feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)
Dearest family,
As we come to the end of our Summer series dealing with issues important to understanding the interface between faith and culture, I want to thank all those who taught from Sunday to Sunday, for the time and hard work (and teaching is hard work!) that were expended on your behalf. I believe it was a worthwhile investment in our Christian learning. I also want to thank you, the church community, for your encouragements and responses and your amazing attentiveness. On Sunday, I dealt with the last of our topics, but Bo is going to present a final session of “wrap-up” next week, before we set our sights on the teaching content of the new church year. I am very excited about the new series that will be taught.
No doubt, every speaker has struggled to come up with a satisfactory summary of their material for the pastoral letter. As always, the best thing to do is get the CD. My main point was to emphasize how important it is for Christians to understand the meaning of tolerance, to have intellectual clarity about it in a way that promotes their personal and spiritual confidence in the public square. However, it is a subject, that has been aggressively co-opted by the prevailing ideology of our nation, secular liberalism, with its philosophical foundation of relativism, the belief system of many of our elected leaders, whose adherents have redefined the meaning of “tolerance” and refashioned it to become their weapon for the trumping and trouncing, for the subjugating and subverting of any point of view, any matter of belief, that conflicts with their secular liberal dogma – and I deliberately use the word dogma, because by and large, its premises and religiously adhered to tenets are no longer open to question or scrutiny, without running the risk of being branded an enemy of the state. If this sounds like we are closer, at least philosophically, to a disguised totalitarianism, then feel free to at least look into that possibility. (Though even in the editorials of the Washington Post this morning, the notion that the USA is in any kind of serious “values” trouble was being ridiculed.) I could argue the case that one reason clearthinking Christians in particular are such threats to monolithic secular liberalism, is precisely our commitment to argue for the preservation and maintenance of an open public square that allows the continuance of disagreement and dissent, of rational argument, of reasonable persuasion, and that, with a commitment to the practice of dialogue and debate, will dare to challenge the presuppositions of those who are so contemptuous and scurrilous in their attacks on the presuppositions of faith, and are fiercely closed to intellectual inspection and argumentation. We have to make some urgent and serious choices about how we are going to live with our differences, about what it will take for the motto “E Pluribus Unum” to still retain any meaning in our republic. As Christian-Americans, we have a vested interest, by virtue of our gospel convictions, to defend, preserve and help to strengthen the public square of our nation, which makes for our continuing expression and experience of our legitimate freedoms of conscience and conviction and speech, our rightful presence and place in the due processes of community and national life. Please read his book, “The Case for Civility” in which Os argues for a cosmopolitan and civil public square.
I am not an original thinker! I am indebted to the work and argumentation of others over centuries. I think our range of recognition on Sunday went from God (really early contributor!) through Moses to Jesus, to Socrates and Aristotle, through George Washington, to more recent moral philosophers and Christian commentators, all the way to last week’s Washington Post. (From God to the Washington Post! I don’t know if that’s a good connection!) I am particularly grateful for the gift of wisdom and tuition that comes to the Christian community through the “prophetic” ministry of Christian theologians, historians, philosophers, sociologists, who have alerted us and equipped us to discern the times. We are also beholden to a host of contributors who, though not necessarily evangelical Christians, have taught us to think about and evaluate our culture with penetrating intellectual analysis, combined with genuine personal emotional concern for our people and their future. (Bloom and D’Souza really provoked the discussion about the aftereffects of what the latter called an “illiberal education”.) Two people I quoted significantly, who helped put shape to some of my own convictions and communications were Os Guinness, Brad Stetson and Joseph Conti. I am indebted to their contribution to my understanding and to the current discussion about faith and culture.
Below is an outline of what I covered, so although I do not have the space to rehash the details, you can at least use it as a construct to arrange your own thoughts on the matter, and hopefully be reminded about some of the things shared.
THEN and NOW: We sought to establish what the terminology “tolerance” actually means. What did it mean, might be one way to look at it, and then what does it seem to mean now?
HOW and WHY: Why has the meaning changed and why do we need to be aware of how and why it is being used? It is important that we are neither duped nor intimidated by the way that appeals for tolerance or charges of intolerance are currently made by secular liberal media and political elites.
WHERE from HERE: What should we as Christians understand tolerance is, as a specifically Christian virtue, and how should we practice it? What does it require of us, but equally, what does it not require of us? I had to rush this a bit but you do your own Bible Study on this and revisit the relevant scriptures that help us determine our Christian posture (humility, grace, patience, courage, compassion) in the face of charges of intolerance, our understanding of the principles of tolerance, our practice in the face of intellectual persecution, and the needs for characteristics like perseverance and endurance.
We noted that a sad manifestation of our humanity is our capacity for inhumanity, much of which is directly attributable to the inabilities, incapacities, unwillingness to settle differences or heal divisions, or live with dissent. However, we observed that the long history of such inhumanity has been matched by a history of the concept and virtue of tolerance, founded and fed in the West by both religious faith as well as secular moral philosophy. I stressed the nonnegotiable significance and contribution of the Judeo-Christian tradition, because Christians need to be emboldened by this, and not shouted down by those secularists who think that tolerance is a recent discovery by those who have at last broken the chains of Christian bigotry. We looked at what tolerance means, what it has always meant. The English word “tolerance” comes from the Latin “tolerare” which means to “bear”. Basic to the idea is the notion of putting up with, of forbearance. Why is this important? Because basic to the meaning is the idea that the reason for such forbearance, why such bearing something is needed, is because something is being presented or faced that in itself is actually unbearable, possibly to conscience or to preference. This means that the reality of something that is disagreeable, the fact of a disagreement, is built into the notion of tolerance and its function. If you agree with something then obviously there is no need for tolerance. It is only needed where there is disagreement, where there is divergence of opinion, where there is a division in belief. What follows from this? Intolerance cannot be the same as disagreement. To express disagreement or dissent in itself cannot be immoral or anti-civic or anti-religious or anti-person or antiauthority. None of those parties may like it, or want to hear it, or want others to be influenced by it, but it is not a violation by virtue of simply saying it. It can only be so if it is enacted or expressed in an immoral way. It is not the act of dissent itself that is immoral. Moral quality of dissent and opposition is determined by the manner of its expression but also possibly by the content of the expression, if for example it relies on misleading, wrong or fraudulent claims and information. This is crucial. To quote one modern moral philosopher: “Tolerating a religious belief…does not involve a half-hearted acceptance or endurance of the belief in itself but rather it involves acceptance or endurance of someone’s holding that belief…” We next looked at how the meaning of tolerance has been changed from the old version to a new perversion, and I illustrated that by deconstructing a definition of tolerance off a random “tolerance” site on the internet. True tolerance that recognizes the other’s right to have their viewpoint is now perverted into the demand and expectation to respect the viewpoint itself. What began as a position of abiding but not accepting something that was objectionable or disagreeable, has morphed into the requirement to appreciate, accept, and affirm, but not satisfied with that, we are now required to approve and even applaud. And of course, if we don’t, we are by definition intolerant and have hurt or victimized the other party and maybe in for a lawsuit if we’re not careful. To disagree is to mistreat someone.
I have no more space but let me close with a conversation between Calvin and Hobbes. (Thank you Bill Watterson!)
Hobbes: How are you doing on your new year’s resolutions?
Calvin: I didn’t make any. See, in order to improve oneself, one must have some idea of what’s ‘good’. That implies certain values. But as we all know, values are relative. Every system of belief is equally valid and we need to tolerate diversity. Virtue isn’t ‘better’ than vice. It’s just ‘different’.
Hobbes: I don’t know if I can tolerate that much tolerance.
Calvin: I refuse to be victimized by notions of virtuous behavior.
Pastorally yours,
Stuart
http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)
Announcements
FAMILY RETREAT: Mark your calendars for our annual family retreat, October 2-3! This is always a special time of fellowship and encouragement for those who are able to attend. Registration will begin in September.
SAMSON MEN’S MEETING: Men, you are invited to join other men for a weekly Tuesday evening gathering from 7:30 -8:30 at COSC. E-mail Matthew.tropiano@navy.mil for more information.
WOMEN'S MINISTRY: Ladies, you are invited to join us for our kick-off Saturday Supper of the year! We'll be gathering on Saturday, September 18th at Kim Patierno's house from 6-8 pm. Saturday Suppers are the women's monthly gathering for food and fellowship and in this first one of the year we will share about the women's ministry vision for the year. Plan to bring an Asian take out dish to share.
GENERATION TO GENERATION WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY: Weekly, beginning on Thursday, Sep. 9, at COSC at 10am. This fall we will be studying "Cultivating Contentment". Childcare available. Call Elizabeth McBurney for more information, 703-518-5066.
WOMEN’S BOOK CLUB: Women, join us for our first Book Club meeting of the year, Monday, Sep. 13, 7pm. We will choose the 8 books that we will be reading and discussing and we want your input! RSVP to melsunuk@gmail.com and plan to bring and appetizer/dessert/drink.
CAPITOL HILL PREGNANCY CENTER WALKATHON: On September 25th at 10:00am, CHPC is having a walkathon furdraiser at the National Arboretum. For more details and to download a registration form, go to: www.capitolhillpregnancycenter.org/events.htm
NO NIGHT OF PRAYER IN SEPTEMBER: Thank you to those of you who have attended our nights of prayer in the past, but we will not be meeting this next month
Bulletin Board
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HOUSING AVAILABLE: Nice, spacious, quiet room available in Dupont Circle townhome for $1350/mo + util. House is located less than 5 min from Dupont Cir metro and 8-10 min from Foggy Bottom. No pets, guys only. Contact kwdoley@gmail.com.
HOUSING AVAILABLE: Oct. 1st. 1 BR English Basement Apt. in SE Cap Hill near Potomac Ave. Metro (blue and orange lines), Harris Teeter, Highways 295 and 395 . Christian homeowner looking for a single or couple with a desire to build Christian community. Large BR with double closets, dining space, LR, and 1 BATH. New appliances including stove, fridge, W/D. $1300/mo + util. 1 offstreet parking space available. If interested, Contact emiliekao@yahoo.com.
HOUSING AVAILABLE: I recently renovated the basement of my home in SE DC. My house in located on a quiet street, less than 15 minutes from Capital Hill. It’s a great renovation with a full bath and complete kitchen. Over 600 sq. ft. with a private entrance, shared laundrey room, street parking. $750 + split utilities. Contact me, Cynthia at cryabbafather@yahoo.com or 703-371-3392.
DESK AVAILABLE: If you are interested in a free tall desk (with shelves above) and an accompanying tall bookshelf, contact Bill Shobe at 202-492-4204.
FREE FUTON: Ffull size with adjustable frame in great condition. Contact awnewens@gmail.com.
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