MORGAN'S MOMENT...
Are you a Christian or agnostic
     or atheist…
     or what?

It was one of those questions
      that sometimes comes
      while sailing in the summer.

I always think I'm transparent…
      blurting my deepest thoughts
      with perfect clarity.

Like Jesus said to friends…
      “Who do you say that I am,
       I'm slow to label myself.

Oh…you probably want to know…
       did I answer his question
       or evade it?

We were, after all, on my sailboat
       he with his hand on the tiller…
       me with no place to hide.

Yes.
You may have to go back
        to my friend's question
        to appreciate my answer.

I'm not through thinking…
        and hope you aren't either.

— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
Three of my favorites from this summer:
“THE ETERNAL FRONTIER ─ An ecological history of North America and its People” by Tim Flannery. A 350 page report of America after the 6 mile long asteroid landed in the Gulf of Mexico about 65 million years ago.
“HOPE’S EDGE ─ The Next Diet for a Small Planet,” by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé. This book, along with Jane Goodall’s “Harvest of Hope are changing the way people are thinking about food.
“GOD LAUGHS AND PLAYS ─ Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Religious Right,” by David James Duncan.

MOMENT MINISTRIES
Oct. 20, 2006

home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org

FIRST BLUE SHEET OF THE FALL SEASON…
You haven't received a blue sheet this fall (in case you noticed) because there haven't been any, except for those who asked to be on the Summer E-mail Blue Sheet list. It was an erratic publication at best, but allowed me to say some things and give reports and stay in touch.
This paper blue sheet replaces the e-mail of the summer. It can also be found on our Web Page I think. None of the summer blue sheets found their way to the Web Page.
A Special Appeal
Due to the act of the computer gods (goddesses would not be so careless, my whole e-mail address list of about 300 people was wiped out. We were able to get back those who happened to be on the summer e-mail list. If you were not on that list and did not receive the summer e-mail blue sheet, I no longer have your e-mail address. As e-mail comes in I restore my list, but 2/3 of my former list is gone. If you would like to be restored to my e-mail list, send a message to a-morgan@peak.org Thank you.
WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?
The e-mail people have had reports of our summer activities. We've been at our Puget Sound place as we have during more than 50 years of summers. We went on May 23 and returned to Corvallis on October 15. We've never been gone so long.
We rarely leave the cabin except to sail. I went to Seattle for three different church-related events (my ordination anniversary and the honoring of two friends). I was involved in 6 meetings and events in Tacoma pertaining to my involvement in the Man2Man support group of which I am on the Steering Committee. The last blue sheet from June reported on one such event.
We had about 80 visitors in camp this summer, including most of our grandchildren. We did more building and repairs than usual, with a bedroom addition mostly finished during September.
Our final week “at the cabin” was spent on the road, visiting in Port Angeles, Bellevue, Yakima Turner Lectures (where I counted 24 blue sheet readers), and Spokane where we met with a cluster of Episcopalian reader friends of Clara Fern and Teddy Turner.
Now we're home and expect to do most of the fall and winter here.


FIRST FALL THURSDAY NIGHT MOMENT

OCTOBER 26…
GATHER AT 6, EAT AT 6:30


 
                                                                                     (back page)

THEOCRACY
In writing these back pages I start with hardly a clue about my direction.
A word comes to mind and I create a title and begin writing.
..
      Although I hadn't realized it, the word “theocracy” has been implanted in my brain numerous times during the summer. As I read my reviews of all those books read out on my sailboat, the theme keeps appearing. I’ll list some of the books. The only one with “Theocracy” in the title was Kevin PhillipsAmerican Theocracy – The Perils and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century.” Theocracy is defined as “a state, polity, or group of people that claims a deity as its ruler.” (Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Desk Dictionary)
      “God bless America.” “In God we trust.” “One nation under God.” “A Christian nation.”
      I subscribe to “Christian Century” as a source of information about what's going on in religious thought. That magazine started early in the 20th century in a time when Christians believed they could spread Christianity throughout the world. Missionaries abounded. Imagine a world full of Christians. A world theocracy. It was a bit of an over-reach. Other people seemed quite satisfied with their own religions. It turned out that the “Christian Century” was one of new awareness of religious diversity in the world, with major inroads by Buddhists, Muslims and others in America.
      Well, onward in my reading reports. Madeline Albright’s “The Mighty and the Almighty” proposes that our nation cannot understand other nations without considering religious beliefs. The post-9/11 rhetoric tended to put Christian against Muslim. Language of the crusades was revived. Americans found that there were Muslims that took religion seriously. Some very seriously. They would fight rather than allow American “Christian” values to infiltrate their own. We didn't understand that what the Arab world didn't like about America was not our freedom but our values. We were (and are) naïve about the religions of others and sometimes overly confident that we are a “Christian” nation.
      I buy few books, but after attending a lecture in Corvallis last spring I bought David James Duncan’s ”God Laughs and Plays ─ Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Christian Right.” The book will probably offend fundamentalist Christians and those on the right that are satisfied with the theocratic aspects of the current administration. It will be a bit of inspiration, however, to those who share Duncan’s belief that fundamentalism in any form, in any religion, in any nation is dangerous. Religious certainty blinds people to a religion of love.
      The subject rises once again in Tim Flannery’s “The Eternal Frontier ─ An ecological history of North America and its People.” He limits his survey to the last 65 million years in 365 pages. Even so he finds space to note a time on the North American continent when theocracy was actually attempted by the Puritan founders. Some were religious fanatics whose practices have been duplicated both previously and since. “Talibansim” was practiced in an attempt to rule by religious mandate. The Salem witch trials really happened. “You could be strung up for idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, perjury, cursing a parent, third offenses of burglary and highway robbery, or for being a rebellious son (p. 274)  Is this the Christianity of our founders that the religious right wishes to restore?
      Just before returning to Oregon I attended the annual Turner Lectureship in Yakima. The lecturer was renowned University of Washington professor and administrator, Hubert Locke. (He has also been on the Board of Directors at seminaries in Claremont and Berkeley, including a stint as interim President at Pacific School of Religion). His series of lectures were title “America and the Theocratic Vision ─ Why America is not a Christian nation and pray God never will be.” He carefully traced America's early experiment as a Christian theocracy, showing how it just didn't work and how the creators of the constitution intentionally separated church and state.
      This sent me back to a book I've trusted for years, Vernon Parrington’s “Main Currents in American Thought.” It's a resource worth owning if you research American history, literature and biographies. Again, “theocracy,” with reports of its roots and idealism.
      Well, that's more “theocracy” than I want to know. Maybe you too. It's pretty scary when all surveys indicate that Americans think our nation to be godly, religious and essentially Christian. It is scary to see people in some parts of our country wishing to impose their personal interpretation of Christian values on the rest of us. There are increased efforts to further embed religion within the political system. The earliest battles against Puritan theocracy are being re-fought. As we can see most clearly, theocratic governments in the Middle East are dangerous to all of us. When our own nation moves in the direction of theocracy we are in the same camp.
      So, how much “god” can a government tolerate? And how certain can we be that God blesses America, ahead of all nations, as so many Americans seem to believe? And how hard are we willing to fight for freedom from religion as for freedom of religion? And finally, if we were a “Christian” nation, which kind of Christians would you want in charge?
      I guess I'm at the bottom of the page. It's good to be back in touch.
─ Art Morgan, October 20, 2006