It is Sunday. Perhaps that’s a good time to talk about
religion. I probably shouldn’t, but it is such an overwhelming aspect of
American life that any sort of reconciliation that doesn’t consider it would
fail at the starting gate, so to speak.
I’ve feelings and thoughts all over the place about it.
Raised in a protestant household—Missionary Baptist in fact—I call myself a “Cultural
Christian.” To tell the truth, I never liked to go to church. The two weeks I
spent in Vacation Bible School as a child still stand as the longest ten years
of my life. I began to eschew organized religion when I realized that the
so-called “social gospel” that resonated so strongly with me is gone and not
likely to return. Then a preacher in a small church we attended began to refer
to those who believed in science as sinners. We fled, like Jews leaving Egypt. I’m
not being sacrilegious, for those friends who are believers. I’m just being
honest, a step I feel is essential if we are to try and understand one another.
That having been said, I will admit to revering much of the
music of religion, the masses of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and others are
sublime enough to make one spiritual, if not outright religious. On the popular
front, I still play, hum, and try to sing the old church hymns. A good old good
one, such as “Just As I Am,” has an unearthly power to move. Now … I can’t
confess to caring much for the modern stuff, once described as “Jesus Is My
Boyfriend,” music. But if you do, that is fine. I just happen to agree with the
NPR guest who once said that comparing the old hymns with modern church music
is like comparing a Shakespearian Sonnet to a Hallmark greeting card.
Enough of that.
I will also admit that, on most Sunday mornings, I sit with
my mother-in-law and watch a televised Methodist service broadcast in our area.
It’s the only segment of religious broadcast I watch on TV, other than the
second or so it takes for me to change a channel. But, I find the one mentioned
so full of grace, peace, love, and joy that I don’t think watching it would do
harm to the most hardened atheist.
May we just agree that religion, in whatever form we take
it—and there are so many—is so highly personal that a shared relationship is
almost impossible? Could we not just leave it at that and allow one another to
live her or his personal life accordingly? For me, that means keeping it to yourself
and out of politics. Sorry, that’s just my opinion. You are entitled to your
own.
What formed my opinion? I am one of the small percentage of living
humans that has read the Holy Bible from start to finish, so I’m not illiterate
in ecclesiastical matters. I’m one of the extremely few who have read it from
start to finish more than once. I once read where Captain Joshua Slocum, author
of, “Sailing Around the World Alone,” and the first person to do that, read the
Bible numerous times, the exact number escapes me. I have neither that great man’s
courage nor spare time. I can’t match his effort at studying the book, but I’ll
keep trying.
When I do read it, I find sublime thought mixed with
inconsistencies, cruelty, and the illogical. At the same time, I believe it lays
bare the complexity of the human spirit, is the most enduring basis of western
literature, and a must-read for an understanding of that genre. So, I will
continue to read that esteem instrument although I sincerely believe it is both
metaphorical and written by men for men. Yes girls. For men.
The point from which I must sincerely, and without malice,
express my departure from so many dear friends, is the belief, as expressed in The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor
Dostoyevsky "If God is dead, all is permitted," more often expressed as
“without religion, there is no morality.”
I have known saints and sinners on both extremes the belief-nonbelief
spectrum. There have been countless books written on the question, and I,
personally, stand on the belief expressed by Albert Einstein: "A man's
ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social
ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor
way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes of reward after
death."
But if religion truly causes you to be kind, caring, accepting,
loving, and supportive of your fellow human beings, by all means follow it with
joy and my blessing.
How in the world can we find reconciliation in beliefs so
pervasive disagreements? My approach will be a striving for respect and
non-judgement. In other words, “judge not.” I’ll borrow that one from the
Galilean himself. I only ask my religious friends to do the same.
Meanwhile got to run. The service is coming on.
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| Just thinking … |
