Insightful, inflammable, inflexible - adjectives that describe a panel discussion on February 25th at North Heights Lutheran, Arden Hills, MN. Julie Madden, of SJA, joined three nationally known panelists in a three-hour discussion as part of a two-day event entitled Culture War or Religious War? About 800 people attended, most seemingly Christian evangelist leaning.

Combatants in the discussion, from left to right (political leanings and seating), were:

Summary: Since the panelists (read combatants) had inflexible convictions, there was little true debate. Dan Barker and Janet Parshall were the principle antagonists, lobbing verbal grenades at each other, disputing facts and ridiculing opinions. The discussion skirted the theme for the evening, largely reverting to a contenscious broad discussion of religion. By tying myself to my chair and adopting a strategy of acceptance, I found the evening fascinating.

Julie, with courage and conviction, claimed the high ground. Rather than wrestle in the mud, she beautifully articulated the need for a social justice and peacemaker mission of government, much like believed at SJA. Her call for acceptance of diversity (read gay acceptance), international cooperation (read avoid wars and the Iraq war is immoral) and care for the weak (read more social versus military spending) was hissed and groaned by the audience. Very disrespectful.

My take on the religious right is they believe they are being persecuted. Yet only they know what is right, aggressively quoting the bible to support their views. Thus, they suggest we need more religion (read religious right views on marriage, abortion, just war, Christian symbolism) in our government and laws.

The panelists did find a little agreement. First, all panelists agreed that the word "Jesus" could be spoken by our President with some caution. And, our government and its policies need to be fixed - of course, different fixes. Lastly, there are good and evil people in all religions.

Perhaps the most poignant moment of the evening was the conclusion that Dan Barker was going to hell unless he accepted the teachings of the bible. Even if Dan has done some good in his life, there was no hope without full acceptance. Since he hasn't and won't, he's doomed!

To capture the mood of the discussion, here are a few views of panelists. Hold onto your hat.

Jerry Hartlaub commutes from New Brighton with his wife, Trish, to be refreshed and challenged at the "SJA spiritual oasis". He's a Sunday mass slide jockey and often waiter at SJA events. For fun he's jogged over 35,000 miles, written a bunch of poetry, just printed his first book and invented lots of stuff in a 30-year bioengineering career. These days he teaches cardiac physiology and pacemakers as a consultant (ya, he's mostly retired), serves on non-profit boards and does Junior Achievement gigs. But most rewarding is providing some regular child-care for 2 of the world's smartest, cutest grandchildren.


Sue O'Brien is the wife of Tom, mother of four children, and grandmother of six. She is dental hygienist and manages a dental practice in Spring Lake Park. A parishioner for many years, Sue worked as a caregiver at Grace House for seven years, beginning the week it opened. Now she is looking forward to meeting new people at St. Joan of Arc as she helps out as a web reporter and photographer. Sue can be reached at sueo-b@comcast.net.


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