Dear Friends,
May I recommend some summer reading?

From an article in Sojourner’s (June 2008), quoting Brian McLaren, “I think the previous generation (Baby Boomers) has always seen the world in terms of us vs. them.” “It’s a binary world. Capitalists vs. communists. The West vs. Islam. In this new context we’re starting to realize that kind of binary us-vs.-them thinking is actually part of the problem. We have to recognize that we are in the midst of a very turbulent time of change. What I’m most hopeful about is that this new spirit among Christians will raise new questions rather than just choose different answers to the old questions.”

From the Afterword by in the NY Times Bestseller Skinny B**ch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, the authors quote C. David Coates, author of Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm: “Isn’t man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative – and fatal – health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out cards praying for “Peace on Earth.”

The Summer Reading: Sojourner’s Magazine, Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change, Freedman and Barnouin’s Skinny B**ch, (you may find the language and tone offensive but the information in the chapter called, “You Are What You Eat” is worth offending you. They figure if you eat meat, you might as well know how it gets to your dinner plate.) 
Peace, Rev. Diane