‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
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 [...]
Mind And Body Unite
By Peter Molenaar After thirty-three years of hard labor in the neighborhood iron foundry, one would expect this writer to have resolved the question surrounding the apparent duality between mind and body. He certainly has had ample time to think about it with his nose before the grinding wheel. It is a vexing problem. If after all our efforts, the duality remains un-refuted, a concession must be made to agnosticism. Which is to say: The door is then left open to the possibility of a transcendent spirit worthy of being called God. In my student days, there was a course which examined the structure of the brain and the correlation of its sectors to various functions. However, I found no correlation between brain morphology and, for example, the infinite complexity of my visual field on a lovely spring day. The professor inquired as to the nature of the disappointment. “I remain mystified!” was the response. The plot thickens”¦ As [...]
Time Won”'t Wait
By Peter Molenaar Gone is the brush pile which housed the winter”'s flock of sparrows. It was a cold day then. Does the city inspector harbor a mean spirit or merely a sense of duty? It is warm today. The sparrows are sampling freshly strewn seed. And so”¦ Will the Occupy Movement return as a visible hub around which broader movements revolve and develop? It depends. Occupy has yet to formally resolve its internal debate on the question of tactics. Should we publicly disavow actions of a provocative nature? Or should we consent to the concept “respect for diversity of tactics”? It would seem that common sense dictates two things. Don”'t pull stunts which satisfy the agents of reaction. Don”'t pull stunts which alienate potential allies. What then is the difficulty? “Respect for diversity” does have a nice ring to it and there are kind hearts among us who prefer to avoid [...]
