Citizens in a Global World

There are so many things to say when tragedy strikes. I do not have the words or the eloquence to say them. I will leave that to those who are better wordsmiths than I. The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on 12/13/12 will be remembered and immortalized by poets, storytellers, and songwriters far better than I ever could. What I express today is an idea: a thought that has been spinning around in the back of my mind for some time that a tragedy like this finally forces me to put into words. In Russia, in 2004, a similar event unfolded at an elementary school when armed terrorists took over a school and held children hostage. In the end, over 300 children died. I remember watching images of parents holding their surviving children while other parents who's children did not survive wept or fainted or stood numb with shock and grief. I see those same images today on the faces of parents and children in Connecticut. What strikes me in the midst of these tragedies are the similarities. First, that evil, sick, twisted people will hurt anyone they can. There will always be sickness, there will always be evil, but there is a special kind of evil that hunts down and hurts children. There is a special place in prison for people who hurt or abuse kids and I think there might be one in hell too (not sure about the theology of that but Jesus did have extra strong words for people who hurt children). As individuals, as a nation, and as as global society, we need to find ways of confronting and preemptively stopping aggression against children. Perhaps, like the U.K., it is time for nations to make it illegal and impossible to own firearms. Perhaps it is time for only police and military to have these weapons. I know its an impossible dream given the state of the world, but we are citizens of a global world and we need to start acting like it. If there are people (arms dealers) or places (Ethiopia) that aid and promote the indiscriminate use of weapons, maybe it is time for our world to step up and take action. This might mean more violence initially - but in the end it may just be worth it if our children actually get to grow up. Or, we can sit back and talk about how terrible this type of tragedy is, or how it is my right to own 75 automatic weapons, and never do anything about it because, thank God, it didn't happen to my kids. Second, that no matter where you live or who you pledge allegiance to or pray to, we are all connected in ways that beliefs and creeds can not ultimately divide. We are all humans. We all love and laugh and work and sleep and try as best we can to provide protection and a better life to those we love. Whether you live in Serbia or Sweden, Canada or Chile, there is something deep inside us that makes us want to protect our kids. When I see parents on the news half way around the world overcome with grief at the senseless death of their child, I get it. Suddenly it doesn't matter if they are Muslim or Christian, Republican or Democrat, Communist or Capitalist. They are parents just like me, they are humans just like me, they feel anguish and pain and hurt, just like me. They loved their kids, just like me. We are all in this together and it is about time we started to act like it. Sting once famously sang "I hope the Russians love their children too" and I believe they do. I believe we all do. Third, it is time for change. It is time to change how we educate our children, not just here, but around the world. Children need to learn that violence is not the answer. Children need to know that while we may grow up with different values and beliefs, we do share more common values than disparate ones, and one of those values is a deep respect for life. Then, as adults, we need to model this to the children of the world. Rather than our fists, guns, tanks, bombs, and missiles being the currency of negotiation or the final solution to unsolvable situations, we need to pursue compassion, solutions that allow all parties to find common ground, and ruthlessly and relentlessly track down those who defy these things. It isn't Utopia, and it never will be, but it is better than watching another tragedy like this unfold on our television screens (or maybe in our own lives) knowing that we could have done something about it as a global world but instead chose to do nothing.....again.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt. 6

Without critical evaluation, our own faith becomes weak and eventually either erodes, or becomes fundamentalist fanaticism. A continual critical evaluation of what we believe and why we believe it, as well as a constant attempt to apply our faith to our daily lives, keeps us from falling into either extreme. If we truly believe that the Bible is the “living Word”, capable of speaking into contemporary situations, while at the same time believing that things written thousands of years ago to a nomadic, primitive, agrarian society still matter today, we must involve our critical skills. We must know how to engage a text, how to put it into its historical context, how to see it within the larger context of the chapter or verse in which it resides, and how to understand the use of narrative, poetry, and metaphor. Not everything is literal. Not everything is prophetic. Not every detail applies to the modern context. Are we trying to apply non applicable parts of a text to our modern situation? (Yes, there are parts of the Bible, and details in the Bible that don't apply to us today.) Are we trying to take ancient details and make them work today? Or, are we attempting to understand and see the underlying principle that applies across cultures and then apply that principle to our lives? Too many cults don't understand this type of critique. They refuse to apply simple, critical tools to their reading of the Bible and end up creating whole movements around things like what you can and can't eat, what you can and can't watch or listen to or enjoy, who can and can't preach, how to absolutely know the exact time when the world will end, or new (and usually deviant) sexual norms (this is a big one). The other eventuality to a non-critiqued faith is for that faith to become outdated and irrelevant. It is easy, over time and without critique, to lose sight of the importance of the Bible to our lives today. Soon it becomes a collection of irrelevant and boring stories that have no place in the modern world. One day we wake up and find that we haven't opened the Bible for months...years...decades...because there is no point to it. Because of this, it is vital for us to continually ask ourselves what we believe and why we believe it. This critical evaluation keeps faith growing, alive, strong, and relevant.

Life is a journey And a destination

What a journey I am on. This journey began in Boston in 1969 and has taken me through Asia, Europe, The U.S. and Canada. I love the journey even though at times it has been painful and there are parts of it that I wish I could undo or do over. Life is a journey. Just when you think you are settled in somewhere, if you are like me, you feel the need to move again. Maybe I'm the human version of a shark, always needing to be moving in the journey or else I'll die. I don't ever feel like I've arrived, or like I have it all together, or that I can sit down and say to myself "O.K. I figured it all out, I am where I am going to be until I die, I don't need to learn any more or grow anymore." So, life for me is a continual process of growth...a continual journey. This relates to my physical world and my spiritual world. I am continually reminded in this journey that God has more to teach me. Just when I think I have a pretty good grasp on something, God opens my eyes to the next level, the next phase, the next understanding, the next mission, the next journey. So, I have come to a place where I am peace with being on a journey that will last until I die. Then, and only then, will I reach the destination. And then the real journey will begin. So I keep asking myself these questions. Is my life making a difference? Am I part of the problem or part of the solution? Am I where God can best use me? Have I stopped journeying? Am I more kind, compassionate, and caring than I was yesterday? Do I appreciate those around me more today than I did yesterday? Is what I am doing today better than what I was doing yesterday? Is what I am doing today setting me up to make tomorrow better? Am I closer to the destination today or farther away? I want to be part of a community that continually asks those questions. I want to be part of a community that is also on a journey. I hope you will be part of that community with me.

Faith in the Age of Criticism, Pt 5.

4. Criticism builds a deeper, more honest, faith. Far too many people know almost nothing about what they truly believe apart from what they have been told by others or what they have heard on Sunday. If they read anything, they read “safe” books written by those who see the world exactly as they do. They refuse to read books or to engage in conversations with those who, while still holding to the same faith, have deep convictions that are in opposition to the beliefs that they hold. (Ask them to read something by someone who doesn’t hold to their faith tradition, and you might as well be asking them to read the Satanic Bible.) They label people who write these books, or who read them, has heretics and dissenters (see post #2 in this series) often without ever opening the cover of the book they are so critical of (Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” comes to mind) or of trying to understand the critique of the dissenting voices. Again, this does not advocate that they must accept the other position, but they must engage with it. Engaging in the critical dialogue builds a deeper, more honest faith, one that deals with the real issues of today. A long time ago, someone told me that whenever I am criticized I should always try to find the truth in what the critical person is saying. There may be ten things that are false, but there may also be one thing that is truth. I think this advice applies to ideas and beliefs that we do not agree with. Even as we criticize them (or engage in a critique of them) we should be asking ourselves, is their something of truth in this argument that I can learn? Even if I end up disagreeing with most of what this other viewpoint advocates, have I learned something that can enhance and grow my faith? If you are asking yourself this question, it makes the process of critical analysis far more rewarding and valuable.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt 4

3. Critical evaluation of what we believe and why we believe what we do does not make a person liberal. Even the terms "fundamentalist" and "liberal" need to be discarded or at least redefined because they carry far too much baggage from our history. Instead, criticism (or questioning) of what you believe is the best way to see if your faith is genuine and real and if it continues to hold true to the principle of the text while speaking to the modern situation to which you are attempting to apply the text. This is not some form of “ situational ethics” but rather an honest attempt to answer the question of how my faith applies to my world today.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt 3

2. We need to be critical of ideas, not people. When we can divorce criticism from personal attacks (I believe the two are very different) we can engage in healthy critical dialogue with others that can help us evaluate and sharpen our own world view. What is more, we can maintain deep and honest friendships with people who do not see the world the same way we do. This is easier said than done. It is difficult to listen to someone like Ann Coulter and not want to be critical of her and her tactics, rather than to simply be critical of the agenda she supports. Yet, if we are able to realize that every person has the right to believe and say what they do, and if that person will realize that we have that same right, we can move past personal attacks, to critique ideas. I have great friends who have very different political views than I do. We disagree on a lot of things, yet, we love to hang out and to be together. I consider them my friends and they consider me a friend. Here is a simple way of telling if you are being critical of an idea or of the person who holds that idea. If you say "You're an idiot for believing that" than you are engaging in a personal attack. If you say "I disagree with what you believe" than you are making the focus of the critique the idea and not the person. What you can't control is how the person responds. Many people believe that if you don't like their idea or their belief, than you obviously don't like them personally. So find ways of validating the person, of letting them know that you love them as a person and that your critique has nothing to do with them as a person and a friend. If we can divorce criticism from personal attack, we will be able to begin dialogues with people and discuss issues critically with people who don't think or believe like we do, without (hopefully) alienating them. This critical dialogue is vital. Only when we engage with ideas that we don't hold are we able to see our own ideas within the crucible of critical thinking. If I never engage with anyone who believes differently than I do, then who will challenge me to think, rethink, defend, and ultimately affirm or change my own ways of thinking? How will I know if my ideas are old and outdated or if they continue to stand the test of time? Critical dialogue with people who think differently than I do helps to expand my worldview and see an idea from different viewpoints. We can always learn something. We never have all the answers. People who think and believe differently than we do can help us see things from a different perspective. And, we may just gain a new friend in the process.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt 2

1. We don’t understand the true nature and strength of criticism. Those who wish to make themselves feel better and others feel worse, who wish to prop up their own agendas, who fear change, or who cannot build anything of their own but hate to see others build things, have hijacked the true understanding and use of the term ‘criticism’. For these people, criticism becomes the means AND the end. For them, criticism exists only to destroy and tear down. So, first of all, we need to redefine what healthy, life giving, criticism is and how we can apply it in order to create, maintain, and strengthen our faith. Dissenters and critics are vital to the survival of any belief system. Healthy criticism, self-criticism, the ability to understand both sides of any issue (without having to support the other side) allows a person to approach any issue with a sense of openness rather than defensiveness. According to Sociologist Emile Durkheim, in group formation the founders of the group initiate boundaries to which members must adhere. Within each group, there are those who critique (or criticize or question) those boundaries. These critics force the group to continually reevaluate its boundaries and make necessary changes. These critics also force the group to continually reevaluate its boundaries and maintain original boundaries when appropriate. The one thing that Durkheim's (and others') studies revealed is that although this process of criticism can at times be difficult, it is also vital to the survival of the group. Without criticism the group will not critique it's own boundaries and will, in every case, eventually decay to a point that they are unable or unwilling to defend "ancient" boundaries that they no longer engage with and therefore do not fully comprehend. Along with this, the group that does not continually critique its boundaries will lose touch with the changing nature of how its' belief systems engage with the culture around it. This means the group sinks into obscurity and irrelevance. Essentially the group no longer matters to the culture around it. It has become outdated without even realizing it. This same scenario applies to the individual and his or her belief structure.