{"id":125282,"date":"2023-12-14T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T14:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=125282"},"modified":"2023-12-14T17:55:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T22:55:43","slug":"ru-terry-mattingly-norman-lear-and-americas-deep-spiritual-malaise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=125282","title":{"rendered":"(RU) Terry Mattingly–Norman Lear And America\u2019s \u2018Deep Spiritual Malaise\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

During \u201cSunday Dinner\u201d press events, Lear argued that America was caught in \u201ca deep spiritual malaise, and nobody is addressing it. The Religious Right did for a period and still continues to. But mainline churches don’t do that good a job of it. And the media don’t deal with it at all….<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n

In a 2017 testimony posted by Harvard (University) Memorial Church, Lear\u2019s daughter Madeline described how her family’s spiritual search shaped her own conversion to Catholicism. \u201cI\u2019ve always believed in God. My parents believe in God, too. My mom was raised Christian, my dad, Jewish, though they would call themselves \u2018spiritual but not religious.\u2019 And so, I wasn’t raised with any kind of formal religion,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n

But faith, broadly defined, mattered to her father. In a 1992 Harvard address, Lear discussed his drive to explore the importance of humanity\u2019s \u201cmysterious inner life, the fertile invisible realm that is the wellspring for our species’ creativity and morality. It is that portion of ourselves that impels us to create art and literature. … It is that portion of our being that gives rise to our sense of awe and wonder and longing for truth, beauty and a higher order of meaning. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor want of a better term, one could call it the spirit-led or spiritual life. … And yet, as a student of the American psyche, at no time in my life can I remember our culture being so estranged from this essential part of itself.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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(OPINION\/@tweetmattingly<\/a>) For decades, TV producer @TheNormanLear<\/a> described himself as a cultural Jew who didn\u2019t practice any traditional form of faith. Over the years, however, the TV icon became more and more intrigued wit religious faith.https:\/\/t.co\/mYtP3c8Nww<\/a><\/p>\n

— Religion Unplugged (@ReligionMag) December 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n