Category: faith

Bono at the NAACP

Bono accepted the Chairman’s Award from the NAACP Image Awards recently. He gave a great speech. Watch it here:

Some highlights:

“From a group who taught the world about civil rights its time to teach them about human rights.”

“This is not about charity. This is about justice. Justice and equality.”

“True religion won’t let us fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom.”

“Love thy neighbor” is not a piece of advice, it’s a command. And that means that in the global village, we’re going to have to start loving a whole lot more people.

“His truth is marching on.”

“Where you live should not determine whether you live or whether you die.”

“And to those in the church who still sit in judgement on the AIDS emergency…
God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with the virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble and the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor, and God is with us if we are with them.”

“This is not a burden, this is an adventure. Don’t let anyone tell you it cannot be done. We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty.”

Another video from the awards show:: The Roots performing a tribute of Sunday Bloody Sunday/Pride/War (what is it good for?):

Via: Bian Bailey

I see this as a huge call to action in Africa, but what about Waxahachie, Ellis County, Dallas County, Texas and America?
These are cries that we as Christians should stand up behind. “God, my friends, is with the poor, and God is with us if we are with them.”

To Jerusalem, Judea, and the ends of the earth

Faith and politics

Thoughts from several (possible) presidential candidates on faith and politics:

I tell people that my faith is my life. It defines me. I see no separation between my faith from my personal and professional lives. Real faith should make us humble and mindful, not to the faults of others but of our own. It should not make us more judgmental, but rather less judgmental, as we see others living a life with the same frailty we acknowledge within ourselves.
Hopefully, faith gives us strength in the face of injustice to our fellow man. I believe that our Nation was birthed in a spirit of faith – not a prescriptive one dictating how we are to believe or even that we are to believe, but a faith that acknowledges that there is indeed a providence that pervades our world. – Gov. Mike Huckabee

That is why, if we truly hope to speak to people where they’re at—to communicate our hopes and values in a way that’s relevant to their own—then as progressives we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse. Because when we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative sense of where or how it should not be practiced, rather than in the positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations towards one another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome—others will fill the vacuum, those with the most insular views of faith or those who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends.
In other words, if we don’t reach out to evangelical Christians and other religious Americans and tell them what we stand for, then the Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons and Alan Keyeses will continue to hold sway.
More fundamentally, the discomfort of some progressives with any hint of religion has often prevented us from effectively addressing issues in moral terms. If we scrub language of all religious content, we forfeit the imagery and terminology through which millions of Americans understand both their personal morality and social justice. Imagine Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address without reference to “the judgments of the Lord,” or King’s “I Have a Dream” speech without references to “all of God’s children.” Their summoning of a higher truth helped inspire what had seemed impossible and move the nation to embrace a common destiny. – Sen. Barack Obama

Watch Barack Obama’s speech

My faith has been my salvation. I went through a very rough experience in my life many years ago and the only why reason I’m here today is because of the faith that I had in a greater being who sustained me at times when I was under most difficult stress. My faith has been my anchor and my guide. I am proud and unashamed to tell people that. I don’t advertise it. Maybe I should. But the fact is that the only reason I’m here today is because I believe that a higher being has a mission for me in my life, a reason for me to be here. Now that doesn’t mean that he wants me to be elected or not but it does mean that I have a purpose. And that purpose I believe is to live a life based on Judeo-Christian principals and honor and integrity. – Sen. John McCain.

America’s leadership role in the world has grown out of our compassion and moral strength, as well as our unparalleled economic and military strength. We can be proud of our long history of using our strength to fight for the freedom of others, but our standing in the world has been badly tarnished. America can once again be looked up to and respected around the world. The first step is by immediately withdrawing 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq, with the complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within 12-18 months — allowing the Iraqis to assume greater responsibility for rebuilding their own country. It also means working to restore our legitimacy by leading on the great challenges before us like the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the genocide in Darfur, extreme poverty, and living up to our ideals in the fight against terrorism. – Sen. John Edwards on restoring America’s moral leadership

What is it about America’s culture and values that makes us such a successful nation and society? Part of that is we love liberty, we love our country, we’re patriotic. I believe it’s also because we are a people who love God and look for a purpose greater than ourselves in life. – Gov. Mitt Romney

Religion, once an integral part of our society, is today being eradicated from nearly every aspect of public life. The First Amendment protects the freedom to practice the religion of one’s choice. That freedom is under attack by groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, who profit financially from lawsuits brought against cities and towns that display religious symbols. The ACLU and others have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees from suits brought against local cities and towns. Now they are using those victories to threaten other local jurisdictions. I introduced the Public Expression of Religion Act last year to prevent groups like the ACLU from collecting attorneys’ fees in religious freedom cases. Our country was founded on the idea that its citizens should be free to express their religious beliefs without government interference. I will continue the fight to protect that freedom. – Sen. Sam Brownback

Comments or quotes regarding faith and politics could not be found on campaign websites for Sen. Hillary Clinton or Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Got any more? Let us know. Post comments, video links etc. below.

Interview with Gov. Huckabee

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Vincent at Right of Texas interviewed Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who’s looking at a run for the Presidency in 2008.
Click here to listen.
I would LOVE to see a showdown between Huckabee and Barack Obama come next November. I think there could be some great discussion and debate.
The interview touches on Huckabee’s faith and how it affects his politics.
I’ve got to let you know though… Vincent is big on the “yes sirs” during the interview.
It’s been taken down but my buddy Rick Walker had a good interview with Gov. Huckabee last year for his show, Powertalk, on 89.7 Power FM.

Community challenges

We’re still moving full steam ahead with Community 2.0 at encounter.
We had our second night of training last night and I thought it went well. Not as big of a turnout but I think that had a lot to do with folks still working or worn out from working on Brian and Heather’s house.
There have been some challenges arise and I ask for your prayers. We’ve had a host home back out and we’re still looking for a host home for another leader.
We actually have several other folks in Waxahachie that are willing to host but I haven’t heard much from the surrounding areas.
Pray that we can find the right homes to host both in Waxahachie as well as Midlothian, Red Oak, Ovilla and beyond.
Also there are a couple other concerns that have been expressed that I don’t really want to get into yet but pray for those as well.
We’re looking forward to seeing God at work.

If we are the body…

Have I told you I love my church lately?
It’s been a long weekend. I’m sure it will seem even longer tomorrow morning if I don’t head to bed VERY soon.
But no matter how long a weekend, no matter how tired I am tomorrow, no matter how sore or stiff I might be tomorrow, it was all worth it to see the body of Christ truly working as the body of Christ.
A month or so ago our community group had the idea of helping our pastor Brian Treadaway with some weekly duties and such. We didn’t know what that entails but we knew we wanted to help however we could.
That conversation led into how can we help Brian and his wife and his family and thus an entire weekend was planned.
Brian and Heather made a list of “honey-do” projects around their house that they either had not completed or simply needed to get started on.
Some of the items on the list included painting outside trim, cleaning brush in the backyard and laying tile in the living room.
The youth group meets at their house every week and with them and their five kids its no wonder they have a few spills from time to time.
Our group discussed it and before long the project snowballed and people from all over the church were getting involved.
So this weekend was go time.
A number of us showed up around 5:30 on Friday night and worked till near mid-night ripping out the old carpet and then busting tile out of their kitchen and breakfast nook. We decided to carry the tile work into their kitchen so the two areas wouldn’t clash.
Saturday morning we began work by 8:30 and we began to lay tile in the living room and the kitchen.
I’ve never been more impressed with a group of people – especially novice tile layers.
I’ve never actually tiled before and somehow I trained Laurie, Amber and Shari to do it after I watched Josh some on Friday night.
I must tell you — my wife to be is a tile laying fool.
Between her and the other two women, they tiled the entire living room in four or five hours. Laurie and I started in the kitchen before Josh trained a couple youth and another volunteer and they took over.
I’m telling you. It was a sight to see.
Miguel showed up and painted the entire house.
Jose and his dad Rodrigo helped bust tile up on Friday night and came back to work on the backyard fence that they had fixed/repaired/replaced much of earlier this month.
Rodrigo and his wife along with Jose’s wife and mother-in-law cooked up an awesome dinner of fajitas, rice and beans.
Jay took to scraping up the old thin set in the kitchen right away and by the end of the night he was laying, measuring and cutting tile.
Chris showed up and did a lot of scraping and helped Miguel paint.
PJ and Jonathan from the youth group were some mad workers as they scraped old linoleum, thin set and more as well as laying, measuring and cutting tile before it was all said and done.
Dennis cut down trees and brush that needed cleaning.
Beth, Marni, Shalyn and Sarah cleaned bedrooms and bathrooms.
Lon and Tristi came on Sunday to help clean up and lay grout.
Richard sang and danced to New Kids on the Block while he cleaned up brush.
Smiley scraped thin set and helped with the brush and tree trimming.
Brandi climbed trees with a chainsaw between her teeth and I think she probably hung upside down by her feet while she cut tree limbs.
Shane did an AWESOME job rebuilding drawers in the kitchen with the fronts that were on the old drawers.
And I’m sure I’m still missing some folks. We had over 30 people come and go throughout the weekend.
It was truly a great thing to see. I’m glad I was able to be a part of it in a little way.
There are several other things in the works to continue the project but I’ll wait on those for now.
For those who donated food, time, money, elbow grease and more — thanks for being a light for Christ. Thanks for giving of yourself for someone else.
Laurie said she got a lot of great photos which we’ll post soon after Brian and family have a chance to see their house. They’ve been staying with Heather’s parents over the weekend and aren’t expected back to their house until Monday afternoon.

Read more on Laurie’s blog