Filtering by Category: Interfaith Dialogue,Public Square
Host Mark Simpson speaks with Central Florida Imam Muhammad Musri, who was at the center of negotiations with the Gainesville pastor who planned to burn copies of the Koran on last weekend's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. He's joined by Dr. Joel Hunter for a discussion of religious fundamentalism. The two men share their surprising views on how this event will affect Christian-Muslim relations.
• Public Square •
President Barack Obama has long sought to open a dialogue between his administration and evangelical religious leaders, and he has even found common ground on some issues with conservative groups like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals.
But even though Obama may have won over some religious leaders, he’s losing the battle to win over their congregants.
Though several moderate to conservative evangelical pastors support the president, polls show that a significant percentage of conservative Christians remain skeptical about Obama’s sincerity when it comes to the values that he says they share, and many say they doubt his faith.
Joel Hunter, one of Obama’s religious advisers, who has served on the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, blames a coordinated campaign to spread disinformation about the president, undermining his efforts at outreach to evangelicals. That, he said, leads to suspicions among average conservative churchgoers who suspect Obama is trying “to enlist good people for their sinister causes.”
For every instance of religious moderate leaders supporting Obama on certain issues, “there is this other equal and opposite reaction [from the congregation] that says, ‘Well, it’s all a trick,’” said Hunter, the pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Fla., and author of “A New Kind of Conservative.”
The growing doubt among evangelical voters comes despite the president’s record of relatively moderate faith positions, such as his decision to invite Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California to speak at his inauguration. During the campaign, some conservatives believed Obama was downplaying his party’s long-standing position on abortion rights in favor of more emphasis on reducing abortions.
And his opposition to gay marriage in favor of civil unions drew in moderate and some conservative evangelicals, although Obama insisted that it’s a matter of religious principle, not conventional political wisdom.
Joshua DuBois, the director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership, said the White House has made a “historic” effort to reach voters of faith, and Obama “is proud of his continued and strong support from people of faith at the leadership level and in grass roots.” DuBois insisted that the president “will continue to work with religious communities to move our nation forward."
During the 2008 presidential election, voting patterns show Obama won modest but significant swaths of religious voters, winning a higher percentage of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish voters than John Kerry did in 2004.
But according to a recent Pew Research poll, more white evangelicals erroneously believe that Obama is Muslim than those who believe he is Christian, and 42 percent say they don’t know what religion he practices at all.
“Every day I read a poll [about Obama’s religion] I think it’s odd,” said Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals. “I read all these polls and my mind always flashes back to Jay Leno and ‘Jaywalking,’” referring to the comedian’s routine that pokes fun at Americans’ ignorance of seemingly basic facts.
Groups like the National Association of Evangelicals, who represents some 30 million members and dozens of Christian denominations across the country, have found room to agree with the president on issues like gay marriage and immigration reform — an issue Obama has pledged to tackle during his term.
“I’m not aware of an issue of significant public policy that has so united the evangelical community as immigration reform,” said Rich Nathan, pastor of Vineyard Church of Columbus, Ohio. But Nathan said that support for action on immigration has not filtered down to lay members of evangelical communities, due to “a relative absence of communication — most laypeople have never heard a sermon or teaching on immigration from the pulpit,” Nathan said.
At the same time, some evangelical Christian voters are sticking close to more traditional, conservative political roots. Last month, tens of thousands of Christians rallied on the National Mall, in response to Fox news host Glenn Beck’s call for a return to America’s religious values.
Some religious observers say that Obama must address the potent combination of faith and fear that has only increased since he took office. And he can do that by returning to the rhetoric of hope that he used during the presidential campaign.
“And a whole lot of little things can happen right, but it doesn’t remove the fear,” Hunter said. “You’ve got to address the fear if you’re going to create unity and create a movement.”
FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42028.html
• Public Square •
LONGWOOD, Fla. -- Family and friends gathered at Northland Church on Thursday to remember Ava Hunter.
Hunter, 5, lost her battle with brain cancer over the weekend. She was the granddaughter of Dr. Joel Hunter, the church's senior pastor, and the daughter of Hunter's oldest son, Josh Hunter.
Ava was diagnosed in late June with a rare form of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme. She underwent several surgeries and hospitalizations.
Her doctors said the type of cancer she had doesn't respond well to chemotherapy or radiation.
It's estimated thousands of people all over the world had been following a blog written by Josh Hunter that chronicled Ava's progress, as well as his experiences and struggles as the parent of a terminally ill child.
Joel Hunter leads a congregation of 12,000 at Northland and serves on an advisory council to President Barack Obama.
• Public Square •
Washington, DC (August 25, 2010)—Over 70 prominent Christian leaders and denominational heads from across the ideological spectrum joined together today to call for a stop to the misrepresentation of President Obama’s Christian faith. In an open letter, these Christian leaders called on the media, public officials, and their fellow Christians to stand with them in opposing those who continue to insinuate that the President is a Muslim, not a Christian. The full text of the letter and a list of signatories is below.
As Christian leaders— whose primary responsibility is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with our congregations, our communities, and our world— we are deeply troubled by the recent questioning of President Obama’s faith. We understand that these are contentious times, but the personal faith of our leaders should not be up for public debate.
President Obama has been unwavering in confessing Christ as Lord and has spoken often about the importance of his Christian faith. Many of the signees on this letter have prayed and worshipped with this President. We believe that questioning, and especially misrepresenting, the faith of a confessing believer goes too far.
This is not a political issue. The signers of this letter come from different political and ideological backgrounds, but we are unified in our belief in Jesus Christ. As Christian pastors and leaders, we believe that fellow Christians need to be an encouragement to those who call Christ their savior, not question the veracity of their faith.
Therefore, we urge public officials, faith leaders, and the media to offer no further support or airtime to those who misrepresent and call into question the President’s Christian faith. And we join with the President in praying that God will continue to bless the United States of America.
Signed,
Click here to read the full list of signers: http://www.eleisongroup.com/content/faith-not-political-issue
• Public Square •
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 20, 2010; A02
As he flew aboard Air Force One to Chicago on his 49th birthday earlier this month, President Obama dialed three Christian pastors to pray with him.
On an airborne conference call, he kidded with the religious leaders about being abandoned by his wife and daughters, who were away on vacation and at camp. As he celebrated his birthday, he was in a reflective mood. He told them he wanted to pray about the year that had passed, what's really important in life and the challenges ahead.
"That was simply something that he wanted to do at his initiative because it was important to him," said Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor who was on the call and who is part of a small circle of spiritual advisers who frequently talk to Obama by phone.
The prayer session, which was not publicized and which neither the White House nor the ministers sought to bring to light, reflects Obama's decision to keep his public expressions of religious faith to a minimum. Hunter said the president often reaches out to pastors for private spiritual conversation.
Hunter, who is the pastor of Northland Church in Orlando, also advised Obama's predecessor. George W. Bush routinely invoked his own Christian faith in public. Hunter said that Obama's reluctance to do so may help explain the results of a Pew Research Center poll released this week that revealed a sizable increase in the number of people who falsely think that Obama is a Muslim.
Since October 2008, the percentage of Americans who say the president is a Muslim has risen from 12 percent to 18 percent. The percentage of people who think he is a Christian has fallen from 51 percent to 34 percent. The polling data indicated that those who identified themselves as conservative Republicans were most likely to say that he is a Muslim.
"That's the downside of not wanting to expose what is personal to the political arena," Hunter said in an interview. It "leaves all kinds of room for speculation and conspiracy and people who are just not informed."
"You know what happens with a vacuum?" he said."It gets filled."
As the story churned on the Internet and made the rounds of cable news talk shows Thursday, deputy press secretary Bill Burton was left to insist to reporters that the president is indeed a Christian.
"He has spoken about his faith extensively in the past. You can bet that he'll talk about his faith again," Burton said.
Obama's predecessors needed to make no such assurances. Bush made frequent references to his faith. In a Republican debate with John McCain in 2000, Bush was asked what "political philosopher or thinker" he identified with most. He answered: "Christ, because he changed my heart."
Bill Clinton attended church regularly at the Foundry United Methodist Church, a few blocks from the White House.
When the Obamas moved to Washington, the president said he hoped to find a church to attend. But in an interview this spring, he said he would not join a church in the Washington area. Instead, he said, he would pray privately, read spiritual devotionals on his BlackBerry in the morning and occasionally attend services with his family at the private Camp David chapel.
"What we've decided for now is not to join a single church, and the reason is because Michelle and I have realized we are very disruptive to services," Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer in March.
Joshua DuBois, the president's chief faith adviser in the White House, said Obama and his family have gone to services at several churches.
The president attended the National Prayer Breakfast this year and last, and has given several speeches in which he talked about his faith. At an Easter breakfast this year, Obama talked about his belief in Jesus's resurrection.
"We are awed by the grace he showed even to those who would have killed him," the president told the crowd of Christian leaders. "We are thankful for the sacrifice he gave for the sins of humanity. And we glory in the promise of redemption in the resurrection."
But outside of those formal events, Obama tends to reserve religious expression for private moments.
Hunter recalled one such moment this year, when the president called to ask about Hunter's sick granddaughter. "He said he and Michelle were praying for us," Hunter said. " 'Remember, the Lord is with you on this,' he said. Those things never get publicized."
Dubois said the president does not intend to suddenly practice his faith in public in an effort to counter misperceptions.
"The president's spiritual life, his Christian walk, is something that is important to him not for communications reasons or political reasons," DuBois said. "We're not going to shift course in any way on the basis of a short-term event."
Hunter said the White House is wise to avoid being dragged into an artificial religiosity that would not suit the president.
"The worst thing you can do is overreact to this and get all religious publicly," he said.
But he added that the president should think about ways in which he can appropriately convey the depth of his faith to the portion of the public that wants to hear it.
"He needs to, in the course of normal conversation, and when it's relevant to the conversation, be a little more transparent about his very active engagement in his own spiritual formation," Hunter said. "You don't publicize them artificially. But he can be more transparent about what really is his spiritual life."
FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/19/AR2010081906659.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010081906991
• Public Square •
Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church, and a spiritual advisor to President Obama, joins author and political historian Stephen Mansfield on CNN American Morning—to debunk the myth that the President is a Muslim.
• Public Square •
• Public Square •
A substantial and growing chunk of the country believes that President Obama, a self-described Christian, is Muslim, while only about a third of Americans are able to correctly identify his religion, according to a survey released Thursday.
Nearly one in five Americans believe Obama is a Muslim, up from around one in 10 Americans who said he was Muslim last year, according to the survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
While most of those who think Obama is Muslim are Republicans, the number of independents who believe he is Muslim has expanded significantly, from 10 percent last year to 18 percent now.
The number of Americans who express uncertainly about the president's religion, meanwhile, is much larger and has also grown, including among Obama's political base. For instance, fewer than half of Democrats and African-Americans now say that Obama is Christian.
In March 2009, 36 percent of African-Americans said they didn't know what religion Obama practices. Now, 46 percent of African-Americans say they don't know.
"You would think the longer the person is in the White House, the more the 'don't knows' would decline," said Alan Cooperman, the Pew Forum's associate director for research. "But the 'don't knows' are higher now than when he came to office."
The survey was conducted in late July and early August.
Though Obama advertised his Christianity on the campaign trail and early in his administration - including distributing pamphlets about his religion during the 2008 presidential race and inviting the Rev. Rick Warren to his inauguration - he has been less public about his faith since then.
Despite intense media speculation about which Washington church Obama would join, for example, the White House has yet to announce that he has joined any.
"We had eight years of George W. Bush, who was very public about religious debates and high profile about religious practice and that's followed by Barack Obama, who is much lower profile about religious beliefs and practices," Cooperman said.
"It could be that in the relative vacuum of information coming out of the White House about his personal religious beliefs, others step in to feel the breach," Cooperman said. "It allows others who say that 'Oh, he's really this or that' to gain some currency."
Joshua DuBois, executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said Wednesday night that Obama has "expanded in a historic way the engagement of persons of faith by this administration."
The president has given six speeches on faith issues, DuBois said, and has launched the first-ever White House advisory council for the faith-based office, composed largely of religious leaders.
"A lot of these facts are not necessarily what the public and the media are focused on everyday, which is not surprising given the issues we're facing as a country: reforming health care, bringing the troops home from Iraq and the economic recovery," DuBois said in an interview.
False rumors that Obama is Muslim have dogged him since he declared his candidacy for president in 2007. Pew conducted its survey before the president's comments last week about the right of Muslims to proceed with a controversial proposal for an Islamic center and mosque near ground zero.
The Rev. Joel Hunter, a Florida evangelical who is in frequent touch with Obama, says their relationship belies the findings of the new survey.
"He is very definitely a Christian, but a lot of the things he does to work on spiritual formation are simply not public," Hunter said.
Hunter said that he is in weekly contact with the president about his spiritual life, including writing devotionals for Obama and praying with him via telephone. Hunter said he received a call from Air Force One on the president's 49th birthday earlier this month.
"Several of us (Christian pastors) prayed with him over the phone," Hunter said. "We talked about his life and what he wanted us to pray for and it was at his initiative."
Earlier, when the president learned Hunter's grandchild had been stricken with cancer, the Florida preacher said he received a call from the White House.
"He called and told me that he and Michelle were praying for us," Hunter said, referring to the first lady. "I explained that this was an aggressive form of cancer and he pastored me, saying the Lord would be with us through this and that we should trust in God. It was a real reversal of roles."
But Hunter said the administration may want to reconsider its messaging on religion in light of the Pew poll.
"It may be time for them (the White House) to be a little more public about what the president does to be an active Christian," he said.
• Interfaith Dialogue, Peace, Religious Freedom •
The National Association of Evangelicals, the nation's largest evangelical umbrella group, is urging a Florida church to call off a planned Quran burning scheduled for September 11. Here's the NAE's statement:
NAE Urges Cancellation of Planned Qu’ran Burning
The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) encourages increased understanding and reconciliation between those of different faiths and backgrounds, and it laments efforts that work against a just and peaceful society. The plans recently announced by a Florida group to burn copies of the Qu’ran on September 11 show disrespect for our Muslim neighbors and would exacerbate tensions between Christians and Muslims throughout the world. The NAE urges the cancellation of the burning.
NAE President Leith Anderson said, “It sounds like the proposed Qu’ran burning is rooted in revenge. Yet the Bible says that Christians should ‘make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else’ (1 Thessalonians 5:15).”
In 1996 the NAE addressed religious persecution saying that “If people are to fulfill the obligations of conscience, history teaches the urgent need to foster respect and protection for the right of all persons to practice their faith.” [i] In the same resolution, the NAE pledged to “address religious persecution carried out by our Christian brothers and sisters whenever this occurs around the world.”
The NAE calls on its members to cultivate relationships of trust and respect with our neighbors of other faiths. God created human beings in his image, and therefore all should be treated with dignity and respect. The proposed burning of Qu’rans would be profoundly offensive to Muslims worldwide, just as Christians would be insulted by the burning of Bibles. Such an act would escalate tensions between members of the two faiths in the United States and around the world.
“We have to recognize that fighting fire with fire only builds a bigger fire,” said Joel Hunter, Senior Pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Orlando, Fla., and member of the NAE Board of Directors. “Love is the water that will eventually quench the destruction.”
Anderson said, “The most powerful statement by the organizers of the planned September 11th bonfire would be to call it off in the name and love of Jesus Christ.”
FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/30/national-association-of-evangelicals-denounces-churchs-quran-burning-event/
• Public Square •
Over 40 "sages" offered younger leaders some insight as to what they would do differently in ministry if given the chance to do it over.
Some of the pieces of wisdom given Wednesday during a four-hour online event include: get a mentor, hire people who are smarter than you, and don't try to meet everyone's needs.
"If I did this one thing, I think it would have put me years ahead of where I am and the church years ahead," said Cal Jernigan, senior pastor of Central Christian Church in the Phoenix metropolitan area. "I wish I would have gotten a mentor."
Though Jernigan read plenty of books and attended conferences, he realized he was at a huge disadvantage by not having someone regularly speak into his life and even correct him if necessary.
He was fearful that if he approached a seasoned leader to spend time with him and teach him, he would be rejected.
"I made the mistake of assuming the answer would be 'no,'" he said during the "Sage" online event. "It's kind of like the kid at the junior high dance who just stand on the sidelines, just sure if you risk it they'd say 'no.'"
The multi-site church pastor assured younger leaders and those just starting out in ministry that in large part, pastors are more than willing to serve as mentors.
"Sage" was produced by the Leadership Network and was the third event of its kind in a series that began last fall. It featured some well-known and some less familiar pastors and ministry leaders, all of whom submitted brief pre-recorded videos of themselves talking about what they would do differently if they could go back or what they've learned in the decades that they've been serving God. Together, the speakers have more than 1,000 years of ministry experience.
Organizers of the event said they hope the answers given would save younger leaders years of frustration.
"If you've been involved in ministry for more than five minutes, I'm sure that there's something you would have done differently," said "Sage" producer Todd Rhoades. "Ministry is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Because of the extreme demands of ministry, few leaders are able to make it twenty, thirty, or forty-plus years in our vocation. Those who do have an incredible amount of wisdom to share."
Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Orlando, Fla., offered a few minutes of advice on what could help others at the start of ministry.
"Make sure you always hire people who are smarter than you are because if you don't do that, all the work will come back to you," he said.
The tendency for people who are just starting out in ministry is to feel as if they have to be in control of everything or know everything that's going on, Hunter noted.
But he reminded young leaders, "This is what Christ said: 'I will build my church.' You don't have to build the church. Christ will build his church. And if you know everything that's going on in your ministry that means your ministry can only grow as large as your brain is."
Dennis Keating, pastor at Emmanuel Faith Community Church in Escondido, Calif., learned during his years in ministry that he can't play father to the world.
Every day, he would try to meet everyone's needs and work himself to exhaustion. He constantly felt guilty and depressed and his gages were soon pegged on empty.
He realized he had to begin to understand his limitations.
Keating now lives on the motto: "Just because the ministry calls doesn't mean that God calls."
Leadership Network, established in 1984, fosters church innovation and growth through strategies, programs, tools and resources consistent with its mission to identify, connect and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact.
Audrey Barrick, Christian Post Reporter
FIND THE ARTICLE AT: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100521/seasoned-pastors-reveal-mistakes-regrets-in-ministry/index.html
Dr. Joel C. Hunter is the Pastor of Community Benefit at Action Church, a multi-site congregation based in Winter Park and his one-minute daily devotionals can be heard worldwide on Z88 radio. He is the Chairman of the Central Florida Pledge campaign; a call to action for residents of Central Florida who are tired of hateful discourse and want to create a safe and inclusive community for all. The pledge asks residents to commit to treating all people with kindness and respect, especially those with whom they disagree. To learn more: https://www.centralfloridapledge.com/
He is a nationally and internationally known advocate for the poor, the marginalized, and those dealing with disabilities. He served a three-year term as the Chairman of Central Florida’s Commission on Homelessness. And, after 32 years as the senior pastor of Longwood, Florida’s Northland Church’s congregation of 20,000, he spent five years leading a non-profit in networking with churches and local charities to locate available resources and benefit the struggling in our community. Orlando Magazine highlighted his efforts naming him as the #1 most powerful voice for philanthropy and community engagement. And listed him among “Orlando’s 50 Most Powerful” six years in a row.
Approaching today’s challenges in a biblical and balanced manner, Dr. Hunter is neither partisan nor politically oriented, but often relates to public officials in a pastoral role; he served as a spiritual advisor to President Obama during his eight years in office.
Dr. Hunter has served in leadership roles of the World Evangelical Alliance, serving more than 600 million evangelicals, and the National Association of Evangelicals, serving more than 40 denominations and thousands of churches.
Married for 53 years to his wife, Becky, he is the father of three sons, grandfather of seven, and great-grandfather of two.
