News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Sunday October 6th 2024

KEEP THE DOOR OPEN

By Peter Molenaar

In consequence to May”'s column “Mind and Body Unite”, I did catch some flak from the comrades.  Hey, can”'t a lonely atheist do a little outreach?

Well you, Peter, by opening the door to agnosticism have, at the very least, looked upon a “slippery slope”.  Decide, please.  All right then, I shall open the door even further.

Yes, my motive here is part political inasmuch as I work with a coalition which includes ISAIAH.  ISAIAH  is itself a coalition of more than 100 Christian congregations, including from this neighborhood, and throughout Minnesota.  Their mission is pro-labor, pro-peace, and anti-racist.

In one instance I was actually the only non-Christian in a room full of  ISAIAH  folks.  Trust me, they were rational and collaborative, and in many ways strikingly normal people.

Some time later, while serving as a bus captain en route to a downtown protest rally, I noted the collared pastor among us.  A denunciation of the belief that our capitalist rulers acquired their wealth by the grace of God ensued.  “That”'s a lie” shouted the pastor while leaping to his feet.  He too was from ISAIAH.

So then the larger coalition, Minnesotans for a Fair economy, deemed it necessary to convene a “get to know you” mixer.  Participants were asked to form two circles, one inside the other, rotate and commence to “speed-date”!

As it happened, my first “date” turned out to be an ISAIAH guy at least six and a half feet tall.  There was some panic.  Did he believe that a non-believer should burn in hell for eternity?  With earnest compassion he bent down to give me an awkward hug.  “No”, was his answer.

So, dear critics, I have espoused the “electromagnetic cloud theory of consciousness”.  But here is the thing:  The theory explains the content of consciousness, not consciousness itself.  Perhaps then Marxist-Leninists should keep the door open.

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