Proud Christian, Barack Obama

In a CNN debate (January 21) in South Carolina Barack Obama declared: "I am a proud Christian. There have been times times where our Democratic Party did not reach out as aggressively as we could to evangelicals, for example, because the assumption was, well, they don't agree with us on choice, or they don't agree with us on gay rights, and so we just shouldn't show up. And when you don't show up, if you're not going to church, then you're not talking to church folk. And that means that people have a very right-wing perspective in terms of what faith means and of defining our faith. And as somebody who believes deeply in the precepts of Jesus Christ, particularly treating the least of these in a way that he would, that it is important for us to not concede that ground. Because I think we can go after those folks and get them."

In my estimation, after reading these words a number of times, Obama is not only declaring he's a Christian, dedicated to the precepts of Jesus Christ, he also wants to 1) seek the Evangelical vote, while 2) engaging the Evangelicals in, at least, a tacit conversation about Christian values and beliefs, hoping to win them over and perhaps bending them toward a more liberal interpretation of those values and beliefs. I'd like to see this tacit conversation become explicit as we move through the primaries toward the November elections. At the very least, such a conversation would highlight that Christians of good conscience have a variety of outlooks.

Religion and the American Experience in Film

Last year I hosted a film series, Religion and the American Experience. In my estimation film is our age's primary art form. The films listed below offer important insight into the passions of religion in our curiously religious culture.

• "Elmer Gantry (1960):" Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons breathe life into Sinclair Lewis's broad brush novel of the same name. The lead characters, modeled on Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson are on target, played sympathetically without losing any of Lewis's intended satire.
• "The Prophet" (2003): Robert Duvall is outstanding in portraying a contemporary revivalist who struggles with the conflict between his explosive ego and his calling to do God's work.
  
• "The Crucible" (1996):" Arthur Miller's 1953 play, allegorizing MyCarthyism and the Red Scare through the notorious Salem Witch Trials of the Puritan era. An able cast and stunning cinematography, supporting a well-written script, give the viewer white knuckles throughout.
• "Witness"" (1985) Peter Weir directed this contemporary tale that contrasts the pacifist and communal ways of Lancaster County Amish and Philadelphia corrupt cops, against the smoldering attraction between Harrison Ford, playing a good cop, and Kelly McGillis a winsome Amish widow. The barn raising scene in particular is a lyrical visual poem of cooperation.
• "Inherit the Wind" (1960): Another iconic play translated to film, the subject the notorious Scopes Monkey Trial of the 1920s. Spencer Tracy and Frederick March bring to life their characters, modeled respectively after Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. The film manages to get into the fundamentalist soul in a kindly but critical way. Gene Kelly is quite good in portraying a newspaper reporter based on the American iconoclast H.L. Mencken. The theme of evolution vs. creationism is once again an issue of American life.
• "Intolerance" (1916): D. W. Griffith's sprawling story of hate versus love in world history. Four stories move in and out of one another from ancient Babylon to a contemporary urban setting. A long, 178 minutes, and somewhat confused narrative arc, it is nonetheless worth the effort, remembering that Griffith created this masterpiece of the silent era while World War I was raging.
• "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988): Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Nikos Kazantzakis's novel. Controversial when released, this is a fine example of the endless process of coming to terms with Jesus of Nazareth, portrayed by William Defoe.
  
• "Left Behind: The Movie" (2000): Based on the blockbuster books of the same name, this mundane film on a very unmundane theme (the rapture) is valuable for those unfamiliar with right wing Christian thought on the end of the world in these times.
  

Huckabee and God's Standards

On Monday, January 14, while stumping the state on the eve of the Michigan primary, Mike Huckabee said, "I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do, to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family."

In my estimation this statement raises two incredibly important issues: 1) The very nature of the Constitution, a secular document that encourages all religions by not favoring any; and 2) Who is the authority on God's standards? Across the spectrum, Christians disagree with what exactly those standards are.

Science Unlocks the Origins and Ways of a Moral Sense

“The Moral Instinct” by Steven Pinker, a feature article in the January 13, New York Times Magazine, offers a glimpse of insights evolutionary biology and neuroscience bring to religion. Pinker speaks of “the science of moral sense.”

Traditionalists will scoff at the notion that religion (at least the moral sense) can be scrutinized by good science. But in this relatively brief article Pinker deftly draws the ways and results of science looking at morality. For example, scientific researchers have identified five great moral themes: 1) do no harm to others, 2) fairness, 3) loyalty to a group, 4) deference to legitimate authority, and 5) purity.

Pinker argues that we respond to moral issues intuitively, by instinct. We then rationalize our responses.

In my estimation we are at frontier of understanding regarding religion and morality —how religion and morality relate to human nature. Using the metaphor of the computer we are hardwired in ways that have assured our evolution as a species.

These are exciting times for those who seek to comprehend religion’s workings. For the first time, thanks to evolutionary biology and neurosciences, we have facts.

Such a solid moral understanding can inspire moral progress. (What comes quickly to mind is Schweitzer’s “reverence for life” that progresses from the universal moral sense to do no harm.)

Incidentally, this general point of view dispels the notion that religion and science exist in two different realms. As a thorough naturalist I maintain that religion and science belong to one reality. Science is proving that it holds the key to understanding religion and morality. Religion must reconcile itself to this, while realizing that it has nothing to fear, but only adaptations to make.

Contemporary Religion from a Canadian Perspective

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is a valuable resource in so many areas beyond an expected Canadian content. At home and office I listen to the streaming audio on my computer.

CBCnews.ca posts a Religion site with diverse features on contemporary religion. The current discussion is "Where Is God Today." Highly accessible to the lay person, this site doesn't sacrifice quality of expression. Moreover, the perspective from north of the 49th parallel is remarkably civil and nicely balanced.

In my estimation "Where Is God Today" is worth your review.

A Cogent Case for Evolution

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) has just released Science, Evolution, and Creationism, a book designed to give the public a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the current scientific understanding of evolution and its importance in the science classroom.

In my estimation this book is a must read for all Americans, especially those who wish to counter the claims of the so-called Creationists and their agenda of teaching Creationism in the classroom as science. This slim book calls for and enumerates the benefits of the teaching of the science of evolution. It also claims that such an approach should not threaten religion, because religion has a separate realm of interest.

For more information regarding this new book and to browse a chapter by chapter precis, visit the National Academies Wesbite: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11876.