Oxymoronic Faith

Did you ever wonder how there could be Conservative Christians? No matter, I have. I mean wasn't Jesus a liberal? He preached against the established order, helped people in need and preached that everyone else should do likewise. He associated, not with the better sort but with the outcasts of society. He was born poor, grew up poor, and died poor.

What does this Jesus of the Gospel stories have in common with today's Conservative Christians? They don't seem to be in favor of helping the poor unless those poor are illegal immigrants who work for substandard wages in sweatshop conditions. The don't seem to favor healthcare for people who need it or housing or education.

Jesus managed to get in trouble with the religious and political establishment of his day by failing to observe the letter of the Law and preaching that the Spirit of the Law was more important. Conservatives, even the most kind hearted of them, seem to favor law and order over the spirit of anything.

Isn't being a Conservative Christian an oxymoron?

What's Behind Anti-Evolution?

Did you ever wonder what was behind the anti-evolution drive that comes and goes in Western culture? It started even before Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking book, On the Origin of Species. Even Darwin's preacher father had more than a few concerns about his son's work.

It is my belief that the early arguments against evolution--whether it was Darwin's original ideas, which have largely been superseded by new learnings, or the later versions of evolution--have more to do with the general idea, from the Bible, that God created man and woman at the top of a hierarchy of animal beings. In asserting the biblical creation (or Intelligent Design as it is currently styled) or the Scopes Monkey trial, which most people believe was about whether or not man descended from the apes, those doing the asserting are lobbying for the idea that the human being (a) is more than a mere animal, (b) is the highest form of creation, and (c) was formed in God's image by God and not descended from anything else.

And I would contend that behind that is the Western European idea that came to fullest expression in the Age of Exploration, Conquest, and Exploitation of lands previously unknown to (and therefore "discovered" by) Western Europeans is the idea of the supremacy of the white race. Yes, to be blunt, those who espouse biblical creationism or Intelligent Design are, at their foundation, carrying on the racist traditions of our western culture.

This form of racism, which is still with us in less disguised forms, asserts that racial superiority is tied to skin color; the less skin color you have the higher up the racial chain you are, the smarter you are, and the more entitled to rule you are. That was the thinking in Darwin's time, and underlying all of the arguments about biblical truth (literal vs. metaphorical) is the notion that heredity is everything and that social position is somehow related to God's favor.

Of course, when I write it that way it sounds pretty silly, and I'm sure if many people read this blog, I would be creating a firestorm of condemnation from the Creationists, Fundamentalist Christians, Intelligent Designers, and anyone else who is still unconscious regarding racism in our shared culture and their own lives.

If you know the code, you can see how the "logical" argument works from God created mankind (my preferred term is humankind) and gave him dominion over the animals and fish and plants to white races, which hold the world's economic and military power at this moment in history, are superior to all other races. That will work for some people until the worm turns, as it has in the past and will, if humankind has a future, in the future. What goes around comes around.

Running With Scissors

I expect this entry to be a series of short takes on stuff laying around in my brain.

The Transportation Safety Administration, those people who bring us long lines and delays at airports, has announced that starting December 22 we will again be allowed to carry scissors and small tools on airplanes.

Some people applaud this decision to speed up security checks while others point out that it puts us a step back toward the "bad old days" when hijackers could bring box cutters on planes for hijacking purposes. TSA points out that with reinforced cockpit doors, these restrictions are no longer necessary.

I continue to point out that what has forever made air travel safer is the potential hijackers' realization that the passengers no longer have an incentive to stay peacefully in their seats. Now, we'll die fighting, because fighting is the only hope we have of surviving the ordeal, slim as that hope might be.

You see, there is NO security system devised by human beings that can't be defeated by human beings. The most we can hope for is that security will make it easier to catch the less smart ones and slow down the others. Eventually, we have to take the risk that we'll have to defend ourselves from attack. We can't always expect somebody else to do that for us.

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As his trial today, Saddam Hussein is quoted as saying that he is not afraid to be executed. That's good, because that's what's going to happen, eventually. But before it happens, he's going to have a trial or a series of trials so that his guilt in various situations can be officially determined, even though that guilt is beyond dispute by anyone other than Saddam himself.

Doesn't it seem odd that we have to have a judicial proceeding and pretend that his innocent until proven guilty? It's not as if his gassing of the Kurds, killings of political opponents, and raping of any woman who struck his fancy are in dispute.

Couldn't we make the case that the expense of this trial could be put to better use when the outcome is certain and the penalty known? Perhaps, but we'll continue the dance until the last tune is played. Then, if he hasn't died from natural causes or taken his own life (see Hermann Goering at Nuremburg), he will be executed in whatever manner the Iraqis see fit.

But make no mistake about it, Saddam Hussein is a dead man.