Shylock • László Mednyánszky, 1900
Dear J,
Mathematician and theologian,
Blaise Pascal, expressed a startling truth: "Men never do evil so
completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." ht
Not only can religious fervor
lead us astray: The misuse of religion is so seductive that it causes homo
"sapiens" to delight in depths of evil knowing no lower
bound. Unlike other motivations, religion persuades us to do evil
"completely and cheerfully."
This tendency of religion to
morph into diabolism is, at least, a cautionary tale.
But caution matters naught to
"true believers." For them, religion has unique ability
to impart self-righteousness and, with it, the unshakable conviction that
"the faithful" can do no wrong, indeed, that they are God's "smiting
hand."
In the following article,
notice that North Carolina's first Jewish legislator was threatened with
expulsion from the state House of Commons because
"citizens were bound by the constitution to affirm 'the truth of
the Protestant religion.'"
Beware my Catholic friend!
Once "true believers" take power, sectarian alpha dogs will
apply ever more stringent litmuses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola
Here in the The Bible
Belt, Catholics have never really "made the
cut." What appears a lasting bond between Rome and Tammy Faye is a
marriage of convenience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_nothing)
Perhaps the greatest
unlearned lesson of Christianity is the context of its sprawling multiplicity,
not the divergent content of its doctrines.
Consider that the Amish are
unfailing pacifists. http://www.amazon.com/Amish-Grace-Forgiveness-Transcended-Tragedy/dp/0470344040/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339443911&sr=1-1&keywords=amish+grace
Now consider that bible-banging fundamentalists
have "never seen a war they didn't like" even though "the
record" reveals most wars as ego exercises wrought by "the rich and
famous."
Smirk and Snarl's "Whimsy
War" is prima facie evidence of induced delusion; a war
that confirms King Henry's counsel for politicians everywhere: "Busy giddy
minds with foreign quarrels." (Notably, the war Henry had in mind was a
crusade.)
The ruling class takes us for
chumps. And the ruling class construes us rightly.
Consistent with Pascal's
observation that religious conviction motivates unprecedented evil,
note that fundamentalists not only cheer-lead Armageddon but
crave an active hand in it - a passion for belligerence that illustrates,
again, the tremendous variation of Christian viewpoints, this time as they
relate to Armageddon and Apocalypse. Anyone who
thinks "end-time events" are simple-and-straightforward will wisely
think again.
This riot of proliferative
belief insures that vanishingly few Christians have cornered The Market
on Truth.
Note that Christian fundamentalists -
and most Evangelicals - believe The Rapture will miraculously
protect them from the ravages of Armageddon... whereas a
billion Catholics barely recognize the term and hold no doctrinal brief with
this essentially Protestant belief.
Here are a few of the
mutually contradictory ways that Christians have considered
"Rapture." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture Think
you can find The Needle in the haystack? Genetically-engineered
pigs will fly first.
In the view of most
Christians, most other Christians are heretics destined
for The Lake of Eternal Fire.
(Blessedly, Catholicism
expunged this heresy at the Second Vatican Council. Better late than
never... http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html
/// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostra_Aetate)
***
Beyond self-interested
presumption, we can say (with reasonable "certainty") that the
Christian God is The Magnum Mysterium and that "his"
reality is intimately bound with The Incarnation of Love, particularly those
embodiments of love that embrace enemies and actively seek loved ones beyond
the comfortable confines of one's "tribe." (I doubt that "a
Christian in a thousand" is aware that Christianity is considered a
"mystery religion." We now think we know too much to subject
ourselves to the tawdry uncertainties of mystery.)
Tertullian's 3rd century
observation that "Anima naturaliter christiana" is
to the point.
"The soul is by nature
Christian." http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2011/11/obsolescence-of-god-good-religion-and.html
God-Love abides at the heart
of human nature and when we embody/express our nature, there is no need for
sectarian affiliation - although sectarian affiliation can be useful and even
decisive.
The intrinsic nature of
human soul is embodied by good Samaritans more often than
punctilious priests.
In the end, it is human
embodiments of love -- what we also call The
Incarnation of God, or "Making
The Word Flesh" that lies at the sacred heart of things.
Pax vobiscum
Alan
PS As a Catholic living
in The Bible Belt, I have a ring-side seat to
the "apocalyptic" impulse that would flee The Incarnation back
into The Word, the very antithesis of John 3:16.
Highway marker to honor NC's 1st Jewish legislator
Jun 11, 2012
BEAUFORT, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's first Jewish legislator will be honored with a highway marker placed in front of his home in Beaufort.
After the 1809 election, another legislator introduced a resolution to vacate Henry's seat because he was Jewish. Henry responded with a rousing speech and was allowed to retain his seat.
He and his family moved to Charleston, S.C., in 1817. He was born there and died there, but his tombstone has never been found.
***
Civil rights lawyer, Alan Dershowitz thought Prager's position was ironic considering the difficulties past American Jews have had, he wrote "Jacob Henry, a Jew who was elected to North Carolina's legislature in 1808, but was blocked from taking his seat by a law requiring him to accept the divinity of the New Testament, posed the following rhetorical question: 'Will you drive from your shores and from the shelter of your constitution all who do not lay their oblations on the same altar, observe the same ritual, and subscribe to the same dogmas? If so, which among the various sects into which we are divided shall be the favored one?' As if to demonstrate that intolerance once practiced against Jews can also be practiced by some Jews against other minorities, a Jewish right wing talk show host named Dennis Prager led a campaign to disallow the first Muslim elected to Congress (in November 2006) to take an oath of office on the Koran.'"[72]
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