Rally To Restore Unity: An Outside Perspective

So, I'm following the Rally to Restore Unity over on Rachel Held Evans' blog. This is (obviously) a riff on Jon Stewarts' event, except the focus here is on getting the various branches and denominations and varieties of Christianity to look at each other as friends and allies and fellow-travelers; as people with legitimate differences of opinion, rather than lost souls who misinterpret the scripture out of ignorance or willfulness.

Now, obviously, I can only sort of peripherally take part in this. Any "unity" I have on this front can't be based on Christianity, so it will have to come from shared humanity. And yet, I'm really enjoying this: I'm reflexively in favor of any attempt to find (or build) common ground on the basis of good behavior and noble aspirations. And I was pleased that - when I asked about this in the comments on Ms. Evans' original post - I was informed that I was unreservedly welcome to participate.

So I'm going to take part, in my own peripheral way, by linking to some of my own thoughts on Christianity, grouped under the heading of Not The Christianity I remember. And I'm going to recommend a book, even though I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it: The Church of 80% Sincerity by David Roche.

"We in the Church of Eighty Percent Sincerity do not believe in miracles," he said. "But we do believe that you have to stay alert, because good things happen. When God opens the door, you've got to put your foot in.

"Eighty percent sincerity is about as good as it's going to get. So is eighty percent compassion. Eighty percent celibacy. So twenty percent of the time, you just get to be yourself."

May 6 update: I finished the book, and posted a book review.