Today the logic goes something like this: 'Calling a ruler Son of God is out of style. No one really does that nowadays. We can support a president while also worshiping Jesus as the Son of God.' But how is this possible? For one says that we must love our enemies, and the other says we must kill them; one promotes the economics of competition, while the other admonishes the forgiveness of debts. To which do we pledge allegiance?
Shane ClaiborneSomeday war and poverty will be crazy and we will wonder how the world allowed such things to exist.
Shane ClaiborneSometimes our tunnel vision is limited to what we see outside our window. Until racial injustice becomes personal then I don't think it moves us in our gut.
Shane ClaiborneWhen I think of some of the great renewals in the church I think of folks like St. Francis and Clare of Assisi who, through their lifestyle, were challenging the patterns of materialism and militarism and it affected the Christianity of their age.
Shane ClaiborneWhen we were starting our community a bunch of older Benedictine nuns said to us, "If you have any questions or want to pick our brains, please do - we've been doing community for about 1,500 years together so we've learned a few things."
Shane ClaiborneI think of the Catholic worker movement and Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin and others.
Shane ClaiborneI think we've misinterpreted some of the scriptures to justify the death penalty. So whereas a lot of folks in America feel like we can do far better justiceโ - โit's more expensive to do the death penalty than the alternativesโ - โthere's so many reasons that people come to the conclusion to abolish the death penalty.
Shane Claiborne