Equanimous Philosopher gets published in his hometown paper

I regularly read the on-line version of my hometown newspaper, the Port Huron Times Herald to keep up with the goings on back home. (Not sure why, don't ask.)

Two weeks ago, there was a nasty public fight between the President of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Port Huron's schools that played out in the media for several days; and that made Cleveland politics look tame.

In response, I sent an e-letter to the editor that was published here. In my wildest dreams, I never thought they'd publish it.

Author Kevin Phillips and I seem to agree . . .

Regarding my previous post on the Theory of Two Hats, well-known author and social commentator, Kevin Phillips, recently appeared at The City Club of Cleveland to speak about his recent work: American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century.

My weekly newsletter from The City Club, "The City" quoted from Mr. Phillips speech the following passage:

"Part of what I get into in American Theocracy is the pattern and decline of leading economic powers from Rome right up to Britain in the early 20th century. Religion has often been part of the problem. In the sense that is gets too intolerant, too evangelical, too morally imperial, and too prone to team up with state power, ambition, and alas, misjudgment. Edward Gibbon, in his famous book about the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, emphasized the problems that overtook Rome when Christianity became the state religion. Let us hope no similar book is ever written about the United States, and that no book includes a chapter on Ohio."

Amen.

Two* Hat Society

Jill at Writes Like She Talks has a very engaging post today that posited a question about Christian religious prostelitizing. Her post and legitimate concerns essentially raise the following issue:

How can Christian faiths, which call for evangelization and prostelitizing, be reconciled with freedom of religion rights in our society?

I reconcile it this way: The Theory of the Two* Hat Society. (*There are probably more than two hats, but other hats are not germane to this question.)

As citizens of the United States of America, we have the right, indeed -- the obligation, some would say -- to wear two hats: Our religious hat and our citizen hat. (Of course anyone is free to only wear the citizen hat.)

Religious Hat

As a Catholic Christian, I am taught to spread the Gospel, the Word of the Lord, and to help non-Christians to come to the Church. Under the First Amendment protections of the United States Constitution, I am free to use my powers of persuasion and speech, in all its forms, to spread my religious beliefs and try, as an individual or small group, to convince others to adopt my religious beliefs. In other words, I can stand atop a mountain and shout until I am blue in the face that I think you should believe what I believe. As a Catholic Christian, I have both the right and the duty to do so.

Citizen Hat

As a Citizen of the United States, I have the simultaneous duty and obligation to my fellow citizens to preserve every individuals right to worship (or not) any religion an individual chooses; and their right to stand atop a mountain and shout until they are blue in the face that I should believe what they believe. I must ensure that the power of the state protects all individuals' rights. This is the only way I can be sure that my rights are protected. There is an inherent tension here, and it was deliberately created by the founding fathers -- an individual [wo]man's own self interest will protect the whole group.

The Problem

What Jill at Writes Likes She Talks is really concerned about is religious groups', while wearing only their religious hats and totally ignoring their citizen hat, attempts (in some recent cases, successfully so) to co-opt the power of the State to spread their particular religious beliefs. This is the situation where an individual or group uses more than free speech to persuade others to believe what they believe, they use the power of the state to force others to adhere to their beliefs. To the extent this is happening, it is the beginning of the end of our free society.

It is the Two Hat Theory that allows me to evangelize about my Catholic beliefs while respecting Jill's Judaism.

Our founders set up a very complicated society that, to a large degree, requires simultaneously maintaining beliefs that are cannot always be reconciled. To a large extent, we have forgotten how to do this. Whenever the Citizen Hat cannot be reconciled with the Religious Hat, the Citizen Hat must prevail. That is the only way we can be sure that each of us will remain free in our religious beliefs.

[This is precisely what is needed in Iraq right now, by the way to create a free society there that can reconcile different religious beliefs. Unfortunately, our current federal administration tends to lean more toward the religious hat taking precedence over the citizen hat.]

I hope this helps answer Jill's question.

***Update on 6/18/06 -- I borrowed Jill's spelling of proselytize without checking it myself. Lazy on my part, please accept my apologies.

Father's Day & The National Fatherhood Initiative

My oldest will be three years old this coming August, so I have been a father now for over 2 and 1/2 years. Looking back, fatherhood (so far) has been the most rewarding, exhausting, trying, fun, exciting, terrifying, worrisome, joyful, exhilarating thing I have done in my life.

Several months ago, I came across an organization called The National Fatherhood Initiative. (NFI)

NFI’s mission is to improve the well being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers. We accomplish our mission through:

Educating and inspiring all Americans, especially fathers, through public awareness campaigns, research, and other resources.

Equipping and developing leaders of national, state, and community fatherhood initiatives through curricula, training, and technical assistance.

Engaging every sector of society through strategic alliances and
partnerships.

Or, as we like to say, Educating, Equipping and Engaging.

This is a very impressive organization that seeks to combat the societal forces at work which are inadvertently (and, at times, intentionally) marginalizing fathers and making the importance of fatherhood irrelevant.

As single parent households (largely headed by women) have increased over time, the importance of fatherhood has been overshadowed by well-intentioned social scientists who are often too eager to accept non-traditional family units without looking at the big picture.

As the mission of NFI suggests, they are accomplishing this through education programs for fathers, as well as public relations campaigns to provide an alternative view to the impact of absent fathers on children.

I'm not necessarily advocating a specific position here; I merely offer NFI to you as a way to look at family issues from a different perspective so you can make your own informed decision. I think NFI is a great organization, merely because it offers a new and refreshing point of view on the family unit and the importance of fathers and fatherhood to that family unit.

Update 6:03 p.m.

One more thing. There is a local "chapter" of NFI sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Commissioners (in particular, Peter Lawson Jones) called the Cuyahoga County Fatherhood Initiative. The organization does not appear to have a web-site up and running, but for more information regarding local Fatherhood Initiative efforts, call (216) 348-3967.