sorry for the typos. My "edit" slot has disappeared. I meant, of course, the US has one of the world's biggest gaps between rich and poor. Israel, by the way, is just a touch behind the US in that.

There are other - but not so crashinlgy silly.

I've heard both UUs and UCC'ers speak out. The problem is that they are often ignored in favour of the more colourful, "news-worthy" sound bites from the likes of Pat Robertson. If the more socially-oriented churches could get together and create some kind of media relations firm that will guide and promote the message, maybe the message could get out. Yes, that may mean having to adopt the use of deliberately provocative sound-bites, attention-getting stunts, and other media tactics used by the right, but as long as churches rely on sermons and wordy press releases, they will be ignored save by their own constituencies..

Mendalla

The Church Invisible still exists Graeme.

 I have a new term for Obama's and other western leader's economic policy. Trickle down socialism. It seems the only people who are gettingb hand outs are the rich, and they are suppose to then use their money to hire people. Yet they have not. Reminds me of Regan's trickle down economics, except than it was just tax cuts for the rich.

Meanwhile the Church's are still largely run by the well to do. The Bishops in the RC and Anglican church and the boards in Uniting churches, and other main stream church's(Presbeterians, etc) . Mean while the church's and mosques  that have many working poor and unemployed are being too preoccupied with cultural issues like gay marriage, abortion, etc.  Jewish temples are preoccupied with Israel.

It,s good for the UCC moderator to be preoccupied with saving the environment, however she is only able to do so because it is also a concern of the middle and upper classes as well.

However our ecomic policies will also destroy the middle class.

Check this from the NYT  It seems all that money Obama gave to the rich and banks did nothing.

Krugman: The Third Depression

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/krugman-the-third-depression/?scp=1&sq=krugman%20depression&st=cse

We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.

And this third depression will be primarily a failure of policy. Around the world — most recently at last weekend’s deeply discouraging G-20 meeting — governments are obsessing about inflation when the real threat is deflation, preaching the need for belt-tightening when the real problem is inadequate spending.

I wonder where alll that money went. If you're rich, and get a hundred billion from the government, why on earth you invest it in  the western world? It would be interesting to learn how much money is moving to the Far East.

If the church is invisible, it isn't much of a church.

The Church Invisible is the Kingdom of God, aka the kingdom of souls and is made up of all the Elders of our race, those great Masters of Wisdom (the "just men made perfect", as St. Paul describes them in Hebrews 12: 23), and is headed up by Eldest of them all, the Christ Himself. It is also made up of all initiates, disciples, seers and prophets, right down to the lowly aspirant who senses the life of God within and yearns to do the will of God.

This new kingdom will one day become a manifested reality on earth because enough people on are awaking to their spiritual heritage. On that day the 5th kingdom of nature, born out of the 4th and human kingdom, will appear on earth. On that day a new earth will be realized and consequently a new heaven.

I'm leaving for some holidays Graeme, so if I don't respond it's because I'll be relaxing in the wilderness and the solitude of the BC Cariboo.

Cheers.
 

As Lois Wilson pointed out in an interview, the Church is not a cultural reference point any longer. 

We'd have to challenge so many things that the Church holds so dear WITH business-science culture, and that may cause a stir in the congregations.  After all, what you're criticizing is business, which feeds the congregation and keeps the Church going.

In a hyper-capitalist system, money talks.

Progressive Churces, Universities, and ethical media don't have money, asn so, like us, they have no voice.

Look, just because they are not all over in the media doesn't mean that churches have vanished.

They are the ones giving people food, organizing events for youth, motivating people to contribute to their community. They buy books and help poor students covering the costs. The whole community helps to raise a newborn child. They visit people in hospital. They help immigrants and asylum seekers getting a good start in the new country. That's what I have observed from my church and I'm very sure that 90% of all churches do the same and even more. I'm only listing the little stuff. I'm sure our society would look different if it wasn't for these small things.

Church doesn't always have to be populist, big, powerful and always in the media and I hope it's not the intention of any church to be like that.