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I ran across this quote recently, reading The Phoenix Affirmations by Eric Elnes:

[quote]Why is it that the word Christian, which should stand for people of extravagant grace and generosity, who are abundantly loving, who are aassociated with acts of courage, justice and compassion, has become synonymous with butthead?]/quote]

Unfortunately, i think Elnes is right. I encounter this on so-called "Christian" message boards, where the Episcopal Church, to which I belong, is constantly attacked because we do not hate and reject homosexuals.

I think John Lennon was onto someting when he wrote that one of the things we should "Imagine" is "and no religion, too."

I think it is time to abandon those message boards. I am becoming so weary of religion and its advocates!

I am reading, and thoroughly enoying, Founding Faith by Steven Waldman. It is about the evolution of religious freedom, the concept of separation of church and state, and the like, in the country's early days. The book addresses the political/religious views of the "Founding Fathers": Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Adams and Madison. This is a well-researched, carefully considered, and fun-to-read book. I heartily recommend it to anyone who is seriously interested in what the founders of the US really thought about these issues, rather than just what current proponents of one side or the other want us to believe that the founders thought.

To John Lennon's "and no religion, too", consider this by Thomas Jefferson (quoted in the book): "My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel if there had never been a priest".

On the subject of homosexuals, a few months ago Maine's legislature and governor approved a so-called same-sex marriage bill. Now, the political/religious right in the State is angrily mounting an effort to repeal the law, with a lot of financial support from outside Maine. The vote on their repeal is not until November, and I expect the atmosphere to get ugly between now and then.

As I read it in never-ending newspaper op-ed columns and letters to the editor, the argument seems to rest on personal bias reinforced by a few selectively chosen passages from scripture. For me, the problem there is that, after three decades on the spiritual path, it has become apparent to me that one can find passages in the scriptures of the world's religions to support almost any position on almost any subject. My own personal experience is that God is far more interested in how we respond to the Gospel commandment to love one another than He is in our sexuality (or, for that matter, anything else).

The "gay" issue is current inthe Episcopal Church (to which I belong) as well. Our general convention just voted to recommend that the church extend the rites of marriage to commited same-sex couples. I suspect things will get ugly rather soon, on the issue. Some have already split away into splinter "Anglican" denominations because of the consecration of Bishop Robinson, a praticing homosexual. All of which is a really pathetic commentary on how far we have come frm the ideals and teaching of the Master himself. The moment it became "Love they neighbor, unless he is gay or black or whatever," in that same moment the Teacher was elbowed out of the picture and religion took over.

Another book I recommend highly is Why Christqinity Must Change Or Die by Bishop John Shelby Spong. Pure dynamite!

More later

Jai Ram
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