The Coffee Party was established in January, 2010 by Annabel Park and Eric Byler. After becoming frustrated by the angry and disruptive tone that seemed to dominate so much of the political discussion lately, Annabel vented her frustration on her Facebook page. She argued that contrary to the impression given by the media coverage, the Tea Party was not representative of most Americans. After receiving significant support for her views, she started a “Join the Coffee Party Movement” fan page on Facebook. The goal of the movement was to promote civil and respectful public discussion of political issues and bring people together to work cooperatively for the common good. The group rapidly grew to over 150,000 in under six weeks, a growth rate much faster than the Tea Party movement. Since then it has received positive media coverage from the NY Times, CNN, Public Radio, and most other major news outlets.
When I first heard about the Coffee Party movement, it immediately struck a strong emotional chord with me. I originally joined the Network of Spiritual Progressives because of a longing to be part of a larger movement of people who came together to work in a civil and respectful manner for a better community, and to balance what I saw as the destructive and negative influences of the groups (secular and religious) that were promoting anger, divisiveness, and “pathological hyper-individualism”. For me, the Coffee Party was a secular appeal to many of the same things that motivated people to join the NSP.
If you like the most recent issue of Tikkun Magazine “God and the 21st Century” you might enjoy watching this recent debate called “Does God have a Future?” While heavyweights Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston make the case for God and religion Sam Harris and Michael Shermer try and deconstruct Chopra’s “woo-woo” language to quote Shermer.
While you probably know that Chopra and Houston are not defending the God of Pat Robertson or any particular religion, for Harris and Shermer any talk of God and religion is problematic. They take aim at Chopra when he conflates terms like non-locality and infinity with spirituality. On the other hand sparks fly when Chopra-fueled by a long standing feud with Shermer accuses him of being an extreme scientific reductionist. Houston for the most part avoids the God question and speaks about wisdom, healing and spirituality.
I never get tired of these sorts of engagements as I think they prove useful to furthering the discourse between religion and science. And I often find myself wanting to chime in here and there on both positions, thinking of how each side could challenge the other more. Who do you think won?
You may know that the name Easter is taken from the Old English Eostre (also Eastre) as in the Anglo-Saxon month Eostur-monath, the month in which the Christian missionaries to northern Europe were already celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus. Why did they choose to rename the holiday, when:
Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages the feast called Easter in English is termed by the words for passover in those languages and in the older English versions of the Bible the term Easter was the term used to translate passover. (Wikipedia)
It seems that it is for the same reason that the Virgin of Guadelupe appeared in the place sacred to the Aztec goddess Tonantzin, and so became the old goddess in new guise, with new attributes. The Catholic Church has been masterful at coopting and transforming the previous religion’s rituals (e.g. Christmas took off from the old Saturnalia).
Eostre was a goddess. The feasts in her honor were celebrated in the same month as Passover and the Christian resurrection celebrations. There is speculation that she was a spring-like fertility goddess, hence the eggs and bunnies, or hares in the middle ages.
So what better press release to post as we approach the onetime feast of the goddess Eostre and the current core celebration of the Christian year than this, from the Catholic Women’s Ordination Conference?
The Vatican’s Betrayal
Statement from Executive Director Erin Saiz Hanna
WASHINGTON, DC- Tomorrow, Roman Catholics globally will join together for feast of Holy Thursday, to commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus the Christ and welcome the Easter Triduum, the holiest days for Catholics. It was during the Last Supper that Jesus gave those gathered a new commandment —to “love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another,” only to be betrayed by Judas.
The quite appropriate photo used on AlterNet to illustrate Hegdes' post. Photo Credit: cometstarmoon
Hedges’ latest is called “Is American Yearning for Fascism?” What I want to ask you, our readers, is: is this country really psychologically and politically similar enough to Germany in the 1920s, which is his main comparison, to be seriously in danger of fascism? As someone raised outside the U.S. who has still lived longer outside it than in, I am more impressed by how cussedly libertarian so many Americans are, how much the love of guns is allied to a “leave me alone” attitude. I know we are all prone to obedience and are more easily seduced by authority than we would like to think, but the American libertarian attitude seems very ill suited to fascist movements of the kind that take over the state and run it. Am I wrong?
Here’s what Hedges writes about current “movements” — mostly unnamed in this post though he names the Oath Keepers,Citizens United, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin:
There’s climate change happening all over the world, and everywhere melting glaciers calve icebergs at an unprecedented rate. (“Iceberg”? Isn’t that a Jewish name?) One particular glacier that’s disappearing fast is the unified and monolithic support that Jews outside of Israel have always given to whatever the Israeli government of the day wanted to do. It has been a truism for years that there was far harsher criticism of Israeli governments from Jews within Israel than from Jews outside of it. But now, for the first time significant numbers of diaspora Jews (and fellow travellers) are opposing the Israeli government, and doing so because they see the current expansionist policy as hugely harmful to any chance of Israeli survival.
The newspapers are full of the latest priestly sex abuses. This is an on going story. Within the last year, mass scandals have erupted in Brazil, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria. and the United States. Figures from the John Jay School of Criminal Justice estimate that since 1950, an estimated 280,000 children have been sexually abused by Catholic Clergy and deacons.
Here is a series of articles that may help you negotiate through the Passover holiday and the ethical morass facing those who wish to celebrate the holiday of our freedom from slavery without going dead to the reality of the Jewish people’s role in the suffering of the Palestinian people, today, right now, as we celebrate this year’s Passover!!
Read these articles on current thinking or visit the links below:
Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s somewhat humorous, but also quite serious, The Ten Plagues According to Jewish Women. Letty was a founding editor of Ms. Magazine and a founding member of Tikkun‘s Editorial Advisory Board.
As I prepare to go to friends to celebrate Passover sedar, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be Jewish. I have increasingly been feeling comfortable with the people with whom I celebrate, part of which is that they too are more concerned with exploring questions than with repeating simple answers. One of the questions is what is being celebrated: is it exclusively that God saves the Jews, (Hey Pharoah! We own the podium!) or is it a more universal celebration of the unforeseen liberation from slavery to freedom, an archetypal celebration for all who are oppressed?
These days I have my most stimulating arguments about being Jewish, and about Jews with Philip Weiss, even if my part of the debate is in my head. Here’s an except from a recent piece, in which Philip and the non-Jewish wife of a Jewish friend of his are having this argument:
I said, “It is a great liberation story and that’s what I like about the seder. It belongs to all people.” The friend’s wife is sophisticated religiously, she has read widely. She said firmly, No it is confined to the Jewish people. There is the sense throughout the festival that this is What God did for us. There is a sense of chosenness throughout the seder. I got upset. I said flatly, she was “wrong.” But she persisted, and I was quiet. I just listened. She quoted some of the liturgical stuff in the seder, also the violence directed at Egypt, the ten plagues down to the slaying of the first born. I bet she knows the seder better than I do.
Sometimes as a Muslim I feel suspect that the simplest, most effective way to begin to answer the many burning questions Westerners have about Islam and Muslims isn’t to give them a Quran or even the most erudite and engaging book on Islam. For many living in our postmodern world, such a discussion needs to start far closer to home, with a crash course in Western religious history and the basic ideas of the Judeo-Christian Tradition. Not only is that often a necessary remedial measure, but in this day of –to borrow an inspired metaphor once applied to U.S.-Iranian relations–“mutual Satanization” I think it is for many probably the only way to begin this critical conversation.
As an undergrad studying French in the early 1990s, I took a class on the Francophone literature of Quebec. Until recently in most Western societies literature was riddled with references to and assumptions of familiarity with the Bible, and this was especially true of Quebec’s literary output thanks to the province’s tradition of being *plus catholique que le pape*.
I was the only non-Christian in the class and my knowledge of the Bible is anything but encyclopedic, yet it sometimes seemed that I was the only student with even a rudimentary familiarity with the famous biblical narratives, events and turns of phrase that were mined at every turn by our Quebecois authors and film makers. During one class room discussion of the wonderful 1989 world cinema classic “Jesus of Montreal”, after painfully obvious Gospel allusion after painfully obvious Gospel allusion had appeared to be zoom over most people’s heads, I remember thinking, “My God, if these guys are so ignorant of their own tradition, what hope is there of explaining the yet more unfamiliar worldview of Muslims?” (For more on this trend, see Stephen Prothero’s stimulating Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know–And Doesn’t.)
In such a backdrop of abject religious illiteracy, the most effective introduction to Islam for the average American may not be a book on Islam at all, but rather an discussion of the parallels of Islam’s supposedly peculiar doctrines and practices that are to be found in one’s own culturo-religious heritage.
Obama has been on a tear since Reconciliation. Told that the Republicans planned to repeal the Health Care bill he said, “Go for it.” Understandably perturbed by new settlements, he cancelled a scheduled dinner with Netanyahu telling the Israeli Prime Minister to “call when anything changed.” Friday’s New York Times had a front-page picture of Obama mockingly pointing to the cover of Romney’s autobiography, an attractive young blond woman standing admiringly by.
Such examples of cockiness are not necessarily perspicacious. “Go for it” channeled Bush’s “Bring it on,” once again legitimating the former President. Insulting Netanyahu united the Israeli people in support of their Prime Minister whereas a divided Israel is crucial to the peace process. Magnanimity is a wiser response to success than crowing.
These are minor errors, perhaps, but we have also seen Obama’s cockiness at play in major ones. Asked why there were no radical voices in his economic team, he said HE would be the radical voice. Asked why he hadn’t appointed someone like Stiglitz or Krugman, he said “Why, I read all those folks.” As is now apparent, Obama’s economic policies were written by the large banks, insurance companies and other major “players;” so in that case Obama’s cockiness hid other key aspects of his personality: deference to power, and not knowing what he doesn’t know.
On the recommendation of the activists I stayed with in Tel Aviv, I made my way to Jerusalem in time to attend a demonstration outside the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. I was going to attend one of the demonstrations that has been happening at the wall by the West Bank village of Bi’lin every Friday for the past five years, but there was not room for me in the carpool from Tel Aviv. Later that day I read in the Jerusalem post that Israel would not longer be allowing Israelis and internationals into Bi’lin and Ni’lin (another West Bank demonstration sight) on Fridays between 8am and 8pm, essentially precluding future non-Palestinian presence at these famous demonstrations (in the past five years the Bi’lin demonstrations have attracted such big hitters as Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, and Desmond Tutu, among others).
Despite not being able to attend the demonstration in Bi’lin, the demonstration outside the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah was a huge eye opener. The situation in Shiekh Jarrah (offensively titled the Hebrew name on the map I got at my hostel) is unique, even for east Jerusalem.
April 5, 2010: I have replaced the original post with this shorter version.
In every generation, we read on Pesach, they rise up to oppress us. This year we must face down our most implacable foe, the one who has dogged our every footstep since Israel bargained for the birthright and got for himself and his progeny so much more than he bargained for. Members of the tribe, in the immortal words of Pogo, we have met the enemy and he is us. For this self-knowledge we can thank the approval of 1600 new housing units in East Jerusalem when Joe Biden arrived in Israel. By publicly slapping Israel’s one true friend in the face we also gave ourselves a big black eye for all to see. The keepers of the siege who insist that Israel has no real friends in the world are clearly intent on making that a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The moral rot within the Jewish community has reached an intolerable level. Bernie Madoff was just icing on the cake. From the inhuman working conditions at the country’s largest kosher meatpacker to the sexual abuse of students at yeshivas in Brookline, to the predatory practices of Goldman-Sachs in Greece and everywhere else in the world, the stench rises to high heaven. If we were trying to validate every anti-Semitic stereotype in the book, the Jews of this generation could not be doing a better job.
Conscientious objection is as old as the first human being who faced another human being who was intent upon doing h/er harm and refused to respond with violence. It is as old as the first human being who looked upon a battlefield littered with the dead and dying and concluded: “this is madness” and refused to participate in organized slaughter. Conscientious objection is as old as the human awareness of right and wrong. Selective conscientious objection is as old as the first warrior who refused an order on the battlefield, who refused to shoot the enemy, or who walked away from a war s/he deemed unjust.
When you think about power, what are some of the words or images that come to mind? More often than not, I’ve heard people associate power with domination, coercion, or extreme force. For many, their relationship with power is at best ambivalent. What if you were to think of power as the capacity to mobilize resources to attend to needs? What happens when you imagine increasing your internal resources, bringing more choice, decisiveness, and resilience to your life and work?
Wouldn’t you want a way to work directly on cultivating power?
Despite my clarity and strength, even relatively minor obstacles often interfere with my access to power. Since I hear similar experiences from many people, and since sharing my own experiences sometimes inspires others to live more fully, I decided to share with you in this post how I have been working to access more of my power.
Mike Godbe, a young American on a free Birthright tour of Israel, continues his diary and photos of the tour, reporting his experiences and the ways the tour staff present the history and politics of the country. Earlier posts from Masada, Mt. Herzl, Jerusalem, a kibbutz, and Caesaria can be accessed by clicking the corresponding links.
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
The day began with a much welcome 2 hour bus ride to Tel Aviv, which most people slept through the entirety of due to only getting a few hours of sleep the night before.
Our first destination was the Save a Child’s Heart Foundation, based out of the Wolfson Medical Center in South Tel Aviv. Save a Child’s Heart is a program aimed at helping children from developing countries where pediatric cardiologists are not available or few and far between. They do their work in three ways, they completely cover the costs to bring children to Israel for treatment, they train doctors from developing countries in Israel, and they go to developing countries and do training and surgeries side by side.
The lady giving the info session tells us that 50% of the children who come to Israel to receive treatment come from the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and Iraq. One of my peers comments that it seems like a political gesture to take such a disproportionate number of kids from the West Bank and Gaza. The SACH spokesperson, a late twenties girl originally from New York, says that it is not political, but that it is simply “a community in need, and we respond to that need.”
Two weeks ago Sojourners’ Jim Wallis, the most prominent social justice evangelical in the country, responded to Glenn Beck‘s outburst about social justice Christians (which Valerie Elverton-Dixon wrote about on Tikkun Daily):
Beck says Christians should leave their social justice churches, so I say Christians should leave Glenn Beck. I don’t know if Beck is just strange, just trying to be controversial, or just trying to make money. But in any case, what he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show. His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern. Stern practices pornography and Beck denies the central teachings of Jesus and the Bible. So Christians should stop watching the Glenn Beck show and pray for him and Howard Stern.
My friend’s children, who are just about to graduate from college, get to stay on their mom’s health care plan. Yay! Another friend’s son, who is working as an intern and doesn’t have health coverage through his job, can get covered by his parent’s plan again. Yay! Another friend who really wanted to retire from corporate work and get into a private counseling practice in around two years, can start planning for that now, knowing that her pre-existing condition won’t prevent her from getting coverage. Yay!
My father can continue to get the fabulous care he’s been getting from the VA (government-run health care) and my husband and I can continue getting our health care from Kaiser, but we’ll also have a chance to shop around in the new health care insurance exchanges and maybe get a better deal, without having to worry about our pre-existing conditions getting in the way… And maybe we can consider adding an employee or two to our small business because we’ll get a little help paying for health coverage if we do… Yay!!!!!
There’s a lot I am grateful for, very concrete things that the health care reform bill does right now, in two years, and in four years. And despite Republican protests that the cost-savings touted by the Democrats are smoke and mirrors, the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities says “Careful analysis of these charges shows them to be misleading or inaccurate. They do not withstand scrutiny.” Yay!
by: Dave Belden on March 25th, 2010 | Comments Off
I was intrigued yesterday by a press release that said:
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Evangelical Environmental Network:
Evangelicals, Hispanics Call for Climate Action
For the first time, evangelical Hispanic leaders are pushing for action on climate change, joining forces with leaders affiliated with the Evangelical Climate Initiative to come to Washington DC to meet with elected officials.
Climate change will hit the poor around the world the hardest, including increased hunger, water scarcity, and health impacts, all leading to more people becoming refugees. Today, fulfilling Jesus’ teaching to love our neighbors and care for “the least of these” includes protecting the poor from climate change and helping them adapt to the consequences they did not cause.
The National Hispanic Leadership Conference is the country’s largest Hispanic Christian organization, “committed to serving the 16 million Hispanic born-again Christians in the United States and Puerto Rico.” It is also a member of the right wing Freedom Federation, which was launched last July, and described itself in Christianity Today, the leading evangelical magazine, as “nonpartisan:”
This week’s spiritual wisdom is an excerpt from the Passover supplement published in the March/April 2010 issue of Tikkun.
Passover is not meant to be merely a celebration of the Jewish victory for liberation in our past, but is rather meant to stimulate us to extend that liberation to the whole world. Such liberation would bring an end to the destruction of the environment. It would bring an end to the cheapening of cultural life by the dominance of an ethos of “looking out for number one.” It would bring an end to rampant materialism and our society’s belief in salvation through mechanical objects and technological fixes …
We need a movement that has a spiritual dimension and affirms and builds on what the 2008 election revealed: the deep yearning of Americans (and really all people on the planet) for a world in which love, kindness, generosity, ethical and ecological sanity, awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe, and commitment to a higher meaning for our lives are valued over the pursuit of money, power, sexual conquest, and fame, which have been extolled as central values by corporate media and enshrined in the workings of the global capitalist system. At the Seder table, we invite you to ask how you can help get this kind of spiritual consciousness introduced into the discourse of secular liberal and progressive social change movements, NGOs, and liberal political parties. We invite you to make this discussion a central part of your Passover Seder this year.
The Coffee Party was established in January, 2010 by Annabel Park and Eric Byler. After becoming frustrated by the angry and disruptive tone that seemed to dominate so much of the political discussion lately, Annabel vented her frustration on her Facebook page. She argued that contrary to the impression given by the media coverage, the Tea Party was not representative of most Americans. After receiving significant support for her views, she started a “Join the Coffee Party Movement” fan page on Facebook. The goal of the movement was to promote civil and respectful public discussion of political issues and bring people together to work cooperatively for the common good. The group rapidly grew to over 150,000 in under six weeks, a growth rate much faster than the Tea Party movement. Since then it has received positive media coverage from the NY Times, CNN, Public Radio, and most other major news outlets.
