I saw Religulous over the weekend, a very funny and challenging new movie from Bill Maher skewering various forms of religious expression. Maher is the former host of politically incorrect on Comedy Central which is a good description for this movie. I can't think of too many religious groups who would be left un-offended. Maher has nothing good to say about organized religion although he had nothing at all to say about that nebulous alternative to religion called spirituality.
His primary targets are the fundamentalist branches of Christianity, Orthodox Judaism and Islam in general with a brief shot at the weirdness known as Scientology. He also takes on the Mormons who are in a category of their own. His bottom line is that we shouldn’t be looking for ways to foster religious tolerance. Instead we should be finding ways to marginalize religion and expose the irrational, anti-intellectual, violent, xenophobic, misogynistic and misanthropic tendencies of the religions he is going after.
I think Bill Maher is one of the funniest and most intelligent satirists working today and parts of the movie were hilarious. At one point he is interviewing a "reformed" gay evangelical who insists that no one is “born gay” and Maher quips; “have you ever met little Richard?” Perhaps the best moment was his interview with father Reginald Foster, an American priest serving as the Vatican Latin expert. Father Foster refuses to wear priestly garb and comes across as a happy heretic with his progressive views on various topics. Another high point was watching the former director of the Vatican observatory, Jesuit priest George Coyne, make mincemeat of the claims of creationists.
Maher makes no claim of being fair and balanced. He offers no hint of a middle ground or opposing viewpoint. That task is left to others. This movie is a polemic; his concluding words are “religion must die in order for mankind to live.” I am inclined to agree to the extent that the religion he is talking about is the kind of fundamentalism that longs for the violent end times of Revelation or is bent on world conquest and domination violently or otherwise.
The biggest problem with the movie is that it doesn’t address the issue of why religion was invented in the first place. Human beings have always been looking for answers to ultimate questions and even if there are no answers, we need ways to talk about those questions. The movie does a great job of demonstrating how dysfunctional certain religious institutions have become but offers no alternative for dealing with the big questions. Science doesn’t have all the answers either so where to from here?
One suggestion might be to allow ourselves to evolve beyond the limitations of both religion and spirituality. The fact that humankind is outgrowing the magical and supernatural doesn’t mean an end to mystery and awe. The wonders of consciousness cannot be explained by mere reduction to biological components. Evolution is demonstrating an emerging level of complexity greater than the sum total of its parts that cannot be explained by random chance.
I would imagine that many people watching this movie might feel a bit defensive. Indeed, there are many apologists responding to Maher with varying degrees of alarm and outrage. The main reason that this movie did not have me squirming is because I do not identify with any of the religious labels being targeted. So what am I you might ask? I am an integral, evolutionary humanist. Good luck with that one Bill.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Neo-Idolatry and the Golden Calf of Post Modernism
In the October issue of our church newsletter which went to print the second week in September, I commented on the economic issues that were confronting us. I reprint it here more or less as a lead in to an episode of the Colbert Report in which Stephen Colbert says it better (and funnier) than I ever could. His comments follow the failure of the House to pass the so called "bailout" on September 29th and how we need to have faith... in "the Market." Check it out here... it's a hoot and we all need a bit of that:
Talking about the economy has become a national preoccupation. It is remarkable how much power we attribute to this mysterious entity by the way we think and talk about it, so much so that the state of the economy now has the power to determine the state of our collective consciousness. Our mood goes up and down like a roller coaster along with the Dow and the price of oil. Could it be that the way our nation regards the economy has become a form of neo-idolatry, the golden calf of post-modernism, a god like being unto itself?
In the March 1999 issue of The Atlantic, Harvard Theology Professor Harvey Cox wrote an article entitled; “The Market as God” in which he observed that there are compelling similarities between the ways that economists talk about “The Market” and theologians talk about God: “…there lies embedded in the business pages an entire theology, which is comparable in scope if not in profundity to that of Thomas Aquinas or Karl Barth.” The entire article can be found here: www.theatlantic.com/doc/199903/market-god
But just because economists are starting to sound like theologians doesn’t mean we have to buy into their idolatry. This year, our annual seven week fall series will be based on the book Spiritual Economics: The Principles and Process of True Prosperity by Eric Butterworth. This is a timely topic. In his typically clear and direct fashion, Eric Butterworth tells us:
“You are not responsible for what is said in the Wall Street Journal or what comes out of Washington in the form of economic indicators, but you are very much responsible for what you think about these things. You cannot afford to let the so-called experts decide how you are going to think and feel.”
True prosperity is measured by the state of our consciousness not the state of our bank accounts. Eric Butterworth brings a refreshing and much needed perspective to the subject that is free from magical thinking and dogmatic attitudes about manifesting and tithing. Most importantly, he stays focused on the primary aim of all of our teachings which is to show us how to become self liberated, fully functioning human beings instead of using spirituality to justify egocentricity and materialism.
In his forward to the 1998 edition of Spiritual Economics, David F. Miller, the former vice chairman and COO of the J.C. Penny Company Inc. writes: “Advancements in science, art, and indeed economics, all arise from the same source, the creative mind that taps into the inner Self and eventually finds expression in our actions.”
Our task as human beings is to awaken to the presence of that creative mind and learn how to draw upon the strength and wisdom of our true Self as we navigate the inevitable ups and downs of the fullness of life which includes the physical world and the karmic effects of our own actions and those of others. Spiritual economics is about taking responsibility for our own consciousness in order to find greater freedom and a sense of confidence (dare I say hope?) that humankind is up to any challenge that we may encounter.
Talking about the economy has become a national preoccupation. It is remarkable how much power we attribute to this mysterious entity by the way we think and talk about it, so much so that the state of the economy now has the power to determine the state of our collective consciousness. Our mood goes up and down like a roller coaster along with the Dow and the price of oil. Could it be that the way our nation regards the economy has become a form of neo-idolatry, the golden calf of post-modernism, a god like being unto itself?
In the March 1999 issue of The Atlantic, Harvard Theology Professor Harvey Cox wrote an article entitled; “The Market as God” in which he observed that there are compelling similarities between the ways that economists talk about “The Market” and theologians talk about God: “…there lies embedded in the business pages an entire theology, which is comparable in scope if not in profundity to that of Thomas Aquinas or Karl Barth.” The entire article can be found here: www.theatlantic.com/doc/199903/market-god
But just because economists are starting to sound like theologians doesn’t mean we have to buy into their idolatry. This year, our annual seven week fall series will be based on the book Spiritual Economics: The Principles and Process of True Prosperity by Eric Butterworth. This is a timely topic. In his typically clear and direct fashion, Eric Butterworth tells us:
“You are not responsible for what is said in the Wall Street Journal or what comes out of Washington in the form of economic indicators, but you are very much responsible for what you think about these things. You cannot afford to let the so-called experts decide how you are going to think and feel.”
True prosperity is measured by the state of our consciousness not the state of our bank accounts. Eric Butterworth brings a refreshing and much needed perspective to the subject that is free from magical thinking and dogmatic attitudes about manifesting and tithing. Most importantly, he stays focused on the primary aim of all of our teachings which is to show us how to become self liberated, fully functioning human beings instead of using spirituality to justify egocentricity and materialism.
In his forward to the 1998 edition of Spiritual Economics, David F. Miller, the former vice chairman and COO of the J.C. Penny Company Inc. writes: “Advancements in science, art, and indeed economics, all arise from the same source, the creative mind that taps into the inner Self and eventually finds expression in our actions.”
Our task as human beings is to awaken to the presence of that creative mind and learn how to draw upon the strength and wisdom of our true Self as we navigate the inevitable ups and downs of the fullness of life which includes the physical world and the karmic effects of our own actions and those of others. Spiritual economics is about taking responsibility for our own consciousness in order to find greater freedom and a sense of confidence (dare I say hope?) that humankind is up to any challenge that we may encounter.
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