Any faith that admires truth, that strives to know God, must be brave enough to accommodate the universe.
—“Palmer Joss” in the novel Contact by Carl Sagan
Category: religion
There comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.
Martin Luther King Jr.
“There is a difference between righteousness and self-righteousness. The righteous are humble, the self-righteous are proud. The righteous understand doubt, the self-righteous only certainty. The righteous see the good in people, the self-righteous only the bad. The righteous leave you feeling enlarged, the self-righteous make you feel small. It is easy enough to befriend the former and avoid the latter.
“We need moderates, that is, people who understand that there can be a clash of right and right, not just right and wrong. We need people capable of understanding cognitive pluralism, that is, that there is more than one way of looking at the world. We need people who can listen to views not their own without feeling threatened. We need people with humility.
“That is why I ask for your understanding.”
Eleven years later, I try to make sense of what we’ve done to ourselves and others in the name of security. It doesn’t always work for me.
I believe we can do better. I believe something like the Charter for Compassion the key.
Categories
Love never gives up
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
How is making religious organizations pay for health insurance that could be used for birth control, sterilization, and abortions a bigger religious liberty issue than making me pay taxes to support a war?
Scratch the paint of a liberal and you’ll find an alienated fundamentalist underneath.
Every other Thanksgiving weekend, the Logan clan gets together to eat and talk, talk and eat. I’m not sure which we do more. It doesn’t really matter: we love both.
We talk about everything, including religion and politics — even church politics. It can get interesting because we don’t agree on much everything. Hopefully, we do it without offending each other. (If I offended you this last weekend, please accept my apologies…)
As part of our discussions, I recommended quite a few books, web sites, and videos. Rather than send individual e-mails to remind those I talked to, I’m writing this post, sharing it on Facebook, and tagging those involved.