A Big Event!
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This is something I'm excited about. I've been friends with Eric Elnes for quite a while and am proud of the great work he's organizing!
There is a common misperception that the Religious Right is the sole voice in American Christianity but that just isn't true. It's great to see someone voicing the thoughts and feelings of progressive Christians which too often go unheard!
I'm excerpting this from an article by John Shelby Spong:
"On Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006, a group of people will begin in Phoenix a 2500 mile, 141 day, 5,000,000-step walk across America. Their destination is Washington, D.C., where a public celebration will be held on September 3, 2006. Their purpose is to arouse public consciousness to the misuse of Christianity in American life today. They are Christians who want to reclaim their faith from what they believe are the distortions of the 'Religious Right,' that so often appears to interpret Christianity in narrow, prejudiced and even hate-filled ways.
The organizers of this march are grieved that fundamentalism has become the dominant, sometimes the sole religious voice in the media. They seek to raise awareness to the fact that fundamentalists, in both Catholic and Protestant forms, do not by themselves define American Christianity. They are embarrassed by the present alliance of political conservatives with fundamentalist Christians, who seek to impose a sectarian and moralistic religious mentality upon our population. They are offended that negativity to homosexual persons and opposition to the century long quest by women for equality and the right to define their own life choices, are now in the public mind, the defining essence of their faith. This enterprise, known as CrossWalkAmerica, is the vehicle through which they seek to educate America."
Eric and his church in Scottdale, AZ. have come up with a set of affirmations they call the "Phoenix Affirmations." They began with what Jesus said was the most important rule of faith from Matthew 22:37-40 (restated in the other Gospels)
"'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."
If the most important things for a Christian are to love God, to love others, and (implicitly) to love yourself the affirmations go on to ask how we can do each of these things. The result is a series of principals which include caring for the environment, respecting other religions, and accepting people who soceity rejects because of race, culture, or sexual identity.
To read the Phoenix affirmations pelase visit:
http://crosswalkamerica.org/pa.htm
For more about the walk please visit: http://crosswalkamerica.org/
I'm excited that this is happening!
There is a common misperception that the Religious Right is the sole voice in American Christianity but that just isn't true. It's great to see someone voicing the thoughts and feelings of progressive Christians which too often go unheard!
I'm excerpting this from an article by John Shelby Spong:
"On Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006, a group of people will begin in Phoenix a 2500 mile, 141 day, 5,000,000-step walk across America. Their destination is Washington, D.C., where a public celebration will be held on September 3, 2006. Their purpose is to arouse public consciousness to the misuse of Christianity in American life today. They are Christians who want to reclaim their faith from what they believe are the distortions of the 'Religious Right,' that so often appears to interpret Christianity in narrow, prejudiced and even hate-filled ways.
The organizers of this march are grieved that fundamentalism has become the dominant, sometimes the sole religious voice in the media. They seek to raise awareness to the fact that fundamentalists, in both Catholic and Protestant forms, do not by themselves define American Christianity. They are embarrassed by the present alliance of political conservatives with fundamentalist Christians, who seek to impose a sectarian and moralistic religious mentality upon our population. They are offended that negativity to homosexual persons and opposition to the century long quest by women for equality and the right to define their own life choices, are now in the public mind, the defining essence of their faith. This enterprise, known as CrossWalkAmerica, is the vehicle through which they seek to educate America."
Eric and his church in Scottdale, AZ. have come up with a set of affirmations they call the "Phoenix Affirmations." They began with what Jesus said was the most important rule of faith from Matthew 22:37-40 (restated in the other Gospels)
"'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."
If the most important things for a Christian are to love God, to love others, and (implicitly) to love yourself the affirmations go on to ask how we can do each of these things. The result is a series of principals which include caring for the environment, respecting other religions, and accepting people who soceity rejects because of race, culture, or sexual identity.
To read the Phoenix affirmations pelase visit:
http://crosswalkamerica.org/pa.htm
For more about the walk please visit: http://crosswalkamerica.org/
I'm excited that this is happening!
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