[laugh] Oh, I don't really have that kind of a talent. I've tried. Yeah, the Mennonite Church has been interesting to watch as an outsider. They do have that element of being out there and doing good work, but then there is this part of them that wants to pull back. The ties between the Mennonites and the Amish are very close in their history, and there are some that want to go back to that old school style. "This is the way we believed in 1850, so that should be it." A church will die if it does that. A faith will die if it can't move and change with the culture around it.
I agree. What makes America vital is this spirit of free inquiry and critical thinking. When fundamentalist religion enters into the discussion and discourages free inquiry, when fundamentalism comes in and imposes limits on what you can ask questions about, it tamps down the vitality of the nation. A direct example is when you introduce Creationism in schools, you won't have any kids going into science in college, and then you won't have any engineers.
There won't be any innovation for those kids because they will have already learned that here is a place where I can't ask questions. That's a problem. What religion can do, and what I really honor about it, is that it is a place where you can take time out of your week and say, "How am I living my life? Am I living the best way I can?" I think that habit of asking is a good thing. Religion offers us that in a way that the theater offers that for some people, or reading, or taking a long walk. It's the habit of asking, "Am I living the best way I can that most benefits other people and for myself?"
I think these are good questions and the church in America is still a place where you can take time out to do that. But, we are victims of retreat from engaging with the world. That's concerning. We're talking a lot about religion here. What are we supposed to talk about?
This pretty much can go wherever we want it to go, and this is really fascinating to me to hear this, particularly because you consider yourself to be agnostic; to have an insight into the church. I hear so much from people who have been so hurt by the church that they don't want to have anything to do with it. It's really wonderful to hear somebody who isn't personally invested in the church but is willing to take a look at what are the good parts of it. I think that there are many ways that people find what you were talking about - the questions we ask ourselves. I don't think the church even sees that sometimes.
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