"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
Monday, March 03, 2003 The Church of Relativism Taken to its Warm, Fuzzy and Logical End
When committee members in charge of renovating Phillips Church, the 103-year-old soul of Phillips Exeter Academy, sought an artist to design a massive stained-glass window, the directions were unorthodox: No religious symbolism of any kind.
''We wanted the space to be as welcoming as possible, to those from the most fervent believer of a particular faith tradition to the most fervent atheist,'' said Peter Greer, English teacher and chairman of the Phillips Church Program Planning Committee.
Michael Ebner, Protestant chaplain at Phillips Academy in Andover, said a religious gathering not geared toward any particular faith allows for exploration of critical questions.
''Issues are handled in one way in the classroom, but need to be handled in greater conversation outside the classroom,'' he said. ''What do we think of issues of justice and righteousness? Of issues of aggression and compassion?''
But what kind of conversation will it be without a general agreement on objective moral truths and on a Creator who made them? Without God in common, who's to decide what's ultimately right or wrong? The chummy facilitator from the chaplain's office? Any tree-worshiper 'neath the Andover elms?