Changing tone at Cornerstone? July 14, 2008
Posted by Zack in Illinois | 4 commentsCornerstone Music Festival is a giant Woodstock-like Christian music festival. It takes place every year and is attended by 10,000 or more people.
I first learned about the festival in Lauren Sandler’s book Righteous. Characterizing it as a giant festival of “right-wing organizing,” she followed a group of very angry anti-abortion activists into their demon-filled world.
Here’s a different kind of glimpse into this year’s Cornerstone, which just wrapped up last week, by Tim Nafziger writing at Young Anabaptist Radicals.
I’m trying to think of an analogy for the left that might work here. Maybe MoveOn.org recruiting for the last five years at…(trying to think of a very large, wild, a-political secular regular gathering)…Sturgis motorcycle rally!
After you read Tim’s post about the changing atmosphere at Cornerstone, then check out the seminars that took place at the festival this year. If you’re still expecting “right wing organizing,” you’ll be surprised by what you find.
Last week Charletta and I spent 5 days at the Cornerstone Music Festival promoting Christian Peacemaker Teams. For me, it was an inspiring awakening to the "Revolution in Jesusland" as Zack Exley calls it. That is, the increasing openness of young American Evangelicals to God’s vision for shalom. It’s an awareness that Jesus’ redemption is not just an individual soul thing, but an invitation to transformation of relationships, communities and creation as a whole.
Charletta and I joined Jim Fitz at a booth that he has been staffing for the past 5 years. When Jim first started out, no one at Cornerstone had ever heard of CPT. Furthermore people were openly hostile. "Are you really Christian?" was the frequent challenge. Over the years, responses have begun to change. Even the one person who sat down and argued for half an hour about the efficacy of nonviolence told us he gets our newsletter. Part of the reason for this is Jim’s persistant witness. Many people come by with a familiar greeting for Jim. His beard and his hat are well known. But Jim’s perseverence is not the only influence on changing attitudes.
Here is a write-up by Shane about his stop at Cornerstone too.
