50 Comments
Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

Thank you.

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

Did Greg,

As a cradle Catholic who spent a good portion of her life in church, and a long time student of scripture, I can fully appreciate your article for today. After all, Jesus had a knack for meeting people exactly where they are. For your readership, I think you have done exactly the same, in your celebration of the Easter spirit. So I'd say you're in pretty good company, meeting so many people right where they are. A hopeful, happy Easter to you and your family, Greg!

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Nice. Thanks. Two comments: the Nicene Creed was officially adopted on June 19. “Juneteenth” as they say in Texas. An important day here, especially that part about light.

Second: if 17 centuries of belief by some of the best and/or smartest people who ever lived is not enough to convince you to reconsider your own faith, what would it take to convince you?

Just asking. As a friend.

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

Like I say to everyone I care about, check out the Unitarian Universalist religion. It is one of the oldest in the country, and the least understood but the most tolerant, welcoming and heart full. I zoom among lapsed Catholics, turned away gay lesbian and transgendered folks and folks like me Who would never excepted into the Jewish religion because dad was and mother wasn’t. There is no dogma. Decreed is tolerance, understanding and compassion and a mission toward delivering peace, one soul at a time. Amen and may it be so.

Happy Easter, cherished man.

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

Loved this! And as a once fully-indoctrinated [but now former] Catholic, I have always, even as a child trapped in church week after week been off-put by the Father-Son-Surrogate Mother-No-Daughter holy family myth. And of course the celibate Church Fathers had no idea how babies are born . I doubt they had any idea how babies are conceived. Total patriarchal, authoritarian, misogynistic mythology. And as for 17 centuries of belief by some of the smartest and best— there have also been 17 centuries of disbelief by other smartest and ‘best’.

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I assign you to read this. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6957725-a-history-of-christianity

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Thank you, Greg. ‘You Must Believe In Spring’ 🎶

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I'm usually so moved to thought by your pieces I forget to 'like.' This time I wanted to wish you "good hope" as well. And enjoyment of Spring and things reborn in all their beautiful iterations.

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

Thank you, Greg. I went to Sunday School most Sundays for perhaps 8-10 years, being brainwashed like the other middle class turnips, all to evade our family being quietly ostracised by a still-rigid male hierarchy social structure. I knew all the claptrap was somehow highly unlikely, being a budding scientist and fireworks addict (ref: serious explosives, for which my right ear is less functional than my left). Your comment about lack of poetry triggered a memory... Around 17, in a prep school, I came across this fact below and the whole house of cards burned down in about 2-3 minutes:

"The Bible and modern derivatives were written by a committee of old white men in St James' court in 1604-1611"

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

Rant follows:

Social reformers must realise that the greatest social evil of the last 5,000 years is RELIGION

Most social ills have roots in religious dogma, religious lies, religious hypocrisy, religious wars, religious power and religious misogyny.

Religion is a just a fig leaf to hide greed, prejudice, hatred and abuse.

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Hopeful thoughts for a lovely day. Thank you.

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

This can't be a novel imagining, but could Mother Nature be the source of the big bang? She could have had this idea, you see... On a glorious day where I am. I follow our *MotherCard* carriers. They come with the whole program, no? In the meantime, thanx for the tell and the truth.

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

I too was raised an observant Catholic. I am now an observant Unitarian Universalist, and I believe in the Holy Spirit. As a child we sang a Catholic hymn that goes "God is Love, and he who abides in Love, abides in God, and God in him." That sums up my faith (although the hymn needs adjusting to non-gendered pronouns.)

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

Happy Easter + Spring to you and your readership! Like yourself, was born into an observant Catholic clan, yet the religion never really resonated for me (despite loving much of the ritual). Still, Easter has always seemed a hopeful day to me - with the possibility of Spring soon to come (grew up in w-a-y upstate NY). Even living in temperate LA for 40+ years, this day evokes that same feeling of expectation.

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Apr 4, 2021Liked by Greg Olear

Spring 2021, despite COVID and despite the terrible February storm (I'm in Texas), seems to be engendering a paradigm shift in outlook for many, including me. So your lovely letter amplifies that hope greatly, and thank you for it. I've been very much a lapsed churchgoer, but lately that has happily changed a little (kudos to Zoom and to a local Congregational church). While spring cleaning à la Swedish death cleaning, I purchased a print of William Holman Hunt's "The Light of the World," having loved its role in Connie Willis's fantastic time-travel novel, "Blackout / All Clear." I look at and try to listen to it all the time. So I'm finally (at 69 1/2) learning about Christ, making this Easter an especially joyous one. May it be so for all, of any faith or no faith--and may it last.

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Nice words.thnanks! It is so refreshing when someone really says what they think and feels. I became a catholic 15 years ago. Not because the worldly institution was something I wanted to join but because the mystical body of Christ/Mary was to be found in the cathedral in my neighbourhood. It was there, moving in rhe midst of the services and in the people. I liked the gender balance..Jesus and Mary have the same weight in the liturgy. I did have a transcendent experience of a higher power when I was a youth. It is not something you really get over...the knowledge that love is out there and is real. There are so many paths to follow to Love. The communion of the Catholic church is only one of them. We all have the ability to choose, to knock on some door and ask for help along the way. I have found help always comes. Maybe not in the form that is envisioned but it comes all the same. 🌺❤️

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