The Roman Catholic Church went through the process and ritual of selecting the next Pope, the head of that institution. By all accounts Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man who has chosen the name, “Francis” has great humility. He cooked is own food, rode the bus rather than having a limo and doesn’t even wear flashy shoes. He is very concerned about the poor but the liberal media is in utter shock! The new pope is not in favor of same gender marriage or abortion. Not even contraception. Imagine, they hired a Roman Catholic to head the church! At times I thought some of the news personalities were going to become apoplectic. On one of the FOX shows Juan Williams expressed his dismay at the Pope’s lack of being up with the times and it was pointed out that the Pope is Roman Catholic and a requirement in taking the position is a pledge to uphold and defend the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Juan than said that lots of American Roman Catholics favor same gender marriage and abortion. The host then pointed out that the Church is NOT a democratic institution. Perhaps part of the problem is that our President and Congress also swear to uphold and defend the Constitution but once sworn in ignore their commitment and go on to do whatever they want in violation of the Constitution. Honesty, integrity and fidelity are not highly valued commodities among liberals and progressives. Continue reading …

The news has been filled to brimming with fodder for blogs the last couple of weeks. Conservatives went into a feeding frenzy with the declaration by Barack Obama: If You’ve Got A Business, You Didn’t Build That . His claim isn’t surprising in light of his overall worldview but to have it so clearly expressed in the political season was a bit jarring so some. The left is rushing to defend the idea that that we are products of our culture, surroundings and upbringing and therefore are only successful because of everyone else and all that went before us.

In the early morning hours of the 20th, as I was driving though California, the breaking news took over XM airwaves Continue reading …

Since, the holidays are over and school is about to reconvene, I am (to put it mildly) busier than a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest as we say in Mississippi. However, I wanted to revisit the discussion about Jesus and Social justice because we got such interesting responses. One good comment was about Christians who claim to be Communists or at least Marxists:

One teaching of Communism is that communism is completely anti-religious. Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, extreme Communists, both spoke out against religion altogether in rise of Communism. If Communism preaches against religion altogether, why would Jesus be a Communist? Doesn’t make sense for anyone to say that or think that if they any Biblical knowledge at all.

This is an important point. Can one be a communist without being an Atheist? Continue reading …

“What’s Christmas time… but a time for paying bills without money?” (Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol)

The meaning of Christmas seems to have been conflicted for a long time now. Charles Dickens well captured the view of the materialists in Ebenezer Scrooge. Is Christmas primarily about stuff? Getting deeper in debt without financially advancing oneself? I am not sure if people’s understanding of the celebration is better, worse or the same today. Our friend Pastor Keith did a Meaning of Christmas Survey A.D. 2010. Surprisingly a fairly high percentage of those surveyed had an accurate understanding of the Christmas celebration. I say surprisingly because Continue reading …

In last week’s blog, Was Jesus into Social Justice? Jonathan raised to assumptions that would seem to, as Jonathan put it, “are indeed hiding behind the furniture at Sojourners.” We had some great responses to the blog but I thought I would revisit the assumptions as we look at the politically incorrect Jesus.

1) Jesus would approve of redistributing wealth to create fairness.

2) The second assumption I find hiding in social conscience of the Evangelical left is that government is a neutral tool for securing social goods.

On the first assumption, we don’t really find Jesus being overly concerned with financial or material fairness. His concern seems to primarily be about man’s (and woman’s) heart for God. “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND” (Matt. 22:37) is the Great Commandment and from it flows the next, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

Our love for and devotion to God informs our actions toward others. Money and material stuff Continue reading …

So this is one of those YouTube . . . what are the young people calling it these days . . . “mash-up” of some comments by Jim Wallis calling for the redistribution of wealth in the name of social justice. Normally I would be wary of homemade videos of audio that can be taken out of context. However, in this case I’ll risk it in order to get at what I think are important questions about social justice. However I will leave it absolutely open that this video may be doctored or whatever to misconstrue what Jim Wallis thinks.

I think what surprises me the most about the progressive Christian movement exemplified by Wallis’ Sojourners and the Center for Progressive Christianity is Continue reading …

The story is told of football couch, Vince Lombardi’s exasperation with the team he had taken over, the Green Bay Packers and their seeming inability to turn around their 10 year losing streak. It is said that he called the team together and began with the following words, or something very similar:

This is a football. These are the yard markers. I’m the coach. You are the players

This all seems too basic that even reading it makes it sound silly and yet, sometimes the simple is deeply profound. When we lose sight of the basics, the core things, we are apt to wander off in ways that cause us great trouble. This happens to us as individuals, as teams, as corporations, as churches and even as nations. What are the basics define and direct who we are and what we are doing? As a nation the United States has as its founding document, something we might look at as the national birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence which begins with these words: Continue reading …