Notes from the Wild Goose Festival

“Biden is getting us back to, ‘America as a group project.’” Bill McKibben basically said, Biden is a better president than Clinton or Obama because he’s getting the country back to an LBJ-kind-of-activist presidency, wherein our duty is to right society’s (and history’s) wrongs. And our task is to help each other out with our can-do optimism.

America as a group project? Yup. As a teacher, I’ve assigned group projects – and sometimes students complain, “Hey! I’m doing all the work. And the other kids are just not showing up!”

And yes, that’s how it feels — in a family, group, a classroom, or America right now.

I’m doing it all; where’s everyone else? But pause and wonder (this step can be hard, especially for kids).

Think about it, ‘Am I ruminating on the problems or on the solutions?’ Because as Donald Miller says, ‘If I’m fixated on the problems, then that’s a victim mindset.’ And to make things right, we have to focus on solutions and work together.

McKibben recently wrote a memoir, THE FLAG, THE CROSS, AND THE STATION WAGON: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened. And McKibben chatted with journalist Diana Butler Bass at the Wild Goose Festival in Harmony, North Carolina, moderated by Josh Scott, pastor of GracePointe Church in Nashville.

They discussed what the hell happened to democracy, Christianity, and the concept of America as a group project.

Butler Bass talked about the decline of Protestantism. I, of course, love when anyone talks about the Interchurch Center, having worked there for so much of my working life, so was shocked to learn, according to Bass, that when the Interchurch Center, our beloved God Box, was built, during the Eisenhower era, 52 percent of US people considered themselves Protestant and that number is currently descending from 13.8 percent.

Scott, Bass, and McKibben talked about evangelism and how evangelicals gradually became aligned with Jewish and Catholic people rather than their own Protestant community. This, Bass said, had previously been unthinkable – almost as unthinkable as printing bible verses on AK-47s, which is truly blasphemous.  

Bass explained how fundamentalists vilify liberals in order to solidify their base. And avoid change.

And, if the fundamentalists hate change, I ask, how did they become a party that wanted to overtake the government? How did Christian fundamentalists become January 6 evangelicals?

Scott basically said, ‘Our task is to take the bible seriously, but not literally.’ Bass agreed, calling the bible ‘a book so great that it cannot be used like a cook book.’ And, at the Wild Goose, there was even talk of expanding the bible — kind of like how my kids talk about expanding the Constitution — like, it was never meant to be static. The bible and the constitution were always meant to grow and live and change. And yes, breathe. Yes, they are foundational texts, but, too, they are proofs of the power of mutable group projects.

So, are we still seeing our American democracy as a collective undertaking? Or are we each embedded in our own rugged individualism? Can Christians see their various factions as rooted in a truly pacifist, God-centered, love-based world view? Or are we fragmenting irreparably? Stay tuned.

McKibben lifted up Pope Francis and Greta Thunberg as two of the world’s greatest leaders, offering hope and inspiration for our tasks at hand.

I would add that Bass, McKibben and Scott – this trio gives us hope. Their thoughtfulness and steadiness for so many years — they’ve led us with stories of the redemptive power of nature, religion, and faith.

Maybe we can glean some hope, too, from the results of the Ohio constitutional referendum yesterday. Voted down, this attempt to hijack democracy away from a simple majority rule would not be made into law.

Maybe even the Barbie movie! Perhaps Barbie was such a hit because it was a shared experience, like a concert, rally, or festival. Movie making is, and most kinds of art are, ultimately, group projects.

My story can never be your story. But my story might inform yours, or be like yours, or maybe even add depth or another dimension to yours. If nothing else, sharing our stories might lead to greater understanding, tolerance, appreciation, and perhaps even celebration of our differences.

― Diana Butler Bass

Listen in to McKibben and Bass’s discussion (and not just read my spotty notes) from the July 14, 2023 discussion at the Wild Goose Festival, at Diana Butler Bass’s substack.