The Non-Blog Post

            OK, I have five unfinished blogs sitting in my ‘writing’ folder entitled:

-- United Methodist Church hypocrisy (homosexual behavior and war doctrinally being ‘incompatible with Christian teaching’ cuts both ways);

-- Boy Scouts renew refusal to admit self-avowed homosexuals (exercising rights or just plain wrong);

-- church membership is passé (club dues vs. discipleship);

-- church caring ministries performed by caring Christians (laity-to-laity models -- self-serve or drive-thru);

-- open market value of clergy services (comparing how much money people earn in society performing identical functions of management, counseling, guide/mentor, visionary CEO, weekly public speaking engagements, scholar-in-residence, etc.). 

            Why can’t I bring these to closure?  Surely it is not because I lack information or perspective since there’s a glut of both.  It’s not because I’m dispassionate about the topics.  Could it be I’m uncomfortable with where these topics are taking me through my assessment?  I think I’m getting warmer… So, in true scientific fashion I began looking for common threads among the topics.  Surprise – they all relate to injustices and the conflict surrounding them. More fundamentally (always a dangerous word to use in theological treatises), there is profound disagreement if they even are topics related to injustice (biblically speaking).

I readily acknowledge there are excellent, thought-provoking arguments on all sides of these topics. That said, at some point, it seems to me that we must focus on areas of agreement rather than on razor-sharp points of disagreement. As in any free society, we will not all agree – that comes with the territory.  However, mutual respect and tolerance are also foundational to the American ethos (or at least they used to be). So, how can we frame issues into questions rather than dogmatic statements; questions that invite reflection and reasoned dialogue that heals rather than polarization and division that harms?

Here are some broader questions for people to ponder and discuss:

-- Should the value to society of a professional athlete be 100 times more in real dollars than a teacher, social worker, or clergy person?

-- Should private organizations segregate simply because they have the legal authority to do so?

-- Is the reason why people do good things as important as the good things people do?

-- Is it still true in America that an ethical person knows the right things to do but a moral person actually does them (even when no one else is looking)?

-- Why is the United Methodist Church (among others) myopically obsessing on one doctrine that it claims is ‘incompatible with Christian teaching’ while completely ignoring the other?

-- Is the exercise of free speech and freedom of association always the ethically and morally correct thing to do (simply because it is a ‘right’ in America)?

            While I am almost certain we won’t all agree on the answers to these questions, I want to live in a nation and society that remains committed to open, thoughtful, and respectful dialogue from which we may all develop greater understanding and insight.

How about you?