Help end modern day slavery (2011)

Slavery is wrong
Slavery is wrong

Jan. 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

Modern day slavery exists in the world today for 27 million held in some form of captivity. 80% of them are women; 50% are underage children and 70% of the females are trafficked for sexual exploitation purposes.

These are not prostitutes. These are women and girls that are being prostituted.

According to the Trafficking in Persons Report, every year:

  • 200,000 American children are at risk for trafficking into the sex industry
  • 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked into the United States
  • 5,000-7,000 people are trafficked into the United States from East Asia and the Pacific
  • 3,500-5,500 people are trafficked into the United States from each of the following regions: Latin America, Europe, and Eurasia

On Jan. 12, 2010 a massive earthquake destroyed much of Haiti. Since the earthquake it’s estimated that more than 2,000 Haitian children have been sold into slavery and trafficked to other countries.

Each year, 800,000 people become human trafficking victims and are transported across international borders. According to the Texas Attorney General, 20 percent of those people (or 160,000 people) pass through Texas.

Closer to home, Irving Police busted a man earlier this month for trafficking children through Dallas.

Modern slavery is alive and all around us.

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say you did not know.” – William Willberforce

Find out more…

And finally, I challenge you to do at least 1 thing today to help raise awareness. Whether it’s a Facebook status update, changing your online avatar, a Twitter update, sharing a link to this post or one of the great resources listed here… do something.

#ICSEX: Why I support same sex marriages

This is part of The Idea Camp’s Sexual Orientation week, gearing up to next week’s unconference in Las Vegas. The Idea Camp will take place next month (Sept. 27 & 28) and will feature a number of speakers and conversations based around the Church and sexuality. Find out more.

Several years back, my sister Amy and I were driving somewhere and we ended up on the topic of politics.

I’m not sure how it happened but we began talking about abortion, stem cell research, same sex marriages and more. She never really voiced her opinions but asked a lot of questions about mine.

And at several points of the conversation, I think she was a little surprised by what I told her.

One in particular — same sex marriages.

I was thinking back on this conversation this week and wondering what I would tell her today.

Now more than ever, the same sex marriage debate has come to the forefront of our public debate.

And sadly, the same things that bothered me about the debate in 2004 still bother me today.

On one side, we have a vocal (religious) “right” who claim moral superiority and are fighting for the “sanctity of marriage.”

On the other side, we have progressives who claim political superiority and are fighting for “freedom and justice for all.”

As I told Amy that day, we can sit and debate the morality of same sex relationships all day. We can yell at each other, wave our signs and boycott companies who don’t agree with us and yet at the end of the day, very few (if any) of us will really reconsider our position.

The biggest hurdle I see is that my morality will never match your morality — and vice versa. I will always be convicted about things you’re not convicted about and you’ll always be convicted about things I’m not convicted about. My list of “righteousness” will seldom match your list (hence legalism in the Church).

However, as Americans, I firmly believe that the rights granted to one group of people should be granted to all people. If the government choses to recognize my marriage to the person I love — they should also recognize your marriage to the person you love — whether that be to someone of the same sex or the opposite sex.

Unfortunately, too many Americans have come to the belief that the government should legislate morality for all — and I hardily disagree with this idea.

First of all, I simply don’t believe it’s the role of the government — American or otherwise.
Second, cultural morality shifts from day to day. What’s deemed moral or immoral today may change next year.
Third, if I agree that the government is to legislate morality, what argument do I have when culture does shift and I’m in the minority and people are wanting to force their ideas of morality upon me.

Personally, I believe the role of the government is to protect it’s citizens from injustice and oppression — wherever that threat may come from.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…

This includes freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom to marry whomever you please.

That means we all need to recognize others are going to see the world differently that we do — and we should build spaces of grace around us instead of building walls of exclusion.

And because someone sees the world differently than us — we don’t have the right (or need) to constantly proclaim our opinions to the world — whatever they may be. Instead, we earn the right to be heard through loving others.

So, what about the morality aspect of it all?

Honestly, I’m still wrestling with the “moral/Biblical debate”

While I would have said same sex relationships were a flat out abomination years ago, my understanding of Scripture is that God is far more concerned about how we treat and love others than who we choose to love and marry.

We have been called as followers of Jesus to love unconditionally — regardless of all else. How can we really be “set apart” if we refuse to love those who see the world differently than us?

I also know there are a number of dear friends who have wrestled with their own sexuality and found peace in finding a loving God who accepts us just as we are — which is more than I can say about most of us.

And personally, I would much rather err on the side of recklessly over-loving than that of exclusion or under-loving someone. Or to adapt what the Dalai Lama has said, “My religion is very simple. My religion is love.”

Want more? Read my interview with Adele Sackler or listen to Thomas’ interview with her on our podcast (part 1, part 2)

More on health care

John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods (Austin based grocery store) has stirred some folks up with his recent Wall Street Journal article.

While I don’t know the ins and outs of the business/money side of things I think he could be on to something (Spamboy has a great expansion on Mackey’s ideas).
Continue reading More on health care

Christians in politics

A question I keep dealing with, struggling with, etc. etc., is just how involved should Christians be in politics, government and authority. Should Christians strive to take over the government and introduce laws that support all our beliefs, should we run away into the desert or is there a true third way?

NPR’s Speaking of Faith hosted a discussion between Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd, Shane Claiborne to discuss the role of Christians in government.

“The U.S. currency says ‘In God We Trust’ but our economy reeks of the seven deadly sins.” – Shane Claiborne

The show has a lot of great discussion between the three as well as additional notes and such on their website. Check out the site to listen, watch and discuss.