Ignorance

As the political campaign stumbles along, I cannot be more dismayed by the outright absurdities mouthed by some people running for the highest office in the land. Yet equally dismaying is the willingness of large numbers of the voting public to accept whatever is said often enough and loudly enough. The failure of the media to challenge many of these things renders what was once a safeguard virtually useless. Worse, the media itself colludes actively with some candidates, amplifying the problem.

We may be sincere but that does not make us right. We may be conscientious but that does not make us smart. We may even think we are informed, but if the sources of our information are distorted, we are no better off.

So now you know

Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.

True, dat! But no hate!

Hate

Recently I have been reading more widely in Buddhist literature at the recommendation of several friends who know that, while interested in topics of spirituality in general, I am not a religious man. I believe in the value of many of the spiritual traditions, but I have no desire to join any organized religion or religious movement. This is not because, like Groucho Marx, I would not want to belong to any group that would accept me. Rather it is because I have yet to find such a group that does not claim to have access to the whole and complete truth while at the same time preaching at least some things that are patently untrue. Sorry if that offends you. Perhaps I should say, at least some things that appear to me, under my most careful scrutiny, to fail the evidential demands of the case. Maybe it is that undergraduate training in philosophy and that graduate training in law. Whatever.

One thing I like about the Buddhist literature I am reading is that it is much like what Jews and Christians call the wisdom literature. It tends to the practical and realistic rather than the theoretical and speculative. I find that, as with the wisdom literature of the Kethuvim, parts of what Christians call amusingly the Old Testament, the life lessons are often helpful even when the theological and cosmological background is not.

At the moment, I am reading the Dhammapada, a collection of sayings attributed to the Buddha. There I encountered this valuable note: 

Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us! 
Among men who hate us, let us dwell free from hatred! 
~ Dhammapada 197

As a gay man in America, as a progressive man in America, as a man from a Jewish background in America, I need to ponder this advice. To live happily. To not hate those who hate me. To live free from the hatred of others and free from my own inclinations to hate.

This is a life task in itself.

Listen before speaking

Recently a comment I posted on another blog caused the author of the blog some unhappiness. It was not my intention, but the fact is I spoke before I knew all the facts. This always gets me in trouble and despite my professional training, I slip up in ordinary interactions with people.

I will try to do better.

Churches and gay marriage

The Episcopal Church on Tuesday voted to allow religious weddings for gay couples, joining the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Church of Christ in allowing same-sex marriages in all their congregations.

The decision by the House of Deputies – which includes lay people and clergy – came at the Episcopalian General Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, when delegates voted overwhelmingly in favor of amending canon law so that instead of marriage being defined as between "a man and a woman" or "husband and wife", it is now gender-neutral and between “these persons” or “the couple”.

The resolutions, which will take effect after November 1, follow last Friday’s US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling to legalize same-sex marriages across the country.

NB: The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and the United Church of Christ already allow same-sex marriages in all their congregations. This means that they not only recognize civil marriage for same-sex couples but that they hold that those marriages can have religious sanction for those who desire it.

Don't hold your breath for all the ecclesiastical dominoes to start tumbling, but I imagine this is a sign of the future, one that will eventually render the religious exemption movement useless except in the usual pockets of resistance in the Deep South and such places.