Sunday morning wow.

Wow.

There I was, driving down Old Shakopee Road, nodding my head in agreement with a Vice President of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Will wonders never cease.

I was listening to "Speaking of Faith" on NPR. The guest was Richard Cizik, above-mentioned VP. From the NPR website: Last month, conservative Christian leaders demanded that Richard Cizik be silenced or removed from his post. They charged that his concerns about climate change and torture have shifted attention away from moral issues such as gay marriage and abortion. But for Cizik, poverty, war, and the environment are moral issues too.
What got me nodding was a comment he made during the interview. He was talking about how incredulous he is when he hears evangelical leaders denying scientific knowledge. He compared it to the early days of the civil rights movement, when many religious leaders took a "doesn't matter, I don't care" stance when presented with reasons to accept people of color as full citizens. He talked of how they just flat-out rejected reason, but later had to eat their words and apologize for their narrow stance.

He sees the current controversy over creationism vs evolution, denial of global warming, and other science vs. religion clashes as the same type of situation. Many religious leaders are too often just rejecting the science, but Cizik believes they will eventually see the error of their ways and end up eating crow - and apologizing to their followers for their refusal to even discuss, much less accept, the scientific point of view.

And for the record, while the leaders of his denomination called for his resignation or dismissal, they were not successful. He is still there, he is still talking.

I LOVE hearing things like this. Earlier in the morning I was listening the the news, talking about recent riots in Russia where, it was said, "the leaders don't even pretend to follow the rules any more." It made me think about our leaders in the US, and at least they are still pretending to follow the rules and trying to convince people they are leading the country appropriately. I guess, following the logic of the news report, that is something to be grateful for. But it left a sour taste in my mouth.

Hearing the evangelical story brought more sweetness to my morning, and I felt a renewal of stirrings of hope for our nation. It's so easy to get caught up in the negativity and to focus on all that is wrong. I need to continually remind myself that our nation is filled with people like Richard Cizik, who, on first glance, could not be more different from me, but who, when I took the time to listen to his opinions, actually possesses qualities I admire, respect, and am grateful for.

Wow.