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.