Feline Warrior

In case you missed it, Tim Russert’s Meet the Press had a special edition called Faith in America. You can read the transcript here.

The guests were: Reza Aslan, Author “No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam”; Rev. Robert Drinan, S.J., Professor of Law, Georgetown Law, Former Congressman from Massachusetts (1970-1980); Dr. Richard Land, President of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Junior Senator from Connecticut; Jon Meacham, Managing Editor, of Newsweek; Rev. Jim Wallis, Author “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get it.”

The discussion was interesting and of course the two big ticket items were Terri Schiavo and the Brian Nichols/Ashley Smith stories. (On the latter, the age-old question, “why does God let bad things happen to good people?”)

On one hand, it was good to hear these men of different backgrounds discussing faith’s place in American government. On the other hand, it was disappointing not to have a woman present in the discussion.

But why does God let bad things happen to good people? It seemed to me that those who spoke to this question of Russert’s (more specifically he was asking if the “angel” was there at the end of Nichols’ evil spree, why wasn’t it around earlier protecting the innocent people he gunned down?) were most interested in getting their own views across rather than trying to really answer the question. Or, the answer was dissatisfying to me - a bible quote, something about “this will remain a mystery to you,” and the comment that “this is why they call it faith.”

There used to be a commercial on TV for a show about wild animals - a modern-day Animal Kingdom sort of show. The ad ended with a male announcer saying, “Find out why they call them animals!” Well, duh - they call them animals because that’s the word that we’ve chosen to stand for what they are. We could have selected the word “boogers” for animals and “animals” for boogers, and it would now be gross to pick animals from your nose! Why do we call it “faith”? Because that’s the word we’ve decided to use for faith! That ain’t an answer!

What I’m getting at is this: Tell me WHAT about faith this invokes, WHY is this faith? What is it about God or faith that we ought to accept in such situations? Is it that we aren’t to understand it? Or is it that we mere mortals are just too stOOpid to get it? For some reason, I keep thinking of Star Trek, that we are to boldly (blindly?!) go where no man has gone before - blind faith! Just go because I (someone) said to! Just believe because you’ll sleep better at night!

Oy, vey! Don’t get me wrong - I have been working on my own faith stuff for years - for most of my life, honestly. Raised an atheist, and a sarcastic one at that, I didn’t grow up with ideas of heaven and hell, a god of any kind (nor a devil of any kind, either) - so became pretty self-sufficient. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t depend on G/god, it was that there was no such thing as G/god, so it wasn’t even a possibility. More than a few decades later, I’m pondering these things still. During a tremendous depression some years back, I did the Jesus thing and so did not kill myself. That was a good thing, not taking my own life. For a while, I followed the suggestions of my Christian friends, read the Bible, went to church, prayed all the time, and tried to think Jesus-like thoughts.

In the years since that time, though, my ability to blindly believe some of the Christian stuff faded. I did more reading, more discussing, more writing. I joined a meditation group - non-denominational- and began to read other, non-Christian stuff. It’s not that I grew to dislike Jesus, but that I couldn’t help but question a lot of the stuff I was hearing and reading. Stuff like why do some (Christian) people choose to follow exactly certain “laws” of the Bible, but not others? Why is homosexuality a sin, but women don’t have to wear head-coverings or go out to the fields when menstruating? What about the dietary laws? There are inconsistencies that seem to me to be more convenient as political movements than actual Biblical laws.

That’s the sort of thing that I think about. And with the Terri Shiavo case - am I aligned with Satan because I think her wishes should be carried out? I don’t think so. I refer to my earlier comments about this, specifically regarding the “Christianity” in robbing someone of his or her dignity, privacy, and quality of death, especially as she has chosen. As to the Brian Nichols/Ashley Smith story, well… I am glad that she was able to calm him down, that she was not hurt, and that he was returned to the officers of the law. If Nichols has had a conversion or a return to the faith of his childhood, I think it’s great. If Smith’s faith has been strengthened because of this experience, most excellent, say I. There is nothing wrong with believing in a Higher Power - it’s comforting to believe in one, really. But do I feel comfortable recruiting folks over to my Higher Power? Not really. Do I feel comfortable telling people that they won’t go to heaven if they don’t believe in my Higher Power, or that their beliefs are wrong? Nope.

Okay, this has been a very babbly post, all over the place, and I blame it on my need for sleep. So I will now treat the sleepiness!