[xmca] Re: critique of pure tolerance

[Gregory Allan Thompson <gathomps@uchicago.edu>]

A few comments in response (as I listen to the Prayercast that
Tony forwarded):

I like Yuan’s suggestion of silliness. Yuan’s metaphor of
training infants to run, catch, and hit just like the
professional football players, I think, speaks to the
absurdity of infant testing (and even well beyond infancy).
Sure, the metaphor isn’t a perfect representation, but it
conjures up the pithy and powerful image of babies wearing
helmets and tackling each other! Fantasy baby football anyone?

RE: Andy’s concern that the phrase “Jesus was a critical
thinker” reeks of strategic rhetoric, I think this points to
the importance of post-modern believers who can step into the
life-world of Evangelicals (to “go native” as the
anthropologists would have it, only with a little bit more
sincerity of inhabitance) and to articulate such a claim from
within. It seems hard to deny that religion is one of the most
incredibly powerful organizers of human activity. It’s not so
much an “if you can’t beat them, join them”, but more of an
“in order to beat them, join them” – with the caveat that
“you” and “them” will be transformed in the process of taking
the position of the Other (certainly an Hegelian developmental
moment). You may think this is unthinkable (and for
Baby-boomers and some generation X'ers, this is an
impossibility), but I've started to see it. There is also the
possibility of movement in the other direction, Evangelicals
that come to universities (like the University of Chicago) and
who are able to continue believing while also challenging the
political worldview within which they have been raised. 

I think this also speaks to Tony’s concern with the
prayercast. Wouldn’t it be great to have someone “on the
inside” who could tactfully, thoughtfully, “prayerfully”(!)
raise the question of whether it might not be a very Christian
thing to do to pray for the illness or death of another? Or to
raise questions about the existing state of health care as
maybe not conforming to Christian values? (where was the
prayercast when so many have died b.c. of poor healthcare?)
and certainly there will always be extremist bullheaded
crackpots who won’t listen, but I’m optimistic that with the
right conditions in place, these things will work themselves
out into the open and will dissipate in respectful public debate. 

[and here I would suggest that mass media needs to be included
in the government’s efforts at cultivating dialogue. If only
Foxnews and, to a lesser extent, MSNBC, would make true debate
a central feature of their coverage of government. It seems
that the consumerist direction of media only serves to further
polarize political positions. If you are on the right and want
to feel you are “right”, watch Foxnews. If on the left and you
want to feel that you are “right”, watch MSNBC. Each has a
powerful homogenizing force within their position, and a
powerful polarizing force across the two positions. But I’m
sure the advertisers are thrilled since now they have neatly
“targetable” markets (i.e. audiences) rather than those
terribly heterogenous audiences that watch reality tv shows.
So as another suggestion for governmental intervention – a
step in the right direction would be to revitalize public
radio so that it is not as consumerist as NPR and PRI have
become ("consumerist" b.c. they have become increasingly
dependent upon non-governmental monies - and left and right
seem to agree on this). Imagine a public radio that was
organized around public debates about important issues. I
heard an Oxford style debate the other day on the radio (it’s
not a regular program here in Chicago) and was impressed by
the possibilities of people actually hearing both sides of an
issue.]

Sorry, the prayercast is playing in my ears as I write and
things may have gotten a little jumbled as a result (but maybe
the image of Jesus will appear in my email as a result - let
me know if you see Him).

-greg
---------------------------------------
Greg Thompson
Ph.D. Candidate
The Department of Comparative Human Development
The University of Chicago

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