I read little SF these days, though. Before seeing Russell Jacoby's penetrating review, I assumed that this was because I had changed, but perhaps it is the genre itself which has changed. Bellamy's book envisioned an egalitarian world based on camaraderie. Indeed, we seem unable even to envision a different social order. What it may take to renew both church and society is imagination, creativity, and dreaming.
Healthy religion is all about hope.
Easter proclaims the Good News revealed by Jesus that God's power is stronger than humiliation, evil, and death. The spring festival observed by adherents of Al-Islam, I am told, is rooted in the earth's joyful renewal. The ecumenical movement was founded on the hope that we might someday be one. Perhaps, though, this reinforces the point I was trying to make, that when legislators, jurists, and elected officials muck around in religion, we are likely to get some pretty strange decisions. Frank Rendo and the Act II Drama Ministry will perform.