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| The Alliance of Baptists joins the National Council of Churches in the fight to end racism. Learn more about this initiative an how to get involved in News and Analysis below. |
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Stand for hope, peace and freedom from racism at April rally
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by Deb Vaughn
In August 2017 I joined hundreds of other ministers for the "Ministers March on Washington," sponsored by the National Action Network. The march was billed as "The 1000 Ministers March" and was organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton to coincide with the 54th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
I was there with my clergy women's affinity group, and marched with clergy from many faiths: Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhists and Jews. We wore our stoles, kippahs, taqiyahs and robes. But, sadly, most of the marchers were persons of color. It was striking that the members of my clergy group were all Caucasian. We were some of the few white faces in a sea of color.
I have to tell you, it grieved me. Where were my white clergy brothers and sisters? Why did they not come? Is the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's "Dream" still viable? And how can I encourage other clergy to get involved in these public expressions calling for solidarity and change?
Keep reading...
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Alliance News
Earth as Beloved Community
by Ched Myers
Reflecting biblically and theologically on
"Earth as Beloved Community"-the theme of the Alliance of Baptists' upcoming gathering April 26-29 in Dayton, Ohio-can help us recover how to be church. We contemporary North Americans have been socialized to see and value land solely in terms of private possession, economic exploitation and commodification. But unlike our cosmology of modernity, the Bible never understands land as "real estate." Instead, we can identify four major characteristics of land in scripture: as mother of life; as abundant sustainer of living beings; as altar for worship of the Creator; and as home place.
Mother
: In the second Genesis creation account we are told that the human being (Heb. 'adam) is formed from the "topsoil" (Heb. 'adamah, Gen. 2:7)-a wordplay that is tellingly preserved in the English "human/humus." Scripture is unembarrassed and straightforward: we are birthed from the earth (as are all flora and fauna: Gen. 2:9, 19). This spiritual and material understanding has been embraced both by old indigenous cultures and the new biological sciences, but ignored by Christians for too long.
Keep reading...
Annual Gathering early bird registration is good until March 26, which also is the deadline to register for children's and youth programming.
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Practicing Congregation
We could use more friends
by Tim Moore
The paralysis of both
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Congress and state
legislatures to do anything positive in regards to mass shootings is discouraging. It leaves us asking a depressing question: How many more children will have to die before we do
something about it?
Apparently a lot more.
A number of conflicts in the last half-century have ended by weary attrition instead of victory. The Protestant and Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland came to a cease-fire because people were weary from funerals. But it took several decades of death to make them weary. The Iran and Iraq war, before the U.S.A. got involved with the Gulf War in protection of Kuwait, ended in a stalemate because both sides had slaughtered as many soldiers as they could stomach. Our armed forces left Vietnam for essentially the same reason.
Is that how this culture war will end? We will finally become weary of funerals, decide political victories are no longer worth it and come to our senses? How many years of funerals will that take?
Keep reading...
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