One quick glance at any recent opinion poll, and you will clearly see that Americans want the war to end, and they want it to end now. There is no doubt, that in the coming election this will be a major issue folks will be voting on. You have to be living under a rock to not hear comments along the lines of, “well as soon as the Democrats are in office….” However, Chris Hedge, calls this statement into serious question. Saying:

“Those of us who oppose the war, who believe that all U.S. troops should be withdrawn and the network of permanent bases in Iraq dismantled, have only two options in the coming presidential elections—Ralph Nader  and  Cynthia McKinney. A vote for any of the Republican and Democratic candidates is a vote to perpetuate the occupation of Iraq and a lengthy and futile war of attrition with the Iraqi insurgency. You can sign on for the suicidal hundred-year war with John McCain or for the nebulous open-ended war-lite with Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, or back those who reject the war. If you vote Democrat or Republican in the coming election be honest with yourself—you have voted to allow the U.S. government to continue, in some form, the campaign that needlessly kills ever more Americans and Iraqis in a conflict that has become the worst foreign policy disaster in U.S. history and a crime under international law.

‘When will the American people actually vote to give to the world more than bombs and missiles, sweatshops, dubious science, frankenfood, poverty and misery?’ Cynthia McKinney, the presidential candidate in the Green Party primaries, told me. ‘Not only do we need an immediate, orderly withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, we need an end to the militarism that has placed U.S. troops on the soil of over 100 countries. A true peace agenda means a complete redefinition of security. I remain convinced that if people in Haiti, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua can vote a peace and justice agenda into power, then so too can we.’”

Four U.S. Soldiers were killed today in Iraq, pushing the death toll of American Soldiers to at least 4,000. They were killed when a roadside bomb hit their car. It is easy for us, who are so far away from this state of terror, to skim over stories and stats like these without allowing the full gravity of the situation to sink in. So take a second and think about that. 4 people were blown up while driving in their car. 4,000 have been killed over the past 5 years. 4,000.

Numbers of this magnitude are hard to wrap our minds around. But try to remember, these are not numbers, they are people. Each one very dear to someone. Each one with a story, a family, friends and a future before they were shipped over to Iraq. And now their future is forever lost, and their family and friends are left broken and aching from the pain of what will now never be. 4,000 times over.

Many soldiers in Iraq are there because they are victims of the economic draft. According to Logan Laituri, “statistics have proven that recruitment levels verifiably increase exponentially in our most impoverished neighborhoods.  The ‘All Volunteer Military’ is not quite, as it is the lack of proper social programs in place that force the least of those among us into a service too many of our own leaders have ambivalently shrugged off.”

Logan is one of the many caught between the sword and the cross. He fought in Iraq, until he came to the realization that you cannot love your enemy while shooting them. So deep was this realization that he decided he would not carry a weapon on his next tour of duty. The Armed Forces however, would not allow him to go without a weapon and to make a long story short, he was discharged.

Logan now has started an organization called Centurion’s Purse, which exists
“To support and defend prospective, current, and former service members while bearing true faith and allegiance to Jesus Christ. For a few months now, a small group of friends have been considering the question of how to serve fellow service members who struggle, as we did and do, with our relationship to the military and how to live conscientiously with one another and ourselves. Some of us are objectors, others remain in service and are prepared to deploy to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. Some have never served in the Armed Forces but have felt the reverberations of friends and family who have. We are united in our desire to serve others who similarly struggle to live as peacemakers in a world of conflict. We hope to redistribute our wealth to help others in need who would see peace as the means and the end, but who may be tempted to settle for less. Today we are near completion of an initiative we call Centurion’s Purse, a program designed to create an alternative to the significant financial incentives offered to enter the military. With the appeal of $20,000 signing bonuses, many unwary citizens recklessly sign eight years of their life away, not taking into account what truly is being asked of them. We aim to do what we can to offer financial support to those who may join the Armed Forces out of financial distress and who may regret their decision in hindsight. Soon, we will begin accepting applications for need-based financial gifts to support those who have incurred debt or are facing debt as a result of their interaction with the Armed Forces.”

Four soldiers died today in Iraq. 4,000 have died of the course of the war. A number which will only continue to rise. Joining the military should be a choice. One made out of will, not financial necessity. Hopefully Centurion’s Purse will give that choice back to the least of these across the nation.

I live in the city, and yet, I grew up in white suburbia. I cannot not help but carry with me the juxtaposition between the two. You see, where I grew up it was safe, free from drug dealers and trash on the streets. My family had the means to send me to a good school. (No doubt due to my ancestral line of white privilege.) Yes, my parents worked incredibly hard to give me the opportunities I have. When I look around my neighborhood though, I see parents working hard too, but their kids have nothing to show for it.

My life’s journey is beginning to show me just how segregated our society is, with minorities in the ghettos and majorities in the suburbs. This however, is not America’s most segregated point. No, the most segregated time occurs across America every Sunday morning. For some reason, when it comes to the sacred act of worship, Blacks stick with Blacks, Latinos with Latinos, the rich with the rich, and the poor with the poor. There is something comfortable in worshiping next to what we know. It keeps us safe from questioning who we are.

The fact that churches are segregated is something I learned in a sociology course I took. However, the recent events around Obama’s campaign illustrate this dark reality in strikingly obvious terms. As I have been reading up on Jeremiah Wright (Obama’s reverend), I am not taken back by what he says. I can see perfectly well why he feels the way he does. I however, find myself pondering what the societal ramifications would be if the Christian church was One. What would it look like if rich worshiped with poor? Asian with Latino, Black with White? I cannot help but to think that if this Church, which is the social network with the most power, resources and people to mobilize and facilitate change in America. If it were to unite, all walls surrounding race and social class in America would slowly fade away.

A lot of Christians today, are talking about the Kingdom of God coming to Earth. They are trying to invoke and embody the alternative, and they are doing so in wonderfully beautiful ways. Yet they are missing the one way that could actually make their dreams come true.

America is a country founded on the promise of equality. It no doubt, was a difficult and risky task for the founding fathers to write those simple words, “all men are created equal,” into the Declaration of Independence. But what has proven even harder, is living that ideology out in real and tangible ways. Since its birth, our country has been in a constant struggle after equality. First fighting to be free from the oppression of the crown, only to in turn become the oppressor rather than the liberator. This though did not stop the American people from fighting on behalf of the oppressed, and social movements came along demanding equality for both slaves and women (how well this was actually achieved is debatable, but another topic entirely).

Enough with the history lesson though, let’s get on to how this involves us today. Although we still struggle with obtaining impartiality for those freed in the past, there is a new cry for equality going out on behalf of our gay brothers and sisters. This cry no doubt will be an important issue in the impending election.

Barack Obama like all other candidates has spoken out on where he stands on the issue of homosexual equality. He made it clear in a speech posted on atlantic.com that “it’s wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation.” For Obama, “equality is a moral imperative”, and as president he plans to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their laws.

Obama however, is not just some left wing politician, he actually is a professing evangelical Christian. He himself is willing to say that he has “a deep faith.” I don’t think it is any stretch of the imagination to assume that his deep faith perspective drives his actions towards a more equal America. I personally am not sure where I stand on the issue of voting in the upcoming election. Honestly haven’t done enough research on anyone to get behind them… and to be honest I have lost almost all faith in the system. So by no means am I advocating support in any one candidate. But if equality is the kind of change that Obama wants to bring about, it seems like something I could support.

As some of you guys may have heard a while back, our neighborhood experienced some serious devastation last year from a fire. Here’s a new video that we made updating everyone on where things presently stand. Thanks, and enjoy.

For those of us a bit skeptical of organized religion (like me) take heart…a least a little bit: The Southern Baptist church has posted a commitment to the environment and climate change.  These four statements appear to go farther than any other content the church has announced.

The big points: The SBC is a very large and influential faith organization in the US (second in size to the Roman Catholic Church).  If their followers make moves based on these statements, expect a significant shift in environmental politics and policy from the right.  More importantly, people of faith from conservative or liberal perspectives will have a commitment to the environment in common, providing opportunity to join together and make an important shift in how Americans live closer to reality.

Hopeful, at least in a somewhat skeptical sort of way.  Read more at the Southern Baptist Environment & Climate Initiative and here’s an article from the NY Times: “Southern Baptists Back a Shift on Climate Change“.

Statement 1

Humans Must Care for Creation and Take Responsibility for Our Contributions to Environmental Degradation.

There is undeniable evidence that the earth—wildlife, water, land and air—can be damaged by human activity, and that people suffer as a result. When this happens, it is especially egregious because creation serves as revelation of God’s presence, majesty and provision. Though not every person will physically hear God’s revelation found in Scripture, all people have access to God’s cosmic revelation: the heavens, the waters, natural order, the beauty of nature (Psalm 19; Romans 1). We believe that human activity is mixed in its impact on creation—sometimes productive and caring, but often reckless, preventable and sinful.

God’s command to tend and keep the earth (Genesis 2) did not pass away with the fall of man; we are still responsible. Lack of concern and failure to act prudently on the part of Christ-followers reflects poorly to the rest of the world. Therefore, we humbly take responsibility for the damage that we have done to God’s cosmic revelation and pledge to take an unwavering stand to preserve and protect the creation over which we have been given responsibility by Almighty God Himself.

Statement 2

It Is Prudent to Address Global Climate Change.

We recognize that we do not have any special revelation to guide us about whether global warming is occurring and, if it is occurring, whether people are causing it. We are looking at the same evidence unfolding over time that other people are seeing.

We recognize that we do not have special training as scientists to allow us to assess the validity of climate science. We understand that all human enterprises are fraught with pride, bias, ignorance and uncertainty.

We recognize that if consensus means unanimity, there is not a consensus regarding the anthropogenic nature of climate change or the severity of the problem. There is general agreement among those engaged with this issue in the scientific community. A minority of sincere and respected scientists offer alternate causes for global climate change other than deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.

We recognize that Christians are not united around either the scientific explanations for global warming or policies designed to slow it down. Unlike abortion and respect for the biblical definition of marriage, this is an issue where Christians may find themselves in justified disagreement about both the problem and its solutions.

Yet, even in the absence of perfect knowledge or unanimity, we have to make informed decisions about the future. This will mean we have to take a position of prudence based partly on science that is inevitably changing. We do not believe unanimity is necessary for prudent action. We can make wise decisions even in the absence of infallible evidence.

Though the claims of science are neither infallible nor unanimous, they are substantial and cannot be dismissed out of hand on either scientific or theological grounds. Therefore, in the face of intense concern and guided by the biblical principle of creation stewardship, we resolve to engage this issue without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem or our responsibility to address it. Humans must be proactive and take responsibility for our contributions to climate change—however great or small.

Statement 3

Christian Moral Convictions and Our Southern Baptist Doctrines Demand Our Environmental Stewardship.

While we cannot here review the full range of relevant Christian convictions and Baptist doctrines related to care of the creation, we emphasize the following points:

• We must care about environmental and climate issues because of our love for God—“the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver and Ruler of the Universe” (BFM 2000)—through whom and for whom the creation was made. This is not our world, it is God’s. Therefore, any damage we do to this world is an offense against God Himself (Gen. 1; Ps. 24; Col. 1:16). We share God’s concern for the abuse of His creation.

• We must care about environmental issues because of our commitment to God’s Holy and inerrant Word, which is “the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried” (BFM 2000). Within these Scriptures we are reminded that when God made mankind, He commissioned us to exercise stewardship over the earth and its creatures (Gen. 1:26-28). Therefore, our motivation for facing failures to exercise proper stewardship is not primarily political, social or economic—it is primarily biblical.

• We must care about environmental and climate issues because we are called to love our neighbors, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us and to protect and care for the “least of these” (Mt. 22:34-40; Mt. 7:12; Mt. 25:31-46). The consequences of these problems will most likely hit the poor the hardest, in part because those areas likely to be significantly affected are in the world’s poorest regions. Poor nations and individuals have fewer resources available to cope with major challenges and threats. Therefore, “we should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy … [and] the helpless” (BFM 2000) through proper stewardship.

Love of God, love of neighbor and Scripture’s stewardship demands provide enough reason for Southern Baptists and Christians everywhere to respond to these problems with moral passion and concrete action.

Statement 4

It Is Time for Individuals, Churches, Communities and Governments to Act.

We affirm that “every Christian should seek to bring industry, government and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth and brotherly love” (BFM 2000).

We realize that we cannot support some environmental issues as we offer a distinctively Christian voice in these arenas. For instance, we realize that what some call population control leads to evils like abortion. We now call on these environmentalists to reject these evils and accept the sanctity of every human person, both born and unborn.

We realize that simply affirming our God-given responsibility to care for the earth will likely produce no tangible or effective results. Therefore, we pledge to find ways to curb ecological degradation through promoting biblical stewardship habits and increasing awareness in our homes, businesses where we find influence, relationships with others and in our local churches. Many of our churches do not actively preach, promote or practice biblical creation care. We urge churches to begin doing so.

We realize that the primary impetus for prudent action must come from the will of the people, families and those in the private sector.  Held to this standard of common good, action by government is often needed to assure the health and well-being of all people. We pledge, therefore, to give serious consideration to responsible policies that acceptably address the conditions set forth in this declaration.

Becky Garrison emailed us a link to this video a few days ago. It illustrates well how far America is from reaching its goals of separation of church and state. Also though, it really makes me wonder what exactly the up coming election is about. Are we trying to elect a spiritual leader or a commander and chief? Or perhaps faith and politics are too intertwined to differentiate between the two.