THE INVISIBILITY OF DIVERSITY

Of significance -- and usefulness -- is the ability to believe what you do not want to believe.

Most of the days I spent by my father's bedside was underlied with the belief he would get better. He had cancer, he hadn't eaten in weeks, and still no recognition from me of the process of dying.

The recently-discovered GOSPEL OF JUDAS resonates, not just because I was raised a Christian. It resonates because it debunks a lie. Such a strongly-believed lie that "Judas" became synonymous with "traitor."

What now should Judas stand for? The issue is not of poetic justic here.

Certainly, in not just religion do we see demonization as a strategy to shut out others. When Judas' Gospel was discovered, Gnostic scholar -- and one of the most brilliant minds I've had the privilege of witnessing -- Elaine Pagels, noted, "These discoveries are exploding the myth of a monolithic religion, and demonstrating how diverse — and fascinating — the early Christian movement really was."

Diversity is simply what is, separate from what people choose to see, want to believe.