MAKING THE CASE FOR AN INTERFAITH SOLIDARITY…

September 14, 2023
MAKING THE CASE FOR AN INTERFAITH SOLIDARITY…

I reckon there are going to be some who won’t much like some of what I have to say this time. Apologies for that in advance; it is never my intention to deliberately offend, even on those occasions when it might actually be justified. (Hey, it happens…)


But one thing I learned from my late parents is that, whether we like it or not, there are times when giving offense simply cannot be avoided - and I suspect this is going to be one of those times. But seeing how this is America and I have the right, I’m going to go ahead and say it anyway…


Let me start by confessing (and not for the first time, for whatever that may be worth) that when it comes to matters of religion, I have never laid claim to anything resembling any level of expertise. Truth be told, I’ve never claimed to be much of an expert about anything - and there are readers who will gladly attest that I prove this here on a regular basis. But there are some topics about which I am far less learned than others, and if religion isn’t at the top of that list it is certainly in the top five. (That’s something else I learned from Mom and Dad: We all have shortcomings, so we might as well own up to them.)


Okay, yes, I earned my bachelor’s degree at a four-year church-affiliated university - and somehow even managed to get pretty decent grades in the required religion classes. Yes, in recent years I have become an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church - and I have the certificate hanging here on my office wall to prove it. And yes, I have seen every religious-themed movie Charlton Heston ever made. (My favorite was that one that centered around the Theory of Evolution and had those talking apes… but I suppose that’s a topic best left for another time.)


But you can take all those ingredients… stir in the year I spent on our church’s quiz bowl team when I was in high school, and the year my wife and I spent teaching a third grade Sunday school class not long before we moved to Oklahoma… season it with those hymns Mom used to sing to herself while doing the housework, and top it all off with that award I won a few decades back for a column about something my old college chum James Tew referred to as “Generic Christianity”… and it STILL doesn’t add up to me being an expert. 


What I am, to put it as simply as possible, is a product of my upbringing by two loving parents who were believers, each in their own way, but saw themselves as being “spiritual” rather than “religious” and instructed their children to think for themselves and make up our own minds when it came to developing personal beliefs. “That’s why God gave your mind to you in the first place, so use it,” Mom was fond of saying, and I for one took it at her word. 


Mom’s the one who first suggested to me, back when I was a wee nipper, the notion that God probably prefers kind, loving, honest atheists over hateful, hypocritical Christians. At the time it seemed like a strange thing for her to have said, but over the years I came to realize that the idea is, in fact, rooted in Scripture - and that none other than Pope Francis said much the same thing during a 2017 homily in Rome.


Eventually I also gained a better understanding of what Mom was trying to say through personal experience. One of my dearest friends in the world - truly a brother in spirit, if not by blood - is a writing colleague and fellow pop culture enthusiast named Chuck “Kreegah” Loridans. It originally seemed like an unusual, perhaps even unlikely, friendship, given that Chuck had warned me early on that he was an atheist. But I’ve seen, through his words and his deeds and the manner by which he lives his life, that Chuck is one of those kind, loving, honest atheists Mom was talking about… and he, in turn, once paid me the unexpected compliment of stating that he wished more Christians were like me. 


I don’t know what Mom would have thought about that. But I do know that Mom would have loved Chuck, every bit as much as I do.


As for Dad… well, he didn’t have much stock for organized religion in general, regardless of denomination or sect, in large part because of the childhood experience of his own father’s unsuccessful efforts to indoctrinate him into a sect that Dad wanted no part of. That said, he DID have a favorite Bible verse which I saw as a re-enforcement of what Mom had told us: “Test everything, retain what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)


Years later, while taking one of those aforementioned religion classes in college, my professor shared a quote from the French mathematician, scientist and philosopher René Descartes which said essentially the same thing: “If you are a real seeker of truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” 


At the time I thought it odd that the professor - himself an ordained minister - would hold with such a point of view. But as I’ve grown older I’ve come to understand a little better where he, Descartes and my father were all coming from… and near as I can tell, those lessons have stood me in pretty good stead over the years.


In part because of Dad’s experiences, in part because of my studies of American and world history - and in part because of a few unhappy incidents of my own while growing up (a story I might just get around to telling someday… perhaps) - I’ve always taken issue with that brand of evangelism that relies on the use of proverbial two-by-fours to the spirit as a means of convincing the would-be convert that he is bound for hell if he doesn’t straighten up and fly in accordance with that preacher’s dictates. 


There are those who call it “witnessing” - but in my mind, the best way to share witness about your religious or spiritual beliefs is to simply live your own life in accordance with those beliefs, and let the rest of the world see how well it works for you. 


I think Thomas Jefferson may have said it best: “Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life; if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.” 


What a far cry from those European zealots who launched the religious wars which historians call The Crusades. 


Or those early settlers who came to the New World seeking religious freedom, only to develop a society that spends a lot of time trying to deny that freedom to others. 


Or that pastor’s wife who stuck her finger in my face years ago and snarled that I had condemned my sons to hell, simply because I let them watch Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings movies...


I have written in the past about my frustration over the fact that, every Sunday, there are millions of upper-middle class Americans who put on their expensive clothes, load themselves into expensive cars “witnessing” by turning a blind eye to the needy, spewing hatred towards anyone they deem “different,” and essentially thumbing their holier-than-thou noses at such concepts as “do unto others” and “love thy neighbor.” I guess they skipped the Sunday school lesson that focused on the idea of leading by example…


(I am reminded of Mark Twain’s observation that there are two types of Christians: Professing Christians and Practicing Christians. From where I'm sitting there seem to very few of the second type these days, at least here in America. Jesus never spat on the homeless, nor did he attack those trying to better the world. He did attack money lenders and those who sought to profiteer their neighbors. He distributed food to the needy, and I'm pretty sure He is saddened at best and angered at worst at the manner in which so many so-called "Christians" today treat their fellow man. If you'll recall, Jesus warned about these kinds of hypocrites. He said many would preach in his name, yet they would not be of his fold. I believe that's what we're seeing more often than not these days.)


I’ve found that the older I get, the deeper this sense of frustration is becoming. Perhaps that’s why a recent Facebook post by my dear old friend and former youth minister, Dave Clark, struck such a chord with me.


Dave shared an essay he found on the Red Letter Christians blog site, in which authors Brian McLaren and Patrick Carolan advocate the idea that modern Christianity can benefit from what they call a “Franciscan Renaissance” - a movement that would address crises in both the world-at-large and today’s Christian church by embracing the beliefs and examples of St. Francis of Assisi and one of his earliest followers, St. Clare.


While acknowledging that they are not professed Franciscans themselves, McLaren and Carolan believe that such a movement can have a positive impact on both the religious and secular challenges facing the world today - challenges which, they say, have become “so enmeshed as to be inseparable,” ranging from ecological and economic concerns to violence stemming from arrogant nationalism and racial, sexual or religious discrimination.


“We could wish that the leaders of our Christian faith were paying attention to these crises,” McLaren and Carolan write. “A few are. But many - too many - are obsessed with preserving their power, protecting their privilege, and perpetuating their institutions… More than ever at this moment, we need the vision of Francis and Clare for an interfaith solidarity.


“In our work and travels we both have encountered Muslims, Jews, Hindus and even atheists who have a deep respect for St. Francis, his life and works… We need a spiritual vision that integrates love for God and love for our neighbor with love for the earth — exactly the vision of St. Francis and St. Clare and the movements that they gave birth to.”


The writers are quick to acknowledge that such a movement will not come easily. “After all,” they write, “if renewal were cheap, easy, and convenient, it would have happened already.” But they make a strong argument for the positive impact such a movement can ultimately have, both here at home and around the world, if only enough people of every faith - or who practice no faith at all - will simply come together and work to turn the idea into reality.


Consider the following scenario: A Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist and an atheist all walk into a McDonald's...


...and they talk and laugh and sip their Cokes and share their fries and end up becoming good and true friends.


It’s not the beginning of a joke. It’s the sort of thing that can actually happen when people stop acting like bigoted morons, demonstrate a little brotherly love and focus on the things we all have in common instead of the things that separate us.


Which suddenly reminds me of the words of an old Harry Chapin song: "Well, I wonder what would happen to this world?"


My hope is that there are enough people of like mind in the world today to link arms and say, “Let’s do it!”  


But my fear is that those “obsessed with preserving their power” may have already placed such a stranglehold on the world that it cannot be overcome by the noblest of intentions or  the words and deeds of good people.


I’d like to think this is not the case. 


But I have been wrong before...


(Copyright © 2023 by John A. Small)


 

THE FLASH: MY REVIEW

June 22, 2023

Okay. So… The Flash.


Wow…


Just… wow.


All right, let’s be honest: Yes, the film has its faults. And I’ll get to those in just a bit. But for the moment…


When you’ve a guy who spent most of his first sixty revolutions around Ol’ Sol subsisting on a fairly steady diet of superhero comic books and TV shows and movies and related novelizations and tie-ins… when your earliest childhood memories are of sitting on your daddy’s knee at the age of 3 watching episodes of the orig...


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A BIRTHDAY LETTER TO MY GRANDDAUGHTERS

June 1, 2023

Dear Zoey and Willow:


I realize that you are both too young at the moment to understand most of what I’m about to tell you. Zoey, after all, won’t celebrate her fifth birthday until late October - and Willow is only a couple of months old now as I write this. (Roughly the same age that your Uncle Josh was when we moved here from Illinois all those years ago, now that I think about it.)


Even so, it occurred to me the other day that now was the right time to write this letter to you - and...


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I’m Not At All Sure Why, But I Do Remember...

May 25, 2023

To be honest, I’m really not sure what might have prompted it.


It might have been that photograph we ran on the front page of last week’s Johnston County Sentinel of the Stay Golden Inn, the new Airbnb located in the building that had been the home of the Johnston County Capital-Democrat for more than a century. The fact that the historic building has been given both a long-overdue renovation and a new purpose pleases more than I can say, and I wish nothing but success for new owners Car...


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Were they celebrating nerds like me... or making fun of us?

May 12, 2023


Sometimes I just stand there, staring at myself in the mirror and wondering how I keep getting myself into these things...

This past Monday night I was here at the office, scouring the digital landscape in search of a possible topic or two for my column in this week’s issue of the newspaper, when I stumbled upon an online debate over the merits - or, in the minds of some, the perceived lack thereof - of the television sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

Full disclosure before going any further: I w...


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TODAY'S LESSON: MONEY GOOD, TRUTH BAD

April 19, 2023
I'm sorry.

I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried, and then I tried some more. And the more I tried, the more I realized that I just couldn't do it.

I simply cannot see the Fox-Dominion settlement as any kind of real "victory." Okay, sure, Dominion's pocket book will be a little thicker and Fox's a little leaner - but other than that, what was accomplished?

Nothing.

That became obvious the moment Fox released that ridiculous statement about their "continued commitment to the highest journalis...

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IN PRAISE OF AMERICAN GRAFITTI

January 12, 2023

(Note: This is a newspaper column that I wrote last year, and which I had fully intended to post here earlier - but things happen, you know?)

I recently had the opportunity to re-watch one of my all-time favorite motion pictures, and was reminded yet again of just how great a film it is.


American Graffiti, George Lucas’ second theatrical film, was one of the first films of its era to prove the value in “word of mouth promotion.“ Dimly viewed by the studio execs at the time - who famousl...


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WITH APOLOGIES TO DICKENS: AN ELECTION EVE CAROL

November 4, 2022

While having dinner out this past Saturday night with my family, I happened to run into my old friend Julian Frye for the first time in what seemed like forever. 


He looked a little green around the gills and wasn’t acting like his usual flamboyant, “I’m the world’s last authentic playboy” self - and as anyone who has known Julian for as long as I have will almost certainly quickly attest, such behavior on his part is always cause for alarm.


“Why so glum, chum?” I asked him. ...


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A DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE

August 31, 2022

Today would have been Mom and Dad’s 60th wedding anniversary. They were together just short of 55 years when Mom passed away in 2017; Dad joined her a little over a year later, just a few weeks short of their 56th anniversary.

Theirs was a union that weathered many storms - too many of them, I’m afraid, the result of three thoughtless young sons who hadn’t quite figured out yet just what kind of sacrifices their parents were willing to make for them. I would be an adult myself before I ...


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How I Spent My Summer Vacation, 2022 Edition...

August 17, 2022

Lighthouse At Casco Bay, Portland, Maine (Photo by Yours Truly)



I wanted to. I really did.

There I was, driving along U.S. Highway 22 west on the evening of Aug. 5, through the most torrential downpours that I had seen in many a moon. It was the longest single day we would spend on the road during this year’s summer vacation - a 12-hour, 682-mile trek that began that morning in Maine and would ultimately end at the Doubletree Convention Center in Cranberry, Penn., that night - and to be h...


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About Me


John Allen Small John A. Small is an award-winning newspaper journalist, columnist and broadcaster whose work has been honored by the Oklahoma Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Newspaper Association, and the Oklahoma Education Association. He and his wife Melissa were married in 1986; they have two sons, Joshua Orrin (born 1991) and William Ian (born 1996). Mr. Small is the News Editor and columnist for the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Tishomingo, OK. He obtained his nickname, "Bard of the Lesser Boulevards," from a journalism colleague - the late Phil Byrum - in recognition of the success of his popular newspaper column, "Small Talk." (In addition to the many awards the column itself has received over the years, a radio version of "Small Talk" earned an award for "Best Small Market Commentary" from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1998.) John was born in Oklahoma City in 1963; lived in the Bradley-Bourbonnais-Kankakee area of Illinois for most of the next 28 years (with brief sojourns in Texas and Athens, Greece, thrown in to break up the monotony); then returned to his native state in 1991, where he currently resides in the Tishomingo/Ravia area. He graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais in 1991. The years between high school and college were a period frought with numerous exploits and misadventures, some of which have become the stuff of legend; nobody was hurt along the way, however, which should count for something. In addition to his professional career as a journalist he has published two short story collections: "Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West" (2007), a collection of western stories; and "Something In The Air" (2011), a more eclectic collection. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Locus Award-nominated science fiction anthology "Myths For The Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe," edited by Win Scott Eckert. In additon he has written a stage play and a self-published cookbook; served as project editor for a book about the JFK assassination entitled "The Men On The Sixth Floor"; and has either published or posted on the Internet a number of essays, stories and poems. He has also won writing awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Library of Poetry. He is a past president of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce in Tishomingo; was a charter member and past president of the Johnston County Reading Council, the local literacy advocacy and "friends of the library" organization; served as Johnston County's first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in 1994-95; served two terms as chairman of the Johnston County (OK) Democratic Party; and has taught journalism classes for local Boy Scout Merit Badge Fairs. He is a member of the New Wold Newton Meteorics Society.

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