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From time to time, in the heat of debate, we find ourselves uttering something that, given a moment or two of reflection, we either might not have said or we would have qualified in order to clarify our intent. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to be challenged by someone who has heard us, thereby allowing us the opportunity to correct or clarify what we meant.
Exactly that happened this morning when, following the Culture Wars segment on the John Oakley show, I was contacted by a listener who challenged a statement I made while intending to point out that there are bad realities within relationships sanctioned by the church, not just in those maligned by it. In so doing, however, I said that spousal abuse is a "heterosexual issue". It is, of course, an abhorrent reality in many relationships and not at all exclusively those that are heterosexual. Indeed, its prevalence in homosexual relationships may be neglected because of the heterocentrist assumptions about abuse that are prevalent in society and are reinforced by media representations of it.
Please take a moment to visit the site managed by AARDVARC, An Abuse Rape Domestic Violence Aid and Resource Collection. I thank my listener for sending me the link and giving me an opporrtunity to explain myself and apologize for potentially reinforcing a stereotype that needs to be diminished in order that we are able to see reality more clearly. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 12 January 2010 )
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When I have the opportunity to engage the public in conversations about the evolution of religion or the necessity for religions to move beyond their role as mediators of a narrative that includes a supernatural component, I am often challenged by those who argue that the God I say we need to move away from doesn't exist. The argument is that we no longer believe in a male God who lives in the sky and intervenes in human affairs to offer us a way to follow, to reward us for good behaviour, or to chastise us and discipline us for running off the divinely ordained rails. My response has always been that the concept of God toward which many in leadership roles in liberal mainline denominations have migrated is not the same God that is still mightily known and entrenched in the world around us. And so, I say, it's not a straw man, it's what people really believe.
Now I have proof. Watch this video from the November 17th edition of The Agenda with Steve Paikin. Each of the other panelists draw upon the reality of that God even if it is initially presented as an "absurd dream" created to help us cope with our "absurd lives."
Enjoy. I did.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 November 2009 )
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As a panelist on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, November 17th at 8:00 on TVO, I'll be discussing the evolution of faith. The question on everyone's mind is "Can faith evolve? Which, of course, leads to the next question, "If yes, will it?" Tune in, or if you missed the segment, pick it up on TVO's site. |
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