Capitalism, Democracy & Emerging Christianity: An Essay by a Catholic Activist

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CAPITALISM, DEMOCRACY & EMERGING CHRISTIANITY As the world seems to be self-destructing with war, social upheaval, terrorism, rapid ecological damage, global warming, financial meltdowns, dire poverty, and increasing disparities of wealth, humankind is being forced to mend its ways or become an extinct species. There is also emerging in the world a higher consciousness that can be said to be the evolutionary destiny of humankind in providing for its own survival. It is about seeking a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world. It is "the great turning" that social scholars are speaking about, like David Korten, Paul Hawken, Eckhart Tolle, Wendell Berry, and Leonardo Boff. Many Christians also view this emerging higher consciousness as the incarnate spirit of the risen Christ now dwelling within all of humankind. To the author, this evolutionary shift in human consciousness is challenging and delegitimizing the forces of global corporate capitalism throughout the world. This higher consciousness is beginning to challenge these forces with the spiritual dynamics of democracy. The author warns us though that the continuous waging of war by the U.S. will probably never end without persistent and massive creative nonviolent civil disobedience. The author also speaks of the emerging Christianity movement as being part of this shift in global consciousness. Also within this challenge is the dysfunction of the human ego. Institutional consumer capitalism feeds on the human ego. This is what makes for a dysfunctional society. The power of the human ego can only be dealt with through a contemplative mind. Thus, emerging Christianity, with its more prophetic and contemplative faith, can serve as an important praxis to this shift in global consciousness. The author summarizes his essay with the thoughts that universal justice and democracy should be a major focus of the emerging Christianity movement. This is to engage all of humankind. The freedom to think great thoughts is what will give credibility to the emerging Christianity movement.

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Steve is recently widowed (July 1, 2006) after forty-four years of marriage to Deborah M. Riley, "the love of his life forever." Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, Steve graduated from Boston College in 1956 and served two years as a junior officer in the Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Georgia. Steve and his wife Deborah were the builders and proprietors of the Black Bear Lodge in the Bolton Valley Ski Area, Bolton, Vermont, from 1968 to 1979. In 1979 Steve and his family moved to Sarasota, Florida. In Sarasota, he was active in peace and justice issues. His activities included facilitating, for three years, a course on structural injustice that he had developed with the Peace and Justice Ministry of Incarnation Parish. In Florida, Steve was also active with Pax Christi Florida and the Nader 2000 Green Party campaign; he was an advocate for the Earth Charter initiative and a familiar contributor of Letters to the Editor in the Sarasota Herald Tribune. In 1999 Steve attended the WTO demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, and the World Bank demonstrations in Washington, DC. In both Seattle and Washington, DC, he attended teach-ins by the International Forum on Globalization. It was on October 10, 2001, that Steve submitted a thirty-two-page open letter to the three hundred and two American Catholic bishops, entitled "The American Challenge and a New Catholic Awareness." In this paper, Steve critiqued the lack of critical social analysis in local diocesan Catholic newspapers and the similar absence of a true "civic press" in the American mainstream news media. To fill this void, Steve suggested the formation of a Catholic "progressive think tank" to be a resource of essential critical social analysis for Catholic regional newspapers. In addition, Steve provided the American bishops with an assessment of the Earth Charter and challenged them to endorse the Earth Charter for ratification by the United Nations. After the loss of his wife Deborah in 2006, Steve moved to Tahoe City, California, to be with his daughter, Dr. Stephenie V. Riley, MD, and family and son Allen Riley, a professional skier and with the Squaw Valley Fire Department. Steve joined St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Incline Village, Nevada. There he cofacilitated an eight-month social justice program, Just Faith, founded by Jack Jezreel of Louisville, Kentucky. In September 2006, Steve participated in the five-day Thomas Merton-Gandhi walk from the Thomas Merton Hermitage at the Abbey of Gethsemane to Louisville, Kentucky, led by Father John Dear, S.J. This ecumenical walk honored the anniversaries of the nonviolence activism of both Mahatma Gandhi and Thomas Merton. Since 2006 Steve has attended numerous conferences led by Franciscan Father Richard Rohr of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One such conference was the ecumenical Emerging Church Conference in 2009. Steve has also been a frequent poster on the progressive web site Common Dreams. Steve has written thirteen book reviews on Amazon.com, including a review of his favorite, Shaking the Gates of Hell: Faith-led Resistance to Globalization, by Sharon Delgado. In July of 2008, Steve flew to Chicago and rented a van to be a support vehicle for the first two weeks of the WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008 walk from Chicago to the Republican Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. This 450-mile walk was led by world-renowned peace activist and Noble Peace Prize Nominee Kathy Kelly. In 2009 Steve attended the Sophia Summer Institute in Berkeley, California. The Sophia Institute teaches the cosmic spirituality of Father Thomas Berry. In 2009 Steve also attended the Pace e Bene twentieth-year anniversary conference in Las Vegas. The Pace e Bene conference concluded with "witness in the desert" demonstrations led by longtime activist Franciscan Father Louie Vitale. The demonstration was held at Creech Air Force Base, where the U.S. military controls the pilotless drones by computer, and also at the

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