Chalk Up Another One for the Church

Somehow, I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind.

Christian Love

Leave it to the Christians to define the one true path to heaven. I'm not sure if there is zero, one, or many paths to such a place, but I'm betting Jesus would say writing and passing along garbage like that is a sure-fire way to punch your ticket to hell.

Giving His Own Eulogy

For those of you pondering Jerry Falwell's passing this week, perhaps this quote about the 9/11 attacks sums up his life's work best:

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Besides the intolerance, bigotry, and hatred involved in that quote, not to mention its complete lack of adherence to the teachings of Christ, the faulty logic is stunning. Did he really think Al Qaeda wants a more Christian (defined at least, by him) America?

No Kookier, A Lot Scarier

After watching the first night of The Mormons, I felt like Mormonism was no weirder than any other religion. Sure, the golden tablets and magic spectacles are ridiculous, but how so when compared with the fishes and loaves tale, the parting of the Red Sea, and Noah's Ark? The revelations from any religion just don't stand up to any rigorous intellectual scrutiny. And wasn't the vision of polygamy terrifically convenient for Joseph Smith, a man known for his interest in the ladies?

But I also came away with a grudging respect for the church as a machine. Can you think of ANY organization, business, civic, or other, that has grown so fast and kept the operation together so tightly as its tendrils spread around the globe? Maniacally efficient.

Then I watched last night and learned how they have grown. The details of the missionary work and the two-year commitment tied to the hip of your companion. The songs that tiny kids sing about dreaming of becoming missionaries. The tithing. The secrecy. The disciplinary courts that tolerate no straying from the church line and punish by removing the promise of eternal life. The absolute obedience. The donation of every second of one's disposable time.

Yes, their work in NOLA after Katrina was simply fantastic. But watching all those bright, smiling faces, I felt like I was in a Margaret Atwood novel. If they've gone so far in 180 years, where will they be when they've passed the religion along to generations for 2,000 years like Christianity?

And where, as a friend suggested, would the Branch Davidians have been along that continuum now if Waco never happened?

Are We In a Margaret Atwood Novel?

This religion thing is giving me a serious case of the willies.  You've got the Senate Republican leader, Bill Frist, saying Democrats are "against people of faith."  The new pope is a former Hitler Youth and arch-conservative.  He calls homosexuality "evil" while presiding over a significant percentage of his priests who abuse young boys.  He's also the man who delivered the Catholics--and with them, the White House--to Bush in November.  Non-christian cadets at the Air Force Academy are verbally abused and given differential treatment.  Right wing judges are lined up and all a-quiver should the fillibuster fall.  "Revelations" on prime time, and the ratings are through the roof.  Prayer being pushed into the schools; evolution being pushed out.  Evangelicals attending regular meetings in the West Wing.  And then my Dartmouth Alumni Magazine arrives yesterday with its cover story, "Finding God on Campus."

Does anyone else feel like we're moving backwards?  Suddenly, ten years ago feels a LOT more enlightened than today.  The bible-thumping is getting louder and, to me, it's taking on the sound of marching boots.

Hoping for a Positive Surprise

On Sunday I got dragged to church in recognition of the Easter holiday. Literally dragged. As a devout atheist, I find the whole Christmas & Easter thing to be a distasteful, sham-filled charade of hedging one's bets. Anway, there I was.

We went to the Unitarian church in Bedford where I also happen to take yoga on Thursday nights. Waiting for the classes to start, I often read Rev. Gibbons' sermons printed and on display and marvel at the humor, insights and wisdom. They are more like literary essays than sermons.

His piece Sunday matched my current mood exactly. He started by saying how absolutely weary he was. Weary of the body counts from Iraq. Weary of the daily postures from the Bush Administration. Weary of the greed, the neglect of the environment and the trampling of civil liberties. He then quoted Thomas Friedman's piece in the New York Times about our "failure of imagination" and the need for--any--positive surprise.

Somehow he shifted effortlessly to the performance painter, Denny Dent, the guy who holds multiple brushes in his hands and simultaneously paints as many portraits within minutes. Dent, a life-embracer of the highest order, talks about how so many people sleep through their lives and "miss the whole thing."

Easter, Gibbons concluded, has never been about the resurrection of Jesus. It's about the resurrection of you. It's about stepping outside yourself to find new possibilities. Imagine what you can do and then make it happen.

Church on Easter Sunday was a perfectly lovely thing to get dragged to.

Born-Again Crappola

Last time I checked, the word "Christian", as in born-again Christian, Christian Coalition, etc. was derived from the word "Christ". As in Jesus Christ, the saviour of all these groups that take his name as their personal emblem.

And my recollection is that this man, Christ, was all about compassion, understanding and tolerance. His message, above all else, was one of love. Mel Gibson might add that he could really take a punch, too.

Then why do all these groups take such vitriolic positions of bigotry, exclusion and hatred toward anyone who doesn't share their views? Their message is a rage-filled diatribe meant to further not the human condition, but their own greedy self-interests. And why do they insist on trashing the planet while they're at it? Didn't Jesus' dad, as they claim, create it in the first place?

Hardly the teachings of Christ.

Yesterday I read a Boston Globe story about Tom White, the construction millionaire who parachuted into Normandy the day before D-Day, went to Harvard, built a business, raised a family and has literally given away his entire fortune to a number of charitable causes, mostly Partners in Health.

When asked why, he said, "I'm motivated a lot by what Jesus wants me to do, or what I think he wants me to do. And I think he wants me to help make the world a better place."

Look for a call for a Constitutional amendment banning such outrage sometime soon.