Posted on 06/04/2009 6:42:35 PM PDT by SJackson
A little noticed meeting a couple of weeks ago in Atlanta opens a window into the changing relationship between religion and politics in the age of Obama.
The gathering at the Carter Center, former President Jimmy Carter's base of operations, brought together a spectrum of Christian leaders to talk about their role in helping to ease the conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians.
For the past eight years, the Christian leaders who had the easiest access to the corridors of power at the White House were those who were unabashedly pro-Israel. Their voices reinforced the tendency of the Bush administration not only to maintain the traditional strong relationship between the U.S. and Israel, but to give tacit approval to some of the hard-line moves of the Israeli government.
The group of Christians who met with Carter has a different view of the route to Middle East peace, one that is willing to put more pressure on the Israeli government. Not surprisingly, that has been Carter's approach in recent years as well.
As they ended their two days at the Carter Center, 28 Christian leaders signed a letter to President Obama just days before he met with the new Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The letter called for a two-state solution in the Middle East -- something favored by Obama and opposed by Netanyahu. It also called for a stop to Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and an opening of the borders with Gaza.
One of the participants, Lutheran Bishop Bruce Burnside of Madison, said Carter told the group that he would get the letter to Obama immediately -- the sort of thing a former president can do. And so a different cast of Christian leaders was getting its voice heard inside the White House.
"This gathering was so unlike any other gathering," Burnside said after he returned to Madison.
Consider the array of participants. There was Bishop Mark Hanson, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran group in the country. There were leaders from various groups of white and African-American Baptists (although not the conservative Southern Baptists). There were Presbyterians, Anglicans, theologians and activists.
There was the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners, one of the most prominent voices of evangelical progressives (and a confidant of Obama), and Lynne Hybels, a leader at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, one of the original non-denominational mega-churches.
Within the past year, Hybels has developed a passionate interest in the possibilities for peace in the Middle East. She wrote in a column a few months ago, "A year ago, I became haunted by the notion that Christians, Muslims and Jews are going to blow up the world unless we learn to get along." Now, here she was in the midst of religious leaders who are getting access to the president on these issues.
Wallis is not new to the issues of peacemaking, but his inclusion in this group brought to the table someone who has been working hard to assemble coalitions of Christians that cross traditional boundaries. "There is real hope in the broad consensus and support that is now emerging from the American Christian community for a just and lasting two-state solution," he wrote on his blog after the Atlanta meeting.
Burnside, the Madison Lutheran bishop, gave much credit to Carter for bringing this group together. "President Carter's dynamic Christian faith, steeped in biblical understanding, and formed by his devotion to justice and human dignity, shaped this gathering and gave it momentum," Burnside said.
But gatherings of religious leaders making statements often wind up as interesting footnotes in history books. What made this gathering notable was the connection they now have with those in the Obama administration actually shaping policy. Their support adds a key constituency to the delicate task of building public support for a fresh approach in this volatile region.
Phil Haslanger is pastor of Memorial United Church of Christ in Fitchburg.
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I don't know what the big deal is. Christians and others who are anti-Israel have been able to meet with Jimmah for years. This is nothing new.
These must be the Christians that vote with the Jews.
“Non pro Israel”?
Guess it sounds better than anti semite.
Could be, those Christians elected Obama after all.
LOTS of overlap, but they're not the same
I heard that only the really truly ignorant inbred Christians voted against Obama, But I thought that was the vast majority. But F**k what do I no?
I haven’t a clue about inbreeding amongst Obama voters.
I'm not sure of that, if you pull the Jews, Muslims, atheists and other non Christians out of the vote then you may find that what you said isn't true.
At the very least it would be very close, Jews on the other hand voted for Obama at about 78% majority like they always do, either way these Christians at this meeting would be made up of Christians that vote with the Jews.
?
Fact is America is a Christian nation. Not enough Christians voted for McCain so blame yourself and your greater Christian community. There are only 6 million Jews here so do your math. And I resent being sloppily lumped with Muslims and atheists.
That is a weird post, we still need to know how people vote, Jews, Muslims, and atheists vote overwhelmingly Democrat.
Blacks are Protestant, many Hispanics are Protestant, yet McCain still won 54% of the Protestant vote.
Catholics sometimes vote republican, but if you pull the Hispanics out of the Catholic vote then it goes Republican.
What we need to work on are the bigot groups that are overwhelmingly Democrat, if we can soften them up a little and pull a few votes from them then we could move this country right.
“non-pro-Israel Christians”
. . . equal . . . NONBIBLICAL “Christians”
. . . equal . . . mutually exclusive terms . . . more or less.
. . . kind of like . . . ‘abortion advocating Roman Catholics.’
SCRIPTURE IS QUITE CLEAR AND REPEATEDLY SO . . .
THOSE WHO BLESS the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, GOD ALMIGHTY WILL BLESS.
Those who curse the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, GOD ALMIGHTY WILL CURSE.
SIMPLE, CLEAR BIBLE.
I don’t know how big the deal is, but one thing is different—they’ve got Obama.
If they shove this through, guess who will pay for the Palestinian state, everything from soup to nuts including a standing army, latest arms (to protect them from evil Israel), and US soldiers if need be. Billions upon billions ad infinitum. They had a lobbying group here about two years ago, were on C-Span, detailing the wish list. Oh, we’re to teach them how to run a modern state, build it, maintain it — you name it, we do it. Obama must have it on his ‘to do’ list in his Blackberry.
Obama says the US is the world’s largest Muslim nation. No mention of Christians, Jews or our heritage. Who knew.
These are the Christians who were not paying attention in Sunday School, and who aren't paying attention today.
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