Worship
Yet another AR-15 assault, this time on a Chabad Jewish Center in San Diego on the last day of Passover. This follows the Sri Lankan anti-churchgoer attacks on Easter Sunday and the mosque attacks in New Zealand. That’s three for three for the Big Three. As it turns out, worship is risky these days. Some would say that worship is more needed than ever.
Anti-religious terrorism and gun violence are horrific acts that deserve nothing but the most vocal denunciation. There is, literally no argument that can be put forth that justifies it in any way. It is fair to say that people who take the time to worship are highly likely not to be the sort of people who take violent action in the name of God. I am not certain, but I’ll bet that the Crusaders were not guys who spent a lot of their time in church in quiet contemplation of how best to serve God. My guess is that those Jews who dedicate their lives to studying the Torah and its rules for governing a just society are not those prone to violence. And as for the Muslims who study the Koran in worship, these are people of peace, not violence. Violent Evangelicals, Militant Zionists and Radical Jihadists do exist, but these are not people prone to the peaceful reflection of worship. At best they are zealots who march under the banner of heaven to justify their violent acts. And acts of violence against those in worship just serves to further concentrate hatred by eradicating those least prone to violence.
In a word, this is nuts. This is the lawlessness of anarchy. The anarchy of violence results. Anarchy seeks a breakdown of hierarchy in favor of libertarianism. Strangely enough, it is the vacuum of lawlessness that brings about autocracy, the most oppressive form of government that exists and the worst enemy of libertarianism. Why is man always his worst enemy? Perhaps it is simply the human condition.
Worship takes on many forms in the world’s different religions. I am beginning to think that the only form of worship that makes sense is private, individual worship. It certainly seems the safest these days. When I scan the ways in which various religions worship, it seems to me that the Buddhists have it closest to right in the idea that meditation is what leads to enlightenment. We need a lot more enlightenment and keeping our worship to ourselves seems increasingly necessary.
The privacy of worship seems problematic for many. I am no theologian, but it seems that to varying degrees, the gatherings of like-minded individuals into religious fervor seems an almost necessary part of the cult of religion. But now it has a rather high cost and perhaps needs to be rethought. Why should the reverence of God and the commitment to the idealism of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or even Sikhism require a temple and regularly scheduled gatherings to sing, preach and pronounce one’s beliefs for the world of radicalism to take aim at?
This may be a silly course of reasoning, but I have always preferred the path of individual beliefs and worship. When asked my religion I prefer to say I have Christian ideology at the heart of my personal beliefs. If pressed, I would say that if I had had the benefit of study of the tenets of Judaism and Islam, I might find those same beliefs as I embrace imbedded in those religions, but there would be little purpose. These mainstream religions all derive from the same scripture and the same lines of thought. They are the same stories with slightly different endings it seems to me. What I don’t need is the fervor of collectivism to feel more sanctified. I do not think I am alone.
All religions have a strong vested organizational self-interest. Let’s face it, dismantling the organized religions would never happen voluntarily. The Catholic Church is doing a fine job of fighting amongst itself into oblivion. I don’t know enough about what is happening inside Judaism or Islam, but just the Sunni versus Shia issue makes me think that the fissures abound there as well. I wonder whether the recent acts of religious violence are giving religious leaders pause to wonder if collective worship is a good thing. It should.
The toxic environment of today’s global sociopolitical situation seems stunning to us. I bet that if a historian reviewed the level of anger being expressed today and compared it to past times, we would find that it is perhaps simply one of many historical waves of this type of religious backlash.
I happened to watch There Will Be Blood last night. This is the Daniel Day Lewis movie where he plays the infamous oil tycoon Edward Doheny, who discovered oil in the Los Angeles basin. That would seem like story enough, but the story in the story was about his struggle with a young preacher who, at one time, to get a pipeline lease, forces Doheny to bow before the congregation and admit to his sinning. The movie ends with Doheny brutally murdering the preacher in the bowling alley in his home after he forces him to forsake aloud God and religion in favor of a financial goal. This struck me considering the religious violence we are living through.
Is religion really about spirituality? I think it is when we worship alone. When we gather to add strength to our conviction I tend to think it does more to imply that there is a financial aim to our worship. The realms of nature and grace come back into play in my mind when I consider this. Grace should be pursued alone and nature requires the collective strength of others to be maximized.
My equation for less violence against worship is to do less collective worship. Call collectivism what it really is, an effort to improve the economic life of the group. That may not stop violence against it, but it will cause less spiritual angst to defend against the violence that wants to attack it.
Dear Lone Ranger,
You have given me much to puzzle over. Uh oh, another long opinion and some experience driven personal opinion. Gun, bomb, fire or any harmful act against a group of unarmed people in peaceful practice of any activity is abhorrent. Certainly places of worship seem the worst but a club, a partying crowd in Las Vegas, schools or wherever, I consider as equally atrocious and cowardly. Charles Whitman killed 15 people from a tower at the University of Texas, Austin in 1966. Why? I try but can’t fathom the hatred or deluded rationalization for these acts. Humans are one of the only species that inflicts pain on or kills each other for no reason.
I am not against the second amendment but let’s be real, none of the framers of our constitution could have imagined the weapons available today. Beyond personal safety (many disagree) hunting game or relaxation at an approved and supervised venue (yes, many find some sort of pleasant diversion doing so) what justifies more than hand guns. shotguns or rifles. I don’t believe there is anyway to pass laws against owning them. As we all know, the NRA is too powerful. The NRA is also nuts when they go on to defend automatic weapons, armor piercing bullets and more. Deer and ducks don’t have Kevlar hides or feathers. An atomic weapon could be considered as arms but nimby thank you.
While I am aware that religion has been used as an excuse for most of the violence and wars in history, I also see that there are many people who get great comfort in a communal setting of worship. Hence churches, synagogues, mosques abound. The setting doesn’t cause the violence, the problem is that some ‘practitioners’ don’t get the predominant message of truth, peace and love that are supposed to be the centerpieces and foundation of most faiths. Much of the trouble is the way these messages are taught, imbued in a plethora of dogma that confuses it. I was raised Methodist but stopped going when I was 15 because our priest, someone I liked, mentioned that to think something was a sin. And God knew about them. I was in the middle of puberty and I was sinning by the bushel full everyday. Plus God surely has better things to do, being omniscient or not. So I adopted similar beliefs as you. I didn’t give up on God and don’t think God gave up on me. Rather I feel I have a strong personal relationship with him or her or them.
Religion is the most notable example, but it seems to be human nature to fear things that are different or unknown. The tendency is to react with violence. Fight or flight. However, as all sci-fi movies demonstrate, it’s hard to flee a huge zombie population or space aliens about to destroy our planet. So I believe most faiths protect themselves by claiming over and over to be the one and only true path. My brother-in-law introduces his wife as his ‘non-presbyterian’ wife. She’s Catholic. Too many people feel their religion is threatened by any other. I think they maybe are afraid the others might prove they are on the wrong path. Unfortunately too many people can’t accept differences without violence. The Shiites and the Sunnis hate each other over whether the leadership of the Muslim faith should be passed down in a royal family manner or elected. This rift is worthy of killing each other over??
I didn’t read in the Koran that jihad was to be used on a whiff of the smallest slight or difference of opinion. Christ brought the new idea that God is love and He is inside all of us. Though Judaism stops at the Old Testament killing everyone else in sight isn’t in their teachings.
Unfortunately 95% of Muslims are illiterate and, as such, I believe easily misled by anyone of their faith who has his own agenda. Jews have felt oppressed for almost all their existence and have become exceedingly defensive. Not wholly unreasonable but also lending itself not to trust everyone else. Christianity is following Christ’s teachings, so it must be right.
Hinduism is interestingly different. They have many lesser deities overseen by Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva, depending on which branch you belong to. They all seem to get along reasonably well though. What’s their secret?
As I mentioned before, In a similar way to you, I have embraced more of the Buddhist philosophy. The Happy Buddha. It is a very accepting faith and not bothered by other religious thought.
Those who practice the positive and denounce the negative nature of humankind through action and deeds are to be lauded no mater if they do or don’t believe in a particular faith or God at all. Live the good life.
Sincerely, Hoping I Lead By Example
Thanks, interesting
DECEMBER 13, 2016
RELIGION AND EDUCATION AROUND THE WORLD
1. Muslim educational attainment
Among the world’s major religious groups, Muslims have made some of the greatest gains in educational achievement in recent decades. The share of Muslim adults (ages 25 and older) with at least some formal schooling has risen by 25 percentage points in the past three generations, from fewer than half (46%) among the oldest group included in the study to seven-in-ten (72%) among the youngest. The Muslim gender gap in educational attainment worldwide also has narrowed.
Nearly four-in-ten (36%) Muslim adults, however, still have no formal schooling at all. That includes 43% of all Muslim women and 30% Muslim men. At the other end of the spectrum, 8% of Muslim adults – including 10% of Muslim men and 6% of Muslim women – have a post-secondary education.
There were a total of 1.6 billion Muslims of all ages in 2010. Educational attainment among the world’s more than 670 million Muslim adults varies widely depending on where they live, revealing a picture of high achievement in some countries and regions and a pattern of educational disadvantage in others. Globally, Muslim adults have an average of 5.6 years of schooling. But, regionally, the average ranges from 13.6 years among Muslims in North America (a population projected to increase from 3 million to 10 million people by 2050) to just 2.6 years in sub-Saharan Africa (where the number of Muslims of all ages is expected to expand from 248 million in 2010 to 670 million by mid-century).5
Thank you for updating me on the educational improvements, I should have checked my information myself. I am heartened for them that they are addressing it. Unfortunately women are still not afforded educational opportunities equal to the men. This is sadly true in other faiths too. But hope springs eternal.
Still bad