Three Religions Have This in Common

Fundamentalist Christianity, Fundamentalist Judaism, and Fundamentalist Islam all condemn homosexuality. Their agreement on this point, and most likely a number of other points, does not make them correct. But it does make me wonder why they have this (and presumably quite a few other things) in common.

So here are my thoughts: The molders (and I use that word with much careful consideration, so as to encompass both ancient, historical personages and modern religious leaders) of these religions feel that life needs to be tightly controlled and regulated--presumably by their scriptures and their clergy. So they see life--behavior--as being about a lot of rules, for what we must and (maybe more importantly) what we must not do. What clothes we should wear, how we must wear our hair, what we should (or, more likely, should not) eat. Maybe there is a view of human nature implicit here: we are all wild, savage beasts, and our natures--our lusts and other baser impulses--need control, examination, regulation, corseting.

And what about the people who are drawn to these sorts of religion, who embrace them and gladly follow them? I believe there is a certain personality type that positively likes having a lot of their conduct prescribed. I'm not sure whether this is the same personality type as the "molders" I referred to above, or a complementary type that fits that of the molders like two pieces of a jig saw puzzle.

Well, it's usually believed in modern, western democracies that people should believe and observe what they want. That's fine; but too often the attitude is, "I don't think such-and-such is right, so I am going to try to prevent you from doing it"--whether it is  homosexuality, abortion, or any of countless things which most of us feel a human being ought to be free to do.

Copyright © 2018

Is Religion Schizophrenic?

Regular readers of this blog know that I have frequently been critical of organized religion and blame it for much of the conflict that mankind has endured throughout history: persecution, terrorism, war.

I recently learned of a so-called "peace camp," which brings together children of different religions so that they can get to know one another and learn about one another's religion. One premise is that Christians are very ignorant of Islam, Muslims are very ignorant of Christianity, and so forth. So the campers visit various houses of worship, learn about holidays and, presumably, religious texts and beliefs.

With such knowledge comes the discovery that the various religions have more in common than one might realize: all advocate peace, love, friendship, tolerance, and helping your fellow man.

The man who founded the camp says that when he looks at television, all he sees is religion depicted as motivating bombings. He wanted to counter that image. I'm sure he has a valid point.

But which is the correct view of religion? I don't want to say that either idea is totally false, even though they seem to be diametrically opposite. Well, how about this thought? Maybe religion is schizophrenic; you know, having a split personality, so that it can be both.

Maybe it depends on who is in charge, so to speak. Evidently the Koran both preaches love and tolerance, and also can be interpreted to favor violent strife against non-believers. The Judeo-Christian tradition may be similarly schizophrenic. Jesus (as I understand) advocated love, peace, forgiveness, helping the poor and disadvantaged; but the Old Testament which had been the basis for the Judaism out of which Christianity arose repeatedly contains violent images and the Old Testament god is a wrathful god who is always smiting his enemies.

Maybe it's all "in there," so to speak. Maybe it depends on what part of the text is being stressed or what a particular religious leader picks out to emphasize when he or she preaches. Sort of, who is in power right now.

To close with a little anecdote: I am reminded of a little episode from a drama I saw on TV some years ago, about a Jewish family of piano manufacturers, living in Germany in the 1930s just as the Nazis were coming to power. To reports of what was happening to the Jews, the wife says, "But how can this be happening? This is the country of Goethe, Lessing, Beethoven"--the idea being that those people represented enlightenment and tolerance.

Her husband replied, "Yes, but unfortunately they're not in power right now."

Copyright © 2011 Richard Stein

Parents, Beware! . . .Lest Your Actions Backfire

Sometimes parents' actions, with respect to their children, backfire. And sometimes, I think, the parents deserve it.

When I was a kid, I think I can say that religion was more or less forced down my throat. I was made to go to Hebrew school (two hours a day, after regular public school, four days a week), even though I was terrified of my Hebrew school teachers which caused me stomach aches that landed me in the hospital. But attending Hebrew school had to be done, so that I could have a Bar Mitzvah. (I didn't want to have a Bar Mitzvah, but, in my parents' eyes, how could a boy not have a Bar Mitzvah?) Also, where religion was concerned, I felt I saw hypocrisy in my parents, that they were saying, Do as we say, not as we do.

So I later rejected the ancestral faith pretty completely. I absolutely don't observe it at all--although, to be completely honest, my parents' actions don't get all of the blame for that. But I think my parents richly deserve that outcome.

In another example, when I was a kid I was into photography (I still am). I would use my mother as a photographic subject. So, maybe as a birthday present, my mother gave me a book called How to Photograph Women.

After she gave me the book, my mother discovered that the book had pictures of naked women (I was an adolescent at the time, I believe). Well, one day when I was not around, Mother seized the book—and cut out all the pages with the nude photos.

I think that that's screamingly funny when you consider that I grew up to be gay. I mean, what were the photos supposed to have done to me, make me feel lust for women? Of course I can't say that not having those pictures made me gay; but in hindsight, maybe my mother might have wished that she could have fostered lust for naked women in me.

Copyright © 2010 by Richard Stein