Religious Studies Does Not Equate to Being a Minister/Priest/Pastor

A friend of my mother's asked me today if I was still majoring in Religious Studies. I said I was and she asked me if I planned to teach it when I got my degree. I said I might, but that there were other options I wanted to explore, as well. She proceeded to tell me about several members of her family who were ministers of some sort or had been to some sort of Divinity school. While she didn't come right out and say it, the implication was that she thought I might be interested in that, too.

Uhm, no.

In fact, I often tell people that my major is History because many people make the assumption that I want to lead a church when they hear Religious Studies. While I admire those who have that calling, I most certainly do not. In fact, I think I would make a rather poor preacher. I do have very strong personal beliefs, but they are just that. Personal. I don't even really share most of my beliefs with those closest to me.

My interest is in studying religion itself and how it works and what people do in its name. I find it fascinating. History is close enough to that so I don't quite feel like I'm quite lying (history of religion?) even if I do feel a bit guilty when I say that. I'm just trying to save them some confusion when I have to attempt to explain that my major is secular.

Faith vs. Science

Dreher writes about the problems with having blind faith in science.

We should be responsibly skeptical of authority -- not only religious authority, but scientific authority. We live in an age of Scientism, in which many people invest science with the power of ideology. Wendell Berry calls this "modern superstition," because people have given science the powers they used to give to religion. Berry wrote a fantastic book defending the integrity and value of art and religion as ways of knowing, against the idea that Science should be the undisputed master of all. He doesn't oppose science, but he thinks that all three ways of knowing -- art, science, religion -- must be understood as limited. The trouble comes when any one is elevated as supreme above all others, and their spheres.

I agree 100% that we should be skeptical of authority of all types. I don't think there is ever anything wrong with asking questions, with not accepting anything blindly. We have brains for a reason (to reason...hahaha...nevermind). No one who espouses any sort of thought about something should be upset with someone else asking them, "Why do you think that?"

However, I'm not sure it's accurate to say we live in an age of Scientism. More accurately we do live in such an age, but it's only different from every other period in human history in terms of what we have blind faith in. Having a skeptical, questioning nature is hard. In fact, it seems to go against human nature. We are wired to accept certain things and we don't want to think that our belief (in religion, in science, in whatever) could be wrong. That's scary. So, we blindly accept a premise, however we've come to it, and then cling to it with a fearful fury. Certainty is much more comfortable than its opposite.

In my mind, school is where we should learn to get away from this. School should be less about facts and more about thinking, reasoning, questioning. I would much rather have a kid graduate knowing the bare minimum of facts about say, the American Revolution, but with a strong ability to critically examine the entirety of it, its pros and cons, its consequences, and what it meant. The ability to think critically is a much more useful skill than rote memorization of facts.

One last thought on skepticism. Being critical of everything does not mean not believing in anything. It means being able to explain why you believe something, not just what you believe.

America's Rules

Glenn Greenwald kindly sums up the way things work here in America.

* If you torture people or eavesdrop on Americans without the warrants required by the criminal law, you receive Look-Forward Imperial Immunity.

* If you shoot and kill unarmed rescuers of the wounded while occupying their country and severely wound their unarmed children sitting in a van -- or if you authorize that conduct -- your actions are commended.

* If you help wreck the world economy with fraud and cause hundreds of millions of people untold suffering, you collect tens of millions of dollars in bonuses.

* If you disclose to the world evidence of war crimes, government lawbreaking, or serious corruption, or otherwise embarrass the U.S., you will be swiftly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and face decades in prison.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry reading that, but either way, it's patently absurd. We are living in America, right? Right?

Touching is Important

Here is a fascinating article from Discovery on how what we touch affects our judgment.

First off, in two experiments reminiscent of another study I’ve written about, Ackerman showed that holding a light or heavy clipboard can affect a person’s decision-making. In a study of 54 volunteers, those who clutched the heavier board rated a job candidate more highly based on their resume, and thought that they displayed a more serious interest in the job. They even rated their own assessments as being more important! However, the boards didn’t affect the recruits’ judgments on areas unrelated to importance, such as the candidate’s ability to get along with others.

In a second test with 43 volunteers, those who held the heavier boards were more likely to call for government funds to be spent on serious social matters like setting air pollution standards, over more trivial affairs like public toilet regulations. Again, the mere feeling of weight appears to influence the importance we give to matters.
...
Ackerman also looked at the influence of an object’s hardness. He asked 49 volunteers to touch either a hard block of word or a soft blanket, under the pretence of examining objects to be used in a magic act. Afterwards, when they read an interaction between a boss and an employee, those who felt the wood thought the employee was stricter and more rigid than those who touched the blanket (but no less positive). It doesn’t have to be the hands that do the touching either – when he repeated the same task with 86 volunteers who sat in either a hard, wooden chair or a soft, cushioned one, he found the same results. “We primed participants by the seat of their pants,” he writes.

The chair experiment also gave Ackerman the opportunity to test the effect of hardness on decision-making. He asked his recruits to place two offers on a $16,500 car, the second following a straight refusal of the first by the dealer. While the volunteers offered the same average amount at first, those who sat on the softer seats offered far more on their second go than on their first. That’s consistent with the idea that hardness has connotations of rigidity and stability. People who feel hard sensations are less likely to shift in their decisions. Harder chairs made for harder hearts.

This is really neat stuff and I can see companies and marketers using this to influence in all sorts of ways we won't realize.

Interestingly, just a few days before I read this I was thinking about the growing prevalence of hands-free devices. I began wondering how that would impact our understanding of and feeling toward these technologies. There is something about touching an object that helps us connect with it. Think about your car, the feel of the wheel in your hands, the gas pedal as you press it down, the gentle rumble (or not depending) of it as you drive it. This makes the car come alive in a way making it more than just a metal husk taking you from A to B.

I also wonder where this will lead. If we become more and more reliant on hands-free devices, how will that affect our relationships with other people? Will we value more the physical contact we make with loved ones (hugs, handshakes, and more) or will we place less emphasis on these as we become used to interacting with things without actually touching them? I don't know, but is something to think about while I physically press the keys on my laptop to type this.

Happy Fourth of July!

Montana Republican Party Fail

The Montana GOP just released their 2010 platform. It contains this doozy of a line.

We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal.

Aside from the fact that their is no way to "keep" homosexual acts illegal in Montana since they were decriminalized in 1997, I am baffled by conservative action against consenting adults. Aren't Republicans constantly railing against government intruding where it shouldn't? Don't they want smaller government? How does that square with outlawing homosexual acts?

Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it should be outlawed. I don't like, burqas, toe jam, or bad rom-coms. I also don't think they should be illegal. Conservatism is supposed to be about dealing with the world as it is, not how you want it to be. Gays are here, they want relationships, and it doesn't hurt anyone. Someday these people will have to accept that.

HT:From Here to Eternity

Super Mario Crossover

Some clever soul recreated the original Super Mario Brothers video game as a flash game. The kick is that you can play through as other classic 8-bit characters such as Link, Simon Belmont, and Mega Man. It's so awesome, I can't believe no one else has done it before. Check it out here. Fair warning, though: don't click through if you have other things to do because this will consume a few hours at least.

Bonobos Are Clearly In League With Satan

Vanessa Woods at Psychology Today wrote an article on bonobos and how she believes their pacifist ways are the key to "[saving] the world." One of her readers, a pastor, took issue with the piece, however, because bonobos are quite promiscuous and not just heterosexually, either, but...homosexually so.

When I read your article about bonobos, I of course, thought of [my son]. He would love them. But, I had to ask the question, "Am I comfortable with him learning about bonobos and their behaviors?" It's a good question for me to ask myself. If I'm honest, I would say my first reaction was to shield him from these animals because of their behavior. This wouldn't be uncharacteristic for us, since there are lots of animal behaviors that are difficult for a four-year old to understand (i.e. mating, violence, etc...). However, what's different about this particular behavior is that in an orthodox biblical position, homosexuality is a sin... but animals don't sin. We don't typically place animals in a moral category. In other words, they don't do righteous acts or unrighteous acts. So...what am I to make of these animals that engage in homosexual activity?

It seems to me that this behavior reveals a sense of brokenness in the natural world. Paul spoke of the unnaturalness of homosexuality, "men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men..."(Rom. 1:27). So, what he says is unnatural, now looks to be natural! But, just as natural disasters aren't normative, neither is homosexual activity within animals. The creation itself is marred with the effects of sin (i.e. death).

You can read the entirety over there, but this is the meat of it. It's nice that this guy didn't condemn the bonobos to the depths of hell, but his email still leads to some troubling conclusions. He says that the bonobos can't really sin because they are animals, but that their homosexual acts are indicative of a broken world. But, why would God allow an animal to be acting in a "wrong" manner because of what a couple of humans did? Yes, I know one can easily ask why we are paying the price for the mistakes of Adam and Eve, but I feel one can make a more likely logical argument for that than for the punishment of animals. And while bonobos are quite close to us genetically and very smart, they don't have the intelligence and reasoning capability of a human.

All of which is to say that I have a hard time ascribing the actions of an animal to human sin.

Everyone Should Have a Pet Like This

Well, everyone cool anyway.

AT-AT day afternoon from Patrick Boivin on Vimeo.

From the Ashes

I'm back.

I apologize for not giving any notice of my prolonged absence. Honestly, I didn't expect it to last this long. Regular readers of the blog know that I have been in a custody battle with my ex-wife. I had reason to believe that she may have been online looking for info to use against me. In order to protect myself, I locked down my blog, my Facebook account, my Twitter page, and so on. I just could not take the chance that she (or her lawyer) would find something I had written and use it against me in someway. As much as I love writing, getting my girls was more important.

Last week, though, over two years after I began this journey, my ex-wife finally signed the parenting plan and I have full custody of my daughters. I can hardly describe the exhilaration, the relief, the unbridled joy I feel now that this is over. My work with them and for them is, of course, not done. But for all of the moments I wonder "what the hell have I gotten myself into?" I have two more where I find I love being a parent and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Okay, enough of the sap, eh? What this means for you, lucky reader, is that the Captain is back to blogging. I'm sure my absence only made your heart grow fonder of my and my presence will now only strengthen it as some famous English dude said (or something). Stay tuned for deep thoughts, not so deep thoughts, sarcasm (always), and the usual blatherings from the deepest, most cobweb-riddled recesses of my mind. Perhaps I'll make you think or perhaps I'll get your blood boiling or perhaps I'll just make you say, "Uh, WTF?" Whatever it is, I hope it's interesting and you'll leave the occasional comment.

Freddie Mercury

A moment of silence for one of the greatest vocalists of all time, the one and only Freddie Mercury. He passed away eighteen years ago today.



I'll link to a vid later when I'm at home and not behind a firewall that blocks YouTube.

UPDATE: Here we go.







I get chills listening to him.

Obama on Facebook

Slate has been doing a great series where they have a faux-Facebook page for the President. It's all done for humor, of course, and the star of the show is Joe Biden. The current update has Biden volunteering to do mammograms for women that need them.

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

Not knowing what happened thirteen years ago makes it hard to make any sort of judgment here, but I do know that there is a lot of pain here and there probably is on the other side as well. Now is as good a time as any to begin work to patch up any family rifts for anyone out there. Don't let more time go by.

A Charter School to Watch

This is interesting. I'm going to have to get more info on their curriculum and methods.

Lieberman is Worthless

Even when confronted with lies, Lieberman still peddles them.

"This is a kindof [sic] 11th hour addition to a debate that's gone on for decades," Lieberman told reporters tonight. "Nobody's ever talked about a public option before. Not even in the presidential campaign last year."

I asked in response, "How do you reconcile your contention that the public option wasn't part of the presidential campaign given that all three of the [leading Democratic] candidates had something along the lines of the public option in their white papers?'

"Not really, not from what I've seen. There was a little--there was a line about the possibility of it in an Obama health care policy paper," Lieberman said.

...

I said, "And at the time Senator Clinton, and John Edwards also had..."

"Edwards probably had it more than anybody else," Lieberman said. "But Clinton, Obama, McCain--I don't see it. Anyway, I'm opposed to it."

Thanks, Connecticut. You did good.

Not Worrying About the Next Election

This is a story I would like to read about more often. Michael Bennett (D-CO) has said that he will vote for health care reform even if it costs him his seat. Perhaps it's naively idealistic, but I wish more politicians thought like this. I think that they should stand up and do the right thing even if it means they lose a re-election bid. There is something craven about not supporting a position or cause because you are worried about losing your job especially when your job is in public service. Unfortunately for us, the vast majority of politicians are in politics to serve their own ends and are only concerned with doing what's best for themselves. Even if a member of Congress took a position that I disagreed with, I could respect them if they said they were more concerned with doing what they felt was right than getting votes.

I guess I like people with principles.

Politics in State Creation

This is a fascinating anecdote about the creation of North and South Dakota.

Weekly Music Video

The 80s were great.

Alphaville - "Dance With Me"

Weekly Secret

PostSecret

Never Forget

"All Things Will Die" - Lord Alfred Tennyson

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing

Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing

Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating

Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
O, vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are call'd—we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
O, misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Thro' eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.

Patrick Roy Kramer - May 6, 1977 - October 22, 2006