Martin Marty says it;
http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/04/historian_martin_marty_says_sa.html
Historian Martin Marty, delivering a series of lectures at Samford University, said Tuesday that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and others have oversimplified and misrepresented the religious beliefs of the nation's founding fathers.
Delegates to the Constitutional Convention did not want government to favor Christianity, he said.
"They did not set out to have a Christian nation," Marty said Tuesday at Reid Chapel in the first of several lectures sponsored by the Baptist Joint Committee. "It would have been very easy to set that out."
Marty will conclude the Shurden lecture series today at 10:30 a.m. in Hodges Chapel at the Beeson Divinity School at Samford.
He said Tuesday that George Washington, a churchgoing Episcopalian who never took communion, used at least 28 different terms for God in his writings. He made every effort to be inclusive and nonsectarian, referring to the deity with words such as Providence, Heaven and Benevolent One. "They were looking for a language that would enlarge the context," Marty said.
Nine of the 13 colonies had established churches, either Anglican or Congregationalist, and the founders wanted to avoid establishing religion for the nation while being tolerant of differing religious beliefs, Marty said.
Marty, author of "Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America" and numerous other books, said in an interview that the founders have been distorted for political purposes.
"It's not honest," Marty said. "They say pluralism is our problem. Pluralism is our common story."
Clearly, the founders touted a virtuous citizenry and believed religion helped serve that purpose, he said.
"They cared about virtue, and they believed religion was backing that," Marty said.
But they also feared the tyranny of a government-backed clergy class, he said. Religion in America has thrived precisely because it was not backed or funded by government, he said.
U.S. religious expression has relied on the power of persuasion and evangelism, unlike in Europe, where state churches relied on funding from government to survive. The state churches of Europe declined and are moribund because they do not appeal to or serve the public well, Marty said.
"It's harmful for churches and other religious institutions to be privileged," he told Samford students. "We're much better off with protection and freedom."
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
something to post
My apologies for the lack of blog entries. I copy notes more often at the Park church facebook fan page. I can give you this advance copy of what I will put in the church newsletter for May:
Remember those coloring contests where it seems like the winners were the ones who never colored across the lines? I wanted to be that kind of a good "colorer."
Later on, I learned that art wasn't about just painting by number or filling in someone else's lines. Sometimes you need to work with blank paper or embellish and design beyond the printed lines. I am still trying to learn that lesson. My life has been mostly about staying within the lines. I am not that big on rule breaking and I know about the importance of healthy boundaries. But that simply doesn't get to the art of faithful living.
Mike Yaconelli wrote a good lesson for me in his book, Dangerous Wonder :
"Most of my life I heard the message loud and clear that Christianity was all about coloring within the lines and coloring well. If I was a good Christian, if I loved Jesus and wanted to please Him, if I read my Bible, prayed, and went to church, then I would get better and better at coloring. And if I lived a long and godly life, I would eventually be able to draw close to the perfect drawing. Wherever that message came from, it was a lie. I am fifty-five years old and my coloring still looks like it was done by a two year old. I believe God looks at my coloring and says, “Hmmmmm. You certainly like the color green! Lots of passion in this stroke. I like it.”
Even as I write those words, I can hear the “concern” of those who worry about others misunderstanding the gospel. “You’re not suggesting, are you, that nothing matters to God? Certainly, God has standards!” What I am suggesting is that God’s grace is so outside the lines of our understanding that we can only stand in awe and wonder. Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring. The grace of God is preposterous enough to accept as beautiful a coloring that anyone else would reject as ugly"
I think this coloring analogy describes God in some other ways as well. God , too has been showing us the way to be creative in the art of soul work and True Life. Eventually we have to get beyond just coloring between the lines. God has given a Bible full of illustrations and examples.
When it came to the line between heaven and earth; Jesus was God's way of coloring across the line! Our Gospel is that the line between us and God, has been colored over with forgiveness. Jesus was always coloring across religious and social lines when he ate with "tax collectors and sinners" There were people in his days who didn't like the way he did his coloring. That's probably still true. The resurrection of Christ, is all about God coloring across the heavy lines of death. St. Paul says that "in Christ there is neither slave nor free; Jew nor Gentile, male nor female". Sound s like coloring across the lines to me! God colors outside the lines with grace. John Wesley too, even with his strict "method's” was a person who colored outside the lines when he preached outdoors and went to the people who were not inside the lines of the church's doors.
Pentecost is on May 23 and it is a great story about God not staying in the lines. The Holy Spirit will blow across the boundaries of language , culture and nations. God will color all over the world! Can we see it as the coloring work of love! We still need to get out the color crayons and let God teach us how to be creative again. We are repeatedly hearing that we need to do more coloring outside of the church, Can we color across the lines with new ways of doing business, trying different things in worship, being more inviting to others, and learning new things?
Pentecost teaches us to get out the color" red", for spirit, and fire and enthusiasm and courage, and reach out across the lines. Color with the power of wild wind! Art, like Christianity, is about being inspired, beyond the lines That's Pentecost. Let's go and do some coloring, with joy! Pastor Rory
Remember those coloring contests where it seems like the winners were the ones who never colored across the lines? I wanted to be that kind of a good "colorer."
Later on, I learned that art wasn't about just painting by number or filling in someone else's lines. Sometimes you need to work with blank paper or embellish and design beyond the printed lines. I am still trying to learn that lesson. My life has been mostly about staying within the lines. I am not that big on rule breaking and I know about the importance of healthy boundaries. But that simply doesn't get to the art of faithful living.
Mike Yaconelli wrote a good lesson for me in his book, Dangerous Wonder :
"Most of my life I heard the message loud and clear that Christianity was all about coloring within the lines and coloring well. If I was a good Christian, if I loved Jesus and wanted to please Him, if I read my Bible, prayed, and went to church, then I would get better and better at coloring. And if I lived a long and godly life, I would eventually be able to draw close to the perfect drawing. Wherever that message came from, it was a lie. I am fifty-five years old and my coloring still looks like it was done by a two year old. I believe God looks at my coloring and says, “Hmmmmm. You certainly like the color green! Lots of passion in this stroke. I like it.”
Even as I write those words, I can hear the “concern” of those who worry about others misunderstanding the gospel. “You’re not suggesting, are you, that nothing matters to God? Certainly, God has standards!” What I am suggesting is that God’s grace is so outside the lines of our understanding that we can only stand in awe and wonder. Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring. The grace of God is preposterous enough to accept as beautiful a coloring that anyone else would reject as ugly"
I think this coloring analogy describes God in some other ways as well. God , too has been showing us the way to be creative in the art of soul work and True Life. Eventually we have to get beyond just coloring between the lines. God has given a Bible full of illustrations and examples.
When it came to the line between heaven and earth; Jesus was God's way of coloring across the line! Our Gospel is that the line between us and God, has been colored over with forgiveness. Jesus was always coloring across religious and social lines when he ate with "tax collectors and sinners" There were people in his days who didn't like the way he did his coloring. That's probably still true. The resurrection of Christ, is all about God coloring across the heavy lines of death. St. Paul says that "in Christ there is neither slave nor free; Jew nor Gentile, male nor female". Sound s like coloring across the lines to me! God colors outside the lines with grace. John Wesley too, even with his strict "method's” was a person who colored outside the lines when he preached outdoors and went to the people who were not inside the lines of the church's doors.
Pentecost is on May 23 and it is a great story about God not staying in the lines. The Holy Spirit will blow across the boundaries of language , culture and nations. God will color all over the world! Can we see it as the coloring work of love! We still need to get out the color crayons and let God teach us how to be creative again. We are repeatedly hearing that we need to do more coloring outside of the church, Can we color across the lines with new ways of doing business, trying different things in worship, being more inviting to others, and learning new things?
Pentecost teaches us to get out the color" red", for spirit, and fire and enthusiasm and courage, and reach out across the lines. Color with the power of wild wind! Art, like Christianity, is about being inspired, beyond the lines That's Pentecost. Let's go and do some coloring, with joy! Pastor Rory
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