In the comments on my earlier post, Calling All Spiritual Progressives, Miko included a link to this article in the Christian Science Monitor that highlights the American public’s growing wariness (and weariness) with religious and anti-religious extremes in U.S. politics. It is worth reading.

Encouraged by Miko’s comment, I re-read that post, and was reminded of why I was first inspired to create a book group and to get spiritual progressives talking to each other on the web and in person. I envisioned us discussing Rabbi Lerner’s The Left Hand of God and establishing a local NSP chapter:

The Network of Spiritual Progressives is all about reclaiming the spiritual mandate from the right and building a community of people who share the same spiritual/political values. From what I���ve seen so far, I���m willing to back the vision that he and other liberal spiritual leaders in the U.S. have crafted. On the Spiritual Progressives website, there are suggestions for people like me who wonder ���How do I get involved?��� The second one is to ���create a study group to read books related to spiritual politics��� and the third is to ���start or join a local chapter.���

Two months later, I’m still very interested in building an NSP chapter, or at least in networking idealistic left-leaning critical thinkers who value spirituality. This is one of my ulterior motives in trying to get together an online and real-life book group. But I conspicuously left out Lerner’s book in the vote for the first set of books, and I carelessly neglected to explain the omission. Basically, I had a problem with Lerner’s writing style–it’s very rambling, and he could’ve made the same point in one-third of the space. That said, I love his ideas, I fully support his vision of increased influence of the spiritual left in American politics. I do want us to discuss the feasibility of his Spiritual Covenant with America (pdf link). I am considering breaking it down and discussing it article by article on mindonfire. What do y’all think?

I have vision for this blog. I would like this to be a hub for critical thinkers who play with the dynamic tension between faith and skepticism, religion and secularism, spirituality and involvement in this material world. Blogging, to me, is about community, and I feel like a little spiritually progressive community is coalescing around this site. I think that I’ve decreased my whining about Mormonism over the past year or so, and I’m trying to replace it with posts that encouragement engagement and forward movement. Miko has reminded me of all this. I’m not sure how intentional it was, but thank you for keeping me honest and focused.