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.
