Politics & Society

How does our spiritual development relate to our leaders' appeals to us?

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Two comments in my inbox this morning: the first was left here on our magazine site by Robert Bruce Burns:
I am a practicing Buddhist monk, and a member of our local Congregationalist Church here in Ledyard Connecticut, and a farmer as well. I ask all of us to please have patience. What Obama does, and what politicians do simply reflects who we are as a nation of humanity. We are learning, as things get rougher and rougher, and the lessons more lucid, we will move, as history dictates, in our time. Obama, a great leader, came too soon, his leadership skills have been stolen from us simply because we are not ready, be active, but be patient..WE WILL OVERCOME.

Politics & Society

We Tried to Warn Obama…But He Wouldn't Listen

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The defeat of the Democrats’ choice to succeed Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate is being treated as though there is a decided shift of mass opinion to the Right in the U.S. But it is the Obama Administration, not the people who supported him in 2008, which moved to the Right–in the name of being pragmatists or realists. In the process they emptied their own agenda–in regard to health care, the environment, human rights, social and economic justice, and global peace–of the critical elements that made those programs sound hopeful. That left many of their supporters feeling confused, disillusioned, and unable to rally around a politics that seemed so very far from “the change you can believe in” that we had been promised. Thousands of us saw this coming, and tried to warn Obama, but he wouldn’t listen. On April 29, 2009, Tikkun and our education arm the Network of Spiritual Progressives bought the entire back page of a special supplement published in the Washington Post on the occasion of the 100th day of Obama’s presidency.

Earth-based Religions

Voodoo's view of the quake in Haiti

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In response to one of the comments on my humorous post “Satan Responds to Pat Robertson on Haiti,” I found this article on the Voodoo view of the quake. Vodou is the earth-based religion of Haiti, so it makes sense that a Vodou priest would view his country as a manifestation of Mother Earth. From the Washington Post:

Voodoo’s view of the quake in Haiti
By Elizabeth McAlister
Associate Professor of Religion, Wesleyan University
Vodouists in the Haitian diaspora are praying on their knees today, just as Catholics and Protestants are. Why did this devastating earthquake have to happen in Haiti, a country already so vulnerable that people live on a dollar a day, where on a good day, the government cannot employ or educate or provide health care for the majority? In Port-au-Prince, they are coping by searching and rescuing, sharing resources, crying, and praying.

Culture

Avatar — It's Not Just about Whiteness

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Yesterday I posted some ecofeminist reflections on Avatar. Today I want to take on the racism issue that several Goddess Scholars as well as bloggers here at Tikkun Daily have raised. Originally I thought this movie was carefully crafted to bring the (mostly) white audience into an understanding that indigenous people already have — the importance, even sacredness, of their world ecology. The hero is Jake Sully, a human who becomes a Na’vi, thereby moving from one world to the other. He begins by betraying the people who ultimately become his own, so it’s not like his first actions are laudable — he’s actually an anti-hero in the beginning, not meant to be liked.

Christianity

MLK, the Social Gospel, and an invitation to meet Gary Dorrien on tonight's Tikkun Phone Forum

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It’s extraordinary to me how such a polarizing figure as Martin Luther King has apparently been embraced by the whole society, with street and school names and a national holiday. Conservatives like the Heritage Foundation hold lectures and symposiums honoring his legacy. He is surely a much more radical figure than any of other people who are so widely celebrated by the American mainstream in its holidays and public life. I could understand it a little more easily if he had “only” stood for full inclusion of African Americans in capitalist society, so that he would have measured it a complete success if there ever came a time when African Americans were rich, middle class and poor in the same ratio as whites, and had no more glass ceiling to the U.S. presidency and boardrooms than whites (a day that is still very far off, of course, despite our current president — as Pastor Lynice Pinkard said in church today about Obama, “Audre Lorde told us that we can never dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools”). The conservatives who praise MLK, apparently think this is what he did stand for.

Inter-Culturalism

Campaign Kinship launches on MLK Day, inspired by "Heart of Stone"

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In 1950, when Philip Roth graduated from Newark, New Jersey’s Weequaic High School (which he immortalized in Portnoy’s Complaint) and still in 1960 when Tikkun Editor Michael Lerner graduated from the school, Weequaic was known as one of the top schools in America. By 2000 it was one of the most violent schools in the 12th most dangerous city in the country. The movie “Heart of Stone” (which includes a spot with Michael Lerner) tells what happened next:
When Ron Stone took over as principal in 2001, gangs ruled the school. Crime and shootings were commonplace and during his first month on the job he watched students engage in a mass brawl in every hallway. Stone knew his work was cut out for him and devised an unconventional plan to realize his vision of turning the school around.

Rethinking Religion

Haiti: Pat Roberston's religious hatred, Ingrid Mattson's religious love

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My atheist anti-religious friends will tell me all about Pat Robertson’s vicious words on Haiti. They may not send me all the many words from religious leaders giving a call that is more true to the founding spirits of the great religions. Thanks to Aminah Carroll for sending this piece from the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) that says all that really needs to be said. Message from ISNA president Dr. Ingrid Mattson on the Haitian Earthquake
It has been reported that a prominent Christian leader, Pat Robertson, has said that Haiti has been “cursed” by a “pact with the devil.” Fortunately, this is not the mainstream Christian position and my friend, the Reverend Paul Raushenbush, has rejected Robertson’s “blaming the victims” theology.

General News

The Elders Call for Women's Equality

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Nicholas Kristof wrote his Sunday NY Times column this week about “Religion and Women.”It’s both a discouraging overview of women’s oppression here and abroad and a hopeful look at how many of the best-known leaders of our time are beginning to agitate for women’s equality, and very specifically, their equality within religion. Following up on his links, I discovered that The Elders, a group including Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Mary Robinson, Gro Brundtland, and Ela Ghatt (founder of SEWA) began an initiative this summer called “Equality for Women & Girls” that states:
Religion and tradition are a great force for peace and progress around the world. However, as Elders, we believe that the justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a higher authority, is unacceptable. We believe that women and girls share equal rights with men and boys in all aspects of life. We call upon all leaders to promote and protect equal rights for women and girls.