Religion and Faith: It's What You Believe

He’s back!!!

Yes after several weeks, Diggapedia is back.  It wasn’t a sabbatical as much as I felt I had nothing to say, nothing to opine, and certainly nothing to rant about.  In short, it’s been pretty damn boring as I felt I had nothing else to add to the masses regarding the Trayvon Martin, Edward Snowden, or A-Rod discourse.

So what brought me back? It would have to be one of three things: politics, international relationships, or religion; and the answer is religion, specifically the Lauren Green interview of Reza Aslan.   I had recently downloaded Aslan’s  Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, when the now viral video of the interview took place on Fox.

So here are my top ten opinions on religion:

1)      Your faith is your business, my freethinking is mine. 

2)      Religion has its place in the public square, just not in public policy; the Wall separating church and state shall be tall and wide and never be breached.

3)      Cherry picking holy book verses to attack another’s opinion is the province of the small minded.

4)      Any and all religious fundamentalism is a threat to freedom.

5)      Church corruption is as old as the Bible.  From the High Priests who controlled The Temple of Jerusalem and extorted from the poor Hebrews of the Galilee to today’s Catholic Church’s sexual abuse cover-up and everything in between, the hierarchy and power have abused the masses.

6)      If you claim to be a person of faith but deny another a place of worship you are a hypocrite and possibly a bigot.

7)      All religions started as cults.

8)      Faith is a powerful force and I respect those that possess a strong faith.

9)      I’ll tale science Alex.

10)   When it comes to the origin of religions as told in the various holy books, I am reminded of Mr. Maxwell Scott in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

Oh, and why does a ‘news’ network need a chief religion correspondent?

My secular ass is back.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Being a good Jew and what is the Christian thing to do

This weekend we are at the nexus of Christianity’s Easter and Judaism’s Passover, which isn’t too surprising considering the Last Supper was actually a Seder; I did lean something on my tour of Jerusalem.   This weekend Christians observe the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus while Jews celebrate the Moses led exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, meaning this weekend we can expect Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Robe, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and many other films to be broadcast.   So on this weekend where the Judeo-Christian faiths observe very important holidays, I ask: What is a good Jew?   What is the Christian thing to do?   These are not flippant or frivolous questions.   Do people practice what they preach?   Does going to a place of worship make you a better person?   Is Deepak Chopra correct when he says “All religions are cults with many followers.”? Full disclosure, I was raised Jewish, was Bat Mitzvah’d at 13, attended Frid...
Read more

A Secular American Jew and a Love for Israel

As many of you know, I have dedicated many postings to the State of Israel on a range of topics including: it’s history, the present day government, the Jewish-Palestinian question, and the region in general.   Growing up in a liberal conservative Jewish household (the oxymoron is quite common as American Jews were almost exclusively political liberals and the conservative branch of Judaism the most common) and attending Hebrew school as a kid you obviously build an affinity for the State of Israel.   I do not remember the Six-Day War of 1967, but I have vivid memories of celebrating Israel’s 25 th anniversary in 1973 and the Yom Kippur War later that year.   As a ten year old attending Yom Kippur services I saw the worried looks on my parents and the other adults at the shul as members of the congregation would periodically step outside to get news reports from car radios and transistor radios (We still drove and used electrical appliances during the high holidays, thou...
Read more

We live in a world of imperfect choices

“We live in a world of imperfect choices.” Those words were spoken today by President Obama during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.   Eight simple words that adeptly describe most geopolitical situations and the decisions world leaders face.   We live in an uncertain world were the only certainty is being second guessed.   Second guessed by political pundits and opposition mouth pieces whose only skill is Monday morning quarterbacking and backseat driving. Imperfect choices indeed. Syria: Get involved to stop the slaughter and risk getting bogged down in another Middle East Muslim nation.   Force regime change to get rid of a despotic butcher, only to risk replacing him with a failed state home to terrorists or a radical Sunni regime committed to attacking Israel.   Arm the rebels so they can defend themselves, and in the process increase the rate of killing and perhaps arming the same guys we way fight in the near future. Egyp...
Read more