A Question, An Answer, and More Questions
I received an email about an hour ago from Micah Sifry, who is a bit of a mentor to me in this writing stuff. He asked me if I had any thoughts about the God Blog Convention that has just wrapped up at Biola University. Apparently there is some buzz going on that it was mostly a Conservative Christian love-fest and that the result may be of actual benefit to the Republican Party.
Considering that the Hugh Hewitt was one of the featured speakers - and not a whisper from Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Lauren Winner, or even Cornel West - I'd say the buzz is right on target. Considering it was at Biola - which is a good school, but still very conservative (think Bob Jones without the racism) - I'd say the buzz is right on target. Considering I didn't see a single liberal Christian listed on their speakers page - I'd say the buzz is right on target.
Which presents a problem for me. You see, I've stepped out and made a couple of statements that basically say, "If you want to see it happen, then you better be working on it - anything less is just whining." That means I either need to stop whining or start working (okay, maybe working a bit harder, or with more vision, or maybe just differently).
The crux of the matter is this: Christian Liberals are ignored. We become apologists at church and we become slinking, silent liberals at the polls. How many people are willing to actually change that? I simply can't come to my political decisions without the aid of my faith. I know that there are many more out there like me. So how long do we remain in the shadows?
Jesus said that no man lights a candle to hide it under a basket. We have the opportunity to become the bright and shining beacon of hope for American politics. It should be obvious to everyone by now that the continued dueling monologues between the religious right and the secular left are getting us nowhere. Christian Liberals are in a position to be a bridge between the two camps. If it proves impossible to be a bridge (and it is likely that it will be on some issues), then we can at least provide a counter-balance where the rhetoric of the Christian right gets filtered for the ears of the secular left and vice versa.
So, how about it Christian liberals and moderates? Are you willing to remain on the sidelines while our country is destroyed around us? Would you be willing to give up a weekend to make extended contacts with other Christian liberal and moderate bloggers? Would your church or university be interested in hosting such an event or offering scholarship money for those who want to attend but can't afford it? Would you pull a hundred dollars out of your own account to help? Do you have a better clue than I do about what is really needed to pull this off?
Or, do you need to spend a few more years in the belly of the whale?
- Xpatriated Texan's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Asking Xpat to give us a call
Xpat, Quick follow up to this exchange-
First and foremost, thank you for your call to action!
Per Jo's post we have been trying to do something about it through CrossLeft and were at our own conference that week-end but it is obvious that we need to do much more. Let's talk about how you might want to work with us to make it happen.
I'd like to request that you give us a call so we can talk further about next steps and how you might be able to partner with CrossLeft to help propel what you are speaking to.
Please send us an e-mail at info@crossleft.net so we can exchange numbers and set up a time to talk. Txs!
GodBlogCon -- More answers, more questions
Xpat,
nobody cares more than the folks here, so i'm glad you brought this up.
a couple of answers.
1) where were the liberal christians that weekend? we were at our own conference -- the Values Conf at the National Cathedral in DC. Along with Jim Wallis, Senator Danforth, E. J. Dionne, SaltyVicar, SusanLaughed, PunkMonk, IamaChristianToo, Larry James, the Christian Alliance, CrossWalk, CrossLeft, etc. We posted up and down the liberal Christian blogs about our event. I'd seen wind of GodBlogCon in advance, but not on the liberal Christian blogs.
It seems as if, once again, the Religious Right claimed to speak for all Christians, and then didn't invite half the church. We weren't invited, so yes, we did have our own party.
1.5) You didn't hear about the Values Conference? Alas, liberal Christians suck at two things:
a - talking to the media
b - talking to each other.
we did our best. We wrote press releases and tried to get newspapers to write about us. we'd never thrown a conference before. we got no press.
we also tried to publicize around the internet. i personally wrote about 100 liberal Christian bloggers asking them to post about the conference. maybe 10 did. liberal Christians suck at networking. the right is very good at playing together nicely. we have to change this if we want to get anything done.
collaboration/suggestions are welcome.
2) Future events for liberal Christians and the internet: yes, we need them. We started having discussions about this at the Values Conference. We're looking forward to a leadership event this winter, in San Francisco, based on using networks to connect to each other more efficiently (the root of the communication problem you describe). We're also looking forward to throwing another Values Conference next year. We'd love your help and participation in both. There's an open forum in the forums section about planning ahead, asking those who are interested in working together to make themselves known.
But even more, we'd love your help connecting to others. The liberal Christian buzz online is pretty bad about sharing events and information -- one reason CrossLeft was set up as a clearing house (notice our events bar on the right). The more folks we have checking in here and sharing events and helping us plan, the better.
Personally, I'm giving up a lot more than a weekend to make sure that liberal Christians do something with each other. I'm sick to death of the belly of the whale.
I spend a lot of time cross-posting suggestions that we work together here, at StreetProphets, on Tribe, on Livejournal... it's taking a lot of time and i'm not getting much of anywhere. Suggestions, XPat?
3) money/scholarships -- the Beatitudes Society is setting up a Federalist Society of progressive Christian undergrads and seminarians. They were at the Values Conference with about a dozen kids they'd given scholarships to. Pretty inspiring stuff. We're asking them to play with us for the future events.