[+] Too Often In America The Color of Justice is Green

by David Enroth ('Sky Jubilee')

Too often in America the color of justice is green and you're only innocent until proven poor.

As America stops to reflect upon love and justice and the life of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us pray for the day when people throughout the world will have access to affordable health care. The biggest weapon of mass destruction we face, and must fear, is that people at the lower end of the economic scale can no longer afford quality health care.

If America can afford to drop bombs on Iraq, it can surely afford health care for its older and poorer citizens.

"There are 14,000 new AIDS infections worldwide every day," said Dr. Janet A. Englund, Division of Infectious Diseases, Seattle Children's Hospital, to a Wednesday night dinner audience at Seattle First Baptist Church ... after a recent visit to Africa.

Robert V. Taylor, dean of Seattle's St. Mark's Cathedral, said in his Christmas Eve homily, "I still hear it said from some people that it is not a bad thing that AIDS will reduce the population of Africa. It is astounding and beyond comprehension to hear of any human life written off like this. The message of Christmas is that God honors the humanity of every person. The hope of Christmas is that we will know God dwelling with us no matter who we are or where we live."

Seven thousand people are dying of AIDS in Africa day-in-and-day-out. Soon a generation of middle-agers may no longer exist there. Think about what that means, not only for Africa, but for the world!

The prophetic words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. still ring true more than thirty-five years since he left us ...

"Any religion that has no concern about the social and economic conditions that scar the soul is a spiritually moribund religion, only waiting for the day to be buried ... a religion that ends with the individual ends."

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

"Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not-too-distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty." (Closing words of King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail.")

Thanks to David Enroth for sending us both his words and those of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (as quoted by the Rev. Dale Turner in an article in the Seattle Times, January 17, 2004).

[Editor's Note: Rev. Turner has suggested that we need to consider the words and actions of Dr. King every day of the year, not just on a day in January. King's life was lived for justice and compassion, which we must seek and find today if we are to survive. He made the following statement on the eve of his death.

“We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But that doesn’t matter with me now… I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” -- From “I See the Promised Land,” A Testament of Hope, King (New York, HarperCollins, 1991), p. 285.
-- Editor]

[+] My God Is Your God

by John Kearney

Published: January 28, 2004, N.Y.Times

Sunday is one of the most important holidays in Islam: Id al-Adha, the feast celebrating Abraham's faith and willingness to sacrifice his son to God. It would also be a good occasion for the American news media to dispense with Allah and commit themselves to God.

Here's what I mean: Abraham, the ur-monotheist, represents the shared history, and shared God, of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Many Christians and Jews are aware of this common past, but seem to have a tough time internalizing it. Lt. Gen. William Boykin, a deputy under secretary of defense, made headlines last year suggesting that Allah is not "a real God" and that Muslims worship an idol. Last month in Israel, Pat Robertson said that today's world conflicts concern "whether Hubal, the moon god of Mecca known as Allah, is supreme, or whether the Judeo-Christian Jehovah, God of the Bible, is supreme."

Never mind that Hubal was actually a pre-Islamic pagan god that Muhammad rejected. Mr. Robertson's comments, like those of General Boykin, illuminate a widespread misconception — one that the news media has inadvertently helped to promote. So here's a suggestion: when journalists write about Muslims, or translate from Arabic, Urdu, Farsi or other languages, they should translate "Allah" as "God," too. A minor point? Perhaps not.

Last August the Washington Post Web site posed this question to readers: "Do you think that Muslims, Christians and Jews all pray to the same God?" One Muslim respondent wrote yes, each of the three major monotheistic faiths "pray to the God of Abraham."

Christian respondents, however, were equivocal or hostile to the notion. "Jews pray to Yahweh," one Virginia woman wrote. "As a Christian, I pray to the same God." But she insisted that "Muslims pray to Allah. Allah is not the God of Abraham." This woman might be surprised that Christian Arabs use "Allah" for God, as do Arabic-speaking Jews. In Aramaic, the language of Jesus, God is "Allaha," just a syllable away from Allah.

Still, who can blame her? Earlier that month, NPR reported Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza City intoning, "there is no God but Allah." Last week, The Los Angeles Times mentioned mourners for a slain Baghdad professor reciting, "there is no God but Allah" at the university campus. In September, The New York Times reported an assassinated Palestinian uttering, "there is no God but Allah" before he died.

"There is no god but God" is the first of Islam's five pillars. It is Muhammad's refutation of polytheism. Yet to today's non-Muslims, the locution "there is no God but Allah" reads as an affront, a declaration that inflammatory Allah trumps the Biblical God. This journalistic rendition distorts the meaning of the Muslim confession of faith.

Of course, there are distinctions to be made between religions, which the press shouldn't shy away from. But there is no need to augment these differences artificially, especially at the cost of an accurate understanding of the origins of the Abrahamic faiths.

John Kearney is a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry Denounces President Bush’s Attack on Same-Sex Marriage

BERKELEY, CA – The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS) at Pacific School of Religion today denounced the threat leveled by President Bush against those courts that have recently ruled that same-gender couples deserve the same civil supports and protections afforded heterosexual citizens. In his State of the Union address on January 20, President Bush asserted that in order to defend the sanctity of heterosexual marriage, he would support a federal constitutional amendment to limit the benefits of marriage to unions between one man and one woman.

In its public statement, CLGS asserts that Bush is attempting to deny equal protection of the law to all citizens, and is confusing the sanctity of religious marriage ceremonies performed by faith communities, and legal civil marriage, which is regulated by the state.

“Separation of religion and State means that the State can regulate only civil marriage,” says Mary A. Tolbert, the Center’s Executive Director. “The government, however well-meaning, should not be in the business of defending the ‘sanctity’ of religious ceremonies. Faith communities alone must define or defend such religious marriage ceremonies. Laws in America must be applied equally – without regard to color, creed, race, religion, or sexuality – including equal access to civil marriage for all citizens.”

The full text of the Center’s statement follows:


The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS) denounces the threat leveled by President Bush against those courts that have sought to acknowledge the equality under law of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens of this nation, by extending to their relationships the same civil supports and protections afforded heterosexual citizens through legal marriage.

In his State of the Union address on January 20, 2004, President Bush asserted that in order to defend the sanctity of marriage, he would support a federal constitutional amendment that would limit the benefits of marriage to unions between one man and one woman. In supporting this amendment, President Bush seeks to deny equal access and protection to all citizens of the US, and confuses the sanctity of religious marriage ceremonies with legal civil marriage.

President Bush’s reckless threat of the use of federal power would undermine the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers, the legal doctrine of Equal Protection under Law upon which all twentieth century civil rights gains were based, and the separation of Church (religion) and State upon which U.S. religious freedoms are predicated.

The separation of Church and State means that no law or court can dictate that a faith community conduct religious marriage ceremonies of any sort, whether heterosexual or same-sex services. Separation of Church and State also means that no law or court can prohibit a church from conducting such ceremonies. In addition to denying the rights of legal marriage to same-gender couples, such an amendment might also mandate which religious services churches could or could not perform – a first step toward a State curbing of religious freedom.

The Christian fundamentalist "moral tradition" that President Bush appeals to refuses to recognize the wide range of religious _expression enjoyed by the American people. More ominously, this same “moral tradition” has been used in the past to support slavery, the political and economic disenfranchisement of women, racial segregation, anti-miscegenation laws, and the denial of women’s ordination.

The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry calls communities of faith to reject this reckless intrusion of federal power into religious freedom, to join in the struggle for full legal access and protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, and to reclaim religious values in support of justice and equality.


For more information, contact the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at 510/849-8206 or www.clgs.com.

Thanks to Jane Austin, Director of Communications, Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA, for forwarding this statement. The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Pacific School of Religion works to advance the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people and transform faith communities and the wider society by taking a leading role in shaping a new public discourse on religion and sexuality through education, research, community building, and advocacy.

American Life 100 Years Ago

[Thanks to Neil Kalouner for forwarding this fascinating list.]

The year is 1903 . . one hundred years ago . . what a difference a century makes!

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1903:

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 Percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. with a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.

Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents and coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S.were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30.

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

One in ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and is in a perfect guardian of health."

18 percent of households in the U.S. had at least one servant or one domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

Just think what it will be like in another 100 years. It boggles the mind.

Adversity may lead to greater insights into ourselves, faith

by Rev. Dale Turner

When Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked, he drew up two columns -- what he called the evil and the good. He was cast on a desert island, but he was still alive. He was separated from his homeland, but he was not starving. He had no clothes, but he was in a hot climate and so didn't need them. He had no defense, but he saw no wild animals.

He concluded that no condition in the world was so miserable that there wasn't something positive in it.

For some people, limitations and adversities drive their personal relationships: A life that wanted love and missed it; a home where marriage might have been a thing of beauty but was a bitter disappointment.

Others are born with physical or intellectual limitations; others suffer crippling illness or accidents. Some spend years in environments that impede their highest development. Among the few things that are true of all of us: Each of us has to deal with handicap in some form.

We don't know why it is, but some of life's most revealing insights and prods toward greater usefulness come to us not from life's loveliness but from its deprivations, problems and pain. We can understand the consternation behind the little boy's question: "Why are all the vitamins in spinach and not in ice cream?" Ralph Waldo Emerson informs us that "every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor."

William Wilberforce, for instance, was a diminutive man who never knew good health. For 20 years, on doctors' orders, he took opium to keep body and soul together and had courage never to increase the dose. Yet in his infirmity, he did more than any other Englishman to stop the British slave trade.

Biographer James Boswell went to hear him speak and said afterward, "I saw what seemed a mere shrimp mounted upon the table; but as I listened he grew, and grew until the shrimp became a whale."

As one stands in Westminster Abbey beside the grave of "The Attorney General of the unprotected and of the friendless," one sees that that suffering life translated itself into a persistent, unconquerable sympathy with downtrodden people that a lusty bulk of a man in perfect health probably never would have felt.

Mark Twain spent his youth in what he called a down-at-the-heel, out-at-the-elbows, slave-holding Mississippi River town. When other boys were in high school, he was at work in a printing office. His university was the pilot's room on the top of a steamboat.

His early environment was apparently as far from literature as the East is from the West, yet today it is easy for us to see that the first 30 years of his life were the best possible preparation for his career as a man of letters.

Saddling him with a conventional academic environment might have blocked the spontaneity that made Twain the writer he was.

No one can find greater joy than that which comes in taking a barren, desolate and unpromising plot of life and making something productive and beautiful.

We must be hopeful gardeners of the spirit who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, without light, nothing flowers.

The flowers may not be the kind we would have chosen, but our world becomes more beautiful because they blossom in it.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

[Thanks to Sky Jubilee for forwarding this article.]

For Better or Worse

by Lynn Johnston

This is a neat cartoon with a beautiful sentiment and lesson for us all. Thanks to friend and former classmate Rev. Dale Lloyd for sending it.

Click here to see the cartoon.

[+] When God Goes to War

by Karen Armstrong

[Thanks to Nancy Smith for forwarding this article.]

Happy Holidays...thought you might like to read this
excellent and concise article!

-----Original Message-----
When God goes to war

Religions usually espouse peace and goodwill, so
why have they sparked so many conflicts? [Click on link below for article.]

Karen Armstrong

Monday December 29, 2003
The Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1113523,00.html