The Art of Living

The quote, "If you are young and not liberal, then you have no heart, but if you are old and not conservative, then you have no brain," is most often attributed to Disraeli or to Churchill. It seems more Churchillian to me, but it really doesn't matter who said it as much as it matters what was said at this point in our history.

I usually try to stay away from politics in this blog, but the country is sharply divided between liberal and conservative citizens like no other time in modern history. Worse yet, the country is divided between radical liberals and radical conservatives as in no other time in our modern history. To me it is very easy to navigate the radical divide. Radicals are never deserving of our considering their ideas and ideals other than to guard against them. The reason is simple, radicals have stopped thinking, if indeed they every thought at all, they act only on emotion and self-interest. That is the root of the evil that is presently preying upon our country. So many citizens, including most of our elected officials have long since forgotten their duty to the public interest and the good of the country. There is not a single statesman left in the Congress. They all say and do whatever is necessary in their minds to get reelected and enrich themselves at the public expense.

The prime example of this kind of behavior, unfortunately, is at the very top of our government. That is not to say that he is acting any worse than other elected officials, he just happens to be at the top of the heap and thus more visible. He and the other 644 men and women who make up the three branches of our Federal government have long since forgotten the art of governing. In fact, they have tragically forgotten the art of living itself, and the country, indeed the world, is the worse for it. For much of our 218 year history, the United States has been a positive and respected bastion of leadership and selfless service to the world. Over and over again, we have spilled our own blood on foreign battlefields to save the world from tyranny and tyrants. Now, we have squandered that leadership and that respect in the name of partisan politics and self-interest.

All this can be turned around. Reagan was very successful in giving the United States a new sense of love of country and a new respect for  the countries place in the world after the devastating Carter years. It could happen again, but I'm not optimistic. I see no one on the political stage that has Reagan's abilities to unite people and make them realize there is more to our common good than to our disagreements. More dismaying is that I see no one on the national scene that has Reagan's natural goodness of heart.

It is important to realize that the shape the country is in today did not have it genesis in politics. Its roots are unmistakably entwined in all of us. We are a people who have succumbed to the baser sides of prosperity, self-interest and emotionalism. In short, as a people, we have forgotten the art of living.

For those of us who are gay or bisexual, the art of living has always been a struggle. But now, life has become a struggle for almost every American. The middle class which has always been the backbone of the country has largely disappeared. Why? Because businesses have broken the social contract that allowed them to make money while allowing their workers to prosper too. Henry Ford made himself a millionaire by building and pricing his automobiles in such a manner that the men who built them could afford to drive them. The genius of his thinking is now forgotten. The business of business today is to make as much money as possible with absolutely no regard for the workers who actually make the money for their employers other than to push them harder and harder to make more.

Anything that makes money is fair game. Houston's Enron Corporation opened the flood gates on that way of doing business and the biggest and once respected members of the U.S. financial firms and the Barney Madoff's have followed their example in droves. Just find something to sell. If you have to make it up that's ok. Package it to look inviting and hawk it to the suckers all the time knowing it is worthless. No matter that millions of people loose their jobs and their homes so long as a profit is made by the crooks in suits, white shirts and ties. If you have any doubt of this at all, consider that while the financial sector makes up just 6% of employment in the U.S it now enjoys 30% of U.S. income. That tells the story.

It doesn't have to be this way. None of us is above some degree of greed or self interest. Certainly, no one is above disreputable behavior, but that doesn't mean that greed and disreputable behavior have to be the things at which we excel.

Last week, I came across an article in the August, 2014, Reader's Digest entitled "Art of Living. The title itself caught my interest and I began to read the excellent article by Mark Divine. The article is taken from Divine's book The Way of the Seal.

Divine confides that after college he entered the world of accounting and consulting without much thought other than making a lot of money. As a talented young man he did indeed begin to make a great deal of money, but to his surprise he found that more and more often he found himself feeling unhappy and dissatisfied with the daily grind. It was not only the grind that was getting to him. He found himself feeling dirty about tactics his firm was using that were not precisely illegal, but were unethical. The tactics sometimes forced companies innocent of any wrong doing into bankruptcy and forced their workers out of their jobs. The realization horrified Divine.

For some time Divine had had a desire to quit his high paying job and become a public servant. A big

man in great shape with a real love of physical exercise and the outdoors, he knew exactly how he wanted to serve. He wanted to become a Navy Seal Officer. Soon the straw that broke the camel's back occurred in Divine's company. He resigned. A year later he graduated from Navy Seal training. Eighty cadets had started the training. Divine was one of 19 who graduated, and he was at the top of his class. He went on to serve honorably as a Seal, and after retiring from the Navy he started an entrepreneurial career which lead him to create several successful multi million dollar companies.

My son is career Navy. Though he was never a Navy Seal, he was a member of the Navy's Special Ops. I was very pleased to read Divine's description of some of the things he learned along his successful career in leadership. Several of them were the same conversations my son and I have had about leadership. For instance, Divine says that leadership is not a skill. Instead, leadership is a character set - a core value of one's personality. Successful, happy and fulfilled people, Divine says, have core values such as honor, courage and a true commitment to personal excellence that makes them natural leaders. It is a conversation my son and I have had many times. For my son, his own sense of honor, courage and commitment to personal excellence helped him to become one of the youngest Command Master Chief's in the U.S. Navy, and it has guided him through many a battle and many a tight squeeze. No one should ever get the idea that honor, courage and commitment to personal excellence is something that is always appreciated. It's not. When one rises above his peers, there is often jealousy and peek. When a young career military man still in his twenties begins to be singled out for praise from senior officers, junior officers are, more often than not, less than supportive.

Divine tells of a senior officer challenging him to succinctly state what he stood for. After several false starts, he told the officer, "Destiny favors the prepared in body, mind and spirit." Again it is a concept my son and I have talked about many times. When he first joined the Navy, I told him that if he was always willing to do more than was asked of him, he would have an exceptional career. Luckily, it was one of the times he truly listened to me and his personal commitment to always being prepared and willing to go the extra mile served him well from the very beginning of his career right into the second decade of his career.

Divine goes on to explain that after talking with the officer, he went on to expand what it meant to him to be prepared in body, mind and spirit. He wrote the following stand:

• Destiny will favor me if I am prepared in body, mind and spirit.
• I must work harder than expected and be more patient than others.
• Leadership is a privilege, not a right.
• As a warrior, I will be the last to pick up the sword but will fight to protect myself, my family and my country.  (This another conversation my son and I have had many many times. Nothing irks my son more than for someone to say or imply that military men and women love fighting. He tells people that as a young man who has seen the horrors of war often and first hand, he hates war and fighting, but he accepts the responsibility to protect his country and those he loves at any cost.)
• I will find happiness by seeking truth, wisdom and love and not by chasing thrills, wealth, titles or fame.
• I will seek to improve myself, my team and the world every day.

Divine, correctly states that few people these days take the time to think deeply about their personal ethos.  He encourages the people he works with to take the following steps to correct this:

• Write out a personal list of the principles on which you stand.
• Define personal values.
• Identify personal passions.
• Discover the purpose of your life.

I believe that every life has a purpose. Unfortunately, I also believe that the number of people who identify their life's purpose are much smaller than the number who do not. It's a tragedy. Knowing one's purpose in life can make the good times in one's life even more rewarding and it can smooth over the inevitable rough spots as well.

As a young boy, my parents always reminded me that God would use me - use me as a good example if he could, as a bad example if he must. We live in a time when bad examples surround us on all sides. Those who cheat, steal and use others are exalted in our popular culture. Even those who murder are often admired. How did we get to this point? I think Divine would say, it is because so few of us have any personal set of ethics. We just go with the flow.

I was raised by parents for whom ethical behavior was paramount. Breeches of ethical behavior on my part were always punished. Thus, ethics became an important part of my life as well. As a young bisexual man who wanted a traditional marriage and family and who seemed to need something beyond that as well, ethical behavior in that part of my life was always troublesome. As I've gotten older I find that I am glad to have been troubled. The troublesome nature of my life helped me to at least stay within personal boundaries of propriety and safety.

As a Christian, I've always struggled with the concept of hell. I have come not to believe in a geographically defined pit of burning unquenchable fire. However, I very much believe that hell does exist. It exist all around us and within us, and when hell does invade our minds and our spirits, its metaphorical fires can indeed be unquenchable.

The antidote to this metaphorical hell is the Art of Living. A life lived well is a beautiful thing and a

very satisfying thing. Unfortunately, we live in an era when parents dearest wish for their children is for them to live a life free of adversity. We would do well instead to teach our children to live an artful life. In an artful life children would grow into adults who could face any adversity and overcome it, if not in a physical sense, in a spiritual and mental sense. I have an incurable cancer. Barring a medical breakthrough, it will kill me. But I have overcome my cancer. I do not let it define me. I define myself and I choose to live a life in which I count my many blessings rather than to dwell on physical and social cancers that surround me. Such is the blessing of living an Artful Life.

None of us can control what adversities we encounter in life. What we can control is how we handle those adversities. Handling them in such a manner that they are temporary inconveniences and refusing to be defined by our adversities is the definition of Artful Living.

Jack Scott

And Then There is Texas

I've always been proud to be a Texan. Texas is a truly unique place in the world. That is not to say that there are not other unique places in the world. There are of course. That is why my wife and I spend so much time traveling around the world. But Texas is the unique place with which I am most familiar and the place I always return to from my travels.

That said, more and more my pride in being a Texan is being shaken these days by the utter stupidity

of some of those who make news as political activists. Recently Texas had its State GOP Convention. Nothing wrong with that of course. Every state has one, but undoubtedly none of these other states conventions come up with as many stupid platform proposals as do the far right-wing Texans who represent the evangelical Christians and the Tea Party and dominate the Platform Committee.

In the recent GOP Convention in Texas the approximately 7000 member Platform Committee decided in their total lack of wisdom that the GOP Platform should contain language supporting Reparative Therapy for gays to help them become straight. Seeing as how every respected psychiatric organization in the United States has declared Reparative Therapy to be roughly the equivalent of curative snake oil, it was an embarrassing moment for most Texas Republicans and for Texas. But that is part of the problem. The far right-wing Christians and the radical Tea Party members have no capacity whatsoever to be embarrassed over their own stupidity and ignorance. The are perfectly comfortable in their feelings that what they believe is truth and that it is their duty to see that everyone else believes it too.

While other states are recognizing the reality of equal opportunity under the law for gays to marry their same-sex partners, too many Texans cling to the false notion that such marriages would be a direct and immediate danger to their own marital status.

Fortunately, at the same time, an amazing number of Texas citizens do not subscribe to this foolishness. The other day a couple of my gay friends invited my wife and I to a party at their home. They have a large home in a part of Houston that is being regentrified  on the north side. This regentrification is largely the product of gay couples who are moving into the area and fixing up homes that have been home to squatters for the last several years. The house my friends bought was totally covered in vines in the front. In the back, windows had been broken for squatters to enter and the house was a total wreck. Light fixtures, air conditioners and anything else with any value had been ripped out and carried away. In just less than a year, my friends turned it into a showplace again much to the liking of their straight neighbors.

The neighbors have not only continued to be supportive but also quick to include my friends in the social activities of the neighborhood. At the party there were lesbian couples, gay couples and straight couples. It was not a gay party. It was a neighborhood party and everyone had a great deal of fun. The party started at 5:00 p.m. and the invitation said it would continue until the last guest departed. That turned out to be a little after 2:00 a.m.

The point is that most of Texas' population is located in its three large metropolitan areas and these

people are doing a great job of learning how to judge people, not by their sexual orientation or the color of their skin, but rather by their character. It is a wonderful thing. It's not such a wonderful thing that the chief purveyors of hate and discrimination these days is found in our politics and in our evangelical churches. Oh sure, the claim to love the sinner but hate the sin thinking that lets them off the hook. It never occurs to them that homosexuality might not always be a sin.

Yesterday a circuit court in Denver ruled that every state must allow same-sex marriage under the equal protection provisions of the Constitution of the United States of America. This sets in motion the process that will end with a review by the U.S. Supreme Court. No one can predict what the sharply divided court will do in this case; but if I was betting, I know where I'd place my bet.

We live in interesting times. There is much wrong with our world. Hatred looms in too many areas of the world fed all to0 often by religious zealots who use religion to support their own hate and prejudice.

I'm proud to be an American and a Texan, for although we're far from perfect, we remain the best hope of the world and things generally are getting better all the time in our part of the world. Hopefully our politicians and our religious leaders will come to recognize that they are out of touch with the citizens they represent. We'll never get rid of political institutions, but if religious institutions don't soon come to grips with changing realities, they'll soon find themselves having to close their doors for lack of money and congregations to keep them open.

Jack Scott

Neo Sexuality

Earlier this month Josh Hutcherson gave gave a candid interview to "Out Magazine." Hutcherson is an up and coming actor whose latest film release was "Hunger Games."

Hutcherson turned 21 years old on October 12th. He was born in Union, Kentucky, a state not noted for its liberal or cutting edge social values. However, in the "Out" interview, Hutcherson held nothing back while discussing who he is and his views on his own sexuality.

At one point in the interview while replying to a question on his own sexuality, he replied:

"I would probably list myself as mostly straight,"  Maybe I could say right now I'm 100 percent straight. But who knows? In a fucking year, I could meet a guy and be like, 'Whoa, I'm attracted to this person … I've met guys all the time that I'm like, 'Damn, that's a good-looking guy,' you know? I've never been, like, 'Oh, I want to kiss that guy.' I really love women. But I think defining yourself as 100% anything is kind of near-sighted and close-minded." 

"I have this dream that one day, my kid's gonna come home from school and be like, 'Dad, there's this girl that I like, and there's this guy that I like, and I don't know which one I like more, and I don't know what to do.' And it'd just be a non-issue, like, 'Which one is a good person? Which one makes you laugh more?'"

Hutcherson may well be the voice of the future for the young people of America. There is no doubt that a large number of American  youngsters are, unlike their parents, not  uptight about  homosexuality and

bisexuality. A huge number of younger Americans see homosexuality and bisexuality as just another choice of sexual identity; and to them, one who makes that choice is no more cause for being singled out than is one who chooses heterosexuality.

A growing number of Americans of all ages can and do identify with Hutcherson's dream for a time when sexuality is a non-issue for their children and grandchildren.

Hutcherson went on to explain how his opinions on sexuality were shaped, in part, by the deaths of his two gay uncles in the AIDS epidemic of the 1990"s. His uncle Steve died only one day after his mother revealed to her brother that she was pregnant with Josh. Hutcherson told "Out" he was sorry he never met his uncles.

"…they sound amazing," he said.

In "The Hunger Games," Hutcherson plays the part of Peeta, a baker's son in the poor District 12. He finds  himself  in  triangle amoureux  with   heroine Katniss  and her life  long  male friend Gale. "Out"asked Hutcherson if he thought some of Peeta's problems could have been solved by a threesome, he thought it was a great idea. He said he was even going to pitch the idea for the sequels. 

Hutcherson has been active in GLBT causes and willing to use his fame for the good of the GLBT community.

 

In 2012, Hutcherson was presented with the Vanguard Award by GLAAD in recognition of his work, an honor that's given to a straight ally who fights for GLBT equality.

In his acceptance speech, he spoke about why he launched Straight But Not Narrow, a group dedicated to providing straight people with tools to fight against homophobia.  

"We wanted to create a place where straight people felt safe coming out and saying, 'It’s okay to be gay,'" he said. "And I didn't know one, so we decided we were going to make one and we have. It's gaining momentum and it means the world to me."

Clearly Josh Hutcherson is a seeker and supporter of change in America's views on sexuality. There is evidence that he and others like him are the vanguard of a movement which will result in extraordinary change in our sexual morés. Here's wishing him success.

Jack Scott

The Proliferation of Ignorance; The Realization of a Dream

I don't know if it's just me or if others have noticed as well, over the last few years it has become increasingly difficult to avoid witnessing the proliferation of ignorance that more and more seems to surround us.

Some of the ignorance, I can overlook or dismiss; but much of it is already or will be affecting the lives and well being of all Americans. It has gotten to the point in dealing with businesses and their associates that I am surprised when I find someone who is competent, courteous and genuinely helpful.

I dropped into my local Micky D's last Friday for a late breakfast. I had forgotten to take my meds at the usual time that morning and talking them late, I could not eat for an hour after taking them. I walked into Micky D's at 10:30 and asked the young clerk for a sausage, egg and biscuit sandwich and a milk. She mumbled something I didn't catch, but I knew it wasn't, "Yes sir, coming right up." I said, "I'm sorry what was that?"

This time she pointed to the menu board overhead and repeated her one word reply, "Lunch." Who in the hell eats lunch at 10:30 a.m, I wanted to shout; but I said, "Thank you" instead and turned to walk out. A well dressed woman around my age had been standing at the door as I entered. As I walked to the door to leave she was still there. "Is there a problem," she asked.

"No," I replied, i'm just too late for breakfast I guess."

"I'm sorry, what did you want?" she asked.

I told her, and she said, "Well surely we can fix you up. Hold on a second."

She went back into the kitchen and quickly returned and asked if I could wait two minutes for the sandwich?

I said, "Sure."

In no time at all, she delivered my hot, fresh sandwich. I paid the "one word" clerk for it, and said, "Thank you."

The older woman said, "We can't have people walking out unsatisfied." I told her I appreciated it.

I know the world is different now, but I started working in a drive in hamburger joint when I was 14. Had I ever handled a customer, the way the young lady at the counter in Micky D's handled me, I wouldn't have lasted a day. Customer service was expected to be a constant. A one word reply to a customer's order which couldn't be filled for some reason demanded an explanation and an apology for the inconvenience.

That afternoon, I went to the ATT store to set my phone up for international service since I am leaving for Italy later this week. I was met at the door by a young associate who appeared to be 19 or 20. She was pleasant and smiling, an improvement over the "one word" associate at McDonalds. I told her what I needed, and she said she would be happy to help me with that and to explain several options to me.

She asked where I was going and I told her Italy. She said she was sorry but she wasn't too good with geography, and then asked where Italy was. I managed a smile and a small laugh and told her it was in southern Europe. There were no other hitches, and she soon had me fixed up. She gave me the international number for ATT customer service and told me to call it if I had problems while in Italy. All in all she was pleasant and helpful; but I couldn't help thinking, how can a 19 year old high school grad not know where Italy is?

Yesterday, I was watching television. The segment was Water's World. Jesse Waters was at a GLBT Parade at Coney Island in New York interviewing the participants of the parade. I have to admit the costumes of the parade participants did not fill me with pride to be a bisexual man, but I was torn about what upset me most, the outlandish XXX rated costumes or the people lined up watching the parade with their small children in tow.

But my decision making on that question was interrupted when Waters began interviewing some of the parade participants about their patriotism and love of country. I was shocked that, almost to a person, the revelers said they did not consider themselves patriotic. A young man in a sailor suit and lipstick painted lips and the mannerism of a flaming homosexual said that he was not patriotic and neither did he feel any love for his country. I know I'm an old man getting more and more crotchety all the time, but I couldn't help but think that both he and the country would be better off if we deported his ass to Iran or even Saudi Arabia where he could get a taste of how governments in that part of the world deal with homosexuals. Maybe in his last breaths, he would realize how much he did in fact love his country and the freedoms with which it bestowed him. Being gay or bisexual is no justification for constant mindless hedonism.

Last night, my wife and I went to dinner and a movie with another couple who are our decades long friends. We saw The Butler. It was, in spite of some of its reviews, a very good movie. It brought

home to me once again how brutal segregation and racism had been in much of the South. In 1963, I was working, as I mentioned before, in a hamburger joint. The one exception to the rules concerning customer service was for negro customers. Negro customers who entered the store were informed they could not be seated, but they were welcome to order and take their food out.

The reality was, it was simply a policy I didn't understand, and it embarrassed me beyond measure to have to refuse service to a black person. I had grown up in a small Texas town that had no black residents. I had never been in personal contact with a black person other than my grandfather's farm hand. He was a nice guy, always laughing and carrying on, but a hard and dependable worker. Why would anyone want to refuse to sell someone like him a hamburger and let him sit and eat it?

The same went for Jews. There were no Jews in our town, but in the next town east where we did a lot of our shopping, the men's store was owned by Mr. Bernstein. When I first learned Jews were hated and discriminated against world wide and that Hitler had killed six million of them for no other reason than that they were Jews, I just couldn't place Mr. Bernstein in that picture. He was a nice man. He always gave me candy when I was in the store with my parents. What was there to hate about someone like Mr. Bernstein?

As the newsreels from 1963 Birmingham and other southern cities unfolded once again on the screen as part of The Butler screenplay, I could remember seeing those same television reports that summer. Even as a 16 year old white boy, I was appalled. How could anyone hate that much? I simply did not understand then, and I cannot understand now.

But I couldn't help but think Dr. King would also be appalled if he knew what the present state of his dream is today. When the movie ended, the theater patrons, mostly middle age and elderly whites, stood and applauded. To me it was a repudiation of the 1960's brutality against the Civil Rights Movement and an apology for what we all had allowed to happen during the 100 years of segregation in this country. It was also a promise that, while this country is, and never will be perfect, we are, as a people, committed to judging people, not by "the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," just as Dr. King dreamed.

How could anyone stand up and say race relations have not improved in this country at all over the last 50 years? Yet many young blacks and a few black leaders like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who make their living off racial strife, have repeated such statements or implied such falsehoods often over the last decade. I understand the so called leaders. For them, it is just personal economics. I understand the young people too. They are just ignorant in the classic sense of the word, but there is no acceptable excuse for such ignorance. To state or even think such a thing is a slap in the face to those who suffered, bled and died in the Civil Rights struggle.

Dr King and his supporters endured arrest, jail, beatings and even willingly died to get black students into white schools in the mid 1960's. Today, black kids are so thankful for that sacrifice they willingly walk out of schools   by the thousands by their own choice without finishing their education.  Nation wide the dropout rate for blacks is more than 13%. But in some states the dropout rate for black males is 53%. Still, many in the black community as well as the white liberal establishment have the audacity to blame continuing racism for the overwhelming number of black men incarcerated in this country. Does anyone really think anyone, black, white or green, can make an honest living in this country without at least a high school education? If they do, they are part of the proliferation of sheer ignorance that is bedeviling the country and those of us who are responsible and informed citizens footing the bill for ourselves and the ignorant.

The right to an equal education for black children was literally purchased with the blood of the fathers and grandfathers of the black children who are choosing to walk out of school and turn instead to a life of crime or complete dependence on the social welfare network.

Of course, these children are not alone in their ignorance of the realities of life. Somewhere along the way, the generations who faught, bled and died to do away with segregation and promote racial equality forgot the full context of Dr. King's dream. Dr. King said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." In too many minds this dream of Dr. King's has been shortened to, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin."  The condition of character has long since been forgotten in favor of stoking the eternal flames of racism.

Somehow, black parents who faught so nobly for basic civil rights, allowed their children and grandchildren to fail to rise to the level of education and work ethic that is required to maintain a working society. Blacks, especially black men, walked away from the black churches which had been the heart and soul of the Civil Rights Movement. Black culture fell victim to the drug culture as well as to the single parent culture. Black children born out of wedlock is now almost 75%. Boys raised without a good male role model will grow up to father children for whom they can never be a decent role model.

And to make matters worse, virtually none of the increasing number of black millionaires and even larger community of highly successful black business men and women who have proved that race is no barrier at all to success in this country have bothered to mentor the present generation of fatherless black children and teach them the value of education, hard work, self respect and love of country. For the most part, these successful blacks live in their own comfortable world. It seems their attitude is, "I got mine the hard way. You can damn sure do the same."

And white society is not immune to this process of systemic and systematic degeneration. It is happening there too. It's just that white society was a little better established than black society and had further to fall to reach the bottom, but the fall is underway. It shows in the fact that there is no longer much of a white middle class. White society is now largely divided into two halves. One an educated upper class who pay taxes, work hard to educate their children and prepare them for success in the modern world. The other, an under class of uneducated or under educated who barely scrapes by and is loosing ground with each passing year. I see this in my own extended family. Many of my cousins will never reach the level of success their parents enjoyed. Their social status is in reverse. Somehow the white underclass has been overwhelmed by the demands that are part and parcel of the American dream in which each successive generation builds a better life than that enjoyed by their fathers.

For too many in present day America, basic ignorance is ok. It's even celebrated. Who needs to know who the Secretary of State is anyway? Who needs to know where Korea is located? Who really needs an education anyway? Isn't everyone entitled to his or her opinion whether they are educated or not and whether they have the slightest bit of intellectual gravitas to support their opinion?

Thomas Jefferson, probably the most revered of the founding fathers next to George Washington said at the beginning of the 19th century, "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people." Today, many twenty something year olds cannot name a single one of the founding fathers. They think the 19th century ended thirteen years ago, and they never heard of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was one of the best educated people of his generation. God help us if he was right about the vital requisite to our survival! We no longer have an educated citizenry of voters. We have become and are becoming more and more a citizenry of ignorant and uneducated fools who have never had a serious thought cross their brains.

Our heroes are Milly Cyrus and foul
mouthed rappers who cannot string a cogent sentence together. Who in the hell was John Glenn or George Patton? Who in the hell cares? There is nothing to learn from the past. The only thing that counts is having fun today. Isn't that the truth?

Fortunately, I am provided some hope for the future by a few young friends of mine. One is a young man who is just 31 years old. In spite of his tender age, he is married to a beautiful woman whom he loves and supports. At 31, he is already pulling down an annual salary in excess of 100K. But he is just beginning to fulfill the goals he has set for himself. Betterment for himself and his family is his constant concern. He finds fulfillment in the work he does for his company. He enjoys knowing that he makes a difference in the world. In addition to working for a paycheck, he volunteers a great deal of his time to help young people who are just beginning their careers.  I haven't told him yet, that not only the survival of his family but the very survival of America is on his shoulders and the shoulders of the minority of American young people who are his equal.

My worry is there are not going to be enough young people like him to support those who have made the choice to drink, dance, do drugs and wile away their lives on someone else's dime as long as the good times roll. Who needs responsibility? The government should take care of us. The Constitution or some old document somewhere, says we're all equal. I have my rights! That pretty well sums up the attitudes of the congenitally ignorant who are so prevalent in number these days.

And it's not just Americans who are so predominately ignorant these days. In too many places around the world American young men and women are sacrificing and dying for freedom and democracy in

foreign lands while their party minded ignorant brothers stay home where mama can wash their underwear and dad can foot their bills.

With the blood of American soldiers, we give oppressed people around the world the power of the vote; and what do they do with it? They elect Islamic radicals who openly abhor freedom, and then they blame their failure to achieve freedom and prosperity on America, the great satan.

Nero (an old Roman guy) is said to have fiddled while Rome burned. Whether or not that actually happened is disputed; but there is no dispute at all that the American Congress, Executive Branch and Judicial Branch are fiddling while this country falls to the ground all around us.

Congress has not passed a meaningful law of any kind in over a year. The Executive Branch is printing trillions of dollars in new money to cover up the fact that the country is broke. Trillions of dollars in worthless paper cannot be injected into the economy without the bill coming due at some point. But who cares about the economy.  What is "economy"? The government has money. It's free. Why shouldn't I get my share?

The Judicial Branch concerns itself more with social engineering than making sure that the rule of law is sound and supportive of the American culture for which our founding fathers gave all their worldly possessions and sometimes their very lives.

Alfred Lord Tennyson (a really old English guy whose been dead 121 years) (what could he have known that's relevant today) once said, "Blind and naked ignorance delivers brawling judgements, unashamed on all things all day long." Ain't it the truth? Jessy Waters proves it every week on Waters World. Does it count that I'm ashamed for them?

If you're under thirty-five, here's a sure fire recipe for your future success.

1. Just be half way competent and somewhat enthusiastic. 
2. Show a modicum of respect for those who are older and have proved their ability to prosper. 
3. Never fall for the myth perpetrated upon the last two generations by the liberal elites that America is indeed the great satan of the world. 
4. Don't be ashamed to love your country. 
5. Never fail to recognize how, in spite of the fact it is the greatest country the world has ever known, there is always room for improvement and that improvement can, in fact must, begin with you.

Do these 5 things. Live by them. You'll be rewarded monetarily, socially and spiritually. You'll go far in life while your brothers and sisters who have decided to live for today and not worry about tomorrow fall into early graves, poverty and/or despair.

With ignorance in bold relief all around you, a humble display of these 5 things will take you far, very far in life whether your bisexual, gay or straight. Increasingly, the world is in fact (regardless of those who are too blind, too ignorant and too self absorbed to see it) moving to embrace Dr. King's dream. More and more, people don't give a damn about who you sleep with or what color your skin is. They are willing to judge you on your character and your ability to contribute to the good of the country and its people.

The downside of this increasing willingness of Americans to judge people by their character is  judgement of those with no character will be brutal.  Those judged lacking, whether they are white or black, will be properly considered outcasts. And until they choose to change their ways, such judgement is fair. It is not racist. In fact, one of the most often seen acts of flagrant racism these days is playing the race card in the face of properly applied judgement.

For those with good character and the willingness to apply the 5 principles llisted above, a good and prosperous life is yours for the taking.  

Jack Scott

The Corruption of Political Correctness

Have you noticed how many television programs are touching on subjects other than heterosexual sexuality lately? It started out as a trickle, and it is becoming a torrent. I suppose it is, more than anything else, a manifestation of the ultra liberal television and film industry's concern over and support for liberal causes.

That does not mean I don't think the public airing of programs dealing with alternative sexuality is a bad thing. I don't think that at all. We have become a nation which no longer reads. More and more our values are shaped by the social media. God knows there is more than enough crap scattered throughout the social media and the entertainment industry. I think it is great that they can do at least a few worthwhile services by promoting new view of homosexuality.

I, for one, do not underestimate the service that was provided the country by making gay people seem

acceptable by television shows such as "Will & Grace." The show had an eight year run and it made homosexuality an acceptable topic of discussion for all members of the family from grandma right down to junior. More recently,  "Modern Family" has contributed greatly to the cause by suggesting, correctly, that homosexuality is something that touches a great number of families personally.

Some programs, such as "Major Crimes" are now beginning to get into even more controversial subjects such as transgender issues. I see that as a good thing too. The truth is that many Americans are so ill informed about such subjects that they consider homosexuality, transgender, bisexuality and pedophilia all to be part and parcel manifestations of homosexuality. A little education to the contrary can't hurt.

Recently, I mentioned to a friend that my wife and I along with my son and his family often spent time with a homosexual friend of mine and his partner. The friend asked if I was really that comfortable with my elementary school age grandchildren being exposed to such an atmosphere. I told him it fit rather well with my desire to see my grandchildren learn to accept or reject people based on their merits as individuals rather than their sexuality. My homosexual friends are good people. They have something to contribute to society; otherwise, I wouldn't call them my friends. I'm not ashamed of my friends and don't even attempt to pretend I don't have homosexual friends.

I do admit that I have concerns about the integration of homosexuality into the mainstream of American Culture. I hate to say this; but in my view, race relations in this country have actually gotten worse since Obama was elected President. Many of us hoped that Obama's political success would signal the beginning of the post-racial era in America. It hasn't happened. Antagonisms between the races have actually gotten worse. I think there are many reasons for this - not the least being Obama's own attitudes and knee jerk reactions to racial issues. He has also been altogether to quick create and use racial bias for his own benefit. He has been all to slow to hold black Americans accountable for their own welfare, preferring instead to vastly extend the Nanny State to previously unknown proportions. 

Another thing that has played a part in increasing racial tensions is the 800 pound gorilla in the room that very few are willing to acknowledge. Obama's election itself is the product of race based voting. There is no thinking adult, white or black, who honestly thinks anyone of Obama's experience level and political outlook would ever have been elected to office if such a person were white. This was even  verified during the last election when a number of black voters admitted they were disappointed in Obama, but had no choice other than to vote for the black man. Many will immediately judge me a racist based on that statement. I am not a racist. I know and could name several black men and women who would have been more qualified than Obama to be the first black president, and who undoubtedly would have better used their high office to enhance rather than degrade racial harmony.

I fear that as homosexuality becomes an open part of our society which is perceived as heterosexual, some of the same type of things will take place. We will be expected to give preferences to homosexual people because they are homosexual rather than to judge them on their personal merits.

The recent Zimmerman case illustrates well where a great deal of racism really resides in this country. Many black Americans never once stopped to entertain the idea that Martin just might have contributed something to his own death. All they saw was a dead black man and a white man who admitted killing him in self-defense. The story was completely different a few years ago when OJ savagely murdered two white people. In that case, the white establishment was just out to frame the black man though the evidence that OJ was guilty was overwhelming.

White people do not hesitate to send other white people to prison. White people do not hesitate to identify other white people as white trash. And white people do not hesitate to defend a black person against a white person when the evidence supports defense of the black person. Any honest person knows that to be true. Certainly the number of white men who are in prison for crimes against black people know it to be true.

Our racial problems will end in this country when every citizen white or black reaches the point at which they can honestly judge people by their merits rather than the color of their skin. The significant rise of the black middle and upper class in this country over the past 50 years is proof that white America is willing and able to do just that. The failure of black America to become as vocal about black on black crime as they are about white on black crime indicates black America by and large has not reached that point. The incidents of white on black crime does not come close to the number of incidents of black on black crime, but we hear little about that in the black communities and we certainly don't see Al Shapton and Jessie Jackson taking to the streets to denounce blacks for their crimes against other blacks.

I hope the same type of thing will not happen in the homosexual communities as they become more and more a part of the American mainstream. Over the last 20 years I have come to know a number of homosexual men. Some of them are among my best friends. I have even written one into my will. But there are a number of homosexual men who I wouldn't spit on if they were on fire - not because they are homosexual, but because of things in their life style that have nothing to do with their homosexuality. There are bad homosexual people. That does not mean heterosexual people thus have an excuse to hate all homosexuals. Neither does it mean heterosexuals must think kindly of all homosexual people.

Jack Scott

Decidedly Good News for Texans

It may come as a surprise to some of you, but I'm one Republican voting Texan who is overjoyed at Governor Rick Perry's announcement this afternoon that he will not be seeking another term as Texas' Governor. The only news that could have been better would have been if he had decided to step down before his current term ends in January of 2015.

I've never been a fan of the Governor. I have never once voted for him. He's always just been too slick, and I must say too transparent, for my taste. Perry comes across as a pretty shallow individual to me, and in all his years in public office that initial assessment has been confirmed over and over again. Perry was first elected to public office as a Democrat and remained a Democrat for many years. As late as 1988 he was an enthusiastic supporter of Al Gore for President of the United States. As it began to become clear that being a Democrat was not conducive to a successful political career in Texas, Perry switched parties.

I'm also turned off by Perry's use of religion to further his political career.

I suspect that religion is much more important to Perry as a means of attracting voters than anything else. I could be wrong of course, but what I am not wrong about is that Perry is doing everything he can to push his religious views down the throats of Texans who do not share them or want to share them. Perry was raised a Methodist, but as the votes of the religious right became more important to him his self reported views on religion took a definite swing to the right. In December, 2011 in the run up to his bid for the Presidency, Perry claimed he had a transformation in his views on abortion and announced that he was against abortion for any reason except, perhaps, to save the life of the mother.

Earlier in 2006, Perry had announced that he believed in the inerrancy of the Bible and that anyone who did not accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior would go to Hell. He later tried to back off that position a tad when it brought heat. Perry proclaims himself to be a firm believer in "intelligent design" and has said it should be taught in Texas schools along alongside evolution.

Perry has said he thought Texas' Anti-Sodomy law was an "appropriate" law. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it he  became an enthusiastic supporter of amending the Texas Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

In his book "On My Honor," Perry drew a parallel between homosexuality and alcoholism. He said that gays should take the same tact alcoholics take and simply abstain from gay behavior.

His latest call to require extraordinary measures for the licensing of abortion centers is a perfect example of his pandering to the religious right for votes. He and other Republicans are cloaking the measure in the guise of patient safety. The reality is they don't give a damn about patient safety. Their real goal is to make abortion so expensive that no one can meet the burden of the law and thus abortion centers will have to close in Texas. Anyone that was really as religious as Perry claims to be, would just tell the truth rather than making up a cover story for their actions.

Finally, I'm not a fan of Perry's because he has been altogether too successful financially while feeding at the public trough in Texas. Perry is, after all the son of a Texas farmer. He did graduate from Texas A&M with a degree in Animal Science. He served four years in the Air Force after college and then returned home to cotton farming with his Dad. He became more and more interested in politics. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1984 as a Democrat. In 1990 he used his new status as a Republican to win the office of Agriculture Commissioner. In 1998 he ran for Lieutenant Governor and won. In 2000 he became Governor when George Bush began his preparation to be President of the United States. All this public service has been good for Perry financially. His net worth is reported to be three million dollars.

Many Texans were greatly embarrassed by Perry's performance in his run for the 2012 Presidential

nomination. His major accomplishment in that race seemed to only be successful in reinforcing the negative stereotypes many have about Texas. However a number of Texans were happy that his meager efforts ended in failure. Having him as Governor is quite enough. We don't need him as President under any circumstance.

With the Governor's announcement today, with any luck, by 2015 Perry will have had his day in the sun and will be relegated back to the ranks of private citizen. It will be a good thing for Texas. And with any luck, the American people will see nothing in his second run for the Presidency that they didn't seen in his first run and reject him again. That will be a great thing for the United States. After eight years of Obama, we'll need someone in the Presidency that can be Presidential. Perry's not that guy.

Jack Scott

It Gets Better

Several times over the last year or so, I've mentioned that equality for gay men and women is on the fast track in this country. No everyone has agreed with me; but hopefully the events of the last week, which have been rather amazing, will convince many of the doubters it is indeed time to exercise a little optimism.

The week began with the braking story of Alan Chambers, head of Exodus International, telling The

Associated Press that the church has, "waged the culture war, and it's time to put the weapons down." He went on to say Exodus International, whose work has long infuriated many gay-rights activists, will be closing down. From now on he and his allies will be forming a new ministry seeking to open conversation among those who've been on the opposite sides in the debate over gay rights.

Chambers has long been associated with the reparative therapy movement which has tried to convince gays that they are making a choice to be gay and that their gayness can be pushed out of their lives through prayer. Chambers apologized to the gay community for this past stance and said he now wants to devote his efforts to reconciliation.

In a speech to his ministry's annual conference also apologized admitting that the work of Exodus International has hurt people deeply and caused unnecessary pain. Chambers went on to say that Exodus had fought the culture war and lost! "It's time for peace," he said.

Exodus' power and influence had declined in recent years a reputable psychiatrists and psychotherapists rejected its approach and came to see homosexuality as a normal expression of human sexuality. It has reached the point that the only people still using reparative therapy are right wing evangelical and fundamentalist quacks.

Last year, Chambers who has acknowledged his own attraction to men though he is married to a woman announced he was trying to distance his ministry from the idea that gays' sexual orientation can be permanently changed or "cured."

In making the announcement that Exodus would close, Chambers announced a new ministry which he referred to as reducedfear.com  "Our goals," he said, "are to reduce fear and come alongside churches to become safe, welcoming, and mutually transforming communities."

Reaction from the gay community was generally positive though it was noted that  some of Chambers' followers were starting a new group to continue to try to promote the idea that gays can be converted to straights.

It will take a while for real trust to develop between Chambers and his colleagues and those whom they have harassed for almost 40 years, but one has to give Chambers credit for the public admissions he has made about his change of mind and heart.

As for myself, I think one of the most important things he said was his admission that fundamentalists have lost the culture wars. Indeed they have and gays should not loose sight of that victory. Sure there will always be a few social morons who refuse to accept defeat just as there are still ass holes who cling to racial discrimination. Such people have no standing and no influence in the American culture as a whole. The time has arrived when evangelicals and fundamentalists must realize they are hurting themselves with their worn out arguments more than they are hurting gay Americans.

I thought it was significant this week when Fox News, an undoubtedly conservative institution reported that while those who felt homosexuality was morally wrong out numbered those who thought it was not by only 1%, a substantially higher percentage of Americans thought that gay people should enjoy equal rights and equal protections as those afforded to heterosexuals.

I think it is an unmistakeable sign that the American people have swung around 180∘ both in their views on homosexuality and their willingness to accept the rights of others to have and act on ideas and ideals that are different from their own.

Change continued this week when the Supreme Court struck down significant portions of the Defense of Marriage Act stating that is was a clear infringement of individual rights and equal protection under the law. The end of DOMA means that same sex couples who are legally married will receive Federal benefits equal to those received by heterosexual couples. It is without doubt one of the biggest social revolutions in the last 50 years.

True, the Court was sharply divided in a 5/4 decision, but close counts just as much a Court in full agreement. The law of the land has been dramatically changed.

The week continued with the Supreme Court striking down California's overturning of Proposition 8 which made same sex marriage legal in the state. Unlike the overturn of DOMA this  California case does not impact other states directly. It does mean that 13 states now will recognize marriage between same sex couples as legal. For the first time in history, a full 30% of all Americans will live in a state in which same sex marriages are legal. That is indeed a social revolution.

Though I am not an enthusiastic supporter of President Obama, I thought it a nice touch that he called two of the principals in the California case even as they were being interviewed by the news media. See the following video.

We have truly come a long way from Stonewall. For those who may not recall, the Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for gay and lesbian rights in the United States.

At the time same sex activity was illegal in every state. Only the most radical homosexuals were out of the closet because anyone who admitted to being homosexual would loose their jobs, their families, their friends and most everything else they held dear.

The attitudes of Americans is radically different today. There is hardly a family that has not been touched by the homosexuality of a loved one as those coming out of the closet reached critical mass. Many Americans have for the first time had to consider that the queers are not "those people" but rather their own sons, daughters, fathers and grandsons. It has made a big difference.

As the more liberal churches have come to support homosexuals as persons loved by God; and indeed, made by God, the influence of radical Christians has begun to wane more and more.

It gets better all the time. It truly does. The trend will continue at an even faster pace in the wake of the Supreme Courts decisions this week. It gets better. It really does.

Jack Scott

The Case Against Gay Marriage - Is A Secular Argument Possible?

The video which is embedded below was produced by Wall Street Journal Live. The interviewee is Ralph Reed, best known as the first executive director of the Christian Coalition during the early 1990s. 

Reed was hired by religious broadcaster-cum-Presidential candidate Pat Robertson as executive director of the Christian Coalition in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

Reed led the organization from 1989 to 1997. Once Federal prosecutors began investigating charges by the Christian Coalition's chief financial officer, Judy Liebert, Reed resigned from his post, and moved to Georgia . The Coalition's finances were collapsing, and the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission were investigating.

The Coalition organized former Robertson supporters and other religious conservatives to oppose political liberalism. Abandoning confrontational tactics of street protest learned in college, Reed attempted to project a "softer" public face for Christian conservatism, self-described as "guerrilla", putting "enemies" in "body bags" before they even realized he had struck.

Reed appeared on the cover of Time on May 15, 1995, under the title "The Right Hand of God: Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition."

In 1996, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) brought an enforcement action in United States District Court, alleging Reed and the coalition "violated federal campaign finance laws during congressional elections in 1990, 1992 and 1994, and the presidential election in 1992." The FEC prevailed in this action.

One could perhaps be excused if, in light of all this history, Ralph Reed's Christian Values seem to be not very Christian at all at times. Never-the-less, like most right wing Christian Conservatives, Reed has absolutely no problem in presenting his religious views as the only valid view possible on secular (not overtly or specifically religious) social issues

As I have pointed out many times, Reed and his followers are not the only type of Christians which exist in the world and particularly in the United States. There are, in fact, millions of liberal minded Christians like myself who have a totally different view of what Christianity is and should be; a totally different view of the Christian faith to which we are called.

It is clear in the video above that when Reed speaks of "social issues" he is really talking about "religious issues" or a "religious view" of social issues. He clearly has no concept whatsoever that social issues in the United States of America are, by Constitutional Law, secular issues. What I mean by that is that our Constitution forbids the government from promoting religion or religious dogma. Instead, the government of the United States must be a secular (non religious) body.

Reed thinks social issues should be hashed out in the public arena or in the legislatures instead of the courts. As a liberal Christian, I don't necessarily disagree with his "words." I do vehemently disagree with the unspoken meaning he gives to his words. When he says social issues should be legislated in the public arena, he means that the point of view of Conservative Christians should prevail in the courts of public opinion because Conservative Christians are (they believe) the only true Christians and they are uniquely (they believe) called by God to protect and promote Conservative Christianity and thus save the country from the Godless liberals.

When he says he thinks social issues can also be legislated in the chambers of elected representatives, he takes that view because over the last two decades, Christian Conservatives have tried their best to pack state legislatures and the Congress with as many Christian Conservatives as they possibly can. The Federal Courts, on the other hand, are headed by unelected judges who serve for life and who are thus more likely to be guided by the principles of law than by the dogma based views of the Christian Conservative mob.

It has been rightly said that the more educated one becomes the less confident one becomes in his personal viewpoints. This is true because traditional education exposes one to and schools one in the use of critical thinking. Within the philosophical frame of critical social theory, critical thinking is commonly understood to involve commitment to the social and political practice of participatory democracy, willingness to imagine or remain open to considering alternative perspectives, willingness to integrate new or revised perspectives into our ways of thinking and acting, and willingness to foster criticality in others.

Right wing Conservative Christians often choose not to participate in the traditional educational process, and they often choose to limit their reasoning to the "truths" of the Bible which they see as the only real source of truth. They see the truths of the Bible as being in conflict with scientific theory and scientific knowledge. 

Because of these views, right wing Conservative Christians often eschew public schools and colleges in favor of Christian schools and colleges. In these schools and colleges, the Conservative Christian view of science which holds that the earth is no more than 10,000 years old and was created in six 24 hour periods by God is often taught as fact. They also teach that man was created by God in the form in which he presently exists rather than by an evolutionary process. These educational practices make right wing Conservative Christian thought incompatible with critical thinking.

I again hasten to add that right wing Conservative Christians are NOT the only Christians. Liberal Christians are quieter, less confrontational, less evangelical and almost always the product of traditional educations. Liberal Christians see no conflict at all between Biblical scriptures  and evolutionary theories. Liberal Christians see no conflict at all between the Bible and scientific knowledge. This is so because Liberal Christians see the Bible as a good and sufficient guide to faith rather than a science book or a history book. Liberal Christians understand the Bible is not the literal word of God but rather a collection of allegories, the purpose of which is to teach moral lessons, not establish scientific truths.

This profound difference in viewpoints between right wing Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians enables Liberal Christians to take a more tolerant view of the world and of social issues. Liberal Christians understand Christ never said a single word about his feelings concerning homosexuality. In fact, because homosexuality seems to be a congenital condition, Liberal Christians often feel homosexual persons are created by God for a purpose. Thus Liberal Christians, more often than not, join with the secular community in growing support of same sex marriage and the rights of same sex partners under the law.

Reed and people like him talk about social issues, but what they really are talking about are religious issues and how social issues are perceived in the light of their own religious dogma . The fact is, when they make a case against gay marriage, they are making a dogmatic religious case against it. Liberal Christians do not make such a case. They are more apt to see social issues as secular Americans do. As a Liberal Christian, I can point out good and not so good things about gay marriage. For instance, I believe it has been sufficiently proven that a child is best raised by a loving father and a loving mother. However, I think it has also been sufficiently proven that a child is better raised by two loving fathers or two loving mothers than he is being raised by the child welfare and foster care system. The fact is, I do not think one can even make a secular case against same sex marriage. Looked at from a secular viewpoint, same sex marriage is a collection of both good and bad points just as traditional marriage is. Like traditional marriage, same sex marriage can serve society well in spite of its faults.

The fact is, there are many very good people who are Conservative Christians. Many of them are my personal friends. Some are Conservative Christians in name only because grandma and grandpa and mom and dad were Conservative Christians. These people tend to keep their names on the rolls of conservative churches and quietly practice their own more liberal views. Other Conservative Christians have reasoned out on their own that there are things one just cannot know if one is honest with himself. These people may remain on the rolls of  Conservative Christian churches simply because they know no no one can know the truth to as it pertains to the mind of God, but they too tend to keep a low profile and individually practice their own faith more liberal view of faith. My own mother was such a person. A Conservative Christian since childhood she had become traditionally well educated, but she chose to remain in a conservative church as an honest voice of dissent. Raised in the same church, I made a different decision and left the church for a more liberal congregation in which I could feel at home. My mother's critical evaluation of conservative Christianity from inside it was a great value to me in my coming to understand my own views of what it means to be a Christian.

As I have already stated, the is the United States of America and right wing Conservative Christians have a right to their religious views just as more liberal Christians do. However, Conservative Christians do not have a right to impose their conservative religious views on other Americans under the guise of social policy.

Right wing Conservative Christians have so successfully projected themselves as the face of Christianity that many people do not even realize there are such things as Liberal Christians. Many of the people who are falling away from the church are doing so because they cannot define their faith as believing the unbelievable or professing the unknowable as the word of God. My feeling is that everyone needs something bigger than himself to believe in. Those people who realize this about themselves should consider seeking out the Liberal Christian church rather than forsaking religion altogether. There are many of them in every community.

The fact that truly Conservative Christians are, contrary to their propaganda, in the minority in this country is illustrated by the ever increasing number of Americans who support gay rights, who support reproductive choice and who support scientific reasoning and critical thinking.  Conservative Christians are, in fact, fighting a loosing battle. Unfortunately, we may expect the right wingers to become more and more regressive in their thought processes and actions as their social standing becomes less and less stable and as the world, in their view, travels further and further down the road to Hell.

Jack Scott