Lubna Hussein wearing the pants for which she was convicted of public indecency in Sudan. Source: Associated Press

The Muslim morality police in Sudan who arrested twelve women last summer, including journalist Lubna Hussein, for wearing “indecent clothing” in public (pants, as it turns out) and more recently whipped 16-year-old Silva Kashif, a Christian girl from southern Sudan, for wearing a below-the-knee skirt have been roundly denounced in the Western media, mostly for the severity of the prescribed punishment: ten lashes for the women who pleaded guilty, forty for Hussein after she went to trial and lost, and fifty for Kashif, administered on the spot.

But if we set aside the medieval nature of the sentence, one can speculate on the reasons behind the law, which are not as outlandish as they may seem.

The Puritan ethic, Islamic style.

Obviously, this society seeks to control the sexual activity of its citizens. Women covered from…

Dorothy Day facing her last arrest, photo by Bob Fitch

Dorothy Day was an anarchist and a pacifist who was arrested multiple times throughout her life (the last time when she was in her 70s).  The FBI had a 500 page file on her, and Herbert Hoover J. Edgar Hoover hoped to see her arrested for sedition.  She’s also been called “the most significant, interesting and influential person in the history of American Catholicism” (by historian David O’Brien in “Commonweal” magazine), and the Vatican has approved considering her cause for canonization.

That’s my kind of saint.  I love Dorothy Day.  In the great communion of saints, there are a handful of people that I look to as my heroes and role models, my “household saints”.  Dorothy Day is one of them, and today is her birthday.  She  was a “sign of contradiction”, “holiness not easily domesticated”, to quote Robert Ellsberg.  She managed to…

In our western culture, the word mythology has overtones of some other religion, or a religion of the past.  I have no problem calling my own religion a mythology.

As a school age child of the 60’s and 70’s, I was taught that mythology was used to explain the world before the real sciences were developed.  I take issue with this explanation of mythology because it is an interpretation based from a purely rational epistemology.  Does mythology/religion attempt to explain the workings of our environment and/or the whole Cosmos?  Yes it does, but seen properly, only as a component of our relationship with the environment.   Rational interpretations (with an emphasis on cause/effect, subject/object experience) neglect the psychological, existential ramifications of our “being” in relation to environment.  Unfortunately, I think rationalism has crept into our religious thought, weakening our ability to transcend our egocentric tendencies.

Another contemporary problem with the use of the…

Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

With the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (which fellow blogger Sharon Autenrieth wrote about here) coming up on November 9th, I thought it would be a good time to let people know about an amazingly moving book that you can receive absolutely free from The Voice of the Martyrs, a non-profit organization founded by Richard Wurmbrand that aids the persecuted church around the world.

The book is Wurmbrand’s Tortured for Christ. It is a personal account of the persecution he faced as a result of preaching the gospel of Christ in Communist Romania.

(Not too long ago I wrote about Wurmbrand and the book on my blog, echad. Rather than reprinting that here, If you’re so inclined you can read that post here.)

For more about Wurmbrand, or to sign up online to receive your free copy of Tortured for Christ, you can visit www.TorturedforChrist.com.

(For what…

Fred Phelps came to town yesterday afternoon.

Fred Phelps

(For a quick primer on the infamous pastor you can check out his Wikipedia page here.)

Phelps was in town with members of his Westboro Baptist Church to protest at Hazelwood Central High School because of its Gay/Straight Alliance club.

It should be noted that Westboro Baptist church — much like the book burning Amazing Grace Baptist Church — is an independent Baptist church that bears little to no resemblance to a typical Baptist church and is not affiliated with any of the major Baptist associations or conventions.

But I don’t want to talk about Fred Phelps or his Topeka, Kansas based church.

I want to talk about the counter protest that took place with the intent of disarming Phelps’ nausea-inducing message of hate with a message of love.

Organized by Ed Reggi, the counter protest consisted of upwards of 60-70 people, about 10 times as many…

www.ucc.org

I‘ve been accused by someone within my denomination of assaulting the first amendment. He describes activities I’ve had a major role in as a “full-fledged assault on conservative media” – “an organized campaign . . . a carefully planned, well-funded systematic assault on talk radio and Fox News that involves at least seven major liberal American religious denominations.”

I’ve never seen myself as a part of something like that and I’ve never been described that way before. It brings home the talk about cyberpolarization — how we tend to use media that reinforces our own viewpoints and therefore are not aware of misinformation and are not sensitive to insults and accusations lacking objectivity and logic.

Jeffrey Lord (From The American Spectator)

And it gives me a lens from which to see how it works. It occurs to me that others might be interested in that view. So I’m going to first…

.

We don’t like to think about hate crimes. They are a disappointing reminder of parts of our history we would just as soon forget.

While the story about the white judge who denied an interracial couple a marriage license is slightly distressing, most of the comments about the New Orleans justice of the peace, have been along the lines of “Hey, our country has moved past that.” The justice said he wouldn’t marry the couple because he didn’t think interracial kids were a good idea.

Governor Bobby Jindal said “Disciplinary action should be taken immediately - including the revoking of his license.” The couple did get married, but now have a sad story to tell.

Much more inconvenient and terrifying is getting shot for your religion.

Two men were shot in the legs on their way in to the Adat Yeshurun Sephardic Congregation in Los Angeles the other day, and the gun man neither spoke to…

Dia de los Muertos folk art by Kevin T.; available at Photobucket.

Samhain is one of the most widely known of the Pagan holidays in (perhaps tied with Yule). It’s certainly the least understood.
I suppose that’s fitting. It is the holiday Pagans themselves celebrate with one foot in the mundane world of candy, costumes and parties, the other at the edge of the Farthest Shore.

The biggest community-wide notice of the holiday is the annual Witches’ Ball. It’s a fund-raiser for June’s Pagan Picnic, and is held at a popular local banquet hall. It’s a great Halloween party for grown-ups. And this year, they’ve added a community ancestor altar. I’ll be there.

I’ll also be at an event Saturday. Maria Guadalupe and her group of local artists are throwing a Day of the Dead party at MoKaBe’s, corner of Arsenal and Grand Blvd., from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There’s a samba parade…

In the midst of the recent deluge of neighborhood violence in the city and cries from the community for action, Saint John’s United Church of Christ (UCC) is working with its partners to try to answer the question, “What is the church doing?” with “The Beloved Community: Equipping the Saints for the Work of Justice,” an ecumenical conference that will provide practical tools and information that citizens and communities of faith can put into action immediately.  The event will be held November 5-9^th at Saint John’s UCC, 4136 North Grand Boulevard, at the corner of Grand and Lee Avenue.  It includes two worship experiences, a play by The Black Rep, three separate ministry institutes, a discussion on faith and politics and two community service opportunities.  Conference partners and supporters include the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the UCC, The African American Pulpit Journal (Memphis, TN), The Black Rep, Washington Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church,…

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on regulatory reform, Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Hey Mom.  Sometimes there’s a reason for falling asleep with the television on.  This morning I was awakened by the voice of Congressman-turned-Talk Show host, Joe Scarborough, sharing the news that White House Press Secretary Joe Gibbs awakened President Obama this morning to inform him that he had won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace.  That’s worth a little extra electricity.

What followed was a little more challenging.  ”Morning Joe” then began to discuss with Mika Brzezinski, Lawrence O’Donnell and Savannah Guthrie his views that the President hadn’t earned the award.  The dialogue mentioned the possibility of the prize being given to put political pressure on the POTUS as he makes decisions about troop levels in Afghanistan.  And early Associated Press reporting suggests the award being given to Obama as a “slap at President George W. Bush…

Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth?
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
They say in heaven love comes first
We’ll make heaven a place on earth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth

- 80’s pop sensation (and inadvertent theologian) Belinda Carlisle.

So I’m listening to this show on the radio the other day, and people are fighting about Heaven.

Heaven's Rays. Image courtesy of wallpaper-s.org

Go ahead, let that one sink in for a minute.

The panel that was discussing had gotten worked up and heated, all because they disagreed on some of the finer points about what Heaven looked like and what the Bible means when it talks about the new Heaven and new Earth.

Did I mention this was a Christian radio program?

Sigh.

Personally, my vision of Heaven does not include sitting on clouds playing harps or honest to goodness streets of gold - But I’ll be the first to admit that I have no idea…

The iconoclastic Chassidic Master, Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, would often remind his disciples that: “Others might tell stories to put you to sleep, but I tell stories to wake you up!”In the spirit of the above mentioned spiritual master, I share a tale from the life of another spiritual giant…

Mahatma Gandhi was once invited to a small town in India to give a speech. This was very big news and when it spread to a neighboring village, the editor of the local newspaper assigned a reporter to cover Gandhi’s visit.

Unfortunately, by the time the reporter arrived, the speech was already over. Very disappointed and not a little afraid of what would happen when he told his editor he’d arrived late, he headed for the train station in hopes of finding the Mahatma and perhaps landing a brief interview or capturing a quotation or two.

The reporter entered the station, looked around,…

Last week was a case study in theological theory meeting practice for me.  On Sunday, I shared information with our congregation on the intent of President Obama’s Health Care proposal, reminding them that the United Church of Christ declared support for H.R. 676, an early and more progressive effort calling for a single-payer, universal health care system in our summer General Synod in Grand Rapids.  On Monday, I stood with the leadership of the Saint Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition and a representative from Organizing for America to declare support for the president’s Health Insurance Reform and invite others to pray for our elected leadership.  On Wednesday (the day Senator Max Baucus unveiled the Senate Finance Committee plan) at our church’s mid-week Bible study we reflected on the prophetic vision of Isaiah chapter 1 that the responsibility of the people of God extends beyond worship to “defending the fatherless…pleading for the…

A certain Republican congressman yelled “You lie!” during President Obama’s

credit:WND

9/9/09 remarks on illegal immigrants during his speech to a joint session of congress on health care. The shout, apologized for an hour later, had the press off and running.

Had there been no yelling, perhaps the president’s next statement, all but drowned out in the uproar, would have received the attention it deserved. Maybe.

The president said,

And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up — under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions…..

Really? The president is being roundly criticized from many quarters for that whopper.

Consider first Douglas Johnson, legislative director, National Right to Life Campaign:

“Barack Obama needs to learn that the mere repetition of a verbal formula does not change reality. The reality is that the Obama-backed House bill would explicitly authorize the federal government insurance plan to pay for elective abortions and would explicitly authorize subsidies for…

calvarybaptistraleigh.com

Muslims and Christians can argue with each other forcefully as to who considers God more loving. Each will argue that their faith has a more loving image of God. Yet we can find plenty of examples, among both, of people who say they believe that God is a loving God, yet their own words and deeds show that none of this love is being reflected in them. If we believe God to be loving then why can God not love others? Why do we feel compelled to be the ‘enforcer’ of what ‘we’ consider to be God’s commands? Will God only love us if we make sure others are obeying God’s commands? Will God only love us if we are obedient to God’s commands?

One Ummah shiatv.net

One tension, I guess, is the balance between being an individual and being part of the community. If we are part of a community, be…

Every major faith tradition encourages those who have the means to help those who do not. So the question that keeps coming up is the following: Is it a moral issue that in the richest nation in the history of mankind more than 1 out of 8 people have no health coverage? That is the question that single payer addresses. Simply put health coverage for everyone. It is similar to what is the situation in countries with the best health coverage, who are spending much less than us on their per person health coverage. So, if done properly, single payer should not cost more than what we are collectively paying but less.These are social decisions but they are also moral ones. Single payer has strong support among physicians as well as in the population at large. The sad part is that it isn’t even on the table in the current health…

http://farm4.static.flickr.com

There is great power in prayer. It can change the hearts of people. Over time it can bring monumental changes in society. Two events in recent history testify to this enormous power of prayer. The prayers of Mahatma Gandhi to rid the Indian subcontinent of the scourge of colonialism were answered. So were the prayers of Nelson Mandela to bring a peaceful end to Apartheid in South Africa. So we don’t have to even look very far back in history to realize the powerful effect of prayer. It may take time, half a generation or a bit more, but prayer can bring change. Not so with abortion in this country.

One important thing is the prayers have to be sincere and the person’s life should reflect the change they are seeking. Gandhi ji said: “Be the revolution you seek to see in the world”. That is, start practicing what you are…

Image courtesy of www.berkeley.law.edu

According to an article today on Missourinet, state Attorney General Chris Koster has said that now that legal challenges to the state’s “death penalty structure” have been overcome, we will “return to regularly scheduled executions.”

“My guess is that for the near future,” said Koster. “We will see one execution probably every month as these individuals come up in the court system.”

Is anyone else troubled by this?  Do you think that there is a moral and ethical problem here?  Or do you believe that the command to love another does not extend to convicted criminals?  Would it make a difference if you could see the people involved as individuals?  Or do their crimes outweigh their humanity?

Here is how I first learned about the death penalty.  When I was a child my father worked as a Legal Aid attorney and public defender.  He is a brilliant lawyer, with the oratorical…

Utror Valley near Kalam http://laf.ee/wp

As a young child I remember going to Swat on summer vacation twice. It was an enchanting place with beautiful landscapes so unfamiliar to one who lived in the plains.

Swat Valley http://3.bp.blogspot.com

Saidu Sharif, Kalam, the names of the town’s were like from fairy tales. I still have those wonderful images of my childhood whenever I hear the name Swat.

Kalam www.swatvalley.com

Swat used to be different from the other regions in the north frontier of Pakistan. They used to not have the rigid view of life and religion.

Bahrain Swat racismandnationalconsciousnessnews

My wife tells me of her visit to Swat long ago (before we had met), with her family, and how they met the family of the Wali-e-Swat (the then ruler of Swat) and the love she saw among the people. She especially remembers at mealtime how all the women of the Wali’s household, servants and ladies, sat together to…

This was a bit of good news last week. Having women is position of how law is applied is a very good sign of progress. Looking at the story about Palestine I wondered if other muslim countries were also working on having female judges and yes there are already female judges in a number of other countries. Excerpts from a few news clips follow. The first one, from the Christian Science Monitor,  is really interesting and illuminating.

New female judge transforms Islamic court
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - Khouloud el-Faqeeh has shattered the glass ceiling of Islamic jurisprudence.
After years of pushing to break into the all-male ranks of sharia judges in the Palestinian territories, she finally secured a post after scoring among the best - along with another woman - in a recent test for new jurists. They are widely considered to be the first female sharia judges in the Middle East.
Now, Ms.…