A Response to Judson Phillips Founder of the Tea Party Nation

A blog post by Judson Phillips, founder of the Tea Party Nation and Nashville DUI attorney, is stirring some controversy amongst United Methodists. Assumedly, Mr. Phillips walked by the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society building in Washington DC and saw a sign that read "Pass the DREAM Act." The DREAM Act would give the children of illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship through college or military service and is opposed by conservatives. Mr. Phillips's response was "I have a DREAM. That is, no more United Methodist Church." He goes on to say that the UMC is the "church of Karl Marx," which is funny because Marx was an avowed atheist, and that the Methodist church is "little more than the 'religious' arm of socialism." It seems whenever a conservatives sees something they don't like it is automatically socialist. He also decries the UMC because Hillary Clinton is a member in good standing. Mr. Phillips obviously forgot that George W and Laura Bush as well as Dick Cheney are good members in standing of the UMC.

I am not going engage Mr.Phillips on his ignorance of the United Methodist Church or his blatant over-generalization of all the members of the UMC as people who hate American. As an aside, I dare you sir to step into my church on Sunday morning and tell our veterans they hate America. Nor will I debate Mr. Phillips's stance on the DREAM Act or any other legislation. I will only ask Mr. Phillips why HE hates America and democracy? I only make that assumption because Mr. Phillips seems to dislike the way a democratic government works, that is debating and discussing the issues of the day instead of condemning an entire denomination because of one sign outside one building. Also, he obviously does not care for the First Amendment that guarantees freedom of religion and expression. I think Mr. Phillips would much prefer a theocratic dictatorship where only his views on government and God are allowed. His vast over-generalization of the UMC as a whole would be laughable if it were not so sad and pathetic. Mr. Phillips wants to hate 8 million Americans who belong to a denomination because of one sign outside one building in that denomination.

Mr. Phillips is exactly what is wrong with America, not because he is a Conservative or a TEA Party member, but because his first reaction to a sign with a differing opinion than is own is condemnation and hatred. He does not want to enter into a discussion or debate. In his blog, he does not even attempt to explain why he is right. He just condemns those who disagree with his extreme point of view. This sort of attitude is not limited to conservatives or Tea Partiers, but has become more prevalent in political and theological debate and discussion with both conservatives and liberals. We can all learn a lesson from Mr. Phillips. His reaction will not cause people to leave the United Methodist Church, but it will damage his own credibility, what little they had to begin with, as a political figure and the credibility of his group.

The United Methodist Church in the United States is a cross-section of America. We have liberals and conservatives and we disagree on a lot of things and there are many within the denomination who disagree with the stances taken by the General Board of Church and Society. However, we also feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide nets that stop the spread of malaria, we dig clean water wells in Africa, we educate children, we save lives, and we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. For Judson Phillips to condemn the United Methodist Church wholesale for one sign on one building is not only unChristian, but unAmerican.

But I will pray for you Mr. Phillips. I will pray that the love and grace of God, who I and the UMC serve, will touch your heart and that you see the error of your ways not because I disagree with you, but because you persecute me because of that disagreement.

The Devil in Us All

More people than not have heard the comments made by Pat Robertson that Haiti was receiving Divine retribution for a Satanic covenant made centuries ago. This is not the first time Robertson has attributed natural or man-made disasters to God's wrath. He and Jerry Falwell agreed that 9/11 was due to "abortionists" and the "gays". He claimed that the tsunami in 2004 was due to the Muslim influence in the area. Finally, he claimed that the suffering of Hurricane Katrina was due to the sinful nature of New Orleans, although the "sinful" French Quarter was mostly untouched and it was the poverty stricken 9th Ward that received the brunt of the devastation.

This pseudo-theodicy is nothing new. It seems that every time a major disaster hits someone is there blaming it on God's wrath or a curse by Satan. (It is funny that their god and their Satan do the same work.) Is extreme poverty, starvation, and death a result of God's anger or Satanic involvement? No, of course not. It was a perfect storm of natural phenomenon, population density, and extreme poverty. It is not the Devil himself, but in a lot of ways it is the devil within us all. It is the demon of selfishness and greed. It is the demon of oppression first by nations seeking riches and colonies and no by corporations seeking cheap labor and resources. It is the demon of looking the other way until it is on every news channel, newspaper, and website. We have ignored, for a large part, the extreme poverty that is 600 miles from our front door. We have ignored the people who are forced to buy cakes made with salt and mud in order to fill their distended bellies.

My prayer is that our new-found concern for Haiti does not end when CNN finds a new lead story. I hope that we realize that this could happen multiple times over in many other places. There are powder kegs of poverty all over the world just waiting for a spark. What is the solution? I really don't know. For know the best thing we can do is pray and send some money to those who can best use it to help the people in need. The United Methodist Committee on Relief was on the ground before this hit (several of those workers are still unaccounted for) and will be there for years after. Please pray for these people, donate what you can, and when you hear someone trying to blame God for this mess, give them a loving correction and let's work together to make sure this never happens again.

A Number's Game?

Somewhere on the blogosphere (forgive me for not giving full credit I could not find the original post) I came across this website for the North Alabama Conference of the UMC. This "dashboard" as they call it gives weekly updates for attendance, baptisms, professions of faith, total membership, and apportionments paid. Participating churches, I do not know if participation is mandatory, plug in number weekly and the corresponding measurement device responds accordingly. Also, if a church does particularly well or poorly they are placed on a kind of honor roll or delinquency list. I watched the instructional video on the website and the narrator claimed that this is a tool to measure the life of a church, district, and the conference as a whole.

My first question is this, can we judge the life of a church, district, or conference only by statistics, which is the only thing displayed on this website? My answer is an emphatic no. Larger churches in larger cities are by their very nature going to bring in more members, attendance, baptisms, etc, of course the inverse is also true. Numbers do not tell the whole story. Numbers do not tell of the love that is in a community. Numbers do not tell of the number of hours spent helping those in need. Numbers do not tell of the importance of a local church to a community.

That is not to say that numbers are not helpful and that a website like this does not provide some motivation for growth. However, the Church should not be just about numbers, but is seems more and more like numbers are all that count. At charge conferences and year-end reports the statistics are very important, maybe too important. We spend too much time treating the Church like a business where the only thing that counts is the bottom line. This is unhealthy and in a lot of ways unfair. The small churches will always be at a disadvantage. Growth is vital because a church that does not grow is dying, but judging a church strictly by the numbers does not tell the whole story.

All that being said, I am looking at this as an casual observer without any direct knowledge of why this system was implemented. I do not want to make absolute claims without all the facts. This is my opinion from my limited view.

Thoughts on the Tennessee Annual Conference

A few things struck me today during Annual Conference. One was the lack of understanding of UMC polity by laity and clergy alike. I think there are two reasons for this. One very few people, especially laity, take the time to learn the basic concepts of UMC polity. I am not saying that lay persons should be fluent in every aspect, but if you are going to make the commitment to be a delegate to AC then you should have a working knowledge of UMC polity. The lack of understanding leads at best to confusion and at worst to manipulation by those who DO understand the polity.

Secondly, I was pleased at the Christian manner of the debate and discussion on these amendments. There were passionate arguments for and against each one, but everyone was respectful. I don't know what the results were and think they may remain confident until all ACs have a chance to vote.

Finally, I am impressed that we are running, as of this afternoon, on schedule. (I might have just jinxed the whole thing.) Everyone has been on the ball with the reports and very concise and direct. If we could only do this every year.