A Challenge to Understand

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. has had a remarkable few days, including Friday's appearance on Bill Moyers's Journal (Mr. Moyers was sympathetic) followed by Monday's appearance before the National Press Club.

On the latter, Rev. Wright was a Jekyll and Hyde. On one hand he demonstrated his scholarship as a contemporary theologian; and, on the other hand, he postured and appeared arrogant , if not narcissistic, to many during a Q and A with the press.

Rev. Wright continues to be a political vexation/liability for Barack Obama's political campaign.

In my estimation Rev. Wright's message is a challenge to the nation, as an element in the hoped for dialogue of race in America. I maintain that the burden, for historical as well as contemporary reasons, is to seek understanding of the so-called black church and black liberation theology. (The church and the theology do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.) This is a rich opportunity for learning as a citizen and progressing as a society, that is, if we see the larger scheme: the message and not the messenger.

No Religious Rites for Arthur C. Clarke?

The celebrated sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke died last week. He was best known for co-authoring the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and the subsequent book of the same name.

He was a visionary, perhaps the visionary, of our times.

He also had a low estimation of organized religion. He once spoke of religion as "a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species." His personal instruction declared upon his death : "Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral."

The reports emphasized that the funeral, held in Mr. Clarke's adopted home in Sri Lanka, was secular

In my estimation Mr. Clarke's funeral was religious. (Just look at the photo of his body before burial.) All death observance's are religious in nature. Death is the Great Arbiter and must be accounted for in a human life.

I agree with my colleague, Forrest Church, "Religion is our human response to the dual reality of being alive and having to die."

Even the most avowedly secular funeral is a patchwork of religious symbols and practices that I suspect are intuitions and archetypes, hardwired in our psyches.