Holidays And Religion
by Paul McGoldrick
As we approach the holiday season once again it is that time when many of us reflect on the past year -- the good and the not so good -- and wonder what the next year will bring. It is a time when the soldering irons are turned off, the long term testing cycle turned on and the forced visit to the malls.
But, as individuals, we are also affected by our country and the state of the world. Living where religion has become so wound up with politics -- despite what the founding fathers apparently intended (but why did they appoint a chaplain to Congress?) -- it is as if we have become the world's cleaners on crusades that can only make religious bickering throughout the world even worse. It has got to be highly arguable that America has become the root cause of terrorism and only the politics of the mid-term elections will see the present administration doing anything about putting fewer of our young (mostly impoverished) people at risk.
I was born in a place where sectarian behavior tore the nation apart, where the children were taught from birth to hate the other side -- those "kicking with the wrong foot." It is not something that can be readily changed when you guarantee another generation of hatred to follow. The sight of George Best's funeral this last week, drawing the complete nation of Northern Ireland together for a few days was incredibly uplifting. He lived a hard life but even his massive weaknesses were not enough to stop his incredible talents from being acknowledged. But that unity will not last through the New Year.
It's not my place to decry any specific religious belief (and I am not about to become one of those people waiting for the "rapture" to take place) but there is arguably little that is Christian about most Christians today. Two young Christian men killed a very intelligent young man with an axe some months ago (they are now serving life in prison) in McGoldrick Park -- of all places -- in Liverpool, England. They did so because he was black but was dating a young white woman. The ravings of someone like Pat Buchanan show no signs of Christian behavior and tolerance.
Being brought up in the Catholic Church and being pumped for so many years with the lies that are Rome I am proud of myself that I allowed my brain to think for itself. That doesn't mean that one cannot feel the spirituality and humility of the last pope; and I love Rome and the Vatican as a place, as a museum, as a living history.
On a trip a couple of years ago we stayed in a small hotel on the Cispian Hill. The principal church there is that of Santa Maria Maggiore which has some of the most amazing mosaics in Rome. It was not the first building on the site as it replaced, as was common, a pagan edifice. This church (St Mary the Great in literal translation) was built during the reign of St Sixtus (also spelled Xystus) III. (Up until that point in history only one pope was not declared a saint at his death.) Sixtus III was the forty-fourth pope and reigned from 432 CE to 440 CE. Before he was elevated as Pontiff he was, like many clerics in Rome, a busy correspondent with St Augustine of Hippo who died in 430 CE. Allegedly, and there have been many false accusations of literary fraud hurled against Sixtus III, he wrote in one letter, "What profit this fable has brought us."
Before he died Augustine did an odd thing. He decided that he wanted to go back to all the texts and letters he had written in his life and both edit and comment on them -- as if he had wanted to be the first to interpret and critique his own work, particularly where he has actually changed his viewpoint or opinion. The text was entitled Retractiones (Retractions) and was finished in 428 CE. Because of his death he was unable to do the same with his letters.
He made in Retractiones many interesting observations about the past and how the Church became what it did. In particular he pointed out that the ancients had christianity before Christ was born, that the story was rewritten for the new era.
There are similar arguments available to debunk the histories of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
No, that's not the stuff they teach you at Bible class; nor will they
ever. We need to get religion out of our government, our courts, our schools
and our media. It, of any variety, has no place in any of them. Nor does
it have any place in the business world. The holiday season is for all of
us, without exception; and our good will goes out to all, without exception.