Posted by Pierre R. Berastaín
This video is from some time ago, but its message is as powerful today as it was when it first came out. How do prisons make money and how do anti-immigration laws ensure these private prisons’ profits?
What makes Jan Brewer so mean?
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Joe “America’s toughest sheriff” Arpaio are accusing Barack Obama of granting illegal immigrants de facto amnesty. The immigration problem could be settled amicably, Arpaio says, if all the illegal aliens went home, but since that is unlikely to happen, earnest public servants must do what they were elected to do.
Jan Brewer grabbed the big headlines by announcing that the Dream Act young people Obama saved from deportation won’t be getting any state services in Arizona–and that includes drivers’ licenses. (more…)
Why Paul Ryan doesn’t have an Ayn Rand problem
By Alan Bean
Now that Paul Ryan is Mitt Romney’s choice for VP, you will be hearing a lot about Ayn Rand, probably not enough to impact the election, but a lot. Many will ask how a devout Catholic and family man can lionize a woman who despised God, rejected the “altruistic” teaching of Jesus, and called the family an artificial and unnecessary creation.
The easy answer is that Paul Ryan doesn’t really like Ayn Rand at all. In fact, he is now saying that he rejects her atheistic philosophy without reservation.
For the tiny handful of Christian conservatives who may have been concerned about a potential VP embracing the religion of Antichrist, that should suffice. There simply aren’t enough voters in our brave new America who know enough about Ayn Rand’s glorification of reason and selfishness, Roman Catholic ethics, or the teaching of Jesus to see a problem.
Ryan’s recent protestations of love for Rand’s economic philosophy were the stuff of romance. In 2005, Ryan told the Atlas Society:
There is no better place to find the moral case for capitalism and individualism than through Ayn Rand’s writings and works . . . I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are. It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff . . . The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.
It’s hard to disavow an endorsement like that. Either he was lying in 2005, or he is lying now. Fortunately for Ryan, it doesn’t matter.
Are Texas Democrats ready to take Latinos seriously?
By Alan Bean
With every new election cycle, the Latino share of the vote in Texas rises by about 2 percent. If this trend continues, as it almost certainly will, Latinos will eventually dictate the shape of politics in the Lone Star State.
George W. Bush took the Latino vote seriously, both as governor and president. When Republicans reach out to Latino voters they can snare as much as 40% of the vote, enough to win easily in deep-red Texas. This is because the white middle class is overwhelmingly Republican; only 26% of white Texans voted for Barack Obama in 2008, (his fifth worst showing with this demographic behind Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana).
I attended the event described in this Star-Telegram article with my sociologist daughter, Lydia Bean. The day’s most telling quote didn’t make it into the paper. Gilberto Hinojosa, the first Latino Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, told the gathering that after Ann Richards lost the governor’s race to George W. Bush in 1994, Texas Democrats pinned the blame on the defection of conservative to moderate white voters. In consequence, it was decided that winning these people back was the key to electoral success. (more…)
Berastain: Coming out at Harvard
By Pierre Berastain
My family immigrated to the United States on December 18, 1998 after years of socioeconomic hardships. In Dallas, my father found employment in a moving company, often working over sixteen hours every day of the week while my sister and I attended school and our mother helped the family settle. Eventually, my mother found employment as a babysitter. In Peru, my father owned a company and my mother worked as a television producer, for the Department of Education, and for Defensa Civil, the equivalent of FEMA in the United States. Both were successful individuals, but thanks to the instability of the Fujimori regime, my parents lost everything. Both of them held university degrees, but as is the case with many professional immigrants, Mom and Dad saw themselves relegated to unfulfilling work once settled in America.
On the day of our arrival, my sister and I spoke no English, and over the next several months, we would learn how to ask permission to go to the bathroom, how to tell a stranger where we had come from, and how to ask for directions so that we would not get lost. From the beginning, Mom and Dad placed significant emphasis on our education, and we quickly learned that the quality of schools depended on the geographical area where we lived. Armed with this knowledge, my father asked me to research better school districts in the Dallas area so that we could relocate.
Years passed and I excelled in my studies, got accepted to the Academy of Biomedical Professions at R.L. Turner High School in Carrollton, TX, and, in 2006, I enrolled at Harvard College where I graduated with honors after completing my major in Social Anthropology, a minor in Ethnic Studies, and a Certificate of Language Proficiency in Portuguese. On the day of my graduation in 2011, I began to feel — truly feel — that I would no longer have to dance to obtain an avocado or peach, that my mother would no longer have to cry, wondering whether I would have to sell candy in the streets, that my father would never again be abducted at gunpoint while on his rounds as a taxi driver in the streets of Lima. I no longer wondered whether ever again my family would have to choose between rice and toilet paper. On that day — May 26, 2011 — I knew my future was a little more secure than it had been the day before. (more…)
Why Study Theology
By Pierre R. Berastain
Photography by Joey Horton
In the past decade, American aversion of and hostility toward Islam and its followers have promoted campaigns of exclusion. We have seen protesters object the erection of a Mosque in New York City, politicians denounce those who seem sympathetic to the Muslim world, and pastors malign the Qur’an as a book of enmity and terror. Famous political commentators have announced to the world that “ten percent of Muslims are terrorists,” and rather than admonishing these commentators, their producers have only written extensively in support of such claims. However, while the vilification of all that represents Islam seems to permeate almost every discourse in America, we have neglected to scrutinize our own rebels.
On the frigid morning of December 3, 2010, The Westboro Baptist Church demonstrated in front of Hillel at Harvard College. A multitude of students, faculty, and staff gathered in front of four year olds holding signs that read, “God hates fags” “Your Rabbi is a whore” and “Pray for more dead soldiers.” Fred Phelps’s church has picketed Jewish centers, high schools, and soldiers’ funerals across America. In the wake of the shootings in Arizona, the WBC promised to protest the funeral of nine-year-old Christina, a little girl interested in public service. Yet, we insist the terrorists are in the Middle East while in truth, those who preach hatred at home have caused more danger and hostility. Every day, I am disturbed by the rhetoric against some religions while the same rhetoricians praise divisive Christian fundamentalist who have polarized our country to dangerous levels. We harbor our own evil-doers in the United States: those who picket little girls’ funerals, those who incite anger by promoting Qur’an-burning events, and those who use hatred and bigotry rather than love and reason to argue against abortion, same-sex marriage, and legalizing undocumented children devoted to this country. A few days ago, a man in his late twenties told me he disliked and distrusted all Muslims because “they bombed us in 9/11.” Muslims did not bomb us. Fanatics did. Extremists did. Just as the Ku Klux Klan employed Christianity to validate its violent enterprise, so did those who so callously attacked America in 9/11 used Islam to validate their malevolence.
In the last few years, I have become a more faithful, though disappointed, Christian. I have faith in the power of love and unity that our Lord taught us, but I am scared of Christian dogmatism eroding the message of Jesus Christ. Where is the compassion? What of the love for those who differ from us? I am hopeful that The Bible may serve as guidance for peace, but I am also afraid of its being used as a tool to promote odium. The late Reverend and theologian Peter Gomes argued that Christian churches today are not engines of change, but engines of conservatism. How far, I wonder, can this conservatism take us?
I am a Divinity School student who studies religion not only to strengthen my faith but also my theological understanding of Christianity so that one day I may encourage dialogue that is uniting, not divisive. In light of the commentator’s statements about Islam and the encounter with Phelps’s church, I wonder whether more people would benefit from learning the tenants of the world’s religions.
***
The truth is, views have begun to change, slowly but decidedly. As the picketers held signs, the rest of us sang songs of praise and love. A few minutes into the protest, my boyfriend and I held hands and walked to our rooms. On one side, I read the signs, “God hates fags” “AIDS is God’s punishment.” On the other side, a police officer smiled and took off his hat as John and I crossed the street. At that moment, I looked down at our grasp and reflected: perhaps, hatred can be combated with love; perhaps, there is still hope for God’s message.
The original posting appeared on the blog Turn It Up Boston.
David Barton’s great embarrassment (and why it matters)
By Alan Bean
Therapeutic historian David Barton is looking for another publisher after his publisher, Thomas Nelson, decided to cancel Jefferson Lies.
Barton’s history provides therapy for conservative Americans who have been traumatized by the ugly truth about slavery, native American genocide and the religious deism and unabashed racism of our founding fathers.
It is difficult to confront the bald truth about our nation without experiencing a deep sadness. To be sure, there is much to admire in the American experiment. Though we have frequently teetered on the verge of fascism, we have generally been able to pull back from the brink. Most Americans have been on the wrong side of the big moral issues most of the time, and yet we have learned from our mistakes.
By the standards of history, America is a bastion of freedom–the competition isn’t that strong.
Weighed in the balance with the kingdom of God, we don’t do so well. Nobody does. As a nation, we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (more…)
The rebirth of Christianity
By Alan Bean
This marvelous essay by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove captures the spirit of our times perfectly. I grew up within a mild form of Canadian evangelical Christianity that prided itself on being neither fundamentalist (like the Bible Schools that dotted the Canadian prairie) nor liberal (like the compromised United Church of Canada). Try as I might, I have never been able to whip up much enthusiasm for conservative evangelicalism, liberal Protestantism or the bland halfway house religion that wanders, lost, agitated and afraid, between these two poles.
Like so many others, I loved Jesus but didn’t care much for his Church.
Wilson-Hartgrove’s reflections immediately brought to mind a slim volume called The End of Christendom, Malcolm Muggeridge’s Pascal Lectures at the University of Waterloo in 1980 (the year Nancy and I began our first pastorate in Medicine Hat, Alberta).
“Christendom,” Muggeridge assured his audience, “is something quite different from Christianity, being the administrative or power structure, based on the Christian religion and constructed by men. It bears the same relation to the everlasting truth of the Christian revelation as, say, laws do to justice, or morality to goodness, or carnality to love . . . The founder of Christianity was, of course, Christ. The founder of Christendom I suppose could be named as the Emperor Constantine.” (more…)
Feds don’t know if private prisons save money
By Alan Bean
An AP article published in the Houston Chronicle features a startling revelation. According to Gary Mead, ICE Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, the federal government has never studied whether privatizing immigrant detention saves money.
In other words, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is paying the private prison industry $166 per day for each detained individual, but has no idea whether this price is justified.
The plot thickens when you realize that the private prison industry owes its survival to federal, immigration-related contracts. At the close of the twentieth century, the private prison industry was down for the count; then the federal cavalry rode to the rescue and the days of wine and roses descended with a trumpet fanfare.
This is simply one more indication that mass deportation, in all facets, is a horribly wasteful job creation program. (more…)
Can we learn anything from the Chick-fil-A squabble?
By Alan Bean
In an effort to enjoy a genuine vacation this summer, I left off blogging for ten days and am just now back in the saddle. As a consequence, the Chick-fil-A controversy has run its course without benefit of my insights (how does the world keep spinning when I’m not paying attention?) I have been keeping abreast of the fire fight, however, and have decided to share a few highlights.
Fred Clark, a progressive evangelical, is perplexed by the guy who decided to counter the folks who are protesting Chick-fil-A’s gay-unfriendly stance by going after General Mills, the folks who market Honey-nut Cheerios, a product deemed to be near and dear to the hearts of the gay community. Maybe its because Omar, a cold killer made famous by The Wire, was a gay man with a predilection for that particular confection. At any rate, this guy decided to protest the gay-loving General Mills by taking a match to a box of Cheerios and ended up starting a grass fire.
The video went viral.
Here’s Fred Clark’s reaction:
The odd thing, though, is that everywhere I saw this video linked and posted initially, the man was identified as a Christian or a preacher or some kind of evangelical protester. (more…)
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