All Nations Are One in Sin
"No nation is ever served by delusions of its righteousness. Every nation makes decisions based on self-interest and then defends them in the name of morality. St Augustine warned: 'Never fight evil as if it were something that arose totally outside of yourself.' He was reflecting St. Paul's contention that 'all have sinned and fallen short.' The temptation, of course, is to say, 'Some have sinned' — that evil empire as Reagan called the Soviet Union or that 'rogue state' as we call Iraq and five other countries. But Saint Paul insists that all have sinned, which says, most importantly, that if nations are not one in love at least we are one in sin, which is no mean bond, because it precludes the possibility of separation through judgment. That is the meaning of the biblical injunction 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.' "
— The Heart Is a Little to The Left: Essays on Public Morality
Differentiation and Communion
"The challenge is to recognize that the world is about two things: differentiation and communion. The challenge is to seek a unity that celebrates diversity, to unite the particular with the universal, to recognize the need for roots while insisting that the point of roots is to put forth branches. What is intolerable is for differences to become idolatrous. No human being's identity is exhausted by his or her gender, race, ethnic origin, national loyalty, or sexual orientation. All human beings have more in common than they have in conflict, and it is precisely when what they have in conflict seems overriding that what they have in common needs most to be affirmed. James Baldwin described us well: 'Each of us, helplessly and forever, contains the other — male in female, female in male, white in black and black in white. We are part of each other.' "
— The Heart Is a Little to The Left: Essays on Public Morality
Honoring the Greater Truths
"Christians should never think they honor the greater truth they find in Christianity, by ignoring truths found elsewhere."
"Too many Christians use the Bible as a drunk does a lamppost — for support rather than for illumination."
— A Passion for the Possible: A Message to U.S. Churches
Avoid "Truth-Claiming"
"Credo — I believe — best translates 'I have given my heart to.' However imperfectly, I have given my heart to the teaching and example of Christ, which, among many other things, informs my understanding of faiths other than Christianity. . . . To love God by loving my neighbor is an impulse equally at the heart of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It therefore makes eminent sense in today's fractured world for religious people to move from truth-claiming to the function truth plays."
— Credo
No Human Being Can Speak for the Almighty
"Moreover, when we consider how, on a whole range of questions — from the number of sacraments to the ordination of women, pacifism, abortion, and homosexuality — Christians cannot arrive at universal agreement, then we have to be impressed by a divine incomprehensibility so vast that no human being can speak for the Almighty. As St. Paul asks, "For who has known the mind of God?" To learn from one another and to work together towards common goals of justice and peace — this surely is what suffering humanity has every right to expect of believers of all faiths."
— Credo
To Love Affectively, Act Collectively
"No sermon on love can fail to mention love's most difficult problem in our time — how to find effective ways to alleviate the massive suffering of humanity at home and abroad. What we need to realize is that to love effectively we must act collectively, and that in collective action personal relationships cannot ignore power relationships. Until Christians learn this truth of a technological, complex world, we shall be in this world as lap dogs trying to keep up with the wolf pack."
— Credo
Globalization Lifts Yachts, Not Rafts
"Globalization of the economy, it is claimed will 'lift all boats.' Today it's becoming clear that it will 'lift all yachts.' It's not doing much for those on their leaking lift rafts."
— Credo
Nuclear Apartheid
"What we and other nuclear powers are practicing is really nuclear apartheid. A handful of nations have arrogated to themselves the right to build, deploy, and threaten to use nuclear weapons while policing the rest of the world against their production. . . . Nuclear apartheid is utopian and arrogant. It is a recipe for proliferation, a policy of disaster. That is why Kofi Annan repeatedly says, 'Global nuclear disarmament must remain at the top of the UN agenda.' Shouldn't nuclear disarmament also be at the top of the churches' agenda?"
— Credo
Maxiumum Fidelity in the Face of Minimal Support
"I love to see Christians enter the fray on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged, to fight for housing for low-income families, for decent health care for the aging, for fair treatment for minorities, for peace for everyone — provided that they always remember that there are many causes and more than one solution to problems of injustice and war. Most of all, in these times that are neither safe nor sane, I love to see Christians risk maximum fidelity to Jesus Christ when they can expect minimal support from the prevailing culture."
— Credo
