Monday, June 27, 2011

Wow, what a weekend this has been!

1. New York passed marriage equality which has led to all kinds of hysterical predictions. Newt Gingrich believes this will lead to a "muddle." I'm not sure what he means, but all I can picture is mint leaves and sugar being smashed to make a julep or mojito. And we all know that too many of these can destroy the sanctity of marriage. Pat Robertson believes America will be destroyed by God because no civilization, "not one" that supported homosexuality has survived. He goes on to relate the story of Sodom......I'm wondering if he reads the same bible I do. Maybe he skipped over the fact that Sodom and Gomorrah were about the sin of being in-hospitable. Or maybe he just doesn't worship the same God I do. NOM (National Organization for Marriage) claims that the institution of marriage is now damaged and in danger. Danger from what I'm not sure. And contrary to all acceptable scholarly thinking, they are still preaching that children of such marriages are fated to lives of incest, abuse, and instability.


2. Not a prediction, but Michelle "Are you a flake" Bachmann never ceases to amaze and amuse. She stated that she believes each state should be able to make and pass their own laws as afforded in the 11th Amendment. But then she goes on to say their needs to be an amendment to the U.S. Constitution relegating marriage to one man one woman. Of course the U.S. Constitutional Amendment would "trump" state laws. Yes, Ms. Bachmann, you have proven that it is possible to contradict oneself within one paragraph. And do it with a totally straight face. (no pun intended)

All this leads me to my thought today. Why is there so much fear? Franklin Delano Roosevelt wisely said once that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. I look at the message our churches are preaching and it's not a message of good news, but a message promulgating fear. Our news programs, both on the right and the left, make millions of dollars by promoting fear of the opposite political party. Our politicians are trying to win votes by playing to and encouraging our fears. We fear gays because of their sexuality difference, we fear Muslims because of their religious difference, we fear communism because of their ideological difference, etc. We fear the Hispanic invasion of our country, whites fear blacks and blacks fear whites because of our cultural differences. Today, more than ever, fear drives and divides our nation.

Why does fear have such a grip on us? It's the unknown. If you're not like me, believe like me, live like me, love like me, etc., I don't know you. If I don't know you, then I must be afraid because you may want to hurt me. We fear death because we don't know what's on the other side, so we listen to people who tell us that if we do this, believe in that, or give to them then we will be assured of bliss in the afterlife. We fear that if we give of ourselves then we are vulnerable. We fear that if we allow a group of people to be our equal then, somehow, in granting them equality, we become the lesser and unequal. If we give voice to other religious viewpoints we are going to lose our religion. If we allow homosexuals equality, then we are in danger of becoming homosexual, or our marriage is at risk.

But it's not only the unknown, it's also our lack of courage to learn, to engage other people, other cultures, other creeds. It's our lack of courage to stand up to our religious and political leaders and say, "Enough of the fear mongering."

Fear can be an illogical and destructive force if it is not conquered. The only way to conquer fear is to take the responsibility to educate oneself. Open your mind to both sides of the issues. Open your mind to new experiences, new cultures, new ideas. You're not going to agree to all of them, your not going to feel comfortable with all of them, but you are going to appreciate their viewpoint, you are going to be richer for the experience, and your going to learn that they are people just like you. If we, as a people, are ever going to survive, then it is time we put aside superstition, ideological dogma that hinders human evolution, and embrace the unknown. It is time to learn to put aside prejudice, ignorance, and fear mongering.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

I hate and love this time of year. I love the awakening of the earth from its long winter slumber. The flowers are blooming as are the trees. And with this comes wicked allergies. I take allergy medication and a ton of orange juice but that doesn't stop the dreaded sinus infection that always comes. So this morning I awoke with said infection. Time to pull out the heavy guns.......saline rinses. UGH!!!

We are now about to begin Holy Week. Commencing tomorrow with Palm Sunday. This brings me back to religion. What is religion? St. Augustine said that we all know what religion is until someone asks us to describe it. Karl Marx said, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opiate of the people." "Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of."—Mark Twain. Emile Durkheim said, what I believe is a substantial definition, "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them."

I said earlier that I believe there is a divine spark in all of us. We are born with the knowledge of God within us all. Religion is not something we are born with. Religion is a man made concept, an attempt to explain the unexplainable, to control our environment, to control our desires and actions, and to be part of a community. Without the unity of religion, civilization and society would not exist today.

I believe God has revealed himself to mankind over and over again from the beginning of man. He has revealed himself in terms that we, at the time, could comprehend. I believe that all the beliefs of today, whether you're Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Pagan or any other myriad of beliefs stems from God communicating with us. If I look at every major religion, the core values are almost all the same. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

The problem with all religions is not the message from God, but the ignorance of man. Man places limitations on others out of fear, intolerance, ignorance, and/or a desire to dominate. The teachings of Jesus, Mohammad, or Buddha are pure in the ideals that they espoused. Today's religions have strayed far from the truth. Instead of tolerance we have extremism; instead of charity we have war in the name of God; instead of love we have hatred for all that is different from us. These are not the values my God has revealed to me.

Religions should be at the forefront of the educational evolution of man. Instead, the religious leaders of today are taking their holy books and wrapping them up in dogmatic and ideological principals that neither help nor develop mankind. This way of thinking does not allow mankind to grow, to better understand themselves and their environments, and keeps man deep in superstition and suspicion.

For example, some Christian movements declare every word of the bible to be the word of God, thus it is infallible and must be taken literally. If this is the case, then the Bible is dead. To ignore the political and social time periods in which the books were written is to deny oneself a true understanding of the words and ideals contained therein. To say that mankind must have the same mindset as those who lived over 2,000 years ago, is to entrust mankind to a future of superstition and fear. God gave mankind the desire to learn, to explore, and to push the boundaries of what is accepted belief. To ignore what these discoveries have brought us, and to cling to a belief system of societies thousands of years before ours, is to deny the gifts God has given us by means of science, medicine, and education. Yes there are core principals that we should adhere to: i.e. Do not covet they neighbors wife, Do not bear false witness against thy neighbor, Do not kill; but we also need to recognize that some principals no longer apply to our society.

I am an ex-Catholic. I accepted Catholicism when I was a teenager as a way of escaping my family. I found in the church a refuge where I could think and pray, and for a brief period, be at peace with myself and my surroundings. As I grew older I thought I had felt the "calling of God" to become a priest. I studied and prayed that he would give me guidance. A few weeks before I was to enter into seminary, I met my ex-wife and I knew that God was calling me for something different, but my Catholicism never left me.

The older I got the more disillusioned with the church I became. I noticed that church had gone from teaching the words of Christ, to something I am sure even Christ would not recognize today. I see a church so wrapped up in tradition and dogma that it is becoming unable to change and to grow. I heard a cardinal once say, "Societies change and people change, but the church should not change." The church is so afraid of losing it's power, that instead of embracing change as people's knowledge grows and understanding replaces ignorance, it holds steady to antiquated policies that no longer apply. The church would rather lose its relevance in people's lives than change and adapt.

So what is religion to me? I don't know. I have yet to find a community that believes as I believe. I have yet to find something that allows me to grow as a person yet hold onto the traditions I treasure.

I don't believe that one man should have the power to control the thoughts and ideology of another. I don't believe there is one path, and one path only, to know God. I don't believe there is any "right" religion; as all men think differently according to their individual social, educational, and economic background. I don't believe that being heterosexual is any more right than being homosexual; we are what God made us. To deny this, in my belief, is in someway to deny the infallibility of God. I do not believe that because someone is of a different race, creed, sexuality, ancestral background, or sex than I am makes them less of a person or in any way not equal to me. I believe he made all of us different so that we, as humans, can grow and learn through our differences.

I know that I believe all people are the divine creation of God. No matter whether you are black, white, red, yellow, gay, straight, or some combination, we are all his creation. I believe in the infallibility of God. I believe that God has a wicked sense of humor, i.e...the platypus. Above all, I believe God is a God of love, reason, and knowledge. I believe that through him all things are possible. I believe that if mankind puts away intolerance, bigotry, and ignorance the world will truly be a Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Thursday: April 14, 2010

Having accepted the Roman Catholic religion when I was a young man and now being the season of Lent I can't help but think of my personal views on God, religion and my relationship with both. Lately I've been reading a lot of news regarding Catholic and Christian ideological teachings, what's it mean to be Catholic and Christian, and different interpretations of the scriptures. Quite frankly after reading everything I am left with more questions that I seem to have no answers for.

So I'm going to layout my thoughts on each:

1. God....Is there a God?

For this question I have only one answer. YES The idea of there being a God to me is not much of a mystery. How do I know? I know because of the complexity of his design. To say that we arose from the primordial ooze and through evolution became the species we are is too simplistic. To say we all come from Adam and Eve is also too simplistic. If we all came from the same 2 people then why don't we all look the same? Why are there Caucasians, Negroids, and Asians with different genetic characteristics? I look at the atoms, cells, and chemical composition that created our bodies, and then I look at the evidence of a mind and spirit that dwells within and operates these bodies, I see the hand of God at work.

Some scientists believe in "The Big Bang Theory" which surmises that everything began with an explosion. The thought, in and of itself, is fine until you get to the question of where did the elements and catalyst that caused the big bang come from. We all know we can not create something out of nothing. A void is just that, void, empty of everything. So, something or someone had to introduce the elements into the void. This is where my affirmation of the existence of God comes into play. If not for him, who?

Other scientists believe in the "Creationist Theory" which says everything we know, our universe and human beings, were created in six days. Human beings and dinosaurs cohabited this planet at the same time. Okay, I still get a good chuckle from that. Scientific evidence, if nothing else, points out the folly of that notion. Our planet is billions of years old, dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago, and humans have been here a mere 200,000 years. My belief is that God used evolution to create the world we know today. To me, evolution is a means by which to understand the purpose of God's creation. To understand the logical steps he took to create all that he created. It is a means by which we can come to understand him and ourselves better.

The bible says we are all made in God's image. I believe this to be true, but not in the physical sense. I believe God's image is our spirit our driving force. I believe God's image is our ability to learn, to adapt, and to change. With each change we evolve into something new. Whether it was our first steps out of the primordial ooze or our first discovery of the use of fire, as a species we have learned, adapted and changed.

This is enough for today....tomorrow I'll talk about religion.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Wow, it's been almost a year since I've last written here. Life here in Baltimore is good for the most part. I've finally had the surgery on my foot, which right now doesn't feel like it made an improvement, but I keep getting assurances from my doctor that it is improving. Soon I'll be starting physical therapy, what fun.

I've lost close to 100 lbs. since moving here. I wish I could say it was all my doing, but in January I had to have emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder. I had an acute pancreatic infection due to blocked bile ducts. Not only does that sound awful, but it felt even worse. Anyway, in order to complete the procedure, which was only to take 2.5 hours, the surgeons had to re-cut my abdominal muscles, repair an abdominal hernia (apparently it was huge), and remove about 20 lbs. of excess skin because I had lost so much weight, total time 7 hours. Final outcome, although not 100%, I'm feeling much better, lost my belly button and 100 lbs. I should be happy that I need to go clothing shopping now, but I really hate clothes shopping. Maybe I should get a tattooed belly-button. Just a thought.

I have a new puppy in my life. A wonderful 110 lb. St. Bernard/Fox Hound mix I named Dr. Seuss. Well, Doc for short, but he answers to just about anything. He's such a hip pooch. Not only micro chipped, but he even has a tattoo. Ok, it's more like a concentration camp numbering, which is something they do at the MDSPCA. I thought I was a pretty chatty person, but I don't hold a candle to him. He talks to me, and anyone else who would listen, incessantly. LOL He is definitely a charmer. I think he thrives on all the attention he gets when we are out and about. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked if he's a "giant beagle." It's hysterical. His only drawback, he sheds like crazy!!! I can't imagine how he looses so much fur and still has a beautiful coat. Yes, I am jealous. If I lost that much hair I'd be completely bald. Not a good look for me. The other day I wore a wool coat that was completely covered with "Doc Fur." I had visions of PETA throwing blood on me as we walked back from Washington Square.

Well, I tried to promise before that I would write more often. So this time no promises. Peace to all, until the next time, Ciao.