"Man cannot live by bread alone." --Deuteronomy 8:3
The YMCA triangle honors body, mind, and spirit. It’s non-controversial to invest in improving people’s minds. Controversy relates to how best to do so. The Y understood early how caring for one’s body is a personal responsibility. People shouldn't just go to the doctor when sick; they should also exercise and eat right. Controversy here relates to how to pay for health care, and how much “nanny state” we can take on questions of diet and drink.
On the other hand, spiritual questions do generate controversy. State efforts to disestablish Christianity have upset tens of millions of Americans. They see the government pulling out one side of the Y’s triangle. Tens of millions of others recoil at efforts of Christians to turn their personal beliefs on abortion and other life-related issues into law. Freedom to have an abortion is central to the rise of the women’s movement.
We have discussed the large American liberal establishment’s secular nature. But people need to nurture their spiritual side. The Y is right: it’s body, mind, and spirit. And for secular liberals, honoring nature--getting close to Mother Nature--is a way to feed the spirit. Pristine forests, majestic mountains, and unspoiled coastlines are nature’s cathedrals. Earth Day is a secular Christmas. The environmental movement is a secular religion. Protecting the environment is a cause one can pursue with spiritual, religious-like fervor.
Christians or not, we are a nation of believers after all.
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