Category Archives: Atheist

Why I am an Atheist is an essay written by Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh in 1930 in Lahore Central Jail.[1][2] The essay was a reply to his religious friends who thought Bhagat Singh became an atheist because of his vanity.[3]

Bhagat Singh was a member of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association,[4] a revolutionary party in the Indian freedom struggle. He was an atheist who believed in socialism, and he wrote several articles on anarchism[5] and socialism for Kirti.[6] He was arrested on 8 April 1929 in connection with the Central Legislative Assembly bombing case and was sentenced to 14 years life imprisonment. He was re-arrested in connection with the murder of John Saunders, a deputy superintendent of police who was killed by Sukhdev, Rajguru, and Bhagat Singh in 1928 in retaliation for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.[7] In that case, the trial began and he was transferred to Lahore jail. In the jail, on 4 October 1930, Baba Randhir Singh, a religious man and member of Ghadar Party who was convicted in the first Lahore conspiracy case, met Bhagat Singh and tried to incite his belief in God; however, Bhagat Singh did not change his stand. Thereafter, Randhir Singh said "You are giddy with fame and have developed an ego which is standing like a black curtain between you and the God".[2] As a reply to Randhir Singh, he wrote this essay on 5 and 6 October 1930.[8] On 7 October 1930, all three of the defendants were convicted in the murder of Saunders and sentenced to death. On 23 March 1931, they were executed by hanging in the Lahore jail (present-day Shadman Chowk or Bhagat Singh Chowk).[9]

After the death of Singh, the essay was published on 27 September 1931 in Lala Lajpat Rai's English weekly The People.[10]

On the request of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, P. Jeevanandham translated the essay to the Tamil language. The Tamil version of the essay was published in Kudi Arasu in 1935. According to Chaman Lal, "at one time after Partition, the English copy of this essay was not found anywhere. It was then re-translated from Tamil to English, and some websites still carry the re-translated English version of this essay".[11]

In the essay, Bhagat Singh states that his atheism was not a result of vanity. He mentions that his family were firm believers in God, that he himself grew up as a religious boy who would chant prayers for hours and goes on to explain how despite this he went on to become an atheist.[3] He mentions that his atheism was also not a result of his association with a revolutionary organization and that most of his comrades were in fact theists, citing the example of Sachindra Nath Sanyal who was a firm believer in God. An excerpt from the essay reads:

Later still I came across a book entitled Common Sense by Nirlamba Swami. It was only a sort of mystic atheism. This subject became of utmost interest to me. By the end of 1926 I had been convinced as to the baselessness of the theory of existence of an almighty supreme being ..

He also questioned theists about the existence of God.[3]

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Why I Am an Atheist - Wikipedia

THROUGH UNTRUE

The atheist Jean Paul Sartre once wrote that if heaven exists, he doesnt want to go there. Thats understandable because Sartre denied the existence of God during his lifetime. So, if ever he got there, he would certainly be miserable. Imagine living forever with a complete stranger!

But I think Sartre misunderstood the meaning of heaven. It is not a place where we go after we die. In fact, we begin to experience heaven after we are born.

Heaven is sharing in Gods life and being friends with Him. Before He suffered and died on the cross, Jesus told His disciples: No longer do I call you slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15:15).

God gave us our lifetime to develop, nurture, and enjoy an intimate familiarity with Him. As His friends, we dont need to feel alone, anonymous, or abandoned because God has written our names in the palm of His hand. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He loves us more deeply than anyone else ever could.

This is why I envision death and the Last Judgment, not as a horrible, cataclysmic events, as depicted in todays Gospel reading (Luke 25:15-26). I see it as a joyfully anticipated event and a most exhilarating encounter with a real friend. They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is close at hand (Luke 25:17).

God offers us friendship. But like Sartre, the atheist, we can reject it. Or, we can take it lightly, not appreciating its value. Many of us look at friendship as a project or worse, a commercial transaction. We enter into it hoping to get some benefits, measuring our friends in terms of their usefulness.

How does an acquaintance become a friend? The answer is simple. We invest time to get to know him. I remember my childhood friends with whom I spent long hours. We played together, told stories, shared our dreams. We sometimes quarreled, but always found ways to reconcile. Our close familiarity with one another became part of the fabric of our lives. So even when we parted ways to pursue our goals in life, we remained friends.

Investing time with God is the best way to develop our friendship with Him. If we remember God only on Sundays, then we do not really consider Him as a friend. Remember Jesus said: Abide with me. I am the vine and you are the branches (John 15:5). He did not say: Look me up every-so-often when you feel like it. He wants us to spend time with Him every day in prayer to tell Him not only our problems and worries, but also our joys and hopes.

But lest we forget: God is not our equal. Yes, He is a friend, but He is our Lord and King too. Being friends with Jesus does not mean being buddy-buddy with Him, or seeing Him as a sentimental soul mate. As King and Lord, He has the right to demand something from us. Jesus said: You are my friends if you do what I command you (John 15:14).

He commands us this: To embody in ourselves the love that enabled Him to prove His friendship by laying down His life for us. Greater love has no one than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13). If we do this, then at the Last Judgment, we shall not find ourselves in the presence of a stranger, but a friend whom we have known and loved all along.

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Heaven and last judgment - Manila Bulletin

Nagoya Wakayama Prefecture doesnt just feel like a spiritual place, it is spiritual. On its northern borders are holy sites such as the Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture and Todaiji Temple in Nara Prefecture, which houses Japans largest Buddha statue. However, as you travel deeper into Wakayama itself, both the awesome natural surroundings and the proliferation of historic religious sites can provide a sense of spirituality to a lone traveler like myself.

Vast swaths of forested mountains stretch out across sparsely populated territory, from Mount Gomadan on the border with Nara to Asaki Shrine, which is situated on the southernmost tip of Honshu. In between, ancient shrines dot the lush, mountainous region, honoring the local gods of mountain, forest and sea, and Buddhist temples welcome those seeking enlightenment.

In Shingon Buddhism, headquartered at Kongobuji temple on Mount Koya, enlightenment is not a distant dream that takes many lifetimes to attain, but a real possibility for all of us in this world. The combination of breathtaking scenery, remoteness and dedicated spiritual practice makes Wakayama a truly spiritual place in Japan one quite unlike any I have experienced abroad.

In fact, the presence of spiritual landscapes such as Wakayama is one of my favorite things about living in Japan. People frequently discuss the pros and cons of life in Japan to outsiders. The first positives to get mentioned are the trains, the food and the hustle and bustle of Shibuya. But what people rarely mention is the ubiquitous presence of a spiritual geography that covers the landscape: the temples and shrines that mark every mountain and fit into every neighborhood.

I believe (temples and shrines) play a role in modern society as a place where people can discover something about themselves, says Yusen Onozaki, a former chief Buddhist priest and current owner of Nyojitsu-an, a Buddhist hermitage near Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture. When you enter the precincts of a temple or shrine, it gives rise to feelings that you do not normally experience.

I heard an anecdote from a young nursery school student that most children spend their lunch breaks not in the school cafeteria, but in the neighborhood shrine. Religious facilities of all kinds create a calm and extraordinary atmosphere that makes you feel as if youve come home a place for your soul to come home.

I grew up Jewish in a suburb of Philadelphia, but relatively isolated from other Jews. There were churches around, but I never entered them. Why would I? I never woke up to the call to prayer that is common in Islamic countries, or witnessed the world completely tune out on Friday afternoon for Shabbat as in Israel. While very few Japanese are devout Buddhists or Shintoists, the persistence of spirituality in the landscape around me in Japan has become meaningful in ways that I never expected.

Shinto and Buddhist buildings, ruins and ritual throughout Japan can help fuel relationships with your spirituality regardless of faith and background. For me, Japans spiritual geography has prompted a deeper connection with nature, a more sophisticated appreciation of art and aesthetics, and a renewed dialogue with my own faith.

Even if Shinto and Buddhist practice were to die out entirely, theres much to be gained from the mere presence of these monuments in the urban and natural landscape. Temples, shrines and small but meaningful symbols a miniature kamidana shrine on a mountainside, or a straw cord around a tree act as ways to commemorate and exalt the natural world.

A Shinto shrines basic function is to serve as a house of residence for spirits. From that perspective, engaging with shrines is like going to an art museum for nature. Most often, a shrine is dedicated to a local nature deity, and requires a small trek up a hill or into a secluded grove of trees. Engaging with a shrine means interacting with and opening yourself up to the local landscape, whether its a spectacular seaside cliff or a hidden grove in the suburbs.

The enshrinement of local nature also makes said nature more valuable. You dont need to believe in the spirits to understand the value of locating the sacred in the natural world. The deification of local mountains, forests and oceans is just as relevant to an atheist, so long as the atheist is keenly aware of human societys relentless exploitation and destruction of the natural world around us.

I often visit the ancient cypress tree at Atsuta Shrine in central Nagoya. Seeing the tree in itself is magnificent. But its location within a shrine and the reminder that, while the tree is natural, it only survives due to dozens and dozens of generations making intentional decisions to preserve it over a thousand years marks its ascendance into the sacred. The heart of Nagoya is a developed, industrial place with a relentless eye on production and profit. The spiritual task of preserving this tree through all of the wars and development is profound. It matters, regardless of whether or not I believe in the local deities.

Temples and shrines have also inspired me to develop a finer appreciation of art, aesthetics, and philosophy. Each local shrine and temple has a unique history and mythology. These stories form a network of texts and art objects to engage with. Like any work of art, they can fuel new insight, appreciation and creativity. The omnipresence of temples and shrines throughout Japan means that art objects and historical artifacts are often a stones throw away, and not locked inside distant museums or private collections. Even the seemingly ordinary statues of bodhisattvas are carefully crafted works of art.

Onozaki adds that another layer of this experience worthwhile to an outsider is the changing qualities of architecture and nature of religion across time. By traveling to various sites around Japan, a visitor will see just how drastically the florid Zuihoden Mausoleum in Sendai differs from the rustic, ancient Izumo Grand Shrine in Shimane. These divergent forms offer a greater variety of art and history to appreciate, and provide a lens into the way that spirituality in Japan adapted to new times.

All of this is hardly to mention morality. Onozaki believes that the greatest role Buddhism can play in modern Japan is by advocating open-mindedness.

Japanese Buddhism has a basic attitude of forgiveness, compassion and mercy, Onozaki says. This tolerance lies at the heart of spirituality in Japan, where people do not strictly follow one religion but freely drift among religious beliefs, practices, and faiths. Onozaki says that open-mindedness is especially needed in a digital age in which we are often so quick to criticize and dismiss others.

Japans spiritual geography has refined my relationship with my own faith. Temples and shrines have taken my own dialogue with Judaism in new directions.

For one, the network of texts, rituals and deities at these monuments contrasts with my own religious background. The practice of private prayer at Shinto shrines, or meditation at Buddhist temples, is a world apart from the communal Jewish prayers and songs I grew up with. But, as with any act of cultural exchange, interacting with these unique customs helps me grow. Without easy access to a Jewish community in Nagoya, Ive developed new spiritual practice due to the presence of the temples and shrines. For example, a visit to a temple when traveling has become my time for religious study and reflection.

Ive even come to celebrate the Jewish New Year with a mountain climb and a shrine visit. The muscle pain, accompanied by sweeping views of the landscape and the jangle of temple bells, feels strangely similar to hearing the call of the Shofar in synagogue after minutes of suspended, silent prayer.

Onozaki advises foreign residents in Japan to open their arms to temples and shrines, not for the sake of tourism but instead as a personal act of spirituality. Preparing and eating traditional vegetarian food in a temple, for example, or practicing zazen meditation, are unique experiences felt with all five of the senses. They can lead to new forms of spirituality and morality when taken on with genuine enthusiasm.

I could not be more grateful for the abundant spiritual sites throughout the Japanese landscape. Above all, its remarkable how open they are. Even outsiders can take advantage of their architecture, their natural beauty and their spiritual depths.

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What temples and shrines mean to an outsider - The Japan Times

By Billy Hallowell, Op-ed Contributor | Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Legendary Christian writer and thinker C.S. Lewis went from vigorous debunker of Christianity to one of historys most transformative and apologetic faith voices.

But most people today are much more acquainted with his hit books, like Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia, than the finer details of his compelling faith journey.

Nearly 60 years after Lewis death, that spiritual evolution is getting a fresh look through the popular, new film, The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis.

Actor Max McLean, who plays Lewis in the movie, recently told Faithwire about the authors stunning transformation from hard-boiled atheist to Christian apologist. Watch McLean explain:

[Lewis] lost his mother to cancer at the age of 9, [and] he had a terrible relationship with his father. And he also experienced the butchery of being in the trenches of World War I, McLean said. And he came to the conclusion after that that either theres no God behind the universe, a God whos indifferent to good and evil or worse, an evil God.

But as we know, that was hardly the end of Lewis spiritual journey. He eventually came to accept Christ and to formulate some of the best and most compelling arguments for God and the Bible.

McLean said Lewis is, in some ways, a paradox, as he was a private man who had so many public proclamations that have spanned decades and transformed lives.

Not only does he explore things spiritually and emotionally, but he ties it together intellectually so that theres no bifurcation of the spiritual, the emotional, he said.

McLean also detailed the impact Lewis legacy has had on his own life. The actor said he was an adult convert to Christianity and the legendary author has helped him, through reading and studying his works, to navigate the Christian faith in a way thats deep thats profound.

Lewis helps me to stay on track, he said.

McLean is in a unique position, as the actor has repeatedly adapted Lewis works for the theatrical stage for two decades now, using his acting chops to bring vivid spiritual writings to life.

Considering Lewis literary legacy, it should come as no surprise that his story, as told through The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis, is resonating.

The movie continues to be extended into 200 theaters across the U.S., and has brought in more than $2.5 million a stunning showing to say the least.

McLean said the reaction has been a wonderful surprise, as the movie was only scheduled to show for one night on Nov. 3. Now, the film will continue in various markets through at least Nov. 25.

Find out more about the movie here.

This story originally appeared on Faithwire.com.

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Ex-atheist CS Lewis was once a vigorous debunker of Christianity. Actor reveals what imploded that worldview - Christian Post

Tim Hawkins is a Christian comic and musician, known for creatively setting truth and faith to music, often hilariously! He muses on versions of familiar praise and kids songs that might be sung in atheist mega-churches to their original tunes. (These lose a lot in the translation to text, so check out the clip on YouTube for the full effect!)

Hawkins sings, Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing, power and majesty, praise to nothing! Then, No one loves the little children, all the children of the world. No one hears you when you cry, no one hears your lullaby, no one loves the little children of the world. And, Reason why, reason why, we exist but theres no reason why. Reason why, reason why, we exist but theres no reason why!

Hes not done yet, with Row, row, row your boat, gently down the reef, wallowing, wallowing, wallowing, wallowing in your unbelief! followed by Evolution, this I know, for Charles Darwin told me so. Accidentally alive, if youre weak you wont survive! And he ends with a parody of one of my personal favorites among kids songs, I am an A. I am an A-T. I am an A-T-H-E-I-S-T. And I have N-O-T-H-I-N-G to give me hope and certainty, and when I D-I-E I will be A-L-O-N-E. Hey!

Funny, huh?! Funny, haha, for sure. But funny, sadand funny, inconceivableas well. I take it as a reminder of how deeply grateful I am to be a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N, and to have a loving Heavenly Father to praise, a Savior who provides the meaning and hope for my existence, and a Spirit that guarantees my ultimate victory and eternal peace and joy.

I am ever so thankful for all those folks, beginning with the Gospel writers and continuing to the spiritual influencers within my own lifetime, who have believed and modelled and taught and encouraged seekers like me in the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Kingdom (not to mention my own life) is fuller because of them.

In the opening paragraphs of his letter to the Roman believers of his day, the apostle Paul paints a picture of the world that is literally worlds apart as illustrated by the qualities of gratitude and ingratitude. Verses 8 and 20-21 represent the polar opposites.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.

The first thing that comes to Pauls mind when he relays the great good news of the divine declaration of Jesus as the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord is gratitude, inspired in part by the faithfulness of his spiritual children. His thanks turn to prayers uninterruptedly or without omission offered to the Lord on behalf of these dear sisters and brothers who are loved by God and called to be his holy people.

Paul shares the testimony of the sold-out Christian: I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. And as Gods designated messenger, he is under the anointing of the Holy Spirit to boldly issue an indictment against this worldand any otherwhose nations and peoples are indifferent, ignorant, idolatrous, indolent, or in any other way put the egotistical I before the Lord Almighty.

The consequences are devastating. For since the creation of the world Gods invisible qualitieshis eternal power and divine naturehave been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

But not so the faithful, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ who are loved by God and called to be his holy people. Through him we, too, have received grace and apostleship and peace and spiritual gifts and mutual encouragement and salvation. The ancient promise is fulfilled in us: The righteous will live by faith.

Thanks be to God, for he gives the victory over self and sin in the Lord Jesus ChristHe the Creator, who is forever praised. Amen.

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From the Pastor: Thanks and no thanks | News | huntingdondailynews.com - huntingdondailynews.com

While historians argue about what C.S. Lewis did or didnt say, it can be stated with absolute certainty that the Oxford don never patted down his rumbled, professorial tweed jacket before exclaiming, Wheres my phone?

That line occurs at the start of The Most Reluctant Convert, as actor Max McLean enters a movie set preparing for the first scene. Seconds later, the camera follows him into the real Oxford, England, where Lewis was a scholar and tutor at Magdalen College.

At first, the famous Christian writer explains how he became an atheist. When he walks into the real White Horse pub, he orders two pints of beer, with one for the viewer. Soon, scenes from his memories spring to life, with Lewis striding through them as a narrator.

Lewis is in his imagination. Hes personified in his thoughts. I do think that the structure emerged out of the fact that Lewis had a lot to say, said McLean, laughing.

Thus, director Norman Stone a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award winner for BBCs Shadowlands let the voice of Lewis articulate his struggle, his passion. He is one of those rare individuals where ones intellect, ones emotions and ones spirituality are completely intertwined, said McLean.

All of this is second nature to McLean because the film covers much of the same territory as his own C.S. Lewis Onstage. This was a one-man show at the Fellowship for Performing Arts in New York City, an off-Broadway company McLean founded and guides as artistic director. It has staged other Lewis works, such as The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce, drawing warm reviews from The New York Times and other major publications.

The first-person narration, explained McLean, was primarily drawn from Lewis autobiography, Surprised by Joy, and the many volumes of his personal letters.

The jump from stage to screen, of course, allowed the films creators to seek permission to film in some of the most important sites linked to Lewis life. In addition to the White Horse, viewers follow Lewis into the historic Magdalen College library, a tutors campus suite and, most importantly, The Kilns the home where Lewis lived for decades with his older brother Warren and, briefly, with his cancer-stricken wife, the American poet Joy Davidman.

The movie ends with Lewis leaving a 1931 Christmas service at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Oxford, after he has received Holy Communion for the first time as an adult. As McLean is surrounding by the movie crew, the camera lifts high and pans, in one slow sweep, over to the parish cemetery and the grave of Clive Staples Lewis.

The key to the story, McLean noted, is the years in which Lewis became a believer, after the shallow Christianity of his childhood and his years as hard-boiled atheist. But this conversion was not simple because Lewis first became a mere theist. As Lewis wrote: In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.

The move to Christianity was aided by a circle of Oxford friends, including the famous scholar and novelist J.R.R. Tolkien. It was the creator of The Lord of the Rings who in a debate that lasted to 3 a.m. said, while describing Jesus: Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else he is a liar, a lunatic or a fraud.

At one point in that conversation, the friends strolled along Addisons Walk, a wooded footpath near the River Cherwell on the Magdalen grounds. While making his arguments for conversion, Tolkien drew on Lewis academic expertise in Greek, Roman, Norse and medieval literature.

Lewis described that walk in personal letters, including a description of a gust of wind when leaves fell like rain.

What makes Addisons Walk so magical, said McLean, is the movement toward Christianity. That conversation with Tolkien makes him recognize the importance of Jesus. ... Tolkien says to him, The story of Christ is a myth like all the other myths, but with one tremendous difference it really happened.

Then the rush of wind interrupts them. You just know that God was watching, that God was waiting, because he had such an extraordinary, providential plan for that encounter.

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Terry Mattingly: How C.S. Lewis became a convert on screen in his own words - Joplin Globe

People are right to be concerned that happy-clapper, sky fairy worshipping freaks will use the governments proposed Religious Discrimination Bill to spread bigotry.

There is enough division in the community without the Government enabling science-denying Christian weirdos to peddle their pernicious hate under the guise of religious freedom.

What we need is tolerance. And inclusion. And love. And for the country to be run by a fully vaccinated atheist.

Former Labor senator Doug Cameron summed it up best when he complained: I am an atheist, and I dont get the need for a religious discrimination bill.

Mr Cameron is also white, so he probably doesnt get the need for the Racial Discrimination Act either. But I digress.

I concur with former Labor MP Cheryl Kernot who tweeted: I live in a secular democracy, Morison. Stop imposing your version of theocracy on me. I dont want your government telling me what to do.

Nothing screams theocracy like people of all faiths and none being able to freely articulate their beliefs.

Next thing you know, Pentecostalism will be mandatory, and citizens will be forced to show a Hillsong membership card to get their haircut or to dine at a restaurant.

What next? No jabber (in tongues), no job?

We are practically Saudi Arabia. Maybe worse.

As Kernot said, Australia is a secular country. The Australian Constitution makes this explicit in the preamble where it says the States will federate into a Commonwealth while humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God.

Greens leader Adam Bandt was right when he tweeted: Scott Morrisons religious discrimination bill is a Trojan horse for hate.

Everyone knows that Christians will use their freedoms to tell people they are sinful and bad. And as every right-thinking person by which I mean Leftist understands, this is sinful and bad.

Social commentator Jane Caro, retweeting a Brisbane barrister, asserted: I have never heard of a person being discriminated against in Australia because of their religious belief. The Religious Discrimination bill is unnecessary.

I too have never heard of Israel Folau. Or Margaret Court. Or Bishop Julian Porteous. None of those names ring a bell.

ABC regular Benjamin Law, masterfully combining the Lefts two great passions LGBTQ rights and climate catastrophe into one Tweet said the government was inventing brand-new ways to discriminate against queers while were on the brink of ecological collapse.

More than a thousand people liked the tweet, and why wouldnt they. This is the same Benjamin Law who, in 2017, threatened to hate f##k people who didnt support same-sex marriage, so knows a thing or two about inventing ways to discriminate.

But the worst thing about the governments proposed bill is that it enables religious schools to preference employing staff who subscribe to their views. This is wrong. Only unions and political parties like the Greens should be allowed to do this.

Former journalist Mike Carlton wondered: Why would you send your kids to the sort of school that would sack gay teachers or expel gay students? To perpetuate the bigotry, fear and loathing, I suppose.

Aside from the fact that the Bill does not allow schools to sack gay teachers or expel gay students, everything else Carlton said by which I mean none of it was right.

And yet he does have a point.

Less bigoted parents would be happy to send their child to a public school where he/she can graduate without their consent as a gender-fluid bisexual, identifying as they/them.

If only churches and the little old ladies that occupy their wooden pews were as inclusive and tolerant and generous as the rest of us, we wouldnt need to discriminate against them.

You can follow James Macpherson on Twitter at@jamesmacphersonand order his new book Notes from Woketopia (Laying Bare the Lunacy of Woke Culture) atjamesmacpherson.com.au.

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Religious discrimination legislation? What next? 'No jabber (in tongues), no job'? - The Spectator Australia

Jene Desmond-Harris gives advice as Slate's Dear Prudence columnist. Courtesy of Slate hide caption

Jene Desmond-Harris gives advice as Slate's Dear Prudence columnist.

What better gift to give this holiday season than the gift of... advice? And solicited advice at that! For this episode, Sam is joined by Jene Desmond-Harris, Slate's Dear Prudence advice columnist, to help answer everything from how to deal with a partner's overbearing adult daughter to a boyfriend's recent conversion to becoming a Swiftie (read: a fan of Taylor Swift) to the group dynamics of the Thanksgiving prayer in an atheist household. Happy holidays, everybody.

This episode of 'It's Been a Minute' was produced by Jinae West and edited by Jordana Hochman. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.

Originally posted here:

From Taylor Swift to Thanksgiving, Dear Prudence gives the gift of advice : It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders - NPR

The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Ralph Jemmott

A new group has sprung up in Barbados calling itself Humanists Barbados. Two of the persons I recognise. One is Mr. Peter Wickham and the other is Ms. Maachelle Farley who I think is the daughter of the late Mathew D. Farley, who I knew as a child. She is apparently the President and spokesperson for the body.

I have known three persons who have boldly proclaimed that there is no God. One such person is Mr. Philip Stahl, the physics teacher at Harrison College who once said to a sixth form General Studies class that believing in God was like believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

We once had a conversation where I reminded him that the great thinker Malcolm Muggeridge was a confirmed atheist before he travelled to the Holy Land where he converted to Christianity. Stahl responded that Muggeridge was getting old and foolish, to which I replied: So there is still hope for you, Philip.

At various times I have called myself an agnostic and a sceptic, but never an atheist. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, it is impossible for my puny intellect to comprehend the infinite nature of the entity we call God.

I dont think that God is an entity one can know simply through human reasoning. An understanding of God is a matter either of faith or of some profound experience that fundamentally changes ones life, a kind of Saul on the Road to Damascus, John Wesleys Aldersgate or Saint Ignatius Loyola experience at Manresa. Faith and spiritual vision are both uniquely personal.

Regrettably, I have never had the faith or the profound experience to consider myself a firm believer. For many people who say they believe in God, it appears to be little more than a convention. Invariably their daily lives hardly ever reflect a profound knowledge and spiritual understanding of the Godhead.

The native Indians of North America refer to God as The Great Spirit. The Muslims call him Allah, the Rasta brethren and sistren call him Jah. I personally like the notion of The Great Spirit.

The second reason why I have never been an atheist is a real fear that my grandmother from the Pilgrim Holiness Church would rise up from her grave and bring down the wrath of her God on my heretical head and I might then be cast into the outer darkness. A third reason is that the Bible says the fool hath said in his own heart that there is no God. I am wary of adding another folly to my multiple collection of follies.

For some, the concept of God is problematic. They are confronted by what the Methodist Minister the Rev. Philip Saunders once called the problem of intellectual doubt. A caller to Brass Tacks posed a question that haunts me.

He asked: Are we created in Gods image or do we create a God in our own image? We are told of a jealous God who was known to get angry and destroy hordes of people, Philistines, Hittites and Jebusites, men, women and children. Isnt that a rather silly concept of a God who created the whole universe? Terms like

Humanism are subject to various interpretations.As it emerged in the Renaissance period, humanism implied a greater reliance on mans ability to forge his own destiny.

It stood in opposition to the medieval reliance on God and an authoritarian Catholic Church that claimed infallibility and that did not tolerate heresy.Renaissance humanism did not deny the existence of God, in fact there was a number of humanist scholars like Desiderius Erasmus who adhered to the notion of Christian Humanism which did not question a notion of a Deity, but allowed from greater human agency.

Mr. Wickham is right when he states that one can have sound values and not profess Christianity. By the same token one can profess Christianity and be the devil incarnate. Look at the number of Catholic clerics found guilty of sexual child abuse a heinous crime.

Awful things have been done in the name of Christianity and religion generally, including slavery and colonialism. In Africa the missionaries came first and softened up the heads of the blacks with talk of turning the other cheek and the meek inheriting the earth. Then the white settlers came and they inherited the earth. Many blacks suffered and died, inheriting only six feet of Gods good earth.

Historic Christianity tied to intolerance has produced tyrannies from persons convinced of their own dogmatic certainties, many claiming to know the will and hear the voice of God.

On 27 October 1553 the great Protestant reformer John Calvin had Michael Servetus burned at the stake for formulating heretical and dangerous ideas concerning the nature of the Holy Trinity. On the Catholic side, the Spanish and Roman Inquisitions were committing similar atrocities all in the name of God.

In my text An Uncommon Currency I included at the very end an article entitled, O Magnum Mysterium: Religion and Transcendence in a Secular World. I contended: The great religions of the world were all attempts to define the purposeful life in the face of the dreaded contingencies of human experience in particular the numbing universality of death and decay. All of these faiths hold to some notion of the moral life, what is good and what is bad.

God as the symbol of the GOOD is an imperative because without God as a representative of what is good in human nature and human experience, we would be lower than the animals. As Dostoievski said, without God anything is possible.

The second imperative is that without a belief in God, we would be without hope. Life would indeed be in Hobbesian terms poor, nasty, brutish and short not to mention, pointless.

Barbados is a society whose corpus of moral values are based on the Christian faith. With GOD still on the peoples side, those values have served us well in the past. Why are the likes of a young Farley suggesting that the coming Republic should be based on non-Christian values or that religious values should not be taught in schools at a time when we need to hold on to values more than ever before.

If we dont try to teach values based on our majority Christian faith, where will our children obtain a moral compass? Perhaps on the ZR vans? Maachelle Farley demonstrates an immaturity beyond her years. Barbadians have to be careful of neophytes seeking the spotlight and wanting to define our upcoming Republic in their own image and in keeping with their own untutored propensities. It has been suggested that the separation of state and church and the disappearance of religion from American schools is a key factor in the degeneracy of American youth that leads to the plethora of school shootings and other juvenile criminalities.

We dont miss Lord Nelson and in time, we wont miss the Queen as she passes on. Her heirs and successors may not be worth the allegiance, but leave God alone however you conceive him or her to be.

Ralph Jemmott is a respected retired educator.

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#BTColumn The God imperative - Barbados Today

Stephen Sarsfield Bowman is president of Peregrine Senior Living, based in Syracuse.

As a recovering atheist, I am a keen observer of religion. I recently read with dismay that for the first time in U.S. history, fewer than 50% of Americans are members of a church, synagogue or mosque. Not sure if the cause is secularism, materialism or rapidly moving technology, but to me, the decimation of faith seems most pronounced in the Catholic Church, where I worship.

According to the Syracuse Diocese, last year 20 of our priests passed away, but only four were ordained, and that was a record high. Nationally, there are over 3,500 parishes without active priests. To paraphrase Lincoln, we need leaders that have the courage to face the arithmetic, or the Catholic Church might soon suffer the same fate that befell the Shakers; greatness behind us but possibly now only a ghostly future.

When Pope Francis took the name of the saint from Assisi, I believe that like his namesake, he wanted to rebuild the church. But I think he wants to reconstitute the church in the progressive spirit of Vatican II and not the conservative direction taken by Pope John Paul II. His acceptance of gay rights and passion for and social justice are telling examples of his aspiration for love over fear.

In 2013, Pope Francis created an uproar over gay rights, when he famously asked rhetorically, Who am I to judge the gay lifestyle and spiritual potency of their lives. As if to underscore his respect, he recently wrote a letter to an American gay activist Michael OLoughlin, praising his LGBTQ ministry during the AIDS pandemic. And in 2015, some will remember Pope Francis gave his blessing to a gay couple for the first time.

These gestures all coming at a time when the official teaching of the church is to condemn homosexuality as depraved and abhorrent, claiming homosexuality as intrinsically immoral, its acts objectively disordered.

But I believe Pope Francis takes a welcoming view towards gays, despite the objections from his church, because he doesnt find the Bible very convincing on the subject. The verses usually pointed to for renouncing homosexuality are vague at best. The story of the sin of Onan could easily be understood as the sin of masturbation. The tale of Sodom and Gomorrah as the sin of rape. And 1 Corinthians 6, which does condemn homosexuality, also condemns premarital sex, worshipping other false religions, drunkards, misers, and slanders, all in one breath, and treated equally.

Maybe Pope Francis is thinking that possibly in the past 2,000 years that we have learned something about love, and that love is about touching souls, not sex. After all, I love my wifes soul, not because she is a woman. I think this view is taken as common sense in the world I live in today, as we embrace our gay family members and dear friends.

This hypocrisy has personal relevancy for me. Growing up, I had a dear woman friend who was so moved by the Mass that she cried through the service. She probably should have become a priest, but of course that was not an option. Years later she realized she was gay and married a beautiful woman and adopted two children. I ran into her recently and asked if she still cried through Mass. She said, Are you kidding me, I havent been to church in 30 years because of the sexism and homophobia. I thought what a profound loss for the church, and for the millions she represents.

Another example of the conflict between the church establishment and more marginal members of our flock occurs in the area of social justice. Recently, to mark the Catholic Churchs world day of the poor, Pope Francis traveled to Assisi to greet 500 pilgrims that had been drug addicts, refugees, homeless and disabled. It was a true poor peoples march. He said the poor are often seen as an annoyance and we want to blame the poor for their condition, so we dont have to carry out an examination of our laws and injustices. He went on to say he wanted a poor church, and for the poor.

But just last month, Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops railed against new social justice movements that rose out of the murder of George Floyd, decrying them as pseudo-religious. He argued that many of these protests are profoundly atheistic and grow out of many historic heresies, but not the Christian faith. But of course, he ignores the fact that in 2020 Pope Francis wrote a book called Let Us Dream, where he expressed unambiguous support for the protesters and their compassionate vision.

Pope Franciss ambition for a welcoming and non-judgmental church I take very close to heart, for I am a lapsed Catholic, many times over, yet I love to go to Mass now for the first time in many years. I have come to believe that the truly fully human life is a spiritual life. While my faith is not dependent on the miracles of Jesus, like St. Francis, as he expressed in his famous Breastplate, where he worshipped Brother Sun and Sister Moon, I do marvel at the miracle of the universe, and the great mystery of life. I suppose I am a bit of a mystic now, that loves to celebrate Mass humbly with my parish community and our common humanity, and in awe of the world we share. Thank God.

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Pope Francis embraces people on the margins. Will his church follow? (Guest Opinion by Stephen Bowman) - syracuse.com