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Paul J. DeLoca's avatar

Thank you Karen for a stimulating statement on far-right religion.

Since I've published some contributions on Muscular Christianity of the mid-19th century, I continue to keep an open dialogue with far-right Religious fundamentalists in my extended family.

It's not easy to break through the brick wall, but I still believe in the idea --which delivers some future hope -- that "we are spiritual beings by nature, who just happen to be having a human experience."

A deceased mentor of mine, Thomas Berry (1914-2009) always defined himself as an "ecologian" -- an earth theologian -- who believed we must work to bridge the mysterious "disconnect" between the human and the divine. (Is Life actually a Miracle?) He "believed" evil was "entropy" or "decay," in simple terms.

Churches need to care more about all life of the earth, as much as they care about the life of the fetus/zygote. Sadly, that's not happening.

That's one serious call to bring all religions together; to accomplish the Great Work that needs to be done.

I'm now staring at just one of my mentor Tom's book, "The Great Work." Another former colleague, John Haught, wrote the books "Religion and Science" and "The Promise of Nature" which talk about "evolution" and "creation" -- being the exact same thing -- since it's really about the "God of Novelty." Berry often repeated that thought about "evolution" and "creation" being the exact same thing at conference presentations. Do some, or most Christians, reject evolution? They seem to always talk about the Creation. Have they ever used the words "God of Novelty?"

All of us -- Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc., need to develop some "new" thinking --- a new vocabulary --- we need a new "religious" vocabulary in order to talk with the "other" about the meaning of life. That's just a short version of the long work ahead, the Great Work.

Haught used to criticize Berry for not having an "Eschatology." A what? Another new word?

They conversed, but they talked and communicated about vocabulary. Haught criticized Thomas for NOT having an eschatology which is: that part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind. In other words, they were both concerned about man committing "suicide" on earth -- a grave sin for Christians, but Thomas was primarily concerned about the future of man's life on earth, not man's soul in a so-called afterlife. Why?

He often told me -- when I asked him about the afterlife, he would pause for a very brief moment, and say-- once again: "as far as the 'afterlife' is concerned, if you've not got there yet, you'll never get there."

Think about that for a few years. --- I'm still thinking, 16 years later.

And – I’ve arrived at an answer, for another time.

It's great fun to think about the joyful aspects of it all.

The miracles of life all around us.

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Francisco Javier Diaz Reynoso's avatar

Dear Karen, I hope you can at some point. You are welcome

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