Another Clergy Renunciation

Chicago Catholic activist priest Michael Pfleger last Sunday preached on white entitlement at Trinity United Church of Christ, where Jeremiah Wright was senior minister until his recent retirement and where Barack Obama has been a member for over two decades. Father Pfleger ended his remarks by mocking Hillary Clinton's imagined sense of white entitlement. This two minute histrionic tirade was captured digitally--a perfect snippet for these You Tube Times.

Mr. Obama was quick to renounce Father Pfleger, an early and avid Obama supporter. Mr. Obama said, "As I have traveled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that that unites us. That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn't reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause."

In my estimation the pulpit can be an intoxicating setting, especially with a responsive audience. Father Pfleger allowed rhetoric and hubris to take him to a very ugly place. Shame on him!

Inner Peace Circuitry

In 1996 a 37 year old neuroscientist had a stroke that caused the left lobe of her brain to shut down. A golf ball sized tumor and a burst blood vessel arrested motion, speech, memory, self-awareness, along with other functions that cluster to create ego. As a consequence she had a dramatic change in perception. Not only did her usual mind chatter diminish, she “saw” her own body blend with the world around her.

Jill Bolte Taylor has recovered. Her new book “My Stroke of Insight” has just been published. It chronicles her stroke and recovery: the extraordinary perceptions the stroke brought, as well as how she’s now able to return to the left lobe’s way of perceiving and knowing.

Her subsequent ability to shut off her left brain and return to the right hemisphere’s blissful awareness has been likened to the enlightened state that is the goal of Buddhist meditation.

You can view an 18 minute video of a talk by Ms. Taylor that has had more than 2 million hits since February: http://www.ted.com/speakers/view/id/203.

In my estimation Ms. Taylor’s chance experiences, a portal to the body/mind conundrum, is yet another significant recent event that illuminates what we have long called religion. Regarding this revelation, she makes no judgment, because she’s more interested in results, what she calls the “deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres.”

Getting What Was Wished For

Yesterday John McCain rejected the endorsements of two preachers of the extreme religious right: John C. Hagee and Rod Parsley. Mr. Hagee's pulpit oratory has been offensive to Catholics and Jews. Mr. Parsley has offended Muslims.

Mr. Parsley has characterized Islam as an "anti-Christian religion," and declared that “America was founded in part to see this false religion destroyed.”

Mr. Hagee's theology includes what is known as premillennial dispensationalism, that takes a literalistic approach to biblical prophecy. In this view, the nation of Israel has a special place in the trials and tribulations that will end history.

In my estimation this insinuates the precarious relationship between politics and religion in this year’s presidential campaigning. Eight year’s ago Mr. McCain vilified Christian conservative as “agents of intolerance.” This year he courts them to expand his base of supporters.

Mr. McCain's rejection of Mr. Parsley's endorsement resulted in one of my favorite utterances of the campaigns to date: “I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn’t endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I reject his endorsement.”

A Fitting Nod to Science

David Brooks in the May 13, 2008 New York Times, published an Op-Ed piece, "The Neural Buddhists." Mr. Brooks considered the effect science has had on religion in the last decade. He focused on how science's materialism had shaped the atheist/theist debate.

He concluded, "In unexpected ways, science and mysticism are joining hands and reinforcing each other. That’s bound to lead to new movements that emphasize self-transcendence but put little stock in divine law or revelation. Orthodox believers are going to have to defend particular doctrines and particular biblical teachings. They’re going to have to defend the idea of a personal God, and explain why specific theologies are true guides for behavior day to day. I’m not qualified to take sides, believe me. I’m just trying to anticipate which way the debate is headed. We’re in the middle of a scientific revolution. It’s going to have big cultural effects."

In my estimation Mr. Brooks is one of the more informed and tempered opiners on the conservative side. He reaches conclusions I don't generally agree with, but which I find reasonable. However, I usually find his garnering of facts similar to my own. This opinion piece fairly estimates contemporary science's impact on contemporary religion. I'm pleased Mr. Brooks recognizes these are revolutionary days for American culture, relative to science and religion.

Barack Obama and Islam

In a New York Times May 12 op-ed piece, "President Apostate," Edward N. Luttwak, explored the significance of Barcak Obama's Muslim father in the Islamic world view. Contrary to conventional American wisdom, this will most definitely not lead to closer ties to Islam, so opined Mr. Luttwak.

Once a Muslim, always a Muslim is Mr.Luttwak rubric. Mr. Obama's father was Muslim (though he seemingly renounced it), so by Islamic law Barack Obama was born a Muslim.

In this light, according to strict Muslim law, Mr. Obama, who is an avowed Christian, is an apostate. Apostasy is a grave Muslim sin, punishable by execution, should religious authorities so deem. While an Islamic state wouldn't carry out such an execution, radical Muslims might.

In my estimation, the writer of article was slyly offering an argument why not to elect Mr. Obama. But the argument also reveals a piece of the tension between Islam and the non-Islamic world.

Our world is a treacherous place. Organized religion of all ilks have a moral imperative to make this treachery less so. Yet how can we expect causes to be solutions?

Spirituality vs. Religion: A Contemporary Distinction

Pat Tillman, the pro football player who gave up that celebrity career and joined the military after 9/11, was killed by so-called "friendly fire" in Afghanistan in 2004. His mother Mary has published an account of his death and how the military and government, at first, misrepresented his death for propaganda reasons. Her book Boots on the Grounds by Dusk sheds light on how and why the authorities hid the truth about her son's death.

One of the many tragedies of this story involved a superior officer, an avowed Christian, who after learning that the family did not wish a chaplain at the final service, disparaged the Tillman family. His mother responded that her son was very spiritual, but not religious.

In my estimation Mary Tillman did not have to explain to anyone, including said superior officer, about her family's memorial choice. Hadn't her fallen warrior son died on behalf of a large freedom, that includes complete freedom of religion?

This little anecdote also points out the contemporary distinction between spirituality and religion. Increasingly I hear people say, "I'm not religious. But I'm spiritual."