Faith and Reason

There is something radical that comes from combining the faith in spirit with the reason of the mind. This week I attended a seminar that did just that. It started last night with a speech from Joan Chittister on the Divine Feminine and its place in not just the Christian religion, but in the world.

Today it was followed by a talk given by Richard Rohr which he called the Human Sprite, but really, I would have named it Human development. I have heard substance of what he said before in various forms, but of course, you always hear it in a new and different light.

When Joan spoke again this afternoon she didn't talk about spiritual theology. (I was getting tired of that anyway). She spoke about women and war. She spoke about the radical idea of giving a voice to women when it came time to go to war, and to end a war. How different would things look if people stopped to think about the women.

I don't think it really comes as a shock to anyone to hear the numbers she threw out there. Something like 90% of the casualties in the Iraq war have been civilians. That in its self is a tragedy. Beyond that though. What if we considered the women who are left alone in the bombed out village with their small children. Left to somehow provide them with food and water when there is none to be had. We don't hear these numbers. It was a very interesting. Very moving speech. One of those things where as she talked I kept thinking, "why had I never seen this before?" All of those people, hidden right in front of our eyes.

How do we make sure these voices are heard? Our voices are heard? I have no idea. Something to sit with for awhile.

If you want more information you can check out the UN page here.