faithasawayoflife

Faith as a Way of Life: first book blurb from Robert Bellah!

I'm just delighted and honored that my former teacher, Robert N. Bellah, who is among the most well-known sociologists of religion and culture now writing, has read my forthcoming book and written an endorsement.  Thanks, Bob!  Out in May from Eerdmans.  Preorder on Amazon today!

“Faith as a Way of Life sums up the understanding of religion in most human cultures. Only in the modern West has the idea arisen that religion is a purely private, personal matter with little relation to the rest of life. In the modern world where society is fragmented and individuals are isolated this understanding of religion makes sense, but at the cost of religious integrity and vitality. Christian Scharen has written a book that can help pastoral leaders and lay Christians alike recover the deep and pervasive meaning of Christian faith even under modern conditions. He has no easy answers but by addressing the difficulties so clearly he helps us begin to understand what the wholeness of faith as a way of life really is.”
— Robert N. Bellah
University of California at Berkeley
Coauthor of Habits of the Heart

Obama and faithful campaigning that builds trust

So, the latest is that the Clinton campaign has pulled the radio ad in South Carolina that so upset me.  But they've made their point.  Here's the report from the New York Times blog, with a concluding comment from Obama that resonates very closely with my previous post:

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The Clinton campaign acknowledged that its radio commercial was no longer being broadcast, which means that Mr. Obama and his ad were left punching into the air. The campaign said that it only intended to make its point, then take the advertisement off the air after one day.

Mr. Obama said the commercial distorted statements he had made in an interview last week with The Reno Gazette-Journal, and he said it raised serious questions about Mrs. Clinton’s honesty.

“When you run an ad making assertions that everyone who’s looked at it says are wrong, you know they say it’s wrong, and you still make it, that would indicate that you’re not that concerned about accuracy or the truth,” Mr. Obama said.

A reporter asked if that meant Mrs. Clinton should not be trusted to accurately characterize secret intelligence to the public.

Mr. Obama passed on the question — and then changed his mind, accusing Mrs. Clinton of a tendency toward distortion that could ultimately affect her ability to govern. “Part of the problem with the perpetual campaign,” he said, a reference to a term used during Mr. Clinton’s presidency to describe his style of governance, “is that people become mistrustful of government, even when elected officials are telling the truth they become mistrustful. It’s important to establish these good habits during campaigns so that you build up a reservoir of trust when you govern.”

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What if people campaigned as if they wanted to build up a reservoir of trust for their term in office?  For one, I'd vote for them.

Anon,

Chris

Unfaithful Politics: the Clintons Vs. Obama

I'm mad.  Why do ordinary people like me have to be subjected to the condescension of politicians, their handlers and advisors, who regularly expect to dupe us into voting based on their unfaithfulness to the truth rather than honest talk that helps us think about substantial issues.  I was proud of Jim Wallis on The Daily Show the other night.  Talking about his new book, The Great Awakening, he said that many faithful people--both those who are religious and those who are nonreligious but deeply moral, care deeply about real issues--poverty and inequality, the health care crisis, the climate crisis, and more.  But worried about short term election results and the grasp for power, too many politicians take the turn into unfaithful actions, actions that are harmful to our public life and reflect badly on the individual in question.

I don't mean here unfaithful as in "don't believe in God" just as I don't exactly mean by faithful someone who is religious.  I mean something more like the trust, respect and truthfulness that fidelity requires.  Americans, especially young ones (which I admit I'm almost unable to claim at 41), have grown up in an era of government deception from Watergate to Iran-Contra to the meaning of "is" to Iraq's WMDs.  We don't trust leaders to speak the truth, let alone tell us what they really think and what might be right rather than merely popular.  It has something to do with authenticity, the claim to act and speak in good faith, trusting that the person is keeping it real.

Part of the reason Barack Obama has struck such a chord with me, and with many young people, is our sense that for once we have a visionary political leader who seems MOSTLY to keep it real. That matters a lot.  It starts with his honesty about his own story--all of it, including taking drugs as a youth, which he regrets, and having doubts despite his active Christian faith, which he thinks is valuable.  For a long while in this campaign, it didn't look good for Obama.  Polls had Hillary Clinton ahead by significant margins.  She was kind and complementary about the Senator from Illinois.  Bill Clinton focused on running his admirable new Global Initiative.   But when Obama came storming out of the summer doldrums into a hot fall and a victory in Iowa, something ugly began to happen.   Unfaithful campaign tactics damage our democracy, miring us in negativity, and turning off those of us who simply what an honest exchange of ideas to drive the debates.

What is it that set me off?  Oh, it has been building for a while, but I about went apoplectic when I read about the new Clinton ad in South Carolina.  Writing in today's New York Times, Katharine Q. Seelye says this:

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At about the same time, the Clinton campaign began running a radio commercial about Mr. Obama, which replayed Mr. Obama’s words from a recent interview with The Reno Gazette-Journal: “The Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years.”

“Really?” a voice-over in the Clinton commercial says. “Aren’t those the ideas that got us into the economic mess we’re in today?”

In his interview, Mr. Obama did not specify any particular idea and did not say he supported any of them, though Mrs. Clinton’s commercial strongly implies that he did.

The Obama campaign called Mrs. Clinton’s commercial “dishonest,” and Mr. Obama broadly implied at campaign appearances that the Clintons were misleading voters, though he did not mention the Clintons by name.

Mr. Obama further responded with his own radio advertisement, saying that it was Mrs. Clinton who had frequently sided with the Republicans on issues like the Iraq war and the North American Free Trade Agreement. “She’ll say anything, and change nothing,” the commercial said. “It’s time to turn the page.”

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I can't find a full transcript to this interview which was hosted by the Reno Nevada Gazette-Journal's editorial board.  However, you can watch a video of it here, and it is totally worth it--all 49 minutes.  You can see what a thoughtful guy Obama is, and the whole interview puts his comments about Ronald Regan and the Republican Party in context.  In the course of a long and reflection conversation about many things, Obama notes that the wave he's riding is not simply because of him--it is also that people are ready for the message he's bringing regarding hope for our future.  This, he argues, was the case in 1980 with Regan's election and in 1960 with Kennedy's election.  He goes on to say, well, the Republicans and their ideas have dominated the last 10-15 years, which seems to me dead-on (even Clinton passed bills that made me very unhappy, that seemed like giving in to the Republicans, such as NAFTA and Welfare Reform).  But Obama goes on to say the Republican ideas --like tax cuts as an answer to economic woes--just don't cut it any more and people know it.  This kind of sophisticated analysis, reflective and vulnerable in its honesty, is exactly what America needs today.  Do I have to agree with everything a leader I support says?  I don't even agree with everything I say!  But do I want clear, careful, and honest deliberation that is open to public scrutiny?  Yes!  Obama said he'd gather health care leaders and  members of congress together with his cabinet for conversations around a table---and put it on CNN.  Why?  For the twin purposes of 1) education and 2) transparency. He actually believes that if the American people learn more about issues, they'll make pretty good decisions.  And I'd like to see government try.  Some might debate the fact, but as a case in point, both in and out of office, Al Gore's efforts have had a dramatic impact on the general public understanding the threats we face because of climate change and why it matters to act now in response. 

Anyway.  So what does Hillary Clinton's team do with Obama's reflections on social change and the dominance of Republican ideas? She takes his comments out of context, distorts them, and then attacks.  Obama will have to take the heat, and he said it, because on principle he is trying to run on a positive message, a style of  telling Americans what he really thinks, dreams, and believes.  So opponents will try to drag him into the mud.  Try to get him into a fight and then he just looks like every other politician.  Like Obama, I don't believe in purity--everyone is caught in lies and distortion to some extent.  But the difference between striving to avoid it to the extent possible and embracing it for the sake of one's own advantage are mark the difference between faithful and unfaithful politics.  Which do you think we're better served by?

Anon,

Chris

Senegal reflections

We're back from our family trip to Senegal over the Christmas break.  We left December 26 and returned January 8.  It was an absolutely amazing trip, and I've wanted to write here about it if only to have the opportunity for my own sense of focused reflection.  But doing it has seemed beyond my capacity until today when I think for the first time I've found my equilibrium.  The five hour time difference didn't seem to get me going to Senegal but on the way back, wow, I've felt yucky. 

These couple of points barely begin to capture all that we experienced--it was so rich.  Perhaps I'll expand on some of these in future posts, but for now I just want to capture some reactions. 

Kindness.  People were welcoming everywhere we went.  The culture of welcome and hospitality varies, of course, depending on particulars--urban vs. rural, differences of education, tribe, etc.  The kindness is partly rooted in a ritual of social connection, so the greeting often helps know who the person is (tribe, language, etc.).  We so often experienced long greetings, asking about families, wishes of peace, and so on.  One such greeting, between a farm manager and a shepherd, lasted for minutes.  Just the greeting.  It took so long I took a picture. 

 

Faith.  You might imagine that I'd be curious about faith in Senegal.  The nation 90% Muslim, the rest Christian (mostly Catholic, with less than 1% Protestant).  As in most of Africa, traditional religion is quite close to the surface in both cases.  Some thoughts.  It was my first time in a muslim country.  The call to prayer broadcast over the loud speakers from every mosque.  I captured an example from the five o'clock call to prayer at the Mosque of the Divinity which according to legend either fell from heaven directly, or the plans for the Mosque did, one or the other.  It is a gorgeous example.  I took the video as people were going to prayer--it was 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.  In this sect, the Layen, wear all white to prayer and welcome both women and men.  They are the smallest of the four main groups of Muslims in Senegal.  The largest, the Mouride, founded a hundred years ago by a Sufi mystic named  Amadou Bamba (d. 1927).  Based in Touba, a city to the northeast of Dakar, the leader (called the Grand Marabout) is always a direct descendant of Bamba.  Partly due to their strong work ethic, they have become very large, wealthy, and powerful.  When the  Grand  Marabout died, millions traveled to Touba to pay respects during the national three-day period of mourning.  The Grand Mosque itself is one of the most amazing buildings I've seen, and we didn't even get to go inside (although pictures are available here).

We visited one Lutheran church and three Roman Catholic churches.  The Lutheran and Catholic services were fairly standard versions of the mass but with various languages depending (French, of course, but also Serere and Wolof).  In every case the music included drums, which are a mainstay of Senegalese music.  At the Lutheran service, a young college student played the electric guitar in a style I associate with West Africa as in the way Tinariwen plays.  The Catholic churches were amazing examples of inculturation, especially in music and art.  In the Egliese des Martyrs De L'Ouganda, the walls were all either murals (including pictures of the martyers, three of whom are visible to the right of the picture) or stunning stained glass. We also visited the Benedictine Monastery about an hour outside of Dakar.  They have done a marvelous job with inculturation, taking a plainchant tradition and grounding it in the arts of West Africa.  They have incorporated the Kora, a cross between a harp and guitar, as a basic instrument of worship, and have even taken on building them  to see to the instrument's development in the culture.  They use various traditional drums, and I have a short video that shows three young monks playing the recessional on a traditional West African Balafon, an instrument very like a xylophone.  The video also shows the beautiful sanctuary of the Keur Moussa (House of Moses) Monastary including the fantastic African-influenced biblical scenes and the lovely wrought-iron door with the image of a gecko, a common animal in the area. The video also shows two Kora, as well as some drums, unfortunately not in use in this case.  You can order a CD of these monks singing and playing here. 

[more to come, on poverty esp.]

My bike was stolen, take 3

Incredible as it may seem, for the third time in three years my bike was stolen from the garage (and this time, Sonja's too).  It was Christmas 2005 when I lost my beloved GT which got me though grad school in Atlanta and years in New Britain.  I blogged about getting my replacement Breezer here, also a marvelous bike.  But when it was stolen last spring I refused to get another good bike.  So I got a Fuji Crosstown for $250 and now that's gone, too.  Each time we upped security on the garage, first adding a good lock, and when that didn't work, screwing plywood over the windows and getting a better lock.  Now I'm going to try not getting another bike.  Try to steal that!

Actually, it is not funny.  It is maddening and frustrating.  Isaiah and I were out feeding the chickens when I discovered it this morning.  Isaiah ran into the house and was so mad about it.  He angrily said, 'We should move somewhere else where people can't keep stealing from us.  Don't they know that is our garage?"  His feeling of being violated is more raw than mine, but I feel it too. 

Anon,
Chris

Update from Senegal

Hi,
I'm here with my family on a two week visit to Senegal.  We're visiting friends working for the ELCA global mission partnership with Lutherans in Senegal.  Peter, Sarah, and their kids Elijah and Simon have been here for 5+ years and are fantastic guides to life here.  Great trip so far, half way.  Amazing.  I'll write more soon but here are a couple of pictures

Here is a picture of Pr. Dib, a Lutheran pastor in Senegal for 20 years, and pastor of the parish in Dakar that we attended Sunday, along with Peter and myself.

These two are pictures near the Mosque of the Divinity which in popular belief fell from heaven.  We got their just before 5:00 p.m. prayer on Sunday and the call to prayer was so beautiful.  All the followers of this sect within Islam wear white.