Friday, October 08, 2004
Reasonable Religion
Below is the post I have been working on this week. Enjoy...
NPR has been playing an interesting series on politics and religion the past week or so.
I find it interesting that some people can separate their political/secular lives from their religious beliefs, while some* allow their religious beliefs to dictate their political views and even use political power to thrust their beliefs on others.
*I guess I should separate Bush's socio-political beliefs from his economic beliefs. Isn't it ironic that many on the Right suddenly believe in "survival of the fittest" when discussing business?
Me, I found my religion through my political activism: I discovered the link to the UUF website while trying to find other Alachua County Democrats. I was shocked to find a religious organization that had reached the same conclusions on religion that I had already discovered through my own personal searches. Bill and I have been attending church nearly every Sunday for the past year. We've begun teaching Pre-K Religious Education classes (Sunday school) one weekend a month, and I am becoming very involved with the Children and Youth Committee. I've also "testified" on my personal deity, the Green Tara, during a worship service devoted to feminine goddesses.
Now, I like to think I'm a reasonable person. I find patterns in everything; I play devil's advocate when making decisions, trying to weigh both sides of the issue as best I can; I believe in the standards of scientific research and logical reasoning. Yet, I've also found, to my surprise, that I am a spiritual person. It's something inside me, indeed inside us all, that needs to be explored. We, as thinking beings, have a deep connection with, if not an innate desire to understand, the great mysteries of life. I don't claim to have found any answers, and I doubt that I will ever find one that I can cling to with 100% conviction. And I'm okay with that--it's my doubt in the idea that there is one "true" religion (all of which are born of the human mind) that sustains my search for self-discovery. Instead of clinging to one faith, I choose to study and find wisdom in the religions and philosophies humanity has created. (This might be a reflection of my cover-your-ass mentality. I mean, if I don't say my religion is the only one, true faith, then I'm not pissing off any unknown deities that might be out there, right?)
I believe religious services, traditions, and ceremonies are useful as psychological tools. I do recognize that not everyone needs religion to be "good" or "strong" people. Indeed, I was a damn good person before I started going to church--and raised in an agnostic household at that! However, I see now that religion can be just as useful as psychological counseling. It's certainly more cost-effective.
Last Sunday, our interim minister, Barbara Jamestone, delivered a wonderful sermon on the need for "ministering congregations," which brought me to tears and at the same time filled me with inspiration--not with the holy spirit, mind you, but a life-affirming excitement, reminding me of my civic duty to give and be all that I am:
The Sunday before that we held a Rosh Hashanah service, which called on us to forgive others as well as ourselves, which also made me weep. "Who have I not forgiven?" is one question I was directed to ask myself. Surprisingly, I came up with a few answers, one of which prompted me to reconnect with an old friend and one of which made me understand that I had forgiven my mother for her human frailties, but not my biological father. (I'm still working on that one.)
A reasonable religion has many things to offer--opportunities for self-discovery, a fellowship with others in which you are encouraged to share your joys and griefs, and a caring community to help raise your kids to be humane adults. It's when religion becomes distorted by factions with agendas (see Ben Hellmann's October 8th post on this related topic) or through utter superstition that religion becomes dangerous.
As Albert Einstein once said, "Science without religion is lame. Religion with out science is blind." When one fails to use the checks and balances of science and logic on their faith, terrible things can happen. On the other hand, when one relies solely on science and logic, they may be cheating themselves out of intense emotional experiences and personal journeys that might just serve to better themselves--and humanity.
NPR has been playing an interesting series on politics and religion the past week or so.
I find it interesting that some people can separate their political/secular lives from their religious beliefs, while some* allow their religious beliefs to dictate their political views and even use political power to thrust their beliefs on others.
*I guess I should separate Bush's socio-political beliefs from his economic beliefs. Isn't it ironic that many on the Right suddenly believe in "survival of the fittest" when discussing business?
Me, I found my religion through my political activism: I discovered the link to the UUF website while trying to find other Alachua County Democrats. I was shocked to find a religious organization that had reached the same conclusions on religion that I had already discovered through my own personal searches. Bill and I have been attending church nearly every Sunday for the past year. We've begun teaching Pre-K Religious Education classes (Sunday school) one weekend a month, and I am becoming very involved with the Children and Youth Committee. I've also "testified" on my personal deity, the Green Tara, during a worship service devoted to feminine goddesses.
Now, I like to think I'm a reasonable person. I find patterns in everything; I play devil's advocate when making decisions, trying to weigh both sides of the issue as best I can; I believe in the standards of scientific research and logical reasoning. Yet, I've also found, to my surprise, that I am a spiritual person. It's something inside me, indeed inside us all, that needs to be explored. We, as thinking beings, have a deep connection with, if not an innate desire to understand, the great mysteries of life. I don't claim to have found any answers, and I doubt that I will ever find one that I can cling to with 100% conviction. And I'm okay with that--it's my doubt in the idea that there is one "true" religion (all of which are born of the human mind) that sustains my search for self-discovery. Instead of clinging to one faith, I choose to study and find wisdom in the religions and philosophies humanity has created. (This might be a reflection of my cover-your-ass mentality. I mean, if I don't say my religion is the only one, true faith, then I'm not pissing off any unknown deities that might be out there, right?)
I believe religious services, traditions, and ceremonies are useful as psychological tools. I do recognize that not everyone needs religion to be "good" or "strong" people. Indeed, I was a damn good person before I started going to church--and raised in an agnostic household at that! However, I see now that religion can be just as useful as psychological counseling. It's certainly more cost-effective.
Last Sunday, our interim minister, Barbara Jamestone, delivered a wonderful sermon on the need for "ministering congregations," which brought me to tears and at the same time filled me with inspiration--not with the holy spirit, mind you, but a life-affirming excitement, reminding me of my civic duty to give and be all that I am:
...Our denominational leadership recognized that without a religious focus, we were foundering. By determining to be a secular rally place, performing arts place, and Sunday service place, we were fast becoming neither fish nor fowl...
We were no longer that force which in days of old, moved heaven and earth, by marching at Selma and being killed for it, by going to jail in protest, by putting pen to such documents as The Humanist Manifesto, The Declaration of Independence, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," the Bylaws of the National Association of Christians and Jews, The Origin of Species, Walden, The Man without a Country, Little Women, essays like "The American Scholar," and even "Jingle Bells!" Unitarians and Universalists wrote into being the American heritage we share.
But, we were no longer nurturing church members who did such writing, who could envision and start universal free public education, public mental hospitals, public libraries, the America Red Cross, the first World Parliament of Religions, the Barnum and Bailey big top, Hull House, the
Humane Society--ALL of which were begun by Unitarians or Universalists.
--Members who might become the 7th Unitarian President in the history of the U.S.A. We've had six with our teeny membership.
--Members who might run for that great office and lose and run again and lose again as Adlai Stevenson did.
--Members whose female faces get stamped on American coins. Unitarian and Universalist churches have nurtured a vast and awesome roll call of ministers to the human race...
...We can serve, help, meet needs without seeing ourselves as a church, without using religious language and story...We can. A few of us do--have the inspiration, motivation, willingness, and vision to submit our will to the good of the group, to let our common welfare come first. A few of us have such depth of compassion for the human condition,that we, believer or atheist, do delight in sacrificing ourselves for others. But most of us don't. Most of us need help. And so, our denomination invites you to imagine yourself as a minister, because there's special juice in that word. Ministers serve because--we feel called, wanted, known, loved by that transcending mystery and wonder which we all get glimpses of...
The Sunday before that we held a Rosh Hashanah service, which called on us to forgive others as well as ourselves, which also made me weep. "Who have I not forgiven?" is one question I was directed to ask myself. Surprisingly, I came up with a few answers, one of which prompted me to reconnect with an old friend and one of which made me understand that I had forgiven my mother for her human frailties, but not my biological father. (I'm still working on that one.)
A reasonable religion has many things to offer--opportunities for self-discovery, a fellowship with others in which you are encouraged to share your joys and griefs, and a caring community to help raise your kids to be humane adults. It's when religion becomes distorted by factions with agendas (see Ben Hellmann's October 8th post on this related topic) or through utter superstition that religion becomes dangerous.
As Albert Einstein once said, "Science without religion is lame. Religion with out science is blind." When one fails to use the checks and balances of science and logic on their faith, terrible things can happen. On the other hand, when one relies solely on science and logic, they may be cheating themselves out of intense emotional experiences and personal journeys that might just serve to better themselves--and humanity.