Are both national conventions too American? What is missing?
1. No mention of the huge role our military contractors have played in the militarization of the world; no pledge to end it.
2. No recognition of how U.S. imperialism in Iraq helped create ISIS.
3. No recognition of the huge role the rich, white, male elite, from the founding fathers to 2016, have played in both creating and maintaining multiple system of oppression such as slavery and mass incarceration.
4. No urgent call for whites to confess, repent, restitute and repair.
5. Only weak support of BLM
6. No pledge to close 75 % of our military bases around the world.
7. No proposal to cut our military budget by 50%; use released funds for infrastructure rebuilding, college education, etc
8. No call for all police chiefs in America to issue an immediate cease and desist order requiring an end to all DWB traffic stops.
9. The Audacity of Hope requires justice which requires deep white repentance which should be lead by white churches.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
The OT Jubilee: Restoring Economic Justice
The Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee Year had the same basic purpose: release the oppressed poor from systems of oppression and then provide access to the resources required to provide families with the necessities of life.
Sabbatical Year
The following Scriptural quotations are highlights from Deut. 15 whose basic principle is: "At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts." Or from the RSV "grant a release;" the RSV uses the word release five times in this chapter. In Luke 4:18, Jesus says "release the oppressed." The ideal was that there "should be no poor among." There would not be "if you fully obey the Lord your God, " because then "he will richly bless you."
However, because of the damage of sin, because of systems of oppression, there will be some poor people. "If there is a poor man among your brothers freely lend him whatever he needs. . . . Give generously. . . . Supply him liberally. . . . Give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you."
The message is: economic justice requires the periodic canceling of debts and generous giving to those in need. Could an economic system really work if the principle of grace is applied? Is grace a key to justice? Most Americans would reply, ridiculous!
Jubilee Year
The following Scriptural quotations are highlights from Lev. 25: "Count off seven sabbaths of years. . . . consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land. . . . It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property. . . . The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine. . . . It will be returned in the Jubilee."
Then there follows three sets of instructions regarding the different circumstances under which "one of your countrymen becomes poor:" 1) lend money without interest and sell food at cost, ) hire him as a hired worker, not as a slave, 3) the poor Jew retains these same rights if hired out to a non-Jew.
Three times (25:43, 46, 53) the people are warned not to take advantage of the powerless poor and oppress them---"rule over them ruthlessly. . . . "
Again one economic principle of the Jubilee is grace; grace and justice.
Next, some interpretation of the OT Sabbatical and Jubilee principles.
From the book Shalom by OT Mennonite scholar, Perry Yoder:
"Third, the [Sabbatical, Jubilee] law tackled the matter of access to economic resources. . . . These laws were a type of economic reform legislation to redistribute the capital resources of the community so they would not become concentrated in the hands of a few. . . . two resources are to be redistributed: land and money. The result of this economic redistribution was to enable those who had lost out economically to once more regain their economic independence. The redistribution would also insure that great inequities in wealth and power would not grow up over time."
From the book The Upside-Down Kingdom by Mennonite scholar, Donald Kraybill:
"The sabbatical and Jubilee years established a chronological rhythm. . . . turned social life upside-down. In brief, three shake-ups occurred in the sabbatical year.
1. Land was given a vacation. Crops were not to be planted or harvested. Volunteer plants . . .to be left for the poor. The Lord promised a plentiful yield on the sixth year, large enough for both the sixth and seventh years.
2. Slaves were released on the seventh year. Most slaves in the Old Testament became slaves because they could not pay off their debts. After working for six years as a hired servant, they were freed in the seventh year.
3. Debts were also erased in the sabbatical year.
As God's social blueprint for His people, the Jubilee dream put its finger on the three major factors which generate socioeconomic inequality---land, labor and capital. . . . The use of these three factors---natural resources, human resources, and financial capital---are the keys to determining the amount of inequity in any society. . . . "
Kraybill calls the Sabbatical/ Jubilee principles "institutionalized grace."
He concludes his analysis in this way:
"Another part of the Jubilean genius is that it doesn't squelch individual initiative. It doesn't prescribe that all things should be held in common or that every one must have exactly the same amount. . . . There are not two separate compartments for religion and economics. The two are woven together into one cloth in the Jubilee model. Experiencing God's grace results in economic change."
From the book An Eye for an Eye: OT Social Ethics for Today by Christopher Wright, a British OT scholar; most scholars assert that there is little evidence that the Sabbath Year and the Jubilee were ever comprehensively observed. Largely true, but for some reason Nehemiah 5 seems to have been ignored; I think Nehemiah applied these principles immediately when he discovered they were being violated.
"Not that there was any illusion . . . that such economic obedience to God was easy. It was one thing to celebrate the victories of God in past history. It was another to trust his ability to produce the future harvest. It was still another to trust his ability to provide you and your family with sustenance for a year if you obeyed the fallow or sabbatical year laws and did not sow a crop---or for two if you had to double fallow at the jubilee! And could you afford to let your slave, an agricultural asset, go free after six years, still less with a generous endowment of your substance, animal and vegetable?"
"So then, from the laws themselves and from the prophets' reaction to their neglect, we can see that there was a deep and detailed concern in the Old Testament with work and employment, in respect of conditions and terms of service, adequate rest, and fair pay. And this concern applied across the whole spectrum of the working population. . . . Indeed, the principles of fairness and compassion extended even to working animals, . . . . "
Do these principles apply to the NT? Compare Dt. 15:4 with Acts 4:34.
Conclusion
Once one understands the purpose of the Jubilee and is familiar with Luke's perspective on the rich and poor, a person sees a great deal of continuity between the OT Jubilee and the NT kingdom of God. Jesus vigorously condemned the rich for greedily cornering the wealth of Palestine and failing to share it with the poor.
The Jubilee was good news to the poor; it released the oppressed from the loss of land, from the bondage of poverty. This was also one of the important messages of the kingdom of God.
Sabbatical Year
The following Scriptural quotations are highlights from Deut. 15 whose basic principle is: "At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts." Or from the RSV "grant a release;" the RSV uses the word release five times in this chapter. In Luke 4:18, Jesus says "release the oppressed." The ideal was that there "should be no poor among." There would not be "if you fully obey the Lord your God, " because then "he will richly bless you."
However, because of the damage of sin, because of systems of oppression, there will be some poor people. "If there is a poor man among your brothers freely lend him whatever he needs. . . . Give generously. . . . Supply him liberally. . . . Give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you."
The message is: economic justice requires the periodic canceling of debts and generous giving to those in need. Could an economic system really work if the principle of grace is applied? Is grace a key to justice? Most Americans would reply, ridiculous!
Jubilee Year
The following Scriptural quotations are highlights from Lev. 25: "Count off seven sabbaths of years. . . . consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land. . . . It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property. . . . The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine. . . . It will be returned in the Jubilee."
Then there follows three sets of instructions regarding the different circumstances under which "one of your countrymen becomes poor:" 1) lend money without interest and sell food at cost, ) hire him as a hired worker, not as a slave, 3) the poor Jew retains these same rights if hired out to a non-Jew.
Three times (25:43, 46, 53) the people are warned not to take advantage of the powerless poor and oppress them---"rule over them ruthlessly. . . . "
Again one economic principle of the Jubilee is grace; grace and justice.
Next, some interpretation of the OT Sabbatical and Jubilee principles.
From the book Shalom by OT Mennonite scholar, Perry Yoder:
"Third, the [Sabbatical, Jubilee] law tackled the matter of access to economic resources. . . . These laws were a type of economic reform legislation to redistribute the capital resources of the community so they would not become concentrated in the hands of a few. . . . two resources are to be redistributed: land and money. The result of this economic redistribution was to enable those who had lost out economically to once more regain their economic independence. The redistribution would also insure that great inequities in wealth and power would not grow up over time."
From the book The Upside-Down Kingdom by Mennonite scholar, Donald Kraybill:
"The sabbatical and Jubilee years established a chronological rhythm. . . . turned social life upside-down. In brief, three shake-ups occurred in the sabbatical year.
1. Land was given a vacation. Crops were not to be planted or harvested. Volunteer plants . . .to be left for the poor. The Lord promised a plentiful yield on the sixth year, large enough for both the sixth and seventh years.
2. Slaves were released on the seventh year. Most slaves in the Old Testament became slaves because they could not pay off their debts. After working for six years as a hired servant, they were freed in the seventh year.
3. Debts were also erased in the sabbatical year.
As God's social blueprint for His people, the Jubilee dream put its finger on the three major factors which generate socioeconomic inequality---land, labor and capital. . . . The use of these three factors---natural resources, human resources, and financial capital---are the keys to determining the amount of inequity in any society. . . . "
Kraybill calls the Sabbatical/ Jubilee principles "institutionalized grace."
He concludes his analysis in this way:
"Another part of the Jubilean genius is that it doesn't squelch individual initiative. It doesn't prescribe that all things should be held in common or that every one must have exactly the same amount. . . . There are not two separate compartments for religion and economics. The two are woven together into one cloth in the Jubilee model. Experiencing God's grace results in economic change."
From the book An Eye for an Eye: OT Social Ethics for Today by Christopher Wright, a British OT scholar; most scholars assert that there is little evidence that the Sabbath Year and the Jubilee were ever comprehensively observed. Largely true, but for some reason Nehemiah 5 seems to have been ignored; I think Nehemiah applied these principles immediately when he discovered they were being violated.
"Not that there was any illusion . . . that such economic obedience to God was easy. It was one thing to celebrate the victories of God in past history. It was another to trust his ability to produce the future harvest. It was still another to trust his ability to provide you and your family with sustenance for a year if you obeyed the fallow or sabbatical year laws and did not sow a crop---or for two if you had to double fallow at the jubilee! And could you afford to let your slave, an agricultural asset, go free after six years, still less with a generous endowment of your substance, animal and vegetable?"
"So then, from the laws themselves and from the prophets' reaction to their neglect, we can see that there was a deep and detailed concern in the Old Testament with work and employment, in respect of conditions and terms of service, adequate rest, and fair pay. And this concern applied across the whole spectrum of the working population. . . . Indeed, the principles of fairness and compassion extended even to working animals, . . . . "
Do these principles apply to the NT? Compare Dt. 15:4 with Acts 4:34.
Conclusion
Once one understands the purpose of the Jubilee and is familiar with Luke's perspective on the rich and poor, a person sees a great deal of continuity between the OT Jubilee and the NT kingdom of God. Jesus vigorously condemned the rich for greedily cornering the wealth of Palestine and failing to share it with the poor.
The Jubilee was good news to the poor; it released the oppressed from the loss of land, from the bondage of poverty. This was also one of the important messages of the kingdom of God.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Donald Trump and George Washington: Two Peas in a Pod
Donald Trump is not an American aberration as many of my friends think; instead he is as American as apple pie. He is 100 percent American going back as far as the revered George Washington. Currently he is tied in the polls, indicating that many Americans agree with him, including many Christians.
Both George Washington and Donald Trump are rich, white males; GW was a deist, and personally I think DT is a practicing deist.
In between GW and DT, Americans settled [stole] the West. I just finished rereading James Michener's magnificent historical novel titled Centennial; the book honestly and accurately documents how white males, wanting to be rich, massacred Indians and despised and exploited Mexicans. In the 1990s, President Clinton, a good friend to blacks, did little or nothing to reverse the Reagan wealth gap nor reverse the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males. Even his welfare reform was more conservative than liberal. The first "black" president, but some of his policies were anti-black.
Most rich, white males believe in and practice some version of the American trinity---Democrat or Republican---the American trinity of hyper individualism, hyper materialism, and hyper ethnocentrism. Of course, they rename the American trinity in an effort to sanctify their social evils. They call hyper individualism, freedom, but it is a freedom undisciplined by love and unrestrained by justice. Paul, in Galatians, called this abuse of freedom "an opportunity for the flesh."
Americans call hyper materialism, prosperity, but it is corporate capitalism which destroys community. loots natural resources, and pollutes the environment.
We call hyper ethnocentrism, American exceptionalism, but it runs roughshod over all non-Anglos, killing, enslaving, and stealing land and labor at random.
So what we are talking about is a Trump problem, but it is much than that; it is an enduring AMERICAN problem.
From personal experience, I know something about the intense cultural pressure to conform, to enjoy either white superiority or male superiority or white economic privilege. In fact, I needed a second conversion in April 1968---a conversion that made me intensely aware of social oppression and the need for social justice. Since then I have benefitted from 50 years of mentoring by Martin Luther King, Tom and Barbara Skinner and John Perkins as well as 35 years living in America's ghettos.
It can be a real battle to eliminate just one of the trinity---rich or white or male superiority/dominance. When a person has all three in combination, it is like a cultural demon possession. Few Americans I know have conquered all three.
So we all desperately need biblical truth, God's insights. In NT times, Jews thought they were superior to Gentiles; males were superior to females, masters superior to slaves and rich superior to poor. They had the same rich, white male trinity. What to do?
The full biblical gospel has the answer. Galatians 3:28, The Message, "In Christ's family, there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave or free, male and female. Among us you are all equal." In Colossians 3, a similar message: "Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free mean nothing. . . . everyone is included in Christ."
In Luke 4:18-30, we find Jesus tackling two of these problems: economic oppression [rich-poor], and Jewish ethnocentrism against Gentiles. The white American church seems to lack the wisdom and courage to follow and imitate Jesus; they prefer comfortable stained glass worship instead.
Both George Washington and Donald Trump are rich, white males; GW was a deist, and personally I think DT is a practicing deist.
In between GW and DT, Americans settled [stole] the West. I just finished rereading James Michener's magnificent historical novel titled Centennial; the book honestly and accurately documents how white males, wanting to be rich, massacred Indians and despised and exploited Mexicans. In the 1990s, President Clinton, a good friend to blacks, did little or nothing to reverse the Reagan wealth gap nor reverse the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males. Even his welfare reform was more conservative than liberal. The first "black" president, but some of his policies were anti-black.
Most rich, white males believe in and practice some version of the American trinity---Democrat or Republican---the American trinity of hyper individualism, hyper materialism, and hyper ethnocentrism. Of course, they rename the American trinity in an effort to sanctify their social evils. They call hyper individualism, freedom, but it is a freedom undisciplined by love and unrestrained by justice. Paul, in Galatians, called this abuse of freedom "an opportunity for the flesh."
Americans call hyper materialism, prosperity, but it is corporate capitalism which destroys community. loots natural resources, and pollutes the environment.
We call hyper ethnocentrism, American exceptionalism, but it runs roughshod over all non-Anglos, killing, enslaving, and stealing land and labor at random.
So what we are talking about is a Trump problem, but it is much than that; it is an enduring AMERICAN problem.
From personal experience, I know something about the intense cultural pressure to conform, to enjoy either white superiority or male superiority or white economic privilege. In fact, I needed a second conversion in April 1968---a conversion that made me intensely aware of social oppression and the need for social justice. Since then I have benefitted from 50 years of mentoring by Martin Luther King, Tom and Barbara Skinner and John Perkins as well as 35 years living in America's ghettos.
It can be a real battle to eliminate just one of the trinity---rich or white or male superiority/dominance. When a person has all three in combination, it is like a cultural demon possession. Few Americans I know have conquered all three.
So we all desperately need biblical truth, God's insights. In NT times, Jews thought they were superior to Gentiles; males were superior to females, masters superior to slaves and rich superior to poor. They had the same rich, white male trinity. What to do?
The full biblical gospel has the answer. Galatians 3:28, The Message, "In Christ's family, there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave or free, male and female. Among us you are all equal." In Colossians 3, a similar message: "Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free mean nothing. . . . everyone is included in Christ."
In Luke 4:18-30, we find Jesus tackling two of these problems: economic oppression [rich-poor], and Jewish ethnocentrism against Gentiles. The white American church seems to lack the wisdom and courage to follow and imitate Jesus; they prefer comfortable stained glass worship instead.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Making America Great Again---for whom?
Making America Great Again---for whom? White males are voting for Trump in large numbers; the Republican Convention was heavily white males; Trump is a white male, a rich, white male.
The focus on white males, especially rich, white males leaves out the poor, the ethnics and women. Unfortunately, this is nothing new in this nation. Our founding fathers were a rich, white male elite; the poor, women, Native Americans, African Americans were all second class citizens, inferior. Slavery began in Virginia around 1660; some would say that rich, white male dominance began back then.
Out of rich, white, male dominance flowed Indian genocide, theft of Indian land, slavery, etc. etc. Ever since our founding fathers, we have had a government of the white, rich, male elite, by the rich, white, male elite and for the rich, white, male elite---never a government of, by, and for the people, all the people.
Trump didn't invent this Republican trinity---rich, white male elite---, but he is capitalizing on it as Reagan did. Under Ronald Reagan, the rich got richer and the wealth gap doubled; under Reagan, the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Latino males exploded. More of the same will happen under a President Trump.
Trump has declared again and again that he will be strong on Law and Order. Law and Order is a codeword for preserving white superiority and white privilege using the criminal justice system to do so. Law and Order is a codeword to identify and racially profile the lawless, the criminal, i.e., the criminalblackman and the illegalalien. This will keep them inferior and poor.
Watch out for bait and switch---feigning an interest in the poor, the American worker; most likely, the current rigged economic system will continue, favoring rich, white males.
Read The NewJim Crow if you want a preview of the results of a Trump presidency; we will go from bad to worse.
President Bush reportedly said he may have been the last Republican president. Let's hope so, until the Republican party is born again, and becomes the party of Lincoln again that released the oppressed slaves.
President Obama wanted to end mass incarceration, but he had only marginal success. President Obama wanted to reduce the immense wealth gap, again with only marginal success.
Trump is right; America has been and is in crisis, a crisis created by rich, male, white males. I have seen no signs of a Trump-led national repentance, restitution and repair, i.e., justice. Our only hope is for the white church to lead national repentance, national restitution, national justice. So far, I see few signs of white repentance; the white church prefers white superiority and white privilege.
The focus on white males, especially rich, white males leaves out the poor, the ethnics and women. Unfortunately, this is nothing new in this nation. Our founding fathers were a rich, white male elite; the poor, women, Native Americans, African Americans were all second class citizens, inferior. Slavery began in Virginia around 1660; some would say that rich, white male dominance began back then.
Out of rich, white, male dominance flowed Indian genocide, theft of Indian land, slavery, etc. etc. Ever since our founding fathers, we have had a government of the white, rich, male elite, by the rich, white, male elite and for the rich, white, male elite---never a government of, by, and for the people, all the people.
Trump didn't invent this Republican trinity---rich, white male elite---, but he is capitalizing on it as Reagan did. Under Ronald Reagan, the rich got richer and the wealth gap doubled; under Reagan, the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Latino males exploded. More of the same will happen under a President Trump.
Trump has declared again and again that he will be strong on Law and Order. Law and Order is a codeword for preserving white superiority and white privilege using the criminal justice system to do so. Law and Order is a codeword to identify and racially profile the lawless, the criminal, i.e., the criminalblackman and the illegalalien. This will keep them inferior and poor.
Watch out for bait and switch---feigning an interest in the poor, the American worker; most likely, the current rigged economic system will continue, favoring rich, white males.
Read The NewJim Crow if you want a preview of the results of a Trump presidency; we will go from bad to worse.
President Bush reportedly said he may have been the last Republican president. Let's hope so, until the Republican party is born again, and becomes the party of Lincoln again that released the oppressed slaves.
President Obama wanted to end mass incarceration, but he had only marginal success. President Obama wanted to reduce the immense wealth gap, again with only marginal success.
Trump is right; America has been and is in crisis, a crisis created by rich, male, white males. I have seen no signs of a Trump-led national repentance, restitution and repair, i.e., justice. Our only hope is for the white church to lead national repentance, national restitution, national justice. So far, I see few signs of white repentance; the white church prefers white superiority and white privilege.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Does Male Dominance Destroy Community?
If marriage/family is a mini community, does male dominance/sexism prevent love and community?
First a quotation from Clyde and Susan Hendrick (Liking, Loving and Relating):
"Our current conceptions of love, sex and marriage are recent phenomena and did not exist throughout most of recorded history. . . . Love as the basis of marriage is an eighteenth century invention. . . . has become the dominant view in the twentieth century. Love in ancient Greek marriage was unknown, perhaps unthinkable. Women then were not educated and were considered inferior in almost all aspects to men. Good companionship could be had only with other well-educated males. . . . One result was that love often bloomed between males; classical Greece had a large incidence of male homosexuality."
Noble's comments: Sexism/male dominance prevents love; genuine love occurs between equals. Real love can hardly grow in a superior-inferior relationship. Without love between equals, some will pursue homosexual relations as a substitute.
Next some quotations from a book by Jimmy Carter titled A Call to
Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power:
"I saw the ravages of racial prejudice as I grew up in the Deep South, when for a century the U.S. Supreme Court and all other political and social authorities accepted the premise that black people were, in some basic ways, inferior to white people. Even those in the dominant class who disagreed with this presumption remained relatively quiet and enjoyed the benefits of the prevailing system [white privilege]. Carefully selected Holy Scriptures were quoted to justify this discrimination in the name of God."
"There is a similar system of discrimination [oppression], extending far beyond a small geographical region to the entire globe; it touches every nation, perpetuating and expanding the trafficking in human slaves, body mutilation, and even legitimized murder on a massive scale. This system [of oppression] is based on the presumption that men and boys are superior to women and girls, and it is supported by some male religious leaders who distort the Holy Bible, the Koran, and other sacred texts to perpetuate their claim that females are, in some basic ways, inferior to them, unqualified to serve God on equal terms. Many men disagree but remain quiet in order to enjoy the benefits of their dominant status. This false premise provides a justification for sexual discrimination [oppression] in almost every realm of secular and religious life."
"Yet although economic disparity is a great and growing problem, I have become convinced that the most serious and unaddressed worldwide challenge is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls, . . . "
First a quotation from Clyde and Susan Hendrick (Liking, Loving and Relating):
"Our current conceptions of love, sex and marriage are recent phenomena and did not exist throughout most of recorded history. . . . Love as the basis of marriage is an eighteenth century invention. . . . has become the dominant view in the twentieth century. Love in ancient Greek marriage was unknown, perhaps unthinkable. Women then were not educated and were considered inferior in almost all aspects to men. Good companionship could be had only with other well-educated males. . . . One result was that love often bloomed between males; classical Greece had a large incidence of male homosexuality."
Noble's comments: Sexism/male dominance prevents love; genuine love occurs between equals. Real love can hardly grow in a superior-inferior relationship. Without love between equals, some will pursue homosexual relations as a substitute.
Next some quotations from a book by Jimmy Carter titled A Call to
Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power:
"I saw the ravages of racial prejudice as I grew up in the Deep South, when for a century the U.S. Supreme Court and all other political and social authorities accepted the premise that black people were, in some basic ways, inferior to white people. Even those in the dominant class who disagreed with this presumption remained relatively quiet and enjoyed the benefits of the prevailing system [white privilege]. Carefully selected Holy Scriptures were quoted to justify this discrimination in the name of God."
"There is a similar system of discrimination [oppression], extending far beyond a small geographical region to the entire globe; it touches every nation, perpetuating and expanding the trafficking in human slaves, body mutilation, and even legitimized murder on a massive scale. This system [of oppression] is based on the presumption that men and boys are superior to women and girls, and it is supported by some male religious leaders who distort the Holy Bible, the Koran, and other sacred texts to perpetuate their claim that females are, in some basic ways, inferior to them, unqualified to serve God on equal terms. Many men disagree but remain quiet in order to enjoy the benefits of their dominant status. This false premise provides a justification for sexual discrimination [oppression] in almost every realm of secular and religious life."
"Yet although economic disparity is a great and growing problem, I have become convinced that the most serious and unaddressed worldwide challenge is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls, . . . "
Justice: the Key to Community
My rights: rights are measured by a standard of truth as a human being; rights flow from being created in the image of God. I have basic rights to dignity and the necessities of life.
My responsibilities: to make sure that all others have equal rights; a combination of truth and love.
Our community: human relationships maintained by justice/equality. Right relationships between God and humans; also human to human.
According to Christian philosopher, C. Stephen Evans, equality---to each according to need, basic necessities of life---is not enough. Community is a higher, more complete goal. Class divisions in society prevent community; class divisions are based on unequal distributions of power, property and prestige. Class divisions equaled injustice.
Biblical examples of justice/community:
1. Job 29:11-17 and 31:16-32: "I was feet to the lame, I was father to the poor. . . . "
2. Luke is profoundly pro-poor and anti-rich. Large gaps between rich and poor violate justice in two ways: the rich oppress the poor , and the rich fail to share with the poor.
3. Acts: After people were filled with the Holy Spirit, their rights to their own private property were no longer primary. Responsibilities to others in their new Christian community became primary. So they willingly sold their surplus private property---houses, land---to meet food needs of the poor. Quality human relationships created Christian community. Justice/equality became the new standard.
4. Modern example: To rebuild poor communities, John Perkins require three things: relocation, reconciliation and redistribution. The American trinity of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism destroys community.
My responsibilities: to make sure that all others have equal rights; a combination of truth and love.
Our community: human relationships maintained by justice/equality. Right relationships between God and humans; also human to human.
According to Christian philosopher, C. Stephen Evans, equality---to each according to need, basic necessities of life---is not enough. Community is a higher, more complete goal. Class divisions in society prevent community; class divisions are based on unequal distributions of power, property and prestige. Class divisions equaled injustice.
Biblical examples of justice/community:
1. Job 29:11-17 and 31:16-32: "I was feet to the lame, I was father to the poor. . . . "
2. Luke is profoundly pro-poor and anti-rich. Large gaps between rich and poor violate justice in two ways: the rich oppress the poor , and the rich fail to share with the poor.
3. Acts: After people were filled with the Holy Spirit, their rights to their own private property were no longer primary. Responsibilities to others in their new Christian community became primary. So they willingly sold their surplus private property---houses, land---to meet food needs of the poor. Quality human relationships created Christian community. Justice/equality became the new standard.
4. Modern example: To rebuild poor communities, John Perkins require three things: relocation, reconciliation and redistribution. The American trinity of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism destroys community.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Should We Start a Christian University in Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti?
Should we start a biblical university in Haiti?
Not if it is modeled after the typical evangelical Christian liberal arts college in the U.S. To my knowledge, none of them neither understand nor apply the extensive biblical teachings on oppression, Jubilee justice; none tie the Spirit and kingdom together as the foundation for a ministry among the oppressed poor. None of them have built their curriculum around "Christ, Kingdom, Church and Community."
Not if it is modeled after the Haitian Medical College which has a brain drain of around 80 percent; most of its Haitian trained doctors and nurses have left Haiti. We would not want even 50 percent of our graduates to be a part of the brain drain. Could we keep at least 50 percent in the Fond-des-Blancs community? If so, how?
According to Christian philosopher, C. Stephen Evans, the fundamental critique that Marx made of capitalism was that it undermined/destroyed community.
Within 10 years of the Azusa Street Revival, white racism had divided Pentecostalism into black and white streams. And soon American individualism twisted the gifts of the Spirit into individual edification/spirituality, not the edification of the church and community. And Pentecostalism soon became the hotbed of the prosperity gospel, not the kingdom justice gospel.
Where are we going to find faculty who understand oppression and justice? I do not know of a single person qualified to teach a course on oppression in both the Old and New Testaments, justice in both testaments. Do you know of such a person? Only in my 80s have I begun to dig deep and put together some of the biblical pieces to a theology of society.
All students should be required to have a community building internship every year.
Some practical suggestions:
1. Develop a program to train women as leaders in community development.
2. Have regular classroom classes in the summer when high school students are on vacation. Example: each summer have Didi Farmer teach a two week class on women in community development.
3. Organize students in teams of 2 or 3 or 4 students; the same team does their community internship together. Teams get the job done better than super-star individuals. Should student teams be graded, not individuals?
What are your ideas?
Not if it is modeled after the typical evangelical Christian liberal arts college in the U.S. To my knowledge, none of them neither understand nor apply the extensive biblical teachings on oppression, Jubilee justice; none tie the Spirit and kingdom together as the foundation for a ministry among the oppressed poor. None of them have built their curriculum around "Christ, Kingdom, Church and Community."
Not if it is modeled after the Haitian Medical College which has a brain drain of around 80 percent; most of its Haitian trained doctors and nurses have left Haiti. We would not want even 50 percent of our graduates to be a part of the brain drain. Could we keep at least 50 percent in the Fond-des-Blancs community? If so, how?
According to Christian philosopher, C. Stephen Evans, the fundamental critique that Marx made of capitalism was that it undermined/destroyed community.
Within 10 years of the Azusa Street Revival, white racism had divided Pentecostalism into black and white streams. And soon American individualism twisted the gifts of the Spirit into individual edification/spirituality, not the edification of the church and community. And Pentecostalism soon became the hotbed of the prosperity gospel, not the kingdom justice gospel.
Where are we going to find faculty who understand oppression and justice? I do not know of a single person qualified to teach a course on oppression in both the Old and New Testaments, justice in both testaments. Do you know of such a person? Only in my 80s have I begun to dig deep and put together some of the biblical pieces to a theology of society.
All students should be required to have a community building internship every year.
Some practical suggestions:
1. Develop a program to train women as leaders in community development.
2. Have regular classroom classes in the summer when high school students are on vacation. Example: each summer have Didi Farmer teach a two week class on women in community development.
3. Organize students in teams of 2 or 3 or 4 students; the same team does their community internship together. Teams get the job done better than super-star individuals. Should student teams be graded, not individuals?
What are your ideas?
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Is Kingdom Spirituality Dirty Spirituality?
Is your understanding of spirituality/holiness more like that of the Pharisees---separation/segregation from the unclean, the impure, the ethnics, the poor---or more like Luke 4:18 where the Holy Spirit is directly tied to the despised poor and oppressed?
Matthew 6:33 is the key verse in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is about spirituality and a sharp contrast is drawn between hypocritical spirituality and Kingdom spirituality. The NEB translates 6:33 this way: "Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else." My paraphrase: "Give your highest priority to incarnating the kingdom of God as justice---Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor who are living in a spirit of despair."
Country to popular opinion, the highest form of spirituality is not prayer and worship in a monastery; it is releasing the oppressed; it is caring for the poor (Isaiah 58:6).
Pastor David Jeremiah is normally a careful, thorough expositor of the Scripture. Recently I hear him preach on Matthew 6:25-34. He did a fine job showing how stupid and unproductive worry about the necessities of life was; he spent most of his sermon on the folly of worry. But when he came to the key verse of the passage, 6:33, he only lightly touched this all important theme. Unfortunately, this is typical of white evangelical preaching---little understanding of the importance of the kingdom of God as justice for the oppressed poor. 6:33 should be placed along side John 3:16 for a complete gospel.
The church needs to choose between sanctuary spirituality or street spirituality, between stained glass spirituality or broken window spirituality.
More from the Sermon on the Mount.
1. Do not store up treasure on earth; instead build the kingdom as justice.
2. You cannot serve God and Money; instead incarnate the kingdom as Jubilee justice.
3. Do not focus on the necessities of life; instead release the oppressed.
4. Don't be a God-talker; instead do the will of God---kingdom justice.
5. Don't build your house on sand; instead build it on kingdom rock.
6. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and Prophets---justice and love; the church must combine love and Jubilee justice.
7. Hunger and thirst after justice for the poor and oppressed; give it your highest priority.
Matthew 6:33 is the key verse in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is about spirituality and a sharp contrast is drawn between hypocritical spirituality and Kingdom spirituality. The NEB translates 6:33 this way: "Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else." My paraphrase: "Give your highest priority to incarnating the kingdom of God as justice---Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor who are living in a spirit of despair."
Country to popular opinion, the highest form of spirituality is not prayer and worship in a monastery; it is releasing the oppressed; it is caring for the poor (Isaiah 58:6).
Pastor David Jeremiah is normally a careful, thorough expositor of the Scripture. Recently I hear him preach on Matthew 6:25-34. He did a fine job showing how stupid and unproductive worry about the necessities of life was; he spent most of his sermon on the folly of worry. But when he came to the key verse of the passage, 6:33, he only lightly touched this all important theme. Unfortunately, this is typical of white evangelical preaching---little understanding of the importance of the kingdom of God as justice for the oppressed poor. 6:33 should be placed along side John 3:16 for a complete gospel.
The church needs to choose between sanctuary spirituality or street spirituality, between stained glass spirituality or broken window spirituality.
More from the Sermon on the Mount.
1. Do not store up treasure on earth; instead build the kingdom as justice.
2. You cannot serve God and Money; instead incarnate the kingdom as Jubilee justice.
3. Do not focus on the necessities of life; instead release the oppressed.
4. Don't be a God-talker; instead do the will of God---kingdom justice.
5. Don't build your house on sand; instead build it on kingdom rock.
6. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and Prophets---justice and love; the church must combine love and Jubilee justice.
7. Hunger and thirst after justice for the poor and oppressed; give it your highest priority.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
A Sociologist Looks at Oppression and Shalom
The Lord said to Moses, Say to AaRon and his sons, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel; you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace [shalom]." Numbers 6:22-27.
Here the blessing of God is the grace of God resting upon his obedient people granting them shalom. Shalom is a rich Hebrew word meaning more than peace; it carries a sense of wholeness, completeness, harmony. Shalom is a total sense of well-being for not only individuals but also a community, a people walking with God together. The blessing of shalom carries a sense of well-being---materially, socially and spiritually. A people blessed with shalom experience authentic joy in life---more than happiness.
It is rather obvious why a true prophet of God would preach and promote shalom. But false prophets also proclaimed shalom according to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11 state: "They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.' Or 'shalom, shalom, when there is no shalom.'"
If there was no shalom, what was there? Again and again, the prophets thundered there was religious idolatry and social oppression. Social oppression usually followed religious idolatry.
In Jeremiah 6:13 and 8:10, oppression is described: "Because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest everyone deals falsely."
Or Jeremiah 5:26-28: "For wicked men are found among my people. . . . Therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and the do not defend the rights of the needy."
In commenting about Jerusalem, the key city in Israel, Jeremiah (6:6) declares: "This is the city which must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her." Jeremiah 7:6 calls on Israel not to "Oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, . . . " Jeremiah 9:6: "Heaping oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, says the Lord."
Oppression is the opposite of shalom and the absence of justice. Oppression and shalom are polar opposites. Oppression occurs when people in power and authority, usually in social institutions, misuse that power and authority cruelly and unjustly, to crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave and kill persons created in the image of God.
Oppression crushes people; Jubilee justice releases the crushed. Oppression humiliates persons; justice affirms people's dignity. Oppression animalizes people; Jubilee justice humanizes people. Oppression impoverishes people; justice provides access to the resources of God's creation so persons can be self-sufficient. Oppression enslaves persons; Jubilee justice liberates/releases the oppressed. Oppression kills; only justice/judgment beyond this life can provide shalom for these persons.
Until recently (the 1980s), there was relatively little scholarly analysis of the biblical concept of oppression, especially in English and written by white evangelicals. In a Hebrew OT, there are 555 references to oppression and its synonyms. The ISBE bible dictionary is the only bible dictionary with a significant article on oppression. In all other bible dictionaries, there is with no mention of oppression or only a short, shallow discussion. You might find references to Oprah, Oracle, Orchard or Ordination, but not oppression.
Thomas Hanks, author of God So Loved the Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression, states:
"Anyone who has read much in the theological classics (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Barth, Berkouwer) will recognize that the theme of oppression has received little or no attention there. One might think that the Bible says little about oppression.. . . . Oppression is a fundamental structural category of biblical theology, as is evidenced by the large number of Hebrew roots denoting it (10 basic roots, 20 in all); the frequency of their occurrence (555 times); the basic theological character of many texts that speak of it (Gen. 15; Exod. 1-5; Ps.72,103, 146; Isa. 8-9, 42, 53, 58, etc.); and the significance of oppression in Israel's great creedal confession (Deut. 26:5-9)."
In my judgment, unless a Christian has a profound understanding of the horror of oppression, a Christian is highly unlikely to develop a passionate concern for social justice, Jubilee justice. By and large the white American church has not had a biblical understanding of oppression; this same church has done little to execute justice on behalf of the fatherless, the alien, the widow. Some charity, yes, but little fundamental biblical justice that release the oppressed.
Perry Yoder, author of Shalom, states: "God's justice sets things right; it is a liberating justice."
The key verse in the Sermon on the Mount passage is "Set you mind on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else." (Mt. 6:33, NEB)
The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace [shalom]." Numbers 6:22-27.
Here the blessing of God is the grace of God resting upon his obedient people granting them shalom. Shalom is a rich Hebrew word meaning more than peace; it carries a sense of wholeness, completeness, harmony. Shalom is a total sense of well-being for not only individuals but also a community, a people walking with God together. The blessing of shalom carries a sense of well-being---materially, socially and spiritually. A people blessed with shalom experience authentic joy in life---more than happiness.
It is rather obvious why a true prophet of God would preach and promote shalom. But false prophets also proclaimed shalom according to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11 state: "They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.' Or 'shalom, shalom, when there is no shalom.'"
If there was no shalom, what was there? Again and again, the prophets thundered there was religious idolatry and social oppression. Social oppression usually followed religious idolatry.
In Jeremiah 6:13 and 8:10, oppression is described: "Because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest everyone deals falsely."
Or Jeremiah 5:26-28: "For wicked men are found among my people. . . . Therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and the do not defend the rights of the needy."
In commenting about Jerusalem, the key city in Israel, Jeremiah (6:6) declares: "This is the city which must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her." Jeremiah 7:6 calls on Israel not to "Oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, . . . " Jeremiah 9:6: "Heaping oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, says the Lord."
Oppression is the opposite of shalom and the absence of justice. Oppression and shalom are polar opposites. Oppression occurs when people in power and authority, usually in social institutions, misuse that power and authority cruelly and unjustly, to crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave and kill persons created in the image of God.
Oppression crushes people; Jubilee justice releases the crushed. Oppression humiliates persons; justice affirms people's dignity. Oppression animalizes people; Jubilee justice humanizes people. Oppression impoverishes people; justice provides access to the resources of God's creation so persons can be self-sufficient. Oppression enslaves persons; Jubilee justice liberates/releases the oppressed. Oppression kills; only justice/judgment beyond this life can provide shalom for these persons.
Until recently (the 1980s), there was relatively little scholarly analysis of the biblical concept of oppression, especially in English and written by white evangelicals. In a Hebrew OT, there are 555 references to oppression and its synonyms. The ISBE bible dictionary is the only bible dictionary with a significant article on oppression. In all other bible dictionaries, there is with no mention of oppression or only a short, shallow discussion. You might find references to Oprah, Oracle, Orchard or Ordination, but not oppression.
Thomas Hanks, author of God So Loved the Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression, states:
"Anyone who has read much in the theological classics (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Barth, Berkouwer) will recognize that the theme of oppression has received little or no attention there. One might think that the Bible says little about oppression.. . . . Oppression is a fundamental structural category of biblical theology, as is evidenced by the large number of Hebrew roots denoting it (10 basic roots, 20 in all); the frequency of their occurrence (555 times); the basic theological character of many texts that speak of it (Gen. 15; Exod. 1-5; Ps.72,103, 146; Isa. 8-9, 42, 53, 58, etc.); and the significance of oppression in Israel's great creedal confession (Deut. 26:5-9)."
In my judgment, unless a Christian has a profound understanding of the horror of oppression, a Christian is highly unlikely to develop a passionate concern for social justice, Jubilee justice. By and large the white American church has not had a biblical understanding of oppression; this same church has done little to execute justice on behalf of the fatherless, the alien, the widow. Some charity, yes, but little fundamental biblical justice that release the oppressed.
Perry Yoder, author of Shalom, states: "God's justice sets things right; it is a liberating justice."
The key verse in the Sermon on the Mount passage is "Set you mind on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else." (Mt. 6:33, NEB)
Monday, July 18, 2016
A Stage III Christian University; Beyond Integration of Faith and Learning
The brilliant Reformed philosopher-theologian, Nicholas Wolterstorff, wrote the following article, "The Mission of the Christian College at the end of the 20th Century." He summarizes his point in this one sentence: "The Christian college cannot burrow into culture [mine it for its liberal arts treasures] while neglecting the suffering produced by society." Sounds like Pope Francis: "Leave the security of the sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets."
Stage I "Competent scholarship and Biblical Christian Christianity would fit neatly in one harmonious whole."
Stage II "Faith and culture are to be united."
Stage III Wolterstorff does not have a fully developed blueprint for Stage III, but he believes we must add something to Stages I and II. The key word in stage II was culture (liberal arts or liberating arts). The key word for Stage III is society. Society means persons in interaction with others---social roles, social institutions, social structures, the exercise of power and authority, social stratification, ethnocentrism, systems of oppression, systems of justice. Modern society is full of social problems; we need a theology of society.
In my opinion, Stage III will be ten times more difficult than Stage II when we wrestled with the integration of faith and learning. Stage III would be a pioneering effort; we would be tackling relatively unchartered territory for evangelicals. A few years ago someone leading a seminar on ministries in the inner city for white suburban pastors said, "We had to hold the seminar on the third grade level."
Evangelicals are ignorant about the extensive biblical teaching on oppression, justice and the kingdom of God.
Who wants to lead us in this pioneering effort? How about you, Jennifer Nelson?
PS
1. Our Racial Wealth Gap
For the first time, the 2016 Democratic platform is acknowledging America's deep racial wealth gap---and the policies that created it. Will our Christian churches/ theologians catch up?
2. A century ago Nordic nations had extreme levels of economic inequality; today, relative economic equality. How did they do it? See new book Viking Economics.
3. Michelle Alexander, July 10, 2016, "Following Horrific Violence, Something More is Required of Us." Will we lead a social transformation?
Stage I "Competent scholarship and Biblical Christian Christianity would fit neatly in one harmonious whole."
Stage II "Faith and culture are to be united."
Stage III Wolterstorff does not have a fully developed blueprint for Stage III, but he believes we must add something to Stages I and II. The key word in stage II was culture (liberal arts or liberating arts). The key word for Stage III is society. Society means persons in interaction with others---social roles, social institutions, social structures, the exercise of power and authority, social stratification, ethnocentrism, systems of oppression, systems of justice. Modern society is full of social problems; we need a theology of society.
In my opinion, Stage III will be ten times more difficult than Stage II when we wrestled with the integration of faith and learning. Stage III would be a pioneering effort; we would be tackling relatively unchartered territory for evangelicals. A few years ago someone leading a seminar on ministries in the inner city for white suburban pastors said, "We had to hold the seminar on the third grade level."
Evangelicals are ignorant about the extensive biblical teaching on oppression, justice and the kingdom of God.
Who wants to lead us in this pioneering effort? How about you, Jennifer Nelson?
PS
1. Our Racial Wealth Gap
For the first time, the 2016 Democratic platform is acknowledging America's deep racial wealth gap---and the policies that created it. Will our Christian churches/ theologians catch up?
2. A century ago Nordic nations had extreme levels of economic inequality; today, relative economic equality. How did they do it? See new book Viking Economics.
3. Michelle Alexander, July 10, 2016, "Following Horrific Violence, Something More is Required of Us." Will we lead a social transformation?
Sugar and Oppression
After reading this essay, your sugar may not taste as sweet.
The following information is drawn from Sidney Mintz's Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, 1985.
In a foreword picture, we find the following quotation from J.H. Bernardin de Saint Pierre (1773):
"I do not know if coffee and sugar are essential to the happiness of Europe, but I know well that these two products have accounted for the unhappiness of the two great regions of the world: America has been depopulated so as to have land to plant them; Africa has been depopulated so as to have the people to cultivate them."
Raising sugar cane is a labor intensive process. Slave labor has been officially outlawed, but often cane cutters are treated as semi-slaves. Mints reports that he ' would sometimes stand by the line of cutters, who were working in intense heat and great pressure, while the foreman stood at their backs. . . . Only the sound of the whip was missing."
Why were massive quantities of sugar grown? It took "huge quantities of land, labor, and capital" to produce sugar. The enormous demand comes from areas such as Europe and America. The price of sugar often fluctuates widely due to overproduction and/or speculation.
Cane workers were not farmers or peasants; they did not own the land nor was this their business. "They were agricultural laborers who owned neither land nor any productive property and who had to sell their labor to eat. Usually a multinational corporation owned or leased the land and the sugar mill."
"England fought the most, conquered the most colonies, imported the most slaves and went furtherest and fastest in creating a plantation system. The most important product of that system was sugar."
The following information is drawn from Sidney Mintz's Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, 1985.
In a foreword picture, we find the following quotation from J.H. Bernardin de Saint Pierre (1773):
"I do not know if coffee and sugar are essential to the happiness of Europe, but I know well that these two products have accounted for the unhappiness of the two great regions of the world: America has been depopulated so as to have land to plant them; Africa has been depopulated so as to have the people to cultivate them."
Raising sugar cane is a labor intensive process. Slave labor has been officially outlawed, but often cane cutters are treated as semi-slaves. Mints reports that he ' would sometimes stand by the line of cutters, who were working in intense heat and great pressure, while the foreman stood at their backs. . . . Only the sound of the whip was missing."
Why were massive quantities of sugar grown? It took "huge quantities of land, labor, and capital" to produce sugar. The enormous demand comes from areas such as Europe and America. The price of sugar often fluctuates widely due to overproduction and/or speculation.
Cane workers were not farmers or peasants; they did not own the land nor was this their business. "They were agricultural laborers who owned neither land nor any productive property and who had to sell their labor to eat. Usually a multinational corporation owned or leased the land and the sugar mill."
"England fought the most, conquered the most colonies, imported the most slaves and went furtherest and fastest in creating a plantation system. The most important product of that system was sugar."
Saturday, July 16, 2016
A Few Bad Cops or A Lot of Bad Whites
A few bad cops or a system of oppression created, maintained and condoned by the majority of white citizens?
A few years ago, the state of Iowa had a severe, nation-leading, 2 and 24 problem---2 percent of Iowa's is black and 24 percent of Iowa's prison population is black.
What is the explanation? Most of Iowa's white population believe that a lot of Iowa's black population is criminal---criminalblackman. So it takes all of Iowa's police, the whole criminal justice system, to control the criminalblackman. Blacks are 12 times more criminal than whites. Case closed.
Possibly there is another explanation. The majority of whites in Iowa want it this way. The majority of whites elected the public officials who created and maintain the War on Drugs and extreme racial profiling. The majority of whites could elect a set of public officials who would pass new laws to end the War on Drugs and Racial Profiling.
A few bad cops! Come on! This kindergarten thinking, a cop-out rationalization.
By the way, apparently the majority of white Christians are among those Iowans who voted to create, maintain and condone this radicalized system of oppression called the criminal justice system. Is this because they choose to ignore the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and justice? Because they prefer the American trinity over the kingdom of God? Because they prefer to enjoy their white superiority and white privilege? A lot of evil whites, a lot of evil white Christians created the demonic myth of the criminalblackman.
These same whites refuse to change---repent, restitute, and do justice. They all need to read The New Jim Crow.
PS
A few specific steps that police chiefs all across America could take immediately to reduce racial tension.
1. Order an immediate end to all DWB traffic stops; they are not only unnecessary and unwise, they are unconstitutional. The black community would greet this step with great relief and appreciation.
2. End all arrests and prosecutions for marijuana possession; concentrate criminal justice resources on serious felonies.
3. Refuse to accept all federal monies designated for the War on Drugs; ask that these monies be devoted to new drug treatment programs run by public health departments, social workers and churches.
A few years ago, the state of Iowa had a severe, nation-leading, 2 and 24 problem---2 percent of Iowa's is black and 24 percent of Iowa's prison population is black.
What is the explanation? Most of Iowa's white population believe that a lot of Iowa's black population is criminal---criminalblackman. So it takes all of Iowa's police, the whole criminal justice system, to control the criminalblackman. Blacks are 12 times more criminal than whites. Case closed.
Possibly there is another explanation. The majority of whites in Iowa want it this way. The majority of whites elected the public officials who created and maintain the War on Drugs and extreme racial profiling. The majority of whites could elect a set of public officials who would pass new laws to end the War on Drugs and Racial Profiling.
A few bad cops! Come on! This kindergarten thinking, a cop-out rationalization.
By the way, apparently the majority of white Christians are among those Iowans who voted to create, maintain and condone this radicalized system of oppression called the criminal justice system. Is this because they choose to ignore the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and justice? Because they prefer the American trinity over the kingdom of God? Because they prefer to enjoy their white superiority and white privilege? A lot of evil whites, a lot of evil white Christians created the demonic myth of the criminalblackman.
These same whites refuse to change---repent, restitute, and do justice. They all need to read The New Jim Crow.
PS
A few specific steps that police chiefs all across America could take immediately to reduce racial tension.
1. Order an immediate end to all DWB traffic stops; they are not only unnecessary and unwise, they are unconstitutional. The black community would greet this step with great relief and appreciation.
2. End all arrests and prosecutions for marijuana possession; concentrate criminal justice resources on serious felonies.
3. Refuse to accept all federal monies designated for the War on Drugs; ask that these monies be devoted to new drug treatment programs run by public health departments, social workers and churches.
Friday, July 15, 2016
From 1616 to 2016: A Comfortable Blending of Bible and Oppression.
In 1996, Jack White of TIME magazine, wrote: "We are on the brink of something really disastrous, maybe on the brink of a total racial breakdown that leads not to violence but to the inability of people to function together and move forward."
It is now 20 years later---2016. Have things gone from bad to worse? Is our current racial crisis creating both increasing racial violence and an inability of people to function together and move forward?
By 1630, the Puritans were coming to New England in large numbers. In an article in The New England Quarterly, March 1975, titled "Puritans, Indians, and the Concept of Race," G.E. Thomas states: "The record of Puritan attitudes, goals, and behavior in every major interaction with Indians reveals a continued harshness, brutality and ethnocentric bias."
In 2016, the U.S. is a nation divided---deeply divided by white ethnocentrism and oppression. How far back in our history does this problem go? Way back to the early 1600s, to the godly Puritans. Along with their prized Bibles, the Puritans also brought a generous amount of British ethnocentrism and oppression which they quickly applied to the Native Americans. Fifty years earlier, the British perfected their ethnocentrism and oppression against the Irish.
This was an unusual blending of the Bible and ethnocentrism and oppression. Apparently, the Puritans never saw the deep contradictions inherent in this combination which was full of rationalizations and false ideology.
Americans seem to be doing much the same in today. Did you know the President Reagan began his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi where the three civil rights workers were killed? This was a not too subtle hint that a Reagan Administration would favor whites and keep blacks in their place. A few years after his presidential term began, Reagan was aggressively combining racial profiling and the War on Drugs. White American evangelicals voted for Reagan in large numbers.
In 2016, Trump is openly playing the race card. His opening emphasis attacked Mexican immigrants and said he would build a wall on the border to keep the riffraff out. Evangelicals are voting for Trump in large numbers.
Why are evangelicals voting for racists in large numbers? Primarily because they lack a biblical social ethic. They do not have and do not want a social ethic that is built around the biblical teaching on oppression and justice. They do not want to loose their white superiority and their white privilege. So they conveniently ignored the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and justice for the last 400 years.
Result: a nation divided by racial oppression in 2016.
Next blog on racial crisis: A Few Bad Cops or a Lot of Bad Whites
It is now 20 years later---2016. Have things gone from bad to worse? Is our current racial crisis creating both increasing racial violence and an inability of people to function together and move forward?
By 1630, the Puritans were coming to New England in large numbers. In an article in The New England Quarterly, March 1975, titled "Puritans, Indians, and the Concept of Race," G.E. Thomas states: "The record of Puritan attitudes, goals, and behavior in every major interaction with Indians reveals a continued harshness, brutality and ethnocentric bias."
In 2016, the U.S. is a nation divided---deeply divided by white ethnocentrism and oppression. How far back in our history does this problem go? Way back to the early 1600s, to the godly Puritans. Along with their prized Bibles, the Puritans also brought a generous amount of British ethnocentrism and oppression which they quickly applied to the Native Americans. Fifty years earlier, the British perfected their ethnocentrism and oppression against the Irish.
This was an unusual blending of the Bible and ethnocentrism and oppression. Apparently, the Puritans never saw the deep contradictions inherent in this combination which was full of rationalizations and false ideology.
Americans seem to be doing much the same in today. Did you know the President Reagan began his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi where the three civil rights workers were killed? This was a not too subtle hint that a Reagan Administration would favor whites and keep blacks in their place. A few years after his presidential term began, Reagan was aggressively combining racial profiling and the War on Drugs. White American evangelicals voted for Reagan in large numbers.
In 2016, Trump is openly playing the race card. His opening emphasis attacked Mexican immigrants and said he would build a wall on the border to keep the riffraff out. Evangelicals are voting for Trump in large numbers.
Why are evangelicals voting for racists in large numbers? Primarily because they lack a biblical social ethic. They do not have and do not want a social ethic that is built around the biblical teaching on oppression and justice. They do not want to loose their white superiority and their white privilege. So they conveniently ignored the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and justice for the last 400 years.
Result: a nation divided by racial oppression in 2016.
Next blog on racial crisis: A Few Bad Cops or a Lot of Bad Whites
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Community Policing and Community Development
Community policing is far superior to militarized policing. But don't expect miracles from community policing. I noted that the Dallas mayor and the Dallas police chief worked closely together on community policing with very positive results. But the mayor also should be aggressively pushing the churches to do community development on a massive scale. The church choirs presented beautiful music for the service honoring the fallen officers, but are these same churches heavily involved in community development?
President Obama: "We ask too much of our police; we ask too little of ourselves."
Pope Francis to his priests and people: "Leave the security of the sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets."
Jesus, the Messiah: "Set your minds on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else." (NEB)
Most white American churches need to be reinvented in order to be holistically biblical. Doing love and justice in your community is just as spiritual as praise and worship. Praise and worship without justice is nauseating to God. Read Isaiah 58 and Amos 5:20-24. The church needs to combine praise, preaching and worship with giving to the poor and releasing the oppressed.
Two Sundays a month a church should hold traditional praise and worship services.
Two Sundays a months a church should do a love and justice social outreach.
A possible example: support your local Habitat for Humanity both financially and with volunteers. A question: Is working all day on the Sabbath day on a Habitat house for the poor a violation of the Sabbath or a fulfillment of the Sabbath Year principles?
Other possible organizations your church might want to partner with: CCDA which specializes in rebuilding poor communities, Teen Challenge which specializes in healing drug addicts, Salvation Army, World Vision, USA which rebuilds poor communities, a local credit union which could help with financial literacy and low interest loans; for those churches that want a foreign mission outreach that rebuilds poor communities, try the Haiti Christian Development Fund.
Recommended reading:
Charles Blow, "Blood on your hands, too."
Nicholas Kristof, "When Whites Just Don't Get it, part 6."
Next blog on our racial crisis is : "1616 to 2016: A Comfortable Blending of Bible and Oppression."
President Obama: "We ask too much of our police; we ask too little of ourselves."
Pope Francis to his priests and people: "Leave the security of the sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets."
Jesus, the Messiah: "Set your minds on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else." (NEB)
Most white American churches need to be reinvented in order to be holistically biblical. Doing love and justice in your community is just as spiritual as praise and worship. Praise and worship without justice is nauseating to God. Read Isaiah 58 and Amos 5:20-24. The church needs to combine praise, preaching and worship with giving to the poor and releasing the oppressed.
Two Sundays a month a church should hold traditional praise and worship services.
Two Sundays a months a church should do a love and justice social outreach.
A possible example: support your local Habitat for Humanity both financially and with volunteers. A question: Is working all day on the Sabbath day on a Habitat house for the poor a violation of the Sabbath or a fulfillment of the Sabbath Year principles?
Other possible organizations your church might want to partner with: CCDA which specializes in rebuilding poor communities, Teen Challenge which specializes in healing drug addicts, Salvation Army, World Vision, USA which rebuilds poor communities, a local credit union which could help with financial literacy and low interest loans; for those churches that want a foreign mission outreach that rebuilds poor communities, try the Haiti Christian Development Fund.
Recommended reading:
Charles Blow, "Blood on your hands, too."
Nicholas Kristof, "When Whites Just Don't Get it, part 6."
Next blog on our racial crisis is : "1616 to 2016: A Comfortable Blending of Bible and Oppression."
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
The Racial Crises of 1968 and 2016
I just finished listening to President Obama's excellent speech in Dallas honoring fallen police officers; the speech was both inspiring and realistic. Read The New Jim Crow for greater depth on racial profiling and mass incarceration.
In my opinion, one of Obama's most important sentences was this: "We ask too much of the police; we ask to little of ourselves." Interpreted: In addition to law enforcement, we expect the police and the whole criminal justice system to be social workers. In addition to dealing with criminals, we expect the police to handle the homeless, the drug addict, the mentally ill. The rest of society, you and I, cop out.
Our churches should step up and triple our support of Habitat for Humanity to build homes for the poor.
Our churches should step up and triple our support of CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) as it rebuilds poor communities.
The health care professionals and social workers should expand drug addiction programs. We should cut our military budget in half; then use the billions saved to fund housing, health and mental health programs. If you don't like government programs, then get heavily involved in church-sponsored programs such as Teen Challenge. Learn to live simply so you can give generously.
President Johnson created the Kerner Commission to study the 1967 race riots---what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent a repeat, again and again. The Kerner Commission did a great job, but LBJ rejected the report. Why? No federal monies were available; they were all tied up in the Viet Nam war. How stupid can we get?
One thing was missing from Obama's speech---a direct call for America, and especially the white church, to repent of the 400 endless years of white ethnocentrism and white oppression. Without full repentance, calls for unity and reconciliation are shallow and superficial.
On the surface, a person could draw the conclusion that the issues of 1968 and 2016 are quite different. 1968 faced the lack of civil rights, legal segregation, Jim Crow, etc. 2016 is facing mass incarceration, racial profiling and the racial wealth gap. But, in my opinion, the underlying causes remain the same.
To refresh my mind, I googled the 1968 Kerner Commission Report (The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorder). The fundamental cause: "white institutions created it [the racial ghetto], white institutions maintain it, white society condones it." This creates a separate and unequal society.
Among the social institutions that created, maintains and condones systems of oppression such as mass incarceration is the white American church. The white church maintained white superiority and privilege; it did not repent and then do justice. By and large, over the past 50 years, the white church still hasn't repented, still hasn't done Jubilee justice.
A sobering historical example: The same religious abolitionists who fought so hard to end slavery also wanted the freed black slaves to remain in the South. They did not want large numbers of freed slaves flooding North to become their next-door neighbors. Most abolitionists still believed blacks were inferior as did Lincoln.
The Kerner Commission picks on the media: "The press has too long basked in a white world, looking out of it, if at all, with white nam's eyes and white perspective." I am afraid this statement applies to much of the American church as well.
In 1998, Senator Fred Harris revisited the Kerner Commission Report; He concluded: "Today, thirty years after the Kerner Report, there is more poverty in America, it is deep, blacker and browner than before, and it is more concentrated [segregated] in the cities." Any solution will have to be "compassionate, massive and sustained. It will require new attitudes, new understanding, new will." In other words, repentance, love and justice.
The white institutions that created, maintain and condone the racial ghetto---racism, poverty and oppression---include Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, Wall Street, the white church, to name a few. To my knowledge, none of these institutions have admitted their guilt and taken steps to change. Instead they have developed clever ideologies to rationalize away their responsibilities.
None of the Republican candidates for president in 2016 quoted and embraced the Kerner Report. Neither did any of the Democratic candidates. President Obama implied white responsibility, hinted at it, in his Dallas speech. But at a time when citizens and police are dying, he needed to be more blunt and specific. The white church needs to step up and lead national repentance--- a repentance that leads to restitution, release of the oppressed, and repair---Jubilee justice.
My next blog on the topic is titled "Community Policing and Community Development."
In my opinion, one of Obama's most important sentences was this: "We ask too much of the police; we ask to little of ourselves." Interpreted: In addition to law enforcement, we expect the police and the whole criminal justice system to be social workers. In addition to dealing with criminals, we expect the police to handle the homeless, the drug addict, the mentally ill. The rest of society, you and I, cop out.
Our churches should step up and triple our support of Habitat for Humanity to build homes for the poor.
Our churches should step up and triple our support of CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) as it rebuilds poor communities.
The health care professionals and social workers should expand drug addiction programs. We should cut our military budget in half; then use the billions saved to fund housing, health and mental health programs. If you don't like government programs, then get heavily involved in church-sponsored programs such as Teen Challenge. Learn to live simply so you can give generously.
President Johnson created the Kerner Commission to study the 1967 race riots---what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent a repeat, again and again. The Kerner Commission did a great job, but LBJ rejected the report. Why? No federal monies were available; they were all tied up in the Viet Nam war. How stupid can we get?
One thing was missing from Obama's speech---a direct call for America, and especially the white church, to repent of the 400 endless years of white ethnocentrism and white oppression. Without full repentance, calls for unity and reconciliation are shallow and superficial.
On the surface, a person could draw the conclusion that the issues of 1968 and 2016 are quite different. 1968 faced the lack of civil rights, legal segregation, Jim Crow, etc. 2016 is facing mass incarceration, racial profiling and the racial wealth gap. But, in my opinion, the underlying causes remain the same.
To refresh my mind, I googled the 1968 Kerner Commission Report (The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorder). The fundamental cause: "white institutions created it [the racial ghetto], white institutions maintain it, white society condones it." This creates a separate and unequal society.
Among the social institutions that created, maintains and condones systems of oppression such as mass incarceration is the white American church. The white church maintained white superiority and privilege; it did not repent and then do justice. By and large, over the past 50 years, the white church still hasn't repented, still hasn't done Jubilee justice.
A sobering historical example: The same religious abolitionists who fought so hard to end slavery also wanted the freed black slaves to remain in the South. They did not want large numbers of freed slaves flooding North to become their next-door neighbors. Most abolitionists still believed blacks were inferior as did Lincoln.
The Kerner Commission picks on the media: "The press has too long basked in a white world, looking out of it, if at all, with white nam's eyes and white perspective." I am afraid this statement applies to much of the American church as well.
In 1998, Senator Fred Harris revisited the Kerner Commission Report; He concluded: "Today, thirty years after the Kerner Report, there is more poverty in America, it is deep, blacker and browner than before, and it is more concentrated [segregated] in the cities." Any solution will have to be "compassionate, massive and sustained. It will require new attitudes, new understanding, new will." In other words, repentance, love and justice.
The white institutions that created, maintain and condone the racial ghetto---racism, poverty and oppression---include Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, Wall Street, the white church, to name a few. To my knowledge, none of these institutions have admitted their guilt and taken steps to change. Instead they have developed clever ideologies to rationalize away their responsibilities.
None of the Republican candidates for president in 2016 quoted and embraced the Kerner Report. Neither did any of the Democratic candidates. President Obama implied white responsibility, hinted at it, in his Dallas speech. But at a time when citizens and police are dying, he needed to be more blunt and specific. The white church needs to step up and lead national repentance--- a repentance that leads to restitution, release of the oppressed, and repair---Jubilee justice.
My next blog on the topic is titled "Community Policing and Community Development."
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Police Violence, Racial Profiling, Supreme Court Approval, and White Church AWOL
POLICE VIOLENCE, RACIAL PROFILING, SUPREME COURT APPROVAL, AND WHITE CHURCH AWOL
LOWELL NOBLE, JULY 11, 2016
If you have not yet read Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow which is about the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Latino males, now is the time to read this masterpiece. If you have read it, read it again. Her thesis: In America we really don't end systems of oppression such as slavery and segregation; we merely redesign them.
President Obama and Hillary Clinton are calling for empathy, conversation and respect, all good and necessary, but these are not anywhere good enough to solve our race relations crisis; we need more, much more. Our divided nation demands massive white confession, conversion, repentance for 400 long years of white ethnocentrism and oppression, white superiority and privilege.
To be more specific, repentance about: Indian genocide and land theft, African enslavement, segregation, sharecropping, prison work gangs, lynchings, mass incarceration, racial wealth gap, theft of nearly half of Mexico's land, internment of Japanese Americans, death of a million Filipinos, to name a few of our many national sins.
If there is to be any validity whatsoever of our claim to be a Christian nation, we as a nation must biblically repent. Biblical repentance includes prayers of confession (Daniel 9), repentance and restitution (Nehemiah 5, Luke 19), and repair, i.e., justice, making things right (Amos 5:24).
Recently the New York police chief publicly acknowledged that throughout American history far too often the whole criminal justice system, including the police, have engaged in racial profiling, violence and the unjust imprisonment of many blacks.
Recently the Milwaukee police chief stated that the public sector fails to adequately address and fund social programs for the mentally ill and homeless. Result: far too often they end up in the criminal justice system which is ill-equipped to handle such social problems.
Conclusion: much of the American public wants racial profiling and police violence; they elect public officials who implement such policies. And much of the white American church is silent about or tolerates racial profiling and police violence.
Example: the War on Drugs begun in 1982. Passed by Congress and president Reagan---our elected officials. Approved by the Supreme Court. Aggressively tied to racial profiling by President Reagan.
Result: nearly 30 years of unjust mass incarceration. We, the white public wanted it this way. We, the white church did little to stop it.
Violence begets violence. Violence and oppression are as American as apple pie; racial profiling is American as apple pie.
Here are some quotations from Michelle Alexander, America's top expert on these issues:
"President Ronald Reagan officially announced the current drug war in 1982, before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods. . . . The Reagan administration hired staff to publicize the emergence of crack cocaine in 1985 as part of a strategic effort to build public and legislative support for the war. . . . The media bonanza surrounding the new demon drug helped to catapult the War on Drugs from an ambitious federal policy to an actual war."
"Today, the most common use of SWAT teams is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the [black] home." From community policing to military policing.
"As if the free military equipment, training, and cash grants were not enough, the Reagan administration provided law enforcement with yet another financial incentive to devote extraordinary resources to drug law enforcement. . . . allowed to keep the vast majority of cash and assets they seize when waging the drug war. . . . an enormous stake in the War on Drugs---not in its success, but in its perpetual existence. Law enforcement gained a pecuniary interest not only in the forfeited property, but in the profitability of the drug market itself."
How did the Supreme Court become involved?
"The parallels between mass incarceration and Jim Crow extend all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Over the years, the Supreme Court has followed a fairly consistent pattern in responding to racial caste systems, first protecting them and then, after dramatic shifts in the political and social patterns, dismantling these systems of control and some of their vestiges. In Dred Scott v. Sanford, the Supreme Court immunized the institution of slavery from legal challenge on the grounds that African Americans were not citizens, and in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court established the doctrine of 'separate but equal'---a legal fiction that protected the Jim Crow system from judicial scrutiny for racial bias.
"In McCleskey, the Supreme Court demonstrated that it is once again in the protection mode---firmly committed to the prevailing system of control [The War on Drugs cannot be challenged on the basis of racial profiling]. . . . The new racial caste system [mass incarceration] operates unimpeded by the Fourteenth Amendment and federal civil rights legislation---laws designed to topple earlier systems of control."
Clinton is calling for listening and dialogue. Good, but not good enough. We need action, not just talk. Whites need to repent and then engage in restitution Whites need to end all of the War on Drugs, including all forms of federal funding. This would end much of the racial profiling.
Will the white church lead the way?
If so, will we follow the advice of Afro Americans, Barbara Skinner and Martin Luther King? Skinner, an expert in racial reconciliation, writes about four barriers: 1) "Although there is much talk about diversity, multiculturalism and racial reconciliation, actual understanding between the races is at an all-time low [written in 1996]; 2) Racial reconciliation sounds a lot like the failed integration of the 1960s; 3) Blacks fear losing the last truly African-American institution---their churches; 4) There is as much racial separation inside as outside the church."
Here is King's analysis:
"For years, I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions of the South, a little change here, a little change there. Now I feel quite differently. I think you've got to have a reconstruction of the entire society, a revolution of values." This should include a guaranteed income for poor Americans and an end to slums. From Let the Trumpet Sound.
Jesus, as he began his ministry, declared, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is here." He also said, "Seek first God's kingdom and his justice" (NEB) Paraphrased: "Repent, love your neighbor and do justice; Jubilee justice, kingdom justice, justice that releases the oppressed."
"prove your repentance by the fruit it bears." Luke 3:8
"prove their repentance by their deeds." Acts 28:21
"see your good deeds." Matthew 5:16
"created in Christ Jesus to do good works." Ephesians 2:10
"faith without deeds is dead." James 2:26
"love . . . with actions." I John 3:18
In closing, another quotation from MLK:
"I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today---my own government." While specifically referring to the Viet Nam War, King's statement also applies to Indian genocide, African enslavement and a host of other national sins.
My next blog on the topic is titled "The Racial Crises of 1968 and 2016."
Friday, July 8, 2016
The American Genius: Masters of Half-Truths
Americans are geniuses at presenting half truths as the whole truth. Case in point: Thomas Jefferson
He wrote that all men are created equal but not that all persons must be treated equal. Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves. Guess this makes him a hypocrite.
America just celebrated the 4th---lots of freedom talk, but little justice walk. Americans are more apt to combine freedom, patriotism and oppression than freedom and justice.
What does the Bible say? All human beings are created in the image of God. Therefore ALL persons should be treated with love, respect, and justice. In God's eyes, there are no second-class citizens. All persons are created equal, to be treated equal, to be loved equally, and experience justice equally.
Elie Wiesel---holocaust survivor. "Neutrality aids the oppressor, never the oppressed." Neutrality, silence, inaction allows the oppressive status quo to continue, white privilege to continue.
The concept of oppression in Luke 4:18 has been translated in the following ways: broken victims, bruised, crushed, treated unfairly, down-trodden.
The following quotations are from Nicholas Wolterstorff: "The wounds of God: Calvin's theology of social injustice," Reformed Journal, June 1987:
". . . the modern world is . . . pervaded by social injustice and thick with social misery. . . . Calvin's theology of the tears of the social victim. . . . help us to hear the cries of the victims.
"To inflict injury on a fellow human being is to wound God himself; it is to cause God himself to suffer. Behind and beneath the social misery of our world is the suffering of God. If we believed that, suggest Calvin, we would be much more reluctant than we are to participate in the victimizing of the poor and oppressed. . . . To pursue justice is to relieve God's suffering."
"The cries of the victims are the very cry of God."
"To see another human being is to see another creature who delights God by mirroring God and who in mirroring God mirrors me."
"Though a person's mirroring of God can be painfully distorted and blurred and diminished, it cannot be eliminated. . . . Calvin grounds the claim of love and justice in this phenomenon of our mirroring God. Moral reflection can begin either from responsibility or from rights---from the responsibility of the agent or from the claims of the Other. The degree to which Calvin begins from the claims of the Other is striking."
"For Calvin, the demands of love and justice . . . lie in the sorrow and in the joy of God. . . the pathos of God. If we believed that, . . . we would ceaselessly struggle for justice and against injustice, bearing with thankful, joyful patience the suffering which that struggle will bring upon us."
He wrote that all men are created equal but not that all persons must be treated equal. Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves. Guess this makes him a hypocrite.
America just celebrated the 4th---lots of freedom talk, but little justice walk. Americans are more apt to combine freedom, patriotism and oppression than freedom and justice.
What does the Bible say? All human beings are created in the image of God. Therefore ALL persons should be treated with love, respect, and justice. In God's eyes, there are no second-class citizens. All persons are created equal, to be treated equal, to be loved equally, and experience justice equally.
Elie Wiesel---holocaust survivor. "Neutrality aids the oppressor, never the oppressed." Neutrality, silence, inaction allows the oppressive status quo to continue, white privilege to continue.
The concept of oppression in Luke 4:18 has been translated in the following ways: broken victims, bruised, crushed, treated unfairly, down-trodden.
The following quotations are from Nicholas Wolterstorff: "The wounds of God: Calvin's theology of social injustice," Reformed Journal, June 1987:
". . . the modern world is . . . pervaded by social injustice and thick with social misery. . . . Calvin's theology of the tears of the social victim. . . . help us to hear the cries of the victims.
"To inflict injury on a fellow human being is to wound God himself; it is to cause God himself to suffer. Behind and beneath the social misery of our world is the suffering of God. If we believed that, suggest Calvin, we would be much more reluctant than we are to participate in the victimizing of the poor and oppressed. . . . To pursue justice is to relieve God's suffering."
"The cries of the victims are the very cry of God."
"To see another human being is to see another creature who delights God by mirroring God and who in mirroring God mirrors me."
"Though a person's mirroring of God can be painfully distorted and blurred and diminished, it cannot be eliminated. . . . Calvin grounds the claim of love and justice in this phenomenon of our mirroring God. Moral reflection can begin either from responsibility or from rights---from the responsibility of the agent or from the claims of the Other. The degree to which Calvin begins from the claims of the Other is striking."
"For Calvin, the demands of love and justice . . . lie in the sorrow and in the joy of God. . . the pathos of God. If we believed that, . . . we would ceaselessly struggle for justice and against injustice, bearing with thankful, joyful patience the suffering which that struggle will bring upon us."
Covenant Economics: A Biblical Vision of Justice for All
Covenant economics, Jubilee justice economics, Kingdom economics, community/kiononia economics; there are viable alternative to corporate capitalism which usually puts corporation profits ahead of worker and the community welfare.
Biblically, justice is a spiritual/social/economic concept. Justice is a part of God's character; God is just and he loves justice that is operationalized here on earth.
John Perkins asserts that justice is an economic/ownership/stewardship issue; justice has to do with equal access to the resources of God's creation. If one puts oppression, justice and shalom on a continuum with oppression at one end and shalom at the opposite end, then justice should be placed in the middle of the continuum.
Oppression may be the worst word in human language; shalom may be the most beautiful. For the oppressed, oppression is 'hell on earth.' Shalom, by contrast, is 'heaven on earth.'
Biblical justice, Jubilee justice, not only liberates the oppressed; it also provides equal access to the resources of God's creation. Jubilee justice cancels debt every seven years; frees slaves every seven years. It also returns land to each family so each family can be self-sufficient.
The genius of Covenant Economics is that it spells all this out in great detail. Horsley reveals the uniqueness of OT covenant economics and contrasts it with more oppressive economic systems both within Israel and in surrounding countries.
The strength of his book is how he shows covenant economics is central to Jesus' understanding of justice. Though the Jews never lost sight of the ideal of covenant economics, they seldom practiced it consistently; but check out Nehemiah five. But Jesus could appeal to their understanding of Jubilee justice as he presented the kingdom of God.
From time to time, Horsley makes penetrating critiques and applications to modern America. He claims that our founders understood covenant economics, but seldom lived them out. Instead they practiced Indian genocide and African enslavement.
But we could and should return to covenant economics in the U.S.; it could replace most of corporate capitalism.
Biblically, justice is a spiritual/social/economic concept. Justice is a part of God's character; God is just and he loves justice that is operationalized here on earth.
John Perkins asserts that justice is an economic/ownership/stewardship issue; justice has to do with equal access to the resources of God's creation. If one puts oppression, justice and shalom on a continuum with oppression at one end and shalom at the opposite end, then justice should be placed in the middle of the continuum.
Oppression may be the worst word in human language; shalom may be the most beautiful. For the oppressed, oppression is 'hell on earth.' Shalom, by contrast, is 'heaven on earth.'
Biblical justice, Jubilee justice, not only liberates the oppressed; it also provides equal access to the resources of God's creation. Jubilee justice cancels debt every seven years; frees slaves every seven years. It also returns land to each family so each family can be self-sufficient.
The genius of Covenant Economics is that it spells all this out in great detail. Horsley reveals the uniqueness of OT covenant economics and contrasts it with more oppressive economic systems both within Israel and in surrounding countries.
The strength of his book is how he shows covenant economics is central to Jesus' understanding of justice. Though the Jews never lost sight of the ideal of covenant economics, they seldom practiced it consistently; but check out Nehemiah five. But Jesus could appeal to their understanding of Jubilee justice as he presented the kingdom of God.
From time to time, Horsley makes penetrating critiques and applications to modern America. He claims that our founders understood covenant economics, but seldom lived them out. Instead they practiced Indian genocide and African enslavement.
But we could and should return to covenant economics in the U.S.; it could replace most of corporate capitalism.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Diverse Reflections on the Kingdom of God
The following blog is about perspectives on the kingdom of God based on writings by Marcus Borg, Tom Skinner, John Bright, Andrew Kirk, Howard Snyder and Graham Cray.
According to Marcus Borg (Christian Century, "Jesus and the Kingdom of God," April 22, 1987), who surveyed the scholarly literature written on the kingdom of God during the twentieth century, most of the writings had a strong future orientation, an eschatological dimension. Toward the end of the 20th century, a present dimension began to dominate the literature. Borg's conclusion: the church still does not have a "clear and compelling" vision of the kingdom of God. My informal survey of hundreds of laypersons revealed lack of clarity and an uncertainty on the nature of the kingdom of God.
John Perkins sat in on a CCD workshop with a group of pastors. I asked each pastor to write down a one sentence definition of the kingdom of God. Then each pastor read their definition out loud; the definitions were shallow. John commented later that it seemed that it was the first time they had given serious thought to the issue.
Tom Skinner, an Afro American, now deceased, is one of a few evangelicals who for many years has strongly emphasized a present and social dimension to the kingdom of God; he constantly tied the kingdom to the oppressed poor.
John Bright (1953) wrote a classic book on The Kingdom of God; he states:
* The total message of the Bible is encompassed under the concept of the kingdom of God.
* There is a continuity in emphasis on the kingdom in both Testaments.
* Jesus never defined the kingdom of God; he assumed his hearers understood the concept.
* "It involves the whole notion of the rule of God over his people, and particularly the vindication of that rule and people in glory at the end of history. That was the Kingdom which Jews awaited."
* "Before the hope of a messianic kingdom, there had to be the kingdom of Israel."
* Under King David, "The people of Yahweh had become the Kingdom of Israel, the citizens of the Davidic state. The state had produced Israel's Golden Age. It would become impossible for a man of Judah to think of the coming Messiah save as a new David." Hence the importance of Isaiah's Messianic passages: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4.
* "The people were all too prone to identify God's Kingdom with themselves [ethnocentrically] [a mistake the Puritans also made], and to imagine that the foreign nations [Gentiles] . . . existed for the purposes of judgment only. . . . God intends to rule over the whole earth, and foreigners are invited to accept that rule (45:22-3; 49:6)."
* The gospel of the Kingdom is for all nations. "It lies at the very heart of the gospel message."
Noble's summary evaluation: Bright is very strong on the overall importance of the kingdom and the continuity between the OT and the NT. But Bright is weak on the relationship of the kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit. He is also weak on the crucial role of justice in the kingdom; and he says little about the oppressed poor as central to kingdom ministry.
Andrew Kirk has written a book on the kingdom of God titled The Good News of the Coming Kingdom: The Marriage of Evangelism and Social Responsibility, 1983
* Evangelicals who only believe in evangelism but not social justice are blind to the fact that they have no theology of society to guide them; therefore they have been easily seduced by secular Western Enlightenment values such "free enterprise, pragmatism, success and organizational efficiency." Noble: I would rephrase this secular seduction as the American trinity of hyperindividualism, hypermaterialism and hyperethnocentrism.
* Therefore, we need to rediscover the biblical teaching on the kingdom God. Not an easy task because so many are loosely attaching almost any and every idea to the kingdom concept.
* "God's reign has to do with the specific way a society should operate. . . . to uphold justice and equity, to judge in favor of the oppressed, to give food to the hungry, to set prisoners free, to protect strangers and to help widows and orphans."
* "the establishing of a new kind of community based on open and generous sharing in line with such legislation as that for the sabbatical and jubilee years." Lev. 25; Deut. 15
* In the NT "Jesus' ministry took place against a background of intense nationalism [ethnocentrism]. He was aware of the danger that the God of the universe could converted into nothing more than a local tribal deity." The Jew's own private God; see Luke 4:25-30.
* Kirk engages in a comprehensive analysis of economics in terms of wealth and poverty both biblically and currently. He calls the church to deal with root causes of social evil and not be content with only charity responses.
Howard Snyder (A Kingdom Manifesto, 1985) is one of two scholars that I know of who has tied the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God, and justice together in one holistic package. Earlier, he wrote two fine books on the church: The Problem of Wineskins and The Community of the King. Snyder states: "Many people who have been converted to Jesus seemingly have never been converted to the kingdom he proclaimed."
Snyder, in a paraphrase of Acts 1:6-8 closely tied the Spirit and the kingdom together: "His disciples ask, 'Are you finally going to set up your kingdom?' Jesus replies, 'The time for the full flowering of the new order still remains a mystery to you; it's in God's hands. But . . . the Holy Spirit will give you power to live the kingdom NOW. So you are to be witnesses of the kingdom and its power from here to the very ends of the earth." Unfortunately this important theme is not fully developed in the rest of his otherwise fine book.
Snyder: "The Bible is full of teaching on the kingdom of God, and the church has largely missed it."
Snyder devotes seven chapters to seven themes or concepts which he believes illuminate the essence of the kingdom of God: "peace [shalom], land, house, city, justice, Sabbath and Jubilee."
Snyder: "Jesus does not seem to have been inaugurating a Jubilee year. Rather he was announcing the Jubilee age---the very kingdom of God."
Snyder: Even though God can and does do some of the work of the kingdom "outside and beyond the church; the church is the primary point of entry of the new order of the kingdom into present history."
Noble: We are called to be the church and do the kingdom.
Pope Francis to priests and people: "Leave the security of the sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets."
Graham Cray, author of "A Theology of the Kingdom," Transformation, Oct/Dec., 1988, is an English pastor. Cray states that most evangelicals understand the kingdom of God primarily in a personal, spiritual sense---"the present inner rule of God in the heart," or in a futuristic sense. For Cray "the agenda of the kingdom is justice, and the dynamic of the kingdom is the Holy Spirit."
Noble's paraphrase of Acts 1:6-8 in the light of Isaiah 9:7; mLuke 4:18-19; Roman 14:17 and Acts 8:12 and 28:23, 31:
"The disciples ask the One who had been incessantly talking about the kingdom of God, "Is this the time that you are going to establish the Jewish kingdom modeled after David's kingdom? Is NOW the time?" Jesus replied, "A good question, but there are some things only God knows. Here is what you really need to know. I have been talking to you about both the kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit. Now is the time for you to be filled with the person and power of the Holy Spirit so that you can proclaim me both as the resurrected Savior and Messianic king of the kingdom of God. You begin by witnessing to your fellow Jews, but my gospel is for all peoples, all nations, even Samaritans and Gentiles.
Remember then, that your ministry is two-pronged: preach me as Savior and prove this by appealing to the law of Moses and the prophets. Also preach and practice my kingdom which is justice, shalom and joy in the Holy Spirit. The poor and oppressed will rejoice when they hear both biblical messages."
For the kingdom to come, you will have to repent. Change your allegiance from the cosmos Jewish social order, the cosmos Greek social order, the cosmos Roman social order, the American cosmos social order. The NT contrasts the cosmos and the kingdom.
In its good sense, the cosmos is the world, the universe, created by God. But sin invaded the cosmos; therefore,in the NT the cosmos is often used in a negative sense---as fallen or evil social order, as Satan's kingdom here on earth (Luke 4:5-6). The cosmos includes negative social values such as ethnocentrism and oppressive social institutions.
Marriage and family are ordained by God; in all societies, marriage and family are the norm even though often battered by spouse abuse, adultery, divorce, abortion and homosexuality.
According to Stephen Mott, cosmos "refers to the order of society and indicates that evil has a social and political character beyond isolated actions of individuals."
Cosmos which fundamentally means order, was commonly used by Greeks to refer to the social order; for example, the city-state or the universe. They prized this sense of order and saw it as necessary to avoid anarchy or chaos.
While there is much truth in the Greek perspective, the NT present a different perspective:
"Whereas for classical Greece, cosmos protected values and life, now in the New Testament, cosmos represents twisted values which threatened genuine human life. . . . Now the cosmos order is the intruder bearing immorality."
In other words, the cosmos is fallen. In the NT, the cosmos "is a system of values which are in opposition to God." The claim of "Christian nation"can be proven in terms of words, of ideology, but it is strongly contradicted by actions of ethnocentrism and oppression against Native Americans and Afro Americans. As Americans we have a fateful choice: repent and enter the kingdom of God or continue our syncretistic mixture of pseudo Christianity/civil religion/ American trinity.
According to Marcus Borg (Christian Century, "Jesus and the Kingdom of God," April 22, 1987), who surveyed the scholarly literature written on the kingdom of God during the twentieth century, most of the writings had a strong future orientation, an eschatological dimension. Toward the end of the 20th century, a present dimension began to dominate the literature. Borg's conclusion: the church still does not have a "clear and compelling" vision of the kingdom of God. My informal survey of hundreds of laypersons revealed lack of clarity and an uncertainty on the nature of the kingdom of God.
John Perkins sat in on a CCD workshop with a group of pastors. I asked each pastor to write down a one sentence definition of the kingdom of God. Then each pastor read their definition out loud; the definitions were shallow. John commented later that it seemed that it was the first time they had given serious thought to the issue.
Tom Skinner, an Afro American, now deceased, is one of a few evangelicals who for many years has strongly emphasized a present and social dimension to the kingdom of God; he constantly tied the kingdom to the oppressed poor.
John Bright (1953) wrote a classic book on The Kingdom of God; he states:
* The total message of the Bible is encompassed under the concept of the kingdom of God.
* There is a continuity in emphasis on the kingdom in both Testaments.
* Jesus never defined the kingdom of God; he assumed his hearers understood the concept.
* "It involves the whole notion of the rule of God over his people, and particularly the vindication of that rule and people in glory at the end of history. That was the Kingdom which Jews awaited."
* "Before the hope of a messianic kingdom, there had to be the kingdom of Israel."
* Under King David, "The people of Yahweh had become the Kingdom of Israel, the citizens of the Davidic state. The state had produced Israel's Golden Age. It would become impossible for a man of Judah to think of the coming Messiah save as a new David." Hence the importance of Isaiah's Messianic passages: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4.
* "The people were all too prone to identify God's Kingdom with themselves [ethnocentrically] [a mistake the Puritans also made], and to imagine that the foreign nations [Gentiles] . . . existed for the purposes of judgment only. . . . God intends to rule over the whole earth, and foreigners are invited to accept that rule (45:22-3; 49:6)."
* The gospel of the Kingdom is for all nations. "It lies at the very heart of the gospel message."
Noble's summary evaluation: Bright is very strong on the overall importance of the kingdom and the continuity between the OT and the NT. But Bright is weak on the relationship of the kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit. He is also weak on the crucial role of justice in the kingdom; and he says little about the oppressed poor as central to kingdom ministry.
Andrew Kirk has written a book on the kingdom of God titled The Good News of the Coming Kingdom: The Marriage of Evangelism and Social Responsibility, 1983
* Evangelicals who only believe in evangelism but not social justice are blind to the fact that they have no theology of society to guide them; therefore they have been easily seduced by secular Western Enlightenment values such "free enterprise, pragmatism, success and organizational efficiency." Noble: I would rephrase this secular seduction as the American trinity of hyperindividualism, hypermaterialism and hyperethnocentrism.
* Therefore, we need to rediscover the biblical teaching on the kingdom God. Not an easy task because so many are loosely attaching almost any and every idea to the kingdom concept.
* "God's reign has to do with the specific way a society should operate. . . . to uphold justice and equity, to judge in favor of the oppressed, to give food to the hungry, to set prisoners free, to protect strangers and to help widows and orphans."
* "the establishing of a new kind of community based on open and generous sharing in line with such legislation as that for the sabbatical and jubilee years." Lev. 25; Deut. 15
* In the NT "Jesus' ministry took place against a background of intense nationalism [ethnocentrism]. He was aware of the danger that the God of the universe could converted into nothing more than a local tribal deity." The Jew's own private God; see Luke 4:25-30.
* Kirk engages in a comprehensive analysis of economics in terms of wealth and poverty both biblically and currently. He calls the church to deal with root causes of social evil and not be content with only charity responses.
Howard Snyder (A Kingdom Manifesto, 1985) is one of two scholars that I know of who has tied the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God, and justice together in one holistic package. Earlier, he wrote two fine books on the church: The Problem of Wineskins and The Community of the King. Snyder states: "Many people who have been converted to Jesus seemingly have never been converted to the kingdom he proclaimed."
Snyder, in a paraphrase of Acts 1:6-8 closely tied the Spirit and the kingdom together: "His disciples ask, 'Are you finally going to set up your kingdom?' Jesus replies, 'The time for the full flowering of the new order still remains a mystery to you; it's in God's hands. But . . . the Holy Spirit will give you power to live the kingdom NOW. So you are to be witnesses of the kingdom and its power from here to the very ends of the earth." Unfortunately this important theme is not fully developed in the rest of his otherwise fine book.
Snyder: "The Bible is full of teaching on the kingdom of God, and the church has largely missed it."
Snyder devotes seven chapters to seven themes or concepts which he believes illuminate the essence of the kingdom of God: "peace [shalom], land, house, city, justice, Sabbath and Jubilee."
Snyder: "Jesus does not seem to have been inaugurating a Jubilee year. Rather he was announcing the Jubilee age---the very kingdom of God."
Snyder: Even though God can and does do some of the work of the kingdom "outside and beyond the church; the church is the primary point of entry of the new order of the kingdom into present history."
Noble: We are called to be the church and do the kingdom.
Pope Francis to priests and people: "Leave the security of the sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets."
Graham Cray, author of "A Theology of the Kingdom," Transformation, Oct/Dec., 1988, is an English pastor. Cray states that most evangelicals understand the kingdom of God primarily in a personal, spiritual sense---"the present inner rule of God in the heart," or in a futuristic sense. For Cray "the agenda of the kingdom is justice, and the dynamic of the kingdom is the Holy Spirit."
Noble's paraphrase of Acts 1:6-8 in the light of Isaiah 9:7; mLuke 4:18-19; Roman 14:17 and Acts 8:12 and 28:23, 31:
"The disciples ask the One who had been incessantly talking about the kingdom of God, "Is this the time that you are going to establish the Jewish kingdom modeled after David's kingdom? Is NOW the time?" Jesus replied, "A good question, but there are some things only God knows. Here is what you really need to know. I have been talking to you about both the kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit. Now is the time for you to be filled with the person and power of the Holy Spirit so that you can proclaim me both as the resurrected Savior and Messianic king of the kingdom of God. You begin by witnessing to your fellow Jews, but my gospel is for all peoples, all nations, even Samaritans and Gentiles.
Remember then, that your ministry is two-pronged: preach me as Savior and prove this by appealing to the law of Moses and the prophets. Also preach and practice my kingdom which is justice, shalom and joy in the Holy Spirit. The poor and oppressed will rejoice when they hear both biblical messages."
For the kingdom to come, you will have to repent. Change your allegiance from the cosmos Jewish social order, the cosmos Greek social order, the cosmos Roman social order, the American cosmos social order. The NT contrasts the cosmos and the kingdom.
In its good sense, the cosmos is the world, the universe, created by God. But sin invaded the cosmos; therefore,in the NT the cosmos is often used in a negative sense---as fallen or evil social order, as Satan's kingdom here on earth (Luke 4:5-6). The cosmos includes negative social values such as ethnocentrism and oppressive social institutions.
Marriage and family are ordained by God; in all societies, marriage and family are the norm even though often battered by spouse abuse, adultery, divorce, abortion and homosexuality.
According to Stephen Mott, cosmos "refers to the order of society and indicates that evil has a social and political character beyond isolated actions of individuals."
Cosmos which fundamentally means order, was commonly used by Greeks to refer to the social order; for example, the city-state or the universe. They prized this sense of order and saw it as necessary to avoid anarchy or chaos.
While there is much truth in the Greek perspective, the NT present a different perspective:
"Whereas for classical Greece, cosmos protected values and life, now in the New Testament, cosmos represents twisted values which threatened genuine human life. . . . Now the cosmos order is the intruder bearing immorality."
In other words, the cosmos is fallen. In the NT, the cosmos "is a system of values which are in opposition to God." The claim of "Christian nation"can be proven in terms of words, of ideology, but it is strongly contradicted by actions of ethnocentrism and oppression against Native Americans and Afro Americans. As Americans we have a fateful choice: repent and enter the kingdom of God or continue our syncretistic mixture of pseudo Christianity/civil religion/ American trinity.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
The American Rich: Blessed or ?????
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus scorches the rich with blistering condemnation, especially the religion-politico-economic elite who ran the Temple as a religiously legitimated system of oppression. "Woe to the rich" versus "good news to the poor" summarizes Jesus' perspective. See these Scriptures from Luke: 1:51; 3:7-14; 4:18-19; 6:24; 8:14; 12:13-21; 12:22-34; 16:13-31; 18:18-30; 19:1-10; 19:45-46.
While no Scripture is quoted by Kevin Phillips, his two books, The Politics of Rich and Poor (1990) and Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich (2002) expose and condemn the greed and corruption of most of the American rich. They are greedy and corrupt not only in economics but also in politics. The primary villain is corporate capitalism.
According to Phillips, Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower were all presidential prophets who warned about the excesses of corporate capitalism. Lincoln in 1864:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow . . . until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of the war."
This amazing statement reflects a more accurate judgment by Lincoln than his more famous "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Even our founding fathers were and represented a white, rich, male elite; for them, the poor didn't count, women didn't count; Native Americans and Afro Americans were second class citizens, if that.
Most readers will find Wealth and Democracy excellent but heavy reading. If you just read and reread the Preface, the Introduction, and the Afterword, you will understand the gist of the Book.
According to Phillips, though President Nixon disgraced himself through Watergate, he was more fair-minded to the masses than Presidents Reagan and Bush I:
"Nixon himself supported national health insurance, income maintenance for the poor, and higher taxation of unearned income than earned income. The 1972 Republican platform actually criticized multinational corporations for building plants overseas to take advantage of cheap labor."
Phillips began as a conservative Republican but he was profoundly disillusioned by the excesses of the Reagan era; so he left the Republican party in the 1990s and became an independent.
Some excerpts from Wealth and Democracy:
"The terrorist attack on New York City in September 2001 came only a year after serious candidates in America's millennial presidential election had described how money and wealth in the United States were crippling democracy. Politics, they had said, was being corrupted as the role of wealth grew. Other critics had found a reemergent plutocracy---defined as government by or in the interest of the rich---. . . . like that of the earlier Gilded Age.
"None of these circumstances were changed by the destruction of the World Trade Center. . . . The United States remained what comparisons had clearly shown: the most polarized and inequality-ridden of the major Western nations."
"The last two decades of the twentieth century, by contrast, echoed the zeniths of corruption and excess---the Gilded Age and the 1920s---when the rich slipped their usual political constraints."
Former senator Bill Bradley: "When politics becomes hostage to money, . . . people suffer."
Political scientist Samuel Huntington: "money becomes evil not when it is used to buy goods but when it is used to buy power . . . economic inequalities become [especially] evil when they are translated into political inequalities."
Historian Arthur Schlesinger Sr.: "America had become a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations."
While no Scripture is quoted by Kevin Phillips, his two books, The Politics of Rich and Poor (1990) and Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich (2002) expose and condemn the greed and corruption of most of the American rich. They are greedy and corrupt not only in economics but also in politics. The primary villain is corporate capitalism.
According to Phillips, Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower were all presidential prophets who warned about the excesses of corporate capitalism. Lincoln in 1864:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow . . . until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of the war."
This amazing statement reflects a more accurate judgment by Lincoln than his more famous "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Even our founding fathers were and represented a white, rich, male elite; for them, the poor didn't count, women didn't count; Native Americans and Afro Americans were second class citizens, if that.
Most readers will find Wealth and Democracy excellent but heavy reading. If you just read and reread the Preface, the Introduction, and the Afterword, you will understand the gist of the Book.
According to Phillips, though President Nixon disgraced himself through Watergate, he was more fair-minded to the masses than Presidents Reagan and Bush I:
"Nixon himself supported national health insurance, income maintenance for the poor, and higher taxation of unearned income than earned income. The 1972 Republican platform actually criticized multinational corporations for building plants overseas to take advantage of cheap labor."
Phillips began as a conservative Republican but he was profoundly disillusioned by the excesses of the Reagan era; so he left the Republican party in the 1990s and became an independent.
Some excerpts from Wealth and Democracy:
"The terrorist attack on New York City in September 2001 came only a year after serious candidates in America's millennial presidential election had described how money and wealth in the United States were crippling democracy. Politics, they had said, was being corrupted as the role of wealth grew. Other critics had found a reemergent plutocracy---defined as government by or in the interest of the rich---. . . . like that of the earlier Gilded Age.
"None of these circumstances were changed by the destruction of the World Trade Center. . . . The United States remained what comparisons had clearly shown: the most polarized and inequality-ridden of the major Western nations."
"The last two decades of the twentieth century, by contrast, echoed the zeniths of corruption and excess---the Gilded Age and the 1920s---when the rich slipped their usual political constraints."
Former senator Bill Bradley: "When politics becomes hostage to money, . . . people suffer."
Political scientist Samuel Huntington: "money becomes evil not when it is used to buy goods but when it is used to buy power . . . economic inequalities become [especially] evil when they are translated into political inequalities."
Historian Arthur Schlesinger Sr.: "America had become a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations."
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