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April 27, 2005
May, 2005
May 11 & 18
Prison Reform discussion
On May 11 and 18 HUUC will host a information and discussion session on Prison Reform. The sessions will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be led by Lorraine LaFerriere.
May 13, 2005
It's Movie Time
Please come join us for the Welcoming Congregation Film Series
The Film: 'The Sum Of Us', starring Jack Thompson and Russell Crowe
When: Friday, May 13th at 7:00 pm
Where: HUUC Social Hall
Admission: $1.00
Come join your friends at HUUC for a Friday Film Event.
We will be showing the comedy/drama, "The Sum Of Us".
Enjoy the company, the refreshments, and friendly discussion.
This movie is being offered in a continuation of events to kick-off the process of HUUC becoming an officially certified Welcoming Congregation.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the 1994 movie...
The Plot Summary for 'The Sum Of Us' is as follows:
Russell Crowe plays Jeff Mitchell, a young gay man and the son of widower Harry Mitchell (Jack Thompson). The two live together while they both search for a special someone with whom to spend their lives. And while Harry is more than comfortable with Jeff's sexuality, his new lady friend isn't, leading to tension and a personal struggle for Harry.
Rated: R
May 20 - 21
HUUC's annual Yard Sale will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, May 20. We'll close the doors at 4:00 p.m. and re-open at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, May 21.
Posted by nanak at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)
The Sum of Us
It's Movie Time
Please come join us for the Welcoming Congregation Film Series
The Film: 'The Sum Of Us', starring Jack Thompson and Russell Crowe
When: Friday, May 13th at 7:00 pm
Where: HUUC Social Hall
Admission: $1.00
Come join your friends at HUUC for a Friday Film Event.
We will be showing the comedy/drama, "The Sum Of Us".
Enjoy the company, the refreshments, and friendly discussion.
This movie is being offered in a continuation of events to kick-off the process of HUUC becoming an officially certified Welcoming Congregation.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the 1994 movie...
The Plot Summary for 'The Sum Of Us' is as follows:
Russell Crowe plays Jeff Mitchell, a young gay man and the son of widower Harry Mitchell (Jack Thompson). The two live together while they both search for a special someone with whom to spend their lives. And while Harry is more than comfortable with Jeff's sexuality, his new lady friend isn't, leading to tension and a personal struggle for Harry.
Rated: R
Posted by nanak at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)
Via Creativa
VIA CREATIVA
April 17, 2005
As I re-read the section on the Via Creativa in Matthew Fox's book, Original Blessing, I remembered the streak of creativity that runs throughout my mother's family. I remember my grandmother sitting with her tatting, always working with her shuttle, creating something lacy and beautiful.
My aunt Nina made braided rugs. She bought all the coats and woolen suits from the Salvation Army store, took them apart, and used the wool to braid lovely rugs. They were in high demand, for her sense of color and careful craftsmanship resulted in beautiful, long-wearing rugs. She also baked special cakes for weddings and parties. In the small community in which she lived there were no bakeries, so her cakes were highly valued.
My mother sewed all her life, until her vision failed. She also had a good sense of color and fine craftsmanship. At Easter-time she blew eggs and painted delicate flowers on each one, decorating them with small bits of lace and ribbons. And she baked the best pies in the county--or at least that's what her family and friends claimed.
One of my brothers was a trombone player, and had a high school band. My cousins painted ceramics, carried on their mother's cake baking, and planted beautiful gardens. I have acted, made costumes, designed and run the lights, and collected and made props for theatre productions. I also was a fabric artist and love to garden.
In the next generation we have writers and photographers, great cooks and a gymnast. My daughter Stacy is a talented artist, and--I have to brag--her son, Aaron is, at eight, creating paintings and collages worthy of framing.
When Matthew Fox says that the Via Creativa is essential to our spiritual life, I embrace his idea enthusiastically. Let's explore this idea today.
Matthew Fox is a former Dominican priest. The ideas he wrote of in his book, Original Blessing, were too threatening to the Vatican to allow him to continue teaching in Catholic Universities. He was dismissed from his positions and officially censured. The Episcopal Church embraced him with open arms, and he is now a priest in that tradition.
This sermon is the fourth in a series presenting his ideas. I first shared with you his heretical teaching that instead of being born with original sin, we are born with original blessing. Fox delineates four paths we can follow in creation theology, the Via Positiva, the Via Negativa, the Via Creativa, and the Via Transformativa. We have examined the Via Positiva which he describes as "a way or path of affirmation, thanksgiving, ecstasy. " (Fox, Matthew; Original Blessing, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York, 1983, p. 33.) We have also explored the Via Negativa, the path of depth, the path that recognizes pain and suffering, and chooses to learn from them.
Today we look at the third path, that of the Via Creativa. Fox says that, "Because (Creation Theology) pays equal heed to both the Via Positiva and the Via Negativa, it celebrates the union of the two in the Via Creativa. In letting both pleasure and pain happen, both light and darkness, both naming and unnaming, both cosmos and void, we allow a third thing to be born; and that third thing is the very power of birth itself. …It is the image of God, the image of the Creator, coming alive and expressing its divine depths and divine fruitfulness. It is our creativity which is the full meaning of humanity's being an 'image of God.'" (Ibid. 175)
Fox is a leading contemporary panentheist. You are familiar with theists, who believe in a god, and pantheists who believe that the divine is personified in Nature. Panentheists believe that the divine resides in Nature, AND that there is something larger. The "something larger" may or may not resemble the traditional god of the Judeo/Christian/Muslim tradition.
This idea is closely tied to process theology, which says that the divine is that which creates good. Therefor, humans can be part of the divine. And this is where the Via Creativa comes in. Fox quotes Thomas Berry who says, "Contemporary creativity consists in activating, expressing, and fulfilling the universe process, the earth process, the life process, and the human process within the possibilities of our historical moment." (Ibid, p. 178.)
Fox claims, and I agree that our traditional fall/redemption theology tends to stifle creativity. That is, the faith that says that humans were created, and soon fell into evil through the sin of Adam and Eve, and were only redeemed by God sacrificing his only son, Jesus--this faith leads to rigid thinking, hierarchical constructions of society, and creative impulses rewarded only for inventions that control people. Fox wants to free people to express their creativity in ways that contribute beauty and good to the world
This does not mean that everyone needs to be a professional artist. It does mean that we can all create beauty if we free our right brains to express their impulses. In addition to the traditional arts--painting, sculpture, music and dance--we can create gardens, fragrant nutritious bread, and lovely altars within our homes. We can craft tables and quilts. We can write poetry and play instruments. We have allowed radio, television, and movies to usurp our creativity. They bring us the creations of others, but do not encourage us to produce our own.
To produce art and crafts, we must exercise our creativity. As a myriad of piano teachers told their students--practice, practice, practice. To help you get started, I'm going to offer you an opportunity to practice right now.
In your Orders of Service you will find a blank piece of yellow paper. In each pew you will find a cup with a selection of crayons. Please select one or two crayons and prepare to put something on paper.
Karla will provide us some "music to be creative by." To inspire you, I suggest you take a moment--maybe close your eyes--to remember the emerging green spring landscape you traveled through this morning. Perhaps you will draw inspiration from our beautiful stained glass windows. Maybe there is a dream image residing in the deep recesses of your right brain.
We're going to take three minutes to express ourselves on paper. Let the chatter of your left brain fall away, and awaken yourself to the deep feelings and images buried in your right brain. Three minutes of music and creation--starting now.
…………………………….3 minutes music………….
Please finish your creations now. I encourage you to take other opportunities to create in whatever medium you are most comfortable. Often the act of creating serves as a type of meditation. I am sure my grandmother's tatting was a form of meditation, as is the needlepoint I enjoy.
Panentheism and the Via Creativa celebrate the divine female, which is imaged as Goddess or the Mother of God. Fox quotes Meister Eckhart who says, "We are all meant to be mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born." (Ibid, 222.)
We religious liberals, who often envision divinity as within the heart and spirit of every human, can embrace the idea of mothers of God. For if divinity is in each person, it follows that every mother is a mother of God. However, part of our divinity, part of our godliness is giving birth to more than children. We give birth to ideas and objects of beauty, as well as infants who hold within them the seed of divinity. Each person, male or female, has the potential to birth a fragment of God to help heal our hurting world.
Panentheism, feminism and the non-literal meaning of motherhood are closely intertwined. Adrienne Rich defines feminism as "developing the nurturing qualities of women and men." (Ibid. p. 223.) A society that embraces this definition of feminism, and a creation centered spirituality, would be a society that nurtures creativity. It would also be a society that celebrates the Divine Feminine, including the Motherhood of God.
Fox says that, "Wherever compassion and wisdom are missing, there the full presence of God does not yet exist. … God must be born and must be allowed to grow up into human society and social structures, and …humanity is responsible for the birthing and the nurturing of God--all this has for rather obvious reasons not been heralded as integral to the Good News of late. (Ibid. 226.)
Where does the idea of sin fit in creation spirituality? If we are meant to be creators with the Divine, bringing forth good, what then, is sin? The dominant definition of sin, preached by those who embrace a fall/redemption theology is "privation of good." That is, those people who deprive others of good, whether the deprivation is of life or property or simply decent treatment, are sinners. Fox suggests that this centuries-old definition is no longer valid. He suggests that we define sin as the "misuse of good, the misuse of the greatest good of the universe, which is the image of God in humanity, our imaginations." (Ibid. 231)
It takes imagination to construct concentration camps to facilitate the most efficient means of killing millions of people. It takes imagination to build a transportation system that quickly delivers them to those camps. It takes imagination to build weapons of mass destruction. It takes imagination to devise systems of interrogation that result in the breakdown of the human spirit, and pain and dam-age to the human body. Imagination is a good, however its misuse can result in evil. Therefor those who misuse it sin. Fox suggests that misplaced imagination results in sadism "and its counterpart masochism." (Ibid.)
Creation theology emphasizes freeing the right brain from its restrictions. It calls for people to use their imaginations to do good, to resist the call to sadism or masochism, to birth into being art, literature, music and lovely crafts. "One meaning," says Fox, "of salvation that is uncovered in the Via Creativa, is the awakening to our divinity.
It awakens us to possibilities; it arouses us from pettiness, boredom and acedia. (laziness) … The news of our divinity … brings about an expansion of the mind, of the person, and of the societies we choose to create after our own images. To remain silent on this important doctrine, as most of the fall/redemption tradition has done for centuries is to invite the demonic. Divinity repressed, which is creativity repressed, will not stay for long. Like a cork held under water, it must assert itself in one form or other." (Ibid. p. 235)
The idea of being co-creator of the Cosmos is exciting and salvific. Just think what it would mean if everyone understood him/herself to be a co-creator of the Cosmos. Would it not free every human to exercise his or her creative powers with care and love? If we truly believed that every child carries the seed of divinity within them, would it not inspire us to nurture them with greater respect and admiration? The creation of Beauty is also salvific, for it adds to the good of the Cosmos. If we believed this, would we not take exquisite care in our every day creation of meals, of our home environment, of our relationships with others?
Because Fox is a Christian, though one who challenges orthodoxy, he examines what Jesus means in creation theology. He points out that Jesus was "a poet, a storyteller, an artist. He was not a priest or a theologian, or an academician or a dispenser of sacraments primarily, but an awakener to the sacrament of the cosmos, to the kingdom/ queendom of God in which all persons are immersed and which immerses all persons." (Ibid. 239)
Jesus chose to speak in parables, in the form of story. The Jesus Seminar tells us that the parables are as close as we can get to the true words of Jesus. Therefor, the parables, which often end in a question, or imply one, trusts the listener to use their own intelligence and wisdom to intuit the answer.
Jesus also claimed to be both human and divine. I have long thought that he intuited the seed of divinity within himself, and sensed it in others. I read his teachings as telling his listeners and those of us who follow, that all are children of the Divine. This is a salvific teaching of Creation Theology, one that frees us from the fall/redemption theology we inherited.
Creation Theology calls us to embrace creativity. We are called to reclaim our heritage as creators of beauty. We are called to re-vision what we call art, and re-learn how to make it a part of our lives. We are called to recognize the divinity within our hearts and within the hearts of all humankind. We are called to birth good into the world, and to care for all children on this beautiful earth.
Let us walk the Via Creativa with joy and gladness. Let us bring joy and beauty to accompany us on the way.
Amen.
Blessed Be.
Shalom.
Saalat.
Posted by nanak at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2005
Strategy
One of the ways I keep up with the news and with my faith is via weblogs. These are typically personal
websites where people post their thoughts.
A visit to http://www.philocrites.com which is a blog maintained by one of the editors of UU World
had an intriguing post. The post linked to a piece which said UU's are "following Apple's pre-iPod strategy: an elite [niche] market. What we need is a UU iPod strategy." Then this questions was asked, "What would your "iPod strategy" for UUism look like?"
I first thought about PC's, of which Apple makes the Macintosh and it's offshoots. What can't you do on a PC? Taxes, music, games, video and more. It's builders want it to everything to everyone.
The IPOD is a much more limited device. It plays music. You have the ability to play the music in order
or randomly but essentially you have a palm sized music player than can hold 100's of songs. It doesn't
offer a spreadsheet, a camera or other computer like features.
It occurred to me that Unitarian Universalism and HUUC are a lot like the computer. We want to be everything
to everyone. We don't want to say no. We want to say yes first and then think of the financial and personnel needs later.
This leads to my IPOD strategy for UUism and HUUC. We need to become an IPOD not a personal computer.
Since we are small in numbers, we can't achieve all of the worthy goals we set. Rather we need to find our version of just playing music and bring our money and talents to this.
I think when Andy Fink talks of finding a niche in the community be it domestic violence, gay and lesbian issues, etc. he is onto something.
We spread ourselves so wide we lack focus or discipline. Nor do we have a consistent message.
My IPOD strategy is this: We need to focus on a defined number of items, & have a consistent message in regards to them.
At HUUC I think our new vision and mission statements give us a good start on both an IPOD strategy and a message.
The vision and mission statements should be used as a primary source of guidance for all aspects of the congregation. Whether it's deciding to take on a project, in how we raise funds, who we hire or on the
level of personal involvement decisions should be made in accordance with our mission and vision.
Once decisions have been made we can then craft a message to help focus attention on our IPOD version of UUISM.
A well known messaging strategy is the three point message. In this you 1st describe the problem or issue, then describe the solution or what you want to change and then talk about an action that can be take or who can take an action.
For instance: HUUC recognizes that there are a number of people in Muskegon who go hungry. We want to change this by serving them hot sit down meals at Supper House. We ask that you come walk with us, & provide friendship and a hot meal to the needy by serving on the 3rd Friday of each month at Supper House.
Or, we all know how important the education of children is, both in school and in other areas. Knowing this part of HUUC's mission is to provide religious education that address spiritual, and intellectual issues.
Why not come walk with us and see the opportunities at HUUC's re open house?
This format of gaining guidance from the Vision and Mission and then putting forth a consistent message can help us decide who we are and let others know who we are.
In closing: HUUC is prone to stretching itself too thin which lessens our effectiveness . HUUC can avoid this by using our Vision and Mission statement as a guide and then by communicating our decisions clearly. HUUC members should learn our Vision and Mission statements and practice communicating a consistent message about HUUC and UUism.
Posted by harboruu at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2005
When Religion Becomes Evil
The main north/south artery into downtown Jackson, Mississippi is State Street. When I moved there in 1977 the First Baptist Church occupied about 1 1/2 square blocks of State Street, only two blocks from where it intersected with High Street, the center of the downtown business area. This is one of the churches in Jackson that ordered their ushers to refuse entry to African-Americans during the Civil Rights era.
The city government consisted of three people, all white Anglo-American men, that made up the City Commission. They selected the mayor from their ranks. There was no ward system. All of the inhabitants of Jackson voted for three candidates. This ensured that the commission would remain white. Two of the three members were also members of the First Baptist Church.
The Church decided to expand and purchased more land, growing eventually to three square city blocks, of which one was a very large parking lot. State Street was a busy street, partly because it was a Federal Highway. The parking lot was across the street from the church, thus endangering the worshippers as they attempted to cross.
So the church decided to build a crosswalk over the street to protect their people--a wise and compassionate decision. There was one problem. A Federal Highway cannot have a crosswalk above it, since it blocks certain large trucks. So, the church petitioned the City Commission for relief. Here is what they decided to do for this house of worship that paid no taxes to their coffers.
They stopped the Federal Highway one block before the church, and resumed it one block after the church. It still looked the same, and the traffic it carried did not change. However, the city was now responsible for all maintenance and upgrades on that three-block section of highway.
I have no idea how the City Commission worked this deal with the Federal Government--with which most Mississippians had a testy relationship at best. When I asked questions about this deal, I was met with shrugs and wandering eyes. However, the First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi became, to me, an example of a very questionable relationship between church and governments.
Religion, like all human institutions, is capable of both good and evil. Some of you may nod your heads, and automatically think, "Yes, my religion (whatever that is) is good, and that religion (whatever is not mine) is evil." … No, that is not what I am saying. I am saying that most major religions are often good, and perform needed functions in our society; however, all religions are capable of corruption and a descent into evil.
Let us remind ourselves of some of the good things that religions do for their adherents. Religions provide rites of passage to mark the major changes in our lives. They welcome newborns into the community, they mark the passage of adolescents into adulthood, they celebrate the choosing of partners for life, and they devise rituals to formalize mourning when death comes calling. In doing so they give shape and meaning to our lives.
Humans need to imbue their lives with meaning. Religions answer the great questions of our lives, by using sacred texts and tradition, which tell creation stories, myths and often mythologized history. They frequently have a great founder who serves as the ideal person, upon whom they can model their lives.
And religions provide a community in which people find friends and support dur-ing the difficult times of life. The community gives them an opportunity to learn and socialize together with people with whom they are comfortable. It gives them an opportunity to contribute to the perceived well being of society. It gives them an opportunity to practice leadership skills and interact with people of all ages.
These are some of the goods that religion can provide. What are some of the evils? Perhaps it is all-too-easy to think of these. Here are some.
Religions can lead to the oppression of all those who are not-our-religion.
Unfortunately history is full of examples, and we will look at some of these later. They can lead to the abuse of power by those in charge of the religion. In the last few years it has become clear that some priests in the Catholic Church abused children; and it is further clear that, in a misguided effort to protect the institution, the power structure of the church protected them.
The combination of religion and government can lead to war. Unfortunately, al-most all religions are capable of turning their god into a war god, who demands the extension of his or her realm.
We are going to look in more depth at some of these evils. And we are going to look at the causes of this corruption, as defined by Charles Kimball, the author of When Religion Becomes Evil. Kimball is an ordained Baptist minister, a profess-or of religion, and the chair of the department of religion at Wake Forest Univer-sity. Dr. Kimball has studied, written and lectured widely, with an emphasis on Islam and the Middle East.
In this book Dr. Kimball says there are five warning signs of corruption in religion that can lead to evil. They are:
1.Absolute truth claims
2.Blind obedience
3.Establishing the "Ideal" time
4.The end justifies any means, and
5.Declaring holy war
We will look at each of these in turn, starting with Absolute truth claims.
Most religions have a founding teaching, either that of a charismatic leader, or of sacred literature, or both. Every religion is based on a truth, or series of truths, upon which the teachings and practice of the religion rests. "However," Kimball says, "when particular interpretations of these claims become propositions requir-ing uniform assent and are treated as rigid doctrines, the likelihood of corruption in that tradition rises exponentially." (Kimball, Charles, When Religion Becomes Evil, HarperSanFrancisco, 2002, p. 41.)
When the religions espousing these truth claims are missionary religions, as are Christianity and Islam, the likelihood of eventual conflict rises even more. Both Christianity and Islam have charismatic founders and a sacred literature that is deemed to hold the truth for all humankind for eternity. When some members of these faiths claim that the only and absolute truth lies in their teachings, they are on the path to holy war.
Let me be clear that both faiths hold a wide range of believers in their ranks. Both have literalists and fundamentalists, and both have liberals within their ranks. It is the people on the far fringes that escalate tensions.
Let me illustrate by quoting Kimball:
Contemporary examples of fundamentalist Christians attacking, sometimes murdering, doctors and others who work at abortion clinics illustrate the point. On March 10, 1993, Michael Griffin shot and killed Dr. David Gunn outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida. Five days later, the Rever-end Paul Hill appeared on the Donahue television program seeking to justi-fy Griffin's act. Hill subsequently became a leading figure among extremists in the antiabortion movement. …Fourteen months after Dr. Gunn's murder, Paul Hill decided he, too, must act; he murdered Dr. John Britton and his traveling companion, James Barrett, as they arrived at the same clinic in Pensacola on the morning of July 29, 1994. (Ibid. p. 44,45)
Hill was part of an organization called The Army of God. The absolute truth claims under which the group works are unambiguous: "abortion is an abomi-nation to God; true Christians must engage in direct action to stop what they see as a slaughter of innocents." (Ibid.) There are many people who oppose abor-tion, but who would never commit murder in order to "save lives." Those for whom it becomes an absolute truth claim are participating in a corrupted religion.
Blind obedience to a charismatic religious leader often leads to corruption and evil acts. During the late 1960's and 1970's, sects controlled by charismatic leaders flourished in the United States. Parents learned to fear them, and the new profession of "deprogramming" was frequently utilized. Often they began with religious leaders who attempted to build an ideal community, as did Jim Jones and his People's Temple.
Jones began his ministry in an Assemblies of God church in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1954. He was preaching a message of racial integration, and was far too pro-gressive for most members. In 1955 he and a few members left and joined the Disciples of Christ denomination in a church called Wings of Deliverance, which eventually changed to the People's Temple Full Gospel Church. He was viewed then as a courageous and visionary leader. (Ibid. p. 76)
Because his advanced social agenda was so controversial in Indiana, Jones moved the Temple, and seventy families (half Anglo-American and half Afro-American) to California in 1965. However, even in California, Jones and his ad-herents were controversial. The members gave all their money and assets to the church to be shared equally--a move that looked very much like communism. Disaffected members charged the church with illegal activities, and Jones de-cided to withdraw from the United States and set up a colony in African Guyana. (Ibid.)
This religious body, begun with such idealism, deteriorated into the mass suicide/ murder that shocked the world in November of 1977. Jones, the charismatic leader, acquired complete power over his disciples.
They followed him blindly into a cul de sac in Africa, where questioning was not allowed, and those who wished to do so threatened and killed. It ended in a ma-cabre scene of hundreds of bodies, poisoned and shot. Evidence showed that parents fed their children poisoned purple Kool-Aid. It is difficult to imagine a scene more evil.
The same sort of blind obedience was exhibited by the followers of Asahara Shoko, the founder of Aum Shinrikyo. This sect, an outgrowth of peaceful Bud-dhism, developed in the 1980's. Asahara hoped to establish an ideal society based on the legendary utopia of Shambhala. (Ibid. p. 80)
Much like Jim Jones, Asahara attempted to found a community in which all would experience salvation through worship of the god Shiva. Through this community he planned to save Japan, and then the world. Members of the sect ran for parli-ament in 1990, but were defeated. Asahara's teachings were already featuring end-of-the-world themes, and they became more prevalent. The practices of the sect became more violent, including forced conversions. Asahara's teachings included a "compassionate" rationale for violence, under his doctrine of poa.
Aum (members) interpreted poa to include killing certain persons in order to prevent them from accumulating more bad karma that would have to be worked out in future lifetimes; hence it was a compassionate act. … The subway gas incident was simply another opportunity to extend an interpre-tation that had already been applied to earlier acts of violence. Anyone who stepped outside this faith and interpretive framework that legitimized vio-lence faced the harsh reality that one had in fact committed what Buddhist teaching regards as the greatest sin--destroying life. (Ibid. 82)
Thus, gentle Buddhists, following a charismatic leader, released poison gas in the subways of Japan, killing and injuring many people.
Many religions look back or look forward to an "ideal" time. Jews look back to the nation of ancient Israel under its legendary King David, and strive to reproduce that nation today. Christians look back at Christendom, when all of Europe was united under the rule of Roman Catholicism, and forward to the utopian "city on a hill" where the ideals and precepts of Jesus of Nazareth will prevail. Muslims look back to the ummah or community of Medina where Muhammad established Islam, and forward to a world united in the worship of the one god, Allah. Kimball says:
Traditionally, Muslims have understood Islam as more than a religion. It is a comprehensive way of life including spiritual, social, economic, political and military dimensions…. (Muhammad) was … the political and military leader of the new ummah…established when the first Muslims left Mecca and traveled north to Medina in 622 C.E. Medina, under the leadership of the Prophet, theoretically presents an exemplary Islamic state.
Its Constitution, coupled with qur'anic passages, and several volumes of authoritative sayings and actions of Muhammad (hadith) provide resources for structuring an Islamic society. Muslims in various settings throughout the centuries have sought to fashion governmental, social, legal, and eco-nomic systems with references to a theoretical ideal. (Ibid. 106)
We need only to refer to the Taliban in Afghanistan to illustrate how this effort to establish the ideal society can be corrupted and turn evil. Their extreme version of Islamic law oppressed women and all those who failed to meet their standards of compliance. Most other Islamic countries recognized the danger they epitomized. Only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates formally recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. (Ibid. 105)
However, we need to understand that we Americans have our own would-be Taliban. What Kimball calls the New Religious Right seeks to influence and control the actions of members of our government. Kimball says that these Americans share with the Taliban "a religious conviction that the perceived ideal has been lost and must be restored through instruments of the state. In this country the plan for restructuring the state--the federal government or the public school system--is somehow to be gleaned from a particular understanding of the Christian religion." (Ibid. 118)
Kimball uses Pat Robertson as an example, and names his theology as recon-structionist. He quotes from Martin Marty's book, Fundamentalisms Observed to explain reconstructionism:
For reconstructionists there is no neutral ground, no sphere of activity out-side God's rule. One is either following God in all aspects of life or not following God at all.
One is either engaged in godly politics or is participating in anti-God struc-tures that now threaten the home, the school, and the church…. Like their premillennial cousins, reconstructionists wait for a dramatic change in history. But they are not merely waiting. (Ibid.)
The history of the New Religious Right is too large to complete in this discussion. However, it points to what I think is a primary danger to our democracy in this country. We bear little responsibility for the actions of the Taliban and like-minded zealots in Islamic nations, and only a little more for those radical Ortho-dox Jews whose understanding of God requires them to settle lands in disputed territories of Israel. However, we Americans are responsible for allowing the ac-tions of our home-grown Zealots to control our government.
The fourth sign of a corrupted religion is "the end justifies any means." To illus-trate, let us look at the early history of the Christian church. Christianity began as a sect within Judaism. When gentiles began to be attracted to the sect, there were quarrels about whether they must become Jewish before they became Christians, and the new group began to increase the distance between them-selves and their parent faith. Christians had to define the reasons they were not Jewish.
However, both groups lived in comparative harmony until Constantine embraced Christianity, and it became a state religion. At that point, as James Carroll observes, the sword and the cross merged. (Ibid. 134)
The charge of deicide, the killing of god, was leveled against the Jews. Over centuries of European and Middle East history, Christians oppressed Jews. When the Crusades swept through the area, "brutal assaults on Jews and Jewish communities occurred systematically throughout Europe… resulting in tens of thousands of documented deaths during the Middle Ages." (Ibid. 136) Kimball tells us:
The long history of Christians dehumanizing Jews reached the lowest point with the Holocaust. Such massive violence would not have been possible apart from the history leading up to Nazi Germany. It would not have hap-pened without the active participation of, sympathetic support of, and rela-tive indifference exhibited by large numbers of Christians. (Ibid.)
The end desired by Christians, of separating from and defining themselves against, the parent religion of Judaism, resulted in abhorrent means used to accomplish it. It resulted in the primary horror of the 20th Century, a century of many horrors.
And the final sign of a corrupted religion is declaring holy war. For our example we will again look at Christianity, which began as a pacifist faith. One of the main reasons the Roman Empire persecuted early Christians was because they re-fused to serve in their army. "The weapons of a Christian are prayer, justice and suffering," quotes Kimball.
After its merger with the Roman State, Christianity began developing a theory of war. This took centuries, but was finally completed in the 16th Century. Just war required four criteria: 1. It must be proclaimed by lawful authority, 2. The cause must be just, 3. The belligerents should have a rightful intention, to advance good or avoid evil, 4. The war must be fought by proper means. Sometimes there were additional criteria, a. action should be against the guilty, b. the innocent should not suffer, c. war must be undertaken as a last resort, and d. there must be a reasonable chance of success. (Ibid. 160)
There is much to question in these criteria. For example, the first one says that it must be proclaimed by lawful authority, which rules out any revolution as pos-sible under the theory. However, they provided a guideline that served to some-what restrict violence in a very violent age.
However, this age was a time that included the Crusades. The church and not a lawful ruler declared these violent wars. Contemporary descriptions of the ac-tions of crusaders are horrifying. They describe scenes of thigh-deep blood in which the "soldiers of God" slew every living thing with which they made contact. Clearly this Holy War was a dreadful perversion of the religion of Jesus of Naza-reth. Nor has the language of the Crusades left our lexicon. Apocalyptic lan-guage and a division between good and evil mark our current struggle. Holy War is a mark of corrupted religion.
As I said when we began, religion is both good and evil. Let us return to the possibilities for good that it holds. Kimball says:
Whether one is a true believer or a die-hard secularist, it remains necessary to take the next step from the knowledge of these factors that predict when religion becomes evil to a clear understanding of how religion can remain true to its authentic sources and a force for positive change. (Ibid. 187)
He names this as embracing an inclusive faith rooted in tradition. There are many modern writers who embrace the idea of inclusivity, or pluralism. Some of you have read Diana Eck, a Christian who enriches her understanding of that faith through her experiences of Hinduism. Others have read or heard Marcus Borg or John Shelby Spong, both Christians who are pluralists.
Pluralists are those adherents of one faith who embrace it whole-heartedly, yet recognize that others find meaning, truth and guidance in other faiths. They recognize that there are many paths to the Divine.
Within our Unitarian Universalist faith we are pluralist. We hold in our community those who find their primary truth in the teachings of Jesus, and we hold those who find that which is deepest and most dear within human hearts and minds. The teachings of Buddha and those of earth-centered religionists are welcome in our midst. We celebrate the truths of many faiths. In communities like ours, we find hope that the signs of corrupt religions will not surface, and that others will learn that exclusivist claims bring only pain and tragedy.
May it be so.
Amen.
Blessed Be.
Shalom.
Saalat.
Posted by harboruu at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)