There’s a lot going on in the kindness world these days. USA Today is halfway through their Kindness Challenge, and I’m pretty sure next week is Random Acts of Kindness Week. I’m not sure exactly what the latter entails, but I’ll look into it.
Comedian Steve Harvey, one of the participants in the Kindness Challenge, has a foundation whose goal is to “share, teach and demonstrate the principles of manhood to young men, enabling them to achieve their dreams and become productive men who are balanced emotionally, politically and economically.” In 2011, he wants to expand the mentoring weekend program from LA and Dallas to New Orleans, Chicago, and New York.
When asked what advice he could give to other Challenge participants, Harvey answered:
“It’s great to have goals, of course, but there’s a saying, ‘Inch by inch, anything’s a cinch.’ Take one notch at a time. Then it’s not so daunting. You end up with a consistent feeling of accomplishment. So if your goal is to want to help 100 boys, help one first. Learn the process. Set the goal for that. Then help 5 boys. Then 20. And so forth.”
I rarely re-read books, but last summer I pulled Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle off the shelf and was blown away (again) by the story, the writing, and the expression of eyes-wide-open wisdom. I’ve always been a fan, which is why this article jumped out of the stream of bits and bytes and slapped me in the face this morning. It’s called “15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has or Will.”
I especially like #4 which comes from his novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. It’s part of a speech a character plans to give at the baptism of his neighbors’ twins:
“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
Nick Spencer wrote an interesting, provocative piece in The Guardian today called, “Christianity: A Faith for the Simple.” He cites some interesting statistics that show, among a pool of elite scientists, more are likely to be atheists than in the general population.
Does this mean that smart people don’t believe in God, but dumb people do? Some might make that leap, but Spencer states it might be wiser to keep your feet planted. Christianity, for one, was always intended as a faith for the simple:
“Odd as it may be to admit, there is some reason within the Christian tradition to think that Christian believers should, on average, be less intelligent, or at least less well-educated, than their opponents. Before atheists get too exited by this, it isn’t an admission that Christians are naturally stupid, though no doubt some will choose to read it that way.
Rather it is the recognition that there is a long-standing theme within Christian thought that sees the Christian message as having a particular appeal to the underclass, not only those socially and politically alienated, but also those the intellectually and educationally excluded.
Christ often remarked with particular relish, and disappointment, on the inability of the educated elite of his time to get what he was about.”
In Luke 6:37, Jesus makes it pretty clear that we are not to judge one another (lest we be judged ourselves). As such, He would probably not look favorably upon this list of the 50 Most Loathsome Americans.
Or would He?
Because the author, Ian Murphy, reserving the top spot for You (and me and all of us), is clearly willing to have ourselves be judged:
“Your brain’s been cobbled together over millions of years of blind evolution and it shows. You’re clumsy, stupid, weak and motivated by the basest of urges. Your MO is both grotesquely selfish and unquestionably deferential to questionable authority. You’re not in control of your life. You wear your ignorance like a badge of honor and gleefully submit to oppression, malfeasance and kleptocracy. You will buy anything. You will believe anything. You believe that evolution is a matter of belief. You likely scrolled down to #1, without reading the rest, because you’re an impatient, semi-literate Philistine who’s either unable or unwilling to digest more than 140 characters at a time. […] You believe in American exceptionalism despite the contrary, compelling and overwhelming evidence. You tacitly partake in all manner of atrocity without batting a lash. You’re actively participating in our species’ extinction and you’re either in denial or you just don’t give a shit.”
“When I first met Danny, he said, ‘Preacher, you need to know that I’m an atheist. I don’t believe the Bible. I don’t like organized religion. And I can’t stand self-righteous, judgmental Christians.’
I liked him right away!”
They become friends, have lots of talks about faith, and slowly Danny moves from atheist to agnostic to reluctant Christian minimalist. When Danny asks him the question that became the title of the book, Thielen first listed things that Christians DON’T need to believe. I liked the list:
• God causes cancer, car wrecks and other catastrophes
• Good Christians don’t doubt
• True Christians can’t believe in evolution
• Woman can’t be preachers and must submit to men
• God cares about saving souls but not saving trees
• Bad people will be “left behind” and then fry in hell
• Jews won’t make it to heaven
• Everything in the Bible should be taken literally
• God loves straight people but not gay people
• It’s OK for Christians to be judgmental and obnoxious
They say people don’t read anymore. Well, maybe nothing beyond 140 characters. We’ve got smartphones and iPads, and video trumps the written word. I’m not sure I buy that. Just in case, I’m going to give you two helpings of Martin Luther King, Jr. today:
For the readers among us, take a few quiet moments and wrap yourself around “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” It is so fantastic they should make everyone getting the day off read it.
And if you’d rather just watch, immerse yourself in his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Cathleen Falsani’s latest piece, “Is Evangelical Christianity Having a Great Gay Awakening?,” touches on a small, but growing movement among Evangelicals to be more welcoming to gays. Or at least stop throwing them on the eternal fire pits of Hades. She talks about her own encounters with friends who “came out:”
“According to biblical accounts, Jesus said very little, if anything, about homosexuality. But he spent loads of time talking, preaching, teaching and issuing commandments about love.
That was my answer: Love them. Unconditionally, without caveats or exceptions.
I wasn’t sure whether homosexuality actually was a sin. But I was certain I was commanded to love.”
She then talks to Jay Bakker (son of Jim) who’s the pastor of Revolution NYC, a bar-based congregation in Brooklyn:
“The truth is that the Bible endorses all sorts of attitudes and behaviors that we find unacceptable (and illegal) today and decries others that we recognize as no big deal. Leviticus prohibits interracial marriage, endorses slavery and forbids women to wear trousers. Deuteronomy calls for brides who are found not to be virgins to be stoned to death, and for adulterers to be summarily executed.
“The church has always been late. We were late on slavery. We were late on civil rights. And now we’re late on this.”
Bakker also talks about what he and other believe are incorrect translations of the original Greek in the Bible. Instead of “homosexuality” he feels the correct translation is about male prostitution and the men who solicit them.
Which, to me, is kind of beside the point. Just read the quote above again. That’s the crux. It also brought back all sorts of wonderful memories of the following clip. It might have been the first time my jaw literally hit the floor while watching TV.
What’s a Christmas season without a post about consumerism? As a person who went through 2009 without buying myself (virtually) anything other than food and energy, this post from Shane Claiborne was really fascinating to me.
Shane is an interesting, funny, charismatic dude. We featured a video of him speaking a few months back, and I always find his message to be relevant and lasered on point. He’s a Red-Letter Christian and works with the homeless in his neighborhood of Philadelphia. Read the whole post, but here’s a snippet to whet your appetite:
“I grew up in the Bible Belt. When I became a Christian, I learned I didn’t have to stop buying stuff — I just had to start buying Christian stuff. An entire world of retail spending possibilities lay before me: the Christian industrial complex. There were Christian t-shirts, bumper stickers, even Christian candy — “testa-mints” — peppermints wrapped in a Bible verse. We were taught “secular” was bad, and supplied with charts that countered popular mainstream bands with a Christian alternative. We burned our old tapes (which is what we listened to back in those days) and went to the Christian albums. We were often sadly disappointed. They just didn’t sound like Metallica. As a friend of mine quipped: “All these Christian artists say, ‘God gave me this song,’ and then you listen to it and know why God gave it away.” I later learned that Christian art doesn’t have to be a mediocre counterfeit of the original. And, I learned that Christianity is not about conforming to the world, but about being transformed by a God who is crazy about the poor, fond of toppling the powerful, and raising the lowly … and who I’m pretty sure would feel conflicted wearing a “God bless Rome” shirt or doting an “Army of One” sticker on the bumper of his SUV… I mean, hybrid. I mean donkey. Never mind.”
In the spirit of the Christmas season (which, by the way, would be nice all year long), I thought as we’re giving each other gifts, we might re-examine the true meaning of giving. That is, giving to those less fortunate who are really in need. Jesus had something to say about the subject:
“If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you.” – Matthew 5:40-42
Brought to present day, here’s a nice story of a Waukegan waitress who took Jesus’ instructions to heart (whether she knew it or not).
This piece, by Rose Marie Berger, puts Christians’ stance on repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) in an interesting light. A new Pew Research Center poll shows a majority of Americans, including Christians, now support allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, and with equal rights, in the military.
That’s great, Ms. Berger says. But what about how Christians feel about the military, in general? When Jesus says “Blessed are the peacemakers,” He’s saying war is wrong. Killing sons and daughters and husbands and wives to settle politicians’ debates is wrong.
She points out that early generations of Christians refused to participate in war. What about current generations?
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