Fundamentalism, Poverty and Education

In our study group we're just finishing off reading 'No god but God' by Reza Aslan www.rezaaslan.com and have been thinking about the relationship between fundamentalism, poverty and education.
One way fundamentalism seems to thrive is amongst people who have been impoverished by non-democratic government and denied access to basic secular education, while at the same time receiving an overdose of narrow religious dogma. Reza Aslan says that the more we try to forcefully stamp out fundamentalism, the more it will grow and if we ignore it, it will take over. So what alternatives do we have?
I'm wondering whether lifting poverty levels and increasing education availability would help to diminish the supply of people fundamentalist groups seek to recruit? How can we, as nations looking in on situations where human rights and democratic
government are denied, assist in raising poverty levels and access to education?

Violence and Religion

I spent most of the day making notes for our study group on Reza Aslan's book 'No god but God: the origins, evolution and future of Islam'. This week we are reading chapter seven which is entitled 'In the footsteps of the martyrs'. The chapter is a summary of Shi'ism from its origins in bloody and tragic circumstances to the revolution in Iran and the war between between Iran and Iraq during which tens of thousands of children were killed as martyrs, thus the title of the chapter 'In the footsteps of the martyrs'.

In December, North Sydney Council is holding an Interfaith Forum on raising awareness of issues of violence in the home. In preparation a few of us had a discussion during the week and we talked about how biblical texts can be used to trap women within the cycle of violence. One such text being: 'take up your cross and follow me'. Some women have applied this text to themselves or have it applied to them by male church leaders in such a  way that they regard having to live with a violent partner as being the cross they must bear as a good Christian and their lot for life.

When we men (male religious leaders) allow this to happen it is like we are allowing Christ to be crucified twice (to speak in theological terms) or in non theological terms that we men are not taking responsibility to let other men know in the strongest terms possible that violence against women and children in any form is wrong and totally unacceptable.

Violence and religion has had a long history and much human violence is attributed to God. Shall we continue to go along with the status quo, the acceptance of the relationship between violence and religion or shall we in all religions reject violence as attributable to God and dare to question our own interpretations of our sacred texts?

Justice on earth as it is in heaven

I commented on the post 'The preacher and the slave' on Pete Rollins' blog and included my comment plus the link to Pete's post below.

Irish Bog Cotton

I like to listen to the American folk song 'Owensboro' brought to recent life by Natalie Merchant about the people considered thrash working in a mill in Owensboro, Kentucky. They learn to spin and spoon but never get a proper education. Dressed in rags, and surviving on the basics, their lives are compared to the fine clothes and pearls of the people of the town. The saddest words for me come at the end: 'But when that day of judgement comes they'll have to share their pretty things.' Again it seems that the only hope these people were given was that in heaven the injustices and inequity of this world would be redressed and yet they probably were taught to pray each day...may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..

http://peterrollins.net/blog/?p=1193&cpage=1#comment-7481

Religious Knowledge Quiz

Check out this link to see how you compare to Americans in a test on religious knowledge.

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

Jesus and Drop the Debt

“Debt is an efficient tool. It ensures access to other peoples’ raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms… Market saturation ensues, reducing exporters’ income to a bare minimum while the North enjoys huge savings.”

Susan George, A Fate Worse Than Debt, (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990)

When we talk about debts in church we are usually referring to how we have sinned against God and against one another. Jesus told a parable about a manager who was accused of squandering his master's property and then of dishonesty for how he significantly reduced what his master's debtors owed. However, to our surprise the master commends the manager for his shrewd actions. Somewhere in this parable is a hint that forgiveness involves real action. Forgiving debts is not just about forgiving those who have sinned against us as individuals and saying,"I forgive you". Forgiving debts is also a matter of justice and that dropping the debt of the debt-ridden poorest nations of the world is about real forgiveness.

www.jubileeaustralia.org

Monotheism and People Control

Yes, I believe in God or perhaps more correctly I believe that there is that which we name God (as distinct from there is a God) but I think that every single human being has a different opinion of what God is or what God is like. So while people say, "I believe in God",  I'd have to ask what is that God like to you? What exactly do you believe about that God? When I hear the descriptions people make about the God they imagine or when they express their beliefs, I wonder if it is the same God that I imagine. I wonder where these beliefs came from and why people hold them so preciously especially if the person is quite dogmatic about what they believe to be the truth about God and that I must believe it if I am to have any hope of salvation.

Speaking of imagination, I sometimes wonder whether monotheism, the idea that there is only one God, has been employed as a way to control people. Dara Molloy in his book 'The Globalisation of God' says, "With the emergence of monotheism came the discovery of a new political tool by which people could be managed. That tool is what we now call dogma. Dogma is the exaltation of an opinion or hypothesis into a belief to which others must subscribe." (Molloy, Dara, 'The Globalisation of God', Co. Galway, Aisling Publications, 2009; p.46). The primary dogma being that there is only one God.

How has this one belief effected the world? How has this one belief been used by religious and political leaders in people control? More reflections on monotheism to come...

Attracted to Polytheism

I find myself attracted to Polytheism because of its tolerance of diversity of belief, its total connectivity to nature and respect for the environment, its sense of mystery, the spirituality of the everyday existence, and the lack of dogmatic beliefs, formal creeds and institutionalised religion common to Monotheistic religions. I wonder if the person and practices of Jesus has more in common with Polytheism than Christian denominations acknowledge. The stories of Jesus and the mystery of the Spirit seem to exude a freedom of expression and experience and wonder in relating both to the mystery of that which we name God and to the lives we live on a daily basis. To me this spirituality seems much more attractive and real and personal than the religion of reciting creeds and making orthodox confessions of faith. More to come...

Jihad - just war not holy war

According to Reza Aslan the doctrine of jihad differentiated between rules for warfare pre-Islam and under Islam, the difference being that there were categories of people one was not allowed to kill women and children, monks, Rabbis, the elderly and any other non-combatants and there were rules on torture, treatment of dead bodies, rape, property, prisoners etc which have become incorporated into modern international laws of war.

A just war was in response to injustice, a response to the aggression of others and never instigated by a follower of Muhammad.

Buy a Quran

Why not buy and read a copy of the Quran in response to the disrespectful and inflammatory actions of burning the Quran in Florida, and also celebrate the end of Ramadan on Friday?

Bothered by the Bible

I came across this quote yesterday as I was preparing a sermon on Luke 14:25-33:
'It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.' Mark Twain

Jesus was talking to the large crowds of people who were travelling with him and he said some extremely disturbing things: Who ever does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even life itself, cannot be my disciple... Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple... none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

I'm not sure whether I understand this or not but it certainly bothers me. I don't think telling people who come to church on Father's Day in Australia this Sunday that if one doesn't hate one's father one cannot be Jesus' disciple.

I guess Jesus was emphasising the real cost of his own life as he goes on 'the way' and that anyone who chooses to follow him ought to consider the possibility that it might cost of one's own life.

It sounds like the warning the leader of a terrorist organisation might give to her or his followers. Perhaps Jesus was exaggerating to make a point or perhaps Jesus was highlighting the fact that grace does not come cheap, or perhaps we'll never really be able to understand it. It's pretty heavy stuff and it bothers me.

Atheism

Sadly, Irish actor Mick Lalley died on 31 August. Seemingly he regarded himself as an atheist and religion as nonsense and Codology' (Irish slang). The words that he is most associated with are "Well Holy God' which he regularly delivered in the television series Glenroe.

Surely being anti-religion does not always mean that one is anti-God? What kinds of God are our religions creating? Have we made a god of religion?

Looking forward to hearing from people who cherish the name atheist.

Statistics

With the election in Australia dragging on for eleven days now and all sorts of arguements in the media and coming from political parties about who really has won the right to govern Australia it reminds me that the same statistics can be used to support opposite points of view such as in the debate on climate change and whether the economic outlook is brightening or becoming more gloomy. It seems to be the same when we approach the holy books such as the Bible or Quran. We use them to support our position on any subject.
Is there a way for us to negotiate meaning beyond statistical evidence and individual texts?

Emerging Church and the brain washed people of God

I have been wondering a little more intentionally lately about why people allow themselves to be dictated to by churches who still treat women as being lesser to men in the church. These churches say that women and women are equal but men and women have different roles. However, men can preach to women but women cannot preach to men. In some churches women are no longer allowed to be elders.
How can men make their partners attend churches like these? Why do men allow male clergy to get away with this kind of discrimination? Why do women go along with it? Why would parents want to bring their children up in this sort of environment? Is there something else controlling them? Fear? Fear that if they leave they will lose their salvation or that they are not good Christian women or men? Could this be a form of brain washing? How could people be tricked into thinking this is the gospel?
Has anyone left this kind of church and discovered that they are still loved by God?

The Emerging Church and the ungathered people of God

When we speak about an emerging church I wonder if we are restricting ourselves to only viewing God as working through the church? I wonder if we also restrict ourselves to seeing the church as Christian denominations, independent churches and congregations?

Maybe those who see themselves as an emerging movement within the church are responding to a God who is both within and outside the church; a God sensed in every part of life yet never pinned down to any part of life. Maybe we who call ourselves the 'gathered people of God' are recognising or being converted by the activity of God in those who could be named the ungathered or dispersed people of God.