Solomon's Private File #146
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 20 in this story, in the Fall of 2046.
Solomon's Private File #146 "Meeting Other Religions' Leaders"
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I asked for a private meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury. He
agreed, and I ported to his office. After polite things, I said, "I
don't mean to be insulting so early in our meeting, but what is it you
actually DO?" He grinned and said, "Not much! I'm mostly a figurehead,
fit only for ceremonial roles." I said, "And if you try to do anything
more, you're ignored." He looked at me strangely, and said, "Very true.
You have plans to change that?" I said, "I'm impressed." He was
embarrassed. I said, "Oh, I know that feeling very well." He had to
smile. I said, "Frustrating when the overqualified can't do what they
know they can, that they know needs to be done." He said, "True, and
for you, more than any other."
I said, "Religions have created monsters of entire populations, in
their competitive efforts to convert." He said, "I have to agree.
Collectively, we are responsible for much of the strife in the world,
and now, most in Africa." I said, "Scapegoating of Muslims, and
homosexuals now that HIV is no longer a threat, is seriously
unethical." He said, "I agree. So called common people need a devil to
fear, to be convinced to do good." I said, "And the reality of people
you can see, works ever so much better than a myth. I can't go to every
church and mosque to help repair that. A little help would be
appreciated."
He nodded and said, "And the Catholics?" I said, "Working on it. Pope
is waiting for more old Cardinals to retire, rather than have heart
attacks after he says some interesting things. My father opened the
door with the previous Pope in convincing him to lift celibacy. 40% of
Priests are gay. Suppose some want to marry? You wouldn't want to hear
said, "He is very firm on equal rights, and believes this is part of
that. When the time is right, he'll act. After a few reminders. No
assassination attempts so far." He looked surprised. I said, "Still
Romans, with all that it means. My father had to protect the previous
Pope. Four attempts. Paolo had two on him while he was a Cardinal. Did
you know the past Pope was prevented from going to my parents' wedding?
They had to port him." He said, "Wow!" I said, "Some Cardinals probably
said worse, when the Pope did the news conference at the wedding." He
laughed.
I said, "If you would like, I can do a danger watch on you, too. Non
recording background process. I don't see anything until it's
triggered. Well, except one time. A fault in the programming. I hadn't
made an exception for weapons used as tools for er, personal
recreation." He laughed really hard. I said, "That Senator was NOT
amused!" He laughed harder. He said, "He hates you now?" I said, "In
the beginning, yes, but now, the opposite. My knowing his secret
enabled him to talk to me about it, in my capacities as psychologist
and Rabbi. He feels much better about himself now, and so does his
wife, who hadn't been aware of his extra curricular activities." He
nodded and said, "I've done such counseling, myself. Rewarding, but
causes some strange dreams." I nodded and we chuckled.
He said, "Functionally, the PM is my boss. Technically, the Crown is,
but that is effectively only in Britain, and to a lessor extant, the
Commonwealth. We don't bother much about homosexuality here, and don't
promote discrimination except in the hierarchy. We prohibit our people
from performing gay weddings, by order of the Crown. We could change if
that did. I'll do some investigating, and see where that leads to in
possibly changing that. It's a small thing, but a start. In outside of
the Commonwealth, local hierarchies rule, and with some internal
controversy and more. I have no power to force them. I know, my
position could help. One step at a time, please. If I become too
controversial, I will be removed." I said, "I know. Happened in the
important to them in weddings and coronations, but otherwise, I'm
almost nothing to them. I wouldn't be allowed to see them." I grinned
and said, "I would." He said, "True. Like a gold penny, you turn up in
sorry places with precious things." I said, "Well said, if the Lord of
Metaphors doesn't spank you for twisting that on it's tail." He grinned
and chuckled.
I said, "And the offer of protection?" He said, "I accept your offer.
Not because I think I need it, but for the strange feeling of comfort
it affords me." I said, "I understand. I'm monitored. It's a kind of
family feeling." He said, "But embarrassing." I said, "Oh, I know that
well!" We chuckled. I offered to hug him, and he accepted.
I said in the King's ear, "Only you can hear this. I'm Solomon. I
would like to meet with you privately for a non emergency topic at your
convenience. Any time you are alone and say my name and ask for the
meeting, I will hear it, but otherwise I will not be aware of anything
else about you and your surroundings. Thank you for not jumping out of
your clothes in surprise at this. Goodbye." He tried not to laugh.
He did ask for the meeting. I put on clothes and ported to his
library. I said, "You have a lot of personal titles, enough to make a
public library jealous. So, how do I address you?" He said with a
smile, "In private, Charles will do." I said, "That's good. We can't
forget our names. I'm Sol." He chuckled. I said, "I've been meeting
with some religious leaders. Here, it's a little hard to figure out who
that actually is." He said, "Ah! I see what you mean. Have you visited
anyone else here about that?" I said, "Yes. Archbishop of Canterbury.
He was a little cautious, but he did explain something of this, which I
have to admit I already knew. That's the official version. Not who
really is boss." He said, "So, you and he are planning to do something
controversial?" I said, "Wow! You're a real King!" He had to laugh. He
said, "Surprises people, I know. I've had a lot of time to prepare for
this position." I said, "True. Unfortunately, I had a lot less time,
but I have hundreds of past lives to learn from, mostly what NOT to
do."
I said, "He has little power outside of Britain in the Commonwealth,
and almost none elsewhere, over the Faith." I told him what we had
discussed. He said, "A lot of wisdom in that. More, I would like it if
that position did have more power in the world, now that we no longer
have an Empire." I said, "Still haven't gotten over that?" He said with
a smile, "At the upper levels, no. A lot of quarreling otherwise
useless nobility." I said, "Who in the past, would have resorted to
plotting against the Throne." He said, "Yes, and now that the Monarchy
is mostly powerless, they have no available prize to motivate them." I
said, "Foreign Service too dangerous for them?" He said, "Yes, the
cowards." I said, "Well, you can't shoot them, but you still have a
House of Lords. Make service to the country, a prerequisite for an
individual to occupy a seat?" He said, "Would be a mostly empty House."
I said, "Bad?" He grinned and said, "Not in the least. Still, that's an
idea to consider."
He said, "I agree with your goals, and I will support them as much as
I'm able. We helped to create this problem, it's our duty to help
repair it. PM is going to have kittens." I said, "Fur is nice. Claws,
not so much." He said with interest, "Is it true you have had sex with
aliens with fur?" I said, "Do you mean real sex, or the Clinton
variety?" He chuckled. He said, "Whichever." I said, "In a large group
party, the Clinton. We don't go all the way in them, and I've never
done the individual thing with them. Our schools get together and have
parties, which is mostly for sharing love and social bonding. Wild
time, though. We share our feelings, AND our sensory impressions in a
way that multiplies them." He said, "Wow!" I said, "We try to say that
after we recover." He laughed. I said, "I don't participate in them
very often. I'm just too powerful." He said, "I think most people don't
realize just how powerful you are, and that's a good thing." I said,
"Absolutely! Can't make them so afraid, adult nappies would sell out."
He laughed really hard. He wrote a letter of introduction to the PM for
me, on official stationary. I thanked him, and offered to hug. He said,
"Would be a scandal if you did that in public. Would be interesting,
though." I said, "Oh yes!" We did the hug with love.
I asked to the see the PM, alone. I ported to her office. After
greetings, I said, "I've been with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and
His Majesty the King. Here's his letter of introduction." She took it
and read it, with some suspicion. Then she said, "Did he say I would
have kittens?" I said, "Oh, do you have some?" She looked at me, and
had to smile a little. She said, "Well done. Please proceed with your
presentation." I did. She thought a while, and said, "Not as bad as I
thought." I said, "I should try harder?" She said with a smile, "No,
not necessary. I agree with you, if not with the others. You should
have come to me first." I just grinned. She said, "Oh, alright." She
had to smile. She said, "I don't see much of a problem with this, but
we know how many problems start just because of that." I said,
"Perverse universe." She said, "Exactly! Politically, with our system,
I'm much more vulnerable than your President is. A vote of no
confidence can happen at any time, and most of those times have been
about controversial social issues. I have to be careful, or my help
could actually make it worse." I nodded. I said, "Mostly, not opposing,
would be the most we could ask for." She said, "I agree, and I WILL
help were I can, kittens or no. Yes, he says that a lot. A er, pet
phrase." I said, "Pur-fectly understood." We shared our grins. And a
hug with love.
I put a note on the Archbishop's desk, saying, "Met with the King and
PM. Result is they will do as much as they think they can to support
our goals, which they personally agree with, and like that Britain
could have more relevance and influence in the world through your
office. What that actually means in reality, I don't know for sure, but
I think we can expect that to mean no active opposition, and some vague
vocal support at times. Politics keeps on ticking. Have fun."
It didn't take him long to act. With orders from the King and PM in
support in action in Parliament, he made gays fully equal in all
services that his Church provides, including marriage, and there being
gay Priests, which I didn't expect. He urged that all other Sees do the
same. I was asked to comment. I said, "I fully support the efforts of
the Archbishop of Canterbury to support the equal human and civil
rights of all people, and specifically in his current actions. I join
with him in requesting that all Anglicans support this." That was well
received. The one in America did comply, over some local objections.
Two small churches left the group, but lost members in doing it. Almost
all in Africa opposed it. I visited with some, and said, "The Mormons
did this years ago. They didn't lose members or influence." They said,
"But our people will turn Catholic!" I said, "With Communion and
everything? Really?" Some Priests had to smile at that. I said, "And
they have a relatively young Pope, who is a friend of my family. How
long will they remain unchanged, being the last major Denomination to
so discriminate?" He said, "This is your feeling?" I said, "Something a
little more than a feeling." He nodded in understanding of what I
wasn't saying. He said, "My personal feelings are very much against
homosexuals, but I have known some, and they were not bad people in
other ways. I know I must change, but it will be difficult." I said, "I
know, but love is all, and all is love, and all is God." We bowed.
Change is happening slowly, but for real. I hope. Some leaders of
Islam wanted to meet with me privately. I ported to the meeting, and
was silent. They fidgeted. I had a slight smile. Finally, one said,
"You haven't asked us to change!" I said, "Please explain." One said,
"You haven't asked us to stop persecuting homosexuals." I said, "And
why is this significant to you?" One said, "You are making this very
difficult." I grinned. Some chuckled. I said, "Sharia Law supports that
persecution. Therefore, if a nation is ruled that way, you have no
choice. A secular nation can change laws to reflect er, sanity. Much
less so, religions. And there is one other thing, which some not in
this room would find very amusing. Sharia Law creates more homosexual
activity than is normally possible outside of prison, from men who are
not homosexuals. Human sexual urges will not be denied by any law, only
redirected a little. You hide women, men will use boys and men for sex,
and in the case of boys, that is usually harmful abuse. Your societies
create and actively support that system. If it were possible for me to
provide just consequences for that, I would. But to try to change a
society from outside of it, usually creates more problems than it
corrects."
I let them digest that for a while. I said, "One might want to
wonder, if Islam is so wonderful, why do Islamic countries have to make
their religion the law of the land. Isn't it that they are actually
admitting in defeat, that it really isn't so wonderful? I think I'm not
the only one who sees it that way." There were some reluctant nods. I
said, "And how many true homosexuals are in your governments, in your
police, in your military? You are helping them to hide by making those
who are not homosexuals act like them. More amusement for other
nations. So, in effect, you are only persecuting the few most obvious
of the homosexuals, and very generously helping the others to hide from
you. You are actually being nicer to gays than many societies where
they are legal and even protected. More, your people very much accept
homosexuality. One only has to visit your public rest rooms to see it
happening, and that it goes unreported, where in America, they would
report it. You have created a very strange system in how you handle
homosexually, that as a student of societies and human behavior, I find
absolutely fascinating. For you here, I suspect that is not a joyous
thing."
They were really not happy. One said, "Is there no hope?" I said,
"That depends on what your hope is, and what price you are willing to
pay to achieve it. To be realistic, in any religious legal system,
almost all that are considered sins and crimes, are more serious than
any consenting homosexual act. Do you agree with this?" They did. I
said, "So, what does that mean? What SHOULD it mean? I'll tell you a
general truth, that this is a thing that supports it. Religion, and
religious law, NEVER makes a good government, and I speak from
thousands of years of experience. Religious law is used ONLY by those
seeking power over others, and by people who do not feel they need to
obey it themselves. You KNOW this. For example, how many Islamic rulers
were alcoholics and pornography addicts?" They nodded. I said, "You
know what should be done. You don't need me to tell you. Do you want me
to tell you in public so you can do what you should, without the blame?
I WILL NOT DO THAT. You know that would not be good for your societies.
Change imposed from without, is force, and that causes rebellion,
making things worse than before. I will not be the cause of that.
Religious obedience should be voluntary, or it is false, and those who
obey out of fear of civil punishment, are false believers, and are not
of God. Do you understand me?" They did. I said, "I will be saying some
of these things in the future, as situations open for them. You would
have me agree with YOU, with my full support, with all that might mean,
if you say them first. Leaders make themselves. Your opportunities to
lead are here and there, as you make them. Will you?"
I stood and offered to hug them. We did that, and I ported home.
Galya said, "Wow! You really tore into them!" Mom said, "What cowards
deserve. Was anyone gay?" I said, "One, yes, and he knew I knew he was.
Made it more interesting, his wondering if I would expose him." Galya
said, "Did he poke you?" I said, "Yes, and he wasn't the only one."
Grins all around.
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Grant
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