Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments

M. Scott Peck, R.I.P.

News came this week of the passing of M. Scott Peck, who died at 69 of cancer last Sunday at his Connecticut home. Peck, a psychiatrist, was author of the best-selling The Road Less Traveled and several other highly successful books of the self-help and spiritual development variety.

The acclaimed helper of others, however, led a sad and chaotic life himself. A failure as a husband and father, his conversion to Christianity later in life did not bring sobriety and active obedience to wiser Christian heads, but a notable adventure in religious silliness. His post-conversion work impressed me as that of someone who had been lionized as a spiritual master in the secular world (one recalls that the psychiatrist has taken upon himself the title of “soul-healer”), who believed that when he became a Christian he did not enter that world as a novice, but at the same level of accomplishment and authority that he had outside it. At the end of life he was enthusiastically receiving personal instruction from God on the composition of low-grade Christian music. It was a sad end.

I, however, owe a large debt of gratitude to M. Scott Peck, and profited greatly from the wise and courageous part of this complex man. Frequently commending his People of the Lie to pastors who are being tormented by those he describes in that book as evil, I found it a great comfort when I was in the pastorate, and dealing with one of these, to know that someone out there understood--that the proper label was being placed on people like this by a practicing psychiatrist who was willing to open himself to criticism within his own profession for doing it.  (One will not find “evil” as diagnostic category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual—perhaps, as Peck admitted, because evil people are almost always perfectly sane.)

In those days, other pastors to whom I applied for counsel thought I was dealing with just another  parish problem person, assuming my inexperience was causing me to overreact. They really didn’t understand.  Since then, though, I have met more than several who have encountered the same raging malignancy Peck describes in the book, people who are adept at seeming perfectly benign while destroying those they make the objects of their exertions. They are not common—they are not garden-variety bad eggs. Few criminals, however cruel or violent, meet the profile, because People of the Lie place a high premium on respectability, so don’t commit crimes.  They often consulted Dr. Peck with their victims in tow as the identified psychiatric patient. He identified this variety of narcissist by how they went calmly on their way, convinced of their rectitude and perfect innocence, leaving behind them a trail of human wreckage. And I will add to his observations, that they thrive in certain kinds of churches.

M. Scott Peck was man with a truly extraordinary gift, held in a vessel of corresponding weakness.  Indeed, may he rest in peace.  For what it's worth, my own blessing follows him, for he gave me, and has given others like me, a cup of cold water at a time when it was desperately needed.

Free Abortions for Katrina Victims

Evangelical blogger Denny Burk points out the latest tragedy arising from the Katrina disaster: a Little Rock abortion clinic offering free abortions for hurricane victims. The Associated Press reported the following about the act of "charity":

Despite protests from abortion opponents, Little Rock Family Planning clinic director Dr. Jerry Edwards said he has already performed six free abortions. The clinic usually charges between $525 and $600 for a first-trimester abortion.

"If we didn't provide it now, they would get it later--a late-term abortion that would give greater risk to the mother's health," Edwards told KTHV-TV in Little Rock.

The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal asks, however, the question we all should ask, after reading the quote above: "OK, we're confused by that last quote. How would the timing of a woman's choice affect her mother's health?"

Ultimately, this is just an abortionist's publicity stunt. And yet, it ought to remind us that we have a way to go to create a culture in which charity begins in the womb.

Moloch's Market

My friend Steve Breitenbach continues to appall me: Colombian police

have found the bodies of three human foetuses hidden in statues destined for the United States.

Colombian police chief Gen Jord Alirio Varon said the four- to five-month-old foetuses could have been intended for use in Satanic rituals.

This is not from a fringe news source (though some might debate it): This is the BBC.

But why report it? If these are indeed only "fetuses" and they are simply tissue, the women who produced this tissue in their bodies might have done so in order to sell it to some people one who wanted it for whatever purposes they had in mind. In which case, this would be a bizarre business news story. It's the woman's body, and the woman's right to choose. If someone wants to make lampshades from the tissue, what's the problem, aside from poor taste?

Cornerstone in D.C.

The Cornerstone Forum is holding a series of monthly Saturday presentations in Washington DC which Touchstone readers might find worthwhile.

The 2005 dates:  Saturdays: Sept 17th, Oct 8th, Nov 12th, Dec 10th
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. (Coffee at 9:15)   
Washington Theological Union  6896 Laurel Street, NW – Room 312 
Washington, DC  20012 

The presentations are free and open to the public. Clergy and educators are especially welcome.

"Author and lecturer Gil Bailie is a Catholic layman who draws on the work of René Girard to affirm the uniqueness and universality of Christian faith, and to encourage the catechetical  revitalization that Girard’s work makes possible."

For information, contact: Randy Coleman-Riese, Cornerstone Forum Executive Director:  Telephone: 707-996-4704

Email: randy@cornerstone-forum.org   

There’s also a link to a PDF with more information on the webpage. 

Christians to the Lions!

Steve Breitenbach did me the favor of sending this link to an article by Ruth Gledhill in the Times OnLine which opens:

RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.

The U. S., you see, is more religious, and more dangerous, than peaceful secularized Europe.

It's an odd list of damages, too. Had the researchers been working in, say, the third century A.D., would they have filed a report with the Emperor, stating, "We urge that Christians be fed to the lions since they are damaging to our society, with their contrary religious beliefs that directly oppose killing, abortion, sexual promiscuity, and suicide"?

Touchstone Email Newsletter

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Design in Minneapolis

Readers in the Twin Cities area might be interested to know that Dr. Michael Behe is to lecture on “Toward an Intelligent Understanding of the Intelligent Design Hypothesis.”  Friday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 150 of the Tate Laboratory of Physics, University of Minnesota (116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

Dr. Behe is Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University and author of the book Darwin’s Black Box.

The lecture is free and open to the public.  For more information, you can call 612-378-1935 or check the website of the MacLaurin Institute, the sponsor.

Folks who are confused about ID and the claims that it is simply "religion masquerading as science," especially, should attend this lecture. You won't get any religion, and you will get science. Even if you are not confused about this, Dr. Behe's lecture will be worth the trip and the time.

New Touchstone Readers Site

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Touchstone readers site called, Treaders.  There you will be able to discuss Touchstone articles with other readers.  New articles for discussion will be posted each week. 

There is also a list of reader groups that are already meeting in person.  If you have a group and would like others to know about it, please send your contact information to me and I will post it there.

The first article that is available for discussion is Designed for Sex by J. Budziszewski that appeared in the Jul/Aug 2005 issue.  Please join the conversation now.

Invitation to Evangelical & Orthodox Exchange

Readers in the Chicago area may be interested in another event this weekend which we will be attending:

What Can the Eastern Orthodox and Evangelicals Learn from Each Other?
Speakers: Dr. Robert Webber; Dr. James Stamoolis; Dr. Bradley Nassif

It's being held on Saturday morning (9-12), October 1, 2005, at Kern Hall at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. You can register on-line and get directions at the Grow Center.

I do hope to see some of you there.

Lewis at Wheaton, and Touchstone too

A conference readers may enjoy, if they're anywhere near Chicago: Faith and Fiction: C. S. Lewis and His Chronicles of Narnia. It is being held this Thursday and Friday at Wheaton College, sponsored by the college's English department and the Marion E. Wade Center. The speakers are all biggies in the Lewis world.

Touchstone will be sponsoring the reception Thursday evening. Our publisher James Kushiner and I will both be there for the whole conference. ("Kushiner" is pronounced, for those of you who are coming but haven't met him, "Kush-ner," his admirably self-effacing family having dropped the "i." "Mills" is pronounced "Let me buy 100 gift subscriptions and here is my credit card information.")