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Archive for the 'religion' Category
Wow, we’re now past my favorite holiday of the year and moving toward what has to be our most ridiculous. I can’t believe it’s almost December. I’ve been a bit scattered this month and almost lost this meme, in which I was tagged, in the (virtual) piles of stuff on my desk. It’s from Smijer.
Anyway, I thought I’d drop in and try to start a meme. I’m estimating — 5 gazillion different varieties. The word means different things to different people. Maybe we need as many words for religion as Eskimos supposedly have for snow. Or maybe we can get by with what we have. This meme is for sorting that out. So, try to include all the statements about what religion (and add your own if you like), and label them this way… those labeled “something other than religion” are often aspects of some religions — this just indicates that they properly belong to another area of thought than religion and that they should be recategorized away from it:
Statement:
Belongs to: (all religion, my religion, other people’s religion, something other than religion)
My view of this aspect of religion is: (favorable, neutral, unfavorable)
Here are my responses. As you’ll see, I had a hard time staying within the parameters, but I’m struggling with the structure of the meme in general. This is what I came up with, though…
Religion is a sense of humility in the face of a world too wonderful/complex/awe-inspiring to fully understand or even fully cope with on a rational level.
Belongs to: something other than religion (individuals may be humble, but religions certainly are not)
My view is: favorable
Religion is a set of external (non-personal) moral standards toward which we should sometimes aspire.
Belongs to: all religion
My view is: neutral
Religion is a set of absolute moral standards toward which we should always aspire:
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: negative (you lost me on “absolute”)
Religion is a way of knowing things that cannot be known through careful empirical observation and reasoning:
Belongs to: all religion
My view is: neutral (I would put the word “knowing” up there in quotes)
Religion is a positive way of relating interpersonally with a community of people:
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: neutral (some religions get it right, but others completely screw it up)
Religion is a way of having relationships with incorporeal entities with whom physical interaction and ordinary means of relations are impossible.
Belongs to: all religion
My view is: neutral
Religion is any non-rational or irrational set of notions that influences behaviors, whether associated directly with a religious community or not.
Belongs to: (probably all) religious communities, and also to some non-religious communities (if you want to see non-rational notions influencing behaviors, hang out with some teenage girls for a while!)
My view is neutral
Religion provides us knowledge of a future life after our our current life ends, which can be known by no other means:
Belongs to: all religion
My view is: neutral, though I’d put the word “knowledge” up there in quotes
The dictates of religion should override moral reasoning and/or the dictates personal conscience.
Belongs to: some religions
My view: is negative
Religion serves as a needed reminder to listen to our moral reasoning and/or conscience.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: neutral (most of us need the reminder, but I don’t think that religion is the only — or even the best — one)
Religion is a good way to know about history.
Belongs to: something other than religion
My view is: negative
Religion is a good way to know about the natural world.
Belongs to: a few religions (sadly, since it should be a great way to know about the natural world)
My view is: negative
Religion is a good framework for becoming a more productive and helpful member of a community.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: neutral
Religion is a good source of personal, financial, or emotional support for people in distress.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: favorable
One should protect one’s religion from anyone who seeks to persuade its members to leave it
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: negative (the religion itself, if it is worth following, should be protection enough from all persuasion)
Religion can exist without a belief in the supernatural.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: skeptical
Religion can exist without compromising careful reasoning and good intellectual habits.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: neutral
Religion can be good poetry.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: positive
Religion (practiced such that it does not cause direct harm or abuse) should be protected from state interference.
Belongs to: all religion
My view is: positive
Religious people who are empowered in some way by the government office should be able to express their religious views as part of that state-sponsored function.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: negative
Religion contains or provides knowledge that can be held with great certainty.
Belongs to: no religion
My view is: negative
Religion can be uplifting, fun, and challenging.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: positive
Religion requires much effort on the part of the adherent.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: neutral
Some religions are better than others.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: neutral
Religion is good or bad depending on how it is practiced.
Belongs to: some religions
My view is: neutral
Religion should be treated with special deference.
Belongs to: something other than religion
My view is: negative
Religion should be tolerated.
Belongs to: something other than religion
My view is: neutral
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Scary stuff. Keep listening to hear the part about “Wamp of Chattanooga.”
Click on the picture to play the video
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And here is yet another hodgepodge from the past week…
• Bottled water. How do you feel about it? Ripped off? Misled? You should. We got some stainless water bottles earlier this year and they are wonderful — the openings are big enough to add ice, there are no BPAs in the water we drink, there is no waste for the landfill, and they fit in the bike drink holders. We took them with us on our road trip last month and had no trouble refilling them with ice and cold water at gas stations along the way, and, thanks to our cozies and the added ice, it was so nice to have water that stayed cold for hours after a rest stop.
• This may come as a shock to some, but not all low-income housing has to be ugly.
• This remembrance from Pam Spaulding (apparently my brother’s classmate at Stuyvesant!) is the best post I’ve seen since Frank McCourt died last week.
• I admit that I haven’t been consuming much media lately (comcast recently cut us down to just a few worthless channels), but I’m still surprised that since the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. story broke, I haven’t heard a single person mention the movie Amos and Andrew.
• On health care: we could be doing a LOT better than we are — certainly better than BCBS is doing (which is maybe the RNC chair’s insurance company — he’s not sure, but he’s still trying to kill any chance at reform). Why are some of our representatives dragging their feet? Other systems work. Lewis Black shares some thoughts. And so does Bill Maher (best one ever?).
• I’ve said it before many, many times, but it bears repeating over and over and over again: the only thing abstinence-only education produces is really freakin’ stupid teenagers.
• For the record: calorie labeling is a positive thing. As with many things (including sex — see above), ignorance can be toxic.
• Here’s a shocker: the C-Street Cult (oh, Zach!) story shows no sign of slowing down! Why is disgraced Senator Ensign giving Zach Wamp money? Apparently, it’s a secret! Unfortunately, in other marriage defender/marriage non-honorer news (AKA republican sexual hypocrites), Tennessee still picks the winners.
• Jimmy Carter is challenging the Southern Baptist Convention’s sexism — but is he making any sense?
• Pat Buchanan: Why do you keep talking? You’re making Lou Dobbs look good. Even Rachel, who often refers to you as “Uncle Pat,” thinks you’re a misinformed douche.
• Today was Sarah Palin’s last day. Top Ten observes the occasion.
• Lastly, this just leaves me gasping for air. And Jimmy Carter thought the Baptists were bad! Ha!
• And finally, I posted this on facebook about a week back, but if you missed it there, you might enjoy it here. I apologize to everyone who attended my wedding, because it wasn’t this cool. Neither was any wedding I’ve ever attended. The bar has been raised.
UPDATE:
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I meant to run through these things over the weekend, but that ended up being too busy and fun-filled, and before I knew it, it was Monday! Ack!
• Are there cancer vaccines on the horizon?
• If you’re into gymnasts or stunts, you’ll dig this guy.
• Why are so few Christians vegetarian?
• Oh, dear Dog, Tennessee has distinguished itself yet again. I’ve been living here for almost 20 years, and I’m still waiting for us to get a bit of national press for something that isn’t humiliating…
• Here’s a no-brainer: kids need to move around more. In other breaking news, crunchberries are not really fruit.
• Widimedia Commons Picture of the Year results!
• I don’t know if I can go through life without experiencing a Kogi Taco.
• A lovely collection of iconic portraits.
• Bill O’Reilly: ignoramus or liar?
• Awww. A rat and his cat!
And finally, what looks like the Topic of the Week, health care. Here are a few links, and then come commentary from Bill Maher:
• Wow. In today’s America, Sixty percent of bankruptcies are due to medical bills. That is a staggering number. Is there still anyone left out there who doesn’t believe we need health care reform, and fast?
• Here’s another sobering tidbit: People are now not filling prescriptions to save money.
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Here’s a real hodgepodge from the past week!
• And you thought Episode I was bad? Check out an early draft of the original Star Wars.
• These two girls totally outdo Robert Loggia and Tom Hanks, but then again, they’re not supposedly improvising.
• Things disappear! Like the Aral Sea and the Amazon Rainforest — and beyond that, farms sink!
• Food from around the world: in hospitals and in schools (and speaking of school lunches, there’s this too)!
• How much do we love to defend marriage?? Oh, so much that the fun overflowed from one video into another! Also, we like to mock Pat Robertson with beautiful music videos.
• In medical and curing blindness news, this is really awesome.
• Do you like to have pictures with your data? Something to make it seem less dry and less science-y? Then you’re going to like these sites.
• Did you have a video made of your wedding? If so, it’s going to seem so incredibly lame after you watch this one.
• Watch out, all you greedy, overbearing religious cult-like groups! Scientology has Scientologists have been banned, and those awful Mormons have been taken down another notch. Ha.
• Attention Ferris Fans! Cameron’s home is for sale!
• And finally, some quotes for the week (we’ll start with the icky and work our way to the more reasonable):
Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when she’s menstruating or something, or just before she’s going to menstruate.
– G. Gordon Liddy, troglodyte, doing an awfully good job of making the other neanderthals of his ilk look almost human by comparison. (Update: and there’s always the problem of bears.)
Honestly folks. If we paid as much attention to the sexual activities of Catholic priests as we do to homosexuals wanting to marry, we probably could have saved a lot of children from years of guilt, shame, anger and pain.
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