IS GOD NECESSARY TO HAVE ETHICS AND MORALS?

I have come to the conclusion that I do not need external motivation to seek good, try to do good, or to do my damndest to be good.

I recently read an article about the human need (or lack thereof) for God. The pro side of the article stated, in essence, that human beings – society if you will – needs God to give us parameters lest we fall into a place where we do not know right from wrong and commit unspeakable atrocities. It is God, the writers contended, that gives us right and wrong. That ethics and morality are owned by God and given to us by the grace of God. I have always accepted such views (in previous decades) because the alternative, I was afraid, would lead to my immediate and painful destruction. 

Yet ... here I am happy, successful, content, and most importantly, flame retardant. I wasn't struck down by the almighty for not needing him to make me good.

The discussion, which I have enjoyed immensely, has been philosophized upon by persons much smarter than myself and hosts of articles, essays and books expound upon the spectrum of ideas. The whole thing reminds me of our constant discussion in education, i.e. student motivation and behavior modification.

Education philosophies are bubbling with how best to deal with students. Texts, movements and a host of professional development opportunities are aplenty. Do we offer external rewards to change student behavior and increase student motivation or should our efforts be focues on creating an internal locus of control for students so they study, work, and act appropriately because they want to not because we bribe them to do so? 

It may seem an easy question to answer but I offer that the questions are the same for both ethics/morality and school behavior programs. To be consistent, one who believes that God is required in order to have ethical and moral behavior should also believe that students require external motivation (bribes or punishment) in order to have appropriate behaviors. The the contrary, if one believes that goodness can and does exist in spite of the existence of a higher power (or belief in said higher power) then one should also support an internal locus of control (that's fancy education lingo for self-motivation) in students. 

I think I believe in the need and existence of both. That is to say, there are students (and humans) who will do good and be good and seek good for goodness's sake. They will study hard, listen closely, follow directions, and act appropriately because that is who they are. On the other hand, there are students who, despite your best efforts, richest rewards and deepest bribes, will poop in your eye. Most kids (and most adults) are somewhere in between. 

I suppose that means that some people need God to tell them what to do, how to act, and what to think because they are incapable or unwilling to do so on their own. Perhaps, like my kindergartners, they find peace and comfort in the predictability and comfort that knowing offers them. That is not to say, of course, that someone who needs God or finds peace in prayer is immature or juvenile. Perhaps I should say that I think we are all juvenile and immature regardless of belief. You choose whichever makes more sense to you. Others do not need an external force to define right and good and beautiful for they feel comfortable with not having concrete answers for the big questions.

WHO NEEDS BAPTISM, ANYWAY?

My daughter has been asking about baptism and our beliefs a lot lately. The baptism discussion spurred on by the book Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume; our beliefs discussion came about because we have been visiting another church. 

At this age of child development it is normal for a child to adopt the same beliefs as the family. Kids require a foundation of what they believe as it gives them peace and helps them make sense of the world. Besides, if kids do not have a foundation they can understand (religion, science, or some hybrid) they risk being caught up in any old cult or crazy belief that comes along. However, my wife and I –– despite the implication that we are imposing our will on our daughter –– feel that our daughter needs to be exposed to varying perspectives on life and religion so she can create her own theological beliefs. As her parents, it is our job to help guide her toward good and rational and nondiscriminatory belief systems.

We asked about baptism at our former church. Children must be in sixth grade and go through a class to prepare them for such a decision. Most choose baptism but some do not. I believe a class is important, even required, to help the children come to understand their decision. I think if a child is seriously asking they should be supplied the information and opportunity. I believe an arbitrary grade restraint serves only to push away an inquisitive child and is counter to most educational theories.

The real problem with baptism, in regards to our former church, is the credo that one must believe in order to be baptized. Here is the belief system that one must claim in order to be baptized in our former church, as quoted from the website forwarded to us by the current minister:

Baptism is a public act by which the church proclaims God’s grace, as revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through the use of a visible sign of God’s gracious initiative and the human individual’s response in faith. With other Christians we affirm that baptism is at once a divine gift and a human response.

Baptism, as a gift of grace, received by faith, expresses its meaning in a variety of images: new birth; a washing with water; a cleansing from sin; a sign of God’s forgiving grace; the power of new life now and the pledge of life in the age to come. The meaning of baptism is grounded in God’s redemptive action in Christ, it incorporates the believer in the community in the body of Christ, and it anticipates life in the coming age when the powers of the old world will be overcome, and the purposes of God will triumph.

1. This credo forces one to believe that Jesus was the human form of God on Earth. This is something we simply do not believe.
2. It assumes that we are sinners, evil, and in need of constant redemption. We do not put upon our daughter any guilt theology. 
3. This credo also requires a belief that God gives us some divine gift through a symbolic tradition. We do not believe that we got a job because God willed it, children with disabilities are born to sinful parents as a punishment from God, or that God opened up a parking space because I just prayed for it. (All of these are actual beliefs from actual persons I know directly.)

We spoke to our daughter about this credo and what it means. Upon discovering what she had to believe in order to be baptized, she was much less enthusiastic. For goodness sakes, a 10-year-old scoffs at the idea of a virgin miraculously popping out a baby (let alone a God) and she laughs at the idea of a whale swallowing a man only to spit him up later. She is quite aware of the acidic digestive system and the fact that whales have comb teeth.

Some Christian churches may not actually believe these things either, but they do not actively discuss these issues for fear of losing people and money. They present these issues from time to time, but they are introduced as subtext. Southern Baptism minister Clayton Sullivan wrote  about the division between orthodox Christianity and the post-Enlightenment Christian scholarship in his book "Rescuing Jesus from the Christians":

"Two groups, however, are negatively affected by the conflict between post-Enlightenment scholarship and entrenched orthodox Christianity. One group negatively affect are members of the clergy who received their theological training at seminaries where they were exposed to contemporary biblical scholarship (the kind of scholarship encountered at schools like Emory University in Atlanta and the Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge). Before attending seminaries they innocently assumed there was an obvious or normative Christian gospel. But after acquiring a seminary education, they ponder the question: What is the gospel? Discombobulated, they spend their entire professional lives in a quandry. They slip and slide when expounding the kingdom of God to their parishioners. In this regard they resemble pigs dancing on ice. While preaching on race relationships, they circumvent Jesus' opinion that Gentiles are dogs. While preaching about Jesus dying on the cross as a sacrifice for mankind's sins, they inwardly grope for an atonement theory that would make sense out of what they proclaim. Their mouths and minds are not connected. Unsure of what the gospel is, these pastors employ gospel substitutes."

I am not interested in going to a church that is too fearful of simply presenting other scholarly and religious ideas or paths to God. I want to speak about these ideas openly and discuss them and leave open the opportunity for multiple beliefs by different people. I want a more courageous and open community that will offer the congregation the seminary experience. I do not want subtext or hidden messages. I do not want to be forced to believe that Jesus is a God, nor am I willing to force my family to undergo guilt theology just to be baptized, even if that guilty theology is only presented during baptism. No one in our home believes in the inherent evilness or sinfulness of humans. We make good choice and we make bad choices and we live our lives in an attempt to do more good that harm and learn from our mistakes. Sin is fine for those who want it, but guilt theology (even in minute amounts) is not for us. 

So I guess she's decided that baptism is not for her. Or at least that is what she indicated this morning. She is 10, so that might change, but I suspect it won't. We will continue our religious education by learning about many different belief systems and continue to support goodness over all things and love as a foundation for those good beliefs and works. 

DECORUM

For the record, I do not care for filibusters on Supreme Court nominees. I find it unfortunate that the Dems opened up this can of proverbial worms. We would be better without it. I wonder if the Repubs can every let it go and put it all behind us?

THE WOOL MAKES YOUR EYES ITCH

A friend recently told me, "I'm wary of people who think they have all the right answers." This morning we flipped channels and found a religious program. We stopped to watch the train wreck. The program invited people to submit questions by Internet. The men would read the questions on air and then answer them using the Bible. 

To one person they commented that it does not matter what you think or believe. The only thing that matters is what the Bible literally states. 

I suspect two different people could hear that statement and come to very different conclusions. Refer to the first quote in order to infer what my response was.

GONE THE SHACKLES OF YOUR GOD

I left my church.

I am going to attempt to explain the journey that has brought me to this place. However, I offer my thoughts to those who choose to read –– not as an persuasive essay meant to convert or as a document whose merits are up for debate. This is my personal story and I invite all persons to share in my experience so as to illustrate such journeys to those who may or may not be familiar with paths.

Months ago I left my church and my family chose to come with me.

The church did nothing wrong, changed nothing. The congregation did not anger or damage me and I, as far as I know, did them no wrong either. I have journeyed to a place where I could no longer pray and worship as I have in the past. To do so further would constitute a fraud on the church, the friends, society, my family and myself. I chose not to live a dishonest existence and I refuse to fool myself any longer.

I have never been able to pray in earnest in the same ways others do it. It has felt contrived and unnatural to me from the beginning despite my attempts to find it an authentic experience. When I was a child, I went with my grandmother to her Church of Christ church. During the many prayer times there the men flowed from the pew, kneeling and crying and amen-ing while a man lead them in a talk with God, as only men can truly do. I kept my head bowed, but my eyes always crept under my brow for a glimpse of those men. I observed them and wondered: “What are they doing and why are they doing it?” I still have the same questions. The difference between then and now is that I am no longer forced to keep my head bowed and I can look around at those prayer-kneelers square on and ask the question openly.

In only one short period of my life has prayer ever felt self-compulsory. I took a religious notion during my late tweens and early teens. Not because God gave me peace, answers or understanding. I was scared of sin, mostly of masturbation and sexual feelings, which I was told lead me on a hell-bound train of suffering and disappointment. I could hear the whistle blow in my heart and head and I lived in circular pattern of feelings > thoughts > guilt > clemency > redemption and then back to those pesky feelings of sin again.

Women’s breasts were sinful satchels of gyrating trickery meant to lead me to an eternity of weeping, wailing and teeth-gnashing. To give in to my own right-handed desires was a thing of evil. Natural thoughts of sexuality were a disappointment to God. Questioning our beliefs led to Satanism and death.

I prayed, my friends, many times daily to make it all go away. It did not. I started each prayer with an eloquent beginning letting God know how awesome he was and ended each prayer with “in Jesus’ name”. It still did not. Nothing worked. The cycle continued until I could stand the constant feelings of inadequacy and remorse no longer.

I think the more it did not work and the more I questioned the more traditional I became in my beliefs, as if I was the problem and my beliefs were just not powerful or hungry enough. The more evangelical I became the more it did not work.

In my late teens I gave up the practice of prayer. I felt compelled to go to church, if for no other reason but for my parents and other adults (and perhaps myself) charged with my raising to continue thinking I was a good Christian boy. And so I smoked and drank and screwed around a bit, but I could not shake the guilt of it, especially the sexual activity.

Come college, I was done with church, but I still held onto many of my church-going ideals. I think I somehow thought that no matter what I did, if I still said I believed in the old time religion I would be okay. At the same time, I was exploring with some different views of religion, although they were all within the Christian realm. I was too scared of hell to venture too far or to openly ask too many questions. I kept myself tied to my dogma.

As is pretty consistent with many American homes, it was my wife that pushed me towards finding a church. We were married and she sought out that connection to God for us and for our future daughter. The funny thing is that I wanted a church much like what I grew up with. I find that unbelievably perplexing, as I hated everything my Baptist church taught me. However, I was still fearful and that fear drove my decisions. Even if I didn’t really buy into it, if I went and pretended, then all would work out in the end. I suspect this is the case for most Christians. The wife talked me into looking at other churches, some which might have other beliefs. I went along and we found a church that fit my changing viewpoints and even influenced some beliefs, to which I am grateful. It took a while. I did my duty for many years –– contributing to the church, tithing, volunteering. Prayer was out because it’s never worked for me.

Despite my church duty, there has been a nagging all these years, a voice of reason that has questioned everything since I asked my Baptist preacher why it was so sinful for us teens to go to the school dance. To which he retorted with the sinful gyration bit. That boy who knew then that Brother Bud was wrong about women’s bodies being intrinsically sinful has been clamoring at me for years, but I feared that voice too much –– too much. What would happen if that boy was right? What would I have then?

Turns out, nothing happens. For years now I have not prayed and yet I continue to be blessed, to use a Christian term. I don’t think God blesses me any more than I think he blesses the greedy, corrupt, corporate moguls or the atheists. Somehow, God-fearing or not, people continue to reap rewards in this life. It has nothing to do with the Christianity or God, although it makes followers feel better. I don’t begrudge anyone their good feelings.

The squabbles between a one-cup communion or mini-cups, unleavened bread versus hot dog buns, church on Sunday or Saturday, one being or a trinity, or what constitutes appropriate dress at church is now lost on me. In fact, many of those arguments have wounded me and have kept plenty of folks out of the pew. I have a friend whose church requires members and frequent attendees to wear a jacket and tie. Members who cannot afford it will be supplied one. For those like me who have an inner questioner, we receive the message –– usually unintended but sent all the same –– that we are not holy enough, good enough, righteous enough to hear their version of God. The arguments that divide religions and denominations are nothing but man-created dogma and actually have nothing to do with God. I have to fix myself to be accepted into their church fold. Some require you to be one of their own to take communion. Others reject if you are divorced or gay or are pregnant and unmarried. The message is all the same regardless of the circumstance and the wounds caused by it are deep and damaging. The atrocities and discrimination committed in the name of one God or another have devastated me profoundly. It’s all done because of fear of man’s misguided understanding of God.

I am no longer fearful. I do not believe that fear should be the foundation of any religious belief; however, I know that fear is the fuel for most Americans even if they refuse to acknowledge it as I have done for years. I have chosen to rid myself of the shackles of the traditional view of the Christian God in search of a better spiritual quest.

I am down with Jesus. He was a great leader and reformer. I dig his teachings, as I understand them. But I can no longer accept the perfection of a book most of which was written more than 100 years after Jesus’ death. A human was not really swallowed up by a whale and spat out later; a woman did not spontaneously conceive. All of humanity was not spawned from two humans who had boys as offspring. Such stories predate Jesus by millennia or more; they are simply old stories retold and repackaged for a different people.

We have such stories because humans looked at the world around them and tried to explain it. A Native American tribe in California did not have science to rely upon when they tried to explain earthquakes. They could only explain such occurrences through their own experiences thus they conceived a great catfish under the earth caused the tremors. A real understanding of the world –– science –– did not come along until thousands of years later. There is no way the framers of the bible could explain life in any other way but through mythological stories. Mythology and oral stories are humanity’s traditions, but they are not reality.

So many of us have questions about whales and conception and lineage, but we are unable to release the dogma for fear. I have a friend who, when provided with biblical evidence contrary to his belief he said simply: “I cannot believe that because then I would have to change other beliefs.” I get it. I understand that fear-based retort all too well and have clung to such dogma the majority of my life. It’s scary to change your beliefs.

Interestingly enough, once I stripped my life of religious dogma, I found myself free of fear and able to look at religion and spirituality in a much broader and deeper way. I am able to make observations and discover my own truth based on experience, research, and even science.

While many religious persons claim to have the answers and know the one true path, I have only one certainty: I do not have the answers and neither do you. I do not believe there is one path to spirituality or a connection to a higher power. I am amazingly content to not know the answers, and to continue to search for my own path toward goodness, beauty and truth. 

 

THOUGHTS ON PRAYER

Fellow blogger, Ian, has some thoughts about prayer that I find coherent and well played. I've had the same thoughts recently, but I see no reason to say it when he's done such a good job.

http://ianmcgibboney.blogspot.com/2010/06/prayers-return-to-sender.html


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SCHOOL, RELIGION AND GANGS

x

x

Rights and freedoms are skanky political fodder these days. So many are fighting for their rights over the rights of others, and there are no easy answers when rights conflict. One school district suspended a student for wearing rosary beads. Mother meets with school adminstrators.

My thoughts are as follows:

1. Students should have the right to dye their hair, pierce their eye brows and wear a religious symbol.
2. Schools have a duty to protect students from gangs, drugs bullying.
3. Students should not be able to use religion to disguise gang-related behavior.

So the question really becomes "are rosary beads being used by gang members in schools to circumvent the schools's anti-gang measures?" I am a teacher, but not in a high school. This is not an issue in my school, but I have no information on the use of rosary beads by gang members.

I do not believe we have enough information to make an informed decision. I did notice -- and this is significant -- that the student was allowed to wear the beads so long as he wore them under his shirt. Such a compromise would allow for a student to honor his family and still be in compliance with an anti-bully policy. He would not accept that compromise. I wonder why? The story never said.


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IT AIN'T OLIVE OIL

I submit to you, for your comedic pleasure, Jason's top ten list of BP oil excuses.

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MY DOS ARE BARKING

You know I am spent when I turned down the opportunity to see a comic book movie on opening night. I was supposed to meet one of my peeps, but I just couldn't do it -- my body is just too dang tired.

I am excited to see IRON MAN 2, but that will just have to wait until I recover.


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JEWELRY FOR MOTHER'S DAY, OF COURSE

What to do for Mother's Day? My daughter and I bought this necklace for my wife. It's not really something she would buy for herself, but we really loved it.

I still need to go shopping for my mother. It's hard to buy for someone who has so much. I don't pick jewelry for my mother. She has impeccable taste.


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CONSISTENT NAZI STANCE

I was watching the news the other day about the immigration law protests. In the background I saw a man carrying a sign depicting the Arizona governor wearing a Nazi uniform with the SS on her sleeve.

If you read my blog, you know how I feel about the Nazi rhetoric. While I'm not a fan of the law, I don't see a reason to call anyone Nazis. It is just nasty.


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A LOCAL DISCUSSION ABOUT RACE

A local opinion piece in the News-Leader has spurred all kinds of trouble.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100426/OPINIONS05/4260349/1006/OPINIONS/Snider++Americans+don+t+owe+slave+descendants+any+apologies

Rhetorica has a lot of information about the issue. Not only did the patriotic writer (as he is billed) refer to African Americans as "colored youth," but the editor has taken heat for not being an editor. Rhetorica does a much better job than I would.

http://rhetorica.net/

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THE WIFE WAS RIGHT: MO LOOKING TO PASS CRAZY IMMIGRATION LAW

As soon as the Arizona immigration law hit the news, Skinny Kitty commented that Missouri would jump on board. She was right, according to the News-Leader

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100429/BLOGS09/100429011/State-lawmaker-wants-Arizona-s-new-immigration-law-in-Missouri

Fortunately, it won't likely pass this year, but you wait. They will try it again.


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FREE COMIC BOOK DAY THIS SATURDAY

This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. Take your kids.


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A NAZI REVOLUTION (OF IGNORANCE)

We are entirely too enamored with the "Nazi" label these days, if you ask me. It's reared its ugly head once again with the crazy Arizona immigration law. Make no mistake, this law is more about getting rid of brown skins (who are taking over as the majority) than it is about being here legally.

As crazy as the law is, the folks who sponsored, wrote, lobbied, or voted for it are not Nazis. They may be a lot of things, but hey are not The SS.

Enough of the Nazi talk, already.


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SUCH A THING AS CARING TOO MUCH

This article sent to me by a Jack operative.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/27/moms.quit.job.college.admissions/index.html?hpt=C2

At first it seems that a Mom is great for giving up her fancy career for her kids. I'm not sure that it really benefits your kids when you quit your job to micromanage their child's high school and pre-college goings-on.

Seems to me, if your kid cannot write his own college entrance exam then he's not ready for college. Helicopter mom! This Is hovering gone awry.


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GENDER BIAS LAWSUIT

Walmart is in trouble again, this time with a lawsuit against them for gender bias. Here's the stat I found interesting:

70% of workforce are females
30% of management are women

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/26/walmart.suit/index.html?hpt=T1


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BLOGGING FROM THE IPAD

I am trying blogging from my iPad, in the chair, while watching TV. Right now it won't let me type in "compse" mode. I have click on "edit HTML" but that works just fine.

What I'm really hoping for is an app for blogger.

BETTER THAN BLOGGING

I really didn't anticipate engaging in the Facebook experience as much as I have. I find I use it more as a blogging replacement (micro-blogging) than as a personal social sharing. I find news stories and with the click of a button I can share that story on Facebook and give some kind of opinion, albeit a very small one. 

I wish news sites had a Blogger button I could click and automatically log into blogger, complete with a link provided. It doesn't work that way, but I think it would help the blogging community. The problem with Facebook is that there isn't room to write anything of any significance (unless you use their blogging took but who does that?)

Interestingly, I am using the blog format to discuss this. No, the irony isn't lost on me. I still love to write and that's not what Facebook is about. I just wish news outlets made posting to blogger easier, more intuitive ... more Mac-like.

NAZI ZOMBIES AND THE CIRCUS THAT IS POLITICS

There is plenty of talk in the news, on Facebook and in the streets about Nazis lately. A few people are touting signs with Obama sporting a Hitler mustachio, but I discount those folks as nuttier than a hoot owl. 

This post is about regular folks, normal people if you will, typically rational folks who are gumming up dialogue with references to Nazis, and history repeating itself, and other nonsense. I maintain it is all very uncivilized and does nothing to help us remember history and stay on the righteous path. 

I've stopped commenting about it on Facebook because very good people are irrationally linking Obama to Hitler. They aren't saying Obama is Hitler, and in fact they say the opposite. Then comes the "but ..." and the linkage begins. 

Just this morning I caught a news story on MSNBC about a new Harris poll asking Republicans if  Obama is like Hitler or the Anti-Christ. Couldn't find the MSNBC video, but I did find this Yahoo news story. The results?

57% Republicans (32% overall) = Obama is a Muslim

45% Republicans (25% overall) = Obama not born in the US and ineligible to be president

38% Republicans (20% overall) = Obama "doing many of the things Hitler did"

24% Republicans (14% overall) = Obama "may be the Anti-Christ"

According to Michelle Goldberg as paraphrased by Yahoo News, "Respondents without a college education are vastly more likely to believe such claims, while Americans with college degrees or better are less easily duped."

The poll surveyed 2,230 people.

Judas Priest! I did a quick Google search of Obama like Hitler and found more than I needed. Here are a few:

This Christian Church ask who is worse: Obama or Hitler.

Similarities Between Obama and Hitler

Obama or Hitler More Likely to Bring a Nation to Ruin?

Is Obama Like Hitler?

All of this reminds me a lot of the "love the sinner, hate the sin" mantra used to "love" homosexuals while still voting in favor of laws that make homosexuals unequal to us straight-screwing folk. All of this, every single bit, is because of fear. It's making normally reasonable human beings and turning them into Obama-Hitler crazies. Can't we just talk about the issues? Can't we debate the merits of health care without being batshit lunatics? 

Listen. I don't blindly follow the guy. He happens to hold many of the same views I have so I tend to agree with him. I am quite unhappy with the fact that we still have the Patriot Act. I think he should do a better job at communicating with Congress. 

This is turning into a circus, a really bad circus. Even John "Across the Aisle" McCain told the American people not to expect any GOP cooperation on legislation for the rest of the year. That is about the midterm elections (GOP jobs) and not the business of the American people. Remember, there are more than 200 Republican amendments in the health care reform act. Despite what they say, Republican ideas were included. You can forget that. It's now all about elections, even though we are months away from those.

It's all nuts. People need to calm down and read the articles that state explicitly how health care reform will impact us. There are some really great things in that legislation. We should do the people's business and not be on constant campaigning status. 

(EDITOR'S NOTE: I've always maintained, and continue to maintain, that there is no such thing as a Christian politician. That is to say, I don't think any of them are honest. I do support the ones that hold more of my views.)