8/15/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            It looks like you will have perfect beach weather today. Lucky you! Davis will be hitting 100 for a couple of hours before the sun sets. Not too bad, but hot enough that I will shut down the house.

            Have you called PM Modi (NDM) to wish India a happy 75th bday? According to Aljazeera, even though NDM put on quite a marketing campaign, they don’t have much to celebrate. Their economy has stopped growing. Their CV lockdown turned into a humanitarian crisis. They have a water crisis, corruption, illiteracy, etc. NDM is moving toward ethnonationalist rule even though according to the Atlantic, “Indians of all faiths consider religious tolerance an essential part of what it means to be “truly Indian.” Perhaps it’s best to keep the call short.

            Do you think we’d be better without religion? Some people claim we wouldn’t have as many wars if we stopped speculating on life after death. After all, that’s what religion is about – resolving the paradox that we were born to die. Knowledge of our mortality haunts us & religion provides the antidote, sort of. If we were convinced of heaven or reincarnation, we wouldn’t fear death & we wouldn’t feel compelled to fight those who have different beliefs.

            I am pondering religion because in my Zoom Meeting for Worship yesterday, we questioned why few monks in Burma have spoken up against the junta. We find it disturbing that those who profess compassion remain silent in the face of terrible atrocities. A few monks have come forward, but not as many as I would hope.

            Speaking of Burma, please express your disapproval of the junta’s adding 6 more years to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention. They have also arrested two models for “offending the modesty that the regime demands of citizens.” Really?

            BYBS,

            RCA