“…Yet We Are Exactly the Same”

At nearly a quarter million views, my latest video has struck a chord, and every so often I receive a message like the one below; pure love which cuts through all of the jingoism and clamor and right to the heart of what’s really at stake, even– especially– as we hear the drums of war beating steadily around us.

The Iranian People have hopes and dreams and families whom they care deeply about and they sincerely wish to live in peace, just the same as you and me. We are not their enemy and they are not ours. It is easy to preach, and somewhat harder to practice, but we must live into our shared humanity if we want to make it to the next day!

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Dear Mr. Schaeffer,

I am a child of a military family in Iran. The way the world is constructed, I am told you and I are supposed to be adversaries. Yet I saw a video of you this morning about your son having been a Marine, and how relieved you are that he is not serving under this presidency. I found myself sharing this sentiment in the deepest fibers of my being. I worry how many sons and fathers are going to be sent into battle to fight the fights that in no way concern us.

You and I are about as different as two people can be, yet we are exactly the same, neither of our loved ones should be used as canon bait in order to line the pockets of the likes of the Koch Brothers or the Ayatollahs and Consorts.

Thank you for vocalizing my thoughts.

My kindest regards,

…

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After years of a hateful lunatic in the presidency, how do we make our way back into love, beauty and creation? Discover my book Letter to Lucy: A Manifesto of Creative Redemption—In the Age of Trump, Fascism and Lies, a multi-touch book about art, love and parenting, from the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the prophetic music of Green Day and everything in between. Read the first chapter for free on your kindle fire or iOS device. Available now on Apple Books and Amazon Kindle Fire.
 

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Caught between the beauty of his grandchildren and grief over a friend’s death, Frank Schaeffer finds himself simultaneously believing and not believing in God—an atheist who prays. Schaeffer wrestles with faith and disbelief, sharing his innermost thoughts with a lyricism that only great writers of literary nonfiction achieve. Schaeffer writes as an imperfect son, husband and grandfather whose love for his family, art and life trumps the ugly theologies of an angry God and the atheist vision of a cold, meaningless universe. Schaeffer writes that only when we abandon our hunt for certainty do we become free to create beauty, give love and find peace. Available now at Amazon.
 

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In 1998, Frank Schaeffer was a bohemian novelist living in “Volvo driving, higher-education worshipping” Massachusetts with two children graduated from top universities. Then his youngest child, straight out of high school, joined the United States Marine Corps. Written in alternating voices by eighteen-year-old John and his father, Frank, Keeping Faith takes readers in riveting fashion through a family’s experience of the Marine Corps: from being broken down and built back up on Parris Island (and being the parent of a child undergoing that experience), to the growth of both father and son and their separate reevaluations of what it means to serve. Available now at Amazon.

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