Volume 4 Issue 3

• Having renewed the contract with my host server for another year, it seems appropriate that I should let folks know that all is well with the Las Vegas branch of the Hanna family. Rachel has completed her third year of studies at NAU and has come home for the summer to participate in an internship with a local public relations firm. Rebecca completed her first year of studies at CCSN and has secured a summer job with the Democratic Party in addition to her hours at the music store. Mary and I celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary tomorrow, and after she wraps up another year of teaching near the end of June we plan to take off to the east coast to visit Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. We’re looking forward to celebrating the 4th of July where it all began.

• I’m hoping that by immersing myself in that historical setting I may somehow manage to revive a sense of pride in being an American which, frankly, I have lost. In much the same way that I have come to be embarrassed and ashamed by being identified as a Christian, I am finding that the unholy alliance between the Christian Right and the political right that has managed to take control of our government is no longer a matter just for concern, but for alarm. That the majority of people in this nation continue to tolerate—and in many instances, to support—the twisted thinking that threatens our cherished constitutional freedoms in the name of immoral imperialism has estranged me from my own church and country.

• The value of a website such as this is increasingly questionable. First, there is a proliferation of properly-funded websites (see GiC’s “LINKS” page) that have the resources available to provide timely reporting and opinion on the issues related to religion in American life that this one does not. Secondly, I am gradually accepting the fact that theology per se is not the burning issue for others that it is for me. Contemporary Christianity has, in my opinion, successfully achieved a disconnect between religion and theology. As far as I can tell, most people really don’t care why they believe what they do just as long as they feel assured that their believing is going to “save” them. Finally, in this media-savvy world the process of reading the printed word (virtual or otherwise) has become archaic in the context of an ever-growing milieu of multimedia forms of communication.

• There does, however, seem to be a growing attraction to the “blog” format. I can appreciate that this is underscored by subject matter that is of widespread interest combined with authorship that is respected as informed and knowledgeable. Even though I can claim neither, I have decided that in this ministry’s fourth year it is an approach that needs to be explored. For reasons beyond the scope of this website I have a need to be more faithful in my journaling, and I will attempt to discretely share those portions of my entries that are germane to the mission of Growing in Christ. In turn, readers who “comment” will contribute to the dialogue to which this ministry has aspired from its inception.

• My profound respect and admiration of Bill Moyers remains undiminished, and I applaud his voice of reason in the wilderness of immorality that this country seems to have entered. As our world recently observed the anniversary of VJE Day and once again had to ponder the question of how the German people managed to turn a blind eye to the atrocities of the Holocaust in their midst, I must proclaim that we Americans are on the threshold of learning the answer firsthand from our own apathy, ignorance and greed. To GiC’s small but enlightened audience I commend Moyers’ recent speech to the National Conference on Media Reform:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050517/muting_the_conversation_of_democracy.php

• Until next time…Shalom!