Tuesday, November 07, 2017

Quote of the day...

Stanley Hauerwas’ Dictum: “As soon as we agree to take charge of the outcome of history, we agree to do violence.”

I would add to that the observation that from that point on, every discussion will ultimately come down to figuring out who should be killed and when. That the devil was a “murderer from the beginning” should be born in mind as we think such a thing through.

-Fr. Stephen (Freeman) from the comment thread under this excellent reflection.

1 comment:

The Anti-Gnostic said...

At base, this is a plea for everybody to "just get along." And we can all get along, but it depends on what's at stake. I can surely tolerate a neighbor's annual, all-night Super Bowl bash. How about bi-annual? Monthly? Bi-monthly? Chip in to support my neighbor's party? Give my neighbor's party some lebensraum in my front yard? Take this on up the spectrum to the choice foisted on some Middle Eastern Christians: convert or die.

When it comes down to existential questions--who gets to live where and run the institutions--no, we can't all just get along because geography and the preferred culture are scarce commodities.