ON AWKWARD BIBLE VERSES

I was the officiant at a memorial for my friend Michael Feigley , father of Matt Feigley and Eric Jon Feigley .

Matt is an atheist and his father skeptically inclined - "I guess he was Christian, to the extent he was anything," per Matt. Before he died, he indicated to the pastor who ministered to him that it was quite okay not to bring up the G word in the memorial.

So Matt and I discussed the arrangments for this second service in the Lehigh Valley and - other than a welcome and a few brief remarks at the end - I was largely introducing the various speakers.

I took notice of the Bible verse referenced towards the end of the service but didn't think much about it.

So I show up and the program at the funeral home is going fine and his wife his giving a moving eulogy and I saw that - while all the other parts of the program had names of the assigned speakers penned in - the Bible reading (which followed the brief musical offering following the eulogy, which was almost at an end) was not annotated.

And I realized that it was not annotated because they had just assumed I would bring a Bible to a memorial service I was officiating!

(Can't imagine why, though I suspect it was because I graduated from seminary, was the Camp Minsi chaplain for many years, and babble constantly about Jesus Christ - something like that, I suppose. :-) )

I had not.

I walked over to Matt and whispered that I neglected to bring a Bible but the funeral home must have one. He shook his head - not enough time - and said, "just forget it."

So, eulogy and final music complete, I got up to make closing remarks when I saw Matt flagging me.

"Er, I think Matt would like to say something before we leave."

Matt gets up, pulls out his hand-held... and reads the verse.

So the Christian forgets to bring a Bible, the atheist (and the internet) have to bail him out... and I've come to the conclusion that the Unitarian Universalist church I attend is ruining me. :-)

Matthew 11:28-30 (NRSV)

Inoculating Society From Ideologically-Driven Violence

Taking the life of violent extremists is nothing more than a stop-gap measure. It disrupts the specific plot but does not defeat the ideology that feeds it - it may, in fact, enhance its narrative.

To really defeat the ideology that drives them, we must help them develop a life too valuable to throw away invested in a society that, for all its serious faults, is ultimately worth the effort of peaceful reformation.

"[Homegrown violent extremists] absorb their anger from watching jihadist videos on the Internet, reading the essays of al Qaeda communicators like the late Anwar al-Awlaki. They come to see themselves as warriors in an epic struggle, go off to shooting ranges, pump each other up with the imagined heroic deeds they will carry out. Religion is a component, but seldom is the key factor. Adventure, revenge, glory propel them down the path. For many, the prospect of blowing things up is a solution to an unsatisfactory life. Terrorism does not attract the well-adjusted."

See Latest Alleged Homegrown 'Terrorists' Fit the Mold