Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:18:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: (Me)
Subject: Re: blog
To: "Steve Noble/Called2Action"
Thanks for reading, and writing.
First, as you can see from my blog, I take issue with your organization's characterization of the issue in several ways. Your email stated that 12 - 15 year olds were being required to read Beloved or The Color Purple. There was no mention of any other book, including The Chocolate War. The fact is, no middle school class is required to read those two books. They are works suggested for study in AP English. Second, you stated, repeatedly, that the Wake County Public Schools were requiring these books to be read. They simply are not, and, as Keung mentioned in his story, if a student or parent objects to a book, they can obtain a subsitute.
Third, to equate the suggested reading lists with required reading is simply willful obfuscation. The very existence of those lists, and their ease of access, belies your claims that the books are somehow hidden from parents. Your ActionGram was misleading and, unfortunately, typical of Called2Action's tactics. Your link to the websites of the organizations in Virginia, Arkansas and Kansas shows clearly the agenda behind this action. It's the latest in a LONGGG history of attacks on uncomfortable books - and it's been going on forever. Which is why I posted that wonderful scene from Field of Dreams. Footloose covered the same subject matter, but I didn't want my readers to suffer the horror of remembering Kevin Bacon dancing. :-)
I trust teachers. My parents are teachers, and like most teachers they love the children they teach. It is more than a job, it is a sacred trust, and they treat it as such.
As a parent, of course I am keenly interested in what my children learn. My kids are very young, but as they grow older and are exposed to the world, I will be with them, explaining and preparing them. One of the things they'll have to learn to do is read books and confront opinions and images that challenge them. When he's 12, that challenge might be "The Chocolate War," who knows? For me it was "Cry, the Beloved Country" and "Black Boy," which shook my Southern worldview down to its roots. That was a very good thing. One of my jobs as a parent is to instill in my son a belief system and a critical world view that can experience, survive and adapt to such challenges.
Finally, I am not insulted or embarrassed to answer your question about my "opinion on Christ," though I trust that it will remain between us.
Let me put this as bluntly as I can - I tend to do that. Mr. Noble, while I do not doubt your faith or your devotion, it is my opinion that Jesus Christ would have severe difficulty with what your organization does.
Like anyone's, my faith is often challenged by death, war, destruction, hate, racism, and disease. But God and I have come to terms over those issues, after some pretty strenuous arguments. The answer I received was something like: "you don't like it? Go do something about it. I have given you science, and nature, and your brain, and a perfect example. Now go do what I told you to do."
I am not an evangelical Christian. But I am a Christian. Evangelicals, I guess, would ask me if I have a personal relationship with Christ. Yes, I suppose I do, though conversion experiences and charismatic Christianity have little appeal or resonance for me.
I have been involved in the Church since birth. I am Presbyterian, although with a bit of an ecumenical bent. I do believe there is a plan, but I tend to think we have the free will to wander off the reservation, and it is only through Grace that we are brought back to the plan.
I believe in the Resurrection, though I have no idea how to explain it, or how much of the language in the Gospels is figurative, or which of the four accounts is more accurate. (I also know that both Christmas, as we know it, and Easter, as we practice it, are adaptations by the early Church of pagan rituals, which were used to explain the concepts of Christianity to pre-literate people. They have now become beloved traditions - and I greatly enjoy them. But my faith is not so tied up in those traditions that I am offended by a store clerk wishing me a Happy Holiday, when she has no idea if I am Jewish, Christian, Agnostic or Zoroastrian.)
The joy of my spiritual life is in music and work with youth. I love to work with church youth groups, which I have done often. Other than the birth of my children, the most moving experiences of my life have been on mission trips with youth. I believe that service was best exemplified by Christ when he washed the feet of his disciples. I believe it is the mission of Christians to serve the world, not attack it. I am not sure where I read it, but I remember reading a book in which a minister described Gandhi, a Hindu, as perhaps the most Christlike man of the 20th Century. I like that.
I believe in a loving God, not a vindictive one. I believe all people - ALL PEOPLE - are created by God, and like that sign in my Mom's kitchen, I believe God don't make no mistakes. Including gay people. I believe God would be far more likely to appreciate good stewardship of his Creation, which we are abjectly failing to do, than he would be to appreciate policing the number of cursewords or references to gay culture on a TV program.
I believe Christ, by example, by word, and by continuing inspiration, has shown us how to live a Godly life, and, like everyone else, I continuously fail to live up to that standard. Take a listen to David Wilcox's song "The Carpenter." That's how I think Christ works. Not by protesting classic works of literature.
I have criticized you often, and probably not in the most Christian manner, but I am deeply offended by those who clothe their own politics in the robes of religion, and then attack those who disagree with their politics as being somehow less Christian. I believe, like Jim Wallis has written, that God is not a Republican . . . or a Democrat. There is a difference between having your politics informed by your faith and confusing your politics with your faith. I can vehemently disagree with your politics without doubting your faith. While you may claim you can do the same, those with whom you have allied yourself, such as James Dobson and the American Family Association, have clearly stated to the contrary. I believe such opinions are dangerous to the fabric of our Democracy, which has been the greatest ensurer of religious liberty in the history of the world. And you should know that I intend to challenge such attitudes at every turn.
I would love it if you could turn your obvious organizational talents away from divisive political issues and towards serving the least of these, as the man we both recognize as the Savior of the world instructed us to do. I know you have stated to the N&O and others that you believe those issues are not meant to be tackled, but that instead it is a Christian's job to defend the core "truths."
The problem is, your truth is your truth. It is not necessarily going to be recognized by your fellow citizens as THE truth. And in a necessarily secular democracy, which honors and respects the practice of all faiths (or those who practice NO faith at all) one person's sense of religious truth cannot be the foundation of public policy. When government does something that goes against your personal religious belief, feel free to so state, but demanding that government abide by the tenets of your faith - in its dealings with ALL people - is a prescription for theocracy and failure. And believing that government, or society, when it disagrees with you, is thereby attacking your religion, is just self-aggrandizement.
I guess that's a big enough can of worms for one email.
Thanks for writing. I appreciate the gesture, I really do.
And please issue a correction of your initial ActionGram. If you do that, I will mention it as a hopeful sign on my blog, and I'll lay off in the spirit of reconciliation.
Peace,
(Me)