OMG!

From a Radio Four religious affairs programme about women in the priesthood* -

Interviewer: Have you always had the ambition to join the church and become a priest?

Young woman: Oh no, I'm very keen on horses and I like tennis very much. And I'm very keen on travel and heuristics. And then one day God touched my button."

a contemporary priestess

I don't know what your immediate reaction might have been to the young woman's response to the interviewer. Mine was: Heuristics? Really? As if! 😄

I should probably state here that I don't believe any of the thousands of gods revered by different civilisations down the ages, nor any of the great or lesser religions or cults past and present, to be anything other than man-made constructs created to help us make sense of who, how, where and why we are, in the hopes of trying to variously explain, influence and placate the myriad of forces outside of our control in our evolutionary struggle to survive and thrive as a species. 

By the way, that's not to say those man-made constructs of deities, belief systems and moral codes are to be denigrated. Many are complex and impressive creations. They have all served a purpose in our past, and still today are capable of providing direction and solace - but they are largely myth, folklore and philosophising, aren't they?

Check out Wikipedia for a list of the hundreds of religions that exist or have existed beyond the 'big four' of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam: List_of_religions. It is many pages long and is a real eye-opener: Then for each religion there are numerous sects or sub-divisions.  And the majority are polytheistic, so that means literally tons of gods and goddesses (except of course they are weightless).  We are most familiar with the concept of monotheism - a single god - from the tradition of  Judaism through Christianity to Islam - but the Ancient Greeks had 12 major deities in their Olympian pantheon (as well as a host of minor ones) and Hinduism has 33 supreme divinities, though interestingly it allows for adherents to be monotheistic rather than polytheistic, or pantheistic and even atheistic if they so choose - now that's what I call a broad church, David Tennant!

My father was an intelligent man with a degree in engineering. He worked in the aircraft industry in the immediate post-WWII period until God not so much touched his button as pulled his lever. He went back to university to take a theology degree and then became a missionary in Africa (where I was born) and later a Methodist minister in the UK. Although I grew up immersed in religion, my parents believed that dedicating oneself to God should be an individual's choice. So they never had me baptised, preferring to wait until I was old enough to make that commitment for myself, which is something I never did. I couldn't find it in myself to believe, as a rational being. To this day I am a heathen and would rather worship the sun, if anything, than some imaginary construct.

the Sun, without which etc...(stolen from Facebook)

Not that I would seek to deny anybody the solace of their faith if its tenets speak a truth to them. I'll readily concede that religions have done a power of good when imparting moral codes, in externalising a sense of conscience, in nurturing spiritual growth, a feeling of belonging, of respect and compassion for all members of the collective. But the other side of the holy coin is all the bad shit that has gone down, the religious wars, inquisitions, punishment of heretics, "my God is better than your God" scenarios, power trips and oppression (religion as the "opium of the people" in Marxist theory). 

I return to my original contention that all of it, Gods, religions, their codes and customs are man-made constructs born of our deep-seated psychological need to find accommodation and purpose in existence. As the French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) so ingeniously phrased it: "Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer - If God didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him". Voila! That's exactly what we've done.

And how have we done it? In the only way we could, as a reflection of ourselves, with all the good, the bad and the ugly. Just look at the Greek pantheon, a dysfunctional family directing man's fate, or the 33 divinities of Hinduism, or the good and bad angels of the Old Testament - all various manifestations of humanity raised to archetypes. The Bible states (Genesis 1:27) "So God created man in His own image". But in reality, hasn't it been the other way around? And don't we touch our own buttons and pull our own levers? I, for one, think so.

I wasn't going to write a poem for this week's blog. It feels like too vast and intimidating a topic and it's not as if I could write anything with religious conviction. But then I thought that's a bit of a cop out. So here is my latest effort. It's by no means top drawer, more like third one down, but I hope it's better than no poem at all. 

Nailed On

There was that carpenter once, a very smart lad from an-Nāṣira

began turning the tables once he'd found his tongue, espousing

the Essene creed, spoke truth to power - both Roman and Jew -

until they hoist the troublemaker high on a wooden cross to die.

Some claim he did, others state he resurrected just like Lazarus

and they began raising him to the power of myth almost before

his body had grown stiff in its tomb. Everybody wanted a piece 

of him then, not least those followers who stole his corpse away.

When he lived, they flocked in multitudes to listen to his words,

some say five thousand (police estimates were much lower) but

nowadays he's got two point seven billion adherents worldwide.

He's an influencer. Scholars might be busily Dead Sea Scrolling 

to determine the roots of the religion that has taken on his name

and science has fair scuppered all that life-after-death in heaven

stuff  - but isn't it enough to take what this man supposedly said,

e.g. in the Sermon on the Mount, in the same spirit that we read

the wise words of any ancient philosopher without the trappings

of religious mumbo jumbo? His precepts were sound, nailed on.

Do as you would be done by. Be honest, be peaceable, be loving, 

be caring, be kind.- on earth for there is no heaven and this is all.

* As recounted in Laurie Lee's memoir 'Down In The Valley'

Thanks for reading, S ;-)

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God

There is zero chance of me getting into an argument about which God is the true one nowadays. So, I’m going to have a look at two references to God. One new and one old. Let’s start with the old.

Human beings have been around for hundreds of thousands of years and we know that some form of religion was practised then, mainly from images, symbols and art. However, in around 4000 – 3000 BCE the area in what is now southern Iraq was developing the first city states and was known as Sumeria and that is where evidence of the first words written has been found, providing us archaeological evidence today of the gods they worshipped.

Of all the Sumerian deities who are attested in these very early tablets the one who is most certainly attested is Inanna. Let Rosie Lesso describe her:

Ishtar holds a special historical significance, as she is the first known deity for which we have written evidence. Early Mesopotamians (my heroes) called her Inanna, as seen in the now extinct language of cuneiform writing, the primary form of communication in the Ancient Near East.

Ishtar was the very first goddess of love. Mesopotamians described her in her many myths and poems as young and strikingly beautiful, with piercing, penetrating eyes....the ultimate power dresser, who applies make-up, jewellery and the most expensive clothing to enhance her appearance.

At the other end of the spectrum, Mesopotamians also associated Ishtar with the destructive actions of war....When preparing for battle, rulers and kings would call upon Ishtar, asking her to inflict suffering upon their enemies. Ishtar was also able to harness thunderstorms and unleash them on her victims, destroying crops and harvests. Her links with war tied Ishtar with the dishing out of justice, particularly punishment for those found guilty of crime.

Now for the new. I realise that most people are very familiar with the Higgs Boson but for the few who are not then here is an introduction.

The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field which is a scalar field with two neutral and two electrically charged components that form a complex doublet of the weak isospin SU(2) symmetry. Its "Mexican hat-shaped" potential leads it to take a nonzero value everywhere (including otherwise empty space), which breaks the weak isospin symmetry of the electroweak interaction and, via the Higgs mechanism, gives a rest mass to all massive elementary particles of the Standard Model, including the Higgs boson itself.

I’m sure that I don’t need to go on with any further explanation except to add that both the field and the boson are named after physicist Peter Higgs, who in 1964, along with five other scientists in three teams, proposed the Higgs mechanism, a way for some particles to acquire mass. Physicists from two of the three teams, Peter Higgs and François Englert, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013.

The Higgs boson is called the "God Particle" although the nickname has been criticised by many physicists (and clergy). It was named after the book by the physicist Leon Lederman: The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question? Published in 1993.

I realise that I’m going to have to go back to the first paragraph and actually make a comment. It seems to me that back at the dawn of written history deities could be male or female and in Hinduism and some other religions nowadays that is still the case. But in Western culture God is a male entity. The reason for that would have to be another blog.

Which leads me on to this poem:

Credo

I believe in God
Creator of heaven and earth,
In Zeus, King of the Gods, sky and air,
Son of Cronus, born of Rhea.
I believe in Jupiter
King of the Gods, sky and storm.
In Ra, the sun God.
In Toci, Goddess of Earth.
Rhiannon, Goddess of Moon.
I believe in Odin, King of the Gods
Son of Bestia and Borr.
I believe in the Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In Brahma, the Supreme Deity.
In Allah, the one God.
I believe I am that I am.
In Nonak and Gurus.
I believe in Joseph Smith and angels,
In mediums and spirits.
I and I believe in God incarnate,
In Merlin and magic spells,
In faeries and magic glades.
I believe in Heaven’s Gate,
In the Solar Temple.
I believe in Dan Brown,
The communion of myths,
The force of mystery,
The power of words
The question of being
And the amen of knowledge.
The amen of knowledge.

First Published in ‘Acumen’ in May 2007

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.

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God - Keeping My Faith

 

I believe in God. I don’t know what God looks like and I wouldn’t know where to start to guess. God’s appearance is not important, it’s the sense of being I reach out to and, for me, God is a presence to be aware of rather than something visible.  I have what my husband would call ‘blind faith’. I get what he means, but to me my Christian faith is not blind.  Each to their own and we respect our opposite views. We trust each other to follow our funeral wishes, but hopefully they won’t be needed for a while yet.

Before school broke up for the Christmas break, I was in the infant’s library with a small group of children. I was asked if there was a book about Egypt and luckily I found something considered ‘perfect’. Bright and polite, the boy went on to explain to me that his family were from Egypt and don’t celebrate Christmas, so they were going there for the holidays to visit family and show off the new baby. He wanted to learn about the country before he went. I was pleased to help. I learnt a lot about his culture that afternoon. It was nice to catch up with him in the new term. His family visit had been very good and he’d been much warmer than we were.

It’s not unusual for my six year old grandson to have us in fits of laughter. He has a natural wit about him, inherited from his mum. One family tea time he commanded attention with, “Listen everybody, if I was the Son of God...” he proceeded to list the things he’d do to make a perfect world with lots of football and Roblox involved.  I wanted to know where this had come from so I asked him who the Son of God is. Confusion or Marvel characters had taken over as his answer was something about a man who lives in our heads and eats our brains.  

I’ve turned to God for help and guidance throughout my life. Growing up without my mother, who died young, was hard. Difficulties were magnified by my father’s swift remarriage which resulted in me trying to fit in but left feeling abandoned and not welcome in the new family. It was a long time before I found any hope and I never got any answers, but I got through it.

‘Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret’ is a book by Judy Blume. It’s a wonderful read for girls growing up, having anxieties about every aspect of puberty and not feeling confident about asking. I believe it’s a film now. I’ll look out for it. I had grown out of that stage of life by the time I read it, but I could relate to most of it and hoped it was useful to my daughter when she built an invisible wall to keep me out.

Life throws hurdles into the mix, or maybe just mine, and some higher to clear than others, but again, I never gave up and any obstacles haven’t been impossible to conquer, so far. Sometimes I’ve been my own worst enemy. I’ve broken more than one of the Ten Commandments, some more than once. I’ve tried to disregard God, only to realise that I can’t get by without my faith. For this and for past misdemeanours I have been aware of forgiveness.

This year has already brought challenges. I’m shuffling about as I write this, easing off one physical pain for another and trying to keep mental stresses in proportion. Someone once said, “When things look like they’re falling apart, it might be that they’re falling into place” or something like that.

Having a faith and believing in God is who I am. I don’t carry a banner, I don’t evangelise, I just do my best for everyone and in everything I do. I live and let live, accepting people for who and what they are, hoping they offer me the same.

The words of Desiderata mean a lot to me.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann. 

Thanks for reading, Pam x

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Bible Stories with a generous helping of Easter

This week’s theme is “The Bible.” Now I am pretty certain there will be lots of argument regarding what is considered to either be the truth or fabrication. Whether stories should be seen as figurative or literal testimony.

I have my own views on the book, and before anyone wishes to cast doubt on my opinions, I have read it a number of times, as well as many supplement texts for various projects I have worked on over the years.

It is important to remember that there are two Bibles. One which deals with events that surround a life book ended by the birth and death of Jesus. The other regarding tales of the world before the son of a carpenter walk this green and pleasant land.

It is the New Testament that I find myself interested in here on this blog. In particular the death and resurrection of the Nazarene. The birth of Jesus is set in stone as the 25th of December, Christmas. His death and rise on the other hand float around.

Easter is defined as the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after March 21. Which relates back to what is referred to as Pagan times.

There is a somewhat complex formula that can be used to calculate the Easter Sunday of any given year. So if you need to know when the first bank holiday will be after New Years Day in 2018, this piece of mathematics can tell you.

The easiest way to calculate all Easter Sundays is to use an Easter calculator like this one:

http://www.pauahtun.org/cgi-bin/easter.py

I have tested it and it seems to work very well. I conduced these experiments by using the years of Easters gone and checking the results against said calendar. This got me thinking.

Could I find out the date of the very first Easter Sunday? Could I determine the actual date Jesus arose from death and ascended to heaven?

A quick look on the internet, and a trawl through my own memory tells me that Christ was 33 when he succumbed to human mortality on the cross of the Romans. So, if you work on the basis that 0 (zero) AD is the year of birth then by this we can assume that 33AD would be the first Easter.

So by entering the year 33AD into the Easter Calculator we can find out the exact day of the first Easter Sunday according to the Gregorian calendar. This is important because the version of the Bible most recognised regions use is the King James Bible. The first popular English translation which was published in 1611. The Gregorian calendar is a reform of the Julian calendar. In 1582 it was seen as important to change the calendar to bring into line the celebration of Easter so that it was compliant with the time of year agreed upon by the Council of Nicaea in 325AD.

The outcome of typing in 33AD in to the Easter Calculator is the 3rd of April. Interesting, because if the first Easter Sunday, the day of the resurrection is the 3rd then that means the first Good Friday, the day of the actual Crucifixion would be the 1st of April, the day of fools.

Make of this what you will.

The Bible
Book the first
And God is vengeful
Feel his Wrath
Watch the shebear do his bidding
Bald old priest
Man of cloth used the Lords name so hateful

Jehovah the gambler
Bet the life of Jobe
Just to prove he won’t denounce you
To your first favourite
Who fell from grace
And no longer wished to live to your code

Father the deceiver
That denied the truth naked
Of your own creation
Until the woman, hungry for knowledge
Ate the apple
And opened their eyes so belated

Book the Second
And God in Loving
Forgiving those who hath sinned
Because of the word of his son
The carpenters apprentice speaks
And the almighty, now dad, becomes caring

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