Clipmarks | arifsali's Spong collection

Religion Begets Prejudice

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:45:57 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: ....
Today it is from this same part of America, the most overtly religious part, that most of the hostility toward equality in the pursuit of justice for gay and lesbian people comes. The question that should be asked is: What is there about religion in general and Christianity in particular that continues to fuel the prejudices of our day?

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Far from my religion tempering my prejudices, racial prejudice was actually instilled in me by my evangelical Christian church. I grew up in North Carolina in what we call the Bible Belt. My church taught me that segregation was the will of God and quoted the Bible to prove it. It taught me that men were by nature superior to woman and quoted the Bible to prove it. It taught me that it was o.k. to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and quoted the Bible to prove it. It taught me that homosexual persons were either mentally sick or morally depraved and, of course, quoted the Bible to prove it. So the idea that being religious might make one less prejudiced is a fantasy. It appears to make people more prejudiced, or at the least, not to confront their prejudices.

Tags: religion

Chaplains Serve Soldiers

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:52:46 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Given that attitude they feel attacked by “the devil” when prayer and Bible readings are outlawed in public schools, when active proselytizing is stopped at the Air Force Academy and now when prayers are requested to be removed from mandatory meals at the Naval Academy. Each of these initiatives is, however, not only correct, but each brings practice into conformity with the Constitution. I rejoice in this decision.

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Chaplains are in the military to serve the spiritual needs of our service men and women. They are not imposed on those who do not choose to avail themselves of their services. No one should have the religion of another imposed upon him or her involuntarily. Saying prayers at meals that are mandatory is an imposition. This would be especially true if the prayers assume a particular view of God, which all prayers seem to do. The ACLU is absolutely correct to make this request.

America was founded on the principle of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Yet in many parts of America the majority religious viewpoint of the community was imposed upon the public schools and its symbols displayed in public places. Majority religious traditions are delusional in their understanding of imperialism regarding religious truth. That is how we get claims of inerrant scriptures and infallible popes.

Tags: united states, army, religion

More A-Theists Than We Realize

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:59:37 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

The problem with this question is in the definition of an atheist. Literally, that word means “not to believe in a theistic deity.”

Theism is attached to the concept of an external, supernatural deity, who intervenes in human history to accomplish some divine purpose or to answer prayers. In the light of the work of Galileo, who made the theistic God above the sky homeless, and Isaac Newton, who rendered the theistic God to be unemployed, theism has come on bad days.

Theism, however, is not God; it is a human definition of God that is dated and inadequate. Professional theologians hardly ever talk about a theistic God, yet none of them are atheists in the sense of asserting that there is no God.

It is a pity that theological knowledge so seldom makes it down to the people in the pews. It seems from this Pew Survey, however, that it might be making it in the ranks of the atheists.

Former Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Newark

Faith a Symptom or a Treatment?

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:29:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

To the degree that our faith is an expression of our wholeness, then faith can help our health. But faith for many is a neurotic attempt to hide from reality, or to lessen life’s fears and anxieties. Then it is a symptom of sickness not health and may well reveal itself somatically.

Faith is something one lives, not something one says or something one does. If that distinction is not grasped then much of it is nonsense.

John Shelby Spong

Tags: faith

Spong: Spitzer's Compulsive Behavior and Ours

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:09:42 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: so deep in western civilization which has been fed so constantly by the Christian faith? Of course! Eliot Spitzer is simply the latest example of a rampant sexism that treats women as objects who are less than human. People will quickly forget Governor Spitzer and his high priced prostitute will not even be a footnote in history. I do wish we could some day realize that humanity is fully expressed in both males and females.

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

My first observation about the Eliot Spitzer affair is that compulsive sexual activity is a human disease like compulsive gambling or compulsive drinking. It should be treated psychologically, but human beings seem to enjoy making moral judgments, especially when compulsive behavior appears in the political arena. Watching the mighty fall is viewed as a popular sport.

Second, the Eliot Spitzer situation says that in this day of electronic eavesdropping behavior that once was private now quickly and easily becomes public. In 950 B.C. King Solomon, a powerful king, had a thousand wives. Is that much different? Presidents, including Thomas Jefferson, William McKinley, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Jack Kennedy and Bill Clinton have all participated in illicit sexual relationships. Elliot Spitzer is no different.

Is it admirable? No! Does it make him a bad governor? No!

Does this behavior among powerful male figures have anything to do with sexism that is

Tags: spong, spitzer

Church Must Change or Die

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:47:11 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: The traditional church always fights every new intellectual insight, making it difficult for educated people not to stray. Recall the fate of Galileo in the 17th Century. Observe how the church still fights Darwin with such silly things as intelligent design. Look at the present debate in the church over homosexuality in which people use a definition of homosexuality that is no longer saluted anywhere in scientific or medical circles upon which to justify their prejudice. When knowledge collides with traditional faith change is inevitable. I welcome it and if the church cannot engage this intellectually driven change, then it probably should die.

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

I think the penchant to change religious affiliations in the United States has to do first with the fact that we have become a mobile society and, second, with the economic and educational achievements that drive mobility.

Traditional religious forms, whether they are Protestant Evangelical Fundamentalism or
Conservative Catholicism are particularly strong among people who do not stray far from family roots, geographically or emotionally.

I do not, therefore, think that it is proper to characterize this transition as either good or bad for American religion. It simply is a fact of life. Religion in this country has always combined tribal thinking with cultural upheaval and social amalgamations.

By tribal thinking I refer to the fact that the ancestors of most Roman Catholic Americans come out of Ireland, Italy and Southern and Eastern Europe. The ancestors of Presbyterians come primarily out of Scotland.

The ancestors of Episcopalians come out of England

Tags: christianity, spong

Fervor Can Move Us or Manipulate Us

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:48:54 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: president with no vision of his or her own, nor do I want a president who will not listen to the will of the people and seek to be in dialogue with them. In that way fervor and passion will serve the nation.

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Obama does elicit fervor. Is fervor somehow considered to be a mark of religion? Perhaps it is for some, but fervor alone is not necessarily an asset. Billy Graham elicits fervor. So did Adolf Hitler. The issue is whether the fervor leads the candidate and the nation in the right direction.

Some presidents seek to reflect the point of view on issues they discover in focus groups. Lyndon Johnson was famous for that. Some are ideologically oriented and try to sell the people on following their lead in moving the country in their direction. Ronald Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt were both successful presidents in doing just that, even though on opposite sides of the ideological fence. Others seek to impose their own ideological perspective on the nation when they have no mandate to do so. The results are usually destructive. George W. Bush is the most recent illustration of that.

A politician’s vision must always be in dialogue with the people that politician hopes to lead.

I do not want a

Question Faith? Fear Not

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:44:44 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

There is a vast difference between the experience of God and the explanation of that experience. God cannot be captured in human words, but human concepts of God can be.

Those concepts are, however, always time warped and time bound as all things are when reduced to words. If one does not question, doubt and challenge his or her own faith assertions and creedal affirmations, then one becomes an idolater. God becomes little more than our own creation.

The Bible is a human explanation of the God experience, first of the Jews, then of the Christians. The Bible is, therefore, not the “Word of God” in any literal sense. It is a human creation. So are the creeds, doctrines, dogmas and traditions of the Christian Church. The idea that anyone would suggest that it is inappropriate to question these human concepts lies somewhere between the ridiculous and the absurd.

Only people and institutions fearful of the adequacy of their version of truth would suggest otherwise.