The War in Iraq - What Cost?

Jim Wallis has long ploughed a
lonely furrow in the U.S...that
of a radical evangelical, as committed
to liberation and social justice
as he is to an evangelical understanding
of the Christian story...He has, since
the 1970s exemplified God's bias to the
oppressed, not least through the Sojourners
community and then the Sojourners magazine.
Where many self-proclaimed American
evangelicals have aligned themselves with
the xenophobic 'tea party' Wallis has been
a close friend to Barak Obama...

Check out the Sojourner's blog that I've
highlighted here on 'Believing in the City'
Here Wallis offers a sad and reflective
'obituary' to the debacle of the Iraq war
and the catch 22 in which his friend Barak
Obama found himself....

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/09/01/the-war-in-iraq-at-what-cost/

The New Colonialism?

FASTING FOR JUSTICE

Ramadan, the month of fasting within Islam, begins today.

A time to step back and pray...
A time to work for justice....
A time of self-sacrifice....
A time to look inwards....
A time to decide what really matters...

Within the Hebrew scriptures the prophet
Isaiah speaks of the kind of fast that God
wants...'The kind of fasting I want is this:
Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke
of injustice and let the oppressed go free.'

In a diverse city how might people from all
faiths and none catch the vision of Ramadan
and of Isaiah...the fast of relationship-building
and social justice...That's the kind of fast
we need...especially as tens of thousands in
Pakistan see their lives washed away in the
flood waters....

Ramadan Mubarak.........

GLOBAL VOICES.....

A cooperative blog that foregrounds hidden or marginalised
stories and voices....

Where do we get our information from?
How do we make up our mind who to listen to?
Whose voices are heard most loudly?

Global Voices reminds us that we always have to
decide who to listen to when we think about faith
in the city...

Who do you listen to and why?

http://globalvoicesonline.org

Church minister to tweet Holy Communion to the faithful - Telegraph

Can the solidarity symbolised by Holy Communion
be virtual...mediated through a PC screen? In what
the sociologist Grace Davie calls a 'believing not
belonging' society might a 'Twitter Lords Supper'
be a culturally appropriate medium of grace for
those attracted to the person of Jesus but switched
off the church? Alternatively is a Tweeted Holy
Communion little more than a retreat from community?
Is this a fresh expression or just a desperate attempt
to look cool and 'down with the IT Crowd'? The Daily
Telegraph newspaper reports the story...What do you
think?



Church minister to tweet Holy Communion to the faithful - Telegraph

MORE REFLECTIONS ON THE VEIL, FAITH & IDENTITY

http://www.salmayaqoob.com/2010/07/government-reject-calls-to-ban-niqab.html

Monday, 19 July 2010

Salma Yaqoob, the Leader of 'Respect' writes....

Government reject calls to ban niqab
Immigration Minister Damien Green is to be congratulated for dismissing calls for a ban on the niqab. In response, Philipe Hollobone, the attention seeking MP behind the bill calling for a ban, has said he will not meet any constituent who wears a face veil. In acting in such an intolerant manner Hollobone undermines one of the fundamental principles of the 'British way of life' he claims he wants to protect: the right of every citizen to expect equal representation from their MP. Having crossed swords with Hollobone a lot over the last week in the media I can safely predict that the irony of his stance will be lost on him.

Like many Muslims I find this all depressing. But it also provokes feelings of bemusement. One European government after another apparently feels compelled to proscribe the clothing choice of a tiny percentage of their population. It would be funny if it was not so sinister. In Belgium, it is said that only 30 women in the entire country wear the niqab. In France, it is less than 2,000 out of a population of 64 million. With Europe in the middle of its greatest economic crisis in over half a century you might be forgiven for thinking there are more serious issues to address.

I am against the imposition of dress codes on women, whether they live in Saudi Arabia or Southampton. It is a woman’s right to choose how to dress and nobody else’s. It certainly is not the right of any religious authority, father, husband, brother or politician to impose a dress code. Everybody should have the right to freedom of expression as long as in so doing they do not infringe on the rights of others. It is a simple principle that does not mean we have to agree with each other. Incidentally, that is a principle that some Muslims should think about more deeply. We rightly demand that our rights to practice our faith are upheld. We rightly insist that we are treated equally and with the same respect as all other citizens. It seems to me that it is hypocritical to demand these rights for ourselves, but to object when gay people, for example, demand the same equality as citizens. It is a basic principle of pluralism and civility that we don't only defend the freedoms of people whose choices we happen to like. Indeed the real test of tolerance and freedom is defending the rights of people whose choices we may actually dislike or disagree with - as long of course they do not harm or infringe the rights of others.


Those who support calls for a ban claim we need one on the interests of security. But there are already powers which allow authorities to request women show their face on entering buses, banks, airports etc. The wearing of the niqab is not a threat of security. Nor is it a threat to community cohesion. There is nothing which prohibits anyone from approaching and speaking to niqab wearing woman. And in my experience the women themselves adopt a practical approach by removing the niqab if it is required or if they feel it necessary. The biggest threat to community cohesion we face is not a piece of cloth the covers the faces of a minority within a minority, it is the climate of intolerance and racism this debate invariably brings with it.

As this government unleashes an austerity package much more extreme than anything Margaret Thatcher attempted, which could well result in riots on our streets, this focus on the extremely marginal actions of a handful of people is a divisive distraction. While Phillip Hollobone claims to be inspired by wanting to defend women’s rights, even invoking Emily Pankhurst in the process, he is noticeably quiet on government plans to slash benefits which will impact heaviest on women and single parent families.

There is an ugly tide of Islamophobia spreading across Europe and it is lapping on our shores. Almost every day there is some negative story about Muslims in the media. Almost every weekend gangs of racist thugs in the English Defence League target Muslim communities seeking to provoke street violence. Just yesterday they were down the road engaging in violence on the streets of Dudley. Whether those who call for a ban on the niqab are aware of it or not, this demand is stoking the fires of intolerance prejudice and racism. Muslim communities today across Europe are being subject to a kind of demonisation that has ugly echoes with the hysteria Jewish communities endured about their culture, lifestyle, and the politics of fringe elements among their ranks, during the 1920’s and 30’s. The political beneficiaries of this climate of hysteria in this country will be the fascist thugs marauding our streets in the English Defence League, and the ones wearing the suits in the BNP.

CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
from July-October 2010...Focusing
on the part played in the struggle
agaisnt Nazism by Muslim communities
in the UK...






Exhibitions and Events - Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Who Decides What's Normal?

Who gets to decide that's normal?
Who gets to decide what faith means?
Who gets to decide who we are?

In recent months debate has raged in the
French political class about the small
number of Muslim women who wear the niqab
or the burkha. The lower house of the French
parliament has voted for a ban on the burkha.
Is this Islamophobia or extreme secularism,
or a bit of both? The debate, which is also
seen in the UK tabloid media, actually relates
to around about 2-3,000 French Muslim women. In
the UK vurtually no Muslim women wear the niqab
or the burkha. So what's this really about?

Over 30 years ago the postcolonial critic
Edward Said wrote a book called 'Orientalism'
in which he suggested that so called western
and oriental ways of thinking and being have
been pitted agaisnt one-another as irreconcilible
opposites...a legacy of the not-so glorious
colonial era. When we think in blocks, in camps
we forget that real people are a whole mix of
different ideas and cultures....Life in urban
Europe is more complicated than French
politicians, tabloid journalists in the UK or
some Salafi Muslims would have us believe....

We are not one thing or another but a whole heap
of things at the same time...Let's say 'No' to
fixed notions of identity that assume one image
is OK but another is inherently a 'threat'. No
to binary imaging of fluid identities.

Faith in urban Europe is critically important
but it cannot reasonably be reduced to tabloid
headlines or notions of believing that have not
shifted for a century....

Who am I? What is a European? How does my faith
relate to that of my neighbours? And most important
of all...How might people of faith and no-faith
build a movement aimed at fashioning social justice?

The Burkha is a side issue, so is the crucifix which
the French courts [and British Airways] tried to ban
too....What matters is the place of faith in societies
where those with power simply don't seem to get the
fluid realities on the ground...Faith in the public
square can either foster social justice and equality
or social exclusion and intolerance...I know which I
prefer.

THE MESSAGE

'Broken glass everywhere, people pissing on the stairs like they just don't care.

Can't take the smell, can't take the noise...

Got no money to move out, guess I got no choice.

Rats in the front room, roaches in the back,

Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat.

I tried to get away but I couldn't get far

Cos the man with the tow-truck re-possessed my car.

Don't push me cos I'm close to the edge.

I'm trying not to lose my head.

It's like a jungle sometimes

It makes me wonder how I keep from going under....'

(The Grandmaster Flash, 1982)

(Check out the track on You Tube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpbKZmk5h0g&feature=related

But that was ancient history....wasn't it?

In a time before starbucks and MTV,

Ina time before blogs and i-pads....

Life on the underside of the city is still 1982,

only worse....

What might nishkam mean in the city today?

What about zakat?

Where do we see God's bias to the oppressed?

Where is the struggle?

Are people of faith defending their patch or the poor?

That's prayer
And Grandmaster Flash raps the incarnation.
The Word is flesh and she is our homeless sister....

The English Defence League uncovered | UK news | guardian.co.uk

The English Defence League uncovered UK news guardian.co.uk

The English Defence League exemplify the camp mentality that Paul Gilroy speaks of. Identity is finished and closed. But more than that, in spite of repeated denials the EDL are dominated by a vile and violent Islamophobia as this article and video from the Guardian reveal....

Sikhism emphasises the sacramental nature of hospitality...unconditional welcome within the Langar....

Islam reminds us of the unity of humanity and the duty laid on all Muslims to work for social justice.....

Christians speak of a catholic community: one diverse worldwide community...Created in the image of the one God.... One race...the human race....

But what difference do such values make to the way people of faith act in thef ace of injustice? Check out the web link below and see what you think. Is this the kind of urban Britain you recognise?

MORE REFLECTIONS ON IDENTITY

The English Defence League exemplify the camp mentality that Paul Gilroy speaks of. Identity is finished and closed. But more than that, in spite of repeated denials the EDL are dominated by a vile and violent Islamophobia as this article and video from the Guardian reveal.... Sikhism emphasises the sacramental nature of hospitality...unconditional welcome within the Langar.... Islam reminds us of the unity of humanity and the duty laid on all Muslim to work for social justice..... Christians speak of a catholic community: one diverse worldwide community...Created in the image of the one God.... One race...the human race.... But what difference do such values make to the way people of faith act in thef ace of injustice? Check out the web link below and see what you think. Is this the kind of urban Britain you recognise?

Remembering the Forgotten

Who remembers you? Who remembers me? Does anyone?
Made in the divine image we need to feel, to sense
that others, our sisters and brothers, remember us.

If we are forgotten we are unheard and unseen and in
a video age we perhaps cease to exist....

In a UK context where are the forgotten people, the
invisible ones? Those who live in the shadows as
asylum seekers, those who live as statistics on
welfare or on neglected outer city estates, those
who make their bed in shop doorways...

Within the Christian tradition we follow a man who
was a refugee, fleeing with his mum and dad to Africa.
We follow a man who had no place to lay his head, a
man executed outside the city wall next to Jerusalem's
rubbish dump...And yet the Church that takes Jesus' name
has become a multinational corporation...What might it
mean if we again became a rootless Kingdom movement?
Might we remember the forgotten ones more clearly,
those like the peoples of the Horn of Africa whom
Ethar Relief support....

Check out their web site and then ask the question
Jesus askes in Matthew 25....When I was hungry/homeless/
naked/a stranger did you feed/welcome/clothe me?



http://www.etharrelief.org/content/about-us

The New Slavery....

http://www.openhorizon.org.uk

In a world where markets have been prised open
by the irresistible power of globalised capitalism
walls keep people in, but mostly out.

And yet people are shifted like cattle, like the
slaves of the Atlantic Triangle...Webs of violence
enmesh us, compromise us, involve us all...Women made
in the sparkling divine image, promised a new life
then sold into the slavery of 'house-servant' for the
new global elite or the abusive spiral of forced
prostitution...Where is God? Where are Her people?



What might the new politics' in the UK have to say
about the trade in human beings, and more to the point
what might the 'new' politicians' do? What should we do?

This web site, sponsored by the Methodist Church in
the UK offers ome ideas....One race, the human race
Check out the site and get active....

What does in mean to be 'English' in C21?

Here is one take from the singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg....

ORGANISING FOR JUSTICE: CITIZENS UK

The campaign that led to the election of Barak Obama
as the 44th President of the USA just over a year ago
is rooted in a powerful vehicle for social justice -
community organising.

For the last 20 years community organising has
been slowly growing in the UK, especially in
London and Birmingham. Linking faith communities,
schools, trades unions and community groups broad
based community organisations in the UK work on
grassroots political lissues. Last week in the closing
days of the 2010 General Election campaign the
Citizens UK General Election Assembly at Methodist
Central Hall in Westminster drew over 2,500 people:
all part of Citizens UK. At the assembly the leaders
of the three main political parties, Gordon Brown,
Nick Clegg and David Cameron were confronted with
a new way of doing politics....from the bottom-up.

In this Blog we get a sense of where community
Organising is coming from.Might it be that in C21
it offers a new model of liberation theology for a
multifaith society? Check it out and see what you think....

http://citizensukblog.org

NEW BOOK ON URBAN THEOLOGY

Check out my new book, 'Voices from the Borderland'
which explores the shape of Urban Theology in
C21....

It's out in August 2010, published by Equinox,
but you can get a sneak preview [and order it too!]
by typing 'Chris Shannahan' into Amazon.co.uk...


http://www.amazon.co.uk

Let me know what you think....

HYBRID URBAN FAITH

In Context

The concept of hybridity refers to the increasingly significant emergence of ‘dialogical identities’ in urban Britain. The 2001 National Census pointed to a growing community of people of dual heritage. In Birmingham 30,000 people defined themselves as dual heritage [3%] and across England and Wales 677,000 people defined themselves in this manner [1.2%]. It is important to set this trend alongside the persistence of raciological debate, the increasing electoral success of the far right British National Party in the early years of the 21st century, critiques of multiculturalism, debates about belonging and the nature of Britishness.

Social hybridity represents a critique of essentialist raciology and fixed patterns of identity. Thus urban youth identities can draw hip-hop music together with Anglicised-Jamaican patois that is infused with Bengali/Punjabi/Urdu vocabulary and ‘New York’ street fashion to give rise to a new hybrid/dialogical identity. Urban popular culture provides a clear illustration of cultural and technological hybridity. Fusion is not new within urban music (see for example Jazz fusion or funk in the 1970s and 1980s). However the fusion of different cultural forms which bring different expressions of diasporan British life into dialogue is more recent. Two examples of such musical hybridity are the Asian Dub Foundation who draw together rap, bhangra, classical Indian music, dub and ragga and the solo artist Nitin Sawhney traditional Indian music, flamenco, Latin rhythms, drum ‘n bass, tabla and techno. Such hybrid urban music exemplifies the challenge which hybridity represents to compartmentalisation.

In Theory

The concept of social hybridity has stimulated increasing debate within social theory and cultural studies. The term is not without problems. It invites parallels to be drawn with its use in botany where different species of plant are fused to create a new hybrid or with the pseudo-scientific raciological taxonomies of the nineteenth century. It suggests that the only future for plural Britain is one in which normative difference leads to fusion and not an evolving dialogue of equals. In spite of this the concept has challenged fixed and binary understandings of identity. The term has been closely associated with Bhabha who speaks of a ‘third space’ within plural societies. This dialogical space critiques notions of cultural isolation or ‘purity’ through its articulation of an in-between location which is characterised by fluidity, uncertainty, dialogue, instability and difference. A hybrid society is one, according to Hall, which is characterised by intimacy and not isolation, fusion and not so called purity. Gilroy observes, ‘From the viewpoint of ethnic absolutism this would be a litany of impurity.’ Baker suggests that the experience and language of hybridity signal an inexorable move away from the binary definitions of modernity towards an increasingly fluid and intermingled urban society. The hybrid third space within urban Britain which is forged in the gaps between fixed communities can be seen as a locus for submerged narratives to emerge. As Baker points out, ‘Within our postmodern culture we now have stories, theories, cultures and urban spaces that are fusions of gender, sexuality and different degrees of mobility as well as race, culture and ethnic identity.’ In his challenge to raciology Gilroy asserts the ethical force of hybridity, suggesting that the ‘…theorisation of creolisation and hybridity…’ can provide the template for liberative identities in the twenty-first century which move beyond essentialism and raciology.



In Theology

Whilst proactive reflection on hybridity has only emerged in recent years within urban theology the related question of syncretism has long been a source of debate as Schreiter notes in relation to the dialogue between indigenous cultures and missionary based Christian preaching on a global scale. During the last decade two British urban theologians have focused reflection the contemporary experience of hybridity in post-colonial Britain. Beckford has sought to forge a dialogue between the black-led church and Rastafarianism, arguing that the concept of ‘dread’ within Rastafari can be placed in a dialogue with understandings of Jesus as liberator to fashion an emancipatory hybrid Christology. Unlike Beckford who has sought to use hybridity and cultural interchange to forge a specifically black Christology, Baker has begun to reflect on the character of hybridity itself as a new and potentially liberative theme within urban life and faith. He speaks of the emergence of a ‘third space’ theology which arises from the dialogical space in contemporary society which is created as a result of the subversion of fixed binary understandings of identity. Hybridity becomes a creative theological category which Baker argues emphasises the creative potential of ‘burred encounter’, inclusive hospitality, dialogue, catholicity, holistic understandings of creation and an ‘...open-ended and fluid Christology.’


Some Key Texts

Chris Baker, The Hybrid Church in the City: Third Space Thinking. (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007)

Robert Beckford, Dread and Pentecostal: A Political Theology for the Black Church in Britain.
(London: S.P.C.K, 2000)

Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture. (London: Routledge, 1994).

Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. (London: Verso, 1993

Paul Gilroy Against Race. (Cambridge Massachusetts, The Belknapp Press, Harvard University, 2000)

Paul Gilroy, After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture? Abingdon: Routledge, 2004

Stuart Hall, ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’ in Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur. ed. Theorising
Diaspora. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003)

Robert Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies. (Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, 1985)

Leonie Sandercock, Cosmopolis II: Mongrel Cities (London: Continuum Press, 2003)

HIP-HOP GOSPEL?

Taken from the Daily Telegraph......

'First he brought us Jesus Walks; then college dropout Kanye West courted controversy by appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine as Jesus Christ himself. Now he is apparently claiming that he should be a character in The Bible. Is Kanye making a valid point by portraying himself as a black Jesus?


Covered in blood, Kanye West is shown wearing a crown of thorns on his head in the deliberately provocative picture by photographer David LaChapelle. Amazingly, Kanye claims that his life is similar to Christ's, saying that he has had to fight for recognition and suffer for success. "If I was more complacent and started to let things slide, my life would be easier, but you all wouldn't be as entertained. My misery is your pleasure", he is quoted as saying.The Boston Globe sums up the views of many when it says: "The idea that West, a 27-year-old rapper who's a millionaire many times over, is somehow persecuted is preposterous. Rolling Stone is trying to sell a few more mags by posing Kanye West as Christ on the cover... Here's hoping it doesn't work."The Baltimore Sun says: "Perhaps he meant it as a symbol of personal suffering. Maybe he wanted to present young hip-hop heads with an updated image of the Son of God. Whatever his motives, Kanye West again has accomplished what he set out to do: Get people to talk."

Kanye is not the first rapper to liken himself to Jesus.Jay-Z famously calls himself Jay-Hova, the savior of rap. In "Pain In Da Ass" he says: " Hello, it's Hova; that's right young'un the wait is over;The new millennium is upon us, the album is here."There have been others: Mase appears on an album cover as Jesus, and P Diddy appeared on the cross in the Nas "Hate Me Now" video. Even Michael Jackson has a picture of The Last Supper over his bed with Jackson sitting in Jesus' place.

There is an increasing trend of portraying Jesus as a black man. How accurate is the traditional portrayal of Jesus? What color was the original Christ? It can almost certainly be said that Jesus would not have been white. His hair was also probably cut short, unlike the image shown in most western portraits. Jesus did have some African links — after all, as an infant he fled with his parents to Egypt where, presumably, his appearance did not make him stand out. The recent movie "Son of Man" casts Jesus as a black, street-bred South African, challenging Hollywood's depiction of a western-looking Jesus. In the film Christ wears jeans and a T-shirt, is born in a shanty-town shed, and his mother Mary is a feisty virgin who argues with angels. Another movie, "Color of the Cross," features a black actor portraying Christ. "It's more likely that Jesus was black than it was that Jesus was European" said one of the movie's producers.

Sneaker maker Pony used an image of a black Jesus in an advertising campaign to relaunch the brand as an 'athletic shoe with attitude'. The ad's art directors Fred and Farid defended the image by claiming "The black Jesus is the strongest statement we found for this hip-hop brand. It's saying: 'Why should God be always represented by a white guy?' In some ways, it's a very politically correct ad. More shocking than this picture is the fact that most of the churches around the world still have only a white man as the representation of God. It's also a reflection of the open-minded philosophy of the Pony brand. It's even fairer considering the fact that most of the sports athletes and hip-hop artists on the walls of teenagers' bedrooms are black."The Pony campaign, shot by 50 Cent's photographer Sacha Waldman, was chosen as one of the best print campaigns of the year, even though the ad was not run in the US.'

WHAT DO YOU THINK???

The Daily Telegraph (2009)

POWERLINES....

Powerlines criss-cross the city,

Currents of energy coarse through it's veins.

'High' culture, 'pop' culture, faith, 'race', muscle and money

Weave their patterns and vie for control.

A spaghetti junction of influences moulding metropolis,

Liquid life pours the world into an urban mould.

Power flows and disrupts,

Draws in and pushes away.

Blood flows, life force

Blocekd, rationed, hoarded, controlled.

Powerlines criss-cross the city,

Light up the shadows for those with a key.

PRAY FOR THE CITY

Hold before God those in our city who will sleep rough tonight.....

Brother Jesus come close to us today.

Hold before God those in our city who will be hungry tonight.....

Brother Jesus come close to us today.

Hold before God those in our city who will be pushed aside today....

Brother Jesus come close to us today.

Hold before God your sisters and brothers of other faiths....

Brother Jesus come close to us today.

Hold before God those who will arrive in our city today.....

Brother Jesus come close to today.