Two subjects that will not go away have been much in the news yesterday and today. I will address them in separate posts (see below).

Today’s news included the announcement from the White House that federal budget deficits over the next decade will be even higher than previously anticipated. The White House estimates a $9 trillion dollar deficit for the decade 2010–2019. Congressional estimates are lower, but still staggering placing the estimated deficit at $7.14 trillion.

These estimates are based on a huge number of assumptions about spending, economic growth, tax rates and a host of other factors. Change the underlying assumptions and the estimated deficit will be larger or smaller. No one knows with certainty. We can be sure that circumstances will change and that the estimates will not be all that reliable.

Numbers like this quickly become fodder for political finger pointing. Republicans will point to the economic stimulus package as the villain. Democrats will remind everyone that the largest deficits in our nation’s history were run up in the Reagan and GW Bush years. There will be some truth in both accusations, but mostly they are attempts to grab political advantage rather than thoughtful efforts to analyze the issue. People who’s primary vantage point is religious will not succumb to either party’s efforts to advance itself at the expense of the other.

Rather, it is time for everyone to stop the blame game which has the underlying motive of political competitive advantage and to seek to honestly look at our situation and to apply values that are more important than party rivalry.

At the very least, people of faith should be calling for honesty in analysis. The truth is that we have what is called a structural deficit. That is, even with full employment and full tax revenues, federal spending is greater than income. But solving the problem will take much more than making loud noises about cutting spending. Nor will “cutting out waste” make a significant dent in the deficit. The truth is that if we are to have a government of the people, we have to pay attention to what people want their government to do.

The health care debate is a good case in point. Overall, sixteen to seventeen percent of our Gross National Product is spent on health care. This is far more than any other economically advanced country. While a majority of this money is spent in the private sector, Medicare and Medicaid are government programs that are very expensive. Yet, I do not know a single person over 65 who wants to give up Medicare. For all the loud voices making noise about “socialized medicine,” Medicare works well, people like it and are not going to give it up. Getting overall spending on health care into a more sustainable range for the whole economy will play an important role in addressing the federal budget deficit.

The other spending area we must take a calm look at is military spending. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed significantly to the GWB era deficits and those costs are still with us. American military spending is the largest in the world and is larger, in fact, that the combined spending of the next nine countries! And virtually all of those countries are our allies! It is simply not economically realistic to spend this way and expect to have a sustainable budget.

Further, calm discussion is needed around the method of funding the federal government. Once we honestly face up to the programs we want to sustain and/or expand, we must then decide how to fund them. The income tax should not be seen as sacred. While most people of faith would agree that those who are blessed with more should carry a greater share of the cost of sustaining their blessings, we should not be exclusively married to the graduated income tax. Perhaps we should consider taxing consumption above a basic amount for food and shelter.

In a day of many loud irrational voices, people of faith can contribute greatly to the debate by holding to our values. What is the truth of the situation? What do the American people want to provide through their government? What is the real threat to our nation: other countries, terrorism, or internal economic insanity? What are some just and rational ways to fund the things we want? When are we holding on to the ways of the past when new ways are needed?

Our projected federal budget deficits will generate slogan shouting, finger pointing and efforts to gain party advantage. People of faith will lower their voices, cut out the tired slogans, open their minds, face the realities (especially the ones that run contrary to our political assumptions), and seek solutions that are consistent with the facts. We are seeing far too little of these things these days.

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“If you don’t cooperate, we will kill your children.” “Talk or we will sexually molest your mother right here in front of you.” According to a report released yesterday, those were among the threats used by American officials when interrogating prisoners who were suspected of being terrorists. This is the second story that will not go away.

Today the Attorney General named a prosecutor to investigate whether crimes were committed. Even though the president would like to turn the page on this legacy of the so called “war on terror,” this is not a case that can be closed by presidential wish.

Beyond the question about whether or not laws were broken, something much more fundamental is as stake. We are talking about our national character. We who claim to be a great nation have found ourselves behaving like a brutal empire.

The torture debate centers around two related, but separate questions. The first has to do with the question of whether ends (or more precisely, hoped for ends) justify the means. The argument that extreme treatment and abuse of prisoners is justified because we might discover information that would prevent some evil act is the kind of argument almost any parent would dismiss if it were made by their child. How many times have parents taught their children, “The ends don’t justify the means”? Yet, some continue to pretend that our national character has not been sullied by this practice. A great nation simply does not stoop to the kinds of threats this post opened with.

The second set of questions is around what should be done. Should individual agents be prosecuted? What about higher ups? What practices, exactly, are illegal?

On these questions, simple standards of justice should prevail. It seems to me that while we should question the moral judgement of the individual, people should not be prosecuted for acts that were specifically defined as legal by the Attorney General. I am not suggesting that anything the legal authorities define as legal is moral. Of course not. But it does not seem prudent in a nation of laws to change the legal rules after the fact.

On the other hand, agents who used interrogation techniques that went beyond those authorized by the AG and who in doing so broke the law should be brought to justice. Therefore, it makes sense for a prosecutor to investigate if and when and by whom laws were broken. The president’s wish to look ahead rather than behind should not prevent the proper application of the rule of law in these cases.

Perhaps in this way, we can in some small nature reclaim at least a shred of moral high ground.

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Education is one of the many things about which people tend to be radioactive. Almost universally, Americans believe in the importance of education and see it as the royal road to opportunity. One the other hand, school funding, school bond issues, teacher unions, teaching of evolution or sex education, and many other aspects of our educational system are extremely volatile subjects.

Add to this, the widespread feeling that American children are not doing well educationally when compared with children in other countries. Together, these feelings and biases make issues around education sensitive and sometimes explosive.

Matt Miller in his book The Tyranny of Dead Ideas makes the case that the single greatest impediment to education reform is the long American tradition of local control of schools. Miller recounts the well known inequalities of funding between rich and poor districts. He also makes the claim that data collection and research on the practices that make for school excellence are essential and largely impossible across tens of thousands of independent local school districts. He recounts a lament of a Reagan administration education official that local school boards are notoriously dysfunctional. For these and other reasons, Miller makes the case for a national approach to educational excellence.

Why should people of faith weigh in on this debate? Simply because we, of all people, ought to be those who care passionately about the next generation. Biblical religion is consistent about God’s demand for justice. A “rich get richer and the poor get poorer” school funding system is anything but just. Finally, in a complex world, healthy and relevant faith demands an educated mind as well as a loving heart.

People of faith carry no “word from the Lord” about specific policy remedies to improve educational performance of our children. There is no biblical model for a modern school system. But we do carry the abiding values of justice, concern for the disadvantaged and a multi generational view of life that qualify us for engagement in the debate. The questions will be two: 1.) Will we bring our values actively into this debate rather than sitting on the sideline?, and 2.) Will we be agents of constructive change or protectors of the status quo?

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Matt Miller’s recent book The Tyranny of Dead Ideas will stimulate the thinking and challenge the assumptions of most readers. Over the next few weeks I will be responding to some of his ideas in by preaching.

On August 9 I talked about Miller’s claim that the old American expectation that each generation will be more affluent than the previous one is a thing of the past. A combination of globalization, the rise of other economies around the world competing for natural resources and the necessary response to global warming will, Miller says, slow economic growth for at least a generation or two in America. Many of our children will earn less than we do.

Miller worries that the combination of anger, disappointment, disillusionment and generational tensions this will cause will be an explosive mix.

After worship I received an anonymous note saying, “Welcome to the world of Obama.” This completely misunderstands the economic dynamics of Miller’s argument. The economic forces that may cause a generation of little or no growth are already in place and have nothing to do with the policies of the current administration.

From a religious viewpoint, ever growing affluence is not a goal. Nowhere does God say, “Go forth and get rich.” A global spreading of the wealth that lifts China and India, for example, out of poverty at the cost of a level standard of living in Europe and America should not disturb people of Biblical faith. A slowdown of economic growth to prevent catastrophic overheating of the planet would not be a bad thing.

If Miller is right, religious people may be in for a time when a message about justice, love of neighbor, mercy and peace will make more sense than the “more is better” secular philosophy of endless economic growth.

Next Sunday I will be dealing with Miller’s contention that local control of public schools is unjust and unproductive.

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It is not news that the news business is in trouble. Newspapers across the country are going out of business or shrinking to a shadow of their former selves. News magazines are also on financial thin ice trying to find their role as weeklies in a news market that makes their information old by the time it hits the newsstands. On television, the days of Walter Cronkite are long gone and none of the network news organizations commands the respect or viewership it once enjoyed. The two big cable news organizations, CNN and Fox, claim to be “the most trusted name in news” and “fair and balanced” but any objective observer can clearly see that they are neither trusted nor balanced.

Increasingly, news is primarily available in easily digested bites. Take a look at internet news sites and, for the most part, they are heavily slanted to the bazaar, to celebrities, and to the kooky. As I write this, the Supreme Court has just issues a major ruling on affirmative action and Yahoo news is leading with a story about what malls are closing. Both the network news programs and the cable news networks offer “stories” that a minute or two long–if not shorter. Newspapers rarely do in depth reporting as their reporting staff and budget shrink.

Should people of faith be concerned? I think so. Democratic systems of government have a strong affinity with the Jewish and Christian belief in the worth and importance of each person. Democracies are dependent on an informed, educated, and to some extent, sophisticated citizenry. With the decline of serious journalism, who is going to keep an eye on city hall? Who is going to uncover the Watergates of the future? Who is going to get beyond the sound bite, public relations campaigns of political candidates and take a serious and informed look at their philosophies, characters and plans? If we think democratic government is most consistent with our religious values, we had better be worried about the decline of responsible and serious journalism.

We all have plenty of gripes about the news media, but where will we be without them?

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Over that past two weeks we have experienced two acts of violence.

The first was the murder of Dr. Tiller in Wichita. As you know, Dr. Tiller was a leading provider of abortion and one of only a very few doctors providing late term abortions in the U.S.

Last week a man entered the Washington D.C. Holocaust Museum and killed a security guard.

Certainly violence is commonplace in the U.S. Every day we experience family violence, gang violence, crime related violence and other mayhem. Each act of violence is cause for concern, but these two are different in that they are both a form of political violence–one could even say a form of terrorism.

Dr. Tiller has been the focus of anti-abortion demonstrations for years. His clinic has been vandalized and he had previously been attacked. Ironically, his death came not in his clinic, but as he was serving as an usher at his local Lutheran Church where he and his family had worshiped for years.

One need not be a fan of abortion, particularly late term abortions, to understand that abortion questions are not just moral questions but also political ones. Abortion is a medical service that is subject to the law of the land. In a democratic society governed by a constitution, moral questions of a public policy nature are worked out through the political process. Whether or not one agrees with the availability of abortions, Dr. Tiller was performing a legal medical service. His killer decided to “take the law into his own hands” and trump the political and constitutional process in an act of vigilante violence.

The accused killer at the Holocaust Museum has a long history of anti-minority and anti-Semitic activity. The attack at the Holocaust Museum was not a random event, but a politically motivated form of terrorism.

American citizens are, for the most part, in the broad political middle. One of the things that gives stability to our way of life is the common sense and moderation of the middle. For years, the general political culture has feared the left. One inheritance of the Cold War is a fear of the far left and a widespread concern that the far left is dangerous. It is time the broad middle of American thought come to realize that it is the radical right that is the greatest danger to our way of life. From the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, to race driven violence of the 1960’s, to the recent shootings; the great majority of the extremist violence has come from the right.

Many recent news reports suggest that despite the recession, sales of guns are at an all time high. The Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement warning of the potential for extremist violence from the right wing. Totally unfounded conspiracy theories have been making the rounds related to the election of President Obama. While we have every reason to continue to be concerned about foreign terrorism, domestic terrorism of the far right may be an equal or greater danger.

It is time for the broad middle of American citizens to realize that our national life is threatened internally not by the left but by the extreme right.

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Egypt is old. Old in ways we do not get. We tend to think the American revolution was a good long time ago. From an Egyptian perspective our revolution was just yesterday, or perhaps just 20 minutes ago.

When Roman senator Mark Anthony and Egyptian princess Cleopatra sailed the Nile together a few years before Christ’s birth, they were closer to us in time than they were to the building of the Great pyramids.

Get that–if you develop a time line beginning with the building of the Great Pyramids and extending to our time, Anthony and Cleopatra are closer to us than they are to the building of the pyramids. The Giza pyramids were built approximately 4,600 years ago. When Anthony and Cleopatra saw them they were already 2,600 years old. That famous couple is only removed from us by a little over 2,000 years. Egypt’s age may be one reason–and there aren’t many reasons–to be hopeful about it.

It’s hard to think of Egypt as a country. The parts just don’t fit together. Cairo’s airport is modern and lovely. When one travel’s from the airport into the teeming Cairo streets, the driver is required to dodge two wheeled wagons pulled by donkeys and/or horses. Most of what we would do with heavy equipment, the Egyptians do with manual labor. On the streets of Cairo you see men in western style business suits and women in the latest fashions. Also, seen are people in traditional dress, turbans and sandals. Education is officially required for all children up to the tenth grade, yet the streets are full of children. Some of them are at the tourist sites hawking trinkets to the visitors. It’s really very sad.

It is hard to picture how all this is going to work in the 21st century. When the military is included, nearly half of all the people with jobs in Egypt work for the government. Government income comes from fees for passage on the Suez canal, tourism, selling electricity from the Aswan high dam and international charity. While there is still agriculture and some manufacturing, it is not at all clear how Egypt’s teeming masses will ever join the 21st century.

Egypt is also ripe for Islamic fundamentalism, though in recent years there is some reason to believe this threat has receded. It may have receded, but it still remains a threat.

So, the most hopeful thing about Egypt is its age. Somehow this place of so many contradictions and seemingly insurmountable problems just keeps on going. Like the Nile itself, Egypt seems to be forever. One would hope it would not be forever backward, poor and unpredictable.

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Our lives are largely shaped by the experiences we have and the persons we meet. It is easier to see this in others than it is in ourselves.

Having traveled a number of times in Israel, I am distinctly aware of how this reality expresses itself in this countries professional guides. Israel has very high licence standards for guides and all of them know their history, geography, archeology and people management. Yet, their presentations are distinctly shaped by their life experiences.

On this trip we have had an excellent guide who is particularly adept at telling us just enough without overwhelming us with information. He is also great at providing expert advise and counsel in the game of Dodge Pope as he adjusted our schedule skillfully to minimize the impact the Pope’s visit on our tour.

But the most compelling aspect of his work springs from his personal life experience. Our guide is a Palestinian Christian. He comes from an old and prosperous Christian family. He was seven years old in 1948 when the United Nations created the state of Israel. Immediately war broke out between the new Jewish state and its Arab neighbors. Our guide’s family lived in Jerusalem, owned a major business and many properties. When hostilities broke out they fled the fighting in Jerusalem and relocated to Jericho. Their homes, businesses and other properties fell into Israeli hands and they lost nearly everything. Homes to which his family holds pre-1948 deeds are now occupied by Israeli citizens. There never has been any financial compensation. This story repeated itself thousands of times to Palestinian families.

Our guide’s life has been shaped by this and other experiences that have been the lot of many Palestinians over the past 60 years. He is not a radical. He has made a good living in the tourist trade. He owns a home and a nice car. In most respects his life is fine, but his style of guiding Americans includes the telling of his family story. It also includes making sure we are aware of some of the daily restrictions under which he and his people live.

Let one example suffice. The little city of Jericho is currently the home of about 10,000 people–all Palestinians. Jericho is surrounded by Israeli defense forces. Persons can leave Jericho only if they have a pass issued by the Israeli government. About 20% of the Jericho residents hold such passes. The rest are virtual prisoners unable to travel out of their own small city. These conditions are not unusual.

If we would have had an Israeli guide, we would have seen a much different contemporary situation. We would have not only visited ancient sites, we would have heard about the amazing transformation of this land from a sleepy and backward region to the advanced society it is today. We would have heard about the dangers to Israeli society, and even survival, posed by its neighbors. We would have heard much about terrorism.

Our lives and perspectives are shaped by our experiences. It can be no other way. But seeing the contrast so clearly between the perspectives of Palestinian and Israeli, can make us think carefully about how our own view of reality is shaped (distorted?) by the limitations of our personal stories. Those of us on this trip will go away with a somewhat different perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because we had an outspoken Palestinian guide. If we had been hosted by an equally outspoken Israeli as our guide, our perspective would have been nudged another way. I saw things with my own eyes this week that I would have never seen or heard if my information had come solely from the usual America diet of news.

This is a good reminder to be sure that we are always listening carefully to the full life experience of others on various sides of complex issues before we delude ourselves into believing we understand the situation.

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We have created a new game. Our group has been playing “Dodge Pope” with the creative assistance of our local guide.

As you probably know, the Pope has been here visiting sites and making news. We don’t get much news as internet access costs more than we want to pay regularly and English language papers are not always available. Most of the news we get is via word of mouth, mostly coming from our guide or bus driver. You probably know a great deal more about the news the Pope has been making here than we do.

But we do know about Dodge Pope. This is a game we have nearly perfected by adjusting our tour schedule to avoid the worst of the crowds surrounding the Pope. The problem is not only the crowds, but also closed roads, closed sites and other challenges.

Our most effective way of winning the Dodge Pope game was to be in the Galilee while he was in Jerusalem. This did not prevent us from seeing hordes of Pope followers who came from all over the world to see him and to participated in Masses he celebrated. The crowds in Galilee were much greater than we would have usually encountered. But still, we were able to get into all the sites we wished to see.

Yesterday we traveled from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south. The Pope went to Galilee yesterday and was in Nazareth where we had been a couple of days before. Good scoring for us in Dodge Pope.

Because we had scored several points in Dodge Pope, the other side upped its game today. We were scheduled to be on the Mount of Olives this morning, but the Pope was there and scored points by trumping our schedule. We fought back by going to the Holocaust Museum in the morning–our scheduled afternoon activity. Points back for our side. Additional points were scored when we arrived first at the Holocaust Museum and while we did not have the place to ourselves, we had much smaller crowds than we would have had in the afternoon. An added morning visit to the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed, followed by lunch allowed the Pope to clear out of the city and the streets to open in time for us to go to the Mount of Olives in the afternoon.

We were able to walk some of the traditional Palm Sunday route down the Mount of Olives stopping at the Garden of Gethsemane. Olive trees are able to live to a very old age and there are gnarled trees there that are believed to be over 2,000 years old. One of our group wished aloud that the trees could talk.

All in all, played a pretty good game of Dodge Pope. He retreated back to Rome in defeat this afternoon and we will have Jerusalem to ourselves tomorrow. Actually, since it is Sabbath tomorrow, we should have lighter than ususal traffic and crowds.

I’ll be back with a more serious post in a couple of days.

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There is something about Galilee that draws my heart. The sculpted hills around the fresh water lake that is known as the “Sea of Galilee,” form the backdrop for the public ministry of Jesus. It was here that he taught, healed, feed the hungry, and proclaimed the breaking in of the Kingdom of God.

To the first time visitor, this area seems intimate and the scale is human. As Midwesterners we are accustomed to vast distances that require automobiles or airplanes to travel them. Here it is possible to think of life on foot. The little villages are just a few miles apart. The traditional sites of some of Jesus’ teaching and wonder working are located within the nest of villages that circle the Sea of Galilee. Though we might find the distances daunting to walk, it is easy to see how seasoned walkers could move about this area on foot.

Some of the villages have become cities. Nazareth, where Jesus is said to have grown up, was a backwater village of a few hundred people at most. Today, it is a small city of 150,000 people. On the other hand, Capernaum, which was the headquarters for Jesus’ ministry and the home of at least four of his disciples, was a bustling place in Jesus day. It had a substantial synagogue, some thriving fishing businesses, and sat beside a still active ancient trade route between Egypt, Mesopotamia and Europe. In the 600’s of the common era the village was destroyed by earthquake. It was abandoned, fell into ruin, was covered with centuries of dust and vegetation and its remains were not rediscovered until the early 20th century. Today it is an archaeological site.

Sitting in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, absorbing the quite and meditating on all that took place nearby is a moment to remember.

Tomorrow we will travel south with Jerusalem as our destination. It was in Galilee that Jesus taught us. In Jerusalem he gave himself for us. Tomorrow we visit Bethlehem and then arrive in the holy city of Jerusalem.

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