(Tim) This from an elder of our congregation, Jeff Moore. He sent me "Hot Air Gods" by Curtis White, taken from a 2007 issue of Harper's Magazine. After reading it, I asked Jeff to provide readers of Baylyblog some context for the piece. Jeff writes...
"Mr. White (the author), through my selected readings of him, seems a a proud, elitist Professor who enjoys using his intellect to peer down with disdain on the masses below. I believe his spiel on capitalism and his "meta-narrative" comment also tip his hand. He has a penchant for snarky rants. Still, I found his diagnosis of what and how America believes to be spot on, summarizing very well the brine our country and churches are marinating in. I also find it very interesting that someone of his ilk would make these observations."
After doing this post, I found the article is only free to subscribers. Google "Hot Air Gods" by Curtis White, though, and readers can get the substance of the piece. Here are a couple teaser quotes:
What we require of belief is not that it make sense but that it be sincere.... There is an obvious problem with this form of spirituality: it takes place in isolation. Each of us sits at our computer terminal tapping out our convictions. It's as if we were each our own foreign country and we wanted to know what the people in the land of Ken or Brenda or Eduardo believe.
...it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that our truest belief is the credo of heresy itself. It is heresy without an orthodoxy. It is heresy as an orthodoxy. The entitlement to belief is the right of each to his own heresy. Religious freedom has come to this: where everyone is free to believe whatever she likes, there is no real shared conviction at all, and hence no church and certainly no community...
