God did not make the honey bee as big as a horse

God did not make the honey bee as big as a horse.
Had he made it so big, the bee would be stinging people to death.
God does not elevate

People who would ridicule the unfortunate.
God does not give power to those who would be wicked to their fellowmen.
No one gains anything through being wicked.

So sing the Yoruba people of Nigeria in one of the songs from their religious tradition.

I’m glad that honey bees aren’t as big as horses. But I don’t believe God acts alone. If god is to be visible in the world, it will be through our actions. 

Some of us believe that depending on God to make things right is part of what has kept things wrong.

God has been replaced, for many of us, with other, non-theistic equivalents.  The notion of progress is one such equivalent.  Just as the people of ancient Israel had faith in God, so the people of the Enlightenment had faith in the power of education and reason and freedom to usher in a golden age.  But the descent of Germany, the most cultured and educated Western nation, into the evils of war and genocide in the 1930's has shaken our faith in the power of the Enlightenment.

Some would put their faith in the invisible hand of the market.  They believe that most of the social ills we are prone to would disappear if we only had enough jobs and the only way to create these jobs is by removing the burden of excessive regulation and taxes. In the best of faith, they tell us, “Trust in the market and we will grow our way out of injustice.”

I don’t believe in or hope for supernatural interventions by God.  But I also don’t believe in progress or the wisdom of the market’s vaunted invisible hand.  I do believe, nonetheless, that goodness will prevail.  I do believe that the wicked and the treacherous will suffer.  I believe that just as time heals all wounds, all heels are eventually wounded. I have confidence in the moral coherence of the world.  I believe that goodness cannot be forever mocked.  I believe that there is a moral order that will inevitably crush all tyrannies and punish all oppressors.

Yet, despite this belief, I often find it difficult to sustain my faith in the moral coherence of the world.  It often seems that the forces of hate and greed are winning and that they have always won.  It too often seems that might makes right, that brutality, intimidation, calculated self-interest and corruption have the upper hand in public life.

At such times, though, I need to remind myself that goodness and justice have prevailed and won against evil.   Or as the Unitarian minster Rev. Theodore Parker observed in 1853, "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one….But from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

Book recommendation

"Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History" by George Crile.

Charlie Wilson, a U.S. naval academy graduate and, more importantly, a congressman from East Texas, almost single-handedly managed to transform the CIA's covert support of the Afghan resistance to the 1979 Soviet invasion from a small operation designed to "bleed" the Soviet army into a full scale effort to kill as many Soviet troops as possible and force them to leave the country.

Crile, a former producer for CBS's "60 Minutes" first became involved through his role as a producer but then wrote the full story in this fascinating book. It's full of larger than life characters made even better by Crile's first-rate story telling. A 2007 movie based on the book was excellent and is worth watching just for Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of CIA agent Gust Avrakatos.

Wilson played the stereotypical bigger than life Texan for all it was worth. He is tall but likes to wear boots with elevated hells to boost his height further. His voice was loud and booming and, of course, he favored big belt buckles and even bigger hats.

He served for twenty-four years as a congressman representing conservative Lufkin, Texas despite a scandal involving showgirls, cocaine, and a hot tub in Vegas's Ceasar's Palace. He was an alcoholic and an inveterate womanizer. Somehow he managed to secure a seat on the House defense appropriations committee, despite the opposition of the Democratic leadership, and a seat on the House intelligence oversight committee. From this position of power, which he gained in part because of his steadfast support of Israel even though there were no Jews in his District, he managed to change the course of history.

It's a long book but I can honestly say I was never bored. I learned a lot about how the government works and even came out thinking less of Lt. Col. Oliver North than I had before I read the book, a not inconsiderable achievement.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in U.S. foreign policy, Pakistan, or great stories about unforgettable contemporary characters.

Purpose of this blog

I intend to use this blog to list and review books, movies, and radio and television programs that I think are worthy of mention. I also intend to use it to link to and comment on cultural and political issues and issues of faith.

I love to feed my head—with ideas. I regularly read the New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Economist. I like to watch Frontline, Nature, and The American Experience  on public television and occasionally Charlie Rose. I listen to NPR when I drive and routinely download Fresh Air, Radio Lab, and Atlantic Monthly podcasts. I also love to read and sometimes listen to books on tape when I’m riding my bike. I’m partial to history and current affairs. I always have a big stack of books and magazines on hand patiently waiting to be read and that list has grown even larger with my Kindle.


I'm sure other uses will occur to me over time but the above will do for a start.

-Craig Roshaven