Emmanuel
FROM THE EDITOR
People in public life — actors, television personalities, politicians, and
the like — often keep their religious beliefs private or, at the opposite
end of the spectrum, sometimes become outspoken critics of
organized religion and its adherents. For this reason, it was refreshing
to run across Sam Polcer’s interview of the noted British actor Ian
McShane some months ago in United Airlines’ onboard magazine
Hemispheres.
After reflecting on various aspects of his profession, McShane moves
on to “the power of religion”:
“It’s man’s eternal question: Where did we come from? Why are we
here? Is it a joke being played by a higher power? Is life Hobbesian
— nasty, brutish, and short? Should it be a thing of beauty? There’s a
line of Mr. Wednesday’s [the character McShane portrays in American
Gods] that amused me: If you have a faith and can smile about that
faith, you’re more likely to have a good time than if you’re miserable
the entire time or don’t believe in anything at all. And you can argue
all you want for or against religion, but without it you wouldn’t have
half the great art in the world, or half the great music, or have the
great ideas.”
Readers of Emmanuel can certainly appreciate McShane’s take on
the artistic, aesthetic, and philosophical-theological contributions of
religion to human history. And we can acknowledge, too, that at times
religion has been used in horrible ways to hurt and do unspeakable
violence to others. We see this even in our own day.
As ministers of the Gospel, and as members of a Church whose worship
and thinking and acting are shaped and formed by the encounter
with God in Christ’s gift of the Eucharist, what exactly are we called to
give witness to before the world?
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