I don't care that he's a Republican. I don't care that he's a hunter. Neither of those things make the slightest bit of difference to me, although some of my friends on the more Lefthanded side of the equation may wish that they did. I know many good folks who are Republicans and many fine folks who hunt.
I don't care that he perpetuates the worst stereotypes about a certain type of legislator from the part of the country where I was born and raised.
OK.... I do care about that a bit................ Maybe more than a bit.....
But I very deeply care that he trades in ignorance,arrogance, and resentment. That he sows the seeds of desolation and calls this a pious act. I care that, despite his medical degree, he either fundamentally misunderstands what science is, or at the very least, misrepresents what science is for his own gain. I care about this because as a Member of the US House of Representatives, he sits on the Science Committee and determines government policy concernng scientific matters. How does anyone believe that the sort of reasoning espoused here is sound or rooted in anything other than the politics of pandering toward ignorance and resentment?
If this was a Muslim leader saying these same things and only substituting the Koran for the Bible it would be hard to believe that he wasn't an angry extremist workng to create a more dark and dangerous world. Extremist views have far more in common wth other extremist views than the respective faiths of which they so arrogantly claim to be the sole voice.
As someone who considers himself a Christian, I am really tired of people mis-using my holy book as a science text, a history text, an archeologic text, or a work of journalism. Do the contents of The Bible deal with those things? Yes. But a huge disservice is done to the Bible when it is forced to be a manual, text, or reference work for which it is ultimately ill suited. I find The Bible to hold many of the most sacred and holy truths for me.... and yet, I know it's not a very good stand-in as a manual to fix an engine or to find a recipe. I don't ask it to be what it is not. And I find the use of it to fan the flames of passionate ignorance more distasteful and blasphemous than if it were employed as a door stop.
I find truth in Genesis. For that truth to be real for me, I don't need for it to function as journalism.
I find truth in the various tellings of the birth of Jesus in the Gospels. I don't need to ignore their discrepancies to recognize an underlying truth.
I find the most beautiful truth in the story of the loaves and the fishes. I know it is an inspiration for the poor in spirit. An inspiration for those who wish, along with the help of others, and also with the help of the transcendent mystery I choose to call God, to strive to bring forth something from nothing.
Although I was not physically there at that gathering related in the Bible, I know the truth of that story from many other gatherings that I have be fortunate to take part in. I have felt the truth of that story in my soul. In that sense, it is the most true and heartening story for me. In no small part, that story has lead me to make my life about working to spread what is good and nourishing among a group of my fellows. I have made my life about working with others to make something out of nothing. I cherish the truth of that story. A challenge to me about whether or not I believe that x number of fishes and loaves were actually multiplied on x day by anyone means less than nothing to me. I know the truth of that story, and no challenger can take that truth from me. Not Jerry Falwell. Not Bill Mahr. And certainly not Rep. Paul Broun.
Concerning meetings in life with its Paul Broun's.... here is the way that it usually goes down: You, Dr. Broun, ask me if I believe in the Bible. Do I believe that it happened? I tell you that I know that it happened in the story. You tell me that is not true belief. That I must believe that it happened in history. I tell you that history is a story. You say that history is truth. I tell that I believe that truth need not be historical. I don't believe that the truth of that of which you are speaking to be appropriately revealed by the precepts of science. I believe that the essence of that truth is beauty. And for any man to make that beautiful truth to have to adhere to the strictures of science or history is to cut the heart from the deep and transcendent Mystery. And that is an abuse of truth. A desecration of beauty.
The song I was taught to sing as a kid told me that I loved to tell the story. And I do. And besides that one story, so many more. I take the telling of stories very seriously. From many people. From many places. From many times. And from no time or place that you might consider ever actually...... existed. And yet true... very true. I have made this activity my life's work. I find truth in stories. I sometimes find far more truth in these non existent times and places than in the more mundane realm of actual happenstance.
And, while you, Dr. Broun, stake a claim to a book so holy and believe that the literal truth of it is the best or only truth, I will hold its truth in my heart and know my heart to be with the heart of the universe. And I hope that you will live to actually feel that. A truth that you don't have to "take back" . Because you never lost it. It is only there to gain. The Big Bang does not take that away. Dinosaurs do not take that away. The footprints at Latoli do not take that away. Charles Darwin does not take that away. These things... all things... are but a local manifestation of a transcendent Mystery. Gain this knowledge, Dr. Broun, and divide the bread and the fishes with us all.
From my friend, Joe Campbell: "There’s no real conflict between science and religion. Religion is the recognition of the deeper dimensions that the science reveals to us. What is in conflict is the science of 2000 B.C., which is what you have in the Bible, and the science of the twentieth century A.D."
I think I can safely extrapolate this to be truthful for the 21st Century, as well.
