Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

It could be the cry of those of us who have set up this blog, and are working on setting up a Christian Lobby Group which isn't all about abortions and gay marriage.

But in fact it isn't, it is the cry of Lee Iacocca, American industrialist and Republican supporter. He has just co-written a book of that title, which in part deals with the political messes that the neo-conservatives of the US have made for themselves and which the neo-cons of Australia have happily jumped into whole heartedly.

I'm going to quote from some of it here, because while he is talking about American political leaders, there are a lot of things he says which could well apply to the Christian right in Australia.

...So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen—and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises—the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play...

So lets take Lee's alliteration and run with it,
Do the current crop of Christian Leaders in Australia have CURIOSITY?
Are they CREATIVE?
Can they COMMUNICATE?
Do they posses CHARACTER, COURAGE and CONVICTION?
I guess they all have a healthy dose of CHARISMA, but are they COMPETENT and do they have COMMON SENSE?
To see how Lee defines these qualities he believes all leaders should have, take a look at his book. But as far as I can see, we are distinctly lacking in leaders with curiosity, who are creative and who have courage. In fact the one thing we have in good supply is charisma, but that on its own is a poor reason to follow anyone else's vision.

All Christians are Wankers?

Somewhere around 2000 years ago a man was (to quote from an atheist) nailed to a tree for saying how nice it would be for people to be nice to each other for a change. On the surface, not such a bad idea. But since then millions of people have been nailed to things, screwed to things, had hot things stuck up their nether regions and been killed in never ending wars all because the followers of the 'nice' man found their lack of faith disturbing.

Now, much of that can be put down to the power mad members of human society who were probably going to be power mad nut jobs no matter which religion they were pretending to follow (I'm talking to you cardinals Fang & Biggles). We can probably disregard the religiopolitical desire to promote conformity in order to control people but that is unfortunately not where this ends.

People, who otherwise seem like ordinary members of their society, have been grabbing the wrong end of Jesus' metaphorical stick ever since he prematurely declared "It is done". And 2000 years of human development and/or evolution hence the world is now full of cock sure morons whose fanatical dedication to the ideals of Christianity is such that they are willing to ignore all of its tenants in order to ensure that it survives.

So before presenting the proof of the wankerdom of all Christians, we need to consider what is Christianity?

• a Jewish sect believing that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.
• a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as saviour
• the world's largest religion, based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as described in the New Testament of the Bible.
• a religion derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
• the belief in Jesus Christ as Saviour of the world.
• the Christian religion.
• the faith system of people who believe Jesus was the Son of God.

Seems clear?

But is Christianity; a set of beliefs, a community of people or a way of life? Because how we perceive this determines how we award wanker points.

As a set of beliefs, Christianity differs little from any of the world's major religions in that the arguments used to support the beliefs are for the most part circular. We know Jesus was God's son because the Bible tells us, we know the bible is God's word because it is infallible, we know that it is infallible because God wouldn't let it be otherwise…

Pointless. And besides there is so much room for interpretation that even if we are happy to accept the text as inspired, how we look at it can vary so much that it is near impossible to find two people who approach the text in the same way. Young earth creationists clearly argue that without a literal interpretation of the Genesis story the whole definition of sin is void. Yet those of a scientific mindset can maintain their religious beliefs by accepting this as a parable designed to make a point to an ancient people to whom a scientific creation story would have been unintelligible.

As a community of people Christianity falls into the trap of being indistinguishable from a society. So a nation (America I'm looking at you) can claim to be Christian without having to monitor its performance by the teachings of Jesus. Just loud proclamation of Christianity without any real evidence or worse still, without any conscious thought by individuals.

So, what about a way of life? Hell, that'd be hard to do if you were having to measure yourself by those wacko benchmarks Jesus set down. And that is unfortunately where Progression sets its self. We are hopeful that Australia's Christian leaders, rather than loudly scream Christian Values and then press their own cases, can measure itself by benchmarks that Jesus himself set up.
Do we help the less fortunate?
Feed the hungry, house the homeless, fight for the oppressed, defend human rights...
If we are using this measure of our success, then it becomes less relevant that our laws enforce a Christian morality. Instead we have to ask, do I personally live my life to its fullest. Am I making the right choices and that's a harder path than just legislating against homosexual adoptions and shouting CHRISTIANITY any time anyone assks you why.