The WSJ's Daniel Henninger writes about Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam's findings that bode ill for the raison d'etre of the "diversity" movement. The more diversity you have, the less social trust and cohesion you find. But Henninger notes something interesting from Putnam's data:
Here, too, Robert Putnam has a possible assimilation model. Hold onto your hat. It's Christian evangelical megachurches. "In many large evangelical congregations," he writes, "the participants constituted the largest thoroughly integrated gatherings we have ever witnessed." This, too, is an inconvenient truth. They do it with low entry barriers to the church and by offering lots of little groups to join inside the larger "shared identity" of the church. A Harvard prof finds good in evangelical megachurches. Send this man a suit of body armor!
E pluribus, unum. What unites them is shared religious belief, a conviction that crosses all ethnic and social boundaries. T"here is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)
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[Yes, I'm tired. My typos and bad grammar belong to me, and no other.]
While I consider my personal experience valid as a comparison point for the larger issues of community here, I must preface them by acknowledging that any analogy between Jewish and Christian congregations will quickly break down on a number of points.
When we brought our first child to the local Hebrew school, our "introduction" was interesting. My wife was raised Jewish but was not religious and had not done the bat mitvah; I was Jewish by birth, but not even raised as one. The rabbi, a man of infinite compassion and a wit a mile deep, worked with us to give us the basics we'd need to be members of his congregation, and left it to us to choose how much we'd partake in both the worship and social life of his community. My wife and I acquired Hebrew names (mine is a close literal translation of my given name, Elkhanan), and they appear on our children's Hebrew birth certificates and now on my daugther's wedding contract (ketubah).
Trying to keep this as brief as possible, I've never felt more welcomed into a gathering of fellow human beings. The services I've attended emphasized both family and community; at the end of every one, all the children present came up to the bema for the final prayer and song.
At no point did I or my wife feel pressured to become observant Jews. We easily entered into the rituals of life, the candles and prayer at sundown on Fridays, Passover seders, yahrtzeit candles, and when we attend services, no one looks askance at us.
I suggest that it is not about diversity, and never was. I suggest that it is about having a community, and making a conscious and deliberate decision to honor both the structure of it and the contributions to it that each member is capable of giving. From my POV, the rest is all about human ego, and nothing about God.
"Wow, paranoid much? But of course there is not xenophobia or intolerance undergirding the anti-immigration movement. Just because neo-Nazis and hate-groups are aligned with the Minuteman"
Thank you for well reasoned, well thought out contribution to the debate. Presentation of the evidence is terrific. When you get to the high school you will be straight A student.
That is if you don't mind a good chance of civil war and certain disappearance of the United States.
Which US are you talking about, mik? The one where only WASP males have any authority or power, or the one where the governor of California is a German immigrant, and a first generation Kenyan is running for president?
I don't see much difference between the wholesale rejection of the illegals and the retail rejections of the European exiles after WWII (my parents being of the latter group). The sheer numbers of the illegals is a valid cause for concern on several points, but if you really want to break out of the paranoia label, you will need more than angry Latino rhetoric as evidence of an imminent conversion of the US to Estados Unidos. And, I would add from personal interest, why such a conversion would be a bad thing for anyone other than those WASP males.
If I may pick a nit, Franklin, the Governor of California is an Austrian immigrant. Otherwise, well said.
mik_infidelos | August 17, 2007 3:38 PM notes:
>>>Not sure what liberal has to do with Open Border Fanatics.
There is a certain subset that uses 'liberal' as a general pejorative for "someone who holds political opinions that we don't like," much the way 'fascist' is used in other subsets.
John, nit noted; I'm shamefaced not just because I do know where he was born, but that I used to be able to hear the difference in the accent; I was talking to my Austrian-accented cousin just a couple of weeks ago. :-(
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