“You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
- Anne Lamott
- Anne Lamott
"[Love] continuously covers all mankind; it is habitually loyal to all humanity; it constantly has an expectation for all mankind; it is continuously remaining under and giving support to all people. (or, since “all” can also be neuter: It progressively puts a protecting roof over all things; it is habitually trusting in, and believing for, all things; it is continually hoping in or for all things; it keeps on patiently enduring all things.)
(I Corinthians 13:7 - JMNT)
“People are never so completely and enthusiastically evil as when they act out of religious conviction.”
- Umberto Eco
- Umberto Eco
“There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty.”
- Bart D. Ehrman
- Bart D. Ehrman
“The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women's rights, pluralism, secularism, short skits, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex. There are tyrants, not Muslims.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that we should now define ourselves not only by what we are for but by what we are against. I would reverse that proposition, because in the present instance what we are against is a no brainer. Suicidist assassins ram wide-bodied aircraft into the World Trade Center and Pentagon and kill thousands of people: um, I'm against that. But what are we for? What will we risk our lives to defend? Can we unanimously concur that all the items in the preceding list -- yes, even the short skirts and the dancing -- are worth dying for?
The fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. In his world-view, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. To prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. These will be our weapons. Not by making war but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them.
How to defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorized. Don't let fear rule your life. Even if you are scared.”
- Salman Rushdie
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that we should now define ourselves not only by what we are for but by what we are against. I would reverse that proposition, because in the present instance what we are against is a no brainer. Suicidist assassins ram wide-bodied aircraft into the World Trade Center and Pentagon and kill thousands of people: um, I'm against that. But what are we for? What will we risk our lives to defend? Can we unanimously concur that all the items in the preceding list -- yes, even the short skirts and the dancing -- are worth dying for?
The fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. In his world-view, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. To prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. These will be our weapons. Not by making war but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them.
How to defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorized. Don't let fear rule your life. Even if you are scared.”
- Salman Rushdie
Lonna Spencer said...
ReplyDeleteThe following is from a book I am currently reading and it seems appropriate for this post.
"The laws of social life today change from minute to minute. There is no more security in the knowledge of some communicated moral law. One must search out one's own values and assume responsibility for one's own order of action and not simply follow orders handed down from some period past. Moreover, we are intensely aware of ourselves as individuals, each responsible in his or her own way, to themselves and to their world.
We can no longer speak of "outsiders." It once was possible for the ancients to say, "We are the chosen of God!" and to save all love and respect for themselves , projecting their malice "out there." That today is suicide. We have now to learn somehow to quench our hate and disdain through the operation of an actual love, not a mere verbalization, but an actual experience of compassionate love, and with that fructify, simultaneously, both our neighbor's life and our own."
Thanks, Lonna!
DeletePatti L Cook said...
ReplyDeleteJust imagine...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbtkmd0uRlI
Jerry Keenan said...
ReplyDeleteFor a short time we came together but all too quickly went back to our divisiveness and infighting.
Linda Elliott said...
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly why I'm a Spiritualist. Thanks be to Mother God AND Father God. Amen
Glad to read your post :). It is very informative!
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ReplyDeleteVery value able post, I read the whole story when I start reading it.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your blog post, beautifully expressed and well written.
ReplyDelete