healthyreligion.com

Perhaps one of the questions for determining whether an expression of religion is healthy or unhealthy is whether it tends to present its understanding of human life as a melodrama or as a drama. Let me ramble on this a little.  Just read this in Forrest Church’s book, Freedom From Fear:

The difference between melodrama and drama is both simple and telling. It has nothing to do with plot. Both drama and melodrama can feature a plot with many twists and death-defying turns. But in melodrama, as the plot develops, the characters remain static. [The characters in a melodrama] are as two-dimensional after their ordeals as they were before. [The characters in a drama] are not. In the course of the human drama, whatever the plot may be, character develops. - pp. 118-119

What this reminded me of is how I perceive the difference in the way that fundamentalist or ultra-orthodox religious groups tend to look at things, such as the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories. When I listen to the way the religious right wing of each of the Abrahamic faiths characterizes the conflict, I feel like I’m hearing a melodrama described. When I listen to how moderates and progressives within the Abrahamic religions describe the conflict, I feel like I’m hearing a drama described

The groups viewing the conflict from the perspective of Church’s “melodrama” seem to share in common a vision of “final victory,” with the defeat of the evil Others. The various “players” in the melodrama are starkly defined in two-dimensional renderings. The outcome of the “melodrama” is as certain as the fixed nature of the various players.  God is on one and only one side in the “melodrama.”  God may love the people on the “other side,” but God’s hope for them is that they switch from the evil side to the good side.  If they don’t, they’ll be punished eternally.

The groups viewing the conflict from Church’s perspective of “drama” may differ somewhat on their political goals, but they seem to share in common a vision of human transformation - co-existence, mutual respect, justice, forgiveness, and the transcendence of violence.  The various “players” in the drama are defined as human, complex, fallible, tragic, and yet capable of growth and change.  The outcome of the “drama” is unknown, and there is more than one possible road ahead towards peace or further suffering.  In the “drama,” God is on everyone’s side and is in everyone and present everywhere.  No one side is all good or bad.  God is found especially in the potential for human transformation - from violence to peace, from hatred to respect and ultimately trust.