Centerfield

That's really an outstanding piece -- explicitly dealing with church issues, but with a bunch of nice parallels to political centrism.

An example of how centrism can be really positive and passionate.

We are facing in our time some of the most profound questions that every generation must face if it is to go forward in history. Namely, how do we as a people, and as a church, move forward in post-modern times--in a sense, we are asking, "What's next?" How are we faithful to the gospel? This question is behind most of the issues facing the church at this time. How do we act in faithfulness to the biblical witness as a whole and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ specifically?

There is no easy answer to this question--however, ideological extremes will never bear fruit. Ideological extremes aim, inevitably, at alienating one person or group to benefit the will of another. We are past the time when such ideological disparity is at all a good idea--if it ever was at all.

I agree with the article wholeheartedly--we must move past our petty bickering and name calling if we are to make it through this point in history. The center is where the difficult conversations happen. The center is where people sit together around the Holy Table and pray with one another even amidst their differences. Anyone can stand on the edge and throw bombs at the other side--Jesus Christ is found in the center, bringing us together to have the difficult discussions.

I applaud this group for seeing the importance of centrism in the religious as well as the political realm, and I hope more articles like this can be shared.

Edwin Large
MTS Candidate in Social Ethics
Methodist Theological School in Ohio