Little help here?
So I’m trying to figure out exactly what this blog will look like over the next couple of years. I’ve committed myself to putting some serious time into RLP. I thought maybe you could help me think about this.
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Religious tolerance
Follow up to my last post
Well, I can tell already that I need to follow my last post with some words of explanation. You’d think I’d learn to predict when things I write will cause anger and hurt feelings. I can’t. I guess every writer is myopic in this way. If my words hurt someone’s feelings or insulted them, I’m sorry about that.
Because someone asked, yes there was a first piece, which was more angry. I suppose that was my own way of working some things out.
I consider what I’ve written to be in the spirit of a political cartoon. I have nothing against Catholicism. Heck, I’m a huge fan of Saint Francis, Thomas Merton, and Henry Nouwen. My artwork on this site is done by a Catholic brother. As a protestant, and a rather low-church one at that, I confess that the opulence of the papacy is beyond my comprehension. But I’ve not written about that.
But I do have a problem with the pope’s decision to go forward with such a public baptism. I mean, what is so special about this man? How many people does the pope baptize? Why was he chosen and why was this done in such a public forum? If the man wants to become a Christian, that could have been taken care of in the way that it happens 99.999% of the time. In a local church and not in front of the cameras.
I consider this satirical piece to be speaking against blatant proselytizing between religions. I’ve written about this before. I think the amount of violence that has historically taken place between Christians and Muslims and Jews is shameful. These three religions, all of whom claim Abraham as a father, need to learn to respect each other. We are moving into a new world. There are new challenges ahead.
I believe trying to convert each other is “Old World” behavior and it needs to stop.
My Second Pope Fantasy
The first involved me traveling to Rome and, among other things, dragging the pope down a flight of stairs. That fantasy could not be published, though I was tempted.
My Second Pope Fantasy:
“Yes sir, I’d like a private audience with his immanence, Pope John, or Leo, or Bene...Benny, Steve. Whatever the current name is.”
“Yes I know that, but it is MY fantasy, so you’ll usher me right in won’t you? That’s right. Thank you.”
The pope is sitting on a high throne, so high that his feet can’t even touch the ground. I’m intrigued by his pope hat and pope robes and little pope slippers, swinging gently back and forth.
“So you baptized a Muslim?”
“Yes.”
“And you chose to do this on Easter weekend, right in St. Peter’s Basilica, right in front of the whole world?”
“Yes.”
“You bragged about it, basically, right? You did it in a way to maximize the exposure and make world news?”
“Yes.”
The thing that amazes me about the pope is that he never really changes his facial expression. It’s like all the life has been sucked out of him. His lips move. I wonder if anything else does.
“You are aware, are you not, of the current climate of religious tension in the world? You do know that what you did infuriated thousands of Muslims around the globe.”
“Yes.”
“And this man is in danger now, correct? He and his family will have had death threats.”
“Yes.”
“Why would you do something like that? Okay, so the guy was never a practicing Muslim and wanted to become a Christian. Fine, that’s his right. But why make his baptism a public spectacle at this delicate time in history?”
“Yes,” he said gently, peering at me over his spectacles. “What can I do for you, my son?”
“Um, did you hear anything I just said?”
The pope slowly lifted his hand
“Benidicticus Liberonday Ulfimiquam Peridontitus Loonday.”
He finished speaking but his lips were still moving. I flattened my palm and passed it back and forth in front of his eyes. No reaction.
“Sweet Jesus, even my fantasy pope doesn’t seem to know what the hell he’s doing.”
rlp
Works in Progress
“Bearing Witness,” a Foy Davis story set in Fort Davis, Texas when Foy was in 3rd grade. Part one was posted 3-17-10. Part two should be ready next week.
“Lenten Satchel,” a short essay on the strange items that make up my Lenten journey this year. Because of Tracy’s comment.
“Last Things,” an essay about my final days at Covenant. Soon to be published by the Christian Century. Will be linked here when it is online at the CC website.
My Latest Book
I’m proud to announce that Turtles All The Way Down came out in November of 2009. This was my first experience with the Consafo model of social media community publishing.
2000 copies were printed. We sold well over 500 as advance purchases or in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This paid for the printing costs completely.