c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Here is a question to ponder.

My son and I recently went to play tennis. All five courts were empty, as they are most days. A generation ago, people lined up to play tennis. What changed?

Some will say, Who cares? I don’t play tennis. If it doesn’t touch me directly, the question doesn’t matter.

Some will triage. Tennis was a fad. Why get worked up about fads?

Some will link empty courts to other cultural phenomena: video games, empty computer programming classes. It’s easier to watch than it is to do.

Some will analyze. Tennis was an idea, promising clarity about self and world. It was like anti-communism in the 1950s, sexual self-expression in the 1960s, feminism in the 1970s and ’80s and tech talk in the ’90s. It was an ensemble: attitude, gear, attire. Yesterday’s tennis player is today’s techno-cool road warrior.

Some will go deeper. Tennis was a socially acceptable way to avoid more troubling issues. Aging, for example. The typical tennis player during the fad’s blaze was someone on the cusp of middle age, clinging to the games of youth.

Or none of the above. Your courts might be full. Your data might be different. So might your analysis.

How, then, do we deal with questions that truly matter?

Substitute homosexuality for tennis, for example, or global warming, or technology outsourcing. How do the many respond to the concern of the few? Katrina and Rita have increased the numbers who care about global warming, because storms flooded their backyards. What about the rest of us? Am I exempted from concern until the backyard is mine?

Homosexuality is a personal matter for some, but ideological for others. How can the two ever be in dialogue? Calling it a faith issue resolves nothing, because faithful people read the Scriptures differently. Dismissing another’s belief as bigotry or moral relativism shuts down discussion.

Worrying about technology outsourcing requires perspective. Call me when the next job lost is mine. Should anyone beside women care about feminism?

Is evasion even a problem? All societies offer circuses, scapegoats and fickle gods as a substitute for feeling overwhelmed by reality. The Great Depression had Judy Garland. We have Britney Spears. So what? When you’re struggling to make ends meet, maybe a little escapism is OK.

We need, first, to understand that people notice different things and view them differently. That should go without saying, except that we forget, or cannot accept, that we are a diverse society getting more diverse. Having a conversation about anything is virtually impossible. Unless we want to degenerate into rule by decibels and bullying, we must accept our diversity, either as our curse or our glory, but certainly our reality.

We need, second, to learn from our history that hardened self-interest leads nowhere, escapism leads nowhere, bullying leads nowhere, and blaming leads nowhere. Our best moments as a society come when we get outside ourselves and accept a common purpose that is larger than projected self-interest.

We need, third, to realize that avoiding questions, as unimportant, or someone else’s concern, or beyond resolution, has a consequence, namely, that someone else will resolve the problem their way. Forget entitlement. Problems are resolved by those who sit at the table.

I believe that these are critical issues of faith. Not arriving at the single “right” opinion, but helping people to accept God-given diversity. Not setting specific norms for everyone to follow, but training people in responsibility, accountability and consequences. Not offering festivals to compete with Britney, but providing circles of caring for people to grapple with reality. Not quoting Scripture with escalating intensity, but teaching people to read, think and see. Not forging alliances with politicians to determine whose interest gets top billing, but helping people to perceive that, in God’s providence, all backyards are joined.

MO/JL RNS END

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, consultant and leader of workshops. His book, “Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask,” was published by Morehouse Publishing. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. His Web site is http://www.onajourney.org.)

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