Christian Friends

I wrote the email below to a Christian friend who is facing some personal struggles right now.  I thought that it might clarify for others a little of where I stand.  As I finished in the email, there's WAY more to say, but the email wasn't for debates or explanations, it was just to say, "I'm here for you." 

I was thinking about some of your struggles, and realized that trying to mix me in with your religious life might be one of them.  So, I'm writing to explicitly say that I'm open and supportive of whatever you want to share about your faith and how it's helping you through your treatment.  You might not know much about Unitarian Universalism (http://www.uua.org/beliefs), my faith community, but it's all about people finding their own spiritual path, so a basic foundation is openness and welcoming others and their beliefs.  Although we're mostly humanists, there are Christian UUs (and Jewish, Buddhist, pagan, and atheist UUs; probably Muslim, too, but I've never met a UU Muslim...). 

I can imagine that my uber-progressive activism and opinions might make it seem like I can't or won't see the benefits of Christianity (or conservatism, for that matter), but I know that there are different kinds of congregations and different types of Christians.  And I want you to know that my social or political beliefs aren't relevant in your recovery journey; I want to support your beliefs and how your faith helps you.

But really, my point is that you don't have to silence yourself about your faith, especially how it is helping you or how you are trying to leverage it to help you now.  I'm completely supportive of any belief or community that helps you. 

There's so much more to say, but that's the basics, I think.  I might've been able to say things better, but I hope that the feelings come across.

Doctor Strange

I had been avoiding this movie because of the whitewashing of the Asian characters, and because I just didn't see how magic would work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but as I'm catching up on S4 of Agents of SHIELD, I'm seeing a more super-natural bent (Ghostrider, mostly). 
As I began watching it, I rolled my eyes and said, "Oh, another white asshole that must learn empathy or compassion or sacrifice or something to truly become powerful.  Great.  It's not like I haven't seen this a couple of times already (Tony Stark, Thor, etc.)." 
I did like that there was some racial diversity, although not enough Asians for a movie set mostly in Hong Kong.  It was a little awkward, though, that Chiwetel Ejiofor's character was very, very similar to his character in Serenity. 
It totally didn't pass the Bechdel Test, of course.  At least the love interest had skills! 

Basically, if this wasn't a Marvel movie, I wouldn't have watched it.  I'm totally not a Cumberbatch fan, either.  I mean, I was mostly "meh" until Star Trek: Into Darkness.  Then I HATED him.