Notes From The Roanoke Pigfest On March 24th

I opened the Pigfest with a Thomas Aquinas quote that "civilization is constituted by conversation." Lewis, Wilberforce, Newton, Franklin and Jefferson, understood the importance of mixing hospitality and conversation in advancing ideas and thought. I am sure each of them would have enjoyed dynamic conversation and excellent food we enjoyed in Roanoke on Friday night.

We discussed four truth propositions.

One, the church (defined as evangelical protestant churches) teach our youth that love amounts to being meek, mild and gentle. Jesus, however, was clearly not a casper milktoast wimp. So we need to teach our youth that love involves more than meekness -- it involves getting angry about what angers God, and it involves taking bold stands for justice.

Two, the Bush administration in its efforts to be tolerant of Islam has gone too far in accepting Islam's intolerance towards others. The most recent example of this was in the administration's inexplicably slow response to the Talibanish threats of the Karzai government to execute Abdul Rahman, the Christian convert in Afghanistan. Diana argued that Sharia law must be removed from Afghanistan's constitution, because Islam cannot co-exist with the notion of religious freedom. The discussion led to a great discussion about natural law.

Three, physician assisted suicide requires physicians to violate the Hippocratic oath of healing, and therefore they should not participate in helping patients to kill themselves. It was the most engaging discussion of the evening, and was enriched by contributions from two physicians and two nurses who were at the Pigfest.

Four, an artist can either pursue art wholeheartedly, or pursue God wholeheartedly, but he cannot do both. An artist who pursues creating the perfect piece of art will ultimately succumb to the temptation of idolatry in creating that piece of art. This led into a great discussion of art, beauty and worship.

The devil's rule was effectively used on several occasions, and the discussion was intense but friendly.

One of the participants summarized the propositions with the following aphorisms.

Love is more than just getting along.
There is a higher law, than the laws of man.
Human life has intrinsic value, beyond it's utilitarian use.
You are not your job. You are called to a higher purpose.

More details at : The Dawn Treader.