Reflections on the Enigma of Religion In Light of Recent Assaults to Its Name
From A Revered Force to a Suspicious Doctrine
“It’s not easy being labeled religious these days,” a friend confessed to me a few days ago.
The so-called ‘religious’ people, who have recently committed some of humanity’s most horrific crimes, have cast a dark shadow on religion. It seems as if these demonic perpetrators of evil – from Levi Aron, the murderer of a nine year old child from Boro Park, to Asher Dahan, the slayer of Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzera in Israel, to the Norwegian assassin, a self-declared religious Christian who took 76 innocent lives – have diminished the magnetizing and revered force of religion to a suspicious doctrine whose purpose now seems undefined; worse, unknown and capable of bringing about destruction and mayhem.
My friend may be right, but I beg to ask: what is religion? What is the definition of a“religious person”? What was he referring to? Can religion and evil really co-exist?
The Definition Struggle
The universal definitions of religion are wide-ranging. Some define religion as a set of beliefs, while others define it as an array of rituals. Some emphasize the truth of ideas, others – the illusion of thoughts.Generally, however, religion is regarded as “the relation of human beings to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine.”
Unfortunately, this model of religion may not always be positive. At times, the relationship one may have with the “holy or sacred, spiritual or divine” may even become dangerous. Historically, crimes committed in the name of religion have spewed immeasurable destruction in our world – from the Roman persecution of Christians, to the Spanish inquisition, to the Islamic jihad of today.
Moreover, if this is religion, what good does it serve? Why should one desire it? How can a good person subject himself to religious ideals that are shamefully abused by evildoers?
A New Definition
Perhaps, the enigma of religion stems from the misguided notion that the purpose of religion is to help us fight the bad in the world; Religion exists to fight racism, bigotry, sexism, fanaticism and all of the other bad features of the world. Subsequently, people who practice religion devote a large part of their lives to helping others, and bringing goodness to their surroundings. These noble aims are very much a part of the fabric of religious thought, but on some level they may miss the point and subvert the very goals they seek to achieve. Since, in the very quest to help others, it is possible to neglect the most vital frontier of all: the frontier of the inner self.
In the pursuit to better the world, many fail to better their own selves. In their desire to practice religion, they discount the true meaning of religion. For religion means fighting yourself, more than fighting others; improving yourself, more than improving others; gaining control over yourself, and your negative inclination, more than gaining control over the world. My dear mentor, world-renowned scholar – Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, once advised me, so poignantly: “Know that the greatest obstacle to me, Adin, is me. The greatest obstacle to you, Pinchas, is you. But once you learn to master yourself, you will not have any problem in mastering the entire world.”
Light Comes From Light, Good Comes From Good
It is important, even vital, to be conscious of outside threats. In our increasingly open world, we must know how to identify and fight, without compromise, the bad that relentlessly attempts to penetrate the sanctity of our inner circles. We must learn to decipher the various manifestations of bad, and conquer them with unwavering vigor. Being positively involved outside, in the world, is of high importance too. “Tikun Olam” projects and other forms of social-aid initiatives are essential to the peace and success of our society. But we ought to remember that positive change begins with the self. Just as light can only come from light, a good world can only come from a good person.
This is also why the word for ‘religious’ in Hebrew is “shomer (mitzvot)”, the “guardian (of good deeds).” Because the true meaning of religion is to constantly guard the good within from being contaminated by bad. A “guardian” knows that, “the beginning of wisdom is the inner fear of God,” and a “guardian” knows that his ‘inner fear of God’ must play a crucial role in every atom of his life. All others, may label themselves religious, but if their inner fear of God is lacking, they may be, at the worst, religiously irreligious.
The Return To The Private Self
The legendary Chassidic Master from the city of Kotzk in Poland, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgenstern (1787–1859), once professed to his disciples, that “when I was young, I desired to change the world. But I quickly realized that this was an impossible feat, so I decided to work on my city alone. This too became unachievable, so I focused solely on my family. But I now finally realize that the only person I can truly change is myself.”
With these staggering words, Rabbi Morgenstern was not abandoning his quest to change the world. After all, he never ceased to lead his thousands of followers with conviction and determination. Rather, he was merely suggesting that real change must begin from within.
It would behoove modern day man to return to the private self and internalize that which Judaism has forever emphasized to all; that self-improvement through genuine introspection and deeds of goodness and kindness, such as prayer and charity, is the only mean to creating a lasting difference in the world. And if the deeds originate from a refined and virtuous being, they will reverberate in the world infinitely more than actions originating from self-deception or hypocritical pretenders.
This is religion and this is its compelling call to you, and me, and our inner, private selves.
The Catholic Church in our country is so messed up that it cannot even stop its own followers from spewing fire and brimstone.
The internationally respected human rights and communications luminary Florangel Braid said that she was surprised at the language used by the Catholic group protesting the art work “Politeismo.” The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) conducted a forum last August 5 for the artists and the public to discuss the art exhibit. Flor, who is my good friend, is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the CCP, the venue for the exhibit “Kulo” which featured the controversial art work of Mideo Cruz.
“Malaswa! Hindi gawa ng Pilipino, Gawa ng demonyo, (Vulgar! Not the work of a Filipino. It’s the work of the devil)” raved one of them. “If you are a Catholic you can no longer think independently!” asserted another woman identified as a theologian with the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The same woman was quoted by media for ridiculously claiming that the exhibit was intentionally timed to occur at the height of discussions on the RH Bill. In a rally, the Church group and its followers branded artists and members of the CCP as “anti-Christ.” We thought this had ended with the Inquisition.
On August 4, the art work was vandalized and there was an attempt to set fire to the exhibit. A Manny Andrada, identified as an author/businessman, smugly boasted on TV News 5 that he was the culprit and that if he chanced to see the artist, Mideo Cruz, he would maul him and break the wooden phallus that Cruz had attached to the image of Jesus Christ on the artist’s mouth. How very Christian.
What gave him the confidence that he would go unpunished? Like the Overlords of the Inquisition, he probably thinks that it’s okay to vandalize in the name of Christ, that he will be cheered for it and that he knows he has the support of the same rabid group that mounted protests against the RH Bill and now the art work.
Instead of cooling down tempers, foreign and Filipino priests who were present during the forum reportedly stoked further animosity by interjecting comments and interrupting speakers from the artists’ side. How very Christian indeed. Last Friday, a group of priests performed a rare ritual of asking God to “forgive the sinners” — referring to those behind the exhibit. They invited media so it was obviously meant for show.
What’s happening to the leaders of the Catholic faith? We would expect the Catholic clergy to exude an aura of holiness, calm and peace. We’d expect them to vibrate a certain loving kindness, the kind of spiritual energy that does not judge but seeks to understand and establish harmony. We can see these virtues and traits in the Catholic Focolare Movement that lives the gospel of love and interfaith harmony but we rarely see this in the CBCP and its rabid right-wing followers.
Our Church hierarchy and its followers claim to represent the nation’s 80 percent Catholics — presumably based on baptism numbers, which does not mean practice. Naturally, they lure grandstanding politicos to support them and when the issue happens to resonate in media, it becomes a formula for lynching.
However, the myth of the Catholic influence stops there. Surveys have shown that the Catholic followers do not necessarily toe the Church line. The latest SWS survey on people’s opinion about the RH Bill and family planning reveals a whopping 82 percent favoring freedom of choice in selecting method of birth control.
No wonder the credibility of the Catholic Church hierarchy among its own flock had plummeted. There are Catholics today who nurture their faith by independently using their own spiritual discernment or have totally shifted to another faith and belief system.
While other Catholic countries, including Italy, have adapted to the times, the Philippines remains the only predominantly Catholic country in the world that does not allow divorce. When asked for a reaction, retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz beamed with pride, insinuating that the Philippines is the only country that stood on moral ground. That demonstrates the “I can’t be wrong” attitude of the Overlords of the Inquisition and that this Philippine Catholic Church doesn’t intend to change or adapt to the times.
There is no divorce in our country but the rich can always get a marriage annulment. It is not only hypocrisy; it is also anti-poor and oppressive. Sometimes, it’s hard not to wonder if all the duplicity and hypocrisy in our system is a result of the friar — conquistador tradition, reminiscent of Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere.
While our nation cries for justice for victims of crimes and abuses and while we all need to address the gnawing gaps in wealth and education, these “holy and venerable champion and defenders of our morals” have opted to harass the CCP board for allegedly betraying public trust and the artists for being what they consider anti-Christ.
We’re witnessing the terrifying emergence of a Catholic Taliban who threatens to destroy the very foundations of our Christian morality. Read about the Inquisition and ask yourself if our lives will improve with a revival of that dark chapter of Catholic Church history.
To the Rev. Eubilio Rodríguez, the trip's cost is “scandalous.”
MADRID — The Rev. Eubilio Rodríguez’s church is a prefabricated building in an area of this city hard hit by Spain’s economic crisis. In front of the altar are a few scraggly potted plants. Behind it, some plastic chairs.
How, he asks, can the Roman Catholic Church be getting ready for a lavish $72 million celebration in this city — some of it paid for with tax dollars — when Spain is in the midst of an austerity drive, the unemployment rate for young people is 40 percent and his parishioners are losing their homes to foreclosure every day?
“It is scandalous, the price,” he said. “It is shameful. It discredits the church.”
Father Rodríguez, 67, is among the 120 clergymen working among the poor here who have signed a lengthy petition deploring the pope’s visit this week on many grounds — from its cost to what they see as an inappropriate melding of church and state.
Madrid is girding itself for the arrival of perhaps one and a half million pilgrims. Its lampposts are gaily decorated with banners. Retiro Park has been decked out with 200 portable confessional booths. But bitter debates are raging over the festivities and the role of the church in Spanish politics.
The priests, along with dozens of left-leaning groups demanding a secular state and young people who occupied many of Spain’s main squares for months to protest the government’s handling of the economy, are planning at least one major protest march on Wednesday.
Pope Benedict XVI is coming here on Thursday to meet hundreds of thousands of young people celebrating a World Youth Day event in this capital. Some 450,000 have already registered, and three times as many are expected, organizers say. To accommodate their activities — which will include a daylong vigil at the airport, with temperatures likely to reach nearly 100 degrees, and an all-night procession with priceless works of religious art — some of Madrid’s main avenues will be closed to traffic for up to six days.
Government and church officials insist the cost to taxpayers will be minimal and the lift to local businesses substantial. Spain’s businesses community came up with $23 million to pay for various events and the pilgrims will pay $44 million themselves. Other donations should cover the rest, the officials say.
“The public administration helped us in only two ways,” said Fernando Giménez Barriocanal, the financial director of World Youth Day 2011. The pilgrims will be allowed to sleep in public buildings like schools. And businesses will be able to get tax deductions for their contributions, he said.
But critics are calling the claims ridiculous. Father Rodríguez and others who signed the 10-page petition say the costs are always fuzzy when the pope comes to town. They suspect that the cost of extra security, of collecting trash and of stress on health systems will add up to millions for taxpayers. For one thing, the pilgrims have been granted an 80 percent discount on public transportation, which some find particularly galling because subway fares just went up by 50 percent.
The priests are not alone in making such claims. “They still can’t tell us how much the pope’s visit cost two years ago,” said Esther López Barceló, youth coordinator for the small United Left party. Ms. López initiated a Twitter campaign this month against the pope’s visit. “Every time he comes here, the figures become opaque,” she said.
Spain is less solidly Catholic than it once was. A government survey released in July found that 71.7 percent of Spaniards declared themselves Catholics, compared with 82.1 percent in 2001. Of those, 13 percent attend Mass on Sundays, compared with 19 percent 10 years ago.
But the church is eager to keep a spiritual hold on this country, where people can still check a box diverting up to seven-tenths of a percent of their taxes to the church.
A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said at a briefing in Rome that the protests planned against Benedict’s visit were “not worrying or surprising,” particularly because “there are hundreds of thousands of young people who will be happy to welcome the pope.”
“It’s part of life in a democratic country,” he added.
Protest organizers said it was hard to estimate the turnout they might get because August is a time when many people are out of the city. But the protests organized by angry young people earlier this year surprised almost everyone, as tens of thousands of demonstrators, now called “indignados,” took over squares all around the country for several weeks.
Earlier this month, the police moved in on the Puerta del Sol, a square here, forcing the last indignados to leave in time for the pope’s visit. But some organizers believe that the operation, shown on evening television broadcasts for several days, could spur more young people to turn out.
Spain’s Interior Ministry declined to answer questions about the event. The Madrid City Council referred all questions about the visit to its civil protection agency, which said the visit posed logistical challenges the city has never had to deal with before.
“More than one million outsiders will be circulating in Madrid,” said Alfonso del Álamo, the director of the agency. “A major event like winning the World Cup is only 500,000. We’ve never seen anything like this.”
On Friday evening, rare works of 16th- and 17th-century art depicting the stations of the cross will be carried through the streets beginning at 8 p.m. Mr. del Álamo said that would mean that hundreds of thousands of pilgrims would be in the streets throughout the night.
His agency has trained 3,000 volunteers in first aid, radio communication, evacuation and panic control, he said. Still, he said, it will be in overdrive. Instead of the usual 4,000 shifts in a week, the agency’s workers will do 10,000 shifts. He said that he had not calculated the costs.
Not Ecu-Maniacal Evanjellybelly Protestant-in-name-only America, but tiny Roman Catholic Ireland appears ready to lead the world against the Antichrist Roman Catholic Cult of Idolatry and Sodomy. Will it be Ireland that will initiate the fulfillment of this prophecy, the Divine destruction of the Roman Catholic Church?:
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Rev 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
Rev 18:13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
Rev 18:14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
Rev 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! (Is this not Rome?)
Rev 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
Rev 18:19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
Rev 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
Rev 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
If you're a regular listener to Inquisition Update, or knowledgeable about Roman Catholic Church history, surely you must be convinced that Revelation 18 above speaks of none other than Vatican City.
While American courts protect the Sodomite priests of Rome, look what Roman Catholic Ireland is doing!
Tragically, none of any of this addresses the root cause of Sodomy/pedophilia. (priests only pick little boys because they can threaten them to remain silent)
Here is the cause of Sodomy as clearly described in the scriptures:
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Rom 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Only one conclusion can be drawn from the above passage. God has a Divine recompense for those who are so foolish as to reduce the uncorruptible God into a filthy man-made image or idol and then bow down and worship it. For those who do this, God likewise reduces them to filth; to dishonor their own bodies like they dishonor God's glorious body when they reduce Him to a filthy man-made thing. The punishment perfectly fits the crime. More than that, the punishment is a mirror image of the crime that warrants it. No wonder the health professionals of every discipline in the world are unable to diagnose or treat Sodomy. They simply don't read or believe the diagnosis given right here in God's Holy Word, in the very FIRST chapter of the book written to the ROMANS! And is it any wonder that the scourge of Sodomy/pedophilia is found so universally among the idolatrous priests of the Church of Idolatry, the Roman Catholic Church?
Here's the only way that Ireland or any other nation on the planet will ever rid itself of the scourge of priestly Sodomy:
Deu_7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves(obelisks?), and burn their graven images with fire.
Is this not what is described in Revelation 18 above? Compare Deuteronomy 7:5 from God's Holy Law and Revelation 18 and see for yourself that the Divine destruction of the Roman Church of Idolatry and Sodomy, as vividly described in Revelation 18, will be in perfect compliance with God's Holy Law as commanded in Deuteronomy 7:5. Its beginning to look like tiny Roman Catholic Ireland may lead the way while, at the same time, Protestant America is making her ecumenical bed with Rome.
Revelation chapter 17 is also entirely and vividly descriptive of the Divine judgement of the Roman Catholic Church.
Reflections on the Enigma of Religion In Light of Recent Assaults to Its Name
