Musing on faith

I love arcane rituals. But performing a ritual is not the same as having faith.

is like taking the gods into your own hands. It is the thing that matters most. All the rest is just wishful thinking.

I remember questioning my parents at a very early age about things they believed without question. My first question was why wasn't Christmas on January 1st if Christ's birth was the beginning of a new age. (New Age = their words) Boy, I would love to have a faith conversation with all of you, I still have many questions.

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.

Progressive Discussions

and I'd be a fool to think it was over.

I was born into a Presbyterian household. My parents were very involved in the church, which was very "mainstream", and was actually a good place for me to be. My parents always encouraged questions - which explains a lot about my personality.

In high school, I got involved in Campus Life. I can't find a link to them now, but they are/were the same and Young Life, and I was ripe for it - really looking for something to believe in, and they handed it to me. I did have spiritual experiences (no speaking in tongues or anything), and they were real. But as time went on, the strict doctrine and lack of tolerance drove me away.

I am an avid reader, and by some miracle or act of grace in the universe, I wound up managing bookstores from 1983 to 1998. Trust me - that
alone is enough to make me believe that there is some benevolence in the universe. I had at my fingertips all of the works of religion, spirituality, philosophy, and ethics that I cared to read, and care to I did.

C.Diane, I too was drawn to neopaganism and wicca because of what I thought was a unique view of the divine as being feminine as well as masculine. After growing up hearing all about Father God, that was a real comfort for me, especially because I was in the middle of leaving an abusive marriage and was not especially trusting of any one, deity or not, who had a penis. Of course, I know now that there are many religions that claim female deities.

I really can't put a name on my beliefs at this point. I tend to agree with Chartreuse Dog - the Divine is Spirit (I hate to go there, but geek that I am will have to go with The Force ala Star Wars.)

This will sound way earthmother crunchy - but to me there is nothing more sacred than the earth we walk on and the other beings (animals, plants, people) we share it with. The easiest way to put my thoughts on this into language is to say that my hands are "god's" hands, and when I reach out to help with those hands, I am helping "god". (OK, that really did sound crunchy - pass the granola.)

Christians say - That which you did for these, the least of these my brothers, you also did for me. I see similar threads run through all religions that I know of, although I'm not familiar enough with other religions to quote or paraphrase any maxims or verses.

As to whether there's any thing or any One out there - I think there is. But I don't think it matters whether you believe it or not. I think what you do matters, who you are matters, and that you have to walk your journey.

Anyway - just my .05 (adjusted for verboseness and inflation.)

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi

Thank you, C. Diane for getting the conversation going. Thank you everyone for posting from your hearts. I recognize so much of my own beliefs in your words. I too am convinced that our journey is much much more important than where we are or where we get to.

My first formal religious education came under the tutelage of Fr. Haines at St. Francis Episcopal Church, Rutherfordton, NC.

(Bps. Ronald Haines and Jane Holmes Dixon of the Diocese of Washington after being consecrated the second female bishop in the Episcopal Church, from www.episcopalchurch.org)

I am so thankful for that blessing. Confirmation class was about religion, but in Sunday school and from the pulpit Fr. Haines taught the same things I had read in the little red-letter Bible my grandmother had sent me. He talked about Jesus, charity, humility, mercy, justice, tolerance, grace, forgiveness, good works and care. Though our services were very much high-church (robes, incense, kneeling, standing, chanted Liturgy, weekly Communion) he pretty much left the dogma out of the teaching. I loved going to church.

Later my path ribboned through several levels of independent evangelical fundamentalist churches. The first was very benign. But by the time I got to college, I had seen way too much of cold dogmatic hypocritical absolutism and it turned me away. The grace and humility and goodness of the Jesus I had learned about as a child was gone from those Churches. They had become so caught up in themselves -- practicing their 'gifts' and 'praising God' and being 'righteous' and being 'in the world but not of it' -- that they seemed to totally forget the simple message of the Gospels. I saw little point in church after that until I had kids of my own. We went when we lived in Raleigh. But I couldn't find a church around here where the kids wouldn't be taught intolerant fundamentalist dogmatic b.s. in sunday school. Frankly, I'd rather they were taught nothing than that.

Fr. Haines eventually became a Bishop in DC. He's retired now and works with a congregation somewhere in Pennsylvania. If anyone knows him, tell him that a quiet kid from St. Francis in Rutherfordton says, "Hello." And "Thank you."