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Primitive Christianity Revived, Again

Kevin Camp's Blog (192)

Reform of Any Sort Comes with a Margin of Error

The 1961 Luis Buñuel film, Viridiana, concerns the pious exploits of a young nun who lives in a small village. Meaning to do good in imitation of Jesus' ministry, Viridiana leaves the convent and decides to take charge of the moral education of the village's paupers. Despite her best intentions, she finds herself exploited, abused, and taken advantage of at every possible turn. Efforts undertaken to educate the village paupers in… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 10th mo. 6, 2010 at 8:30am — No Comments

The Guatemalan Syphilis Experiments Reflect on Everyone

Editor's Note: This post was written originally for a non-Quaker audience.

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When news broke last week about how the United States government funded and carried out syphilis experiments in Guatemala that had absolutely no scientific value whatsoever, the response was swift. A tone of harsh, unforgiving condemnation characterized nearly every media story, along with a punitive desire to punish those… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 10th mo. 4, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

The Divine Role Within Personal Expression and Social Reform

What follows is something that has been weighing on me heavily this morning. Discussing the act of vocal ministry, a Friend noted that, while in the act of sharing a message, we aren't just God's mouthpiece, we are God. This makes me uncomfortable to contemplate. I would never wish to even come close to hinting that my mortal self was… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 9th mo. 23, 2010 at 9:33am — No Comments

Wrestling with One's Private Angel

It's easy to be skeptical of those who find faith in times of crisis. For eons it's been a convenient excuse for the guilty to limit time in jail and for charlatans to swindle the trusting. When times get tough for everyone, faith gatherings swell to record proportions. I myself have returned to religion when feeling overwhelmed and troubled. Still, beyond the selfish and the immediate, I have always believed in the importance of faith in one's… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 9th mo. 18, 2010 at 10:52am — No Comments

Miracles and Motives

I've been recently pondering why I write and create. If I was to be completely honest, I'd say that it's a means of attaining attention, love, and validation I can't easily produce in myself. As I may have talked about before, I was born with an anxiety disorder that was not diagnosed until my mid-teens. Until I was around fourteen or so, I had only one real friend. Though I had a handful of acquaintances, I didn't have much in the… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 9th mo. 13, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments

The Myth of Scarcity, The Reality of Abundance

One of the most famous passages in the entire biblical canon begins this way.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

And yet, wanting more, desiring more, being fearful that what we have will soon leave us, these anxieties are responsible for so much evil in the world. The myth of scarcity influences our decisions in so many ways. The reality is that we live in a world packed full of… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 9th mo. 9, 2010 at 8:30am — No Comments

Daughters of Light: A Review

In the spring of this year I met up with several young women who were actively involved in Washington, DC, print media circles. Arriving early for the gathering, as I often do, I took my seat at a table and began to converse with a person sitting next to me. During the course of our talk, I mentioned that I was a Quaker.

Surprised, she exclaimed “I’ve never met a Quaker before!” Overhearing our conversation, a middle-aged…

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Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 23, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Organized Religion is Not a Social Club

Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing.

Friends say that they find hierarchy abhorrent, and yet they build it within themselves. We say that are against ritual, and yet we build unconventional ritual. For once and for all, we must decide where our allegiance lies. Are… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 19, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

Reductionism, Not Western Civilization, is the Great Satan

Those currently in opposition to the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero don't seem to want to understand the whole picture. They will not even entertain anything other than views stepped in prejudice and fear, seeing an enemy in the face of every person of Middle Eastern descent. While in stuck in this merry-go-round that passes for substantive discourse, they are trusted supporters of a system that sees the sum of its parts as more… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 18, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Change Is Not An Enemy or an Empty Slogan

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire…

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Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 14, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Truth in Short Supply: Baltimore Yearly Meeting

My contribution to the Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices anthology was entitled, "Reviving the Slumbering Light". I was responding to a particularly unfortunate experience I experienced a couple years ago at a monthly meeting. The title could also easily apply to Baltimore Yearly Meeting's annual gathering. What I mean by this will soon be as clear as I can manage.

Before I begin, I want… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 10, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

Spreading the Lessons Learned inside the Liberal Buble

Earlier this past week while at Yearly Meeting, I had the opportunity to speak informally at length with several college-aged Young Adult Friends. Most were at least a decade or

so younger than me, and it was interesting to compare how a younger

generation's perspective was both different and similar to that of my

own. We covered a wide variety of subjects in a relatively short period

of…

Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 8, 2010 at 1:55pm — No Comments

Marginalizing Ourselves While Trying to Not Marginalize Others

Equality does not imply a society without diversity. But to accept the

world as inherently unequal to any degree, and one which will never

change---this perpetuates the same problems. It is easy to make

assumptions based on privilege, but I understand enough with listening

and self-reflection to know that I do not understand those different

from me in totality. I never will. Still, points of commonality

between us do exist.

As a Quaker, I am called to… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 5, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

The Woman with the Water Jug

Today in Bible study I encountered a particular passage. Sometimes one receives precisely the message one needs at the time. The topic centered around the idea of salvation, in all its many incarnations. I have recently become frustrated with people who believe that any movement, system of belief, or gathering is only for them when it benefits them personally. In all of the things I do, I have experienced periods of emotional, intellectual,… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 4, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

Gleaning: Bringing in the Sheaves

With so many people still out of work and depending upon unemployment benefits, I thought I might briefly explore one particularly ancient safety net program. Republicans believe that welfare in any form swells the deficit and creates a system of entitlement, but I disagree. Pointing back to the Bible, as I so often do, I'd like to discuss the particulars and modern day application of a very ancient custom. Those who are up in arms about… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 2, 2010 at 9:39am — No Comments

Enabling Believers or Respecting Freedom of Choice?

While a member of another faith group, an old joke was invoked every time turnout on any given Sunday was less than expected:

Q: Why don't ______________ go to church during the summertime?

A: They don't have to.

This same conundrum, modified slightly, could easily apply to many liberal Unprogrammed Friends, regardless of the season or the time of year. I make light of this not to raise the specter of collective guilt, but… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 7th mo. 28, 2010 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Conscience Clauses, Civil Disobedience, and Uncivil Discourse

In this country, a long tradition exists of individuals who have refused to perform a particular duty or task, citing their religious beliefs as justification. The very definition of Civil Disobedience, of course, depends on the person, the situation, and how it is applied. The latest incident has opened up a discussion which has never really subsided, only dipped underneath the radar from time to time. In this circumstance, a Texas bus driver, who is also an ordained conservative… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 7th mo. 26, 2010 at 2:26pm — No Comments

Movin' On Up

The past several days I've been musing on the chosen strategies employed by the privileged and the well-educated to solve societal problems. In particular, I've been contemplating the idea of poverty. As is typical for me, I've been seeking to find intersections and similarities between seemingly divergent topics, all in the hopes of eliminating confusion among everyone. Sometimes we disagree because we inadvertently work at cross-purposes… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 7th mo. 19, 2010 at 8:58am — No Comments

Addressing the Poisonous Root of Bitterness

I have written openly about my Christ-centered faith on numerous occasions. I rediscovered it relatively recently after rejecting it out of hand earlier in life. The best way to describe the experience is that, for whatever reason or another, it found me, rather than the other way around. A belief in a higher power keeps me mentally supple and not fixated on the… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 7th mo. 15, 2010 at 10:36am — No Comments

Damage Has Consequences

Author's Note,

I felt like I needed to talk about myself to set the stage for the rest of this post. I typically pull no punches and I don't withhold much about myself.

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I am and have always been a vocal proponent of therapy, medication, and introspection. All three in tandem have proven to be invaluable to my own understanding of self, as well as an… Continue

Added by Kevin Camp on 7th mo. 12, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

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