Translations

It’s not polite to talk about religion or politics.  You might offend someone.

Poppycock!

I don’t believe you can actually understand someone unless you discuss ideas and beliefs. 

I love discussion.  I enjoy bandying about ideas and considering the merits of various systems of thought.  Philosophy is fun.  Theology is entertaining.  Politics are engaging.   We don’t have to be rude; discussion can be gracious while still challenging.

OK.  I’ve probably already lost you.   “What a weirdo,” you are thinking. 

You just might be right.

Because I grew up without religion, I was an agnostic through high school and college.  I have a lot of respect for someone who admits they don’t know, and even more for the person who doesn’t give up at that point, but keeps on searching.  I have significantly less respect for someone who holds a belief system that they’ve never put any real thought into and won’t even discuss.  This goes for Christians too.  I have met many who grew up with Christianity but have never considered it deeply and have never put any thought into their own beliefs.   I truly believe that an unexamined life is not worth living and an untested faith is probably a weak one.  Truth can stand up to questions and it is OK to admit you don’t have all the answers.

Over the years, speaking with people about religion, I’ve noticed that there are some Conversation-Killers that people use when they don’t want to talk about the subject or, as is often the case, they want to talk about their ideas but don’t want any conflicting ideas.  These Conversation-Killers are short statements that are flippantly tossed out by the person in hopes that they’ll sound deep and intellectual without actually having to engage in any real dialogue.  Conversation-Killer statements sound like one thing, but they actually mean something else. 

I have taken the time to provide translate some of the most common that I have run into and, in some cases, actually said myself in the past (sigh).  Please know that some of this is tongue-in-cheek, but there are also deeper truths behind each of them.  My intention is not to be deliberately mocking if you say these things, but to challenge you to real thought and deeper discussion. 

TRANSLATIONS – When someone says the following statement, here is what they are really saying:

“I’m not religious, but I’m a spiritual person.”   Translation:  I want to feel like I am religious without ever actually sacrificing or committing to anything specific.

“I don’t believe in organized religion.”   Translation: I don’t want to wake up early on Sunday or actually have to connect with other people who might have questions that I can’t answer or might challenge me to growth.

“I believe all religions lead to heaven.”   Translation:  I don’t really know anything about the various religions, I’m just trying not to offend anyone.

“I don’t believe in two thousand year old superstitions.”   Translation: I believe in my own set of modern superstitions.

“I’m too rational for religion.”   Translation:  I’m so caught up in my own superior beliefs and personal egotism that I can’t conceive of anything I haven’t personally experienced.

“You can’t prove God scientifically.”   Translation: I don’t really understand how the scientific process works and so mistakenly believe that most things in the world are scientifically verifiable.

“There is no evidence that Jesus ever existed.”   Translation: I’ve never looked at the evidence, and I don’t understand how the evidentiary process works or how we know about historical figures.  Therefore, I can just choose who I choose to believe existed and who didn’t based on my comfort level.

“Religion is something that weak people need to get through life, but not me.”  Translation: I have my own unprovable rationalizations for things I can’t explain and that gets me through my weak times and don’t want to think too hard about it. 

“Religion is the cause of everything that is wrong in the world.” 
Translation:  Hey, I can explain away the shortcomings of mankind by blaming everything on human belief systems.  Wait a minute…That’s a belief system too.  Oh crap.

“I’m an atheist.”  Translation:  A religious person or people (probably Christian) hurt me, so I choose to accuse others of having unprovable belief systems while I stand firm on my own unprovable, belief system*.  I probably still live my life with mostly Judeo-Christian values, but don’t believe in God (except for that niggling feeling in the back of my brain).   *yes Atheism is a belief system.

“I just think love is the answer.”  Translation: I like touchy –feely emotional explanations that sound cool but require nothing from me personally.

“All religions say the same things.  It’s all about the Golden Rule.”  Translation:  I have never really read anything from the various religions and don’t know what the word ‘contradiction’ means. 

“Religion is society’s way of controlling people.”  Translation:  I don’t want someone or some book to suggest that I’m not already a perfect person and might need to change or grow.

“I believe that your religion is true for you and mine is true for me.”  Translation:  Contradiction, what’s a contradiction?  If everyone is right, then no one is wrong and nobody has to feel bad.  I just don’t want to consider that I might be wrong and don’t want to hurt you by suggesting that you might be wrong.  Except, I just did suggest that you are wrong.

“Christians are narrow-minded and judgmental.”  Translation: I am narrow-minded and judgmental because I can’t even consider the possibility that someone else might be right.  I also am unable to see the ironic narrow-minded judgment in my own statement.

“I prefer to be open-minded.”   Translation: I prefer to be empty-minded and can’t compare and analyze ideas that might require me to reject something.  If I actually thought about it, I might have to commit to something and that might be difficult.

“Christians are intolerant.”  Translation: I’m intolerant and can’t handle ideas that conflict with mine.

“There are too many religions in the world to know if one is right.”   Translation: Thinking is hard for me and I just don’t want to do it. 

OK, that was probably offensive for some people and I’ll probably get a few nasty messages about what Christians really mean.  The funny thing is, I’ll probably agree to some extent because, as I said earlier, I’ve met lots of people who grew up in church and have never really considered their beliefs on a deeper level.  I don't like bumper-sticker answers from Christians either, such as "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven" or "You just have to believe."  These are Conversation-Killers too. 

If someone is offended by an idea that differs from theirs that is politely shared, that is their problem.  No need to be a jerk to them, but let's be honest here: they aren't alone in this world.  This world has a rich tapestry of ideas, good and bad, and you just can't pretend that you live in a bubble where no one else's values, morals, ideas, or beliefs can touch you.  If you offend someone by polite sharing of an idea, that's their problem.  If you offend them by being an overbearing jerk about it, that's your problem.

Really, I just want to encourage you to discuss ideas.  Religion and politics are perfectly acceptable conversation topics, just keep it on a conversational level.  I think that is what scares most people, that the conversation will turn unfriendly.  I’ll be honest, there are some people that I don’t bother discussing these topics with, because they just can’t handle it without getting irrational and angry.  But, if you can handle it, I really want to know your story.  But don’t be surprised if I have questions for you.  I want to understand what you believe and why.  I also want you to understand what I believe and why.  This ultimately brings us closer to understanding each other.  Besides, discussing the weather is dull.

So, go ahead, ask me some questions.  I’ve got a few for you. 

Let’s talk.

P.S. – I’ve never actually used the word ‘Poppycock’ in conversation, but it’s kind of a fun word.   

The Problem With Religion

I would argue that religion is addictive by its very nature, leaving the victim with a closed mind, unable to cope with real life. It demeans and belittles people (of other belief systems) often leading to violence and war

Organized religion has brought nothing but death and destruction to humanity since it's inception. ALL religious writings including the Bible, the Koran and the Torah are nothing more than manifestos of intolerance. I am FAR more worried about devout religious people

RELIGION is the true problem. nothing but flocks of brainwashed minions, controlled by old men through fear. cant people see above this nonsense today? think for yourself, people! stop using what was and IS nothing more than a means to control people as a crutch to judge others. Its sickening

News articles on the internet often give the reader a chance to comment and discuss the issues in the article. It seems that each time that I go out on the internet to read an article with any mention of religion, there are broadbrushed, vitriolic attacks against religion that are posted by other readers. Sometimes they are amusing, sometimes they are annoying, and most of the time they are based in ignorance.

The three comments above are not my beliefs or statements. They are real examples of the type of comment that I have seen. The first one is amusing because the author accuses religious people of having closed minds and religion of demeaning and belittling people of other beliefs. The irony is that he is doing that very thing. His post shows him to be closed minded and he is demeaning and belittling people of other belief systems.

The second comment and third comments are funny for the same reason. Number two mentions intolerance as a characteristic of religious writings, but the author’s writing is a perfect example of his or her intolerance of a belief system that doesn’t fit with theirs. And, the last one talks about ‘thinking for yourself’ and ‘control’ but in its very message is trying to get the reader to think his or her way and to control them away from something that he or she doesn’t believe in.

Have there been wars caused by people proclaiming religious reasons? Of course. But, any serious thinker and historic observer would have to take issue with a statement that says, Organized religion has brought nothing but death and destruction to humanity since it’s inception” sic. The truth is quite the opposite in most cases. I wonder if the author of that comment ever stopped to think about why so many hospitals are called Saint Something or Other, or if they have wondered at why so many social relief agencies have a religious affiliation. There are significantly more charities, social relief agencies, family support groups, medical aid groups, and similar helping organizations that are based in religious (especially Judeo-Christian) systems. According to the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey of 2000, religious people of all types were 91% likely to give money to charity or volunteer where secular people were 67% (non-religious conservatives) and 52% (non-religious liberals). The survey results put this in perspective by noting that people who classify themselves as ‘religious’ make up 33% of the population but are responsible for 52% of donations and 45% of volunteering where those that classify themselves as ‘secular’ make up 26% of the population and are only responsible for 13 percent of charitable donations and 17% of volunteerism. Survey Info

Yes, there are frauds, jerks, charlatans, manipulators, abusers, idiots, fools, degenerates, fiends, and criminals in the church. This is true of any group of people. That’s humanity. That does not mean that all people in that group are that way and it doesn't even mean that most of them are. You won’t catch me saying that all atheists are ignorant, arrogant blowhards that are responsible for the evils of Pol Pot, Stalin, and Hitler. There are plenty of atheists that fall into that category, but that doesn’t mean all of them. I would venture to say most of them are people who just want to live their life as well as they can, but there is the temptation to color the entire group based on the actions of a few.

When you scratch the surface of most of the atheists that I have personally encountered and had discussions with, almost always you will find a person who has been hurt by a dysfunctional church or by an abusive religious person. In my experience, there is rarely much deeper thought than that. Their reaction is based in feeling and not rational thought (the very thing they accuse religious people of).

I grew up without religion. I was never atheist as I found them to be the same as the religious people that I met, universally proclaiming a truth that could not be proved. I was always agnostic as that was a logically defensible position (to this day, I have much respect for agnostics who actively question). I ultimately found God through careful logic and thoughtful deliberation and by meeting reasoned, intellectual Christians who challenged me to open my own mind.

This logic and thought are the reasons for which I take offence at the type of blanket statements made by these authors and so many like them. Their intolerant statements are no different than saying that all black people are criminals, all gay men are pedophiles, all corporate CEO’s are greedy, all southerners are hicks, all women are weak, all Jews are stingy, all lesbians are ugly women, or any other similar statement denigrating an entire group of people based on stereotypes.

Instead of across-the-board condemnation of an entire group of people and belief system, why don’t you get to know some of them (and not just the ones that offended or hurt you). I’d love to sit down with you and have a cup of coffee while we discuss ideas, heck, I’ll even buy your cup for you. I’d be honored to go serve lunches to the homeless at St. Vincent de Paul with you. Let’s fundraise together and raise money for Rapha House. Come see real, intellectually sound, faith in action. It’s hard to be hateful and antagonistic towards people that you’ve actually gotten to know and have worked alongside. But, I warn you…it might actually make you think. It might even change your mind.

That is, unless you are an intolerant, brainwashed, close-minded, victim unable to cope with real life who demeans and belittles people for their beliefs.

P.S. – my offer in the second to last paragraph above is very real. If you take issue with my religion then I invite you (heck, I dare you) to sit down with me, to serve others with me, or to attend a church service with me and then have lunch afterwards to discuss it. I’ll buy the coffee or pay for the lunch. I’m open-minded, are you?

Thinking and Believing

What do you believe?

Why do you believe it?

Have you ever really thought about it?

Could you explain it and give any rational reasoning behind it?

Are your core beliefs based on something someone told you, something you have read, or is it based on something you have put some deep thought and energy into?

For example, I have a friend who told me, “You know, I believe that we all just keep living and dying and living again in one great circle that never really ends.” That’s nice. I read those books too. Robert Jordan’s ‘Wheel of Time’ series is a great science fiction fantasy series, but for the record, it is a fictional story with no basis in reality.

I worked with a guy who said to me, “I don’t know why you follow that Christian crap. It’s all false. They discovered the Dead Sea scrolls at Nag Hamadi and the Gospel of John Thomas proves that Leonardo Da Vinci married Mary Magdalene and they had Baby Jesus right after he painted the Sistine Chapel.” Oh. I read the Da Vinci Code. Did you look on the side and see where it says, ‘Fiction’? The book wasn’t even that good. It was a mediocre mystery. The movie was awful. Frankly, Dan Brown’s other two books, Angels and Demons and Deception Point were much better written stories. Even with the nudge, nudge, wink, wink disclaimer at the front of the Da Vinci Code, his scholarship and historical ‘facts’ leave much to be desired.

Time and time again, I meet people who say, “All religions say pretty much the same thing, I believe that all religions get you to heaven.” That’s one of my favorites. Do you know anything at all about the religions of the world? Have you read even one of their holy books? Have you read even a few words of them? Really? Buddhists get to go to heaven? Boy, won’t they be surprised, considering they don’t even believe in heaven. What about the Shinto believers who get to heaven and find out that all those trees and rocks were really just trees and rocks because all of the kamis were actually in heaven? Or, what about Jehovah’s Witnesses, they are expecting to get there and be alone, they won’t be happy to find the place so crowded. And wait a minute, which heaven? Will there be the eternal feasting and battles of Valhalla? Or the 77 virgins of Islam? How about we all get to be gods of our own Mormon world and populate it with spirit babies. Or, how about we all castrate ourselves and ride on the Hale-Bopp comet to heaven together? Hmmm.

Then there are those people who believe that there is one God who created the world. They tell these seemingly mythological stories about a flood and a rainbow, about prophecies that came true, about some guy nailed to a cross who came back to life and other crazy stuff like that. These Christians love to tell anyone who will listen all about it. Do they even know what they believe or why they should believe it?

I once knew a guy who loved to argue with Christians when he was in college. He was really good at it and often left them sputtering in frustration as he disassembled their ostensibly silly beliefs. Once, he even left a girl in tears in the middle of Ethics class as he talked her in circles about her Christian beliefs.

That guy was me, the first time in college. I’m not proud of it now, but I used to love to meet those young Christian zealots, marching their way into secular college classes, trying to introduce their faith to others. I knew some things about their Bible and beliefs better than they did and it wasn’t hard to frustrate them. I also knew the right buttons to push, the right things to say, to leave them confused and doubting. All of this was great fun at the time.

Until I met Al. Al was a pastor who actually sat down to talk to me. I was ready for him. What a fight this was going to be. I’d graduated from the featherweights and was ready for a heavyweight match. I knew that, as a pastor, he was going to be a harder nut to crack, but up till that point I was undefeated.

In the end, I was the one that sat there sputtering as he disassembled every argument that I had ever used. I lost round after round as he used logic and rational thought to slap down every silly argument that I had ever used against Christians. Ultimately, I had believed in nothing and therefore had nothing to stand on.

I have been encouraged by another Pastor, Chip Moody. He showed me the importance of education, the significance of searching for answers, and the power of truth in the face of earnest questions.

Thirteen years later, I am a Christian pastor, having gone though much struggle and long hours of study, three years of Bible college, and personal study. My studies continue as I go on to pursue my Masters Degree.

I realize these days, just how easy it would have been for any of those Christian kids to defeat me in arguments, if they only had been taught to discuss intelligently and defend their beliefs with solid apologetics. They were sent out as sheep among wolves but were never taught to be shrewd as snakes (Matthew 10:16). They were taught to love the Lord their God with all of their hearts and soul, but weren’t taught to use their minds (Matthew 22:37).

Now, as I teach each new generation of kids, I despair as I watch them go out into the secular college. Did I teach them enough? Do they know what they believe and why? I know there are people like the old-me out there waiting for them. I can only pray that for each antagonist out there, there will be an Al waiting to challenge their beliefs, to help them know the truth.

Al passed away several years ago, before I ever go to tell him thank you for all he did for me. Because of busy lives and distance, I only just found out this last year.

Thank you Al. I wait for the day when I can see you again and say thank you in person.


Father God, I thank you for men like Pastor Al and Pastor Chip. I pray, Lord, for those young men and women that go out into the world. I ask that you give them the strength to face those that would assault your word, the wisdom to defeat attacks with logic and reason, and the understanding to do this with gentle love and not with condemnation.

A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to a Funeral

This blog originally posted Friday, March 16, 2007

Current mood: thoughtful Category: Life

I attended a funeral this week. Not my first. Definitely not my last (I'm guaranteed at least one more).

Something funny - I looked around the sanctuary and noted the people. We had the usual: men and women, young and old, different skin colors. But, more notable, the deeper you looked, you saw Protestant and Catholic, Jew and Agnostic, Believers in God and those that just can't be bothered by Him. There were gay and straight, pierced and tattooed, people who had feuds with others who were there, people who haven't spoken in years because they haven't made time, drinkers and smokers and those who abstain, partiers and clean-livers, those full of bitterness and those full of joy, suits and shorts, white collar and blue, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandchildren and a more. No one had a problem with someone else's presence. Beliefs and lifestyles weren't held against each other. Past wrongs were forgotten. Hearts were softened, walls were broken down.

All of these people were brought together, united in grief and the desire for hope. I think this is how it is supposed to be, how God wants it; people with soft hearts, humble minds, and open arms. This rich tapestry that should be present all the time exists only for a fleeting moment of tears and hugs and then we are back to our lives, trying to forget the looming presense of mortality. I have had the chance to attend a lot of funerals. I've been to two suicides, deaths from old age, sudden death and the end to a long-suffering illness. I've seen non-believers and believers both try to cope. I've been to a Mormon funeral and a Muslim funeral (that's a whole story in itself). It's always the same.

Why is it that it take such a drastic measure to make us realize (if only briefly) that all of the stuff that we busy our lives with, all of the things we take personally, all of the selfishness that we hold dear is really just not that important. Love conquers all, or so they say, but it sure doesn't seem to in our everyday existence. The saddest thing is that by the time we start work next week, most of us will be back to our old ways.

In professional ministry, I am asked the question, 'How can God allow pain,and suffering in this world?' The only answer that I have is that it is the only way He can get our attention.

What relationship do you need to mend before it is too late? How do you need to be humble to let someone else in. What point of pride do you need to let go? Who do you need to call?