Faith, Ethics and Public Life

The Centre for Theology and Public Issues at Otago University is delighted to announce that Jim Wallis, founder and CEO of the Sojourners Community in Washington DC, will be in Dunedin on Tuesday 28 September. He will be keynote speaker at a conference on 'Faith, Ethics and Public Life' that afternoon, and deliver the Howard Paterson Memorial Lecture in Public Theology. The venue is First Church, Moray Place.

Jim Wallis is a leading author, speaker and international commentator on faith and public life, and one of President Obama's advisers on religious and ethical issues. He has written ten books, the most well-known of which, 'God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It', helped change the US political landscape and was on the New York Times bestseller list for four months. He is in high demand internationally as a speaker, and this conference in Dunedin - his only speaking engagement on the South Island - will be a rare opportunity for us to hear him in person.

Full information about this event can be found at www.otago.ac.nz/jimwallis, and tickets for the full conference, priced at $20 ($15 students, beneficiaries & U-16s) can be booked online at this address. The price includes afternoon tea, coffee and home-style refreshments. May I encourage you to book early, as the event is being advertised across the South Island and we are expecting tickets to go quickly.

The Howard Paterson Lecture, like all University Open Lectures, is of course open to all, but if space is tight priority will be given to people booking for the whole conference.

There is a special e-mail address for enquiries relating to this event: jimwallis.event@otago.ac.nz (phone enquiries: 03 479 8450). If you hear of someone who would like to attend this event but simply has no way of accessing the internet, please ask them to call this number or write to the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054.

Focal Point

I think I've come across the FOCal website some time ago, but hadn't given it much further attention. Anyway, by serendipity I came across it today again, and thought I'd let others know about it.
FOCal's equivalent of a mission statement is:
FOCaL is set up to give a forum for those who hold to a progressive Christian faith and 'left of centre' political convictions. While not wishing to deny conservative Christians or conservative politicians their right to express their point of view, we feel that our society and the church needs to hear the voices of the Christian left.
FOCal leans towards the liberal point of view, but seems more inclusive - if that's not a contradiction in terms (!)
Anyway, the page I first alighted on was the Links page. This is worth checking out, even if you don't otherwise give the site much time - mainly because this links page will keep you busy for some time as it is!
The links are listed under various headings:

• Christian Reflections on Politics and Society (Sojourners, Third Way, WCC, for example);
• Social Services, Government Aid Agencies;
• Environmental Groups (A Rocha, ECEN, for example);
• Resources for Faith and Spirituality (Spirited Exchanges, Soulscape, Spirituality and Practice, for example)
• Worship Resources
• The "Emerging Church" (which has both Brian McLaren and the Methodist Parish of Dunedin);
• Alternative News Sources (includes Aljazeera);
• Humour and Miscellaneous (dare I say these were quite refreshing after the list above - I'm needing a holiday, obviously! This section includes the wonderful Lego Bible (the Brick Testament), and the rather odd Dog Church Org: The Virtual Church of the Blind Chihuahua.

There's a great mix of stuff here - enough to keep anyone occupied through their holidays....

Leadership by Abraham Lincoln

Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote a book in 2005 called Team of Rivals: the political genius of Abraham Lincoln, which was about the leadership lessons to be learned from Lincoln’s administration. One of the intriguing things Lincoln showed was his willingness to embrace the concept of a leadership team composed of men who were not only diverse in their views, but were his personal rivals as well. (In the last episodes of the last season of The West Wing, we see the incoming President doing the same sort of thing, particularly in relation to asking his Republican opponent to take on the role of Secretary of State.)
Jeff Knowles writes in Leadership online: Goodwin's thesis that great leadership neither punishes nor ignores ideological foes, but rather embraces them, has important implications for our increasingly large and complex church governmental structures. The danger of group-think is ever present in congregations where dissent is seen only as a problem. Church leaders often extol the virtues of 90 percent congregational confirmation votes for the new building program or the new minister, or the elders' "unanimous agreement" that the church needs to take a certain action. But we forget that many of God's commands in Scripture required leaders to go against the tides of popular opinion. If Abraham Lincoln could use the power of diverse opinions and contrary egos to save the nation, then we ought to look more closely at the benefits of dissenting opinions in our churches as well.

Helen Clark and atheism

A few paragraphs from the NZPA Newswire for Friday 7/11/2008

Yesterday Miss [Helen] Clark ’s day started with a session at Newstalk ZB
Among callers was Lesley who was unhappy with the PM ’s claim she lived by Christian values.
"Your agenda and action in public for the past nine years has been to wreck the tenants of Christianity in our country."
Miss Clark reminded her the more controversial pieces of social legislation were private members bills.
She told Lesley that it was often said the Labour Party in New Zealand owed more to Methodism than to socialism and there had always a very strong brand of Christian socialism in it. She said many Christian principles were good.
"I spent my childhood (going to) Presbyterian Sunday school and of course going to Presbyterian church every Sunday while I was in high school... I do know what I am talking about on this I think there are good and basic principles. I don ’t personally happen to be a religious person but I do recognise those common good values."

In a NZ Herald article the following paragraphs appeared:
She [Helen Clark] made the declaration yesterday in response to a claim by Dr Brash that she was an atheist.
"I am not going to have Dr Brash describe my personal beliefs," she said. "I'm not aware I have ever described myself as an atheist.
"I describe myself as an agnostic."
Later, she told the Herald she was brought up a Presbyterian, went to Sunday school every week at Te Pahu, and at Epsom Girls' Grammar walked "in a crocodile" every Sunday morning to St Luke's Church in Remuera.

It's good to know that Helen does not class herself as an 'atheist', even though many of her detractors would call her that, and have done.

Everyone is Called to Serve

While the church today (and the world as a whole) seems preoccupied with leadership and the achievements of leaders (with endless books and seminars on how to become a better leader), it leaves me wondering whether anyone might purchase a book or attend a conference on “Becoming a Servant.” Yet, when we consider the work of the early church, leadership and sacrificial service were inseparable.

While our world seems eager to grasp positions of authority and leadership, scripture makes it clear that hard work, sacrifice, and service are integral to one’s calling as a leader, guide, shepherd, overseer, deacon, and elder. Biblically, a case can be made that one’s reach as a leader stretches only as far as one’s willingness to stoop and serve others.

Two paragraphs from a short blog post by Mimi Haddad on Jim Wallis' God's Politics' blog. Do we spend far more time looking at leaders and leadership than at the much larger group of people who quietly get on and do the basic work?

Jim Wallis

As I speak and listen to large and diverse audiences in every part of the nation, I find a deep hunger, especially among members of the younger generation, for something worth committing one's life to.... The two great hungers of our time are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice--and the connection between the two has great power to motivate people to action. The world is especially waiting for a new social and political agenda drawn not from bickering partisan loyalties, blatant ideological bias, or corrupting special interests, but rather from our deepest moral values.

Jim Wallis
The Great Awakening

Tony Blair on his faith

One of the oddest questions I get asked in interviews, and I get asked a lot of questions, is: Is faith important to your politics? It's like asking someone whether their health is important to them or their family. If you are someone "of faith," it is the focal point of belief in your life. There is no conceivable way that it wouldn't affect your politics.

Chris Hedges: I Don’t Believe in Atheists

On May 22nd, 2007 Chris Hedges and Sam Harris debated “Religion, Politics and the End of the World.” Hedges’ opening statement, in which he argues that Harris and other critics of faith have mistakenly blamed religion for the ills of the world, when the true danger lies in the human heart and its capacity for evil, can be found here. It's quite long, so settle back for a good solid read.

Chris Hedges is the son of a Presbyterian minister, but I'm not clear that he's a practising Christian himself. The link on his name gives details of his biography.

Sam Harris, like Richard Dawkins, has become a strong voice for atheism in the last decade. Some information about him is available in the link under his name.