberals who love Jesus and who seek to understand the scriptures and to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What most of the liberals I know hate is what has been done to the Bible by power hungry, conservative, religious preachers.
What I find most disturbing are two things: one the desire to impose their Christianity upon the whole world. Not to offer that grace of Jesus as a gift, but to enforce it by law. Jesus Christ is the gift of God's love to the world and Jesus suggested that the love ought to be set on a lamp stand and let the light shine and people could come to it. There did not seem to be any desire on his part to "make" other people believe or behave the way he said. Two, the way they deny the power of God's gift of salvation by their actions. If we are saved by the Cross of Jesus, and that has been done, then those who accept the gift have no fear of it being tainted or destroyed by what others do. If the clerk is in fact a saved Christ by the grace of Jesus, then her salvation is not in danger by her doing her job and issuing marriage licenses to those who apply. If the doctor is a born again Christian then his salvation is not removed if he provides medical treatment to women who had done what he considers sinful acts.
All Liberals do not hate God. Liberals do not all hate Jesus, Liberals do not all hate the Bible. What we hate is the way that people like Franklin Graham, Joel Osteen, so many evangelical conservative people use it as a club to bash others and to leverage themselves into political power.
It is not true that liberals hate the Bible. I know a great number of liberals who love Jesus and who seek to understand the scriptures and to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What most of the liberals I know hate is what has been done to the Bible by power hungry, conservative, religious preachers.
What I find most disturbing are two things: one the desire to impose their Christianity upon the whole world. Not to offer that grace of Jesus as a gift, but to enforce it by law. Jesus Christ is the gift of God's love to the world and Jesus suggested that the love ought to be set on a lamp stand and let the light shine and people could come to it. There did not seem to be any desire on his part to "make" other people believe or behave the way he said. Two, the way they deny the power of God's gift of salvation by their actions. If we are saved by the Cross of Jesus, and that has been done, then those who accept the gift have no fear of it being tainted or destroyed by what others do. If the clerk is in fact a saved Christ by the grace of Jesus, then her salvation is not in danger by her doing her job and issuing marriage licenses to those who apply. If the doctor is a born again Christian then his salvation is not removed if he provides medical treatment to women who had done what he considers sinful acts.
All Liberals do not hate God. Liberals do not all hate Jesus, Liberals do not all hate the Bible. What we hate is the way that people like Franklin Graham, Joel Osteen, so many evangelical conservative people use it as a club to bash others and to leverage themselves into political power.
Monday, January 2, 2017
"Promote the General welfare"
In the preamble to the U.S. Constitution there is the phrase that says the constitutions is being established in part to promote the general welfare. I think that is another another way of saying that the constitution is established in part to provide for the "common good." I don't think it is too much of a stretch to suggest that our political system has lost contact with the "general welfare." I do not think that I am the only one who thinks that there is no agreed upon definition of what is the "common good." In fact, I might even go so far as to suggest that neither party has much interest in seeking the "common good" or the "general welfare" of the country and are both operating out of the position of what is good for their power and how to sustain their power base.
I do not suspect that we will get any help in wrestling with the question of the general welfare in the next four years. But perhaps these next four years could be helpful if there were among people a calm, civil, thoughtful discussion of what does the "common good" or "general welfare" look like for all of us in the 21st century. With automation, technology, globalization, and religious fervor changing the patterns and the goals of society, the "general welfare" of our society will certainly look a great deal different than it did in previous generations. Thus the idea that the USA could be made to look like it did in the 1950's is a very destructive and counter productive goal.
When planes and trucks are operated with no drivers, when so much of the economy is service and technology and yet some one still is needed to repair and to build and farm, the common good will be hard to define, but it needs to be defined so that both parties can work together to make progress.
I do not suspect that we will get any help in wrestling with the question of the general welfare in the next four years. But perhaps these next four years could be helpful if there were among people a calm, civil, thoughtful discussion of what does the "common good" or "general welfare" look like for all of us in the 21st century. With automation, technology, globalization, and religious fervor changing the patterns and the goals of society, the "general welfare" of our society will certainly look a great deal different than it did in previous generations. Thus the idea that the USA could be made to look like it did in the 1950's is a very destructive and counter productive goal.
When planes and trucks are operated with no drivers, when so much of the economy is service and technology and yet some one still is needed to repair and to build and farm, the common good will be hard to define, but it needs to be defined so that both parties can work together to make progress.
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