To rebuild the body politic, we must first discover as a people that which moves our thinking from "me" to "we." Whether a person or faith, or no, Easter is an ideal season to begin that journey.
Easter's central mechanics are the satisfaction of a cosmologically significant debt and a path forward to remain debt free. "Religion", at least as far as Easter is concerned, means the code associated with that transaction, assuming one embraces it. That code, as MLK, Jr. painstakingly articulated it, is "Justice", i.e., that which "lifts up human personality", as opposed to injustice (that which "degrades human personality"). Christ, seen that way, was never to become a truncheon or other device to break or bend others to any will, divine or otherwise. We were, and are, to love our neighbors (that's everybody!) as ourselves, love others as Christ loved us, and keep the command of Justice -- 'do unto others as you would have others do unto you'. It remains a good deal, a freely given gift and, as CSN might sing, "a code you can LIVE by."
Easter's central mechanics are the satisfaction of a cosmologically significant debt and a path forward to remain debt free. "Religion", at least as far as Easter is concerned, means the code associated with that transaction, assuming one embraces it. That code, as MLK, Jr. painstakingly articulated it, is "Justice", i.e., that which "lifts up human personality", as opposed to injustice (that which "degrades human personality"). Christ, seen that way, was never to become a truncheon or other device to break or bend others to any will, divine or otherwise. We were, and are, to love our neighbors (that's everybody!) as ourselves, love others as Christ loved us, and keep the command of Justice -- 'do unto others as you would have others do unto you'. It remains a good deal, a freely given gift and, as CSN might sing, "a code you can LIVE by."
As always, food for thought. Thank you, Marty.