I was just in a mini-stream on Twitter with @james_ka_smith , where I tried to re-open the topic re: the church and the Occupy movement. I had tweeted a while back to JKA on this, but it didn’t seem to spark much interest on his part. He and I had done a bit of back and forth back in 2005-06 Continue Reading
The CNN blog post destined to draw tons of comments: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/21/to-some-obama-is-the-wrong-kind-of-christian/ I just did a Google Search on that title and the number two result is frlom godlikeproductions where the author simply reacts aloud: “Is CNN Serious?” obviously addressing the choir of folks who consider Obama to be , like the author his/herself says, an “AntiChrist”. The Christian Right is all over this, Continue Reading
I totally agree with my friend Brian here: In the end if they break ways with Christ’s teachings we are required to break with them as well and speak truth in love http://indefinitedefiniteness.org/2012/09/07/politics/ And saying such things just scares the bejeebies out of so many of my “secular” friends. They just can’t seem to grasp the idea that the “theocracy” ideas Continue Reading
It’s true we must guard against becoming devoted to the “brand”. “Occupy” as a brand is not the aim; it’s not the point to see that this name survives as the main narrative title. If the media succeed in discrediting that, then the aims and goals still remain. We simply need to articulate it and present it through new actions Continue Reading
When I read the following, from a previous Chris Hedges article just after the start of Occupy Wall Street, I immediately added my own group to the list of “discarded intellectuals”: Bakunin’s vision of revolution, which challenged Marx’s rigid bifurcation between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, carved out a vital role for these rootless intellectuals, the talented sons and daughters Continue Reading
I blogged on this a couple weeks ago, as I recoiled at the inane thesis of a WIRED article about “conspiracy theories” such as global warning. The modern belief by evangelical Christians in the rapture, which does not exist in biblical literature, is no less fantastic, one that at once allows for the denial of global warming and of evolution Continue Reading
Chris Hedges , in reviewing a book by Dave Eggers, describing the Saudi kingdom (“A Hologram for the King”), sounds very accurate re: an alarming percentage of the Religious Right in this country: outward religiosity and piety mask a moral and physical rot that fits seamlessly into the world of globalized capitalism http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_mirage_of_our_lives_20120827/ This “seamless fit” is exactly what the Continue Reading
This whole rape can’t cause pregnancy thing has me thinking abou the tentacles of this current of “God will protect us from ourselves” mentality of the right wing (both the political and the theological). The notion that God won’t let pregnancies happen from rape is a form of this. The “free market fundamentalism” is a form of this (and also, Continue Reading
Brian Merritt has written an excellent OccupyTheology sermon. The only thing I dont like about it is that there are too many great things in it I want to quote in full. I am told by a prepackaged and consumeristic society that there are non-threatening and easy answers to societal’s ills. The reality is that recycling will not save the planet, voting Continue Reading
in this video, Chris Hayes talks about the way elites and their clubs stick together vs even the people they ostensibly are there to serve (priests in Catholic Church vs their parishoners, or the government and corporations vs thier constituents and/or customers). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDaFVjaZr7w&feature=plcp This is a good angle also for the financial system, and for a headlong dive into many Continue Reading
I asked Lisa Sharon Harper of Sojourners about her thoughts on the Occupy Movement, and she said something we don’t hear much amidst all the uproar about the “middle class” being under assault. While the economic figures about the shrinkage and stagnation of wages in the middle class make for a wider audience from which to garner movement support, what Continue Reading
This kind of blows their image as having Catholics on their side as well. The nuns represent the “live it out” segments of the church. Republicans, especially the right-wing chairman of the House Budget Committee who inspired the tour in the first place, are generally dismissive of their pleas http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/07/12614620-this-week-in-god This is what the GOP has been doing for 30+ years. Continue Reading
John Locke, the guy synonomous with “Reason” with revolutionary words “Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power,†wrote the philosopher John Locke, “they put themselves into a state of war with the people who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience.†http://dgrnewsservice.org/2012/07/05/chris-hedges-time-to-get-crazy/
Brian McLaren, another participant/speaker at Wild Goose later this week on Occupy: public spaces—from economic markets to political processes—have been colonized by powerful corporate elites (the 1 percent, or maybe the 10 percent), elites driven not by an ethical vision but by the relentless demand to maximize shareholder return. The 99 percent are realizing how destructive this colonization of public Continue Reading