Many are quick to blame all religion for the abuses and crimes of some kooks. Jesus never taught the things they do. They distort the gospel to serve their own perverted interests.
But then, we do the same thing politically. Our party system makes enemies of us all. The Constitution was designed to ensure our rights, freedoms and help us work together as citizens. Yet politicians abuse it for their own gain and we end up hating each other along party lines.
Parties are a lot like cults. We pay homage to flawed leaders, follow and defend policies that serve special interests and benifit mainly the elite. And we mistrust and spew venom at anyone who marches to a different drummer.
The problems aren't caused by faith in either the Constitution or the Savior. But rather in "radical clerics" of whatever flavor. And in our tendency to be an us vs. them society. People who are quick to criticize but apathetic about extending a hand. Sad!
This was submitted to Huffington Post as a response to anti-religious comments after an article about cults.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mona-ackerman/when-a-loved-one-joins-a-_b_78302.html
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
The Grace of the Amish
Please read the article by Bruce Kluger, entitled "A Glimpse of Grace."
"In the hours and days following last week's heartbreaking schoolhouse massacre of five Amish children in Nickel Mines, Pa., the story cut across the media landscape like a runaway brushfire.
Almost overnight, we learned the grotesque details of the vicious crime itself, heard the pitiful back story of its deranged perpetrator and were subjected to a flurry of the usual analyses — endless eddies of chatter that swirled about the tragedy without shame or abatement.
Rosie O'Donnell targeted the National Rifle Association in her blistering remarks about the killings; Hannity & Colmes used air time to bring on, then ridicule, a religious zealot who called the murders God's will; and columnists lumped the shocking slaughter into reports of other recent school shootings, as if to imply that this reprehensible act of madness was merely part of a bigger news story. A larger picture. A trend.
The Amish citizens of Nickel Mines were oblivious to it all, their religion having long ago instructed them to forgo TVs, radios and other devices of modern-day mass communication.
Instead, they quietly buried their little girls.
They collected money for the families of the deceased, including the horrified, grieving wife and children of the murderer. They also invited the family to the funerals.
“Grace,” my wife said softly when I told her about this astonishing gesture of humanity by the bereaved people of Nickel Mines. “Pure grace. Maybe we all have something to learn from the Amish.”
Religion is by no means an easy topic of conversation in this country — nor in the world. For many of us, it has lost its power to instantly transform or inspire. Indeed, this year alone, we've stood witness, repeatedly, to the dark and disjointed side of religion, and to its ugliest consequences.
We've seen mounting evidence that Islamic fundamentalists have no intention of retreating from their despicable interpretation of the Quran, bent as they are on deriving from its ancient verses little more than a global death warrant. We've watched in failed hope as peaceful Muslims around the globe largely stand mute in the face of this violence, their leaders unable or unwilling to coalesce into a single voice that might once and for all denounce the perversion of their faith by their misguided brothers.
Over the summer, Lebanese Shiites and Israeli Jews similarly turned a deaf ear to the sacred tracts of their holy books — parables about decency and forgiveness and love — as they went about the business of murdering one another over prisoner exchanges and border intrusions and tiny parcels of arid land.
Catholics worldwide listened in confusion as their new pope, Benedict XVI, reached back to the words of a 14th-century emperor to draw a heavy curtain between the righteousness of Christianity and the “evil and inhuman” teachings of the prophet Mohammed.
And here at home, that small but rabid band of evangelicals continued a single-minded crusade, flocking not to churches, but to talk shows and congressional offices and town meetings, in an unyielding effort to write its own brand of divisive scripture into our laws.
Where religion is concerned, we have reached a moment of critical mass in this nation — and the world — entering into a kind of apocalypse unimagined in the Bible. And our punishment is not the stuff of plagues and hellfire, issued by a wrathful and dissatisfied God. Instead, it is simply the souring of our inner spirit and the crushing loss of our soul. Our undoing is our own.
Meanwhile, the reclusive and serene citizens of Nickel Mines go about their business. They lay their beautiful children to rest, and silently pray for our redemption.
Grace."
This article was first published Oct. 9, 2006 in USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061009/opthree_09.art.htm
And then at Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-kluger/grace-in-pennsylvania_b_31365.html
"In the hours and days following last week's heartbreaking schoolhouse massacre of five Amish children in Nickel Mines, Pa., the story cut across the media landscape like a runaway brushfire.
Almost overnight, we learned the grotesque details of the vicious crime itself, heard the pitiful back story of its deranged perpetrator and were subjected to a flurry of the usual analyses — endless eddies of chatter that swirled about the tragedy without shame or abatement.
Rosie O'Donnell targeted the National Rifle Association in her blistering remarks about the killings; Hannity & Colmes used air time to bring on, then ridicule, a religious zealot who called the murders God's will; and columnists lumped the shocking slaughter into reports of other recent school shootings, as if to imply that this reprehensible act of madness was merely part of a bigger news story. A larger picture. A trend.
The Amish citizens of Nickel Mines were oblivious to it all, their religion having long ago instructed them to forgo TVs, radios and other devices of modern-day mass communication.
Instead, they quietly buried their little girls.
They collected money for the families of the deceased, including the horrified, grieving wife and children of the murderer. They also invited the family to the funerals.
“Grace,” my wife said softly when I told her about this astonishing gesture of humanity by the bereaved people of Nickel Mines. “Pure grace. Maybe we all have something to learn from the Amish.”
Religion is by no means an easy topic of conversation in this country — nor in the world. For many of us, it has lost its power to instantly transform or inspire. Indeed, this year alone, we've stood witness, repeatedly, to the dark and disjointed side of religion, and to its ugliest consequences.
We've seen mounting evidence that Islamic fundamentalists have no intention of retreating from their despicable interpretation of the Quran, bent as they are on deriving from its ancient verses little more than a global death warrant. We've watched in failed hope as peaceful Muslims around the globe largely stand mute in the face of this violence, their leaders unable or unwilling to coalesce into a single voice that might once and for all denounce the perversion of their faith by their misguided brothers.
Over the summer, Lebanese Shiites and Israeli Jews similarly turned a deaf ear to the sacred tracts of their holy books — parables about decency and forgiveness and love — as they went about the business of murdering one another over prisoner exchanges and border intrusions and tiny parcels of arid land.
Catholics worldwide listened in confusion as their new pope, Benedict XVI, reached back to the words of a 14th-century emperor to draw a heavy curtain between the righteousness of Christianity and the “evil and inhuman” teachings of the prophet Mohammed.
And here at home, that small but rabid band of evangelicals continued a single-minded crusade, flocking not to churches, but to talk shows and congressional offices and town meetings, in an unyielding effort to write its own brand of divisive scripture into our laws.
Where religion is concerned, we have reached a moment of critical mass in this nation — and the world — entering into a kind of apocalypse unimagined in the Bible. And our punishment is not the stuff of plagues and hellfire, issued by a wrathful and dissatisfied God. Instead, it is simply the souring of our inner spirit and the crushing loss of our soul. Our undoing is our own.
Meanwhile, the reclusive and serene citizens of Nickel Mines go about their business. They lay their beautiful children to rest, and silently pray for our redemption.
Grace."
This article was first published Oct. 9, 2006 in USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061009/opthree_09.art.htm
And then at Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-kluger/grace-in-pennsylvania_b_31365.html
Monday, August 07, 2006
Proving the Existence of God?
The following is a comment from Huffington Post. The discussion was about, among other things, the existence of God. Several skeptics were doing the usual needling. Then this appeared and seemed to cry out to be shared. Many thanks to the person who wrote it!
I do believe in God however, your statement that the "burden of proof" is on me for believing God exists is indeed your own "straw man" argument. I have no "burden" when it comes to what I choose to believe. I don't attempt to change people's belief system through circular arguments which can never be answered with certainty. For me the evidence of a caring "creator", or "life-force" or "God" is everywhere. For others, maybe they need more definitive "proof" in their own lives, maybe these are the people who can't see anything they can't put their hands on; who can't put their hands on what they can't see. For me, the Bible isn't representative of a Book which should be viewed as a "text book of literal history". It is filled with parables, stories of inspiration as well reflecting the societies and culture of the times. Whether people except it for the word of God or not is entirely up to them. I do believe it is the word of God, but......if you don't, so be it.
What gets me is these people who question if Jesus ever existed. All you need to do is look at the historical writings of the Roman Empire to find documentation of a person named "Jesus" being sentenced to death coinciding with the Biblical account. If the Bibles account is "make believe" so must be the account of the Roman Empire.
I forget who wrote the following little "story", prominent physicists whose name escapes me but, I have to agree with the sentiment.
"There was a time when I used to visit the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. I would spend hours fascinated by the carp, which lived in a very shallow pond just inches beneath the lily pads, just beneath my fingers, totally oblivious to the universe above them. I would ask myself a question only a human child could ask: What would it be like to be a carp?
What a strange world it would be! I imagined that the pond would be an entire universe, one that is two-dimensional in space. The carp would only be able to swim forwards and backwards, and left and right. I imagined that the concept of "up"--beyond the lily pads--would be totally alien to them. Any carp scientist daring to talk about a third dimension "above" the pond--would immediately be labeled a crank.
I wondered what would happen if I could reach down and grab a carp scientist and lift it up out of the "pond". I thought, what a wondrous story that scientist would tell the others! The carp would babble on about unbelievable new laws of physics: beings who could move without fins; beings who could breathe without gills; beings who could emit sounds without bubbles.
I then wondered: How would a carp scientist know about my existence? One day it rained, and I saw the rain drops forming gentle ripples on the surface of the pond. Then I understood.
The carp could see rippling shadows on the surface of the pond. The third dimension would be invisible to them, but vibrations in the third dimensions would be clearly visible. These ripples might even be felt by the carp, who would invent a silly concept to describe this, called "force." They might even give these "forces" cute names, such as light and gravity. I would laugh at them, because, of course, I know there is no "force" at all, just the rippling of the water.
I'm here to say, you are the carp, swimming in your tiny pond, blissfully unaware of invisible, unseen universes hovering just above you. You'll spend your whole life in three spatial dimensions; confident that what you can see with your telescopes is all there is, ignorant of the vast possibilities. Although the higher dimensions are invisible, their "ripples" can clearly be seen and felt. You call these ripples gravity and light."
By: ThePacifier on August 07, 2006 at 11:11am
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/08/05/filmmaker-james-cameron-f_n_26613.html?p=7#comments
I do believe in God however, your statement that the "burden of proof" is on me for believing God exists is indeed your own "straw man" argument. I have no "burden" when it comes to what I choose to believe. I don't attempt to change people's belief system through circular arguments which can never be answered with certainty. For me the evidence of a caring "creator", or "life-force" or "God" is everywhere. For others, maybe they need more definitive "proof" in their own lives, maybe these are the people who can't see anything they can't put their hands on; who can't put their hands on what they can't see. For me, the Bible isn't representative of a Book which should be viewed as a "text book of literal history". It is filled with parables, stories of inspiration as well reflecting the societies and culture of the times. Whether people except it for the word of God or not is entirely up to them. I do believe it is the word of God, but......if you don't, so be it.
What gets me is these people who question if Jesus ever existed. All you need to do is look at the historical writings of the Roman Empire to find documentation of a person named "Jesus" being sentenced to death coinciding with the Biblical account. If the Bibles account is "make believe" so must be the account of the Roman Empire.
I forget who wrote the following little "story", prominent physicists whose name escapes me but, I have to agree with the sentiment.
"There was a time when I used to visit the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. I would spend hours fascinated by the carp, which lived in a very shallow pond just inches beneath the lily pads, just beneath my fingers, totally oblivious to the universe above them. I would ask myself a question only a human child could ask: What would it be like to be a carp?
What a strange world it would be! I imagined that the pond would be an entire universe, one that is two-dimensional in space. The carp would only be able to swim forwards and backwards, and left and right. I imagined that the concept of "up"--beyond the lily pads--would be totally alien to them. Any carp scientist daring to talk about a third dimension "above" the pond--would immediately be labeled a crank.
I wondered what would happen if I could reach down and grab a carp scientist and lift it up out of the "pond". I thought, what a wondrous story that scientist would tell the others! The carp would babble on about unbelievable new laws of physics: beings who could move without fins; beings who could breathe without gills; beings who could emit sounds without bubbles.
I then wondered: How would a carp scientist know about my existence? One day it rained, and I saw the rain drops forming gentle ripples on the surface of the pond. Then I understood.
The carp could see rippling shadows on the surface of the pond. The third dimension would be invisible to them, but vibrations in the third dimensions would be clearly visible. These ripples might even be felt by the carp, who would invent a silly concept to describe this, called "force." They might even give these "forces" cute names, such as light and gravity. I would laugh at them, because, of course, I know there is no "force" at all, just the rippling of the water.
I'm here to say, you are the carp, swimming in your tiny pond, blissfully unaware of invisible, unseen universes hovering just above you. You'll spend your whole life in three spatial dimensions; confident that what you can see with your telescopes is all there is, ignorant of the vast possibilities. Although the higher dimensions are invisible, their "ripples" can clearly be seen and felt. You call these ripples gravity and light."
By: ThePacifier on August 07, 2006 at 11:11am
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/08/05/filmmaker-james-cameron-f_n_26613.html?p=7#comments
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Original Sin?
We are judged on our own actions, not for those of others. A just God wouldn't condemn me for something you did.
When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were innocent. They didn't know right from wrong, obeyed everything God said and would have remained that way. If they had, we would never have been born.
They needed to learn free agency, and God wanted them to make the choices that would allow us to be. To do that, he gave them two conflicting commandments. Don't eat the fruit of knowledge, and multiply and replenish the earth. They chose the greater of the two. For breaking the first, they were kicked out of the garden and would eventually die. But for obeying the second, they learned, grew, had a family. They understood joy because they felt sorrow. Knew pleasure and pain. Developed faith because they were no longer in God's presence. And they made it possible for all of us to be born.
That's the original sin. Their choice. And that's the way it actually impacts us. No one is born with Adam's sin on their heads. We're not cursed because of him. Baptism need not be done to babies who are perfect. It should be done when you're old enough to be accountable on your own.
God is a loving father. We still need redemption through Jesus for our sins. And that is another gift of love.
Filed under: [Religion]
When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were innocent. They didn't know right from wrong, obeyed everything God said and would have remained that way. If they had, we would never have been born.
They needed to learn free agency, and God wanted them to make the choices that would allow us to be. To do that, he gave them two conflicting commandments. Don't eat the fruit of knowledge, and multiply and replenish the earth. They chose the greater of the two. For breaking the first, they were kicked out of the garden and would eventually die. But for obeying the second, they learned, grew, had a family. They understood joy because they felt sorrow. Knew pleasure and pain. Developed faith because they were no longer in God's presence. And they made it possible for all of us to be born.
That's the original sin. Their choice. And that's the way it actually impacts us. No one is born with Adam's sin on their heads. We're not cursed because of him. Baptism need not be done to babies who are perfect. It should be done when you're old enough to be accountable on your own.
God is a loving father. We still need redemption through Jesus for our sins. And that is another gift of love.
Filed under: [Religion]
Friday, October 28, 2005
Science vs. Religion
It's funny to listen to both sides accuse the other of being closed-minded when they are both equally as guilty of BEING closed-minded. It's like the battle between doctors and those who practice natural medicine. Both sides have something to learn from the other. There's room in this world to co-exist.
To think that science understands and explains everything is ludicrous. Every year the "facts" change. Scientists are the first ones to "cry heresy" over new ideas that don't fit the mold. And what they don't understand, they discount or ridicule.
Not long ago, we were supposedly headed for an ice age. Now it's global warming. Ok, people of "rational thinking," how can the "facts" be so opposed.
You accused religion of mind control and ruling by fear. Yet scientists take their latest pet theory and tell the world we're all doomed unless we follow their instructions. So-called rational minds have forced our country to abandon alternative energy production for the sake of safety and environment. Now that we're dependant on foreign oil, they blame us for putting life in jeopardy and say we should be finding alternative energy sources.
On the other side of the arguement, if Catholics are right, then the Protestants are all apostates and they lose. If the Protestants are right, then the Catholics either never had the truth or they changed and lost it. If that's the case, Protestants came from apostasy and they still lose. So who's right?
All people have much to learn. There's plenty of room in the world for learning and co-existing, but very little room for bias and bigotry.
If there is a God, and I believe whole heartedly that there is, He would have a greater understanding of science than what our puny, finite minds can comprehend.
Filed under: Religion News
To think that science understands and explains everything is ludicrous. Every year the "facts" change. Scientists are the first ones to "cry heresy" over new ideas that don't fit the mold. And what they don't understand, they discount or ridicule.
Not long ago, we were supposedly headed for an ice age. Now it's global warming. Ok, people of "rational thinking," how can the "facts" be so opposed.
You accused religion of mind control and ruling by fear. Yet scientists take their latest pet theory and tell the world we're all doomed unless we follow their instructions. So-called rational minds have forced our country to abandon alternative energy production for the sake of safety and environment. Now that we're dependant on foreign oil, they blame us for putting life in jeopardy and say we should be finding alternative energy sources.
On the other side of the arguement, if Catholics are right, then the Protestants are all apostates and they lose. If the Protestants are right, then the Catholics either never had the truth or they changed and lost it. If that's the case, Protestants came from apostasy and they still lose. So who's right?
All people have much to learn. There's plenty of room in the world for learning and co-existing, but very little room for bias and bigotry.
If there is a God, and I believe whole heartedly that there is, He would have a greater understanding of science than what our puny, finite minds can comprehend.
Filed under: Religion News
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Pick A Side And Stick With It
Cindy,
I started my usual activity of finding all the contradictions and mistakes in your article. This time, though, I had to stop. I realized there's a bigger picture here.
I was remembering all you've written about prayers, and faith, and vigils. How you countered Congresswoman Musgrave's "hostility" with an offer to pray for her serviceman son. How you felt the need to shower after meeting with some of the legislators.
And the more I read your words, the more I realized that they are filled with contention and hate. It became clear that these are the words of someone who will say and do anything to prove a point. Your constant name-calling and mud slinging is supposedly offset, somehow, by your "Joan of Arc" personna. You're no more a Christian than Pat Robertson is!
I used to think you were a grieving mother who became disillusioned and deluded. Now I recognize you as just another activist with an axe to grind.
Your talk of faith and prayer reminded me how Jesus spoke of those who pray openly- to be seen by others. How their words speak of Him but their hearts are far from Him. Stop using your faith as a badge and a tool. It's unbecoming. You can't declare the love of Christ and spit venom in the same breath.
You make life harder for those with real faith, especially with all the anti-religion bigots out there. Jesus taught love, tolerance, forgiveness. Not hate, intolerance and name-calling. Pick a side and stick with it!
(This post was written in response to Cindy Sheehan's article on Huffington Post:)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cindy-sheehan/warhawk-republicans-and-_b_8312.html
I started my usual activity of finding all the contradictions and mistakes in your article. This time, though, I had to stop. I realized there's a bigger picture here.
I was remembering all you've written about prayers, and faith, and vigils. How you countered Congresswoman Musgrave's "hostility" with an offer to pray for her serviceman son. How you felt the need to shower after meeting with some of the legislators.
And the more I read your words, the more I realized that they are filled with contention and hate. It became clear that these are the words of someone who will say and do anything to prove a point. Your constant name-calling and mud slinging is supposedly offset, somehow, by your "Joan of Arc" personna. You're no more a Christian than Pat Robertson is!
I used to think you were a grieving mother who became disillusioned and deluded. Now I recognize you as just another activist with an axe to grind.
Your talk of faith and prayer reminded me how Jesus spoke of those who pray openly- to be seen by others. How their words speak of Him but their hearts are far from Him. Stop using your faith as a badge and a tool. It's unbecoming. You can't declare the love of Christ and spit venom in the same breath.
You make life harder for those with real faith, especially with all the anti-religion bigots out there. Jesus taught love, tolerance, forgiveness. Not hate, intolerance and name-calling. Pick a side and stick with it!
(This post was written in response to Cindy Sheehan's article on Huffington Post:)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cindy-sheehan/warhawk-republicans-and-_b_8312.html
Monday, August 29, 2005
Pat Robertson In The News
Televangelist Pat Robertson created a firestorm when he recently called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez. Christians are offended that a minister would openly advocate breaking a commandment- murder, no less, and non-Christians have opened the flood gates of disdain and mockery. It's religiously unthinkable to suggest killing someone for any reason no matter who they are, what they've done or how evil they may be.
Ok, let’s see if I understand what you’re all saying… when David “assassinated” Goliath he was evil and should have been convicted of murder. But since he saved thousands of Israelites from slavery and death he was favored of God and eventually became king? How’d that happen?
Now I don’t follow Pat Robertson. In fact, I don’t believe anyone who says they can save my soul if I send them my money. I think that makes him a con man, preaching for “filthy lucre.”
But you have to wonder if maybe Ari Fleischer had a good point. When we invaded Iraq the first time, if we had sent a team of seals into Baghdad to take out Sadaam, we would have saved thousands of American and Iraqi lives. Of course we didn’t because everyone in Washington was high and mighty about not stooping to that and tarnishing our image. Haven’t we done other clandestine acts in times of war? Wouldn’t the miserable life of one evil man be outweighed by the lives of thousands of innocent people?
Kinda makes you think!
Ok, let’s see if I understand what you’re all saying… when David “assassinated” Goliath he was evil and should have been convicted of murder. But since he saved thousands of Israelites from slavery and death he was favored of God and eventually became king? How’d that happen?
Now I don’t follow Pat Robertson. In fact, I don’t believe anyone who says they can save my soul if I send them my money. I think that makes him a con man, preaching for “filthy lucre.”
But you have to wonder if maybe Ari Fleischer had a good point. When we invaded Iraq the first time, if we had sent a team of seals into Baghdad to take out Sadaam, we would have saved thousands of American and Iraqi lives. Of course we didn’t because everyone in Washington was high and mighty about not stooping to that and tarnishing our image. Haven’t we done other clandestine acts in times of war? Wouldn’t the miserable life of one evil man be outweighed by the lives of thousands of innocent people?
Kinda makes you think!
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