Gods And Fools

One Nation, Ohmigod...

Check out this painting, which is very inspiring... if you're to the right of James Dobson. I like the shocked Chinese pagan guy at the bottom left, and the business-woman who the painter felt obliged to include even though he couldn't think of anything nice to say about her. Now that's affirmative action.

Go Indie, Young Man

My latest piece for the Daily News site is here. 

Hmmmm

Just found this old piece about Obama before he was Obama....

Faith and Certainty

I agree with Timmy here.  Especially this closing:

I used to think that "True believers" were REALLY faithful. Now I see that they are in a way a flight from the pain living a life of true faith, which is to say a life of tension.

Tension where faith which means also a live with doubt, and a life where your answers aren't fully FINAL and unquestionable, but where you are open an teachable to new ones and new light on old ones.

I'm reminded, as I usually am, of some comments by Eric Hoffer, author of The True Believer:

The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an inner uncertainty than a deep conviction. The implacable stand is directed more against the doubt within than the assailant without...

A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.

Timmy, I'm also still chewing on your post here, and definitely appreciate the thoughts and insights.  Rollins' take in particular was fascinating.  I'm mainly still pondering your critique of the "Christianity vs. Other Faiths" = "Coke vs. Pepsi" approach.  I feel you're profound and supple in your desire to reject old-fashioned exclusivism ("I have accepted the one right way, and so far you haven't.  Let's hope you change, before your soul burns"). 

But I also think of the distinction between 1) "Christ can bless and sanctify the paths of a variety of seekers" and 2) "We all have something to learn from one another."

A couple of years back, I came out in favor of #2.  Is there a significant difference between 1 and 2, in your view...?

Close Encounters of the Soteriological Kind

Just sitting here nursing a summer cold and watching an old Peter Jennings special on the evidence for and against UFOs -- and it reminds me of debates with religious "true believers." I bring up UFOs intentionally, because most Americans tend to be far more leery of people who say they saw a flying saucer than people who say that a man from 2,000 years ago "came into my heart and assured me forgiveness for all the bad things I've done."  In short, I want to level the playing field a bit by equating some "respectable" true believers with less respectable ones in our era.

The most common rebuttal that a true believer uses against religious disbelief is that it requires faith that's every bit as strong as faith in "my religion's version of God." 

This certainly appears to be a final cry of desperation on the part of the religious true believer:  "I've tried converting you to my superior way, but since I can't seem to succeed, I'm sure as hell not going to let you walk away thinking you're better than me." 

Sure, okay...  But many smart and decent skeptics have pointed out that a guy who has a hunch that there is no sentient Supreme Dude is quite different from the missions committee chairman who begs the congregation for extra pledges to support global proselytizing regarding one very specific doctrine of salvation.

Thankfully, most religious people have instincts in between the true believer and the skeptic.  They're usually too shy to admit it to the true believer, though.  They only admit it to other people who they find to be kindred spirits.

To bring UFOs back into play, a UFOlogist will sneer at a skeptic, saying the skeptic is using as much faith in rejecting UFOs as the UFOlogist uses in believing.

Well, maybe they have a point.  Maybe there is some possibility that life from other galaxies is visiting us.  But I think that hardly means that the alternative to my skepticism is to attend Rosswell conventions.  The same applies to why I would never join a missions committee again.

As for this cold....  For years, when I got colds, I took Nyquil, Zicam, lots of juice and rest, and prayed for better health.  When all that allowed me to feel much better four or five days later, I gave thanks to God for how he looked after me.  Now I do all that, minus the prayer, feeling pretty confident that I'll be better in four days, maybe less if I really rest. 

Works like a charm. 

Death's Sting

A world is reeling from the death of a very flawed but very cherished person, Michael Jackson, leading me to this short musing here. 

The Proof of the Puddin' Is in the Prayin'

Lots of fussing here about whether we can prove the existence of a divine being.

A matter of perspective

Timmy shares the pic above.  What letters do the wooden blocks represent?  It depends on your perspective, of course. 

That veers toward relativism, right?  I guess objectivism, and the notion that there is one concrete, ultimate perspective, is behind most traditional religions, eg, "Although human minds are foolish and unreliable, our gods have provided us with a unique and reliable revelation, contained in X book of scriptures."

The odd thing is when they say that only those within their faith have access to such a reliable perspective, but then end up living their lives as though only members of one political perspective, inside or outside their faith, have a reliable grip on reality.  Who's really your daddy...?

In coming days, I'll muse a little bit on how reliable such revelations may really be.  

God's Only Party

Once again, the data suggests that the more often you hit church, the more Republican you are.  But this time, the most-frequent churchgoers turn out to be the only group that hasn't moved away from the GOP since 2001.

Here's a question:  Given that weekly churchgoers are the lone bedrock of the GOP, what does this mean for church leaders who need to fill up the collection plates during a recession?  Will they tailor their ministries to keep the conservative faithful fully comfortable?  Or has perhaps the leaders' own natural conservatism helped build flocks that are reliably one-note? 

Defending Atheists from the Defenders of the Faith

Here's a piece from the Daily News site that I tossed up last night, and which is getting some lively comment. I chew there on the recent Stanley Fish defense of God in the NY Times.  And Timmy C, I need to still get back to you on some recent comments of yours re an older piece of mine.  Thanks!