Category Archives: Personal Observations

12/10/09

Happy Birthday, Emily

On this day in 1830 was born in Amherst, Massachussetts, a girl named Emily Dickinson, raised Unitarian, confirmed Christian as a teenager, and a veritable prophet who gave us a collection of poems that could rightfully be called America’s book of Psalms. 

Her simple yet profound spirituality — and her legendary reputation as a mysterious, ghostly personage that people referred to as “The Myth”  — place her prominently among the figures revered by the Reform. 

Below are reproduced some of her insightful lines, followed by perhaps her most inspired poem: Continue reading →

02/14/08

Taking Religion Seriously

Today I would like to talk about the lack of seriousness in religion.  Religion, whether conservative or liberal, often fails to take its subject matter as something real.  Conservatives are more concerned with the sancrosanctity of  received stories about God than God Himself, and liberals are more concerned with God as a story than as a Creator. 

When studying religion, I could not help but notice that the way we talk about religion typically focuses on the terminology and ideology of the religions themselves rather than exploring the subject matter referenced by those terms and ideologies. 

For example, does it make sense to use the same word “god” when talking about the Latin Jupiter and the Jewish El (אל), since Jupiter is a creature while El is uncreated?   If a god (little “g”) is just a divine creature, isn’t that more like an angel, ghost, jinn, or fairy than like uncreated God?  

And, don’t most of these multiple-god religions have some uncreated entity backstage of the universe, bringing it all into existence, as some forms of Hinduism have their Ishvara?   If our definition of what constitutes a theos (θεός) is unclear or equivocal, then isn’t all of our talk about monotheism vs. polytheism just a lot of bunk: not just our coffee-shop-and-sports-bar talk but even the professional work of religious scholars? 

Why should the terminology of Religious Studies (as it is being called lately) be defined any less precisely than any other field of knowledge? Continue reading →

12/27/07

Enjoying the Holidays All the Way Through

Yesterday and today, several people have asked me “how was your holidays?” using the polite, non-sectarian term. 

Which, by the way, is fine by me.  I have no idea why some people get bent out of shape, drumming up a “War on Christmas” because strangers refuse to assume each other’s religious affiliation.  Since when did respecting other people’s religious freedom equal war?  I guess, among those who don’t agree with the idea of religious freedom, holiday ettiquette constitutes an act of sedition.

But, I’m getting off point.  I’m writing because of the word “was” not the word “holidays.”

Although I don’t go into uncomfortable detail with every cashier and co-worker who asks how my holiday “went,” my Yuletide is not over.  I think our attitude toward Christmas is too much of a buildup/letdown approach.  We think of nothing but the day itself all through December, and after it’s over we go over the emotional cataract into the blahs of January. 

That’s why I like the AUR calendar’s step-by-step approach to Advent, and observing the traditional “12 Days of Christmas” afterward leading up to Epiphany.  I mark this gradual rolling out of the Christmas story with my Nativity scene, meditating on the images one by one. 

On December 1st, when I put up the unlit decorations for the 12 Days of Gold, I set Mary and the Angel alone in the stable to signify the Annunciation.  On the 6th I add Joseph and the donkey. 

On the 13th, with the beginning of the 12 Days of Light, I add the ox and the light representing the Star of Bethlehem, along with all of my other lighted decorations. 

Last thing Christmas Eve, I add the manger and Baby Jesus.  And, on New Year’s Eve, in preparation for the last days leading up to Epiphany, I add the shepherd, sheep, camels, and Magi to complete the image.

But, even for those of us who aren’t Epiphany-observing Christians, are the holidays already in the past?  We have New Year’s ahead of us!  Why start mourning the end of the holidays with the most exciting (if certainly not the most solemn) still ahead?

12/11/07

Mixing Politics and Religion?

The other day, I saw a bumper sticker that read: “The last time we mixed politics and religion, people were burned at the stake!”

 I think the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would beg to differ.

 The fact that AUR discusses American political history in the context of religion might make some uncomfortable, but if we insist that religion have no moral vision for its own society  and civilization, what then is the purpose of religious liberty? 

The recognition that both Dr. King and his racist opponents appealed to religious principles might bring some to the conclusion that religion makes no difference, but the real lesson is that there is difference within religion.  Some religion burns people at the stake, and some religion sets people free.

It is time to move beyond the bigotry and prejudice that insists (against evidence to the contrary) that “religion poisons everything,” and open our eyes to the reality that the content and character of a religion—indeed also the content and character of non-religious worldviews—makes an enormous difference that we should not simply brush aside with the willful ignorance of poorly-informed cynicism.  The difference within religion is the difference between right and wrong, piety and autolatry, justice and injustice, Abolition and Inquisition.

The obsession with indictment and condemnation that leads some to reject all religious involvement in political matters is  precisely the sort of biased and corrupted thought process that drove the stake-burnings of centuries past.  Progressives from all worldviews, religious and otherwise, have a moral obligation to stay involved in politics to keep this sort of prejudice and bigotry from becoming the very tone and language of Civilization.