Good News for a Change

Good News, for a Change

From the Executive Director, The Rev. Anne S. Howard

“If that’s Christianity, that’s good news.”

Christianity has not spelled good news in recent years in American public life—that’s why we figured it was high time to ask the question “What does Christianity have to do with social progress?” How can Christianity be not the problem, but rather, part of the solution; a force for justice and peace, not intolerance and violence?

So, The Beatitudes Society brought together two advocates for social change, theologian Marcus Borg and political activist Christine Pelosi, and asked them to engage in a public conversation about the partnership of Christianity and progressive politics. The conversation took place at our February 28 fundraiser “Social Progress: What’s Christianity Got to Do with It?” with a terrific crowd in attendance at San Francisco’s Bay School at the Presidio.

The result was, as our guest quoted above said, good news.

Good things happen, Christine Pelosi showed, when people with differing views can move into new alignments and form unexpected partnerships for the common good. She calls this the “kaleidoscope of politics”. Marcus Borg offered his “emerging paradigm” of a generous Christian faith, grounded in the biblical tradition that encourages public and political action for economic justice and against war.

There’s much more to their conversation of course, and I invite you to join in. You can catch their exchange in full at FORA.tv. Just click HERE to see the video. We’d love for you to watch the video and then drop a comment or ask a question on the Beatitudes Blog about the event. We’ll pass your question along to our speakers and post their responses on the blog.

We hope you enjoy this bit of good news and share the FORA.tv link with your friends.

Or let me know what you think: I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree with our guest, quoted above, whose mind changed after listening to Borg and Pelosi and was surprised to learn that Christianity today can offer some good news. Email me your feedback after watching the video of the Borg-Pelosi conversation: Anne@BeatitudesSociety.org

Our San Francisco gathering was good news for our students too, as we raised the funds needed for our third annual class of Beatitudes Society Summer Fellows! Such good news!

With your generosity, we’ve been able to grow our program from eight students in 2006, to 12 in 2007, to 20 students for Summer 2008. Thank you!! You will hear more about these students and see their faces soon. But for now, here’s a preview of our Summer 2008 class of Beatitudes Society Fellows who will serve as interns at social change organizations in Washington, D.C. the San Francisco Bay Area and, for the first time, Chicago:

Onleilove Alston, Union Theological Seminary
Sojourners, Washington, DC
Brenda Bos, Claremont School of Theology
Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, Chicago, IL
Marc Boswell, Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education
NETWORK, Washington, DC
Richard Burden, Church Divinity School of the Pacific (GTU)
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Oakland, CA
Joseph Burnett, Virginia Theological Seminary
Protestants for the Common Good, Chicago, IL
Sara Carlson, NorthPark Theological Seminary
United Religions Initiative, San Francisco, CA
Joseph Cussen, Weston, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Washington, DC
Antonia DeBoer, Fuller Theological Seminary
Children's Defense Fund, Washington, DC
Frederica Ghesquiere, Yale Divinity School
The Regeneration Project, San Francisco, CA
Neichelle Guidry, Yale Divinity School
First Congregational Church, Berkeley, CA
Ian Hartner, Lutheran Theological at Philadelphia
Jubliee USA, Washington, DC
John Helmstadter, Yale Divinity School
Glide Memorial Church, San Francisco, CA
Brit Holmberg, Garrett School of Theology
Faith in Place, Chicago, IL
Rhonda Jackson, Iliff School of Theology
Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, Chicago, IL
Kristofer Lindh-Payne, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
Interfaith Worker Justice, Chicago, IL
Norma Malfatti, Lutheran Theological at Gettysburg
Bread for the World, Washington, DC
Kathleen McKenzie, McCormick Theological Seminary
Protestants for the Common Good, Chicago, IL
Carson Perez, Yale Divinity School
Children's Defense Fund, Oakland, CA
Stephanie Vogelzang, Yale Divinity School
Faith in Public Life, Washington, DC
Lisa Ward, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
Episcopal Public Policy Network, Washington, DC