Am I faithless?

Now important questions for me are, “Where is God? Is God “up there”? Only in a House of God – Church, Temple or Mosque? Or is God (as I strongly suspect) everywhere?”

If God is everywhere why do I need a priest (in my case – I was baptized into the Anglican church), or Rabbi or Imam, to tell me what to do and how to behave? Most of these people would have received “instruction” about the dogma and the form of their belief system from their specific scriptures or Holy Books. This is religion.

But religion, in my understanding, is not the same as knowledge of God. Certainly not the same as spirituality, which, I have always presumed is the aim of worshipping God.

It may be taken as a given that I have a belief in a Higher Power, or source of Life. Call this God, or by whatever name you may choose. It doesn’t really matter. I really don’t think that God would care.

But have I “Faith”? According to Hebrews 11.1 (King James English Bible):-

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.  

I may hope for things, or events to happen or not happen, but does God “look” at me or “listen” to me and agree or disagree? Really?

As the poet William Ernest Henley wrote:

            “I am the master of my fate;

             I am captain of my soul”.

The bit I just fail to understand is this.  Why do we humans, why do we need to reduce God the level of being human? Why call God a “Him”? Why a male? Then, of course being a male and “human” we imbue “Him” with human traits and the need to propitiate “Him”; try to cajole “Him”; ask “Him” for favours; bribe “Him” with sacrifices, often burnt so that the smoke will rise to “His” nostrils (and presumably please “Him”). If God is everywhere why would he need this - how would this please him? Anyway, how would anyone know?

God, in my understanding is Love. Pure love. Now this does not fit with the public image of greed and lust for power and control prevalent in various, most probably all  religious orders, uncovered by various investigations in many countries. Lust – in its most virulent form – sexual lust for minor children; control, through physical and emotional abuse – is now known to be perpetrated by some preachers of “faith” in all religions.

And this is done in the name of God?

It has been truly said that, “no soul was ever saved by hate. No truth was ever proved by violence. No redemption was ever brought by a holy war. No religion ever won the administration of the world by its capacity to inflict suffering on it enemies (re: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks).”

If Jews, Muslims and Christians worship the same God; if these “believers” read from Holy Books that espouse the same principles of Love, Justice and Tolerance; if these “believers” each invoke God’s aid against the other; if these “believers” cannot resolve their differences without the most extreme violence, then religion (any religion) cannot form the basis for a sustainable social order.

To be truly humanitarian it is essential for any person or group to involve themselves in that most difficult of imaginative exercises – role reversal. Put yourself  (or your group) in the place of the person (or group) that you despise, denigrate or simply do not understand.

It is a human failing, I believe, when people (particularly politicians and religious orders) are threatened with internal discord, to focus on, even invent, some external threat. This is the history of the “scapegoat”. Projecting all your failings onto someone else – and then blame them for your troubles. Killing the scapegoat is then seen, in the eyes of those involved, as justified. It is a form of “sacrifice” and deflects attention away from any internal violence that may destroy the group or people concerned. For centuries the Jews have suffered under this “scapegoat” label. Blame the Jews for everything – the most horrendous example occurred in the 1930s in Nazi Germany. But Jews are not the only scapegoats. Currently, in the eyes of some, anyone who is not a “true believer” is “not worthy in the eyes of God”. Apparently. 

According to the history of the three religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – all people are children of Abraham. By whose understanding then does God want his followers to kill for His sake; to engage in “Holy” war for His sake; to engage in human “sacrifice” for His sake; to hate and terrorise “unbelievers” for His sake? Such activity is an obscene distortion of everything that I, for one, was ever taught. 

It is the requirement of all, or so I believe, to overcome any “evil” tendencies within us and learn that love is the greatest power of all. This, in my understanding, is the only “message” that is worth listening to. That and the Golden Rule – “only do to others what you would like done to you”. There are no viable alternatives.

But if I know this – that I am not perfect and that I have a negative (or bad) side to my character as well as a good side, why do I need a priest, or imam or rabbi reading from a “Holy” book to tell me? Anyway how would this person know what troubles I’ve experienced or what my shortcomings are, or how to redress them? 

It seems to me that the priests, rabbis or imams should confront their own shortcomings. To quote from the Bible (it has its uses!):  “First, remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye”(Matthew 7:5). 

So am I faithless?

Man and God.

Oh boy!! This is an intensely personal and a highly emotive issue but it needs to be talked about – openly. So here goes!!

First up let me state, clearly, that I am not a follower of any particular religion or faith. Nominally an Anglican or Church of England – I was baptised as one – there are beliefs held by Buddhism and Sufism that I find satisfying and meaningful, just as I enjoy some of the hymns associated with the English Church and I find the the ideas and language of the King James Bible quite wonderful. Likewise certain aspects of the Kabbalah (an ancient Jewish spiritual tradition) and the Hindu beliefs about life and spirituality I also find comforting. So I suppose I could be called an “all sorts” – and possibly be despised as such, even condemned by some for blasphemy and as an apostate.

No matter! What I have found is that all these different forms of belief have one goal – to direct a follower to God, no matter what God is called; God, Allah, Krishna, Brahma, Yahweh, the Absolute – there is only One God. So I really don’t believe it matters much HOW you believe as long as you DO believe. And how you believe is your personal choice, once you have reached an age when you can reflect, reason and choose accordingly.

What got me onto all this are three things: firstly, the recent resignation or abdication of the (now former) Pope – Benedict XVI. Secondly, the long running scandal – affecting ALL religions – relating to the physical and sexual abuse, by those entrusted with their welfare, of children and women. Thirdly, the apparent secularisation of the Western countries (by this I mean the more developed countries of the world) and the corollary of falling church attendances.  

Now, I am not claiming that these three are directly linked in any way, it is just that the three go together. I’ll explain why:-

Trust is one of the most fragile of human feelings. And trust is a feeling – not an emotion – it is a gut feeling. Trust usually takes a long time to develop but can be lost in a split second. In the current environment how can trust be engendered when government officials, lawyers, accountants and clergy have been known to abuse their positions for personal gain? How can trust be engendered or maintained particularly when the clergy, imams, rabbis, priests – call them what you will – of any religious order abuse the very people they have been entrusted to protect, to educate and to lead on a spiritual journey to God?

Of a certainty only a minority of clergy are abusers – there are many very fine men and women helping many people. But I wonder if it is the system, the environment, that is the baleful influence and not as the saying goes, “that one bad apple can spoil the barrel” but the “barrel” itself that is bad?

When people, particularly young people place themselves in the hands of someone they view as “superior”; someone who is supposed to be a spiritual and life  “guide”; someone who directs them on a weekly basis; someone who influences that least understood and most delicate of human attributes – spirituality, then almost unlimited “power” is given to that guide. Unconsciously this transference of “power” to influence and control a person’s thoughts and actions may damage both.

 When a priest, imam or rabbi (as an example) is given this influence over a young person (for example), there is now scope for, shall we say, “ungodly” activities. When young men are influenced to blow themselves up and kill as many “unbelievers” (Christian westerners) as they can; when strict adherence to the letter of the Bible, Koran or Torah is demanded as a requirement to “belong” in a particular society or group; when “believers” are controlled to the extent that they are discouraged from socialising with those not of their “faith” then something is out of kilter. When Christians and Muslims kill Jews; when Jews isolate Muslims from their land and Holy places; when Muslims burn Christian churches; when Christians burn Mosques; when Hindus burn the places of worship of both Muslims and Christians; when Christians categorize all Muslims as potential terrorists; when Muslims consider all non-Muslims as unacceptable to God and legitimate targets for punishment (a jihad or “holy” war); when women are considered secondary citizens and denied basic human rights (by ALL religions); when people are harmed in any way and when there is injustice in any form, a crime is committed and trust is broken.

Why then should anyone believe in the “sanctity” of any particular faith or religious cause again?

Certainly with the Christian Churches, and the Catholic Church is the biggest one, I believe that the “system” is corrupt and broken. It is the current, broken, system that encourages priestly influence and authority over parishioners for money and “power” – the Catholic Church is an immensely powerful and wealthy organization.

The religious people involved in these crimes are showing themselves as diminished beings unworthy of trust. Knowledge of any abuse spreads like effluent through a community and many people, naturally, turn away from any such toxic influences lest they become poisoned. Church attendances therefore fall.

There is little sign of  humility and adherence to the commandments that Jesus gave to his followers (King James Bible - Matthew 22.37 and 39):

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and,

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”.

There are not many clearer directions that this, are there? So why don’t Christians churches follow them?

Remember Jesus also said (King James Bible, Matthew 6.21):

"For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also".