At the Intersection #4: What "Bluey" Teaches Adults

How to get a 54 year-old man to cry at a family of cartoon dogs.

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since I’ve written an “At the Intersection” post and a lot of has happened in my life. One thing that has happened is the death of my mother in late February. I’ve learned that losing a mother seems to be a lot harder than any other death one deals with. Around Easter, I wrote about what grief is teaching me so far. The resurrection means more to me now than it has in the past. Here are some other links you should know about.

Politics, Therapy, Religion and Identity: Mother Jones has a good article on the implosion of the Libertarian Party. In 2016, the party had its best showing in a presidential election falling short of the 5 percent threshold to be eligible for public funds. I should know, because I voted for the libertarian candidate, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson. That should have been the start of a making the LP a more mainstream party. But the article shows how a MAGA-like faction took over the party adopting policies and practices that are rather un-libertarian and probably dashing any hope for a viable third option to the Democrats and Republicans for the time being.

What fascinated me is how these new libertarians aren’t really interested in acting like a political party. It seems more like a support group or even a cult that isn’t interested in the outside world than it is in being authentic. The thing is you see this throughout our political culture today. The Republican Party under Donald Trump seems less interested in passing legislation or winning in swing states than they are in being authentically Republican, whatever that means.

We also see it on the left with the protest culture. From Black Lives Matter, to climate change to protesting against Israel and for Palestine, you see people willing to engage in outlandish protest,but for reasons other than trying to solve the problem at hand. The protests of the 1960s tended to push for solutions, protest today, however, seems far more performative. On the left and the right, the goal is toward identity and authenticity, not in a better society. The Mother Jones article gives a big look into why our politics is so messed up these days.

Prosperity and Poverty: One of the things I’ve heard a lot about is the Prosperity Gospel and it’s usually not praising it. Ryan Burge wanted to know who believes in the Prosperity Gospel. His findings show that the folk who tend to put stock in it are on the lower part of the income scale and are African American and Latino. This was not that surprising to me, since I wrote something about this a decade ago.

As I said back then, it made sense because low-income and persons of color tend to be more financially insecure than white people, so of course a religious message that talks about financial blessings would ring true to those groups.

Psychologist and theologian Richard Beck has a very insightful take on elite criticism of the Prosperity Gospel that you can read here, here, and here. TLDR, the poor look at the Prosperity Gospel not as a way to get rich, but to pray for basic needs.

Slacktivist or Activist?: Related to the earlier article about the Libertarian Party, Ross Douthat riffs on a 30-year-old quote from a book to wonder our web-soaked life impeding actual progress. He talks about how social media is making us less creative and could even be behind falling birthrates around the world. I’m usually a little wary of the let’s-blame-the-internet-for-everything line of thinking, but that doesn’t mean that innovations like the internet or social media don’t have downsides. There is this fascinating discussion with writer Neil Howe on his latest book on generations and how our modern age is good at talking about problems, but not really making any change. I see this happening a lot in the church and in politics as well where people will talk forever about how the church or this political party is all messed up, but in the end doesn’t do much to effect real change. Social media these days has a ton of memes that tend to finger-wag on various issues, but offer nothing more. Has social media offered us a false feeling of doing something when all we’ve done is performative? Have we all become slacktivists?

Are They Evangelical? Over the last few years, a number of denominations have split from mainline Protestant denominations especially over LGBTQ issues. These include groups like the Global Methodist Church which split from the United Methodist Church. At first blush it might make sense to call them evangelical, but the truth is far more complicated.

Speaking of the United Methodists, they began their Quadrennial meeting on April 23. This is the first meeting post-schism and Disciples of Christ pastor Jeff Gill urges people to pray for the United Methodists as they meet in Charlotte, NC.

Too Real or Not Real Enough?: The biggest movie at the moment is Civil War, which looks at a very near future United States torn apart by conflict. I’m not a big fan of dystopian movies and I don’t know if I will watch it, but it has made for compelling commentary. Allan Stratton writes at Quillete about how Civil War shows what can happen in a society “that loses trust in its institutions and the moral guardrails that support them.” Ross Douthat writes that unless we face a ground-shaking event, don’t expect America to descend in the kind of violence found in the film.

Like a mother hen gathers her chicks: I’m a 54-year-old man with no kids and I love the Australian cartoon, Bluey. For those who don’t know, Bluey is the name is a 7-year-old anthropomorphic Australian Cattle Dog who lives with her family in Brisbane, Australia. The series focuses on all the adventures Bluey, along with her younger sister Bingo and her parents Bandit and Chili get into adventures.

One of the best episodes is the Season 2 episode “Sleepytime.” Bingo wants to be able to have a “big girl sleep,” meaning she wants to sleep in her own bed all night. The episode (the link is below) is a wonderful take on a mother’s love for a child even when the child feels alone in their dreams.

Bradley Gray has a delightful review of the episode and how it relates to the maternal instincts of God. It’s a wonderful reminder of God’s faithfulness.

That’s all for now. Check out recent episodes of the podcast by going to churchandmain.org.

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