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I refer of course to the pharisees, the religious leaders of the religious institution of the day.
According to the narratives, Jesus came on to the scene that put him at total odds with the religious establishment - it is essentially why he was killed, for advocating a perosnal piety of indivdual heart and life before God that did not look to the establishment for guidance and dimished the power of the instituion. So they killed him.
The paralells to today are clear, in my opinion.
I do believe that the heart of spiritual life should be about the restoration of right relationships - we are not the full human we can be when we are not at peace with ourselves, truly "related" to ourselves in a healthy and non-destructive way. We are not fully human we can be when we do not exist in healthy nurturing, compasisionate loving relationships with those around us, something which is only possible out of the overflow of a heart governed by compassion and empathy above all else. And I believe we are not the fullest human beings we can be when we do not understand our relationship to the divine as well, and it is through that openness to others, and openness to god that we perfect our own peace and internal joy, and are empowered and equipped to enter into the world in healthy, positive, just and beneficial ways.
I believe when we reject these kinds of relationships, we are less than what we could be, and I believe the world essentially suffers from human beings with "failure to thrive" - corrupted and twisted inwardly into self-serving creatures without empathy and without understanding - alienated from themselves, from those around them and from anything higher than themselves. I believe this is what is destroying the world.
Because I believe that, I do not believe that the further marginalization of religion is the best for society, I actually agree in theory that religion is necessary to democracy, to peace, to justice and to the good human life. I have as much idignation and criticism of the institions of religion today, that like our own government are so often totally corrputed by power mongering and compassionless self-interest. But I believe that a personal spiritual inwardness and an understnading of diving mystery, love, beauty truth and personal interaction are essential to the good life, and the better world. But here's the things that separate me from these wackos:
a) I respect the right of others to disagree, and enjoy hearing other points of view - I know most of you don't agree with this point of view and I'm fine with it. If you're not happy and at peace in your life, maybe its worth considering these thigns. If you are, great! Because that's really all I would want for you. b) I know clearly that an inward religious piety is not something you can force on others - it cannot be legislated, mandated or dictated and to try and do so is to ultimately betray the very beauty of the spiritual c) I belief that religious understanding is related to human fullness cannot be mistaken with moralism - its not about keeping a score care of what you "do" and "don't do." It's about healthy relationships and a noble desires steming from a good heart. It's not about performance nad dogman. It's about relationship and desire. d) The specifics of a persons spiritual experience must be worked out personally and privately, and no one religious tradtiion has a monopoly on truth - therefore the state must honor the freedom of every citizen to work out his/her own path by firmly refusing to endorse, estbalish or take sides with one religious tradtiion over another.
In other words, I do believe spirituality is an essential part of human fullness and that no possibility of a better world exists apart from a change of human heart away from obsessions with greed, power and domaniance and towards compassion, empathy and mutally affirming relationships - this only happens through spiritual awakenings in indvidual heart and minds. But it can't be forced. You can't legislate it. You can't tell others what to think or feel, nor create a society in which government endorses one view over another. Though I wish that more of our public servants had genuine and true compassionate, reasonable relationship-oriented religious faith. I think our nation and the world would be fifty times better than it is now if this were the case. But I also know, there is not way you can force something like this to be. And that is my fundamental objection to all the right wing Christian folks who want to do precisely that.
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