Reiter's BlockReiter's BlockWeblog of Jendi Reiter, poet, editor, Christian convert, ex-lawyer, ex-New Yorker, and professional curmudgeon. Articles
Self-Esteem the Christian Way
2007-05-29 16:08:00 Martin Luther once observed that when your ego trip has crashed and burned, and your pride is no longer keeping you from God, the devil tries to use your shame to keep you estranged. It is so important to remember we are not God, and not anywhere near as holy and righteous as He is. It is equally important not to dwell morbidly on this fact, such that we don't dare to feel loved by God. The fact is, the righteousness gap between us and God is qualitatively greater than the differences between any of us. The person who is over-scrupulous and timid about not leaning on God's love does not gain any significant moral advantage over the person who boldly throws his flawed self at Jesus' feet. Personally, I've found that I have a harder time accepting God's grace for myself than for other people. I have this deep-rooted semiconscious conviction that He doesn't like me. I can imagine Him feeling affection for the characters in my novel, even though they're unbelievers who have ... More About: Christian , Self Esteem , Este , Esteem
Book Notes: The Fall of Interpretation
2007-05-28 21:09:00 The thesis of Christian philosopher James K.A. Smith's The Fall of Interpretation : Philosophical Foundations for a Creational Hermeneutic is simple and revolutionary: The necessity of interpretation -- the impossibility of unmediated, perspective-free experience of a text or an event -- is not a tragedy nor a barrier to truth, but an acceptable aspect of being a finite creature. Complete interpretive agreement, which history shows us is impossible, is not the only way to maintain the authority of a text such as the Bible or the Constitution. Smith argues that giving up the ideal of total, self-evident consensus will not lead to chaos because tradition and real-world experience constrain the number of interpretations we will actually find useful. Hermeneutics is the branch of philosophy dealing with theories of interpretation. From Plato to today's evangelical scholars and deconstructionist philosophers, there's a common assumption that the neces... More About: Book Reviews , Book , Notes
Humility in a Mass Culture
2007-05-28 20:38:00 On the Chabad.org website, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of Great Britain, shares his thoughts about the "lost virtue" of humility in a mass culture where our fears of anonymity and loneliness drive us to frantic self-display: Humility is the orphaned virtue of our age. Charles Dickens dealt it a mortal blow in his portrayal of the unctuous Uriah Heep, the man who kept saying, "I am the 'umblest person going." Its demise, though, came a century later with the threatening anonymity of mass culture alongside the loss of neighbourhoods and congregations. A community is a place of friends. Urban society is a landscape of strangers. Yet there is an irrepressible human urge for recognition. So a culture emerged out of the various ways of "making a statement" to people we do not know, but who, we hope, will somehow notice. Beliefs ceased to be things confessed in prayer and became slogans emblazoned on t-shirts. A comprehensive repertoire developed of signalling individuality, fro... More About: Culture , Mass
Marilynne Robinson on Poetry and Religion
2007-05-28 18:05:00 Novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson (The Death of Adam) reviews Harold Bloom's new anthology American Religious Poems in the May 2007 issue of Poet ry magazine. The book itself is merely the jumping-off point for an eloquent, original essay on how poetry and religion both need and exceed the boundaries of rational analysis. Some highlights: Any reader of Ecclesiastes or the Book of Job is aware that the canon of scripture has room for thought that can disrupt conventional assumptions about the nature of belief, whether these assumptions are held by the religious or by their critics. Indeed, religion is by nature restless with itself, impatient within the constraints of its own expression....Any writer who has wearied of words knows the feeling of being limited by the very things that enable. To associate religion with unwavering faith in any creed or practice does no justice at all to its complexity as lived experience. Creeds themselves exist to stabilize the intense spec... More About: Religion , Gion , Lynn
Hail Thee, Festival Day
2007-05-27 23:52:00 Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, on which we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. The story is told in Acts 2:1-21. In the Episcopal service I attended today, this passage was read alongside the story of Babel in Genesis. At the beginning of the Bible's history of the human race, God created language barriers in order to thwart our plans to build a tower that would reach to heaven. At Pentecost, by contrast, the Holy Spirit made it possible for Jews from many nations, who were in the synagogue for the harvest festival of Shavuos, to understand the apostles' preaching as if it were in their own language. So does God want diversity or uniformity? To me, the juxtaposition of these stories suggests that God wants us united only under His banner. We couldn't be trusted at Babel to use our communicative powers for good. Perhaps he allowed us to experience linguistic boundaries in order to teach us that we are creatures with a li... More About: Festival
Said Sayrafiezadeh: "Forbidden Fruit"
2007-05-25 22:52:00 In this excerpt from his forthcoming memoir about growing up Communist in America, Iranian-American essayist Said Sayrafiezadeh turns a childhood memory of his mother's grape boycott into a darkly comic, profound meditation on how desire is whetted by prohibition: In 1973, when I was four years old, César Chávez, president and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, called for a national boycott of iceberg lettuce and table grapes. The Socialist Workers Party, which my mother was a member of, honored the boycott immediately. Under no circumstances, my mother informed me, were iceberg lettuce and grapes permitted in our household any longer.... Even though my mother never once relinquished and allowed grapes to cross the threshold of our apartment, they became a constant, unyielding presence in my life, following me like a shadow. There were political posters about not eating grapes, fliers about not eating grapes, T-shirts about not eating grapes, conversations about not eating grap... More About: Fruit
Christine Potter: "The Sorrow of Early Spring"
2007-05-25 22:14:00 Noon finds each dry leaf piledunder each empty tree. No wind.Light carries sudden heat?the scentof sugar or blossom?but nothingis up except onion grass. The bleached, papery skullof a snake casts its thumb-sizedshadow. That sad thing, that sad thinghas returned. It closes your throatto the words which mightgive it ease. You can?t yet countyour losses, or say which budswon?t open their small wings;the earth?s too tender for walking.But the usual fever has gildedthe willows. The gas-blue sky stings. &nbs p;reprinted by permission of The Pedestal MagazineRead more fine writing in the latest Pedestal issue. I especially enjoyed the poems by Dana Sonnenschein and John Hazard. More About: Spring , Potter , Early , Otter , Christine
Common Ground for a Schismatic Church
2007-05-23 22:33:00 Episcopal preacher Sarah Dylan Breuer, who blogs over at Sarah Laughed, has suggested this list of core beliefs to remind both factions of our divided communion that our similarities in essential matters may outweigh our differences. The comments below her post offer worthwhile additions, mainly emphasizing human sin and the necessity for grace. Other commenters note with dismay that some liberal churches within ECUSA now reject the very idea of collective agreement on doctrine. Sarah's list: Jesus is Lord. Jesus and the God who created the universe are one. The Old and New Testaments were inspired by God, and are useful for teaching and Christian formation (a la 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Jesus of Nazareth was an actual historical person who was born of Mary, gathered disciples and taught, healed, and confronted evil powers in ministry the first-century Roman province of Palestine, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate's authority. Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Christ of God. The Go... More About: Church , Bible , Ground , Common , Comm
Chabad.org: Living a Life Through Faith
2007-05-23 21:44:00 Life coach Chaya Abelsky shares her thoughts on the Hasidic website Chabad.org on what it means to live a life inspired by faith. Excerpts: Faith is not a relinquishing of responsibility. It is not an excuse for inaction that allows us to say, "The situation is out of my hands, G?d will look after it." On the contrary, it is only when we push ourselves to the limit of our own abilities that we begin to experience true faith. Faith is the confidence of knowing that having reached a point at which we can honestly say we have done all that we can, that everything else ? all that is not within our own control - will look after itself.But this confidence we experience is not faith itself, it is a result of faith. Faith is more than just a mind set. Faith is not merely something inside us, an emotion we experience like joy or satisfaction. Faith reaches out beyond us and transforms the world around us. When we approach the world with faith, it is a power that flows from a deep well within... More About: Life , Living , Bible , Ving
Christ-Symbol or Christ-Substitute?
2007-05-23 01:26:00 Today my Bible study group listened to a taped sermon on Romans 8 by the estimable Tim Keller, a Presbyterian minister in NYC, who mentioned how examples of self-sacrificing love in books or movies can help us emotionally understand Christ 's gift to us. For instance, Keller suggested we could view Sidney Carton in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities as a symbol of the substitutionary atonement. This reminded me of an email discussion I had with Dr. Anthony Esolen at Mere Comments last year about whether Dickens' novels were truly Christian. Do figures like Carton, or Florence Dombey (whose endurance of child abuse finally melts her father's heart), point us toward the realization that we need Christ as savior, or away from the gospel and towards believing that we can be saved by human love alone?Is the problem with the whole genre of the modern realist novel, in which God must remain an implicit presence and only human action is directly visible? Aslan can function as a Chri... More About: Subst , Subs
In Memoriam: Lloyd Alexander
2007-05-21 23:36:00 I was saddened to learn today that Lloyd Alexander , the renowned author of fantasy novels for young adults, had died May 17 at age 83, from cancer. A good long life, to be sure, but one can only hope that a favorite writer will be as immortal as his books!I grew up reading and rereading his Prydain Chronicles, a five-book series set in an imaginary kingdom inspired by Welsh mythology, which deserves comparison to The Lord of the Rings. Like that famous trilogy, it takes a humble protagonist (a likeable, gawky assistant pig-keeper) on a hero's journey to defeat the lord of death. Alexander's other fine works include the Westmark trilogy and The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen. The former series (Westmark, The Kestrel, and The Beggar Queen), which takes place in an invented European country with an 18th-century period feel, is a dark and morally complex tale of republican freedom fighters against a tyrant. It's really mis-labeled as a young adult book; mor... More About: Site News , Book Reviews , Memoria
Christian Hawkey: "Night Without Thieves"
2007-05-17 17:25:00 The day is going to come?it will come?put on your nightgown,put on your fur. And yea unto those who go unclothed,unshod, without fear, fingering the cornersof bright countertopsand calmly, absentmindedly, toeing the edges of cloudsdrifting in a puddle. Put on your deep-sea gear,your flippers, and walk to the end of the driveway.It will come. Be not afraid to chase large animals.Once, I had a conversation with the eyeof a moose, looming wetlythrough the branches.I was terrified. I froze. I backed away. I imagined it.And then on the other hand there are thosetruly fearless: schools of silver minnowsdarting in and outof the gills of blue whales?how many invisible organism sdo we sustain without knowing it? Our own,for one. Put on your crowded body,like Vallejo,who pulled the sea over his shoulders in the morningand stepped firml... More About: Christian , Book Reviews , Night
May Hell Be Empty
2007-05-16 15:41:00 Apparently some in the blogosphere have been speculating, not without glee, that the late televangelist Jerry Falwell is now in the hell to which he so quickly consigned gays, liberals, and other folks outside the Moral Majority. Cautioning today against this uncharitable behavior, Hugo Schwyzer has some reflections on hell that I wholeheartedly endorse: Do I believe there?s a hell? Reluctantly, I do. I believe there?s a hell because Scripture and tradition says there is, and because I believe God gives us the free will to turn away from Him. But I also reserve the right to believe and pray that hell is absolutely empty. I pray that every last creature on this planet will live eternally in paradise. I pray that prayer every danged day.Episcopal theologian Robert Farrar Capon puts it beautifully in this sermon on the Prodigal Son: This is the wonderful thing about this parable, because it isn't that there was a Prodigal Son who was a bad boy and who, therefore, came home and turned... More About: Bible , Hell , Empty
Theory: Love It or Hate It?
2007-05-15 01:36:00 Two of my greatest passions in life are creative writing and Christian faith, and I've been wondering what it means that I approach them in very different ways with respect to the role of the theoretical intellect. In fact, the first sentence of this post was originally "...creative writing and theology," which I changed to "...and Christianity," and finally to a more active and experiential phrase that is more of a goal than an honest description of my spiritual life. As a writer, I flee from literary theory like a helicopter escaping a war zone. As a Christian, I spend much of my time insisting on the importance of clear thinking about theology, and trying to provide a foundation for the same. Does this discrepancy reflect a natural difference in subject matter, or is it a sign that my religious life doesn't go deep enough, compared to my enjoyment of my own imagination? Is this related to the fact that I talk to my novel characters when I should be praying? Sometimes I feel lik... More About: Love , Hate , Love it , Theory , Theo
Out in Scripture: Revelation 21
2007-05-13 03:16:00 The Human Rights Campaign publishes an e-newsletter called "Out in Scripture " that applies the weekly lectionary reading to themes of interest to the GLBT community. This week's commentary on Revelation 21:22-27 appealed to me: [This passage] is a word of hope for God's ultimate and eternal blessings to those who have been faithful in spite of being excluded, oppressed or even exiled. However, that initial exclusion can be problematic to many readers. Revelation 21:27 says that "anyone who practices abomination or falsehood? (New Revised Standard Version) or "does what is shameful or deceitful? (New International Version) will not enter the city. Most members of the LGBT community know the pain of having the words "abomination? and "shame? as labels placed on them and their lives. LGBT people should not internalize these words as a particular condemnation of them. All of humanity is subject to the shame of idolatry. It is not sexual orientation or gender identity that creates... More About: Bible , Vela
Northampton Pride March 2007
2007-05-10 22:22:00 If you're registered to vote in Massachusetts and support gay marriage, contact your state representatives and ask them to keep the anti-gay-marriage constitutional amendment off the ballot this year. The Constitutional Convention reopens on June 14. If this doesn't apply to you, just enjoy the picture of my fabulous Laila Rowe handbag. More About: Site News , March , Pride , Marc , Hampton
Jesus Blah Blah Blah
2007-05-10 17:12:00 I'm a good theologian. I believe nearly everything I say, and can talk myself into the rest. And yet sometimes it all seems rather ridiculous. To talk about God? Shouldn't I just be sitting here with my mouth hanging open in awe..."buh-buh-buh"? At the Wheaton conference on the church fathers, keynote speaker Christopher Hall cited St. Gregory of Nazianzus' admonition that you shouldn't do theology unless you have a pure heart and meditate often. Otherwise it becomes a competitive sport, or an arrogant attempt to penetrate all of God's mysteries through human reasoning. Unless one simultaneously engages in perceptual and behavioral habit-formation within a church community, it's best not to bloviate about the Almighty.So I won't. More About: Jesus , Blah Blah Blah , Jesu , Blah , Blah Blah
William "Wild Bill" Taylor: "Time Served"
2007-05-08 23:25:00 the face of the broken man appears to one man with the loudmouth and shaking godspeedin the crack houses where the lost and foundare gathered in the speakeasy futureof dying dung woundsand the alabaster holding tank screamsyou have warrants out sinnercredit for time served?the pregnant mother whose back is coveredin a black tattoo haze of the Mexican subculture no insurance suspected driver's licenseINS has a hold on youChrist is processed throughhe needs to see the nursehis chest x-ray is negative for TBbut his wide MIA sternum shows a brokenheartunseen tears for those soon to be bookedchecking out with duplicate fingerprintshe gave me his baloney sandwichand I knew my that my warrants had been erasedthis time... More About: Time , Wild , Wild Bill , Will , Taylor
Poetry Roundup: Templar Poetry, Kore Press
2007-05-08 23:22:00 Review copies of several poetry books have found their way to my desk this month, and I wanted to mention a few I've enjoyed. I remember how greedy I was for books in high school, when the $15 cover price of a slim volume seemed impossibly extravagant. I read the same few authors repeatedly: Auden, Sexton, Eliot, Robert Hass, Mark Strand. Now I can hardly do justice to the many books that I get in the mail, and I don't have the luxury of rereading. Something is wrong with this picture. It's probably the same character flaw that's responsible for my novel's excess of subplots. Too many competing priorities. Some books worth slowing down for: I was very pleased to discover a new publisher from England, Templar Poet ry , which runs a chapbook contest with a good-sized prize and better-than-average book design. A lot of chapbooks look like they were xeroxed and stapled together at Kinko's (the name does mean "cheap book," after all). Templar's have full-color covers with ... More About: Press , Roundup , Round
Poem: "Wishful Thinking"
2007-05-07 02:38:00 To avoid you I go to the toilet,push dust around the cellar, swipe the slick decayof leaves from the gutter. Nothing revolts you.You're so bored you're falling out of the skybut persistent as sleet,not like myself whose Bible stops at January,page-a-day saved by inertia from Easter.Sometimes you ask me to lie down in the middle of hastelike a madman's blanket. Before how many doorwayswill I be thrown down?Sometimes at dawn I climb the rope with monkey handsup past fear and gravity, beyond hoarding myself.An animal knows how much it can take.I hoist the weights like a rower, one and the other and one.Don't tell me yet what trial this is training for.You're the pillow under my headand over it. You're the hole in the roadthat the gas truck hits, jacknifing into gorgeous flame.The woods above the highway ... More About: Poem , Wish , Think , King , Thinking
Helen Bar-Lev: Poems from "Cyclamens and Swords"
2007-05-07 02:10:00 Cyclamens and Sword s, a new book from Israeli poets Helen Bar-Lev and Johnmichael Simon, has just been published by Ibbetson Street Press. This beautifully designed book is illustrated with Helen's watercolors and sketches of Israeli landscapes, which someday I will acquire the technical ability to reproduce on this website. Meanwhile, she's kindly allowed me to reprint two poems below:The Map on the Back of the Shower CurtainThe world appears pale and backwardsand indeed a bit obsolete,on the opposite sideof the shower curtainI search for you my country,little mapspeck amongst plastic foldsperhaps three other nationshave the distinctionof being smaller than you,but that is allI compare your pinknesswith the enormous expansesof greens and browns,yellows and orangesAnd am amazed at the fussthe world makes over youas though Madam Justiceput you on one scaleand the rest of the world on the other,to balance things outEveryone wants you,little lovely country,and I who love you with the... More About: Poems , Poem , Lame , Swords
Coming Home to Church
2007-05-05 03:34:00 It seems like a very long time since I blogged, because I have been traveling so much! I'm still planning to post about the "Ancient Faith for the Church 's Future" conference I attended at Wheaton College in April. Meanwhile, I've just returned from a few days in Manhattan, where I revisited the wonderful Episcopal church where I was baptized six years ago. At the Church of the Ascension, the music is always glorious, the liturgy is always sung on-key, the incense at Easter could slay a plague of locusts, and happy gay couples abound. This church was a lifeline for me during the emotional crisis that led to my conversion. It's not like I formed any really close relationships there in the four years that I was a member. Just having a place to go and worship Jesus was all I needed. I had wanted to be a Christian since seventh grade, but my theological opinions hadn't caught up with my desire until I was 27. When I walked into that church and pinned on my usher's badge, or s... More About: Home , Ming
Charity, Unconditional But Not Unwise
2007-04-26 00:25:00 In this post on responding to panhandlers, Internet Monk adds his always-interesting voice to a debate that has preoccupied my Bible study group for some time. Christ calls us to give generously and nonjudgmentally; does that preclude any inquiry into whether the recipient is truly needy, or likely to misuse what we offer? In my opinion, ensuring that our intended "help" is actually skillful and effective should take priority over feeling good about the purity of our generosity. The I-Monk finds scriptural support for this position: Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who wo... More About: Charity , Condition , Wise , Al B , Condi
Chabad Meditations: God in Exile
2007-04-24 18:22:00 Chabad.org today sent me this "Daily Dose" from the writings of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem M. Schneersohn, as translated by Tzvi Freeman: They have banished G-d into exile.They have decreed He is too holy, too transcendent to belong in our world. They have determined He does not belong within the ordinary, in the daily run of things.And so they have driven Him out of His garden, to the realm of prayer and meditation, to the sanctuaries and the secluded places of hermits. They have sentenced the Creator to exile and His creation they have locked in a dark, cold prison.And He pleads, "Let me come back to my garden, to the place in which I found delight when it all began." More About: Meditations , Edit , Exile
Kristofer Koerber: "My Morals" and "Decisions"
2007-04-23 16:46:00 My Morals I smiled to myselfb/c I thought that I was a good personfor driving all that way to the oceanto deliver those starfish back to their watery world.I think that at least one other personwould have agreed with me.But to the ladyand herthree dogs,two childrenand one strollerparading down the middle of the roadI was a horrible person for drivingover 25 mphon their road.She corralled the dogs to the side of the roadClutched her children closeand threw up her arms.But I had no time to slow down and apologizeOnly enough to put my window downand give them all the finger.I was saving lives,couldn't they understand?******** Decisions I've got time in my lifeto make bad decisions.I figure I've got timeto sing off keyand trip over my feet when I dance.Some time to skip out on my tabat skeezy undertoe bars.I've got some time in this lifeto practice the art of intoxication,get a degree in one night hookupswith peach legged womenwho giggle between puffs of their cigarettes.I tell mysel... More About: Sion , Kris , Oral
How to be Plump and Happy
2007-04-23 16:26:00 This excerpt from Courtney Martin's new book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body (hat tip to Hugo), got me thinking about how I learned to stop worrying and love the bombe. Fortunately I have never had a full-blown eating disorder, but I wasted a lot of time between ages 11 and 33 feeling uselessly miserable at being a size 12 or 14 in a size 2 world. (I remember the exact day 24 years ago that I looked down from my Collected Dorothy Parker and thought with horror, "What's this jiggly stuff on my thighs??") That sort of thing occupies much less of my bandwidth now. Some advice that may set you free:Practice a spiritual tradition that cures perfectionism.As Martin's book and many others like it demonstrate, women enact on their bodies the costs of living in a culture where they are constantly judged by strangers, and where failure to perfect one's external achievements is the only moral taboo. In gospel terms, this i... More About: Happy , Plum , Lump
Archbishop Rowan Williams on Hearing the Bible in Community
2007-04-20 18:24:00 Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, gave a lecture this week in Toronto entitled "The Bible Today: Hearing and Reading" which argues convincingly that Biblical interpretation must be reconnected to the church's communal life. This was also the dominant theme of the Wheaton conference on the ancient church fathers that I attended last week. As in the Archbishop's lecture, the speakers there, who belonged to Catholic, Orthodox, and a variety of Protestant denominations, agreed that modern Christianity (especially Protestantism) has developed an overly rationalist and individualist approach to the Bible, isolating theological arguments from their real-world proving ground, namely the church's sacramental worship, mutual care and service to the community. I'll be blogging about their specific insights over the next few days. Meanwhile, here is the Archbishop, displaying the intellectual sophistication and generosity of vision that I associate with ... More About: Community , Shop , Rowan Williams , Ring
Relevant Magazine on What Makes Art Christian
2007-04-18 09:39:00 Relevant Magazine columnist Dawn Xiana Moon lays down a challenge to Christian s about relevance, faith and art: Many contemporary Christians tend to make one of three errors when dealing with art: One, we declare anything that doesn’t explicitly proselytize, anything that depicts brokenness without redemption to be depraved or unworthy of Christian notice. Or two, we decide that the secular world really does have better art, so we copy it, boldly and without apology or thought into our own creativity. Or three, we try so hard to be relevant that we adopt the attitude and worldview of the culture that surrounds us—instead of being the proverbial salt and light, we end up as dust with nothing to offer in the way of hope, because there is only a perfunctory difference between those of us who claim to follow Christ and those who don’t....Don’t misunderstand—there is a place for explicitly Christian art and age-appropriate material, and many of the masterpieces do focus on bibl... More About: What , Hat , Evan
Book Notes: Jesus Mean and Wild
2007-04-17 17:35:00 Christianity Today managing editor Mark Galli's lively, challenging book Jesus Mean and Wild : The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God explores the many gospel passages where Jesus breaks out of the sentimental "meek and mild" model that we mistake for love. Every era has its characteristic blind spots about Scripture, such as the Victorian missionaries' connection to an imperialism that clashed with Christian ethics. Ours is believing that love and judgment are opposed. If Jesus is love, we conclude he must have been ever-patient, ever-kind, undemanding, never criticizing sinners. To his credit, Galli recognizes that unskillful shame-based religious leaders and communities bear some of the blame for this over-correction. In a succession of chapters exploring passages from Mark's gospel where Jesus is anything but "nice," Galli shows how the qualities of Jesus' love that seem so fearsome -- impatience, harsh criticism, radical ethical demands -- are really the qualities that make... More About: Book , Note , Notes
Gay Christian Freedom Riders Tour Evangelical Colleges
More articles from this author:2007-04-16 11:54:00 The Washington Post's Hannah Rosin reported in Friday's newspaper about a bus tour sponsored by the gay Christian organization Soulforce. This group of young people visits evangelical colleges to witness, by their presence, to their conviction that they can be true to both their sexual orientation and their faith: Even on American highways crowded with giant family cars, buses are still big enough to make a point. For his acid tour in 1964, Ken Kesey had his Merry Pranksters repaint a 1939 school bus in psychedelic colors with brooms. These days buses are plastic-wrapped with their messages, like giant Twinkies on a mission.The one driving down Route 7 in Virginia yesterday was purplish on one side and orange sunset on the other. In huge letters it said "Social Justice for Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People." On the highway, fellow drivers either honked and waved or threw Coke cans. In Sioux City, Iowa, someone spray-painted the bus with "Fag, God doesn't love you."...The 25 "e... More About: Freedom , Angel , Free , Ride 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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