Fuck that
Well, it's over before it started. Today, I stumbled upon a blog written by the wife of a pastor that set my blood to boiling. I want absolutely no part in the Western church, not even a liberal community like that of the UUC. To remind myself of this particular blog later, I'll record a general summary. The entry began with a woman mentioning how she's overheard her children saying that "Obama is worse than the faggots" in a grocery store. Her reaction was joy and pride. She then went on to condemn homosexuality by citing several Bible verses, then conceded that her children may in fact be correct, suggesting indirectly but rather overtly that Obama is a devil or has some sort of ongoing relationship with the devil. Another example of Western Christians targeting anything which is remotely socialist and labeling it evil. Don't the teachings of Christ in the Bible encourage believers to give up their possessions to the poor? Is that not a form of wealth redistribution? Socialism, as I understand it, is about making people get along. It should be, anyway, about promoting tolerance and striving to erase inequity.
In the West, surrounded by "civilization" and the vast networks of technology that sustain our way of life, we like to pretend that we are somehow better than the rest of the world. Ignorant cunts like this woman expose humanity for what it really is: a bunch of tribal savages who take pleasure in twisting their young to carry on an irrational hatred for other savages whose vileness and groupings are determined arbitrarily. While American hubris takes a variety of forms, I think that that of religious right is the one that irritates me the most. By its very design, Western Christianity cannot tolerate other religions. The forgiveness and tolerance that so many Christians see as the cornerstones of their religion only apply to members. Charity and missionary work exist only to help them forget that their way of life is only possible through exploitation. And to recruit members.
Churches sustain themselves through donations. As members die (or fall out of the community), new ones must be born into them or recruited. What many members see as the Lord's work is actually a fight for their own survival. Maybe the upper echelon members, the board and the officers of a church, realize the link between membership and survival. But lower level members, regular people, are the ones who do most of the recruiting, and none of them ever seem to think beyond the notion of doing the Lord's work that is continually fed to them by their pastors. Whenever I see a "how to convert" video or sit through some sermon about the birth of belief, I want to scream. I very nearly stormed out of the Christmas service at my father's church when they showed a video illustrating just how easy it is to escape from the false dogmas of humanist history and science. It was a gut reaction, and I bit into my lip hard to sit still.
Reading that blog entry today brought me back to that Christmas Eve service. As when I was considering joining the local UUC, I was in a phase of tolerance. Above all, I see myself as a negotiator and peace maker. If a liberal arts education is good for anything, it's good for navigating conflicting points of view and trying to understand their differences and similarities both conceptually and structurally. I can't completely condemn the church despite its terrible history and horrific current form. Examples like Martin Luther King, Jr. stand out in my mind as what religion can be, what it should be. But when people turn into intolerant zealots, it's impossible to find compromise. They refuse to listen to reason. They expose themselves as tribals, fighting to survive by killing or enslaving (ideologically) their enemies. And certainly, there are atheist zealots out there too.
Now, as on Christmas Eve, I want nothing to do with that institution.
Instead, I've noticed that there are two Zen communities in the area. I'm not looking to become a Buddhist, but I am greatly intrigued by their philosophy of personal growth through the practice of mental awareness. It's silence strikes me as an ideological blackhole, at least in comparison to Western religion. I want to go and be silent and learn to control and focus my mental energies beyond those skills I've picked up in school. I need to block out the negative psychologies of people like this woman and the pastor(s) at my father's church. And if I become a part of community in the process, that's cool too.
In the West, surrounded by "civilization" and the vast networks of technology that sustain our way of life, we like to pretend that we are somehow better than the rest of the world. Ignorant cunts like this woman expose humanity for what it really is: a bunch of tribal savages who take pleasure in twisting their young to carry on an irrational hatred for other savages whose vileness and groupings are determined arbitrarily. While American hubris takes a variety of forms, I think that that of religious right is the one that irritates me the most. By its very design, Western Christianity cannot tolerate other religions. The forgiveness and tolerance that so many Christians see as the cornerstones of their religion only apply to members. Charity and missionary work exist only to help them forget that their way of life is only possible through exploitation. And to recruit members.
Churches sustain themselves through donations. As members die (or fall out of the community), new ones must be born into them or recruited. What many members see as the Lord's work is actually a fight for their own survival. Maybe the upper echelon members, the board and the officers of a church, realize the link between membership and survival. But lower level members, regular people, are the ones who do most of the recruiting, and none of them ever seem to think beyond the notion of doing the Lord's work that is continually fed to them by their pastors. Whenever I see a "how to convert" video or sit through some sermon about the birth of belief, I want to scream. I very nearly stormed out of the Christmas service at my father's church when they showed a video illustrating just how easy it is to escape from the false dogmas of humanist history and science. It was a gut reaction, and I bit into my lip hard to sit still.
Reading that blog entry today brought me back to that Christmas Eve service. As when I was considering joining the local UUC, I was in a phase of tolerance. Above all, I see myself as a negotiator and peace maker. If a liberal arts education is good for anything, it's good for navigating conflicting points of view and trying to understand their differences and similarities both conceptually and structurally. I can't completely condemn the church despite its terrible history and horrific current form. Examples like Martin Luther King, Jr. stand out in my mind as what religion can be, what it should be. But when people turn into intolerant zealots, it's impossible to find compromise. They refuse to listen to reason. They expose themselves as tribals, fighting to survive by killing or enslaving (ideologically) their enemies. And certainly, there are atheist zealots out there too.
Now, as on Christmas Eve, I want nothing to do with that institution.
Instead, I've noticed that there are two Zen communities in the area. I'm not looking to become a Buddhist, but I am greatly intrigued by their philosophy of personal growth through the practice of mental awareness. It's silence strikes me as an ideological blackhole, at least in comparison to Western religion. I want to go and be silent and learn to control and focus my mental energies beyond those skills I've picked up in school. I need to block out the negative psychologies of people like this woman and the pastor(s) at my father's church. And if I become a part of community in the process, that's cool too.