Okay, there's a bit of backstory to this one, before I can get to my actual thoughts on the subject...

I have this old buddy in Chicago, Dr. Garth Katner, who among other things used to work for this group called Interfaith Youth Core, and still may as far as I know. So he was always getting these interesting invitations to these spiritual academic events in Chicago, and always inviting me along because he knows I'm fascinated by that stuff, intellectual and atheist that I am. So one of the extremely cool tickets he scored back then was to this annual event called the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture, which features these really impressive people and is really hard to get an invite to. See, for those who don't know, Bernardin used to be the Cardinal of the Chicago Archdiocese for many years, and ended up developing this rabid fan base from all over the city, both Catholics and non, because of his extremely liberal views on religious tolerance, racial unity and artistic expression.

In fact, there's this extremely cool story about Cardinal Bernardin that I always love telling, whenever his name is brought up, which I'll share with you as well. Back when I first moved here, see, there was this huge flare-up in the artistic community one fall, when an underground artist here redid the famous series of stations from the Passion (the story of Jesus being crucified, that is) for a group exhibition, but completely done with international stick figures on actual metal streetsigns, so that they looked like "No Jaywalking" signs but with a little Jesus being nailed to a cross. And this just pissed off a bunch of Catholics furiously, needless to say, which led to them accusing this artist of making fun of their religion, and pressuring the gallery to get rid of the pieces. So what did Bernardin do? Why, he purchased the entire set with church money, in fact...and then had them permanently installed in the sidewalks circling the Archdiocese's church (near the corner of State and Chicago, in the River North neighborhood, sadly removed again after Bernardin's death). Because Bernardin didn't see this as an insult to Catholicism at all, but rather a reverent and relevant modern portrayal of the Passion story, one that deserved to be displayed as a circle around the church in public, much like purchasing a piece of public sculpture.

Wow, you know? It's hard not to admire a religious leader who has a mindset like this, if you see what I'm saying. And so another thing Bernardin did, back in 1995, was sponsor a really famous Jewish scholar to come give a talk to all these Catholic mucky-mucks, about current Catholic-Jewish relations and how they can get better. And this Jewish organization invited a Catholic to speak at one of their own events as a result, and this has all led to a large and greatly respected annual interfaith event concerning these topics now, still held to this day. So this is what Garth scored me a ticket to, and it really was just endlessly fascinating, and I actually got to hang out like ten feet away from Cardinal Francis George, the current head of the Chicago Archdiocese, as well as meet a whole bunch of holy men and women in funny clothes (all kinds of funny clothes, in fact, from priest outfits to African robes, representing a whole bunch of different holy men and women).

Anyway, so one of the results of that was that I got to pick up printed transcripts to all the previous annual lectures, for free, which I did and then promptly forgot about when I got home. But earlier last year, as regular readers know, I adopted the Getting Things Done time-management system into my life, which led (among many other things) to me putting a centralized box together in my apartment now, where everything exists that I still need to sit and read through. And these lecture documents are only 15, 20 pages long, so they make for perfect small reading material around my apartment; when I'm sitting on the toilet, when I'm going to bed, while eating, etc. And so that's why I've been finally making my way through them recently, and why I've been spending some time recently thinking about Jesus, as strange as that may sound coming from me.

See, for those who don't know, Jesus is the fundamental difference between Christians and Jews; both groups believe in the same God, the same Old Testament as well, believe that Jesus was a person who really did exist and who was an amazing teacher. It's just that the Jews believe Jesus to be only a man, albeit an extraordinary one, while Christians believe him to be the literal son of God, sent deliberately to Earth in human form to save us all from eternal damnation. And really, that's it, that's all that fundamentally differs between Christians and Jews, a difference that first started appearing around two thousand years ago; and it's that single difference that has led to two thousand years of both religions' histories, and to them being so different from each other by now.

1999's Jerusalem Lecture, in fact, was by an expert on this subject - Anthony Saldarini, from the department of Theology at Boston College, who spent his entire career studying the historical environment behind first- and second-century Jewish-Christian relationships (and who sadly died in 2001, I just found out). And boy, his transcript is fascinating, just so fascinating, bringing up all these new ideas about Christian-Jewish relationships that are in actuality as old as the religions themselves, really painting a new picture for me of how Christianity began in the first place. For example, he talks quite a bit about something that was also mentioned in that Catholic history book I read a couple of years ago, when Pope John Paul II died; that for the first 150 years of their history, Christians actually considered themselves a mere sect of Judaism, not a separate religion at all. And to understand that, you need to understand that there were a whole bunch of Jewish sects back then, like different branches of Socialism in the modern world, who all fundamentally believed the same thing yet bickered endlessly with each other over the details.

What both Saldarini and that book argue, then, is that early Christians never saw the Jews as 'killing Jesus,' and never meant for future generations to see it that way, either; they saw it as one specific sect of the Jews killing Jesus. They couldn't blame the entire Jewish religion, after all, because they considered themselves Jews as well, and certainly didn't blame themselves for Jesus' death. And so this, for example, either negates the entire plot of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, or puts it into clearer focus, depending on how you want to interpret it; that yes, technically it was some Jews who actually led to Jesus getting killed, but that Jews weren't considered one unified religion back then, just like Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists are considered two very different forms of Christianity.

What really started making the Christians split away from the Jews for good, in fact, had nothing to do with Jesus at all, but rather concerned the topic of ritual in religious services. See, the Christian Jews happened to be an unusually vocal sect of the religion as well, and greatly believed in getting out there and converting as many others to their religion as possible (a tenet still deeply believed by most Christians to this day, in fact). So this led to Christians getting further and further into the outreaches of the Roman Empire by the second century, and to more and more start converting Pagans into Jews. The only problem, though, is that these 'gentiles' didn't want to do the things the orthodox Jews were insisting on; like hacking off all the extra skin on your penis, for one alarming thing. And so the Christian Jews said, "That's all right, you don't have to hack off pieces of your penis to be a Jew; as long as you believe in God, and say your prayers, and live a good life, you can be a Jew anyway." And then the other Jews said, "Uh, wait a minute, Christians, you can't actually promise that," and the Christians said, "Sure we can, we're Jews too," and the other Jews said, "Yeah, but most of us disagree with that," and so the Christians said, "Okay, screw you, we'll just go off and start our own religion. Come on, gentiles."

And that, both Saldarini and that book argue, is what led to the vilification of Judaism in the second century AD, to creating this myth that 'the Jews killed Jesus,' which festered and grew for 1,800 years until finally leading us to the Nazi era. And that, Saldarini argues, is finally when a whole bunch of Christians (most of them, he argues) suddenly became quite alarmed with the way their religion had been viewing Jews, and ever since have been slowly and successfully building a new relationship between the two groups instead. Which, yeah, is definitely a great thing, I agree, but also lends credence to the argument by Arabs, that Christian nations shouldn't lead Middle East peace conferences, since they really do fundamentally side with Jews more than Muslims.

Saldarini's basic argument is an intriguing one, I think; that both religions have now been around for thousands of years, that neither one is going away anytime soon, so it's finally time to stop arguing over which one is going to make it, which is ultimately what all the second-century trash-talking between Christians and Jews boils down to. (It's the same as well, really, between Christian and Pagan relations - that's why 'witches' were redefined as evil creatures in early Christianity, for example, and the pentagram as an evil symbol, simply to discredit the existing Pagans who were still around.) Instead, he argues, the two groups should simply acknowledge that there are differences between them, and meanwhile spend the majority of their time discovering the ways that they are alike, where they can join efforts to produce greater results in the real world. And I'm always for stuff like this, which is why I'm a big fan and supporter of the interfaith movement, even though I'm an atheist; because I also believe in cooperation and collaboration, of groups making a difference not through negative bans but through positive change. Whether that's because of a religion motive or not, if you're out changing the world in positive and constructive ways, ways that lead to humans better understanding and appreciating each other, I'll always be a supporter.

But perhaps the thing that Saldarini talks about that intrigues me the most is this: his argument that there is a growing amount of historical evidence being collected these days, proving that Jesus really was an actual human being, who really did live around 0 AD and taught Judaism to the 'common people' around Jerusalem, for lack of a better term. And this would be remarkable, I think, if we were to definitively learn that Christianity really was fundamentally based on an actual human being who once existed on this planet named Jesus; because man, that puts Christianity in a whole new light, you know? Why, in that light it's nothing more than just one more religious cult, like Scientology or the Moonies, one that just happened to get really, really, really, really, really popular, to the point where it actually once ruled almost the entire western half of the planet.

Ah, but don't get your panties in a bunch, Christians, because I don't mean this as an insult; the thing I find really remarkable, that is, is that Jesus wasn't a David-Koresh-style zealot at all, according to this supposed new historical data, but really was just this simple carpenter who used to go roaming around the countryside of the Middle East, living a happy life and quietly explaining to others how he did it, whenever they asked, and especially becoming friends with the fishermen and other tradespeople of the area. What a remarkable thing, I think; that an entire worldwide religion, one of the most powerful in human history, could all stem from one little laid-back peace-loving dude, who simply roamed around being content, and telling others how to be content when they bothered to ask. This is a basic tenet of most Eastern religions as well - that the best way to share one's spiritual beliefs is to simply live a good life, and that others will naturally approach you in such a situation and voluntarily want to know the secret to your success.

The aggression and violence of the Christian religion, the Crusades and abortion-clinic bombings and all the rest, have only come with first centuries and now millennia of disconnection with the guy who started it all; if this new supposed historical data turns out to be real and correct, though, it means that these aggressive, violent Christians have been wrong all along, about what Christianity is supposed to be, which will hopefully lead to a slow but fundamental change in the way that the everyday average Christian sees both himself and the world around him. And I'm all for that, man; I'm always for more individual self-change, and less abortion-clinic bombings (or unjust wars declared against Arab states, or sexually-deviant hypocrites getting rich off high-handed morality, or any of the other perversions that have happened with the Christian religion of late).

And really, what an amazing message it is to all of us, I think, if it was to turn out that Jesus really was an actual person, who lived an actual life like this. Because if he could do it, then any one of us can have a real and profound impact on the world as well, simply from quietly living one's life in the way we think it should be lived, and quietly explaining our thoughts to others when they specifically ask us. What an empowering thought, you know, that if you're simply true to your convictions, you don't have to yell or scream or picket to get attention; hell, Jesus has, whatever, 100 million followers now, so the least I can do is have a healthy audience for my arts center. (NOT THAT I'M COMPARING MYSELF TO JESUS; which I can't believe I actually have to clarify, but I know that if I don't, some whiny moron will write a blog entry tomorrow that says, "Pettus is comparing himself to Jesus now, that smug arrogant prick.")

So anyway, that's all I have to say about that!

And some random notes, as long as I'm here...

--Well, okay, finally got the brochure for CCLaP (the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, that is, the organization I founded that's opening in September) uploaded here to the site; you can click here to find CCLaP's current web headquarters, in fact, until May rolls around and CCLaP's own website finally opens. Oh, and cool news as well, that I think I finally even have my mom sold on the idea of the center, and excited about what's going to be going on with it. And this is actually kind of a priority for me with the center, to tell you the truth, to devise a way so that even middle-aged, suburban grandmothers might be really excited about one particular product or service we offer. See, if I haven't made this ridiculously clear yet, the whole secret to CCLaP's success will be to build as diverse a group of participants as we can; not only young urban artists, creating the material that we'll be selling, but also older fans of the arts with money, who can actually afford to purchase the things we'll be selling. This is where most traditional arts centers fail, I think, by only being good at gathering one type of group or the other: either you're the Art Institute, it sometimes seems, with a huge crowd of richies but almost no broke subversive artists; or you're a weekly poetry slam at an inner-city dive bar, full of the next wave of great artists but with no customers around to actually appreciate them. I'm convinced that there's a way to actually bring both groups together, without insulting the sensibilities of either; my center's entire future is counting on it, in fact.

So anyway, mom's naturally been on the fence about most of the products and services CCLaP will be offering: she doesn't care much for our live events, doesn't really read the kinds of cutting-edge authors we'll be publishing. Her eyes all lit up last week, though, when finally getting to the part of the brochure about free events, and especially the idea of Members getting to propose and run their own discussion or craft club, with the center taking care of all the promotion and publicity for them. Because, see, my mom is one of those rubber-stamping people; in fact, she's one of those obsessed rubber-stamping people, who makes something like 700 greeting cards a year, and has completely transformed my old childhood bedroom into an overwhelming rubber-stamp art studio. (And let me make it as clear as I can that I love this about my mom, as well as other middle-aged rubber-stamping grandmothers; after all, the majority of their peers are spending their time staring at the television, talking about how the world is going to hell, while these ladies are actually creating original artistic content with their spare time, stretching their minds and also being social.)

Mom belongs to two different rubber-stamping clubs in St. Louis to begin with, and so now is all into the idea of CCLaP sponsoring a stamping club as well, under our Free Events division. And ever since then, she's been emailing each subsequent day with yet more ideas for craft clubs, stuff she actually would propose and help run if she lived in Chicago herself, she admitted - a ballroom-dancing club, pet-obedience workshops, just all kinds of really cool ideas. And I've loved everything she's suggested, in fact, and think they'd all make for great Member-led, CCLaP-sponsored activities. So if nothing else, this definitely proves to me that we'll at least theoretically be able to reach other middle-aged, quieter but still crafty women, the ones who actually live here in Chicago in this case, and be able to offer even them something that will get them all excited; my own mother, after all, has recently gotten quite excited, after finally understanding in what way CCLaP could be of specific benefit to her, and I consider her a pretty hard sell for the idea of an underground arts center. So I guess that's really the more important question - how do you let random middle-aged crafty women know what CCLaP can offer them in the first place? It's ultimately a marketing question, of course, and one I'll be spending some time this summer contemplating, to be sure.

--Okay, well, according to modern advertising theory, today should be the first day that it sinks in for a lot of you, that I'm doing a reader fundraiser here right now. (That is, the theory says that people anymore have to be exposed to an ad six times before it finally breaks through to their consciousness; and today's the sixth time I've mentioned the fundraiser.) The fundraiser, in fact, is to purchase a new Mac Intel Mini, only $600; and that's so I'll have the properly fast processor to play this alternative-reality videogame called Second Life. And why should you give a fuck whether I get to play Second Life or not? Well, because it's not only going to be a game for me, but also a chance to make actual, real money, as I run a series of nightclubs and stores there that will charge people for admission, and then of course sell retail merchandise as well. (But I've already written over 10,000 words on this subject at this site; you can go to the Second Life category page to learn more.) And so this will give me a much better chance, for example, to raise the $4,000 I need to go to South Africa this August, so that you too will get to read along with what is sure to be an insane adventure, completely for free, not only text but photos and audio, each day as I actually make the trip. And then that will also let me start getting out to more artistic events in Chicago, attend more tech conferences, hang out with cool people; which in turn makes this journal just a much more entertaining read overall, versus day after day after fucking day here of endless navel-gazing, which is pretty much the only free pleasure a broke person has (well, besides masturbating, I guess...and watching Lost as well).

So anyway, here's the link to my Paypal account:

The good news is that a total of $405 has already been collected, so there's only $195 to go! If you like me are fucking sick and tired of hearing me go on and on here about arts centers, penises and Jesus, I do hope you'll see your way to throw a couple of bucks into the Mini pool. Think of it as an investment; a way to get me the tools I need to start my own online business, so that I can make money on my own and actually afford to go out and do interesting things. And this will just lead to better entries, a happier Jason, a happier you as well, even a happier customer base at Second Life. Yes, your $20 (or $10, or $5...or, er, $195) can and does make a concrete difference towards this becoming a reality! I thank you for your patronage!