Faithful Philly Forum

Poor Jesus. For all the people who truly heard his message there were so many more who did not get it. Even among the people for whom he worked miraculous healing. One day it was two blind men who were given sight, at least of the material kind. He asked them to keep quiet but they ran off shouting the news. Another time he healed ten men and women with leprosy and only one of them turned back to praise this work of profound, incarnate, power and love.
Buddhist monks incarnate the hopeful, outraged, spirit of love and march in the streets of Myanmar. People notice for a minute when the monks are brutalized, but then they rush off to shout about other things. And see Frank Rich’s op-ed piece in the NY Times on Sunday. The US is using torture techniques developed in Hitler’s Germany. Where is the outrage? Daily we are called see and hear the Incarnation and that which would destroy it … to notice and to choose.

One of the bright lights of social science in the past half century is also one of the most criticized. Phil Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment, where mentally and physically healthy college student were randomized to be guards or prisoners. Its common material in the ‘research ethics’ unit for Psych 101 or masters level research methods courses. I think he is a bright light because he has learned from his most notorious work what the rest of us need to learn–that we are inextricably shaped by our surroundings, and that while we are accountable for our individual behavior, that leaders are also to be held accountable for the environment in which individuals make behavior choices. Continue Reading »

I was in my car yesterday afternoon, heading home after running some errands. NPR was playing and I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to it until this story came on. It’s about a challenging issue that the Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad, CA is struggling with these days. Back in January, a twice-convicted sex offender came to their congregation, openly admitted to his past offensives and then asked to be allowed to join them. The church is split and in the story they say that several families have already left over this issue.

I find this interesting because at my own church we talk about radical acceptance and making space for anyone who wants to be there. But we haven’t been challenged with something on this level, and it makes me wonder how we’d react. I’d like to think that we’d be able to allow him in, but I wonder what this would do to the energy and openness of a church community.

Any thoughts?