A Fresh Perspective

The following address was spoken on behalf of an effort to pass a fairness ordinance in Frankfort, Kentucky at a town hall meeting:  My name is Chuck Queen and I speak as a citizen of this community, a participant in the Frankfort coalition for fairness, and as a Christian minister in the community. It seems to me that all the arguments that have been marshaled against this ordinance are the same kind of arguments that were used against civil rights legislation. And we know from this side of history how wrong those arguments were and how they cloaked deeply entrenched biases. I do not want to suggest that the same motives are behind the opposition to this ordinance, because I am no one’s judge, but they are the same arguments. And we all should be aware that the larger world will judge us on that basis and will make that connection. As a Christian minister, and particularly a Baptist minister I am deeply disappointed that the major push against this ordinance is comin...

Jesus tells an intriguing story in Luke 16:1–9 about a dishonest manager who, on his own, strikes off significant amounts owed by the owner’s debtors so that when he is dismissed by the owner the debtors will welcome him into their homes. Jesus or Luke says (it’s hard to know where the story ends and the commentary begins): “And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are shrewder in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes” (9:8–9). Who are the “children of this age”? These are persons who live by (who are motivated and driven by) the values of this age. Jesus or Luke infers that the “children of this age” are quite clever in arranging and securing their future in this world. This is obviously a general observation. Not everyone is so good at that. B...

I love the legendary story that has emerged with regard to Michelangelo’s Pieta (a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture that depicts Jesus being held by his mother Mary after being taken down from the cross). According to the legend, Michelangelo was too poor to purchase new marble for his work, so he went out among the stones deemed unworkable and discarded by other artists. As he made his way through this graveyard of rejected stones, a particular stone captured his attention. As he studied it, he could see the figures of Jesus and Mary just waiting to be released. Does God see in us an image just waiting to be released? Of course, the archetypal image for Christians is the Christ image. We are called to follow Jesus, to reflect his love, his grace, his compassion for the downtrodden and his passion for a just world. What needs to be chiseled away for us to become like Christ? Does God need to chip away at our anger, our indifference, our apathy, our resentment, our gree...

The idea that God is somehow directly engaged in the tearing down and building up of nations was a common view in ancient Israel (see Jer. 18:7–10), but a view that progressive Christians cannot accept. It seems to me that God has ordered life on this planet with an inordinate amount of freedom. The number of children who die daily due to malnutrition and preventable diseases is staggering. Many of these deaths are due to the systemic injustice that results in the disproportionate distribution of resources in our world. God does not intervene to make things right, nor does God intervene in natural disasters, genocides, brutal killings, torture, etc. God’s method of creation (evolution) and the time and context required for life to emerge and evolve to its present state suggests that God values freedom over power. The very nature of creation limits God’s power. God does not micromanage the planet or our lives; God loves freedom too much. Whenever I come across the word “Al...

Nearly every weekend for six years, church groups have passed out free biscuits and coffee to the homeless at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh , led by an organization called, “Love Wins.” On Saturday, August 24, when the volunteers showed up to pass out the biscuits and coffee, police officers met them on the side walk and threatened to arrest them if they passed out the food. They cited a city ordinance that banned food distribution in the park. Because of that ordinance, the Love Wins volunteers had always set up on the sidewalk along the edge of the park. Soup kitchens do not operate in the county or city on the weekends, and so the Love Wins breakfast is one of the only ways the homeless can have a free, warm breakfast on the weekends. More than 70 people had already lined up for the free breakfast when the police issued the threat. Jerry Jones, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, has noted that some cities are trying to cut off homeless ...