The Rev. Bob Edgar, former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches and CEO of the political advocacy group Common Cause, delivered three separate presentations on the subjects of peace, poverty and the environment during the annual “Keep Making Peace” seminar at Central United Methodist Church in Lansing, Michigan. The April 12 event was jointly sponsored by the Detroit and West Michigan Conference boards of Church and Society.
Speaking behind a pulpit festooned with placards reading “Waging Peace” and “Support the Troops: End the War,” Edgar told the audience of about 200 that “God is calling us to be the leaders we’ve been waiting for.” Claiming that politicians are followers and not leaders, he challenged faithful Christians to personally engage in the political process as peacemakers and work for social justice and non-violent conflict resolution. “Our nation was built on the rule of law,” Edgar said amid a critique of the Bush administration, American action in Iraq and the political influence of wealthy donors and industries, “and it’s time to reclaim it.”
Edgar decried the amount of money in politics in general and the allotment to national defense in particular. He argued that instead of fostering peace and security, exorbitant military expenditures play right into the hands of terrorists. Such a “mentality,” as he described it, “is crafting more terrorists than it is eliminating.” Edgar failed to provide any data in support of his claim.
According to Edgar, if U.S. policy for taking out terrorists “includes bombing capitals,” Oklahoma City should also have been attacked because that is where “Roman Catholic Timothy McVeigh” carried out his act of terrorism. He did not elaborate upon the reason for mentioning McVeigh’s religion.
Later in his address, Edgar declared “We’re at war with Iraq for the oil.”
Utilizing personal anecdotes and experiences from his career as a social activist, minister, Member of Congress, and head of the National Council of Churches (where he said he combated “Fear, fundamentalism, and Fox News”), Edgar explained his vision of what it means to be a peacemaker and how faithful Christian individuals in the United Methodist Church can engage the political system.
As a caveat, Edgar noted that not all bishops and district superintendents within the church would join such intensive political efforts. He had earlier lamented that “our (United Methodist) seminaries” are solid in the teaching of theology, but “often forget real world issues.” Edgar said it is time to “reinvent non-violent civil disobedience” and to “infiltrate the system” politically by learning “how to lobby.”
Quoting the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary (“Have you been to jail for justice?”), Edgar claimed there is a time and place for church leaders to act. In his opinion “waterboarding, preemptive war, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo Bay detention center” were more than enough reasons for Christians to engage in the political system.
Urging direct, personal engagement with state and federal legislators rather than e-mails or letters, Edgar offered suggestions for effective lobbying. He stressed “eye contact”—personally meeting twice a year with one’s representatives to discuss peace and non-violent conflict resolution, as well as issues of poverty and the environment. Citing the often-difficult task of cornering a lawmaker, Edgar humorously suggested playing upon a politician’s vanity by presenting him or her with an award, which would ensure an audience. Edgar wryly advised not allowing the representative to accept the award without having first spoken to him or her about relevant issues.
In addition to such lobbying efforts, Edgar encouraged the assembled audience to become involved in local institutions like public schools. He suggested encouraging high school students to spend time working with the poor, as well as raising money for scholarships. High school seniors should “invade” their own churches, using programs such as Head Start or kindergarten to teach peacemaking skills such as diplomacy and conflict resolution, he said.
Edgar expressed his optimism toward the coming 2008 elections, saying that within the nation there is a “melody playing” counter to the music that President Bush and conservative religious leaders and commentators have composed. Edgar claimed the 2006 congressional elections were “the first step back to the middle” by citizens outraged by the conflict in Iraq and Bush administration policies toward captured terrorists. To Edgar, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Barack Obama are “all on the wave of change” that is cresting even apart from the election, and that it will fall to one of them “to reclaim the moral core of our nation.”
At the outset of his presentation, Edgar engaged the audience (many of whom were United Methodist clergy) on what individual churches are doing to aid the poor within their communities. Food banks, Habitat for Humanity, trips to Appalachia, tutoring programs, and safe havens for the battered and homeless met with Edgar’s approval. Yet he urged that these programs were not enough to place the poor on the national political agenda and that it was time to “change the system. . . . To end the poverty that kills.”
Edgar defined “poverty that kills” as the necessity of mixing food with dirty water, malaria, lack of access to proper vaccinations, and the lamentable state of the health and criminal justice systems in the United States. Citing a claim made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, Edgar argued that federal spending on defense and the military takes away from the poor, saying that if the current defense budget was sliced in half, the United States would still outspend the combined total of all nations on defense.
“Given the politics of the last 20 years,” Edgar said, “it has been difficult to get the poor on the agenda.” He noted that of those who voted in the 2004 election, 97 percent had health insurance and politicians “dance with those who take them to the dance.”
Edgar envisions a role for the church beyond charity and good works. “The faithful majority,” he said, “must go upstream and change the system.” Edgar cited the “Let Justice Roll” campaign, which worked to raise the minimum wage in several states; and the NCC’s Benefit Banks program, which assists low-income citizens with one-stop filing of various applications for federal money—$35 billion of which goes unclaimed. He urged churches to establish similar programs that would assist the poor.
Edgar also revealed his “secret solution” for churches to more effectively fight poverty—fewer meetings. He suggested that social action committees meet, set an agenda and reconvene only when a task is completed. These panels would market their goals to the congregation and community, including those of other faiths. As an example, Edgar suggested embarking upon a 10-year campaign to end poverty in Michigan with success measured in increments. This formula could apply to issues such as health care and a living wage. He also recommended participating in “advocacy days” in Washington, D.C. and the state capital.
Edgar concluded his presentations with a talk about the environment. Claiming that this is “the most unique time in human history,” Edgar said that this generation is the first to have the power to destroy the planet through nuclear war or the slow decline of the environment. Edgar claimed that we are “ten years past the tipping point on global warming,” although he did not cite any statistics or scientific studies to that effect.
In Edgar’s view, the coming election is extremely important because those elected to the United States House, Senate, and presidency will “set the tone for the planet over the next 25 years.” Edgar said that it is imperative that renewable energy be developed to replace American reliance on Mideast oil and so we will “stop saying bad things about Venezuela and other places.”
As for individual churches and the environment, Edgar suggested that members and clergy create “sustainable churches.” He noted that churches could grow a Biblical Garden with plants, fruits, and vegetables mentioned in the Bible and indigenous to the area. Edgar said this would remind people that caring for the Earth is the true message of the Scriptures—the stewardship of the Earth as opposed to its consumption.
Saying that water supplies in the United States and Middle East were drying up, Edgar encouraged churches to hold a “Holy water conference” to teach congregations about “the next big crisis.”
Edgar also urged that churches and individuals demand local industries report and make known what sorts of chemicals are being utilized in factories. He said this job was made more difficult because the Patriot Act eliminated an amendment that Edgar attached to Superfund legislation requiring companies to publicly report on such chemicals to local governments. Edgar said the amendment was eliminated in the Patriot Act so that terrorists would not have knowledge of what sorts of chemicals were in particular factories and industrial areas.
Edgar urged that the United Methodist Church form a stewardship army and act in a militant way to “get serious about caring for Earth.”
No comments yet
