A Prize Endorsement?

The McCain campaign announced that Pastor John Hagee has publicly endorsed the senator. This is interesting on many fronts.

Within the Republican Party, going back to the days of Ronald Reagan, if a candidate did not have the imprimatur of the evangelicals (aka, quite conservative Christians), there was no hope for advancement. McCain has been struggling to shore up his conservative credentials, even as he has been vilified by many in the pantheon of Republican/conservative talk show radio hosts, e.g. as in Limbaugh's attacks on him. Now, McCain has gratefully accepted this endorsement that must be seen as manna from heaven for the campaign.

Mike Huckabee has long been thought to be the only legitimate choice for conservative Christians. Huckabee's credentials would seem to be impeccable. He is an ordained Southern Baptist minister; he supports all of the "right" causes in the "right" way, and then some - Huckabee has gone on record supporting a Colorado bill calling a fertilized egg "a person"; he even preached at Hagee's mega-cathedral at Christmas time. This endorsement must be a bitter blow to Huckabee, despite other conservative Christian leaders who have suported him.

The only problem with all of this for many Americans - and I would hope many Republicans -would be some of the stands that Hagee has taken. Hagee is one who claims that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment on New Orleans for their tolerance of homosexuality. Hagee opposes any concessions by the Israeli government to bring about a lasting peace in the Middle East; instead, he has criticized cease-fires, believing that Israel should go through and eliminate all of the Muslim groups that "threaten" the nation. In fact, Hagee seems to support a joint Israeli-American pre-emptive strike against Iran.

I have to wonder whether this endorsement is as much of a prize as McCain's campaign suggests. Since many political talking heads called for Obama to distance himself from the views of his pastor, will they do the same for McCain and Hagee? It will be interesting to see.

American Religious Landscape

Much is being made of the new Pew Center Report on religion in America (http://pewforum.org/) and rightly so. The survey got responses from more than 35,000 people across the country so that a better picture of the nature of the American religious landscape can be seen.

Most of the news reports about the survey that I have read zero in on the shifting religious affiliation of the American people. Respondents to the survey were asked to identify in what faith group they were raised as a child and what their current religious affiliation is. There were clear gainers and losers in this. The two groups that had the most significant net loss are the Catholics, with a 7.5% loss, and the Baptists, with a 3.7% loss. The two groups with the largest net gain are the Unaffiliated, with a gain of 8.8%, and the non-denominational, with a gain of 3.0%. This puts the Unaffiliated segment as the fourth largest 'religious' group in the country.

I am still reading the survey, so I reserve the right to comment on it again, but I do wonder what any of you who may be reading this think about these trends and whether you have 'switched' religious affiliation.

My previous attempts at generating 'audience participation' on this blog have been wildly unsuccessful. Yet, hope springs eternal and all that, so I invite comments - operators are standing by.

To Be Fair

In my post entitled "To Hijab or Not To Hijab," I mentioned a school in Kansas that refused to allow a female basketball official call the high school male basketball team's game. The early report I read indicated that the school official said that it was because they do not believe a woman should have authority over males.

I have now found the press release from the school. I shall post it in its entirety and let the school official speak for himself.

Press Release - February 19, 2008

It was falsely alleged and widely reported that the decision of St. Mary’s Academy not to allow a woman referee to officiate at a basketball game was based upon the idea that women can never have authority over men. This alleged reason was neither stated nor is it held by any official of St. Mary’s Academy, as evidenced by the fact that the faculty and staff of St. Mary’s includes many honorable ladies of talent and erudition. Logically, St. Mary’s Academy, a Catholic institution, adheres in spirit and discipline to Divine Law. The Fourth Commandment obliges due honor to father and mother, as well as to all authority.

St. Mary’s Academy follows the directives of the Catholic Church regarding co-education. The Church has always promoted the ideal of forming and educating boys and girls separately during the adolescent years, especially in physical education (Cf. Divini Illius Magistri - Encyclical on the Christian Education of Youth, by Pope Pius XI, 1929 and The Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Religious on Co-Education, A.A.S., 25 (1958) pp. 99-103). This formation of adolescent boys is best accomplished by male role models, as the formation of girls is best accomplished by women. Hence in boys’ athletic competitions, it is important that the various role models (coaches and referees) be men.

In addition, our school aims to instill in our boys the proper respect for women and girls. Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we cannot place them in an aggressive athletic competition where they are forced to play inhibited by their concern about running into a female referee.

Rev. Fr. Vicente A. Griego
Headmaster, St. Mary’s Academy

Now, nothing that Father Griego wrote actually shows that he does not hold the view attributed to him. All he said was that such a view is not held by me or anyone at the school. There can be many honorable women of talent on the staff, and he could still hold the view attributed to him.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, though, do you buy the reasons he does give? Is it any better that he does not want a woman providing educational instruction for the "boys" in his school? His authority dates back to 1929 and 1958, not necessarily known for progressive ideas on gender roles. Furthermore, as a referee for a 32 minute high school basketball game - I think HS games are 4-8 minute quarters- I do not know that having a female official actually falls into the realm of role model - proper or not. Lastly, rarely is "running into" the ref any problem in a basketball game.

It might just be me, but I still think his reasons are flawed.

Necessary Reminders

This afternoon was the 17th Annual Celebration put on by the Alliance for African-American Music. Piedmont College and Covenant Congregational Church have been actively involved in this group for many years, so I am part of the Alliance and serve as Publicity Chair. The goal of the group is simple; using music, we work to create a muti-cultural, multi-racial, and inter-generational music program on an annual basis. Additionally, we collect an offering that funds a scholarship in music for a minority student at Piedmont College. Obviously, this is a fitting event for Black History Month.

The choir from the Shady Grove Baptist Church, an African-American congregation, closed the program, which was held at the Level Grove Baptist Church, a white SBC congregation. Bishop Burns, the pastor of Shady Grove, led the closing benediction. As he spoke in appreciation of the participants and worshippers at the event, he reminded us all that, at one time, his church would not have been welcome inside this year's host church.

Now, I am not a person of privilege. My family was not upper-class or even upper-middle class. Our home was in the "not as nice" part of town. I was the first in my immediate family group to graduate from college. Still, I know that, as a white male, I have enjoyed certain benefits just because I am a white male, even if they were not always immediately obvious to me.

Bishop Burn's comment and my reflections on my status put me in mind of an item in the latest issue of Christian Century. The item related a story from David Novak, a Jewish theologian, who was walking down the street in a southern town in 1963. The gutters of the street were filled with mud because of a heavy rain during the night. As Novak approached the synagogue where he would attend Yom Kippur services, an older black woman approached him. She stepped off the sidewalk, into the muddy gutter, to let him pass by on the sidewalk. According to the item, in remarking on the encounter, Novak said, '"So, on the holiest day of the year, when I was supposed to feel that I was being cleansed before God, I felt profoundly dirty, not for what I had done, but for what I represented" to this woman ...' I wonder how many people have figuratively 'stepped into the gutter' because of what I represented to them. I wonder how many have done so because of you?

A Matter of Scripture and Faith

This weekend was the inagural Piedmont College Conference on Religion and the Liberal Arts held at our Athens campus. As part of the planning group, I can safely say that the response to this was overwhelming. Originally, we thought it would be great if 75-80 folks were in attendance. I think there were more than 150 people in attendance.

Barbara Brown Taylor was the keynote speaker - with presentations on Friday night and Saturday morning - and preacher at the worship service on Saturday afternoon. Barbara selected the theme for the conference and used the Flannery O'Connor description of the South as "Christ-haunted."

My workshop, added within the last very few weeks due to the escalating registration, centered on the human qualities found within the sacred texts of other religious traditions. I think it went well. There were 29 in the morning session and 25 in the afternoon. I had a couple of participants who wanted me to deal with questions of salvation, which I avoided because that was not the subject of the workshop.

One of the participants defined truth in very Christological terms. Essentially, this person said that "truth" was a person, Jesus the Christ; therefore, this person does not think about the truth content in other religious traditions. That viewpoint raises many questions for me. Like, what does that say about the doctrinal and teaching content of religious traditions, including Christianity? And, how does one with this view have any productive and respectful interaction with an adherent of another faith? And, how does this deal with the same spiritual principles expressed in other religions before they were articulated in Christianity?

Ah well, as I expressed in the workshop, these are all questions that will take much honest dialogue to begin to resolve.

To hijab or not to hijab

Turkey is being rocked by a debate over whether to lift the ban on the use of the hijab by the women of the country. The hijab is the head covering used by the women to comply with the culture's understanding of appropriate female modesty in many Muslim countries. Compared to other forms of dress by Muslim women, the hijab is minimal. In more strict cultures, the women wear loose flowing clothes to hide the outline of the body or go so far as to wear a complete body covering, perhaps even wearing gloves to conceal the hands.

This is an issue because Turkish society has discouraged the use of the hijab from the very beginning of the country. When its constitution was written, Turkey chose to establish itself as a country based on secular law and not religious law. That is remarkable since Turkey is nearly 100% Muslim. Now, many people in Turkey want the ban on wearing the hijab lifted so that women, at all levels of society and in all circumstances, can wear it as they choose.

The issue of the hijab raises many questions that I am not qualified to address and will not attempt to do so. It does seem to me, though, that the debate highlights the issue of religious groups expecting the country's practices or laws to accommodate their own religious beliefs.

While it is easy to think this is an issue only with other people and other religions, it is just as much an issue in Western countries and in Christianity. For example, the abortion debate in America is largely framed by the conflict between religious law - it is against God's moral law to allow an abortion - and secular law - the laws of this country permit a woman to choose whether to continue a pregnancy.

But, it is not just in abortion where this comes into play. I think of those pharmacists who refuse to fill certain prescriptions because it violates their religious beliefs or those folks who want to dictate what is taught in science classes because of their religious views. There are some evangelical groups that try to influence American foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, based on their reading of scripture. In a situation that has happened recently, a church-related school in Kansas refused to allow a certified and qualified female basketball referee call the game for its male team because they do not believe that God allows a woman to have authority over a man. I wonder how this group feels about female judges or city council members making decisions.

The hallmark of a modern society is how well it accommodates differing perspectives, but, when religion plays a part, it becomes much harder for differing perspectives to co-exist. How can someone compromise on an issue or allow opposing views when she or he believes it is the will of God for it to happen in just one particular way?

While I slid into this topic by referencing a debate in Turkey, it seems that we, too, citizens of America, struggle with the question, if not with the particular application. I worry whether even we will allow enough space for reasoned conversations and civil discourse to take place on the issues.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

In a case of someone buying the wrong mailing list and contacting me, last Friday, I received an ad piece from “Quintess – The Leading Residences of the World.” This is a Time Share with a difference - a big difference from any I have ever seen before. When I was in seminary, Vicki and the boys and I went to hear a sales pitch in French Lick, Indiana. It was a standard package; two weeks in beautiful downtown French Lick in a hotel yet to be built with a bowling alley in it.

This company has properties in such places as London, Florence, Paris, Jackson Hole, Napa Valley, Los Cabos, and Maui. It claims that its properties are worth more than $4 million each. Further, the company provides 5-star service at each property.

Vicki and I popped the DVD that had been sent in and marveled. The screen was filled with images of white sandy beaches, massive and luxurious buildings, top flight chefs, expensive wine, and luxurious beds. In addition, this company has made arrangements with other companies near its properties so that the guests, for instance, could be given the keys to a top-end sports car to take a spin.

The DVD, of course, does not give any cost for such opulence. So, I went to the website. There were several “packages” available. The cheapest one required a $240,000 membership deposit - that is upfront, though it is refundable in the first year if you don't like it - with an annual fee of $18,750 - that is every year - to have 20 nights available at these fabulous places. For the top package, somebody would have to pay a membership fee of $850,000 and $66,500 per year. This would permit 75 nights in these great places.

Throughout each scene, the calm, persuasive voice talked about what a great value this is. It was a, "How can you put a price on such an opportunity to have pampered fun with your family and friends."

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?! Besides the fact that I am way too frugal, or cheap, to pay this much if I had the money, I could not even pay the annual fee for the “cheap” package. I guess some people have ponied up the money; Quintess says they have a 6:1 member to property ratio, which would translate to around 200 members. But, why would these people expend this much in such a conspicuous consumption?

As I gathered the facts about this company and their offering, I wondered whether these people who are the privileged members of Quintess donate as much money to charitable groups that provide medicine to children in Africa to stop diarrhea or measles or provide food to the hungry or education to Afghan children as they do to enjoy the finest service at top shelf resorts.

I have to wonder, “What were they thinking?”