“I am tired of being pitted against my neighbor. I’m tired of being told to hate my neighbor. It’s been more than 10 years of this kind of politics. Politics as blood sport, politics as trolling and owning, politics as total war. It tears families apart. It ends friendships, and it leaves us all feeling terrible all the time.”  James Talarico from David French NYT article entitled: James Talarico is a Christian X-ray

Times like these make strange bedfellows.  James Talarico is a Texas based politician minister who in the first years of the 21st century would have been seen by liberals as an odd voice in the wilderness and while ‘nice enough’ not quite their cup of tea.  The same would be said for conservatives who saw bigger fish to fry in this new century.  Today he stands out as America’s first and maybe last hope in reinserting a unifying value structure under the steaming diversity of this divided nation.  Good decisions come from goodness is the simple assumption of the Good Decision Project. The complex, power word is “good” itself.  As we scan the smokey, bombed out horizon we can see where bad decisions come from, who makes them, and where they lead.  When asked in an interview about issues like gender and abortion in America Talarico responded: “I’m not saying they’re not important — I actually think both of those issues are very important. But to focus on those two things instead of feeding the hungry and healing the sick and welcoming the stranger — three things we’re told to do ad nauseam in Scripture — to me, is just mind-blowing.”

A Modest Proposal for Good.

Christian Nationalism is indeed a threat to America, but Talarico’s position is not Christian Nationalism or even exclusively Christian.  If anyone followed his message back to religious origins, one would find the inspired wisdom teachings of this planet almost universally support the values of cooperation, kindness, generosity, dignity and love; themes that weave through Talarico’s speeches. The resumption of aspiring toward those values could once again tie this nation together into an imperfect union with a secular ecumenical center, or at least a courageous majority ready for atonement and rebuilding. Given the damage done by this administration they say it could take a generation to find our place back in the world community.  This Sunday lets contemplate or pray for a new community called the United States of America making decisions out of “Orthocardia” or right heart”.  That would be so good.