Just A Little More Passion, Please
We were tweaking her a little, just a bit, this other guy and I. She's the leader of a group we both attend once a week, and she is smart and funny but she has a little New Age gushiness that we feel compelled to make fun of once in a while. We mean no harm at all.
And she fights back, points out our cultural limitations, being middle-aged white men and all. Good for her.
"You're going to love our topic for next week," she said. "It's spirituality. And I don't mean religion."
Well. You know. I am a calm guy. You can denounce George W. with venom or say you love the guy, you can rant about the evils of same-sex marriage or champion it, you can tell me to my face that baseball is a stupid game and I'll still get along with you. I have oodles of calm these days.
But I've got semantic issues sometimes, and that sort of "spirituality, not religion" statement can make me stand up like a mad homeowner at a city council meeting. So next week might be interesting.
I know what she means. We all know what she means.
It's just the perceived slight to the practice of faith that raises the hackles. "Religion" can be a dirty word to some people who don't think all that clearly, preceded (said or unsaid), of course, by "organized." As if organization itself is a bad thing when it comes to God.
And it may be. I just follow my instincts.
Anyway. I'm a little off track here. I was just reminded today again of how testy we can get when we talk about faith. You know about this, if you're at all interested. I've seen fights in churches that would be nasty at a political convention. We know when we're right. By God.
I've written a couple of times about "The Passion of the Christ" and, really, that was going to be it. I don't feel compelled to see it so I won't. My wife probably will, just because she needs to be in the dialogue loop.
I'm actually more interested in the passion than "The Passion." So this morning I waded through the hundred-plus comments over at Real Live Preacher, and then I caught up with Le Prete Noir and The Preacher's Wife, who both went to see it recently. Neither of them cared all that much for it, and Kathleen was a little more...um...passionate, so if you aren't interested in a different viewpoint, if that's a different one than yours, you might not want to read.
On the other hand, Clarence over at "Can You Hear Me Now?" had an interesting post, and Jim at "Brainwaves" was downright eloquent, I thought. But then he usually is.
And there's been some finger pointing and name calling, the usual. Some see it as a life-changing event or an evangelical tool, and others are offended or grossed out or even not interested at all. But everybody's right, of course.
Me, I'm just calm about it.
I just thought I'd mention these folks (and there are many others, of course) in case you wanted a nice read and some different takes. I tend to agree with the Preacher, that it's just a movie and it'll slip away and we'll go on wrestling with faith and God, but he doesn't have a crystal ball and neither do I.
I'm just interested in the story, and I enjoy reading the people I mentioned above. Actually, if the truth be known, I read them religiously, but don't get me started.
12:02:40 PM 
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