Religionless Religion

For the sake of argument I will go out on a limb (good ole southern expression) and say: Religion as we know it so far in human history is responsible for the divisions, hatred, violence, and anti-intllectualism sweeping the world today.
Charles Kimball has clearly identified the signs of evil religion:
1. absolute truth claims
2. blind obedience
3. establishment of an ideal time
4. the end justifies the means
5. "holy war"
This is true of Jewish ultra-orthodox violence against Palestinians, Christian fundamentalist violence against abortion clinics or focus on Jerusalem as the location for the final battle, or Islamist Jihadist reign of terror on their own or the western world.
Marcus Borg identified the results of religion:
1. political oppression
2. economic exploitation
3. chronic violence
4. all sanctioned in the name of religion
James Carroll has clearly identified the signs of good religion:
1. celebrates life, not death
2. recognizes God's Oneness as Unity among all creatures, Unity known  as love
3. is concerned with revelation, not salvation
4. knows nothing of coercion
5. will have a secular character, i.e. rejects religion that is incapable of self-criticism
John Spong was on the right track when he wrote Why Christianity Must Change or Die.
Deitrich Bonhoeffer was on the right track when he talked about "religionless religion."
Today's religions are like new sepulchers, clean and white on the outside and full of rotten decay inside.
Change or die------the quicker the better!

Blog instructions and Let's Build Bridges

Instructions: if you will look at the top left of the blog you will see an icon--red square with G in it and +1. Click that and you can write a comment for all to see. Let's start a conversation.

Let’s build bridges.
The recent news has been sad and overwhelming. It would be so easy to respond to all the violence with more and greater violence. Thankfully there are quieter, calmer voices if we will but listen. Let’s be open to our better nature and seek the greater good for the sake of our nation and world.
I am NOT condoning the violence of the Boston bombing. I am NOT rationalizing that distorted view and behavior. I am NOT excusing the anger and devastation perpetrated on us.
I am asking and pleading that we seek causes for this violence in our world and not simply treat its symptoms. We must protect ourselves in times of threats; we must be vigilant. But we MUST be compassionate. We MUST be loving. We MUST be understanding. We must not paint everyone with the same brush. Like a fever is a symptom of a disease, let’s not treat the symptom of violence with violence and ignore the root causes of the hatred from which it comes.
Let’s build bridges. Let’s strive to eradicate ignorance and misconceptions. Let’s reach out with acts of kindness and compassion. Make a friend; greet a stranger. Find common ground; listen to the voice of the stranger. Fundamentally we humans share more in common than the differences we express.
It takes far greater courage to offer an open hand than to pull a trigger. Let’s build bridges!

Religion and Violence

Religion and violence

Strother Martin is remembered for saying in Cool Hand Luke, “What we’ve got here is (a) failure to communicate.” So to eliminate that as much as possible, I offer the following definitions from Merriam Webster’s Dictionary:

Ignorance: “lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified.”

Stupidity: “state of being slow of mind given to unintelligent decisions or acts.” Einstein defined it as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Bigotry: “the state of being intolerantly devoted to one’s own opinions and prejudices.”

I offer the following observations: ignorance is curable with education and information; stupidity is terminal; bigotry comes in many forms, i.e. racial, gender, religious. I humbly admit to having been ignorant at times and needing help in overcoming bigoted opinions. I hope to avoid terminal stupidity.

To my point. Violence in defense of religion is ignorance, stupidity if continued, and bigotry if one insists on the “absolute truth” of their religion and blindly refuses to respect the integrity of others.

Judaism’s gift was a rejection of human sacrifice (Abraham/Isaac) and the profound insight of the Oneness of God, Oneness seen as communion, in Second Isaiah. Her followers too quickly returned to violence as the means of self-preservation.

The gift of Jesus of Nazareth was a call to return to that Oneness in love and compassion embodied in his announcement of the inbreaking of the kingdom of God. His followers misunderstood and quickly defined salvation as based on a human sacrifice demanded by an angry God who would not be satisfied with that death and promised to return and destroy everything.

The gift of Islam was a call to return to the Oneness of God, forsaking the polytheism and decadence of that society, live in peace, and no coercion in religion. His followers quickly perverted the true jihad (internal struggle) into an externality.

The Buddha’s insight was that hate manifested in violence, greed found in poverty of spirit, and delusion that mistakes the outer transience for inner purity are the cause of violence/suffering.

Good religion, religionless religion, must come to see that violence is not the answer to violence, personally – socially – globally.

Fundamentalism continued

James Madison, the father of our Constitution, warned us when he said to beware of the “malignant influence” of religion-based intolerance. He guided the construction of a “wall of separation” between church and state [Roger Williams was the first to use that term and Thomas Jefferson would borrow it when he wrote the Articles of Religious Freedom for Virginia.] with the First Amendment.

His words have never been more prophetic!

Misguided, narrow minded, religious authoritarians in our Legislature want to implement a “state religion.” They either haven’t or can’t read the US Constitution. They want to extend the waiting period for obtaining a divorce to two years as if another year of misery, spouse and child abuse, and financial irresponsibility will solve this serious social problem. They want to enter your bedroom and tell you who you can love and who you can marry. [One man and one woman doesn’t begin to deal with the polygamy and sexual slaves found in the scripture they hold so dear.] They—and it’s always ignorant men mostly—want to control women’s bodies taking freedom and self-determination from them.

Nationally and in North Carolina blurry eyed zealots, distorting the Second Amendment [I don’t want to take your legal and reasonable guns from you, but is a shoulder held surface to air missile really a constitutional right?] have no sense of compassion or concern for the children being killed every day in our homes and on our streets. Surely reasonable people can find a solution to the carnage, and it isn’t the seven (13) dwarfs filibustering gun legislation in a show of group “deafness”.

Fundamentalism, whether religious or political, is based on ignorance, misogyny, bigotry, and violence. The unique form of American Christianity  is reaping the consequences of the emotionalism of the Great Awakenings, the apocalyptic interpretation of the Civil War [folks, that ended in April, 1865!], anti-intellectual protest to science (biological evolution as one example) and biblical criticism, and a millenarian denial of social responsibility. It absolutely amazes me that so-called Christians take their orders from the atheist Ayn Rand, the apostle of the Virtue of Selfishness, rather than Jesus of Nazareth or the New Testament they claim to honor.

We desperately need a transformation of self and a transformation of society that will get us closer to dreams and ideals of a compassion based nation.

Fundamentalism's Responsibility for Today's Problems

Fundamentalism and Today’s Problems

The third quarter of the 19^th century witnessed a perfect storm, the consequences of which continue to plague the 21^st century. That storm included the publication of Darwin’s Origin of the Species, the War Between the States, rising secularism (good or bad depending on your perspective), and biblical scholarship known as “higher criticism.” Conservative American Christianity reacted by consolidating a movement that would be labeled “Fundamentalism,” the concentration of their theological teaching at Princeton University and Seminary (“the Princeton Movement”), and the publication of a series of pamphlets between 1910 and 1915 called The Fundamentals. Without any authorization or denominational approval, those pamphlets demanded that to be a true Christian one must BELIEVE:

1.      Verbal inspiration of the Bible

2.      Literal, inerrant interpretation of that Bible

3.      Biological virgin birth of Jesus

4.      Blood atonement for human sin (What kind of god demands human sacrifice?)

5.      Physical, corporeal resurrection of Jesus

6.      Literal, physical return of Jesus

The intellectual pinnacle of this movement was Blackstone’s Jesus is Coming and the Scofield Reference Bible. With its claim that the world was created in 4004 BCE, this book, more than any other among Fundamentalists, is responsible for the ongoing claims for creationism and intelligent (?) design.

The first half of the 20^th century saw the movement divide between those who had a social conscience and lived the Social Gospel and those premillenarian, even more apocalyptic groups who withdrew from social engagement. Evangelicals engaged in intentional conversion of the world while being slightly less authoritarian and more cooperative with other Christian groups. Fundamentalist seemed to go underground for a time but emerged with a vengeance in the 1970s under the leadership of Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberson, James Dobson, and more recently men like Ralph Reed and Richard Lamb.

Now to the point of my argument. The progeny of Fundamentalism include:

1.      Anti-intellectualism [creationism, intelligent design, denial of biological evolution (a concept from hell in the words of a Georgia Congressman who happens to be a medical doctor!), legitimate rape, efforts to subvert Boards of Education, etc]

2.      Anti-feminism (denial of voting rights until the 20^th century, anti-abortion legislation, refusal to recognize female pastors in many of their churches, etc.)

3.      Continuing pre and postmillenarianism and dispensationalism that has many of them aggressively advocating and acting for the apocalyptic end of time

4.      Unbridled militancy in the world seeking domination of others, the elimination of different religions, especially Islam, irrational support of removal of gun control (Before you get your knickers in a knot, I believe in the Second Amendment).

This progeny and much more is responsible for the chaos, partisanship, lack of statesmanship, and lack of moral clarity in this country.

If you are interested and seeking sound scholarship in this area, I recommend:

Karen Armstrong: The Battle for God

Charles Kimball: When Religion Becomes Evil

Marcus Borg: The Evolution of the Word

James Carroll: Jerusalem, Jerusalem