They worship a log and call it Diana...

[smokingboot]

Or, beware of high priests, every one of them. For the ages change but they don't.

This entry may take me a while, as I tweak it throughout the day. Last night, I listened to the much touted tv prog 'Root of All Evil,' which argues that religion is, well, see the title, and that atheism is a better(tm) and more humane moral system. I haven't seen the first, so this isn't a review, more some thoughts generated by what was presented. Many may find it tedious.



My first thought? We all know that deep research doesn't always make great tv, but with a subject like this, surely a little would help. I have nothing against people finding their own way, and whether that is with a belief or without it, it's their choice and their right to happiness whichever way; but by gum, we were presented with some deathly stupid stuff.

Yahweh of the old testament isn't very nice apparently; I would never have gleaned that from reading the bible myself. The old testament is internally contradictory; well, duh, only the most oblique of fundamentalists can argue against that. Paul's new testament stuff is nasty and sadomasochistic...yee-ess, shall I go and make the tea, or am I going to be shown something new? We know that the old testament is a terrifying, contradictory tract of lineages and stories and laws and lore, not forgetting poetry; We know re the new testament that the Council of Nicea bunged out hundreds of gospels, so only a very few are accepted.

'How can we accept one part of the Bible without accepting the rest?' was the argument, 'Can we pick and choose?' Well of course we can, even as the Council of Nicea did. These books were written by humans and humans make mistakes; what one must look for is something deeper at the core. And the argument moved around and away from the core with many an avoidant hop.

How about the basic stuff of Christianity - not Paul's embroidering, but the basic reported stuff of Christ's deeds and words? These don't get mentioned much; Christ's 'lines... whoever wrote them' are sniffily mentioned for an instant, and are not gone into with depth, for good reason; They rather crush the argument. Because whether Christ lived or not, whether the story is true or not, the principles of Love above all still hold good. The story of the poor dude who looked to be the next big thing, got framed and died in disgrace is something with which we can all empathise.

Compassion for the pain of humanity is sacred; and whether one calls that empathy the height of humanity or the humanisation of the divine, it is fundamentally important; perhaps they even merge into one, in which case, the anti-divinity/pro-atheism argument becomes redundant and we have no show.


Consider. Perhaps the one big thing we need to know about Allah is that his major epithets are not, 'The all-powerful,' even if he is, or the 'All-knowing' even if he is; but the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. Are these not 'holy' concepts, necessary at the very basis of humanity?

The presenter wrinkled his nose in distaste at the idea of Christ's sacrifice being 'symbolic'. How 20th century 'good' this judgement is! We forget how powerful such symbols are, how many hospitals, how much help to the poor manifested through this symbol, how the ideal crystalised in people's minds as a personification, always helpful if human beings are to understand ideals, and gave rise to acts of great kindness, and more - the acceptance that great kindness to one another was the way to live.

And there is always the argument that on some level, humanity yelled out to god 'Come down and eat some of the shit you make us eat, you cosmic arsehole!' (See the Book of Job) and s/he may just have done exactly that. I'm a pagan, and I'm not sure I believe it. But I can see the comfort many people might gain from this belief, and I have been wrong before. So I'm not going to sneer at them.

The argument often arises that people should just do good because, rather than for hopes of heaven/fears of hell. And of course, that is true. But sometimes it's not about the reward, sometimes it is about being one with that ideal that sings so deep in an individual. It may be that in the moment of the act of kindness, of self sacrifice, one actually empathises so utterly with the one who gives everything, that one merges with an uberspirit of compassion. Maybe this spirit exists only in the subconscious of humanity, or maybe it has an external existance. The core of Christian teaching suggests that whichever it is, it can defeat death and change god, or change our understanding of god.

And if none of this mattered, and long ago some innocent shmoe died tortured on a cross for no reason whatsoever, that pain still resonates. Innocent people are dying today, and others don't always help; in fact, they seldom help unless it is good for them. Pity has a human face, but so does cruelty.

There is altruism in humanity but it can always do with being cultivated; and when those principles are corrupted, by powermongers or bad memory, don't blame the source, all it means is that one person created a dream, many distorted it. Worship the humanity in the eyes of your neighour and you face a very fickle god, because sometimes your neighbour loves you and sometimes he shops you to the mob, sometimes he rapes you or steals your stuff. Sometimes you call out for help and no good samaritan comes. The reason many people can find no comfort in atheism is because we all know that others are often shits; a man may kill us for his god, but more often, he'll kill us for our money or for kicks. And in that moment, you seek something else, that most divine humanity or most humane divinity.

There were so many forms of spirituality that weren't touched upon in this programme; I'm not into organised religion much, but I do get that little special glow when I hear someone who knows what they are talking about. No such glow last night.

The title of this post comes from an early Christian writer's derisive mention of paganism.

See how dumb they are! Almost makes you laugh, doesn't it? Imagine worshipping a log, when we have something so much better to offer! We'll give you bread, and understanding and real miracles! I'll explain it to you, and you'll see how right I am - I mean, how right my god is. You can see how stoooopid they are, can't you?

Or, a millenium or two later:

See how dumb they are! Almost makes you laugh doesn't it? Imagine worshipping some invisible thingwhat, when we have something so much better to offer! We'll give you bread, and understanding and real miracles! I'll explain it to you, and you'll see how right I am - I mean, how right my view is. You can see how stoooopid they are, can't you?

Can't you?

High Priests, be they of Amun, of Zeus, of Kristos, of Logos, always say the same thing. For the ages change but they don't.

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[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Er...that's 'origin' of course. Sorry. Must be getting tired!