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David M. Felten September 24, 2020Recently, a half-dozen young people in our small town organized a peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration. The march was seen by some as an intrusion of threatening other-worldly politics into our predominantly (99.8%) white town and riled up a lot of emotional responses on social media. Trying to cool some of the heated exchanges on Facebook, a well-meaning former mayor and local business leader offered an olive branch comment to try to dial down the vitriol. He ended with invoking “God” as being more important than “politics”. This is what he wrote: “Politics is not as important as we think or as we make it. So many things are more important than politics, but some receive less of our attention. I likely forgot many others, but the top ten things that are more important than politics are: 10. Volunteers 9. Military men & women 8. First responders 7. Business owners 6. Teachers 5. Co-workers 4. Neighbors 3. Friends 2. Family 1. God Politics is around item #37 in order of importance. We are losing our minds and being played.” At first I wanted to call it shallow and syrupy misdirection, but decided that was too kind. In truth, this is the worst kind of cloying codswallop. And not wanting to disparage my neighbor, let me speak in the broadest possible generalities. A major characteristic of many a conservative politician of the genus politicus distractus is their absolute dedication to the idea that government is bad and politics is its obnoxious offspring – all the while using both government AND politics to their own benefit and the advantage of their cronies and supporters. And the trick used to keep low-information voters and otherwise well-meaning citizens in the dark? Shroud their contempt for government and the good that it can do in saccharine tributes to God, “country,” and those who actually do good in our communities (often as employees of, uhhh, the government!). In the interest of maintaining some semblance of civility, I resisted the urge to respond publicly on Facebook. However, I couldn’t NOT respond. So, below is the response I would have liked to have posted, but didn’t. Let’s just keep this between you and me, OK? Dear Karl (not his real name…), “Politics” is item #37? Not as important as we think? Coming from a person who has been immersed in both church and town politics, this claim surprises me. It reflects either a profound naïveté or willful ignorance – neither of which look good on you. First off, you’ve got to know that “politics” is not a matter that can be isolated in its own hermetically sealed environment. Do you mean “partisan” politics? Even so, your opening statement is patently false. Partisan politics have seldom been more important than they are right now – especially when many in one party seem to have sold themselves out to the unpredictable leadership of an amoral, self-absorbed authoritarian. Plus, the root word of “politics” is the Greek word for city (polis) and includes activities and relationships that govern our personal, civic and other institutions. As such, every item on your top ten list is inseparable from and positively rife with “politics.” As a rule, volunteers (only #10?) give of their time and resources to organizations and causes with which they feel solidarity. Their decision is political. Military men & women pledge their allegiance to following orders — whether they agree with them or not — that uphold the political agenda of those up the chain of command. First responders put their lives on the line every day with the expectation that they will protect, serve, and rescue without regard for the ethnicity, gender, creed, socioeconomic status — or politics — of those whom they interact with. And when they fail to uphold this trust, political (and criminal) consequences should be expected, not surprising. Business owners swim in a sea of political relationships, be they with the government that regulates and taxes them to the clients with whom they interact to the religious sensibilities they claim. Remember Hobby Lobby’s hypocritical argument against the Affordable Care Act? The ACA mandated that employee’s contraceptives be covered by insurance and the über-Christian owners of Hobby Lobby objected. They literally made a federal case out of it (which Hobby Lobby won in the Supreme Court[1]) while at the same time investing in pharmaceutical companies that manufacture abortion and contraception products.[2] And if teachers are so dang important (#6!), why do we continue to tolerate public education being crippled by proponents of for-profit schools? Teachers here in Arizona are among the lowest paid in the nation. You’ve got to know that the undermining of public education is a long-term scheme of those seeking to benefit themselves while maintaining racial, social, and economic divisions in our culture. As a person of faith, one would hope that you would choose to be a part of fashioning a political environment that promoted robust public education for everyone, including the downtrodden and disadvantaged in our society — not dismantling it in order to funnel more and more resources to the already well-off. Along with race, coronavirus, and the economy in general, there are few areas that are more important right now than funding our schools and paying our education professionals a wage that reflects their impact on our society. These are all deeply political issues. To separate out “supporting our teachers” from the systemic change that is necessary to actually pay our teachers is the worst kind of political bait and switch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family are all important. But to delude oneself into thinking that these relationships are free from the influence of “politics” is, as I’ve already said, reflective of a profound naïveté or downright willful ignorance. You don’t need me to tell you that our interactions with these most intimate of connections can generate the most painful, joyful, and consequential moments in life. And then there’s God (who I’m confident is reassured to be at the top of your list). But I do kinda wonder if God wonders what being “#1” in importance actually means. Especially in light of how superficial your whole top ten list seems to be. If your means of “knowing” God is based in the Bible, then I’m at a loss as to how you’ve missed the deeply political agenda of the Bible’s stories, poetry, and laws — let alone the political intrigues and back-room deals that played a part in assembling the Bible in the first place. Likewise, if your means of “knowing” God is based on personal experience, what do you tell yourself about this God who has so blessed you as a white, male, Republican, Christian American while at the same time seeming to have abandoned an indigenous little Christian girl orphaned by gang violence in Guatemala? Look, your claim that “Politics is around item #37 in order of importance” is a clear indication of your having been compromised by American civil religion, where one’s faith practice is isolated in a phantasmagorical bubble of self-serving individualism. Never mind climate change or systemic racism. They’re just so much “politics,” right? Back in the reality-based world, people for whom faith is a contributing factor to their interaction with others see politics as a means to an end. We take action to change the world — but do so strategically. Jesus knew enough to not overturn the tables in the Temple until the very end (at least in Mark, Matthew, and Luke) — because he knew such an overt political act would mean swift retribution from both political and religious authorities (and President Trump would likely tweet about him being a “lawless anarchist destroying and desecrating property”).
From 19th century abolitionists to 20th century suffragettes and civil rights protesters to 21st century proponents of Black Lives Matter, people of faith have leveraged politics to make changes to our system. Dr. King set before us the goal of the Beloved Community, where the triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism are confronted and overcome through nonviolent political action. The young women who organized and led our Black Lives Matter march embodied the very best of what politics can do: empowering people to visualize and work towards a more just and peaceful world. To relegate “politics” to the bottom of some priority list not only dishonors their efforts but reveals a failure to grasp the vital role of politics in every aspect of life. When you say, “We are losing our minds and being played,” I have to assume you’re speaking for yourself. Those of us who try to keep at least one foot grounded in reality know — along with Jesus, Anna Howard Shaw, Vernon Johns, Dorothy Day, and John Lewis — that “politics” is at the heart of how we make the world a better place. And I have it on good authority that even ol’ #1 agrees. ~ Rev. David M. Felten Read online here
About the Author Rev. David M. 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. [1] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf [2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2014/04/01/hobby-lobby-401k-discovere... | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Susan As an active UCC member, I was looking forward to reading Dr. Dorhauer’s response. I came away disappointed, however. Though I agree that certainly there are sociological reasons for it (as alluded to at the end), I believe black-on-black crime is a legitimate problem. I was troubled by the suggestion that to even ask the question or use the phrase is racist and meant to perpetuate the larger narrative of “the black man as a savage beast” (which leads to “shoot-to-kill” justification). Since I am originally from Chicago, I regularly see items about all the shootings, etc. I wince when people say that “they seem to be killing each other” because I think it hurts the Black Lives Matter cause. Citing the statistic that “the offender in a violent crime was of the same race as the victim in 70% of violent incidents involving black victims and 62% of incidents involving whites” is really useless (and probably misleading – a red herring?) unless we know the number of crimes for each category. I don’t think it’s racist to believe the number is higher among blacks. I’d be happy to be shown that I am wrong about this. I DO realize that the problem of racial profiling is real, but I don’t think the perception that “they are killing each other (too)” should be dismissed as racist. A: By Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer Dear Susan,First, let me thank the reader for the question. It is an important one, and affords me an opportunity to be a little more clear about some things. First, the question about ‘black on black’ crime is not, on its face, racist. There are, as you suggest, legitimate questions to resolve about this phenomenon. I do want to say two things about those legitimate questions. One: As a white man with a degree in divinity studies, I am not the one who needs to answer them. Second: Sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, economists, and others have looked into this. As long as they claim to know and understand fully the cultural context of black communities in America, it is they whose writings should be consulted here. The full examination of the pressures put on black citizens in a systemically racist culture that produces micro-aggressions, mass incarceration, unfair distribution of and access to wealth and education must be conducted to get at the root of this. What is racist is the application by whites of the question ‘what about black on black crime’ as a way of deflecting attention from the abuse of power and authority by white cops who racially profile black suspects. When black and brown bodies pile up under conditions that clearly demonstrate that many white police officers carry an already inherent predisposition to fear those black bodies, it is racist to avoid looking into that phenomenon by simply asking “well, what about black on black crime.” Additionally, most crime is committed within a short radius of one’s home – and that is why most crimes are same-race crimes. Therefore, I suggest, it is, in fact, racist when a white person asks “what about black on black crime” without then having a simultaneous curiosity about white on white crime – which is just as statistically probable.~ Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer was granted a Doctoral Degree in White Privilege Studies in 2007 from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH. He also has degrees in Theology and Philosophy. He is the author of two published books, Beyond Resistance: the Institutional Church Meets the Postmodern World and Steeplejacking: How the Christian Right Hijacked Mainstream Religion. He is a recipient of Eden Seminary's "Shalom Award," given by the student body for a lifetime of committed work for peace and justice. John was ordained as a Christian minister in 1988. He currently serves as the 9th General Minister of the United Church of Christ, one of the USA's most progressive faiths, whose vision is "A Just World for All." He is a frequent speaker on the subject of white privilege, and is especially committed to engaging white audiences to come to deeper understandings of the privilege. He is particularly interested in how whites manifest privilege every day and how it impacts people of color, two things whites remain largely either ignorant of or in denial about. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part IX: Paul on the Final Events in Jesus' Life Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong December 17, 2009 “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.” With those words Paul set out in writing to the Corinthians the earliest account we have of the final events in the life of Jesus. Paul was not an eyewitness to these final events, since as far as we know he never met or confronted the Jesus of history. Nevertheless, he presents himself in this epistle as the protector of and the conduit through which the critical events in Jesus’ life are passed on to another generation. This is, he was asserting, the core and the crux of our faith story. It is therefore of “first importance.” Where did Paul receive this tradition? The best guess is informed by his words in the epistle to the Galatians written two to four years earlier. There Paul gives us the only firsthand account that we have of his conversion. It is not, however, the conversion story with which most people are familiar. It does not feature a journey to Damascus with orders from the Chief Priest to bring back in bondage any “followers of the Way,” which was the title first used to designate the disciples of Jesus. Paul never mentions a bright light from heaven, or a voice, assumed to belong to Jesus, asking him why he was persecuting Jesus. Paul makes no mention of ever having been temporarily blind and shares no account of his baptism at the house at which time he recovered his sight. That “Damascus Road” story of which these familiar details are a part was the product of Luke’s pen when he authored the book of Acts, a work that was not written until the middle years of the 9th decade, or some thirty years after Paul’s death. Paul was not around to defend himself against the mythmakers. There is no mention in the authentic works of Paul that he might ever have had a dramatic experience on the Road to Damascus or that a man named Ananias might have played a significant role in that conversion. The book of Acts alone suggests that Ananias actually served as Paul’s “midwife” in his birth as a Christian. Most biblical scholars simply dismiss the historicity of this Acts account, yet they do not dismiss the historicity of Paul’s conversion. The reason for that is that Paul tells us himself: “I persecuted the Church of God violently and tried to destroy it.” He claims to have advanced dramatically in “the tradition of my Fathers, until God called me through his grace and was pleased to reveal his Son to me in order that I might preach among the Gentiles.” Paul himself gives us no other details of his conversion. He does, however, and in a rather full way, relate his activities following this life-altering moment. “I did not confer with flesh and blood,” he says, “I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.” Instead, he says, “I went away into Arabia and again I returned to Damascus.” Continuing his chronicle of that time, he says, “After three years, I went up to Jerusalem. His purpose, he said, was to visit Cephas, which was Simon’s nickname. Simon was called “the rock.” In Greek the word for rock was “petros,” while in Aramaic the word for rock was “kepha.” So Simon is best known in the Bible for his nicknames, Peter in Greek and Cephas in Aramaic. Both meant something close to our word “Rocky” today. In those 15 days with Cephas Paul must have heard for the first time the details of the life of Jesus in their earliest and most primitive form. This meeting with Peter would have come no earlier than four and no later than nine years after the crucifixion. So in these words of Paul we have gotten back to the first decade of Christian memory and have touched primitive Christianity. Jesus is clearly a person of history not a mythological creation. It is fascinating to note what Paul actually says and perhaps even more to note what he does not say about the death of Jesus. He covers the cross in just ten literal words: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.” Elsewhere in Paul’s writing he refers to the cross and to Jesus as the crucified one, so I think it is fair to say that Paul knew that Jesus had died at the hands of the Romans by means of crucifixion. Paul has also begun to interpret the meaning of that death. It was “for our sins,” he asserted. That phrase, which was destined to form a major building block in the much later theologies of the atonement, appears to have been lifted by Paul out of the Synagogue’s liturgy of Yom Kippur, in which the “innocent lamb of God” was slain as an atonement offering for the sins of the people. Paul adds further that this death of Jesus was “in accordance with the scriptures.” The two places in the scriptures to which Paul might have been alluding were the “servant” passages of Isaiah 40-55, in which the servant absorbed the pain and hostility of the world and returned it as love; or perhaps to II Zechariah (9-14), in which the shepherd king of the Jews was betrayed into the hands of those who bought and sold animals in the Temple for thirty pieces of silver. Within the first decade of Christian history, we can safely assume that these two passages in the Hebrew Bible had become incorporated into the disciples’ understanding of Jesus. Please note also that Paul seems to know nothing of the later developing narratives that purport to tell the details of the crucifixion. There is for Paul no betrayal by Judas, no prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, no arrest, no trial, no Pilate, no Barabbas, no denial by Peter, no torture by the Romans, no purple robe or crown of thorns, no Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross, no one crucified with him, no words spoken from the cross, no expression of separation from God, no cry of thirst and no darkness at noon. All of those things appear to be later developing details that simply are not part of what was handed to Paul as being of “first importance.” Then Paul moves on to look at the rest of the final events in the life of Jesus. After he died, says Paul, “he was buried.” Again no details are given. Paul appears not to know anything about the tomb in which Jesus was laid or the spices that were used in the burial. He certainly appears to know nothing of a man named Joseph of Arimathea, who comes into the tradition much later as the architect of the burial. Again most scholars today regard the familiar burial stories of the gospels as late developing traditions. Paul probably does not include any reference to these things because these traditions had not yet been developed or even born. Paul then moves to the crux of the Christian claim: Jesus, he says, “was raised.” Paul always employs a passive verb to describe what came to be called Easter. Jesus never “rises” in Paul. God always “raises” him. Into what? That should be the question we ask. Did God raise him from death back into the life of this world? Was the body of Jesus physically resuscitated and thus enabled to walk out of the tomb? That has been the way many have incorrectly read Paul. That is, however, clearly not what Paul understood Easter to be. If resurrection was a resuscitation of a dead person back into the life of this physical world, then the raised person would inevitably have to die again at a later point in time. There is no other way to get out of this life. Paul will, however, write in another place these words: “Christ being raised from the dead dies no more. Death has no more dominion over him.” That does not sound like physical resuscitation back to the life of this world to me. Paul adds to the resurrection account only two details. Whatever this raising was it occurred, he said, “on the third day” and it was, he repeats, “in accordance with the scriptures.” Was this reference to the “third day” a reference to physical time? Or had these words already become a symbol developed before Paul, but then adopted by Paul? When the early gospels were written, their authors were not sure whether this traditional and thus proper time measure was “after three days,” which is what Mark quotes Jesus as having said on three occasions, or “on the third day,” as both Matthew and Luke changed Mark to read. That would not be the same day. Either way, “on” or “after” the third day is hard to fix chronologically with the way the gospels tell the story. If the timeline of the gospels is followed literally Jesus dies at 3 p.m. in the afternoon and is buried by sundown or by 6 p.m. From sundown to midnight is six hours. From midnight on Friday to midnight on Saturday is twenty-four hours. From midnight to dawn or 6 a.m. on Sunday morning is six more hours. Put those time markers together and the best one can get is not three days, but thirty-six hours, which is only a day and a half. So how did we get to the concept of three days? That is some of the data that suggests that three days is a symbol and not a literal measure of time. If that is so then we need to wonder where it came from. Was it adapted from the three days it takes the moon to move into total darkness and then back to light as “the new moon?” “Three days” could possibly be a time measure like “forty days,” which the Jews used to mark revelatory moments in history. I think it is obvious that three days was for Paul a symbol and not a measure of “clock” or “calendar” time. Then Paul gets to what he calls those to whom the raised Jesus was “made manifest,” or those to whom Jesus appeared. The Greek word that is translated “appeared” in this Corinthian text is the same word used by the translators of the Septuagint (a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek between the third and second centuries BCE) to describe how God “appeared” to Moses at the Burning Bush (see Exodus 3). Did Moses “see” God in a physical way? Could Moses have caught the likeness of God on his camera if he had had the ability to take pictures? Or was this a poetic description of a defining insight? Was it an example of what we would later call “insight” or “second sight?” The story is far more complex than most people think. Next week we will look at the list of names of those to whom Paul says the raised Christ appeared. The story then gets more intriguing, so stay tuned.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Speaking Across Divides This one-day retreat via Zoom is designed to give you the knowledge and tools to become a better, more confident communicator with people of differing opinions and experiences. Join Spirituality & Practice on Saturday, September 26th to learn very practical time-tested tools for effective communication. This training is designed to help with two-party discussions, but the lessons learned can be applied when you are in larger groups as well. The day will alternate between large-group presentations and small-group breakout rooms for reflection and practice. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |