My Conversion from Cookie-Cutter Christianity

 

When I was a child in Nashville, Tennessee, our public schools were integrated by court order. Bitter opposition followed. One school was burned down. Some Christians said God didn’t mean for blacks and whites to mingle together.

The others 2This period was a beginning, not of leaving my faith, but of finding a more mature faith. Before in my world, Christians were Christians, and the rest was everybody else. Now I began to see graduations within the Christian community as well as in the community of “others.” I found that I could disagree but respect those who differed with me. I am, as the apostle Paul said, still working out my own salvation with fear and trembling.

The OthersI also came to understand that some people who called themselves Christians have committed grievous sins against others. We worship Jesus who, though equal with God, humbled himself to become like us. Yet, in our arrogance, we scream at the different others as though we are God and know perfection. Now I am more aware of my own potential for error and am more willing to listen to other viewpoints.

Love Never FailsI find no fault in Jesus, but I fear that we have clung, not to Jesus and his radical love, but to something less, Christianity as a mere civil religion. Perhaps that is why Christianity is no longer the default religion in the Western world.

Why Haven’t We Killed Osama bin Laden’s Dream?

 

The May 7th 2011 issue of The Economist featured Osama bin Laden on its cover with the caption “Now, kill his dream.” The al-Qaeda instigator of the 9/ll attacks had been killed by U.S. Navy seals the week before.

The_Economist_2011-05-07_Bin LadenBin Laden is dead, but his influence lives on, directly or indirectly, in numerous bloody attacks since then: in Nigeria, in Boston, in London, in Syria, and a dozen other places.

An article in the magazine outlined bin Laden’s dream. He wished to purge present day Islam of its “corruptions” and “secular influences.” He concluded that taking lives of innocent men, women, and children in that cause was justified. Unfortunately, lives still are being lost in brutal efforts to fulfil bin Laden’s dream.

According to a State Department report on terrorism, released this week, “core” al-Qaeda is much reduced in ability. However, local al-Qaeda groups, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, have increased in strength. Boko Haram recently was in the news for kidnaping 230 girls from a school.

Kill his dream, but how?

By acting out dreams of our own that prove stronger. Forgiveness instead of hate. Seeking the good of others instead of idle pursuit of pleasure. Integrity instead of corruption.

Why Democracy?

 

“I believe in political equality. But there are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth, and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows.”

—C.S. Lewis, Present Concerns

Democracy quoteWealth, a form of power, triumphs over the common good unless laws prevent it. The wealthy are no more evil than the rest of us, but wealth tempts any of us who have it, as all power does.

When every citizen can vote, one group’s desire to dominate can be checked by those not in the group. Democratic forms of government tend to restrain our selfish tendency to grab power for ourselves alone.

“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”

–Edmund Burke

(This may be the basis for the oft-quoted phrase whose speaker is unknown:

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”)

Five Questions About Money and Politics

 

Money1) How much more influence does a citizen gain who spends a great deal of money on a candidate compared with an average citizen who merely casts a ballot? Can votes be “bought” in the sense of understood favors toward certain policies if one accepts money for a campaign?

2) How much does advertising, which must be paid for with money, influence us? How do we make up our minds to vote for a candidate? Are today’s political ads from both parties kin to Hitler’s “big lie”?  Before World War II, he repeated over and over the falsehood that Jews were responsible for Germany’s economic problems. How about Lenin who said: “A lie told often enough becomes the truth”?

3) What is our proper attitude toward money? Wealthy individuals fund charities and non-profits as well as political campaigns.

4) Has money become the new world government? Does a wealthy tycoon in Russia have more in common with a wealthy tycoon in Switzerland or the United States or Nigeria than with his or her own citizens?

vote clip art5) Has money trumped political parties? Do wealthy individuals have more power to win elections than Democrats or Republicans or other political parties?

Showing Up on Easter

The CrossJesus is crucified, his body taken away.

The religious rulers are satisfied. They’ve won. They’ve handled this challenge to their authority by hinting to the Romans that they could have an insurrection on their hands if they didn’t take care of this peasant leader. Their plan worked well, with the Romans handling matters in their usual efficient way.

The Romans are satisfied, too, with the possible exception of their man, Pilate, who expressed misgivings. He went along, however, understanding that it was in his interest not to upset the ones on whom his job depends, so no problem.

The disciples, all men, have fled, taking refuge in some out-of-the-way bolt hole.

Only a few women stay with Jesus, and they follow to see where his body is taken. They spend the next day, the day of rest, preparing for his burial. He must be taken care of, even if all they can do is carry out a proper burial. They’re only women, and no one pays them much attention.

So they come to the tomb on Sunday morning. They find it empty. They are the first to know and the first to tell. What no one else did, they did. They came. They showed up.

Five Questions About Money and Politics

 

Money1) How much more influence does a citizen gain who spends a great deal of money on a candidate compared with an average citizen who merely casts a ballot? Can votes be “bought” in the sense of understood favors toward certain policies if one accepts money for a campaign?

2) How much does advertising, which must be paid for with money, influence us? How do we make up our minds to vote for a candidate? Are today’s political ads from both parties kin to Hitler’s “big lie”?  Before World War II, he repeated over and over the falsehood that Jews were responsible for Germany’s economic problems. How about Lenin who said: “A lie told often enough becomes the truth”?

3) What is our proper attitude toward money? Wealthy individuals fund charities and non-profits as well as political campaigns.

4) Has money become the new world government? Does a wealthy tycoon in Russia have more in common with a wealthy tycoon in Switzerland or the United States or Nigeria than with his or her own citizens?

vote clip art5) Has money trumped political parties? Do wealthy individuals have more power to win elections than Democrats or Republicans or other political parties?

Showing Up on Easter

 

The CrossJesus is crucified, his body taken away.

The religious rulers are satisfied. They’ve won. They’ve handled this challenge to their authority by hinting to the Romans that they could have an insurrection on their hands if they didn’t take care of this peasant leader. Their plan worked well, with the Romans handling matters in their usual efficient way.

The Romans are satisfied, too, with the possible exception of their man, Pilate, who expressed misgivings. He went along, however, understanding that it was in his interest not to upset the ones on whom his job depends, so no problem.

The disciples, all men, have fled, taking refuge in some out-of-the-way bolt hole.

Only a few women stay with Jesus, and they follow to see where his body is taken. They spend the next day, the day of rest, preparing for his burial. He must be taken care of, even if all they can do is carry out a proper burial. They’re only women, and no one pays them much attention.

So they come to the tomb on Sunday morning. They find it empty. They are the first to know and the first to tell. What no one else did, they did. They came. They showed up.

Dictatorship: New Spring Fashion

 

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, I worked in a small north Georgia town as a historic preservation planner. I watched the world-changing events on television in my cramped historic house, used during the Civil War as a hospital for wounded and dying soldiers.

Touched by the reminders of that war, I rejoiced at this peaceful revolution. Cheering crowds shredded the Iron Curtain as they hammered down the Wall in Berlin and ousted Communist regimes in other eastern European countries.

Saddam HusseinFor the next episode, I was privileged to work closer to the front lines. I was in Saudi Arabia working for the State Department when the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was defeated by the first alliance since World War II that included Russia.

A decade later, terrorism, two wars, and a world-wide recession blunted that optimism. Then it revived with the “Arab spring” that begin in late 2010, leading to the overthrow of several Arab dictators. When the Arab spring froze into what some call the “Arab winter,” pessimism  returned.

So have the dictatorships.

Bachar-al-AssadVladimir Putin in Russia, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and the generals in Egypt, among others, push against what a short time ago seemed an unstoppable march to self-government.

What happened?

The lack of job growth worldwide played a part, including a major recession. Even more, the growth of tycoon-laced corruption in some of the new nations, especially in Russia, meant that the newly-hatched democracies never learned to fly according to the rules of a civil society. The former Soviet republic, Ukraine, was one such failed hope.

Unfettered capitalism did take root, the kind that flourished in the United States in the Gilded Age. Without a corresponding growth in such institutions as an impartial court system, an accountable police force, and an independent press, the industrial titans gained too much power.

PutinUkraine has recently struggled to return to democracy but it is hampered by the leftovers of a corrupt regime. Russia’s Putin took advantage of the country’s weakness. That is often the way dictators amass power.

Why We Read Coming-of-Age Novels

 

Response spring-2014-coverThe fancy name for coming-of-age stories is Bildungsroman (loosely translated: growth novel). This word is featured in a column by Christine Chaney, a professor of English at Seattle Pacific University, in the 2014 spring issue of Response (SPU) magazine.

According to Dr. Chaney, the early Victorian novel Jane Eyre by Charolotte Bronte is a Bildungsroman. So is the entire Harry Potter series. A single character “often grows from childhood to adulthood, gaining wisdom through life experiences—while often making mistakes and suffering loss along the way.”

I was drawn to the article because I have begun a series which does just that—traces the growth of an Appalachian young man leaving his roots and entering the changing world of the nation’s capital at the end of the twentieth century. The protagonist must travel both geographically and culturally into the digital age. How does he adjust his childhood views within this new world?

All of us are characters in our own growth novel, only our growth does not end when we leave young adulthood.

How Do We Find the Thin Place Where Faith Meets Mind?

 

I grew up in a working class neighborhood and attended an evangelical Christian church. I generally hid my academic achievements because I sensed a prevailing opinion that intellectual activity was too removed from practical issues and might even lead one astray. I loved learning for its own sake. Was that chasing after forbidden fruit, like clandestine passion?  Of what use was it?

This attitude reflected our social and economic status more than any religious teaching. The missionaries I met during my growing up years were among the most intelligent, compassionate people I knew, a far cry from the stereotypical images often portrayed in fiction. Nevertheless, practical learning and revelation were prized over intellectual pursuit in my childhood community.

The novels that I write as an adult continue to grapple with a fish/fowl schizophrenia. I don’t think I write “Christian” fiction or at least not what is termed “inspirational” fiction. Many of my characters belong to the Christian fold, but their problems reflect a different level of struggle—searching for vocation, for purpose, or for meaning.

Evangelical MindIn grappling with the place of the mind, that is the use of the mind, in the Christian pursuit, I read a book written by Mark Noll, now history professor at the University of Notre Dame. His book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, was first published in 1994. He sets out a challenge for evangelical Christians in the use of the mind. He describes the evangelical life of the mind as: ” . . . to think within a specifically Christian framework—across the whole spectrum of modern learning, including economics and political science, literary criticism and imaginative writing, historical inquiry and philosophical studies, linguistics and the history of science, social theory and the arts.”

For Christians to neglect the use of the intellect is to ignore a gift. One uses the gift in scientific inquiry, in searching for economic and political solutions, and other fitting pursuits. I explore this thin place where faith meets mind in my writing.

Oso, Washington, and Aleppo, Syria

 

Oso WashingtonWe live less than a hundred miles from the huge landslide in Oso, Washington, the tragedy that killed over twenty people. Several are still missing.

The citizens of the area have united to alleviate the tragedy. One of our grocery stores asks customers if they wish to round up to the nearest dollar for their purchases. The accumulated money will be given to Oso relief. Our hardware store also is collecting money. Customers can “buy” tools and supplies for the relief effort.

Banks and other organizations are accepting donations. Benefit concerts have been scheduled.

Such community effort and empathy are heartwarming.

I am reminded of tragic suffering in other places. I wish these tragedies could be alleviated, too.

Yet we should remember when sympathy involved us in a country called Somalia, with disastrous consequences to young soldiers. Or our engagements in Iraq which resulted in so many killed, wounded, and damaged Americans and Iraqi men, women, and children. Or Afghanistan, where young girls are targeted for wishing to attend school despite the price we paid there in lives and treasure.

We do well to be cautious of unwise involvement.

Child in AleppoYet the blood marked face of the little girl in Aleppo, Syria, stares out of the picture, uncomprehending as to why one would want to hurt her. She is dressed attractively. Her family must love her very much, and perhaps she will survive. Others, surely, are more damaged by the barrel bombs, full of shrapnel and nails. The bombs do not differentiate between military and civilian. Those who employ them do not intend that they should.

God knows we don’t need another military engagement. Better to press and wait for some kind of diplomatic solution. But perhaps we could spare sympathy and prayers for the people of Aleppo, Syria, as we rightly do for the people of Oso, Washington. And give donations to reputable relief organizations working with refuges who have fled in huge numbers.

Empathy for those horribly caught up in tragedy need not stop at the world’s boundaries.

Remembering Rwanda Twenty Years Ago: How a Young Rwandan Woman Found Meaning

 

Left To Tell coverImmaculée Ilibagiza, a young woman born in Rwanda, tells of her horrifying time during the Rwandan massacres that began in April, 1994, twenty years ago this month. Most of her family were slaughtered.  Hidden in a bathroom with seven other women, she endured ninety-one days of cramped hiding. She tells her story in Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.

Immaculée was born into a middle-class family of educators. She attended schools, including college. Suddenly the horror broke out. Hatred flared between otherwise peaceful neighbors. Terrified masses crowded into churches but were murdered anyway, sometimes burned with their churches—by those supposedly of their own Christian faith.

How did people who had given allegiance to the same Christian Jesus turn into angry, brutal mobs?

All of Immaculée’s family except herself and one brother died. After a miraculous survival, she was able to meet with the killer of her mother and one of her brothers. The man was now a prisoner, wearing dirty clothes, his hair matted, filthy. Before her, the murderer began sobbing. Immaculée said she felt his shame.

“I reached out, touched his hands lightly, and quietly said what I’d come to say.

‘I forgive you.’”

Then, she said, her heart eased. Later she told the astonished jailer, “Forgiveness is all I have to offer.”

We take away from this story the power of forgiveness to heal, as much for the sinned against as for the sinner. The only hope we have for dousing the bitter strife that inflicts the globe in a multitude of conflicts is the sacrifice of our hatred. We have a right to hate, but we choose not to hate and thus free ourselves by forgiveness.

Five Lessons This Christian Learned From Living in Muslim-Majority Countries

 

1. As I experienced life in a conservative Middle Eastern country, I learned what many Muslims of that country believe about Americans: Americans can’t live without binging on alcohol. Americans abuse drugs. They also favor couples living together without marriage, and they love X-rated movies. They don’t care if their daughters become prostitutes. Muslims who have never lived outside of their culture may believe most Americans are Christians.

Veiled women 22. Rural Muslims tend to become more conservative when they move to the city. Nomadic Arabs that we met while in the desert appeared less strict in matters of dress and other habits than their urban cousins.  This reminded me of the denomination I know best, Southern Baptists. Southern Baptists became more conservative when they left their rural roots. In 1990, Nancy Ammerman, then a professor at Emory University, wrote Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention, which portrays this shift.

3. In the conservative country where I lived and worked, Christians weren’t free to worship openly, though western Christians usually worshiped without interference if they didn’t broadcast their religious activities or try to convert Muslims. Christians from other areas of the world—Ethiopia or the Philippines, for example—lived less protected lives.

4. Based on my knowledge of the arrests and mistreatment of some Christians in Muslim majority lands, I don’t see actions against Christians in this country as persecution. Some Christians may suffer in the sense that anti-war protesters suffer for civil disobedience, but it is not, in my opinion, persecution.

western women5. Some Muslims are dismayed at the infiltration of Western culture into their own. One of their writers called it “westoxification.”

Ammerman wrote in her 1990 book: “In a relatively undisturbed setting, religious practices are tightly interwoven into the fabric of life. . . . But when change occurs, everyday patterns of life are thrown into disarray . . .” So it is with Muslims as with Southern Baptists, notwithstanding that their beliefs are quite different.

Georgia On My Mind: Six Reminders from a Political Cartoon as Russia Invades Crimea

 

Country of GeorgiaI have a cartoon in my files from 2008 when Russia invaded the country of Georgia. David Horsey drew the political cartoon for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Georgia, located between Europe and Asia, choose to leave the Soviet sphere after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 2008, the Soviet Union invaded and annexed portions of their former satellite. The reactions were similar to our reactions today to Russia’s designs on the Ukraine.

From the cartoon in 2008:

1) Europe is concerned that the gas they buy from Russia may be cut off.

2) NATO is glad Georgia is not one of their members; otherwise, they’d have to do something.

3) The United Nations avoids the issue.

4) American cable news isn’t interested in the situation in Georgia. They continue with stories of celebrity scandals.

5) The President plays volleyball.

6) The average American is concerned only with the one word they think they understand: Georgia. Are Russians invading Atlanta?

 

No Vacation in Siberia. What a Shame.

 

John McCainThe U.S. has issued visa sanctions against several Russian tycoons in protest of the Russian takeover in Crimea, meaning the tycoons will be prohibited from visits to the U.S.

In retaliation, Russia announced sanctions against several U.S. senators. I like Senator John McCain’s response the best:

“I guess this means my spring break in Siberia is off, my Gazprom stock is lost, and my secret bank account in Moscow is frozen.”

Sometimes humor is the best weapon.

What Are Our Choices in an Age of Revived Dictatorships?

 

A headline in today’s Seattle Times portrays the challenge: “Putin takeover signals a different kind of ‘Cold War.’” The Ukraine is threatened with loss of territory. Russians encroach on certain sections of that country, taking advantage of the confusion in the Ukraine after a corrupt leader was overthrown.

Vladimir PutinRussia’s Putin appears only one of many neo dictators, snatching a country back into the age of baronial privilege, in which favored elites rob the country of its wealth and ignore wishes of the majority. Ancient tribal hatreds threaten Libya. Egypt seems turned back toward another military government. South Sudan is again wracked by mayhem. Atrocities by a ruling minority group in Syria rival those of the Holocaust.

The headline, however, should remind us that we survived decades of that first, nuclear-threatening Cold War. We made mistakes, including ill-chosen wars of choice. However, we avoided a massive conflict  with the Soviet Union. We waited through a period of dictatorships while we probed diplomatic opportunities. We grew our economy and created a vibrant middle class. And eventually our patience was rewarded.

Years ago, one of our politicians said that our nation’s differences stop at our shore. We can choose emotional, knee-jerk reactions to these crises or we can choose patience, well-considered responses, and a spirit of cooperation, both among our political parties and with our allies.

Who Do We Blame When Kids Fail?

 

When I was growing up, my parents enjoyed life with each other and with my brother and me. They read books and newspapers and discussed ideas at the supper table. My father always had a job. My mother worked part time as well. The money coming in placed us in the middle of the middle class, far from the one-percent, but we never missed a meal or suffered major medical expenses that weren’t covered by insurance. We were part of a loving church community.

Why shouldn’t I be judged by a higher standard of accountability than children born in circumstances like New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof describes: “But if you’re one of the one-fifth of children in West Virginia born with drugs or alcohol in your system, if you ingest lead from peeling paint as a toddler, if your hearing or vision impairments aren’t detected, if you live in a home with no books in a gang-ridden neighborhood with terrible schools — in all these cases, you’re programmed for failure as surely as children of professionals are programed for success . . . When kids in poverty stumble, it’s not quite right to say that they ‘failed.’ Often, they never had a chance.”

To whom much is given is much required. Hold all of us accountable. If we blame poor Americans who make irresponsible choices, Kristof says, blame rich Americans who are irresponsible as well. You could start with the ones who scammed Americans with mortgage abuses.

The One Commitment We Can’t Change

 

Ross Douthat, New York Times columnist, quoted from Jennifer Senior’s new book, All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood in a recent column: Parenthood is “the last binding obligation in a culture that asks for almost no other permanent commitments at all.”

In this sense, Douthat says, it isn’t necessarily that family life has changed so dramatically in the last few generations. Rather, family life “stayed the same in crucial ways —because babies still need what babies need—while outside the domestic sphere there’s been an expansion of opportunities, a proliferation of choices and entertainments and immediately available gratifications, that make child rearing seem much more burdensome by comparison.”

What has changed are the choices: “between the lifestyles and choices available to nonparents and the irreducible burdens still involved in raising children.”

We change marriage partners, or don’t bother to commit to marriage in the first place. However, babies call for commitment unlike any other task in our world today. Children who lack committed parents or who don’t find parent figures are less likely to handle life successfully. In contrast, those with committed parents greatly increase their chances for a meaningful life.

We often lack the community support enjoyed earlier. Incomes may have to be adjusted also. The disparity between the lifestyle of DINCs—double incomes, no children—and those of married couples with children, much less a single parent with a child—are documented.

We take our careers more seriously than ever before. Parenthood is a career that requires as much commitment as any other.  Children may fail or not, but so may any career. Most children born today live after us, unlike the average career.

Who of the Religiously Uncommitted Will Build Our Hospitals?

 

Eboo Patel, an American Muslim, asks “What will happen to U.S. civil society as the pews empty out?” He refers to the many social service agencies built over time by Christians and members of other faith traditions. (“‘Nones’ and the Common Good,” Sojourners, March 2014.)

Some atheists are attempting to offer communities for the uncommitted, as well as services to the vulnerable. But will their beliefs allow the dedication necessary, over centuries, to build hospitals and universities? Will they have the compassion and stamina to staff homeless shelters, addiction centers, and disaster relief efforts?

Some of the uncommitted exhibit more compassion, character, and intelligence than many of the religious. Some are indeed involved in what can only be called good works.

Nevertheless, they will have a lot of catching up to do. Patel cites Robert Putnam, Harvard social scientist, in noting that three-quarters of philanthropy goes to religiously affiliated groups. The religiously affiliated know a long tradition of healing and ministering to the poor.

Christians, in addition, are commissioned to “preach the Good News.” We had better make sure the news we preach is good, not hate-filled or power-driven. This may be what separates us from other do-gooders.

What Do I Know About Drugs, Anyway?

 

My state, Washington, is one of two states (Colorado is the other) that has legalized marijuana for recreational use. For some, pot has joined beer, wine, and other alcoholic drinks as a leisure pleasure.

Caveat: I remain one of those increasingly rare creatures, a teetotaler. I’m also a Christian. I’m not, however, an abstainer because I’m a Christian. Nor do I expect most others to be abstainers.

As a young person in a conservative church, I was influenced in my teen years by religious arguments. In examining my Christian Bible, however, I can’t see that it forbids alcohol as long as imbibing it is done responsibly. Jesus, after all, turned water into wine at a wedding celebration.

I think the fact that neither my family nor my close friends drank influenced me more than religious teachings. We had lots of fun without it. And as a woman with a history of breast cancer in my family, those articles about alcohol consumption and a higher incidence of breast cancer always get my attention.

Then, too, I wonder sometimes that my tendency to depression might lead me to over indulge during a down time. All in all, maybe it’s better if I stay in my abstainer mode. I also save money that way.

I accept the fact, however, that I live in a world where most folks will choose to use some types of drugs. I’ve come to understand that I don’t know enough about those drugs. Obviously, overindulgence leads to things like the horrible loss of life in automobile accidents. It contributes to domestic violence. It would seem that certain people are alcoholics and must learn to do without alcohol to avoid destruction. I’ve read that alcohol and drug use at an early age can lead to harmful brain changes.

Then, of course, there is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died so tragically in a drug overdose. Articles after his death mentioned that once you’ve become a heroin addict, the brain changes, even in an adult, so that you will always crave it.

So I’d like an honest, comprehensive assessment of drugs, including alcohol, and their effects on different kinds of people. In this postmodern world, our moral behavior is increasingly a personal choice, not bound by cultural norms. I’d like those choices to be responsible and disciplined, based on knowledge rather than instant gratification or peer pressure.