Smears motives of authors, complains that Ted Haggard and Rick Warren have signed.

Several weeks before Senator Obama's controversial-but nevertheless -landmark-speech at Jim Wallis' Call to Renewal conference last week.  The senator's office, some weeks ago, arranged a post-speech interview with Pastordan at Street Prophets.

Pastordan used the occasion to, among other things, get Senator Obama's response to critics (I am certainly one of those) who say that he had adopted the frame of the religious right in the way he addressed secularists.  (I think Senator Obama evaded and pooh poohed the matter.) But the interview and the comment thread are worth a read; and are an important part of the widening conversation launched by Senator Obama's speech.

While reading the article, I felt a bit lost. When was he going to address the words of his thought provoking title “The Lure of Theocracy”--in regards to our own culture? On and on he went about Islamic history and how it made their cultures all encompassing theocracies today. Finally, in the very last paragraph he made his point as to what all this Islamic background stuff was leading to:
“Hearing firsthand about Islamic culture,” he wrote, “increased my understanding, but it also made me nervous about my own society. The very things we resist in Islam, some Christians find tempting. We, too, seek political power and a legal code that reflects revealed morality. We, too, share a concern about raising our children in a climate of moral decadence. We, too, tend to see others (including Muslims) as a stereotyped community, rather than as individuals. Will we turn toward our own version of the harsh fundamentalism sweeping Islam today?”

I know this is presumptuous but it is tempting to imagine CT’s editorial meetings and how they might discuss the different ways to report the rising negative influence of the Evangelical political right and the use and abuse of theocratic rhetoric that pervades the very organizations that pay big money to advertise in their magazine. Yancey’s approach was so cautious that most readers no doubt will get lost and miss the point so indirectly formulated in the very last sentence. Had I not been an active talk2action reader and looking for some answers, his point would have passed me by. Still he made the point and I thank Yancey for taking CT a step in the right direction. Who knows, it may have taken much courage to say anything at all.

I've been working on transcribing the Presiding Bishop Elect of the Episcopal Church Katharine Jefferts Schori's interview on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Here's an interesting piece...

Christy George: It's quite interesting, I heard Bill Bennett, the conservative culture czar--who you may have seen roaming around the casinos of Las Vegas recently, who knows! (Laughter) He said on television not long ago that he realizes, he acknowledges that the fight over gay marriage is over, effectively in America. It's just a matter of time before--he doesn't agree with that, but he says "We, meaning the conservatives, have lost the battle."

I wonder if anyone out there can answer this question:

There are a bunch of different groups, as far as I can tell, that take the name of "Joshua Generation" or "Generation Joshua". There's the group headed by Ned Ryun: do all the others ascribe to his idelogy? Are they formally linked? How can one tell the differences, if any?

I have had several of these stories forwarded to me lately and I think it's important to report them. I think it's important to never purchase a pig in a poke. If American wants the Christianists to run the country instead of a secular government, it's good to see what life would be like after the change-over.

Defenders claim address was out of date

VaMPKiSS1 at Dailykos just woke up. She or he wrote:

God help us. Or stop helping us. Something help us. It's happening, and I can see it, but some days it feels like no one else can. I wonder if the Germans felt this way in 1937?

VaMPKiSS1, some of us have been sounding the alarm for twenty-five years and more.

What was the cause of this sudden awakening? A picture and artilce in the New York Times of a replica of the Statue of Liberty made for a megachurch in Memphis.

[ note : this is a playfull repackaging of Fred Clarkson's 'Who's Secular Now ?' quiz ]

Take the "secular fundamentalist" who said what pop quiz  !

Everybody seems concerned about issues of church/state separation these days, but how good are you at parsing the speech of politicians and religious leaders whose use coded language that attacks [sometimes unintentionally] the principal of church/state separation ?

What if theocracy - or 'theocracy lite' were being advanced slyly, as a concept, in another guise and you didn't even notice because it was so slyly hidden ?

[note: the image on the left is not an example of 'slyly hidden']

Well, theocracy - or the 'lite' version of it - is indeed being advanced in another guise, and sometimes the people doing that don't even know they are doing it.

Language is viral.

Ideas are viral.

Here's a viral idea that has infected the minds of many - including many on the left.

It goes like this :  

How can old friends on different sides of the debate find common ground?

Kareiva: "I am pleased that we had an effect in this case...I'm not so sure I can take credit for it."

The Texas Faith Network - a project of the Texas Freedom Network has launched an important new campaign : Respect Our Faith

Here's an excerpt from the project press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 29, 2006

AUSTIN - As election season heats up, an interfaith group of clergy is launching a campaign to protect Texas churches and other houses of worship from partisan political battles.

"Dragging churches into partisan politics endangers the integrity of our houses of worship and is disrespectful of the faith and beliefs of all congregants," said Father Samuel Hose, pastor of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Round Rock.

Hose and more than 100 other Texas clergy have already signed on to the Respect Our Faith campaign. The Texas Faith Network, a project of the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, is sponsoring the campaign.

The campaign calls on clergy and laypeople to pledge to promote civic engagement in congregations while still protecting sacred spaces from partisan politics. These pledge signers will also work to educate congregants about the campaign.

"This campaign is not intended to make houses of worship `politics-free' zones," said Rabbi Neal Katz of Congregation Beth El in Tyler. "The goal is to stop politicians from using our sacred spaces to divide people of faith for partisan political gain."