The Most Religious Kerry Speech Ever

Weblog returns From Thursday to Sunday, full-time religion reporters from newspapers and other mainstream media outlets gathered in Washington D.C. for their annual conference. You might have thought, then, that perhaps religion news articles would have slackened a bit over the weekend. Wrong! If anything, the last few days have been busier than ever with religion news. Not huge religion news, necessarily, but just a lot of it.

Kerry cranks up the God talk That didn’t take long. The Kerry camp officially brought on Clinton White House press secretary Mike McCurry—who has been taken Amy Sullivan’s seat as the most prominent voice on Democrats and religion—and now the Democratic candidate can’t stop talking about faith.

Thursday’s speech to the National Baptist Convention was one of the most religious speeches Kerry has ever given. He spoke of “Amazing Grace” (saying it was his father’s favorite hymn) and John Newton’s decision to “give his life to God.” He said that the importance of Brown v. Board of Education was that it was when the nation “finally acknowledged God’s truth that we are each made in His image and likeness—that separate but equal is not just unequal—but immoral.” And, as many papers pointed out, he said that Bush is one of the bad guys in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. “For four years, George W. Bush may have talked about compassion, but he’s walked right by. He’s seen people in need, but he’s crossed over to the other side of the street.” There were loads of other biblical citations as well: “The Bible tells us that we must sometimes see through a glass darkly. But on every issue, from Iraq to health care, from jobs to education to America’s role in the world, the choice is clear.” Here’s one of the most Scripture-laden parts of his speech (or, for that matter, in any speech given by any candidate in this election):

Your dedication and your service live out the teaching of the Scripture: “It is not enough, my brother, to say you have faith, when there are no deeds … Faith without works is dead.” As you know, my friends, we are taught to walk by faith not by sight.

And when we look around us—when we look around neighborhoods and towns and cities all across this country, we see faith to be lived out, and so many deeds to be done.

As it’s said, faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen. [Hebrews 11:1] And we all know, you can’t separate faith from substance.

We see jobs to be created. We see families to house. We see violence to stop. We see children to teach—and children to care for. We see too many people without health care and too many people of color suffering and dying from diseases like AIDS and cancer and diabetes.

We look at what is happening in America today and forget to ask: Where are the deeds? Where is the substance in our faith?

But Kerry has used religious language in speaking to black denominations before. What’s really notable this week is his use of Scripture in the Democrats’ weekly radio address, which aired September 11:

“In the days that followed, we saw an outpouring of love as people across America and around the world asked themselves, ‘What can I do to help?’ How can I, as the Scripture says, help repair the breach? Isaiah 58:12. … I know that for those who lost loved ones that day, the past three years have been almost unbearable. Their courage and faith have been tested in a way they never imagined. But day after day, they have held on. And day after day, they and we have found hope and comfort and strength by the quiet grace of God. We are one America in our prayers for those who were taken from us on September 11th and for their families.”

By contrast, the only religious remark from Bush in his radio address was this: “And with the help of God’s grace, and with support from one another, the families of terror victims have shown a strength that survives all hurt.”

Other Communion wars The battle over the bread is bigger than Kerry’s “wafer watch,” says The Washington Post‘s Bill Broadway. And the celiac girl’s quest for a wheat-free host is just a blip. The biggest Communion controversy today is an ecumenical one — or rather, an anti-ecumenical one. “For those with a goal of unity, success could be far in the future, with Communion practices becoming more diverse as congregations search for new ways to accommodate the lifestyles and sensibilities of their members,” Broadway wrote in Saturday’s paper.

Monsignor James P. Moroney, executive director of office of liturgy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “said reuniting disparate branches of Christianity would be impossible without a common doctrine of Communion,” Broadway paraphrases. “He said he understands that the growing practice among Protestants to invite all professing Christians to the Communion table is an effort to break down theological barriers. But a common liturgy of Communion must be the result of dialogue and understanding, not a tool for unification, he said.”

For orthodox Catholics, then, the biggest story regarding Kerry and Communion may not have anything to do with his stance on abortion—it may be his decision to take Communion in Protestant churches.

Among important Eucharistic trends noted by the Post: Mainline churches are moving from celebrating Communion monthly to weekly. Megachurches, meanwhile, are doing away with Sunday morning Communion completely (“It’s a matter of practicality,” says an Assembles of God spokeswoman, but one thinks it may also have to do with “seeker sensitive” Sunday services.)

But here’s one battle the Post didn’t note: Croatia has just passed a zero-tolerance law for drinking and driving, reducing the 0.05% limit for blood-alcohol content to absolute zero. Parishioners to take a sip of Communion wine probably won’t be affected, but their priests certainly will. “During holy mass we need to drink wine as a symbol of the blood of Christ,” one told the Jutarnji List newspaper, according to the BBC. “Some priests have many services a day and these are often in different parishes, so they need to use a car to get around. If they can’t drive themselves, someone else has to do it.” So 2,000 of Croatia’s priests are proposing a $12 million annual budget for chauffeurs.

One of Haiti’s most prominent Christians murdered Jean Moleste Lovinsky Bertomieux (Jean Molès Lovensky Berthomieux), an evangelical Protestant minister and host of Haiti’s most popular radio program, was murdered on his way to work Monday. The driver for “Pastor Moles” was arrested but not charged, and the gunmen escaped.

Patriarch of Alexandria dies in helicopter crash:

Patriarch dies in Greece helicopter crash | The Patriarch of Alexandria, the spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians in Africa, died Saturday when a helicopter taking him and fellow churchmen to a monastic enclave in northern Greece crashed into the sea, government and church officials said (Associated Press)
Greece declares three days of mourning | Greece declared three days of national mourning Monday for the Patriarch of Alexandria, the spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians in Africa, who died in a helicopter crash (Associated Press)
Greece holds memorial for Patriarch Petros | As an artillery battery fired volleys from a hill overlooking central Athens, Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos and Premier Costas Caramanlis attended the service, normally accorded to a head of state (Associated Press)
Patriarch Petros: Architect of revival | Patriarch Petros was the head of a church which traces its origins back to St Mark, the author of one of the four Christian gospels which tell of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ (BBC, video)
Patriarch Petros VII of Alexandria | An obituary (The Telegraph, London)
Patriach Petros VII | Greek Orthodox leader revitalised his church in Africa (The Guardian, London)
Greece mourns top Orthodox cleric | Greece has begun three days of national mourning for Patriarch Petros VII of Alexandria, an Orthodox Christian leader who died in a helicopter crash (BBC)
Petros VII, 55, top patriarch who sought religious dialogue, dies | Petros VII, patriarch of Alexandria, preached Christian-Muslim dialogue from one of the world’s oldest seats of Christianity (The New York Times)
Military shake-up after crash that killed an Orthodox prelate | A day after Africa’s senior Greek Orthodox prelate and 16 others died in a helicopter crash in the northern Aegean Sea, the Greek defense minister, Spilios Spiliotopoulos, dismissed the country’s air force chief Sunday for delaying rescue attempts and then tendered his own resignation (The New York Times)
Greek air force chief sacked over Patriarch death (Reuters)
Greek Orthodox patriarch dies with 12 others in copter crash (The New York Times)
Search for wreck grows | Oceanographic vessel heads for Halkidiki, 3-day mourning for ‘copter crash (Kathimerini, Athens)
Crash kills Aussie bishop | Bishop Nektarios of Madagascar was aboard flight that killed Patriarch of Alexandria (Herald Sun, Melbourne, Australia)
Also: Copter tragedy claims 17 lives | Bishop Nektarios’s work among the underprivileged was likened to that of Mother Teresa (Herald Sun, Melbourne, Australia)

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