We’re learning more and more about the ways in which our eating habits impact the natural world and contribute to global warming — check out the LA Times this morning! — but the connections between food, spirituality, planet care, and economic justice go even farther. Join PCU and our partner organizations for a unique afternoon of interactive learning and action when we tie it all together.
April 26, 2:00-5:30
Resource tables and registration open at 1:30
Simple communal dinner at 5:00
North Oxnard Methodist Church
1801 Joliet Place, Oxnard, 93030
* The Spirituality of Food: Jennifer Snow, Progressive Christians Uniting
* Creating an Organic Garden: Debi Markley, Organic Gardening and Herb Society
* Permaculture: Loren Luyendyk, Santa Barbara Organics
* Earth Friendly Cuisine: Gerri French, R.D. (Registered Dietician)
* Farmworker Living Conditions: Alice Linsmeier, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
* Farmworkers, Labor, and Pesticide Use: Dan Parziale, National Farm Worker Ministry
* Global Food Distribution and Shortages: Holly Hight, Bread for the World
RSVP requested for our food purchases; $7 donation requested. No one will be turned away! Contact Virginia Classick at or (818) 225-0410 with RSVP or questions!
I am sure that others besides me remember the extreme weirdness of a 1300-page USA Patriot Act that had already been drafted and thoroughly honed to gut the United States Constitution well BEFORE the attacks of September 11, 2001.
I remember this period all too well, even as I recall the rising gorge I experienced then in observing how ultra-reactionaries really do play for keeps.
OK, so the ultimate stakes may not be quite as huge. But just the same, my skin started to quiver and my gorge rose perceptibly yet again when the current Treasury secretary, Mr. Henry “Hank” Paulson of Goldman Sachs, rolled out his financial markets reform package over this past weekend.
And how very fascinating it has been to see how the corporate media, including allegedly liberal organs like The New York Times and NPR have been playing this.
They can’t help reporting that Paulson had wanted to put his reforms across earlier. They cannot help pointing out–however deferentially and delicately–that what Paulson really wants is regulatory agency consolidation without regulatory power: that, in actual fact, his scheme would considerably weaken the Securities and Exchange Commission’s existing powers.
Superficially, Paulson’s script is about the need to get a grip on the enormous unregulated capital flows currently controlled by the hedge funds and private equity firms that constitute the leading edge of what, back in the Age of Innocence, we used to call investment banking.
But on the absolutely essential regulatory point–that these high-stakes players no longer be allowed to do huge deals with none of their own money at risk, with only leveraged capital–Mr. Goldman Sachs takes a hands-off approach. Ditto for any regulatory demand that such firms and their accountants be able to report actual assets on actual balance sheets: the routine kind of reporting that you and I are routinely expected to provide as individual taxpayers and/or small business owners.
This conforms to The Hank’s stated belief that U.S. financial markets will lose out to foreign capital markets if we ask for more integrity and more accountability on the part of our financial firms. It hardly matters that this “competitive disadvantage” notion has no basis in reality. What matters is that this notion has been assiduously propagated over several years by the very same U.S. private equity firms whose captains pocket hundreds of millions in compensation each year–and who are still taxed at a mere 15 percent rate as a further reward for practicing unfettered greed with such panache.
And so, in a perverse plot twist that beggars the moral imagination, the precise moment when these big-money players have been caught with their pants down could well become their moment of anti-regulatory triumph.
That is, unless the Democratic leaders of the Democratic Congress speak up and speak out.
So far it’s not looking good. There are two key Democrats to watch: Barney Frank and Chuck Schumer. Both have already said that Paulson’s medicine is terribly weak, but neither has said that Paulson’s medicine is yet more poison.
From Ray McGovern, with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. He was an Army intelligence officer before joining the CIA where he had a 27-year career as an analyst. He is now on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Published today on www.consortiumnews.com.
After one spends 45 years in Washington, high farce does not normally throw one off balance. But I found the events of Thursday to be an acid test of my equilibrium.
I missed the National Prayer Breakfast—for the 45th time in a row. But, as I drove to work I listened with rapt attention as President George W. Bush gave his insights on prayer:
“When we lift our hearts to God, we’re all equal in his sight. We’re all equally precious. … In prayer we grow in mercy and compassion. … When we answer God’s call to love a neighbor as ourselves, we enter into a deeper friendship with our fellow man — and a deeper relationship with our eternal Father.”
Vice President Dick Cheney skipped Thursday’s prayer breakfast in order to put the final touches on the speech he gave later that morning to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Perhaps he felt he needed some extra time to devise careful words to extol “the interrogation program run by the CIA … a tougher program for tougher customers, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11,” without conceding that the program has involved torture.
But there was a touch of defensiveness in Cheney’s remarks, as he saw fit repeatedly to reassure his audience that America is a “decent” country.
After all, on Tuesday, CIA Director Michael Hayden had confirmed publicly that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other “high-value” detainees had been waterboarded in 2002-2003, though Hayden added that the technique had since been discontinued.
An extreme form of interrogation going back at least as far as the Spanish Inquisition, waterboarding has been condemned as torture by just about everyone – except the legal experts of the Bush administration.
On Wednesday, however, President Bush’s spokesman Tony Fratto revealed that the White House reserves the right to approve waterboarding again, “depending upon circumstances.”
Fratto matter-of-factly described the process still followed by the Bush administration to approve torture—er, I mean “enhanced interrogation techniques” like waterboarding:
“The process includes the director of the Central Intelligence Agency bringing the proposal to the attorney general, where the review would be conducted to determine if the plan would be legal and effective. At that point, the proposal would go to the president. The president would listen to the determination of his advisers and make a decision.” Read the rest of this entry »
In 1908 Social Gospel pioneer Walter Rauschenbusch rocked the nation with a powerful treatise he called “Christianity and the Social Crisis.” The crisis then was marked by falling wages and worsening conditions for working people, unrestrained greed at the top, child poverty, lack of access to health care, failing schools, and a bellicose U.S. foreign policy.
Serious Christians at the start of the 21st century confront many of these same social conditions-along with heightened concern about sustainability, persistent racism, AIDS, and the resurgent nuclear threat.
Now the great-grandson of Walter Rauschenbusch-Paul Raushenbush, associate dean for religious life at Princeton-has re-issued his ancestor’s original text along with brief new manifestos by such contemporary Christian luminaries as Cornel West, Phyllis Trible, Tony Campolo, Joan Chittister, Stanley Hauerwas, James Forbes, and Jim Wallis. Renowned philosopher Richard Rorty-another Walter Rauschenbusch descendant–contributes the final essay for the new book.
Rev. Paul Raushenbush speaks out of his own experience and passion for interfaith work, the spirituality of young adults, and popular culture. How can religious liberals reclaim their heritage of activism and advocacy without being overwhelmed by the consumer culture? How can young Christians be encouraged to question, and to live out their questions in their faith? And how can we overcome the misperceptions about the strength and monolothic nature of the religious right?
This January Progressive Christians Uniting presents Paul Raushenbush in a series of Southern California appearances. Admission to these events is FREE, though voluntary contributions will be solicited in some instances. Come join us for meaningful conversation about our 21st Century Crisis, and how Christians must respond.
Thursday, January 17, at 7 p.m.
First Christian Church of Orange
1130 East Walnut Avenue
Orange, CA 92867
Friday, January 18, at 7 p.m.
Redlands United Church of Christ
168 Bellevue Avenue
Redlands, CA 92373
Saturday, January 19, at 1 p.m.
St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church
3646 Coldwater Canyon Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604
Lunch and conversation with clergy and church leaders. To RSVP for this event, please contact Virginia Classick at
Sunday, January 20, 10:00 a.m.
All Saints Church Pasadena
132 North Euclid Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101
Published in the San Luis Obispo Tribune News, New Year’s Day 2008.
One hundred years ago—in 1908—Baptist minister and Social Gospel pioneer Walter Rauschenbusch rocked the conscience of the nation with a book called Christianity and the Social Crisis. Rauschenbusch was part of a larger movement within the church that took seriously the “thy will be done on earth” part of the Lord’s Prayer. For them being faithful to the gospel meant trying in serious ways to challenge gross economic inequality, abusive working conditions, the exploitation of women and children, and the militarism and imperialism that were then beginning to dominate U.S. relations with the rest of the world.
For the past thirty years or so, most Americans who think about the social voice of Christianity at all have assumed that the voice belongs to leaders from the Religious Right: Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Kennedy, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, etc. Now the tide is shifting again, and a new balance is being struck in which the other strand of American Christianity—the one exemplified by Rauschenbusch but also by Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, and many other justice heroes—is again being heard loud and clear. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of us started our day today hearing the president’s press conference natterings in the background as we tried to munch our breakfast cereal or make our way to work. These past two weeks we also watched Congressional Democrats cave in completely on war spending, renewable energy source requirements for utilities, massive public subsidies to agribusiness, continued favored tax treatment for hedge fund managers, and a range of other vital issues on which they were supposed to lead us in a different direction.
Yes, the news on any given day can make us weep, or make us tremble with outrage, or both.
Yet we Christians live in joy, not despair, and we seek to engage others on the basis of hope, not cynicism. The Advent season helps us understand how and why we can do this. It’s not that we aren’t paying attention to the mendacities and betrayals that characterize these times. It’s that we have ALSO learned to pay attention to something else: to the light that has come into the world, a light that no amount of mendacity and betrayal can extinguish.
Emanuel: God with us, God in us, God through us, God for us. God for this suffering world!
On every single day of the year, PCU seeks to add to the available light, hope, and joy symbolized by Advent. We work tirelessly for the world spoken of in Mary’s song: a world in which the despised poor are lifted up and the hungry are at last filled with good things.
Because we believe passionately in the work we are doing, we aren’t ashamed to to say that we must have your passionate support–your prayers, your time, AND your financial support–in order to keep doing it.
Please consider making a year-end tax-deductible gift to PCU today! You can easily make an online donation here. If you prefer to donate by mail, you can send your check or credit card information (name, address, credit card number, MasterCard or Visa, and expiration date) to
Progressive Christians Uniting
316 W. 2nd Street, Suite 1104
Los Angeles, CA 90012
It is always and everywhere a good thing for people like me (smug, self-satisfied religious liberals – yup, that’s me) to be thoroughly doused with fresh cold water. In this case, with living water.
I knew a little bit about Brian McLaren’s remarkable nurturing of emergent Christian thinking and emergent Christian communities before reading his new book, Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope (just published by Thomas Nelson). But I must say I was not in the least bit prepared for McLaren’s theological range and depth or for his completely compelling social analysis. In a former life McLaren taught college students how to write, and his skill with language shows in the compression and clarity he exhibits in this volume. Read the rest of this entry »
With all the clashes over sexuality, faith, and biblical interpretation that have rocked the Christian world over the past years, we are in danger of losing sight of the real people, straight and gay, who must live within the tension of rejection while continuing to trust in God.
For the Bible Tells Me So brings us back to the solid truth of real people who have had to struggle through the painful division between faith and accepted beliefs about homosexuality, following five Christian families’ road through Scripture and Christian institutions as they come to terms with their gay or lesbian family member, including the family of Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, whose consecration continues to be challenged by conservative members of the Anglican Communion.
The movie was only shown in a few theatres in Los Angeles, and Progressive Christians Uniting is excited to be able to make it available to the wider community in free church screenings. We invite you to come see this award-winning documentary and take part in discussions about this issue over the next few weeks. Come with your friends — progressive or conservative! This is the movie that can make the difference.
December 16
Church of the Foothills
19211 Dodge Avenue at Newport
North Tustin, California 92705
6:30 PM
January 12
First Congregational Church of Long Beach
241 Cedar Avenue, Long Beach 90802
7 PM
January 12
Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Santa Monica
1343 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, 90405
6:00 dinner — all are welcome!
6:45 movie screening
January 13
First Congregational UCC, San Bernardino
3041 N Sierra Way, San Bernardino 93405
2 PM
This screening is co-sponsored by St. John’s Episcopal Church and Heartland Christian Fellowship Metropolitan Community Church.
January 13
Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association
7304 Jordan Avenue, Canoga Park, 91303
January 20
Claremont United Church of Christ
233 West Harrison Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711
3:30PM
January 24
St Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Church
13091 Galway St, Garden Grove, CA
Thurs, Jan 24th
7:00 pm
January 26
Fairview Community Church
2525 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
7 PM
January 27
St. Matthew Lutheran Church
1920 West Glenoaks Blvd., Glendale 91201
6 PM
Please join us for a special guest discussion with Bishop Emeritus Paul Egertson.
A sermon preached on December 2, the First Sunday of Advent, 2007, by Rev. George Regas
As we begin today the season of Advent, I want to frame this four week pilgrimage to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus with two biblical proclamations: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4) “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven
and on earth peace among all people.’” (Luke 2:4)
A four week pilgrimage of peace. That would be a wonderful Advent.
George Clooney relates a dinner conversation he had with his aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney. “She said she was a better singer when she got older.” And George said, “Why are you a better singer now? You can’t hold the notes like you used to. And you can’t hit the high notes like you used to.” And Rosemary Clooney said, “I don’t have to prove I can sing anymore.” (L.A. Times, 9/30/07)
And there is some of that story in this preacher, as I proclaim God’s urgent call to us to be deeply committed peacemakers in this war fractious world. I no longer have to prove I’m committed to peace. The greatness of All Saints Church is found in your deep commitment over the decades to be on the front lines pursuing peaceful resolutions for conflicts around the world.
I have gathered my remarks this morning around four concerns:
1. Alan Greenspan, in his just published memoir, writes: The Iraq War is largely about oil.” What are the implications of that statement?
2. There is such a horrendous cost for the Iraq War; how do we live with the words of the prophet Isaiah and the challenges of Jesus, the peacemaker, as we fight for oil?
3. If humankind is ever to live in peace, the religions of the world must be true to their core mandates for peace; but with millennia of religious wars, is that really possible?
4. A final word to the All Saints Community: are you willing once again to give great leadership to the reawakening of a national peace movement, where religious faith is one of the primary imperatives? Read the rest of this entry »
Living in the world is to live in physical space — our souls within our bodies, our bodies within the world. Our community, our work, our justice, and our love and compassion are lived out through our relationship with the physical reality of creation, the mystery of incarnation that’s also at the heart of our faith.
That’s why it’s such an amazing and inspiring reality to look around and see how people of all faith traditions are waking up to the truth that we are responsible for the health of all the world as we navigate our own lives — the health and well-being of other human beings, of other forms of life, of all creation. We live that out in our daily choices, and in our commitment to justice and care for all that is.
In the past few months, with many other members of PCU, I’ve had the opportunity to hear speakers from a wide variety of faith traditions on the relationship of self to world, and particularly of self to environmental crisis. Thich Nhat Hanh, the great Vietnamese Buddhist monk, meditated with us on the need for compassion towards self as the basis as compassion towards others and towards creation — and the need for self-discipline, loving self-discipline, in our relationship to our battered world which is so close to collapse. Xioayi Liao, the founder of Beijing Global Village and one of China’s leading environmentalists, also emphasized that the boundaries we place between our souls, our bodies, and our environment are false ones. We need a spiritual and very bodily love of our physical selves for healthy souls; our bodies and our souls are degraded as we degrade our environment, ignore community, neglect our own health, and focus only on accumulation, convenience, and status. Living within the physical world, and taking responsibility for our relationship wiith it, is not a matter of ignoring personal self-discipline and self-love; it is a matter, instead, of choosing disciplines of joy, awareness, and compassion for self and others. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re learning more and more about the ways in which our eating habits impact the natural world and contribute to global warming — check out the LA Times this morning! — but the connections between food, spirituality, planet care, and economic justice go even farther. Join PCU and our partner organizations for a unique afternoon of interactive learning and action when we tie it all together.
Jennifer 
Happening in the World 
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