Paul Enns Wiebe
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Thoughts on Critical Race Theory

9/25/2021

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In my idle moments, my mind sometimes turns to the question of CRT. The part of Critical Race Theory that interests me is the word “Theory.”
 
What, after all, is a “theory?” Is it a mere opinion, or does it rise to the level of knowledge, of science? If it’s an opinion, of course, it must be treated as such—as something to wile away the hours of a pleasant summer afternoon. If it’s something scientific, one must ask, how does one verify it—or disprove it? Are there solid reasons to give it an A? If so, what is it like? Isn’t a “theory” in the scientific sense something that can be proved? Or is merely a doctrine, a dogma?
 
Take the doctrine/dogma of original sin, as set forth in the fourth century by the great Christian Saint Augustine. What interests me about this doctrine is that it can be used to make certain people feel guilty. I’m thinking of the evangelistic crusades of such American luminaries as the two Billys, Sunday and Graham. I must say that it has always struck me that the point of such crusades is to make members of the audience feel guilty. Is this a point of comparison between the principals who offer those crusades and those who insist on the truth of CRT? Cui bono? Who benefits? And how do they benefit? In the case of the evangelists, do they get to enjoy their power over their subjects?
 
Another thought. How does CRT deal with the problem that so many blacks are in fact of mixed race? Would it wash in, say, Jamaica? If not, shouldn’t its proponents admit that it can’t possibly be a universal truth?

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The Church of the Comic Spirit (eBook)

9/15/2021

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That a dropout from a rabbinical school in upstate New York, an ordinary young man with the ordinary young ambition of moving to Hollywood and becoming a film star, should be chosen to discover and translate the now-famous Bear Lake Scrolls and then to establish what quickly has become the fastest-growing religion in America, seems incredible. I must confess that when Father Lustlieb first told me his story, I too was skeptical. In fact, I thought it was a joke. But after spending eleven years in his illustrious presence and giving his testimony careful and prayerful study, I am convinced that Alazon Lustlieb was exactly who he claimed to be: a true prophet, and an authentic saint.
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Crazy Were We . . . First Paragraph

9/14/2021

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The advantage of living in Inverness back in the forties and fifties was the number of churches you could choose from, nine, which averaged out to one hundred souls per religion. The advantage of being born into the Mennonite religion was that you didn’t need to waste your time shopping around for a church with a better plan for working out your differences with the Almighty. The advantage of belonging to the Reisender clan was that you had no end of family reunions—and in those days a family reunion was considered just about the highest form of recreation. In our case a reunion was the only form of recreation, being the one pleasurable activity that could stand up to Grandpa’s two strict tests: a religious connection, and affordability.
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    Paul Enns Wiebe perpetually asks himself, "What do I want to write when I grow up?"

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