Question Month Continues
Mar. 17th, 2007 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furrbearMy friend Rob, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cipherpunk, asks what has so been the best so far and also the most difficult questions to answer. And, extremely apropos of the Lenten season:
It's easy to spot the bad in religion. Despite the many positives of religion, all religion has a tendency to be corrupted in the name of power - used to exclude, or to maintain people in power. In Hinduism and many eastern religions you had castes. In Puritanism you had money equated with Godliness. The Catholic Church brought us the Inquisition and the Crusades. The abuses of religion are central to what bugs me about Fundamentalist Evangelical christians trying to refashion the United States into a theocracy. They manufacture the claim that our country is a 'christian nation,' but they've never shown what I consider compelling evidence to substantiate it. The word 'God' is absent in the Constitution and when used in the Declaration of Independence, the word appears only in the context of the natural law. The reference is to the laws of nature and nature’s God.
As I understand it, natural law is roughly a law derived from our nature and from human reason without the benefit of revelation or a willing suspension of disbelief. I think I can answer your first question by looking to natural law, and the foundation it lays for all religions.
If we were to distill all the religions, all the belief systems: Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Paganism, those of indigenous peoples, even Atheism, two common core principles from natural law emerge.
These two most basic principles are shared by most if not all religions and ethical systems , whether they include God or not. Look at the earliest of our monotheistic religions, Judaism. Two of Judaism’s basic principles, as I understand it, are tzedakkah and tikkun olam. Tzedakkah is the obligation of righteousness and common sense that binds all human beings to treat one another charitably and with respect and dignity.
And the second principle is tikkun olam, the principle that says, now having accepted the notion that we should treat one another with respect and dignity, we come together as human beings in comity and cooperation to repair and improve the world around us.
Tikkun olam. Well, that’s also the essence of Christianity, founded by a Jew, built on precisely those principles. His words, approximately, were, “Love one another as you love yourself, for the love of me. And I am Truth. And the truth is, God made the world but did not complete it, and you are to be collaborators in creation.”
That’s the message. That, in a lot of places, in the old books and the new books, is described as the whole law. And it’s described in Judaism as the whole law, without need of ornamentation or elaboration.
Wouldn’t it be nice to find a way simply to announce at once to the whole place that before we argue about the things that we differ on, why don’t we concentrate on the two things we all believe in? We’re supposed to love one another, and we’re supposed to work actively together to improve this mess we’re in, because that wasn’t done for us. That was the mission that was left to us. I can’t think of any better guidance.
How do I find a balance between modernity and Christianity? Einstein. More precisely, one of the main tenets of his Theory of Special Relativity, ie. All laws of physics apply equally in all in inertial reference frames - There is no absolute frame of reference. In religious terms, systems that obey the above two elements of natural law are morally equivalent.
In an interview shortly after her election, TIME Magazine asked Katharine Jefforts-Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, “Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?” She answered, “We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box.” In a later interview, ++Katharine explained further, "Christians understand that Jesus is the route to God. Umm– that is not to say that Muslims, or Sikhs, or Jains, come to God in a radically different way. They come to God through… human experience… through human experience of the divine. Christians talk about that in terms of Jesus." [More on this].
I'm not so presumptuous as to believe that i have "The Answer." Or that Muslims, or Buddhists, or Hindus, or Druids do not have equally valid 'answers' as mine. To do so, constrains God.
I view Christianity and the Bible in much the same manner as Reformed Judaism and the Torah; the words do not change, our interpretation of the words change to fit our modern times.
My system works for me. It may or may not work for others. I'm sure some will try to assail me for this point or that.
March is Question Month. If you wish to play, go here to enter. That entry is already setup* for asking questions, this one is not. comments to the entries with answers will not be screened.
*Comments screened to protect privacy. I reserve the right to edit questions for clarity and privacy.
cipherpunk, asks what has so been the best so far and also the most difficult questions to answer. And, extremely apropos of the Lenten season:It's pretty well established that the scriptural traditions of any major religion are eons of wish fulfillment, politics, superstition and a small amount of deep humanity all dressed up as profound spiritual truth.
The first question: should we still look to religion for guidance, given how vacuous much of it now appears to be, and how those vacuous bits are so often misused by zealots to justify remaking the world in their image?
The second question: how do you personally strike a balance between Christianity and modernity?
Clearly, there's no right or wrong answer here. (Or, rather, there may be right and wrong answers, but I'm completely unable to recognize either when it appears.) However, I find those questions occupying a lot of my time nowadays, and I'd like to hear your thoughts.
It's easy to spot the bad in religion. Despite the many positives of religion, all religion has a tendency to be corrupted in the name of power - used to exclude, or to maintain people in power. In Hinduism and many eastern religions you had castes. In Puritanism you had money equated with Godliness. The Catholic Church brought us the Inquisition and the Crusades. The abuses of religion are central to what bugs me about Fundamentalist Evangelical christians trying to refashion the United States into a theocracy. They manufacture the claim that our country is a 'christian nation,' but they've never shown what I consider compelling evidence to substantiate it. The word 'God' is absent in the Constitution and when used in the Declaration of Independence, the word appears only in the context of the natural law. The reference is to the laws of nature and nature’s God.
As I understand it, natural law is roughly a law derived from our nature and from human reason without the benefit of revelation or a willing suspension of disbelief. I think I can answer your first question by looking to natural law, and the foundation it lays for all religions.
If we were to distill all the religions, all the belief systems: Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Paganism, those of indigenous peoples, even Atheism, two common core principles from natural law emerge.
These two most basic principles are shared by most if not all religions and ethical systems , whether they include God or not. Look at the earliest of our monotheistic religions, Judaism. Two of Judaism’s basic principles, as I understand it, are tzedakkah and tikkun olam. Tzedakkah is the obligation of righteousness and common sense that binds all human beings to treat one another charitably and with respect and dignity.
And the second principle is tikkun olam, the principle that says, now having accepted the notion that we should treat one another with respect and dignity, we come together as human beings in comity and cooperation to repair and improve the world around us.
Tikkun olam. Well, that’s also the essence of Christianity, founded by a Jew, built on precisely those principles. His words, approximately, were, “Love one another as you love yourself, for the love of me. And I am Truth. And the truth is, God made the world but did not complete it, and you are to be collaborators in creation.”
That’s the message. That, in a lot of places, in the old books and the new books, is described as the whole law. And it’s described in Judaism as the whole law, without need of ornamentation or elaboration.
"Do not do to others what you would not like others to do to you." - Rabbi HillelAll the great religions that I’m aware of share those two principles. Islam and The Koran, honors that principle*. It seems to me, as it did to de Tocqueville and to many others, that these two basic religious principles are a great benefit to our nation, and can be even more beneficial if focused on and stressed.
"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.
That is the entire law: all the rest is commentary." -Talmud, Shabbat 31a
[*]Excerpted from The Most Beautiful Hadith.Khalid ibn al Wald (Radi Allahu Ta'ala anhu) narrated the following hadith:A Bedouin came one day to the Holy Prophet (sallallahu 'alahi wasallam) and said to him,
'O, Messenger of Allah! I've come to ask you a few questions about the affairs of this Life and the Hereafter.'
- 'Ask what you wish' said Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alahi wasallam).
Q: I want to be the best of men.
A: Do good to others and you will be the best of men.
Q: I'd like to be raised on the Day of Judgement in the light.
A: Don't wrong yourself or any other creature, and you will be raised on the Day of Judgement in the light.
Q: I'd like Allah to bestow His mercy on me.
A: If you have mercy on yourself and others, Allah will grant you mercy on the Day of Judgement.
Q: I'd like to be the most honorable man.
A: If you do not complain to any fellow creature, you will be the most honorable of men.
Q: I wish to be safe from Allah's wrath on the Day of Judgement.
A: If you do not loose your temper with any of your fellow creatures, you will be safe from the wrath of Allah on the Day of Judgement.
Wouldn’t it be nice to find a way simply to announce at once to the whole place that before we argue about the things that we differ on, why don’t we concentrate on the two things we all believe in? We’re supposed to love one another, and we’re supposed to work actively together to improve this mess we’re in, because that wasn’t done for us. That was the mission that was left to us. I can’t think of any better guidance.
How do I find a balance between modernity and Christianity? Einstein. More precisely, one of the main tenets of his Theory of Special Relativity, ie. All laws of physics apply equally in all in inertial reference frames - There is no absolute frame of reference. In religious terms, systems that obey the above two elements of natural law are morally equivalent.
In an interview shortly after her election, TIME Magazine asked Katharine Jefforts-Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, “Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?” She answered, “We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box.” In a later interview, ++Katharine explained further, "Christians understand that Jesus is the route to God. Umm– that is not to say that Muslims, or Sikhs, or Jains, come to God in a radically different way. They come to God through… human experience… through human experience of the divine. Christians talk about that in terms of Jesus." [More on this].
I'm not so presumptuous as to believe that i have "The Answer." Or that Muslims, or Buddhists, or Hindus, or Druids do not have equally valid 'answers' as mine. To do so, constrains God.
I view Christianity and the Bible in much the same manner as Reformed Judaism and the Torah; the words do not change, our interpretation of the words change to fit our modern times.
My system works for me. It may or may not work for others. I'm sure some will try to assail me for this point or that.
March is Question Month. If you wish to play, go here to enter. That entry is already setup* for asking questions, this one is not. comments to the entries with answers will not be screened.
*Comments screened to protect privacy. I reserve the right to edit questions for clarity and privacy.
