This from an article on Bill Moyers’ website expresses for me the anger and the disgust I feel toward the clueless, selfish, out of touch arrogance that is the attitude of the frontrunner candidates. So no, Mitt Romney, when we say that Americans are waking up to the reality that inequality matters, we’re not guilty of “envy†or “class warfare,†as Continue Reading
My favorite writer, Elizabeth O’Connor, who wrote accounts of the journey and history of The Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC, wrote about envisioning a new world in this selection from the Inward Outward blog (this blog posts daily selections from a host of great theological writings). I thought it very relevant to how interested I have been in Continue Reading
I suspect we will hear nothing about Dr. King’s opposition to the war in Viet Nam. We certainly will not see or hear anything about the Poor People’s Campaign he helped to lead when he was assassinated in April 1968. http://wesleyanleadership.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/mlk-the-church-and-poor-people/
Jarrod McKenna wrote today, on this MLK day 2012, about the big problem so many Americans have in co-opting MLK and making him a “cheerleader” for whatever cause they please. I have heard this over and over from those who oppose the Occupy movement on the basis of “lawlessness” and seemingly the very idea of being critical of U.S. structures. Continue Reading
<A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Ftheoblogical-20%2F8005%2Ff6fdcec6-01e1-491d-84fb-8edf78634575&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A> Be Schofield’s article I blogged about earlier includes this assesment of MLK’s “final campaign” (the Poor People’s March) : King had developed several goals in his final campaign, which may or may not inspire the OWS movement. He had hoped the Poor People’s Campaign would achieve direct employment through a massive public works program, a guaranteed annual Continue Reading
On Dr. King’s birthday, Jan. 15th 1968 – which was sadly to be his last – he was organizing with a multi-racial coalition of Native Americans, Chicanos, Appalachian whites and urban black people to start an encampment in Washington D.C. that would be a massive “nonviolent army†which would “cripple the operation of an oppressive society.†By 1968, King’s earlier Continue Reading
“You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You’re really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry.… Now this means that Continue Reading
A good one from John Nichols of The Naiton re: MLK and OWS: Asked about “Occupy Wall Street,†Congressman West declared this week: “Martin Luther King Jr. would not have backed these types of protesters.†Dr. King’s history, and his own words, say otherwise. http://www.thenation.com/blog/164080/king-versus-tea-party-poor-peoples-campaign-occupy Nichols quotes MLK: “America is at a crossroads of history, and it is critically important Continue Reading
This quotation from an article in CounterPunch brings some well considered rcommendation re: what is needed from OWS based on where “the problem” lies. Watching Bill Moyers talk to the authors of a book called “Winner Take All Politics”, the evidence is pretty overwhelming that the normal “democratic process” has been increasingly rigged over the past 30 years. Martin Luther King, Jr. Continue Reading
Nice to see the evangelical interest: What this movement is doing is immensely important – and consistent with many core Christian values – and thus, worthy of even the pastor’s investment of time. The liberal Christian community is already very involved, as are many who don’t identify themselves as religious. Many people in these groups are either waiting for Evangelicals Continue Reading
Chomsky begins talk at about 3:30 in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pfGRSDZs1M
We in the Christian community are also asking how the movement’s message coheres with our theological precepts. Should the church be for or against OWS? Should the church offer spiritual support? Should the church lend physical and material support to movement members? http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/jesus_and_the_99_percent_20111202/?ln When the history of this second decade of the new millennium is written, we don’t want it Continue Reading
Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church, Donna Schaper explains what she called the “edifice complex” some congregations have, and what Judson Church is offering to those without a space for worship. http://www.judson.org/occupywallst (These guys don’t have a twitter account? Why?)
When the Occupy Wall Street movement began in September, Judson was one of the first churches to openly support and join with protesters. The church works with other denominations in providing multi-faith services on Sunday afternoons. On Oct. 9, Judson joined with other clergy in carrying a golden calf named Greed around Wall Street. The calf was meant to remind people of the Continue Reading
See this section ( 11:55 – 12:50 ) of the video to see why I put “Citizen Journalist” in quotes. I like the phrase, but Tim’s point is a good one. “Journalists ARE citizens”. But as he later says re: Citizen Journalists: “It means you’re independent”. So we are talking “Independent” and “Citizen” as adjective, setting them apart from corporate Continue Reading