The New York
Times recently ran a story about the Riverside Church, the congregation
that serves as a national cathedral for liberal Protestantism, and its
search for a new minister.
Riverside’s past ministers have included renowned leaders such as
Harry Emerson Fosdick and William Sloan Coffin, making the current task
a daunting one. The Times referred to Riverside as “the capital of a
theological movement that has been slowly deteriorating,” citing
mainstream Protestantism’s “decades-long pattern of losing members,
vitality, and influence” as a challenge to finding a new pastor. A
photograph illustrated the story: two men looking down from the
church’s balcony over forty parishioners huddled in the back pews of a
mostly-empty building.
I have a confession to make: I watched the Miss Universe pageant Monday
night. I could make some lame excuse like “nothing else was on
television.” But the truth of the matter is that when choosing between
elevating my mind with Al Gore’s new book and sinking into the comfy
armchair in front of the flat-screen, I chose Miss Universe – live from
Mexico City.
Two
events this week should cause all Christians to stop and consider the
relationship between truth and war. Both the congressional hearings in
the Tillman/Lynch cases and the Bill Moyers PBS special about the media
and Iraq point out one of the dimensions of war: lying.