When I was a Christian, I didn’t think of everyday life as having intrinsic spirituality. Rather the opposite – everyday life was an unspiritual problem I hoped spirituality would resolve for me.
I tried to import spirituality into my everyday life so I could draw on it as a resource. I would get topped up with spirituality at church or Bible study. Or by spending time alone reading the Bible and praying to God. Then I would re-enter everyday life bringing my renewed supply of spirituality. Hoping it would be right there next time I needed it.
But that never worked very well. Somehow it seemed that spirituality was not a resource I could collect one place and use in another.
A few years ago I lost faith in church and Bible studies and prayer. All I had left was everyday life. I reconciled myself to this new reality and began to engage with everyday life instead of running away from it, mentally or geographically. I was pleasantly surprised to find at what I found when I opened myself up to all everyday life had to offer.
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This week’s Economist includes an article Where angels no longer fear to tread about a significant new study, Explaining Religion
Posted in General Conversation | 7 Comments »“Explaining Religion”, as the project is known, is the largest-ever scientific study of the subject. It began last September, will run for three years, and involves scholars from 14 universities and a range of disciplines from psychology to economics. And it is merely the latest manifestation of a growing tendency for science to poke its nose into the God business.
Religion cries out for a biological explanation. It is a ubiquitous phenomenon—arguably one of the species markers of Homo sapiens—but a puzzling one. It has none of the obvious benefits of that other marker of humanity, language. Nevertheless, it consumes huge amounts of resources. Moreover, unlike language, it is the subject of violent disagreements. Science has, however, made significant progress in understanding the biology of language, from where it is processed in the brain to exactly how it communicates meaning. Time, therefore, to put religion under the microscope as well.
The experiments [this study] will sponsor are designed to look at the mental mechanisms needed to represent an omniscient deity, whether (and how) belief in such a “surveillance-camera” God might improve reproductive success to an individual’s Darwinian advantage, and whether religion enhances a person’s reputation—for instance, do people think that those who believe in God are more trustworthy than those who do not? The researchers will also seek to establish whether different religions foster different levels of co-operation, for what reasons, and whether such co-operation brings collective benefits, both to the religious community and to those outside it.
A few months ago I wrote about being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I wrote about how it seemed like avoiding certain foods made my symptoms go away.
Since then they’ve been back in varying degrees and I haven’t yet been able to establish a clear link between what I eat and my symptoms. Which makes it hard to continue with food restrictions. (That and Easter chocolate in the house – although of course I could just say no)
Because I’m continuing to have symptoms and because of what a test in January showed about extent of the disease I’m going on different meds: Entocort short-term and Imuran longer-term if blood tests indicate I can take Imuran.
I’m finding there’s a significant emotional component to all this. I don’t like being on medication – it’s scary because I don’t know what else it will do (short term and long term) as well as what it’s supposed to do.
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Here’s one problem I’ll never have. According to an associated press article about the world’s tallest man
Leonid Stadnik’s phenomenal height has forced him to quit a job he loved, to stoop as he moves around his house and to spend most of his time in his tiny home village because he cannot fit in a car or bus.
I was glad to see this, from the same article
Posted in General Conversation | 2 Comments »But Stadnik, who according to the Guinness World Records is the world’s tallest human, says his condition has also taught him that the world is filled with kindhearted strangers.
Since his recognition by Ukrainian record keepers four years ago, and by Guinness last year, people from all over Ukraine and the world have shipped him outsized clothing, provided his home with running water and recently presented him with a giant bicycle.
“Thanks to good people I have shoes and clothes,” said the 37-year-old former veterinarian, who still lives with his 66-year-old mother.
(h/t Julie Clawson)
A few anti-war protestors interrupted an Easter service in Chicago’s Catholic cathedral yesterday. They were quickly removed from the service by security guards after they shouted their message and squirted fake blood.
The Cardinal, who was presiding at the service, responded: “We should all work for peace but not by interrupting the worship of God.” Julie is unimpressed by this comment and I understand why – it almost sounds like the opposite of something Jesus would say. When would Jesus have ever let ritual get in the way of something that is really important to people, right now?
But I wonder if what he was really trying to say is “disrupting a service is not an effective way to protest”. And if that’s what he meant I agree that, based on the article and my knowledge of the way people are, this protest probably didn’t win over anyone attending that service. They were annoyed at the disruption rather than paying attention to the message, as best I can tell.
I admire the courage of people who are willing to act on their concerns – I admire the protestors for that. I don’t think this was the best way to do it but I realize they might feel otherwise since it did get them some publicity.
Posted in General Conversation | 2 Comments »Two videos for Easter: one Christian – but low-key and fun and well enough made I enjoyed it – and one cute :)
Posted in General Conversation, Videos | 5 Comments »In many Roman Catholic parts of [the Philippines], locals re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday by nailing themselves to wooden crosses or stripping down to their waist and whipping their backs bloody with whips.
The Catholic Church frowns on the practice, but some devotees see it as a way to atone for their sins.
The Good Friday ritual has become a tourist attraction in several towns around the Philippines. In one city, 23 penitents have signed up to reenact the crucifixion, the newspaper reported. Four penitents plan to have themselves nailed to the cross.
The point of this article is that health officials are advising practitioners to use clean whips.
I think it’s sad that people feel they need to engage in self-abuse of this sort because of their beliefs. And it bothers me that it’s a tourist attraction i.e. people want to go watch other people inflicting pain on themselves for religious reasons.
Posted in General Conversation | 23 Comments »On the TV (see disclaimer) news this morning I heard “5 years and 4,000 lives later…”
I don’t think they got the count right. Unless only American lives count.
Edited to add: I found a site Iraq Body Count which says 80 to 90 thousand Iraq people have died there since the war and occupation.
Posted in General Conversation | 12 Comments »In his new book, Surprised by Hope, NT Wright (Bishop of Durham, England) says what some Christians believe about heaven is quite different from what’s in the Bible.
In a recent interview with TIME NT Wright explains that beliefs about heaven matter because they affect how we live and what we care about.
Posted in General Conversation | 4 Comments »If people think “my physical body doesn’t matter very much,” then who cares what I do with it? And if people think that our world, our cosmos, doesn’t matter much, who cares what we do with that? Much of “traditional” Christianity gives the impression that God has these rather arbitrary rules about how you have to behave, and if you disobey them you go to hell, rather than to heaven. What the New Testament really says is God wants you to be a renewed human being helping him to renew his creation, and his resurrection was the opening bell. And when he returns to fulfil the plan, you won’t be going up there to him, he’ll be coming down here.
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If there’s going to be an Armageddon, and we’ll all be in heaven already or raptured up just in time, it really doesn’t matter if you have acid rain or greenhouse gases prior to that. Or, for that matter, whether you bombed civilians in Iraq. All that really matters is saving souls for that disembodied heaven.