Gene

 

Well, Kate and I just got back from the funeral service for a recently deceased close friend.  The funeral service was held in a small Evangelical church.  A little into the service, we found ourselves singing a hymn, whose refrain was

Trust and obey,

For there's no other way,

To be happy in Jesus

But to trust and obey.

This remarkable hymn managed to encapsulate all that I find disappointing in Christianity as it is practiced in the US: if you want to be happy with Jesus, you have to switch off the critical parts of your brain.

Much of the congregation consisted of our colleagues, who were college professors.  Some of them, doubtless, are comfortable with Trusting and Obeying, but higher education for many years has been engaged in a battle to fight against all sorts of dogma, which is why the conservatives and the GOP is so determined to get rid of "wokeness", one aspect of which is not Trusting and Obeying.  But is there truly no other way?

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