The Line.

I've talked about The Line before: sometimes you must not cross it, sometimes you may cross it, and sometimes it moves.  Let's talk about it in terms of what I call Real Theology.  Some people think of Theology as discussing ancient texts or the color of some saint's toga, nitpicking how to conduct a ritual, etc.  Real Theology consists of taking all of that (and more) and applying it in daily life.

And so, let's take a couple of items in the news recently and see how that applies to you and me.  In both of the cases I'm going to specifically mention, you just might find something to invest emotionally in both cases.  The question is: What do you do?

The "Monday morning quarterbacks" have an easy job, as do the people who don't "connect" emotionally and those who want to talk all in theory.  They're not there in the situation having to make the real decision.  You and I are in the situation of having to make the real decision.

An ancient Hebrew admonition to judges described "The sword of God at your head, lest you set the guilty free; and the fires of hell at your feet, lest you punish the innocent."  And there is where our puzzle begins.

I promised you "Spiritual calisthenics for those who are willing to think."  Welcome to part of my workout.

One of the favorite techniques of bullies is intimidation.  Really effective inimidation begins with a small kernel of truth, but it stretches into something beyond reasonable reality.  Like the child who tells a playmate that her daddy is a policeman and she'll have him come and shoot....

A form of intimidation that some of us remember from our childhood is The Boogeyman.  If mommy and daddy run out of other ways to influence behavior, there's The Boogeyman.  The Boogeyman comes after children who don't eat their broccoli, children who don't get to sleep by a certain time, and children who wet their beds.  Of course, if The Boogeyman were real, real mommies and daddies ought to do something to protect their children from The Boogeyman. 

In mundane life, do I really believe that allowing the government to read my emails or (as was once proposed) track what books I read is going to keep Osama Bin Laden at bay?

In your spiritual life, many of you have been told about another boogeyman - the Chrisitans' "Devil".  But what can we see about this theological boogeyman if we do a serious examination, including comparing their version of The Boogeyman to other deities - especially the ones who are known for getting nasty.  Some truths might have been stretched a bit.

As a child, most of us eventually figured out that there was a positive reason for getting to bed and sleep at a reasonable time, and that The Boogeyman had nothing to do with it.  In our spiritual lives, there is so much more that can be offered besides avoiding punishment. 

Bear with me on this, and I think you'll see what I'm driving at.

I'll have to admit that nothing gets some Wiccans more upset than to have to hear "the J-name".  But it's not his fault.  Take a look at what he taught and how he lived, and compare that with the stuff you find shouted from pulpits.  I wonder if he would even recognize that which was built in his name as being anything having anything to do with the points he kept trying to make.  Sort of like the story I told you a while back about a certain Air Force captain who kept going around saying "Colonel wants...." until a certain lieutenant asked the colonel.

And, do you know what else this is good for?  When someone tries to "save" you, this is some good information to let it be known that he probably would be more comfortable among us than he would be in the religious establishment built in his name.  Some good intellectual ammunition, I do believe.

Besides, our issues are not with deities or pantheons.  Our issues are with what mortals do while claiming to be serving their deity. 

Enjoy this. 

Today, people in countries such as Cuba, China, and Saudi Arabia will meet together in small groups in places where they hope they won't be disturbed by either the officialdom or nosey neighbors.  It doesn't matter what their spiritual path might be, what's important is that their spiritual path is so disapproved by their government that they have to take what they do underground.  And they meet to do a ritual.

There was a period of many years when Christians took their faith underground.  In those days, their churches didn't have youth groups, ladies clubs, or picnics.  They came together to say Mass, which remains the core ritual of much of Christianity today.

In between then and a few years ago, our own spiritual predecessors met in secret - and that was if they met at all.  And when they met, the did a ritual.

Does this offer a clue as to what is at the core of who we are and what we do?  And if it nurtured us through the times when we merely wanted to survive, how much more can it do for us now that we've come out into the open?

You never know what power we might already have!

In the course of the next week in the United States, we will have Independence Day on July 4th. That's a day of fireworks, picnics and, of course, speeches. The speeches take the same course, to the point that I think most of us have them down to memory. The speeches will be about our freedom, and our democracy. And then I read once more about Tempest Smith's death in February of 2001, and I wonder just how much freedom and democracy we actually have.

It can be fairly said that a prisoner in jail has freedom of movement - he may move anywhere he wants within his cell. Is our Religious Freedom that constrained?

Let us not forget that Tempest Smith died because of the non-stop teasing, ridicule and bullying she was subjected to. She was twelve years old, and a student at Lincoln Park Middle School.

Much can be said about her classmates who taunted her, and then made such apologies at her funeral. Much might also be said wondering how the faculty and staff at the school could actually claim to not have known what was being done to her.

Suicide is a favorite subject for "Monday morning quarterbacks," since the person most directly involved is not available for comment. But suffice it to say that Tempest Smith died from the torment.

Perhaps there is a lesson for the rest of us to learn from this.

The Jewish Defense League came up with a slogan some years ago which seems to fit this situation: "NEVER AGAIN!"