Only anarchists are pretty...

You may recall that my friend M and I have had some spiritual/religious discussion in the past, and that they've helped me crystallize my own beliefs. M is, like many of my friends, a pretty devout Christian, and is also, like many of my friends, a genuinely good person. Which is why I will condemn to the hills the RightWingNut Christians that dominate the news, while still knowing that many, if not most Christians, are out there quietly practicing their faith as one of love and service.

M wrote the following email recently to a conservative Christian who regularly posts on www.raptureready.com (a website with which I am unfamiliar in general). I present it to you (with only initials instead of names, as is my custom) as an example of the quiet, strong and loving faith that many Christians practice daily, and something to think about when you see another Bill Donohue/Rick Warren/James Dobson:

My name is M. I am from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm sure you get hate mail all the time from frustrated humans. I happen to disagree with much of what you write and think that your perception of the Bible is a little off. I am a Christian and I was saved many years ago by Jesus Christ through a friend. It turns out that is the best friend I ever had.

I think the problem with your writing is that you give people the impression that you are an American and a republican before you are a Christian. If that isn't dangerous to the people who believe in your message, I don't know what is. I agree with you that this is a crucial time in world history. THE crucial time, that is. I believe in the pre-Trib Rapture and most of the things that Rapture Ready used to teach. But now, it seems you and T and T are so upset about America's current political landscape, it's stopping you from teaching what is really important. Especially to those of us that turn to people like you with the gift of teaching. I used to be dependent upon this website because I am a watcher. Now, everytime I log in it's all about how horrible Obama is. Can't we agree that Obama doesn't really have to do with anything other than being a pawn? Can't we also agree that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem and not Ohio? In your post before the election, you promised your readers that America would look like literal hell on earth within 100 days of January 20th if we elected Obama. You missed the mark sir. I don't think it matters who is in office at any given time, they are all liars and that is a fact.

I wanted you to know that I will be sticking to my church from now on and won't be reading your stuff anymore. There is a part of me that thinks you might work for the enemy with all your vitriol. I pray that I am wrong and that you have a Christlike spirit in you somewhere. I can't see Jesus, the actual Prince of Peace, spewing any of the negativity that you perpetuate with every post. Like you pray for me, I will also pray for you. I can see that compassion and discernment aren't your spiritual gifts... those happen to be mine. It's stuff like yours that makes my job of making Christians even harder.

Turn toward the light R, it's not too late for you.

Your brother in Christ, whether you want me to be or not,
M from Grand Rapids.

According to this site/quiz, turns out that my beliefs are 77% compatible with the Quran.

My beliefs were compatible in that I:

-believe in environmental conservation
-do not believe there is only one true religion rather than elements of truth in many religions
-do not believe in "Original Sin"
-think the law of requital is fair, i.e. equivalence: what good you do will be given back to you (in the next life if there is one), what bad you do will be given back to you (in the next life if there is one)
-believe victims of crimes and/or their families should have a say in the penalty for such crimes
-believe in certain circumstances the death penalty could be warranted
-agree with: "Be the change you want to see in the world."
-believe humans collectively have a natural instinct towards what is right and what is wrong
-feel that many of those considered divine prophets/messengers (if they existed), e.g. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad delivered the same basic message of oneness of God, oneness of mankind and doing good deeds
-would like a belief system which clearly states how it proves itself
-agree with the following: "Actions speak louder than words."
-agree with: "Faith not supported by reason and empirical evidence is wishful thinking."
-think freedom of speech and freedom of belief/religion is a fundamental right
-believe it is an individual's duty to distribute some of their wealth to the needy and promote social welfare

Happy St. Patrick's Day to those non-Catholics out there. To the Catholics, happy Holy Week, I guess - you had St. Patrick's Day on Friday, due to its falling during Holy Week for the first time since 1940. I've no real issue with the Church switching the day, since it is a saint's day. Sure, most people just use it as an excuse to drink copious amounts of alcohol and wear the color I look fabulous in the rest of the year, but it started out as celebration of Ireland's patron saint, not a celebration of inebriation and wannabe Irish folk.

At any rate, seems that the cause of all this confusion regadling St. Pat's (the South Side parade here in Chicago even happened a week early, due to the usual day of the parade falling on Palm Sunday this year) stems from Easter (a.k.a. Zombie Jesus Day) being so early. I've been unsure of the reason why Easter is so early this year, not being in the know about how the date of Easter is determined. But now I know: Easter is celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon. So apparently it's the Paschal Full Moon that's come early this year, necessitating that Easter come early. And I must say, I find this quite pagan way of setting the date of a Christian holiday quite interesting. Another way the Church founders used early pagan rituals to determine when they would celebrate Christian holidays.

Speaking of the Church, did you hear we have 7 more deadly sins to worry about according to the Vatican? The original 7 are, of course: lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. (I confess right now, I have been guilty of all 7 at one time or another.) The new sins include: polluting, genetic engineering, being obscenely wealthy, taking/dealing drugs, abortion, pedophilia, and causing social injustice. Hmm. Seems to me the Vatican is quite guilty itself of some of those.

I made reference recently to some religious/spiritual discussion I had with M via email. He said it's OK to post it, so here it is. Long, but good. I found it really interesting, and I also found that it sort of clarified my own beliefs, or at least my communication of them. You'll note that we don't end with total agreement, but perhaps hope that we'll find out we were both right.

( A spirited discussion )

People always ask me about my beliefs as far as religion, spirituality, etc. I wrote this to M tonight, and thought I'd share it here as well.

I've been trying to distill my beliefs into some sort of statement for awhile. What I've come up with is this: I do believe in a higher power. If people want to call it God, Allah, Mother Goddess, whatever, it's all the same higher power to me. I think of it more as a power, though, a force for good, than as a being. Conscious in some ways, yes, but not really a voice from on high. More of whisper underlying everything we see, do, hear. And I think that higher power gives us free will, and choices, and the power, no, the DUTY, to question and think for ourselves. I think of Jesus as more of a prophet, a teacher, than a savior. And from what I know of his teachings, it seems like he was a pretty good guy. :) I think of the Bible (the New Testament, anyway) as his lesson book, some tried and tested parables, recipes for living (written down by men, of course, and there're probably typos in there). I think if you do good in the name of a different god, or even just in the name of humanity, you're still building up some divine credit, or karma, and just because you weren't praying in the right church, or wearing the right symbol, doesn't mean you don't get to go gently into that good afterlife.