GlobalColonnade

What a conference! Global Leadership Forum 2007

2007-09-25T15:47:47-04:00

Well it's over and we're still reeling from the incredible conversations we had at Global Leadership Forum 2007 at Fairfax Community Church. For those who missed it, be sure to check out the video on GlobalChristian.org in a few weeks. For those who caught it, let us know what you thought - so far our evaluations have all averaged well over four out of five. Your top three favorite speakers were Hadia Mubarak, Ahmed Younis and Madeleine Albright. Check out this survey to give some feedback or comment on this blog. http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2634svbf6uz0xhz/start

What did you think of the spontaneous hug that one of our Muslim panelists gave to a Christian question fromm the audience?

Mapping World Domination..er...Evangelism

2007-08-07T13:26:06-04:00

I really like looking at maps - I think it satifies an urge we all have to conquer this vast thing called the earth by boiling it down to pretty pictures. Call it a world domination impulse, looking at maps gives us a satisfying comforting feeling that really it's all pretty simple. But ThinkChristian.net's Andy Rau posted a quick snippet about mapping global faith a few weeks ago that made me question this desire we have. He gave some links to a couple of maps he liked that attempt to diagram the geographic range of different faiths. This one at the German magazine Der Spiegel is mostly helpful if you kind of squint at it. The uniform color choices for whole regions imply that the population there are 100% of that faith. (It's unfair to Christians in Sri Lanka for instance to color the whole island Buddhist.) By contrast the global maps of evangelical Christianity at worldmap.org at least makes a clearer demarcation of uninhabitated areas but the color shading they chose (against a black background) makes it harder to process the information and the scaling of the four maps. At least both of these are NOT Mercator projections - you know, the kind that stretch the spherical surface of the earth to a rectangle that makes Greenland bigger than Africa. But why is there such a deficit in mapping faith well? The folks at gapminder do a brilliant job using U.N. development indicators to plot out global trends in literacy, poverty, HIV/AIDS etc. There's brilliant, highly-detailed and reliable data by folks like Todd Johnson over at the World Christian Database. So why hasn't anyone mapped the abundant faith data that exists in a compelling way against other indicators? Would it reveal disturbing trends, like the fact that Nigeria's Muslim half has much lower AIDS prevalence than its Christian half? What do you think?

Dallas Morning News on Northwood Church

2007-07-27T12:37:31-04:00

Our favorite Texas pastor, Bob Roberts, is defying stereotypes again, this time by this time by inviting a delegation of Vietnamese government officials to spend three days in Texas hosted by NorthWood Church. Bob and his staff arranged for meetings with businesses, ministries, and NGOs to discuss how they could help Vietnam reach its economic development goals. IGE's Hien Vu participated in the meetings, and reported that the Vietnamese officials expressed their gratitude for NorthWood's love for the poor. It was so extraordinary that it was covered by the Dallas Morning News. The different work of NorthWood and IGE respectively was also covered by Christianity Today in May in a variety of ways. IGE's Jared Daugherty also wrote an article advocating a constructive approach to religious freedom in Vietnam.

Some changes at Global Colonnade

2007-07-26T12:30:48-04:00

We're growing! Check out the re-vamped Global Christian Book Blog, Global Christian Travel Blog and the Darfur Blog. Stay tuned for more coming at you in September!

The Emergent Church supports Al-Qaeda?

2007-07-26T12:26:25-04:00

Evangelical Outpost gave its Top 100 Christian blogs (as of 17 July 2007) and #1 was Between Two Worlds. That's where I found a link to this article by Frank Pastore on Townhall.com accusing the post-modern evangelical movement (in some cases known as 'the emergent church') of supporting Al-Qaeda. Here's a representative quote:

"If the world is to be saved from Muslim conquest, it will be America who does it. And if America is to be saved, only conservatism can do it. And if conservatism is to be saved, it will be those Bible-believing patriots who do it–those conservative, evangelical Christians who are the bedrock of the American way of life."

I'm left speechless. What do you think? Leave a comment.

Best PowerPoint You've Ever Seen...and it's on Global Poverty Statistics

2007-07-26T12:17:12-04:00

Technology, Entertainment and Design (T.E.D.) is an annual gathering in California of the so-called "brightest and best" and they recently started to post video of past presentations. I stumbled across this presentation by Hans Rosling on global poverty statistics in 2006. (He did a follow-up at TED in 1997.) I've seen a lot of presentations on global poverty statistics and read the UNDP Human Development Report over the years, but Rosling blew my preconceptions out of the water. He had people applauding in the middle of his talk! Smart, funny and gives the best darned PowerPoint presentation I have ever seen. To top that off, the tools he used for his presentation are available free at Gapminder, the non-profit organization Rosling founded to combine information technology and statistics to better understand poverty and development.

Human Rights Arrests in Vietnam: What Do You Think?

2007-03-28T19:04:11-04:00

Jared Daugherty has just posted an article to IGE's website discussing the recent arrests of human rights activists in Vietnam. Were the arrests violations of religious freedom? Why does it matter? How should Christians respond? We invite your comments and feedback.

Reviews and Views: Bob Roberts' "Glocalization"

2007-02-21T08:48:36-05:00

Texas pastor Bob Roberts Jr, author of Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World, has published his second title in this series, Glocalization: How Followers of Jesus Engage the New Flat Earth.

For those who enjoyed the breathless recreational theology coupled with a sampling of sociology and philosophy that was the hallmark of Transformation, Roberts does not disappoint with Glocalization. The core thesis - "Nothing is purely local and nothing purely global" - is consistently emphasized with quotes from Thomas Friedman, Fareed Zakaria and a host of other journalists writing on international affairs.

So what do you think?

Is Roberts' right to single out syncretism, survival, hedonism, pragmatism and collaboration as major issues? Do you think the values of convergence, glocal, innovation, network and faith are sufficient to equip a 21st century missional Church for global relevance? Do you agree with Roberts' list of the top ten global problems the church must confront: communicable disease, hunger, water & sanitation, government/corruption, migration/refugees, climate change, education, armed conflict, economy, and trade subsidies?

We invite you to post your feedback here using the comment feature.

Day 5 - Airplane Reflections - Robert Seiple

2007-01-23T14:26:44-05:00

On 11 January, Robert and Margaret Ann Seiple returned for their 13th visit to Laos, a country where they have been integral in efforts to promote religious freedom. During their trip, they will meet with representatives from the Lao government, including Vice President of the Lao Front for National Construction, Mr. Tong Yeu Tho, and provincial governors; U.S. Ambassador to Laos, Patricia Haslach; and Lao religious representatives at the national and local level.

We ended our visit on a “high”, a very good meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad.

We have become friends over the years and were greeted with genuine affection. Somsavat was instrumental in successfully solving the various issues in Keng Kok (mentioned previously), and meetings that celebrate “win-win” solutions always seem to go better.

Somsavat has recently been elevated to the Politburo, one of the top 11 leaders in Laos today. His star continues to rise, his power increased, and the case for long-term relationships building has been clearly made yet again.

Following a spirited, light hearted “give and take”, I gave Somsavat the details of the second co-opted church outside of Keng Kok. He promised to look into it immediately (“I will call the Governor tomorrow”). The U.S. Embassy will follow up with a “diplomatic note” which will cover all of the other problem areas discussed at lower government levels.

Summary reflections:

The value of our “top-down, bottom-up methodology was proven again and again. We have gained respect and credibility with the powerful, the implementers, and the ultimate receivers. Relational diplomacy is key, an approach proven by what we have been able to accomplish.

I would resist the temptation to establish a more former MOU with the Lao government. We have been able to go anywhere in the country, see any official or group desired, have access to decision makers and implementers alike, talk to the press, be hosted at all levels of government, provided pulpits to make our case. No one else has this freedom. Plus we receive critically important logistical and informational support from both the U.S. and Lao Embassies. Each government has strongly suggested we avoid the entanglements of bureaucracy. I agree.

Given the above, we need to be very intentional as to how we pass the baton. At the very least Chris (Seiple) and I will need to travel to Laos together for a couple of times. The Lao always reference our family (as well as the number of visits we have made) when they talk about “our friends.” We need to extend that with Chris.

It is time for another Lao delegation visit to the States. We planted the seed and it immediately began to produce fruit. Invitations should be sent directly from IGE to Mr. Tong Yeu Tho, Vice President of the Lao Front for Construction with copies to the U.S. and Lao Embassies. The invitation should be signed by both Chris and me. It will be helpful to the Lao for us to explain the visit, articulate a rationale, and be specific concerning individual meetings.

There were two critical events in creating our relationships with the Lao. The first was the Delegation visit to the U.S. (this, according to Dr. Siho). The second was finding a mutually beneficial solution to all the people of Keng Kok. Both of these events produced trust, diminished paranoia, and bought time for relationships to mature. Nothing easy or quick here. Invest for the long term, or keep your money in your pocket.

Transitions, lots of transition. We will have a new Lao Ambassador in D.C. and new U.S. Ambassador in Vientiane. Greg Chapman is gone, Terry Mobley leaves in May but Harvey Summers (a good guy and a great disposition for the Lao) is already aboard to track our issues from his perch in the U.S. Embassy. Dr. Siho has retired. We will miss his wisdom and his clout (which almost totally evaporates with retirement). Mr. Tong Yeu Tho will be critically important to us and, of course, Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad is most important.

16 January - Speech at the Lao Foreign Affairs Institute - Robert Seiple

2007-01-22T11:37:20-05:00

I want to begin with a “thank you.” You have known the Seiple family for a long time and your hospitality over the years has been very generous. We have spent many days with members of this department: eating crabs in Maryland, boating from the Lao “Summer Dacha” (our home), playing numerous rounds of golf together, and being introduced to sticky rice and Beerlao on our multiple visits to Laos. Our friendship is based on trust, working together for positive solutions over many years. Our accomplishments together include a high level Lao delegation visit to the United States, two religious freedom conferences here, a Prime Minister’s decree on religious freedom, and a Permanent Normal Trade Relationship. Most importantly, the greatest compliment I ever received came from Dr. Siho on our last visit. “You are family. Welcome home!”

I welcome the opportunity to be here today to discuss Religious Freedom. Why does the United States take this issue so seriously? We consider this freedom to be America’s first freedom. This freedom of thought, conscience, and belief – the freedom to believe or not to believe – is woven into the fabric of our Rule of Law. Like good law, it is predictable, transparent, easily understood, and fair. Religious Freedom protects the minority faiths as much as it protects majority populations. This issue has its historical heroes in the United States. Thomas Jefferson put forth one of the most critical statements of who we are as a people when he introduced the Virginia Statue in 1786. James Madison carried this language of religious freedom over to the Bill of Rights and America’s Constitution. No issue is more deeply imbedded in the DNA of a nation than Religious Freedom.

America is not perfect. We have been working for over 220 years to get to our present level of imperfection! But it has certainly been worth the work. For example, we have never had the kind of sectarian violence so prevalent in other parts of the world. Minority populations are as protected and embraced as majority populations. Our Amish minority (visited by the Lao Delegation in 2002) want to dress differently, worship differently, and work differently (no electricity). Local, state and federal laws allow them to do so freely. For their part, they continue to contribute positively to our national values. A few months ago, we had a horrible event take place in this community. A depressed man took over an Amish elementary school, tied up the young girls, and started to execute each one. He managed to kill five little girls before taking his own life. That night, in spite of the massive trauma that occurred during the day, members of the Amish community went to the home of the depressed man’s widow. Forgiveness was extended and help was offered. When the man was buried, 70 Amish folk went to the funeral. The Amish began to collect money for the man’s children. A redemptive moment and an amazing lesson, taught to all Americans by this small minority community.

In the end, a country’s human rights are determined by how that country’s government treats minority populations. This, then, is also important in terms of a country’s stature in the international community, and whether or not it is on the “right” side of history. But just as important as the moral imperative are the major pragmatics that evolve from religious freedom. When a minority population knows that the government has their best interests in mind, that minority becomes loyal to the government. Loyalty always increases the stability of a national population. Stability is foundational to a country’s security. So religious freedom is not only a moral imperative; it is also a pragmatic that enhances a nation’s security. It is important for a country to link knowledge and respect if greater security is going to be achieved. Understand your faith, or your atheism, at its deepest and richest best, and enough about your neighbor’s beliefs in order to show them respect. It is a government’s responsibility to create an environment where this can happen. This, by the way, is where Osama bin Laden got it so horribly wrong. He never understood the best of his faith and he has absolutely no respect for the faith of his neighbor. A misunderstood faith, an inappropriately applied faith, a partial faith in the hands of a religious zealot, is very scary indeed. We all need to work to provide the freedom necessary so that this kind of outcome is precluded. The linkage of knowledge and respect, then, is a homeland security issue of great importance.

One other pragmatic: there is no question in my mind that PNTR [Permanent Normalized Trade Relations] was ultimately accomplished for Laos because of the positive strides taken by this government, for religious freedom. Again, religious freedom is a great objective for all kinds of reasons.

How might Laos continue this progress for its citizens? I realize that my thoughts are coming from “outside” Laos, but I offer them in the spirit of trust and friendship. When I first began to pursue this issue of religious freedom with the Lao government, I was advised to work at all levels of government: nationally, at the province level, at the district and even the village level. It was sound advice. Similarly, I think that religious freedom needs to be taught, and subsequently embraced, at all levels of the Lao culture. When we held the Religious Freedom conference here, I was delighted that we were talking primarily with the more “distant” officials of the Lao government, village and district heads. This needs to continue, with an emphasis on the rationale for this issue, namely both the moral imperative and the security/trade pragmatics mentioned previously.

Second, I suggest that a lasting linkage be created between the government and religious groups. I know that various religious groups were contacted for their input to the Prime Minister’s Decree on this issue. That exercise was very positive. Religious groups felt that they were heard and that their input was taken seriously. Nothing builds trust between government and governed better than such an exercise. Trust, confidence, understanding, loyalty, transparency are some of the positive enhancements that emerge from this kind of dialogue. Such contact needs to be institutionalized and made a permanent part of the internal discourse in Laos.

Third, both the government and the religious groups need to find ways to facilitate the education of religious leaders. Religious leaders are interpreters of culture and national events. They are looked up to by the people they serve. It is in your own best interest that they be knowledgeable. Following our own “9/11” experiences, for example, our houses of worship were filled to overflowing. Congregational members were looking for answers to this tragedy, to find spiritual rationales for this most awful day. In many cases, the geo-political aspects of “9/11” were more complex than our religious leaders could know. Answers were incomplete. The lack of knowledge overwhelmed many of the religious leaders. At a critical time, many came up short. We need knowledgeable, sophisticated, learned leaders, not only in government but also in our religious institutions. Remember, there is a relationship between education and knowledge, and knowledge and respect, that benefits both governments and citizens alike.

Fourth, embrace diversity and honor differences. We are not all alike. One “size” does not fit all. Take Laotian Christians for example. There are both Catholics and Protestants, and some who worship on Saturday and others who worship on Sunday. But there are a host of other differences, differences that create multiple Christian denominations. Each one is important. Each wants an environment of religious freedom. Find a way to accommodate all of them. This will preclude the need for a stealth church, an underground community of faith, as well as the foreign deceit of missionaries here under false premises. When it comes to religion, make all of your citizens truly free. Once again, this will be very helpful to the government and the governed alike.

Finally, encourage your officials, both governmental and religious, to attend international conferences that are available to them on this issue. See what is working in other countries, in your own region, as well as around the world. Most of these conferences will be free. They will provide a great deal of knowledge to Lao officials but, more importantly, it will be an opportunity for the Lao to share this Laotian story. It is one of success, and one that needs to be heard by others.

Let me conclude by saying something here that I have said many times in the United States. I have been privileged to travel all over the world for the last couple of decades. It has been a fascinating experience for me and one for which I am most grateful. The highlight of my life, however, as a religious person who believes deeply in religious freedom, has been the involvement, along with my family, in this great Laotian story. We thank you for making all of this possible. Thank you very much!