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by John J. Reilly

There are lots of things which can be said for and against the "GATT" (General Agreement
on Trade and Tariffs), "NAFTA" (the North American Free Trade Agreement) and the other
acronym organizations that have been created since the end of World War II to orchestrate a
general reduction of tariffs, either regionally or around the world. The logical sides to this
issue would be people who support free trade as a stimulus to economic growth (projecting
domestic laissez faire onto the international level) versus those who believe tariffs and
preferences are needed to protect domestic jobs and industries (projecting domestic
regulation onto the international level). Little about the politics of these debates in the 1990s
has followed logical expectations, however. Although it is Republicans who traditionally
supported letting the free market operate with a minimum of government interference, the
Democratic Clinton Administration considered the 1994 GATT agreement to be the crown
jewel of its foreign policy in its first term. The opponents to the agreement ranged from
consumerist semi-socialists like Ralph Nader to the conservative nationalist admirers of
Patrick Buchanan. (The sentiments of the latter became even better represented in Congress
when the Republicans took control.) There were reactions to the GATT more surprising than
these, however. There are people who think that the GATT was quite literally the work of the
devil.

We live in an age of eschatological expectation, and for most of this century a feature of
popular American eschatology has been the expectation of the rise of a wicked world
government, controlled by Antichrist. It was, perhaps, the "World" in the name of the World
Trade Organization, the arbitration association created by the latest GATT agreement, which
set off the reaction. In any case, the GATT was denounced by hostile congressmen as a move
toward world government, while the chatter on computer bulletin boards described it as yet
another sign of the near approach of the endtimes. Throughout the discussion, the explicit
premise was that world government is inherently diabolical, and that any international
organization is a sort of "government" until proven otherwise.

Although the hostility to world organizations is at least as widespread among conservative

Catholics as among conservative Protestants, it really does not fit very well with Catholic
tradition or the current understanding of doctrine. Since the Holy Roman Empire proved to be
something of a disappointment, the Church has been slow to support particular schemes for
universal government. However, the notion of some sort of secular international authority,
one that would not detract from the sovereignty of independent states but serve to facilitate
their interaction, does fit rather neatly into Catholic social teaching.

Reference to the new Catechism of the Catholic Church can quickly illustrate this point. The
general rationale for government is given by section 1927. As we can easily see, this rationale
in principle invites universal application:
"It is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society. The
common good of the whole human family calls for an organization of society on an
international level."

The Catechism is careful, however, to point out that even an authority which is universal in
jurisdiction is not therefore necessarily universal in power. Indeed, as Section 1884 explains,
the situation is quite the opposite:

"God has not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature
the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This
mode of governance ought to be followed in social life. The way God acts in governing the
world, which bears witness to such great regard to human freedom, should inspire the
wisdom of those who govern human communities. They should behave as ministers of divine
providence."

What we are talking about here, of course, is the principle of subsidiarity. In political theory,
it takes the form of the axiom that the most local level of an organization which is capable of
handling a certain issue should have the authority to handle that issue. Subsidiarity is the
guiding constitutional principle of the Church. It is the reason why bishops have such wide
discretion over matters of discipline and liturgy in their own dioceses. Indeed, it is part of the
secret of the Church's longevity: if the Church really were the centralized autocracy of
Protestant mythology, it would have strangled in red tape many centuries ago.

Subsidiarity has applications far beyond ecclesiology. It is closely akin to the principle of
federalism in American constitutional theory, under which the states are supposed to retain
primary jurisdiction over government functions that are local by their nature. The European
Community explicitly defines the relationship of its member states to the union government
as one of subsidiarity. What we should note here is that the principle does not just protect the
rights of local jurisdictions. It also strongly implies that hierarchy, properly understood, is a
positive good. Section 1885 suggests, in fact, that good government naturally seeks to make
the tranquility of order universal:

"The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state
intervention. It aims at harmonizing relationships between individuals and societies. It tends
toward the establishment of true international order."

In discussing the hypothesis of world government, we should recall that not all governments
are twentieth century bureaucracies. Henry Kissinger, in his book "Diplomacy," notes that the
rather informal association of great powers known as the "Concert of Europe" was for all
intents and purposes the government of that continent in the aftermath of the Napoleonic
wars. The United Nations, in contrast, has all the trappings of a government, except the
ability to actually govern anything. The Catechism has nothing to say about what form the
institutions of world order should take. Rather, it seeks to outline what their functions should
be. Quoting the Vatican II document, "Gaudium et spes," Section 1911 gives us some notion
of what a world government would be expected to do:

"Human interdependence is increasing and gradually spreading throughout the whole world.
The unity of the human family, embracing people who enjoy natural dignity, implies a
UNIVERSAL COMMON GOOD [phrase italicized in original]. This good calls for an
organization of the community of nations able to 'provide for the different needs of men; this
will involve the sphere of social life to which belong questions of food, hygiene,
education....and certain situations arising here and there, as for example...alleviating the
miseries of refugees dispersed throughout the world, and assisting migrants and their
families."

Governments normally provide disaster relief and social services, but then so do private
agencies. The defining power of government has usually been a monopoly on the legitimate
use of force, particularly of military force. The sections dealing with war, 2306-2316, rather
grudgingly allow to states a right of self-defense, "as long as the danger of war persists and
there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power" to maintain
world peace. Presumably, then, a universal government would have as one of its functions the
duty to police the world, though the principle of subsidiarity would suggest that local
disorders should normally be dealt with by local forces.

The verb "police" here is precisely the right one to describe the Catechism's view of the role
of the military. Sections 2306-2316 (which together comprise a division entitled
"Safeguarding Peace") simply restate traditional Catholic doctrine on war. Peace is defined as
not just the absence of conflict, but as the tranquility which naturally arises from a just social
order. The familiar criteria for a "just war" are set out. Anyone who reads this material out of
context is likely to be struck by its legalism. For statesmen in most places at most times,
questions of war and peace are questions of policy, of contingency. While not quite lawless,
perhaps no decision about going to war has ever been governed entirely by a legal formula. If
the principles enunciated in "Safeguarding the Peace" are supposed to be normative, they are
not descriptive norms.

What Catholic military doctrine does resemble is the criteria that well-run civilian police
forces articulate regarding the use of deadly force. As the nightly television news will tell
you, rules of this sort often work imperfectly. However, they do make sense for any law-
governed society in which the authorities, too, can be held responsible for their actions.

In other words, Catholic doctrine best fits a world in which subsidiarity has already reached
its logical conclusion. It assumes that a universal "law" and "government" are somehow
normative. The present society of nations, in which states must resort to self-help to protect
themselves, is provisional. Catholic doctrine looks toward a future situation in which there is
some supernational entity with the acknowledged right to settle disputes among states, and
the physical ability to make its decisions effective. In that world, the rigid legalism which the
Catechism prescribes for questions of war and peace would be not only workable, but
morally unavoidable.

There are some denominations that lay great stress on international cooperation and
occasionally give explicit support to the idea of world government. They dismiss the
anxieties of millenarian evangelicals because, for liberal Christianity, the "endtimes" have
become purely metaphorical. The Second Coming means only the eventual victory of
goodness and niceness, and the only Final Judgment will be the judgment of history. There
are, of course, Catholic theologians who think much the same way these Protestants think,
but the actual deposit of the faith is quite otherwise. The Antichrist is alive and well in
Catholic eschatology, as section 675 of the Catechism indicates. So is the notion of a final
tribulation, when many will be tempted to apostasy by a false messianism. In those days, the
Church will "follow her Lord in death and Resurrection" (section 677). The liberal belief that
"the kingdom will be fulfilled...by a historic triumph of the Church by a progressive
ascendancy" is specifically rejected. Only the direct intervention of God in history will defeat
the final unleashing of evil. For the Catholic Church, the apocalypse is not a metaphor.

The Catholic Church's lack of anxiety about international organizations has another
foundation: historical memory. The Church has lived before under governments with
pretensions to universal sovereignty. There is no reason in principle why it could not do so
again. As the neo-Thomist philosopher Josef Pieper once noted, although it is likely that the
reign of Antichrist would involve some sort of world state, a universal government might still
be a goal which men of goodwill could pursue if it seemed advisable at the time. The Roman
Empire, for instance, was sometimes hostile to Christianity, sometimes indifferent, and
sometimes friendly (too friendly, according to many observers). A government that could
actually claim jurisdiction over the whole human race for any length of time would be likely
to make a similar record, but even a hostile world government would not necessarily be the
mark of the endtimes. The final tribulation is a unique event, a miracle of evil. Religious
persecution, in contrast, typically needs no explanation beyond politics.

Considering the dismal record of the United Nations in recent years, this is not one of those
eras in which stronger international bureaucracies are a self-evidently good idea. The
contemplation of a world government which accurately reflected the political culture of the
world today is enough to give any reasonable person the heebie-jeebies. Fine. Nevertheless, it
does seem to be a law of history that any international system, such as that which existed in
the Mediterranean world in the centuries before Christ, will eventually fall under the control
of some overarching sovereignty. I suspect, like Toynbee and Spengler, that our own
civilization will also someday find itself governed by a universal state. If you don't live to see
it, maybe your grandchildren will. Be this as it may, there is no cause for undue anxiety. It
does not have to be the end of the world. http://www.johnreilly.info/wgrcc.htm

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October 31, 2008 by Urbanham

Filed under Community, Religion |

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by The Rev. Gerald Austin Sr. BSET, ThM, DMin

Founder and CEO, The Center for Urban Missions, The New City Church,

Mega International & Associates, LLC

á 

In today¶s society, an institution tends to be viewed as an accumulation of the individuals

who compose it. The Church, for example, is seen as a group of like-minded individuals who
gather together to have their religious needs met. But the Church also represents the most
powerful institution in the world, with a vast and untapped potential for restoring the broader
community and revitalizing urban landscapes.

This White Paper focuses on the role of the Church in addressing the societal and economic
ills facing our city, particularly in the African American community. My basic argument is
that the Church must take serious its theology of place, the role of our Black academies, and
responsible individual empowerment if it is to continue its relevance in the 21st Century.

This White Paper is designed to address at least two audiences:

 
 
  

I want to challenge you to understand the invaluable role the church plays in addressing our
City¶s social and economic issues. Political leaders can still adhere to our constitutional
obligation of separation of church and state. But in the social, economic and community
development, there must be freedom to broaden our thinking and realize the strength of the
partnership between the government, business and church communities.

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"
 


I want to challenge you to embrace the theology of place, the need for informed scholarship
from our community¶s Black academies of substance and the cultivation of indigenous
giftedness, all of which are outlined in this paper.

Church leaders catch God¶s corporate vision by resisting the contemporary trends of radical
individualism and personal peace. The church must engage in vibrant community and
economic development with business savvy, while influencing government and society with
the values of God¶s Kingdom.

My mission is to glorify God, edify those who honor Him, reach out to those who are trying
to find their way to Him, and to provoke conversation and discussion that develops solutions
to the problems our community faces. I am confident that you will take seriously the basic
philosophies espoused in this document, be inspired to hope, and turn that hope into action
that helps renew our city.

My desire is for this White Paper to spur further interest, discussion and research into the
relationship between the Church and its role in Urban Community and Economic
Revitalization. I hope that you enjoy and find value in this white paper, and we welcome your
feedback.

#á $á#

Oliver Cromwell, nicknamed ³Old Ironsides´ from his prowess as a brilliant soldier and
commander of the British army in the late 1600s, was going through a difficult economic
crisis. The British government lacked silver to mint coins, so Cromwell sent officials
throughout the country to find this resource.

After much research, they reported back to the commander that there was one source for this
precious commodity ± the statues of the saints adorning the churches throughout the cities
and townships, were overlaid with gold and silver.

Cromwell said, ³Good, we¶ll melt down the saints and put them into circulation.´ As we face
the ever-increasing challenges in Birmingham, we too must tap into the resources in our
churches and put the saints back into circulation. The church has historically played a major
role in helping African-Americans overcome challenges, from slavery to unjust Jim Crow
laws and the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham during the 1960s.

As our nation prepares on April 4, 2008 to remember the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr. on the 40th anniversary of his assassination, the black community faces a new struggle
just as daunting as the Civil Rights struggle he championed- community and economic
revitalization. It appears that ³melting down the saints and putting them into circulation´
spoken by General Oliver Cromwell over four centuries ago is just as real today.

Throughout history, faith-based institutions have played a leadership role in confronting

social injustice, developing a sense of community, and addressing a broad range of human
needs. Recognizing the importance of this role, private funders, locally and nationally, have
begun to partner with faith-based institutions to meet common goals, such as creating
affordable housing and job opportunities, educating youth, reducing crime and addressing
health needs.

Problem Statement

Over the past 40 years, the federal government has spent trillions of dollars to solve the ever-
increasing social and economic challenges in our communities with little return on
investment. While Blacks have made tremendous progress in the areas of politics, job
advancements and growth of the middle class, the economic disparities continue to widen as
many in the Black Church failed to tackle the issue of community and economic
development.

Like most American cities these days, Birmingham is a deeply troubled place. At the root of
its problems is the massive economic shifts that have marked the last two decades. Hundreds
of industrial jobs that boosted its residents have either disappeared or moved overseas. Many
of the new jobs created in the U.S. economy are either highly professionalized, and require
elaborate education and credentials for entry, or they are routine, low-paying service jobs
without much of a future. In effect, these shifts in the economy, and particularly the
disappearance of decent employment possibilities from low-income neighborhoods, have
removed the bottom rung from the fabled American ³ladder of opportunity.´

As a result, our urban community is in crisis ± a moral and societal breakdown of families,
substandard and underperforming schools, a decline in Black-owned businesses, and
deteriorating neighborhoods plagued by high crime and soaring poverty. If you drive through
the majority of Birmingham¶s 99 neighborhoods, you will see communities struggling to
survive.
According to John Hopkins University¶s October 2007 list on ³Dropout Factories,´ half of
the City of Birmingham¶s high schools made the list of schools with alarmingly high drop-out
rates. The high school graduation percentages ranged from 57 percent at Jackson-Olin, 56
percent at Ensley, 47 percent at Huffman, 43 percent at West End and 41 percent at
Woodlawn.

Black boys are especially at risk. According to a recent NBC News special series on the
plight of African-American females, many teachers are giving up on Black males as early as
the fourth grade due to their bad grades and behavioral problems that stem from lack of
positive Black male role models in the home. Numbers detailing the breakdown of the Black
family are staggering. The NBC News series found that two-thirds of Black households are
led by women, largely due to the growth of unwed mothers and the alarming number of
Black men who are incarcerated.

Ebony Magazine recently reported there are more Black men in jail or on probation than in
college. The magazine also stated that Black women outnumber Black men by 7 to 1 at
historically Black colleges and 4 to 1 at traditional colleges.

The NBC News series found women to comprise nearly 67 percent of new businesses owned
by Blacks and generated two-thirds of new Black wealth over the last five years. ´
Empowering Black males to reach their full potential is the most serious economic and civil
rights challenge we face today,´ said National Urban League CEO Marc H. Morial last year
when releasing the 2007 State of Black America Report, which focused for the first time on
the plight of the Black male.

The U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that despite the growth of the Black middle class, the
salary gap between Blacks and Whites is wider than it was in 1968. Blacks also failed to
capitalize on a strong economic market in 2007, and now we are faced with a major concern
as the job market has slowed, and housing and credit challenges continue to escalate in 2008.
The Black unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in 2007 vs. 4.7 percent for Whites, the Labor
Department found. It was even more dire for those most at risk: Black males aged 16 to 19
have a 29.4 percent unemployment rate, more than twice the rate of 13.9 percent for White
males aged 16 to 19.

In 1992, the United State Congress passed into law ³Charitable Choice Legislation,´ which
gave rise to the establishment of the federal Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives.
This legislative act was an admission that there¶s ³silver and gold in the pews´ and the work
of faith-based organizations can get a better return on investment when the ³saints are put
into circulation´ in the market place. This growing interest at the federal level in providing
public funding for the secular activities of faith-based institutions, while controversial, raises
numerous possibilities for increased public and private sector funding.

In essence, the government recognizes that the Church represents a vast, untapped resource
that can more effectively address some social and economic aspects of Urban Community
and Economic Revitalization better than it can.

Therefore, our City must seize the moment for business and government to work together to
revitalize our communities, not relegating the Church to a culturally-defined existence, but
one of influencing culture in ways that positively reshape urban landscapes.
I work from the premise that ³right thinking always precedes right behavior.´ What people
think and believe ultimately influences how they live their lives, how they invest their money,
etc. If the Church is to define its role in the 21st Century marketplace, it must understand its
place in history as an institution, and how its existence also affects non-members, i.e., the
broader community.

á%&á#" á%& #á#$"á 

Birmingham, a city that gained the moniker the Magic City for its rapid growth in the late
1800s and early 1900s, had hit its prime as a central city in the Southeast when the volcanic
eruption of the mid-1960s Civil Rights struggle shook the world. The lens of global media
focused on Birmingham and what had been magic had become the madness of the human
condition as fire hoses and police dogs were turned on Blacks seeking basic civil rights that
others took for granted.

It was the Black Church that took the central role in the fight for freedom. I submit to you
that by God¶s grace, 40 years later the God of our dreary years and not so silent tears, is once
again calling to that age-old institution of the Church to rise up and ³seek the welfare of the
city´!

Dr. Wilson Fallin, professor, pastor and author, eloquently analyzed the role and place of the
African-American church in his book, ³Birmingham, Alabama 1815-1963: A Shelter in the
Storm.´ Fallin¶s well-researched book, which traces the African American Church in Jones
Valley from 1815 to the Civil Rights movement and the Birmingham protests of 1963, also
sheds light on the social context in which these churches operated. Blue-collar working
conditions and the long history of segregation and black subjugation in Birmingham are
important elements in unpacking the disparity that exist in understanding then and now.

Convinced that these churches were central to the development of the community, he argues
that at times the Church focused primarily on helping ³Blacks cope with their oppression by
being a refuge in a hostile environment´ (p. 64).

Fallin identifies several key pastors who served congregations in Birmingham over several
years, comparing and contrasting their roles according to the socio-economic situations they
faced, showing how versatile the churches and their leaders were.

For example, William R. Pettiford, a late-19th and early-20th-century Baptist minister,

engaged in a wide range of religious and secular activities ± entrepreneur, banker, and
churchman ± while maintaining an accommodationist position on issues of Black self-help
and self-determination. He was convinced that Blacks could earn the respect of Whites
through responsible living. Years later, Fred Shuttlesworth became a pastor and leading civil
rights advocate. He left entrepreneurial activities to lay leaders and concentrated on
identifying a God who sided with the weak, the marginalized, and the downtrodden. He was
convinced that the system of segregation would not change without active African-American
protest and litigation.

Fallin¶s book clearly connects the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham
to the religious community.
Likewise, today¶s economic rights dilemma can only be solved with the church playing a
leading role in transforming the communities they serve.

!á#

So what does this history lesson have to do with the Black Church in Birmingham, Alabama
today? With the decline in Black businesses and communities in general, the escape to
suburbia of higher-income Black families who¶ve left behind the poor to their fate, the Black
Church has become the only viable source of economic vitality in many inner-city
communities.

This means the Black Church must step up its role to empower its members and the
surrounding neighborhoods it serves.

Four decades after the Black Church in Birmingham played a major role in securing civil
rights for all, the Church again can take the lead in tackling today¶s issue of community and
economic revitalization. Our challenges are immense and I argue that the Church will need to
take a serious look at three underlying principles and critically apply them if it is to continue
to be relevant in the 21st Century.

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Spiritual Capital is defined as ³resources that are created or that people have access to when
people invest in religion as religion.´ Churches raise significant revenue, a great deal of
which is funneled into its mission, which typically means using it to help society¶s weakest
members. Its people invest according to their values, and those values are often defined
religiously.

Cities have always been important to God because it¶s where people tend to live. So His
concern for cities is even greater, now that the world today is urbanizing faster than it ever
has in its history; this trend appears irreversible. In the U.S., 51% of its citizens live in 39
cities with a million or more in population. Just a few years ago, Birmingham for the first
time became a world-class city, with more than a million people in the metro area.

Because Christian identity cuts across every other dividing line found in urban
neighborhoods, it has the unique authority to use its spiritual capital to reverse the mindset of
radical individualism and personal peace that is endemic to American society, a society that
feels free to ignore the needs of the city, and therefore, its people.

If we are to recover an earthy Christianity, one that connects profoundly to community and
economic revitalization, we must develop and embrace an abiding ³theology of place´ that
says cities can honor God. I believe that nothing promotes the peace and health of the city
like the spread of faith in the Gospel, of understanding the Word of God. It renews both
individual lives and reweaves the fabric of whole neighborhoods.

This verse of Scripture seems to best describe the Church¶s prophetic role in the place where
human beings are most concentrated and they are most capable of building and sustaining a
God-glorifying community: ³But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile,
and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.´ (Jeremiah
29:7)
Just imagine that you were forced to leave your home in suburbia that had been destroyed by
gang-bangers from Birmingham.

You pack up what you can salvage and become a refugee. Leaving behind destruction,
fatalities, and a life that was, you reluctantly move to the City of Birmingham. Fully
intending to return home to suburbia, you don¶t fully unpack your bags. Instead, you patiently
wait for justice to be served, or in today¶s language, for Jesus to come again.

But in Jeremiah 29, God does not tell the refugees to lead a passive, patient life in the city.
No, God tells them to settle down, make the city their new home, work and grow their
families, and ± now get this ± pray for the city¶s prosperity.

Today, God is actually calling us to do the same, to actively work for the shalom of the city ±
its peace, justice, mercy, compassion and prosperity.

Some would ask, Why should I care about these people that I am afraid of? They break into
cars, they vote differently that I do. Why should I have any interest in their messed-up lives?
Why, for goodness sake, should I pray for the people that don¶t even speak or look like me?
Maybe you have asked a form of that question at some point in your life. But remember the
message and its promise: ³Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you, and pray to the
Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.´

If the ³dropout factories´ impact my welfare, would I engage in the lives of its academically-
failing students any differently? If the actions and behavior of millions of children of
incarcerated parents impacts my little comfort zone, would I do anything to intersect their
lives? If we truly believed Jeremiah 29, Birmingham would be different, and we would all
realize that poverty and crime in the inner-city affects the suburbs as well. We are one city,
one region united and the church is the best vehicle to address those urban ills of society.

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York City, in ³A New
Kind of Urban Christian´ (Christianity Today, May 2006) writes, ³We need Christians and
churches everywhere there are people.´ Today¶s urban renewal requires the kind of vision
and action that churches and people of faith possess.

Churches must help the broader community realize the personal and corporate implications of
the Scriptural truth and the words leaders have spoken: Seek the prosperity of Birmingham,
because ³as Birmingham goes, so goes the Region.´

È(  
)*  



No community has ever reached the shores of liberation and equality and empowerment
without maintaining and increasing the capacity of their own educational institutions. The
role of higher education institutions in the economic development of society has been well
documented. Some of the monetary benefits of higher education include increased tax
revenue, greater productivity, and greater consumption. Its societal benefits includes reduced
crime rates, increased charitable giving or community service, improved ability to adapt to
and use technology, and greater involvement in political process as informed advocates.

Therefore, the call for urban and community revitalizations means the church must
specifically call upon social scholarship from academies of substance. In the African
American community, that means embracing and affirming the role of Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Founded for the sole purpose of providing higher learning to Black Americans when others
would not, HBCUs must be celebrated and supported because they, like the Black Church,
are vital to the empowerment of the Black community.

No other institutional type has the historical, cultural and economic heritage to be greater
producers of knowledge on African Americans. Empowerment means individuals developing
a historical and systematic knowledge base about themselves and individuals with similar
cultural heritage. It¶s incumbent upon HBCUs, therefore, to have curriculums that are infused
with knowledge about the accomplishments of African Americans and Blacks globally. We
must find ways to encourage HBCU faculty to be engaged in academic research and practices
related to discoveries and contributions made by Black people in the world, across time.

I will cover the linkage between HBCUs, the Black Church and economic success in the
African American community in greater detail in a book I am currently writing. For now, I
will say that we must create a forum and continue the necessary conversations regarding the
vitally important challenges that HBCUs face in the new millennium as they continue trying
to bridge the gap between economic development and cultural empowerment.

I have discussed with local educators, business leaders and municipal communities about the
possibility of endowing a professorship or fellowship in the area of community and economic
development. I am convinced that HBCUs, such as Miles College in Fairfield and Lawson
State in Birmingham, must pay particular attention to ways that they can be more closely
aligned with their urban neighborhoods.

HBCUs tend to be intricately linked to these neighborhoods, primarily because many of their
students come from them. One of the biggest challenges facing HBCUs today is the
recruitment and retention of quality Black students who, because of the civil rights gained in
the 60s, can go to virtually any college or university in the country. The cream of our
academically- and athletically-gifted students are skimmed away by more ³prestigious,´
predominately

White institutions, many of which actively recruit Blacks and people of color. This leaves
HBCUs to pick up students who are often less prepared and not as motivated as their more
talented peers.

Because HBCUs often do not have the financial resources to compete with the scholarship
packages that elite institutions can offer, HBCU leaders who are creative and have vision will
increasingly be needed to both recruit and create environments for a range of student types.
For instance, high-achieving students who choose to attend HBCUs say their reason for
enrollment is that they were pursued by personal contact via telephone or in person with the
president or other administrative leaders. At the same time, HBCU leaders must also honor
their historic legacy to help the least of these by providing opportunities that uplift those
African American students who will not be welcomed at any other institution. This is not an
easy task, and it is why the church must play a role in helping HBCUs meet such challenges.

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Typically, well-meaning folks from Churches and benevolent institutions have approached
the problems of inner-city ills paternalistically. They first focus on the community¶s needs,
deficiencies and problems and spend millions of dollars and hours of human capital trying to
address them. But I believe in a capacity-focused model that insists on building up a
community¶s strength from within by empowering its individual members.

What I propose to the Black Churches is that instead of documenting the problems, we map
the solutions by creating an asset inventory of the people we want to serve in order to mine
the silver and gold that sits under our very noses.

I propose that Churches go household by household, building by building, block by block and
thoroughly inventory the gifts, skills and capacities of the community¶s residents. We would
be pleasantly shocked to discover a vast and often surprising array of individual talents and
productive skills, few of which are being mobilized for community-building purposes.

More than any institution, the Church understands the principle of the ³spiritual giftedness´
of every individual. This is particularly important to persons who often find themselves
marginalized by society. It is essential to recognize the capacities, for example, of those who
have been labeled mentally handicapped or disabled, or of those who are marginalized
because they are too old, or too young, or too poor. In a community whose assets are being
fully recognized and mobilized, these people too will play a vital role in the redevelopment of
their own communities, not as clients or recipients of aid, but as full contributors to the
community-building process. They add to the asset base of every community and can often
provide the framework for effective community engagement in their own neighborhoods.

Once these combinations of local assets and capacities ± individual residents, citizens¶
associations, and the resources of local institutions ± have been mapped and mobilized, a
community is well on its way to regenerating itself.

Such a community may still, of course, require help from the outside. But it is now in a
position to control and define that help, to focus and direct outside resources to the locally
generated agenda and plans. Rather than existing as an object of charity, such a community
will say to the outside world: we are mobilized and powerful; we are a sure-fire investment.

((á##" #*& &%á

The A.G. Gaston Conference¶s past white papers have been a prophetic voice in addressing
the economic challenges Birmingham faces, especially its African-American communities.
These papers have outlined the crises in Black Birmingham that are due, in part, to the
disturbingly low number of Black-owned businesses and its implications.

Birmingham News reporter Roy L. Williams has written that the number of Black businesses
is falling in Birmingham due to a combination of lack of access to capital and Black flight to
the suburbs. The ramifications of the demise of the Black entrepreneur base, as retail shops,
restaurants and grocery stores that once were Blacked-owned on the decline, are enormous.
Their demise only adds to the deteriorating neighborhoods, rising poverty and skyrocketing
crime rates in the inner city.

So what does this have to do with the church? With the decline in Black businesses, the Black
Church has become the only viable source of economic vitality in many inner-city
communities. This means the Black Church must step up its role to empower its members and
the surrounding neighborhoods it serves.

There is now a growing recognition and interest from both public-private and corporate
sectors in providing funding for the activities of faith and community-based institutions to
more effectively combat these negative city trends. For example, over $665 billion are
awarded to charitable and faith-based organizations each year from corporations, foundations,
private individuals, federal, local and state governments.

Four decades after the Black Church in Birmingham played a major role in securing civil
rights for all, it again can take the lead in tackling today¶s leading civil rights issue ±
economics. We can do this by building schools, credit unions, developing affordable housing
in low-income areas and other direct forms of community investment and revitalization.

We can undertake these activities ourselves using money awarded to faith-based

organizations, or in collaboration with other churches, faith-based organizations, educators,
government and businesses to generate effective change.

#!#

I have made the clarion call for the faith community to step up to the 21st Century challenge
of Community and Economic Revitalization by looking through three concentric lens; A
Theology of Place, An Academy of Substance and Responsible Individual Empowerment.

All around the world, in times past and present, people have expressed their God-given
creativity and imagination in art, folklore, drama, music and food. I see God at work, taking
the patchwork of this fallen creation, here in Birmingham and molding it into a community of
people who would reflect His glory.

I have a vision that God will turn Birmingham, the Magic City, into the ³Miracle City.´ It
will be more communityoriented, where we not only support each other in our city as
individual families, but also come together as a metro-city government. My hope is that God
will make out of us a credible witness of beautiful diversity, where needs, resources, cultures,
celebrations, and relationships are shared.

May God make us a community in which people are committed to living out the values of
His Kingdom ± values that are without class or any other kind of alienating distinctions. May
we make a commitment to live together and support one another as a unified community that
will spread out geographically throughout the 99 neighborhoods across various sectors of our
city.

I have a vision that Birmingham will be a city about service to the poor, the helpless, the
seeking, and the fearful. May our city strive to embody God¶s ³perfect love that casts out
fear.´ May we be a city where the empowered and the powerless can learn to trust each other
± not playing the parts of paternalistic, distancing ³charity givers,´ nor long-faced poor with
manipulative receiving, but being true citizens and pilgrims who recognize that all men are
created equal, because we are created in the image of God.

Our Lord, in teaching His disciples to pray, said, ³Thy Kingdom come.´ Let us as a city in
the same spirit, irrespective of our faith orientation, echo the clarion call in a misguided
world which shouts out, ³Thy Kingdom come and peace on earth and good will to all men!
Thou will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.´ We, as God¶s children, can be a model to a
desperately needy world ± reflective of the perfect love, redemption, reconciliation, and
transformation He offers to all people.

Therefore my beloved ³Birminghamians´ let us roll up your sleeves and share in this
opportunity to influence culture with the values of God¶s Kingdom!!

-áá%á%

Rev. Gerald Austin Sr. knows from personal experience that there is hope for our urban
communities. One of nine children raised by a single parent in Birmingham, Austin emerged
from a life of potential entrapment and now holds a B.S. from DeVry University in
Electronics Engineering, Th.M from Grace Theological Seminary, and a DMin. Degree from
Bakke Graduate University in Transformational Leadership for the Global City. He is also a
Graduate of Harvard Divinity School Center for Religion, Values and Public Life, where his
project was recognized as a model for 21st Century Community Transformation.

In 1986, Rev. Austin founded The Center for Urban Missions, a Community Development
Corporation whose vision is to demonstrate God¶s love by bringing positive change in urban
communities and equipping individuals, churches and strategic organizations to address its
holistic needs.

Rev. Austin also served 5 years as the Coordinator of African American Church Planting for
Missions to North America, the home mission board of the PCA.

He is the founder and Pastor Emeritus of The New City Church, begun in 1990 in his home.
After serving 15 years as founder and Senior Pastor, he brought the Church into the
Evangelical Covenant Church in America Denomination and successfully completed a
succession plan for pastoral leadership for New City Church in April 2006. The church is
strategically located in the heart of Birmingham¶s downtown business district and continues
to serves as a beacon of light in a city that is being transformed.

The Center for Urban Missions has received numerous awards through the years, including a
$1 million matching grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Opportunities
Program, the first award of its kind in the Southeast. An adjunct professor at Samford
University and member of several strategic boards, Rev. Austin is well known as a strong
voice in the area of Urban Economic Development, Church Planting, Justice and Compassion
Issues, Marriage and Family and Racial Reconciliation.

He has written several white papers and numerous articles on the subject of Racial
Reconciliation, Community and Economic Development and Urban Family Life that have
been published in books and other publications across the country. A multiple award
recipient, Rev. Austin is in high demand as a teacher and mentor of pastors and community
service leaders called to transform their congregations and communities. He and his wife of
30 years, Minister Gwen Austin, are the proud parents of 6 children and 12 grand children.

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Theology is the attempt through reasoning to understand the

implications our faith has for everyday life and for everyday issues.
From my understanding of the models of the pastor, these would
include designations such as prophet, priest and, in a German sense,
an integral part of being a theologian. Public policy, on the other
hand, reflects what politicians choose to do or not do in order to shape
and enhance the public space that determines how people relate to one
another. It also has to do with how the public is enabled to use the
resources available to them in the public space. It may be as a
political ideal, as claimed by Otto von Bismark, that politics is "the
art of the possible"[1] or semantically understood as that which
happens and causes interest and concern (for good or bad within the
"polis"). JK Galbraith, on the other hand, sets limits to the public
arena and the shaping of public policy. He says: "politics is not the art
of the possible. It consists of choosing between the disastrous and the
unpalatable." Within the public sphere, therefore, if we follow
Galbraith's reasoning (and I have no reason to doubt that he is spot on 
in the context of 21 st century global relations) choices are never
between the best and worst but more frequently between the lesser of
two evils. It is never a choice between back and white, so to speak,
but a choice between varying shades of grey. So public policy
involves shaping, influencing and assisting our public officials to
make the better choices for the improvement rather than deterioration
of our how we are to live together and survive as a nation.

All of this takes place within a public space in which ordinary citizens
are able to interact with those who shape policies. Within this same
space we have the interaction of theology all of which, according to
Duncan Forrester, "seem to have lost their relevance and cogency ...
[while] venturing into unknown territory." The questions that face us
are whether we can discern some path and direction in this venture?
And, if so, do we, as Church and theologians, have anything to offer
this venture? Due to the limits of this paper I will deal with the
Church's own perceptions of inadequacy on unknown journeys.
Secondly we shall also examine the change of public arena since 1994
and the influences of globalisation that shape the public arena.
Finally, we shall ask what we can do together to enhance the broader
expression of the Church's voice on matters of common public
concern.

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, 
,

,+ +.

In a paper delivered in 1996, the previous Director of the SACC PO,

Malcolm Damon, placed the Church's and indeed faith involvement in
public policy as far back as the prophets in the Old Testament. The
prophets were, he said, always placed in relation to the office of one
King or another and their oracles and actions frequently identified
within the political context of that King. He specifically refers to the
story of Micaiah who refused to identify with King Ahab's request for
underwriting his policy of war. As we know, Micaiah was put into
prison for predicting the King's downfall but, ultimately, was
vindicated when the Syrians killed Ahab. This is perhaps a drastic
example of the involvement of religious leadership in public policy.
Yet it is important to remember that the relationship of religion and
theology engaging with public policy is not something entirely unique
and novel. Indeed, Damon illustrates the involvement by faith
communities in public policy as far back as in ancient biblical times.

In pre modern times, theologians wrote extensively on political

themes while adopting such thought within the Christian story as in
Augustine's City of God (Civitas Dei) which Luther later developed
from two cities to two kingdoms, each expressing diverse ways of
God's love and justice. Calvin later provided for a sophisticated
doctrine of power and sovereignty which included keeping a reign on
the power used by human beings as God's fallen creatures. And yet, in
all of these pre modern times, says Forrester, the role of the Church
and of theology was taken for granted. When one turns to the gospels,
the role of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 is presented by the writer as a vision
and tradition incumbent upon God's people of faith. This role of
prophecy identified by Jesus is one that is given by God in the power
of the Spirit to the Church. It requires a constant evaluation of its
mission and ministry to the poor, the outcast, the marginalized
including the widow, the orphan and the stranger. The tradition of the
faithful has only one enforceable moral law -- and that is the
protection of the dignity of the poor and oppressed as instruments of
God's special favour.

I am saying that the Church's policy support for the emancipation

from slavery, the proclamation that apartheid was (is) a heresy, the
promotion of the Kairos and Damascus Documents, the Standing for
Truth campaigns and the Rustenberg Declaration etc. are clear
indicators of a theological longing for a new version of social identity
as well as policy direction. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's
frequent exclamations in the '80s that "politics is too important to
leave to the politicians", the involvement of the Church in 2005 in
attempts at shaping policy in a democracy, are sign of recalling the
mission of the Church at the heart of social transformation. When we
identify what this means and seek to communicate it to those in
power, we begin to understand the role of the Church in shaping
public policy. The link of the Church with the demand for social
transformation is the soul of Christ's longing for the Kingdom values
to be mirrored on earth. We need to note that Jesus himself teaches
the disciples, when they wish to know how to address their Creator,
are taught to pray: "Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."

á ,
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.

When the churches in South Africa attempted to interact with policy

issues and their consequences during the apartheid era, they did so in
the full knowledge that these policies were shaped by an illegitimate
government. Yet, even at times when Archbishop Tutu and other
church leaders were granted an audience with PW Botha, the Arch's
pain was clear. "They said their say. We said ours. But there was no
real engaging of minds on the issue at hand." Apartheid South Africa
chose not only separate development for the nation, but acted with
intransigence on any attempts at genuine dialogue. This obstinacy
extended to church and political leaders of the West (and with a
thorough disdain for anyone else across the Iron Curtain), as well as
other African nations and the Churches that refused to kow-tow to its
dictates. For these reasons (its intransigence) it became, according to
Dr. Simon Gqubule, the "polecat of the word". We proudly point out
that democracy has not only changed the shape of SA's global
participation but also enhanced our willingness (and undoubtedly our
ability) to cooperate in shaping the world to become more a "family
of nations". Quite apart from all of this, our new found and advanced
Constitution places South Africa in a league of its own amongst
nations that have taken the venture to democratic transition. In this
sense, SA has become the darling of the world and, dare we say, we
no longer carry that "polecat" smell any longer.

Some of the institutional arms which democracy enable the Churches,

together with the rest of civil society, to interact and actively
participate in are:

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Having said that, however, one needs also to take cognisance of

effects that globalisation of the economy and the transformation of a
political system brings to the actions of governments. One needs to
remember that the process of globalisation includes the privatisation
and commercialisation everything. David Pfrimmer, amongst others,
points out the process of globalisation has dangerously fragmented
the world bringing with it significant threats to human peace and
security. He points to Benjamin Barber's work , `

 

 


, as an extended argument that
characterises globalisation as the "McWorld" threat. He notes the
position that:

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Privatising things public and commercialising things private has

accompanied and in many ways has facilitated economic
globalisation[6]. While these efforts at privatisation discredit
governments and international institutions in that they seem to serve
the interests of the few, privatizing things public and commercialising
things private also threatens our principles of constitutional
democracy by threatening to replace our processes of decision making
with the "market." It often marginalizes and too often trumps the
encounter on the public arena where various people, groups and
organizations collaborate with one another to articulate the public
interest and pursue the common good.

  


 *+  +
 
0 

Within this context, it would appear that vocation of the political

within the public realm may be displaced with a privatisation of
morals, leading to religion that simply upholds the status quo.
Margaret Thatcher's reshaping of government by denationalising its
institutions and placing them on the free market together with Ronald
Reagan's leaner budget at the expense of withdrawn social security
have led the way to globalisation which demands that governments
put all services on the market of the world. This has led to policy
contentions such the claims that nations require economic growth in
order to make resources available for the alleviation of poverty. Or
they even say that globalisation may be a painful experience initially
but there is no other way and, once the pain is over, it will be all gain"
Since the "telos" of politics appears to have become the economic
growth principle, even so Christians have a duty and obligation to
help put the "vocation" or passion back into politics for the politician.
Even though the choices that face us are not the ideals that we
cherish, and even though that choices we have to make may lie
between the "disastrous" and the "unpalatable" the Churches
ultimately need to seek to bring public policy and politicians back to
serve the needs of the people -- and not the needs of an economic
system geared toward profit rather than enhancing human, social and
community resourcefulness and development.

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Director, Parliamentary Office
South African Council of Churches

5- 2335

#á

See this quotations on www.quotationspage.com

For the US economist and administrator JK Galbraith's reaction to

Michael Moncur's use of Von Bismark's statement see also
www.quotationspage.com

Duncan B. Forrester, a
  `  

 . Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997, p.9.

See www.sacc-ct.org.za/damonart.html

David Pfrimmer, Parliamentary Officer for the Evangelical Lutheran

Church in Canada, interviewed at the SACC Parliamentary Offices on
a visit to South Africa in May 2004.

I am greatly indebted to David Pfrimmer for the notes in this section.

These are embargoed until further notice: Benjamin R. Barber, `


 
 a


. New York,
Ballentine Books, 1995, p. xvii maintains that the pressure of
privatising things public is well documented. Privatisation has been a
key feature of many of the economic programs of various countries.
There are notable examples of privatisation that have been advocated
by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World
Trade Organization, corporate lobbies and "think tanks" as well as
those promoted by politicians. The sale of "state-owned enterprises;"
the private management of airports, schools, health care, hospitals,
airports, water services, electrical utilities, prisons; and the "out
sourcing" of government services such as welfare administration,
driver testing and license applications, other jobs formerly done by
civil servants; even the use of "private contractors" as part of the Iraq
war effort are but to mention only a few. Many of these schemes have
been discredited upon more serious analysis on the economic merits
of their particular situation. Civil society has rejected these policies as
an unacceptable abdication by governments of their responsibilities as
witnessed by the recent elections of Norberto Kirchner in Argentina
and Luis Inacio da Silva ("Lula") in Brazil, just to mention a couple
of examples. Commercialising things private may be less obvious but
it too is a drive that accompanies economic globalisation. Among the
more noteworthy examples is the drive to protect "intellectual
property rights" which deprived indigenous communities of access to
traditional knowledge that has been handed down to them over
centuries as a trust for generations yet to come. In Mexico, indigenous
groups are organizing to oppose the flooding of the Mexican market
with genetically modified corn that threatens to contaminate
indigenous strains. Commercialising things private is altering our
understanding of life and humanness and is encroaching on the
biological arena. In South Africa, the patents of Rooibos Tea and
other plant species indigenous to South Africa, are being
commercialised as American products with American privileges.
|

http://www.sacc-ct.org.za/kavchrch.html