The Anti-Manichaeist

There’s an interesting article in the BBC that goes into details on how the opposition candidate to Russian President Vladimir Putin is being harrassed regularly. The real problem is not the anti-Orange-Revolution maneuvers being used by Putin, but rather that the public is disillusioned with Democracy. Too many people are too poor and they’re willing to accept the stability provided by Putin than risk change. It doesn’t help that Viktor Yuschenko’s gov’t has fallen short seriously this past year.

My future brother in law and I went to see Syriana again today. My future brother-in-law is a religiously-conservative African-American who wants to be an evangelist someday. He was a chaplain’s assistant in the Army and used to be a strong Bush-supporter but has turned strongly against him since this past fall. The night before, we watched Spike Lee’s “The 25th Hour” and both showed a strong appreciation for Lee’s artistry and boldness in taking on topics that nobody else would take on. He also liked Syriana a good deal, but during the car ride home, we got into a heated argument on whether we should as Christians concern ourselves with such things, like Middle Eastern Oil politics. The same could be said for Former Soviet Union political developments.

My bro thinks we shd focus on evangelizing people, saving souls and not get concerned with those things. I argued that caring about the things people care about is part of evangelism. He challenged me to find biblical support for that. I referred to the Samaritan Woman at the well, drawing a lesson from John Perkins. I didn’t communicate it very well and our discussion ended on a note of strident disagreement. Billy Graham came up and I got complaining about the culturally-captivated nature of US Christianity and how so many of us “born-again” types aren’t living that differently from anyone else. And the fact of the matter is that focusing on getting people saved, puts a hermetic on Christian missions work that helps people draw more clear lines on what needs focus. Once we start getting more holistic in our notions of missions, it gets harder to give closure to what needs to be done exactly.

And many, many religious types, me included, do have problems with anxiety and giving closure to these sorts of things and so we tend to cling to the closure we’ve given to them in the past and get upset when that is challenged. This was a theme for many of the Ukrainians I interviewed. They wanted it clearcut on how the Church shd act and were uneasy with the ambiguities commonly involved in political action. This probably will discourage them from remaining politically active or concerned during the upcoming Ukrainian election. If that fails, with the Russian-supported Yanukovich gaining a lot of power, it will have a serious negative spill-over effect into the other countries in the region and dampen their spirits, impacting the spread of the Gospel in a more holistic form, not just an escapist looking forward to the next life. I had one 82 year-old ask me if my mind was on eternity. I told her yes, but as Jesus cared about this life and the sufferings of people in it, I try to do the same.

dlw