Religous Rudeness

This story drove me crazy (click here).

i don't really want to get into the idea of Lord's Day in Christianity or Sabbath in Judaism. Instead, I want to focus on why so many religious people use their faith to be rude, inconsiderate, and nasty. It seems to me that our faith ought to lead us to be more loving, better customers, and down right nicer people.

What do you think? Have you heard about this kind of behavior?

Thursday Nights

The unTapped disscussion group meets every Thursday night at Short's Brewing in downtown Bellaire.

Last Thursday we discussed cynicism in our lives - where it comes from and how it affects everything from our ethics to our choice of music.

Join us next week!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Greatest Generation

There has been a massive call to arms, as of late, to be servant leaders in our communities. I have heard and overwhelming response in wake of Obama's election by people who feel called to serve.

I'm not sure I buy it.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE this idea of service to others and trying to get out of our consumer-based, me-first mentality. But is a change really happening?

I was fascinated by a friend of my recently who was volunteering with the United Way for a soup kitchen project. My buddy just turned 30, isn't married, and to me, seemed an unlikely character to offer his time this way. I don't mean that as insult, only that I don't see this sort of selflessness around me very often. He was serving because he wanted to help. It wasn't to impress someone, to meet and obligation, or to meet a girl...he was just serving because there was a need.

Does the Gen X/Millennial gen serve in the same way their grandparents did in the oft quoted times when "life was harder, people were more connected, and the world needed them?" Do we serve more? I want to believe we respond to the call to be the hands and feet of love in the world, but I seem to doubt.

Help my cynicism and correct me on this one.

The Challenge of Ascendence

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and, perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery.

-President Ronald Reagen, January 28, 1986

Twenty three years ago today at about 10am, I was a six year old school boy, watching a television screen with two dozen other kids in a suburban school outside of Houston. On the TV screen, a rocket-powered space shuttle pushed itself towards space. It almost poetically rolled as it ascended. Then, it exploded.

I watched as white smoking pieces of debris fell and fell and fell from five miles above the earth. I watched as the rocket boosters spun away in a mad, spinning panic. Even as a first grader, I knew something had gone terribly wrong.

Just weeks before the explosion, I recall visiting a space museum and actually seeing moonrocks. The idea of traveling through space was fascinating. The stars seemed closer. But, it all was so surreal at the same time. The stars weren't closer and the moon was a million miles away. How could this paradox be?

I had not yet gotten used to the split custody between my parents - Dad on the weekends, Mom
on the weekdays. Holidays were negotiable. There was fighting and yelling. Sometimes I wondered if the Moon was such a bad place to live.

Watching what remained of Challenger get reclaimed by the force of gravity, I realized that the Moon was too far away. I experienced my first taste of cynicism. I knew that the tragic was the real.

A year later, my mother passed away. Even as a second grader, I knew something had gone terribly wrong. The Moon was too far away, and outer space was something beyond my reach. All kids have wild hopes and dreams, but at that time, it seemed like mine were descending in a million burning pieces back to the ground.


When did you have your first experience with "gravity?" When did life reclaim your stratospheric hopes or dreams? What was that like? Have you changed since then?

Doubtful

You know, one of the things that faith traditions fear most is doubt. For some people, doubt is debilitating and difficult. It can crush a person's spirit.

However, other people find a lot of depth and insight by exploring their doubts. Some spiritual seekers can learn more about life and faith through questions than answers.

Where are you at? Have you ever struggled with doubting your beliefs and values? Is doubt a good thing?

Torture and Faith

Disclaimer: The following is one person's opinion and not necessarily yours or any organization's. It belongs to the author, alone.

Some people carry around the tag "American" like it is a woeful burden. Not me. I love my country. I always have. However, there are times when my country's government does things that are hard to accept, times that seem shameful.

I was hopeful that the previous administration would have ended the dreadful practice of torture and inhuman interrogation. However, I had to wait until our current administration to see such an injunction come to pass. I am glad that the president signed the injunction and hopeful that our country can leave such madness behind.

What does this have to do with faith?

Faith should remind our leaders of basic moral rights that God gave to every human being. Without faith, I worry how our moral compass will work. America has faith and should look to its faith(s) to inform it s policies.

No matter where you are at politically, I believe that the idea of torturing another human being should shock and nauseate. It is sad to me that America would allow things to be done to other humans that we have outlawed against animals.

The notion that national security is a legitimate reason for such acts is also an inadequate reason. For, every act of torture lessens us as human beings. No matter what an inmate has done, does he deserve to be treated as less than an animal - like a lab rat? Additionally, can we really expect good to come as a result of an evil deed?

Martin Luther King JR said,

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

This nation has unprecedented dangers and threats to respond to. It is our government's responsibility to keep its citizens safe. However, we must be careful not to violate our most intrinsic values in the process of securing our lives and our liberty. we cannot achieve morality through immoral means, and if we do, what have we really gained?

We have tried for years now to pursue a means of securing our nation that resembles the tactics of Jack Bauer more than the high ideals of our greatest spiritual leaders. As a person of faith, I am thankful for the wise and moral decision of our current leader, and I am not alone in this gratitude.

So, what do you think of torture and faith's role in the conversation?

I Believe in God

On a regular basis, I enjoy having conversations with various friends about faith, belief, and the reality of s supreme deity. As you could probably guess, these conversations can get heated. They also tend to be unhelpful, since they tend toward predictable patterns like this:

"You prove it!"

"No, you!"

As you can see, pretty pointless.

I think one of the dirty little secrets that many believers are hiding is the fact that in an age dominated by postmoderns, the old apologetic just doesn't work anymore. In fact, it didn't work all that well in the first place. We have reached the limit of our logical arguments, our persuasive pitches, and our philosophical rhetoric and we have failed.

Now, mind you, faith has not been disproved. Instead, both arguments for and against faith have been put in doubt to the point that apologists on both side of the argument have fallen victim to apathy. I am one of these.

For many believers, this has caused a crisis of faith. Many have turned their backs on faiths and traditions. They have seen the failure of argument, logic and traditional claims and just walked away. I am not one of these.Instead, I am the father of Caedmon.

You see, the many who have lost their faith have actually lost faith in a logical system, a philosophical perspective. I have found that faith can remain strong while the arguments and the systematization erodes. This is because our faith

Today, I came home at lunchtime and my son was waiting for me at the door. He looked at me, beamed and said "hi." To me, his simple miracle transcended every objection I could raise.

I believe in God. I believe that there is truth in hope.