Where the Candidates Stand on the Fight Against Global Poverty

In six days, Americans will vote for a new president. Much has been made of the policies of both Obama and McCain regarding health care, taxes, the war in Iraq, etc. Not much has been said about how the candidates will tackle global poverty and related issues. This is understandable. Most people consider which candidate will do the most for them, not for people of another country. However, when we are at our best, we concern ourselves not just with the issues that affect us personally, but with issues that concern all of humanity.

So, where do the candidates stand? Fortunately, ONE Action has done some of the work for us and have created a comparison chart. This is not a partisan effort or an endorsement of a particular candidate. Rather, it is a compilation of statements made by the candidates regarding these important issues.

If you want to know where they stand on reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, eradicating malaria, improving child and maternal health, and other issues with which the Millennium Development Goals are concerned, click to go to ONE Action's "On the Record" page.

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Self-Giving, Other-Regarding Love - A reflection on Matthew 22:34-46

Image via WikipediaIn the Gospel appointed for tomorrow in the Revised Common Lectionary, we read of a lawyer who asks Jesus which is the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus responds with a two-part answer: "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40).

Both of these, love of God and love of neighbor, deserve significant attention. Martin Luther said that since God needs nothing, then true service to God must always be in service to our neighbor. The same applies to love. The way that we live out our love for God is by loving our neighbor. This is not always easy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who knew something about difficult love, said, "We can love our kith and kin, our fellow countrymen and our friends, whether we are Christians or not, and there is no need for Jesus to teach us that. So what does it really mean to be a Christian? Unreserved love for our enemies, for the unloved, love for our religious, political, and personal adversaries. In every case, this love was fulfilled in the cross of Christ." Love of the unlovable, of those who would do us harm, is the hallmark of true love, the kind of love to which people of faith are called.

The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love defines love this way:
The essence of love is to affectively affirm as well as to unselfishly delight in the well-being of others, and to engage in acts of care and service on their behalf; unlimited love extends this love to all others without exception, in an enduring and constant way. Widely considered the highest form of virtue, unlimited love is often deemed a Creative Presence underlying and integral to all of reality: participation in unlimited love constitutes the fullest experience of spirituality.

According to its website, the unique mission of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love is:
(1) to study the benefits of benevolent love for those who give it and for those who receive it
(2) to bring the results of research to the wider public in understandable and practical format
(3) to sustain an international dialogue around the possibility of global human enhancement through the application of a new science of love
(4) to encourage discussion within spiritual traditions about love for a shared humanity, rather than for some small fragment of humanity
(5) to develop an ongoing dialogue between spirituality, theology, and science around the idea of unlimited love as the ultimate ground of reality.

A premise of the Institute is that far more attention is given to negative states of mind than to those that are life giving and positive. For instance, over 100,000 scientific articles have been written on depression and pschizophrenia. Yes, only a few dozen have been written on "other-regarding" love. They say, "The dignity of the human species demands that this imbalance in scientific focus be corrected by providing an alternative to the “disease model.” Interesting! Can self-giving, other-regarding love be the key to living to our full human potential? I believe so!

So, we come back to Jesus' words from Matthew. We are called to love our neighbor. Of course, neighbor does not mean only the person who lives next door or down the street. The neighbor is anyone who needs our attention, anyone in this global community who suffers, who is hungry, who needs shelter, who needs to know that they are not alone. The neighbor is not limited to those like us, who have the same skin color, who worship the same way, who's politics align with ours. Our neighbor may just be someone with whom we have serious disagreement, someone who might just seek to do us harm. I'm reminded of Martin Luther King's principles of nonviolence. He said that nonviolence does not seek to defeat the person, just the evil. He said that love is the ultimate tool that will defeat the forces of evil in our world.

We have the ability to harness the power of love if we chose to do so. However, it will not happen as long as we fear those who are different, or as long as we seek to exert military control without also looking for the common ground that results from our common humanity.

Love of God and love of neighbor - embrace this concept and change the world around you!

Zimbabwe - Now There's an Economic Crisis

Image via WikipediaCheck out these tragic figures from The Economist:
- official inflation running at 231m% (yes, that's an "m");
- more than 80% of the people have no job;
- some 3m in a population of around 12m have fled abroad;
- more than 1.4 million suffer from HIV/AIDS
- the UN's World Food Programme is feeding 2m people who otherwise may well die of starvation;
- more than 3m more may need feeding by early next year

Add to these figures the fact that the government is still run by the very corrupt Robert Mugabe, despite the fact that he was beaten by Morgan Tsvangirai in a general election. The two agreed a power sharing plan when Mugabe refused to step down.

Zimbabwe desperately needs world leaders to pressure Mugabe to step down and to let the country begin to rebuild. The lives of millions of people are at stake. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has tried to do something, but their effort is led by Thabo Mbeki, who recently lost the presidency of his own country, thereby calling into question the weight of his authority. Jacob Zuma, South Africa's likely next president, needs to offer the leadership necessary to limit this human tragedy. The Economist suggests that if Zuma can't or won't do it, then the SADC should ask Kofi Annan, the Ghanaian who ran the UN for ten years. He recently negotiated Kenya's warring parties into a power-sharing compromise.

Whatever the answer, something needs doing - and soon!

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Bono Speaks about ONE at the CA Women's Conference - 10/22/08: Highlight Reel

Image via WikipediaBono spoke last night to the CA Women's Conference about the ONE Campaign, of which Bono is one of the founders. He reminded his listeners that over one billion people live on the equivalent of less than a dollar a day. He also reminded them that over 2.5 million people have become ONE members, simply by going to the ONE website and signing up. In addition, he pointed out that over 53,000 people have signed the petition asking Barach Obama and John McCain to keep their commitment to fight global poverty even in this tough economic time. Watch the video, join ONE, sign the petition, and make a difference in the lives of those who suffer the most!

In his speech, Bono said: "“When America looks outside of itself, its view of itself is never clearer. Its faith in itself is never firmer. Its purpose is never stronger. Today, at a time when America, again, is tempted to turn inward, turn away from the world and its troubles, it is more essential than ever that you look outward.”

Words to think about during these last days before the election and during this troubled economic time!

Vote for Hope - A Hip Hop Video for Obama

"Vote for Hope" was written by MC Yogi to "encourage and inspire the hip hop generation . . . "
Pretty cool!

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

Poverty Resources

Image by foodistablog via FlickrHere is a list and description, posted on Mashable, of eight great sites that will help you to understand issues concerning poverty and will give you great ideas about what you can do. Take the time to read this and think about how you can make a difference.

Self-Forgiveness Begets Compassion

Image by Tonyç via FlickrIn order to free us for compassion toward others, Jesus calls us to accept his compassion in our own lives, to become gentle, caring, compassionate, and forgiving toward ourselves in our failure and need.
- Brennan Manning