Church explores intersection between church and state
The workshops were part of the Be the Change You Want to See initiative sponsored by the Baltimore-Washington Conference, as part of an observance of radical hospitality, to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama as president.
As the press secretary for President Bill Clinton from 1995-1998 and a leader in The United Methodist Church, McCurry offered a unique perspective on "the risky territory of politics and religion."
He provided an analysis on the role faith played in recent campaigns, the decline and reawakening of the Democrats and progressives as voices of faith in the political landscape, and how faith might shape the addressing of several key issues facing the nation and the Obama administration.
Speaking on the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., McCurry quoted from King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, addressed to white moderate church leaders. In the letter, King remembered a time "when the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion: it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society."
Often today, as in King's time, church leaders are consoled by the church's silence, rather that shaken up by the "God-intoxicated" Christians who disturb the peace and speak truth to power, McCurry said.
But in addition to finding ways that faith can shape political action, church leaders need to provide political activists with a place to retreat for reflection and spiritual growth and provide faith-based meaning for their struggles, McCurry said.
Watching Democrats reclaim a religious agenda gives McCurry hope that mature and meaningful relationships will be able to be developed by people from different sides of the aisle.
Too often, partisan rancor has left too much of the country's business unfinished. Among the items on the agenda which might be addressed if people begin to hear and understand each other's voices are; health care, discovering more efficient sources of energy, better schools, peace, reducing abortion, global climate change and ending childhood poverty.
There is a role, too, for United Methodists to play in these issues, McCurry said. "But you can't transform the world unless you get in the midst of it and roll up your sleeves."
Other workshops in the Be the Change You Want to See event, which were led by professors from Wesley Theological Seminary, covered such topics as addressing racism and creating a color-blind church; how Christians should respond to the new administration, and environmental justice.
