[RivCompanions] A sad development

[Pepper Marts]

Beloved:

A good many years ago an old friend asked if I'd deliver a paper at a
conference she was organizing. After some mutual backing and circling,
I agreed to speak on similarities between Church and State. Here's a
paragraph from just before the summary.

	Bureaucracy's chief sin is idolatry. Members of an
	institutional body are encouraged to idolize that body and
	put its welfare ahead of whatever the original purpose may
	have been. This assertion is equally descriptive of
	governments and their military services, of corporations, and
	of the Churches. The first victim of this institutional
	idolatry is always truth. The second is usually beauty.

I believe it has some application to our current situation.

Love,
Pep