[Vision2020] Devisiveness Must Stop

Tue, 11 Nov 2003 10:25:34 -0500

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Jim Meyer wrote about the evil ones:
That is, of course, if they want to have any respect at all from the
greater community of Moscow.=20
=20
That=92s kind of creepy =96 a call for a playground obsession with being
=93liked.=94 No interesting vision should ever be concerned with that.
Respectability, in this sense, is just a demand for more and more
conformity to the status quo. Why the obsession with conformity? =
That=92s
so deathly boring. Difference is far more interesting. A healthy
Christianity has always been scandalous to conformist communities. Ask
Caesar. Whatever happened to celebrating real difference? That slogan
rings so hollow in this community. Conform, conform, conform is all I
hear locally. Big yawn.=20
=20
=93I cannot understand how any realization of the democratic ideal as a
vital moral and spiritual ideal in human affairs is possible without
surrender of the conception of the basic division -- the saved and the
lost -- to which supernatural Christianity is committed.=94 -- John =
Dewey,
Common Faith
Doug Jones

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<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D3 color=3Dblack face=3D"OrigGarmnd =
BT"><span
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"OrigGarmnd BT";color:black'>Jim =
Meyer
wrote about the evil ones:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

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That is,
of course, if they want to have any respect at all from the greater =
community
of <st1:City><st1:place>Moscow</st1:place></st1:City><fo=
nt
size=3D2>. =
<o:p></o:p>

<p><font size=3D2 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;
color:black'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

That&#8217;s kind of creepy =
&#8211; a
call for a playground obsession with being &#8220;liked.&#8221; No =
interesting vision
should ever be concerned with that. Respectability, in this sense, is =
just a
demand for more and more conformity to the status quo. Why the obsession =
with
conformity? That&#8217;s so deathly boring. Difference is far more =
interesting.
A healthy Christianity has always been scandalous to conformist =
communities.
Ask Caesar. Whatever happened to celebrating real difference? That =
slogan rings
so hollow in this community. Conform, conform, conform is all I hear =
locally. Big yawn. <o:p></o:p>

<p><strong><b style=3D'mso-ansi-font-weight:normal'><font size=3D3
face=3D"OrigGarmnd BT"><span =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"OrigGarmnd BT";
font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></f=
ont></b></strong></p>

<p><strong><b style=3D'mso-ansi-font-weight:normal'><font size=3D3
face=3D"OrigGarmnd BT"><span =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"OrigGarmnd BT";
font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>&#8220;I cannot understand =
how
any realization of the democratic ideal as a vital moral and spiritual =
ideal in
human affairs is possible without surrender of the conception of the =
basic
division -- the saved and the lost -- to which supernatural Christianity =
is committed.&#8221;
<i style=3D'mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span =
style=3D'font-style:italic;
mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>-- =
</span></i></span></font></b></strong><em><i
style=3D'mso-ansi-font-style:normal'><font face=3D"OrigGarmnd BT"><span
style=3D'font-family:"OrigGarmnd =
BT";font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>John
Dewey</span></font></i></em><em><i><font face=3D"OrigGarmnd BT"><span
style=3D'font-family:"OrigGarmnd BT"'>, Common =
Faith<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></em></p>

<p><font size=3D3 color=3Dblack face=3D"OrigGarmnd BT"><span =
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"OrigGarmnd BT";color:black'>Doug =
Jones<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

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