I found this link through a diary on Booman Tribune: God told me to invade Iraq, Bush tells Palestinian ministers President George W. Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals. Bush is a scary, scary man. Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …" And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'" At least when these guys were on a mission from God, it was funny. One thing I have noticed about the stories in the Bible about God talking to people and giving them a mission of some sort, is that they are usually reluctant at first. Moses is told that he will lead the people, and he tries to beg out of it--"You don't want me. I'd be no good at that sort of thing. I've got this stutter, you know." Jonah, as my kids learned in the Veggie Tales movie, was told "Go to Ninevah." Jonah says, "Gotcha!" and promptly sets sail--in the opposite direction. Whether these stories literally happened, or are an allegorical expression of the faith experience of a people, what stands out to me is the fact that God is often seen commissioning people to do things they find difficult. Challenging. Scary. Seemingly impossible, or at least implausible. God seems pretty unlikely to say, "Attack Iraq, kill thousands of people, get oil contracts for your rich friends." I don't think Bush needed any higher power to tell him to do that. But apparently he needs to invoke a higher power to justify it. Who does God call, and for what purpose? And what does the call sound like...or feel like? Susan B. Anthony once said, I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. That quote reflects my thinking to some extent. Again, in the Bible, we really don't see examples of God calling an individual for some person, where the person says, "Cool! That's what I was planning to do anyway, but now I've got your Divine Stamp of Approval. That's really going to come in handy!"

A week or so ago, I received an email from Don, a member of my parish. It was Joan Chittister's most recent column, entitled A simple, doable, soul-changing project. I always appreciate reading Joan's thoughts when I find the time, and as it turns out, this particular column addresses an issue I've been meaning to look into in more depth. In her article, Joan gives some background on the interfaith group known as the Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah and the opportunity they see before us for increasing mutual respect and understanding between the three Abrahamic faith traditions. In other periods of history, this group would have made unlikely bedfellows. The first is a small Jewish community that has always been against the oppression of Palestinians. The second is a small group of Muslims who are opposed to the fundamentalist definition of "jihad" as military struggle rather than as the interior struggle to be holy. The third is a small group of Christians who have no doubts about the sins of Christianity against both these communities and, even more, a memory of Francis of Assisi, who in the midst of a Crusade against Egypt, crossed the battle lines to talk to Sultan Malik al-Kamil. Francis, to convert the Egyptians, tried to strike a bargain: He would go into a fiery furnace and, if he came out alive, the Egyptians would convert to Christianity. Al-Kamil's answer to Francis was a gentle and a wise one. Gambling with one's life, he argued, is not a valid proof of one's God. Then, both of them wiser, he spared Francis' life and sent him on his way again. Like Francis, these people have decided to do what their governments won't do. They are stepping across battle lines. They are reaching out as friends to one another in formal, public ways. They are listening to the spirit in the heart of the other. They call their project The October Surprise. The surprise is that the Jewish High Holy Days, the Islamic Month of Ramadan and the Christian feast of St. Francis of Assisi who opposed the Crusades and learned from an Islamic teacher, all come in October. Even the heavens, it seems, are calling all of us to do penance, to be peaceful, to become the human community we are meant to be. But how? The group, after praying together themselves, encourages a public day of fast and prayer on Oct. 13 for all of us -- Christian, Muslim and Jew alike. They are asking congregations, organizations and families, to host members of the other communities in order to celebrate these common feasts together. They are suggesting that we all hold teach-ins to honor one another and to come to know our common teachings on peace, on kinship with the earth and all its creatures, on openness to the wisdom of others. Here is a link to the Tent of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah web site. The introduction reads: The Tent of Abraham, Hagar, & Sarah is a gathering of Jews, Christians, and Muslims who have been building a 'Tent' of shared spiritual concern for peace, justice, and healing of the earth. Arising from this effort has been a call to take part in 'God's October Surprise'. Click to read more about October Surprise: A Call to Share Sacred Seasons. Here is the groups Call to Action/Gathering Statement.This link leads to a printable (PDF) flyer explaining the "October Surprise" and the opportunity we have before us. On this page, you can search for an event in your area, or add your own to the database.

From Building the Beloved Community On May 9th through the 20th, the Rockridge Institute, together with People for the American Way, Tikkun, Christian Alliance for Progress, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Muslim Peace Fellowship and a coalition of religious organizations, will be hosting an online dialogue on religious values and progressive political debate. Also joining us in the conversation will be scholars and noted leaders in the religious and spiritual community. Progressives from all faiths and perspectives are invited to participate. We want to explore the common ground between spiritual and secular progressives-to talk about who we are and why we believe what we do. What do spiritually progressive values have to say about policy issues like the environment, healthcare and war? How do spiritual progressives frame their beliefs? What unites the progressive movement? Why has this unity been so difficult to achieve? And what action can we take to promote our shared values? More information here.

A spirited spat steals church calm Ousted nine whose politics didn't suit pastor return

I'm offering this link without comment--no time to really read and digest it before bed time, but at the moment this is the top recommended diary on Daily Kos. From the looks of it, it provides some insight into the situation at East Waynesville Baptist Church that may not be readily available from mainstream media accounts. Blog-Journalism: My Interview with Deacon at East Waynesville Baptist Church by southlib

We sure are hearing a lot of the "house divided" church and religion stories lately, aren't we? We've got East Waynesville Baptist church where the pastor allegedly kicked out 9 members because they voted for Kerry (although he now says that was a misunderstanding). We also have a diocese in Texas telling parishioners at St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church (who are unhappy about the elevation of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop, and want to disassociate from the national Episcopal Church) to leave by June 1. From the National Catholic Reporter, we learn that "Jesuit Fr. Thomas J. Reese, editor for the past seven years of America magazine, a premier publication of Catholic thought and opinion, has resigned at the request of his order following years of pressure for his ouster from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith." The new Roman Catholic Pope, Benedict XI, appears to have little tolerance for the whole idea of tolerance. In Saul Landau's recent Counterpunch article, I found this quote: "We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism," Ratzinger warned in his last homily as Cardinal, "which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires." Dictatorship of relativism? Is that sort of like a "tyranny of the minority"? In the most recent church newsletter, our rector commented on Benedict XI's disdain for "religious relativism" as well as "indifferentism", and imagined how the new pope might judge our church if he read our vision statement... Worship is our centering place and the focal point of our lives together. We worship in ways that comfort us when we need it and open us to new possibilities, inspirit us and free us. We struggle to be a multicultural, multi-generational Christian community in which each and all of us feel able and challenged to be ourselves with unvarnished authenticity and to support the authenticity of others. We wrestle with and nurture the tensions that arise from our differences such as: our conflicting impulses toward tradition or innovation in our worship; our divergent ideas of the relative authority of clergy and laity; and the competing attractions of serving and being served. We pray that St. Stephen's will be a home from which we can live out God's will for our lives. But he went on to say that what we are not indifferent, but rather "passionate about that which we know. He added, "The truth we hold out is the truth we know without condemning or belittling other truths. I find that very open and welcoming, not indifferent or relative. We are also, as I am reminded every week when I open the bulletin, an "Open Table" church, which means All people are welcome around God's table. Spiritual wisdom is revealed through many religious traditions. Our path is a commitment to understanding and following the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and discerning the meaning of the title "Messiah." No person, no sacred text, and no religious institution holds the definitive wisdom about God. Our understanding of God and the Christian faith are best served by open inquiry, scholarship, service, and worship. We are asked to seek, to love, and to serve God in all people, the communities in which we live, and the nations of the world, and perhaps especially with those with whom we seem to have the most conflict. It also means that you are welcome to share in the bread and wine of Communion, because, as a member of The Center for Progressive Christianity we Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus's name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples In other words, all are welcome. Even the ones who voted for Bush.

Mother's Day Diaries Reflections on being a Mom in America by SanJoseLady Mothers Day, more than carnations by janinsanfran MY MOTHER..MY HEROINE..HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY by LOBALUNA It's Just Another Day... by Cali Scribe The Presidential Prayer Team for Kids On Mother's Day by SusanHu

Update on the East Waynesville story. Not quite sure what to make of this, but I pray for healing for all involved. Pastor Says Ouster a Misunderstanding Calling it a "great misunderstanding," the pastor of a small church who led the charge to remove nine members for their political beliefs tried to welcome them back Sunday, but some insisted he must leave for the wounds to heal. The Rev. Chan Chandler didn't directly address the controversy during the service at East Waynesville Baptist Church, but issued a statement afterward through his attorney saying the church does not care about its members' political affiliations. "No one has ever been voted from the membership of this church due to an individual's support or lack of support for a political party or candidate," he said. In other worship house divided news, TerranceDC's diary, Church Door Swings Both Ways, covers the story of an Episcopal diocese in Texas that is telling 90% of one congregation to leave: Almost 90% of the congregation at St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church in Midland, Texas, want to disassociate with the national Episcopal Church. Instead, diocese officials have given the unhappy parishioners until June 1 to leave church property.

New recommended Kos diary by AHiddenSaint about HR 235: The bill that will make us a Theocracy - HR 235

I just saw in a post on Democratic Underground that there were people on C-SPAN from a group called African American Ministers in Action. I think I missed most of the discussion, but I found their web site. Hadn't heard of this group before today, but I'm glad to know about them. And I'm really glad to see them address the following... The Black Church and the Contract with Pharaoh Anyone who celebrates the prophetic role of the Black Church in American history should be appalled at the growing phenomenon of Black pastors embracing the Bush administration and its cynical use of religion to mask policies that will further brutalize people already left behind. It is easy to understand why the President's political strategists have their eyes on the Black church. Black voters have voted in overwhelming numbers against Republican candidates in recent decades, and getting more of those votes is part of Karl Rove's plan to build a permanent Republican majority. The Black Church carries a mantle of moral authority that President Bush wants draped across his shoulders. Read the rest here.

Yesterday I posted a link to this article: Church Split In North Carolina Shows Dangers Of Partisan Politics In Pulpit, Says Americans United Click here for the official web site in support of this legislation. This page on the site could be of use to us Representatives of the 108th Congress are listed below, organized by state. Those that have registered their support for this important legislation are listed in bold. Phone numbers of each Representative are also provided. Voice your support of the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act - HR.235 by calling your representative, or by registering your personal support here on this site. Or conversely, one might use the very same list to contact our representatives and register our opposition to the bill.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, and so far I have not found the inspiration for a fitting diary. Who knows? I still might have inspiration descend upon me like a dove, but in the meantime I'm going to link to other Mother's Day diaries and articles I come across: Our Rebel Mothers - A Small History and Rememberance by tikkun Here's my Tribute to Mothers entry from last year. Please post your own favorite links, quotes, and thoughts on mothers and Mother's Day.

There is an article in the Asheville Citizen-Times today that gives some more detail about what happened at the East Waynesville Baptist Church and what the potential consequences could be. About 20 members of the 400-member East Waynesville Baptist Church voted the nine members out at a recent deacon meeting, which turned into an impromptu business meeting, according to congregants. Chan Chandler, pastor of East Waynesville Baptist, had been exhorting his congregation since October to support his political views or leave, said Selma Morris, a 30-year member of the church. “He preached a sermon on abortion and homosexuality, then said if anyone there was planning on voting for John Kerry, they should leave,” she said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard something like that. Ministers are supposed to bring people in.” Also, over at Democratic Underground, there is a link to the segment on Keith Olbermann's Countdown, where Keith interviewed a member of the congregation by phone.

Comment on the "no Dems allowed" church in North Carolina: Interfaith Alliance Deplores North Carolina Pastor Banishing Democrats Today, in response to news media reports that a North Carolina church had "excommunicated" any members who did not vote for President George W. Bush, the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of The Interfaith Alliance, issued the following statement: "This sad spectacle is the predictable consequence of the Religious Right’s insistence on measuring a person’s religion by social-political litmus tests. Not only does the pastor’s reported action violate both the spirit and substance of the United States Constitution’s provisions of religious liberty, it also offends the conscience of people who understand religion in terms of the realm of the spirit, not votes in a presidential election. "I understand the pastor called for repentance on the part of those who didn’t vote for the president. The screaming need is for repentance among those who would tie religion to partisan politics." And this is from Americans United of Separation of Church and State: "This is an outrage," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "Houses of worship exist to bring people together for worship, not split them apart over partisan politics. "I think there is an important lesson here for the whole country," Lynn continued. "Americans do not expect to be ordered to vote for certain candidates by their religious leaders." Religious Right groups have been pressing evangelical churches to get deeply involved in partisan politics, Lynn said, and this kind of controversy is the natural outcome. Lynn said matters will become even worse if a bill now pending in Congress becomes federal law. H.R. 235, a measure introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), would allow clergy to endorse candidates from the pulpit and still retain a tax exemption of their house of worship. "Introducing partisan politics into our churches is a terrible idea," said AU’s Lynn. "I hope this incident in North Carolina will cause our members of Congress to reject Rep. Jones’ bill."

Last time I checked, excommunication was just a Catholic thing. Isn't it? Last night there was a recommended diary on Daily Kos by georgia10 entitled It Begins: Dems "Excommunicated" From Church? For those that thought that there has not been a full scale war lanched against liberals; for those who didn't take the radical right's promise to "eradicate liberals" seriously, I present to you, Exhibit A: East Waynesville Baptist Church has just kicked out all its Democratic members. Yes. You read that right. If you didn't vote for Bush, you had to "repent your sin". And finally, they figured why deal with the liberal sinners at all... That sounded a little fishy, but on the other hand, I've been reading georgia10's diaries for quite a while--ever since she was writing up excellent summaries of the Ohio recount action late in 2004. I know that she is very careful about reporting responsibly. She wrote that several long time Democratic Underground members had attested to seeing news reports about what happened at East Waynesville. As those reports have become available online, georgia10 has updated her diary to add links to them. She has also put up a new action-item diary, Democratic Church Purge Part II: Action. In other news, see Ohiocrat's diary, Catholic Church Declares War on Democrats Kansas governor, Kathleen Gilligan Sebelius, was invited to give a commencement speech at her high school alma mater, Summit Country Day in Cincinnati. That is, until the Archbishop of Cincinnati, Daniel Pilarczyk, told the school to "un-invite" her. Why? Because Sebelius is pro-choice. And finally we have this from the Palm Beach Post: Diocese employee says judge in abortion case should be denied communion An employee of the Diocese of Palm Beach said Thursday that Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Alvarez, a Catholic, should be denied communion for allowing a 13-year-old foster child to have an abortion. This is becoming more and more disturbing. If you are a a Democratic officeholder and person of faith, I guess you are officially "fair game" for this kind of public shaming. If you're a Republican, apparently you get a free ride. Why is that? Maybe the Democrats are not as willing to "go there" with regard to using a Republican's faith as a weapon against him or her. Who knows, maybe they actually take seriously that part where Jesus said "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". Of course, if we do get tired of taking the "high road", we might point out that there are some Methodists out there who aren't too pleased with the way George W. Bush represents his faith, and feel that he should repent... Or, on a more positive note, check out this new diary at MyDD by Jerry Meek, Dear Internet: Help Free Our Churches. ...I put out the following statement responding to press reports about the shameful activities in the Waynesville church. "One of the Bible's most repeated commands is to 'Love your neighbor.' If these reports are true, this minister is not only acting extremely inappropriately by injecting partisan politics into a house of worship, but he is also potentially breaking the law and threatening the church's 501(c)(3) non-profit status." Ok, so we put out a statement. That's great for the press. But what about everyone else? What else should we be doing? Give me your ideas about how North Carolina Democrats and citizens can free our churches. Post comments in this thread. And if you just want to show solidarity, link to this post or the North Carolina State Democratic Party site from your own blog. Wouldn't it be amazing if the internet spoke loudly and clearly about this?

Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer. Over the past month I have done a number of diaries about this topic, with the hope of encouraging a progressive, inclusive response to what has become  a very right wing, exclusive event. National Day of (Theocon) Prayer National Day of Inclusion "Under God" vs. the Golden Rule National Day of Prayer Ohio Action I have been checking the web site of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State on a fairly regular basis over the past few weeks, hoping to find that the group, led by United Church of Christ minister Barry Lynn, was planning an event for tomorrow. Today I found the following headline: Americans United Plans Oklahoma City Event To 'Let Freedom Ring' On National Day Of Prayer For too long, the National Day of Prayer has been held captive by the Religious Right. This year, Americans United for Separation of Church and State is planning a rescue. "Let Freedom Ring: A Celebration of Freedom of Conscience," an event sponsored by the Oklahoma Chapter of Americans United, will be open to Americans of all faiths - as well as those who don't pray. "America is a nation with rich diversity, and we want to celebrate that fact," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, who will be in Oklahoma City to speak at the event. "The National Day of Prayer has become an excuse for the Religious Right to practice exclusion and peddle bad history. We want to offer an alternative." The Oklahoma event, which is being cosponsored by Mainstream Baptists of Oklahoma and the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma, will take place on the South Steps of the State Capitol in Oklahoma City on May 5 at 11 a.m. AU's Lynn is a United Church of Christ minister. Speakers from the Jewish, Islamic, Pagan and non-theistic communities will also participate. Read more here. Tomorrow is also celebrated as the National Day of Reason by a number of nontheistic groups. Find local events here. And click here for the list of National Day of Reason endorsers. My favorite group names are the Holy Church of Happy Goodtimes and the Round Earth Society. ;-) I share these links with you in honor of my favorite Atheist. Mind you, I think he was wrong about the "no God" thing. I hope he was wrong--'cause I'd really like to meet him when I get to wherever it is we are all going after this Earth gig. A couple more inclusive events I have found: City prayer breakfast will bring faiths together Day of Prayer diversifies Please share links for other events, if you know of any.

As I promised in a recent diary, I'd like to tell you a little bit about how and why I came to think of my search for my Right Path in life as playing "God's Clues." I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools through twelfth grade. Technically, I suppose, I went to a Catholic university, although the education there didn't seem especially religious in focus. Most of my friends there, including the one I ended up marrying, were not Catholic. But Demetrius was such a sweetheart of a guy, he agreed to have a Catholic ceremony and raise our kids in the Church. So, then, everything was settled. If You Want To Make God Laugh, Tell Him Your Plans. Sure, I'd started to question some things by the time I was in college, but my faith was a part of my identity. Later, after my grandmother died, the Catholic church took on a new signicance as a way I could still feel connected to her. It helped to be involved in a progressive (university affiliated) congregation with good music. But I did get a little concerned at the notion of trying to teach a child what I had been taught. Sure, I could reinterpret some of it so that it made sense to me, but could I explain it to my own child? Thankfully, I figured, religious education would be able to help with that. By the time our son was in kindergarten and old enough to start in the religious education program at our church, he had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.  In school, he had an I.E.P (Individualized Education Plan), which was always a "work in progress" to some extent, but there were people we could turn to when problems came up. At church, there were no such resources, so if there were behavioral issues during Sunday school, someone would just come to get me out of the service. It got to the point where, even though I would always hope for the best, I could pretty much count on my church time being interrupted. I won't call it my "worship" time, because by that point I would take advantage of that quiet time to map out my plans for the week--jotting down little notes in the white space on the weekly bulletin. What professionals did I need to touch base with regarding my son? What books or resources might be helpful? In a last ditch effort, I tried to contact one of the priests, who also happened to be a psychologist. I had spoken to him once, and he seemed famliar with the issues. I wrote, I left phone messages, but I couldn't get a response. Finally, I stopped and thought, maybe Someone is trying to tell me something. If it was really important to God that I remain in the church, would it be this difficult? A clue! A clue! Between my daughter and my son, we'd been a Blue's Clues household for a few years already. For anyone not familiar with the show, each episode had Steve trying to figure out what his puppy Blue wanted. Either Blue lacked that special "Lassie" gift for being able to bark important information in a way that her human companions could understand, or it was because Steve was, as the actor once put it, "Not the sharpest knife in the drawer", but Blue would communicate by leaving pawprints on various clues. At the end of the show, Steve would sit in his "thinking chair" and try to piece the clues together to figure out what Blue wanted. So one day, I pondered this whimsical thought...maybe God leaves clues. Maybe God is always helping us along by leaving clues, but we often miss them, because in the grand scheme of things, we can be about as dense as Steve was on that show. Let's face it, we humans can be a pretty clueless bunch. By comparison, I was suprised when I learned that rats developed "specific hungers" for substances missing in their diets, such as salt, protein, or fat. The key experiment, the "self-selection" or "cafeteria" study, gave the rats 10 or so choices of various nutrients. Richter monitored the animals' intake of the substances as related to deficiencies in their diet. Animals deprived of vitamins in their diets would specifically seek them out when given the choice. I don't know about you, but I will readily admit to not having this kind of "food sense". I eventually concluded that at least part of the reason rats were able to outsmart us in this area is that rats generally don't watch T.V. commercials. They are not constantly exposed to major, orchestrated efforts from the outside to override what they know on the inside. Maybe there are things we really "know" on some level, but don't recognize that we know these things. Maybe it just feels easier and safer to accept the truths we receive from these outside sources. But every now and then someone comes along and tries to shake some sense into us... "He also said to the multitudes, 'When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, 'A shower is coming'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? And why do you not decide for yourselves what is right?'"  (Luke 12:14, 54)

Having children can really change your perspective on a lot of things. Of course, most of you (at least those who have children) already knew that. And having a child that is high-maintenance, spirited, active-alert or… (insert your favorite euphamism for "difficult" here) can really shake up the way you see life, the universe and everything. Thinking about my religious/spiritual journey, for example, I am almost certain that I would still be in the Catholic church. I plan to expand on that in an upcoming diary. Working title: "God is a blue puppy." Anyway, here are two basic lessons children can teach us about the art of persuasion: --Taking something away goes a lot more smoothly if you do so by offering an alternative. --If you really want them to take what you have to offer, you can’t force it. You need to act like you don’t care one way or the other, and let them "discover" it on their own. The first lesson isn’t really specific to anything I experienced with my own kids—more of a general truth I think works for both kids and grown people. (Probably works for dogs too, now that I think of it.) Here’s the scenario…toddler has, in his or her clutches, a forbidden object. Maybe it’s something breakable, or maybe it’s something that actually endangers the child. You have two choices. You could a)having the advantage in both size and strength, forcably pry the contraband from the tyke’s tiny hands b)entice the child with something else You’re better off going with B here, because if you choose A, the child is likely to tighten his or her grip, resulting in either damage to the item or injury to the child. I would suggest that people do not outgrow this impulse to cling tightly to anything someone is trying to take away from you. The threat of loss only serves to make it seem that much more valuable. Back when I was in college, I was still Catholic, and also still of the mind that, in order to be a Christian, I had to believe in the literal truth of most of the Bible stories. My views at the time would have been consistent with what Marcus Borg has called “soft literalism” Softer forms of literalism are willing to grant that not all of the biblical stories are to be understood in a literal-factual way. For example, the six days of creation might be understood metaphorically, perhaps as geological epochs; and the story of Jonah spending three days in the belly of a big fish may be a parable rather than factual history. But soft literalism affirms that the really important events in the Bible happened more or less as they are described. For example, the sea really did part in two to permit the Hebrew slaves to escape the Egyptians in the time of the exodus, Jesus really was born of a virgin, and he really did walk on water, multiply loaves, and so forth. The stories of "the spectacular" matter to both hard and soft literalism. Indeed, Christian literalism is to a large extent a literalism of the spectacular. For the earlier paradigm, "the miraculous" is central to the truth of Christianity. Anyway, at one point in college, I sat in on a theology class Demetrius was taking. Given that this was fully 20 years ago, I can’t remember much in the way of details, but what stands out is that the professor was trying to provide evidence that events in the New Testament did not happen as recorded. I also recall that I didn’t take too kindly to that. But twenty years later, I am now quite comfortable with notion that the New Testament is not a literal history of the life of Jesus and the early church. I came to that place through my own exploration of faith, my discovery of The Center for Progressive Christianity, and my reading of such authors as Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, and Bishop John Shelby Spong. The reason I was able to release my tight grip on “soft literalism” is that a positive alternative had been offered. That professor 20 years ago, as I perceived it, was trying to take something valuable away from me—specifically my beliefs (which were an important part of my identity), and my sense that I had a coherent understanding of how the whole general mishmash works. And he had offered nothing in its place. This experience has given me a better awareness of the pitfalls inherent in any attempts to convince people that, as the Weird Al song says Everything you know is wrong Black is white, up is down and short is long And everything you thought was just so Important doesn't matter Now, on to the second thing children can teach us about the art of persuasion… If you really want them to take what you have to offer, you can’t force it. You need to act like you don’t care one way or the other, and let them "discover" it on their own. Our first born has taught us this lesson many times over in his nearly 12 years on this Earth. Food was a lot more likely to be rejected if we actually put it on his plate, but the same item became infinitely more appealing if he put it on his own plate. At mealtimes, we discovered, the thing to do was to make healthy, appropriate food available, and allow him to "forage" for them. We later discovered that a similar dynamic held true for education. There was about a three year period that we homeschooled him (starting at the end of his kindergarten year.) By that point we had discovered, for example, that it took a team of experts, a behavior plan, and a superhuman level of patience just to extract a measly two sentence journal entry out of him. But the very same child, left to his own devices, taught himself the Hebrew alphabet over spring break. We were reminded of the dialog in the Hitchhiker’s Guide radio series when the characters were aboard Disaster Area’s stunt ship: TRILLIAN: Hey, that sounds better! Have you managed to make some sense of the controls? FORD: No, we just stopped fiddling with them. I think this ship has a far better idea of where it’s going than we do. With our son, we found that when we backed off a bit (did less "fiddling with the controls") we actually got a lot more high quality work out of him. So we turned to the "foraging" model again. I would go to the library and check out a whole bunch of books and CD-ROMs, and just make them available to him. If an activity was freely chosen, he was willing to pour a tremendous amount of time and effort into it, but the activity was someone *else's* idea, that very same energy might go into fighting it. Counterwill is the name for the natural human instinct to resist being controlled. Although not unique to humans, this dynamic is certainly the most complex and developed in our species. The counterwill instinct is, in essence, an allergy to coercion. In other words, most humans have this "you're not the boss of me" impulse to some degree. Our son was just blessed with an extra helping or two (or ten) which has allowed us more opportunity than most to observe the phenomenon "up close and personal". I have definitely seen it in the area of religion. It was at the times our son was around people who clearly *wanted* him to believe in God(de) that he was most resistant to the idea. But when he was in religious education at the local Unitarian Universalist church, his "I don't believe in God!" was met with, "So? A lot of people here don't." It was only then that he became more open to considering the possibility of a supreme being. Maybe this seems counterintuitive to a lot of people, but I've discovered that if I *want* my son to become a Christian one day, my best chance of achieving that outcome is by letting go. Don't push, don't try to indoctrinate, but make the information available if he wants it. Answer questions if he asks them. Of course, he still may choose to keep his distance from religion, but trying to force my belief system on him would just about guarantee that outcome. A couple weeks ago in Under God vs. The Golden Rule, I noted that I take issue with the Christians who aggressively push to have their belief system treated as more "legitimate" than all others not in spite of my faith, but because of it. What I have discussed here points to a reason they should *want* to back off a bit. The more you push, the more you risk pushing people away.

The following is from The Other Paper's cover story this week A year ago, Blackwell's candidacy looked like a hopeless vanity project. He'd backed off after promising to run against Taft in '98 and had been a thorn in the side of his fellow Republican officeholders ever since. But while others were dismissing his chances, Blackwell was very publicly taking up conservative causes, notably opposition to high taxes and gay marriage. He made enemies on Capitol Square, but he made friends among the Republican grassroots. Suddenly, he's the man to beat. "If you look at the polls, he's definitely the front runner," said Jordan, a Blackwell supporter. "He did a great job leading our efforts to define marriage the way it's supposed to be defined, and he's doing an outstanding job advocating Republican principles." To the Republican old guard, the idea that religious folks are deciding the future of their party is maddening. "That's probably the only group that gives his candidacy any legitimacy," said Republican lobbyist Neil Clark, "and I hope they're proud of that." They are. This past week has been a coming-out party for evangelicals in Ohio politics. Tuesday was Ohio Family Lobby Day at the Statehouse, where Christian-right organizations shared strategies for getting more of their priorities passed in the state legislature. The event was organized by Greg Quinlan, a Dayton-area activist who says his Christian faith has cured him of his homosexuality. The Statehouse rally came three days after Pastor Rod Parsley hosted two national celebrities of the Christian right for a Central Ohio rally. Professional liberal baiter Ann Coulter--who's on the cover of this week's Time magazine--and perennial candidate Alan Keyes came to Parsley's World Harvest Church to help with a flashy launch of the pastor's new book, Silent No More. "Values voters, as they've been called now," Parsley said in an interview prior to Saturday's event, "I do sense that those people are stirred up. I do sense that they recognized they had a voice, and they recognized that their vote counted and that one vote is important, and I don't think that there's any turning back in them at this point." ---- More on the Religious Right in Ohio Politics here.

There's a great diary on Social Justice Sunday by Glenn Smith over at MyDD... I just finished a live interview with FOX, up against Rev. Albert Mohler from the "Justice Sunday" event. Of course, FOX had him live on camera while I was on via telephone (hiding from the wind noise in my rent car) with my picture on screen. DriveDemocracy was described by FOX as "protestors." Mohler was a late switch. I was supposed to be on with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. So I wasn't quick enough to remind viewers that Mohler is the fellow who said "I believe that the Roman Catholic Church is a false Church." Click here for the rest. And click here for another diary Louisville Oscar just posted this one at Kos Pharisees, Sadducees, & Scribes: Religion And Politics in America