Editorializing

I note this week, with Thanksgiving only two weeks away, a cornucopia of recent editorials, articles and quotes, in the 'comment-upon-later-file,' some of which, are to be very thankful for, others, not so much.

Last recently, during the week of October 12th, an editorial in the local rag marked the golden anniversary of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." The editorialist wrote, Rand became "a guru to millions with a novel that doubles as a guide to a new morality, one in which self-interest becomes not only the rational standard for a successful society, but a moral imperative."

Yesterday, reading the beloved Catholic Worker for October-November, which arrived this week, blessing the very mailbox itself (am I tipping my hand?), I noted the ususal comings and goings at Peter Maurin Farm, appended this time by: "There are always new people-it seems a miracle-just when we need them. We will disappoint some, our failures are more apparent than our successes. But others will see here the germ of that new society within the shell of the old in which it wil be easier to be good, formed upon an idea so old that it looks new, that is the gentle personalism of traditional Christianity."

Our story thus far: a Randian atheistic morality of self-interest versus the Maurian gentle personalism of an idealized Christianity.

Editorialist, Michael Gerson, extolling the late Governor of Pennsylvania: "Bob Casey called an absolute pro-choice position the cult of the imperial self - a belief that violated his sense of fairness and justice, rooted in the Catholic faith. And he set out to build a consistent culture of life, which included the poor, the elderly, and the handicapped. This kind of agenda could have a powerful appeal to many evangelicals, who are looking for a broader model of public engagement - a larger vision of social justice - than the Relgious Right has provided."

Speaking of evangelicals, editorialist Michael McManus, noted how Richard Cizik, VP of the National Association of Evangelicals, led the NAE, against much fundamentalist opposition, to publish a broader than usual position paper, 'An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility.' He quoted Cizik: "What evangelicals can do is help people come through a huge intellectual shift on every level. We as Americans will have to change the ways we think if we are to win on such issues as climate and poverty."

Page II: Does the second matched set of editorials establish a plausible big tent between extremes of Randian economic self-interest and Maurian communal personalism, in which some of us who read this blog may comfortably fit?

Onward, literary soldiers, to storm the next twin battlements perched on the editorial horizon -

The Anglican Communion Official Website presents a report from the Church of Nigeria entitled, problematically, The Listening Process: "The Western idea of human rights is subservient to the service of the common good. The so called 'right' to homosexual orientation threatens the order of society because the continuation of the race is threatened by gay practice. In Nigeria, the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2006 is passing through the legislature. It bans same sex unions, all homosexual acts and the formation of any gay groups. The Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria has twice commended the act in their Message to the Nation."

We end our battlefield tour with a contrasting interview to the press release above. The question: I think it's hard to classify anybody, really, if you look at their whole spectrum of opinions, but for the most part how would you label yourself politically? The reply: I think what they would call me is a bleeding-heart liberal, because I love the environment, I love the animals, I want to help old people, I want to help kids. I want to help all the ones who can't help themselves."

The interviewee is a magnificent athelete who's inspired millions to strive towards physical fitness by continuing to play well beyond the ages of most, if not all, the other professionals within her sport (and the rest of us who had to give up softball at 40). She's involved in a faithful and monogamous relationship; nary a hint of any sort of scandal during a very long career. Who is it? Martina Navratilova.

To sum the cornucopia file review: 1) Randian atheistic self-interest; 2) Maurian Christian personalism; 3) Caseyian big tent; 4) Cizikian big tent; 5) Akinolistic religous and legislative exclusionism; 6) Navratilovian liberalism.

If we play the match game, could Akinoliisticism find any other match than allied with an amoral self-interest (though there is still a dark corner within Cizikianism where Akinolisticism finds a home as well). There is no possible match between Navratilovianism with Akinolisticism. Navatilovianism can not be excluded, likewise, from co-existence with Maurianism or Caseyianism. If Navratilovianism yet finds a match in Cizikianism (they already jibe on climate and poverty as you can see), the final score is 4 to 2, it's game, set and match, and the Spotsyltuckian will host a big tent revival in which to celebrate and praise God.

In some editorials, like Gerson's above, Dr. Martin Luther King is portrayed as an icon as to how Christians can influence politics. If you would venture to describe him so, you omit the language of his brilliant Letter from a Birmingham Jail. He wrote when religion serves to upgrade humanity, it is just, but when its employed to degrade humanity, it is unjust. You can make a case with great certainty, citing all we've discussed here today, that what Dr. King sacrificed his life to achieve, would find little in common with Randianism, and no match at all with Akinolisticism.

Dostoyevsky wrote out of all revoluntionary groups in 19th century Russia, anarchist, communist, socialist, etc., Christian socialists were by far the most dangerous due to their unshakable, yet humble, self-assurance that their utopian vision would some day result in the Kingdom of God on earth. If Dr. King was just embarking on his struggle for Civil Rights, in opposition to a Biblically-justified segregation, he'd not only ignite the wrath of atheistic Randians, but a far more dangerous and wealthy media-savvy Randian fundamentalist zealotry, that'd stop at nothing to preserve the economic self-interests of their authoritarian-minded cultural status quo.

The Latina I wrote of last week did not win election to the Board of Supervisors within a frenzied County atmosphere of anti-immigrant hysteria. Her campaign bore similarities to early civil rights marches. Reflecting upon that, friend Mark and I debated the nature of prejudice and apathy in suburbia. As far as prejudice goes, it may be most like what the famed Supreme Court justice once said about pornography: I know it when I see it.

Of the 'ism's cited in this week's blog, Akinolisticism is the only one where I have no qualms plainly describing it as an inherently evil theology that masks its prejudice and degrades humanity - of such a nature and degree that Mark and I draw instinctively away. Rather than point the way to a society where its easier for humanity to be good, it creates all the familiar conditions to bring out the worst, as other like exclusionary movements that carried the potential for genocide, did throughout the 20th century. It finds no match in our churches, families, or lives. I pray one day it finds no match anywhere.