Forum on SB 1070 at the Oasis

To the right you will notice a suggested reading list. That is because we will discuss the highly controversial Senate Bill 1070 at the next Forum at the Oasis. The Forum will be held on September 30. Don't miss it.

(For that matter, don't miss some sweet Jazz and Jesus on Thursday September 23!)

The Wealth of Religions

Is Islam the faith of the poor and Christianity the faith of the wealthy? If so, is that ironic given the attitude of each of their founding figure's toward money?




From wealthiest to poorest: blue, green, purple, red.
Cross-posted on Prophetic Progress.

Economic Justice with Pictures

Here is a link to a slide show about various people centered economic factors. In other words, not Gross Domestic Product, but wages and ratio of wages and share of wealth.

More Interfaith Conversation

Tomorrow, September 16, 2010, come to the Forum at The Oasis where we engage in open dialogue about social and cultural issues. Our guest will be Imam Ahmad Shqeirat from the Islamic Cultural Center in Tempe.

Join us at Chalice Christian Church, 15303 South Gilbert Road, Gilbert, Arizona.

Justice for those in Prison

Here is something that many of us just can't fathom. Innocent people confess to crimes. The NYT reviews a study on how it happens here.

It's not just in Micah

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." Matt. 23:23-24.

Children of Abraham come together

This event was AMAZING. The storytelling was wonderful. Well crafted tales that fit the moment. Well over 200 people overfilling the space to come together in the name of understanding on 9/11. Wow. I mean, just wow!

Children of Abraham

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were an attempt to rip apart the children of Abraham. Al Qaeda's goal was to create a war, not between the United States and Al Qaeda, but between Christians and Muslims. One way that those of us who oppose Al Qaeda's and its mission can prevent this from happening is to foster understanding. This September 11, 2010 some a little group of Abraham's children are getting together to hear sacred stories from each of the Abrahamic faiths. I've been to these story telling event before; they are quite compelling, even without such a powerful goal. I hope you can come.

Details: A Storytelling Concert will be held on September 11th at 7pm at the Islamic Cultural Center of Tempe, 131 E 6th St, Tempe. This will be a celebration of diversity and an act of solidarity. Tempe Imams, Pastors and Rabbis will tell Beloved Stories from sacred scripture—Qur´an, Torah, and Bible. Make plans now to honor your September 11th Patriot Day with this special interfaith event.

From the Veteran's Way Metro stop it is one block south on College and one block west on 6th.

Preferential Treatment

"No, the Fifteen is twenty-four minutes late, so I don't know when--." I told Pat to hold on as a bus with its identification sign smashed stopped for me at the corner of 15th Ave & Jefferson. The corner where I had been waiting for ten minutes was eerie but not scary. By 8:10 p.m., Jefferson had become a one-way, four lane street, completely empty as far as the eye can see, no cars, no people--nothing. After the driver told me this was the One bus, I confirmed she went to Central Station and sat down. I told Pat not to worry about picking me up; I would call her again once I was on the train. I noted the contrast of me still in my going to court suit and the clearly homeless people riding the bus. At the shelter stop a man boarded with an all day pass. I heard the machine beep to acknowledge the ticket was valid, but the driver said, "Excuse me, sir, I don't mean to be rude, but you didn't pay." "Yes he did," I thought to myself. As he turned to her, she explained, "No, not you, him," gesturing to me. "Oh my gosh," I exclaimed and got up to scan my metro card as the bus moved on to the next stop. She laughed about.

The privileges one enjoys as a middle-aged white guy wearing suit are pretty impressive. What reason do I have to fear the streets at night? Of course the bus driver assumed I had the fare, but was just absent-mindedly boarding without offering it. I wonder if such preferential treatment will be eliminated if Arizona Voters pass Proposition 107. Cross posted on Prophetic Progress.

Published!

Here's the link to the EV Tribune. Past experience tells me that the Republic will call. Let me know if anyone else sees something. (Bob Howard, thanks for the heads up on this.)

Also, Linda was contacted by a new resident of the valley who is Muslim and was happy to read our letter, and even offered to entering into dialogue about Islam with us.

Link.

(Don't bother with the comments. They are, as always, exactly as enlightened as what you find on the bathroom stall.)

Justice on Labor Day

As the members of Chalice Christian Justice Ministries worked hard to discern on what area of injustice we should focus our efforts many ideas were suggested. Unfortunately, we have an abundance of injustice in our world. One of the topics that sort of made it to the finals was economic injustice. Today's piece by Scott Simon on All Things Considered so poignantly acknowledged the hurt that comes with unemployment that I thought it worth sharing.

Link

Survey Question

Does it require us to do something different to address the issue of creating a pro-reconciling / anti-racist world, than to address the issue of justice for the GLBT community? I mean this is practical terms. We went to a couple of rallies last year and we put on a big symposium. We are approaching the anniversary of the symposium and we have nothing big planned. What should we do?

Chalice has some exciting stuff going on with upcoming Forums on Thursday nights. Perhaps a good mission this year is to support these Forums with our attendance. We have put together a letter to the editor. Maybe we should seek out such oppotunities. Although not particularly public now, the blog itself could become a ministry.

I guess I just wanted to take your temperature on where we are going with CCJM.

Letters are submitted.

I submitted our letter to the East Valley Tribune and the Arizona Republic. The hyperlinks will take you to their webpage that allows submitting letters to the editor electronically. They must be submitted with a name, so I used mine with my contact information. If anyone knows of other publications, perhaps those that are more local, that take letters to the editor, you can either (1) let me know and I will try to send them our letter, or (2) copy the text of the letter from the previous post and send it along under you name.