Puppetry of the Mind

As the U.S. election nears it feels like the tax-exempt institutions (i.e. churches) start to tighten their grip on the oars of the congregation boat, steering via overt politicking of their own. Through careful use of language, the Church gingerly ties up how a person should think in a neat little package, avoiding certain watchwords so as not to violate their tax-exempt status. When I was a Catholic, during election season, I can recall leaving the church and being handed a little booklet called How To Vote Catholic. I remember being appalled. I still am.

This booklet can be found here: http://www.catholicity.com/vote/

If you look under the topic of Religious Liberty the following quote is made:

States that enforce secularism in social services and education are violating religious liberty.

Pardon me, but I believe the opposite to be true. A state that enforces secularism (lack of religious preference) in public services such as education are actually protecting and preserving EVERY person's right to freedom of religion, which should be practiced on the private front, not the public front. You cannot teach Creationism in a public school as it alienates all other religions except Christianism. Yes, I said Christianism. Next to religious freedom, the separation of Church and State is one of the greatest gifts this country was given. This bullet point ridiculously and immediately follows another quote under Religious Liberty in this little militant booklet:

"This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that . . . no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits" (Dignitatis Humanae, 2).

Wait a minute. Doesn't one statement directly contradict the other?

MORE CONTRADICTION:

The Death Penalty: The Church teaches that the death penalty is acceptable in principle but should be avoided in practice.

How exactly do you teach that the death penalty is acceptable in principle? In the same vein of logic, doesn't the Church teach that if a man lusts for a woman in his heart he has already committed adultery?

Abortion: Abortion is the dominant political issue. Being pro-abortion disqualifies a candidate from a Catholic vote.

This is the wedge that the church uses to swing otherwise smart people to vote GOP. By stating that abortion is the dominant issue, the Church might as well admit that life loses value once outside the womb. This is obvious in their principle acceptance of The Death Penalty as well as a vague and hypocritical stance on War:

Just war is waged within defined moral boundaries in regard to its targets, goals, and outcomes.

The first two words are an oxymoron. There is no such thing. There is never an exhaust in peaceful approaches. Honesty, is that how you view God? That he would give up in His peaceful approaches to getting people to love Him, throw up his hands and declare war. I don't think so.

If I were able to talk to any Catholic, Christian, Non-Christian, etc. who is unsure of who to vote for this election year I would simply say to them: What does your heart tell you to do? What is right in your own independent educated adult mind? Are you too institutionalized to know - or do you feel guilt for wanting to vote one way, but because The Church tells you to differently you feel weird about it?

Listen, God is bigger than the Church (which is technically just a bunch of people). And God takes precedence as the one who created you. You are not a Frankenstein monster the Vatican sewed together. You don't have to answer to anyone but God. You are God's before you are the Church's. He instilled in you a mind to think and a right to decide for yourself. That is the beauty of being free. With His love comes freedom. When you are at the polls do you feel a disagreeable Church pointing a gun at your temple? I hope not. I hope you will free yourself from those guilt-laden bureaucratic shackles.

Good luck, Voter, think for yourself and may God be with you.

Like A Virgin

At the farmers market in Paris I went up to the cart of lovely looking pears and as I reached for one, my husband gasped "No, no - don't touch them, here you must only point at the one you want. You aren't supposed to pick them up. It's a faux pas to do that."

"Oh, ok." So I pointed to a glistening pear that looked nice and ripe. The man behind the cart put it in a bag for me and we were on our way. At Luxembourg Gardens we sat to down to eat our freshly bought fare.

I pulled out the lovely green pear, turned it over, and found on the side I couldn't see or touch a nice darkened soft rotten spot.

Fabulous.

In the following article, chastity (somehow the word "purity" is used intermittently with "chastity" - honestly, I can't really make the connection - more on that later) with relation to girls is that pedestal title which is being overseen or managed by their fathers. There are "Purity Balls" which are ceremonies held as a type of father-daughter bonding time where the girls sign a covenant, promising to be chaste before marriage, and wherein the fathers also sign and promise to make sure their daughters remain chaste before marriage.

Hmmm. Control much?

I see this simply as a method to control women within militant religious confines. I think it is kind of sick, really. A pre-teen is obviously not at the age of consent to have sex, BUT also not yet equipped to make the PROMISE not to have sex or even KISS before marriage. I think it is an oppressionist regime that will focus on keeping girls virgins and not mention one iota of a boy's virginity. What of the mother's involvement?

In taking this farce a step further, these girls have been disillusioned into thinking that they should not even kiss a boy before marriage. I take the following quote from this article:

“Once I’ve found a man, I think I might want to get to know him a little better,” she said. “I’ll take him to my dad for inspection and he’ll spend a lot of time with my dad, then maybe I’ll do group-dating with friends and go out to dinner with our parents. If girls don’t have a relationship with their fathers, they’ll turn to other males, and that will often end in heartbreak and anguish.”

What? Take him to your dad for inspection?! My God, what about what YOU THINK? Don't you have minds of your own? The whole father-daughter relationships in these cases is wrought with weird controlling, even pseudo-sexual undertones, for me.

History and nature has taught that it is kind of a teenage daughter's job - to break further away from the parents, to rebel a little and to find her own way. If a girl is to know what she wants, she must test the waters. I think a girl can "shop around" to know what she wants and not go completely crazy. No sex and she's a naive girl with no experience, no information, nothing to compare to and possibly, fear. Too much sex and she's considered a whore. I think there is a relatively safe middle ground here that can achieved.

A woman's sexuality is an important part of a woman's life. To suppress the growth of that sexuality for the sole purpose of entering into an institutional arrangement for the sake of holding title of "the first and only" is not only a dangerous and naive stance to take for the woman because she doesn't know what she is doing and has nothing to compare to, but she is settling. She will settle into a realm of "what if's" and will be sorely disappointed in the end. A controlling man would not want his wife to know what it is like to kiss other men that came before him, because that would empower her with knowledge. With experience. With the ability to compare.

I think sex is but one of many steps on the path up the Relationship Mountain. Sex, in the eyes of these militant folk, IS the mountain. It is an unhealthy view to think that sex is the holy of holies because in their physical want to HAVE sex, these girls will marry the first guy who will wait a little bit for them. Not necessarily the RIGHT guy. They will suppress their biological urges for the sake of men - their fathers, their future husbands - but without the reciprocal rules for the men to follow. Gee, that's rather unfair.

While I don't get the staying-a-virgin-before-marriage thing, I REALLY don't get the not kissing a guy before marriage. A kiss is a beautiful thing that SHOULD be experienced by a teenage girl. It is part of the rite of passage in a girl's life: to remember your first kiss, to recall the humorous moments of a bad kiss, etc.

As a feminist, in this age of disease, of course it is important to be vigilant about who EITHER sex chooses to sleep with. I don't think it is a tool for usury or should be a flippant action devoid of true feelings, however, I think it is a natural act and that not all people are compatible and find out in the course of ...intercourse. Just as I think living together is necessary to find out if the two people in question CAN live with each other. As a precursor to marriage, these things need to be found out. Statistically, the majority of people who have not lived with each other before marriage are doomed to failure.

In this article, the author writes:

I couldn’t help suggesting to one trio of sisters, aged nine, 13 and 17, that they might need to kiss a lot of frogs before they found their handsome prince – but such remarks merely produced frowns. One of them spelt out the word “adultery” silently on her fingers and informed me that it was the core of the seventh commandment.

I think to kiss a few boys before finding one's Prince Charming can hardly be construed as "adultery" in any sense of the word, nor is there evidence that it will lead to adultery in the future. So what will happen if you only pick and point before buying - chances are really good that they will turn out to be rotten fruit.

If I were to have married the first guy I kissed, I guarantee I would be nothing short of miserable. If I were to have married the first guy I slept with, I guarantee I would be nothing short of miserable. Before our engagement, my husband and I agreed that the "asking for permission" is nothing short of calling me a possession owned by my father, so we skipped that little tradition which would have insulted my womanhood. Heck, I kept my last name in partial defiance of being considered a "patriarchal possession". Purity? I think I have a pure heart. I try to be pure of mind and thought. I am pure in my kindness and consideration to others. I am pure in my love for God and am pure in my belief that He loves me back. Virgin or not.

I think the biblical view of women remaining virgins is a cultural and era-driven idea. There are no dowries to be had for a virgin in 2008. The idea of purity should be properly used to describe one's spirituality and how they treat others and the world. A girl can be a virgin who has never kissed...and be the bitchiest, conniving devil the world has seen. So, where's the purity in that?

A virgin army proclaiming the thrill of the chaste: The American ‘purity movement’ is growing fast. Meets the girls who won’t even kiss before marriage and their highly protective fathers

Jane Treays - September 21, 2008 – Times Online - It would be a mistake to draw hasty conclusions from Lauren Wilson’s appearance. This is a woman who tosses her long, glossy hair as she speaks and bats her long eyelashes – even at me. A glamourpuss who admits, with a coy smile, that she is actually a bit of an icon to her peers. But this poised 22-year-old is no small-town seductress. In Colorado Springs, a city in a very religious corner of the American Midwest, she is admired principally for her virtue: not only was she a virgin when she married her boyfriend Brett, but she had never even kissed him – a deed accomplished for the first time in front of a cheering congregation. “There was something so special to know that we’d waited,” she told me. “I mean, a kiss awakens everything, and all of a sudden everything within you just wants to respond. We have no regrets. ” Young women like Lauren are no great rarity in the United States these days. In fact, one in six girls aged between 12 and 18 is estimated to have taken a “purity” pledge. Some wear a silver ring to signal their intention to remain chaste, but others take the concept much further, vowing to be pure in all aspects of their behaviour. Lauren’s sister Khrystian, a 21-year-old musician with long blonde hair, explained: “Purity for me is purity of the mind, purity of speech. It’s what I spend my time doing: emotional purity in the heart. It’s a complete wholeness. I have chosen a higher standard for my life.” The sheer numbers in the purity movement are making these aspirations more than a pipe dream: if the people you know share your deep-seated beliefs, then you’re less likely to succumb to temptations. They even have their own teen idols – such as the Jonas Brothers, the pop band composed of three virginal brothers, who were so rashly mocked by the British comedian Rus-sell Brand at the MTV awards. And there are plenty of ordinary teenage boys and young men who are also prepared to wait. In these circles, those who fall pregnant before marriage can be all but ostracised. One young woman I spoke to – a former beauty queen – got pregnant when she was 19. “The guilt was awful. Mum cried, I cried, my dad started to cry – that’s hard,” said Jessica, her eyes filling with tears eight years after the event. “Ever since then, my mom treats me as a lesser person. She still doesn’t think I’m capable of making my own decisions.” Jessica, who miscarried her baby, now lives “in sin” with a boyfriend; she is 27, but her parents refuse to see him and have told her “he can go to hell”. One can only imagine what the good people of Colorado Springs think of Bristol Palin, the pregnant 17-year-old daughter of John McCain’s running mate – but their sympathy will definitely be with the girl’s parents. Even the purity movement’s rituals – I witnessed one father giving solemn blessings to five daughters in turn – hark back to another age. I’d gone to Colorado Springs in May for Channel 4 to film a group of girls, one of them aged just five, as they prepared for the annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball at the Broad-moor hotel. This ball is considered the apogee of the purity movement. Dressed in elegant gowns, the girls arrived with their dates – their fathers. Then, to the accompaniment of Hollywood film scores, they gathered round a large wooden cross to pledge their troth to remain pure. Taking a leading role was Randy Wilson, the father of Lauren and Khrystian, who believes that the key to a girl’s purity – and future happiness – lies in the quality of her relationship with her dad. As a father of five girls ranging from five to 22, he reckons he knows a thing or two about raising women. “There is a core question that women have in their being, and that is: ‘Am I beauti-ful? Am I worthy of being pursued?’ ” he explained. “It must be enforced by the father, the man in their life. If they do not get that reinforced by the father, they will go outside the home to get the answer to that question.” It was Randy and his wife, Lisa, who came up with the idea of the ball – now in its ninth year and attended by about 130 girls. Mothers are also invited, but often don’t come, and there is usually a smattering of brothers. A three-course dinner, without alcohol, is followed by the signing of a covenant: each dad intones: “I choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity.” Typical of the fathers was Ken Lane, a purity devotee who invited me to his white-carpeted home and introduced me to his daughter Hannah, 11. “It sounds unrealistic in our day and age,” he acknowledged. “It’s not the exact path I went down personally – but if it can work, how cool would it be to say that I kissed but one man in my life? Why not shoot for the fairy tale?” Hannah shifted slightly under her father’s gaze when I asked her about dating. “Once I’ve found a man, I think I might want to get to know him a little better,” she said. “I’ll take him to my dad for inspec- tion and he’ll spend a lot of time with my dad, then maybe I’ll do group-dating with friends and go out to dinner with our parents. If girls don’t have a relationship with their fathers, they’ll turn to other males, and that will often end in heartbreak and anguish.” I couldn’t help suggesting to one trio of sisters, aged nine, 13 and 17, that they might need to kiss a lot of frogs before they found their handsome prince – but such remarks merely produced frowns. One of them spelt out the word “adultery” silently on her fingers and informed me that it was the core of the seventh commandment. I asked another girl what she would do if she didn’t like the way her husband kissed her at the altar. She looked thoughtful, then brightened. “I probably would – he’ll probably take care of that one. He’ll probably kiss really good. I hope.” During my 10 days in Colorado Springs, I couldn’t help but register the sweetness of the girls, the complete lack of teenage truculence. There’s no straining at the parental leash, no desire to escape and experiment; they are, in short, a delight. Jane Austen is their cultural heroine, with films such as Sense and Sensibility endorsed as an ideal family-viewing choice. Everywhere I turned, I found sentimentality and scant curiosity about the world. The innocence of the parents was more alarming. An army doctor, who had two daughters on his arm, told me that the HIV virus was so powerful, it could penetrate a con- dom. I said the British government had based its entire antiAids ad campaign on the assumption it couldn’t. A few days later, after doing some research on the internet, he rang to say he’d been wrong. To cynical Brits, the intensity of the relationship between the girls and their fathers can be unsettling. It is too trite, however, to label such relationships quasi-incestuous: these fathers are motivated wholly by a desire to remain a strong, controlling influence in their daughters’ lives. For now, the purity movement is too young for anyone to assess whether it leads to happier marriages or fewer divorces. Courtships tend to be quick. Young men are vet- ted by the fathers, and many suitors seek permission to marry within weeks. They may be madly in love – but they may also be suffering from extreme sexual frustration. Six weeks after the Father-Daugh- ter Purity Ball, Randy e-mailed me to say that Khrystian had just become engaged to a Captain Chad Lewis. She will have her first kiss in December on her wedding day.

The Optimist Creed

I would like to share the following with everyone who is feeling down, have lost faith - in people, the government, or who have encountered problems within the current economic catastrophes that have plagued the U.S. markets (any Lehman Bros. employees?).

My mom sent this to me when I was down and I put it on my office desk. Even though it is just a general list of platitudes, if anyone gets anything out of it, it will have been worth posting.

Chin up, kid.

The Optimist Creed

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own..
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the great achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Choose Your Own Adventure?

How do you reconcile choosing to believe one metaphor over another? How can context, timeframe and culture within the bible ever be overlooked when deciding what the biblical message is?

I think the Catholic Church, with its spotty ‘pick & choose’ approach to accepting allegories and metaphors in the Bible needs a good overhaul when it comes to context, rituals, timeframes, meanings and how these messages apply to people TODAY.

I think it’s great that evolution is accepted in Catholicism (see article below) and that it has the ability to strengthen rather than negate one’s faith. However, how can (many Catholics) think that God actually flooded the entire earth in the story of Noah’s Ark?

Biblical context WOULD note that the whole earth appeared flooded if witnesses of the time stood and looked around and saw nothing but water. BUT, not having yet explored the entire earth nor having had a walkee talkee to get a status update of flood waters from correspondents stationed across the globe, I think it is safe to say that this story is one of MOST in the bible that is also a metaphor; the flood was most likely regional, not global.

At what point is it ok to “pick and choose” to accept certain biblical metaphors over others? Or to declare that (among issues such as gender equality, etc.) that being homosexual is an outright sin against God without taking into consideration the context, timeframe, culture and meaning?

I refer back to an earlier blog I posted. Daniel Karslake's documentary For The Bible Tells Me So is a film everyone needs to see. It addresses the misconception about homosexuals and the origins of their oppression. http://craftingtheschism.blogspot.com/2008/04/for-bible-tells-me-so.html

Biblical literalism is a relatively new concept that has damaged and hurt so many, especially with the idea that homosexuality is an “abomination”.

Reverend Dr. Laurence C. Keene, of Disciples of Christ, puts it best in the aforementioned film:

"When the term abomination is used in the Hebrew Bible it’s always used to address a ritual wrong, it never is used to refer to something innately immoral. Eating pork was not innately immoral for a Jew, but it was an abomination because it was a violation of a ritual requirement." The film points out here, too, that it is also an abomination to eat shrimp, rabbit and plant two different seeds in the same hole.

Context and history is key: Leviticus condemns men lying with men but also the eating of shrimp and the simultaneous wearing of linen and wool. Modern evangelicals use the Genesis tale of Sodom and Gomorrah as a ban against same-sex carousing, ignoring 500 years of scholarship that interprets it as a cautionary tale of inhospitable hosts. Says Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the film, "The richness of the Bible is that we don't take it as literally so."

So, while articles appear about how “advanced” the Catholic Church is, it is one institution that is still way, WAY behind in terms of recognizing the obvious such as gender equality, women as priests vs. women not being priests back in the day, compassionate acceptance of homosexuals, etc.

The Church hoards the dangerous tendency to pick and choose a message from an ancient page of gray and display it in black and white.

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Vatican: Guess what, Darwin? Evolution is OK
Catholic Church says theory of evolution is compatible with the Bible

By Philip Pullella - Reuters

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said on Tuesday the theory of evolution was compatible with the Bible but planned no posthumous apology to Charles Darwin for the cold reception it gave him 150 years ago. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican's culture minister, was speaking at the announcement of a Rome conference of scientists, theologians and philosophers to be held next March marking the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's "The Origin of Species." Christian churches were long hostile to Darwin because his theory conflicted with the literal biblical account of creation. Earlier this week, a leading Anglican churchman, Rev. Malcolm Brown, said the Church of England owed Darwin an apology for the way his ideas were received by Anglicans in Britain. Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans in 1950 and Pope John Paul reiterated that in 1996. But Ravasi said the Vatican had no intention of apologizing for earlier negative views. "Maybe we should abandon the idea of issuing apologies as if history was a court eternally in session," he said, adding that Darwin's theories were "never condemned by the Catholic Church nor was his book ever banned." Creationism is the belief that God created the world in six days as described in the Bible. The Catholic Church does not read the Genesis account of creation literally, saying it is an allegory for the way God created the world. Some other Christians, mostly conservative Protestants in the United States, read Genesis literally and object to evolution being taught in biology class in public high schools. Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for the U.S. vice presidency, said in 2006 that she supported teaching both creationism and evolution in schools but has subsequently said creationism does not have to be part of curriculum. The Catholic Church teaches "theistic evolution," a stand that accepts evolution as a scientific theory and sees no reason why God could not have used a natural evolutionary process in the forming of the human species. It objects to using evolution as the basis for an atheist philosophy that denies God's existence or any divine role in creation. It also objects to using Genesis as a scientific text. As Ravasi put it, creationism belongs to the "strictly theological sphere" and could not be used "ideologically in science." Professor Philip Sloan of Notre Dame University, which is jointly holding next year's conference with Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, said the gathering would be an important contribution to explaining the Catholic stand on evolution. "In the United States, and now elsewhere, we have an ongoing public debate over evolution that has social, political and religious dimensions," he said. "Most of this debate has been taking place without a strong Catholic theological presence, and the discussion has suffered accordingly," he said. Pope Benedict discussed these issues with his former doctoral students at their annual meeting in 2006. In a speech in Paris last week, he spoke out against biblical literalism.

Talking A Good Game

I believe people in power who preach need to set a strong example. Actions speak louder than words. Fark.com put it best with regards to the article entitled 'False Idols' that follows:

Pope Benedict, leader of the Catholic church, which has a net worth estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars, is upset that the world bows to the false idols of money and power.

Imagine how many starving or malnourished children would benefit from the proceeds of selling just one priceless painting that lines the gilded halls of the Vatican. Just one.

--------------------------
FALSE IDOLS

LOURDES, France (Reuters) September 13, 2008 - At mass on Saturday morning in Paris, the pope told more than a quarter of a million people that the modern world had turned money, possessions and power into idols as false as the gold and silver statues worshipped by the pagans of antiquity. "Has not our modern world created its own idols?" he said. "Has it not imitated, perhaps inadvertently, the pagans of antiquity, by diverting man from his true end, from the joy of living eternally with God," he said in fluent French, wearing gold, white and red vestments. Benedict, who arrived in France on Friday, celebrated the mass at Les Invalides, a complex of military buildings begun by King Louis XIV in the 17th century that houses the sarcophagus of Napoleon Bonaparte. In his homily, he pursued a theme dear to him: the need to inject lasting spiritual and religious values into a modern society often enamored of things material and fleeting. He quoted the writings of St Paul, saying "Money is the root of all evil", and added in his own words: "Have not money, the thirst for possessions, for power and even for knowledge diverted man from his true destiny?" Since he arrived on Friday, the pope has been encouraging Catholics to speak out confidently in a country where "laicite", the separation of church and state that often relegates faith to the private sphere, is part of the national psyche. The once powerful French church struggles with a shortage of priests and Sunday mass attendance is below 10 percent. But religion has re-emerged as a factor in public life, especially because of the growth of Islam, and French Catholics have increasingly spoken out on social issues.

Words & Image

Spirituality does not need a house to validate itself in. Look inside for the real truth -- it is subjective, so lower your voice and strengthen your argument.

-- Collins


Photo by Pam McNabb, Morris, IL

Let's Put Our Thinking Caps On, Voters

"When Fascism comes to America it will come wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."

– Sinclair Lewis

Word of the Day

A nihilist is a man who judges of the world as it is that it ought NOT to be, and of the world as it ought to be that it does not exist. According to this view, our existence (action, suffering, willing, feeling) has no meaning: the pathos of 'in vain' is the nihilists' pathos — at the same time, as pathos, an inconsistency on the part of the nihilists.

– Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, section 585, translated by Walter Kaufmann

Word of the day: Anti-Nihilism.

Given the following definition, I think I would call myself the anti-nihilist.

Independent of any type of religious or spiritual implications, I think the interconnectivity and patterns that exist in the world, in the universe, should be indicative of a greater purpose altogether.

This is a weak example, but grass on the earth serves several purposes; one being that it feeds cows, which feed people, people use it for energy and then, in turn, deposit those materials back to the earth to grow more grass. There is not a group mentioned here that, at one point, does not contribute and benefit from the other items in this symbiosis.

It is an elementary school example, but most theories and dissertations on Purpose are probably not as complex as many overly moody and introspective academics and philosophers like to think and get depressed about.

Nature as a whole is a perfectly well-oiled machine without superfluous parts or unnecessary processes. That goes for humans and their existence, too. I think its impossible to follow the 'in vain' mantra because nothing that has happened to date appears to be in vain. Those who claim something is done /exists in vain MUST stick around to watch a situation or item come to fruition to serve its purpose...though it might be decades or lifetimes away.

Anyone can glance at a one-minute scenario and say it was 'in vain' and then walk away. But saying it does not make it true, especially, after an hour's time, perhaps, when something else is triggered by a so-called 'in vain' instance. Even the idea of nihilism has provided me with a purpose of writing about it, so in that way is it a self-destructing theory?

I think claiming anything to be 'in vain' is a fruitless and near-sighted supposition full of immaturity and lacking the innate hope the majority of humans are naturally equipped with.

I blame the gag gift image of Nihilist mints that got me going on this topic. A strange little box of delicious purpose for my writing topic today.

Mission Accomplished

The people who suffer from Adam's sin are the same people who benefit from Christ's atonement: EVERYONE.

I find it pretty clear (biblically and in the way of common sense) that Christians are not an elite group who alone will be saved - they like to think they are - but if Jesus died on the cross JUST for Christians, well, it wasn't a 100% successful mission, was it? Statistically - today - it would be roughly 33%, which is failing.

So, I would think anyone who believes that God is Love MUST believe also in the grace of bringing ALL peoples home.

STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN of TOP 19 WORLD RELIGIONS by POPULATION

Source: ecentrify.com

You Insult My Intelligence, Madam

Ok. So I doctored the photo a little bit. It's not too far off, though.

First of all, I am insulted by McCain for choosing Sarah Palin for the VP slot as he feels it is in lieu of Hillary's absence that he will gain women voters because she is a woman. The GOP won't say it, but its politics, folks, they will only say what you want to hear, not their true agendas. This is why she was picked. It is the strategy of the party.

Also, to demonstrate that 47-year-old Barack Obama is too inexperienced to be president, McCain chooses 44-year old first-term governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. WTF?

Her stance is Pro-Life and Pro-War....not possible. These two labels are in direct conflict with one another. That's my first problem. You cannot claim to be Pro-Life if you are ok with the deaths of innocent civilians as "collateral damage" in an unjust war.

While I do agree that the pregnancy of Palin's 17-year old daughter is irrelevant to the main issues I have to ask....Abstinence Only Education? Are you serious? She wanted to cut funding for sex education in Alaskan schools. ANY funding cuts of education PERIOD are dangerous. So, instead of teaching the facts about sex, the consequences about sex, or the reasons why one feels the need to have sex, her idea is just to put a lock on the chastity belt. That worked out real well for her daughter. Any family that suppresses "the talk" in realistic terms is doing a disservice to their child. You could see that situation coming a mile away. Also, her daughter, by law, was statuatorily raped.

In a 2006 gubernatorial debate, the soon-to-be governor of Alaska Sarah Palin said of evolution and creation education, "Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of education. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both."

No. The separation of Church and State is in place for a reason. You want to have Creationism taught alongside evolution, then you also have to teach the origins from ALL OTHER religious perspectives. Science class has ceased to be science class and is now "comparative religion" class. A public school system funded by taxpayers who are not necessarily Christian should not teach anything religious. That's why you have church and Sunday school classes.

As recently as last year Sarah Palin was also involved with the Alaskan Independence Party and support(s)(ed) their fringe-group long-shot stand to secede from the lower 48 states.

Logically, anyone who is for a division like this in any way, shape or form is unfit to rule over the whole U.S. I also read that she had also attended a Libertarian meeting. Hmmmm.

Offshore Drilling: She's ready to call out the brigade to get to work without considering major funding initiatives for alternative energy sources such as hydrogen, which is a readily renewable resource that won't damage the environments and oceans and can be put into place with proper funding and attention.

I'm not 100% sure what her views are on gay rights, but I'm betting my money that she is "anti".

And finally, she is against abortion even in the cases of RAPE and INCEST. Presuming she has never been raped and add in that she is a rabid evangelical, it is really easy for her to make this blanket statement from her ivory tower. I find it militant and anti-woman and anti-Christ, really, because it is a militant stand against her fellow woman's options following an act of violence upon which the woman is a VICTIM, not a willing participant. That's ridiculous!

I can count on one hand the number of women I know who have been raped. I would never wish a pregnancy on any one of them that resulted out of the violence they experienced and would put my arm around them and take care of them with compassion. No child deserves to be told they were a product of rape. NONE. No woman should have to live with the psychological, physical or spiritual burden and scarring of carrying full term a life that will remind her daily that she was raped. I love babies but babies need to be LOVED back. Fully. By two parents who love EACH OTHER. People like Sarah Palin think women who have abortions don't have a tough choice to make. Or shed tears over the choice. Or have remorse. She is a whitebred elitist who needs to take a walk through a woman's shelter in the Southside of Chicago when she is not selling airplanes on ebay and talk to those women. She is used to a small town and a big house. She needs to speak to the women who have been raped at Planned Parenthood, who have been victims of incest. She is so far removed from the realities of large urban environments that she is not able to make the best decisions on behalf of those demographics.

All women considering voting for the GOP should take a second hard look at her stances.

Sunday Afternoon Philosophia

I've found a couple of interesting questions / concepts in my spiritual readings. In The Evangelical Universalist by Gregory MacDonald, a cool concept is charted in favor of Restoration. This diagram shows the much-used pattern in the Bible; the major theme being that there is a point of contentment, an event of a fall and the eventual rise out of disgrace. Much like the mythical Phoenix that rises out of the ashes and much like the idea of reincarnation, the Bible, too, demonstrates in the above stories, as well as the story of the Prodigal Son, etc. A second chance (Restoration) is the result of grace and forgiveness.

I think that's pretty neat.

The second concept I came across in The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. A soul arrives in the afterlife and has an interesting conversation with his Spirit-Guide, who unsuccessfully attempts to get him to go to the mountains (Heaven). The following dialogue brings about the question: is Heaven customized to the individual's idea of Heaven?

Spirit Guide: Will you come with me to the mountains? It will hurt at first, until your feet are hardened. Reality is harsh to the feet of shadows. But will you come?

Soul: Well, that is a plan. I am perfectly ready to consider it. Of course, I should require some assurances...I should want a guarantee that you are taking me to a place where I shall find a wider sphere of usefulness - and scope for the talents that God has given me - an atmosphere of free inquiry --in short, all that one means by civilisation and - er- the spiritual life.

Spirit Guide: No, I can promise you none of these things. No sphere of usefulness: you are not needed there at all. No scope for your talents: only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of inquiry, for I will bring you to the land not of questions, but of answers, and you shall see the face of God.

Soul: Ah, but we must all interpret those beautiful words in our own way! For me there is no such thing as a final answer. The free wind of inquiry must always continue to blow through the mind, must it not? 'Prove all things'... to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.

Unity

A picture is worth a thousand words. This photo, courtesy of MSNBC.com is an extraordinary example of this:

Holley Camp, left, holds hands with Lekeisha Chestnut, both from Birmingham, Ala., as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

A Hero

My dad was drafted into the Army and served in the Vietnam war. His brigade had a Catholic priest chaplain named Fr. Angelo Liteky.

My dad said he held masses and was on hand for spiritual counseling. During an especially brutal cross-fire, Fr. Liteky risked his life over and over and saved 23 men, dragging them along the ground to the safety of an evacuation landing zone. He was the first and only priest ever awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award for bravery given.

After returning from the war he went through his own spiritual journey and epiphany, he left the priesthood and married an ex-nun, and went back to the name Charles Liteky. His views evolved and he became an activist, protesting flawed foreign policies, the corrupt business interests of the government and the government warquests. He actively protested the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia, an institution known for churning out assassins and whose graduates, critics say, are responsible for the massacre of peasants and human rights workers in Central America.

On 29 July1986, Charles Angelo Liteky renounced his Medal of Honor in protest over U.S. policies in Central America. He left his medal in a bag next to the war memorial in Washington with a note to President Reagan.

He served a year in prison for demonstrating at Ft. Benning.

“Liteky's road from Army hero to lifelong protester is not as complicated as it might seem. Whatever drove him to drag 23 men to safety during a fierce firefight in Bien Hoa province, he says, is probably what makes him now crusade against the Army training school, whose graduates, critics say, are responsible for the massacre of peasants and human rights workers in Central America.”

READ HIS FULL STORY HERE

What I love about this hero, is that he continued to evolve and think and was not afraid to change his thinking. He was a voice on behalf of the voiceless as Martin Luther King, Jr. was. His renouncing of the highest honor the government could give is a huge statement and I have an immense amount of respect for his humanitarian efforts and activism.

Below is a fantastic speech he delivered to the U.S. forces in Iraq in 2003.

[PHOTO: Captain Charles Angelo J. Liteky, Chaplain, 199th Light Infantry Brigade. Republic of Vietnam, 1969.]

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By Charlie Liteky
May 7, 2003

By way of introduction, my name is Charlie Liteky, a U.S. citizen, a Vietnam Veteran, and a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. However, I renounced the Medal of Honor on July 29,1986 in opposition to U.S foreign policy in Central America. What the U.S. was supporting in El Salvador and Nicaragua, namely the savagery and domination of the poor, reminded me of what I was a part of in Vietnam 15 years earlier.

I placed the medal at the apex of the Vietnam Memorial Wall into which are etched the names of 58 thousand young American men. In depth study of the Vietnam War revealed political and military liars insensitive to the value of human life, inclusive of their own countrymen. The biggest liar was the Commander in Chief of U.S. armed forces, President Lyndon Johnson, who lied to Congress about the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It was this lie that motivated Congress to vote the money for the war. As a veteran of an ill-fated war, in the waning years of my life, I’d like to share some reflections on my country’s attack on Iraq.

Once again, I find myself in protest of a U.S. military action that no court in the world will declare legal. The U.S. attack on the sovereign country of Iraq fails to meet any of the necessary provisions of a just war. Iraq on the other hand, met the most fundamental condition for a country to use military force against an adversary, namely the defense of its homeland against an unjust aggressor. But, because of the incredible superiority of the U.S. military, there was no possibility of a successful defense.

In its attack on Iraq, the U.S. violated the UN Charter, international law and universal standards of morality. This is borne out by the worldwide condemnation of the U.S. attack by mainstream religious denominations and spiritual leaders.

Claiming liberation of the Iraqi people as a just cause for a war that kills thousands of innocents is hypocrisy at its worst. If liberation of an oppressed people were the real motive behind the invasion of Iraq - why did the U.S. wait 25 years to act? Why did the U.S. refrain from condemning Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons in its war with Iran in the 80s? Why did the U.S. fail to prevent chemicals critical to the production of biological weapons from reaching Iraq? How is it that what we condemn today we approved yesterday?

Many Iraqi people rejoiced at the sight of their American/British liberators, but many more did not, because they had no legs to walk to the sites of celebration, no arms to wave in jubilation or they had no life left to celebrate. The sanitary military term for such people is “collateral damage.”

I first came to Iraq in November of 2002 in response to the bellicose words of war coming from the President of the U.S. and his staff. When I think of children, the most vulnerable of the innocents. In my imagination I could hear them crying, I could see the terror in their eyes and faces as they heard the planes overhead, followed by bombs exploding. I wanted to be with them to offer what small comfort I could.

This cartoon [of a sly, American eagle with its talons deeply planted in Iraqi earth] published in the Jordan Times on April 23, 2003 depicts what many Arab people believe is the U.S. motivation behind its attack on Iraq, namely, a deep-rooted, long-lasting presence. Recently, newspapers have reported that plans are underway to establish four military bases in Iraq.

What the cartoon does not include is the U.S. interest in and access to Iraq’s immense oil reserves. A two-time Medal of Honor recipient, General Smedley Butler, said that “War is a Racket” and that he spent his 33 year military career being a bodyguard for U.S. business interests. I submit that protecting U.S. business interests, sometimes referred to as “national interests” is still the primary mission of the U.S. military. Wartime profits go to a select few at the cost of many. Again to quote Gen. Smedley:

“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

This letter containing some of my reflections is not meant to cast blame for an attack on Iraq on U.S. military personnel. I’m sure you believe that what you are a part of is right and just. I once believed the same of my participation in the Vietnam War. I share my thoughts and conclusions as gifts of truth revealed to me through years of studying U.S. foreign policy.


Sincerely,

Charlie Liteky
Vietnam Veteran

PS: God be with you in your search for truth, your quest for justice, and your efforts to help a beautiful people.

A Public Service Announcement About Hell

I wanted to post a thought to send you into the weekend:

The following was taken directly from the Merciful Truth website. Please visit this great site if you have a chance. I may have used this before, but its worth completely bears repeating:

Nevertheless, truth will always withstand scrutiny, and it reveals depraved perversions within church traditions, which run contrary to God's deep love and perfection in his workings. They do not know the power of God. Not only is the very concept of a demonic house of terror unscriptural, abhorrent and outright sadistic, it solicits the lie that justice cannibalizes love. How many times will someone say "God is love, but he is also just" as though the two must be mutually exclusive? This shows what a mess the hell doctrine is.

"Hell" is neither a Hebrew or a Greek word (both Old and New Testaments were written in those languages), nor did it primarily indicate "a place of torment." Biblical translators actually derived it from a secular German word - spelled hel - meaning nothing more than concealed or covered. The concept of a demon regulated horror-house was indeed derived from that word, but it actually evolved from Teutonic mythology.

Not only is hell an ancient pagan tradition (not at all unique to Christianity), but the ancient Israelites did not understand death that way according to the Holy Scripture. This is why modern Bible translations are completely evicting that word from the Old Testament! Now, why would any Bible translation seek to remove a word unless it did not belong there in the first place? Because this disgusting fable, originated from a place other than God's Holy Word - yet was craftily slipped in by the dogma motivated church of ages past.

I would love to receive your comments about this topic. Have a great weekend!

Those Gleaming Moments

I found the article below and thought it would be a good way to end the week. I can clearly recall moments in my life that have been very spiritual, here is just one of them...

A year ago I had been in the midst of internal warfare as I was weighing the idea of leaving Catholicism after 30 years, based on the errors of the church - not accepting women as priests, women having no real role other than being a church layperson or being a breeder, the absolutist stances the church took which I disagreed with - on war, women's roles, gay rights, birth control, abortion, stem-cell research, etc. I had gone through the crying spells, sleepless nights, book after self-help book-reading and the doubts I had of breaking away from the church...and I prayed fervently for God to guide me.

I had found and downloaded some podcasts by Martin Zender, an outspoken bible scholar, and was listening to them on the 4:10 Metra train going home from work. I had heard many of these podcasts before this day, but that day as I "was seeking" something huge clicked.

The idea that God's unconditional love, by common sense definition, required nothing in return, not even belief - became clear. My wonderful epiphany also included the realization that God's love truly did mirror and exceed that of a loving parents' - that punishment would be temporary and rehabilitative, not eternal. That hell did not exist. That even the word 'hell' was not in the original bible manuscripts. I felt like my soul became lighter than air in that instant. I remember looking around at everyone and thinking how God loves them, too, and even if they do not believe, they are still His Children. It was like gaining new eyesight. I became humbled and understood the flaw Christians have of feeling elitist in the sense that "I believe, therefore I am saved". It dawned on me that no one can 'save themselves'. I really didn't have a right to judge anyone - because NOW I saw everyone as a family. Jesus already did that by dying on the cross. He didn't do it partially --he did it COMPLETELY. No one can take credit by any means for their own salvation. And even if one does not believe in this life - does not mean they will never believe. I felt so at peace by the end of that train ride that I knew it wasn't just certain hotbutton issues the church and I disagreed upon - I disgreed FUNDAMENTALLY and THEOLOGICALLY with their entire 'business model'. The decision was made. And even though I do not agree with Martin Zender's views in many respects and do not subscribe to many of his theories, he was the tool God used to pry the rusted lid off my soul. I've not been the same since...and I thank God for that gleaming spiritual moment.

[If any of you have any moments you would like to share - please post a comment.]

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Moments that define spirituality

(From "O, The Oprah Magazine," May 2008 - Oprah.com) -- A window opening. A glimpse of the ungraspable. A sudden surge of love ... or hope ... or awe. We asked artists, writers, thinkers, and doers to recall the flashes of understanding that took their breath away.

Elizabeth Lesser: Co-founder of the Omega Institute and author of "Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow"

I've been a spiritual seeker my whole life because I have been acutely aware of death my whole life. When I was a little kid, I lay in bed at night and wondered, 'Who will I be when I'm no longer me? Where will I go? Does it all just end?'

As I grew up, the fear of death was my closest companion. It encouraged me to find a spiritual teacher and help start Omega Institute 30 years ago; it made me become a midwife and had me sit with the ill and dying. It is with me still, as constant as my breath. Our friendship has given me an intense appreciation of life.

I've heard there is a Sufi tradition in which one bead is always missing from the prayer beads to signify the mystery of God's true name -- which is our true name, and the name we will discover, it is said, when we take our last breath.

When my friend Ellen took her last breath, a window opened in my mind for a brief moment. There, on the threshold of life and death, I thought I heard the Name, but before I could know for sure, the window closed, and I returned to the living. Every now and then, especially when I remember those last moments with Ellen, the window opens a crack again, and I hear the Name.

Elie Wiesel: President of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity and author of "Night"

Is it at all possible to live without a spiritual quest? Of course it is -- theoretically. Under the two totalitarian dictatorships that plagued the 20th century, Fascism and Communism, politics replaced spirituality. But lest we forget: Both collapsed.

Can one be spiritual without religious faith? One can. All one needs is to be open to someone else's concerns, fears, and hopes, and to make him or her feel less alone, less abandoned. God alone is alone. Human beings are not, must not be. It is my caring for the otherness of the other that determines my humanity. And my spirituality.

Cornel West, Ph.D.: Professor in the Center of African-American Studies, Princeton University, and author of "Democracy Matters"

The surgeon was rolling me into the operating room for a seven-hour procedure on an aggressive form of cancer that was in the last stage. He said, "I don't understand; how is your blood pressure normal?" I said, "I've made my peace."

My response to the cancer was that I was full of gratitude that I had been invited to the banquet of life for 48 years and experienced an abundance of blessings, especially in the form of family and friends. It just turned out that I've been spared for a while.

Noah Levine: Author of "Against the Stream"

When I was 17 years old, I realized, after waking up in a cell in a juvenile detention center -- again -- that I was the one who had gotten myself into the mess I was in. At that point, in 1988, I'd been drinking and getting high since I was 12, and there I was, looking at my third felony arrest, resigned to a life of incarceration.

It was after a failed suicide attempt that the moment of clarity, that spiritual experience happened: the breaking of denial and blaming everyone else for my problems. I couldn't blame this ignorant, oppressive world; it was how I was relating to this world.

So much of the suffering I was experiencing was about the past and the future, but that moment brought me into the present and was the beginning of my spiritual practice: meditation, prayer, and addressing my addiction. I was responsible. I was not a victim. I had created the situation, and I had the power to get out of it. I had hope.

Tobias Wolff: Author of "This Boy's Life"

It's hard for me to imagine coming to an understanding of spirituality in a single moment. Does it mean a politician competing with other politicians over who is more born-again? A novice taking her final vows? A Buddhist monk setting himself on fire to protest government oppression? Or could it refer to the determination of an immigrant couple to sacrifice their lives in grinding, minimum-wage work so that their children might have something better?

Perhaps the greatest problem with this word is the line it seems to imply between spirit and flesh, between some exalted, superior state and the experience of everyday life, when in fact they are all mixed up together. We define ourselves and our deepest values by the choices we make, day by day, hour by hour, over a lifetime.

Rabbi Harold S. Kushner: Author of "Overcoming Life's Disappointments"

I have a vivid memory of being about 10 years old and doing something I knew was wrong. My parents confronted me about it, and I admitted it, certain that I had just permanently destroyed any image they might have had of me as their ideal son.

To my immense relief, they forgave me and assured me of their love. That was my first encounter with the mysterious Force in the universe that impels people to forgive wrongdoing and to love even imperfect people.

Francesco Clemente: Artist

When I paint, there is no thought of "I" and "mine." There is no thought of gain or loss. There is no hope for immortality, but rather hope to reach a timeless place. If I could live as I paint and keep a sense of humor too, only then could I claim to know what spirituality is.

Diversions

With the business of having a church comes the marketing ploys that are used to draw in the attendees.

And this church's schtick could not have more distractions that take away from the actual reason for being there (to worship God). They replaced modest personal spirituality with dress-up-cowboy-circus time. Horses? Chewing tobacco? Country music using backwoods dialect?

I would recommend clearing out the unnecessary costumes, themed gimmickry, and animal sideshows and get back to basics - keeping all external elements as simple as possible will allow one to focus on the internal spiritual connection with God more steadily. That way, Western Wear Willy can stop worrying if Billy Bob Buckshot's cowboy boots look more shitkickin' than his.

This farce is a silly diversion from the simplicity of God's message. I know that God doesn't care what one wears to worship in, but, come on...they are dressing up for EACH OTHER, not Him.

It's basically a Ren Faire without the turkey legs.

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Where prayers come with a twang

Cowboy churches, with a Western feel and a country-music sound, multiply as they draw flocks from farms and ranches in rural Illinois and across the country

ChicagoTribune.com By E.A. Torrierol Tribune reporter 12:42 AM CDT, August 4, 2008

MT. VERNON, Ill.—Wearing a white cowboy hat and preaching atop his horse, Coby, Rev. Steve Hamson gives a modern-day meaning to "sermon on the mount." With a Bible in one hand and the reins of the horse in the other, Hamson strikes the fear of God in his parishioners—more than a dozen of them listening on horseback in a humid riding arena. The cowboys put their hats over their hearts when Hamson prays for those who are missing because they "had to do hay." Some men had wads of chewing tobacco in their cheeks, digesting Hamson's words while their horses made "brrrr" sounds and kicked their hooves. No one minds the equestrian outbursts or the chewing. This, after all, is cowboy church. Across rural America, thousands of evangelical Protestant worshipers gather in barns, buildings and beneath the stars to worship Western-style. As the beach is to born-again surfers, and the road is to Holy Ghost bikers, the range is the mission field to Christian cowboys and ranchers. At least 600 cowboy churches are scattered across the U.S., according to leaders in the movement and published accounts. In central and southern Illinois, an estimated two dozen congregations meet in barns and arenas, on the dusty trails and in churches—some decorated with Western memorabilia. Some evangelical Christians have questioned whether the churches only offer gimmicks and fail to provide a meaningful spiritual experience. But pastors and churchgoers said their services are divinely inspired. Like the suburban megachurches that beckon teenagers with gospel-themed rap and rock music, cowboy sanctuaries promote country-western worship while seeking to attract those who find traditional rural church settings unattractive. In a cowboy church, the music has a twang, the lyrics beckon men to mosey on home to Jesus, and 10-gallon hats are passed around for offerings. Preachers tell corny jokes. Worshipers whoop, holler and clap. The bands jam with banjos, mandolins, guitars, drums and sometimes a worn washboard. It's not unusual to be baptized in a horse trough. And the sermons usually last just a few minutes so as not to make the audience restless. "You don't want to scare 'em off," said Pastor Susie Deeters, who along with her husband, John, runs the Ranch House Cowboy Church in a converted Baptist church about 120 miles north of Mt. Vernon in De Land, near Champaign. "You want to give 'em just enough to hook 'em." Far from the big cities and suburbs—inquiries found no cowboy congregations in Chicago or its suburbs—cowboy churches are apparently a uniquely modern American phenomenon. In the Wild West days, most cowboys were Catholics from Mexico and Baptists from the Confederacy, historians say, but there is little historical evidence of traditional church gatherings. Cowboys usually were not atheists; they saw God in nature. But they were indifferent when it came to evangelical Christianity. "They were less Christ-centric and more aware of God's providence in their surroundings," said Ferenc M. Szasz, author of "Religion in the Modern American West." The modern-day cowboy church movement seems rooted more in entertainment than cowboy lore. One group—Cowboy Church International—was spawned out of the country music entertainment hotbed of Nashville in the 1990s by the sister of Johnny Cash. Today, crowds flock to such tourist areas as Branson, Mo., for foot-stomping worship from cowboy bands. Many in the audience have never saddled up in their lives but love country gospel and wearing Western garb. Another movement, though, grew out of a Baptist outreach to ranchers in Texas that spread like a wildfire, spawned megachurches and now even sends cowboy missionaries to Africa. Texas cowboy Baptists claim some 7,000 converts to Christ this decade. In Illinois this summer, cowboy services are being held at rodeos and county fairs, bull-riding events and trail rides in forests. As the cowboy churches gain publicity, some wonder about their Christian authenticity. The evangelical magazine Christianity Today asked in a blog in May: "Clearly something is going on here, but what?" Blog moderator Derek Keefe questioned whether the movement expanded or collapsed the Christian gospel message. "I'm definitely nervous about what appear to be 'tribal' markers that bind the movement," he wrote. But 160 miles south of Chicago at the First Christian Church in Farmer City, the octogenarian crowd at a recent Sunday night cowboy service seemed anything but cultist. After a Midwestern potluck, they clapped to country gospel and praised the Lord. About 11 years ago, one of the congregants from the town of 2,000 went to a cowboy church in Nashville and came back hooked. He helped convince the elders it would work as a Sunday night outreach. Since then, nearly a dozen cowboy churches grew out of the ministry, including a Gospel Opry outside Bloomington. A few years back, service leaders John and Susie Deeters were so smitten with the cowboy ministry that they quit their work in real estate and fashion, and literally took up a giant wooden cross on the rodeo circuit. They knew the Lord had led them like a horse to water when at one road show, a cowboy answered the prayer call dead drunk and left stone sober, the couple said. In recent years, they left the road and took over a rundown Baptist church about 7 miles south of Farmer City and outfitted it with Western memorabilia. The lights are in the shape of wagon wheels. The walls are adorned with ropes, lassos, cowboy hats and curtains with pictures of horses. Some 140 miles to the south, outside Mt. Vernon, parishioners arrived at church on a recent Thursday night towing trailers for their horses. Before the service, men and children rode in a dust-bowl arena while women gathered in a side room for Bible study centered on a Christian nutrition program. Jonathan Schnautz, a farmer and horse rider who attends weekly, churned peach ice cream in a wooden bucket for an after-church dessert. "The cowboy church works because we are people who like to ride and also worship the Lord," he said. "So it fits who we are. But I'm sure people up in the city sure must think it's weird." As the service began, riders circled behind Hamson while other worshipers sat in front of him on bleachers. Hamson asked for prayer requests. Singers performed from the bleachers and on horseback. Hamson acknowledged that preaching from a horse is a learned art. "You have to pay attention to the horse, and you can't hold notes," he said. "So you have to memorize most of what you want to say." Luckily on this night, the horses were on their best behavior. There were none of the equine mishaps that have befallen some services. After a closing prayer from the saddle, the congregation was dismissed. Folks rode off to the old cowboy ditty made famous by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. "Happy trails to you. Until we meet again."

God's Reset Button

I haven't blogged in awhile. It has been a chaotic few weeks. For the past several months my husband and I have struggled to complete the sale of our house, jumping problematic survey hurdles among other things even going so far as to get on anti-anxiety meds for the stress. We lived so far from work that we were spending 20 hours a week commuting. It got to be too much even though we loved the house.

This past week we finally closed and moved and the relief was overwhelming. My walk to work now is less than 10 minutes.

Being attached to the house we were leaving, I did cry. And cry hard. For both the sadness of leaving a great house and the relief that comes with overcoming an almost impossible feat. And it is always after I cry that I feel so tired and need to nap. I know I am not the only one who experiences this. I feel like this is God's way of pushing the re-boot button on me. From babyhood on, the need to sleep after a meltdown and be re-set is like a merciful and genius progression of events. I thank God for this neat little programming feature. I always wake up feeling better. Clearer.

Rock On, Girls!

Excommunication schmexcommunication. This ridiculous threat of exclusion was contrived by men, not God. God would never sneer at a woman who is so passionate about serving Him.

Excommunication has nothing to do with God...and everything do to with disobeying the papacy.

The Catholic Church has always said women cannot be priests because Jesus did not have female Apostles. Well, He might not have had them back in the day...but by God He has them NOW! And those who say they are not "worthy" to conduct mass are committing the sin of judging.

Evolve already, Church! If you do what you always have done, you get what you always have got. There's no room for growth. No room for improvement. What doesn't bend --breaks.

Traditional Catholics view the Bible as the end of the conversation...however, I truly believe it exists to promote the conversation. Mary Magdalene was a close follower of Jesus despite the fact that women were viewed as second-class back in the day. Women were not recognized as apostles due to social oppression over 2,000 years ago...and unbelievably this oppression STILL presents itself in the Church TODAY as it does not allow women to be priests. Pshaw!

I self-excommunicated and it was the best choice I have ever made in my spiritual life. And these headlines reinforce that decision.

As for these brave women priests (though our theological beliefs differ) - I say rock on, girls!

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Boston Archdiocese Says Trio Will Be Excommunicating Themselves

TheBostonChannel.com - BOSTON – July 18, 2008 - Three Catholic women will be ordained as priests in a Back Bay neighborhood church this weekend, despite the Vatican's admonition that the trio will be excommunicated if they do so. "Excommunication or not, I will still be a validly ordained priest and still will be able to serve the people of God," said Gabriella Velardi Ward, 61, a Staten Island architect and mother of two. Also a grandmother of three, Ward said she has wanted to be a priest ever since she was five years old and once considered becoming a nun, but felt the priesthood was her true calling because she wants to be able to celebrate the sacraments. She will be joined by Gloria Carpeneto, of Baltimore, and Judy Lee, of Florida. Mary Ann McCarthy Schoettly, of Newton, N.J., will be ordained as a deacon. The Vatican, however, said the ordinations would be illegal and the Boston Archdiocese sent out an e-mail to all priests saying that women who try to receive sacred orders and priests who try to confer them are automatically separating themselves from the church. The Catholic Church has always said women cannot be priests because Jesus did not have female Apostles. The ordination ceremony will take place Sunday at the Church of the Covenant on Newbury Street, which is affiliated with two Protestant denominations, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ, the Boston Globe reported. The church, which has a female pastor, offered to let the ordination take place there as a way of supporting and encouraging the women's group. The trio will be ordained by Dana Reynolds, of California, a woman who was consecrated as a bishop in Germany in April. They are all part of an organization called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, which has been holding ordination ceremonies for women since 2002; the organization says there are now 28 women Catholic priests in the United States, according to the Globe. The group says its ordinations are valid because its first female priests were ordained by bishops who were in good standing with the Vatican. They won't reveal the names so those bishops can avoid sanctions. The Boston ordinations will coincide with the first Boston conference of four organizations that are pushing for the admission of married men, as well as of women, to the priesthood. Jean Marchant, who once worked for the Boston Archdiocese's healthcare ministry, has already been ordained and, together with her husband, serves a small Catholic congregation in Weston, Mass.

Do As I Say...Not As I Do

Jesus Christ lived in poverty. He was the evangelizer of the poor. Yes, He encouraged spirituality over possessions, having little or none Himself. What a shining example He set; the embodiment of humility, love and compassion. He got his hands dirty healing the sick and He dined with the lowly and sinner alike. A beautiful example of God's mercy.

So how in holy hell is this person setting an example for the masses?

The Pope stands in front of a crowd in golden silk robes, having arrived in a plush private jet from his palace afar that glistens with gilded marble halls adorned with priceless works of art and all the beautiful objects of a charmed life hypocrisy...his falsely conceived freedom...

Pot, meet kettle.

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Pope links prosperity with spreading 'spiritual desert'

July 20, 2008 - CBC News - As he wrapped up a visit to Australia on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI warned a crowd of 400,000 young people that a feeling of spiritual emptiness often accompanies material wealth. He urged them to avoid the pitfalls of prosperity as he led an outdoor mass for pilgrims who had gathered for the Roman Catholic church's six-day World Youth Day festival in Sydney. "In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," the pontiff said. The Pope referred to the modern world’s “hard crust of indifference” to God and said the world “wants to forget God, or even reject him in the name of a falsely conceived freedom.” He urged followers to throw off indifference and embrace a new age free from "shallowness, apathy and self-absorption," which he said "deadens our souls and poisons our relationships." “A new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed,” the Pope told the crowd. The pope, 81, also announced that Madrid, Spain, would host the next World Youth Day in 2011 and told the pilgrims that he looks forward to being there in three years. The mass came a day after the pope made an apology for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Roman Catholic clergy, keeping up efforts begun in the United States to publicly atone for what he called "evil" acts by priests and a "grave betrayal of trust."

God Will F*** You Up!

So a "revival tent" went up along an intersection in a town my husband and I pass through daily. In the afternoons when we are driving home from the train, we can hear the booming LOUD preacher talking about the finer points of hellfire and brimstone to a few folding-chair sittin' folk who I imagine holler AMENs.

My husband said, "Hey, whatever keeps them on the straight and narrow."

The gist of the Old Testament [the section where people had a child-like newness to God] is God commanding people to BE GOOD. Like a child who does not listen, sometimes a parent will threaten: "Don't go by the river, there are MONSTERS in there"...this is more effective keeping children away from the river than saying "Don't go by the river, it's very dangerous."

The gist of the New Testament [the section where people have a more grown-up relationship with God] is God commanding people to DO GOOD. No more hellfire and brimstone, that was to get you to behave and get your attention but it was for teaching purposes only.

"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him." (Mt 17:5).

So, the threats of hellfire & brimstone at the revival, once studied within the context of the entire bible and using common sense, are nothing more than purposeful threats to keep childish people in line who cannot behave unless threatened.

The real spiritual grown-up knows that there are no monsters down at the river and that God is only looking out for them like a loving parent --using this tool before they are able to reason. When we grow up and have a mature relationship with God, we understand being good for goodness' sake.

And grown-ups in God know that He is Love. That God is our friend and Creator, not our destroyer. God is a loving judge who judges for our own benefit. Any atonement (temporary) is done for the rehabilitative purposes of the judged, not for the ridiculous eternal-damnation satisfaction to the Judge. God is not vengeance. God is just. There is a difference. And no act on this earth, in this lifetime warrants an eternal punishment, as that would be ridiculously vengeful, not just.

But, for those who hunger for senseless destruction "of Biblical proportion" I offer you the following comical jingle, courtesy of my husband who sent me the link:

God will f*@# you up!! - http://www.youmail.com/login/greetingView.do?id=5420