The Hsu’s Views

My friend Cari Jenkins informed me about a new book and documentary entitled, “Lord, Save us From Your Followers.” It is a humorous/incendiary documentary that explores the question, “Why is the Gospel of Love dividing America?” Though interviews, “Bumpersticker man”, and confessionals, this documentary can really stir some great conversations.

I’d like to see it. Let me know if you book it. In the meantime, click below to view the preview.

Visit the website for interviews, short clips, and a host of other things associated with the movie.

Hear the author and director Dan Merchant on a Today Show interview.

A short interview (first part) with Brian McLaren on the political scene and how the Christian community should/could engage with the political scene.

What encourages you, and discourages you, about the church and its involvement in the political realm?
My sense is that the religious right has hit its high tide. I think on a whole lot of levels it has been somewhat discredited. But I think the true believers in the religious right will go down with the ship, and I don’t think they’ll be willing to change their thinking no matter what happens. It’s become a sort of ideology that has been absolutized and equated with gospel in their minds. I meet a number of people like this, and I like them but I can’t imagine them changing. No amount of evidence will change them.
My big concern is that with the collapse of the religious right there isn’t a mature and responsible Christian response that will fill the gap in a constructive way.

Read the rest.

Krista Tippett writes about the new monastics and people like Shane Claiborne. You should read the article which describes the politics of this “gathering movement of young people known as the “new monastics.”

More importantly, you should listen to the podcast of her interview with Claiborne. Well worth the effort to hear his journey, and how his political views aren’t Right or Left. I appreciate the posture he takes.

Here is a page on The New Monastics including links to some of Shane’s writing, some music, and other resources.

You HAVE to read Claiborne’s article, “Downward Mobility in an Upscale World.”

A couple of stories were brought to my attention in the last couple of days regarding the shift in politics in Evangelical circles. With the passing of Rev. Jerry Falwell, it has been noted that the “Religious Right” no longer has the monolithic presence in U.S. politics that it once had.

One article from the New York Times entitled, “Emphasis Shifts for New Breed of Evangelicals” talk about how people like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels is paying attention to AIDS, Darfur, and global warming; issues normally left to the Left.

“Mr. Warren, along with Mr. Hybels, 55, and several dozen other evangelical leaders, signed a call to action last year on climate change. The initiative brought together more mainstream conservative Christian leaders with prominent liberal evangelicals, such as the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners and the Rev. Ronald J. Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, who have long championed progressive causes. Notably absent from the list of signatories were several old lions of the Christian right, some of whom were openly critical of the effort: Mr. Falwell; Mr. Robertson, 77; and Mr. Dobson, 71, founder of Focus on the Family.”

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, while not signing the statement on global warming, did express that he thought it was a good direction that younger evangelical leaders were heading.

“What’s happening today is the evangelical movement is growing up,” he said. “The evangelical political conscience today is much more sophisticated than it was in the early ’80’s.”

Look at the whole article. It is insightful.

Similiarly, at MSNBC, read “After Falwell, evangelicals at crossroads.”

And two days ago at The Christian Post.