Carole Keeton McKlellan Rylander Strayhorn Doesn't Either

The Comptroller of Texas had concluded that the Unitarian Universalist Church is not a religious organization. She says that's because there is "no single belief system." The UU Church doesn't require members to adhere to some pre-fabricated creed. Her belief system doesn't require a single marriage, now does it?
- posted by Marcos @ 8:59 PM (0) comments

 
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised II

There are references to a statement made by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Thomas. They are very similar. They say that the Kingdom of God is within you, and that it's not here nor there, but spread out among us and we can't see it. If I were to translate that into contemporary language with a nice aphorism it would be, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." Nowadays, so much of what we consider to be real is what appears on TV. In other words, we hear a news story from a friend, but we don't believe it or it isn't real until it gets on TV. Well, the Kingdom of God ain't going to make it on TV. Because, it's not the titillating kind of thing that television executives are interested in. No, the Kingdom of God (or the Revolution which won't be televised) is a very ordinary affair. Not spectacular, but miraculous nonetheless. It's going to arrive when we begin treating one another as children of God or as respected and valuable people. That's not the kind of thing to make the broadcast media take notice, but if it were to happen, it would be a miracle. How can a miracle not be spectacular? How can a miracle be mundane? It can be by putting the respect and value of people ahead of money and other idols. That would be noteworthy to those involved, but that's all. It would be a miracle to those involved as well.

There's another point about the analogy I'd like to make. The hot property in TV at the moment is "Reality TV." Of course, there's nothing real about it, it's a set of games (Survivor), contests (Big Brother), and tricks (Joe Bachelor, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?) that likely would not happen in life as we normally live it. Tell me what's real about a group of putative brides or grooms going on audition dates and playing games to win a prospective spouse? Yes, people do those kinds of things, but they're not contrived like the TV shows, and they're not recorded. That's sort of like the principle that an observer affects the outcome of an experiment. In this case the cameras definitely affect the behavior of the contestants/participants. In fact some of the intentional cruelty (at least psychologically) of these shows reminds me of the spectacles of the Romans watching other people fight to the death. We think we're so much more civilized than the Ancient Romans, because we wouldn't allow that kind of thing. But, don't we enjoy the cruelty and betrayal just as much? Professional wrestling may actually be more "honest" in that they admit it's all fake. The producers of Reality TV act as if their programs aren't contrived to bring out the worst in people.

All that said, I believe it's a good thing that the Revolution won't be televised. It's too important for that.
- posted by Marcos @ 8:17 PM (0) comments