Faithful Philly Forum

For most people, Christmas is a time of giving–and receiving.

Have you ever noticed how difficult “receiving” can be for some people–not only during Christmas, but any time of the year.  I am one of those people.  I take after my mom.  She LOVES to give gifts, but hates to receive them.  Whenever we go out to eat, my mom insists that she pay.  Having it any other way seems seriously painful to her.

It is only recently that I have come to embrace the notion of receiving–thanks to my husband.  He reminded me that other people enjoy giving just as much as I do.  Not receiving a gift thankfully–or joyfully, often does more bad than good.  What seems to be humbleness turns into unconscious rudeness.

Do you receive as well as you give?

If there ever was a wake up call to the church about sex and pleasure it is now. The once bankrupt Penthouse which was bought up in 2004 by a group of investors has now bought up  $500 million dollars worth of internet sites that focus social networking. Their target market is 18-34 year old men who are wanting sexual media and online access. Other than yelling about censoring the ‘net, how will the churches respond? What does the Church offer this audience that would satisfy their need and desire for sexual intimacy? for sexual openness? for (perhaps) deeper and more meaningful sexual experiences? Telling them to come to church and meet a nice woman and then get married whereupon fireworks will happen is just not going to do it…obviously, since that has been the dominant message for centuries. If the Church has nothing to teach positively to unmarried people about sex and sexual satisfaction, then we have no right to complain when enterprizing investors use pornography and the latest technology to present sexuality in ways that are usually dehumanizing, sexist and mechanistic devoid of any relational quality in order to make their fortunes even larger. Guess who is shaping the views of our culture (and the world?) on sex? It sure isn’t the Church!  

Immigration seems to be a hot topic for swaying the U.S. vote for president in 2008.  Citizens of this country are concerned (and maybe too concerned) about securing borders.  In all honesty, I think that the U.S. has much bigger fish to fry.  Why is it that only a few of the presidential hopefuls are speaking about our bad foreign policy?  Those marginalized candidates who speak out against our foreign policy are well educated.  They realized that many domestic problems can only be resolved when we improve our foreign policy.  If we bring the troops (not only from the middle east, but from all over the world) back into this country, we can be prepared to help when another Hurricane Katrina strikes.  The ungodly amount of money that is used to fuel the war in Iraq could be put to good use right here in this country.  Furthermore, those people who are concerned about better control of the borders should be all for  a reformed foreign policy that would allow for troops stationed in foreign countries to man the border.

Many people become defensive when talk about scientific technology arises. There is a new program at the University of Pennsylvania, which will research stem cells in order to find treatments for cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. I have a difficult time understanding why people are so opposed to this research. Why has science and technology become something that we fear? The world has changed. So too should our theology. Theology need not be stagnant.

When it comes to something like stem cell research, I applaud the advancements of our world. I think it is fabulous that we have been given the wisdom to find cures on our own. I do not think this is interfering with God’s “role.” Why can’t we find God in scientific knowledge?

In this new age where some of the answers to our biggest questions can be found outside of God, we can take our cue from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and ask, “Who is Christ for us today–in a time where religion has taken a back seat?” Christ can be found in our new knowledge and in our experiences in the secular world. Just as Christ suffered in the hands of a secular world, we too can participate in Christ’s suffering in this world. In the words of Bonhoeffer this is achieved by “living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In doing so, we throw ourselves completely in the arms of God, taking seriously not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world.” (Letters and Papers from Prison).

This is in response to AIDS Day (Dec. 1st). I think that here in the USA we forget how relevant the AIDS epidemic actually is. We tend to think that this illness only affects people in places like Africa. But, according to http://www.avert.org/statsum.htm, AIDS in the U.S. should not be overlooked. In 2005, an estimated 437,982 people were living with AIDS in the U.S. Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S., a purported 550,394 people have died because of AIDS.

What are we doing in this country about this problem? Has this problem been brushed aside so that other issues can be addressed?

As people with a heart toward social justice issues, can we simply put one issue aside in favor of another? There is an immensity of issues to be concerned about, so can we simply say AIDS is not my issue?

For AIDS Day, the LGBT Center at the University of Pennsylvania decided to bring huge sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to campus. Along with this, free HIV testing was available and a vigil was held.

There is something quite interesting happening in the evangelical churches now. Soul Force has targeted the megachurches to help members understand, appreciate and fully accept the sexual minority communities in their midst. The initiative is called the American Family Outing from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day and will include 40 families who visit these churches to instigate conversations that will educate and hopefully, build bridges. The churches being targeted are those headed by persons (Isn’t is strange the loudest anti-gay voices are men?) who are on record as making statements against homosexuality. They include Joel Osteen, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dr. Rick Warren, Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., Bill Hybels and Bishop Eddie Long. But, in addition, to celebrate World AIDS day at an AIDS conference he hosted, Rev Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church noted that Christians must take responsibility for the spread of AIDS. These two announcements of course have stirred up the usual Bible-quoting legalists in response and civility can’t always be counted on by those most passionate. But, isn’t it exciting that the voices for inclusion and grace are finally being asserted? And, when the focus is to create understanding and tolerance, then compassion can’t be too far behind. Right? Let us keep that as our guiding principle. With compassionate people, justice will always follow.

It is unfortunate that Mitt Romney has now said that he will not be hiring any Muslims for any cabinet post should he be elected.  (Seems there are not enough of them in the country to warrant this kind of attention!) It is too bad he is so hopelessly misinformed about Islam.

On October 13, 138 Muslim clerics and scholars placed an ad in the New York Times calling for ”A Common Word Between Us and You”  and now over 300 American clergy and scholars have responded (Nov 18) with a Christian response called “Loving God and Neighbor Together.”  They committed themselves to doing programming and educational events that would promote dialogue between Muslims and Christians.

In addition an Anglican known as the Vicar of Baghdad named Canon Andrew White has been noted as a “Pursuer of Peace” and awarded recognition for his interfaith work. In part, as a result of his work the Muslim clerics of Iraq are prepared to sign a “fatwa against violence” (1) that will serve to end the enmity between the Shia and Sunni Muslims! This is of historic import! And the Churches for Middle East Peace are holding a conference call on 12/6 to talk from a religious perspective about the talks happening in Annapolis this week. Seems there is a lot of good peacemaking happening here…and a military budget is not required! Strange isn’t it what committed people of faith can accomplish that neither the politicians or the military can! 

1) peacemaking@list.usip.org

2) See 11/28 Action Alert from the Brethren Witness/Washington Office

It is now official that FOX and CBS will use sex to sell anything and will promote sexual content in shows (”In 2005, 70 percent of all television shows and 77 percent of prime-time shows contained sexual content.” according to Planned Parenthood.)  But, refuses to allow a condom commercial if the focus is on pregnancy prevention! Seems they will only allow such advertisments if it stresses health issues!

Now given the number of Viagra ads this is a most curious double standard. So the message of morality is men can and should be sexually potent and using pornography on tv is acceptable for primetime viewing but our “morality” won’t allow us to educate or promote anything to prevent pregnancy? This is wild! 

A heart-felt welcome to the seat of Mayor, Mr. Michael Nutter!  It seems so rare to find a politician who thinks outside of the box.  I so was pleased to read about a Michael Nutter plan to alleviate crime in Philadelphia: encouragement of businesses to hire ex-offenders.  Not only does he recognize that statistically crime will be perpetuated by poverty (i.e. ex-offenders not finding jobs), but he also recognizes that poverty is a key factor contributing to crime.  When people lack money, they lack a good education; when they lack education, they lack well-paying jobs to earn money.  Why can’t everyone realize the corruption of the system! 

The twentieth century, corrupt with a structure of segregation carried out by redlining and blockbusting (to name a couple), has created niches of poverty and violence. 

All is still not fair in “America.”  Those who have money refuse to live in places of poverty, and those who find better-paying jobs typically move out of these neighborhoods.  I think Nutter’s idea for businesses to hire ex-offenders is a good start to the dismantling of criminal activity in Philadelphia. 

I don’t get it. A group that names itself “Repent America” challenges the existing hate crime law that includes sexual minorities in Pennsylvania. What is the repentance about? Repent of protecting people’s lives? Repent that we might encourage lawsuits against those who resort to violence against sexual minorities just because they are sexual minorities? Are we to repent for being too compassionate or not being judgmental enough?

I know the Hebrew prophets sometimes stridently called for the need to repent and compassionately embrace the immigrants in their midst, (known as foreigners or aliens) who were being mistreated. They went on any number of tirades about the readiness of folks to go through the religious rituals but who failed to care for the widows and orphans in the community. And, the prophets went ballistic yelling about repentance of those who paid people unjust wages and exploited the workers.

Somehow I don’t think compassion is what “Repent America” is about…Oh yes, and they won the lawsuit by the way. The PA court ruled 5-1 the legislative process that was used to make this a law was indeed unconstitutional. Sometimes it is one step forward and two steps back.
http://www.equalitypa.org/news/news_view.php?news_id=51