CAMP Spirit

A Thanksgiving Hope

With other people of good will I was delighted with the outcome of the elections earlier this month. However, I am also realistic enough to realize that a lot more will need to happen before the United States begins to participate in Spirit’s intention for this world, which all the major religions agree is one of peace, justice, and equal access to the necessities of life. The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God: A Political, Economic, Religious Statement (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), a recent book of essays authored by three Christian theologians (David Ray Griffin, John B. Cobb Jr., Catherine Keller) and a Jewish attorney and law professor (Richard A. Falk) points out that the problems that beset our global community reach far beyond which party occupies a majority position. Our country’s callous and arrogant treatment of other nations long antedated either Bush administration. The seeds of an American Empire began to be sowed in the early twentieth century. What these authors suggest is that it is pointless to debate whether or not there is an American Empire; the appropriate question is what kind of Empire it is.

By investigating history through non-political, not-partisan eyes, these four scholars conclude that the American Empire is far from benign and that what is needed is an overarching sort of global democracy that would keep the peace worldwide and not be beholden to the power and wealth of any particular country. They suggest that their idea could work if we were to keep the global level of oversight "thinly" diverse (founded upon what nations have in common) while leaving regional government "thickly" diverse (to allow for the various permutations of beliefs, customs, religions, and laws). They insist that the world religions could advise the global community as a whole with the wisdom and knowledge they have in common. Thus, David Ray Griffin in one of his essays points out that "although the various religions are different, some of them radically different, they share a lot of moral values. These shared moral values are, moreover, diametrically opposed to the values by which the world is now governed. The Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—all share moral codes that entail, for example, the following injunctions: Do not covet your neighbors’ oil. Do not steal your neighbors’ oil. Do not murder your neighbors in order to steal their oil. Do not bear false witness against your neighbors, calling them "communists" or "terrorists" to justify stealing their oil" (p. 115). Common sentiments such as these, based on the sanctity of life, should go a long way to stimulate a new world order—if humanity will allow it to occur.

As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, a patriotic holiday during which we eat to excess and, hopefully, thank the Divine for our blessings, let’s also be mindful that it is incumbent upon us not just to acknowledge what we have (and not to merely settle for what we already possess) but to commit ourselves to changing things so that others may have more, so that the earth community may survive an ecological disaster, and so that, as our global community grows ever smaller through the wonder of technology, we may truly see all men and women as citizens of the same commonwealth—the Commonwealth of God, who does not distinguish between parties, countries, or creeds. May it be so.

The Rev. Tom Bohache pastors the Metropolitan Community Church of Rehoboth. He is the co-editor of the new "Queer Bible Commentary," released this month by SCM/Canterbury Press. Email him at tombohache@att.net.