It appears that winter has settled in with 4 inches of new snow and temperatures in the high teens this morning. The morning routine also included clearing the snow off the deck, steps, and driveway. The city crew was out early and plowed our rather inconsequential street before 7:00AM. I suspect that I was one of a very few residents out and available to greet the plow driver as we tackled much the same task with different tools. The snowblower is ready to go, but I hesitate to use at 6:00AM on a Sunday morning. If it had been a work day, I may have made a different choice; I certainly have in the past. Dealing with snow is a good chore with which to start the day. The only drawback is when it continues to snow, so there is more to deal once I have finished the first go-a-round and taken the time to get ready for my day job. I then know there will be an evening chore as well.

. . .

These days I find myself thinking a lot about religious freedom within the context of diverse societies. Such thoughts even occur while shovelling snow. Health care reform legislation has brought the issue to the forefront on the national level; there are also state issues; the pope is in Africa asking for tolerance yet setting undefined or ill-defined limits with respect to animists. The central question, in my view, is: who gets to define or set the limits on the acceptable variations of behavior? The human experience is very diverse, and one often thinks that their view is either the majority view or the view with the most intrinsic value. Pleas for the accommodation of individual conscience often appear to be very self-serving with persons asking or even demanding that their individual moral preferences be incorporated into law and policy. Is it unreasonable to ask the believer to make an accommodation, to accept the consequences of his/her own choices and behaviors, when these are in conflict with public policy, practice, and law? If the believer must forgo certain opportunities or privileges in civil society because of his/her beliefs, is that not reasonable? There are more questions than answers; there is more thinking to be done.