Pros and cons of organized religion

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 ’Elul 5770 (Parashath Shofeṭim).

Note:  For information on ’Elul, see the Orthodox Union’s ’Elul page.

Today’s holidays:  Ramadan (Islam), Thursday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Francisco Franco (Church of the SubGenius), Feast Day of William Blake/Feast for the First Night of the Prophet and His Bride/Feast of Heracles (Thelema), Sea Org Day (Scientology), Zaraday (Discordianism)

Worthy cause of the day:  “ColorOfChange.org:  FCC: Say NO to Google and Verizon / Demand the FCC do its job and protect the open Internet”.

Topic 1:  Yesterday on the news they reported that author Anne Rice has “quit being a Christian”.  I’m going to let her speak for herself before commenting on this:



To be technically correct, Rice has not quit being a Christian or religious, but rather has separated herself from all organized Christian groups.  Organized religion has the great advantage that it allows people to pull together and more easily do worthwhile things that they could not do easily or at all on their own.  E.g., it is much easier for a house of worship to start and manage a soup kitchen than an individual, as the house of worship can pool resources and spread effort among many people, while an individual would probably not be able to manage alone except maybe on a very small scale.  Organized religion, like any form of human organization, has a downside:  politics.  There is a lot of quarreling and bickering which goes on, both within groups and between groups.  Religions also tend to place a premium on beliefs and practices, so a lot of the politics may deal with beliefs and practices.  I am fortunate that I am currently a member of a group, the West Ashley Minyan, in which the politics have been kept under control (thank YHWH; we are what I have termed a “volunteerocracy”).  Unfortunately, in some groups the politics get to the point where members feel the problems of that organization outweigh the benefits.  Often this results in a schism if enough people feel the same way, allowing for maintaining organization but with a rejection of the old politics.  If there are not enough people, the result can be exactly what Rice is doing:  leaving organization behind completely and going alone.  This is a drastic measure, but organization is (usually) supposed to be a means to an end, not an end in itself; thus if the means is counterproductive, another means has to be employed.  I hope for her sake that she finds going it alone a sufficiently productive means towards the search for truth, and if not, that she find or form a group in which she can feel comfortable enough to enjoy the benefits of organization.

Topic 2:  For today’s religious humor (submitted by Barry): “Prop 8 Overturned! Here's Some Anti-Gay Protesters Getting Owned (PHOTOS)”.  Next to no one likes the Westboro Baptist Church, as they seem to do nothing other than protest with hate-filled signs.  The photographs are of one of their recent protests, in which counter-protestors managed to get the last laugh.

Peace.

Aaron

Getting annoyed at the KJV again

Greetings.

Jewish date:  14 ’Av 5770 (Parashath ‘Eqev).

Today’s holidays:  Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Shylock (Church of the SubGenius), Guru Purnima (Hinduism).

Topic 1:  I am getting annoyed again at the King James Version (KJV) again.  Deuteronomy 4:13 is rendered as referring to “ten commandments”, a familiar phrase in English which has no basis in the original Hebrew, which uses the term ‘asereth haddevarim, which means “the ten words” (hence “Decalogue”) or “the ten sayings”.  Keep in mind that there are many more commandments in the Torah that just ten; Jewish tradition holds there are 613 distinct commandments for the ages.  Furthermore the first Saying in the Decalogue, “I am YHWH your God who brought you out of the land of Misṛayim from the house of slavery”, is not a commandment.

Deuteronomy 6:4 is rendered in the KJV as “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”  This translation is obviously wrong to any English-speaking observant Jew.  An accurate translation would be “Hear, Yisra’el:  YHWH is our God; YHWH is one.”  The KJV seems to be translating from the Septuagint, which has a nasty habit of using Kyrios to render both “YHWH” and “lord”.

Image of Fred Phelps, who believes that God agrees with him based on selective reading, via Wikipedia

Topic 2:  For today’s religious humor, submitted by Barry: “Super Heroes vs. the Westboro Baptist Church”:  The infamous hate-filled Westboro Baptist Church recently decided to protest at Comic-Con.  Now, many have counter-protested the protests of the Westboro Baptist Church, but given the nature of fandom, the result was what may be the most absurd counter-protest yet.  Note the included video:


Peace.

Aaron

V is for “values”

Greetings.

Jewish date:  4 ’Iyyar 5770 (Parashath ’Aḥare Moth-Qedhoshim).

Today’s holidays:  Day 19 of the ‘Omer (Judaism), Third Sunday of Easter (Roman Catholicism), Feast of St. Lady Macbeth (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Health Care for America NOW! | End unjust, sky-high premium increases”.

Topic 1:  The last three episodes of  V, “Welcome to the War”, “Pound of Flesh”, and “John May”.  (I know I am tardy in reporting.  I got behind due to Pesaḥ, and I hope this will be a start towards catching up.)  The resistance is taking morally questionable, desperate actions.  This is to be expected in war.

More interestingly, the V leader Anna is being filled out as a disturbing character.  She has a severe lack of empathy, and she sets out to purge the Vs of anyone who fails a test for lack of empathy, lest such people have qualms about whatever the Vs are trying to accomplish on Earth.  So lacking in compassion is Anna that she orders those to fail the test to commit suicide, even if they have never shown the least sign of rebellion.  Not to mention that after mating with a V with the intention of producing soldiers, it is strongly implied (though not actually shown) that Anna eats her mate.  Coupled with the revelation that “Bliss” is a form of emotional control, there is enough evidence to believe that is any sane, functional society of sentient beings, Anna would be locked away in a mental hospital for being a psychopath with a goddess complex.

Tangent:  Given that the Vs live under a dictatorship, they may well be in a period of technological stagnation—despite all appearances of them being advanced.  Innovation requires freedom to question.  Anna wants to be obeyed without question, and she is prepared to slaughter anyone who gives the least hint that they may ever question her.  This is not a good setting for progress.

Also brought up in the question of when it is morally acceptable to lie.  Most notably, Ryan has been lying to his girlfriend Valerie—enlisting her obstetrician to lie, too—about the baby she is carrying.  Unfortunately, the writers decided to go ahead with the original series’ bad idea of human-V hybridization (the chances of which being possible are dwarfed by the probability of successfully crossing a human and a cabbage), and Ryan initially hides the fact that the baby is not normal human and sneaks a supplement into her tea so that they fetus does not kill her.  Eventually he changes his mind about lying to her, leaves her a packet of information about what is really going on, and expects to be dumped.

Topic 2:  “A Surprising Reward for Abstaining from Lashon Hara”.  This short article deals humorously with the importance of correct translation.

Translations for those who do not know Hebrew:

• Lashon hara‘ is any needless speech which is true but which may be harmful.
• A moreh is a teacher.
• Gan is short for gan yeladhim, a literal translation of “kindergarten”.

I will not spoil the punchline here; you will have to read the article yourself.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  (courtesy of Mike) a Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic:

(Yes, you are getting a break from LOLcats today.)  This cartoon is clearly simplified, but there is a kernel of truth in it.  Often people will think only in terms of the last link in their tradition without asking about the whole chain.  At the top of the depicted chain is Jesus.  At the bottom of the chain is someone from the much loathed Westboro Baptist Church.  Why is Jesus so unhappy in the last panel?  As best as I can remember, Jesus says nothing about homosexuality in the canonical Gospels; even if I am wrong, it is not something which Jesus put much emphasis on.  “God hates fags”, virtually a slogan among the Westboro Baptist Church, simply does not reflect anything Jesus reportedly said.  Jesus complains about competing Jewish groups, but he never attacks anyone for having the wrong sexual orientation.  Even if Jesus does not approve of homosexuality, which would be normal for an observant Jew, he is very compassionate towards sinners.  Think “Do not judge, lest you be judged” and “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone”.  The Westboro Baptist Church has failed to look back towards the top of the chain to check whether their views actually derive from that of Jesus.

Peace.

Aaron

This July 5, the World ends for the 15th time (sort of)

Greetings.

Jewish date:  28 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Thazria‘-Meṣora‘).

Today’s holidays:  Day 13 of the ‘Omer (Judaism), Monday of the Second Week of Easter (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Print Olive (Church of the SubGenius), Feast of Mary d’Este Sturges (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Fight Climate Change From All Fronts - The Petition Site”, “Congress: Enact Fair, Ambitious and Comprehensive Climate Legislation Now - The Petition Site”, and “Take Action: Send Congress Your State's Invoice for Foodborne Illness.”.

Topic 1:  “UFO Cult Awaits Doomsday For 15th Time”:  The cult in question is the Church of the SubGenius, which as far as your humble blogger can tell is on the border between serious religion and parody religion.  The parody part involves lampooning serious religions, to the extent that they have created a model of reality which incorporates the most bizarre and unlikely religious ideas they could find.  It is doubtful anyone takes this model seriously, but some people actually seem to find “truths” hidden within the exterior of absurdity.  The Doomsday in question is X-Day, celebrated on July 5th.  On X-Day, a group of aliens known as “X-ians” is supposed to invade Earth and bring about the end of the World as we know it.  As should be expected for a parody religion, despite the repeated failure of the X-ians to invade, the “true believers” keep expecting it to happen every X-Day.  The moral of this silliness is that rational people should question the reliability of those who make predictions which do not come to pass, especially multiple times.

See also:  220 Dates for the End of the world!!! Date Setters!, which has an extensive list of predictions for the end of the World, most of which have already occurred.

Image of an advertisement for a counter-protest to the Westboro Baptist Church by kristinamay via Flickr

Topic 2:  “W.Va. rallies against hatred of Westboro Baptist Church”.  I have been especially requested to write about this topic.  The Westboro Baptist Church, as noted in a previous post, is a church group which travels around the USA protesting very insensitively, claiming that God hates everyone who does not agree with them and that disasters are happening to the USA because of people’s sins.  Descriptions for the reasons for their protests on their Web-site are poorly structured rants which make claims which have little to do with reality.  A major question that those offended by the Westboro Baptist Church’s antics (i.e., almost everyone else) ask is how to deal with this bunch of delusional hate-mongers.  Clearly many people just ignore them.  However, as noted in this article, some people form counter-protests, as it is written about what happened recently in Charleston, WV:

Local people peacefully overwhelmed the Westboro group. They carried their own signs, including: "I Love Everyone" and "God Bless Our Troops and Veterans."

Others signs had humorous messages: "This is a Sign" and "God Hates Signs."

Arguably this is a valid approach.  Given the disconnect of the Westboro Baptist Church from reality, nothing is likely to make them stop (at least quickly) other than physical force.  (And considering that they are nonviolent hate-mongers, justifying that either in court or in many moral systems may be difficult or impossible.)  Given that the point of the protests is attention, counter-protests serve to give anyone reporting on the protests an alternate message:  that others do not quietly accept what the Westboro Baptist Church, that there are others who reject indiscriminate hate.  Given all the trouble there is in our world, it is good to be reassured that not everything is wrong and hopeless.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “I do not believe in”:

and “Buddha Cat”:


Peace be upon you and all the world.

Aaron

In praise of Westboro Baptist Church (sort of)

Greetings.

Jewish date:  19 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyeshev).

Today’s holidays:  Saint Nicholas Day (Christianity), Second Sunday of Advent (Roman Catholicism), Saint Day for Nicholas the Wonderworker (Greek Orthodox Christianity).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Divided We Fail:  Real people, real stories”, “Senate: Don't Compromise on Public Option! - The Petition Site”, and “DemocracyForAmerica.com » Enough is Enough”.

Image of arch-hate-monger Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church via Wikipedia

Topic 1:  “Westboro Baptist will protest Hillel Monday”.  Let me be frank:  everyone your humble blogger has ever heard give an opinion of the Westboro Baptist Church thinks they are a bunch of hate-filled bigots with a poor grip on reality.  They are most infamous for insensitively (to put it very mildly) protesting at military funerals, claiming that homosexuality is the cause of war deaths.  They are rabidly anti-homosexual, anti-Catholic, anti-Protestant, anti-Eastern Orthodox, anti-Hindu, anti-Islamic, anti-Jewish, anti-American—pretty much anti-anything other than themselves.  The reasoning given for the protest (and probably every protest they ever had) makes no sense.  They just give insults, paranoia, and verses from the Christian Bible out of context.  Relevant to this particular protest, they do not seem to know anything about the historical Hillel or the modern organization named after him.  And yet, in all this, there is something to be said in their favor:  they are nonviolent.  They do not injury people.  They do not kill people.  They do not commit acts of terrorism.  All they do is go around the US and protest, claiming that God hates everyone who does not agree with them.  Contrast what happens in certain other parts of the Earth when one group opposes another:  oppression, violence, and death.  (Just out of my folder for stuff to be possibly posted on this blog:  “Al-Qaida Kills Eight Times More Muslims Than Non-Muslims”, “AZERBAIJAN: Officials deny Alternative Service commitment, as victim challenges sentence”, “TAJIKISTAN: Court bans Baptist church”, “KAZAKHSTAN: 'I could now be deported at any time'”, “Indonesian Theology Students Withstand Threats, Illness”, “Vietnam Buddhists complain of ongoing harassment”, “Swiss party leader calls for ban of separate Jewish and Muslim cemeteries”.)  Are the Westboro Baptist Church good people?  According to a lot of (if not most) moral systems, no.  They may be hate-mongering lunatics, but all they really accomplish is to annoy people.  As far as accomplishing evil goes, they are nothing more than comic relief.

Topic 2:  “Catholic League slams PETA ad featuring Joanna Krupa holding crucifix over nude body”:  The Catholic League is complaining about advertisements from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) ripping off Christian imagery and containing nudity.  It must be noted that no one is adverse to adopting pets.  The problem is that PETA’s public relations committee, while having mastered  the art of getting attention, seems to have no clue that needlessly offending people is a horrible way of spreading their message.  Not to mention that PETA has no clue what angels look like.  Usually they get described as “men”, but Ezekiel 1 has a truly psychedelic description which is anything but humanoid.

Topic 3:  To end on a lighter note, I would like to note that the Jewish holiday of Ḥanukkah starts this Friday night, and present the humorous list “Top Ten Signs your Family is unsubtly hinting to you to lose weight during your family Chanukah party”.

Peace.

Aaron