The False god of Security

On Monday October 18, 2010 The "USA Today" published an article on the Op-Ed page that very accurately depicts this nation's obsession, or as the author puts it, worship of the false god of security. This is neither new or unusual as this idolatry expresses itself in a variety of ways. In the genesis of this blog I wrote about an experience in a local church in which many of the parishioners treated the US flag as an idol. (See my very early blog posts on April 19,2008 and August 2,2008 to get the complete details about this.)The first portion of the USA article, "We worship the God of security", is posted below. To read the entire article at the USA Today web site go to the link at the end of this post.

We worship the God of security
By Henry G. Brinton
We live in a culture of fear, and since 9/11 we have grown increasingly anxious about terrorism, pandemics, environmental disasters and nuclear annihilation — anything that can injure or kill us. Our method of coping is to make an idol out of any activity, agency or technology that will promise us security.
Sociologist Robert Wuthnow has written a new book Be Very Afraid that examines how we respond to the constant threats we see around us. His conclusion: Instead of freezing when they face a threat, Americans get busy and buy duct tape. Nothing frustrates us more than terrorism alerts such as the one recently issued by the U.S. State Department for travel to Europe. It warns us of potential danger but gives no specific guidance.
I believe that this idolatry of safety is a very unfaithful response. Whether one is Christian, Jewish or Muslim, the challenge of faith is to put trust in God, not in security precautions. Nor is it a sensible response. Atheists realize — right along with people of faith — that we cannot control every aspect of the world around us. Security is a false god.

To read the balance of this article go to: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-10-18-column18_ST_N.htm

Stephen Hawking and God

A posting yesterday (September 3, 2010) on AOL's start page talked about Stephen Hawking's latest musings about God and science. The entire article can be read at: http://news.aol.ca/ca/article/stephen-hawking-god-has-no-role-in-universe/19620062.
The article also has links to other articles and background information.

The first paragraph in the posting sets the tone for the article and says, "Entering the ongoing debate between faith and science, renowned British scientist Stephen Hawking claims that modern physics has now proved that God played no role in the creation of the universe." As I read the rticle I argued at some length with the conclusions of that great mind as I also asked myself who am I to refute his conclusions.

The next morning I came across a letter that I had clipped from USA today some time ago entitled,"Difference in perception". The letter said:
"...I was reminded of the 19th century poet Elizabeth Barret Browning's allusion to the story in Exodus where Moses encounters God in the burning bush. 'Earth's crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it and pick blackberries.'

This sums it up. On one side, some say there is no God. All we have is science. On the other, there is evidence that God exists... this passage say(s) to me: God is"

A scripture that speaks to this dicotomy betwen faith which requires belief and science which requires proof says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 RSV)

Science (and the proofs that it requires) are one thing and theology is another. But science and theology need not compete with each other but could in fact compliment each other and work together for the common good. What is required is acceptance and respect not derision and feeling threatened by the ideas of others.

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Today in the mail I received a letter from the National Rifle Association of America asking me to sign a petition that would encourage "my elected representative" not to support any "...registration...regulation...or law..." that would in any way restrict an individual's ability to purchase a gun. This request and everything that the NRA stands for is the complete enthuses of what I have felt is the proper way to control gun violence in the United States. This is not a new stand for me I have held this belief since the 1960s.

The letter says in part:
"Because gun-ban extremists like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Charles Schumer, and Dianne Feinstein, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stand ready to fight for a far-reaching, anti-gun, anti-freedom agenda that will:
Require you to apply for a Federal license before you can possess any handgun or semi-automatic rifle or shotgun that can accept a detachable magazine.
Force you to register, be fingerprinted, and photographed, and take a written test on gun safety, gun storage, gun laws...
Demand that you give the Attorney General a full release to look at your mental health records before you can buy a gun."
There are other words also in bold face such as Ban, Close, and Send designed to scare gun owners.
I'm not sure that the people named have suggested any of these measures (I would support both them and the measures if they did)the purpose is only to scare people into joining the NRA. By the way I think that I failed to mention that Mr. Wayn LaPierre will let you join the NRA for the small amount of $25 to $70 a savings of $10 to $15. For this sum you also get a neat duffel bag, a membership card, a decal, and other perks. There was no mention however of the secret decoder ring.
A far better and saner organization to support is the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. There is a video clip at the top of this rant that, if you haven't already looked at it, you might find informative. And if sanity appeals to you go to the Brady site.

From the Brady site:
"As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, works to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations and public policies. The Brady Campaign is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.

For continuing insight and comment on the gun issue, read Paul Helmke's blog at www.bradycampaign.org/blog/. Visit the Brady Campaign website at www.bradycampaign.org."

Unfinished Business

The following meditation comes from an Episcopal publication Day by Day dated July 26, 2010. The meditation was originally printed in 1941. As the back cover of the current issue of the (printed) magazine explains, "… To commemorate the 75^th Anniversary … Forward Movement is reproducing timeless and inspiring meditations from past issues." The choice of the word timeless is indeed (sadly) accurate. The three "fundamental objectives" have not been achieved today 65 years after these words were originally written. We still have our work cut out for us.

Forward Day By Day

MONDAY, July 26 Saint James (tr)

Matthew 20:20-28.
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.

If Christianity is to win the world, Christians must unite upon certain fundamental objectives and seek to discover practical means for their attainment.

One is the elimination of war.

A second is a social order which gives to able and competent human beings the opportunity to work and earn a living wage.

A third is the elimination of the selfish exploitation by the strong of the weaker members of society.

Not only must we make Christianity more vital and telling by strengthening our own faith and by translating our faith into action, but also each separate individual follower of Christ must learn to live in closer comradeship with him. This will mean assuming the form of servant, letting go of our own prerogatives and claims. Our love of Christ makes this possible. It is only as we come to know and love Christ passionately that we can through our lives make his spirit irradiate this dark world. (1941)

This and other meditations may be found at: http://forwardmovement.org/

An excellent book that explores the issues raised by the above meditation is Jesus:Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary by Marcus J. Borg.

Patriotic Lie

As this Fourth of July winds down and many of us complete our celebration with another beer or one last hot dog and the fog of patriotic celebration settles in we often hear eulogies or remembrances about our country's brave soldiers who have gloriously given their lives for their country. This "celebration" had added intensity in our city today as a young 19 year old soldier who recently died in Afghanistan was buried with all of the panoply this city could muster. As my wife and I talked about this she was reminded of a poem written by a soldier in WW I that spoke to the myth of the "glorious" death of another soldier. The poem follows that puts the lie to that concept of "glory".

Wilfred Owen
Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggers under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And toward our distant rest began the trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that drop behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man on fire or lime. --
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, --
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
the old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori. *

* It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.

THANK GOD; HEALTH CARE SIGNED INTO LAW

(The following article was taken from episcopallife on line.)

President signs health bill into law

Faith-based groups stay the course

By Lynette Wilson, March 23, 2010

[Episcopal News Service] President Barack Obama signed the health-insurance overhaul bill, extending coverage to some 30 million uninsured people, into law March 23 during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
"After a century of trying, today after over a year of debate, today, after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in America," said Obama, during the ceremony broadcast live on television and the Internet.
Diocese of Connecticut Bishop Suffragan James E. Curry, speaking to ENS from the House of Bishops meeting in Camp Allen, Texas, called the legislation "a wonderful step that continues our national walk toward accessibility." The Episcopal Church's longstanding commitment to health care reform is deeply rooted in the Baptismal Covenant, he said

To read the balance of this article go to: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_121035_ENG_HTM.htm

Prayer for Peace

The following post was taken from an E-mail sent by the

Episcopal Peace Fellowship.

PRAY: Prayer for Unity in a Time of War by Kathy Kelly

I implore you then, live up to your calling...spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives. - Ephesians 4:1, 3

Thou hope and joy of all creation, You have given to all generations the power to seek you, and in seeking you, to find you. Grant us, we pray, a clearer vision of your truth, greater faith in your power, more confident assurance of your love.

Our sisters and brothers in Iraq suffer overwhelming grief and affliction. Bombed, maimed, mutilated, wasted, tormented, these our brothers and sisters endure unending war, much of it fueled by U.S. wealth and arrogance. Grant us, we pray, courage to overcome our cautions, to set aside our unjust comforts, to resist the works of war and embrace the works of mercy.

Grant us, we pray, the grace to hear deep in our hearts our Muslim brothers' and sisters' daily call to prayer: "O God you are peace. From you is peace and unto you is peace. Let us live our lives in peace. Bring us into your peace. Unto you be honor and glory. We hear and obey. Grant us your forgiveness God, and unto you be our becoming." Amen.

The “Fruits” of the Health Care Debate

The "Fruits" of the Health Care Debate

While watching the news on CNN recently, and listening to the latest report on what has become a perpetual news item, the Health Care legislation, it occurred to me that there are two simple motivations that the legislators need to focus on.

In our national mythology there is a phrase that Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal would say that they subscribe to. That is that individuals have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The passage of the Health Care bill would go a long way in assuring the first item in that quote; for access to health care would assure more people not only life in overcoming illness but probably a better quality of life. With life one can then pursue the other two guarantees of liberty (freed from sickness) and the pursuit of happiness (note the word pursuit).

The second motivation is one that the legislators, many of whom describe themselves as Christians, would say that they subscribe to. That is the concept that Christians will be known by their fruits (Matthew 7: 20). In general, if one listens carefully to the motivations of each side of the debate, those favoring the passage of the bill will focus on the needs of the individual; especially those without insurance or those struggling to pay for insurance.

On the other side of the issue the verbiage, if not the pictures, speaks to what this will mean for the corporations. Jesus, the individual the conservative Christians at least give lip service to following, while he walked this Earth was found among and serving the least and the lost and was about bringing to account the powers of the world, the civil and religious authorities of his time. The large insurance and drug companies are two of the "powers of this world" in our time who do not want this legislation to pass.

"Thus, you will know them by their fruits." What "fruits" does an individual legislator support; the rights of and care for individuals, as exemplified by Jesus, or the perpetuation of the status quo the influence of the powers of this world, that in the time of Jesus were represented by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Roman Empire?

Two Worlds Our Choice

On the morning of January 1^st as I started my (almost) daily ritual of prayer and I thanked God for a new day, it occurred to me to thank God also for a new year. Then, as one thought flowed into another, I realized as Christians we celebrate two New Years in very close succession. Advent starts four weeks before Christmas when we start a new year: the beginning of the church colander. Our Christian year, starting then, is marked by the scripture readings of the Common Lectionary. It is possible for our life as Christians to revolve around these readings, either the three year cycle for Sunday worship or the two year cycle for personal reflection.

Then a few weeks down the road another new year is ushered in on December 31^st into January 1^st. This marks the beginning of the new year of our secular life. And here is where it gets complicated. For these two new years symbolize the juggling act we find ourselves in. How do we live in and straddle what are really two worlds the secular and the holy, that exist beside each other? (Fans of science fiction could even imagine them as parallel universes.) When a choice is presented to us that would reflect one world or the other which do we choose? This is a conundrum that has plagued Christians (those who were originally called the Followers of the Way) from the very advent of the Christian church.

Two authors together in two books look at this very question; the question of loyalty to the secular world, the state or loyalty to God's Kingdom. The two books The First Christmas and The Last Week, both written jointly by Marcus J Borg and John Dominic Crossan, look at the very beginning of Jesus' life and the last week of that life. In both books they touch on the question of loyalty between these two worlds. In The First Christmas the authors look at the concept of peace and how the world of the State and the Kingdom of God would achieve this. The authors had earlier in The First Christmas explained how the words used to describe the "divinity" of Ceaser and that of Jesus were the same. At the end of chapter 7 in The First Christmas the authors say this:

The terrible truth is that our world has never established peace through victory. Victory establishes not peace, but lull. Thereafter, violence returns again, and always worse than before. And it is that escalator violence that then endangers our world.

The four week period of Advent before Christmas – and the six-week period of Lent before Easter – are times of penance and life change for Christians. In our book The Last Week, we suggest that Lent was a penance time for having been in the wrong procession and a preparation time for moving over to the right one by Palm Sunday. That day's violent procession of the horse-mounted Pilate and his soldiers was contrasted with the nonviolent procession of the donkey-mounted Jesus and his companions. We asked: in which procession would we have walked then and in which do we walk now?

We face a similar choice each Christmas, and so each Advent is a time of repentance for the past and change for the future. Do we think that peace on earth comes from Caesar or Christ? Do we think it comes through violent victory or nonviolent justice? Advent, like Lent, is about a choice of how to live personally and individually and internationally.

Christmas is not about tinsel and mistletoe or even ornaments and presents, but about what means will we use toward the end of a peace from heaven upon our earth. Or is "peace on earth" but a Christmas ornament taken each year from the attic of basement and returned there as soon as possible.

Well, is peace a Christmas ornament or is it a concept that we as Christians strive for via justice? Or are we taken in by the constant drum beat of peace via victory? The choice is ours and it begs the question, how do we as individuals practice justice in our day-to-day lives? That is a question for a new year for us as individuals and as a society.

The above words originally written at the start of the secular new year and not posted are relevant as we enter the Lenten season, as we begin that section of our church year that looks back at the time when a state, using violence and death, tried to silence the concept of love and peace represented in the person of Jesus Christ. For a short time the State and violence seem to have won. That victory however was short lived (it lasted from only the day of His earthly death until Pentecost). And today during the season of Lent it is not the State and Caesar we worship it is the divine person of Jesus.

We can ask ourselves today have we as a society learned anything? Do we prefer the Caesar riding in on a war horse with his soldiers that can bring, as the authors of The First Christmas put it, "Victory (that )established not peace, but lull." Or do we long for the Peace that can come via non-violence, diplomacy (blessed are the peace makers) and the Christ centered concept of loving our enemies?

Why Do People Vote Against Their Own Best Interest?

The article that can be read in its entarity at the site address below provides a clear view of why people vote against their own best interest. The thrust of the article has to do with the current debate about national health care. Why would people vote against their own best interest? The article presents some clear, reasonable answers to that question.

"The Republicans' shock victory in the election for the US Senate seat in Massachusetts meant the Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate. This makes it even harder for the Obama administration to get healthcare reform passed in the US.

Political scientist Dr David Runciman looks at why is there often such deep opposition to reforms that appear to be of obvious benefit to voters."

To Read the balance of this article from the BBC go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8474611.stm