Hypocrisy

This was in an email sent from a brother today:

"It is sad that Israel is bombing Gaza City. It is sad that the children were killed in the last Afghan bombing.

You know I went to church ... yesterday, and the preacher never mentioned the plight that so many areas and people of the world are in today.

It is so sad that such a venue is not used to solve the problems of the world. Never once did he say - 'Wow, can you believe the problems global warming is causing.' ... 'We need to lobby for alternate means of transportation so we can all sell our gas guzzling cars.' Or, 'Can you believe what happened in Gaza City? We need to unite and work to put an end to such action.' He didn't even say - 'Wow, can you believe the killing going on in the Gaza Strip and Afghanistan? Let's take a moment and pray for those people.'"


I responded to my dear brother (somewhat indirectly and off-topic):

"A wonderful friend from Brazil, was giving me hell during this trip over Christmas to Rio--for being a hypocrite:

Despite my being an agnostic from about my Junior High School days-- I have gone to Mass fairly regularly/irregularly through the years, have been a Parish Council President (Father Rayner Dray in Tifton asked me to run for this office during a church-building period, despite his knowledge of my "agnosticism") and I taught Middle School CCD ("conservation and development of sustainable community") here at at Our Lady of Guadalupe for 15+ years, etc., etc.. (I am a "Catholic"; it is a part of my software--since Mom, with Dad's support, saw to it that we were produced in that cultural tradition; and I feel comfortable participating as a "sinner" and "lost soul" in my church ... at our local Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, and in the larger sense of "Church".)

I do recognize that I can be/am very hypocritical--but I also recognize the hypocrisy of others ('Christians' who support War and Capital Punishment; 'environmentalists'/'Greenies' with big homes and automobiles--and conventional-air-conditioning; 'conservatives' who don't really support conservation; folk who de facto don't seek real solutions to poverty, problems in our educational systems, and the serious troubles we've been in since the advent of capitalism and the industrial revolution; those who 'Hope/hope' only through prayer and not through scientific knowledge, critical/creative thinking and action; etc.; etc..

I do think it is important to discuss this hypocrisy ... ours and that of others!"