For those of you interested in finally getting to see the fusion of my two concepts (radical christiantiy and historic fundamentalism), come on over to the new site, and see where I’m heading.

Right now I’m tackling the question of The Christian Witness, and the necessity of social involvement on the part of the faithful.

I look forward to hearing from you!

I’m going to be moving this blog to a new web address in the next 2 days. For those of you who have supported me here, and become close friends, please, please, make the move with me, and change my address in your blogroll.

The new site will be Underground Exiles. The address is, undergroundexiles.com.

Thanks for all the love and support, and I look forward to seeing you at the new webpage!!!

I love you all dearly,

Hutch

Can any body help me???

But there was something about what I read that I found compelling. I read about some of the men who had been mistreated in prisons; and a life I thought I had left behind many years ago came rushing back to my mind:

In a whole different existence, I was once a Muslim myself. I remember wearing my khufi right after I came home from Afghanistan where I’d been serving in the Army. I was on my way to the local masjid for prayer; outside there were five police cars. Understand that this was early in 2002, so the wounds on the American conscience from 9/11 were still wide open. At first I thought that the cars were there to protect the masjid from reprisals for 9/11.

Then I realized that the police officers in side were taking down the license plate numbers from all of the cars in the parking lot. I realized that despite the fact that I had taken shrapnel in my back in Afghanistan, despite the fact that I had fought the very enemies that would fly planes into skyscrapers, despite seeing my friends spill their blood in the mud of a hostile country, that my government thought I was a threat just because of where I chose to worship.

And I was so angry I could barely see straight.

Tonight I’ve got 4 blog authors to pray for. May they come to know the love of God, who loved them, and gave Himself for them…

“Network television in America is moderately tolerant of spirituality and openly hostile to organized religion, according to a new study by a conservative media watchdog group.”

Okay just for giggles, I want to see if you notice how the writer immediately and very subtly dismisses the idea that network television is hostile to organized religion. How we use words is everything. Words are thoughts, and we can’t think without them.

Obviously, no study undertaken by a “conservative media watchdog group” can be taken seriously. Because we all know that those stupid conservative Christians see assaults on their faith everywhere…

Don’t they?

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My neice is sitting in my lap and just wanted to say hi! This is Ava, and she thinks her Uncle Hutch rocks!!

There are 6 billion people (roughly) on the planet. Out of this 6 billion, roughly 1.2 billion live on less than 23 cents a day. 1 billion people live on $1 a day, and roughly another billion live on less than $2 a day. So to summarize those numbers, 50% of the worlds population has a daily income of less than $2 a day.

That being said, the 3 wealthiest people in the world Americans. Their combined wealth exceeds the Gross National Product (GNP) of all of the worlds least developed countries. That is the equivalent of 600 million people.

So now that we’ve tackled the economics, let’s take a look at the basic necessities of life, like water and housing. 12% of the world’s population uses 85% of its water. 40% of the world lacks basic sanitation facilities. I want you to understand why that’s such a huge deal. Without basic sanitation facilities, the human immune system shuts down, because of drinking water that is compromised by human waste.

1 billion people on Earth are without safe drinking water. Compare that with the fact that Americans consume 26 billion liters of bottled water annually. Every 16 seconds through out the world, someone dies from hunger. Yet two-thirds of Americans are considered overweight.

On the housing side of things, the average size of a new house being built in America is 2,049 square feet. Meanwhile, 80% of the worlds population lives in substandard housing. This means that they live in an area that is considered unable to support human existence, like a flood zone or a desert.

How about consumption? Americans spend more money annually on trash bags than 50% of the world spends on all other goods combined. Anybody getting sick to their stomach yet?

1 billion people in the world cannot sign their own name; meanwhile, 4 out of every 5 Americans has a High School diploma. Only 8% of the world’s population owns a car, while one-third of American families own three.

I don’t know how else to say this. For my American readers, do you understand now how it is that when we say “democracy”, much of the rest of the world hears the word, “Greed”? Or when we talk about “the American way,” they hear “consumption”?

The United States holds nearly 50% of weapons worldwide (the raw number is 48.2%). In 2002 the US spent more on its defense budget than the next 18 biggest spenders combined.

As a matter of fact, the amount of money that the US is spending to fight the war in Iraq is sufficient to provide the entire world with clean drinking water, as well as provide basic education to the entire planet, and we would still have a couple of hundred billion dollars left over.

This is painful…and I’ll explain why this bothers me so much. Right now, here in the States, there is a new game show on in the evenings where if you win, you get $500,000. Knowing that the rest of the world lives off of 2 dollars a day or less, that means that their annual income is about $730. In order for these individuals to make $500,000 they would have to work for 684.93 years.

All of this sickens me…and as Christians we are supposed to be helping our world become a better place. It’s no wonder that the rest of the world looks at our expenditures, sees our lifestyle, and is upset by it.

Secondly, it is the problem of international visibility.  Right or wrong, the rest of the world sees the United States as a Christian nation.  While I would argue that we are a nation of agnostics, atheists, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and people from Ohio, the perception of the rest of the world is that we are a Christian nation.  And the see us operating in the world in a manner decidedly opposed to Christ and a Christian worldview.

Finally there is the problem of economic prosperity.  On the day after Thanksgiving here in the U.S., Americans spent 9 billion dollars in one day on Christmas gifts.  That’s $9,000,000,000.  That number is roughly what it would cost to supply the entire planet with sanitary facilities and clean drinking water.

I wish I had time to post more, but this is what’s rattling around in my skull.  Any thoughts?

To be honest, right now I can’t even really define radical Christianity.  The phrase that keeps repeating itself in my head is, “aliens and exiles”.  But I haven’t been able to flesh any of that out, and believe me, I’ve been wrestling with it in prayer for over a month now.

So.. now my real problem is how do I even start this conversation on radical Christianity?

Any thoughts?

As I listened to various parents telling the stories associated with their children, I honestly got so mad I had to leave the table. I mean I was absolutely furious!

Here in the United States, which is supposed to be an ostensibly “Christian” nation, we are seeing funding for programs for children and adults with special needs cut all over the place. This cutting is usually being done by the Republicans elected to office, in their fight against special interest groups. Understand that the Republican Party here in the U.S. gets the majority of the Christian vote.

How is it that the political party of choice for Christians, in a supposedly “Christian” country, can so callously disregard the command of Christ that

“Whatsoever you’ve done for the least of these, you have done also for me…”

So when we disregard these individuals, we are disregarding God.  After all, the Bible is full of commands to watch over the needy, the widow, the orphan, and the less fortunate.

I’m incredibly angry that as Christians, we recoil in horror at the idea of “special needs”, that somehow God has visited His just judgement on these individuals for the sins of their parents or families.

I was fortunate to spend part of the summer of 2002 as a counselor to Special Needs campers at LutherRidge Camp in Arden, North Carolina.  I learned more about the unconditional love of God for His children in that one week, than I probably have in the rest of my life.

Here in Charlotte, there is an organization that is doing great work among the special needs community.  It’s called Community Crossroads.   I highly recommend that you follow the link I’ve given, and check out what they’re doing.  While you’re at it, they need funding.  Since Christmas is approaching, perhaps you could give a gift to a group of people that will be profoundly helped by your generosity.