Progressive Faith Bloggers Carnival
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Acoustics, Health and Sufism.
Thanks for the “pre-pregnant” mention, Kevin!
Be sure to check out the new look for the Progressive Faith Blog Con 2006 site.
ProgFaith Bloggers Carnival
Check out the Progressive Faith Bloggers Carnival today or tomorrow at Jesus Was a Liberal.
Daily Activism
Power Rankings of Members of Congress
Congress.org scored and weighted 289 variables in 15 categories to determine a ranking of the most powerful or effective Members of Congress.
See Power Rankings by State, Chamber, Party, Committee, Class/Tenure, Position, Influence, Legislation.
Don’t write discrimination into the Constitution.
The measure was put forward by Rep. Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) only days after a judge in San Francisco declared that barring gay marriage violated the California state constitution. Right-wing leaders’ have used the supposed threat to marriage to energize political involvement by appealing to the worst within their own membership. Trying to use our constitution to demonize fellow Americans is contrary to the spirit of the entire document, and if passed, would mark the first time the Constitution was amended to target a group of Americans for unequal treatment.
Dominionism = Supremacism
We are not Nazis. We are not the Klan.
We cannot allow hate and irrational fears to overtake our country.
E-mail your senators to register your opposition to the discriminatory ‘Marriage Protection Amendment.’
(People for the American Way)
No Nuclear Attack on Iran
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) has circulated a letter in an effort to get the Bush Administration to take the nuclear option off the table. This letter, which he is asking members of Congress to sign, reminds the President of the USA of the US commitment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that the US, “will not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons except in the case of an invasion or any other attack on the United States” or its allies.
Please ask your Representative to sign on to the Markey letter to the Administration.
While we understand the desire to take nothing off of the table during the run-up to what we hope are negotiations, there are some things that must never be put on the table to begin with. Nuclear weapons must not be used in Iran. Their use, or even the threat of use, would undermine America’s non-proliferation leadership, inflame anti-American extremism around the world, and undermine smart, effective problem solving by our elected and appointed leaders. We need a long term solution that lowers the dangers in Iran, rather than an attack that will convince the 182 non-nuclear signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty that their continued adherence to the treaty offers them no protection against a nuclear attack by a nuclear nation.
“What Is a Progressive?” – 10 Finalists – Vote Today
If you met someone who didn’t know what a progressive was, which one would help that person best to “get it”? Please vote among the ten finalists at Campaign for America’s Future by Friday, June 2nd at 11:59 EDT. (While you’re there, register for the Take Back America 2006 conference.
(Campaign for America’s Future)
Protect Medical Victims’ Rights – People are First, Profits are Second
For the third time in the last two years President Bush and leaders in the House of Representatives are promoting a bill written by the insurance industry and HMOs (yet again) without regard for the rights of working Americans injured – or even killed – by medical malpractice in hospitals or nursing homes. The bill may even allow drug companies who put dangerous products on the market to avoid accountability. Fight against this legislation, which is overtly designed to tilt the playing field in favor of powerful corporate interests.
Sign a petition urging your Representative to oppose any legislation restricting the rights of those injured by medical malpractice.
(People Over Profits Grassroots Action Center)
The Balancing Act – Paid Leave for New Parents
When you think of “family values” – think of this. The United States is one of only four out of 168 countries studied to not have some form of paid family leave for new moms. We join Swaziland, Papua New Guinea, and Lesotho in not having that policy in place. Nearly 75% of moms are in the workforce, and most families need two working parents to stay afloat. It’s time for our policies and programs to catch up with our modern economy. Yes, with Republicans in power, the chances of success are pretty small. Still worth an effort.
Sign a petition to support the The Balancing Act bill, which includes paid leave for all new parents.
(Moms Rising)
We’re not Buyin’ it – Protest ExxonMobil
Today hundreds of activists are in Dallas, TX attending ExxonMobil’s annual meeting to protest the corporation’s use of our money to fund their active opposition to any development of clean energy solutions for America. In solidarity with these activists, I am writing my representatives in Congress (such as they are) to reject any bill that offers even more giveaways to ExxonMobil (either through even more tax breaks or even more invasive drilling). ExxonMobil uses their obscenely excessive profits to fund professional global warming “skeptics” and refuses to invest in renewable energy sources. It’s time for Congress to adopt REAL energy solutions that reduce global warming pollution, enhance our energy security, and save consumers money – you know, while we still have the lights on to plan.
Protest ExxonMobil’s Slash and Burn Planning
(Union of Concerned Scientists and Save Our Environment)
Call In to High Spirits Radio
My dear friend (and fellow exJW) Richard Shining Thunder Francis has a radio show called “High Spirits” and I’m sending out a call for people to call in with questions, since questions and calls are the center and theme of the show.
Our goal is to present a happy, positive view of spirituality, and to encourage its practical applications. To do this, each week, we will discuss metaphysics, psychology, philosophy, cults and odd beliefs, dogma, history, kabbalism (generic), gnosticism (generic), sufism (generic), and other fascinating forms of the Way of compassion. Love, or compassion will, of course, be a theme, and we shall look together into the bright mysteries of agapology (the psychology of Love). Take a break from your frenzied week. Have a warm cup of coffee or cold drink, sit back, and listen to the most important, and most captivating, subjects in the universe!
Listen to “High Spirits” Online
at 1530AM WCKY
Cincinnati
Sat 8 PM
Call in from 8-9 PM EST
Local: 749-1530
Out of area: 877-345-3779
You do not have to receive the station over radio to call. You can listen online, and you will be able to hear the show on the telephone as well. You can also help other people by making this call. Don’t worry; you will be on the air for only a few seconds to ask your question. Just have it ready to go and call 877-345-3779, after 8 pm (it’s free). You can ask about the “new age,” fundamentalism, religion, metaphysics, spirituality, philosophy, psychology, parapsychology, God, nature, cults, or anything related to any of these.
Teacher, author, psychospiritual advisor, life-design consultant, and practicing mystic, Richard’s point of view is centered on love mysticism. He is the founder of agapology, the science of love-psychology, spokesperson for the Universal Love Movement (not a religion, but a Way) which challenges society to live by the principles of compassion, acceptance, and tolerance. He is not a “guru.”
I called in about two weeks ago, and the discussion really helped me to refocus in a more positive direction.
His sites:
Richard is one of the most lucid, giving, and compassionate people I’ve ever known.
He has written several books, many of which are available for download.
My favorite is Journey to the Center of the Soul: Mysticism Made Simple, but I first stumbled across his work while searching for good books on Jehovah’s Witnesses. The JW books are very helpful for understanding how and why the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses can be so psychologically and spiritually destructive. When I read these two books, everything that I had sensed and felt really clicked into place. His style is quite different from my own, and his way of framing things gave me a new kind of conceptual and emotional “niche” in a heart/mind space that had been empty. I’ve been recommending the JW books on my site for some time:
Jehovah Lives in Brooklyn – Richard S. T. Francis
An extremely helpful book for ex-JWs (and for those who love them) that succeeds in capturing the thought patterns, assumptions, mindset, destructive consequences, spiritual distortions, and psychosocial dynamics of the “organization.” A very readable narrative of such issues as personality dismantling, satanic projection, sense of uniqueness, persecution, conformity and masks, and censorship. “Thus, in cases I have witnessed personally, parents have totally rejected and turned their backs on wayward children, brothers have become the fiercest of enemies, and lovers are separated with a ferocity and mutual hatred. Every form of sentimentality is despised as a weakness when it comes to the question of loyalty to Jehovah’s organization. Every human being is disposable. …This is an underlying flaw in much of fundamentalism, including JWs: ideas and concepts are more sacred even than human life. It is due to this distortion that JWs refuse blood transfusions even to save the lives of their children–a teaching for which they have become monsterously notorious.” (p.73).Jehovah Good-Bye: The New Theism of Love – Richard S. T. Francis
Ex-JW Francis moves from criticism to a constructive analysis of what he calls the “New Theist,” who is reconnecting to the agapic god of love and forgiveness. “The New Theist has arisen in specific response to the intellectual and spiritual starvation so often promoted by traditional religion. Far too often, religion, whose job it is to feed the masses, wrenches from their hands the tiniest morsels of substantial spiritual food, and tries to replace them with the non-nutritive ‘straw’ of organizationalism and dogma, doctrine and administration. Worse, some groups are monomaniacally obsessed with only money, and religion is only a front” (p.11). ” “The God of revealed by Jesus was no primitive anthropomorphism, no historical product of evolution from the proto-Jehovac images of the old god. This God did not dribble out forgiveness in parsimonious, unwilling, reticent microparticles; this God deluged and immersed his children in purest Love, and was eager and delighted to forgive. And according to grace, he did not forgive becuase of his children’s attitudes or behaviors; he forgave because of the quality of his love” (p. xix).
JWs in the News – Swindler Elder Lacks Empathy and…
Board denies parole for swindler
From the Associated Press / Billings Gazette, March 25 2006
The state Board of Pardons has denied parole to a former Jehovah’s Witness church elder who helped bilk an elderly woman out of a $7 million estate, including a family ranch. Dale A. Erickson, 56, of Missoula, was sentenced in 2003 to 25 years in prison with 10 suspended after pleading no contest to conspiracy, theft and securities fraud.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Attorney Chris Miller and Sheriff Scott Howard attended the hearing at the Cascade County regional jail, where Erickson is an inmate. After listening to the objections of Miller, Howard and members of the late Una Anderson’s family, the board rejected Erickson’s request, said Jeff Walter, senior administrative officer for the state Board of Pardons in Deer Lodge.
“Both Sheriff Howard and I were very pleased with the board’s decision to put Erickson over for three more years,” Miller said.
Miller said the parole board took into account Erickson’s refusal to accept responsibility for his actions or acknowledge that harm was done to Anderson, of Deer Lodge.
“The defendant and his family talked at length about what they had been through, but apparently were unconcerned about the impact of the crime on the victim,” Miller said. “I believe that his lack of empathy was a deciding factor.”
Erickson and co-defendant Darryl K. Willis, 66, of Helena, were ordered to pay $7.15 million in restitution, said Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Anez. Willis has paid $402.94, but Erickson has paid nothing, Anez said.
Prosecutors said Anderson, who died last year at 103, lost her life savings and a 6,400-acre family ranch near Jens in an elaborate befriend-and-betray scheme perpetrated by Erickson and Willis over a period of seven years. The men sold her ranch in 1999 for $4 million, less than its 1995 appraised value of $5.3 million. They didn’t tell her of the sale, paid themselves a commission and spent the money.
They used more than $2 million of her money to finance an effort to set up Montana’s first foreign capital depository, which would offer a place for the super-rich to stash their money similar to Swiss-style and offshore-type banks.
Progressive Faith Bloggers Carnival 7
Welcome to the 7th Carnival of Progressive Faith Bloggers! Join us if you would like to participate in future carnivals. Your host next week is Pearlbear’s Blog. Contact Michelle directly with a "Carnival Post" email or submit your blog link and description to ProgFaithCarnival – at – Yahoo.com with "Carnival Link" in the title.
I was planning on making this more of a narrative post, but the topics this week were very wide-ranging. The round-up is more concise than descriptive. I encourage you to go read the posts. Please feel free to comment with additional post links. Without further ado, then:
Baraka at Truth and Beauty questions whether revulsion is the best response with a witty, sweet defense of piglets and love hounds. Sometimes even the lowliest of animals can hold the key to Heaven or an explanation of our connection to God.
Eternal Peace outlines a two-tiered Tonglen meditative practice in which one breathes in the pain of others and breathes out a sending of relief and joy – but it’s the second level of the practice that got my attention.
Connecting with the voice of the infinite in our lives is pondered – with the aid Paul Tillich – at Even the Devils Believe (see also the top ten list of ikons for theologians).
Daniel at Radical Torah is also thinking about the singular Voice which arises in each individual – in a post on the radical, yet grounded, subjectivity of Judaism.
On grounding (in relation to rock/stone in particular), see an interesting instruction on alter construction from the book of Exodus, and take a look at photographs of the patient stones of Glendalough at Hoarded Ordinaries.
Think Buddha considers a challenging question of the relative ease or difficulty of ethics in a Western context.
Planet Grenada muses on Sunni-Shia tensions and hopes during Muharram (the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar), and Another Country interprets Lent as a time to establish new habits for spiritual growth.
Radical Hapa considers race in the context of the delusion of national innocence, and No More Apples expands on what it would mean to have "more of those apples" now that innocence is gone.
Semitism.net reports on Prime Minister Olmert’s annexation of the Jordan Valley, and comments on its injustice.
Richard at Tikun Olam comments on a recent political statement that compared stem cell research to the Holocaust, Nazi torture science, and slavery.
Xpatriated Texan considers heating costs and the politics of Citgo oil from Venezuela. At Blue Texas, he posts on the "Kinky" stalking horse hypothesis, and at the Progressive Populist he proposes the interresponsibility of ourselves with one another as the foundation of progressive values. Tammany on the Hudsom notes the low level of ethical understanding exhibited by pleading ignorance to an obvious conflict of interest.
LA Mom points out that the Bush administration can’t have it both ways for UN inspectors at Guantanamo.
Mainstream Baptist reports on proposed Oklahoma state legislation for state distribution of funding to faith-based organizations, despite strong prohibitions in its constitution.
At Cross Left Jo posts ten things that technology can help coordinate between progressive organizations, and ScottPaeth reflects on lessons from Bonhoeffer.
The Corner posts on subverting hierarchies and exploring the interpretational acts of a network nodal mode of power, and Pearlbear’s Blog connects the dots for a new conspiracy theory of entertainment media control and command technology.
Father Jake Stops the World takes a look at spiritual shifts and financial questions at the Episcopal Diocese of Albany.
Boy in the Bands wonders about the terms under which a new church might be welcomed under the Universalist Unitarian umbrella.
Velveteen Rabbi responds to the New Reform Response to intermarriage by questioning whether welcoming conversions of non-Jewish spouses may evolve into pressure and an expectation of eventual identity shift – thus undermining community acceptance and respect of interfaith couples as they are.
At the Feminary, Episcopalian Stasi is rebuffed by an Anglican kissin’ cousin, but welcomed by rabbis.
In a post that (unfortunately) resonates with my own experience, Reverend Mommy narrates a humerous, humbling moment of self-realization in the classroom.
And last, Grateful Bear quotes the Sufi mystic Ibn al-Arabi. I am particularly fond of this:
My heart has become capable of every form:
It is a pasture for gazelles,
And a monastery for Christian monks,
And a temple for idols,
And the Ka’aba of the pilgrims,
And the tablets of the Torah,
And the book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of Love:
Whatever path Love’s camel takes,
That is my religion and my faith.