Conference Next Weekend

The Western Fellowship of Professors and Scholars meets Oct 19-20 in Manhattan, Kansas.  I will be posting the rest of the schedule, but here are the themes for the breakfast panel discussion.

1.  New Interest in Modern Pentecostalism’s Kansas Origins, Dr. Robert D. Linder

Professor Linder is Kansas State University Distinguished Professor
(Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1963): History of Modern Christianity from the Reformation to the Present; History of Religion and Politics in Europe, Australia and the United States.

Greatest quote: “History, religion, politics, baseball! These are the important things of life. What else is there?” — Professor Bob Linder

2.  Renaissance Adorations and the Black Magus: Interpreting an Iconographic Transformation, Tamica L. Lige

 Until the middle of the fifteenth century the iconography of the Adoration of the Magi remained fairly consistent, with three white kings shown arriving to pay homage to the Christ Child. Around 1450, however, a shift in representation occurred, and one of the magi was now portrayed in the guise of a black African. Scholars have put forward various reasons for the appearance of the Black Magus. One view suggests that the Magi are thought to represent the three known continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa and that the “blackness” of the Magus symbolizes his native land. A second links the Black Magus to sin and heresy due to medieval associations of blackness with death, the underworld, and witchcraft. Another examines the Queen of Sheba as an archetypal figure to the Magi and suggests that written descriptions of her blackness inspire the adaptation of a Black Magus in Adoration scenes. This paper builds on these theories, but argues that representations of the Black Magus also need to be analyzed within the contexts specific to individual works of art. To further this end, this study examines several European examples of the Adoration of the Magi through various lenses to discern meanings specific to each. In order to interpret the meaning of the Black Magus in these works, I will explore the relationship between the Queen of Sheba and the Magi, the effects of reformist ideas in Northern Europe at the time, and the role a patron’s interests play in the iconography of works they commission.

Tamica Lige, of Manhattan KS, is an Italian Renaissance art historian. Her work thus far has explored art patronage by elite families, iconography, and methodology. Ms. Lige’s interests generally surround religious works commissioned by lay patrons and range from architecture to painting.

The Underground Railroad in Kansas: Cooperation of God’s People, Karre L. Schaefer

 We will explore the little-known Underground Railroad in Kansas. Recently, scholars have found that contrary to original belief, African-Americans ran most of the Underground Railroads in the Eastern United States. However, as usual, Kansas is unusual.

Because of the lack of African-Americans in Kansas, the Underground Railroad was run by white Americans. Mostly, these consisted of various Protestant denominations who joined together to help African-American runaway slaves escape to Canada and Mexico.

Congregationalist members, such as the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church, while believing that the United States was an authority in place by God, chose to run the UGRR contrary to that authority. Working with the Quakers in Harveyville and other churches, an alternate route was created to throw the slave-hunters off track as they traveled up and down the well-known route. These men and women who ran this railroad believed they did so by authority of God Almighty. This was no small thing – harboring a fugitive slave in Kansas meant immediate death. This Railroad is a case where God’s people put their lives on the line so that others could be free. I will leave us considering whether we would do the same thing.

Karre Schaefer is a graduate student in the Political Science Department at Kansas State University. After receiving her BA in history, she set out to explore why people did what they did, and found herself concentrating in Political Thought. Ms. Schaefer combines political thought, religious thought, Biblical principle as well as enlightenment to seek answers to why social movements occur and their long-term effects.

Peck to Sponsor Fair Trade Bill

Representative Peck has introduced a bill to ban any government agencies, including vending machines in the capital building, from purchasing Hershey’s products until the company pledges to oppose child labor and engage in fair trade practices.  Chris Kobach is cosponsor, and Governor Brownback has pledged to sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk.

More Information here.

Faith in Reason?

Bill Moyers notes a  study from the University of Michigan “deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information.”    The study found that when people who had been misinformed “were exposed to corrected facts in new stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs.”

We often base our opinions on our beliefs … and rather than facts driving beliefs, our beliefs can dictate the facts we chose to accept. They can cause us to twist facts so they fit better with our preconceived notions.”

This explains a lot about politics.

I would also like to point out something about faith and reason, from a Christian point of view.

It is not an empirical reality that people in fact live according to reality and make decisions according to reason.  Reason is an ethical imperative.  We ought to live according to truth, reason, and reality.  The common human refusal to face reality is another name for sin, collusion in willful self-deception.

Faith, in the Christian sense, is not about clinging to irrational beliefs in spite of facts.  Faith is a commitment to living according to justice, peace, and truth.  Life according to justice, peace, and truth is the Way of Jesus Christ; and it includes making decision according to reality.

One fact of recent history is that the Wall Street High-rollers reckless ways destroyed the economy, forced middle-class taxpayers to bail them out, and made billions in personal profits in the process.  People are justifiably angry but they have no way to pour out their wrath on the guilty.  So they look for a target nearer at hand and they find the people who cut our meat, harvest our vegetables, changes the sheets in our hotels and perform other dangerous, difficult, or menial tasks that we prefer not to do ourselves.

We can’t punish them directly, so instead we choose to punish their children.

The children of undocumented workers have broken no laws.  The state representatives today voted to punish them by tripling their tuition rate if they chose to go to college in the only home state they know.

This is not a solution to any real problem.  It will not increase revenue, it will only prevent the kids from getting an education and contributing to the state economy.

Maybe our state senate will show more wisdom.

Presidents Day

I liked it better when we celebrated Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays.  I’m not sure a president should be celebrated just for getting elected.  He should have to do something, take a courageous stand maybe.

But I’m celebrating Presidents Day anyway, because I am glad we have 4-year, two-term max, presidents rather than hereditary monarchs, Presidents for life, Beloved Leaders or whatever else dictators call themselves.

The citizens of Wisconsin are showing there governor that he is an elected public servant subject to the laws of the land.  He cannot arbitrarily cancel contracts or take away the rights of teachers and other state employees to representation.

I am ashamed at house of representatives in my state who think that punishing the children for the sins of the fathers and mothers will somehow improve the economy.

Maybe the state senate will be wiser and more compassionate.

Children who came to this country under the age of 18, regardless of the circumstances, broke no law.   They grew up here, they have no other home.  If they stayed in school, stayed out of trouble, and graduated from high school, they should be welcome in our state’s colleges.

I hope one of our state legislators will introduce a law requiring citizenship class in high school for students who do not have legal citizenship.  I suppose states cannot grant U.S. citizenship, but they could grant a certificate of state citizenship to all students who graduate from high school in one of the state’s public schools.

Where is the Outrage?

Does anyone remember Terri Schiavo?  She had suffered severe brain damage and was unresponsive: her husband asked the hospital to remove the machines that were keeping her heart pumping, but her parents clung to the hope that she would recover.

Pro-life conservatives were outraged that the courts finally ordered the hospital to follow her husband’s, rather than her parent’s wishes.

I am pro-life.  I don’t believe in killing people unless it is absolutely necessary, or in letting them die due to neglect when it is in our power to save a life.  I don’t believe in unnecessary abortions, unnecessary wars, capital punishment, the excessive use of force by law enforcement, or passing by on the other side of the road when someone is dying.

I think we should always give the benefit of the doubt to life.  I don’t believe you can put a financial value on a human life.  I don’t believe we as a nation (or any of the the fifty states) will ever be in such economic distress that we will have to make the decision to let people die.

When Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed, many political commentaries called it an “execution.”

What do you call it when the state of Arizona cuts off financial support for people who need transplants? These are people who want to live and are capable of making their wishes known.  One is a father of six children.  Wouldn’t pro-life, pro-family people want to keep him alive?

If the state of Arizona is too poor to keep him alive, can’t the federal government step in with a minor bail out?

I don’t think anyone should exploit the tragic massacre in Tuscon for political purposes.  But maybe we could take the opportunity to express our support to the state and say,

We are all Arizonians now.  Let us help you take care of your citizens who need life-saving surgery.

Death Squads in Arizona

Two of the 98 citizens sentenced to die by the Arizona legislature have died already.  These were people on a transplant list.  The state legislature sentenced them to die when they canceled state funding for the procedures.

Story and You Tube here.

There are no nuances to this story, no “spin.”  The legislators made the decision to let these people die, to save money, and the governor signed the bill.

The Nasty Campaign

I live in a one-party state; at least when it comes to the race for the senate, and the primary campaign has really gotten nasty.  One of the candidates accused his adversary of wanting to give constitutional rights to terrorists.

The first casualty of politics is logic.

I see two problems with the underlying premise that terrorists should not be given constitutional rights.

1.  Who decides who is a terrorist?

Unless there is some sort of due process or oversight, there are only two options–the civilian branch of government or the military: either the president or the commanders on the ground.  I can’t believe that conservatives, given the fears they have of the president, would want to give him the power to declare someone a president and make him disappear without any kind of public notice.  And it has been proven that in the heat of battle, and lacking a knowledge of the language, the military has made mistakes.

2.  Who gives us our rights?

It is un-American to believe that congress gives us our rights.  According to the Declaration of Independence, we are granted inalienable rights by our creator.  Those who live under a monarch may believe their rights are granted by the king; those who live under organized atheism may believe they are granted by the state; but our heritage tells us human rights are granted by the creator and the role of government is to protect these rights.

But now some politicians want us to believe that there is a class of people who are entitled to no rights at all, neither the rules of war nor the laws of our land.  Once defined by the undefined authority as terrorists, they have no right to a trial or protection from torture.

Whatever happened to the idea that if we let terrorists make us abandon our own ideals, they win?

Confessions of a Hedge Fund Manager

It all started a few years ago when I was getting bored with my job.  I mean there are only so many legitimate ways you can invest other people’s money.  Then we had a convention in Las Vegas, and it occurred to me: These guys know how to have fun and make money.

So I hired a couple creative young guys–persuaded them to drop out of college.  They came up with this beautiful scheme–synthetic assets, virtual cash flow, bundled derivatives–it was beautiful; so complicated no one could understand it.  What it boiled down to was this: We sell bundles of bad mortgages to pension plans, then we buy insurance policies betting that the mortgages go bad.

I said no one could understand it: that’s not quite true.  Some of the legal boys said, the only problem boss, is it’s illegal.  So we get a few more bright kids to drop out of college and send them to Washington as lobbyists.  They sell the idea that burdensome and obsolete banking regulations are stifling the economy and keeping us from competing.  We send a few senators to a resort in the Caribbean to think it over, and pretty soon they see things our way.

Then, here’s the beauty of it.  The bonuses are rolling in, then one of those bright kids in accounting says, “Boss, we’ve got a problem.”  He tells me the whole world economy is about to tank, and the big banks are going under.  Then another bright kid gives me an idea.  “No way they’re going to let it happen.”  I see he’s right.  So I start investing in those banks that we ruined by selling them toxic assets.

Now I own the banks that the poor working schmucks bailed out–and I give myself a big bonus from the bail out money we brought in.  Now the Fed is loaning money at 0.5 % interest; I’m taking it and buying treasury bonds that pay 3%.  I’m using the taxpayer’s money to loan money to the government to pay back the bailout money that’s paying my bonuses.

But one of the bright kids in public relations says, Boss, the tax payers aren’t stupid.  They’re going to demand some of that money back.  They might suggest a sur-tax of 5% on incomes above 1 million dollars or something.

So I hire a public relations firm to stir up “grass roots” support and plan these tea party events to protest against anyone raising my taxes.  They even have a Tina Fey look-alike drawing big crowds.

Charlie was my best friend in college. Poor guy wasted his life if you ask me; became a basketball coach.  His team made it to the Final Four last year, and now he’s making a million and a half a year.  A million and a half!  How does anyone live on that?

What’s worse, his daughter went to college to become a teacher.  And now the schools are laying off.  Charlie says he’s going to help her out.  Like he can afford to on his miserable pay check!  If you ask me, it was her choice to throw her life away.

Sure I could buy her a school if I wanted to.  It’s not easy to spend $3 million a day!  I buy a nice house in Miami on Monday, on Tuesday I make a down payment on one in San Francisco and finish paying on Wednesday–pretty soon I have houses in all fifty states, and it’s only February!

I could buy her a school.  But she had her choice.  She could have chosen a responsible career like I did.

[Note: The top 30 hedge fund managers averaged one billion dollars each in salary and bonuses last year. ]

How (Not) to Pick a Church

Radio personality Glenn Beck doesn’t say you have to join his church and become a Mormon, he simply says you should run from any church that has the words “social justice” in its website.  He says “social justice” are code words for Nazi, Fascist, and Communist policies.

The conservative Christian magazine Christianity Today disagrees on what social justice means.  CT says it is simply the application of Christian principles of compassion, fairness, and human rights–beliefs that come from the heart of the gospel.

Maybe the word “social” is redundant.  Justice implies conditions involving more than one person, and so is inherently social.  The prophet Micah declared there are only three things God requires,

To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Amos, another prophet from the 8th century before Christ declared,

Let justice roll on like a river.

Jesus criticized those who obsessed over the observance of religious minutiae, but neglected the weightier maters of the law:

justice, faithfulness, and mercy.

Memorial to Deserters

In 2005 a memorial was erected in Ulm, Germany, to German soldiers who deserted the Nazi cause during WWII.

What do you think, did they do the right thing?

Is it right to honor them?

During WWII the Nazis executed over 15,000 deserters.

Stalin’s army executed 158,000 of their own for the same reason.

The United States executed one, private Eddie Slovik (played by Martin Sheen in the 1974 movie “The Execution of Private Slovik”).

During the civil war deserters were executed when they could be caught (as portrayed in the book and movie “Cold Mountain).  Still, over 100,000 from each side deserted.

I’d Love to Change the World

So, a Christian is someone who wants to change the world.  Since I’m trying to be clear, maybe I had better add the words “for the better.”  Many people have changed the world for the worse, but I  want to make the world a better place.  Maybe this is obvious, but I can think of three common objections; and I’d like to consider them before going on.

1. There are a lot of people who want to change the world.
   
2. I thought you Christians were only interested in another world.
3. What does faith have to do with it?

There are a lot of people who want to change the world for the better.  There are a lot of people who care about war, poverty, disease, oppression, injustice, global warming, education.  There are a lot of people who have compassion and are doing something about it.

That’s great, the more the better.  I’m not trying to prove that Christians are better than other people or the only ones who care.  I’m just saying, if you are a Christian you should care.  I am saying among those who care, Christians are included.  In the civil rights movement, in health clinics around the world, in organizations like physicians without borders, engineers without borders, amnesty international, Christians work side by side with people of other faiths and people of no faith.

Christians want to go to heaven when they die, yes.  I recently wrote about my aunt’s passing, and I’m glad my family has the hope that she lives now in the presence of God.  When I think about Jesus’ teaching about the final great judgment one thing stands out.  We will have to give an account for how we have treated the poor in this world, here and now.  Belief that there is a better world coming motivates us to do what we can to improve conditions in this world.

What does faith have to do with it?  When we lived in Memphis I met a woman who had worked in the juvenile justice system for about thirty years.  Trying to make conversation I said,

It must be difficult work.

She agreed.  But then, wanting to say something positive I said,

But it must be gratifying when a young person comes back some day and says, “Thank you, you helped me turn my life around.”

She said,

That has never happened.

I’ve thought about that ever since.  Whatever it was that kept her going–I have to admire it.  For me, I need either to see results or at least to trust that it’s all in someone’s hands who is bigger than me.

Christians believe that changing the world is God’s work.  But he has called us to participate in his work.  A Christian is someone who wants to participate in what God is doing in the world.  Our motto is not pray instead of working but work and pray.

Conscience and Nursing

Lethal injection is considered a humane and sanitary means of dispatching convicted murderers.  Inserting an IV requires skill and training.  Here is what one nurse says,

Past experiences influence my belief that the essential vein will not be accessed on the first try. Despite the diminutive size of the needle, there is still pain with it’s insertion.

Worse than blood draws is the starting of an IV for either medication or for hydration. Now, we’re talking about a much larger IV needle. I have started IV’s for 30 years and never had one myself until six years ago, where it took the nurse four tries before she called another nurse to successfully start my IV. The first nurse was frustrated which only added to her difficulty with each of her next several attempts. I was so tense, that my veins went into hiding, “determined” to not be accessed by anyone!  (More here)

So, if we are going to have lethal injections we need trained professionals, specifically nurses, to do the deed.  But what if most nurses are conscientiously opposed to killing? When the federal prison in Indiana needed an executioner for Timothy McVeigh in 2001, they had to go all the way to Missouri to find a nurse willing to inject the poison cocktail.  David Pinkley was on probation in a plea bargain after stalking and threatening another man and his family.  He was willing to use his medical skills to end the life of America’s most notorious mass murderer (more here).  Presumably, he followed procedure and used an alcohol swab before delivering the potion (see Why an Alcohol Swab).

What would happen if all nurses refused to volunteer for the work of execution?  Would there be some sort of draft?  Would it be like jury duty?

Should nurses who conscientiously object be protected–or should they be fired if they refuse a summons to execution duty?

Do we want health care professionals with a conscience, or do we want doctors like Joseph Mengele and his subordinates who mindlessly followed his orders?

(More at Amnesty International)

Pro Conscience

Whether one is pro-life or pro-choice, it is hard for me to see how any thinking person would not be pro-conscience.  President Obama is requesting comments on the proposal to rescind provisions protecting health care professionals from discrimination if their conscience will not allow them to participate in procedures such as abortion, sterilization, or research they consider unethical.

Current regulations protect health care workers who choose to follow their conscience in these matters.  The proposal to rescind these regulations would take them away.  Those who favor abolishing the protections argue that services might not be available to patients, particularly in rural areas.

It seems to me that firing conscientious doctors and nurses would take a lot of good people out of the system.  But this is democracy:  Now until April 9 is the time to speak your mind.

Comments may be submitted electronically on the Web site http://www.Regulations.gov (by entering 0991-AB49 in the search box–or click here) or via e-mail to proposedrescission@hhs.gov. Attachments may be in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or Excel, but Microsoft Word is preferred.

By mail, one original and two copies of written comments may be sent to: Office of Public Health and Science, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: Rescission Proposal Comments, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Ave. SW, Room 716G, Washington, DC 20201.

Source: CNS

How Many White Men Does it Take . . . ?

OK, the answer is–whatever the punchline–

That’s not funny!

I was going to ask, “How many white men does it take to say a bland and boring prayer?” But it turns out that white guys are more sensitive than I realized.

Some of my brethren were offended and hurt by the Rev. Joseph Lowery’s rhyming conclusion to his inaugural benediction.

That’s right, the same people who are afraid that Hate Crime legislation might stifle their freedom of speech, the good ol’ boys who laughed at all the wrong places in Gran Tourino, the gentlemen who can sling around racist and sexist remarks and then respond to anyone who raises an eyebrow–

Oh, I forgot–it’s not politically correct (snicker) to say that!

All my rowdy buddies might not be able to enjoy Superbowl Sunday, because their feelings have been hurt, their inner child wounded.

And what were the offending words? Well, it was more what he implied than what he said . . . But when Rev. Lowery implored the Lord to help–

White embrace what is right–

why some sensitive souls took that to suggest that maybe some white folks some of the time might not always embrace what is right.

Surely he wasn’t thinking of way back in 2008 when crowds at Republican campaign rallies shouted, “Kill him!” when Obama’s name was mentioned.  That’s living in the past, man.  Why can’t he get over it?

Me? I can’t shoot a jump shot and I can’t dance, but I do have a sense of humor.  Lowery’s rhyming cadences were a light-hearted reminder that the times are a’changing, but there are still some  changes needed.  It made the prayer, colorful, even fun.  The two prayers that were broadcast, and the one that HBO censored, represented the diversity (sorry white guys, didn’t mean to offend you again) that makes up our country.

(Click here for the text of Lowery’s Inaugural Benediction.)

A Post-Racist World

Two years ago Jürgen Moltmann was interviewed on his 80th birthday.  The interviewer asked him if young people need to be given more evidence for belief in God.  Looking back over the horrors of the earlier years of the twentieth century and then the amazing changes that came in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he said,

We’ve seen so many signs and wonders in our lifetime.

He referred to the peaceful end of apartheid in South Africa, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Velvet Revolution in Prague, and the end of oppressive regimes throughout Eastern Europe.

Forty years ago it was just a dream that people would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.  Now it is a reality.

Tomorrow we will inaugurate our first Hawaiian-born president.  The nationality of his father and the complexion of his mother did not matter.  People voted either for or against Barack Obama based on their perception of his leadership qualities and the political platform he espoused.

Of course, there were a few during the campaign who tried to appeal to the race card, those who appealed to base motives, those who promoted racist jokes and songs.  There are still a few who always include his middle name–pronounced with a sneer.  But they had no influence.  The belong with the shrinking crowd of those who still deny that cigarette smoking causes cancer.

Philip Yancey’s book Soul Survivor tells how his faith survived in spite of the failings of the church of his youth, an openly racist church.  The story is heart breaking.  But he also tells how he was inspired by those churches that supported the civil rights movement, those churches and Christian leaders who formed the heart of the movement.

I was asked yesterday what the Bible says about racism.  Racism, in the Nazi sense, was a twentieth-century mythology, a modern invention.  But there have always been ethnic, cultural, religious, and nationalistic divisions among people.  The Apostle Paul devoted his life to proclaiming the reconciling Gospel of Jesus Christ.  One passage that sums it up is Colossians 3:11.  Speaking of God’s intention to create a new humanity, he says,

Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.

The day after the election, my daughter, who lives in Harlem, saw an African-American boy, about ten years old, who was beaming.  “That means I can be president some day!”

It really is a miracle that I have seen the end of racism in my lifetime.

Is Compromise Possible?

I am stuck between two generations. Many people of my father’s generation cannot comprehend why anyone would approve of homosexual relationships–and many of my kids’ generation cannot fathom why anyone could possible be opposed to two people loving each other just because they happen to be of the same sex.

The Film “Trembling Before G-D” is a documentary about orthodox Jewish rabbis caught in this same bind.  They are trying to remain faithful to their binding traditions and laws; and at the same time to give compassionate spiritual guidance to gay members of their congregations.

Their Holy Book–the book of Leviticus in particular, the central book of the Torah–is responsible for the prohibition against “a man lying with a man as with a woman.”  They can’t deny the teachings of the Torah without denying their faith; nor can they deny their responsibility to teach the Torah in a way that enhances life and affirms human dignity.

They various rabbis struggle with multiple possible answers, none entirely satisfactory.  Two of their answers in particular intrigue me.  One said to the man he was counseling,

Everything you do throughout the day for your partner, acts of kindness, taking care of him, being faithful–that’s all good, it’s mikvot.  It’s just  that one thing you do that’s forbidden–

The other rabbi said,

“A woman comes to me with a question about a chicken.  I first say to her, ‘Tell me about your family.’”

I assume the question is whether the chicken is kosher, whether she can serve it to her family.  Maybe it fell out of a grocery bag into the street or something.  But his questions about her family mean his answer must be tailored to her needs and circumstances.  If her family is wealthy enough to buy another chicken, maybe he will counsel her to give it to a gentile neighbor.  But if her family is poor and her children need the nourishment, he will find a way to make the chicken kosher.

[Disclaimer: I saw this film over a year ago; the quotes above are from memory, and may not be verbatim.  See it yourself and tell me how close I got!]

Erich Honecker

Hmm–this is a post I started and never got around to finishing . . .  These are some things I collected just a couple months ago, when we were still gloating over the collapse of socialism.

Until 1990, East Germany was locked in the grip of communist rule. When East Germany’s communist government collapsed, former Party Chief Erich Honecker found himself without a job, without a home, without good health, without a pension and without a friend in the whole country, except for his wife, Margot.

In spite of the nationwide hatred of the former dictator, the family of Lutheran pastor Uwe Holmer took Erich and Margot Honecker into their own home to live with them. This act of compassion is even more amazing when you take into account that Johannes Holmer, the oldest son in the family, had been denied entrance to a university because of his Christian faith. In fact, the official denial had been approved by the former Minister of Education-Margot Honecker herself!  God’s Mission Promises

In January of 1990 after the fall of the Berlin wall Erich Honecker, the brutal and hated dictator of East Germany, found himself sick and homeless. So despised was he that no one could be found to provide him shelter. They contacted Pastor Uwe Holmer who directed a church-run convalescent center in the village of Lobetal. Pastor Holmer had bitter memories of Honecker and his regime.

Honecker had personally presided over the building of the wall, the wall that separated Holmer’s family and kept him from attending his own father’s funeral. He had even greater reason to resent Honecker’s wife, who ran the East German ministry of education.

Holmer’s ten children had been denied admission to any university because of their faith. It would be easy for Pastor Holmer to turn Honecker away because the church’s retirement home was full and had a long waiting list. But because Honecker’s need was urgent, Pastor Holmer decided he had no choice but to shelter the couple under his own roof!

Pastor Holmer’s charity was not shared by the rest of the country. Hate mail poured in. Some members of his own church threatened to leave or cut back their giving. Pastor Holmer defended his actions in a letter to the newspaper. “In Lobetal,” he wrote, “there is a sculpture of Jesus inviting people to himself and crying out, ‘Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ We have been commanded by our Lord Jesus to follow him and to receive all those who are weary and heavy laden, in spirit and in body, but especially the homeless… What Jesus asked his disciples to do is equally binding on us.”  Creed

Honecker im Kirchenasyl. Gesprach mit Uwe Holmer (British Library Direct)

Uwe Holmer wurde 1955 Landpfarrer und erlebte die Zwangskollektivierung in seiner ersten Pfarrstelle Loissow (Mecklenburg); später wurde er Leiter und damit auch Bürgermeister der Hoffnungstaler Anstalten in Lobetal, sie waren 1905 eingerichtet worden, um Obdachlosen einen neuen Anfang zu ermöglichen; „Hier werde ich gebraucht” war seine Antwort auf Fragen, ob er nicht lieber in den Westen Deutschlands gehen wolle; sieben seiner 10 Kinder kamen in Mecklenburg zur Welt, keines von ihnen durfte zur DDR-Zeit eine höhere Schule besuchen; am 30. Januar 1990, wurde Erich Honecker, der ehemalige Partei- und Regierungschef der DDR, und seine Frau Margot, von der Pfarrersfamilie Holmer im brandenburgischen Lobetal aufgenommen; die Honeckers waren zu diesem Zeitpunkt praktisch obdachlos, weil sie in Wandlitz kein Wohnrecht mehr hatten und keiner ihrer Genossen bereit war, ihnen Asyl an zu bieten; „Vergebung statt Rache” praktizierte die Pfarrersfamilie im Selbstverständnis ihrer christlichen Überzeugung und stellte dem Ehepaar Honecker einen Teil ihrer Wohnung zur Verfügung; im Ruhestand ging Holmer nach Mecklenburg zurück und baute u. a. mit einem Freund eine Suchtklinik mit SOS-Station für Alkoholkranke auf; als Aushilfsseelsorger reiste er von Zeit zu Zeit nach Kasachstan und Kirgisistan, um an Bibelschulen zu lehren; Pastor Uwe Holmer fand es unwürdig, dass die Urne mit den sterblichen Überresten Erich Honeckers zehn Jahre nach dessen Tod noch immer in der Wohnung von Witwe Margot Honecker in Chile steht. „Im Saarland sollte es Ämter geben, die einen würdigen, sicheren Platz für seine Beisetzung finden”, sagte Holmer der “Bild”-Zeitung.  Chronik

NY Times mentions H’s lawyer

• “The Wall will be standing in 50 and even in 100 years, if the reasons for it are not removed.” (Berlin, 19 January 1989) (Original: “Die Mauer wird in 50 und auch in 100 Jahren noch bestehen bleiben, wenn die dazu vorhandenen Gründe noch nicht beseitigt sind“)

• “Neither an ox nor a donkey is able to stop the progress of socialism.” (A rhyming couplet in the original German: “Den Sozialismus in seinem Lauf, halten weder Ochs noch Esel auf“, Berlin, 7 October 1989)

• “The future belongs to socialism” (Original: Die Zukunft gehört dem Sozialismus) (early 1980s) (Wiki)

Candles behind the Wall

by John-Peter Pham

Candles behind the Wall
Barbara von der Heydt
William B. Eerdmans, 1993
266 pp. Cloth: $19.95
[ purchase this book ]

Since the collapse of the Soviet empire, legion has been the number of studies and theories seeking to explain how and why its end came about as it did. However, few are as convincing as that put forth by Barbara von der Heydt in her new book, Candles behind the Wall: Heroes of the Peaceful Revolution That Shattered Communism. Von der Heydt’s thesis can be summed up in a phrase: communism failed because it was unable to make people forget about God.  Acton Institute

Tragedy in Port Au Prince

While Americans were celebrating the selection of the first president of African descent last week, the tragic collapse of a school for poor children in Port Au Prince, Haiti, brought grief to that island.

“No one cares about the children, living or dead,”

one furious father of children in the collapsed school outside of Port au Prince, Haiti, swore Sunday in an interview.

“No one has come to provide any counseling to the children and families who survived. Nothing has been done for the families whose children died. The children now have no school and no books. They are sick and have nightmares. Government officials and people from all the NGOs, they all come, take pictures, make speeches and they leave us with nothing. We need action!”  (More)

Some of the people are blaming the minister of the church which ran the school, and he has received threats.  Most of the people in the community, though, blame the government for indifference, corruption, and lax oversight of construction standards.

One father cried out,

“Justice in courts in Haiti exists only for the people in the government and the people with money. When you are poor, your justice is in the Bible and in Jesus alone.”

Save the Children is one of many relief organizations helping out in Haiti.  The Mennonites have also been doing good work in Haiti for a long time and are well respected by the Haitian people.  Some of you may know of other organizations that are helping.  Who do you recommend partnering with?

Name Change?

When I started this thing, I didn’t know much about the format, layout, etc–I just signed up for a WordPress account and I had to pick a name–right now–so I started with “Faith and Alternatives.”  I kind of liked that, but I thought maybe it was a little confusing.  So I switched to “Faith Matters.”  That’s sort of what it’s about, but I don’t know, it sounds kind of bland.  I would like to use “Altercation” but “Cousin Eric” already uses that–and I don’t really think I enjoy a good fight as much as he does.  I thought about “Alteration” but then that would sound like a sewing site–So I’m trying out for now, “Alternation.”

What do you think?  About changing the name–does it just confuse things?  Is it unimportant?

And about the subject–of alter-nation:  Are we really a new nation?  Did the election alter everything? Are we now officially beyond racism?

Income Redistribution (Voodoo Economics -3)

In spite of the claim by advocates of Reaganomics that “the rising tide raises all ships,” the poor and middle class have seen their incomes fall during the recent economic boom.  Several policies of the “Reagan Revolution” have led to this kind of income redistribution from the poor to the rich.

The War on Unions:  Corporations are organized and the power structure is centralized; and in an economy with any substantial rate of unemployment, they have a tremendous power advantage.  Organizing and representation gave some power back to the workers.  During the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s union membership was strong enough to create a healthy middle class.  Even non-union workers benefited from the prevailing wage standards negotiated by the unions.

While many city and state governments during this period were rife with corruption, no one called for the abolition of government.  Yet anti-union forces used the fact of corruption in union leadership to discredit the concept of collective bargaining.

One of Ronald Reagan’s first acts as president was to destroy the air traffic controllers union.  Reagan had a legal and public opinion advantage in that the controllers were public employees and their strike was illegal.  Still, it was an impressive victory; people thought it couldn’t be done, because the air traffic controllers were a small corp of highly trained professionals, and the nation’s airline industry depended on their work.

The victory over this professional union emboldened private employers to break unions.  Frank Lorenzo took over Continental airlines and used the bankruptcy courts to cancel that airlines union contracts.  Now after more than thirty year of union-breaking activity, the percentage of employees in unions has fallen to 12 percent, down from 12.5 percent in 2005. Those figures are down from 20 percent in 1983 and from 35 percent in the 1950s.  (NY Times)

One union that remains strong, the teacher’s union (the NEA) is the constant target of attacks from conservatives, including candidate McCain.

Exporting Jobs. Under “free trade” agreements, factories have been closed and jobs have been shipped overseas.  According to Jim Webb of Virginia,

Because of a perverse part of our tax code, moving manufacturing plants overseas is actually a profitable exercise for companies that wish to avoid paying corporate taxes (Roanoke Times).

Much of this “free trade” is hardly free or fair.  Countries such as China are unencumbered by enforceable environmental or child labor laws.  We export jobs to China and they export smoke and smog to California.  Further, many other competing countries have national health care, in effect subsidizing one of the highest costs American manufacturers face.

The result is that the ratio of the pay CEOs receive to that of average workers has skyrocketed in comparison with our own past history and international standards.  In 2007 the compensation for top executives “averaged 344 times the average U.S. worker’s pay. Thirty years ago, the ratio was about 35 to 1″ (Kansas City Star, Thursday, Sep 25, 2008).

“According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2006, the CEO to average worker pay ratio was 11 to 1 in Japan, 15 to 1 in France, 20 to 1 in Canada, 21 to 1 in South Africa, and 22 to 1 in Britain” (Pepperdine).