Saturday, January 20, 2007

MLK Day etc

so, I spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day playing Nintendo. At first, I was a little bit ambivalent about this: shouldn't I have gone to one of the many rallies/ memorial services around?

But then I remembered that Dr. King was happy to spend a day shooting pool in a bar. And that immediately before his assassination, he had a pillow fight with his friends. So, I think he'd approved.

Plus, I pretty much figure that a lot of my education now is about getting better at pursuing justice and undermining empire, and I am therefore entitled to a day of playing. Because what good is anti-imperial work if it precludes play? (This goes back to a conversation I had with Emily, about unionizing workers needing time off too!)

Besides, we played cooperative Mario Soccer. It was lovely.

This week I've been in a course called "Legal Issues in Contemporary Parish Ministry." It was a great, praxis-oriented course, taught by the general counsel for the UCC. I did learn a few disturbing things, among them: there seems to be no constitutional basis for defending conscientious objectors. The former interpretation of the freedom of religion clause has been updated, and under its current understanding, it would probably not defend the rights of CO's.

I'm going to prison!

Keep your eyes out for the ent-wives,
David

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