Arthur Waskow

Bin Laden & Beyond

Can we now say, "Enough, enough!" -- refuse to drink the intoxicating triumphalist wine of celebration, and turn our attention and commitment to end these wars that take on a deadly "life" of their own?

By Arthur Waskow | May 2, 2011; 02:58 PM ET | Comments (0)

President Washington or Congressman King?; 'To bigotry, no sanction'

We must ask ourselves what it means for Congress to be exposing an entire religious community to "bigotry and persecution."

By Arthur Waskow | March 8, 2011; 04:31 AM ET | Comments (2)

Egypt's pharaohs and living Exodus

Time to light our nonviolent sparks.

By Arthur Waskow | January 30, 2011; 03:26 PM ET | Comments (9)

Beyond this election: tears to wter the wellsprings of new life

According to the Biblical story of the Exodus, Sinai, and the Wilderness, Pharaoh turned workers into slaves, immigrants into pariahs, and tormented the earth until it rebelled in ecological disasters -- the Plagues. He used his domestic police -- overseers -- to harass and punish dissidents and workers, and his horse-chariot army to subjugate an empire. Yet -- or therefore -- inspired by YHWH, the Breathing-Spirit of the World -- a band of runaway slaves created a whole new form of community. Today, what institutions are behaving like Pharaoh, and how do we create new communities that celebrate the intertwining of many different human cultures with each other and the Earth? What could be the role of a transformed and transformative Judaism in that process, alongside other religious and spiritual communities?

By Arthur Waskow | November 3, 2010; 03:09 PM ET | Comments (3)

"Justice Still Denied" -- My mini-sermon at Lincoln Memorial "One Nation" Service

I was asked by the organizers of yesterday's "One America Working Together," rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to give one of three 5-minute mini-sermons at the interfaith service that kicked off the rally. I was asked to speak on ...

By Arthur Waskow | October 3, 2010; 03:58 PM ET | Comments (0)

All traditions teach against violence

"We intend to live the wisdom that God revealed to the Prophet, peace be upon him: That God created the human race as one family, through a single couple, to become many cultures and communities -- not so that we would hate and despise one another but so that we would come to know and understand each other. (Quran 49:13)"

By Arthur Waskow | August 23, 2010; 03:29 PM ET | Comments (0)

Mosques in America: Rabbi Hillel, George Washington, & my grandma

"This is America, and we must not talk like that!"

By Arthur Waskow | August 16, 2010; 09:51 PM ET | Comments (3)

Support Mosque at Tip of Manhattan, Urge ADL to change its Stance

For months, in New York City there has been a boiling controversy over plans to build a peace-committed mosque and Islamic cultural center two blocks from the site of the World Trade Centers. Last week, the Anti-Defamation League threw the national Jewish community into this debate by opposing the construction of the planned mosque. The Shalom Center, after consultations with a remarkable array of rabbis and other Jewish leaders from a broad spectrum of Jewish life, supports the building of the mosque and strongly disagrees with the ADL's position. The statement of these leaders, a list of the 30 initiating signers including Rabbis from a very broad spectrum of Jewish life -- Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Reform, and Renewal is below. We invite you to sign, to join a vigil at noon on Thursday August 5, and to call the ADL to urge them to change their stance.

By Arthur Waskow | August 3, 2010; 09:57 AM ET | Comments (12)

Report:Pro-Earth/ Tisha B'Av rally, US Capitol, July 20

About 200 people took part in a unique fusion of political rally, multireligious prayer, and Tisha b'Av observance at noon July 20 on the grounds of the US Capitol. Videotape from the event will be available by Thursday morning on The Shalom Center's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheShalomCenter The major slogans of the rally were "Get dirty fuels out of our air and water/ Get dirty money out of our politics."

By Arthur Waskow | July 21, 2010; 04:21 PM ET | Comments (1)

Terrorists who falsely claim justification in Islam

It is not surprising that -- given the majority ethos in American culture, identifying Christianity and perhaps Judaism with good and Islam with evil, alien -- American usage has allowed the description of some terrorists as "Muslim terrorists," but has failed to call IRA killers or those who have killed abortion providers "Christian terrorists."

By Arthur Waskow | July 12, 2010; 09:03 PM ET | Comments (3)

OYL! -- Corruption, the Spirit, the Earth and us

Three months! --- and it is even clearer now we are facing not an oil "spill" in the Gulf, the way water might spill from a dish or oil from a tanker -- a finite amount in the first place, and then we clean up. What we see iis more like piercing, penetrating, raping the deep-hidden places in the body of Mother Earth, a mile beneath the surface of the ocean, with such ultraviolence that Her very guts are pouring out, drenching and poisoning us. But we can take this disaster as a teaching toward a Turning in our lives and action.

By Arthur Waskow | July 8, 2010; 09:47 PM ET | Comments (0)

From Eden to the Gulf: Abundance, greed and disaster

All our religious and spiritual traditions warn us against this kind of insatiable hunger for material goods -- often called greed -- and urge us to integrate community, calm, and restfulness into our lives along with striving.

By Arthur Waskow | June 2, 2010; 01:16 PM ET | Comments (2)

Still no religion test

The religious values held by Justices of the Supreme Court, as they are interwoven with issues of public policy, may matter -- but absolutely not in the sense of "Which religion do you belong to?"

By Arthur Waskow | May 10, 2010; 11:14 AM ET | Comments (0)

Put U.S. aid in escrow till Israel brings settlers home, ends blockade of civilian goods to Gaza

Thomas Friedman, columnist for the NY Times, recently wrote that the Israeli government has become a drunk driver, addicted to swallowing up more and more territory at the cost of any decent peace with Palestine. And like a serious drunk,...

By Arthur Waskow | March 22, 2010; 07:12 PM ET | Comments (0)

Howard Zinn's last advice to America - and to me

Tuesday morning - just two days ago - I wrote half a dozen leaders of progressive thought and action in America, each separately, the letter that follows. It proposes creating a grand coalition calling for independence from the corporate &...

By Arthur Waskow | January 28, 2010; 12:33 PM ET | Comments (3)

The Supreme Court's vote for greedy Pharaoh

We have just received a stunning kick in the teeth to Community and a great victory for Domination: the Supreme Court's decision that corporations can pour as much money as they like into supporting the election of candidates for public office.

By Arthur Waskow | January 22, 2010; 04:41 PM ET | Comments (0)

Avatar's ecological and political faith

The movie is extraordinary, not only because of its technology, but for its spiritually rooted progressive politics.

By Arthur Waskow | January 12, 2010; 10:31 AM ET | Comments (3)

The Torah, the Army, and the troops

The Torah teaches that "ordinary" life-concerns of a soldier, as well as what we might call issues of religion and conscience, stand paramount in an army's relationship to its troops.

By Arthur Waskow | November 11, 2009; 11:02 AM ET | Comments (1)

Fort Hood shooting a flashback to 'fragging'

If the reports are accurate, it seems the Fort Hood shooter broke, choosing murder rather than the nonviolent forms of resistance he might have chosen. In that sense he replicated the violence of the war he abhorred and the violence that kept him in the Army against his will -- replicated the violence instead of resisting it in a deeper way.

By Arthur Waskow | November 6, 2009; 08:05 AM ET | Comments (12)

The Emerging Torah of Same-Sex Sexuality

The world has changed, and so has Jewish holy practice. What must we change for the world to come?

By Arthur Waskow | August 4, 2009; 02:13 PM ET | Comments (10)

The Atmosphere - or Mere Atmospherics?

The effort to prevent climate disaster for Planet Earth is not going well.

By Arthur Waskow | July 12, 2009; 11:04 PM ET | Comments (0)

Religion-Based Terror in Wichita, Washington

The Holocaust Museum murder and the murder of Dr. George Tiller at his church in Wichita share several characteristics.

By Arthur Waskow | June 11, 2009; 11:23 AM ET | Comments (3)

Murder is Murder and Abortion is Not

Tiller is a religious martyr, killed in his own church as he arrived to worship, killed for acting in accord with his religious commitments and his moral and ethical choices.

By Arthur Waskow | June 1, 2009; 04:51 PM ET | Comments (14)

If Ruth Came to America

As we celebrate Shavuot and Pentecost, consider what might happen if the biblical Ruth, welcomed even though she was a foreigner, came to America today.

By Arthur Waskow | May 27, 2009; 12:44 PM ET | Comments (0)

What Obama Should Have Said

I wish Obama at Notre Dame had said explicitly that women are moral beings, possessed of moral agency and responsibility in this unique situation where their own bodies are intertwined with another's.

By Arthur Waskow | May 19, 2009; 10:57 AM ET | Comments (1)

Torturing the Image of God

The choice is whether America is to celebrate the Infinite God or the tyrannical Caesar. To affirm the Image of God in every human being, or to fall at the feet of Empire.

By Arthur Waskow | May 11, 2009; 03:32 PM ET | Comments (5)

Passover's R-Rated Condiment

The real meaning of charoset on Passover? It's all about love.

By Arthur Waskow | April 8, 2009; 09:48 AM ET | Comments (19)

A Universal and Shameful Connection

Religion and domestic violence have, unfortunately, not been strangers to each other.

By Arthur Waskow | February 25, 2009; 04:13 AM ET | Comments (0)

Weaving an Abrahamic Peace

Repairing relations and affirming the legitimacy of Islam in America, by visiting some major Muslim venues; Repairing the bloody wounds of the Gaza-Israel relationship; and making a broad Middle East peace among Israel, Palestine, all the Arab states, Iran and the USA itself.

By Arthur Waskow | February 2, 2009; 06:07 AM ET | Comments (2)

Freedom Seder for Earth, Against Pharaohs

The Shalom Center is creating a 40th Anniversary New Interfaith Freedom Seder for the Earth to help us free ourselves from the greatest dangers of our time: the dangers of global scorching, the climate crisis, enormous disruptions of human civilization,...

By Arthur Waskow | January 26, 2009; 10:55 AM ET | Comments (0)

God Enjoyed Inauguration Rhetoric

I thought God - the real God, the One Who cares passionately about justice, peace, and diversity - came out rather well in the Inaugural ceremonies.

By Arthur Waskow | January 26, 2009; 03:52 AM ET | Comments (11)

HESCHEL+KING+OBAMA = AMERICA'S FUTURE?

In mid-January, several sacred American times will flow together in a way that invites us to draw on the movements for freedom, justice, and peace of forty years ago, to reshape America's future as a new President and Congress take office in the midst of war, economic crisis, and ecological danger.

By Arthur Waskow | January 5, 2009; 03:58 PM ET | Comments (0)

Zechariah's Vision for Gaza

Prophet Zechariah shows alternatives for Hamas, Israel, U.S. in Gaza.

By Arthur Waskow | December 28, 2008; 01:32 AM ET | Comments (57)

A Better Choice for Evangelical Outreach

When it comes to religion, Barack Obama is deaf in one ear.

By Arthur Waskow | December 23, 2008; 03:54 PM ET | Comments (35)

Autos, Plagues & Passover: Creating a New Freedom Seder

What do the Iraq War, the drowning of New Orleans, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the great Australian drought, and the Senate's refusal to assist the auto industry all have in common?

By Arthur Waskow | December 15, 2008; 05:16 AM ET | Comments (0)

Same-Sex Marriage: The Emerging Torah

The Biblical prohibition of same-sex sexual relationships is rooted in three basic rules the Hebrew Bible prescribes for proper sexual ethics. But these rules were not set in stone forever.

By Arthur Waskow | December 14, 2008; 04:18 AM ET | Comments (17)

Act Now to Heal Religious Hatred, End "Religious" Terrorism

The new Administration should work to strengthen those in every religious community -- beginning with those in American mosques and Muslim organizations -- who oppose religious violence. And treat terrorism as a crime to be policed and punished, not defeated by war that breeds more terrorists.

By Arthur Waskow | December 5, 2008; 08:20 AM ET | Comments (53)

Jan 19-20: MLK Day & Inauguration Day

Relearning Heschel, Rebirthing King, Re-Inaugurating America: Celebrating the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King As a new government takes office, January 19-20, 2009 (Please circulate this message as widely as possible.) As the United States begins a new Administration and...

By Arthur Waskow | November 27, 2008; 11:24 PM ET | Comments (0)

Revitalizing Jewish Activism: Nov 23, Jews Uniting to End the War & Heal America

On Sunday, November 23, The Shalom Center and the Workmen's Circle will hold an action gathering in New York City: Jews Uniting to End the War and Heal America.

By Arthur Waskow | November 15, 2008; 10:54 PM ET | Comments (0)

America's Truest Self

We have taken only the bare first step on that unknown path to an unknown place, the path of hope and change. But that path is the only way to uncover, discover, our truest self.

By Arthur Waskow | November 5, 2008; 09:27 AM ET | Comments (4)

"Obsession" Film: Is There Something Wrong with Being a Muslim in America?

"Obsession" is an attempt to make not a band of terrorists but all Islam the enemy. Bad enough in itself; even worse that it was deliberately sent to millions of homes through newspapers in the major "swing states" of presidential politics. It was an attempt to transform religious fear and ignorance into religious hatred, and hatred into an election tool.

By Arthur Waskow | October 27, 2008; 08:29 AM ET | Comments (3)

Let's Try Biblical Economics

So far the whole notion of rhythmically redistributing wealth - a vision at the heart of Biblical economics - is not on the agenda for Wall Street saviors.

By Arthur Waskow | September 22, 2008; 12:00 AM ET | Comments (4)

The Election: Dancing in God's Earthquake

Not since William Jennings Bryan ("You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!" and William McKinley ("I knelt to pray for guidance on what to do about the Philippines, and heard a voice: Annex them, educate them, Christianize them!") have we had such a choice.

By Arthur Waskow | September 10, 2008; 10:36 AM ET | Comments (6)

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