BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE by Timothy Wheeler

The post below comes from Timothy Wheeler, a lifelong socialist activist and journalist who grew up on the Left and has continued his commitment and work as a socialist movement elder and teacher. I'm posting this with two groups of people in mind. First, I have many conservative Christian friends who can't see where religious faith or spirituality and the Left might intersect and I hope that this will give them something to consider. This post is also intended for young people and others who are trying to find a place in the Left and who may be looking to the elders for direction.

My father, Donald Niven Wheeler, was an atheist. Yet among the lessons he taught me is that the Christian doctrine of love is a profoundly revolutionary idea.

He was thinking of Saint Paul’s First Epistle to Corinthians, so lovely in its poetic imagery that it sends chills up and down my spine. Think of the power of seeing truth “as through a glass darkly.” It is worth quoting at length: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all knowledge and if I have faith that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

St. Paul continues: “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always perseveres.”

“And now these three remain: Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

It is a contradiction that St. Paul’ sublime vision of universal love was so corrupted by evil empires, starting with the Roman Empire. First the Roman Emperors crucified Christians, including the Apostle Paul. Then Emperor Constantine in 313 A.D. issued the “Edict of Milan” decriminalizing Christianity. From then on, the ruling classes have used Christianity as a weapon of ruthless conquest. Think of the conquistadors who pillaged the New World, murdering hundreds of thousands, driven by an insatiable greed for gold. And following right behind them was the Holy Roman Catholic Church subduing and indoctrinating the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans, as round two of the conquest.

Where was the love in this wholesale genocide?

Yet tens of millions of oppressed people reject the deliberate distortion of the Holy Gospel by the religious demagogues, fake evangelism pouring out a litany of lies.

Among the clearest in exposing these lies is the African American people. They saw in Jesus’ teachings a path to freedom. I think St. Paul, the African American people----and my dad----were right: “Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Caleb Taylor: The Translation Trap: LGBTQ+ Rights Vs. The Christian Right's Bible

Caleb Taylor has written the following in an article that takes on the Christian Right and how the Bible is (mis)interpreted regarding LGBTQIA+ people. The article approaches the thorny matter of Biblical translation and how God's calling and revelations are heard and acting upon. Taylor's essay is short and to the point in the sense that it poses questions and states the socialist case well. Christians who take issue with his points are welcome to p[ost their disagreements in the comments section below.

Caleb Taylor writes:

One of the biggest debates in Christian churches today has to do with full acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in the pews and the pulpits. Not only are denominations poised to split over the treatment and ordination of LGBTQ+ people, there’s even a documentary called 1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture arguing that the English word “homosexual” should not be in the Bible at all. The film made it into Indie Wire’s “DOC NYC 2022: 10 Must-See Films at America’s Biggest Documentary Festival” and has garnered a fair amount of publicity. [Watch the trailer here.]

The argument goes that in 1946 the team working on the Revised Standard Version (RSV) mistranslated the Greek words malakos and arsenokoitēs as “homosexuals.” Malakos typically means something like “soft” and was, at times, used euphemistically. Arsenokoitēs is trickier because it occurs so infrequently with such little context that it is very difficult to pin down its meaning. Still, the translation in the RSV (specifically in regard to 1 Corinthians 6:9) was passed on to most biblical translations produced in the following years.

Those working on the RSV, however, were not the creators of anti-homosexual bias. Criminalization of homosexual sexual activity goes back to at least the 1500’s as the Human Dignity Trust succinctly depicts. And, that is just in English law. Sodomy Acts criminalizing homosexuality were well established long before the 1946 RSV translation. Moreover, “sodomy,” the word from which the Acts derive their name, comes from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which alludes to sexual abuse but has been used by traditionalists to condemn homosexuality. Thus, even if the word “homosexuality” did not appear in English translations of the Bible before 1946, the powerful did not need it to oppress LGBTQ+ people.

Translation is important, but using the correct words will not fix the “problem.” Nor will correcting a few words deter the will of the powerful who benefit from the suppression of LGBTQ+ people. There is the text, and then there are the communities that utilize the text. The group gives meaning to the text, and as long as the power structure of the group is built for suppression, it doesn’t matter what the original writers meant. Dismantling the power structure must take priority; otherwise, we’re doomed to the fate the Anabaptists suffered during the Reformation.

Please read the entire article here.

A meditation/reflection by Carl Davidson

MANY THINGS DON’T BOTHER ME MUCH, BUT A FEW THINGS BOTHER ME A LOT. One is how our minds work, especially about what we think we know, mainly the memories and lessons we draw on when we are faced with choices and problems. Some are rules we believe workable. But most of us most of the time, and all of us some of the time, rely on NARRATIVE, OR STORIES, some told to us yesterday, some we overheard, many more that we recall from our memories, both of things we directly experienced or indirectly heard or read about.

Our minds are full of bundles of stories. When we confide in friends about our troubles or our victories, we start with telling stories. I’ve given thousands of speeches, and by far the best way to give a speech is to start with a story about yourself. (You don’t usually forget these, so you get rolling comfortably). Then you connect that story to other stories about the topic at hand, and so on. Audiences like stories more so than a string of propositions or a list of facts. So make sure you put these facts and propositions into your stories.

But here’s the hard nut to crack. What if our stories are fully imaginary and have little to do with the real world? In fact, a few philosophers today tell us there is no ‘real’ world,’ that we only have our ‘lifeworlds’ that are comprised of our stories, and who is to say one lifeworld is superior to another? Wouldn’t that be tyrannical? (These people are called ‘postmodernists,’ and they posit a ‘post-truth world’, so now you have a decent idea of what these $10 words mean.)

Why is this a problem? Because it leaves your mind open to narratives and stories that make you feel good, that confirm what you and those close to you like to hear about yourselves, your family, your friends, your fellow church members, your country. But it also allows leaving you open to anger and outrage over undermining stories that make you uncomfortable, and these thus become lies and ‘fake news.’ iT LEAVES YOU OPEN TO FASCISM.

The truth will make us free, Scripture tells us. But I’m also reminded of Jack Nicolson’s movie outburst, ‘The truth? You can’t handle the truth!’

There is a real world, a multilayered universe of inorganic, organic, social and intellectual values that operate by laws and rules. Here I’m affirming a social reality, and we can find it, but sometimes the means of finding it are uncomfortable, even painful. I’m not a postmodernist, but a dialectical guy, asking pointed questions like Socrates did. If it stings a bit, good. That means you’ll remember it.
One tool I use these days is to ask some disgruntled people what seems a simple question, ‘Who is your neighbor?’ A few will immediately mention family or people on their block, but they quickly realize it’s far from a simple question.

It’s a profound one, and like Jack Nicholson said in the movie, many people can’t handle it. They know where it’s coming from. They’ve heard it for years. It’s the question a snarky lawyer tossed at Jesus to trip Him up. Jesus answers with a story too, a story about a Samaritan, a group of people despised by Jews back then. It’s perhaps the deepest story in the entire New Testament, one that applies to all faiths and people of no faith, well worth reading again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Good_Samaritan

Where Our Dedication To Social Change Comes From

Stubborn beauty:

The need to investigate and understand the conditions that people live under and work with
every day without prejudice:

The understanding that we are called to freedom and that the tasks of liberation commit us to a long road and a message and work of salvation:

The knowledge that the solidarity of the oppressed, the poor, the working-class, and those who suffer under the present systems of oppression is faith in action and is necessary to all of us becoming our authentic and best selves. From solidarity, authenticity, transformation and repentance, and removing the systems of oppression enemies become cooperators and justice rules:

The knowledge that were fallible, that we need to study and work together, that we need to approach one another and the tasks of liberation with humility and purpose:

That we must speak honestly from our lived experiences and listen to others without interrupted or imposing ourselves and that whatever silences the oppressed is sinful. Compassion and solidarity are our ends and our means:

That if we believe in Christ's resurrection then we must believe in the resurrection of the oppressed and the triumph of a system of life (God's Kin-dom) over a system of death and the idolatry of putting profits and war over people and creation:  

Because we have a great cloud of witnesses urging us forward:

Because we are challenged to live better and more authentic lives and we can't do that by ourselves. We find ourselves in others and through others and we come to see the image of God in others through solidarity, humility, failures and the resolve to do better, taking action and winning, introspection and communal examination and worship, and starting over every day with what we have learned and alongside those who we are traveling with:

  

Important connections & resources from religioussocialism.org

Poor People's Campaign Tour and March on Washington

The Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly has embarked on its Mobilization Tour, making at least ten stops nationwide to do MORE: Mobilize, Organize, Register, and Educate people for a movement that votes. All leading to the historic Assembly and March on Washington on June 18, 2022. Check here for virtual tour dates! Also, if you're planning to be in DC for the march, let us know at religioussocialism@dsacommittees.org so that we can meet up!

Webinars to Watch

Religion & the Left Series #2: The Individual, the Collective & the Common Good ICYMI: The livestream recording of the April 26th Religion & the Left series panel features the perspectives of several religious traditions followed by Q&A. Also, view the recording of the first discussion in the series asking, "What can religious traditions bring to the Left?" Dharma and Justice Dialogues Watch Union Theological Seminary's final Dharma and Justice Dialogues of the Spring semester recorded on April 11, featuring Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad and Dr. Toni Pressley-Sanon as they discuss Dr. Vesely-Flad's newly released publication, Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation. Ending Ageism Watch the April 5th "Ending Ageism" webinar, featuring Margaret Morganroth Gullette, author of Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People; Susan Chacin, long-term feminist activist; and Paul Garver, retired labor leader and a co-convener of the RS Buddhist Group. King and Breaking the Silence View the recording of the “King and Breaking the Silence” virtual gathering on April 4. We came together to listen to Rev. Dr. King’s 1967 speech and reflections on it from current activists because we believe it offers a vision and a bridge upon which to continue to build the intergenerational and intersectional movements we desperately need in order to achieve the revolution of values Dr. King called for.

Further Discussion

At religioussocialism.org, we regularly publish original articles and lift up pieces connected to our work. Check us out on Twitter or Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Also follow our podcast, Heart of a Heartless World, available on SoundCloud and iTunes. Unitarian Universalists! If you'd like to get involved with the new UU faith-based subgroup, Unitarian Universalists of the DSA, contact uureligioussocialists@gmail.com. We're just getting started, expect more in the fUtUre! Watch Professor Richard D. Wolff interview Professor Joerg Rieger on Christian Socialism on the March 28th episode of Democracy at Work (starts at approximately 15:00 in). Also, watch Rieger speak about deep solidarity at last year's DSA Religion & Socialism Working Group conference on "Building the Religious Left." Dr. Maha Hilal, author of Innocent Until Proven Muslim, shared this dua'a on Eid al-Fitr from Muslim Counterpublics Lab, a radical discursive space focused on combatting systems of oppression rooted in Islamophobia through advocacy, writing, and more. In Democratic Left, co-convener of the RS Buddhist Group Ty Kiatathikom writes "Please Don’t Forget About Afghanistan." If you’re not yet a member, join DSA!

Eugene Debs, Socialism Today, And Faith & Activism

Eugene Debs (1855-1926) was one of the great leaders of the socialist movement in the United States. His influence and example can still be felt on the left in the U.S.

Debs was one of those who did not subscribe to a particular religious faith for most of his adult life but who lived out the Gospels and a humanist way of going through life. He was a labor leader, a prolific writer, a gifted public speaker who was much in demand, a leader of the Socialist Party, and a Presidential candidate. He won almost one million votes when he ran for President in 1920---and he was campaigning, if we can call it that, from his prison cell in Atlanta where he was being held under political charges stemming from his opposition to the First World War.

You can learn more about Eugene Debs here.  

The largest socialist organization in the United States is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Go here to learn about and contact DSA. DSA's Religion and Socialism Working Group is here.

Please read the demands below. Many of them are still relevant. There is nothing there that contradicts or opposes true faith and religion. We say here on this blog that these demands, and the demands raised by the socialist and labor movements today, reflect a true and living faith and fulfill religious covenants and promises.     

Bernie Sanders on the relevancy of Eugene Debs, hope, and solidarity.

On mountains, journeys, God, and changing the world.

We take mountains to be challenges and as places of power, but we also sometimes take them to be holy or wondrous and mythical places. Below are two thoughts on mountains, journeys, God, and changing the world.

Chairman Mao said: 

There is an ancient Chinese fable called "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains". It tells of an old man who lived in northern China long, long ago and was known as the Foolish Old Man of North Mountain. His house faced south and beyond his doorway stood the two great peaks, Taihang and Wangwu, obstructing the way. He called his sons, and hoe in hand they began to dig up these mountains with great determination. Another graybeard, known as the Wise Old Man, saw them and said derisively, "How silly of you to do this! It is quite impossible for you few to dig up those two huge mountains." The Foolish Old Man replied, "When I die, my sons will carry on; when they die, there will be my grandsons, and then their sons and grandsons, and so on to infinity. High as they are, the mountains cannot grow any higher and with every bit we dig, they will be that much lower. Why can't we clear them away?" Having refuted the Wise Old Man's wrong view, he went on digging every day, unshaken in his conviction. God was moved by this, and he sent down two angels, who carried the mountains away on their backs. Today, two big mountains lie like a dead weight on the Chinese people. One is imperialism, the other is feudalism. The Chinese Communist Party has long made up its mind to dig them up. We must persevere and work unceasingly, and we, too, will touch God's heart. Our God is none other than the masses of the Chinese people. If they stand up and dig together with us, why can't these two mountains be cleared away?

  
 

 

Democratic Socialists Religion & Socialism Presentation

Please join the DSA Religion & Socialism Working Group on Tuesday, April 26th for the new Religion & the Left Series: "The Individual, the Collective & the Common Good"

This will be an interfaith event featuring Rabbi Robin Podolsky, Dr. James Mark Shields, and Rashad X who will be discussing:

How do we balance nonconformity and individual morality against the perils of capitalist individualism?
What is the relationship between the individual and the collective?
How can religion help build solidarity in pursuit of a greater common good?

There will be plenty of time for Q&A and open discussion in the second half of the event.