FAITH IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE: PEACE

Part 4 in a series of teachings from Dr. Joel C. Hunter about how to approach today’s issues biblically, respectfully and effectively.

CNN: National Association of Evangelicals denounces church's Quran burning event

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/

Evangelicals Support U.S., Russia Nuclear Arms Treaty

Evangelical leaders say the nuclear arms reduction treaty signed by President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Thursday will increase the chances of world peace.

Evangelical leaders say the nuclear arms reduction treaty signed by President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Thursday will increase the chances of world peace.

The treaty, called New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), will reduce the stockpile of nuclear weapons in both countries and restore an inspection team to verify their arsenals. The inspection agreement expired in December.

"Wisdom is better than weapons of wars," said the Rev. Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of the Orlando-based megachurch Northland - A Church Distributed, citing Ecclesiastes 9:18. "If implemented, the New START agreement will reduce the number of outdated nuclear weapons and the likelihood of terrorist appropriations of those weapons as it increases monitoring of nuclear material."

"It therefore will increase the chances of world peace from both state and non-state actors."

The new treaty, if ratified by lawmakers in both countries, would require each country to have a maximum of 1,550 strategic warheads, down from 2,200. It would also limit both countries to 800 total launchers, down from 1,600.

New START is seen as a sign of President Obama's commitment to make good on his promise of a nuclear weapon-free world.

Almost exactly a year ago, Obama had given a speech in Prague where he articulated his commitment to seek a world without nuclear weapons. On Thursday, Obama and Medvedev signed the historic arms reduction pact also in Prague.

"I can hardly imagine a more important foreign policy goal for Christian citizens of the United States than pursuing a realistic, comprehensive strategy to reduce the number of strategic nuclear weapons - weapons which cannot be used in any conceivable scenario in accordance with the principles of just war," said Andy Crouch, senior editor at Christianity Today International.

Crouch called the New START treaty a significant step towards "greater security, stability, transparency, and predictability, and toward the ultimate goal of shaping of a world where the use of nuclear weapons, by anyone, is truly impossible."

The United States and Russia has 95 percent of the global stockpile of nuclear weapons. The huge buildup of nuclear weapons in both countries is a result of the Cold War. Other countries with nuclear weapons include the United Kingdom, France, China, India, and Pakistan.

Israel is thought to have nuclear weapons but has never publicly declared it does, and Iran and North Korea are also suspected of possessing or building nuclear weapons.

The New START treaty, the first was in 1991, was signed just two days after the Obama administration released its Nuclear Posture Review, which more clearly defines in what situation and against whom the U.S. can use nuclear weapons.

Under the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, the U.S. cannot use nuclear weapons to attack a non-nuclear country that complies to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The new document also changes nuclear command structure to help prevent accidental launch, rejects new nuclear weapons programs, and reduces the role of nuclear weapons in the U.S. national security strategy.

Christian anti-nuclear weapons group Two Futures Projects calls the Nuclear Posture Review a step towards a "morally sound" nuclear policy.

The Rev. Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, director of the Two Futures Project, told The Christian Post Wednesday that in a post-Cold War era the U.S. can no longer depend on the deterrence strategy to maintain world peace. These days,he said, nuclear weapons can fall into the hands of terrorists who do not care if we retaliate with nuclear weapons because some of them have a suicide bomber mentality.

Wigg-Stevenson called for a "wholesale reassessment" of the U.S. nuclear security paradigm in the 21st century.

"The status quo is not protecting our people," he asserted.

"We can't wait until a crisis happens. We have to do all the work up ahead," he said, commenting on the possibility of terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons.

He added that in a just war framework the only somewhat moral explanation for possessing nuclear weapons is to deter an attack. But one cannot make a moral case of deterrence to permanently possess nuclear weapons.

The Baptist preacher said Christians should view their responsibility to advocate for the abolishment of nuclear weapons like their faith commitment to fight human trafficking or eliminate extreme poverty. Though anyone with a conscience would care about these issues, Wigg-Stevenson said Christians should bring the "zeal" to the issue because they believe in protecting innocent life.

President Obama will continue addressing the nuclear weapons issue next week during the nuclear security summit in Washington that will draw the world's top leaders.

Michelle A. Vu Christian Post Reporter

FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100408/evangelicals-support-u-s-russia-nuclear-arms-treaty/index.html

Learning From the Sin of Sodom

Dear Friends,

There is a great article in today's New York Times by Nicholas Kristof, who has written about what a huge mistake it would be not to channel government money through faith-based organizations for international aid. Read below or at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28kristof.html.

Blessings, Pastor Joel

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Learning From the Sin of Sodom

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

For most of the last century, save-the-worlders were primarily Democrats and liberals. In contrast, many Republicans and religious conservatives denounced government aid programs, with Senator Jesse Helms calling them “money down a rat hole.”

Over the last decade, however, that divide has dissolved, in ways that many Americans haven’t noticed or appreciated. Evangelicals have become the new internationalists, pushing successfully for new American programs against AIDS and malaria, and doing superb work on issues from human trafficking in India to mass rape in Congo.

A pop quiz: What’s the largest U.S.-based international relief and development organization?

It’s not Save the Children, and it’s not CARE — both terrific secular organizations. Rather, it’s World Vision, a Seattle-based Christian organization (with strong evangelical roots) whose budget has roughly tripled over the last decade.

World Vision now has 40,000 staff members in nearly 100 countries. That’s more staff members than CARE, Save the Children and the worldwide operations of the United States Agency for International Development — combined.

A growing number of conservative Christians are explicitly and self-critically acknowledging that to be “pro-life” must mean more than opposing abortion. The head of World Vision in the United States, Richard Stearns, begins his fascinating book, “The Hole in Our Gospel,” with an account of a visit a decade ago to Uganda, where he met a 13-year-old AIDS orphan who was raising his younger brothers by himself.

“What sickened me most was this question: where was the Church?” he writes. “Where were the followers of Jesus Christ in the midst of perhaps the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time? Surely the Church should have been caring for these ‘orphans and widows in their distress.’ (James 1:27). Shouldn’t the pulpits across America have flamed with exhortations to rush to the front lines of compassion?

“How have we missed it so tragically, when even rock stars and Hollywood actors seem to understand?”

Mr. Stearns argues that evangelicals were often so focused on sexual morality and a personal relationship with God that they ignored the needy. He writes laceratingly about “a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics.”

In one striking passage, Mr. Stearns quotes the prophet Ezekiel as saying that the great sin of the people of Sodom wasn’t so much that they were promiscuous or gay as that they were “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49.)

Hmm. Imagine if sodomy laws could be used to punish the stingy, unconcerned rich!

The American view of evangelicals is still shaped by preening television blowhards and hypocrites who seem obsessed with gays and fetuses. One study cited in the book found that even among churchgoers ages 16 to 29, the descriptions most associated with Christianity were “antihomosexual,” “judgmental,” “too involved in politics,” and “hypocritical.”

Some conservative Christians reinforced the worst view of themselves by inspiring Ugandan homophobes who backed a bill that would punish gays with life imprisonment or execution. Ditto for the Vatican, whose hostility to condoms contributes to the AIDS epidemic. But there’s more to the picture: I’ve also seen many Catholic nuns and priests heroically caring for AIDS patients — even quietly handing out condoms.

One of the most inspiring figures I’ve met while covering Congo’s brutal civil war is a determined Polish nun in the terrifying hinterland, feeding orphans, standing up to drunken soldiers and comforting survivors — all in a war zone. I came back and decided: I want to grow up and become a Polish nun.

Some Americans assume that religious groups offer aid to entice converts. That’s incorrect. Today, groups like World Vision ban the use of aid to lure anyone into a religious conversation.

Some liberals are pushing to end the longtime practice (it’s a myth that this started with President George W. Bush) of channeling American aid through faith-based organizations. That change would be a catastrophe. In Haiti, more than half of food distributions go through religious groups like World Vision that have indispensable networks on the ground. We mustn’t make Haitians the casualties in our cultural wars.

A root problem is a liberal snobbishness toward faith-based organizations. Those doing the sneering typically give away far less money than evangelicals. They’re also less likely to spend vacations volunteering at, say, a school or a clinic in Rwanda.

If secular liberals can give up some of their snootiness, and if evangelicals can retire some of their sanctimony, then we all might succeed together in making greater progress against common enemies of humanity, like illiteracy, human trafficking and maternal mortality.

U.S. Islamic Forum Raises Hope for the Future

This year’s U.S.-Islamic World Forum, held Feb. 13-15 in Doha, Qatar, comes at sensitive time in U.S.-Muslim relations.

In a report for Religion News Service (RNS), journalist Omar Sacirbey wrote: “Following the attempted Christmas Day airliner bombing and other recent terror-related arrests, many Americans are increasingly worried about terrorism, and critics are accusing President Obama of being soft on Muslim extremists.”

He added that in the Muslim world, “many people are angry about the war in Afghanistan, U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, their own economic problems, and expect [President] Obama to deliver remedies faster than his administration may be able to.”

Now in its seventh year, the Forum has become the foremost meeting for positive cross-cultural engagement among leaders from the United States and the Muslim world—bringing together key leaders in the fields of politics, business, media, academia and civil society. It seeks to address the critical issues dividing the United States and the Muslim world by providing a unique platform for frank dialogue, learning and the development of positive partnerships between key leaders and opinion shapers from both sides.

American religious figures who attended this year’s conference said the sensitive state of U.S.-Islamic relations requires increased religious involvement in diplomacy.

Episcopal Bishop John Chane of Washington D.C., who has attended two previous forums, said: “When you have 1.5 billion Muslims, 2 billion Christians, and 13 million Jews, from an Abrahamic perspective, you have a lot of influence. Twentieth-century diplomacy has failed so far, and we have to recognize that you need religion in the mix.”

Dr. Joel C. Hunter, who has attended three forums, agreed: “In the Muslim world ... their faith is a very integral part of their foreign policy. They want to hear secular and religious ideas.”

Despite current tensions, observers say U.S.-Islamic relations are improving under President Obama.

“A lot of the Islamic world is more anxious to engage because we have a president who wants to restart relations with Muslims,” Dr. Hunter explained. “We’ve gone from a defensive mode to a development and diplomatic mode.”

Al-Husein Madhany, a Muslim-American scholar and technology activist who convened a conference workshop on how to use new media to build grassroots organizations and civic institutions, added: “We have a moment in history where there’s been a promise made by the leader of the free world for a new beginning. There’s an excitement in people’s voices about America that I didn’t hear during the previous administration.”

USA Today: Activists who redefine "evangelical" call for Haiti debt relief

The crisis of biblical proportions in Haiti has brought out the full spectrum of the faithful to offer emergency aid. Now, a start-up group of progressive Protestants is launching itself with a campaign to erase Haiti's debts so the crippled nation can focus on rebuilding.

The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good -- led by marquee activists, academics, seminar profs and pastors such as Rev. Richard Cizik -- was originally going to launch later this month but stepped up to the publicity megaphone to call attention to Haiti's need beyond emergency relief. Their release says, "We believe that Jesus calls us to work together to set free those who are held captive by debt."

You remember Cizik from headlines in 2008, when the long-time head of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals resigned under fire for hinting support for gay unions in a radio interview.

Evidently, Jesus doesn't call people who disagree about the Bible to work together on issues. Cizik's outspoken concern for global climate change issues had already made him a target with big name conservatives such as Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. But, in recent years, the e-word (evangelical) banner, once owned by Christians with conservative views on politics, economics and biblical morality, has become a flag flown by any Protestant with a social justice focus and a contemporary focus on the Gospel.

Partnership executive director Rev. Steven Martin, formerly with Partnership co-founder David Gushee's group, Evangelicals for Human Rights, says they didn't want to wait to campaign for debt forgiveness. Although two thirds of Haiti's debt, held by other governments and major institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, has been forgiven already, the remaining billions could cost Haiti as much as $50 million a year to service. That's money Haiti needs for rebuilding, says Martin.

Their release quotes Gushee calling the Partnership, "a new way to bear witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ. We have yearned to offer a better model for how Christians address public issues; to be known for always standing up for those whom God loves but the world or the church often mistreat or neglect."

Don't look for Dobson or any other megawatt megachurch conservatives (with the exception of Rev. Joel Hunter, of Northland Church in Orlando, who also serves on President Obama's Council for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships) on the list of signators.

The Partnership's website's includes its stands -- often written with highly nuanced phrasing -- on hot issues such reproductive rights, gay marriage and environmentalism. For example:

We stand against the collapse of marriage and for stronger family life. We are involved in efforts to strengthen the fading institution of marriage and thereby protecting and enhancing the well-being of children. We do not believe that denigrating the dignity and denying the human rights of gays and lesbians is a legitimate part of a "pro-family" Christian agenda, and will work to reform Christian attitudes and treatment of lesbian and gay people.

This time, no one's going to shove Cizik out the door for saying so.

Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/topics/post/Events+and+Awards/In-depth+Coverage/Haiti+Earthquake/16364.blog/1

Prayer Vigil for Haiti

Haiti Without Borders Prayer Vigil from Northland Church on Vimeo.

Pastor Hunter joins with Haitian pastors at a prayer vigil in Crane's Roost Park in Florida, on January 27, 2010.

New evangelical group calls for cancellation of Haiti's debt

Screen shot 2010-01-29 at 11.28.43 AM

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- A new organization of progressive evangelicals has formed, calling for complete cancellation of Haiti's foreign debt in order to aid an already-fragile economy devastated by a Jan. 12 earthquake.

The Jan. 22 announcement of the New Evangelical Partnership for Common Good marks the full return into public life of Rich Cizik, former vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Cizik, who resigned the post in 2008 following an outcry after he said on National Public Radio that he no longer opposed civil unions for gays, is one of three founding leaders of the new religious non-profit.

Cizik will work with David Gushee, a professor at Mercer University and regular columnist for Associated Baptist Press, and Steven Martin, a minister, filmmaker and activist who previously worked with Gushee as executive vice president of Evangelicals for Human Rights.

"We have founded this organization to bear witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ," Gushee said in a statement. "We have yearned to offer a better model for how Christians address public issues; to be known for always standing up for those whom God loves but the world or the church often mistreat or neglect."

Gushee said the trio did not plan to launch the organization so soon, but after the earthquake they decided "that now is precisely the right time to get started, and this is the right issue."

The founders said Haiti has been saddled with crippling debt since its beginning as a nation founded by former slaves who overthrew their French masters during Napoleonic times. Corrupt former heads of state -- like "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier -- racked up huge national debts, lining their own pockets while leaving little to help Haiti's people.

In 2009 the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank forgave $1.2 billion of Haiti's $1.9 billion in aggregate debt. With the earthquake piled on top of everything else, the New Evangelical Partnership says it is time to finish the job.

In the newest effort, 66 Christian leaders signed a petition urging "all nations and institutions that have made loans to the Haitian government to quickly and completely forgive these debts."

The petition calls for disaster-assistance and reconstruction payments to come to Haiti in the form of aid and not loans, "so the cycle of borrowing and repayment that has so crippled the nation of Haiti since its independence will not begin anew."

Official signers include Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Longwood, Fla.; author, speaker and activist Brian McLaren; and Jim Wallis, president and CEO of Sojourners.

Several Baptist clergy and academicians added their names to the list. They include Charles Foster Johnson, interim pastor at First Baptist Church in Brownwood, Texas; Bill Leonard, dean and professor of church history at Wake Forest Divinity School; Larry McSwain, an associate dean and professor at McAfee School of Theology; Jonathan Merritt, a Southern Baptist author and activist from Georgia; Elizabeth Newman, a professor at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond; Roger Paynter, pastor of First Baptist Church in Austin, Texas; Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga.; Guy Sayles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C.; Glenn Stassen, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary who taught previously at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Joe Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today; and Brett Younger, a professor at McAfee School of Theology.

Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press. Find this article at: http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/4761/53/