Tolstoy Christians - where have they gone?

Late in June, I was hustling down an aisle in the library searching out a call number when a rather large tome "jumped" out at me. I don't know if this ever happens to you but I hope that someday it does because it is usually a pleasant educational experience. On this particular occasion the book was David Halberstam's - The Children. In it Halberstam chronicles the history of the American civil rights movement from the perspective of the Nashville sit-ins and the influence of Jim Lawson on the non-violent training and discipline these students demonstrated - Diane Nash and John Lewis are two examples. Halberstam was a young reporter in Nashville when it all started and this gave him some remarkable insights into the real struggle.

I learned that Lawson was greatly influenced by Gandhi and that Gandhi credited Tolstoy's - The Kingdom of God Is Within You - with changing his life. Whoa - now that is a recommendation! So I was off to the library again and as a person who has not read any Tolstoy - I confess that I had no idea what to expect and I actually was somewhat apprehensive since I consider myself to be a recovering Catholic.

The book was originally published in 1893 and promptly banned in the Czar's Russia but it was rapidly translated into English and published in 1894 when Gandhi was sent a copy.

It's actually a sequel in a sense. Tolstoy explains in the preface that in 1884 he wrote a book titled "What I Believe" which was "suppressed" by the Russian censorship, but in spite of this it was circulated through an underground network. In it he laid out his belief in Christ's teaching but he "could not help explaining why I do not believe, and consider as mistaken, the Church's doctrine, which is usually called Christianity."

"Among the many points in which this doctrine falls short of the doctrine of Christ I pointed out as the principal one the absence of any commandment of non-resistance to evil by force. The perversion of Christ's teaching by the teaching of the Church is more clearly apparent in this than in any other point of difference."

Tolstoy received criticism - both hostile and sympathetic - so ten years later he undertook what is in my opinion a scholarly tour de force with - The Kingdom of God Is Within You. The book consists of twelve chapters and Martin Green who wrote the forward to the University of Nebraska Press edition of the book admonishes those that are looking for the literary Tolstoy to turn to the last chapter - "Repent Ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand." After some reading which I found both fascinating and courageous I did turn to the last chapter but I found every chapter worthwhile.

Tolstoy challenges everyone of us as individuals - he questions the church and the state and all that we are told to believe by either one or both. Some of the chapter titles will give you a sense - "Christianity Misunderstood by Believers"; "Christianity Misunderstood by Men of Science"; "Contradiction Between Our Life and Our Christian Conscience"; "Evil Cannot Be Suppressed By the Physical Force of the Government".

It's not possible for me in a short space to do justice to Tolstoy's writing and scholarly work. It's worth the read and you'll ask the same question that I asked in the beginning - where are these real Christians now?

The Art of Human Sacrifice

Many people were awed by the swiftness with which the Republican demagogues distanced themselves from Idaho Senator, Larry Craig. I was not - he was a very public example of the state of the art in human sacrifice.

The toilet paper was hardly dry when Norm Coleman, the Senator from Minnesota who believes that the President of the United States "dictates" policy, called for Craig to resign.

Hollywood Republican mouthpiece, Ben Stein, former speech writer for Nixon and Ford, took his patrons to task on the CBS Sunday Morning show. According to Stein, "This is insane. If a police officer can wreck a man's career over this trifle, then we might as well not have a Constitution or a Bill of Rights... What I don't understand is why the GOP is tossing Senator Craig overboard as if he were a terrorist."

Of course this is the same Ben Stein who has in the very recent past implored President Bush on this same CBS show "not to cooperate with Congressional investigations" into administrative wrong doings. "Cooperating" was the only mistake Nixon made according to Stein.

Gee...and the rest of us thought that it was just possible Nixon had broken a law or two - and apparently President Ford was convinced that a full pardon was necessary.

Not to worry, apparently when it comes to bathroom etiquette - if we are not protected there - then Stein questions why we have a Constitution and Bill of Rights. Well Ben while you were pleading with Bush not to cooperate with Congress - America's politicos managed to shred the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and now spying on people (even Republican Senators) in public bathrooms is considered par for the course in the name of Homeland Security.

I believe that Craig's head was hoisted on the spike just to show all of the Congressional cowards the lengths that these evil war mongers will go to save their fortunes. By mercilessly sacrificing one of their own in a heartbeat without so much as a whimper - they are letting Reid, Pelosi, Obey, Conyers, Feingold and anyone else who might be considering getting in their way what they'll do to embarrass them or their loved ones.