May 2017 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

FYI: ATTENTION/SAVE THE DATE: 5/24/17 Conference call; Standing Rock follow-up DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY: presenters; videos; resources
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 16 May '17

16 May '17

Hi folks, FYI...for the last year I have been convening webinars/conference calls through the Presbyterian Church (USA) Resource Extraction and Climate/Environmental Issues Table of the Joining Hands Partnership Program. These one-hour calls have related to resource extraction and primarily indigenous and other communities in Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Haiti, Cameroon, Republic of Congo and others, including one call on Standing Rock in November 2016. The next call, a follow-up from the Standing Rock call, is on the DOCTRINE OF (CHRISTIAN) DISCOVERY. the theological and legal precedent for European nations' taking over lands in the 15th and 16th century and continues to be part of the organic law, national and international policy the US today, built on the foundation of stolen land and stolen labor. See the call notice and information below. I invite and encourage you to participate in the call. Ellie Stock elliestock(a)aol.com SAVE THE DATE!! DON'T MISS!! NEXT RESOURCE EXTRACTION CALL: WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2017 2:00PM CENTRAL/3:00PM EST CALL #: (605) 475-3215, Access Code: 180305# TOPIC: THE DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIAN DISCOVERY Dear Resource Extraction Friends, May Greetings! Have you ever heard of the DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIAN DISCOVERY? This IMPORTANT topic is a follow-up from our November 2016 call on Standing Rock but has implications for peoples nationally and globally, particularly Original Nations, Communities and Peoples, including the communities in Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Haiti, Cameroon, The Republic of Congo and places of focus on previous Resource Extraction Calls. What is it??? The Doctrine of Discovery, initiated by 15h century and after Papal Bulls and Royal Charters from Spain, Portugal, England, France, and The Netherlands, was a commission and permission for explorers to claim and take over lands and to dislocate, relocate, assimilate and annihilate peoples who were not Christian and therefore were not considered to be human, but pagan and infidels. Why does it matter?? Today, the Doctrine of Discovery remains the organic law for Indian Federal Law and legal precedent for the taking of lands by force which continues not only in relation to Native American Communities in the United States but through corporations' and government's taking of land and resources, eminent domain, and national and foreign policy. When 534 clergy and religious gathered in Standing Rock in November 2016, they gathered in prayer and they repudiated and ceremonially burned the Doctrine of Discovery. What has been done?? Many denominations have repudiated The Doctrine of Discovery. The PC(USA) joined them in 2016 when the 222nd General Assembly also voted to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery and apologized for running boarding schools that separated Native American children from their families and tried to "civilize" and "Christianize" them. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA): The 222nd General Assembly (2016) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), meeting in Portland, Oregon in June, passed two overtures which effect the 95 Native American Presbyterian churches across the country: -An apology to Native American’s for the church’s involvement and administration of boarding schools during the late 19th and early 20th centuries whose purpose was the “civilization” of Native American children. -A repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery: this “doctrine” derives its authority from Pope’s and European royal decrees stating “explorers” may seize lands and convert “non-Christians” in their name and for the good of the Christian Church. It remains the basis, as late as 2005, for Indian Law and Supreme Court decisions against Tribes. It has become clear that the PC(USA) is becoming more aware of the struggles that Native American Presbyterians and all Native Americans have faced in the past and are dealing with today. It is my hope that in discussing these issues across the church an impact can be made that not only raises awareness within the church of these issues, but also generates action by Presbyterians. “May the warm winds of heaven blow softly upon you And the Creator make sunrise in your hearts.” (Cherokee Prayer) The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The Rev. Irvin Porter Associate in the PC(USA) Office of Native American Intercultural Congregational Support The United Nations and many groups have been working to address current issues related to the Doctrine of Discovery, how it affects our lives today, and implications for the future. JOIN THIS IMPORTANT CALL TO LEARN MORE. Special presenters for the call will be: -Elona Street-Stewart, Member of the Delaware Nanticoke Nation, PC(USA) Ruling Elder and Executive of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies--first Native American PC(USA) synod executive. -Fr. Daniel LeBlanc, OMI (Oblates of Mary Immaculate), serving in justice ministries in urban Lima and the high jungle for 30 years and now working with the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues which has focused on the Doctrine of Discovery. Below is additional information: 1) Biographical information on the presenters 2) Links to two online videos on the DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY: -"Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery" [43 minutes; grounds it in the resource extractive industries] -"Exposing the Doctrine of Discovery" [9 minutes; education piece by the Episcopalian Church] I invite you to watch these videos between now and May 24, and our call will focus on these videos as well the presenters' information about the Doctrine of Discovery and implications for our times. [Another good resource is the film "The Doctrine of Discovery, Unmasking the Domination Code" based on the book Steven Newcomb's book Pagans in the Promised Land--Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery.] 3) Additional links to resources on the Doctrine of Discovery: PC(USA)/Ecumenical and United Nations/Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFFI) Looking forward to gathering around the Call Table May 24. Please share this email notice with anyone who might be interested. Grace and peace~ Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com (314) 521-8418 1) PRESENTERS FOR THE 5/24/17 RESOURCE EXTRACTION CALL ON THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY: MS. ELONA STREET-STEWARD, RULING ELDER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA) Synod Executive, Synod of Lakes and Prairies Elona Street-Stewart is a ruling elder and member of Dayton Avenue Presbyterian Church in Saint Paul, MN. She is the Synod Executive for the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, having previously served as Synod Staff Associate for racial Ethnic Ministries and Community Empowerment. She has served PC (USA) in many capacities for many years on racial justice matters in mission development and support programs. Ms. Stewart, member of the Delaware Nanticoke Nation, is the ﬁrst Native American to be installed as a synod executive with PC (USA). She has spent many years serving her communities as well as the church and has served on many non-profits in Minnesota advocating for the education, employment and health of people of color and American Indians. She served 12 years on the Board of Education for Saint Paul Public Schools and both the National and Minnesota School Board Associations. She has also served on the Minnesota Council of churches and with the St. Paul Area Council of Churches' Department of Indian Work. Ms. Stewart cares deeply about these issues, and her passion dates back to the 1970s, when the nation was celebrating the Bicentennial and the "discovery" and "civilization" of this land, and when there were calls for the church "to join tribal leadership to examine the root causes of the poverty, racism, and invisibility of our communities." In November 2016 Ms. Stewart and her husband, Rev. David Stewart, were part of a PC(USA) delegation to Standing Rock (see link below). She has recently facilitated workshops on Standing Rock and the Doctrine of Discovery at the PC(USA) Compassion, Peace and Justice Training and Ecumenical Advocacy Days events. She will lead a similar workshop at the PC(USA) BIG TENT event this July in St. Louis, MO. PC(USA) synod executive Street-Stewart recounts trip to ... Https: › /www.presbyterianmission.org/story/pcusa-synod-executive... ... synod executive Street-Stewart recounts trip to Standing Rock. PC(USA) synod executive Street-Stewart recounts ... Rock as a representative of the PC(USA) synod ... REV. DANIEL LEBLANC, OMI, Staff - Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation; omiusajpic.org Associate, International JPIC Office and Oblate UN Representative - New York Daniel has been a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate since 1971. Daniel is Canadian, but worked in Peru from 1978 until his appointment to the Oblates' General Administration JPIC Office in April 2007. During his thirty years in Peru, Daniel served the urban poor of the capital city, Lima, as pastor of several parishes in the Diocese of Carabayllo and also in the high jungle. He worked on a variety of justice issues from assisting victims of terrorism to investigating mass graves and helping to bring perpetrators to justice. He also studied law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). For many years, he was a member, as well as Chair, of the Latin American OMI Commission of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC). On June 5, 1992, Fr. Daniel was a victim of a terrorist attack. A car bomb with 600 kilos of dynamite exploded outside a television station located across the street from the Oblates' provincial house. Father Daniel was asleep at the time. He suffered serious injuries that left him unconscious for days. “At one point they had declared me dead but that turned out to be a little premature,” Fr. Daniel now jokes. “There were about 70,000 people killed during Peru's 20-year civil war, but I was not one of them.” Currently Fr. Daniel represents the Oblate Congregation, recognized as an NGO at the United Nations, where he follows the work of the Commissions on Social Development, including the sub-committee on the eradication of poverty, Sustainable Development, the ), Financing for Development and Migration, and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII), the focus of which in 2012 was the Doctrine of Discovery. Issues he has worked on include land-grabbing by the government of Bangladesh against the Garo and Khasi indigenous people, promoting peace and reconciliation during the civil war in Sri Lanka, and efforts along the U.S./Mexico border to promote justice for migrants and immigrants. 2) FILMS ON THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY Movie – Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery (Mennonites,others) [43"] https://dofdmenno.org/movie “The Doctrine of Discovery: In the Name of Christ” This 43-minute documentary has three parts: History of the Doctrine of Discovery and its basis in Christian ... "Exposing the Doctrine of Discovery" (Episcopal Church) [13'59"] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drLnI_k5b6s&;;; 3) DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY RESOURCES: PC(USA; ECUMENICAL; UNITED NATIONS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA) RESOURCES: Standing Rock: Religious Leaders repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, November 2016: PC(USA) faith leaders join Standing Rock solidarity gathering: Apology and support for ongoing struggle offered to tribal leaders Facebook page Irvin Porter, Multicultural/Native American Ministries: https://www.facebook.com/Native-American-Ministries-PCUSA-232067750278099/. Presbyterian News Service article re: apology to Native Americans: http://www.pcusa.org/news/2017/3/17/alaska-mayor-acknowledges-pcusa-apology/ and a youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tshc5mwli6o&feature=share. Link for Doctrine of Discovery: https://www.pc-biz.org/#/search/3000074. PC(USA) synod executive Street-Stewart recounts trip to ... Https: › /www.presbyterianmission.org/story/pcusa-synod-executive... ... synod executive Street-Stewart recounts trip to Standing Rock. PC(USA) synod executive Street-Stewart recounts ... Rock as a representative of the PC(USA) synod ... ECUMENICAL RESOURCES: SOCIETY OF FRIENDS: NYYM and the Doctrine of Discovery | New York Yearly Meeting nyym.org › ?q=DoctrineofDiscovery The Religious Society of Friends ... New York Yearly Meeting and the Doctrine of Discovery, ... the Doctrine of Discovery NYYM Actions. New York Yearly ... MENNONITES: Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery – A movement of ... dofdmenno.org Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery A movement of Anabaptist people of faith. Menu. Skip to content. About; Learn More; Movie; Study Guide; Get Involved; Contact ... Movie About Study Guide Act Now Contact Blog Q: What is the “Doctrine of Discovery?” doctrineofdiscoverymenno.files.wordpress › 2015/06/dod... Q: What is the “Doctrine of Discovery?” The “Doctrine of Discovery” is a philosophical and legal framework dating to the 15th century that gave Christian ... NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER Doctrine of Discovery: A scandal in plain sight | National ... ncronline.org › news/peace-justice/doctrine-discovery... As for the doctrine’s more recent ... The papal documents led to an international norm called the Doctrine of Discovery, ... National Catholic Reporter ... UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: THE REPUDIATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY Uccfiles › pdf/DoctrineofDiscovery.pdf DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY ... of Discovery. Rethink theology, bible study and ... and concern in the United States about the Doctrine, the United Church of Christ, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MINISTRIES: Environmental Justice with Indigenous Peoples presbyterianmission.org › wp-content/uploads/2017Earth... Source: “Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery” exhibit, Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Working Group, dofdmenno.org. 2 BIBlE STUDY: PSAlm 24 UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION RE INDIGENOUS RIGHTS/DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY: PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS RIGHTS The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues www.chiefs-of-ontario.org/sites/default/files/files/NITV Staff... Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues ... Mandate of the Permanent Forum • To discuss indigenous issues within the ... United Nations Created Date: 4/27/2012 3:07 ... United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Permanent_Forum_on... The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) ... UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples www.nnhrc.navajo-nsn.gov/docs/UN Declaration on the Rights of... United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples . ... Solemnly proclaims the following United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous INDIGENOUS PEOPLES FORUM ON DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY, ARIZONA, 2012 [Reported to the 2012 UN PFII: Doctrine of Discovery] Doctrine of Discovery conference, Arizona, March 2012 ... https://www2.palomar.edu/pages/aaquallo/2012/03/28/doctrine-of... Doctrine of Discovery conference, Arizona, March 2012. ... This is an awesome article that was sent in response to the Doctrine of Discovery conference ... March 28 ... Indigenous Peoples Forum On Doctrine of Discovery at ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8JO7XARko Indigenous Peoples Forum On Doctrine of Discovery at Arizona Capitol March 23, 2012 ... on the Doctrine of Discovery held at the Arizona State ... UN PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES, 2012: DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues - indianlaw.org indianlaw.org/sites/default/files/UNPFII_11th session report.pdf E/2012/43-E/C.19/2012/13 United Nations ... Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues shall be held at ... Future work of the Permanent Forum, including issues of the ... Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues - indianlaw.org indianlaw.org/sites/default/files/UNPFII_11th session report.pdf E/2012/43-E/C.19/2012/13 United Nations ... Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues shall be held at ... Future work of the Permanent Forum, including issues of the ... UNITED NATIONS PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES ... www.afn.ca/uploads/files/unpfii_undrip_2008-2012_northamerican... UNITED NATIONS PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES ... Permanent Forum will therefore ensure ... indigenous peoples, the United Nations system and other ... UNPFII Discussion: Doctrine of Discovery | Indigenous ... www.ienearth.org/unpfii-discussion-doctrine-of-discovery United Nations Permanent Forum 11 ... agencies of the United Nations that the doctrine of discovery is an ... the rights of Indigenous peoples. Issues ... Indigenous Peoples Forum on the Impact of the Doctrine of ... doctrineofdiscoveryforum.blogspot.com/2012/09/dismantling-doctrine... Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery. ... 2012 a public forum on the impact of the Doctrine of Discovery was ... UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues | The ... https://alanlechusza.wordpress.com/tag/united-nations-permanent... Posts about United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues ... 2012 the NAHUACALLI ... submission in May to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. [UNPFii 2012] The Doctrine of Discovery: its enduring ... aippnet.org/unpfii-2012-the-doctrine-of-discovery-its-enduring... [UNPFii 2012] The Doctrine of ... Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. ... (article 28 and 37 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) ... United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues www.un.org/press/en/2012/hr5088.doc.htm ... Permanent Forum Told ‘Doctrine of Discovery’, ... Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues ... The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will ... UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues discusses theme ... https://www.unngls.org/index.php/un-ngls_news_archives/2012/350-un... 2012; UN Permanent Forum on ... “The Doctrine of Discovery: ... She also urged the Forum to change its name to the “UN Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous determination. UN PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES, 2017 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2017 lrinspire.com - 3 days ago In the Spirit of World Peace. In the Spirit of Peace with Mother Earth. In global acknowledgement of the INTERNATIONAL SPIRITUAL MONUMENT at STANDING ROCK, in the Oceti Sakowin Treaty ...

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Looking to contact Aminah Mwamose
by James Wiegel via Dialogue 15 May '17

15 May '17

Does anyone have contact info for Aminah Mwamose? My daughter is going there at the end of the month. Jim Wiegel “If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353623-363-3277jfwiegel(a)yahoo.comwww.partnersinparticipation.com Upcoming ToP training opportunities in Arizona More info on: ToP® Facilitation Methods ToP® Strategic Planning: Mastering the Technology of Participation Register on line / see the ToP National ScheduleAICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP® courses The AZ ToP® Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, of every month, 1-4 pm, at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003

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Re: [Dialogue] Monthly Colleagues gathering in Austin
by George Holcombe via Dialogue 14 May '17

14 May '17

We met last night for our monthly “ecclesiola” (started by Charles and Doris Hahn in the 90’s) and Dane Adkinson led the study using a paper “Speak the Truth, But not to punish” using the words of Thich Nhat Hanh. Thought you might like to read one of the quotes: “As activists we want to do something to help the world to suffer less, but when we’re not peaceful, when we don’t have enough compassion in us, we are unable to do much to help the world. Peace, love and happiness must always begin in us, with ourselves first. There is suffering, fear, and anger inside of us, and when we take care of it, we are taking care of the world.” It reminded me of one of Joe’s mantras, “You have to take care of yourself, if you want to care for others." (not an exact quote, maybe someone with a better memory than me can get that right.) Looking forward to next month. George Holcombe geowanda1(a)me.com "Whatever the problem, community is the answer. There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about." Margaret Wheatley

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5/11/17, Felton/Spong: Marking the 100th Anniversary of Fundamentalism in America by Bullying Religious Minorities: Spong revisited: Terrible Texts III
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 11 May '17

11 May '17

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Marking the 100th Anniversary of Fundamentalism in America by Bullying Religious Minorities By David Felten How a “Fact or Fiction” Campaign Continues the Tradition of Betraying the Message of Jesus The Back Story Right after Easter in 2015, I arrived at church as a fellow staff member was going out the door saying, “I’m going to get a picture of one of the banners.” “What banners?!” I’d come in the back way to town and hadn’t seen that down the main street of Fountain Hills, eight churches had posted large identical banners overnight: “Progressive” Christianity: Fact or Fiction?” The next day, those same eight churches (that’s a lot in a town of only about fifteen churches!) – the fundamentalists, break-away evangelical Lutherans (LCMC), and Presbyterians (ECO) – also published a half-page newspaper ad in the local Fountain Hills Times and arranged for both an article and an OpEd piece to appear in the paper. Hailed as a “landmark series” and an “unprecedented step” that demonstrate[s] in a very real way the unity of the ‘body of Christ’, the effort was the work of the “Fountain Hills Ministerial Association,” a group of churches whose pastors had already publicly condemned Progressive Christianity in general as “one of the tools the enemy" and me in particular as a heretic, apostate, and liar. The local Presbyterian pastor confirmed that the six-week series of coordinated messages were meant to push back against the progressive Christian movement. “Frankly, we think Progressive Christianity is misleading a lot of people,” he said. As Pastor of the then only openly “Progressive” Christian Church in town, (welcoming of LGBTQ folks, embracing of science, in dialogue with other religions, etc.) and author of a popular book on the “Wisdom of Progressive Christianity,” it seemed clear who the series was aimed at. Friends of The Fountains like best-selling author Diana Butler Bass (and others who keep a finger on the pulse of the national religious scene) said that they’d never seen anything like this before: a coordinated smear campaign/attack by a majority of the churches in one town against a single other church. It was a sensational and unusual enough event that the local Fox 10 News reporter even came out to do a story – which propelled the affair into the news cycle around the country. Soon it was being podcasted about and blogged about across the internet and written about in news outlets from The Christian Century to the secular media around the world. One of my favorite blog posts was by author John Shore, who dubbed the other churches the “Gang of 8.” He observed that this was more mature than what he wanted to call them in the first place, which was “Churches Rallying Against Progress” (C.R.A.P.). The content of this anti-Progressive Christianity sermon series was nothing new, drawing directly from the well-established Fundamentalist playbook: inerrant Bible, Virgin Birth, physical resurrection, and a six-day creation, among other threadbare claims. And while the proponents of this dogma would like to imply that their doctrines are original to Jesus himself, it turns out that they’re based in a controversy barely 100 years old. The Back Back Story Just over a hundred years ago, The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth was published and distributed all over the world. Consisting of 12 volumes, The Fundamentals contained 90 essays written by 64 authors from several denominations. Union Oil Founders Milton and Lyman Stewart (also founders of the fundamentalist BIOLA University), financed millions of volumes being sent out free of charge to pastors, evangelists, Sunday school teachers, and missionaries around the world. What began as a not-so-anonymous vanity project became an all-out movement to save conventional Christianity. The Fundamentals was compiled and distributed in the run-up to war with Germany, when suspicion and fear towards all things German was running high. Physics in the hands of Germans like Einstein and the alarming new science of psychology advanced by Austrian Sigmund Freud posed what seemed a very real threat to the status quo of not only culture and religion, but reality itself. For religious conservatives, liberal German theology and its “Higher Criticism” was the primary concern. Unleashing elements of the scientific method on the Bible posed a threat to the simple souls of the American faithful. A major flashpoint in the developing controversy between the “Modernists” and those who would come to be called “Fundamentalists” was a debate in the New York Presbytery of the Presbyterian church over the doctrine of the literal Virgin Birth. Several candidates for ordination were hesitant to affirm their full embrace of the historicity of the doctrine. So, in 1910, legislation was passed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church declaring that five doctrines were “necessary and essential” to the Christian faith: 1. The inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and the inerrancy of Scripture as a result of this. 2. The virgin birth of Christ. 3. The belief that Christ’s death was an atonement for sin. 4. The bodily resurrection of Christ. 5. The historical reality of Christ’s miracles. These five propositions would become known as the “Five Fundamentals” and, no surprise, were at the heart of the six “essential” beliefs lifted up by the Fountain Hills “Gang of 8” (the main addition being that “Christ is the only way” and that non-believers are going to Hell). So, just over a hundred years later, the “Five Fundamentals” and The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth , are still playing a central role in the task of what Fundamentalists consider to be “drawing a line in the sand” regarding their faith – a faith noticeably lacking in any emphasis on Jesus’ teachings or example (but I digress!). So, out of fear over changing cultural norms and contemporary understandings of Jesus’ life, eight churches in Fountain Hills decided to do exactly what Jesus would have wanted them NOT to do: gang up on people who are different and demonize them as heretical, apostate, and dangerous. As blogger John Shore wrote, And if there’s one message the Gang of 8 is successfully communicating, it’s that they’re feeling threatened. Threatened they are, and threatened they should be. For the Christianity they represent is, in a word, ruinous. It holds that the “unrepentant” LGBT person is destined for hell, that wives must be subservient to their husbands, that Christians alone can enjoy a heavenly afterlife. The Christianity they preach and teach feeds off fear, exclusivity, anger and victimizing “the other.” And right now, in Fountain Hills, Arizona, that “other” is The Fountains UMC.” In the end, the bottom line at issue here is fear. Well, and bigotry. As The Fountains shares its facilities with a Reform Jewish congregation, works with the nearby mosque, and sponsors a monthly PFLAG meeting, it shouldn’t be surprising that trying to discredit The Fountains hit the bigotry trifecta. The thinly-veiled anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and Homophobia of conservative Christianity could all be conveniently concentrated and camouflaged in the garb of pious theological moralizing. And the go-to solution for many who are feeling threatened? Bullying, plain and simple. But the good news is that the bullying backfired. The unanticipated consequences of the “Fact or Fiction” campaign included a sincere interest in the principles of Progressive Christianity by seekers who had never known there was an option to the fundamentalism of their birth. The Just Desserts I was already pretty used to accusations from my fellow clergy, having already been referred to in OpEd pieces in our local paper as, among other things, a vicious liar, hypocrite, and reprobate (it was my first “reprobate”!). But the congregation was a bit anxious at first. While it seemed like all the “respectable” voices in town were ostracizing us, it didn’t take long for them to hear themselves being called “worse than Satan,” “Like a computer virus that needs to be wiped out,” and compared to the Nazis for them to come around and say, “Now Hang on a second! Who are these people to be saying such things? Fellow Christians? Seriously?” In the end, the congregation was galvanized in a way it had never been before. Add to that the biggest summer attendance we’ve had in anyone’s memory, the story being picked up literally around the world and, by the end of the summer, being recognized by a national United Methodist organization with their annual “Voice in the Wilderness” Award, and it was hard to imagine anyone NOT wanting to be shunned by their Fundamentalist neighbors. We really could never have afforded that kind of advertising otherwise! But in the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity department,” let me close with two anecdotes from that summer: The first was on the launch Sunday of the anti-Progressive Christian sermon series. The Fountains had a record-breaking crowd including United Methodist Bishop Bob Hoshibata and his wife, Greta, several LGBTQ groups, two Muslim groups, Buddhists, Jews, and even atheists. And then, across the back row, all lined up in their immaculate suits and ties, the Bishop and his elders from our neighboring LDS ward. The Mormon Bishop and I were laughing with one another that if anyone should have theological differences, it would be us. But we had gone out of our way to include our Mormon neighbors in our interfaith events and our youth groups had met together – and when they saw we were being ganged up on in a way that was all too familiar to them, they were there to support us. This simple act of solidarity was not lost on the congregation. The second happened later in the summer. A woman came to The Fountains and introduced herself after church as being from one of the “Gang of 8” churches. She said, “The more my pastor preached against Progressive Christians, the more I realized I was a Progressive Christian.” She had never really known there was an option – she didn’t know that her doubts and uncertainties were shared along with compassionate, thoughtful people who shared her hopes and hunches about the world. An Intellectual Contagion Harry Emerson Fosdick famously preached that “stagnation, not change is Christianity’s most deadly enemy.” But the stagnation of the status quo continues to hold generations of people in its grip. Fear of the intellectual contagion of Progressive Christianity continues to motivate otherwise kind and compassionate people to betray the message of Jesus, excluding who their pastors tell them are “unclean” and blemished. In the final analysis, it was the support of fellow Progressive Christians and the encouragement of those who had faced similar exclusion that strengthened the members and leadership of The Fountains to not only persist, but flourish in the face of controversy. So in a world where Fundamentalist Christians seem to dominate the secular public’s impression of Christianity as anti-intellectual, bigoted, judgmental and reactionary, the more important it becomes for Progressive Christians to come together, networking with one another and establishing relationships that strengthen us for the moments when we find ourselves being dismissed or bullied. There are countless people out there for whom the message you and I share would be like a breath of fresh air – but they just haven’t heard it. And when they do, they just can’t believe there really is a movement that welcomes all people, that respects other religions, that works for justice, that seeks to confront racism and prejudice in all its forms, and works to heal the world. As Progressive Christians, we have the freedom to loosen our grip on the obsession with certainty and work together to adapt our understandings, our language, and our goals toward embracing the core value of expanding our spiritual horizons. Together, we can go deeper, ask the tough questions, and explore the ways we can be a catalyst for new spiritual directions. Despite the noisy critics, we can make the world a better place. ~ Rev. David M. Felten Read online here About the Author David Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living the Questions”. A co-founder of the Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet. David and his wife Laura, an administrator for a large Arizona public school district, live in Phoenix with their three often adorable children. Question & Answer Mark from Cheyenne, WY writes: Question: If you do not favor conversion activity, how do you interpret the Great Commission? Answer: By Matthew Fox I think there is a big difference between favoring conversion activity and preaching good news. Now what we call the "Great commission" is found differently in all four gospels and many Biblical scholars believe these are add-ons to the gospels that reflect more the goings on and practice of the early Church and its liturgical rites than the exact words of Jesus after the Easter event. Be that as it may, I recommend sitting down with all four versions of this injunction to get a feel yourself for the diversity of tone and words and meaning found therein. For myself, I most appreciate the Markan words because they take us beyond the human and they emphasize the "good news" while saying nothing about conversion. Says Mark: "Go out to the whole world" (this theme is found in most all the other pericopes as well so it shows this injunction very likely followed the early church's expulsion from the synagogue) and its going out to the gentile world and beyond to "proclaim the good news to all creation." This raises the obvious question: What is the good news that all creation is eager to hear? Mark certainly sets Jesus' teaching and ministry into a more-than-human context, a cosmic context therefore. And clearly it is not about converting so much as "proclaiming good news." The "whole world" is a big place (today we know our universe is made up of two trillion galaxies!) so there is plenty of space to roam in. While Matthew's "Great Commission" talks about teaching the commandments Jesus has taught, at the heart of these are love of God and love of neighbor and vice versa. Our neighbor is not restricted to the two-legged ones, but all creation deserves to hear that humans are busy loving all creatures--not destroying other creatures in narcissistic fits of greed and violence that end whole species while endangering human generations that follow with a depleted earth. Whether the story of the Good Samaritan or the teaching of Matthew 25 that others, especially the needy, are other Christs, it is clear that Jesus' teaching is indeed trying to stretch our meaning and practice of love and compassion. That's the Great Commission and the Great Commandment(s). ~ Matthew Fox Read and share online here About the Author Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 32 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 60 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the FleshTransforming Evil in Soul and Society, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved and Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest ________________________________________________ Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Terrible Texts: Be Fruitful and Multiply and Subdue the Earth – Part III Subdue the earth! It is an enemy to be conquered not a home to be treasured! Life is an eternal battle for survival between the human creature and the hostile environment. These are the assumptions that shape the primary religious tradition in the Western world. Today we are paying the price of those assumptions. It is as if the environment has launched a counter attack against its abusers. In many areas of our life the limits of abuse seem to have been reached. The prospect of the human species surviving for thousands of years is today an open question. The human future seems to be no more than an even bet. Sometimes just the attempt to raise human consciousness to the dangers now confronting our common environment is rejected as nothing more than “doomsday preaching.” Those whose vested interest lies in not facing reality continue to live in denial. It is an ultimate expression of that sickness that thinks that the comfort of homo-sapiens is the only value to be served. “Subdue the Earth” is accepted among fundamentalist Christians as a divine command since it appears in a book that these believers insist, contrary to massive data, is “The Word of God.” The biblical setting of this “Terrible Text” calling us to “subdue the earth” enters the sacred narrative in the seven-day creation story. Written by the priestly writer during the Babylonian Captivity in the 6th Century B.C.E., it is one of the newer parts of the Old Testament. This story makes no bones about the fact that every beast, every bird, every fish and everything that “creeps on the earth” is to be subjugated to the domination of human life by the commandment of God (Gen 1:28-30). It is overtly anthropocentric. This relatively recent narrative was then merged with the older stories about Adam, Eve and the Garden, which tell the story of the fall from grace plunging the human being into a struggle with the hostile environment. Prior to the act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden, all human needs were filled. But that cosmic act of violating God’s single command to refrain from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil resulted in expulsion from that paradise. The punishment handed out to the woman included pain in childbirth, and for the man the constant need to scratch from the earth a meager living. The divine words used are quite harsh: “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you Is there something about Western religion itself that predisposes its adherents to environmental disaster? Do such texts as “Be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth” arise out of something far deeper and more basic in our faith tradition? Why is it that among non-Western religious traditions, the concept of having a religious duty to subdue the earth would be considered a strange and alien idea? In many Eastern worship traditions God is envisioned as a universal spirit or divine presence that cannot be separated from the world. This God is a life force flowing through every living thing, not a distant ruler or a great chief in the sky, who is somehow separate from the world of human experience. Perhaps this distinction might open our eyes to a significant clue, which seems to be so deep in the western religious tradition, that violating the environment and exhausting the world’s resources have become realities that we still seem to think are blessed by God. In Buddhism, for example, God is not an objective presence standing over against the world perceived as subject. Buddhism seeks wholeness or at least a sense of harmony with the whole. That is quite different from seeing human life as called to subdue, to conquer and to exercise authority over the world. In the biblical tradition the claim is made that we know God by divine revelation since God comes to us from outside. Through the sagas of the Bible, God’s divine name is changed from time to time. Yet this distinction always remains. Yahweh became the dominant name for God after the conquest of Canaan and was defined against the fertility cults of the Canaanites and their God who was called Ba’al. Perhaps the most dramatic Ba’al story is the conflict on Mt. Carmel in which Elijah; the prophet of Yahweh first stood down and then slew the priests of Ba’al (I Kings 18:20-40). Contemporary readers of this narrative need to understand that this was a conflict between Yahweh, an overwhelmingly male deity, who lived above the sky, and Ba’al, a deity identified with the agricultural fertility cycles and thus one who was perceived as far more a part of the life of the world. Ba’al actually began his divine career as the consort to Astarte or Asherah who was a fertility goddess. It was only as the concept of the deity as feminine declined in the ancient world that Asherah was de-emphasized and the male consort Ba’al emerged as the primary Canaanite deity who was locked in a mortal struggle with the God of the Jews. While Ba’al was identified with the cycles of nature Yahweh was understood as a deity who invaded history. Yahweh may well have begun as a kind of supernatural tribal deity, but later evolved into being the chief ruler over the entire world. In the Judeo Christian tradition, it was in this image of God that human life was said to have been created. Human beings were said to be the God look alike, to whom was assigned the divine task of exercising dominion over all living things. Israel’s God was said to have created all things out of nothing. This made the world both subservient and answerable to this external divine power who lived in a sphere located beyond the sky. As the Scriptures unfolded, in addition to a heavenly dwelling place, God established a symbolic dwelling place in the midst of the people. First, it was in a mobile tabernacle that was carried by the Jews during their days in the wilderness. That was symbolized by the fact that the tabernacle was connected to heaven by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The tabernacle was in effect a colony of heaven. When the permanent temple was built and dedicated the Shekinah – God presence, perhaps God’s spirit or even God’s light – was sent as the sign of God’s willingness to make that place the earthly home of the Holy One. This God remained, however, primarily the all-powerful creator who viewed the world from outside it. God could fill the world but was never to be identified with it. The world was a creature that neither possessed its own holiness nor participated fully in the holiness of God. So the idea was born in this religious tradition that we human beings, like God, were not really part of this world. We were made to rule the world in God’s name, to have dominion over it and ultimately to make sure that it served our needs as those made in God’s image. This was the attitude, I submit, that enabled the anthropocentricism found in the Bible to be developed. Out of this anthropocentricism, I believe, there arose the insensitivity to and destruction of our common environment, and the human unwillingness to curb our breeding practices. Only a deity who was not part of the world could order the human creature to be fruitful and to multiply and subdue the earth as if the earth was an enemy. I call this definition of God “Theism.” God is a supernatural being, external to the world, who periodically invades the world in a miraculous way. Theism is the dominant definition of God in the Bible and, through the Bible it has become the dominant definition of God in the Western world today. The proof of that is seen in our language, which defines a theist simply as one who believes in God, and the only alternative is to be an a-theist. A theistic God can be thought to manipulate the weather to create the great flood, to engage in political conflict by slamming the Egyptians with plagues and then splitting the Red Sea during the Exodus. This God shapes morality by dictating the law at Mt. Sinai. This God raises up prophets in Israel to speak the divine word. This is also the God, who, in the “fullness of time,” invaded the earth in the person of Jesus and lived among us. So powerful was this “external to the world” God image that it captured the life of Jesus. Jesus came to be seen not as a God infused human being, but rather as a divine visitor who came from heaven. As a divine visitor, Jesus needed a mythological landing field, which is how the miraculous birth tradition of the virgin entered Christianity. He also needed a launching pad in order to make his exit. That is how the story of Jesus’ cosmic ascension became part of the tradition. Between his miraculous entry into the life of the world and his miraculous exit from it, this Jesus was said to have done other God-like things, like walking on water, stilling the storm and expanding the food supply, all of which can be shown as God attributes in the Old Testament. There was also present among the Jews, the hope that when the Kingdom of God dawns in human history, the signs of that kingdom will become apparent. The prophet Isaiah (chapter 35) described those kingdom signs as the blind seeing, the deaf hearing and the lame walking. Therefore, it was quite natural that stories about these kingdom signs would be attached to Jesus and even expanded to include “the dead rising.” The dominant theistic understanding of God shaped the way this “god life” of Jesus was remembered. It was Charles Wesley who, in his 1739 Christmas carol, captured this meaning best when he wrote that far from being human, Jesus was a life that had been “veiled in flesh,” so that we could “the Godhead see.” It is this theistic understanding of God that allows us to view the earth as profane, even secular. This theistic God who is imaged only in human beings has literally drained the holiness out of the life of this world, rendering it an enemy to be subdued. This theistic God allows us to pretend that, like God, we too are separate from this world, that we are the only creatures who are holy and that the world and all that is in it was made for our benefit. One can dominate and subdue a world that is not holy. One can view all life as created for human benefit only if you assume that holiness is external to this world. The theistic understanding of God opens the door to separating the world from holiness because the God, who is the source of holiness, is separated from this world. So long as we view God through the lens of theism, we will see the world as an object, even as an enemy, against which we must struggle to survive. Ideas do have consequences and we are living today with the ecologically disastrous consequences that derive from an anthropocentric view of human life based on a theistic understanding of God and creation. If we are going to overcome our looming environmental holocaust, then the proper place to begin might be to jettison the theistic understanding of God. For most Western people that is an almost unthinkable possibility. Yet I believe it is the essential first step toward both a theological reformation and a realistic hope for a human future. Can the theistic understanding of God be abandoned? The answer to that question is yes but it will mean that we must engage and overthrow the powerful vested interest that religious institutions have in preserving the theistic God who is the source of their authority. The only place I know where we can begin this task is to return to the scriptures to see if theism is the only way there is to envision God. Are there minority voices hidden in our religious past that have been all but drowned out by the claims of the theistic organized religion? Perhaps the environmental crisis that is upon us will be the catalyst to force us to enter this new and radically different understanding of God. If we are successful in this effort, we will inaugurate a reformation so radical that the whole superstructure of organized religion in the Western world, with its intricate authority claims will crumble before our eyes. That means many will vehemently resist it but without it I am more convinced that there is neither a Christian nor a human future. In my next column, I will attempt to lift out of the scriptures a different portrait of God, a God beyond theism. It is a minority view which I believe must soon become a majority view or we have no future. My hope is that it will lead us to a new vision of what it means both to be human and to live in harmony with the world. ~ John Shelby Spong Originally Posted September 2003 Announcements The Seventh Annual Death and Afterlife Conference READ ON...

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ICAI Global Buzz
by ICA International via Dialogue 06 May '17

06 May '17

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.....If you wish to SEND a report...send to your ICA contact person OR...go to the members section on the ICA International website Please click the link below for the latest issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: May 2017 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-17/2017-05-01.php ICAI Communications

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5/04/17, Matthew Fox: Earth Day 2017: The Return of Healthy Religion?; Spong Revisited: The Terrible Texts II...
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 04 May '17

04 May '17

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Earth Day 2017: The Return of Healthy Religion? By Matthew Fox There is such a thing as “fake news”; and “fake science;” and there is also, we must make clear, such a thing as “fake religion” and certainly of “fake Christianity.” I would maintain that all those persons and institutions political and corporate that are in purposeful denial about climate change are in direct contradiction to everything Jesus taught and tried to teach.(1) As John’s epistle says, how is it possible to love God if you hate your neighbor? The Gospel celebrates the Good Samaritan who cared about his suffering neighbor. Our neighbor is not just our two-legged neighbor but other neighbors as well who face extinction today and who bear names we have assigned to them such as “elephants;” “tigers;” “polar bears;” “rainforests” and much more. If we are waging war against them by our narcissistic life-styles and anthropocentric agendas and are busy committing ecocide we are hating them. And of course in hating them and destroying them we are hating our own descendants, our own great grandchildren and many more humans not yet born. When will the nonsense stop? When will the denial stop? The nonsense will stop when religion wakes up to what its real job is. The real job of religion is this: To give thanks. To teach gratitude, a gratitude that is born of Awe, of what rabbi Heschel calls “radical amazement.” Were you radically amazed this summer to learn that science has now moved on from understanding the universe is several hundred billion galaxies big to being two trillion galaxies large? Isn’t that cause enough for awe and wonder? Heshcel reminds us that “the universe is not just here; it shocks us into amazement.”(2) Are you shocked everyday by the wonders of our existence, the beauty of Mother Earth and her generous bestowing of diverse beings with which we humans are invited to play and learn and delight and sometimes use wisely? Heschel teaches that there are three ways to respond to creation: 1. Exploit it. (We’ve been pretty adapt at that the past 300 years and we are now paying the price). 2. Enjoy it. 3. Accept it with awe. It is this last option that is the spiritual option. You do not have to be a believer to travel that deep route. Many atheists have found this truth out on their own. But no religion is worthy of the name if it is not actively engaged in instructing its followers that this—accepting with awe—is the heart of what constitutes mysticism and healthy religion. As Mary Oliver put it in a recent talk in San Francisco: “I have learned three things about life and want to share them now that I am in my 80’s and an elder: First, pay attention. Second: Be astonished. Third: Share your astonishment.” Some twenty years ago I was invited to deliver a talk at the Schumacher Lecture Series in Bristol, England. Preceding my talk Lester Brown, who was then head of Worldwatch Institute, spoke. He ended his talk by declaring that we had twenty years left to change our ways as a species or the planet would not recover from the damage we were doing. And he added: “The Number One obstacle to an Environmental Revolution was: Apathy.” I was very struck by this statement since apathy is a spiritual problem. Indeed, it is one of the capital sins, what our ancestors called “acedia” which was far too narrowly defined during the industrial revolution as “sloth.” It is much more than sloth. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century defined acedia this way: “The lack of energy to begin new things.” This lack of energy has many names today; among them are: boredom; inertia; depression; despair; not-caring; indifference; apathy; and even “couchpotatoitis” (A word invented in our time because the sickness is so prevalent). Aquinas also offered the medicine for this sickness when he said “zeal comes from the intense experience of the beauty of things.” You can see here the deep connection between cosmology—an invitation to re-experience the deep beauty of things—and survival. Between cosmology and ecology (Thomas Berry says “ecology is functional cosmology.”) Albert Einstein wrote that we are entering a third phase of religion and that is a cosmic religion. It is only this awakening, he felt, that would bring peace between nations and peace in our relationship to nature, a relationship that takes us beyond nationalisms and sectarianisms and anthropocentric projections onto Divinity. This is one reason the archetype of the Cosmic Christ is returning in our time—or ought to be.(3) A Cosmic Christ is a Green Christ just as certain as “ecology is functional cosmology.” Carl Jung says that archetypes return when they are needed. The word “return” is significant in this context because for decades lazy thinkers have been saying that a “Cosmic Christ” is something “New Age.” I beg your pardon! The teaching of the Cosmic Christ is found in the earliest Christian writings, namely in St Paul’s letters and in the Gospel of Thomas as well as other places and in all the most powerful events in the Gospels that early Christian movement enshrined into its biggest Feast Days. Think the Nativity, the Baptism of Jesus (after all the “sky opened up”), the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost — all these moments are set in a cosmological context. Far too often they have been interpreted in a narrow and narcissistic sense of “Am I saved?” How easily we have reduced religion to mere psychology when in fact it is essentially about cosmology (creation) and the sacred. A number of years ago the great Biblical scholar Krister Stendahl came up to me during a workshop I was leading on Creation Spirituality and said, “Remember: The word basileia (which we translate as “kingdom of God”—a term that all agree lies at the heart of Jesus’ message and that carries deep political implications since it contrasts to the Empire of Caesar in his day) can be perfectly well translated as creation.” The Kingdom/Queendom of God is creation itself; and creation is the Kingdom/Queendom of God. Pre-modern thinkers like St Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart and Thomas Aquinas knew this but few modern theologians have understood this. It was Aquinas who said Revelation comes in two volumes: Nature and the Bible. Nature is being despoiled today because religion has wrapped itself up in a Bible book and ignored the Nature book which of course we need scientists, not exegetes, to properly translate for us. A year ago last January I was invited to be part of a gathering in Florida about climate change and the rising of the seas. It began with a presentation by a scientist who showed slides of Florida today; then ten years from now; then twenty years and thirty years from now. With each slide a whole section of Florida was chopped off. Chop/chop/chop. I was left with the distinct impression that one ought not to invest in real estate in Florida. Rubber boots? Yes! And lots of rubber dingys too. At the very time our conference was meeting Florida boasted TWO candidates for President of the United States who were in denial about climate change—Senator Marco Rubio and former governor Jeb Bush—as well as their sitting governor who has forbidden any state employee to use the term “climate change” in his or her communications (a warning recently released by our federal government as well). Meanwhile, in Southern Miami, you walk down the street and there is six inches of water on the sidewalk! Climate change is not just about getting your feet wet; it’s about what happens when sea water overruns our fresh water aquifers. When that happens crops die and humans cannot survive. Climate change is not a Republican vs Democrat issue. Nor is Ecology. Or it should not be. To have an entire political party adopt Denial constitutes a Scandal of the First Magnitude. Thomas Aquinas teaches that to choose to be ignorant of what one ought to know about is a deadly (or “mortal”) sin. Meister Eckhart declares that: “God is the denial of denial.” What this means is that if we or our institutions—including political, media or religious institutions—traffic in denial God is absent. Truth is absent when denial reigns. And the sacred is no place to be found. In my book on Evil, recently released with a new preface and a forward by Deepak Chopra, I make the point that the opposite of evil is not the good. The bad is the opposite of the good. The opposite of Evil is: The Sacred.(4) A society or religion that has lost its way because it is distancing itself from the Kingdom of God, from Sacred Creation, is complicit in Evil. The good news is that a time like ours is a time to awaken us to the revelation of the Sacred once again. To see every creature as another Christ. As Thomas Merton put it, “Everything that is is holy.” A New Reformation invites the church to shed its anthropocentrism and narcissism in favor of the true Kingdom/Queendom of God, sacred creation. In times like these our varied vocations take on special meaning. True religion’s task is not just to wake up to the Sacred but also to defend it. That is why an authentic spiritual adult today is both a mystic (lover) and a warrior (or prophet) who defends what one cherishes and stands up to Evil. May this Earth Day 2017 give birth to many such mystics and prophets. ~ Matthew Fox Read the essay online here. About the Author Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 32 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 60 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the FleshTransforming Evil in Soul and Society, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved and Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest Footnotes: (1) As an example of politicians being hypocritical, see my “Is Ryan a Religious Hypocrite? A Priestly Letter to Speaker Paul Ryan from Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox” in www.tikkun.org. (2) Abraham Joshua Heschel, Who Is Man? (Stanford, Ca: Stanford University Press, 1965), 87. (3) For a spiritual exercise to hasten the return of the Cosmic Christ see Bishop Marc Andrus and Matthew Fox, Stations of the Cosmic Christ (San Francisco: Tayen Lane Publishing, 2016). (4) Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society (Berkeley, CA: North American Press, 2016). Question & Answer Reader from the Internet writes: Question: What does progressive Christianity have to say about the concept of hell that seems so central to so many other forms of historic and current Christianity? Answer: By Roger Wolsey Dear Reader, That is an excellent question and we progressive Christians really would do well to have some thought out responses when our more evangelical friends ask us about these matters – as well as our agnostic, atheist, and spiritual but not religious friends ask us this same question. As with so many things, progressive Christianity doesn’t have any official stance about this, but it does seem to be the case that most progressive Christians do not have a concept of hell as part of their faith and practice. I cannot speak for all of progressive Christianity, but I can share how this progressive Christian understands things – hell isn’t even part of the Bible and shouldn’t be a part of Christianity. To be blunt about it, let me repeat, Hell isn’t Christian – or Jewish. It’s pagan. “The modern English word Hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (about 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *halja, meaning “one who covers up or hides something”.[2] The word has cognates in related Germanic languages such as Old Frisian helle, hille, Old Saxon hellja, Middle Dutch helle (modern Dutch hel), Old High German helle (Modern German Hölle), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish helvede/helvete (hel + Old Norse vitti, “punishment” whence the Icelandic víti “hell”), and Gothic halja.[2] Subsequently, the word was used to transfer a pagan concept to Christian theology and its vocabulary[2] (however, for the Judeo-Christian origin of the concept see Gehenna). Some have theorized that English word hell is derived from Old Norse hel.[2] However, this is very unlikely as hel appears in Old English before the Viking invasions. Furthermore, the word has cognates in all the other Germanic languages and has a Proto-Germanic origin.[3] Among other sources, the Poetic Edda, compiled from earlier traditional sources in the 13th century, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, provide information regarding the beliefs of the Norse pagans, including a being named Hel, who is described as ruling over an underworld location of the same name.” Jesus didn’t speak of Hell, but rather, of Gehenna, as a potential punishing realm for those deemed unworthy. Gehenna was the name of the burning garbage pits outside of Jerusalem. Jesus was speaking in hyperbole in such instances – as a teaching tool to help some people be motivated to do right in this life; i.e., as a metaphorical stick. That said, he rarely spoke about “the stick” and spent far more time offering “the carrot” – describing the kingdom of God/Heaven and the merits and blessings of living in godly ways that demonstrate we’re living “kingdom lives” in God’s beloved community and realm. “The truth of the matter is that there is not one single word in the Hebrew and Greek Manuscripts of the Bible that means hell. …hell is a man-invented, pagan, unchristian, heretical belief that was first embraced and christianised by Roman Catholicism, and incorporated into the Bible by Jerome through his Latin Vulgate in the early history of Christianity.“ As a Jew, Jesus likely believed that human souls go to “sheol” – a nebulous, ethereal, and neutral realm that is thought to lie beneath the surface of the earth. Sheol being the place where all souls reside/rest/sleep until the judgment day where, in the Christian case, “Jesus returns to judge the quick and the dead.” But even those who go to hades, according to Revelation, don’t experience “eternal suffering” as “hell” itself becomes swallowed up and obliterated". That said, I – along with many other Christians – am agnostic about the afterlife. I don’t know if there’s a heaven or a hell. I rather suspect that the only hells that exist are the ones that we create and allow at this time – and there are far too many of those. I don’t follow Jesus in order to go to heaven when I die -- or conversely, to avoid going to hell. That’s a cheap form of faith that is really nothing more than fire insurance. I follow Jesus here and now for the sake of experiencing salvation (which means “wholeness” and “healing”) here and now – and to help others do the same. To the extent that I think that salvation has anything to do with what happens after we die, I believe in universal salvation. William Barclay wrote a classic essay arguing for this showing how this is biblically based. See: “Why I am a Convicted Universalist” For many progressive Christians, going to heaven after we die, isn’t the cake, it’s merely the icing on the marvelous cake that is life’s majestic pageant here and now. We’re called to live “kingdom lives” (lives in sync with and that reflect God’s Beloved Community) – now – trusting that whatever happens afterward will take care of itself. To those who say that it’s important to hold fast to Jesus’ teaching about “eternal” life. It is my understanding that the koine Greek words “perisson/perissos” that are often translated as “eternal” in English also mean “abundant/full” and so it’s as much about a state and quality of being here and now as it is about infinite perpetual time. With this in mind, I tend to emphasize our invitation to experience abundant life by following the way and teachings of Jesus. ~ Roger Wolsey Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey is an ordained United Methodist pastor who directs the Wesley Foundation at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is author of Kissing Fish: christianity for people who don’t like christianity Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Terrible Texts: Be Fruitful and Multiply and Subdue the Earth – Part II For most of Western history, our attention has been given primarily to the task of maintaining the growing human population. Only in relatively modern times, has our focus begun to turn to giving some attention to the process of slowing down the birth rate. That would prove to be a new and very different battleground. One of the reasons that birth control had trouble gaining traction was that it confronted a major enemy in organized religion. The leadership of the Christian Church attacked vigorously any procedure that separated sexuality from procreation, arguing that this would lead only to moral anarchy. Having claimed for itself the right to define and to defend public morality, the Church’s very self-image was at stake. The lines of battle were thus drawn between new moral issues that resulted from an exploding population and traditional moral issues that emerged when sex was separated from procreation. Sex has always been feared by organized religion. Great efforts have been exerted by religious traditions to keep this powerful force under control. Ancient religious systems, especially those shaped by the cycle of agriculture, tried to co-opt sex to serve its fertility needs. Temple prostitutes, both male and female, became part of their liturgies. The Western Catholic tradition made the suppression of sex a prerequisite for the holy life of both the ordained and the Religious. The implication was that bodies were unclean, even loathsome, and physical desire was called the mark of the evil one. Marriage itself was regarded as a compromise with sin while virginity was installed as the highest virtue. It was St. Paul who proclaimed that ‘sin dwells in my members, making me do what I do not want to do.’ He spoke of a war that went on inside him with his mind following one law and his body another. “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death,” he asked. That plea was later used to equate celibacy with holiness. The Church had come a long way from the Creation Story in which God was portrayed as creating ex nihilo – out of nothing, and calling good all that God had made, including bodies with their sexual desires. The battle in religious circles over birth control was, therefore, a battle that pitted a religion of control and repression against a religion that celebrated the goodness of creation. It was not between morality and the breakdown of morality, as many religious spokespersons even today like to assert. That battle is now entering its final stages. Does a universal and morally required birth control mean that organized religion, which has historically opposed it, has to die? That is the anxiety that underlies the sexuality debate going on in religious circles today. First, a very brief history is essential. Primitive attempts at birth control have been around since the dawn of time, motivated primarily by the inconvenience of an unwanted pregnancy. There is even a biblical story about a man named Onan who did not want to produce an heir by his deceased brother’s widow, so he practiced what came to be called ‘coitus interruptus’ and, as the Bible said, “spilled his seed on the ground (Gen. 38).” This ‘seed’ was thought of as the ‘source of life’ and its ‘holiness’ was not to be wasted. Religious negativity toward masturbation finds some of its roots here. Before DNA evidence could trace parenthood so precisely, the only way a man could guarantee the legitimacy of his own offspring was to keep his wife confined in a place where no opportunity for indiscretion existed. That too was a form of birth control. There were also techniques developed to produce a “spontaneous abortion” but none of them was particularly satisfactory or safe. The only sure method of birth control in those days was abstinence and the primary force undergirding abstinence was public opinion, enforced by the moral pronouncements of ecclesiastical leaders. Hence in the Western world, the Christian Church staked its claim to being the guardian of this powerful sexual force, which they believed had to be controlled, or public morality be doomed. Birth control was, therefore, the implacable enemy of the church. But when human circumstances changed, each of these claims was called into serious question. Before the defeat of most of humanity’s natural enemies our human future required a high birth rate. Given the casualties among young males in both war and the hunt, the excessive number of women in the tribe could be cared for only with a system of multiple wives, so polygamy was not only encouraged it was said to have been blessed by God. The Bible is, of course, filled with stories that illustrate this principle. The patriarchs of Israel’s history, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, all had numerous wives. The great split in Jewish history between the Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom called Israel was explained by the fact that Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel. Since women were considered to be the property of men multiple wives were a sign of wealth and power. Alliances were frequently sealed when one king gave his daughter to the harem of another king. The Bible tells us of Solomon’s 1000 wives and concubines. The day had not yet dawned when the male imposed stereotype of the female was thought of as immoral. Women’s feelings were given no consideration since controlling the woman’s body for the sexual benefit of the male was the only priority. When monogamy, reflecting an increasing appreciation of women, became the norm the growing sense of a woman’s worth made family planning even more important. Some natural processes of birth control were called moral by the Church. These included the fact that pregnancies were thought to be less probable while the mother was nursing so postponing the weaning process resulted in better spacing for the children. Then religious institutions began to encourage couples to practice periodic sexual withdrawal for pious reasons. A couple might give themselves to prayer and abstinence for the forty days of Lent, for example, which would, not coincidentally, take the woman out of production temporarily. There was also a widespread use of mistresses, especially post-menopausal mistresses, who posed no threat of pregnancy and whose presence meant that wives could be spared the regular risk of childbirth. The double standard of morality allowed this and no word of disapproval from the Church was forthcoming. None of these practices committed the cardinal sin of separating sexuality from procreation. In the 20th century, however, many things coalesced to produce a dramatic sexual revolution. There was first the development of the sanitary napkin, which did more to free women than has yet been fully understood. The inhibiting bustle was replaced by form fitting dresses worn by the “flappers” of the 1920s when they did “the Charleston.” Next there was the rise in various emancipating forces: the suffragette movement, the opening of the doors of higher education to women and their subsequent entry into the work force. These new freedoms led to new career opportunities for women that made family planning increasingly necessary. The need for effective birth control grew. A safe, relatively efficient condom was developed. This was by every measure the most successful method of birth control yet devised and one is not surprised to discover that condoms are still today readily available through dispensers in almost every public rest room in America. World War II’s male shortage greatly expanded women’s role in the work place from which they would never depart. Finally, ‘the pill’ was developed and birth control was now convenient, safe and fully effective. These were the forces that created the era of sexual freedom that appeared to justify the worst fears of the most righteous moralists. The 60’s were a decade of rampant sexual experimentation. The pill separated women once and for all from their male imposed biological definitions. The pill also began finally to affect population growth. Every nation in the developed Western world today has slowed its birth rate substantially with some nations like Italy no longer even reproducing their present population. The people of the Western world simply threw off the repression of Western religion. The Protestant churches, by and large, adapted to these new realities and no longer condemned “family planning.” The Roman Catholic Church held firm to its condemnation of all “unnatural” means of birth control only to see its constituency abandon the church’s teaching on this subject almost totally. Polls indicate that Roman Catholic women in the developed nations practice birth control in exactly the same percentages (90% +), as do Protestant women, Jewish women and non-religious women. Papal teaching on this subject is simply ignored. The only place where the traditional sexual teaching of the Church fuels emotion today is on abortion, which I regard as nothing more than the last gasp of the birth control battle. Abortion would be minimal today if sex education and birth control were available to all of our citizens. But, of course, conservative Catholic and Protestant Churches would never allow that. The population of the world continues to explode today only in the third world where poverty, ignorance and traditional religious teachings combine to produce a senselessly high birth rate that results in starvation and shocking infant mortality. Relief efforts to feed these children, without a corresponding program of education and birth control, will only guarantee a population explosion in the next generation that will make infant mortality even worse. The time has come for the Christian Church in all of its forms to recognize that its traditional negativity to birth control has itself become immoral and that limiting births has become a new virtue. Religious teaching must turn from its fear driven moralism and concentrate on deepening relationships, articulating a new responsible human maturity and recovering the essential goodness of life. The day has come when people no longer believe that God commands them to “be fruitful and multiply.” This ‘terrible’ text must be named for what it is and the literal understanding of the Bible that gave this verse such force be jettisoned. Human survival means that we must cease our outrageous over-breeding, and learn to live in harmony with this world, not as the dominators of life but as an essential part of a fragile ecosystem. To examine the origins of that sense that human beings were meant to have dominion over all the world will be my topic next week as we continue to examine this particular ‘terrible text.’ ~ John Shelby Spong Originally published September 3, 2003 Announcements It is not too late! Sign up for the most exciting festival coming to Portland, OR this week. 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