The Crossing Ball

In his book The Everlasting Man, G. K. Chesterton, the staunch Catholic polemicist made some intriguing comparisons between two distinctly separate and contrary worldviews: Both are characterized, by him as a ball and a cross. The former model, that of a ball, represents, what can best be described as materialism; a belief that nothing exists outside of the observed processes of nature ('what you see is what you get'). The latter, the cross, represents the religious, particularly Christian, doctrine of transcendence; a world that, as far as we are concerned, is constantly changing. The first is static, the second dynamic. What Chesterton did with these two symbols of mutually exclusive ideas was to compare and contrast them. The ball is unchanging. It is static, always returning to the same place, over and over again. Seasons follow seasons that are exactly the same as before. On the other hand, the cross is expanding, stretching out in diverse directions infinitely; never occupying the same space more than once.

What Chesterton suggested was that our world, symbolically, is like this. Although now, it is like a ball, self-contained and static, it is being made like heaven, always changing and infinitely dynamic. The ball is being stretched into a cross from within.This is what religion is like in contrast to a solely secular, naturalistic view of the world. Like the model that Chesterton offered us in his book, there is really no progress occurring in this world. We go from one thing to another and back around again. The only advancements that are made are through the hearts of men and women by God, and thus unseen. All other events are just re-occurrences of 'the same ole' things', just repackaged for the next generation of living beings.

Contributed by:~Robert Henry

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Sincere spirituality defies being labelled

Proud member of the spiritual left. Yep, that's me. I realized that I had to come up with some sort of short, slogany tagline in order to know my place in this fast-paced, pre-packaged, polarized world. If it isn't attention-grabbing and easy to grasp, it is hard to rally behind. Worse than that, you don't fit into any of their categories:

Married to a guy in the Navy, currently a stay-at-home mom, isn't afraid of guns â€" must be Republican. But wait, she supports abortion rights and can't stop talking about gay marriage, must be a Democrat. Then again, she is from the South and loves barbecue . . . she could be one of them Dixiecrats! I can just see the political profilers now, trying their best to put me in a slot, failing, and ceding me to the other side. That is how it is in winner-takes-all politics, right?

And speaking of the right, I have to say they certainly have done a good job of appropriating all things religious in nature. God is on "our" side, says Pat Robertson. Supporters of President Bush claimed a "moral victory" in last year's election. And Texas Gov. Rick Perry uses churches for backdrops of his bill signings, and why shouldn't he? According to him, God doesn't care for same-sex marriage or equal rights for women. Does all this mean that God is really a Republican?

I think not. For many reasons in general and one in particular. The first being that God doesn't pick sides. He doesn't just bless the U.S.A. he blesses the whole world.

I have a family that comes first in my life, even though I do have career aspirations. I am trying to teach my son the ways of Christ (even though, at 15 months old, the virtue of sharing is hardly taking hold). We go to church and we recycle. But the fact that I support a woman's right to terminate an unintended, unwanted or unhealthy pregnancy relegates me to hell? I don't see it.

See, I think it is more important about how we treat people when they are alive. Meaning, it doesn't get you any closer to heaven to be stridently anti-abortion if you haven't done anything to help the millions of abandoned children who are already here. If you are pro-life then help the living â€" adopt, donate, foster a child, teach sex education.

People who have those yellow ribbons on their cars are no more righteous than those who don't support the war (the war, not the troops everyone supports the troops), especially if they bought those bumper stickers in Walgreen's and haven't done anything else to support our military personnel.

To me, supporting the troops has more to do with sending care packages to them and making sure they have the equipment they need to complete the mission than slapping a bumper sticker on your car. If it were up to me, those yellow ribbons would cost $10 each and the money would go into a fund for the families of deployed military personnel. That is my interpretation of being a moral person, helping the next guy.

A couple of days ago the mail lady asked me to call her supervisor and tell her she was running late. She said she had asked the man down the street, but he said he could not because he was on his way to church. That logic astounds me, but it is exactly the thinking that rules the so-called moral majority right now. They cannot see the forest for the trees. Wouldn't it be better to actually help someone than be at choir practice on time? Did the man think the Almighty would punish him for being late for helping someone? Would Jesus have ignored the lame man to get to the next hut on time?

I think my mom put it best when she told me it was much more important to become a spiritual being rather than a religious person. Spirituality is not dictated by political rhetoric or the church structure. It comes from a personal relationship with a higher power that makes you feel joyful inside and happy to be alive to do what you can to help other people. It isn't Republican (or Democrat) and it certainly isn't served by swathing yourself in religious symbols and being self-righteous.

Contributed by:~Vivian Greentree

First published in The Atlanta Journal and Constititution

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Nobody owns theTruth and nobody can control the Truth

I've been brought up with principles of Christianity as the only thing to be adhered to. Any other kind would have to be in accordance with them. When you're young, you don't have anything to oppose something in favour of because you only know what you're told and you only have people around you who would tell you the same. When you're big enough to make sense of things, it's the only thing you find yourself able to make sense of.

Maybe that shows how crazy the world can get. What you understand is only that what has been driven into your head. That could be crazy but it's the only thing you can understand the world through. Everybody's got to have atleast some sense made out of the world otherwise they would end up in an identity crisis-which they all recognize and try to avoid lest they end up being in one. Being forced in upon such decisions that make your perception of the world, what it has to offer and what you think it needs can bring about certain choices of what you choose to believe in, what you don't, what your life will be made of and what it wont.

But there's so much more of the world to see, a lot that can change what you will eventually turn out to be. I don't mean to blaspheme but I've really lost my stand. When I'm down in the dirt, that's when it can hurt that what I chose to believe in has let me down. That could only mean that it isn't worth it and that I've got to find myself some new ground.

I can stay holed up in my cell. I can say that all is well (that there are too many fools for me to be wise). I can look for options that I can use. I can scout around for choices that I can choose from that can show me the more sense that I am looking for out of this life- but I'm looking for what's absolute. I'm looking for the truth that's so complete that no point of view can change the way you see it. No opinion can change its impression on you.

I've brought myself to understand that the truth wouldn't have to be called the truth at all if there wasn't anything opposing it. It would be only thing that ever made sense. If it works, it's got to work right down in the bottom of all that opposes it. I'm heading there. I hope both worlds level because both the worlds are looking for the same thing- they only need different things out of it. One world makes it harder in superiority- the other shuns it all in pride. NOBODY OWNS THE TRUTH. NO ONE CONTROLS IT. One is just lucky to know it earlier than the other.

Contributed by:Sunil Noronha

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