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Spiritual Vanity, the Sin of Fundamentalism

Posted in Atheist, belief, culture, faith, Fundamentalism, humanity, random, religion, theology, thoughts on October 1, 2016 by chouck017894

It must be a terrible burden for fundamentalists of any faith system to confront all the diversity and variety and multiplicity in this life—a lavishness which typifies the radiance that is Creation.  The “conservative” outlook of hard-nosed fundamentalists obliges them to advise the Creator that “he” made a vulgar blunder by having indulged in such a prolific assortment of potentials.

One characteristic of a religious fundamentalist is that they seem to always wax with hatred toward a hell of a lot of life’s manifestations.  However, it is that astonishing diversity, variety and multiplicity that assures the awesome radiance that we refer to as Creation.  Another characteristic of the “fundies” is their unending attempts to impose their manufactured belief system upon anyone they can.  This vanity of spirit is indulged in despite the fact that genuine spiritual enlightenment always proves itself as authentic by an enfolding sense of inner serenity and compassion that is experienced.  Such an inner warmth is rendered impossible when cultivated hatreds for all the intentional differences that sustain Creation are encouraged.  And yet, like any other man-contrived faith system, the fundies claim that it is only through their hard-line approach alone that anyone can attain the Creator’s favoritism.

Reason and knowledge are seriously constrained when any faith system representative labors to advance  preconceptions of any sort to hover over seekers interactions with others.  In tightly structured faith systems, for example, seekers are routinely indoctrinated and continuously conditioned with claims that it is only through their particular man-made faith system that anyone can ever attain the favoritism of the Creative Principle which they like to personify as “God.”  But, curiously, the universe and nature do not happen to reflect that narrowly restrictive disposition toward the diversity and multiplicity of life which the Creative Principle formulated, made manifest and steadfastly maintains.

The creative and unifying force which is commonly personified as “God” is too often imagined in scriptural texts to be mainly concerned with the dilemma of only one certain representation of human species in one small region on planet Earth.  Ignored in such “holy” tales is the fact that those characters just happened to be from the author’s locale and also happened to be subscribed to his faith system.  That narrow understanding of life and spiritual significance in relation to the rest of the world population has resulted only in a setup for persistent and unnecessary conflicts.

Such old locally focused writings which are honored as “revealed word” leave us with fundamental questions.  Such as: When a person feels they must indulge in devilish scheming to impose their faith upon others can that really be assessed as one’s “higher calling?”   Why would an omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful) Creator find this to be the only way of making “his” intentions known among men?   In a universe that has been created with such lavish diversity and multiplicity, we are left to wonder over the Where, When or Why did the Creator of that diversity and multiplicity suddenly judge himself/herself/itself to have been too liberal and/or too excessive?  And if that hypothetical self reevaluation was the case, what caused him/her/it to decide upon picking and choosing favorites out of that multiplicity and give only to those “chosen ones ones” or “saved one” the all-clear for them to indulge in what amounts to spiritual brutality?  Would it not have been easier and wiser for him/her/it to have simply have resorted to the alleged original method of Creation and simply just say, “Let there be no more variety and diversity in Creation?”  Certainly that would have erased all the virulent spiritual egotism which all man-made faith systems demonstrate.

Regimentation and/or strictly controlled adherence to man-invented rites, rituals, ceremonies, taboos, cultivated hatreds and contriving to exert authority over others is not the means into genuine spiritual enlightenment. That means, bluntly, that no man-contrived faith system can sincerely promise or officially grant a stamped passport into what they may fantasize to be a heavily regimented and snooty Heaven.  All that the  “fundies” of any faith system can conceivably offer seekers is only a lottery ticket for an all-expense paid future flight into what is actually another dimension of creative energy.  (Energy does not cease; it simply transforms.)  Few faith system seekers, it seems, ever notice the tiny print at the bottom of their frail proffered ticket stub where it is grudgingly admitted that the voyage and destination are the same for each and every matter-life form, and that no purchase or contribution is necessary to gain that award.

 

 

 

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The Creator’s Demand For Diversity

Posted in belief, biological traits, culture, environment, faith, history, humanity, life, lifestyle, nature, random, science, sex, Social, thoughts with tags , , , , on February 1, 2015 by chouck017894

Man is such an egotistical creature that he believes that he can ignore Nature’s subtle warnings. Perhaps that is because our revered ego-driven, man written “holy books” happen to assure us that the human species was given dominion over all life forms on this little planet. Unfortunately, those ego-driven priest authors happened to also believe that this little planet, which they perceived to be flat, was the center of the universe. Well, that’s not exactly an in-depth assessment, and human ego is pretty much a whore.

This admittedly crude appraisal of human egotism and arrogance (and its intimate attendant, greed) was spurred by a mid-2014 report concerning the dilemma of some ordinary fish. Seems that man’s self-interest had seeped into various streams and rivers (in the Susquehanna, Delaware and Ohio river basins of the US), which resulted in turning some fish species into what was delicately termed “intersex” fish. Gasp! Some of those damned male fish were found to actually be carrying eggs! Well, let’s not start pounding the pulpits just yet. Something very basic is shown here, something which illustrates that everything which exists in Creation is composed of interchangeable polar elements and thus nothing is ever exclusively representative of one energy pole or its opposite.

As for the dilemma of the river fish population referred to, their altered sexual identity reflects the natural interchangeable aspects within the energy pool of all life. The home waters of the fish happen to have been blessed with hormones, but hormone-mimicking chemicals compounded by man’s arrogance and greed contributed to the identity crisis of the fish. The waste waters that man dumped into the streams carried estrogenic chemicals used in agriculture and released in animal wastes, and the internal organs of the fish which regulate the release of hormones were being redirected.

Those ancient and much revered priest myth-makers apparently were never informed by God about hormones or chromosomes or DNA, nor was it revealed to them how the chemistry of the brain actually determines a person’s physical-mental-sexual makeup. Unfortunately even today, two to three thousand years after “revealed word” was set down as sacredly unchallengeable, the blindly faithful ascribe to principles drafted by those crafty men and completely ignore what modern science research has revealed. For example, research shows that the effects of sex chromosomes and chemical sex hormones do not have an undeviating manner of lining up in strict accordance to one narrow and specific anatomical structure as hateful religious prejudices love to pretend.

Furthermore, anatomist research shows that there are naturally considerable variations in the human brain–its shape, thalamus, structure of the cerebrum, etc.–which are extremely variable and are as individual as fingerprints. This means that mental and/or sensory properties connected with brain structure may freely align within vastly different ranges, and thus no two persons will ever be exactly the same–including identical twins. So, as far as religious approval of racial or sexual expression goes, one feature was never intended to define all. To the horror of religious extremists, that almighty Creation power which is diverse and variable in shaping life forms (dare we say democratic), and which is personified as “God,” did not use a cookie cutter technique to fashion every person’s racial, physical or category in life. Instead of trying to understand that variety and diversity are the underpinnings of all Creation, they choose instead to spew endless reams of hatred from their pulpits. Stated in biblical terms, their egotism and ignorance “runneth over.”

Religious fanatics should awaken to the fact that there is an intentional alterable holy code used in the production of all life–the code of the hormonal-chromosomal-chemical “design” which decrees great necessity for diversity and variety in human physical, mental and emotional expression. This seems to be problematic only for those who choose to work themselves into melodramatic clamoring over anyone who is perceived to be too different from themselves due to their taught ego-gratifying beliefs. Certainly the endless assortments of life forms which may be observed around us shows clearly that the Creative Principle (God) holds absolutely no grudge or spite over “his” handiwork which is diverse and varied.

within these God-allowable differences there is purposely left open the allowance–the tolerance–for all expressions of life and love. The far-reaching hormone and chromosome chemicals control the total development of the body, brain and intelligence. And these continue to do so in a wide range of ways throughout the duration of each person’s lifetime. Therefore, for political and/or religious factions to pretend that some humanlike Creator expects only one narrow expression of life or love to be striven for by every individual is not true spiritual understanding, and it is not moral instruction. In fact, such an unyielding stance against life’s intended diversity and variety with Creation amounts to outright sacrilege.

Perhaps, considering the thousands of different man-invented faith systems (over 4000 have been documented), it would do well to remember what research science has also revealed through intense study. The brain contributes only two percent of a person’s body weight, but it needs and uses twenty percent of the body’s energy. But as religious fanatics and political extremists consistently prove, very little brain is needed for a body to function and bring distress upon everyone around them.

Pagan Source of Savior-God Myths

Posted in Atheist, belief, culture, faith, humanity, meaning of life, prehistory, random, religion with tags on August 1, 2014 by chouck017894

Teachings from prehistory times, as noted numerous times in these postings, once actually taught scientific principles in regard to how creative energies manifest as matter and life. As noted, these ancient lessons were presented using the panoramic stellar universe itself to illustrate the lessons, and this practice was the origin of identifying select groups of stars (constellation) with names which suggested some imaginary figure that was outlined with those stars. Unlike faith system teaching methods of today, that manner of instruction encouraged an active imagination and a questioning mind.

Even into Roman Empire times there were those among the aristocrats and the literati who still had access to fragments of those teaching which were regarded as ancient even then. Virgil, the Roman poet (70-19 BCE), for example, knew of those ancient teachings, and his mysterious work Cumaean Prophecy, or pastoral poems completed in 37 BCE, drew upon that knowledge. For example, a line within this literary work has puzzled scholars for generations, and some imaginative Christians have even suggested that it foretold the birth of Jesus. The line from Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue of the Cumaean Prophecy reads: “Now a new race descends from the celestial realm…” Some inventive scholars today have even dared to suggest that this indicates that unethical extraterrestrials had imposed physical and mental alterations upon an unwary Jewish female. Virgil’s famous Ecolugue did happen to celebrate the birth of a child who was destined to usher in a new Golden Age. But that portrayal was inspired from the four ancient lessons that were once given with constellation Cancer, and those lessons taught how creative energies involve as energy-substance, which was referred to in those lessons as astral matter.

The ancient lessons utilizing constellations as illustration taught a scientific explanation of energy developmental processes which involve/evolve as Creation. Out of these self-generating energies (out of the quantum or virginal void) there is created the energy-identities which progressively assume matter form. Thus Virgil’s referential line states that such an identiy “…descends from the celestial realm.” It is at this point of energy development which is amassing as a matter form that the responsibility for refinement of those creative energies is taken up by each primal matter form. The evolutionary potential is within each energy form which involves with self-aware consciousness, and this is the factor that can, and eventually will, usher in the “new Golden Age.” All this is mentioned here to show the influence which ancient star lore contributed to the rise of all the “savior” gods of vairous faith systems such as Mithras (Persian), Tammuz (Babylonian), Attis (Phrygian), Odin (Norse), Krishna (Hindu), Indra (Hindu), Jesus (Christian), and many others.

Other story features that always accompany the savior myths of those various faith systems were also presented in Virgil’s Eclogues, for they all portray “divine” beings entering, or passing over, into the matter plane from the same primordial conditions which had been taught with the four Cancer constellation lessons. In those prehistory times astronomical (celestial) lore was always a passion of shepherds for the simple reason that they spent so many long nights beneath the celestial canopy, and so it is valid that shepherds always served as the heralding elements in the many myths that tell of guiding stars, angels and savior myths. The features in all these various savior birth myths were therefore constructed on pastoral conventions, and because of this the myths focused on shepherds, their good-natured banter, love songs, dirges, and singing matches.

One of the galactic clusters (constellation) within the Cancer grouping of stars which were known to the ancients is today listed in astronomy texts by the name Praesepe, from the Latin prae, meaning “before,” and sepire, meaning “to fence” (fence in), and this came to be misleadingly translated into “manger.” It is because there are so many small clustered stars in this celestial location that this group was known in ancient times as the Manger. From this we acquired the story feature that Jesus was born in a manger. Two nearby stars are also associated with the “manger,” which serve to mark the “eye” of the Crab, symbol of the Cancer grouping. Curiously, these two stars are also known among astronmy buffs as the donkeys. This came from the ancient reference to these stars as the Celestial Asses, which were later known as the Ascelli Asses. In prehistory times the lessons given with these celestial asses symbolized the involvement of primal energies upon which self-aware consciousness is carried–or passes over–into this limited energy plane as a visible matter life form.

All faith system myths concerning savior births are based upon those prehistory cosmology/creation lessons which used star patterns in each group as outline for imaginary figures for illustration. As an example, the ancient Egyptian mythmakers fashioned the red-haired, ass-eared god Set, brother and opponent of Osiris (who symbolized self-renewing vitality) upon this star lesson. Roman myths tell of Bacchus, god of grape growing, and Vulcan, god of fire, riding upon an ass to their destiny. Orphic myth tells of Dionysus, god of wine and fertility, riding to his matter-fate upon an ass. Indeed, all prehistory Pagan cultures had stories of gods, demigods, heroes or saviors in which they were portrayed as riding upon an ass to meet their matter-destiny. Not so coincidently, Jesus is also pictured as riding into Jerusalem upon an ass on his way to his higher transformation.

Other star groups that were used in association with the ancient lessons concerning energy involving as matter (as with the Cancer groupings) were the constellations we know as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, better known to us as the Great and Small Dippers. In those prehisotry lessons these two constellations were known as the Greater Sheepfold and the Lesser Sheepfold—a fold referred to a pen or enclosure in which young sheep were confined to await their release into the pastures of life.

So the Pagans were not exactly the dunces as organized faith systems chose to systematically malign them. No, those Pagans who are reoutinely looked down upon were not Jews or Christians or Muslims. But they were exceptionally and genuinely spiritual, and recognized that the spirit of Creation was active not only within themselves but within every defined thing within the visible universe. They, not us, had the benefit of the unknown sages who had taught our ancestors, with use of star patterns, the scientific encoding of the Life Principle which is within all life forms. And drawing upon the twelve major constellations and their neighboring constellations as illustrations (forty-eight in all) the entire spectrum of Creation and humankind’s higher potential had been more scientifically explained to them. How unlike today’s by-the-book faith systems which choose to obsess over minor differences.

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Imprecise Personhood Identities

Posted in Atheist, Bible, humanity, meaning of life, random, religion, scriptures, thoughts with tags , , , , , , on January 1, 2014 by chouck017894

Does God make mistakes? Such a suggestion of godly goofs will give religious fanatics heart palpitations, facial twitches and even incite some of them to pious rage. However, their eruptive energy would be better spent in seeking to understand the energy processes by which the creative Source functions and whereby every entity enters this energy dimension with matter identity. Every material entity takes form only by drawing upon its energy potential after conception, and this occurs in a gradual increase and interaction of primal energy. The initial energy involvement (conception) activates to become an involving and evolving accumulation of energies which amasses as an identifiable but transitory energy-form. Habitually ignored by religious fanatics in assessing the God approved “miracle” of life is the creation principle which may be assessed as the second law of Creation, which is the commandment for variety and diversity in all matter-life manifestations. This second law of Creation assures the continuation of the first Law of Creation, which is unlimited abundance of creative energy.

In the development of human life there is an obvious abundance and diversity of life-form examples. A consequence of that commandment for variety and diversity is that each manifested entity can assess any other life patterns around itself only from a temporarily imposed limited perspective. The negative aspect of imposing limitation upon a life form is the inclination for each life form to then pass judgment upon life’s variety and broad diversity by using the self as measurement for judgment–a challenging situation that faith merchants love to utilize to stoke devotional fire to their man-conceived faith systems. Even though the life force is demonstratively widely diverse and variable in its outpouring there are, nonetheless, endless similarities in all life forms, which demonstrates that no two entities are ever created using some assembly line of strict uniformity. Variety and diversity make for the avid rule in Creation. This unprejudiced, unbiased creative energy therefore sort-of-kind-of discredits all faith system’s claim of having godly favoritism.

And this brings us to that complex energy involvement which determines human life identity–personhood. What about all the many not-so-error-free births that occur every day? As just one small example of an ill-defined identity, consider the estimated 17,000 infants born worldwide each year with disfiguring cleft lips, the deformed upper lip that will make it impossible for them to speak or eat properly. In many deprived, less developed regions such children are scorned and ostracized, and destined to endure life (if they are allowed to live at all) an existence of isolation and heartbreak. Fortunately this little defect of their (Godly?) formation can be corrected by surgery in advanced societies. But, as noted, this is just one very small example of the thousands of potential persons who are brought into the world each year with some disfigurement or deformity or organ imperfection; this suggests that every potential life is not exactly a blessed (God-coordinated) event. Is a loving omniscient Creator-being really that haphazard or uncaring in his production of life?

Even in the more medically advanced countries today many infants are born each year with physical defects or medical conditions which, at birth or some future time, can lead to the entity’s misery. Medical studies indicate that there are more than 4000 different known defects, which include minor,major and acute. Statistically this averages out as one in every thirty-three newborns may have some birth defect. In the United States of America, for example, over 150,000 babies with structural or metabolic or functional birth defects are born every year! This tallies up to an estimated four-million-plus under the age of 18 who are categorized as disabled children resulting from some defect that is present at birth. (This may perhaps account for the over-abundance of self-serving politicians and pulpit-pounders.) The list of possible congenital defects is distressing–a fact that does not support the belief that some omniscient God actually wills such insensitive torture upon his favorite creatures–creatures which he allegedly made in his own (energy) image.

Most significant in regard to our connection to that energy image which we are taught to personify as “God” is the organ of the brain, which is responsible for the interpretation of sensory impulses, and the coordination and exercise of thought, emotions and memory. These brain connections are the essentials that unfold (evolve) to define potentiality of personhood. As noted in The Celestial Scriptures, “One of the most remarkable things in embryo growth is that the nerve network by which the organism is to function and sense its matter identity does not develop as part of the (embryonic) growth process. The nerve network pattern already exists within the energy field of the embryo and simply expands as the physical form grows! It is as though the individualized electro-dynamic energy field is superimposed over a network system that is to retain communications with cosmic consciousness. Until this nerve network fully expands into the body’s communication circuitry the biochemical balance remains too low for full emanation of (self-) aware consciousness. At the embryonic stage the nerve network is involved only with the foundation of the species pattern. The electro-dynamic field then involves as cellular matter, and the nerve network becomes an operative system of the “coming one” only when cellular matter attains a functioning energy balance…”

At birth the bulk of the neurons necessary for the brain to actually function are present: however, the brain mass continues to grow, and by the age of two it has amassed to about eighty percent of adult size. Indeed, the human brain continues most of its development through the first twenty years of life. And it is that remarkable soft, gray mass of nerve tissue that serves much like an electrical generator which controls both the conscious and unconscious, and which is also the seat of sensations, skills and intelligence. The electrical nature of the brain was first measured in 1924 by Hans Berger, a Swiss researcher, who invented the EEG machine. Furthermore, the physical body is also an electrical structure which virtually hums under the conductorship of the brain. However, this physical-electrical sensitivity also happens to be receptive to the oscillating electromagnetic forces of the telluric currents within our planet; plus that sensitivity is also vulnerable to the magnetosphere, and to cosmic influences such as the Sun! In other words, everything we speak of as Creation is closely interrelated.

Isn’t mankind, the creatures presumed (by humans) to be closest to God’s image, not expected to use that godlike resemblance to creative wisdom to oversee and direct the quality production of personal offspring? The reproduction rights were not just granted arbitrarily to man by some Creator so that his alleged favored creatures might produce haphazardly. If fetal (prototypal) entities posed any imbalance or dangers to the wellbeing of an established consciousness, then one’s personal connecton to Creation energies was expected to be used to take “dominion” of those creative energies for prevention of far-reaching circumstances. That “dominion” granted to man over lower life forms–and fetal life is only potential self-conscious life–is stated in the book of Genesis. Primal energies, once activated, expand through attraction and repulsion. That means that any reflex actions in fetal forms which are in the process of energy constructions are not yet due to any self-awareness (consciousness), but are simply due to energy interactions which are on the increase (evolving) toward a defined matter form.

So it is basically positive-negative energy interaction within the creative Source (personified as “God”) which sparked an electromagnetic involvement that involved into the energy prototypes of you and me. But it is only when the evolving energy-matter form attains the consciousness of “I AM” that it enters upon its responsibility of advancing in wisdom. Indeed, in Exodus, chapter 3, verse 14, God is quoted as saying, “…I AM hath sent me unto you.” And it is only when that new-born energy-being attains the consciousness of “I” that it can say, “I Am That Which I Will To Be.”

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An Ungodly Fixation, Fundamentalism

Posted in Atheist, belief, Christianity, faith, history, humanity, religion, scriptures, Social, thoughts with tags , , , , on August 21, 2013 by chouck017894

Back in the Middle Ages the Crusades became the big religious pastime in European circles. Christians were called by Catholic fundamentalists to mount an offensive against the “evil Moors,” and the unquestioning believers dutifully sallied forth to slay hundreds of thousands of “heretics” for the glory of the “Prince of Peace.” The bulk of the victims across Europe over the centuries of the Inquisition were not Moors, but simply people who sought spiritual alliance with the Source in their own way. Later, in the 1800s the popular sport of the British Protestant fundamentalists was to indulge in terrorism against the Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland. More recently, when Iran was taken over by Muslim fundamentalists in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, thousands of “non-believers” were heartlessly slaughtered. In India on October 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a Hindu of the Adi Dharma Brahmic religion, was shot to death by a Sikh fundamentalist. The Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot to death in 1995 by a Jewish fundamentalist. And in our present day epidemic of fundamentalist mental affliction, one brand of Muslim fundamentalists continue to indulge themselves in the hit-or-miss slaughtering anywhere of anyone whom they judge to be infidels.

In the United States today the fever of Christian fundamentalists has managed (since 1996) to infect and pervert the workings of true democracy. As usual with any fundamentalist, the delusions of righteousness and holy exclusiveness from which they suffer is detectable by their addiction to unclean hatreds. In the affliction of fundamentalism it is not really their specific narrow faith that is at fault: it is the delusion that they and they alone know what is true and right in the sight of God. In their spiritual fever they fail to recognize that the “truths” they credit to God are actually nothing other than their own ego judgments fashioned by man’s fear of the unknown. Ego does not like any contrariness, and once ego fashions an emotional fortress (faith) it will rarely respond to rational examination.

Karl Marx made the insightful observation that religion is the opium of the masses. As with drug addiction, the quest of the religious fundies is the pursuit of the feel-good high they get from their indulgence. And they will defend without scruples their indulgence of “faith” against any rational examination. The lust for God’s imagined favoritism commonly drives them into unholy behavior such as name-calling, half-truths, outright lies, and even killing anyone considered to be a threat to their imagined superior spiritual status. So contaminated are they that they cannot see their spiritual insincerity when they judge other people to be “lost,” or a “devil’s advocate,” or “demon possessed” as they themselves go about disrupting every facet of social structure for the majority. They never explain why God, if “he” is omniscient,” has to rely on their pathetically limited abilities to clean up the spiritual confusion in regard to himself.

Fundamentalist Christians hold that the Bible is man’s sole authority. This is stridently avowed despite the many contradictions that the “holy texts” hold. There is a fact that would be amusing if it were not so tragic, but the average fundamentalists have not and do not actually read the Bible themselves—it is so much easier to listen to some overzealous interpreter who cherry picks verses from the “good book” to inflame others with their slanted concepts. The common response to weaving some out-of-context verses into emotional rhetoric is to focus on some imagined revulsion that God supposedly finds within his creation of variety and diversity of life. Hatred for the superficial differences which make up life expressions is very easy to arouse, and accusations that others indulge in sin are so easy to assert—especially if any of those “sins” happen not to be one of the favorites of the fundamentalists.

Such pretense of possessing the only upright “faith” may give each other within their little faith system clique a sense of exclusivity, but it does not fool the ultimate power which creates in endless variety and diversity. And that fundamentalist attitude that everyone else is wrong certainly was not a message in the alleged teachings of Jesus. Indeed, Jesus was depicted as actually standing up to the Jewish fundamentalists of his day; he was radical in that he praised compassion, forgiveness, and being non-judgmental. In the book of Matthew 23:27 Jesus is even depicted as having commented on the shallow spirituality of fundamentalists. It might be wise, therefore, if the fundamentalists of today would get down off their self-constructed pedestals and actually read the book they claim to live by. Concerning the fundamentalists, Jesus is quoted as referring to them as “…whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Yikes! Does that Gospel truth mean that all fundamentalists are actually—zombies?

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Denying God-Ordained Diversity

Posted in culture, faith, history, humanity, lifestyle, random, religion, sex, sex taboos with tags , , , , , , on May 13, 2013 by chouck017894

No theocratic form of government in mankind’s history has ever been distinguished by its sterling humanitarian principles.  Indeed theocracies (forms of government conducted under pretext of godly installation) are always viciously self-indulgent in their spiritual decadence.  The god that is imagined in such theocratic manipulation is declared to demand harsh slave-like rigidity in social and sexual conduct: the lavish variety and range of diversity that permeates all Creation is to be disregarded.  In short, such a governing strategy is an imposed short-ciruiting of, and a depressing constriction of the Almighty’s varied and diverse creative expressions.  When man-concocted faith stytems are used to oppress the masses to the point of denying the fact that every being is not and never was intended to be identical, that “faith” is itself merely a contrivance of human ego used by scheming men to rule the masses through a faith system of practiced hatreds.

This assessment of theocratic subterfuge has been evolving with us after ongoing reports concerning the ugly prejudices whipped up by ego-centered faith systems in regard to same sex attraction.  One of the fairly recent deceits of religious hucksters was the appalling intrusion of religious whackos from the United States into Uganda who deliberately urged Ugandan leaders to invent laws–in the name of their religion–for killing gay-born persons.  Not long after that a recorded report on BBC America (September 2012) was forwarded to us which concerned the merciless killings of gays in theocratic Iran.  Same sex attraction, according to an Iranian television  spokesman, is simply a moral disorder, adding that no one is ever born with same sex inclinations.  The government  spokesman further declared that such attraction was mostly an antigovernment “indulgence!”  The third bit of information was forwarded anonymously, a DVD documentary titled A Jihad for Love, which reported on the  vicious persecution of Muslim gays.  In the entrenched theology attributed to Mohammad, such diversity of attraction is judged self-servingly to be an “indulgence,” hence it is interpreted as a defiant act against the theocratic government.  Allah, they theorize, would never allow man, his assumed highest creation in a universe of widely varied and diversely structured universe, to ever veer from a singular physical attraction.   

Mainstream news in our more democratically based western societies generally sidestep any deep attention to the ongoing savage persecution of gays which is encouraged within theocratic cultures.  This shameful avoidance of reporting on murdeous practices being carried out under the guise of godly approval is due to a mistaken interpretation of our freedom of religious expression which is protected by the US Constitution.  The alleged ponderings attributed to the seventh century “prophet” is thus extended the respect which is granted to religious practice in accordance to our democratic principles.  It is a consideration and acceptance that is never extended in a theocracy, however, and is a shining reminder of the wisdom of keeping church and state separate.

According to the Quran (attributed to Mohammad), the people of Lut (referring to Lot in the much older Genesis tale) were allegedly the first to offend God by their recognition of same sex magnetism.  Thus we read in the Quran 7:80-81, “We also sent Lut (Lot): he said to his people: Will you commit abomination such as no people in creation committed before you?  For you practice your lusts on men in preference to women: you are indeed a people transgressing beyond bound.”  This claim made by the seventh century Arab prophet, that same sex attraction did not occur in earlier times, is demonstratively and glaringly untrue.  The Abram/Lot tale is traditionally placed in the timeframe of 2123-1948 BCE, and it is only a subplot which conveniently allows sexual implications (homoeroticism and incest) to be used to stimulate attention of followers.  At variance with the Quran claim (and biblical), pictorial illustrations exist from 6000 BCE by Egyptian artists which attest to same sex attraction.  Even older evidence is shown in 7000 BCE Chinese and Indian depictions.  These ancient representations therefore disprove historically the Quran claim (or biblical implication) that no same sex relations had ever occurred before the time of Lot (Lut).

By custom Islam is also counseled by the Hadith, which is only a collection of sayings which are attributed to Mohammad.  This is curious, for in the earlier times of the Caliphs, not even those who had personally known Mohammad could claim to have written down any authentic quotes.  Nonetheless, Islamic schools of jurisprudence, influenced by those attributed sayings, have been trained to judge same sex attraction as being unnatural and unlawful, and callously recommend brutal execution.

There are also what may be termed lesser Hadith.  For instance, Abu Dawud (also known as sunnah), a collection of alleged sayings and deeds of Mohammad.  These were collected by Iman Abu Dawud around two centuries after Mohammad’s death, so of course they are indisputable.  Used as justification for punishment of death is a quote from this collection (4448): “If a man who is not married is seized committing sodomy, he will be stoned to death.”  (Apparently God does not object to a married man sodimizing his discomforted wife.)  All these lesser Hadiths insist that those who indulge in such acts are to be killed.  The only question that is raised in this pretense of godly justice is over which vicious method the declared offender is to be killed.  (As in Judaism and Christian scriptures, God habitually neglects to explain pertinent details.)

Oddly, although homosexual behavior is held in Islam to be punishable with alleged God-approved execution in this world, there are implied references to such pleasure being available in Paradise.  Not only are virgins to be provided for the martyrs who defend the cause of Allah but also that”…immortal boys will circulate among them, when you see them you will count them as scattered pearls.” (Quran 76:19)  Accented in this view of Paradise is the handsomeness, “perpetual youth” and effeminacy of the youths.

Sexual orientation of a person was not regarded as presenting any horrendous social/spiritual deficiency in numerous ancient cultures, and those close observers of nature would have be puzzled by the feigned prudery over such magnetism which can be observed throughout nature.  Even scriptural texts relate (in a cautious indirect manner) the spiritual implication of male magnetism in the tale of David and Jonathon.  In 1 Samuel, chapters 18 and 20, the commitment that these two men make to each other is not avoided, but is relayed in some detail, saying”: “Jonathan’s soul was bound with David’s, and he loved him as himself…”  In 1 Samuel 18:1-4 it is detailed: “Then Jonathan and David made a covenant…and he (Jonathan) took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt.”  That commitment and devotion to each other is reaffirmed in chanpter 20:4, where they meet for the last time and “…they kissed each other and they wept together.”  In the timeframe when this was supposedly played out, a kiss between men admittedly did not automatically carry sexual meaning, so their “covenant” kiss does not exacly indicate that they were or had been sexually involved.  The strong magnetism to each other is cautiously sidestepped by saying that they loved each other “as brothers,” as equals; in other words, as Adam and Eve were supposed to be.  Brotherly love is a natural bond, but it is rarely expressed as in 1 Samuel as their souls being bound to each other.

All condemnation of same sex attraction by manmade faith systems is founded on one principle and one principle only; and that singular principle is to encourage procreation; and that encouragement is solely for the purpose of extending and multiplying followers of that man-invented faith system.  Thus these faith systems falsely aver that God (the Life Principle) condemns any sex acts which would not result in conception: acts such as masturbation, coitus interruptus, fellatio, sodomy, cunnilingus, pregnancy preventions, contraceptives, abortion and same sex attraction.  And the easiest way to lead people around by the nose is to fire up hatred within followers toward any who do not comply with priestly ambition.  The implausible threats of godly punishment too often (almost habitually) soils the mantle of sanctity. Implanting a hatred for non-breeder sex activity is effective only through a system of propagandist allusions.  In the case of same sex attraction, it is deceitfully implied that such attraction will lead to the extiction of the entire human species!  In today’s world teeming with over eight billion persons, that is a preposterous concept.  It may even be possible that same sex attraction is a God-provided means to protect any species from devastating over population.

Ultimately, the creative Life Principle which is personified as “God” continues to be an all-inclusive power, not a power which is narrowly exclusive.  That creative Life Principle did not create a broad range of life-love expressions and then collapse into divine antagonism.  Nonetheless, the manmade authoritarian faith systems continue to market their restrictive teachings as revealed to them directly from that all-enfolding Creator–a Creator who deteminedly continues to openly display a preference for variety and broadly diverse life expressions.

 

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Overpopulation and Nature’s Regulation

Posted in agnoticism, Atheist, belief, biological traits, culture, freethought, gay culture, humanity, life, lifestyle, nature, random, sex, sex taboos, Social, thoughts with tags , , , , , on October 26, 2011 by chouck017894

Early in the priest-written book of Genesis 1:28 it is stated, “And God blessed them (a male and female couple not yet named), and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over…every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”  By this instruction, sex is established as the means of re-creation (and recreation).  Few persons pause to ponder over the word “replenish,” which implies that there must have been previous similar circumstances.

In our world today, however, it is abundantly clear that man has more than adequately fulfilled that particular “replenish” guideline which the Lord allegedly demanded.  The human species has brutally subdued everything around him, and has been especially industrious in replenishing the Earth.  In fact, the world population today on this little  planet has nearly reached the seven billion mark!  In less than a century, from 1942 when the world population was a mere two billion, breeding has apparently become an obsession.  Despite the unprecedented population explosion, the looming disaster it invites is treated as a taboo subject for the news media.  That head-in-the-sand approach to rampant human “fruitfulness” could lead to ecological catastrophe for the entire world.

Once upon a time as the human species evolved, having  multiple children was valued as a resource for the parents in their declining years.  As man proceeded to assert his “dominion” over “…every living thing that moveth upon the earth,” some of the wiser ones formulated sciences and technologies that contributed toward healthier offspring and protection from diseases: this made heavy breeding unnecessary, even impractical, as a means of self-insurance.

However, leaders of most faith systems have always promoted the priest-composed instruction of subduing the Earth and stressing the replenishing of our species for the simple reason that it assured an increase in their followers.  But the alleged godly suggestion to “replenish” the Earth should never have been considered a license to indulge in extensive production of more than could be properly cared for.  The idea of “replenishing” the Earth for god was advantageous for priestly authority, and this is still utilized by faith merchants as “revealed” religious instruction.  Unfortunately dedication to this sense of limitless “replenishing” also led mankind to indulge in the assumption that to “subdue” meant that exploiting the planet was a divine  right of man, not the counsel to safeguard it.

The present world population is ecologically unsustainable for an extended period of time.  History has repeatedly shown that in periods when human population increased up to sevenfold there followed (god-sent?) disasters of unprecedented food shortages, escalating prices for essentials, etc., which were always followed by civil revolts and deadly riots—even cannibalism.  But still there are those today who willfully ignore history and loudly trumpet that god abhors the use of contraceptives, or that providing sexual information for the avoidance of disease and careless human reproduction is somehow against god’s will!  This irrationality is so pronounced even today that various national leaders have actually advocated childbirth bounties!  (Hitler, for example.)  Apparently the religiously obsessed do not think that god gave man a brain in the expectation that man would use it to assume responsibility for himself and for the world he was advised to “subdue.”

Ironically, even “lower” animals are far smarter than that.  In the wild, when territorial areas become threatened by diminishing supplies, the animals will intuitively limit their breeding.  That is god-installed rationality, which has apparently atrophied in man.  Nonetheless, Nature remains active and vigilant in providing animate life with subtle safeguards, and often Nature’s adjustments, which are indifferently provided, tend to horrify the ego-centered religionists.  Rather than allow human life to self-destruct through brainless over breeding, Nature seems on occasion to amend human DNA to avoid over breeding.  One such adjustment, it could be argued, may be the modification to same-sex attraction.  Indeed, same-sex attraction can be seen throughout all animate nature and has always been present in Nature.  To the horror of those egocentric religionists this indicates that such attraction could be a natural organic safeguard against runaway reproduction which would prove disastrous for all life on the planet.  The chromosome assembly in any species is the means to insure diversity of species characteristics, which also insures ecological balance and benefit.

The idea that same-sex attraction could possibly be a natural built-in precautionary measure taken within DNA sequence may seem farfetched at first thought, but there are some known factors to consider.  Research has shown that changes in a parent’s lifestyle or in the environment, even when only minor or temporary, which occur before or during the reproductive period can cause subtle, even visible changes in the next generation.  The increased emotional tension throughout the modern world certainly contributes to people’s lifestyles in ways that could feasibly alter human sexual magnetism.  That safeguard seems always to be present as a precautionary ingredient in the electromagnetic nature that shapes an animate life form.

Nature, the bearing principle of Creation, retains it own special safeguards.  The genes initiating a new entity are usually hidden from the enzymes by RNA interference, so that the information which the genes ordinarily contain is kept hidden from enzymes.  Subtle changes in DNA structure will occur when the RNA briefly ceases to maintain interference however, and this results in the disappearance of little chemical markers that lock the coil of DNA around  protein complexes of the gene.  The lost marker function opens access to the genes which are then made available to enzymes that can read the gene’s code and use them for protein production.  Only a minor alteration in the code therefore affect the development of the lifeforms which can allow for a rather rapid response to biological and/or environmental conditions when necessary.  If there is any “sin” in variations of sexual magnetism, it is in failing to honor Creation’s laws of diversity.

It has been noted in a previous post (Homosexuality and the Bible, December 2010) that there are only about six or seven brief inferences on same-sex attraction that can be cherry picked out of the entire collection of priest-written “holy word” as implying “sinfulness.”  In comparison there are well over three hundred disapproving verses on heterosexual indulgences to be found.  This suggests that to evaluate a degree of sin quality to someone’s inborn sexual nature is not a particularly rational motive to indulge in prejudice as a devotional practice to honor the Creator.

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Heavens Government

Posted in agnoticism, Atheist, belief, culture, faith, freethought, Government, humanity, life, random, religion with tags , , , , , , , on September 10, 2011 by chouck017894

Man’s social and governmental structure which grants and inspires the rights of individualism and personal expression is what is called democracy.  This all-inclusive form of human government is probably the closest that man comes to emulating the original cause of all things in Creation and which grants the privilege of plurality and wide-ranging diversity throughout the universe.  The opposite of that easygoing allowance within Creation activity is glaringly demonstrated in human conduct in the numb obsession of hardline faith systems that are referred to as fundamentalism.  In politics that same characteristic quirk is called “conservatism.”  When these two interbreed, as happened at the 1996 Republican convention in the USA, a true breed of predatory monster is spawned.

Fundamentalism or radicalism is probably best evaluated as a paralysis of spiritual insight that results from an unwavering belief in a set of man-conceived principles of religious, political or philosophical nature which are made compulsory as the basic and unalterable game plan for storming heaven. With no wiggle room left for inquiry regarding all the enormous possibilities which “god” left open to man, any social or spiritual advancement then becomes virtually unachievable.

The power responsible for Creation’s development is a purely democratic process and is sustained and maintained through the collaboration of all individual components for the preservation of all.  In short, all things exist as part of an unrestricted principle just as the pre-Christian Stoic philosophers taught.  In that perception regarding the essential interaction of all components which define Creation, all things great and small therefore stand equal before Cosmic Consciousness.  That basic law of equal status, which is active throughout Creation, is best expressed in the democratic forms of man’s governments.  Plurality and interacting diversity is seen throughout all Creation and is the indisputable evidence that democratic principles prevail within the soul of Heaven.  In direct opposition to this, the hardline religionists and obstructive politicos imagine a heaven and social order that is structured either as a one-dimensional kingdom or a monotonous theocracy.

True democratic management, which is active as the creative power throughout the observable universe, is not concerned with the possessions or power plays that individual entities obsess over.  From the democratic arrangement which is active in the universe, freedom of expression and interactivity serve as the framework for Creation.  Indeed all things must respect and support each other, otherwise the universe would cease to exist.  The minority is always preserved and respected as an inherent element within the activities of the whole.  This is a fact of universal continuance that the GOP and the Tea Party in the USA today should consider if they are going to pretend such devotion to God.

Democracy is modeled on that respect and liberty which is extended throughout the universe, and in that creative activity there is granted the assurance of personal freedom which entitles each citizen the liberty and responsibility of shaping their own identity.  Equality before the law is a basic principle within Creation, and it is the basic principle of democratic governing.  No individual or group can hold a monopoly on wisdom, virtue or importance before the powers of Creation.  That means that in man’s democratic governments the stripping away of laws for the benefit of special interests, as currently pursued by the political and religious right groups in the USA, is therefore not only contempt for established and proven laws but is willful indulgence in blasphemy as well.

An important part in pre-Christian times, such as prevailed in the city-states of classical Greece and Rome, the rule by the people was vitally important.  However, those ancient forms of democracy did not presume that all individuals necessarily held equal qualities.  It was understood that every entity is made definable by its limitations, but all the perceived differences were interlocked within the whole, and they balanced out in importance before the creative Source.

Stoic philosophy held that every matter object with which we interact is a passive condition of energy and is distinguishable from the animating or active principle—which traditional man-centered faith systems personify as “God.”  Stoic ethics cannot be described as a metaphysical theory, although it regarded the creative energy spark from which each individual living thing attained manifestation is the defining feature of each living being’s individuality.  Man’s faith systems have referred to this defining feature as “soul.”

The four cardinal virtues of Stoicism reflect the philosophy that had been put forth by the Greek philosophers Plato and Socrates: wisdom, courage, justice and temperance.  Stoicism, which existed long before Christianity, recognized and advocated the brotherhood of all mankind.  And in this understanding any differences in rank and wealth were regarded as merely external and temporary, and so each person should strive to help one another.  The natural equality of all human beings within Creation was stressed, and this reflects the democratic character by which man should live and prosper.  This certainly is not the principle held dear to the radical right religionists and/or politicians who seek to dominate in man’s affairs today.

Stoic philosophy as honored in pre-Christian times had understood that man is but a small part of a divine principle.  The Jewish and Christian faith systems struggled with this understanding for a while, and it led them to emphasize the rights of the poor, the underprivileged, and the equality of all humans before God.

In recognizing the democratic structure and administration throughout Creation, and in recognizing that all life forms share identical properties, it becomes evident how far the radical right politicos and hardline religionists have strayed from the truth.

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Divine Delusions

Posted in agnoticism, Atheist, belief, culture, faith, freethought, history, humanity, religion, Social, thoughts with tags , , , , , , on September 1, 2011 by chouck017894

Since the 1800s humankind has steadily gained considerably more knowledge regarding universal truths than man’s limited known history had previously recorded.  Natural phenomena that once terrorized our ancestors have been studied, their interrelationship observed and calculated, and working models based on those examinations have granted mankind a degree of forecast and control that our ancestors would have regarded as godlike.

For example, we know how hurricanes develop, how an eclipse takes place, why earthquakes occur, what the Moon and the planets are made of, how health can be threatened by bacteria and viruses, and a great wealth of similar secrets once regarded as holy mystery.  Inquisitive minds have stubbornly chosen to know, and in pursuit of knowing mankind has questioned and observed events around himself that were once attributed to a capricious god.  And those probing minds also discovered that the fear of God does not adequately serve as the beginning of creative wisdom, nor is that priest-stoked fear of the unknown a sound foundation upon which to build faith.  No longer must mankind endure the bogus authority of holy pretenders who profess explanation of natural energy interactions as being consequences of divine miracles or godly wrath which only they have been blessed with the power to interpret.

Imagining that some supernatural being is responsible for conjuring up all the actions that pummel human life has never provided the means to work with or around those natural energy actions in which we experience our relationship with the universe.  Listening to the superstitions of shamans, priests and the like has resulted only in inestimable years in which billions of persons have wept over trillions of unanswered prayers.  For all the scriptures of man’s invention, not one has ever provided mankind with a definite and clear-cut grasp of how to achieve the attributes necessary for ascension into that quality of being that is alluded to as holy wisdom—that rapture of enlightenment.  All that those hallowed texts have offered have been moral teachings, which most certainly are vital to human societies but which are actually woven upon common sense guides for sane social conduct.  There is no need for a supernatural being to tell us—through some self-appointed interpreter—not to kill, steal, rape, lie, defraud and such: that is obviously detrimental conduct if one truly aspires to achieve peaceful and creative life experiences.  Acting contrary to those common sense guidelines is demonstratively self-destructive.

The indoctrination programming of the world’s regimented faith systems have generated the bulk of blind evil that has dogged man’s history.  Belief that some supernatural being favors some particular group of people above all others, which is nothing more than mutual masturbation of ego, has fueled unending wars and inhumane conduct within a species that has more in common with each other than the imagined great abyss of differences elaborated upon by pulpit hucksters.  That these faiths all boil down to nothing more than manipulation of ego is provable in how social issues are perceived, manipulated and altered in the constant religious contests for material power.  Issues such as slavery, torture, abortion, contraceptives, sexual orientation, derogation of women, etc., etc. are not heavenly matters; they are taught human disparages used to manipulate human passions.  Only a spirit that is truly at peace with the natural diversity and plurality—which is clearly active throughout the universe—can step away from these self-serving discriminatory teachings and practices to truly approach divine wisdom.

Isn’t it time for humankind to face the fact that man’s invented faith systems are inherently dysfunctional?  When rationality is impaired by clerics who constantly belittle each other”faiths,” and their persistent indulgence in a proposition that our true identity is to be attained in a future state somewhere beyond this life span, that self-serving propaganda is not legitimate worship of Creation’s wisdom.  That is simply a means of inducing ego gratification through resorting to obsolete mythology of prejudicial and judgmental sky gods.

The creative power which is assessed as “divine” has never and will never strip itself away from the here-and-now; that power is not detached and resides somewhere “out there.”  Cause can never be removed from effect.  Take a cue from Pantheist understanding; that power continues to reside in us and in everything around us.

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Casting Out the Devil

Posted in agnoticism, Atheist, belief, Bible, Christianity, faith, Hebrew scripture, history, humanity, life, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , , , , , on August 9, 2011 by chouck017894

The belief in the existence of evil spirits or demons is as ancient as the earliest man.  Primitive man tended to think in terms of the continuing influence of their departed ancestors, which he believed affected his experiences of good or bad fortune.  These same spirits were also thought to be even capable of entering into a person’s body, causing diseases and pain.  That some ancestors were malevolent was the basis for belief in demons, and earliest concepts of a demon was an entity with human attributes.  And, not surprisingly, there was then also thought to be certain individuals who possessed the power to exorcise those hostile spirits and demons.

Pagan cultures also struggled with such concepts of negative entities, but the belief that every animal, plant, river, body of water, rock, mountain or human was a development of a soul put a more favorable balance on perceived spiritual influence.  As lesser gods became demoted to the rank of daemons (meaning neither good nor bad, but which usually became bad), the more educated persons encouraged a ban on sorcery, magic and “black arts.”   In the third century BCE, however, there was a widespread revival of popular demonology—even among the Hebrews.

To the Old Testament’s credit, despite its numerous flaws and contradictions, the insinuation that evil spirits or demons exist remained relatively infrequent, and those that do skate near that idea are found for the most part in the later accounts of Jesus in the synoptic Gospels.  Indeed, the nearest thing to an exorcism to be found in Hebrew Scriptures is in 1 Samuel 16:14 where David uses music to calm the paranoid King Saul.

But time, of course, changes all things, and during the approach to the first century of our Common Era, Judaism had become more exposed to various people that had been absorbed into the Roman Empire, and a belief in malevolent influences taking possession of persons or situations again began to displace rationality.  A reference in Mark (12:27) indicates that there were those among the Pharisees who held status as professional exorcists.  Rabbinical literature in this timeframe did indeed have references to individual demons by name and gave specific illnesses they could inflict.

Christian theology, developing primarily in Rome, expanded upon earlier Hebraic ideas, and being influenced also by empire-building mentality expanded upon those ideas into an elaborate hierarchy not only of angels and archangels, but with fallen angels, demons, and devils led by an emperor-like Satan.

The New Testament authors drew upon a wide field of cultures which had been bound into the Roman Empire, and the widespread idea of possession consequently colored early accounts of alleged incidents surrounding Jesus’ ministry.  These show up prominently in Mark 1:21-28; Mark 5:1-20; Mark 9:14-29; Matthew 8:28-34; Matthew 9:32-33; Matthew 15:21-28; Matthew 17:14-21; Luke 4:31-37; Luke 8:26-39; and Luke 9:37-43.  These particular books, it should be remembered, were the earliest of the “Gospels,” with Mark penned c. 55-60, and Matthew written c. 70-75 (Mark was revised c. 70-80), and Luke was compiled c. 84-90.  The only other mention of exorcism in Gospel is found in the Acts of the Apostles (also written c. 84-90), with 16:16-18 and 19:11-19 being in regard to explicit incidents, and two nonspecific incidents are referred to in 5:16 and 8:7.

There has been a lot of squirming among evangelicals over these alleged exorcism incidents, and on the whole they prefer instead to direct attention of the faithful to the spiritual gifts of Jesus, and broadly infer that Jesus bestowed the gift of healing (and by extension of exorcism) upon his twelve apostles.  Curiously, this spiritual gift was a one-time-only offer if we consult Mark 3:16, Matthew 10:1 and 8, and Luke 9:1.  The indication in these books is that the authority to heal and/or exorcise was limited to the apostles’ life time.  The underlying problem with this is that exorcism as a feature presented to his apostles is an activity that later became mixed up with promises of the world’s end time and indications of Jesus’ immediate reappearance, and/or the lowering of god’s kingdom to Earth.  Satan and his evil brood are then to be decisively defeated.  Never explained is: If the apostles’ lifetime ended some 2000 years ago, how has that power of exorcism been relayed to a clique of priests?

In the Roman Catholic Church the name exorcist is given to the members of a third of the minor orders.  This ranking was allegedly established by Pope Fabian (also called a “saint”) in the third century (d. 250).  In the Roman Catholic Church, exorcism is practiced according to their version of Scriptural teaching.  Exorcism also plays a role in the blessing of holy water and oil, and in the rite of baptism for, in accordance with the doctrine of “original sin,” all unbaptized persons are claimed by Satan.  Pope Innocent I (d. 417, also regarded a “saint”) forbade priests to exercise this exorcising power without express permission of their bishop—a rule still in effect.

Does later history offer any advancement of rationality?  In 1614 Pope Paul V established the rites of exorcism of demons in the Rituale Romanum, which was, more or less, recast from Babylonian rites.  It was not much of a  stretch for the pope, who was then distressed at the sexual activities going on in Rome, to latch onto the theatrical means of exorcism to combat the “sins of the flesh and the devil.”  It helped that the belief in possession had again become widespread, and the church could point to the book of Luke which related an alleged incident where a “possessed” man had come to Jesus on the shores of Galilee.  The story goes that when Jesus inquired of the man’s name, the man replied “Legion,” for many demons had entered into him.  Jesus, of course, saved the man by commanding the demons to enter nearby herd of swine, which then galloped away to drown themselves in the sea.

Leap ahead another 383 years from 1614: Things had not changed all that much in Catholic fascination with “possession.”  It was 1997, and Mother Teresa was hovering near death, and the archbishop of Calcutta, Henry Sebastian D’Souza, ordered a priest to perform exorcism upon the woman because the Archbishop suspected that she was being attacked by the devil.  Her reputation of often letting her patients suffer needlessly in the name of god probably had nothing to do with it.

That little exorcism incident drew some scathing comments from around the globe.  Perhaps it was coincidence that Pope John Paul II approved the new rites for exorcism in October 1998.  The exorcism rites were formally released in January 1999.  The 84-page procedure was published entirely in Latin; and as far as the holy church was concerned it had done its duty, and it was up to each foreign language Catholic faction to translate it.  The 1999 pope-approved version was really only an update of the 1952 and the 1964 versions, however.  Sadly, at the threshold of the twenty-first century the belief in demons was once again given church recognition.

If we take the priestly assertion that “all that is good comes from god, and all that is evil or negative is from the devil,” we have bought into a marketing ploy, not spiritual truth.  Scriptural “evil” and the negative circumstances that matter-life encounters are not instigated by demons or evil spirits; it is commonly human desire and greed that is the cause of the bulk of man’s encounter with “evil.”

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