Feeling
Holy?
“Because
we are human, which is to say essentially self-interested, we are
always looking for ways to add a little more authority to our causes,
to come up with better reasons to fight for what we want...If we can
convince ourselves that God wants it too—even if that means making
God in our own image so we can deny the image of God in our
enemies—then we are free to engage in combative piety. We are free
to harm others not for our own reasons but in the name of God, which
allows us to feel holy about doing it instead of just plain bad.”
Barbara
Brown Taylor (An Altar in the World)
Did
you know that America is the most religiously diverse country on
earth? We have everything here, from non-believers to Orthodox Jews,
from Buddhists to Primitive Baptists, from Muslims to Taoists to
Catholics to Quakers to Hindus. I have just about all those right
here in my neighborhood! You name it, we've got it. For most of our
history, we've managed to live in relative peace in spite of it,
though not without prejudice, I'm sorry to say. We define God
according to our particular image and understanding, and while we
believe that anyone who doesn't agree is misguided, we usually live
amicably, side by side. And that is because we, as a nation, claim
religious freedom as one of our constitutional rights. That is here
at home. Out there in the world, now that is a different story.
I've
just finished a study of Second Isaiah which goes to great lengths to
declare God as inexplicably 'other', not even comprehensible to the
likes of humankind. And when you think about it, which too few of us
do, it makes sense that the creator of the cosmos would not be an old
white man with a long white beard and a bad temper, or even a man (or
woman) at all. We put God into our particular 'religion-box' so that
we can manage our own anxiety in the face of infinite power. We claim
deep knowledge and understanding of the will of God, and then we feel
comfortable afflicting others who do not share our beliefs. We humans
are a stitch, aren't we?
I
heard on the news yesterday that fewer and fewer of our young people
are church affiliated or claim to be 'religious'. Perhaps they are
smarter than we are and see though the illusions of peace and
tolerance that older generations have carefully constructed. Perhaps
the times are simply changing and something else will take the place
of religion in the future. Our children want to live authentically;
the vast majority of them are truly tolerant of differences, and even
value diversity. They don't appreciate the fact that we make war in
the name of peace and then send them off to die on battlefields. They
may be far more spiritual and benevolent than their elders.
'Unaffiliated' may simply mean 'we don't agree with the way
mainstream religion does business'.
Jonathan
Swift once observed, 'We have just enough religion to make us hate
one another, but not enough to make us love one another.' Truly, the
future of our world will depend on how we learn to deal with our
differences.
In
the spirit,
Jane
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