Doctrine or Information?       

 

Harry T. Cook
By
Harry T. Cook
6/20/14


Is the free exercise of religion being prohibited in violation of the First Amendment -- which says plainly it may not be? "Protect Religious Freedom" is the plea of the ubiquitous lawn sign and bumper sticker. From many quarters the anguished cry goes up, "How long?"

 

Such a lamentation is being made just now by a small group of students and alumni of Bowdoin College in Maine, the administration of which has informed an entity known as the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship that its members may no longer have the advantage of free meeting space at the college. At other colleges and universities, shares of student activity fees are being denied similar groups.

 

The grounds? That they in one way or another discriminate against those who are curious about what goes on in their Bible study groups but decline to declare as personal belief, for example, that Jesus Christ was physically resurrected, that the Bible is the literal word of God and that both God and the Word forbid sexual activity of gays and lesbians.

 

At Bowdoin, those who do not sign on to the creedal beliefs of the Fellowship or decline to agree that gay and lesbian sex is against the will of God are ineligible to stand for election as officers. On other campuses they are not admitted to membership at all.

 

One member of Bowdoin's Class of 2014, who was a leader of the Fellowship, said, "It would compromise our ability to be who we are as Christians if we can't hold our leaders to some sort of doctrinal standard."

 

On the face of it, that is an altogether reasonable statement. However, the administration said, in response, that the group may certainly continue to exist independently of the college, though no longer having free access to campus buildings and may not claim an official association with Bowdoin.

 

The evangelical lobby is on the case, saying, in effect, that the Fellowship and like groups on many an American campus are victims of religious intolerance when all their members want is their First Amendment "free exercise" protection. Please. Let the Fellowship and other associations like it exercise their religion freely on their own hook and discriminate as the spirit may give them utterance.

 

It's not as if Bowdoin itself is bereft of religion. A little research discovers that it has a first-rate religious studies program. See this from the college catalog:

 

"The Department of Religion [with five full-time professors] offers students opportunities to study the major religions of the world, East and West, ancient and modern, from a variety of academic viewpoints and without sectarian bias. Each major is assigned a departmental advisor who assists the student in formulating a plan of study in religion and related courses in other departments. The advisor also provides counsel in career planning and graduate study . . . The major consists of nine courses in religion, including two required courses: Introduction to the Study of Religion and Theories about Religion. For the seven remaining courses, four courses are to be taken at the intermediate level . . . one in each of the following four designated areas: Asian Religions, Bible and Comparative Studies, Christianity and Gender, and Islam and Post-Biblical Judaism. " 

 

A bit more research finds that the city of Brunswick (pop. 21,849) -- the municipal setting of the college -- boasts more than a dozen Christian institutions including three Roman Catholic parishes, three Baptist congregations, as well Unitarian, Lutheran, United Methodist and Episcopal churches. In addition, four non-denominational worshipping communities welcome students.

 

There is, however, no need for students who identify themselves as Christians to leave campus in search of religious services and study. They have at hand a much-acclaimed religious studies faculty the professors of which teach, among other things, the Bible. Perhaps the problem is that those professors tend to take the Bible seriously rather than literally.

 

Beyond the academic attention to religion, an absolutely gorgeous twin-tower chapel (the McKeen Center for the Common Good, named for Bowdoin's first president, and erected in 1857) adorns the campus, and now has a Bowdoin alumnus with a degree in theology from Edinburgh University as its Director of Spiritual Life.

 

Here's what President Joseph McKeen said in Bowdoin's early years:

"Literary institutions are founded and endowed for the common good, and not for the private advantage of those who resort to them for education."  

 

McKeen might have added that no part of any college worthy of the name has to do with the inculcation of religious "doctrine." An academic community is about the imparting of information and the introduction of its students to the process of critical thinking.

 

Doctrines, if doctrines there must be, can be found in the catechisms of all kinds of churches that are constitutionally privileged to preach their doctrines to those who are willing to listen. We must suppose that the reverend clergy of Brunswick preach thus, and that with public funding.  

 

Yes, indeed. Their churches are exempt from property taxes. Contributions made to them are tax deductible on Form 1040. That gives "free exercise" a quite different meaning than our founding parents may have intended. Meanwhile, if there is freedom of religion in America, surely there is also freedom from religion.

 


Copyright 2014 Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.
 

A Reader Responds to 'Celestial Pie'


By Brian Orrock McHugh

 

I have been pondering your essay "Celestial Pie" for the last four days. And this morning I have read your special essay "The Road to Perdition." The contents are, to my mind, related.

You and I both agree, I believe, that the Bible, along with almost all so-called sacred texts, are at best elegant mythology that attempts to express an understanding of life, and at worst venial propagandist fable. In over 45 years of the practice of the Christian religion and of study and reflection, I have seen the truth of which Graham Greene and many others have spoken: "God" is a human invention, designed primarily to deal in some way with the intrinsic human characteristics of vulnerability, ignorance, and, primarily, fear. A corollary of this effort is escapism, the primary example of which, religiously speaking, is "heaven."

The human psyche, confronted with the extreme fragility and precariousness of mortal life, still profoundly present at what I consider to be a very early stage of human development, finds ways to survive. Perfectly understandable. The difficulty is, of course, that survival tactics such as the invention of "heaven" are often used as an excuse not to live this incarnational life in which we all find ourselves. Depending on the historical circumstances, some have made heaven easily accessible -- a good example of which is the "doctrine of universal salvation, which many have attributed to Paul of Tarsus. Others have made "heaven" a hard place to attain -- Dante's "Divine Comedy" being a good example. Catholic Christianity has upped the ante by claiming control of the access to "heaven," pandering to that other deep-seated fantasy of the human mind, namely power over others.

 

Utopia has long been a craving of the human mind and spirit. Many utopias have been proposed throughout human history. The Christian version is the realization on earth of what is called the "Kingdom of God," or the attainment of "heaven on earth." In "good times," peoples have striven to make life a "heaven on earth." In "bad times," people sense that "heaven" is not possible in this earthly mortal life; it will come after death.

I believe that this survival instinct or tool known as "heaven" is deeply embedded in the universal subconscious of human existence. Which brings me to your comment about the road to perdition. It is I think, to any aware person, obvious that the world today is in what may be called a Time of Perdition. There are times when, as Yeats said,
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold -- if indeed there is a center. At such times, the human psyche screams in fear, perhaps from "the mouths of babes and infants." Hence the appearance of this book you mentioned of a little boy's vision of the reality of heaven, and its popularity. For all of the bluster and the sword rattling of politicians who pretend to be in control, we are all afraid. Especially since we intuit our helplessness and see the destructiveness of which human beings are capable. My sense is that in our world today many of the felt injustices that we have perpetrated on each other are now coming to roost. ISIS is but today's version of the wrath that lives at the heart of ill-treated human beings, and I suspect that the road to perdition cannot be avoided.

Perhaps healing is possible, but I suspect that it will not be quick in coming. You and I shall live our final years on this planet in a time of tempest. Having, however, being given the gift of a vision of unity and of love, I intend to attempt to live out that vision with trust and serenity, which I believe to be the authentic expression of faith. My faith is not in an invented "God." My faith, that is, my trust, is in whatever power lies at the heart of the unfolding of the universe, and in the possibilities that lie at the core of that amazing mystery which we called the human person.

 

"The spirit blows where it wills; you do not know from whence it comes or where it is going." I find a center of calm in that gospel wisdom. And, my friend, I thank you for your passion about this amazing existence in which we move.

 

McHugh is a retired Episcopal priest who recently asked to be dispensed of his ordination vows. He and his partner are soon to decamp long-term for Ecuador. A guest essay by McHugh will appear in this series in July.

 

 


Readers Write 
Essay 6/13/14: Celestial Pie

 

Mark Bendure, Grosse Pointe Park, MI:

It is a very disquieting part of my belief system that I have no real hope of the "heaven" portrayed in conventional Christian thought.  In times of death, it can be very comforting to think, or believe, that the departed will reach a "better place." It is instead more painful to accept that death is, well, death, and that the joy we seize from life is done.  If I am wrong, perhaps a deity worthy of worship will overlook my disbelief and judge me on how I have treated those with whom I share this earth. If I am correct, perhaps I will achieve a poor semblance of immortality by being occasionally remembered fondly by those whose lives I have touched in a positive way.  In all events, it occurs to me that all that can be done is try to live a kind, productive, and loving life and accept what does or does not lie after we have shuffled off this mortal coil.

 

Janice Forrester, Aurora, CO:

How would you, as a parish priest, have dealt with heaven and the after-life if you had to give the homily at the funeral of one or more of those killed in that terrible shooting here? I fear that you would not have been up to the job, and therefore out of one.

 

Cynthia Chase, Laurel, MD:

As Mom neared 99, she lost the ability to operate the "Books-on-Tape" player lent to her by the public library. One of the worst books she asked me to read to her was "90 Minutes in Heaven," written by a pastor who survived a near-fatal car crash. Despite all its superlatives, the book was deadly dull. I was glad that his stay in God's cloud castle lasted only an hour and a half. You can only take so much of this stuff.

 

Frances Moore, Chattanooga, TN: 

You must have been a big hit when death came to one of your parishioners. I don't know how they could have put with it. Honestly!

 

Blayney Colmore, Jacksonville, VT:

Once again, you prove yourself more principled and brave than I. Though I always hoped most sane people would understand all the religious talk - heaven, hell, satan, salvation -- as metaphor meant to provide a way to consider life richer than mere positivism, I doubt I very often took it on as you did. Not that those who considered these matters literally failed to see through my subtlety. After I introduced the work of the Jesus Seminar in my parish, I was waited on by a group of men (all men, all in suits) urging me to resign lest I mislead "one of these little ones." I have always been drawn to the Spanish notion of orgasm as la muerte peque�a, the little death, because it may be the only moment until we die, in which our ego doesn't define us, and we totally surrender ourselves. A couple of my clergy friends took issue with my disbelief in consciousness beyond death, saying I should at most claim agnosticism since I can't know, yet. Fair enough. Just that I am rather comforted by understanding that we are part of the same process as everything else, and I will one day provide compost for unimaginable new life. Which is more than I can claim most days.


Marie Cummings, Halifax, Nova Scotia:  

How you did what you did for all those years as a pastor while sticking to your guns on the honesty thing should become the beginning of your autobiography. Will you be writing one? That might get to be a bestseller, too.

 

Ronald Payne, Milford Center, OH:

Again a great piece! I've a friend of over 50 years from seminary, retired United Methodist Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, who simply will not give up in his work for social justice. I've told him that as one of his best friends, I'm going to see to this epitaph engraved into his headstone: He died trying. He grabs his lance at every chance to mount and ride off on his quixotic quest to make systemic change and thus bring in the Kingdom. Since I don't doubt his and your grave will not be in the same location, I could lobby to have the same inscription for you disseminated among your acquaintances, for I have little doubt that you too will reach the end of your days in a similar joust against ignorance and magic thinking. Thanks for the erudition of your work and the entertainment it provides.

 

Sharon Chace, Rockport, MA:

Seems to me the better question is not, "Is Heaven Real?" The question that is very respectful of people who have had unusual experiences is: "Does heaven exist outside the subconscious of some people?" Same things could be asked about God.

 

Tom Richie, Anderson, SC:

I love your "Celestial Pie." I appreciate your struggle. Have same problem each time I do a funeral. Folks expect the "Jesus Saves" thing and, of course, the ticket to heaven. We must get you to Anderson to talk about these things you write about.

 

Harry Dyck, Elkhart, IN:

Another of those most needful articles of truth blatantly absent in the mumble-jumble of too many of the bible-thumpers. It made me wonder if a youngster in Iraq or India might ever have the same dream. Hardly; unless the youngster has been brainwashed by evangelists and their ilk to that end. I strongly affirm your commitment to speaking the truth whatever the consequences to traditional belief systems and look forward to your every article that comes my way.  

 

Fred Fenton, Concord, CA:

Long before you quoted it, the saying about "a sucker born every minute" came to mind when reading your piece about belief in heaven. The public preference for fantasy over reality as a way of dealing with the tragic dimension of life is more than silly. It is dangerous. Two newspapers are thrown on our driveway each morning. They are both called The Times. One is from New York, the other is a Contra Costa County, California production. The local Times made no mention on today's front page of what is happening in the Middle East. The national publication headlines the disintegration of Iraq. When people are not told the truth, by clergy or educators or the media, they are encouraged to remain in ignorance and sentimentality and vote accordingly. I applaud your lifelong refusal to endorse religious fantasy. 

 

Richard Olson, Herington, KS:

["I never said in a pastoral conversation, or in offering condolences to survivors or succor to the dying, never said in a homily or lecture that -- as the lad's amanuensis, Burpo, put it -- heaven is for real."] That is one of the best lines I've read in a while; one does not often encounter "amanuensis" outside academe. I will shamelessly use it as soon as practicable, as if I spontaneously just thunk it all by myself, in the (rather unlikely) event the opportunity presents itself.

 

Tracey Martin, Southfield, MI:

"... to palliate both a fear of oblivion or, more immediately, of the agency that would start one on his way toward it." Another twain that should never meet. The "agency" is rational enough. Most of us would prefer a pleasant passage out. But a fear of oblivion? In non-existence there is neither pleasure nor pain. Of what is there to be afraid? Did any of your ... parishioners explain what they expected their after-life to be like?

 

Caroline B. Smith, Ann Arbor, MI:  

I would so like to share this article with my grandsons-in-law and my own daughter and her husband and their daughters, and many of their peripheral relatives, but I dare not. After a John Shelby lecture years ago, I asked him how to approach the subject of myth vs. reality with this group. Spong shook his finger at me and said, "Don't try to change them." So, I bite my tongue a lot. Thank you for your honesty.

 

Dewey Barton, New Smyrna Beach, FL:  
Another thoughtful and excellent essay.


* * * * *


Readers Write 
Special Essay 6/17/14: The Road to Perdition 


Stuart Amols, Ormond Beach, FL:

The woman's comment is all the more absurd, given she resides in a state that receives $2.47 back in spending for every tax dollar it contributes (3rd highest in the nation as of 2010) to the Federal Government.

 

Karl Sandelin, Kalamazoo, MI:  

And, [the Mississippi woman] is free to reveal her ignorance!

 

Frederick C. Neidhardt, Distinguished Prof. Emeritus, University of Michigan:

I was graced by having as a friend one the most perceptive thinkers about evolution in the 20th century.   Ernst Mayr, late the Agassiz Professor of Biology at Harvard, was a caring, agnostic scholar.  His thoughts on the origin of animal species continue to guide evolutionary thought.  Professor Mayr is said to have declared that the odds against humans being contacted by a highly developed life form elsewhere in the universe is greatly diminished by the observed fact on earth that the "higher" and "more complex" a species, the faster it is eliminated, to be replaced by the next in line, a simpler form.  Your essay "The Road to Perdition" brought examples to mind of factors in human vulnerabilty.  News events this month identify forces that in the biological process of evolution can ultimately leave no one behind to receive messages from afar.  

 

Barby Reider, West Bloomfield, MI:

I believe people mouth words without much thought to what they are saying! You really proved that in this article. Thank you very much, as always.

 

John Bennison, Walnut Creek, CA:  

I maintain that this era of obstructionism, obfuscation and endless equivocation will continue to result in a slow-mo implosion we are already witnessing around us. There are two distinct, incompatible and irreconcilable directions in which we can go; and where we have yet to have accepted this stark reality, this long-delayed point of departure will be foisted upon us. The train already left the station, but its destination is yet uncertain. All we see in the meanwhile is that it's clearly off the rails.

 

Janet Halper, West Bloomfield, MI:

Thank you for your comments to the 77-year-old woman re our freedoms and the federal government. Please keep writing. Your words are not blowing in the wind.

 

Richard M. Schrader, Jacksonville, FL:  

We Americans have lost our heritage of trust. We used to end our Pledge of Allegiance with "and to the Republic for which it stands with Liberty and Justice for all." Our politicians in Washington once claimed that trust was the coin of the realm. Our coins in the 50's began to bear the notation: "In God We Trust." We took that statement to mean that trust was universal and a lofty principle to be shared by all. We have violated our standards of trust through fear, whatever that fear may be; whether, an intruder, a property violation, or a perceived damaging of a community or moral standard. It is time for us to learn again to be responsive and responsible to our fellow man.

 

Chuck, Corinth, Texas:
I wholeheartedly agree! But what are we to do with such ignorance, when it seems their "truth" is the garbage of a Rupert Murdoch enterprise? Now living in Texas, it seems that I'm surrounded by similar members of [that Mississippi woman's] tribe. When a primary election occurs, only 5% of eligible voters show, with most of them voting on the far right of the spectrum. I stood in line behind a fellow wearing a shirt (no doubt his special "votin' shirt") that said, " Alcohol, tobacco and firearms should be a convenience store, NOT a government bureau!" I reminded myself that we live in a country in which he has the right to free speech. I reminded myself that he probably also goes his place of worship to worship as he chooses. I also remind myself that I have not walked in his shoes and do not know whence his stance evolved. Finally, I also reminded myself why I too must continue to aggressively seek to vote in the Texas Republican primaries, as a voice of dissent to the chaos. We seem to live in an ever-growing society of "conscience by sound byte" in which beliefs are blurbs without thought or contemplation of the alternative and in which critical thinking is frowned upon because one is too wordy for the 30-second news brief. So, when I can engage my neighbors, I strive to strike up tough conversations, not to convince them of my point, but to understand theirs and perhaps inject some pause for thought and, through discussion, perhaps get to learn something from each other. I urge your other readers to do the same. Thank you for your writings -- always a pleasure to read.
 

Cynthia Chase, Laurel, MD:  
I'd like to think you're wrong about this, but I'm afraid you're not. I hope the pendulum swings back. I think it will, but I may not be around to see it. The ideas this new Mississippian espouses are nothing new. They've been around for 200-plus years. Came over with the Scots-Irish and planted themselves here like kudzu.  

Karen Davis, Royal Oak, MI:

Yes, ignorance and a willingness to let others tell you what to think always leads down that road. It's terrifying. 


Fred Fenton, Concord, CA:

I agree with all you have written. The question is, why are there so many voters "armed only with ignorance and inchoate resentment?" Here are six reasons: 1. The failure of public education. In spite of the billions spent by the Department of Education, endless studies of the problem, and experiments like charter schools, the system is broken. 2. Deregulation of the banking industry. Beginning with Reagan, necessary regulation of the banking industry was removed and a national economic crisis in which millions of Americans lost their homes was the inevitable result. Resentment increased as Wall Street culprits were not held responsible for the catastrophe. 3. American Wars in the Middle East. The ignorance and political posturing of presidents, members of Congress, and conservative think tanks betrayed the American people and resulted in disastrous decisions to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The lessons of Vietnam were not learned. The woeful ignorance of Middle Eastern history by the intelligentsia of Washington, including members of both parties, has helped create a divided and disillusioned nation. 4. Control of government by corporate interests. Vast sums of money spent by their lobbyists has completely corrupted government in Washington and across the nation. This is no longer a government "of, by, and for the people." 5. Right Wing Talk Radio Shows. Millions of Americans listen to the poison of Rush Limbaugh and his cohorts. These masters of deceit daily fuel the "ignorance and inchoate resentment" of people across the land.

6. A Do Nothing Congress. Candidates for office should be made to explain how they would tackle a Congress locked in partisan strife and unable to govern the nation. Listening to interviews with Hillary Clinton, I find she talks about the problems but does not say what can and should be done about them. We have heard enough stirring speeches from political candidates about hopes and dreams for America. We need a leader who can win support and take bold steps to change things for the better.

 

Bob Prahl, Geneva, IL:  

I am very concerned that too many of us are easily manipulated by right wing TV and radio whose modus operandi is to create hate and fear in a far too gullible, uninformed and misinformed populace. Republican and right wing messaging seems to be much more effective than the sheepish, inadequate response of the Democratic leadership. Is Barack Obama too conciliatory with the Republicans. I believe so. This, in my opinion, is not a time for Democrats and Mr. Obama to be pacifists. Their reluctance to show passion and outrage at what the Republicans have done to the Obama presidency is terribly disappointing to me. It was former senator Alan Simpson who said an attack or accusation unanswered is an attack or accusation believed. Regrettably, it seems the Democrats learned little or nothing from the 2010 midterms and may be facing a similar fate this November.

 

Robert Stevens, Sterling Heights, MI:  

Your points are so well taken.  I find myself shouting the same points you make at the TV when a one of these current crop of Republican (mostly) politicians say "we want our freedom back" or "the federal government is too big and spends too much."  In her current commercial, Terry Lynn Land [candidate for the Republican nomination to succeed Carl Levin of Michigan), says the "government spends too much".  No one ever asks her what she would cut. In November, on Election Day, I fear that a number of voters may very well vote to give the Senate to the Republicans.  With their message of "government is the problem", "less taxes", "no compromise", I wonder what it is that these voters really want from government.  As a retired Government teacher, I thought I was doing a fairly good job of explaining the purpose of government and that government was designed, in part, to "provide for the general welfare".  Government was good, government solved problems, we the people are the government.  All things, as the product of a liberal education in the 1950's and '60's, I believed.  Something happened in the last 10 years, and maybe started way before that, that radically changed that point of view by many Americans. Now perhaps, the liberals and those of us who want to save this democracy need to join the "limit the vote" bandwagon.  We need to identify Tea Party and right wing voters and make it more difficult for them to register and vote.  We need to identify the characteristics they possess and write laws that restrict their rights.  The Founding Fathers certainly limited the vote.  Maybe they saw this coming! 

 

Art Hogan, Traverse City, MI:

Simply, clearly, truly and powerfully expressed without resort to political invective or pomposity. I shall be interested in how many of my right-leaning acquaintances will deem it excessively political.

 

Janet DeMerchant, Farmington Hills, MI:

Outstanding essay! I get so tired of hearing from the Tea Baggers and their ilk how this President has ruined the country, gotten us into debt and taken away their freedom. Maybe they would prefer some of the changes you mention.

 

Tracey Martin, Southfield, MI:

The truth shall make you free. But ignorance won't help you find it. Nor will Fox Noise.

 


What do you think?
I'd like to hear from you. E-mail your comments to me at [email protected].