From: joemahoney1950@gmail.com   
      
   My friends and fellow Rush fans, today I'd like to explore the sensitive topic   
   of the Loss of Faith.  Apostasy.  This is a subject that our favorite   
   Christian lyricist Neil Peart has, naturally enough, explored quite   
   extensively in his lyrics.  Like any    
   man of belief, Neil has had occasion to have his faith challenged on occasion   
   -- both by those unfortunates who cannot grasp God's role in our existence;   
   and by life's events, which, stemming as they do from an Omnipotent Being,   
   seem at times    
   incomprehensible to our all-too mortal minds.  Fortunately, Neil's phases of   
   doubt and inquiry have always been brief, and rapidly assuaged by God's   
   benevolence.   
      
   But what of Neil's fans?  Rush's fans?  Has anyone among us had our faith in   
   this band challenged on occasion?  Their outlook has been steadfastly   
   Christian, anti-Communist, pro-Republican, and pro-Intelligent Design   
   Science.  But perhaps an occasional    
   lyric has been misinterpreted (no doubt thanks in large part to the liberal   
   media) or perhaps the occasional musical passage has rubbed you the wrong   
   way.  Or maybe it's an event in one of their public a antics, such as Alex'   
   altercation in Florida with    
   that state's upholders of the Law, itself a manifestation of God's Will.     
      
   I will tell you of what temporarily shook my faith in Neil.  Some decades ago,   
   he did something that I found quite unbecoming of a Christian.  He visited   
   Communist China.  I'll admit, I was most upset.  I raged inwardly.  I wept   
   real tears.  I sought    
   ANSWERS for why he would do this. Had his travels abroad, to strange and   
   foreign countries corrupted him?  Had his dabblings in mythology and   
   philosophy perverted him?  Did he merely want to look, firsthand, into the   
   face of EVIL?  I questioned and I    
   fretted.   
      
   And then I prayed.   
      
   My fellow Christians, most of you know by now that God does not always answer   
   immediately.  Sometimes, he takes his time.  He works in mysterious ways.   
      
   In the midst of this dark, agitated, questioning phase, I was watching   
   Christian television -- it might have been Jimmy Swaggart, or it might have   
   been Peter Popoff.  It might have been Janet and Paul Crouch.  As the show   
   wound to a close, I gulped my    
   last Bud Lite and burped quite noisily.  I realized that though the Christian   
   television had more than nourished my soul, my physical side was quite hungry.   
   So I went out for an authentic Chinese meal of poo-poo platter.  Chicken   
   fingers, teryiaki beef,    
   and eggroll.  I thanked Jesus for  my meal, and ate it, quite nosily and with,   
   I admit, a rather un-Christian selfishness, saving not a scrap for the   
   neighbors or the local homeless.  And as I did, it flashed to me that this was   
   what Neil had gone to    
   China for:  to sample the delights of their unique cuisine.     
      
   He returned to Canada -- and, once George Bush was elected, rapidly moved to   
   the United States.  And as for me, my faith in Neil, and in Rush, was rapidly   
   restored.   
      
   Joe   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)