Some anthropological context You’re dangerous, ’cause you’re honest…you tell me things I know you’re not supposed to…Well, you lied to me ’cause I asked you to;Baby, can we still be friends….— U2, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses Interestingly, I read an anthropological study many years after these incidents (I’ll have to try to re-locate…
What’s gone before If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we would all be millionaires. — Abigail Van Buren Interestingly, the guy I was talking to then bitterly asked why the women weren’t more honest with the men, as well as with themselves. Now that one I could answer for him,…
So what does it really mean when someone says, “let’s just be friends”? I can’t speak for all women, but I can speculate based on discussions I’ve had, and on my thoughts in similar situations: To politely create or keep distance To defuse situations where the person feels pressured or scared Because that’s what they’ve…
Originally posted June 2004 Credits: For all those who’ve been part of my emotional relationships. If you helped, thank you for your encouragement, patience, and kindness — you know who you are. And if you were part of the problem, it would be inappropriate to name names. ;-) I’ve been teasingly told my previous Firestarter…
The inadequacy of institutionalized religious responses to the jarring reality of real life issues is part of Spong’s self-questioning. He finds hope as well as pain, however, in his search, expressing the excitement of thoughtful study and discussion with like-minded others in an effort to find a Christianity of integrity, love, and equality. It’s clear…
In a similarly challenging situation several years later, Spong has people come to his house, purporting to be friends who represent his entire congregation. They suggest strongly that he, as a white man, should vote according to the racist status quo, and inform him his future in the town and as a priest is at…
Originally posted October 2005 Credits: for Peter McWilliams, author of the fascinating Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country and a victim of the so-called “War Against Drugs,” who first let me know of Spong’s wonderful writing. Also for Retired Bishop Spong himself, for making me think…
4. Marriage should be just for child-rearing My first thought at assertions like this is: “Why?” Kids don’t care if there’s a piece of paper holding their family together — and that piece of paper has proven notoriously incapable of doing so anyway. However, let’s work through this theory rationally. If marriage is just for…
D) What is civilization supported by? The common thread running through all the societies we’ve looked at so far is quite clear on this. For them, the so-called “cornerstone of civilization” is emphatically not one man-one woman marriage. What is the fundamental assumption of civilization, the underlying principle holding it all together for these societies?…
Originality in the early US So, on to the United States of America, where we finally get to hear more from women, although they’re still mostly all White and upper class. When John Adams was helping to draw up the Constitution of the US in 1777, his wife Abigail wrote, Do not put such unlimited…