#social gospel

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Hold Jesus Liable To Arrest As Radical,” Toronto Star. October 20, 1932. Page 3. ---- Could Be Charged With Sedition, Anarchy, Religion and Labor Body Says ---- New Haven, Conn., Oct. 20 - The National Religion and Labor Foundation, organized by leading Jews, Catholics and Protestants to arouse the interest of the church in improving labor’s status, announced in its first bulletin to-day a ‘Reward - for information leading to the apprehension of Jesus Christ.’

Under a pen and ink sketch of Jesus, there appears the following:

‘Wanted - For sedition, criminal anarchy, vagrancy, and conspiring to overthrow the established government.

‘Dresses poorly, said to be a carpenter by trade, ill-nourished, has visionary ideas, associates with common working people, the unemployed, and bums. Alien - believed to be a Jew - alias ‘Prince of Peace,’ ‘Son of Man,’ ‘Light of the World,’ etc. Professional agitator, red beard, marks on hand and feet the result of injuries inflicted by an angry mob led by respectable citizens and legal authorities.’

The bulletin contains a letter from Tom Mooney serving life in San Quentin prison, California, in connection with the 1916 preparedness day bombing in San Francisco, addressed to Professor Jerome Davis of Yale, one of the foundation’s leaders, appealing for financial assistance to enable his defence to investigate the alleged confession of Paul Callicotta of Portland, Ore.

‘We desperately need a reawakening of the flaming social righteousness of the prophets of old,’ says a communication signed by Davis, Bishop Francis J. McConnell, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Edward Israel, Allen K. Chalmers and John A. Lapp.

[AL: The National Religion and Labor Foundation is still around!]

[revpauljbern]

Vast differences of modern dress and fashion and that of the early Church; Social Gospel Worship and Learning Cen...

[1-beautiful-world]

"

The Social Gospel was a Christian movement that emerged in late 19th-century America as a response to the obscene levels of inequality in a rapidly industrializing country. Its adherents took on the exploitation of workers and unethical business practices of robber barons like oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, who, when once asked by a reporter how much money he needed to finally have enough, purportedly said, “Just a bit more.”

The Social Gospel turned religion into a weapon for economic and political reform. 

But the prominence of people like Fain and other leaders who are carrying on the Social Gospel tradition prove that it remains relevant. They also exemplify a future where figures outside of traditional religious organizations — labor leaders, scholars, nontraditional pastors and other spiritual leaders — embody the Social Gospel message.

More Americans now believe that Big Tech monopolies are a growing threat to prosperity; more support a dramatic raise in the federal minimum wage; and more believe that government should help those least able to help themselves — whether it’s young people struggling with staggering student loans or the government sending money directly to families and small businesses impacted by the Covid pandemic. All these shifts in attitudes and policy reflect in part the influence of the Social Gospel."

[thriftdyke]

it really does bother me how no one can seem to answer the question “what even is romantic attraction, really.” like some people are like “it’s who you wanna kiss and cuddle <3” and I’m like ok well kisses and cuddles can be either sexual or platonic depending on context. “It’s who you feel passion/desire/arousal for” well that just sounds like sexual attraction which you can have without even knowing somebody so I fail to see how that’s romantic. “It’s who you want to go on dates with” I go on dates with friends all the time plus “date” is a social construct anyway there’s really no innate difference between a date and hanging out. “it’s who you have deep feelings for” great news for you that can be literally any type of relationship. my friend told me she defined it as “who you wanna give roses to” and I’m like do u hear urself??? like the more I talk to people the more I’m convinced romance and romantic attraction is an elaborate socially fabricated illusion that has no real defining characteristics. and like there’s nothing Wrong with it being a constuct but why people are so attached to defending the supremacy of it is something I cannot for the life of me figure out

[infamousbrad]

"What I don't like at all, in general, is that we look at the so-called 'sin of the flesh' with a magnifying glass," said Francis. "If you exploited workers, if you lied or cheated, it didn't matter, and instead relevant were the sins below the waist."

Last September, the Public Religion Research Institute released a study showing a 40 year uninterrupted downward trend in the percentage of Americans who consider themselves Christian at all, predicting that they will be outnumbered by non-specific theists by some time around 2060, that non-specific theists will be the actual majority of Americans by 2100. With the obvious caveat, "if the 40 year trend continues for the next 75 years."

And as I've said, when I dug into the cross-tabs of that study, the two trends driving it were that Christianity in America has entirely lost its ability to evangelize people raised non-specific theist or otherwise secular (it used to be great at it, it gets worse every year) and that increasing numbers of Christian parents are afraid or ashamed to raise their kids as Christian (used to be universal, has declined every year for 40 years).

I came to the conclusion that, frankly, I should be so lucky. Raised non-specific theist myself, currently Pagan, nothing would thrill me more than to see non-specific theism become the dominant faith in the US, but I think it's far more likely that before we get to that point, there will be a revival of liberal Christianity. Oh, not soon, there's not enough demand for it, but my study of history suggests to me that the theologians already among us are not studying, publishing, and preaching in vain when they call for a return to the principles of ...

Christian modernism: all truth is God's truth, if science or archaeology or history appear to contradict the Bible, it's your interpretation of the Bible that's wrong

ecumenicalism: to minimize conflict within the Body of Christ, the church should stake out no mandatory positions on issues except where the Bible is unambiguous and loud

and the social gospel: Jesus had very little to say about sexual sin, but he was unambiguous and loud saying that if your faith does not prompt you to sacrifice your own wealth or comfort on behalf of the poor, the sick, and the oppressed, your faith is in the wrong Jesus.

The religious right, both in white evangelical churches and in most of northern-hemisphere Catholicism, was formed in reaction to those principles. From the 1930s through the 1970s, right-wing theologians engaged in a decades long campaign to bury and overlook the clear wording of the Scripture, instead stringing together a bunch of out-of-context disconnected sentence fragments to reassure right wingers in general, and wealthy right-wing donors in particular, that God hates all the same people that they do, and loves them for hating those people, and that when science or history contradicts their prejudices, the Bible says they are right and the secular scholars are wrong.

So even though on some level I hope he fails, and northern-hemisphere Catholicism continues to fade away to nearly nothing, the amateur historian and trained theologian in me knows that if the Catholic Church has any hope of staying relevant, it'll listen to Pope Francis when he says things like this (from the article):

"Those American groups of which you speak, so closed, are isolating themselves. And instead of living by doctrine, by the true doctrine that always develops and bears fruit, they live by ideologies," he added. "But when you abandon doctrine in life to replace it with an ideology, you have lost, you have lost as in war." 

During his time in Portugal for World Youth Day — a major festival of Catholic young people that takes place every few years in a different city around the globe — the pope repeatedly preached a message that everyone has a home in the Catholic Church. 

When asked by a Jesuit who works with university students how this applies to gay students who are not living celibately, but are still active in the church, the pope did not demur. 

"The door is open to everyone, everyone has their own space in the church," said Francis. "How will each person live it? We help people live so that they can occupy that place with maturity, and this applies to all kinds of people."

"What I don't like at all, in general, is that we look at the so-called 'sin of the flesh' with a magnifying glass," said Francis. "If you exploited workers, if you lied or cheated, it didn't matter, and instead relevant were the sins below the waist."

(And, it goes without saying, if the curia replaces him with another fascist-adjacent pope when he dies, they'll be writing the church's epitaph.)

[virtualcoach-blog]

The Word and Worldviews with a Social Gospel Lens

So how do we get to the point where holding fast to the calling to follow Jesus gets us persecuted by those who claim to love the Lord with all their hearts?

These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these…

[vickihinze]

Balance by James R. Coggins

I recently came across an online discussion criticizing evangelicals for being focused only on preaching the gospel and winning converts. Instead, those involved in the discussion said that Christians should be focused on social justice issues, feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, and providing housing for the poor. This is one of those occasions when it might be helpful to ask what…

[figurativepieceoftrash]

When people write Yoichi and make him socially competent and cool and effectively flirty it makes my blood boil

Like girl that man had the childhood socialization of a feral raccoon. His only frame of reference for human interaction was fucking. Afo, of all people. until he taught himself read, at which time he decided to model his entire personality and worldview after a cheesy one-dimensional comic book hero in elastic tights. He presumably never attended any form of standardized schooling. I'm willing to bet he's never had a real job. He probably received his first and most formative exposure to the concept of romance from fucking comic books, of all things

Stop making him normal and well adjusted, you are depriving him of what little implied narrative flavor he has been given!!! He is weird!!! He is socially inept!!! He did not know what indoor plumbing was until he was at least twelve!!! He reasonably must've internalized at least some degree of his brother's batshit behaviors and belief system considering that they were literally all he was exposed to during his formative years!!!

Justice for loser freak Yoichi, you'll always be real in my heart 😔

[apenitentialprayer]

Discussions of reforming our criminal justice system demand us to ask philosophical and moral questions. What should be the ultimate goal of sentencing and incarceration? Is it punishment? Rehabilitation? Forgiveness? For Catholics, these questions tie directly to the heart of our faith. Solutions are already beginning to take shape, which include unraveling the War on Drugs, reconsidering mandatory minimum sentencing, and embracing a growing private prison abolition movement that urges us to reconsider the levels at which the United States pursues mass incarceration. No matter where these proposals take us, we should pursue such conversations with an openness to change and an aim to rehabilitate our brothers and sisters wherever possible and wherever necessary. By nature, a society that forgives and rehabilitates its people is a society that forgives and transforms itself. That takes a radical kind of love, a secret of which is given in the Lord's Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And let us not forget the guiding principle of "the least among us" found in Matthew: that we are compelled to care for the hungry, thirsty, homeless, naked, sick, and, yes — the imprisoned.

- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Italics original, bolded emphases added.

[winterprince601]

throughout all of got jon snow is like "life is so unfair!! why is it so cold!!! how come i'm good with a sword AND i can ride a horse and i still have Problems!!" only to hear one (1) reasonable observation about his privilege and ten seconds later be like "ok i've calmed down now. phew. sorry, i was being fifteen"

[jesusislord3333]

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Must Feed Poor Demands of Pastors,” Toronto Star. October 18, 1932. Page 19. ---- Halifax Clergy Pass Strong Resolution to Government --- Halifax, Oct. 18 - A vigorous call for a stand on behalf of the poor was heard by the Halifax Ministerial Association yesterday, who went on record as favoring the use of church property to house the unfortunate; feeding and housing of the destitute was the business of the state, read the resolution. It was asserted at the meeting that the right of free speech should be guarded carefully and ‘no one arbitrarily imprisoned for mere impatient criticism of authority.’

A separate resolution stated that ‘in the opinion of this association the food allowance to the unemployed made by the three powers, Dominion, provincial, and municipal, should be increased at least 50 per cent.’ A committee of four clergymen was selected to place the association’s program before the governmental authorities.

Rev. Professor A. Stanley Walker, King’s College, said: ‘If the churches would go to the government and demand that in the name of humanity the people be fed and clothed, no government could withstand that appeal 24 hours without....

[revpauljbern]

The US War Culture Threatens to Bankrupt the Whole Country if We Don't Intervene to Stop It

The US Government’s War Against Its Own People:A Misdirection of Resources for All the Wrong Reasons (Matthew chapter 5, verses 5, 9) by Rev. Paul J. Bern Check out my author page (Christian nonfiction) at https://www.amazon.com/author/revpauljbern All across America these days, we have several things in turmoil all at once. First, we have rampant discrimination, where women, people of color,…

[windybreeze12]

I SUMMON THE MUSICAL/THEATRE SEGMENT OF THE KLANCE FANDOM

I NEED EVERYONE/ALL MY KLANCE THEATRE MUSICAL HOMIES SCREAMING ABOUT THIS FIC IMMEDIATELY. IMMEDIATELY.

[craigtowens]

Who Looks Good?

This many seem like an obvious question—who exactly am I trying to make look good: me or Jesus?—but a biography in the Gospels caused me to ponder this question in a different way.

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.  https://craigtowens.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/who-looks-good.mp3 The Gospel of John introduces John the baptizer to us like this, “He himself was not the Light; he came only as a witness to the Light” (John 1:8).  John had a similar birth announcement as Jesus had…

[mariliva-mello]

Gostaria de aproveitar esse espaço para abençoar vidas!

Estamos vendo nas redes sociais a catástrofe que aconteceu no Rio Grande do Sul e gostaria de pedir para que você seja um abençoador e ajude com aquilo que puder (pode ser até ração pra pet🐾🐾)!

Que você possa expressar Deus através do seu amor em ações, pois Deus é amor.

Existem inúmero canais e formas de ajudar!

Mesmo que seja com R$2,00 - dentro do seu possível.

Que o Senhor te abençoe!

🙏