Religion: Some Thoughts, July 1, 2021

Evangelicals and Catholics (religion in general) share a common trait: docility under authority. Those in charge know how to play the game, grooming people to surrender their minds, accept domination, and even invite it. For promises of safety, salvation, and sanctification.

Looking over the years, the Calvinist notion of an educated clergy and an educated membership has mostly guided my work.

To awaken the gifts of God, the image of God, in people: the power of the mind, to think through the issues and challenges of life, to frame good questions, to craft creative responses to crisis and need, to protest pretense and domination, to be content with the absence of "answers," and to resist those who would offer up sham solutions to the spiritual, existential, anxiety every human being has to bear.

Religion, in my view of things, is that which gathers up the bits and pieces of life, our experience, our history, our context and our circumstances, and in the gathering up, to reveal patterns of healing and hope, and patterns that threaten and destroy.

Religion "talks" to God, as a way and means of easing us out of ourselves, so that we might have the larger perspective of things.

Religion "listens" to God ... through quietness, and through action ... through community and contemplation ... through the Sacred Texts, and those who've put themselves on the line for faith, hope, and love ... which includes the whole fabric of justice: that people can be safe, and live and work to the best of their ability, to realize their God-given character, their place in the world, and what it means to love with wholeness of heart and mind.

Religion is a human thing - we reach for the heights, we plumb the depths, we seek meaning ... this kind of energy can set us up for the "silver-tonged" apostles with "another gospel."

But the selfsame energy of religion strives to create and recreate God's world - to fulfill and build upon original mandate of creation: to care for the garden, to be our sibling's keeper, to name the animals with care and compassion, to respect the limits of our mortal lives, and to enjoy God forever.

Some thoughts on religion ... this morning, July 1, 2021.

"Hitman's Wife's Body Guard"

Funny, entertaining, good acting, stellar cast, but it didn't quite get off the ground ... 

Selma Hayek has some terrific hissy-fit moments ... and while the rest of the cast are all a-list actors, the chemistry was weak ... it was comedy and action, but the pieces didn't quite fit ...

A mid-credit trailer, sort of "cute," and then a "scene," actually just a pic, a photo, at the very end end ... 

Worth seeing? Sure ... a fun afternoon. 

Flag Day

Today, 1777 - commemorating the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.

I have long loved the flag ... love to see it waving high in the wind with a bright blue sky holding it, in parades, and national events ... yes, it represents, for me, some of humanity's highest aspirations, and, I fear, some of the worst.

It's the flag of freedom for many, but for just as many, maybe more, it's the flag of oppression, a reminder of failed dreams and suffering.

It's a flag many of the world's poor long to see, and it's the symbol of those who would close our borders, build walls and fences, cages and jails.

In the hands of some, it's become a weapon, as in the Jan. 6 Insurrection, when flagpoles and the American Flag were used to beat police officers.

We have to constantly rescue the flag from those who would sully it with white nationalism and capitalist greed.

Because the flag, at its best, represents hope for a better future, from sea to shining sea.

We Cannot Forget!

We cannot forget the momentous effort to roll back the tide of fascism that swept the world into chaos, a maelstrom of hate and horror, targeting the Jews, Communists, LGBTQ persons, and trade unions, and anyone else who didn't meet the Aryan standards of whiteness. 

Nor must we forget that powerful interests in the United States expressed sympathy for the leaders of fascism: for Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, Franco in Spain. There were many in the United States who shared Hitler's hatred of Jews and people of color.

We must not forget that Christians and their church officials across Europe welcomed these fascists dictators because they all returned the church to a place of prominence. 

Big Business around the world feared Communism (read: Worker's Rights) and were more than happy to do business with the Fascists who signed in blood their hatred of Communism and Atheism. And to this very day, such interests still use the term "Communist" or "Socialist" to fire the blood of those easily misled.

On this days, tens of thousands of young men stormed the beaches of Normandy, and nurses and staff and journalists were right there, too. Americans, Canadians, British, Free French, and nationals from the Netherlands and Poland, and the Scandinavian countries, fought for one another, for freedom, and for Democracy. 

January 6 of this year, the GOP incited hundreds of misguided people to storm the Capital and overturn a free and democratic election.Across the nation, even as I write, the GOP is dismantling our Democracy through voter suppression, reinstating capital punishment, bleeding to death our educational system, and more than happy to leave millions of Americans behind, so that the rich can prosper all the more.

I will never forget my visit to Normandy some years back - a sacred silence takes hold of everyone who strolls among the graves and reads the memorials. Silence, a testament to the magnitude of the Evil that confronted our world, and a testament to the good that rose up in concert and made the fateful decision to wrest the conquered nations from the grip of tyranny and restore the world. 

It's a battle that never ends, and I pray that women and men of good conscience will lead us in the struggle to resist fascist instincts, to sustain our Democratic principles - that all are welcome, everyone can vote, schools are safe and well-funded, with a decent social safety net  for all.

Is this too much for which to hope?

Not at all.

Anything less would be a betrayal of those young soldiers who stepped off the landing crafts into a hail of bullets to reclaim the lands of Europe. God rest their souls.

A Child Crying in the Night

A picture not to be forgotten ... look at the child, her grief, her fear, and tell me, please, that we have the right to do this, because this little girl and her mother, her mother hoping for something decent, good, and kind, are "illegal."

To all the "legal" immigrants who came to this land, including my own ancestors, don't ever protest your innocence - that you did it right, or that your ancestors did it so. 

It's just written laws, pieces of paper, political gerrymandering, that determine legal or illegal. 

But is there not a higher law? The law of God? The law of love? Human dignity and worth?

And if you tell me that "your gawd" wants this child to be frightened and alone, and her mother shamed and denied, then to hell with your gawd; I want nothing to do with that kind of religion, that kind of meanness and pride. Your gawd, if that's what you call it, is a sham, a figment of your own distorted notion of pride, privilege, and power.

I don't want to forget this picture, a picture of suffering, suffering much the product of misguided policies, economic manipulation, misogyny, and white nationalism.

There is a higher law, and we all know it. Every human being knows it, and only with tremendous effort can that law be denied and buried under the debris of hate.

There is a higher law, the very purpose of which is embedded in creation, in the covenant, the cross ... and in the words and art, the dreams and dance, of faith, hope, and love.

There is a higher law that declares all are legal in the sight of God - everyone has a right to the shade of their own fig tree, and it's the purpose of God, the work of love, to insure this ... and it's the task, too, of every human being in the position of some power, enough power to make a difference ... for the children of our world.

 "Foreign Affairs ... will tolerate wide differences of opinion. Its articles will not represent any consensus of beliefs. What is demanded of them is that they shall be competent and well informed, representing honest opinions seriously held and convincingly expressed.... It does not accept responsibility for the views in any articles, signed or unsigned, which appear in its pages. What it does accept is the responsibility for giving them a chance to appear." ~ Archibald Cary Coolidge, Founding Editor, Volume 1, Number 1, September, 1922.

Having just received the latest Foreign Affairs, while scanning the index, I saw the above quote, and thought of FaceBook and it's continuing ban on Trump.

Archibald Cox says it well ... wide diversity of opinion, but with some critical benchmarks: "competent," "well informed," "seriously held," and "convincingly expressed."

By Jessamyn - Own work,
CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58697461

I thought about these criteria, and it's clear to me that Trump fails to meet all of them ... I paused at "seriously held," and asked, "Does Trump seriously hold the views he expresses? Does he sincerely believe what he says?"

Perhaps he does, but I suspect most of what he says reflects his desire for power, and a willingness to say and do anything to enhance his hold on the GOP. 

He may well "seriously hold" his views much like some who believe the earth to be flat, or the moon's made of green cheese.

I think FaceBook is right on this one ... though the Oversight Board recommends a thorough review and more clarity.

Friendship

So many friends ...
my life enriched by folks
I've met only on social media - most
are expansive in their take on things,
appreciative of art and history, science and prayer ...
with room in their souls
for the world,
for diversity,
for the commonplace and the unusual ...
eager to learn ...
lovers of books ...
when's the next trip?
who will go?
all of us.
you bet.