Church Council of Greater Seattle Blog

Another post from our good friend Michael Ramos

2008-02-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

Rev. Joshua Liljenstolpe, Michael Ramos, and Rev. Sandy Brown outside the Council's bus during the Israel-Palestine trip

“A small stone can carry a big rock.”
--Bishop Munib Younan

Bishop Munib Younan (Lutheran) insists that the right of return for refugees is much more than a matter of compensation. “The city of Beer-sheba (where we met Bedouin communities on Sunday) no longer has any Christians.” Twenty years after my family was displaced from there, “in 1968 my father came back to see his house. He had hoped to see his room, but he was told when he arrived only to ‘go away’.” Heartbroken, “he couldn’t eat or sleep for 2-3 days.” It is hard to imagine what it is like “to lose your house you have built.”

“Confirming the right of return would be an acknowledgement of my ‘nakba’ (or ‘catastrophe’, the loss of a way of life, including land),” Bishop Younan concluded. “Because we are broken doesn’t mean we have lost everything. We will continue to work for peace and justice. The cross is my dignity.”

The theater/dance performance of “The Last Supper in Palestine” began with the six Palestinian performers balancing a small stone over a large one on their heads. Stones were a prominent symbol later in the performance as the actors passed an Israeli checkpoint, presumably in the West Bank. Some had them in their pockets; all were flushed out. Were they planning – as goes the stereotype – to throw these at the military police? Yet, they were allowed to keep the stones. A ritual cleansing began, each washing his or her body with the stones.

Suddenly, one of them lay stricken, killed it appeared, no stone ever tossed. His companions lay stones on top of him, anointing him and sealing his resting place at the same time. Is his fate final? What is the fate of the others? Will they dance together again?

These stones give power. They suggest the building blocks of life and life in abundance. Placed one on top of the other, even a small stone can carry a large one, bearing many times its size and weight. In the spirit of Bishop Younan, the small stones of the actions of education, training and advocacy can carry the big rocks of humility, love and justice. “The cross is my dignity,” says the bishop. In bearing it, the Christian community in Palestine collectively carries the large rock of nonviolent transformation.

1/30

Our journey has come to an end. It is with a great deal of gratitude that I head home. My prayer as we left Seattle to begin the trip was “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice” (Psalm 130). Our prayers have been heard. The trip was safe and everyone returns healthy. I am full.

My devotion on the trip was built upon the Sh’ma (Deuteronomy 6:9), “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is One,” and the prayer of Archbishop Romero about the Reign of God. These both still sit with me as we depart the Holy Land. Somehow, the intimacy with which all the people, Israeli and Palestinian, embrace the land, is reflective of a shared understanding of God as being One, our Ground in whom we live and move (breathe) and have our being. This is the reality that they are living into, two peoples sharing one land (even as two states), learning to live together in dignity and justice.

The horizon toward which we look from the land is the Reign of God, the reality that is our hope beyond hope, yet emerging in the Person of Jesus Christ. We feel small and insignificant in the face of the conflict on the ground, the pain and suffering of the people and the years of political failure to achieve peace. Yet, despite the dwindling number of Christians there, the seeds of peace are being sown, the resilience of people who know the cross leaves them undeterred, and stones are being used to lay a non-violent path for a future beyond our imagination.

Queen Rafia of Jordan said in an interview with CNN that leaders need the “political willpower and sincerity of spirit” to craft a solution that offers a measure of peace with justice in Israel/Palestine. Her prophetic words came in the context of commenting on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Countries of the world were discussing the spreading of wealth, while people like Bono and Bill Gates were suggesting global, market-based strategies to address malaria and poverty. Such collective, world-class thinking ought to be applied, with similar tenacity and creativity, to fostering peace. This is especially the case in the place – more than any other in the world – where the religious convictions of the three Abrahamic faiths converge. The Old City of Jerusalem is that melting pot, where people criss-cross each other in pilgrimage and tolerance begets hospitality begets conversation over strong Arabic coffee.

In the heart of Jerusalem, on the last day of our trip, I got lost in the heart of the Old City. Up and down one set of market stalls on narrow cobble-stone streets, then another, I could not find my way to the church where we were having a meeting with a bishop. I had learned to put my self-reliant bravado aside and ask for directions. Eventually, I found my way and my destination. For decades, efforts for peace have proven just as vexing as trying to make your way through the Old City. Still, Israelis and Palestinians, as evidenced by those whom we encountered, have the wisdom to “make a way out of no way.”

Clarity and courage were two hallmarks of the people whom we met. There was agreement, even among people coming from very distinct perspectives and world-views, about the basic framework of a peace initiative. Genuine movement toward forging a two-state solution, addressing the rights and needs of the displaced, preserving the sacredness and centrality politically of Jerusalem, enhancing the integrity of the borders of the Occupied Territories to that of 1967 in forming a new state, tackling the obstacles of settlements and the security wall, while leaving all people more secure, are understood (with some differences in detail) as necessary, urgent overlapping issues. Physical security for all is needed, while recognizing that it is linked to political, social and economic security for all. The best and really only option for genuine “security” is the accomplishment of a secure peace that bears the honoring of two peoples on one land as two nations emerge.

Advocates need to step forward from wherever they call home and create conditions for this political will to be unleashed. Otherwise, the cycle of suffering, unrest and repression will continue as the predominant facts on the ground. Candidates for office and elected officials in all the relevant countries need to be challenged to bring these issues to the forefront rather than consign them to the back pages.

From a faith perspective, I find myself returning to the phrase “sincerity of spirit.”. It connotes for me the “pureness of heart” that Jesus calls us to in the Sermon on the Mount, with the promise that we shall “see God.” Sincerity of spirit also suggests the Beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). These combine the single-mindedness of conviction with the humility to explore truth before God and neighbor regardless of the consequences. Pursuing this truth steadfastly (“samat” or “sumut” in Arabic and Hebrew respectively), is the grace we Christians in the United States are invited to seek, while affirming and upholding these gifts in the brothers and sisters we met.

Holy Land Extremists

2008-02-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

Dick with "the Rev" in Bethlehem's "Tent" restaurant, overlooking Shepherd's Field

The following is a reflection on our Israel-Palestine trip by Rev. Dick Gibson

I recently traveled to the Holy Land with the Seattle Council of Churches group to listen to religious and civic leaders and see the situation between Palestinians and Israeli’s for myself. We spent time talking about extremists. The following is my
summary of what I heard and saw:

Religious extremism has a fundamentalist base and a doctrinaire belief system. People hold strong beliefs in God and hold literally to some written word, and they want everyone else to agree. Once held, they will not deviate, adjust, modernize or change.

MUSLIM
Muslims extremists appear to be held by the mystic of past ages, locked into cultures of previous centuries with regard to women, education, movies/TV/books, culture. They tend to choose violence to enforce their beliefs and preserve their perceived cultures.

JUDAISM
The Orthodox Religious appear to be different from the Extremists. The Orthodox hold onto deep religious beliefs in many literal ways. The Extremists seem to focus on the Land of Israel. They hold a deep belief that God gave them the land –they read it in the Bible - and no one else should be there. They draw a map of their land and are unwilling to compromise. “Move the Palestinians to the desert or other countries. This is OUR land.” They erect Walls to block out distasteful views of other people or villages. They beat/kill children and adults who walk/farm/graze on their land. Many of these Extremists have moved into Settlement Blocks on Palestinian Land in the West Bank, throwing things down on passers- by from apartments overlooking the shopping streets of Hebron. Christian Peacemaker Teams are there to escort children to school, men and women to market and work. Others have poisoned wells and livestock in an attempt to drive out Palestinians who have lived on the land for centuries. These extremists also tend toward violence to make their point. It should be noted that land deals written in a religious book 3,000 years ago are not valid in modern nation states. Also these extremists miss the caveat that God will give the land as long as the people are faithful and keep the Covenant. (Gen 17:8,9, Num 14 etc)

CHRISTIAN
Right wing Christians (Zionists) read their Bibles and believe many mixed up things about the Middle East. They hold that
if a new Temple is built in Jerusalem, Jesus will return and take them up to heaven where they will have a front row seat, peering over the clouds, to watch non-believers writhe in torment here on earth. They want a war to end all wars, the Jews to convert and Armageddon to arrive. Thus they want the Middle East to remain in turmoil. They do not advocate any kind of peaceful solutions, and keep stirring the pot to keep it bubbling. They support Settlement Building as a way of increasing tensions and producing the end violence for which they wait. Many of these Zionists are Americans with deep financial pockets
who give generously to causes which support the state of Israel and its military might. They are also involved in politics and keep the pressure on legislators to support Israel with no questions asked.

You may meet Zionists in your family, at work or school, in church or in your neighborhood. It is difficult to reason with them or explain other points of view and yet it is vital that we try, for their convoluted beliefs could stir up enough confusion to start a war! You probably will never meet Jewish Extremists unless you travel to Israel. You will hear about Muslim Extremists because they have become the new enemy for our day, and every Arab or strange looking person is quickly labeled a terrorist, isolated and dismissed. Then “we” do violence without thinking or investigating –they wear a turban, dress in unusual garb, read the Koran, etc.

People of Good Will tend to be MODERATES, willing to explore a variety of views, willing to compromise and change their opinions, even beliefs, when presented with new information.. This brief page is designed to help us think and talk about extremists and begin to recognize the trouble in the Mid East is not RELIGIOUS but political. It will take political insight and leadership to solve the conflicts and religion: love, forgiveness and care for each one as a child of God, will help us get there! Rev. Dick Gibson 2/1/08

Our final lectures in Jerusalem

2008-01-30T23:39:00.000-08:00

Bishop Younan speaks to our group at the Lutheran synod offices in Jerusalem. Younan clearly is a brilliant man and brings a passion for his people. He's fireball!

Akiva Eldar of Ha'Aretz next to yours truly

On Monday morning we had the joyful opportunity to meet with Bishop Maneb Younan of the Lutheran Synod of Jerusalem. Younan is an small but very energetic man, passionate and prophetic.

When he's been in the U.S., Younan says, he's been dismayed at the way Palestinians are portrayed in the media. Based on what Americans see, he feels, all Palestinians are terrorists. The sympathy of Americans toward Israel is reflected in many ways, among them the recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Younan kidded us that the PCUSA assembly could easily have been confused with AIPAC. As you can tell, he's a passionate supporter of Palestinian concerns.

Younan made the following points: 1) The U.S. is incorrectly viewing Israeli/Palestinian issues as a small part of a larger, regional struggle. In reality, Hunan said, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is at the heart of regional difficulties and unlocking this problem will also unlock positive relations with the Arab world. 2) Extremism is growing in the region. Younan sees himself, now, as a moderate, and voices at the table who are currently being heard are much more extreme in their outlook. One major problem of extremism is American Christian Zionism, which colors much of Christianity as ultimately anti-Palestinian. "Christians United for Israel" are building a $30 million settlement on the West Bank, which promotes to Muslims the idea that the Christian viewpoint is synonymous with American foreign policy. Ultimately this is destruction for local Palestinian Christian leaders trying to work with Palestinian Muslims. 3) Jewish extremism is growing. Sharon is now seen as a moderate, and forces calling for complete annexation of the West Bank are now more mainstream. Jewish settlers have increased in their attempts to take additional Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Bishop Younan believes the best and only solution has already been agreed to by majorities both in Israel and Palestinian, i.e. a two state solution. The current problem is the need for charismatic leadership that can help both sides achieve this goal.

A myth that needs to be dispelled is that Palestinian Christians are being persecuted by Palestinian Muslims. In reality there has been only one murder of a Christian by Muslims that is even suspicious, and that was the recent murder of a Christian man in Gaza. No one yet knows who is responsible for that crime. Otherwise Muslim and Christian relations are very close and harmonious, with Christians and Muslims having lived side-by-side for hundreds and hundreds of years. Relations with Jews are not always so positive, and Bishop Younan reported having been spat upon by Jews on visiting the Western Wall.

A sign of hope is a recent statement by the Chief Rabbi of Israel that Palestinians have suffered as a result of the occupation. At the same time as that statement was released, a prominent Mufti from Jerusalem issued a statement that, indeed, Israel needs security. This interfaith act is an important step ahead for a region whose people have been divided along religious lines.

I must say our two visits with Lutherans were the most impressive presentations during our Israel-Palestine.stay. Both men, Bishop Younan and Pastor Raheb, operate out of a strong theological position, are passionate about their faith, committed to the well-being of their people, and visionary about the future. Lutherans can be proud that they're well-represented in the Holy Land by capable and talented clergy.

We could have enjoyed Bishop Younan for many more hours, but the bells of the Lutheran church began to ring, which signaled him to move to his next appointment. Several of us head to Papa Andrea's restaurant nearby for a quick lunch before heading out to shop in the Old City. I hope Gail enjoys what I bought her!

In the early evening came one of the highlights of our tour, a visit with Akiva Eldar, an author and journalist with the Ha'Aretz newspaper. Eldar shared his own background as a Palestinian Jew -- an uncommon title -- who was born in Israel prior to creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Eldar since has closely studied Palestinian-Israeli relations and, in addition, has served as correspondent for Ha"Aretz in Washington, D.C.

According to Eldar, Israel originally believed that occupation of the West Bank would be in the best interests of the Palestinians - a sort of enlightened occupation that would bring health care, education, and economic development. A conversation years ago with a Palestinian reinforced in his mind that the reality was far different. An elderly Palestinian told him he'd lived under 4 occupying forces - Turkey, Britain, Jordan and Israel - and that the Israeli occupation was the best and the worst. It was best because israelis did bring some benefits and did, at least at first, care for their Palestinian neighbors, much more so than Turks, Brits or Jordanians. The Israelis were the worst, however, because they are the first occupiers to take away Palestinian land.

Eldar sees Israel and Palestine as being at a critical juncture, but with an unusual set of disadvantages. Olmert, Abbas, and Bush are all in weakened states. This means that the agreed-to goal of a 2-state solution will be much more difficult to achieve. While everyone recognizes the inevitability of a 2-state solution, Eldar feels the parties are now arguing over the remaining 6% - that part not yet settled by previous agreements. Olmert wants to exchange the 6% of the West Bank currently under negotiation for a highway or railway between the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians are demanding more actual territory, as well as a safe passage between the two portions of the Palestinian state.

Israel and Palestine need to take some chances, Eldar believes. Israel should break the current stalemate by repeating what it did in Nablus - giving the Palestinian Authority control over public safety. The result there has been a great success, where 350 police maintain law and order. If this were repeated throughout the West Bank, there would be far less need for Israeli walls, security barriers, and checkpoints. This would allow more freedom for economic development among Palestinians.

The U.S. has a critically important role in resolving this conflict, since the U.S. has available to it both a carrot and a stick. Only when the U.S. is firmly engaged in creating a just solution will be see a final resolution of the conflict.

Eldar is a delightful man, and I look forward to reading his new book, Lords of the Land: The War for Israeli Settlements. Here is a man who, like many we've met, sees how "stuck" this issue is and is advocating creative ways to move his people into a better future.

More photos of our trip

2008-01-27T22:06:00.000-08:00

Sitting with Israeli soldiers in the Old City. They're just kids.

Michael, Joshua, and Lloyd at the West Wall

Goats herded through Jerusalem just outside the Church of All Nations

A glass blower in Hebron. Fascinating to watch.

Bedouins - Israel's lowest underclass

2008-01-27T21:42:00.000-08:00

Sultan Abu-Abayyid shares with our group about Bedouin issues

Eating lunch in a Bedouin tent is for the flexible among us

After our visit to Hebron we headed to Kibbutz Krameem in the Negev for an overnight. The kibbutz is in a quiet, agricultural area and our rooms were individual cabins spread out over a gentle slope.

In the morning, Huda Giddens introduced us to Sultan Abu-Abayyid, a 50ish Bedouin man who comes off as well-educated and professional. He described for us the historical background and current conditions of Bedouin peoples in Israel, Jordan, and Gaza.

Bedouins have inhabited this region for hundreds if not thousands of years. These semi-nomadic people live in tents and have an economy based on goat and sheep herding as well as farming and orchards. Virtually all are Muslim and over 120,000 live in Israel, while 700,000 live in refugee camps in Jordan. No modern government - Turkey, Britain, Israel - has ever quite understood the traditional customs and stubborn libertarian ways of the Bedouin. Israel has tried many times to settle Bedouins in established villages. Instead, most Bedouins live in unrecognized villages consisting of ramshackle tarps and corrugated metal siding. The families are desperately poor, and although they pay income taxes as all Israelis and have full vote, they do not receive commensurate services like education, streets, health care, etc.

After Sultan's excellent introduction, we headed to several Bedouin villages, including Al-Quilya, where we had a delicious lunch seated on carpets. Huda was justifiably proud that the weaving industry she helped restart while she was here some years ago is doing a good job of helping support many Bedouin families. Many of us purchased rugs from the village's carpet shop.

Although we were in the far south of Israel, it was a short, 2-hour drive back to Jerusalem. I was relieved finally to be back online and able to send and receive e-mails home.

After a short break we met with Anglican Bishop Suheil Duwani, a friend of ours since his trip to Seattle last year. Bishop Suheil described his diocese, which consists of about 30 churches and 37 Anglican institutions (hospitals, homes, schools, etc.). There are 7,000 Anglicans in the diocese's five countries - Israel, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon.

Bishop Suheil's focus is on supporting the Christian community, which has been under extreme pressure, in the Holy Land. He hopes to build housing, provide education, and create all the conditions necessary to maintain a strong community here, which is important given that, pre-1948, Christians comprised 1/3 of Palestine's population. The number has slipped to just about 1%.

Interfaith cooperation has also been an important hallmark of Bishop Suheil's ministry. He meets each month with a group of Muslim and Jewish leaders to discuss ways in which they can help build peace in Israel/Palestine. Although ecumenical cooperation in Jerusalem seems scant, given the well-publicized fisticuffs between clergy at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Bishop Suheil's opinion is that the Christian community at the grassroots is strongly united.

Christians are often a bridge for peace and reconciliation between Muslims and Jews, according to the bishop. We pray that his ministry will help that role to flourish in the years ahead.

Some posts by Michael Ramos

2008-01-27T11:20:00.000-08:00

Michael Ramos caught a big one

1/19/08

Talk about courageous people. Rabbi Arik Ascherman from Rabbis for Human Rights and Jean Zaru from the Friends International Center are at the top of the list in this increasingly fragmented land. Rabbi Ascherman, a Reform Jew with roots in Erie, PA, and Jean, whose Quaker organization has its international headquarters in Philadelphia, are at the forefront of nonviolent efforts for justice founded upon transformational community action.

Ascherman, inspired by Rabbi Abraham Heschel, recalls his phrase, “some are guilty, all are responsible,” to mean that he must stand in the way of the demolition of Palestinian homes when it is almost impossible for Palestinians to build a home legally. In 2004-05 alone, 246 buildings in East Jerusalem, some 4-7 stories high, were destroyed by Israeli governmental authorities. The Rabbi believes that his organization, joined by 400 rabbis from throughout the country, have at least slowed down the demolitions.

On April 15, 2004, where the erection of separation barriers was being challenged by a Palestinian village, a 13-year old Palestinian boy was beaten by border police. Ascherman could not morally stand by. In the face of tear gas fired by soldiers and rocks hitting him from Palestinians reacting to the beating, Ascherman made himself a human shield and helped save the boy’s life. Not knowing what would happen with the boy, Ascherman found out that the boy testified in court: “A tall Jewish man in a kippa came to my rescue and told me not to be afraid.” Demonstrating great moral strength, Ascherman modeled the justice and compassion that befits a hope for the “repair of the world” or tikkun olam that he wishes for in his country.

Jean Zaru is a Quaker who has been struggling non-violently for most of her life. “I don’t like violence qualified. All violence is bad.” Living in Ramallah in the West Bank, she laments that millions of Christians come to the Holy Land without touching base with Christians here locally. She would tell them (as she told us) that she has to have a permit to go to Jerusalem (just a few miles away); she has to have an outside organization apply for her and deliver it to her. She would say that her people suffer from structural violence. With hundreds of checkpoints, people, including members of the same family, cannot connect with one another. Palestinians are unable to sell their goods. Strawberries and other produce may rot in people’s cars trying to get to market. Unemployment, an exploited water supply, loss of land, and lack of labor protections all are part of the economic injustice she sees. Rabbi Ascherman views the struggle for economic justice as a matter of human rights and a living out of his faith. Jean would concur. “My faith inspires me to act to transform society. If all are created in God’s image, then we cannot destroy any (of God’s people). Unjust structures dehumanize and oppress both oppressors and oppressed.”

Zaru’s spirituality is grounded in dignity, equality, liberation, non-violence and the transformation of society. The Arabic word, samut, or perseverance, sums up her commitment: resisting what is unacceptable and transforming it. It is being “pro-justice” and “finding a way to lift us all together as equals,” so that we might all “live together as neighbors.” Her book, Occupied with Nonviolence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks, will be published in July.

Ascherman and Zaru both live out what the latter proclaimed to our group: “faith without action is dead; truth without being tested in one’s life is worthless.”

1/20/08

Yesterday, we heard two different proposals for peace but emerging from the same basic analysis. This was our experience in talking with two prominent Palestinian political figures, Hanan Aswari, Director of the Miftah Center for Global Democracy and Dialogue, and Mustapha Barghouti, Director of Health and Development in Palestine. Dr. Barghouti analyzes the Palestinian social situation as follows. Since the Oslo Accords in 2003, the Palestinian reality has significantly worsened. The GDP for the average Palestinian is $800-1000 per year. For an Israeli, it is $24,000. Water flowing from the West Bank region is limited to $137 million cubic meters per year, less than one-seventh the water flowing out to Israeli settlements and other parts of Israel. Because of over 700 roadblocks and checkpoints in the Occupied Territories, farmers have trouble getting produce to market and many workers cannot get to their jobs. This leads to the need to purchase more expensive Israeli goods. Yet, Palestinians are still paying their share of taxes to Israel. The Israeli government says that roadblocks and checkpoints are needed for security reasons, including to prevent violence against settlers, who are Israeli citizens, in the Territories.

The wall, sometimes called the separation barrier, complicates the situation on the ground further. Built often further into the West Bank than the proposed Green Line (marking the boundaries of the West Bank), the wall, 8-9 meters high of solid concrete, will surround 850 kilometers of the West Bank upon completion. The wall moves in and around certain cities, creating a patchwork of towns, that if made permanent, would seriously damage the idea of Palestinian contiguity within the West Bank. The city of Qualquiya, for example, is a city of 40,000 completely cut off by the wall from other villages and cities. Without a permit to travel, the vast majority of Palestinians have been unable to leave their districts in the last six years.

Jerusalem is a discussion by itself because of its religious significance for the three Abrahamic faiths. The discussion will be affected by the annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel and the massive building of settlements there which has the effect of reinforcing the decision and impacting the lives of this traditionally Palestinian area.

What Barghouti and Aswari (who will speak in Seattle in April for the World Affairs Council), represent are two prongs of an effort already under way to prepare for a viable and just two-state solution that will not condemn both sides to decades more of conflict. Mindful of the need for reform within the Palestinian political movement itself, Aswari notes that a broad social and economic agenda is needed for the Palestinian people in addition to a changed political reality. “We have to present Palestine with a better agenda with a commitment to a peaceful solution,” she says. These would be based on democracy, pluralism and good government. She believes that the Fatah party needs to learn from the last Palestinian elections.

Barghouti has started the Palestinian National Initiative to engage citizens in a non-violent struggle for an “independent, viable, democratic and prosperous Palestinian state that guarantees security, justice and equality before the law for all Palestinians.

Time is of the essence. Serious efforts from all sides, with the United States engaged actively, is vital so that - in these two figures’ estimation - no more time is lost. As one Palestinian member of our delegation said to the Jewish family with whom we shared a Sabbath meal: “As humans, we want the same things: to raise our children and provide for them through stable employment, an opportunity and hope.” Preparing for such a future for Palestinians and Israelis through negotiations toward a transformed political reality is a dream that these two Palestinian politicians are eager to shape.

1/22/08

Two evening presentations were added to our schedule yesterday. Although we were tired, I felt energized and hopeful, more so than at any other time on this trip. The first meeting was with Tom Garofalo of Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

CRS walks the talk. Working in conjunction with the UN World Food Program, they serve 125,000 people per month, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Most of these people have lost their livelihoods because of the conflict. Working in 140 villages, their immediate task is to enhance food security at the community and family level. Families contribute workers to teams to distribute food. Plans are set up based on priorities articulated by a local council.

Experience in the area since 1961 has led CRS to shift its strategy in the area from that of emergency services to one of development. But by development here is not meant what we might first associate with the term, for example, building water and electrical plants and introducing modern agricultural methods. CRS’ strategy in the face of the proliferation of poverty in a context of extensive security is that of “democracy and governance.” CRS is engaged in addressing the cumulative impact of a generation of suffering by preparing young people for peace. They intend to develop youth leaders through building on home-grown values in order to express them in civic engagement. Earlier experiments included encounters of Christian and Muslim students to engage in peace building among Palestinians.

The task is daunting. In Nehalin, CRS intended to build a school in a fertile town with crops traditionally sold in the main urban centers in the West Bank and beyond. But, now with the town surrounded by a wall, the school cannot be built.

Garofalo assesses the Palestinian situation through the following three reference points. First, there is an economy in dire straits because of restraints on movement and access. He assesses that even if 20% of the roadblocks were removed, people’s economic security would be improved. Second, there is a danger to the long-term viability of the economy due to the continuing of settlements and the wall. Third, there is the crisis in Gaza, closed off by Israel after Hamas took over after winning elections in 2006. Israel had withdrawn from Gaza the previous year. Just this week, the main power plant was shut down by Israel in an effort to stop violence against its border region. This will make food and fuel scarce.

A political solution, in his view, has to be found. This is why Garofalo has been involved in advocacy, in conjunction with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and in communication with groups such as Churches for Middle East Peace. The first step is to change the dynamic. CRS is on the ground helping to make it happen.

1/24/08

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

Matthew 5:9

In 1994, Abuna (“Father”) Elias Chacour, the Melkite Byzantine (Greek Catholic) Archbishop, had a dream. A school for children so that they could build a future for themselves and their people. No Arab-Israeli college existed at the time; Chacour decided to go ahead, believing “asking for forgiveness later was easier than asking permission” ahead of time. The school began with 100 students. But, this school would be different. It would be open to young people from all religions: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Druze. “We accept you as you are,” said Michael Chacour (nephew of Abuna Chacour) who oriented us and led us on a tour. In the school, children learn to “accept the other as they are.”

Today, 5,500 elementary, high school, college and university students plus teachers updating credentials, energize the campus in the town of Ibillin (northeast of Haifa and northwest of Nazareth). Abuna’s dream of paving the way of peace by engaging the future through education is being realized. The magnificence of this achievement cannot be overstated. Abuna and Michael Chacour are refugees living in their own country. From more than one-half million Christians in the Holy Land in 1948, there are only 135,000 Christians left in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Our bus guide noted the significance of the “rootedness of the Palestinian people.” Arab land in Palestine was given from father to son. In 1948, Michael Chacour said, “We had to let go. The olive trees were uprooted (and they still are today). This symbolizes the uprooting of our families.” He added, “We can feel deep feelings about our situation, but still accept you as you are.”

The Archbishop put it this way in an article by William Raspberry in the Washington Post on December 22, 2003: “If I wanted to be bitter, I could be. I was deported from my village of Biram in 1947, though I remained inside the territory. I’m still not allowed to live in my village. I can attend church there and, oh yes, I can be buried there…But, my parents never believed in hatred and violence. They always taught us that the only way to dispose of an enemy is to turn him into a friend.” Michael concluded: “If you become afraid of another, he becomes your enemy. (Our duty) is to love God and to love our neighbor as our self.”

“Peace is every step.”

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh

We walked into the church passing over a Buddhist design meant to convey a spirit of welcome and peace to all who enter. Even before, we admired the beautiful sculpted door showing a Native child at the knees of a Palestinian priest, faces of children from different parts of the world and Jewish and Palestinian child with their arms around each other. Where did this come from? From Spokane, WA, through donations of the Methodists and Presbyterians churches and created by Dorothy Farrell. This door was an inspiring glimpse of the people we seek to be.

We went into the school auditorium and turned around. A marvelous peace mural with champions of the work of justice was at the center. Scenes of local life were bordered on either side by the Jewish rabbi and Palestinian landholder who confronted each other when the latter’s land was taken over in the 1940s. At the top of the very center was the depiction of their dramatic, tearful embrace some 40 years later. Peace is every step. Peace is the way.

1/26/08

The prayer today in our devotions was, “Where do we see hope so far on this trip?” I personally found hope today in our three meetings in and around Bethlehem, each representative speaking in a different way about the development of young leaders. In the later morning, we arrived to the Aida refugee camp, populated by 4,500 people, from the original families of displaced people whose homes were taken in 1948. They exist with few alternatives of movement, except to leave the country and move to the United States. Sixty percent of the residents are children. What future do they have? People showed bullet holes from when their “village” was occupied by troops in 2002. We confronted the separation barrier or wall that we understand will soon surround all of Bethlehem. Yet, when we met the brother of a Seattle-based Palestinian who led us on our tour of the camp, there was only pride for the Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theater Center and what their community organization has accomplished and where they are going. Children are trained in various media, including camera and film. Children taking part in theater, including through puppets, both locally and abroad teaches others about their reality and helps prepare these young people with skills for life. Women especially are encouraged to develop to their full capacity, through among other things, making hand-made goods.

The goals of the center are to: promote “beautiful non-violent resistance,” defend humanity and to show duty. Hohni describes it this way: “Nobody is born with the genes of hatred or violence.” We are about constructing ways of self-expression. There is no health clinic in the refugee camp. But, the leaders say they are better off than most of the others in Palestine. A heap of rocks stands in front of the wall where a local denomination hopes to build a church but cannot get permission from the government. Al-Rowwad would like to have a permanent playground there; renting it would be fine. “It is possible to make beautiful things out of garbage.”

The Wi’am Center for Reconciliation began in 1995 and serves Bethlehem and surrounding villages through training in non-violence, civic education and peaceful resolution of conflicts. They specialize in furthering the art of su’ha, the Arabic art of mediation, which allows couples and people having difficulties in their relationships, to resolve the situation through compassionate, thorough listening to both parties. Often the presenting issues are not the only issues at play: such influences as clan and economic deprivation often need to be addressed as well.”

Another prong of their work is with young people. In workshops with as many as 60-80 people Wi‘am implements their motto, “to understand the other is to meet the other.” Here Wi’am puts their “civic education multiplier” into action. They want to train role models so that other young people will have someone to look up to. In another part of their programming, younger children from all backgrounds come and us the center to play.

Finally, Wi’am seeks, like Al-Rowwad, to empower women. Knowledge about their rights helps the women come to know themselves as equal partners to men. Women learn to do embroidery and arrange flowers. All the money that comes in from what they produce goes directly to the women themselves. Recently, 40 women from neighboring villages came to Bethlehem, many for the first time, to meet their urban counterparts. The women felt so empowered that some were talking about running for the local council. These encounters, according to our host, Imad, “uplifts their spirit and personality.”

Though people are “squeezed” by the occupation, opportunities for international meetings of young people brighten the path for those who are becoming leaders. “Violence outside reflects itself at school, (but) empowering the weak brings harmony to the Palestinian community.”

“Making Peace by Creating ‘Facts on the Ground’”

The Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Pastor of the Christmas (Lutheran) Church in Bethlehem and the head of the Diyar educational consortium, was direct and honest about what was needed here and now in this troubled and historic land: peace makers and peace talkers. Perhaps no other discussion did more to pivot our responsibility (response-ability) than our engaging conversation with a minister who is sowing the seeds of a new reality through locally-rooted action.

“There is too much politics; and, too little care for the polis and the city.” Diyar reaches 60,000 people per year through its college, music and theater arts programs, from “womb to tomb.” “There is too much religion and too little spirituality.” There are a lot of speeches by pastors, he said, including statements by religious organizations (which are good), yet the situation is getting worse. “(Our religious talk) needs to be about the spirituality of Jesus.”

“There is too much humanitarian aid.” The United Nations has been spending money on immediate needs for 60 years, helping individual families. While this is important, “there is too little development; we want to be engaged in development.” Diyar is the third largest employer in the Bethlehem. The impression I was left with was that the best and brightest are here because of the vision of this place, and Pastor Mitri.

On the other hand, Rev. Raheb goes on, “our land needs vision, hope and leadership.” “All the talk is about managing the conflict” instead of ending it. “We provide hope, which is different from optimism. “Optimism is when we believe that (President) Bush will come and he will fix it.” Hope is knowing that tomorrow will be worse and still going out into society and creating facts on the ground. Some (Christians) are waiting for the Messiah. Our Messiah came 2,000 years ago and we don’t need another Christ. We can make it happen.”

Training future leaders of Palestine addresses a lack of leadership. “When they return, they don’t engage in peace talking but peace making….No one of us is a spectator. We are all actors. We are all part of the problem and we all can be part of the solution.”

We were invited to join Rev. Mitri in creating “facts on the ground.” This would be a reframing in meaning from the “facts on the ground” that native Palestinians perceive that settlements and the separation wall are creating (that is, in effect permanent establishments creating new, more constrictive boundaries to be codified when a peace agreement is signed; Israeli officials say that such barriers and settlements would be removed). The ’facts’ that Rev. Mitri is talking about are actions discerned in the light of faith (’praxis’) that manifest care for the city.

Prayer is important. Beyond that, personal visits to these areas encourage others to understand the situation. Rev. Mitri imagines, what if Palestinian businesses received more than the 2% of the expenditures that Christian groups pay for pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Or, we can support a school such as the one under the Diyar consortium. Seeing and discerning lead to acting for justice. Putting facts on the ground through our individual and collective action help to create a new reality. They confirm the sanctity of the land and pave the way to peace.

What if?

2008-01-27T06:38:00.000-08:00

Mural at the Ibillin Mar Elias School depicting interfaith cooperation leading to peace

Many people have ideas about how to end this conflict. As we've traveled through Israel and Palestine these last two weeks, I've started to generate my own ideas too. It's clear there are few "practical" solutions, but it's also clear that some pieces are missing if there is to be a way out of this decades-long mess. Rather than focus on the past - all of the hurts and pains of 60+ years of living without peace and harmony - here are some thoughts about how to move into a new future:

Americans - This is what I'll be advocating for from my own government 1) All future aid to Israel should be made contingent on granting of full and equal human rights to all Israeli citizens and anyone under the authority of the Israeli government. 2) Support a return to the 1967 borders and demolition of any walls and separation barriers not on the Green Line. 3) Commitment to economic development in a new Palestine to ensure an end to Palestinian poverty and an increase in the economic well-being of Palestinians.

Palestinians 1) A full and unequivocal repudiation of violence against Israeli civilians and acceptance of a permanent state of Israel in the 1967 borders.2) A Bill of Rights for all Palestinian citizens granting such rights as due process, freedom from discrimination, etc. 3) Full citizenship in Palestine for all Israeli settlers who remain following an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders.4) Creation of a state police function and full judicial system to guarantee justice for all inside a new Palestine.

Israelis 1) Creation of a Bill of Rights guaranteeing equality to all Israeli citizens. 2) Withdrawal from all territories in the West Bank beyond the 1967 borders and demolition of all parts of the Wall not on the 1967 border. 3) Financial reparations to Palestinians who can show legitimate claims to pre-1948 property ownership inside Israel

Why should a plan like this work? First, it would do away with some of the most significant reasons for the conflict: lack of security for Israelis, lack of human rights for the Palestinians, etc. Why would a
plan like this not work? Because the enormous energy given to this conflict by its current participants may take generations to unwind, given the high level of investment by both sides in the current state of affairs.

But what if it could happen? The one player who could make this work is America. We're recognized by both sides as having a key role in resolution of the conflict. If we'd take a fresh look at it, enforce a fair solution, and stand behind partners on both sides who are
committed to peace it just might work. And what a wonder if it did. So many prayers would come true . . . . .

Deep in the West Bank

2008-01-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

Joy Ellison of the Christian Peacemaker Team in At-Tuwani

Our morning took us from Bethlehem, just inside the Green Line, to Hebron, the heart of the southern West Bank. Although I've traveled many times to Israel-Palestine, I'd not yet been to Hebron, which had
always been presented as being too dangerous to visit.

We picked up a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) from Hebron outside the village of Beit Omar and heard some about a recent episode of violence that had occurred right in the little village outside Hebron. Two Palestinian men had shown up with knives and a gun inside a settlement. They were both shot dead. Hard to say what had provoked them to the point of their violent confrontation with the settlers, but it's clear from hearing stories about Beit Omar and other villages that there is "history" between Jewish settlers and local Palestinians.

In general, Hebron's roots as home to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob make the place sacred to Jews and Muslims alike. Jews settled in Hebron prior to 1948, then returned to Hebron post-1967. Several settlements, including one right in the heart of the Muslim Old City, mean Jews and Muslims are living side by side. Coexistence is tense, to say the least.

Hebron's Jews apparently are the most radical of Jewish settlers, and Palestinian residents of the Old City have put netting over their streets to protect them from stones and garbage thrown by Jewish settlers. CPTs stand between Palestinians and Jews and attempt to protect both. As in many West Bank locales, Jewish encroachments on Palestinian land are unrelenting. The two groups are enemies, and harsh words and bitter feelings are shared. A few years ago a Jewish American doctor named Goldstein brought his gun to the Hebron mosque during prayers and sprayed bullets over the crowd. He killed 29 Palestinians that day, and the atrocity has not been forgotten.

Sometime after that tragedy, Israelis divided the Hebron mosque into a mosque/synagogue, where Jews can see the traditional resting places of the patriarchs on one side while Muslims can do the same on the other - neither side being able to see the other. Having forgotten it was the Jewish sabbath we took a couple snapshots of orthodox Jews leaving the synagogue, and one man shouted out to us, calling us "Anti-Semites" until we put our cameras down.

After lunch in Hebron we drove toward the village of At-Tuwani, near the southern border of the West Bank. CPTs there work in between Palestinian villagers trying to keep their land and radical Jewish settlers trying to expand their settlements. Joy Ellison, a bright young woman from Vancouver, Washington, walked out to our bus to explain the situation there.

At-Tuwani's 150 villagers trace their roots over 800 years to the land surrounding the present village. They graze sheep, raise olives, farm wheat, and grow almonds on the rocky land around their town. The nearby Jewish settlement of Ma-aon, however, has been expanding into the Palestinians' grazing lands, and the Israeli government has marked every building in the village for demolition. Villagers have "fought" back with non-violent resistance, faithfully abiding by principles espoused by Gandhi and King. They managed to force the Israeli government to tear down a wall and have successfully retained ownership and possession of much of their history property. Joy described for us the inspiration she has received from these villagers who have patiently resisted what has seemed an inevitable onslaught of hostility and, sometimes, violence from the settlers.

A Lutheran pastor speaks of hope in Bethlehem

2008-01-25T20:20:00.000-08:00

Metri Raheb, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem

This morning I finally had an opportunity to post my blog. Our hotel has no Internet access (it'll be fixed on Saturday, they say, the day after we leave) so I wrote several posts, then early this morning walked along the main drag in Bethlehem looking for an unattended WiFi signal. Sure enough I found one and sat for the several minutes it took the slow connection to upload 8 e-mail messages and photos.

Bethlehem is a bleak city. Our hotel is directly across from the Wall, which snakes through the city at odd angles and divides the town into odd segments. In our morning Bethlehem tour we learned that the Wall will completely surround Bethlehem when it is complete. Right now it is partly ringed by Jewish settlements - 29 of them. The roads, which are also protected by portions of the Wall, will complete the isolation of Bethlehem.

George Rishmawi, a Bethlehem native, toured us around neighborhoods affected by the Wall, showing us how former Palestinian farmland is cut off from the villagers who tended it, and how new Jewish settlements surround the town. George handed our group off to Husham Jubran, who walked us through the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, a forlorn village of poverty-stricken families displaced by the 1948 creation of Israel.

Afterward we headed to the International Center of Bethlehem (ICB), a program operated out of the Christmas Lutheran Church in the city's
downtown. Rev. Metri Raheb, pastor of the church, laid out a compelling portrait of his people's needs. Raheb told us his land has too much politics, too little care for the polis; too much religion and too little spirituality; too much humanitarian aid and not enough development. The ICB has created a school and college that focus on giving people vision, hope and leadership to help see Palestine through this crisis. He asked our group to pray, to make personal visits to Palestine, and to pick a project to support. The tiny support given by mainline Protestant groups to Palestinian missions was a source of concern for him. He hopes mainliners will become peacemakers, in Jesus' image, rather than mere peace talkers.

Ten days into our visit, I'm beginning to identify with those who feel there's little hope for a solution to the problem of justice for Palestinians and security for Israelis. I am given hope by the existence of people like Metri Raheb. Calm, well-spoken, dignified, and focused, Raheb is the kind of leader a nation can be built on. I pray for him and his work and hope God will grow more like him out of this troubled land.

Photos of the Wall in Bethlehem

2008-01-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

Here are miscellaneous photos of the Wall in the West Bank town of
Bethlehem. The artwork is full of irony, pathos, and sometimes beauty.

A priest teaches nonviolent resistance to Palestinian Christians

2008-01-24T21:38:00.000-08:00

Yad Vashem, the Jewish Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem (no photos allowed inside)

Naim Ateek (left), Anglican priest and director of Sabeel, an ecumenical center for liberation theology in Israel-Palestine

During the morning our group toured Yad Vashem, the enormous and tragically beautiful Holocaust memorial in Israel. Since I was there last the memorial has been greatly expanded, including a long, triangular gallery that contains a multimedia presentation much like the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. The event, as always, was deeply moving and painful to endure.

Afterward we headed to the offices of Sabeel, an ecumenical liberation theology center founded and run by Fr. Naim Ateek, and Palestinian Israeli Anglican priest. We shared in communion, followed by a delightful luncheon with Sabeel volunteers. Then we spent nearly 2 hours talking with Naim about the political, theological, and moral situation facing Palestinians.

Naim's viewpoints are amply described in his books, primarily Peace and Only Peace. New to us were some hopeful signs Naim pointed out which primarily come from Israeli Jews. He pointed to the book by Elan Pappe, former professor of history at Haifa University, called The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. This book apparently has set off a wildfire in Israeli society since Pappe is a prominent academic and historian. Another new book has been written by the former Speaker of the Knesset called Hitler Has Won in which Israel is taken to task for its inhumane treatment of Palestinians.

Ateek now believes (contrary to his stance a few years ago) that the only way to find peace will be to create a 2-state solution, with Israel and Palestine side-by-side. Even this won't answer his particular problem, though, since he has full Israeli citizenship but is a "last class" citizen in his own country as a non-Jew.

When we asked Naim his views of the memorial at Yad Vashem, he said this, "I haven't gone there and I won't until a memorial is built to the Holocaust that is happening around me here in Israel every day."

The key for Ateek and for his followers at Sabeel, is to resist nonviolently, to educate people about the injustice and continually build pressure on Israel to become more humane and just in its dealings with Palestinians on either side of the 1967 Green Line.

Mar Elias School in Ibillin - a success for the church, a success for the people

2008-01-24T21:21:00.000-08:00

The door of the Ibillin Greek Catholic Church. Note children from many cultures, including a Palestinian Christian and Jew together on the right.

The next time I come to Israel, I want it to be to Ibillin to work with Christians at the Mar Elias school there. Michaline Chicour, cousin of Abouna Elias Chacour, founder of the school, shared with us the remarkable success at this effort to feed the hearts and minds of Palestinian Christian children.

In 1982, the Mar Elias school opened with 22 students. Today there are 5500 students from Kindergarten through college. While most are Christian, there are also Muslim, Druze, Bedouin, and Jewish kids,
some of whom come from as far as Beersheva (southern Israel) to attend the school. In addition to educational basics, children are taught to live together with others in peace and to appreciate differences of language and culture. Abouna Chicour, now Greek Catholic Primate for Northern Israel, built a church that seats 1200 people - the largest and newest church in Israel.

The school welcomes mission volunteers from all over the world. There's been a special connection with United Methodists, and this is why I want to come here next. I'd like to bring a group to this school, show them that Christianity is alive in Israel, have them work each morning while they're here, then show them the holy sites in Northern Israel each afternoon.

The spirit of the place rubs off. We all came away excited about the hope of teaching cooperation, love of diversity, and understanding of cultures. This is hope for the future.

A different situation for Palestinian Israelis

2008-01-24T21:13:00.000-08:00

Janan Simaan, Palestinian Christian Israeli, after our visit with her at Sabeel Nazareth

After some much-needed shopping in Jericho, our group headed to
Northern Israel to see holy sites in Nazareth and Upper Galilee. In Nazareth we enjoyed a fine lunch at a Christian restaurant, followed by a tour through the Church of the Annunciation.

In the late afternoon we met with Janan Simaan, representative of Sabeel Nazareth, who told us of the particular plight of Israeli Palestinian Christians. Janan described the status of Israeli Palestinians (Christian and Muslim) as "not second-class, but last class." There are 1.3 million Palestinians living in Israel, and although this population has the vote they do not have equal rights in the Jewish state. At the airport, for instance, Palestinian Israelis are sent to a different line and the security check there may take hours to perform. Schools and services in Israeli Palestinian villages are meager in comparison to Jewish Israeli schools and services. Israeli Palestinians are not allowed in the military, but for many jobs in Israeli past military experience is a requirement.

Janan shared criticism of the Church as well, which she sees as out of touch with the needs of everyday Palestinian Christians in Nazareth.

On a regular basis Israeli Palestinian towns are appropriated for Jewish settlements, with the Israeli government taking away Arab property for purported "security" reasons. This happens, according to Janan, even though the Israeli courts have ruled it to be illegal. She gave the example of the Arab village of Mashad, where the Israeli government is removing olive trees and giving the land away to Russian Jewish immigrants.

Janan lamented the support given Israel by Christian Zionists in America, who send millions of dollars to Israel to strengthen the Israeli government's work. This is interpreted by Israeli Palestinian Christians as a betrayal by the church and another attempt by ignorant or cruel Americans to stamp our Christianity in Jesus' native land.

The Israeli side of the conflict

2008-01-21T22:33:00.001-08:00

The Israeli Foreign Ministry (no photos allowed inside)

Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee

Thomas Garofalo of Catholic Relief Services

We woke up early so we could head to the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, and the Mount of Olives. Each site was beautiful as ever. I'll post photos a bit later. After a quick lunch we headed to the Israeli Foreign Ministry for a meeting with Ambassador Naom Katz, the ministry's director of Public Relations.

Katz used an interesting strategy to describe the current situation in Israel. He described the policy problems and most surprisingly, the public relations problems.

Policy-wise, Katz talked about four different strategic issues: 1) relations with Israel's Palestinian and Arab neighbors, 2) the strategic threat of Iran, 3) problems along the northern front with Lebanon, and 4) the soldiers captured by Hamas and Hezbollah. He sees the issue as primarily that of moderates in the Middle East dealing with extremists. Over 70% of attacks on the West Bank can be traced to Iranian dollars and influence, in the Israeli government's opinion, and forces of the extremists are getting to be more powerful and influential.

All these concerns happen at the same time that political leadership on both sides - Israeli and Palestinian - are at their weakest. Israel and Palestine, Katz said, are like a divorced couple still living together. There is little likelihood for a win/win scenario, rather a lose/lose is what tends to occur in the Middle East.

In terms of the public relations challenge, Katz believes Israel has been "Boratized." Borat, he recalled, did a huge disservice to Kazahkstan, making it appear anti-Semitic, backwards, etc. Israel has been the victim of the same kind of PR disaster. Katz showed film footage from focus groups in the US in which everyone was excited about going to Italy, for instance, but didn't want to visit Israel. Focus group members saw it as an armed camp where outsiders are not welcomed. In reality, Israel is a tolerant society, diverse, and full of high-tech and artistic accomplishments. The three themes Israel's international PR hopes to get across about its country are: Passion, Ingenuity, and Fusion.

As our group asked about the Wall, Katz pointed out that Americans are building a similar, though much larger wall, on our border with Mexico. He also pointed out that only 17 km of the Wall is actually wall, the rest is fence.

Katz was a gracious and intelligent man, and I was certain I would enjoy inviting him to dinner if he ever came to Seattle.

Our next stop was the American Jewish Committee where we met the dynamic and engaging Rabbi David Rosen. Dark-skinned and with a charming British accent, Rosen was full of energy as he described the interfaith situation facing Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Israel. In Rosen's analysis, the two mega-trends the world will face in the next decades are a) global warming, and b) the Muslim interaction with the West.

In the evening we met with Thomas Garafalo of Catholic Relief Services. More on this to come. Gotta run for the bus to Galilee now!

The price of the Occupation

2008-01-20T17:47:00.000-08:00

Atan of B'tselem

Yehuda Shaul of Breaking the Silence

Our group divided up today to head to churches in the area for Sunday worship. My choice was the Redeemer Lutheran Church in the Old City, which we'd heard has a 9 a.m. English service. We got there to discover the service was in Arabic, and none too energetic Arabic at that. We hummed along to the Old One Hundredth which was the closing hymn. At the conclusion of the service a nice couple came up to us and asked why we didn't go to the English service in the church's chapel. We dashed up to the chapel and found around 150 English-speakers, mostly Americans, enjoying a warm and vibrant service. Joshua stuck around for post-service tea while others headed to the Jaffa Gate to explore and shop.

After lunch we bused to the headquarters of B'tselem, a Jewish human rights organization. Atan, a field worker there, laid out for us the organization's work of documenting human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza - of and by both Palestinians and Israelis. We talked a lot about the social cost of checkpoints, especially those that separate Palestinian communities in the West Bank from each other. It was quite interesting to hear, too, about the challenges faced by Jewish settlements that are placed directly in the middle of Palestinian communities like Hebron. B'tselem's audience is the Israeli public, 70% of whom know of B'tselem's work, but only 30% of whom support it. The org has begun giving video cameras to Palestinians so they can document harassment and abuse. One recent episode, in which an Israeli settler harasses a family living nearby, is shown in this video.

Kathy discovered St. George's Cathedral was planning to host the local celebration of Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, so we hightailed it back to the cathedral in time to enjoy the Anglican/ecumenical service there. Bishop Suheil Duwani, who recently visited Seattle, was the speaker. The organist did a fine job on the Toccata of Widor Symphony #5 as a postlude.

Following the service we gathered in the hostel dining room to hear Yehuda Shuel of Breaking the Silence. Yehuda, a 25-year old, served 3 years in the IDF on the West Bank and, along with several others, put together a photo display of his tour of duty in Tel Aviv. The display was viewed by over 7,000 people, and the Israeli press featured it in headlines for several days. This was the genesis of Breaking the Silence, which is an organization that interviews Israeli soldiers to learn about their experiences on the West Bank and Gaza. So far they've interviewed over 500 soldiers, and their testimonies have been put into print and web form.

Yehuda shared with us his own service. He was trained to combat the Syrians in open battle, but his tour of duty ended up primarily on the West Bank. He was given the command, which he followed, to lob rocket propelled grenades across a no-man's land onto a Palestinian structure in a village around .5 kilometer away.He did this night after night until it became a game, but he was haunted by the likelihood that his RPGs likely fell on innocent civilians, given the inevitable inaccuracy caused by distance. He decided it was his responsibility to tell the truth about what he did so Israeli society could come to grips with the moral and social cost of the occupation.

I asked Yehuda whether he would live in an Israeli settlement on the West Bank, and he did not say he would not live there. He did say that his attempt was to get Israelis to ask the question, "What is Israel for if it is hurting innocent people?" I'm proud of Yehuda and glad he broke the silence. He's a good man, an Orthodox Jew, and he declined dinner with us on kosher grounds, but it would have been great to break bread with him and enjoy his obvious good humor and strong character built out of tough times.

Some photos from the past few days

2008-01-19T21:40:00.001-08:00

A home demolition in East Jerusalem

Palestinian policemen in Ramallah

Jean Zaru of Friends International Center

Arafat's tomb at the Muqata in Ramallah

Mustafa Barghouti of the Al Mubadara

Inside the West Bank - Our visit to Ramallah

2008-01-19T20:44:00.002-08:00

Our trip takes us to meet representatives of many elements in the Middle East conflict. After focusing on Israeli peacemakers yesterday, we turn to leaders in Palestine today.

I have to admit it was with a little trepidation that I headed with the group to the West Bank town of Ramallah. This is my fifth time visiting Israel and Palestine, but I'd always been told Ramallah was too dangerous to visit. Images of the 2002 Arafat siege by Israeli forces added to the sense of Ramallah's danger.

Over the last years, with East Jerusalem increasingly difficult for Palestinians, Ramallah has become capital of Palestine. Just 10 miles outside Jerusalem, the town has a large population, served by what appears to be a large police force. Any concerns about safety quickly evaporated by the scores of women and children out on the streets.

Our first stop of the day was with Jean Zaru, director of the Friends International Center. Quakers have been in Ramallah since the 1860's and their children's schools there are an important part of the educational system here. Jean, a lifelong Quaker, presented the Palestinian issues from her perspective as a woman and as a proponent of non-violence.

News cameras, Jean said, cannot capture the daily violence the Palestinians live with. She identifies the violence as "structural violence" that includes dehumanizing checkpoints, economic disruption, environmental degradation, and many other forms of harm inflicted on Palestinians. In her opinion, violence against Palestinians is of far greater scale than the violence perpetrated by Palestinians against Israelis in suicide bombings and rocket attacks. Much of the current trouble within Palestinian society is related to past attempts by Israel to intervene in Palestinian affairs. Hamas, for instance, was initially nurtured by Israel to counterbalance the power of the PLO. I'm looking forward to reading Jean's new book, Occupied with Non-Violence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks, due out in July of this year.

After our visit with Jean Zaru we headed across town to meet with Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian legislator and probably the most prominent Christian in Palestinian leadership. She's familiar to American audiences as frequent spokesperson for Palestinians during the first Gulf war and afterward. Ashrawi leads an organization working for the economic development of Palestine.

Ashrawi has a bleak assessment of the current situation in Israel-Palestine. "A time of promise is dissipating," she said. "Promises in word are being negated in deed." The growing number of settlements in the West Bank, the Wall, the escalation of violence, and the devaluation of human life are all signs the conflict is worsening. As the Palestinian leadership looks to the facts on the ground, it believes the Israeli goal is to create isolated pockets of Palestinian population centers, spread around a small portion of the West Bank and economically and socially isolated from the rest of the world. She sees Palestine as "de-developing" now, with its population going backwards in education, health, and social services.

Although Ashrawi is an opponent of Hamas, she pointed to American hypocrisy in encouraging elections then boycotting Palestine when a plurality of its voters supported Hamas. To Hamas she has two priorities: 1) Never target Israeli civilians, and 2) keep any military actions inside the 1967 boundaries of the West Bank and Gaza.

She also believes, as clearly many Palestinians do, that the key to unlocking the problem is the active engagement of American political leadership. The Americans have ignored this issue for 7 years and during that time illegal settlement outposts have increased in number from 32 to over 200. There are now over 450,000 Israeli in "formal" West Bank settlements, something Ashrawi identified as illegal land grabs.

The biggest sadness for Ashrawi has been the departure of much of the Palestinian Christian population. Of her 5 sisters' children, none currently live in Palestine any longer. Ashrawi maintains she will never leave, and hopes a future Palestine can be created that will allow Palestinian families to remain in peace.

The outlines of a final peace for Ashrawi are a full return to the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem. Israeli citizens on the West Bank should be offered full Palestinian citizenship. I think we all left Ashrawi's office less hopeful but also pretty impressed with Ashrawi's passion and commitment to a solution.

Afterward we spent the noon hour at Bir Zeit University, a modern, 8,000 student university outside Ramallah. The hundreds of Palestinian students on campus were finishing finals and, though we'd hoped to talk with them, we settled instead for an engaging conversation with Omar, the university's PR director.

The afternoon took us to Arafat's former headquarters, the Muqata, which has now been rebuilt into a shrine for the late Palestinian leader. Arafat was never a sympathetic figure to me, but I did enjoy the architecture of the place and the peaceful setting that had been created in his honor.

Afterward we headed to the offices of Mustafa Barghouti, leader of a new Palestinian political party called "The Initiative." Barghouti is a physician who believes the Palestinians need a competent, professional, honest political alternative to Fatah and Hamas. His new party managed second place (around 30%) in the last election, and it seems to have become the choice of Palestinian professionals and women.

Barghouti shared an excellent slide presentation about the effects of the current conflict. In his analysis the Israelis are creating an apartheid system, with isolated "Bantustans" for Palestinian residents. He feels Israel's ultimate plan is to take over the Jordan Valley, leaving only small pockets of territory for Palestinians. The Wall, which defines the new Palestinian border, is three times the length and twice the height of the Berlin Wall, but few in the international community are outraged about it. He sees two solutions to the conflict: 1) a return to the 1967 borders, something he sees as increasingly unlikely given the Wall and the increasing number of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, or 2) a one state solution with one-man, one-vote for all Israelis and Palestinians. He sees this as the unintended consequence of current Israeli policy in the West Bank. Barghouti's new movement, called Al Mubadara in Arabic, has four values: 1) Non-violence, 2) Democracy, 3) Social justice for women, the poor, and the disabled, 4) Palestinian unity. Barghout is an engaging man. He excused himself promptly at the ending time for our talk so he could go across town and treat a woman who had been hurt in a non-violent demonstration at the Wall. While some may disagree with Barghouti's description of Apartheid as the intent of the Israeli government, it is hard not to be impressed by Barghouti's vision and commitment to a better future for Palestinians.

After an ice cream cone we headed to the Israeli checkpoint an a return to Jerusalem. The two soldiers, a man and a woman, who boarded our bus for a passport check couldn't have been much older than 21. I wanted to hold them in my arms and tell them that, somehow, with God's grace, they would be able to live in peace in their land, side by side with Palestinians like Barghouti, Ashrawi, and Zaru.

Perspectives from another traveler

2008-01-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

Michael Ramos' thoughts on Sabella and Shabbat dinner:

(1)

We met with Dr. Edward Sabella from the Middle East Council of Churches. He noted that the Christian population in Israel/Palestine is less than 2% of the population. The Christian community provides schools, clinics and social services that are critically needed within the Palestinian population. Despite the small and diminishing number of Christians in Jerusalem and Israel/Palestine as a whole, Dr. Sabella believes there is an important role for Christian communities in the United States to play in this area.

These include: 1) strengthening the Christian presence here; 2) conveying that the conflict is political and that the solution is political and not religious; and, 3) ensuring that the core of our faith is put into play to help resolve the political conflict. In addition, the Christian community provides an important third dimension to the communication among Christians, Jews and Muslims. Our mission is to foster common ground based on mutual respect.

While we began our conversation on a down note, based on concerns about President Bush's willingness to follow through on the difficult issues on the road to peace, we felt energized hearing about his efforts to form a Christian-Jewish group in Galilee to provide a joint training of trainers in conflict resolution.

In the end, I detected hope in his presentation: rooted in the fact that peace benefits all the parties involved; rooted in schools which welcome children from a variety of backgrounds; rooted in the historic living together here of diverse people who could one day live in a Jerusalem that is an open city in the midst of an Israel and Palestine with clearly defined boundaries. The faith community is invited to, practically-speaking, build relationships across political lines and articulate how our lives are intertwined as we seek a just solution to this political conflict.

(2)

Four members of our delegation enjoyed a lovely Shabbat dinner with a Jewish family in Jerusalem. After sharing prayers for the occasion, we savored turkey soup, halibut, potatoes, steak, rice and a delicious cake. The husband in our host-couple has been a Jerusalemite for 5 generations and works for a technology firm. His wife came to Israel as a teenager. Born in New York like me, she came to Israel as a teenager. She is a teacher of gifted children. Their two sons are in their early 20s, one of whom is serving in the military currently; the older son who was with us had just finished his three required years of duty. We were impressed when he served us and cleared the table.

I think we were all struck by the great openness and hospitality of this family to complete strangers. Our discussion was wide-ranging, including the diversity within our various Christian and Jewish traditions, travels in China and policy toward to Palestinians and to temporary workers and immigrants to Israel.

The work of peace begins with dinners in homes such as these. The teacher described how she helped one Palestinian child who was acting out toward another Palestinian child (the only two in her class). She had the children form a circle and asked each of the children to give one compliment to the boy who was having a hard time. Each spoke to the child, who was touched by the praise, and his behavior changed. When Israeli and Palestinian children can sit together in a circle, affirm each other's dignity and bring out the best in each other so that both may live to their full potential, we may have a key to positive future relations between peoples. The woman from Palestine at the dinner from our delegation and the woman who cooked our delicious meal ended the evening with a profound embrace.

Two Rabbis Speak

2008-01-19T07:07:00.000-08:00

Rabbi Arik Ascherman shared with us on Saturday afternoon and I came to really appreciate his depth of religious conviction and the power of his social justice witness. Ark has been to Seattle several times on behalf of his organization, Rabbis for Human Rights. He described a wild scene near a checkpoint where he put himself between a young Palestinian boy and Israeli guns. The boy later said he was saved by a tall man in a kepa, which was the first time he'd ever met a Jew who cared about Palestinians.

Asherman described to us his upbringing in the U.S. in which he learned that being a Jew meant being concerned about human rights and social justice. He had two shocks when he came to Israel years ago. First was how hard it was to find a bagel. Second was that fewer Jews than he thought were interested in the importance of human rights for all.

Secular Jews tend to be more interested in human rights, Ascherman indicated, and religious Jews (who tend to be conservative) are more often "particularists" who believe that God's interest in well-being for humans is intended only for his Chosen People. The purpose of Rabbis for Human Rights, which includes hundreds of rabbis in Israel, is to promote the foundational Israeli values of freedom, justice and peace in contemporary Israel.

To Ascherman both sides have work to do to make peace. Palestinians must learn that violence destroys the peace process. Israelis must learn likewise that settlements destroy the peace process. Clearly Ascherman feels as well that Israeli Judaism must get back in touch with the Talmudic tradition that mandates a person allow themselves to be killed before killing an innocent person. He feels the best way to create peace is to build a truly just society. Thank God for the Rabbi Arik Aschermans of the world.

After meeting with Rabbi Ascherman we attended synagogue, led by the first ordained female rabbi in Israel (wish I remembered her name). Jet lag was kicking in, though, and to be honest my Hebrew is so poor I couldn't keep up with the service at all. Afterwards we joined Rabbi Barry, his wife Julie and their three beautiful young daughters for Shabbat dinner. My first ever in a Jewish household.

I think Barry and Julie's perspectives on peace were a little more mainstream Israeli. Barry's feeling is that Israel has never provoked the Palestinians, but that it has always been the Palestinians who initiated conflict. Hank Landau, one of our little group of four at the Shabbat dinner, pointed out the problem of the settlements, themselves a provocation. From that we launched into a heated but friendly conversation about peace in Israel-Palestine. I wish I had a picture to share, but Barry reminded me that in their home they do not create anything on Sabbath, even a photo. Our group came away with an appreciation for the joys and pains of being Israeli.

A Christian Leader Speaks

2008-01-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

When he walked into the room I already knew I would like Dr. Bernard Sabella. A Roman Catholic and a Palestinian, Dr. Sabella is a leader at the Middle East Council of Churches as well as an elected member of the Palestinian parliament. He had a refreshing outlook on peace between Israel and Palestine and I know that, with more people like him, we'd see real progress toward an end to this conflict.

In Sabella's mind the Christian community is not a key player, but is an important player nevertheless in ending the conflict. The existence of Palestinian Christians ensures that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not simply a struggle between Jews and Muslims. Christian Palestinians, now only 1.5% of the population in Israel-Palestine, have dwindled in population because of the ongoing lack of law and order in the territories.

Palestinians will have to learn how to live in peace among themselves, Sabella notes, because there is now little honor or honesty among them. The long years of the Intifada and Israeli response have decimated the Palestinian judicial system, leaving little institutional strength with which to muster a fair and just society. Palestinians are further divided between Hamas/Fatah and West Bank/Gaza contingents, making little opportunity for internal leadership. Israel, on the other hand, has much institutional strength and quickly outsmarts and outlast Palestinian initiatives.

The way ahead will be to educate and empower young Palestinians to build their nation. He admires the American educational system in which the effort is always toward individual actualization. Palestine needs an educational system that can help its people live up to their potential.

As far as a negotiating strategy goes, if Sabella had his way there would be two states and Jerusalem would remain a united city with subsections for both Jews and Palestinians overseen by a single administrative/judicial structure. A central core of Jerusalem would be an international city owned by all peoples of Israel and Palestine.

Sabella is clearly someone who needs to be heard. I'm glad he'll be in Seattle in April for the Living Stones Conference (www.livingstonesconference.org).

And I'm glad the church includes a man like Sabella who has a vision for how to bring peace to a troubled land.

The Highs and Lows of Jerusalem

2008-01-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

Our morning began with an introduction by our ground tour coordinator, Dr. Kathy Nichols. Obviously a brilliant woman, Kathy represents the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Israel. She's put together a wonderful tour for us and we'll meet many Church leaders, members of the peace movement and others too numerous to mention here.

We walked through Herod's Gate into the Old City of Jerusalem, stopping first at Ecce Homo Convent for a look at the ancient Lithostratos stones. We continued along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, one of my favorite sites in the whole world. There's a holy chaos about this interdenominational church. Given the poor relations among the Christian tribes there, we couldn't quite call it an "ecumenical" experience. But I like the darkness, the antiquity of it, the incense, and the sheer beauty of a building that's so complex and rambling that it could never have been designed by a single architect - unless he was mad!

After a quick lunch at Papandreaou's we headed to the Jaffa Gate and an appointment with Angela Godfrey-Goldstein of the Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions. With Angela's commentary on the bus microphone we toured through sections of East Jerusalem that have been taken over by Jewish settlements. Few in the outside world believe there is any legitimacy to building settlements on land that is still of disputed ownership, but there are literally thousands of homes anyway. I was surprised to see the way the town of Bethany, for instance, had changed. My last time in Bethany was 10 years ago and the difference is even more striking than, say, the level of new development in Seattle's South Lake Union. In the SLU at least there were commercial structures prior to Paul Allen's rapid development of the area. In East Jerusalem there are acres of houses where 10 years ago there were hillsides and goat tracks. Unbelievable.

Saddest, though, was the existence of The Wall. Locally it goes by two names, "The Separation Barrier" to Jews and "The Apartheid Wall" to Palestinians. As low as 6 meters in some places, the height of the wall in Bethany is 12 meters - over 36 feet. Topping the sad structure is electrified barbed wire in case anyone could possibly scale the monstrosity.

The Wall snakes its way through East Jerusalem, separating neighbor from neighbor, Palestinian from Jew. Around 100 Palestinian homes on the Israeli side are demolished each year for the stated reason of lack of permits. It would be hard to argue that the presence of the Wall, far into East Jerusalem as it is, is anything other than an attempt to bump out the borders of Israeli farther and farther into West Bank land. And because Jerusalem's final status is so important to a lasting peace, it's also hard to feel anything other than sadness -- sadness that the Wall will just make peace that much harder to achieve. It would take billions and billions and billions of dollars to remove Jewish settlements on the West Bank. That is if anyone could actually ever succeed at dislodging the powerful settler community from their new homes.

Time now to catch up on sleep and try to get over this jet lag. More to come tomorrow.

Going up to Jerusalem

2008-01-17T00:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Shannon Parks-Beck my trip was a little more pleasant yesterday. After flying 9 hours to Paris, then managing the subways from the airport, then fighting crowds through a busy but as-always beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral, all I really wanted prior to our Tel Aviv leg was a chocolate croissant. Pain au chocolat, as the French call them. A guilty pleasure that makes life more joyful, as I call them.

And here was Shannon, searching the Paris airport for pain au
chocolat, for me, at 10:00 at night. And she found one! Salvation through chocolate. My personal heresy.

The photo above is our subgroup of pilgrims who decided to head to downtown Paris during our 6 hour layover at Charles deGaulle Airport. From left to right: Mary Romer, Shannon Parks-Beck, Mona Stucki, Joshua Liljenstolpe, Hank Landau, Michael Ramos. Photographer: C'est moi.

After my chocolate salvation we made the final legs of our journey. Paris to Tel Aviv. Midnight through passport control in Tel Aviv. Bus to Jerusalem. Hotel at St. George's Cathedral. Given the quality of company, the happy memories of chocolate, and the feeling of being blessed with a safe journey I barely noticed the lack of heat in the room and only cold water in the shower. We're in Jerusalem. We've "gone up" to Jerusalem, as the Bible would say.

And the way up was interesting. Last time I was here, 10 years ago, there was no four lane freeway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Now the freeway speeds through the West Bank on its way uphill, speeding as though it's happy to ignore the Jewish West Bank settlements and the 24-foot separation barrier keeping Palestinian and Israeli apart.

Even President Bush recognized the injustice of Jewish settlements on
the West Bank last week and urged the Israeli government to remove them. Problem will be that removing the settlements from the West Bank would be like removing Ballard from Seattle. It's a "fact on the ground." The settlements are enormous and spread for miles over the
landscape. How can there ever be peace with facts like these?

We're off to the Old City of Jerusalem in a few moments. Peace!

This Year in Jerusalem

2008-01-15T01:11:00.001-08:00

After a year of planning, our group of 18 pilgrims is set to head to Israel & Palestine for two weeks of touring, relationship-building, and study. We leave from Seattle, stop briefly in Paris, then arrive in Tel Aviv after a day and a half of travel. I’m sure we’ll all be bleary-eyed when we wake up in Jerusalem on the 17th, but here’s the sight we’ll see!

Please watch this blog for updates each day, beginning on our arrival in Jerusalem on the 17th. Peace!

Is the Church Council Being Co-Opted by the Federal Government?

2007-10-30T11:01:00.001-07:00

The mere effort of writing the above title makes me chuckle. Could anyone believe that the Church Council, with all its work over 30 years on changing the systemic problem of homelessness, is being co-opted by a grant of a few thousand dollars to abandon its justice ministry?

Well that's exactly what a local activist is saying. In his blog entitled, Apesma's Lament, Real Change exec Tim Harris suggests that the Church Council, along with United Way of King County, the Committee to End Homelessness, the City of Seattle, King County, and several others are dropping our federal advocacy by accepting a $100,000 grant from Fannie Mae to hold a series of local anti-homelessness events called Unite to End Homelessness. Harris' theory goes like this: $100,000 was received by these orgs, that constitutes fairly big money, acceptance of which constitutes a shift in these orgs' priorities, and since this is "charity" not "justice" the event should be roundly condemned.

Harris went so far as to create a parody of a Unite to End Homelessness flier and mail it out to his list. The parody suggested that Unite to End Homelessness partners were forsaking their responsibility to combat federal neglect of homelessness and, like the federal government, are looking purely to charity rather than the larger, institutional problems that cause homelessness.

Tim suggests we "follow the money" to see how the co-optation works. OK, here goes down the money trail: The Church Council has received $10,500 of the $100,000 grant which is being used to hire an outreach worker for four months. While that constitutes a whopping 0.038% of our annual budget, the entire amount will cover the hard cost of one employee - not the administrative overhead associated with the employee. Since our admin overhead is budgeted at 13%, this federal co-optation fund will actually cost us a net of $1,365. Not a very enticing effort at a payoff by the feds.

Further, Tim suggests this series of events consists of an act of "charity" not a demonstration of larger "justice" issues. First, we certainly understand the difference between charity and justice - we've already held two events this Fall that focused on the justice dimension. Tim liked the keynote of one of them enough that he printed the speech verbatim on his blog. Second, the federal government's lack of funding simply does not affect the mission of churches. As long as homelessness exists - whether or not anti-homelessness work is funded by the federal government - we will still be fighting it. It's our mission. Specifically, the Church Council's goal is to activate congregations in effective anti-homelessness ministry. We can't wait for adequate federal funding. It'd be nice to have an effective partner in Uncle Sam, but that's not going to stop our work one way or another.

I'm proud of the Council's work on homelessness. Frankly, we've done more against systemic homelessness for the last 30 years than most anyone in town - including Real Change and its editor, Tim Harris. This new effort, partly funded through a tiny trickle of federal money, helps our grassroots congregational efforts. We're smart to participate, even if the occasional homeless advocate doesn't quite find it politically correct.

Newsflash: Hints of an emerging compromise on Lora Lake

2007-08-29T08:59:00.001-07:00

Port Commissioners have begun hinting at a possible compromise in the Lora Lake controversy. Some of the hints are public.

After public testimony at this week's Port Commission meeting, Commissioner Pat Davis shared with tent city residents that they were working on finding a resolution. Commissioner Alec Fisken piped up and said that the Port should consider the Tent City residents' request to live in Lora Lake in the meantime and Bob Edwards concurred.

Pat Davis, of course, had led the opposition to retaining Lora Lake. Her comments and those of other commissioners in other settings suggest a positive resolution is in the offing. I guess it sometimes takes a lawsuit to bring out the compassion in a person.

SHARE/WHEEL -- Calling a Bluff or Accepting an Offer?

2007-08-23T16:14:00.001-07:00

During public hearings over the final status of the Lora Lake Apartments, a Burien City Council member was heard to say, "If you believe it's acceptable to live in the flight path at Sea-Tac airport, you ought to come live there." Well, today SHARE/WHEEL (of Tent City 3 and 4 fame) offered to do just that -- to live at the Lora Lake Apartments while their status is being determined in the courts.

Here's a letter sent by SHARE/WHEEL to Port Commission President John Creighton:

Dear President Creighton:

We respectfully request your consideration of hte following proposal: Let us move out of our tents and into the Lora Lake Apartments on September 27, 2007. In exchange, we give you our word of honor that in March 2008 we will move back out if asked by you, leaving the aprtments in as good - or better - condition than we found them.

Living in our tent community is so much safer than having to sleep alone under a bridge or a bush. But living in an apartment would be much healthier, especially when the temperature drops below freezing.

Try as we might, the winter cold and rain makes many of us sick when we are living in tents. Drying things out, keeping clean, and staying healthy is so much harder in the winter. There are a good number of older people and disabled people in Tent City 3. The luxury of living in housing for several months would surely get more of us out of our present homeless situation and back into permanent housing.

How we would self-manage living in an apartment for the winter would be differnet, in some ways, than how we self-manage Tent city 3. In other ways it would be similar. We already pay for the garbage (dumpster and utilities (porta potties and D Cell batteries). Security patrols are already a 24/7 activitiy, and litter patrols operate daily.

You may know that SHARE is already King County's largest indoor shelter network. We also operate several houses, where our workers live. Our indoor opoerations are therefore insured. The Port of Seattle, therefore, would not be asked to pay for any operating costs and you would be an additional insured on our policy. The financial risk to you, therefore, would be negligible.

There would be other advantages to the Port of Seattle. The Lora Lake Apartments would be safeguarded by our community. We would ensure that there were not unauthorized visitors or dangerous activities. This would cut down considerably on the costs of your security guards and lighting.

Your important partner, the City of Burien, would also benefit. We of Tent City 3 eat and shop in whatever town we are in, and Burien merchants would therefore benefit.

Our partnership to temporarily reopen the Lora Lake Apartments would also reconfirm that the Port is serious about being a positive governmental entity in King County, and that the controversial stand you ahve taken on tearing down the Lora Lake Apartments was for principles reasons, not due to disregard for poor and powerless people.

SHARE is no stranger to working in partnership with the Port of Seattle. For over two years our Safe Haven Shelter operated very well in a Pier 46 Terminal Warehouse on Seattle's Central Waterfront. You can check with those we worked with - we always kept our word, kept the place clean, and when it was time to go we moved with thanks (and no pleading).

SHARE and WHEEL are both organizations made up solely of homeless and formerly homeless people. WHEEL is only women and SHARE is co-ed. When we work together our Code of Conduct is stringent - it allows no fighting or drugs, and requires non-violence and sobriety.

After 16 years, we know what works. Our community is made up of sober individuals with diverse talents. There is practically every kind of maintenance worker you can imagine living at Tent City 3.

We are confident you will give this proposal the consideration it deserves. Toward that end we are eager to meet with your representatives and outline our proposal in greater detail.

Thank you for your consideration,

Signed (by 29 members of SHARE/WHEEL)

Imagine being able to shut down Tent City 3 for a period of six months. What a great relief this would be to people who otherwise would be living outdoors all winter long. Port of Seattle commissioners have said they're sympathetic to the problem of homelessness. Here's an opportunity for them to put their words into actions.

Anti-Homeless Candidates Struggle in Last Night's Primary

2007-08-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

With most precincts counted after last night’s primary it’s worth taking a look at some key local races we’ve watched at the Church Council. Of course we don’t do politics, but our social justice work is greatly impacted by the results of each election cycle.

The races we’ve kept an eye on this season are in Woodinville (where we’re supporting Northshore United Church of Christ which is still fighting a backwards city council in court over hosting tent city over a year ago), Burien (where the city council has voted to demolish the Lora Lake Apartments) and the Port of Seattle (where a 3-2 vote by commissioners momentarily meant doom for the units at Lora Lake).

Here are results:

City of Woodinville Council Position No. 2

Jeff Glickman        382    38.47%

Randy Ransom        421    42.40%

Dave G. Henry        188    18.93%

Write-in        2    0.20%

City of Woodinville Council Position No. 6

Susan Boundy-Sanders        295    29.62%

Liz Aspen        377    37.85%

Al Taylor        146    14.66%

Christy Diemond        176    17.67%

Write-in        2    0.20%

City of Burien Council Position No. 4

J. Fulop        578    21.99%

Gordon M. Shaw        980    37.29%

Stephen Lamphear        1054    40.11%

Write-in        16    0.61%

Port of Seattle Commissioner Position No. 2

The-Anh Nguyen        5370    4.53%

Gael Tarleton        37902    31.97%

Wen Wu Lee        5426    4.58%

Jack Block Jr.        13278    11.20%

Bob Edwards        33172    27.98%

Thom McCann        22893    19.31%

Write-in        515    0.43%

Port of Seattle Commissioner Position No. 5

Bill Bryant        34129    29.40%

Alec Fisken        50536    43.53%

Catherine J. Perkins        22797    19.64%

Stephen Symms        8054    6.94%

Write-in        579    0.50%

The Port of Seattle contest was the easiest to call. All candidates supported preservation of the 162 units at Lora Lake. One would have to wonder if Edwards’ last-minute decision to support preservation of Lora Lake helped him against a crowded field. His campaign brochure featured a color photo of him with his arm around Ron Sims. Could that endorsement by Sims have happened if Edwards had been backwards on Lora Lake?

In the City of Burien, Lora Lake opponent Gordon Shaw made it to the General, but was polling well behind his chief opponent, Stephen Lamphere, a Lora Lake supporter. Only Burien council member Rose Clark has been more vocal in opposition to preservation of Lora Lake.

In Woodinville, Al Taylor and Jeff Glickman are both close allies of current council members Roskind, Stecker, and Price, who have led the fight against Northshore UCC. Taylor’s skimpy 15% is a spanking by voters. Glickman heads to the General in second place to a strong and experienced candidate in Randy Ransom, former mayor.

In each of these races one of the most critical issues they faced was their stand on homelessness — either about Tent City 4 or about the Lora Lake Apartments. The results, especially in Woodinville and Burien, suggest candidates’ positions on homelessness are a piece of the puzzle voters consider as they make their decisions. This is a wake-up call to anti-homeless elected officials.

My favorite YouTube Video

2007-08-21T21:20:00.001-07:00

Have some fun watching this . . . .

Comments at today's immigration press conference

2007-08-14T09:06:00.001-07:00

The federal government's immigration practices are going from bad to worse with Pres. Bush's announcement that immigration enforcement will be ramped up over the next weeks. This means more raids, more families broken apart, more people displaced . . . .

Here are my comments to the press at this morning's press conference by the Comite Pro-Amnistia General y Justicia Social.

At the Church Council of Greater Seattle we believe the foundation of our daily life as a society is the family. A strong bond between parent and child is the best way to ensure our society has a strong future. Everyone child should be nurtured in a family where he or she is loved and protected by a parent or parents who raise them and teach them and nurture them to full adulthood. That is why we are particularly concerned about the effect of immigration enforcement on children and families.

This is a significant problem and under-reported problem. Pew Hispanic Center study reports there are 11.5 to 12 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. In addition to that number there are 3.1 million children who are U.S. citizens by birth, living in families where at least one parent is an unauthorized immigrant.

We know these families. These children and their parents sit in the pews of our churches. These children and parents come to us for baptisms and weddings and funerals. These families are a beloved part of our daily ministry. We minister to them because they are beautiful and beloved children of God.

Because of our intimate knowledge of these families, we know that today families of unauthorized immigrants are living in fear. They fear that

if they apply for a drivers’ license they will be taken from their family;
if they get sick and have to go to the hospital the government will find out and they’ll be taken from their family;
if they’re pulled over by a police officer they’ll be asked questions and they’ll be taken from their family;
when their employer gets a “no match” letter from the government, they’ll lose their job and be taken from their family;

The children of unauthorized immigrant families will grow up to be our doctors and soldiers and waitresses and social workers and our teachers. They belong to us; they are part of us by virtue of the U.S. Constitution which guarantees their citizenship and their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

There is no human bond stronger than a mother’s love for her child. The bond of parent to child is an expression of the bond of God to God’s people.

That’s why it is not right for an American child to come home from school and discover her father has been taken away by the immigration police.

That’s why it is not right for an American child to come home from the playground and discover his mother has been taken away by the government.

We do not want 3.1 million American citizens to hate and fear their government because their mother or father was taken away from them in the middle of the night.

This year Congress was unable to pass comprehensive Immigration reform despite the universal recognition that the current law doesn’t work. That’s why it is unfair that the federal government is ramping up enforcement of the old, unfair law. The Church Council of Greater Seattle is already on record calling for complete reform of our immigration laws. We are also supporting congregations who offer sanctuary to immigrants who are living in daily fear that their family will be torn apart by our unfair immigration laws.

We call on the federal government to declare an immediate moratorium on enforcement of immigration laws that take parents away from American children.

We call on our government to remember the hopes and dreams of 3.1 million American children who simply want assurance that their mother or father will be able to tuck them into bed tonight.

God calls us as a nation to be more fair, more sensitive to the needs of these children and families. We pray that our elected leaders will remember allow our laws to represent the kind of good, loving people we know Americans to be.

Another lawsuit filed on Lora Lake

2007-08-08T08:20:00.001-07:00

And it keeps getting more interesting by the minute. Yesterday another group filed suit to preserve Lora Lake. Here’s the press release issued by Citizens to Defend Affordable Housing:

Citizens to Defend Affordable Housing filed suit today to block demolition of the Lora Lake Apartments. The suit challenges the issuance of a demolition permit by the City of Burien. The city’s action relied on the Port of Seattle allegedly having analyzed the economic and social effects of demolition of the housing in its Environmental Impact Statements on the Third Runway.

“The problem”, said Pete Buck of Buck Law Group, the attorney for plaintiffs, “is that the Port never, in any of its documents, made any such analysis.” The failure appears to stem from the fact that when the analysis was done, the Port assumed that Federal Aviation Administration rules would require demolition of the housing, and that the port would have no discretion in this matter. When it turned out that 162 of the units were outside the mandatory demolition zone, the Port never took that into account, and thus never analyzed the effects of removal of 162 units of affordable housing. In addition, the Port never took into account the dramatic change in availability of affordable housing in the region since the port first made its decision.

“Our land use laws were passed precisely so that a government could not take this kind of action without analyzing the effect,” said Buck. “The failure of the Port to analyze what loss of the housing means to the region is a fundamental flaw, and one that must be corrected. The Port is making a horrible decision based on 10 year old documents that today are totally irrelevant. We are confident that if the effect and the alternatives are fairly considered, the Port will have no choice but to preserve the housing.”

The plaintiff is an association of persons who have been displaced by loss of housing stock or who have been unable to find affordable housing as well as people who have been involved in saving affordable housing. According to Buck, “each of the plaintiffs is a real person with real and dramatic housing needs, and each person represents thousands upon thousands of similarly situated persons in the region.”

Although the suit does not seek a restraining order, and the trial will be after a scheduled August 9 vote by the Port on whether to demolish the housing, the suit points out that if the Port proceeds to destroy the housing notwithstanding the pendency of the suit, under a precedent recently set by Buck in the case of Bauman v. Turpen, the port is liable to replace the housing – at a cost of $32 million – if the suit succeeds.
“The plaintiffs believe that the port would be much better served to sell the apartments to King County for fair market price and allow them to be preserved rather than take on a liability of $32 million by destroying them,” said Buck.

For more information contact
Peter Buck
Buck Law Group
206-448-6229

Port Chair Bullies Lora Lake Supporter

2007-08-06T08:23:00.001-07:00

Here’s what we’re up against as we work with Port of Seattle. Port Commission chair John Creighton wrote this e-mail (on his Port e-mail account no less) to Port Commissioner Bob Edwards after Edwards came out in support of preserving the Lora Lake Apartments:

From: “Creighton, John” Creighton.J@portseattle.org
To: “Edwards, Bob” Edwards.B@portseattle.org
Sent: 7/27/2007 5:13pm
Subject: Lora Lake motion
Bob,
I want to touch base on our next meeting. I agree with Lloyd that your actions in bringing up the Lora Lake matter without notifying your colleagues (even Alec who supports your position) were disrespectful and contrary to any sense of collegiality or building trust with your fellow commissioners.

In the last two years, you have at different points criticized each one of your fellow commissioners for allegedly keeping information from you or blindsiding you. In my opinion, your actions are of an exponential magnitude worse than anything any other commissioner has done to blindside the commission in the last two years. Unlike other instances, your actions were blatantly premeditated to embarrass the Port and to embarrass your colleagues, all for selfish personal gain at our expense. If you truly had cared about building a coalition to save the Lora Lake apartments, you would have gone about it in a much different way.

Lloyd is a very patient, forgiving and tolerant soul, much more than I am. I want to assure you that I will be back in town on 8/9 and very much in full control of commission meetings. I am the chair of the commission, and will remain chair until replaced by a majority vote of my colleagues. Until that time, I am in charge of the meetings and will not tolerate any bullshit, neither from you or any other commissioner.

It will be my perogative as chair (1) whether we hear any sort of motion on Lora Lake, (2) in what form and language any such motion will take, and (3) whether or not we have any public testimony. If you object to any of that, you are free to form a coalition with 2 of your fellow commissioners to replace me as chair. If you are disruptive in the meeting, I will not be afraid to either gavel you down or take other action.

I hope that I am making myself crystal clear, but if not, I am happy to follow up with you in person.

I believe that your blatant political grandstanding has done a huge amount of damage to the Port at a time when we were moving beyond all the bullshit and scandal of the last half year. I am looking forward to January, when I hope that we will have a new commissioner in position 2 who has the maturity and the integrity to help move the port forward on the important issues of competitiveness that we really need to be focusing on. But, alas, that is the subject for a separate email.

Sincerely, John

Creighton certainly tests the limits of the word “sincerely” in this e-mail, obtained by Josh Feit of The Stranger. See how Josh interprets it. It’s sad to think that this kind of bullying and intimidation would be used in a professional, public setting. Shame on Mr. Creighton for embarrassing himself and the Port!

Letter to Dan Savage

2007-07-20T19:57:00.001-07:00

Hi Dan,
Thanks for your reply. I do think a meeting is the best plan, trusting that in the long run a face-to-face meeting builds relationships better than letters to the editor. Perhaps a meeting in a couple of weeks with a group smaller than 10 pastors would be best. I'd propose the week of July 9 and you could choose the location. In my experience it is not uncommon for groups to meet with editors and editorial boards -- this falls in the same category.

I think Seattle pastors are often puzzled by strongly negative responses to their work in local media, given this is probably the most progressive religious community in the country. What we would hope for in a meeting with you would be an opportunity to share with you who we really are behind the stereotypes that are often associated with religious people. At the same time you could share with us how you approach our work in your paper. Perhaps the resulting conversation could move us all ahead in a positive way.

FYI I've enjoyed your writing over many years, particularly your book, The Kid. I hope your family is well and I continue to look for updates about how you're enjoying the work of being a parent.

Blessings and peace ~

Rev. Sandy Brown
Executive Director
Church Council of Greater Seattle

Dan's Reply:

dear sandy,

i hardly see religious people treated with anything but cringing deference in the local media. you really perceive the media to be strongly negative? god, i don't see it -- we pretty much ignore religious institutions in town, and the seattle times hosts columns by a rotating group of pastors. where's the negativity?

i'm sorry if i was curt in my response, but i couldn't help but read your email as "you're-being-called-on-the-carpet-young-man," which i may not have been your intent. but i'm way past being sent to the rectory for a talking to.

we typically meet with candidates... and interview subjects... but rarely with community groups or orgs. some folks at the paper are interested in a meeting, maybe. but we're really not interested in hearing that we hurt some folks' feelings. we write what we think; we're engaged in cultural criticism at the stranger. of course some people are going to be hurt by the stuff we write. it can't be avoided or dialogued away.

i'm aware that there are lots of progressive churches in seattle -- assigning the package i made sure to send people to good progressive churches, where many had positive experiences, and not just the mars hills and antiochs and christian faith centers. but, like it or not, the driscolls and hutchersons are the public face of religious people in the area. is it any wonder most people react negatively?

dan

And my response to Dan . . . . .
Thanks again for your response, Dan. Your correspondence already has been helpful to me, and it confirms in my mind that a meeting would be a super idea.

I'm out of the country right now and with your permission I'll get my assistant going on arranging a date, time, and place. Perhaps we could gather around Ann Landers' desk . . . .

Blessings and peace ~

Rev. Sandy Brown

Letter to Port of Seattle Withdrawing from Airport Decor Committee

2007-06-06T15:31:00.001-07:00

June 5, 2007

Mr. John Creighton, President

Port of Seattle Commission

2711 Alaskan Way

Seattle WA 98121

Dear Mr. Creighton,

With this letter the Church Council of Greater Seattle formally withdraws from the Interfaith Airport Décor Committee of the Port of Seattle. After repeated attempts to reverse the Port's decision to demolish the Lora Lake Apartments, we have decided it no longer makes sense to focus on an issue of little consequence while a far larger issue goes unaddressed.

This area's religious community has taken the lead on the goal of ending homelessness in King County. In 2003, our religious community called together a diverse group of local civic leaders with the goal of ending homelessness in 10 years. That group has crafted a plan that calls for creation of 9,000 housing units. The plan has been adopted by municipalities that represent 84% of King County citizens.

The Port's decision to tear down 162 units of housing at Lora Lake is the single largest setback our anti-homelessness effort has encountered. We are devastated by the Port's unwillingness to change its plan, accept direct responsibility, or provide proportional mitigation. This decision stands in spite of communications from numerous religious groups, community leaders and individuals. I directly requested a change of heart from the Port Commission on May 8, and only one commissioner, Alec Fisken, was open to my request.

I am disappointed that the Port of Seattle is not more cooperative with important local civic causes, such as the goal of ending homelessness. I hope and pray that such will not always be the case. When the Port accepts its responsibility to collaborate on widely-held community goals, the Church Council will once again be willing to engage it in partnership.

With hope for a better future,

Rev. Dr. Sanford Brown

Executive Director

A Tough Decision, But A Good One

2007-04-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Over the last weeks I've been debating whether or not to pursue a second term as Church Council director. Even as I was thinking and praying, my bishop was working! Bishop Paup strongly encouraged me to consider accepting an appointment to First United Methodist Church in downtown Seattle. The church's pastor, Rev. Kathlyn James, has recently been appointed to serve at the Edmonds United Methodist Church. This meant an opening at the downtown congregation beginning July 1 of this year.

It didn't take me long to determine I just couldn't leave the Council prior to the end of my 5-year term. It just wouldn't be right to step away from a commitment I'd made some time ago, even though the prospect of serving the church is something that feels very right to me. So I suggested to the bishop that an interim pastor be selected and that I begin serving the church on July 1, 2008. After some deliberation, he said "yes." So, the Rev. David Gillespie will serve the church as interim pastor for a year, and I'll fill the position when my Church Council term expires.

What's the draw to First Church? For one thing, it's my home congregation. I joined the church on Palm Sunday 1975. The church paid 100% of my tuition through seminary, and I interned there in 1979.

But also, this is an important time in the life of the congregation. It's struggled to work through building issues (landmark designation, potential demolition, sale proposals, etc.) and is just about over them and ready to face a new future. The ministry of a downtown congregation is exciting, and I have always felt the call to a public ministry.

So, that's what's up. I appreciate the bishop's willingness to hold the door open for me for a full year. I've never heard of a United Methodist appointment that was made over 1 year in advance. It does make me feel good I have my bishop's support. I'll miss working at the Council, but I have another 15 months to make continued good impacts here. Then it'll be back from whence I came.

Bodies Exhibit Calls for Another "Quiet" Boycott

2006-09-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Any boycott can backfire. Look at the boycott of "The Passion of the Christ," which is probably one of the reasons this graphic portrayal of Jesus' last days ultimately grossed over $370 million. That's why it makes sense not to proclaim an all-out boycott of the "Bodies" exhibit which opened this week here in Seattle -- sometimes the most eloquent opposition comes from just not showing up. A quiet boycott is in order.

The exhibit consists of 21 "whole" human bodies and 240 body parts -- taxidermically preserved and then cut away to reveal anatomical details. There's no doubt the exhibit is crudely engaging. The human body is amazing, and a view of its inner secrets is usually reserved for people in the medical profession.

The problem with the exhibit is the provenance of the bodies themselves. First, this is not the famous Dr. Gunther Von Hagens exhibit, in which individuals have specifically donated their bodies for exhibition. That exhibit, which has also traveled the world, actually has a waiting list of hundreds of people who have volunteered their bodies to Von Hagens.

No, this is a competing exhibit, in which bodies from Chinese prisons are leased to exhibitors. According to press reports, the bodies originate in Chinese prisons, are sold to a university in China, then are leased for approximately $5 million per year to exhibit organizers. The expenses are easily paid for by the $13 million in revenue from the traveling exhibit. Organizers insist they have documentation on each body that shows there were no shenanigans in its origins, but they refuse to make these records public. This stubborn refusal continues, in spite of the well-documented illicit Chinese trade in cadavers, body parts and spare organs -- all "donated" by residents of Chinese prisons.

So here are the questions responsible people should ask: "Why were these people in jail in the first place - were they political prisoners?" "How did they die?" "Were their deaths related to the potential bonanza of profits reaped by the Chinese authorities who sold them?" "Why aren't the records of these deaths open for public review?" "Is it appropriate to put on display the bodies of people who had no say in how their flesh is being treated after their death?"

And there are deeper questions, too, questions that apply to any exhibit, no matter the origin of the cadavers used: "Don't our ancient traditions call for deep respect to a person's physical remains?" "Is it right to make a profit out of our fascination with death?" "Is this exhibit another example of a 'Culture of Death' that is fascinated by death and pays little attention to nurturing life?"

I'd hate for these concerns to result in additional attention and revenue for the exhibit's organizers, but I'd also like to see its sloppy and questionable ethics go quietly away. So won't you join me in a "quiet" boycott?

Too Much Driscoll?

2006-09-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

My Saturday routine includes an iced green tea and guilty cinnamon roll pleasure at Starbucks every week. Along with that, I open a copy of both Seattle dailies and peruse whatever religion news might be included. This week I was pretty surprised by the Seattle Times and its Mars Hill-heavy content.

Mark Driscoll is one of the Times’ five religion columnists, and along with them he shares a column that replaces the long-running and popular Dale Turner writings. What sets Mark apart is his evangelical passion about sharing the gospel — and his big-dollar ads that run adjacent to his column.

This week’s column was a nearly-accurate discussion of crucifixion in the ancient world (can we call Cicero a Greek philosopher? OK, he taught Greek philosophy and spent lots of time visiting friends in Greece, but he was a Roman last I heard) that almost read like an AMA article from a few years back that described crucifixion in medical-detail depth. On the bottom right of the page was a very large (and expensive) ad advertising Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church.

I guess I can’t think of another time in which a columnist’s writing was paired with an advertisement about his work, or that an advertiser was also given a free column to support his/her viewpoints. I’d be interested to hear the Times’ rationale for its columnist’s dual-role, partly for ethics reasons and partly for theological reasons.

A Church Council board member shared a Salon.com (subscription only) article written about the Mars Hill Church, in which the church’s “Biblical” marriage gender roles are described. I haven’t seen Driscoll describe these in a Times column, but if he did, I’d wonder how Seattle would respond. Basically, women are to be in the home, raising children. Men work outside the home and make the decisions. Clear and simple.

I’d like to invite the Times to encourage Pastor Driscoll to share his views about women with its audience. We deserve to know the whole truth, since we’re both reading his words sponsored by the Times and reading the Times sponsored by him.

Tribute to Alan Mulally

2006-09-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

When I was director of a small child abuse agency in Snohomish County, we asked Alan Mulally to come headline a special fundraising event for us to give it some star appeal. And did he. He arrived on a helicopter, with TV cameras in tow. His comments were on the evening news (and so was the name of our little non-profit).

I after I made my comments to the 350 or so folks in attendance, Alan prepared to get up to speak to the group as well. But before he did, he reached over to me and handed me a personal check for $1000, made out to our agency. His simple words to me were, “Keep up the good work.”

I’m proud of Alan’s current success — today he was picked to chair the Ford Motor Co. Boeing will miss him. Sure, he ended up driving a hard bargain with the Machinists Union. Yes, there were plenty of layoffs during the tough times following Sept 11th. But Mulally brought Boeing and its high-paying jobs back from the brink, and every step of the way, Boeing continued its long tradition of strong financial support for human service programs like United Way.

Maybe it’s all because of something else Alan shared with me that day. After we had both spoken, he looked across our table to me and said, “Have you ever heard of Rev. Dale Turner?” I had, of course. Every clergyperson in Seattle has. “I was a little red-haired kid sitting in the front row of his church back in Wichita, Kansas, before he moved out to Seattle. He taught me a lot and I’m in touch with him to this day.”

Alan, thanks for the good jobs for people in the Seattle area. Thanks for the contributions to human service work. Thanks for your living testimony to the contributions clergy like Dale Turner have made.

As he heads to Detroit – a place that needs good jobs for workers and their families - I’ll share with Alan the same words he shared with me. “Keep up the good work.”

Keeping a Religious Tone

2006-09-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

After a few months' reprieve, I'm back to writing for the Blog and hope you'll enjoy these musings . . . . .

Should religious groups care about the appointment of Sybil Bailey to the board of the Seattle Housing Authority? First, some background. Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) is the largest provider of housing to Seattle's homeless population. In fact, it's the largest landlord in Seattle, overseeing roughly 10% of all housing units. It has literally billions of dollars in real estate assets, and it will likely be the biggest player in the upcoming work of implementing the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in King County.

Last week, the Seattle Times carried a story that described the "uproar" caused by the nomination of Sybil Bailey. Among groups decrying the nomination were one of the Council's programs, the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness (ITFH).

The problem? An ancient drug conviction was dredged up by someone in the anti-Bailey camp, and the Times made it look like the ITFH was jumping on the pig pile, with an elderly, African-American woman in a wheelchair on the bottom. In reality, the ITFH did not bring up the conviction -- that was done by others. But unfortunatley the Times article gave the impression it did.

The controversy underlines the difficulty we religious social justice advocates have when we join the public debate about controversial issues. How do we keep from getting dirty when the mud is being slung by either side?

I think it's important for all faith-based social justice folks to follow these "rules of engagement," with which we can keep the conflict clean, and keep our prophetic voice clear.

1. Never attack an individual, ever. It doesn't fit any religious principles I know of.

2. Always treat every individual, whether we like him/her or not, with respect, knowing he/she is a child of God.

3. Stay out of controversies about appointments or elections -- they ultimately revolve around individuals mostly, and not about the issues.

4. That said, stick to the issues. We are only interested in the issues, not in the personalities who are supporting them.

5. Assume that all correspondence is public, so even write e-mails while asking the question, "Could this be read in worship?" Ultimately, God is our audience, not the people who're making decisions. What we write or say needs to be considered knowing that God is overhearing it.

6. Our public statements should be rooted in prayer. If we've prayed in advance, we should come off as gentle, firm, and impassioned. If we haven't, we'll may come off as angry, implacable, and shrill.

7. In a secular world, we are ambassadors of faith. When people read what we have to say, they should sense that it fits in our scriptural and moral traditions. Along these lines, it is ok to use the word "God" and to invoke religion in each paragraph. That what people are looking for from us!

8. We always must speak with modest and politeness. We never resort to foul language, and we speak so that even a child could hear us and not be offended.

These rules all sounds so simple . . . yet in the heat of battle, it's easy to resort to arguing or fighting the way we do in less guarded moments. I hope people related to the Church Council will remember these rules . . . . they'll help us get the totality of our message across.

What is up with Rep. Toby Nixon?

2006-02-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

Apparently, House Bill 3234 was torpedoed by Rep. Toby Nixon who launched out in a diatribe against tent city activists. According to other house members, Nixon's speech is enough to make your blood boil. What is the source of his anger about tent cities?
-- Sandy Brown

An Open Letter to Bellevue Council Member John Chelminiak

2005-12-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Bellevue Council Member John Chelminiak,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to several people who have written to you in protest of Bellevue's restrictions against Temple B'nai Torah. I'm glad you've taken the time to respond to the concerned citizens, but I'm perplexed by much of what you are writing. Your answers seem disingenuous, to say the least, and often even cynical. Here are some quotations from one of your e-mails, along with our response:

Quotation #1 "It is unfortunate but Share Wheel and the Temple sued the city, not the other way around. After months of listening to representatives of the Church Council claim a constitutional right, they are howling that we've asked the court case be decided in Federal Court, where the limits of that constitutional right and federal law can be determined."

   As you well know, Mr. Chelminiak, the Bellevue ordinance is crafted so that any appeal of a tent city decision must go to King County Superior Court. Temple B'nai Torah was following your rules -- so pointing the blame at the synagogue seems pretty self-serving. Yes, we don't understand why Bellevue chooses to move the case to Federal court. We suspect one potential reason is that the Washington State Constitution is even more adamant about freedom of religious expression than the US Constitution. Here's what the Washington State Constitution says about religious freedom (Section 11) "Absolute freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief and worship, shall be guaranteed to every individual, and no one shall be molested or disturbed in person or property on account of religion." Washington's choice of the words "absolute" and "guarantee" place a high bar for governmental interference in religious affairs -- too high for Bellevue?

Quotation #2:"The city has offered a number of suggestions for ways S/W and the Temple could attempt to meet the city's requirements for basic human hygeine, which quite frankly is not much more than hot running water. In fact, if the Temple simply opened its doors to allow the residents to use their indoor facilities, its likely much of the issue could be resolved. Perhaps the Temple has offered that and S/W has refused. I'm not privvy to their discussions.

   Be honest, Mr. Chelminiak, you require a whole lot more than hot running water. Case in point: you want to limit the size of tent city to 40 people because of your desire for two additional showers -- that's a lot more than a "suggestion" and it's a lot more than just "hot water." Apparently avoiding shower sign-up lists is more important than the warmth, dryness, shelter, and safety provided by tent city. The cost of your regulation is another 60 homeless people without shelter. With homeless people dying on the streets for lack of shelter, the shower requirement sounds pretty heartless to us, particularly when a warm shower with a short sign up list has worked just fine for Tent City 4! Mr. Chelminiak, you're right on one thing: if TBT did open its doors and host TC4 in its worship space it would solve the problem. Why? Because Bellevue has no shower requirements for indoor homeless accommodations! Since TBT has a synagogue to run, it doesn't have the indoor space available for sheltering 100 people 24/7. If it did, there'd be no need for tent city. Please stop trying to make TBT look like the villain in this. It doesn't make sense for government to attack people who are trying to help solve a real human problem.

Quotation #3:"Sixty days was a choice made by the council after listening very carefully to everyone who testified. We also considered carefully the history of Tent City 3 in Seattle where a number of congregations have been able to minister to TC 3 in time periods of less than 60 days.

  What's TC3 got to do with it? It's been in operation for nearly six years and has dozens of congregations willing to host it within the less nervous environs of Seattle, Shoreline, and Tukwila - where it's a non-event for its neighbors. Because of opposition from suburban opponents of TC4, like the Bellevue council majority, the Eastside religious community has far fewer congregations ready to host it. In other words, the reason 90 days is important specifically to TC4 is because of people like you, Mr. Chelminiak, who are trying to discourage religious communities from hosting it and therefore making longer stays more necessary. The truth is that your 60 day requirement makes it more likely that TC4 will be without a church host, throwing its residents back out onto the street. Because of this, you've left us no choice but to fight your restriction. If you'd really listened, you'd have read and responded to the letter from leaders of all our major denominations pleading with you for full 90-day stays for TC4 in Bellevue.

Quotation #4:The council spent almost six months and hundreds of hours researching the facts about tent city and homelessness. Our health regulations are not out of line. Rather, they are backed up by health data gathered by advocates for the homeless and from the King County Department of Public Health.

   We'd like to see the official health requirements that specify 3 showers are required for 100 homeless people. Fact is, the King County health department has no such requirement and makes regular visits to TC4, finding no adverse health or sanitation conditions. Bellevue's shower requirements are solely Bellevue's requirements and are not reflected in King County Health Department guidelines. Period. Mr. Chelminiak, we think you should substantiate this claim before including it in your notes to constituents.

Quotation #5 "And yes, I have visited Tent City and met residents. I went out the night after the move in. No fan fare. No delivering meals so I could get a photo in the newspaper. It just seemed the right thing to do. I have been struck that the most ardent supporters of Tent City have testified this it is not a solution to homelessness. I'd rather work on those solutions."

  Sorry, Mr. Chelminiak, there are other reasons for delivering meals to tent city than having your photo in the paper -- reasons like, well, compassion for instance. Your response shows a troubling level of cynicism about compassion, which I hope is not indicative of your general attitude. Yes, everyone knows tent cities are not the solution, but most people also know that they are a worthwhile first step to get a few homeless people off the streets. We'd say that if you really want to make a dent in homelessness, you ought to donate Bellevue's $250,000 legal fund to a homeless shelter. That'd provide a real solution for dozens of homeless people. But, never mind. It would also probably get your picture in the paper!

Please do begin to help the homeless, Mr. Chelminiak. Please help by stopping the fight against Temple B'nai Torah, please help by allowing it to host tent city without arbitary and frivolous government intervention, and please stop the wasteful expenditure of public funds on an unnecessary court case. Let's join hands in helping the homeless, first with tent city and other emergency measures, then with permanent, safe, indoor shelter right in the City of Bellevue. As I've offered in the past, the Church Council will help Bellevue build high quality, safe, clean, permanent indoor shelter for the homeless in Bellevue. If you're serious about real solutions, let's start working together.

Sincerely,
Rev. Sandy Brown
Church Council of Greater Seattle

Will Tent City Win a Two-fer Next Tuesday?

2005-11-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Next Tuesday three tent city opponents are running for election. Will their opposition to tent city be a plus or a minus? So far, it’s shaping up to be a minus. Here are the races:

King County Council - Bob Ferguson vs. Steve Pyeatt — In the primary, Ferguson and his challenger polled well over 20,000 votes, to a mere 8,000 for tent city foe Steve Pyeatt. Pyeatt was organizer and mastermind of TentCitySolutions.com and steadfastly fought tent cities through East King County. On the other hand, Ferguson helped orchestrate the excellent King County tent city ordinance – against the opposition of Pyeatt. Steve’s opposition to tent cities apparently hasn’t improved his longshot odds for the County Council. The Times, P-I, and Journal all have endorsed Ferguson.

Kirkland City Council – Joan McBride vs. Mike Nykreim — Nykreim sued Kirkland Congregational Church earlier this year for hosting tent city without a permit, but he’s failed to receive the endorsement of any major newspaper. In fact, he apparently argued with the Journal editorial board during his endorsement interview, earning a rebuke as “not ready” for elective office.

Bellevue City Council – Conrad Lee vs. Vicki Orrico — Conrad Lee was the deciding vote against a 90-day tent city stay. His opponent has received endorsements from all major dailies, raising the question of why this 12-year incumbent council member is so poorly thought of by the community.

We’ll see if Tent City 4 scores a three-fer next Tuesday. At this writing, it doesn’t look that good for tent city foes!

Bellevue City Council's Tent City Decision -- The Difference One Vote Makes

2005-11-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

The City of Bellevue’s decision to allow a maximum 60-day tent city stay came after a long meeting, and prevailed by a one-vote margin. Council members who voted in favor of the 60-day maximum were:
Conrad Lee
Grant Degginger
John Chelminiak
Don Davidson

Council members voting in favor of a 90-day stay were:
Phil Noble
Connie Marshall
Claudia Balducci

What a shame that one person of conscience couldn’t have stood up against the 60 day requirement!

The Stranger Misses the Mark in Last Week's Edition

2005-09-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a note I wrote yesterday to editors at The Stranger, one of Seattle's alternative newspapers:

Dear Editor,

Last week your usually well-written paper came off as, well, a little disappointing. Many of us in the religion field look forward to The Stranger's irreverent wit and biting satire. I couldn't believe how funny the "Burning Plastic" edition was (in a very crude way). The "Back to School Bible," though, mistakenly tried to ride the coattails of the unfunny "Rev. Buddy" column, and left this reader disappointed.

Satire requires knowledge of its subject in order to succeed. To lob dirt bombs at fundamentalist Christians is easy -- we can all recite the absurdities -- but it's way too easy to be truly funny. I hope you'll try some day to learn about Seattle's progressive religious community, which has long since moved past the silly scruples of conservatism and deserves some teasing on its own right.

Seattle has a long tradition of progressive religion, so it's not fair that someone like Rev. Buddy should get all the ribbing. Yes, he exists, darnit. But he's very rare in Seattle. If next year you tried a "Back to School with the Liberal Bible," it might take more work to research, but you might succeed better at spearing the actual religious community of our area. The extra work would be worth it, and we religious progressives need the chastening that your smart satire can provide. Until then, it's a little disappointing that Seattle's Christian community is being painted with one big Stranger brush.

In short, please abuse us a little, too. We'll benefit from it, and you'll look smarter and funnier as a result.

National Council of Churches President Speaks Openly About Bush's Hurricane Response

2005-09-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., President of the National Council of Churches USA and Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana and Mississippi, has issued the following response to President Bush's address to the nation:

September 15, 2005 -- It is commendable for President Bush to apologize for the mistakes made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We welcome his pledge to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We celebrate his promise to address the injustices that were so profoundly exposed by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of New Orleans.

Both his apology and his promises will help us move forward as a nation. Yet, as his sisters and brothers in faith, we feel it is our duty to remind the President that an apology and promises will only go so far. Now, as a nation, we must acknowledge that this crisis has only exposed what lies just beneath the surface of prosperity and progress in this country. In America, we have a past that haunts us on every level of our existence. We now see all too clearly that a person's race and class can often determine whether or not you are left behind in the Super Dome or escorted to safety.

As we look beyond the President's welcome candor, we must now look to our government and to the private sector for a long-term change in behavior that recognizes and corrects the glaring inequities of American society in housing, jobs and wages, health care and education -- the list is long and growing. Disaster relief and rescue must go beyond the flooded streets of New Orleans and reach into the desperate lives of the millions in poverty across our land -- a disproportionate number of whom are African American.

Today, we stand on the threshold of what is a great opportunity. It is an opportunity to become the America that we have always dreamed of being. It is an opportunity to become the America that Martin Luther King, Jr. so vividly portrayed in his "I Have A Dream" speech more than 40 years ago. It is an opportunity to stop making empty promises, to practice what we preach, to walk what we talk. It is way beyond overdue that America treats all its citizens as full participants in the economic and educational and cultural mainstream. We may have come to America on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now.

In our rush to repair the levees and restore the neighborhoods of the Gulf Coast, let us not continue the injustices -- and yes, the sins of omission and commission -- of the past. Let us not continue to allow children to be left behind by under-funded school systems and inadequate healthcare. Let us not continue to allow poor people to live in neighborhoods that are environmental hazards. Let us not continue to allow honest, hardworking people to work for less than livable wages.

The Book of Nehemiah (2:18) records that the people of Israel, seeing that Jerusalem was destroyed, said, "Let us rise up and build. Then they set their hands to this good work." As the Bishop of the Fourth Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church presiding over Mississippi and Louisiana and as the President of the National Council of Churches USA, I say to you: Let us rise up and build! How we respond as a nation to this crisis can be the beginning of a new era of progress, prosperity and promise for a new America that will be true to its spiritual and ethical values and worthy of its leadership among the nations.

Hurricane Mercy and Meanness

2005-09-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

This is submitted by Larry Lehnerz of The Source:

More than forty members of Carol Marshall’s family lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina devastated their homes. They are now scattered across neighboring states. Marshall, who lives in Mount Lake Terrace has remained in communication with the family and reports all are thankfully safe.

Though the family is doing well, they have experienced moments of amazing mercy and inexplicable meanness.

“As the waters started rising in New Orleans, my father who is 85 years old, five of my eight sisters, together with their children fled to Georgia and out of harms way,” says Marshall.

“My brother who is a truck driver and on the road most of the time allowed seven family members to dwell in his house until they find work and reestablish themselves,” she says.

Members of the family received small vouchers from the Red Cross.

“My sister was shopping for shoes when she burst into tears,” says Marshall of one poignant moment. “She realized, I have nothing. I’m literally starting from the ground up.”

At a Wall Mart, while some family members shopped for necessities, others found a bench at the front of the store. A woman in a wheel chair approached and asked if they were by any chance from New Orleans. When they said yes, the woman told them that she didn’t have much, but she wanted to help. She then handed Marshall’s sister $200 and offered a blessing, telling her that more good would come their way.

A few moments later, the cell phone call brought news that another family member had been found safe.

“We considered it a spiritual moment,” says Marshall. “Instead of being sad about everyone losing their homes, we all felt elated.”

But it hasn’t been all good news for Marshall’s kin.

“There are some who are insensitive to the drama my family and all the survivors are going through,” says Marshall.

The following eviction noticed received in the past few days by Marshall’s brother speaks for itself.

“Since you feel that you need to provide shelter for your friends from New Orleans then you must move to a new location. Please use the rest of this month to relocate. If you are thinking about a thirty day notice - that only applies when you are not violating the lease. Please feel free to use me as a reference. Thank you.” It was signed by the landlord.

Though stunned by the insensitivity, Marshall considers this just another bump in the road for her family.

“We’ve been blessed,” says Marshall. “Thank the Lord we all survived.”

Congregations to be Invited to Become Sanctuaries for Hurricane Survivors

2005-09-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

This coming week the Church Council will help coordinate sanctuary homes for hurricane survivors. We’ll work in conjunction with the State of Washington, King County, and the Red Cross to match churches and individuals with families needing shelter from Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf States. Watch this blog and the Church Council website for more details.

Praying for New Orleans

2005-08-31T22:22:00.000-07:00

The devastation in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is beyond belief. I’ve found it difficult to tear myself away from photos and stories of people whose lives have forever been changed by this enormous catastrophe. It’s especially sad to see that many of the people affected are poor and elderly. Many trapped at home had no money or vehicles in which to leave the city. I’ve prayed through much of the day and I know many others are as well . . . .

Clergy Sexual Abuse - How do we address non-denominational churches?

2005-08-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

I sat today with a small group of local clergy and domestic violence workers, and we wondered together about how to address clergy sexual abuse in non-denominational churches.

Here's the problem: A woman from a local nondenominational church approached the Church Council last year with a sad story. She had been lovers with her pastor, a single man, for some months. Their relationship included many promises of marriage. When the relationship ended, she discovered that a) he had presented himself in the same manner to several women in the congregation, and b) her relationship of trust with the pastor and the church itself was deeply injured. She sought help to bring accountability to the pastor and safety to any other women who might also potentially be abused. She was unaware that sexual relations with a congregant by a pastor -- single or married -- is a breach of trust and an unethical act.

In a denominational church, the clergyperson would be accountable to the denominational hierarchy. In a non-denominational, only the lay leaders within the church would have any ability to hold an abusive pastor accountable. This accountability would depend on the congregation's knowledge of sexual abuse guidelines and philosophy, something which is woefully lacking even in denominational congregations.

So, the question is: how do we approach that? Any ideas out there?

Polyamory Revisited

2005-08-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

I've appreciated the great comments from folk about polyamory. My interview with the London film crew is happening this morning, and here are some revised thoughts about polyamory from a church perspective.

A discussion of polyamory should recognize the church's well-earned and sad reputation for judgment and condemnation of human sexuality. I hope Christians have learned over the years that there is little gain from making people feel bad about their loving relationships. The gay/lesbian struggles of the last century have taught us that people often "color outside the lines" in their relationships, and non-traditional unions can bring happiness. We've condemned enough sex in the past to last us another couple of millenia.

So, "why wouldn't the church support polyamory?" To understand why not, a person would have to dig into the roots of the Christian understanding of marriage.

Christian marriage has its precedents in ancient Jewish marriage practice, in which wives were not given equal rights with husbands. A husband could have multiple wives, but women could not have multiple husbands. Husbands could divorce their wives in a simple, too easy process. Wives had no recourse for divorce. Marriage amounted to a form of slavery.

Jesus critiqued this view by opposing divorce as inappropriate except in cases of infidelity. The purpose was to protect the rights of wives. St. Paul then compared the relation of Christ and the Church to that of a husband and wife. He set up fairly strict norms for how marital roles were to be observed, and he proclaimed that elders in the church were to be "husbands of one wife."

As Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire, it took on Roman customs around marriage, most notably the idea that marriage was monogamous and there must be consent by the partners to the marriage. This has become the common viewpoint of Christian marriage - lifelong, monogamous, based on mutual consent. The Catholic church ultimately determined marriage to be a sacrament - a means of receiving the grace of God.

Protestant understandings of marriage (most notably from the introduction to the wedding ceremony in the Book of Common Prayer) are that marriage is about 1) the nurturing of children, 2) avoidance of sin, and 3) mutual companionship.

That traditional marriage is a positive model for the nurturing of children likely has few detractors. This concept is affirmed by modern family studies, which suggest that the best environment in which to raise children is one in which there is a strong "primary" bond between parents, followed by strong "secondary" bonds between parent and child. In other words, when the parents are together, committed, and loving of each other, the child has the best environment for nurture.

"Avoidance of sin" springs from the idea that sex is sacred and special and is to be experienced within the boundaries of a committed, permanent relationship. Sexual sin comes when we exploit another person for our own pleasure, or when we spend our sexual energy for a goal other than love. Some people outside the Christian faith are justifiably tired of Christians equating sex in general with sin. Since St. Augustine, this has often been the case. In today's context, I think we should instead state that sex within the boundaries of a permanent, committed, monogamous relationship is our choice for people who follow the Christian faith. Within Christianity, experirence has taught us that monogamous marriage is the highest and best context for the full expression of our sexuality.

Why is this so? It comes from the third Protestant notion of the importance of marriage - the ideal of human companionship. If a person truly loves another person, they can express that by choosing that person as their sole partner. Monogamous marriage requires the decision: "I choose this lover, and this lover is enough." Inability to choose a single lover is failure to commit oneself in one's fullest being to the loving relationship. A person's potential for growth in depth of love is diminished. True commitment is demonstrated when one pays a price for his or her choice, when one makes a sacrifice for the choice he or she has made.

Our critique of polyamory would be that there is no sacrifice necessary, no choice made that forces the person to make a sacrifice. Can there be true love without some sort of sacrifice? The Church would say, "no," and would encourage followers of Christ to say the same. Put another way, what better gift can a person give to their lover than to be their only lover all their life long?

Podcasting to the Masses

2005-08-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

The New York Times ran an article today about the podcasting or "godcasting" of sermons. If your church is tech-savvy, folks who miss church could download their pastors' sermons for their I-pods. That way, at the gym, they can listen to their favorite preacher. It's a great idea! Here's the article.

I think many people go to digitalpodcast.com for Podcast selections. I like Slate's articles on Podcast, and its August offerings can be found here.

Is 10-Year Homelessness Plan Too Conservative?

2005-08-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Word has it that David Irons, candidate for King County Exec, will be proposing his own "3-Year Plan" to end homelessness. Kudos to Irons for proposing a solution to our housing problem, but his proposal begs the question: "Is the 10-year plan too conservative?"

If Irons can solve the problem of homelessness in 3-years, that'd mean he could a) come up with about 3,200 housing units each year over the next 3 years, and b) solve the legislative and structural issues that are the real reason for homelessness. If he wants to rent 9,500 empty units each year -- assuming they exist -- to make the space, he'd ultimately need about $100 million per year to make it happen (at around $900/mo per unit). If he could succeed, that'd sure be a big help. I hope he's also considering however, that he'll need social services for the folks in those units. That should just about double his cost. Anyway, good luck to him if he can make his plan happen!

But back to the question, is the 10-Year Plan too conservative? It might be too conservative in that it's not changing the way we do business in addressing homelessness. For one thing, there seems to be little hurry about its implementation. Can we feel good that it has taken almost 9 months since completion of the plan for the County Council to get around to even reviewing it? As a member of the committee responsible for its implementation, I can't feel good that we haven't started attacking the structural issues that make homelessness happen -- economic disruption, social isolation, apathy toward mental health needs, and heartless discharge policies that move vulnerable people from institutions to life on the street. The cost of these policies this year has been 31 homeless people dead on the streets. We're too conservative in the sense that we're maintaining a low priority for this problem -- just as we have for the last upteen years.

Invite Cindy Sheehan to Seattle?

2005-08-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

Cindy Sheehan's apparently planning a bus trip through the U.S. Shouldn't she stop in Seattle? I'm thinking "you betcha." Today I'm writing my monthly column in The Source, and I'm thinking we all have a lot to thank Cindy for. She's helped remind us of the need to end the war in Iraq. She's also reminded us of the inaccessibility of our current administration in Washington. I think it'd be fun to meet her and to see what has driven this regular mom to stand up as she has.

Riding the Funeral Coach

2005-08-25T16:51:00.000-07:00

I couldn't count the number of times I've ridden in the front seat of a funeral coach (a.k.a. a "hearse") while motorcycle cops have zoomed past, holding back traffic so our funeral procession could pass safely by. Turns out funeral processions like this are currently not legal in the City of Seattle, at least temporarily.

Some time ago, Chief Gil Kerlikowske of the Seattle Police Department had a form cross his desk -- the recertification required for the local motorcycle escort service to do its work for funeral homes from throughout the city. Remembering the two deaths of motorcyclists (not SPD officers, actually) over the last two years, Kerlikowske opted not to sign. In fact, according to a Seattle Times reporter, Kerlikowske sent a letter to the escort companies saying he intended never to sign any recertification.

I called the SPD today and, with Chief Kerlikowske out, I spoke to Dep. Chief John Diaz. According to Diaz, the SPD has called a meeting with the motorcycle escort companies and local funeral homes to come to some agreement about how to provide the service. Diaz said the service will be allowed, and it's just a matter of figuring out how to provide it in a safe manner.

This is reassuring, since the practice of funeral processions is an ancient one. As I told the Times reporter, in seminary I was instructed that the minister, priest or rabbi leads the procession, followed by the casket, the family, and the other mourners. This has been done for hundreds, probably thousands of years. I'm sure there are drivers who are annoyed at the delays caused by funeral processions, but in my mind this is an important tradition that really should be continued. Isn't it worth a few extra moments of our time to pause, out of respect, for someone who's died? I hope so. And I hope the SPD will allow the custom to return to Seattle.

Tent City Operators Vindicated in Federal Audit

2005-08-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes things get buried in the paper and people don't see the conclusion to a story. Some time ago, tent city opponents filed a complaint against SHARE/WHEEL for its use of FEMA money to operate its tent cities. The money was withheld and a federal audit ensued. End of story? You'd think so. News of the complaint and audit were published in the King County Journal, but no follow up to the story ever took place.

Early this month the local FEMA board - of which I'm a member - was notified that the audit was complete and everything was in order. I requested a press release so people would know that SHARE/WHEEL had been cleared and the money was released. The story finally hit the King County Journal today. Here's a full quotation:

The nonprofit organization that runs roving tent cities for the homeless -- including Tent City 4 now in Woodinville -- has passed an audit and received its money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

SHARE/WHEEL has received nearly $40,000 in emergency shelter and homeless prevention grant money, funneled from FEMA through the National Emergency Food & Shelter Program, said Angelynn Talcott, spokeswoman for the YWCA of Seattle-King County-Snohomish County.

The YWCA administers FEMA funds for its own shelter programs and for several smaller agencies, including SHARE, on behalf of United Way of King County.

Although half of the $37,224 grant had been released when SHARE provided records for the audit in June, the Food & Shelter Board held the second half until that documentation passed review.

It released the money Aug. 5 and the YWCA passed it to SHARE on Aug. 9, Talcott said.

Tent city opponents had raised questions about the propriety of SHARE using federal emergency money during a routine audit of the agency.

As a result, Talcott said, ``special attention was given to ensure all documentation was in order and expenses met the EFSP guidelines.''

Auditors examined records for two years and found them in order, she said.

Polyamory. Huh?

2005-08-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

I've been answering calls from London over the last few days, setting up the filming in my office of a response to a "polyamory" convention being held around Seattle sometime soon. A London TV station is covering a new group, the "polyamorists" who have not only coined an unwieldy new term, but have also found a use for it. It's the new name given to people who choose to have more than one lover at a time. The London TV station wanted a response from a local clergyman who, they hoped, would give some spicy condemnations of this new group.

My wife's first response to the upcoming interview was a semi-suspicious, "Why do they want to talk to YOU?" I assured her I had no special knowledge of the topic (other than a doctorate in gender, sexuality, and spirituality -- which I'm sure the London station knows nothing about), and that the interview came exclusively because of my role at the Church Council. She then asked, "What are you going to say?"

There are some obvious responses to the idea of polyamory:

Are there other things to consider in relation to polyamory? If you have some suggestions, let me know your thoughts -- by Tuesday, when the cameras roll.

O Bellevue! What Were You Thinking?

2005-08-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

Bellevue's City Council majority looks even more odd this week as the City of Woodinville considers its own tent city ordinance. According to the Seattle Times, a Woodinville City staffer in charge of the ordinance says Woodinville has no intention of following in Bellevue's footsteps by limiting tent cities to 60 days. "'We didn't have a reason to shorten it. Our experience was it functioned well,' [Sturtz] said."

Bellevue's ordinance, supposedly made so restrictive in order to ensure public safety, looks even more strange given Bellevue's latest public release about tent cities. Here's a direct quotation:

Information gathered from other Eastside cities who have hosted Tent City IV over the past year indicates that neighbors are not significantly impacted by any increased crime. Police are called to the encampment to respond to disputes among residents of the encampment or to provide assistance with removing or denying entry to a resident of the encampment. However, the presence of Tent City IV has not led to an increase in crime against the neighborhood or neighbors.

What's left to ask of Bellevue is this: If there's no threat to public safety, what's the reason for restricting the rights of churches to host tent cities?

Remembering Brother Roger

2005-08-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to Fr Mike Ryan at St. James Cathedral for putting together Friday night’s Taize service in memory of Brother Roger Schutz. It’s a sad truth that we often don’t know someone until they’re gone, and that’s the case with Brother Roger. Here are a few things I didn’t know until Friday:

Brother Roger was Protestant
Brother Roger had been at the work at Taize since 1940
Brother Roger and his colleagues had protected Jews during WWII
Brother Roger had started a community, and that Taize is more than a kind of music, it is a place, a community, a movement.

When I was in France in 2001, I drove right past the Taize sign on the tollway through Burgundy. Never again! How many other riches are there in the world that we never know about, because we don’t dig beneath the surface?

Tent City Bids Farewell to Lake Washington UMC

2005-08-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

Lake Washington United Methodist deserves a pat on the back for its selfless and smooth hosting of Tent City 4. The church managed to apply for permits in time, stay out of court, mollify the neighbors, and most importantly, provide a safe home for people in need. The stay at Lake Washington proves that TC4 can be a good neighbor, and that all the hype and hysteria put out by tent city opponents just masks a cold, heartless NIMBYism. Congrats to Rev. Jim Head-Corliss and the Lake Washingtonians.

This TC4 stay, as well as the prior stay in Kirkland, illustrates the folly of Bellevue's city council in approving its unnecessarily restrictive tent city ordinance. What a huge difference from the compassion and hospitality shown by Kirkland's city council. In the end, Bellevue blew it for its taxpayers as well -- having spent $150,000 on legal fees in a futile attempt to keep TC4 away.

Death of Brother Roger

2005-08-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

The death of Brother Roger Schutz of Taize is a very sad moment for the ecumenical community. Taize came to symbolize a common liturgical vocabulary for the church, one that crossed denominational, ethnic, linguistic, and national boundaries.

A favorite mode of contemplation for me over the years has been to listen to a cd of Taize songs
I purchased at the Episcopal Book Store and let the music wash over me until I would feel relaxed and prayerful. The Friday services at St. James have shown me this is so for many others, too. Taize is the one "liturgical" service that Catholic and Protestant can share in without division. I think others, non-Christians, also innately sense the genuineness of the Taize mood and recognize it as true, spiritual worship.

For this we thank Brother Roger. We thank God for the fruitfulness over many years of his ministry. And we wish him God's peace in his eternal life in Christ.

There is a God

2005-08-16T22:49:00.000-07:00

Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Baptist Church ladies' group bake sale in Tuscaloosa, but she forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets she found a dusty old Angel food cake mix in the back of her kitchen cabinet and quickly made it while drying her hair and dressing and helping her son Bryan pack up for Scout camp. But when Alice took the cake from the oven the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured.

She said, "Oh dear, there's no time to bake another cake."

This cake was so important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new church, and in her new community of new friends. So, being inventive and not wanting anyone to think she was not the perfect woman able to handle all things at all times or that, God forbid, she not participate in her church's bazaar, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake.

Alice found it in the bathroom -- a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and then covered it with icing

Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect!

Before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, Alice woke her daughter Amanda and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the minute it opened at 9:30, and to buy that cake and bring it home.

When the daughter arrived at the sale, she found that the attractive perfect cake had already been sold.

Amanda grabbed her cell phone and called her Mom. Alice was horrified...she was beside herself. Everyone would know ...what would they think? Oh, my God she wailed! She would be ostracized, talked about, ridiculed. She would have to move or kill herself! All night Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing their fingers at her and talking about her behind her back.

The next day, Alice promised herself that she would try not to think about the cake and she would attend a fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a friend of a friend and try to have a good time. Alice did not really want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at the fact that Alice was a single parent and not from the founding families of Tuscaloosa, but having already RSVPed she could not think of a believable excuse to stay home.

The the meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust old South.... and to Alice's horror the CAKE in question was presented for dessert.

Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake, she started to get out of her chair to rush into the kitchen to tell her hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said,

"What a beautiful cake!"

Alice who was still stunned and trying to formulate what words she would use to explain the situation, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, "Thank you, I baked it myself."

Alice smiled and thought to herself "There is a God".
(Thanks to my sister Lori, in Honolulu, HI, for sharing this!)

Will the Space Needle Respond?

2005-08-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

The Church Council board, the mayor and the county executive were asked by employees of the Space Needle to help them deal with an employer who seems to want to decrease their pay and benefits. In response, the Council's Executive Committee wrote a July 28 letter to the Space Needle director, Dean Nelson. On August 15, we had still not received a reply. Here's the letter we wrote:

Dear Mr. Nelson,

On behalf of the 418 churches of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, we write to urge speedy progress in negotiations leading to a just and fair contract for your employees at the Space Needle.

As the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider in Seattle and King County, it is increasingly important that your employees earn sufficiently to support their families with good health benefits and with a voice on the job without undue restraint or interference by their employer. In addition to being a nationally-recognized landmark, the Space Needle is located at the Seattle Center, which is a vital public trust. Certainly, you have much to be proud of with your restaurant's listing among the top 50 nationally. At the same time, there is a concommitant responsibility to uphold standards that demonstrate a partnership between employer and employees to enhance not only productivity, but also job security, worker participation, and due process.

Specifically, provisions in your negotiations that recognize the unique situation that immigrants face as they settle into this country are paramount for their continued contribution and participation in society. Also, please restore the basic rights ofunion employees to progressive discipline and just cause. Honoring these provisions would certainly be signs of good faith and help the advance of the negotiations.

We intend to monitor closely the progress of negotiations. If we can be of assistance int he ongoing negotiations, please do not hestitate to contact us through our Social Justice Minister, Michael Ramos, at 206-525-1213.

Sincerely,

Members of the Executive Committee

Church Council of Greater Seattle

Raging Grannies Sing Praises to Social Security

2005-08-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

At noon today I spoke at a rally in Westlake Park about the 70th anniversary of Social Security. Gail and I were talking at dinner last night about how our parents and grandparents all enjoyed the benefits of a secure retirement system, backed by the government. Our great-grandparents and all previous generations weren't so blessed. We quickly forget that for most of human history to be old and without family meant to be living in grinding poverty. Childless widows in the Bible were the object of great compassion by Jesus. Now we take for granted that elders can make do on modest pensions, backed by their own hard work and the government's promise. It's a system that's worth protecting, and any tinkering in Washington should be done only to safeguard it.

The Raging Grannies joined our Social Security 70th Anniversary event at Westlake Park. Here they are, in full regalia, sharing their song: "I've been working toward retirement, all the live long day . . . " We also heard from Mayor Greg Nickles, several from the City Council, and many others. My comments are included below.

Social Security Comments

2005-08-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

The religious community strongly supports Social Security and celebrates this 70th anniversary. Why is this a religious issue? Our faith makes it clear. The Prophet Isaiah wrote, "Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” In the Book of James it’s written, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” Jesus himself said, “Woe to those who devour widows’ house,” and he remembered with great respect, the widow’s gift in the temple of two tiny copper coins.

In the Biblical world and for most of human history an elderly person or a child or a disabled person with no family was certain to be destitute, and grinding poverty was a death sentence. The prophets of the Bible and leaders of the Early Church made it clear that religion was about caring for those who had no one else to care for them.

70 years ago, the USA made a huge step toward fixing the problem of grinding poverty among the elderly, the disabled, and children without families – it established Social Security -- one of the most successful anti-poverty programs in all of human history because of these principles: It was mandatory, it was based on earnings, it was universal, and it was protected for all time against inflation.

Here’s just how successful it has been. In 2004 the combined programs of Social Security provided benefits to 48 million people including retirees, survivors, and eight million people living with disabilities. Survivor benefits supported more than five million children. Without this basic income security, over 50 percent of women and 40 percent of men over age 65 would likely be living in poverty

In April, a group of 16 religious communities met in Washington DC and adopted these statements about how the future of Social Security should be addressed:

continue to reflect the highest moral values of a compassionate society
assure the fulfillment of basic human needs for all participants in times of need
build upon the present structure, assuring equity, fairness, and progressivity
balance revenues and expenditures over time and assure future generations will not be unfairly burdened by this generation's debts
Social Security must remain the third leg of 3-legged stool -- promote private savings and employer-provided pensions -- in addition to Social Security.

The job of a just society is to care for everyone – we pray that

America

will safeguard its Social Security system so that the lives and hopes and futures of Americans will always be preserved.

First Day

2005-08-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

This is the blog's first day, and I'm already wondering what to write. I'm thinking this blog will be a collection of thoughts, musings, rants, and dreams about ecumenical social justice in Seattle. My hope is it'll allow folks a peek into the challenges and joys of the Church Council, and that most of all it'll be fun. My goal is to write something every day (at least M-F).

To start with, I'd like to point to a great event today -- the celebration of Tent City 4's presence at Lake Washington United Methodist Church in Kirkland. Mayor Mary Alyce Burleigh was there, and she deserved all the praise she received about how well Kirkland has handled the challenge of TC4. We all feel the same sense of consternation about Bellevue's approach, and I've been interested to sense real fighting spirit on the Council board's part, on the part of churches who've hosted TC4, and on the part (second hand albeit) of the Temple Bnai Torah folk who'll be hosting TC4 in November.

Nice note today from a local Buddhist leader who proposed some Buddhist/Christian dialogue and joint events. Great idea!