Texting God

For those of you not familiar with the basic Christian calendar, this past Sunday was Easter Sunday, supposedly the time when Jesus rose from the dead. Easter has always been a big deal in my family because my mother’s parents view it as a great time to get everyone together and have a big breakfast, followed by the entire family going to church. I’m a very non-religious person, but I knew that this meant a lot to my mom so I toughed it out.

As with every year, the family breakfast was nothing too special, but I could tell my grandparents enjoyed having all of their children there with them, including most of their grandchildren. With that being said, the big family breakfast has never been what I didn’t like about Easter Sunday, and that didn’t change this year.

This year, church was a difference experience, and it really made me wonder what religion is becoming, and why people really do what they do. This year at church, I ended up sitting between my grandfather and my mother, but most importantly there was a pair of middle-aged women sitting in the row in front of us, who at first glance looked extremely focused on the service, and were kind of nodding along with what the minister was saying. I then realized that this was far from the truth, and they were actually texting each other.

This really made me wonder how that could have happened. Coming from the texting generation, where we never go anywhere without our cell phones, I know that there church is one of the few places where I wouldn’t even think of texting. So there I am, sitting there, watching people my mother’s age texting back and forth and giggling like teenagers. When did they ever think this was ok? Sadly, this was not the most disheartening or mind-boggling event during church that morning.

After the women in front of me put me in a fairly cynical mood, my mom turned to me during one of the hymns and asked me “Why do you never sing?” I’ve thought about this question for years, and I just never saw the point of singing in church, so I decided that now would be a good time, and responded to her question with “Well, why do you?”

She didn’t have an answer. I spent the rest of the service wondering how many people were in the building, and how many people were actually paying attention, and in general why they were here. Why do we sing in church? I understand the role of the choir, but why is it that everyone is supposed to sing certain songs, and that if you choose not to sing, you are viewed as different, or wrong, even though half of the people singing are only doing so because they think that it is what they are supposed to do?

"The Real Scandal of Religion"

I decided to read an article about religion and comment on it...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/02/the_real_scandal_of_religion.html

"It is very difficult to understand how those who worship a man on a cross could help to drive the bloody nails themselves." - Copyright 2009, Washington Post Writers Group

The article basically talks about how many religious people are able to commit terrible murders, and yet they are people of god. And it doesn’t just talk about terrible crimes like what Hitler did; it also talks about how religious people do things like save themselves instead of helping others. The articles main points are with Hitler and how two thirds of the votes were passed by the most popular religion in Germany at the time; Christianity. While I was growing up I couldn’t understand how religious people could really be bad, but now I realize that most people that do commit crimes or murder people are religious to begin with. It also makes me wonder, is religion really necessary on this planet? I’m sure we could live without it. (no video sorry)

The Choices We Make

Over the course of this year, in this class and in others, I have learned many things about both people and religion. But the one question that has yet to be answered is not a simple one. My question is “this if god exists does he directly influence the path that we take in life or are the choices we make our own”. There are several different theories from several different experts. Personally I believe that god simply made us and left us to fill in the blanks. After all the evil and depraved things that I have learned about this year make me wonder is a supreme being controlling the world today? If you doubt about the evils in our world today than just watch the video I posted about Albert Fish.

According to Lilla “God does not let us be…he is our creator, our guide our judge, our redeemer. And because he is, we must know how he wants us to live.” There are others who believe that there is no go and we are simply shaped by our surroundings. The French novelist and essayist Simone de Beauvoir said “It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You can't assume the responsibility for everything you do, or don't do”. Everyone has their own opinion in this subject for different reasons. Here’s Director Taylor Hackford’s thought on the subject. In this scene Keanu Reeves’ character discovers the true about his boss Al Pacino….
Lilla, Mark. The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West. New York: Vintage
Books, 2008.

Come on Jesus, big money big money...

When it really gets down to the nitty gritty, I am sure that we can all agree that our economy isn't doing all that well. Yes we have stimulus plans, bail-outs, etc, but things aren't going to be getting better for a really long time, at least not without a miracle. Oh wait, they have a thing for that now, it's called organized religion. You heard me right, people are so "desperate" these days that they are turning to their respective religions and dieties and asking them for economic advice.
Personally, I thought that attributing economic well-being to the power of the gods was something that we grew out of centuries ago, so much for that. In the Monday's edition of the New York Times online, there was an article speaking to a similar affect. The quotation, "Apparently Christians Against Poverty have 3,500 new referrals every day, " caught me of gaurd to say the very least. It's as if we are avoiding directly dealing with or otherwise associating ourselves with this economic crash, so we turn to god for answers.
I got to thinking about what might actually go on that a meeting for the Christians Against Poverty. Would they meet as a regular mass might, except they would pray for advice as to best protect their 401k's? Would they flagelate themselves for every point that their most valued stocks and holdings dropped? It turns out, they serve more as a service, as a means of acting through the lord, so as to provide you with the best financial and economic advice there is. The whole thing seems a little foolish to me, but I am sure that there are some people out there who can more than justify these actions. My only comfort in this arguement is that the universe tends to unfold as it should, and if these people want to put their funds in the hands of an imaginary friend, a thousand-year-old jewish zombie, a 3rd person omnicient, or a really old guy in funny robes, be my guest.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5146664/People-turning-to-religion-for-economic-advice.html

p.s. this video is just in the realm of crazy christian zealots, and thought it might be interesting to watch, especially with same-sex marriage being legalized recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED4DJbCDthI

Picking a Religion

During this semester we have talked mostly in class about how people are mostly religious or not and what the difference between the secular and sacred lifestyles. I thought it would be interesting to see how many people go out and pick their religions based on what the religion offers.

It seems that most of the time people are raised with a specific religion in the household that he or she has grown up in. However, I know personally that when I was going through high school I disagreed with the majority of teachings that I had learned in my childhood youth. It seemed as if I needed to find something that fitted my lifestyle, having a religion custom fitted to my needs.

I'm not sure if everyone else has gone through this process, however I found this video that made me laugh and was exactly how I was picturing the process....




I was wondering if anyone else went though this same process or not. Thanks!

"The Great Unthinking Mass" aka USA

Just recently we completed a worksheet on our reading. One of these readings was Immanuel Kant's "An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?" This was a response to the question posed by Prussian official Reverend Johann Friedrich Zollner a year before this essay.
This essay by Kant explains that people do not achieve enlightenment not because they lack intellegence but because they lack the courage to work off their own intellect without the guidance of another. Kant says, “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude!" (Dare to know) (Kant)

Dare to know is Kant's motto for enlightenment. He continues on this subject and explains that many don't attain enlightenment because of laziness and because they have become too fond of their state of not thinking for themselves. Not thinking for yourself in todays society is very easy with all the rules, regulations, and people to tell you what to do. He uses the example of the guardians explaining how straying away from these regulations alone is dangerous, Kant feels differently. He felt that the people struggling for enlightenment would fall a few times, but learn how to walk after a couple tries. The idea of falling usually keeps the timid and immature from trying again, never learning how to walk.

Kant felt a huge part of this enlightenment was the separation of church and state. If the church is kept out of stately affairs it may be easier for people to stop relying on their guardians to make their decisions for them. If there was no church impeding on people's lives and thinking, there is no telling what new ideas could have come about.

If people in our society today actually thought for themselves instead of listening to everything the media, the government, and churches had to say, we may have a more mature nation. In the past there has been many horrible catastrophes just because the people following orders didn't think with their own intellect. The Holocaust is an example for this, had the Nazi soldiers listened to their own knowledge and not take orders from above, things could have been drastically different.

As I look back into my own past, I remember events that would have played out for the better had I not followed others and relied on my own knowledge. Has there been a time where you feel you should have used the courage to follow your own intellect?
Is our society really at the maturity level we want? How far has our society set itself back from being enlightened?

Do we have the power?

I saw an extremely interesting video in Film Theory that I have put a link to below. It discusses existentialism; a theory that I subscribe to. I believe the points raised in the video would make for a very interesting class discussion.