Do It Right

A few days ago Saur asked why her atheist friend held himself to a higher moral code than most Christians.  I have often felt the same way - that my actions, and even my thoughts are closer to what Christianity teaches than many who claim to be its followers.  I think this happens for one simple reason: divinity doesn’t get in the way.

If you remove the sacrifice of Christ and the omnipotence of God for the equation, all that remains are the lessons.  When you force yourself to see religious texts as allegories instead of absolutes, you are able to learn more from their pages.  It allows you to ignore what is least important and focus on the moral message, no as a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Jew, but as a human being, inherently flawed but never condemned.

Living this way is not easy.  Atheism is not a cop-out for those intimidated by the rigors of the truly religious.  Quite often it is more difficult, forcing one to examine a myriad of philosophies, form one’s own moral code, and amend it as one continues to learn - without the expectation of some great reward.  Similarly, one is free to take risks and make mistakes without fear of eternal damnation.  If this life is all you have, you’d better do it right.

Goodbye, Rosemont College

Rosemont College has decided to go co-ed. I know that doesn’t mean much to most of you, but it means a great deal to me.  Rosemont was one of the few remaining Women’s Colleges in the country.  The caliber of education rivals that of Harvard and Yale, especially as it is one of the few schools still requiring Undergraduate Seniors to take a comprehensive test (an exam on everything learned in a particular major over 4 years) and write a thesis.  But that is not the biggest loss.

Rosemont is where I learned to be who I am.  I was able to speak up in class because I didn’t feel intimidated by the boys.  I was able to take a leadership role in activities because there was no gender bias.  I felt safe on my campus.  No one had to worry about getting raped on the way back from a party.  The only men on campus at night were the security guards and they were forbidden from seeing students socially.  Our education was what it should be - completely academically oriented, and it shows. Rosemont women have done extraordinary things - from inventing Pampers to being the among the first women to hold Ambassadorships. 

I believe in single sex education, for women and for men.  I believe that the disillusion of the Women’s College will be a great loss to the academic world, but especially to women.  I don’t know how this was allowed to happen.  The alumni were not adequately informed.  I wish the board would consider separating the sexes into different classrooms to allow for the spirit of a Rosemont education to continue, but I know that’s a long-shot.  Goodbye, Rosemont.  The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be.

We call on God

We use religion to help us deal with the things that are too great to handle on our own.  We don’t know where to turn but we feel the need to cry out for help.  We’re too stubborn or proud to ask our family and friends, so we call on God.  a cheating husband, a lying child; God help me forgive.  We don’t ask for advice.  We don’t ask for support.  We ask for God.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.  It’s the mantra for those with problems beyond their control.  We don’t all believe in our own ability to overcome crippling adversity, so we call on God.  A traumatizing childhood, a loss of life or limb; God help me to get through.  We’re afraid to look weak.  We don’t know where to look at all.  We look to God.

God grant me the courage to change the things I can.  We know that something has to be different but we don’t want to feel like we’re doing it alone.  We need to feel protected and no one, no matter how much they love us, can protect us from everything, so we call on God.  A teenage mother, a battered wife; God give me a sign.  We need to believe everything happens for a reason.  We need to believe we have a destiny.  We need to believe in God.

And the wisdom to know the difference.  God is a coping mechanism, and for many people, a necessary one.  We cannot be judged for relying on that tool anymore than we can be criticized for using a different set.  None of us can know what goes on in another’s mind. Call on God. Call on Bob.  Who cares?  Isn’t the most important question this: Why aren’t we calling on each other?

The wisdom of human experience is beyond comprehension.  If we must call the collectve knowledge of everyone who has ever lived by the name of God in order to get people to listen, so be it.  We cannot allow a name to separate us from the idea that our strength lies within ourselves and those around us.  It is their knowledge and experience that will help us live better lives.  If we don’ ask for it, we are already in hell, and no God can save us.

Fear Not

I wanted to write something beautiful and poignant because today is a sacred day in which we should honor those who served our country but all that came to me was disappointment.  I have an overwhelming sense of disappointment in the American people but I find it futile to voice it because I know they do nothing and say nothing about this illegal and immoral war because they are afraid.  They are afraid of upsetting civil order (as Thoreau suggested with a different war in a different time) by speaking out against the war because they’re afraid of being labeled as traitors (or non-supporters of the troops), mostly because their government representatives have taught them to be so.  They’re afraid to read too much or be perceived as knowing too much because they don’t want to be labeled as too smart (or liberal).  They’re afraid to speak negatively about anything (especially politics and religion) because they don’t want to be labeled as cynical.  They’re afriad to admit that it does matter if they don’t vote because if they fail to fulfuill their responsibility as citizens to choose what type of government they will have, they will feel no ownership when the time comes to criticize it.

Fear not.  The men and women we choose to honor today gave their lives in service to this country (or for what they believed to be service to this country) so that we would not have to be afraid of our enemies foreign or domestic.  We mourn their loss and should honor their memories not with BBQ’s but by using the freedoms for which they fought.

We should all be afraid of this number: 4,080 US Soldiers killed in Iraq, 30,112 US Soldiers wounded in Iraq

Nearly Half

I heard a report on NPR that nearly half of all Americans are on some sort of prescription drug.  While the story tried to convince us that it’s a good thing because it means that we have had major advancements in medical technology and science, I tend to think that it has more to do with pharmaceutical companies making billions of dollars on health care that many Americans have to pay for out of their own pocket.  I highly doubt that so many Americans would be on so many drugs if the government was footing the bill. 

Our health care system has become a money making industry and has strayed so far from its original intent that I wonder if doctors have forgotten the “do no harm” part of their oath.  Easy health care doesn’t mean it’s good health care.  Prescribing a pill instead of diet and exercise doesn’t do anyone any good, especially since we’re in this particular health care nightmare of rampant diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure because of what we eat and our propensity to sit on the couch rather than go for a walk.

Science and Jesus

If you believe in the evolution of religion and that each new religion that is created relies on those before it for their fundamental truths, then it might be easier to accept that as the human mind expands its capabilities, new and viable religions will form to accommodate the most intelligent among us.  If you can’t fathom that, then maybe this - as we learn more and more about our brains, some of the basic principles of major religions come into focus more clearly.  The call to love unconditionally and forgive unconditionally particularly fits this mold.

As advances in psychology continue, we frequently learn that the things we find unforgivable in others may not be the end result of free will as much as they are a product of the warped chemistry within our own minds.  When we take a moment to recognize that we cannot truly know what lies inside a person’s head, we give ourselves the opportunity to stop judging for a moment and forgive the faults, large and small, that we may find personally unforgivable.  Depression, obsession, defiance, and deceit all could be the result of bad brain chemistry, and while we should not forget what people do to us lest we be burned a second time, we should at least try to forgive their transgressions, whether they ask for forgiveness or not.  Unconditional love IS unconditional, after all.

The Unfunny Truth About Scientology

I think this speaks for itself, but I find Scientology disturbing.  I am of the opinion that L. Ron Hubbard may have been disillusioned by Hollywood and the corruption therein and came up with a “religion” to watch the crazies destroy themselves.  I also believe that the “truth” of the 8th level of Scientology is that it’s all bullshit.  I should mention that while living in Clearwater I was in the hotel where Lisa McPhearson died.  The place had a really eerie feeling about it.

It’s a Metaphor

If literary devices have been traced back to literature as ancient as the Iliad, I don’t know why people assume that the religious texts are the direct word of god unless it is labeled within the text as a parable.  Doesn’t it stand to reason that allegory and metaphor were used just as often and for the same reasons as we use them today?  The ideas of rebirth and reincarnation are nice ones, but I’m not sure we can take it literally.  Is it possible that these ideas are metaphors for the philosophical rebirth that occurs when we enter a new phase in life or learn something that completely changes the way we think about the world?  Why do we continually close our minds off to the possibilities that what we’ve always been taught may not be the only answers out there?

Fines or Fuel?

While everyone’s focusing on the current situation with the airlines, few people are asking why it’s so important for them to make the safety changes now, especially when it’s already been proved that we’ve been flying in unsafe planes for years.  Maybe it has more to do with the rising cost of fuel and the fact that airlines are breaking even or losing money on fuel every time they put a plane in the air.  Of course, no one wants to fault the oil companies for anything, and we pretend they’re above reproach, so the major airlines can’t come out and say, “We can’t afford to fly because fuel prices are so high.”  That would allow for a lot of criticism that the government can’t answer.

Without a massive protest, without airlines shutting down and giving us the real reason, without truckers staying off the road for more than a few hours, without people refusing to drive to work because they can’t afford gas, there will never be a change.  DRIVE LESS, FLY LESS, BUY LOCAL GOODS!!!

Here’s a really good reason to conserve fuel: 4,032 US Soldiers killed in Iraq; 29,676 US soldiers wounded in Iraq.

Ignoring China

Even though my blog is banned in China, I hardly ever write anything about them at all.  With the summer Olympics coming up, though, I thought I might mention it.  We will not be watching the Olympics in my house.  We like the Olympics, but I don’t feel that advertisers should be giving their money to aid in the broadcast from a country that does not allow its citizens to be free.  Besides the political turmoil in Tibet, we cannot forget the severe avalanches and mudslides that happened this winter.  How many Chinese citizens were allowed to die because the government was too proud to ask for help?  How many children starved to death because the bureaucracy of China is so inept and the technology is so backward that the roads could not be cleared to deliver food to remote villages?  The world sees of China only what China wants us to see, and as we have learned in our own country, when there is no transparency, government corruption runs rampant.  So, this summer, my family will be ignoring China, because they are not worth our attention.