It was easy to hate the Other because there was a huge wall between us.

Now, with much of the American Right trying to recapture those days (using Muslims and Arabs, sad to say) we are stuck: those people live in “our” midst, among “us”. There is no wall between “good” and “evil”.

This different dynamic plays out in some sad, strange ways. I’m never sure if this difference, which leads to an omnipresent fear generated by “us”, is an accidental or on-purpose part of the current gov’t propaganda.

I liked it better with the wall: the “other” was safely contained. And I secretly wanted to travel there, with romantic ideas of spies and covert intelligence. When the Presiding Bishop of ECUSA spoke of celebrating Pascha with the Moscow Patriarch, I wanted very much to have been there: a church filled with spies! Russian winter! Dr. Zhivago!

Before the wall fell I saw the mirror: I knew that “good and evil” were interchangeable in the cold war context. Being a cold war spy would have been all about seeing the grey while the rest of us imagined black and white. I could enjoyably imagine being a spy for either side.

Today, being a spy is about imagining black and white when the rest of us only see grey.

1. WNYC – Radiolab » Podcasts: On death… a series of seven episodes (including one video): After Life, Proof, Gone, Four Groans, Sum, Moments (a video), After Birth. A series of meditations on death and the after-death event from that decidedly secular, but agnostic and therefore “spiritual but not religious” POV.

2. Speaking of Faith’s Revealing Ramadan Podcast, a series of 30 daily episodes, first person stories from Muslims around the world about this most Holiest of Months on their calendar. It is an amazing journey to listen to (I’ve been getting 5 or 6 at a time) as it reveals most clearly the parallels between those who call themselves CHristians and those who call themselves Muslims. I don’t mean parallels between the religions, per se (although those are there), but if there was a podcast about “Personal Experiences of Lent” (I CALL DIBS ON THAT IDEA!) we’d hear the same stories. The religion-geek level is fun, but the person-to-person is eye-opening.

3. The Emergent Psalter: I just downloaded the first 11 Episodes. I see it has my dear friend and former co-worker (and former co-Church Camp Counselor), Ana Hernandez doing an episode. It looks promising although I’ve not cracked it open yet. I think I may want the book. Given the source I’m sure there might be something that make some of us (Emergent or not) curl our toes. It’s good for you.

Enjoy!

Hey, wait a minute, Bob: there’s no such thing as moderate ones.

Ooo, look, Michael Jackson is still dead…

That’s so sad. I hear his brain is hardening up in the coroner’s office.

Really?

Yes.

The Bible study group went very well as we began to discuss the matter of Gene Robinson and homosexuals in the Episcopal Church.  The presenting issue for us was how this issue affects our efforts in evangelism.  The African bishops said that in Muslim majority countries, openness to homosexuality made evangelism more difficult.  I pointed out that in some places in our culture, especially with those under age 35, it was rather the other way around.   I think, I think we heard each other.

I’m still not sure how Gene makes evangelism hard for them. I would think the death threats for trying to convert Muslims would be worse. I would think the death sentence for apostasy on the convert would be a bigger problem.

If someone says to you, “Yes, I would convert – death threats mean nothing! But I refuse to go to a party where a gay man might be in the room…” there’s some other issues going on. Seriously.

But, let’s assume for a moment is is about evangelism. Neff has the right counterpoint. No one in this country under the age of 35 – and an increasingly large number of the rest of us – want anything to do with a religion that can’t outgrow its cultural biases. If we can use interest-bearing accounts to run our economy, I think we can A retrograde stance makes it hard for us to evangelise.