Update

Cari's mom passed away about 4 AM this morning. Funerals will most likely be both tomorrow and Wednesday. We appreciate everyone's prayers.

Jim Wallis & James Dobson - What are the "great moral issues" of our time?

I received this article in Sojourners Magazine's free weekly email "Sojomail" (you can find it here if you're interested - its usually pretty good). I was aware of this issue and Wallis' request for a debate/conversation with Dobson. The article is quite good - I thought it would be worth posting for you all to read, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Personally, I'm encouraged to see the NAE broadening its idea of what constitutes a "moral issue" - I find Dobson and his supporters' definition far too narrow, and I find it extremely distasteful that he would call for Cizik to be fired because he doesn't agree with him.

The Big Debate (by Jim Wallis)

Last week, a letter from James Dobson and friends to the board of the National Association of Evangelicals challenged NAE vice president Rich Cizik's efforts on global warming as "dividing and demoralizing," claiming they shift "the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time."

In response, I invited Dobson to a debate on the question, "What are the great moral issues of our time for evangelical Christians?" and suggested that a major evangelical Christian university should host it.

On Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported on the debate invitation, and this response: "A Focus on the Family vice president, Tom Minnery, said he would be happy to take up that debate. Dobson himself, Minnery said, is busy writing a book on child rearing."

I’m also busy writing a book, but I suggest that when we’re both finished, we hold that debate. My personal invitation to James Dobson still stands. And since he was the primary driving force behind the crucial letter, the conversation should be with him. But let’s change the tone of this from "a debate" to "a conversation." This is, in fact, the big conversation going on among evangelicals (and Catholics, too) across the nation and around the world.

In his letter, Dobson named the "great moral issues" as "the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children." I said in my last blog that I believe the sanctity of life, the integrity and health of marriages, and the teaching of sexual morality to our children are, indeed, among the "great moral issues of our time. But I believe they are not the only great moral issues." As many writers have been saying in this blog, the enormous challenges of global poverty, climate change, pandemics that wipe out generations and continents, the trafficking of human beings made in God’s image, and the grotesque violations of human rights, even to the point of genocide, are also among the great moral issues that people of faith must be - and already are - addressing.

Just in the last few days, we have already received invitations from six major Christian universities eager to host this conversation between James Dobson and me. But this is bigger than just two people: It’s the conversation we need to have on every Christian campus, in every church, and in public forums around the nation, especially as we approach another election season. So let’s do that together.

The board meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals also ended Saturday, and in the words of their own press release: "NAE Leaders Advance Broad Agenda with Landmark Document on Human Rights and Torture." The release begins by noting:

The board of directors of the National Association of Evangelicals advanced a broad public agenda at its annual meeting this week, endorsing a landmark document on human rights and torture, and reaffirming its "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Public Engagement," first adopted in 2003.

Specifically, the board noted it

...reaffirmed its support for the landmark "For the Health of the Nation" document unanimously adopted in 2003, commending its "principles of Christian political engagement to our entire community for action."

These principles include: (1) We work to protect religious freedom and liberty of conscience; (2) We work to nurture family life and protect children; (3) We work to protect the sanctity of human life and to safeguard its nature; (4) We seek justice and compassion for the poor and vulnerable; (5) We work to protect human rights; (6) We seek peace and work to restrain violence; (7) We labor to protect God's creation.

The only mention of Rich Cizik, whom the Dobson letter had singled out and called upon the NAE to fire, came with these words in the official NAE press release:

Speaking at the annual board banquet, Rev. Richard Cizik, NAE vice president for governmental affairs, quoted evangelical theologian Carl F. H. Henry in his wake up call to evangelicals sixty years ago: ‘The cries of suffering humanity today are many. No evangelicalism which ignores the totality of man's condition dares respond in the name of Christianity.’

The NAE statement went on to say:

Speaking of a new generation of evangelicals that has responded to those cries, Cizik said: ‘We root our activism in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross and are giving it a proper temporal focus by emphasizing all of the principles that are found in the Bible. We come together in a positive way as a family bonded by the love of Christ, not as fractious relatives. We desire to be people known for our passionate commitment to justice and improving the world, and eager to reach across all barriers with love, civility, and care for our fellow human beings.’

I knew Carl F. H. Henry, during my seminary years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and through many conversations together during our early years of Sojourners. His biblical theology, social conscience, and political balance provided a younger generation with crucial moral guidance. We miss his voice today.

But the NAE board, and its president Leith Anderson, know that a new generation of evangelicals wants that same sound theology and good balance, and believe that Christian moral concerns (and God’s concerns) go beyond only a few issues. Recognizing how their broader agenda is resonating with evangelicals around the world, the NAE announced that at its fall board meeting in Washington, D.C., October 11-12, "the association will host an ‘International Congress on Evangelical Public Engagement,’ drawing prestigious leaders from around the world to meet with American leadership around the principles of the Association's ‘For the Health of the Nation’ document." It seems the broader evangelical social agenda has solid support and is moving forward.

So, let’s have the big debate, and make it into the kind of deep and necessary conversation among the people of God that it needs to be. And to Jim Dobson I say, let’s finish our books (as a Dad with two young boys I look forward to reading yours on child rearing!), and then agree to a public conversation at the right place and the right time. I look forward to that.

A Long Overdue Update

I've been putting off doing a much-needed update on what's going on in our lives for a couple of weeks now while waiting for final notification on a fairly major change in our lives (no, Cari is not pregnant, so just put that out of your mind right now). However, it is much needed, and things have finally developed to a point at which I felt it was a good time to post.

As most of you know, we've been living with my mom since May while saving up money and figuring our next move, which we had believed would be to move some place (possibly overseas) for me to pursue a Ph.D. I've decided not to do so - the short reason why is that I discovered that there were no positions available teaching the topic I wished to teach (Religion and Culture). We weighed several different options for a month or so (teaching in a university, teaching a different subject, educational work in a church, etc.), and finally determined that I liked the idea of doing educational ministries in a church if I could find the right church.

About the same time as we reached this decision, an Adult Ministries position opened up at my home church in Omaha, and I knew this would be an ideal position for me. Its a strong, growing church that is outreach-minded and pretty progressive as far as Christian Churches/Churches of Christ are concerned. I've known several of the ministers and elders for years, and knew I would enjoy working with them. And the position is exactly what I was looking for - it is primarily focused on the church's adult education and small groups program, with additional duties including occasional preaching, pre-marital counseling, weddings and funerals, etc. I've been pursuing the position for almost 3 months now, through 3 interviews, and was offered the position today - my first day on staff will be April 1. I'm very excited about the position, and really looking forward to getting started in a few weeks.

Of course, this new position means we'll be settling in Omaha - I never expected to be saying that! Over the next week or two we'll start looking for a house out near to the church - obviously we're looking forward to that as well. It'll be nice to know that we're settling down without the constant knowledge that we'll be moving in a couple years, and it's certainly nice that we're going to be near both Cari and I's families.

In the midst of this career change, we also learned several months ago that Cari's mom, MaryAnne, had cancer. By the time it was discovered it was already pretty advanced, and had spread to several different organs. They attempted treatment for a couple of months, which slowed the growth in some areas but not in all of them. A few weeks ago they went to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where they recommended that they discontinue treatment and work to control pain and symptoms. Obviously this situation is difficult for us, and certainly for MaryAnne and the rest of Cari's family. We greatly appreciate everyone's prayers.

These are the major developments in our lives over the past few months. I'm sure I left some things out - if so, Cari will remind me and I'll post them later. Hope everyone is doing well. Take care.

Global Education and the "Information Explosion"

I know its often said that people are less apt to follow links than to read a complete post, but I'm going to start occasionally linking to interesting posts, articles, etc. that I find - I think its one of the most useful features of a blog, in that it allows me to draw readers' attention to relevent/interesting information located in other places on the internet. So, I do hope you'll check these links out. And in this case, I don't yet know how to embed a YouTube video, so I couldn't post this video here even if I wanted to do so.

Anyway, this video on a friend's site is quite interesting - it certainly helps to give a more realistic perspective regarding globalization and education, and offers some intriguing statistics in relation to the "information explosion" that is currently occurring worldwide. I'm interested to see if anyone has any comments.