This is an entry about religion. I'm saying so now, so that if you don't want to read about religion you can just skip me for today and go read somebody else.

You see, that's how I am about religion, and almost everything else. I personally have a core belief that I identified as a little child watching Captain Kangaroo. There used to be this animated sequence that came on with a sea shell singing the theme song from the 1960's move Father Goose "If you don't happen to like me pass me by..."

When that song would come on, I would sing along with it. I was glad that there was someone else in the world who felt like I did and had taken the trouble to write the song lyrics. I couldn't understand why people were so intent on changing each other. What difference did it make to my teacher what kind of notebook I carried or to my classmates if I held my hands in prayer the way the old people did, not clasped together the way younger people did? People did things all day long that I didn't think were right, that got on my nerves. I just walked away, picked up a book and read it. I didn't understand people who did otherwise.

So, since God gave me this personality type - and it is a minority personality type - it's not surprising that I have felt very little call to evangelize, though I do work very hard to try to make my life an example of good Christianity. Speaking just for me, I have found this quite difficult. There may be people in the world who are qualified to tell other people what God wants them to do, but I am not one of them. And, having the personality type that I do, I tend to feel that there are very few people in the world who have the moral weight to truly teach.

Yet, there is another way of looking at the calling to speak out.

Recently, I had an enlightening conversation with my brother. Now, anyone who knows us can hardly help but be aware that our personality types are very different. But his deepest values are similar to mine - no big surprise. We were raised by the same parents in the same house, and faced many of the same life shaping experiences hand in hand - sometimes literally.

While my brother has always been quicker to action, more outspoken, and more outgoing than I am it's important for me to say that I feel that he DOES have the moral weight to speak on issues of faith, and I have deep respect for him.

After all, my brother is not some priviledged white man in an expensive suit who had every material thing handed to him. He's qualified to talk the talk since for years he's been walking the walk - and he's currently out of a job due to his unwillingness to put up with fraud in his last place of employment.

I wouldn't go so far as to say you could look at him and know what Jesus would do, but I'd go out on a limb and say that you could have a pretty good idea of what St.Peter would do. Their personality types are very much alike....and indeed, sometimes when I used to read the Bible as a child, I'd hear Peter in my brother's voice.

My brother is much more of a "conservative" than I am. That is, the social issues that he feels are important are different from the social issues that I feel are important. He's a Republican. He considers himself a part of the religious right.

I don't want to get into the specifics of our conversation, because I worry that might distract from what I am trying to say. But, at one point in our conversation, I had an insight into his viewpoint that I had never had before.

And at that point, I heard that still, small voice in my heart telling me something....and I knew that I was going to have to do something difficult for me. You know the story of the still, small voice? Well, this is how it goes: "...And he said, 'Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord.' And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still, small voice. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice to him, and said,'What are you doing here, Elijah?'" 1 Kings:11-13 RSV

If you ever hear it, you know it's serious. If you ever hear it, it would never enter your mind to ignore it. And any time I have ever heard it, it has been filled with patience, gentleness, and compassion - thankfully, or I'm sure that I would otherwise drop dead on the spot. If you ever hear it, it will change your life. And this time, this is what I heard:

"You are very careful, and you do well not to argue. You do well to seek to understand. But if you seek to understand those people who are furthest away from me, will you not now seek to understand your brother who is close me as well as close to you? And as you seek to explain the thoughts of others to those whose ways of thinking are yet more different still, will you not explain his experience, though it is very different from yours?"

Oh boy. So, that's what I've been trying to do. So far I have written this blog entry about 8 times, all to try to get to these points which my brother made.

He says that many conservative Christians feel that their views are not met with the same kinds of tolerance as other views in our society. While people may respect a Muslim woman who covers her head out of her belief that God wants her to do so ( even though they don't think she should do so, and they're not about to cover their head themselves)the same people don't respect a Christian person's right to have a "message" button on their jacket. He feels that the Muslim is met with respect - and if she isn't someone like me will step up to the plate to defend her, but the Christian is met with derision, and someone like me will encourage the Christian to "get over it"

He is aware that "spokemen" for the Christian right often come accross very poorly. He is aware that, if they are trying to do outreach, they need to do a better job of it. But he sees them as imperfect messengers of an important message. His study of the Bible, the text of which he believes is the ultimate authority on what is right and wrong, has lead him to fear for innocent people about whom he is concerned. When I asked him what possible relevance the Old Testement could have in the modern world now that Christ has risen, he said, "The New Testement is the new covenent with those who have accepted Him. Those who haven't may still be subject to the old law. We have nothing that tells us otherwise" ( and since I'm now not speaking just for me, but trying to illuminate his views, I'll let that stand)" If you saw someone about to do something that was terribly wrong - something that was truly offensive to God and harmful to the person who was doing it, wouldn't you speak out to try to stop them? Would you really spend a lot of time saying, 'oh, I'm not articulate enough' or ' I don't have enough experience'? "

And then I realized that unless I was directly compelled to do so ( and I was, one time, but that's another story for another blog) I would not speak out. I would say it is between the person and The Lord. But, he says that there are people who view things differently. They're not worried about having the credentials. They speak out of great love and concern, and hope that people will look past their poor delivery and past mistakes. They are aware that people in the secular world do not see the Bible as the ultimate authority. But it's because of their humility, rather than their arrogance, that they cite Biblical text, even if that text can then be debated.

And though they get tired of thought of as being uneducated or badly informed, they are willing to keep on being thought of that way, rather than break with what the understand as the Truth. This is their faith, and for it, they only want to have enough room in the world to carry it with them. They feel they are not shouting down people who disagree with them. They feel that they are shouting to be heard by anybody at all, not just dismissed because they're loud and haven't been to Harvard.

"You just see some white guy in a tie, and he could be saying anything. You won't listen to him, because his suit is too expensive, so you've dismissed him as someone who doesn't meet your standards of what it means to be Christ-like. Isn't that as much a prejudice as anything else?"

Yes, it is. If I've ever dismissed someone speaking a message because he was too slick, too well dressed, too rich, than that's just as bad as failing to recognise someone because they are humble, shabby, and poor. It may be easier for a camel the pass through the eye of a needle for than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven, but maybe they need all the more compassion and help because of it. I admit I never gave it that much thought before.

These were my brother's points as I understood them ( and I hope he will write and tell us if I have not explained them clearly)

We now return you to your regular Winged Creature.

If you decide to have a debate here, you're welcome to do it in pursuit of the truth, but please be kind to one another. My head already hurts from getting around a different viewpoint. You might want to try it a little. After all, no pain, no gain.