Pastor Walter Mitty noticed that few of his members were wearing green as he looked around at the folks munching on the soda bread Bob Sullivan brought to the coffee hour on St. Patrick’s Day. What seemed to be on the minds of the people at his table, however, was Chuck Schumer’s speech given three days earlier.
“Senator Schumer really read the riot act to those right-wing nationalists in Israel,” Sharissa Hawkins blurted out as she sat down.
“But doesn’t Israel have the right to respond with force to the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7?” asked Asch as a way of tempering her passionate fervor.
Sharissa tried to moderate her tone for the sake of her friendship with her elderly friend, and replied, “Asch, you try to see both sides of every issue, but in this case Israel is the Goliath and the Palestinians are David.”
Pastor Mitty grew increasingly uncomfortable as others joined the debate, taking sides with either Sharissa or Asch. “Christians should strive for unity and harmony,” was what he always told people, but in this case as in so many others, he couldn’t imagine what unity might look like.
When he reported what had transpired to his neighbor the next day, Michael replied, “I will be honest with you, Walt. Like Schumer, I am a Jew, and I have no idea how to resolve the enmity each side has for each other in the Holy Land. Let’s go over to Bernie’s for a coffee and see what his take is.”
As soon as the two friends got inside the front door of the History/Herstory Book Store, Bernie Rolvaag’s greeting was, “Have you two read Chuck Schumer’s speech?”
Mitty and Michael started laughing and explained that they had come to pick the bookstore owner’s brain more than sip his coffee, but now that you mention it, two cappuccinos, please.
Since there were no customers demanding Bernie’s attention, he sat down with them at the table next to the biography section of his store.
“You know,” Bernie began, “there are some who say that the solution to the conundrum is one state in which Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslim live together in harmony and with mutual respect.”
“And if I remember correctly,” said Michael, “Schumer said that wouldn’t work.”
“Well,” Bernie added with a sigh, “it hasn’t worked in Ireland or with Pakistan and India or in the Sudan or in the former Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia or for the Catalans in Spain …”
“Or for us in this country,” Mitty added. “I read somewhere that when it comes to religion there are 200 Christian denominations in this country, not to mention Michael’s religion and Muslims and Buddhists. . . .”
“And MAGAs and Progressives and boring moderates like the three of us,” said Michael.
“This isn’t for publication in the Poplar Park Times,” said Bernie, “but I think our Civil War was a waste of blood, time and money — 600,000 deaths for what?”
Mitty and Michael gave Bernie a minute to think about what to say next.
“Like Schumer said, a one-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians living together is a noble dream, an idealistic vision, but history tells us it won’t work. Our own history says it doesn’t work. I mean, what’s so sacred about keeping the union together and at what cost?”
“Because it requires compromise?” asked Pastor Walt, “And especially right now that’s a tough row to hoe, just like back in 1860. I heard Congressman Chip Roy declare he would not compromise his principles for the sake of coming to an agreement with the Democrats regarding the budget.”
“And that moves politics into the realm of religion?” asked Michael rhetorically. “Like it’s something you fight to the death for instead of a pragmatic pursuit of getting something done?”
“Not being willing to compromise means the perfect is the enemy of the good. It means viewing those who differ with you as enemies,” Bernie added.
“You know,” Pastor Mitty said, following a pause, “the religious traditions both Michael and I follow tell us to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. Correct me if I’m wrong, but politics is not God and we’re not supposed to love the issues we consider with all our heart nor think of ourselves as having infallible judgment.”
“In other words,” said Michael, “we can agree that loving our neighbor is what community should be about, but how to create that beloved community is a quest without a clear roadmap.”
“Excuse my cynicism,” said Bernie, “but loving one’s neighbor doesn’t seem to be what the goal of MAGA these days, unless you define neighbor as those in your own tribe. Certainly not an immigrant.”
“Should progressives,” wondered Pastor Mitty out loud, “be looking in the same spiritual mirror?”