Friday, April 22, 2005
Where are the feel-good, hippie-type christians?It seems religion's on the brain all over the blogosphere. At Bouphonia, Operation Truth,
and elsewhere, people are debating religion, christianity in
particular, in the comments and in posts. It's pretty interesting. I
assume it's because of the death of the pope and the installation of
the new one, especially given how controversial Benedict XVI is. 5:42:10 PM | I know I've been rather forthright about my views on organized religion. But I didn't talk about this, which I feel rather strongly about, especially after reading some of the debates in the blogsphere where a handful of well-meaning christians duked it out with an equal number of non-believers. Why aren't the feel-good, hippie-type Christians trying to take back their religion? It really pisses me off that only the athiests, agnostics, and others against organized religion are the ones saying anything at all. We want moderate muslims to take back their religion. Why don't moderate christians take back theirs? If you say you don't believe in fire-and-brimstone, hell-awaits-you evangelism, then please oh please say so and say so to fundamentalists, not just to those of us who think it's all a bunch of hooey. I asked my neighbor, a retired lutheran minister, to get involved in a values-service initiative our local democratic party is putting together. The Democratic Values Service Corps will be an organization of liberals who self-identify when they do their charity or non-profit work (since so many of us work in the non-profit world already). He told me no; he doesn't feel "comfortable." That's fine. But what happens when we end up living in a bold theocracy where moderate christians are as persecuted as atheists? It seems to me that a retired minister can reason better with a fundamentalist christian republican than a zen buddhist like me. Most of those arguing in the blogosphere are people like me and our arguments are met with "it's about faith" and other such nonsense (at least nonsense to us). It's so discouraging. I grew up in a christian family but I was lucky enough to have parents who didn't believe in it much themselves and encouraged me to explore. We're becoming a culture that discourages the questioning of authority on so many levels. We are lacking in curiosity, I guess. Curiosity and exploration are truly responsible for most of the advances in the world, and not just scientific and artistic ones, but spiritual advances too. Right now we're becoming like the people of the Middle Ages who lived among ruined roman aquaducts but had no idea how they were built or how to recreate them. If you don't respect your past (or anything in the present that is different than what you know) and strive to understand it, you learn nothing and accomplish little. Why can't we all respect each other, which truly means live and let live? I swear we'd be smarter, more advanced, and a hell of a lot more peaceful if we did. I hope christians of moderate and liberal stripes start to step up and reclaim their religion. If it truly is a religion of peace, as so many moderates say, then great. Right now it seems like a religion of war, hatred, bigotry, and oppression. I'm puzzled by thinking, sensitive people who are evangelical christians (which as far as I can tell includes the vast majority of christians -- isn't evangelism part of the program?). Just as I'm sure my muslim and jewish sisters and brothers are puzzled by the fundamentalists in their communities too. How can a person be so thoughtful and sign on to something so thoughtless? If you're a believer, please explain it to me, then go off and convince those wacko brothers of yours that they've got it all wrong. Meanwhile, I'll continue to practice zen, which has no god but does have peace. And I promise not to evangelize. If you want to come and sit with me, you're welcome to. I won't say a word. 
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"Think About How Crazy All of This Is"Yes, it is crazy. It's crazy that we spend oodles of money to finance
the insurance industry while getting, at best, average health care. 10:30:18 AM | Please, read Krugman today. He's right; we have been indocrinated to believe in "the virtues of market competition and the evils of big government," to the point where corporations are seen as "underdogs" and human beings, their customers, are seen as litigious, greedy moneyhogs. It is all so wrong.
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Last update: 8/24/05; 8:16:06 PM .
