Apparently someone made a mini-documentary of the Vampire Prom Julie and I attended back in November (a post-Twilight party hosted by the Alamo Drafthouse). We only appear very briefly in the background of some of the shots, but it's still worth checking out. :)

Labels: fun, personal

I was thrilled to read this comment from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her confirmation hearings:

As Secretary of State I view these issues (human trafficking) as central to our foreign policy, not as adjunct or auxiliary or in any way lesser from all of the other issues that we have to confront. I too have followed the stories: this is not culture, this is not custom, this is criminal … I’ve also read closely Nick Kristof’s articles over the last many months on the young women he’s both rescued from prostitution and met who have been enslaved, tortured in every way: physically, emotionally, morally and I take very seriously the function of the State Department to lead the U.S. Government through the Office on Human Trafficking to do all that we can to end this modern form of slavery. We have sex slavery. We have wage slavery and it is primarily a slavery of girls and women.

I hope she follows through on this pledge. I also hope she realizes the impact that our immigration policies and prostitution laws have on the inability of trafficked women to seek help. As Jim Wallis suggests, we need to criminalize buying sex while decriminalizing selling sex, so as to dry up the demand without punishing the victims. We also need to stop prosecuting women who have been trafficked into this country for being "illegal immigrants". (Actually, I think we need to get rid of the whole concept of "illegal" immigration altogether by opening our borders, but I've already written about that.)

Labels: politics, social justice

I've long had a list of links in my left side-bar of past posts of mine that I've especially liked or thought were representative of my thinking on various issues. My hope is that the list would serve as a resource for those who want to read a little bit more of my better stuff, as well as a quick-reference guide for those issues that seem to keep coming up again and again.

Anyhow, I just realized that I hadn't updated the list in nearly two years, so I've finally gone back and added a bunch of new posts to the list. You can find them any time in the sidebar, but here are the new ones I've recently added:

• The Relational Nature of Sin


• Caught In-Between


• Three Routes of Escape


• What If God Really Existed?


• A Tale of Two Churches


• Cautions for Emergents, Part 1


• Cautions for Emergents, Part 2


• We Were There First


• Take NAFTA for instance...


• Let Them Come


• A New Perspective on Jesus


• Was Jesus Political?


• Contextualization or Isolation: Then and Now


• A Tale of Two Movements


• Abortion: Talking Past Each Other


• Epistemology or Ethics


• Why Faith?


• A Failure of Compassion


• Parables Aren't Always About God


• Do You Have a Soul?


• Is it all just trivial?


• What about the Disturbing Parts of the Bible?


• Into the Woods


• American Exceptionalism or Imperialism?


• Why Believe In God?


• Owning "Emergent"

This should be fun. PolitiFact.com has an Obameter, where they will keep track of how many of Obama's over 500 campaign promises he has kept, which he hasn't, and which are still in the works. Of course, this is politics, which requires that compromises be made, so naturally I don't expect that he will be able to keep all of them. And I'm sure that his political foes will use a site like this to attack him for the ones that he's failed to fulfill. However, I think it will be a good way to simply keep track of what he is accomplishing, to see that real change is actually happening. (For instance, after being President for less than a week, Obama has already made good on 5 of his promises and is currently working on 14 more.)

I heard about this on CNN, and they pointed out that Obama actually has a lot more promises to fulfill than Bush or Clinton before him ever did. In fact, Obama made more than twice as many campaign promises than either of his two predecessors, which I think goes to show that those who claimed he was all style and no substance weren't really paying attention. Nonetheless, that's a lot to live up to. Of course, I've already heard conservatives remarking that they hope (for the good of the country) that he doesn't actually fulfill his promises (since they obviously don't like his positions). Of course, since, generally speaking, I no longer share their particular political bent, I do hope that Obama fulfills many of his promises (though of course there are those that I dislike as well.) At any rate, I'm glad there's a website out there that will help all of us keep track of what our elected officials are in fact doing on our behalf.

Labels: Obama, politics

There were just so many inspirational lines in Obama's speech today, and I'll probably want to comment on more of them eventually. However, I was especially excited about this one:

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

Amen!

Labels: Obama, social justice

And even more than all the reasons in my previous post, this letter from Obama to his two young daughters, Sasha and Malia, illustrates why having him as our President makes me hopeful. He reveals both the heart of a father as well as his conviction to make life better for those children less fortunate than his own. If that truly remains his primary motivation, he will do well as a President.

Here's just an excerpt:

[Your grandmother] helped me understand that America is great not because it is perfect but because it can always be made better-and that the unfinished work of perfecting our union falls to each of us. It's a charge we pass on to our children, coming closer with each new generation to what we know America should be.

I hope both of you will take up that work, righting the wrongs that you see and working to give others the chances you've had. Not just because you have an obligation to give something back to this country that has given our family so much-although you do have that obligation. But because you have an obligation to yourself. Because it is only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.

These are the things I want for you-to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world. And I want every child to have the same chances to learn and dream and grow and thrive that you girls have. That's why I've taken our family on this great adventure.

Read the full text here.

via Jesus Creed

Labels: Obama

I don't want to be naive about Obama and think that just because he's President suddenly everything will get better. Nor am I a political partisan to be overjoyed simply that we have a Democrat in the White House now. Not to mention that though there is far more that I agree with Obama on than I did Bush, I still don't agree with all of his positions or think he goes far enough in many areas (health care reform for instance). And of course my own Christian faith reminds me not to put too much hope in human leaders lest the State itself become an idol and object of devotion.

Nonetheless, I can't help but feel somewhat hopeful today. It's not just the inauguration of the first black President, though that alone is enough to make one hopeful about the progress made in race relations since Dr. King spoke of his great prophetic dream over 45 years ago. I am also hopeful because I honestly think Barack Obama will be a very good President. Nearly everything I've seen and read from him, I've been impressed by (and as a former Chicagoan, I've been following him quite a bit longer than most people from other parts of the country). Let me list just a few of the things that make me hopeful about him:

1) He's intelligent. By all accounts, he's the kind of guy who pays attention to details and really knows his stuff. In fact, he's a bit of a policy wonk from what I hear, which is a great thing in my book, since I want a President who goes beyond the speeches and rhetoric to pay attention to the specifics of what he is enacting.

2) So far he really has been a uniter, not a divider. That was his track record as a State legislator in Springfield, IL, and he has shown that same tendency in recent weeks as he's assembled his "team of rivals" for his cabinet, choosing people who don't always agree with him, but will give him more honest and diverse viewpoints to consider. He's also, on several recent occasions, expressed his openness to good ideas (especially in regards to fixing our economic crisis) no matter which side of the aisle they come from. I hope he keeps that up. And, besides his own actions, current polls show that he has an incoming approval rating of around 75%. Obviously the nation as a whole has largely come together behind this new president as well.

3) He really can, almost single-handedly, repair America's standing in the global community. It's no secret that Obama is practically a rockstar in many foreign countries. His name, his race, his personal story, not to mention his policies and positions, all speak to what is possible in this nation, and is inspirational to millions around the world. I hope this personal charisma will be combined with the new policies of openness and respect toward the rest of the world (no more of this unilateralism crap) to bring a new era of international cooperation.

4) Speaking of his personal story, I personally am given hope by the complexity of his background. Son of Kenyan and a white American, African-American in complexion (and therefore in the eyes of society as well) and yet raised by white relatives (and therefore more able than most to understand both perspectives), raised for a time in a foreign culture (and thus, once again, able to see the world through multiple different lenses), having given up a lucrative legal career to be a community organizer and use his skills to help those less fortunate... all of these experiences and more indicate to me that he is amply prepared to be exactly the kind of leader we need right now - someone able to weigh multiple viewpoints and competing truths, and choose a course based on what is good for all, not just for his own party, or even just his own nation. (BTW, for a great, and closer look at Obama's story, check out the new book by my friends Bob and Ariele, Barack Obama: An American Story.)

5) Obama's election campaign was one of the best I've ever seen. He raised his money (mountains of it) not from the usual cabal of special interest groups and lobbyists, but from millions and millions of ordinary Americans. He avoided the dirty politics and smear tactics that have become almost standard these days, even when his opponent was sinking to that level. By all accounts he listened to his campaign staff with respect, and yet was not controlled by them, sometimes sticking by his own convictions despite what might have seen most politically expedient (for example, his choice to respond to the Rev. Wright controversey by giving a substantive speech on race relations - written by himself, not a speechwriter - rather than just sweeping it under the rug as many pundits and advisors thought he should do). And through it all, he responded to every attack and every crisis with his usual implacable calm, cool-headedness. Let's hope he carries all these traits with him into running the country as well.

6) Not to mention that his wife is just really cool. Just as smart as he is and a lot funnier, though also as down-to-earth as you'd expect from a Midwestern mom from a working-class background, Michelle Obama will make a great First Lady.

And all this has mainly to do with who he is or what he's done in past. I won't even get into the things I'm hopeful about regarding his policies and campaign promises. All I want to say is that I think he is definitely the right person for this job right now. He is what America and the world needs at this moment, and while I know he will never be able to live up to all of our hopes, I don't think it is illegitimate to still be hopeful.

I also know that if Obama is going to fulfill any of these hopes it will have to be because we help him. As Jim Wallis often says (and as Obama has ripped off from him) "we are the ones we have been waiting for". Now that Obama is in office, it's time for all of us to get to work to fix the problems confronting us, and to make this world a better place, not just for Americans, but for the "least of these" all over the world. And that's one more thing I like about Obama - he's constantly reminding us of that fact. Over and over again in his campaign he referenced the fact that none of this was about him alone - it's about all of us pulling together and working together to realize our hopes. And I do have hope that that is possible.

Labels: Obama, politics

We bust up laughing when we heard this on NPR the other day. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to. And the best part is it's true! Obama is part Irish.

Labels: fun

Chicago Public Radio, an NPR affiliate, did an interview last week with my friend and mentor Fran Leeman about New Life for Haiti. It's great to see NLH get that kind of coverage. Also, some 2009 trip dates have been posted if anyone wants to help out. Man, I really want to go back to Haiti sometime!

Listen to the interview here.

Labels: Haiti

Julie has a good post up at Deep Green Conversation about some of our experiences driving through west Texas on our way to New Mexico a few weeks ago. The picture below is an example of what we saw and a preview of what she talks about.

Labels: environment, Julie

Perhaps being at a relatively liberal reformed seminary myself and listening in to their discussions about the effect of sin on human nature is why I resonated so much with my friend Troy Bronsink's reflections on the subject. In an Emergent Village Cohort Leaders Discussion he offered the following thoughts:

It's wierd. In the liberal reformed seminary i went to the difference is between Barth (we are desperately unable to reach God without his interrupting revelation) and Tillich (we are created as beloved, co-creators with God, called to have the courage to return to our ground of being). But now I see it less either-or. At Neighbors Abbey last night we were reading Luke 5 when jesus says "its the sick that need a doctor." and I was surprised to hear myself reflect that i'd rather be a collection of the sick, the lost, and the blind, than a group who "has no need of a doctor" "has been found" or "now can see comprehensively and objectively." Even the zen/integrationist-est in
our group agreed that following a LIberator-Jesus includes knowing we stand in need, queued up for liberation.

So I still say that I'm over the "you're shit until you meet Jesus" pitch, while maintaining that meeting God in Christ gives us courage to be lost, blind, broken with the rest of the God-loved-world.

Right-on man! I agree that we're all created good, and in God's image, and nothing sin can do will ultimately destroy that. Nonetheless, there is something desperately missing if you only ever focus on human goodness. There needs to be room for lost, broken, messed up people to say so and find healing. Maybe the difference from a pastoral perspective, is between telling people they're screwed up, and giving them the freedom to admit when they feel like they are and offering them love, grace and healing anyway. And quite honestly, I too would prefer to be part of a humble community of the broken who know they need help than a self-righteous community that thinks they already have enough of the Spirit (or the divine-spark or whatever) that they don't need any more.

Labels: theology

I've been a little preoccupied this past several weeks with taking care of the kids and editing Julie's book (among other things) to put much up on my blog here. However, I have put up a few things recently at FriendlyAtheist.com. You can check them out if you're interested:

Survival of the Weak and Scrawny

How I Wish More Christians Would Respond

Helping Christians Accept Evolution

Labels: atheism