Archive for July 6, 2007

Variegated Hardwood Theology

July 6, 2007 / / 6 comments

I read this over at Shakesville, and I was going to comment, but then comment became post (as sometimes happens).

We believe in an Almighty, we believe in the freedom for people to worship that Almighty. They don’t. They don’t believe you should worship the way you choose. They believe the only way you should worship is the way they choose. And, therefore — and, therefore, they will do anything they can to spread that ideology.

The notion that “We believe in an Almighty” is so destructive, so harmful, so vile. It is what Chuck Colson thinks.

“We” sometimes believe in an Almighty. We sometimes believe in an Almighty, but a qualitatively different one than the dog-whistle intends us to hear. We sometimes do not believe in any supernatural being at all. We sometimes aren’t sure. We sometimes believe in one, or many supernatural beings who are not Almighty (that is, who is or are not omnipotent).

The varieties of religious thought in the U.S. are vast. “An Almighty” is a bad meme. It is as bad as “Judeo-Christian.” It sweeps vast diversity under a rug that should not be covering the beautiful and variegated hardwood. It doesn’t begin to touch upon who we are as a people. It seeks to restrict us, and it seeks to exclude and marginalize many of us.

Don’t let it. Don’t shrug when you hear these things. Say no.

Say no.

Colson’s “Religious Muster” doesn’t pass religious muster

July 6, 2007 / / 14 comments

The “On Faith” blog used the July 4th Pagan rally as a jumping off point to invite essays for and against the issue of allowing Pagan chaplaincy (Pagans have been blocked repeatedly from military chaplaincy, as Wild Hunt has been documenting).

So here’s the wacky contribution by Chuck Colson (because I always take my religious advice from Watergate co-conspirators). Now, normally I wouldn’t take this seriously. And in fact, I don’t. But it’s really so loopy that I can’t resist fisking the thing.

It is debatable whether paganism is a religion, per say.

Always an excellent move to have a spelling error in your first sentence. Lends credibility.

Chucky, Paganism is not “a” religion, it is a group of religions. In fact, Chuck seems to know this when he says “Wiccans or pagans generally” in his very next paragraph, implying that he understands that Wicca, a specific religion, is a subset of Paganism (which he refuses to capitalize), which is more of an umbrella term. “Christianity” is also not “a” religion, it is an umbrella comprising such widely diverse groups as the Greek Orthodox Church and the Shakers.

It is generally defined as a pre-Christian state

By whom? This definition isn’t used by The Free Dictionary, or by Merriam-Webster, or by Webster’s/Dictionary.com, or by American Heritage. In fact, I think Chucky made it up.

It takes a wide variety of forms—all the way from relatively benign New Age-style nature worship, to pantheism, to witchcraft, and even human sacrifice.

Can I just say, holy shit?

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