Bob Edgar

Bob Edgar

President of Common Cause, former general secretary of the National Council of Churches.

"On Faith" panelist Dr. Bob Edgar is president of Common Cause and former general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, the leading U.S. organization in the movement for Christian unity. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, he came to the Council from Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, Calif., where he was president from 1990-2000. He was a six-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was the first Democrat in more than 120 years to be elected from the heavily Republican Seventh District of Pennsylvania. He served in Congress from 1974 to 1987. His wide-ranging career has also included pastorates at United Methodist congregations and stints as a teacher, college chaplain, community organizer, and director of a “think tank” on national security issues. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Lycoming College, Williamsport, Pa., and a master of divinity degree from the Theological School of Drew University, Madison, N.J. He holds four honorary doctoral degrees. Later this year, he will become President and CEO of Common Cause. Close.

Bob Edgar

President of Common Cause, former general secretary of the National Council of Churches.

"On Faith" panelist Dr. Bob Edgar is president of Common Cause, an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, and a former congressman. more »

Main Page | Bob Edgar Archives | On Faith Archives


Faith Doesn't Just Tell, it Shows

Faith in politics can be best seen in the ethical ways candidates conduct themselves when the cameras are off, and in the policies they propose to help society's most needy as well as they serve the public interests, not the special interest.

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All Comments (12)

Garyd:

We cannot eliminate poverty. If we could I'm quite sure the 10 trillion dollars we've spent on poverty programs since Lyndon B Johnson first began his ill founded war on poverty 40 odd years ago would have done the trick.

You want to help the poor provide them with jobs and you don't do that by stripping money out the top half of the economy and stuffing it back in at the bottom. What you do generate is inflation.

Government which produces nothing other than massive amounts of red tape is inherently inflationary anyway.

Terra Gazelle:

It seems that Obama is right...we do need early education...then maybe folks could read and comprehend better.

Obama wrote two best sellers...check them out...read.

But heck since you all obviously do not read big books...(Bush supporters?, or Fox watchers?)

can you get someone to check out this site?

www.barackobama.com


terra

Anonymous:

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PEACE, PAZ, SALAAM, SHOLOM:........_________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton vote APOCALYPTIC:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton ACTION/EXPERiENCE:

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iMAGINE: Adding an additional 10 or 12 STATES to our current 50 STATES!

Yes, ALL of MEXiCO & CUBA!

Also iMAGiNE:

101 U.S.A. STATES all-the-way to PANAMA, where ironically John McCain was Born!??

iMAGiNiNE: No more reliance on Middle-East. Good Riddence OPEC. And more Prophetic Good-Tidings!

--

Note: It is not a 'pipe-dream', IT is achievable. Ya Ya YO!

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VOTE: AMEND the Dynamic "American MONROE-DOCTRiNE" not Religion!

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Anonymous:

garyd: "Anonymous Christ said you will have the poor always. What part of 'always' do you not understand"
The part in Obama's islamic & or Christian belief, which ever one he chooses to be at the time, which says "I will give you hope for your vote." NEWS FLASH, HOPE COMES FROM WITHN NOT FROM AN EXTERNAL FORCE OF FALSE PROMISES AND FALSE IMPRESSIONS..

That is your answer? Settle for always having the poor with us? What Jesus was saying was that we will always have the poor with us to "help." So where is Obama's plan to help the non-black poor?

Maybe Obama needs to work that issue out with his LONG-TIME business partner & advisor Rezko, huh?? Oh, I forgot Rezko is in jail, he is a criminal.

Anonymous:

garyd: "Anonymous Christ said you will have the poor always. What part of 'always' do you not understand"
The part in Obama's islamic & or Christian belief, which ever one he chooses to be at the time, which says "I will give you hope for your vote." NEWS FLASH, HOPE COMES FROM WITHN NOT FROM AN EXTERNAL FORCE OF FALSE PROMISES AND FALSE IMPRESSIONS..

That is your answer? Settle for always having the poor with us? What Jesus was saying was that we will always have the poor with us to "help." So where is Obama's plan to help the non-black poor?

Maybe Obama needs to work that issue out with his LONG-TIME business partner & advisor Rezko, huh?? Oh, I forgot Rezko is in jail, he is a criminal.

garyd:

Anonymous Christ said you will have the poor always. What part of 'always' do you not understand.

anonymous:

Bob what profound truth you write, impressive! I particular think that Obama should respond to your statement regarding how Rezko fits into his plan of the following:

"Oh, and one more thing: every religious tradition on planet earth suggests that God cares about ending poverty, healing the earth and peacefully living together as brothers and sisters. Perhaps all candidates should have their faith statements judged by how effectively they work for PEACE, ENDING POVERTY AND CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT."

Keith M:

Look, I'm an atheist too, but do you really have to jump on Mr. Edgar? Ultimately, what he said is this:

-- Judge people by their character, not what they claim is their faith

-- Everyone can agree that peace, poverty and the environment are good and noble goals.

If you disagree with what he's said, by all means spell it out. But stop plugging your website or covering the disputed pieces of church history. Does whether Abraham was one person or three really affect your judgment on the two statements above?

BGone:

Speaking of faith:

What are the chances a terror attack like 9-11 only worse is being planned right this minute? And what are the chances that's being done at a real property tax free facility known as a mosque? Furthermore, what are the chances the money needed to do the deed is that unaccounted, tax free and even tax deductible variety, "gifted to God" -put on 'the' plate?

The next president will need to do some minor adjustment in the tax codes. The word tax far surpasses the word God, (even when it's Devil meant) in political debates you know.

It's one thing to be terror attacked using their money. Something a little different when it's money they got from US for oil. And something radically different when the money is a defacto tithe levied on all Americans and foreigners doing business here.

Think about it.

BGone:

Obama never mentioned faith or God as I recall and did not end his Tuesday night 'victory/Huston rally' speech with the usual, "God bless you" or "God bless America" or any reference to the supernatural. We have a lot of 'natural' problems he did address and called upon the highest power on earth, we the people for help to get the job leading with his promise to listen and respond.

He knows, http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul has the truth about faith. The three great faiths are faith that Devil is God. He like anyone with a piece of a brain knows that just saying God does not make it God and when the being in the burning bush is referenced by the word God the speaker blasphemes -the only deadly sin.

So we can thank God, the real God and not a chaos delivering Devil, Lucifer or one of his competitors. We can thank 'the' God for a candidate that at least realizes Moses sold his soul to become leader of Devil's chosen people. And Obama chooses to not sell his soul for the votes of Lucifer worshipers BKA evangelicals and people of faith.

McCain can be expected to notice there's over 42 million who know the Bible is the word of Devil. That number is growing by leaps and bounds. They come in all flavors, Democrats and Republicans to mention a few. Evangelicals number around 30 million and are shrinking in the face of Lucifer's plan to seize the government being disclosed. So don't be surprised if he goes after a few of those votes too. Right now Barak is getting them all.

Concerned The Christian Now Liberated:

For Pastor Edgar only,

At your next National Council of Churches meeting please peruse and offer counter points if you have any to the following:


In your pursuit of the truth, always note the flaws in the various religions i.e.

1. Abraham founder/father of three major religions was either the embellishment of the lives of three different men or a mythical character as was Moses, the "Tablet-Man" who talked to burning bushes and made much magic in Egypt.

1.5 million Conservative Jews and their rabbis have relegated Abraham to the myth pile along with most if not all the OT. http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/ConservativeTorah.htm

2. Jesus, the illiterate Jewish peasant/carpenter possibly suffering from hallucinations, has been characterized anywhere from the Messiah from Nazareth to a mythical character from mythical Nazareth to a mamzer from Nazareth (Professor Bruce Chilton, in his book Rabbi Jesus).

Analyses of Jesus’ life by many contemporary NT scholars (e.g. Professors Crossan, Borg and Fredriksen, On Faith panelists) via the NT and related documents have concluded that only about 30% of Jesus' sayings and ways noted in the NT were authentic. The rest being embellishments (e.g. miracles)/hallucinations made/had by the NT authors to impress various Christian, Jewish and Pagan sects.

The 30% of the NT that is "authentic Jesus" like everything in life was borrowed/plagiarized and/or improved from those who came before. In Jesus' case, it was the ways and sayings of the Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, OT, John the Baptizer and possibly the ways and sayings of traveling Greek Cynics. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/theories.html

For added "pizzazz", Catholic/Christian theologians divided god the singularity into three persons and invented atonement as an added guilt trip for the "pew people" to go along with this trinity of overseers. By doing so, they made god the padre into god the "filicider".


3. Mohammed, an illiterate, womanizing, lust and greed-driven,warmongering, hallucinating Arab, also had embellishing/hallucinating/plagiarizing scribal biographers who not only added "angels" and flying chariots to the koran but also a militaristic agenda to support the plundering and looting of the lands of non-believers.

This agenda continues as shown by the assassination of Bhutto, the conduct of the seven Muslim doctors in the UK, the 9/11 terrorists, the 24/7 Sunni suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers, the 24/7 Shiite suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers, the Islamic bombers of the trains in the UK and Spain, the Bali crazies, the Kenya crazies, the Pakistani “koranics”, the Palestine suicide bombers/rocketeers, the Lebanese nutcases, the Taliban nut jobs, and the Filipino “koranics”.

And who funds these acts of terror? The warmongering, Islamic, Shiite terror and torture theocracy of Iran aka the Third Axis of Evil and also the Sunni "Wannabees" of Saudi Arabia.

4. Luther, Calvin, Joe Smith, Henry VIII, Wesley et al, founders of Christian-based religions, also suffered from the belief in/hallucinations of "pretty wingy talking flying fictional thingie" visits and "prophecies" for profits analogous to the myths of Catholicism (resurrections, apparitions, ascensions and immaculate conceptions).

5. Hinduism (from an online Hindu site) - "Hinduism cannot be described as an organized religion. It is not founded by any individual. Hinduism is God centered and therefore one can call Hinduism as founded by God, because the answer to the question ‘Who is behind the eternal principles and who makes them work?’ will have to be ‘Cosmic power, Divine power, God’."

The caste/laborer system and cow worship are problems when saying a fair and rational God founded Hinduism."

6. Buddhism- "Buddhism began in India about 500 years before the birth of Christ. The people living at that time had become disillusioned with certain beliefs of Hinduism including the caste system, which had grown extremely complex. The number of outcasts (those who did not belong to any particular caste) was continuing to grow."
"However, in Buddhism, like so many other religions, fanciful stories arose concerning events in the life of the founder, Siddhartha Gautama (fifth century B.C.):"

Archaeological discoveries have proved, beyond a doubt, his historical character, but apart from the legends we know very little about the circumstances of his life. e.g. Buddha by one legend was supposedly talking when he came out of his mother's womb.

Bottom line: There are many good ways of living but be aware of the flaws i.e. the hallucinations, embellishments, lies and myths surrounding the founders and foundations of said rules of life.


Anonymous:

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Vote:
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