Tuesday, October 13, 2009
APOLOGIES FOR SILENCE
I apologise for my silence over the past months to all those who take the time to look at my blog. I will aim at posting each month from now on with my next blog planned for early November 2009. I spent some months away in isolated areas were even cell phone communication was not always possible. Robere
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Pentecostalism: An Education in Threat and Fear
There are many things that go bump in the night that we are sensitised to fear from our earliest years; often made more so by superstitious parents or older siblings who seem to enjoy scaring their younger brothers and sisters. Indeed, I can remember living in a little ol’ house in the suburbs as a boy with one of those old outside ‘johns’, or ‘loos’. Being the second youngest of six left me somewhat prone to the scheming of my four older siblings who took delight in waiting in the darkened backyard for me until I left the ‘john’ and then jumping out and making some blood curdling noise that would have frightened even the dead. No wonder I have been left with a well-developed startle response!
However, the frights in the darkened backyard and stories of witches and mythical beings that I was subjected too by my brothers and sisters pales into insignificance when compared to the thorough socialisation in fear that the church gifted me. No, it wasn’t the Episcopalian, Lutheran or Presbyterian churches, it was the good ol’ rocking and rolling pentecostal church; otherwise known as the ‘full-gospel’ church. The ‘smile to strangers’, ‘slap on the back’ and ‘shout hallelujah’ type of church. My God, what an education in fear and superstition they gave me!
From my earliest days in Sunday School through to my emotion-charged introduction to ‘Holy Spirit baptism’ as an adolescent, I was taught all about the lurking demons, who with bated breath waited for me to stray from God’s protective grace. I can even recall those drawings of skulking devils in the picture bible that my mother must have bought for us ‘lucky’ kids. Now, as an adult, I am reminded of it whenever I see the renowned art in the churches of Italy with its devils, demons, and saints; along with Jesus, his mother, Mary and the so-called guardian angels. Strangely though, we Westerners are often bemused by the so-called ‘primitive’ spiritual beliefs of other cultures, forgetting that all the paraphernalia of our own religion must look awfully weird to them as well. It just goes to highlight the arrogance and ignorance of our own culture when we fail to recognise that we are no different to others when it comes to religious superstition. I can remember my time in Papua New Guinea as a young man when I considered the spiritual beliefs of the indigenous population with some mirth, and yet not being able to objectively reflect on the strangeness of my own spiritual beliefs that were fraught with irreconcilable errors and bizarre concepts. It was some years later before a little humility and open-mindedness allowed my own beliefs to be challenged; it was only then that I began to break free of the shackles of fundamentalist evangelicalism and Pentecostalism that were installed into my psyche as an impressionable child.
I can well remember being taught all the usual pentecostal and evangelical poppycock, like if you stray from the fold, the wolf may come and devour you. This allegory no doubt had its origins in reality when earlier societies may well have reminded their children to stick around the village or they may go missing like some of the local shepherd’s flock. Of course in my case it was all about not committing sins for fear of straying from the protection of God’s grace and my guardian angel; or worse still, face the prospect of eternal damnation in the fires of hell.
The movie, “Jesus Camp” graphically depicts the inhumane nature of the powerful indoctrination process that is inflicted upon so many evangelical and pentecostal children. The woman who was the main character in this story, and who can be seen using the ‘threat and fear’ tactics mentioned above, would do well to be sued by some of these children once they become adults. To my thinking such action would be deserved and might help to put a stop to what I viewed as the exposure of innocent children to potential post-traumatic stress disorder outcomes. Take a look at the movie for yourself and consider the anguish in the eyes and faces of these beautiful young ones who through no fault of their own were born to parents with fundamentalist beliefs and sent off to this camp to learn to be better disciples. The movie also demonstrates the obvious lack of formal education in critical thinking and a capacity for scientific analysis among these ignorant parents; who in turn allowed their children to be subjected to what I considered blatant emotional abuse and manipulation at the ‘Jesus Camp’.
My thoughts on the above and this particular blog were in fact prompted after reading recent comments to one of my earlier blogs that critiqued Dean Sherman’s spiritual warfare book: The blog can be found at: (http://psuedocults.blogspot.com/2007/12/dean-shermans-battle-with-irrational.html). The anonymous reader and commenter made two consecutive comments about Dean Sherman’s thesis. In the first he mentions that Mr Sherman’s comments may border on being blasphemous, but then recants in the second as if out of fear. He effectively apologises for using the term, blasphemous. Now, whether Mr Sherman’s views are blasphemous is not the point; what concerned me was that fellow appeared to be shackled by the bonds of threat and fear and was too afraid to speak his mind and stand by what he had originally stated. To me it was a good example of the powerful hold that fear has over truth and objectivity. I hope this man is able to break free and speak his mind in the future without being beset by fear of divine retribution for being open and honest in his opinion. This poor fellow must have felt much unease, probably brought about by having been taught that accusing someone of blasphemy may unleash some type of payback, not in the legal sense I am sure, but more so in respect to retribution from God, or Satan. Funny thing isn’t it how the loving and benevolent God of our childhood is also capable of meting out vengeance just because we wrongly or rightly accuse someone of blasphemy. Maybe this god has a ‘Passive Aggressive Personality Disorder’, or is psychopathic, or the like? I would have thought that a good and loving god (or parent) would simply kindly remind us to be careful about what we say about our fellow human beings, without implying the likelihood of impending punishment.
From my own experience and after viewing the contents of “Jesus Camp”, it is patently clear that when we are subjected to the teachings of fundamentalist religion, whatever its label, fear and threat are an essential part of the indoctrination process. In a sense we are ‘damned if we do and damned if we don’t’. We are told we are destined to commit both sins of commission and sins of omission and will face the music for doing either unless we bow, or grovel in repentance. It is not unlike the demands and threats of any other totalitarian and undemocratic regime, like the Stalin era in Soviet Russia where you were told to give a disproportionate part of you crop to the State and remain in good favour with the ruling elite, or otherwise face either execution or a long period in the Gulags to make restitution. It is all about paying your dues or facing payback. No concept of positive reinforcement here, it is the threat of punishment that drives the devotees onward. Come to think of it, the Catholic Church’s concept of Purgatory is somewhat ‘Gulagish’ in that we are told that we can expiate our sins by doing a little time in Purgatory en route to heaven. Talk about the fables of more ‘primitive’ societies, I think we who were raised in modern fundamentalist Christianity, Judaism and Islam ‘take first prize’ for ignorance.
However, the frights in the darkened backyard and stories of witches and mythical beings that I was subjected too by my brothers and sisters pales into insignificance when compared to the thorough socialisation in fear that the church gifted me. No, it wasn’t the Episcopalian, Lutheran or Presbyterian churches, it was the good ol’ rocking and rolling pentecostal church; otherwise known as the ‘full-gospel’ church. The ‘smile to strangers’, ‘slap on the back’ and ‘shout hallelujah’ type of church. My God, what an education in fear and superstition they gave me!
From my earliest days in Sunday School through to my emotion-charged introduction to ‘Holy Spirit baptism’ as an adolescent, I was taught all about the lurking demons, who with bated breath waited for me to stray from God’s protective grace. I can even recall those drawings of skulking devils in the picture bible that my mother must have bought for us ‘lucky’ kids. Now, as an adult, I am reminded of it whenever I see the renowned art in the churches of Italy with its devils, demons, and saints; along with Jesus, his mother, Mary and the so-called guardian angels. Strangely though, we Westerners are often bemused by the so-called ‘primitive’ spiritual beliefs of other cultures, forgetting that all the paraphernalia of our own religion must look awfully weird to them as well. It just goes to highlight the arrogance and ignorance of our own culture when we fail to recognise that we are no different to others when it comes to religious superstition. I can remember my time in Papua New Guinea as a young man when I considered the spiritual beliefs of the indigenous population with some mirth, and yet not being able to objectively reflect on the strangeness of my own spiritual beliefs that were fraught with irreconcilable errors and bizarre concepts. It was some years later before a little humility and open-mindedness allowed my own beliefs to be challenged; it was only then that I began to break free of the shackles of fundamentalist evangelicalism and Pentecostalism that were installed into my psyche as an impressionable child.
I can well remember being taught all the usual pentecostal and evangelical poppycock, like if you stray from the fold, the wolf may come and devour you. This allegory no doubt had its origins in reality when earlier societies may well have reminded their children to stick around the village or they may go missing like some of the local shepherd’s flock. Of course in my case it was all about not committing sins for fear of straying from the protection of God’s grace and my guardian angel; or worse still, face the prospect of eternal damnation in the fires of hell.
The movie, “Jesus Camp” graphically depicts the inhumane nature of the powerful indoctrination process that is inflicted upon so many evangelical and pentecostal children. The woman who was the main character in this story, and who can be seen using the ‘threat and fear’ tactics mentioned above, would do well to be sued by some of these children once they become adults. To my thinking such action would be deserved and might help to put a stop to what I viewed as the exposure of innocent children to potential post-traumatic stress disorder outcomes. Take a look at the movie for yourself and consider the anguish in the eyes and faces of these beautiful young ones who through no fault of their own were born to parents with fundamentalist beliefs and sent off to this camp to learn to be better disciples. The movie also demonstrates the obvious lack of formal education in critical thinking and a capacity for scientific analysis among these ignorant parents; who in turn allowed their children to be subjected to what I considered blatant emotional abuse and manipulation at the ‘Jesus Camp’.
My thoughts on the above and this particular blog were in fact prompted after reading recent comments to one of my earlier blogs that critiqued Dean Sherman’s spiritual warfare book: The blog can be found at: (http://psuedocults.blogspot.com/2007/12/dean-shermans-battle-with-irrational.html). The anonymous reader and commenter made two consecutive comments about Dean Sherman’s thesis. In the first he mentions that Mr Sherman’s comments may border on being blasphemous, but then recants in the second as if out of fear. He effectively apologises for using the term, blasphemous. Now, whether Mr Sherman’s views are blasphemous is not the point; what concerned me was that fellow appeared to be shackled by the bonds of threat and fear and was too afraid to speak his mind and stand by what he had originally stated. To me it was a good example of the powerful hold that fear has over truth and objectivity. I hope this man is able to break free and speak his mind in the future without being beset by fear of divine retribution for being open and honest in his opinion. This poor fellow must have felt much unease, probably brought about by having been taught that accusing someone of blasphemy may unleash some type of payback, not in the legal sense I am sure, but more so in respect to retribution from God, or Satan. Funny thing isn’t it how the loving and benevolent God of our childhood is also capable of meting out vengeance just because we wrongly or rightly accuse someone of blasphemy. Maybe this god has a ‘Passive Aggressive Personality Disorder’, or is psychopathic, or the like? I would have thought that a good and loving god (or parent) would simply kindly remind us to be careful about what we say about our fellow human beings, without implying the likelihood of impending punishment.
From my own experience and after viewing the contents of “Jesus Camp”, it is patently clear that when we are subjected to the teachings of fundamentalist religion, whatever its label, fear and threat are an essential part of the indoctrination process. In a sense we are ‘damned if we do and damned if we don’t’. We are told we are destined to commit both sins of commission and sins of omission and will face the music for doing either unless we bow, or grovel in repentance. It is not unlike the demands and threats of any other totalitarian and undemocratic regime, like the Stalin era in Soviet Russia where you were told to give a disproportionate part of you crop to the State and remain in good favour with the ruling elite, or otherwise face either execution or a long period in the Gulags to make restitution. It is all about paying your dues or facing payback. No concept of positive reinforcement here, it is the threat of punishment that drives the devotees onward. Come to think of it, the Catholic Church’s concept of Purgatory is somewhat ‘Gulagish’ in that we are told that we can expiate our sins by doing a little time in Purgatory en route to heaven. Talk about the fables of more ‘primitive’ societies, I think we who were raised in modern fundamentalist Christianity, Judaism and Islam ‘take first prize’ for ignorance.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Abortion Laws and the Australian Bushfires - A Platform for Religious Extremists
I found the following news article on the Australian Broadcasting Commission website. I quote it verbatim as follows:
Abortion Laws to Blame for Bush Fires?
Feb 10, 2009
This is surely the most unusual statement made in the wake of Victoria's bushfires. A press release from Catch the Fire Ministries reads (in part):
Catch the Fire Ministries (CTFM) leader Pastor Danny Nalliah said he would spearhead an effort to provide every assistance to devastated communities, although he was not surprised by the bush fires due to a dream he had last October relating to consequences of the abortion laws passed in Victoria.
He said these bushfires have come as a result of the incendiary abortion laws which decimate life in the womb.
Yesterday (Monday 9th February 2009), the front page of the Herald Sun newspaper reported "The Darkest hour for Victoria".
A few months ago the news media should have reported "The darkest hour for the unborn" but unfortunately the "Decriminalization of Abortion bill" went through parliament and was passed, thus making many people call Victoria "the baby killing state of Australia", Mr Nalliah said.
He said on November 7th last year we had sent out an email to our national network and a posting on our website carried an urgent post titled, ‘STOP PRESS. URGENT PRAYER NEEDED REGARDING AUSTRALIA, ESPECIALLY THE STATE OF VICTORIA’ following a dream he had on the 21st of October 2008, which he shared with his team on 22nd October.
Following is an excerpt from the dream which was published in the article:
"In my dream I saw fire everywhere with flames burning very high and uncontrollably. With this I woke up from my dream with the interpretation as the following words came to me in a flash from the Spirit of God. That His conditional protection has been removed from the nation of Australia, in particular Victoria, for approving the slaughter of innocent children in the womb.”
End quote
What struck me when I read this news article was the absurd and insensitive nature of Pastor Nalliah’s statement; although I assure you, that as a son of Pentecostal excess, this type of thinking was part of everyday life during my childhood. Sometimes I wonder how I survived and remain relatively sane!
This matter also brought to mind a time when I was working with Youth With a Mission in the United States during the late 1970’s, a time when bushfires also raged out of control across the southeastern area of Australia. I well remember a striking statement made by Jim Rogers, a senior leader in YWAM at the time.
He stated, in all seriousness how it appeared that God’s judgement was upon Australia in the form of the bushfires. Even though I was still caught up in the fundamentalist web in those days, and a bit overawed by my 'spiritual senior', I was nevertheless taken back by what was said and remember thinking how this fellow (Jim Rogers) was entirely ignorant about the nature of the tinder dry Australian bushland that is primarily made up of Eucalypt tree, that are in turn full of Eucalyptus oil, and therefore burn like no other forest in the world. He also appeared entirely uninformed about the fact that these fires rage every summer somewhere in the Australian bush in the face of temperatures well over 100 degrees, albeit with less ferocity. However, to attribute a major flare-up of these annual bushfires to an act of God was in my mind as ludicrous as Pastor Nalliah’s ranting about how these must be linked to abortion legislation of all things.
It is no wonder that the better educated community of 2009 is becoming increasingly intolerant of idiotic statements from the likes Pastor Nalliah and his fundamentalist colleagues; especially when they might have lost their loved ones to the fires. Let me tell you, from what I have read of the responses to Pastor Nalliah’s statements in Downunder news media, religion is the loser as people are sick to death of the fundamentalist claptrap that is behind such inane, insensitive and irrational comment.
Abortion Laws to Blame for Bush Fires?
Feb 10, 2009
This is surely the most unusual statement made in the wake of Victoria's bushfires. A press release from Catch the Fire Ministries reads (in part):
Catch the Fire Ministries (CTFM) leader Pastor Danny Nalliah said he would spearhead an effort to provide every assistance to devastated communities, although he was not surprised by the bush fires due to a dream he had last October relating to consequences of the abortion laws passed in Victoria.
He said these bushfires have come as a result of the incendiary abortion laws which decimate life in the womb.
Yesterday (Monday 9th February 2009), the front page of the Herald Sun newspaper reported "The Darkest hour for Victoria".
A few months ago the news media should have reported "The darkest hour for the unborn" but unfortunately the "Decriminalization of Abortion bill" went through parliament and was passed, thus making many people call Victoria "the baby killing state of Australia", Mr Nalliah said.
He said on November 7th last year we had sent out an email to our national network and a posting on our website carried an urgent post titled, ‘STOP PRESS. URGENT PRAYER NEEDED REGARDING AUSTRALIA, ESPECIALLY THE STATE OF VICTORIA’ following a dream he had on the 21st of October 2008, which he shared with his team on 22nd October.
Following is an excerpt from the dream which was published in the article:
"In my dream I saw fire everywhere with flames burning very high and uncontrollably. With this I woke up from my dream with the interpretation as the following words came to me in a flash from the Spirit of God. That His conditional protection has been removed from the nation of Australia, in particular Victoria, for approving the slaughter of innocent children in the womb.”
End quote
What struck me when I read this news article was the absurd and insensitive nature of Pastor Nalliah’s statement; although I assure you, that as a son of Pentecostal excess, this type of thinking was part of everyday life during my childhood. Sometimes I wonder how I survived and remain relatively sane!
This matter also brought to mind a time when I was working with Youth With a Mission in the United States during the late 1970’s, a time when bushfires also raged out of control across the southeastern area of Australia. I well remember a striking statement made by Jim Rogers, a senior leader in YWAM at the time.
He stated, in all seriousness how it appeared that God’s judgement was upon Australia in the form of the bushfires. Even though I was still caught up in the fundamentalist web in those days, and a bit overawed by my 'spiritual senior', I was nevertheless taken back by what was said and remember thinking how this fellow (Jim Rogers) was entirely ignorant about the nature of the tinder dry Australian bushland that is primarily made up of Eucalypt tree, that are in turn full of Eucalyptus oil, and therefore burn like no other forest in the world. He also appeared entirely uninformed about the fact that these fires rage every summer somewhere in the Australian bush in the face of temperatures well over 100 degrees, albeit with less ferocity. However, to attribute a major flare-up of these annual bushfires to an act of God was in my mind as ludicrous as Pastor Nalliah’s ranting about how these must be linked to abortion legislation of all things.
It is no wonder that the better educated community of 2009 is becoming increasingly intolerant of idiotic statements from the likes Pastor Nalliah and his fundamentalist colleagues; especially when they might have lost their loved ones to the fires. Let me tell you, from what I have read of the responses to Pastor Nalliah’s statements in Downunder news media, religion is the loser as people are sick to death of the fundamentalist claptrap that is behind such inane, insensitive and irrational comment.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
"Shock and Awe" vvs Throwing Your Shoes
Symbolism is considered important to many things, including nations, religions, as well as educational and business organisations. We are well aware of what is represented when we see a swastika, an American eagle, a cross, a hammer and sickle, or a dove. However, some symbols are products of more modern day representationalism, often chosen to elicit high levels of emotional responses to associated technological advancements of our present day world. These symbols are usually carefully chosen with much forethought and planning; they generally do not arise spontaneously or as accidents of nature.
In respect to modern-day symbolism, the example of the United States of America’s symbol for their war on the Iraqi people stands out. The symbolism was termed “Shock and Awe” and while it may have elicited a sense of excitement, fear, power or a sense of revenge in some, it brought a sense of disgust to many others. The symbol "Shock and Awe" was spectacularly demonstrated in reality by the graphic television coverage of American firepower destroying various facilities in downtown Bagdad. I can remember how the Fox News channel confronted us all with this symbol along with its destructive reality 24/7, for months on end, ad nauseam. Even if we had believed that it was a just war, I don’t think it did any favours to the standing of America in the world community to have glorified the destruction of the enemy by the use of such blunt and inhumane symbolism with its carefully orchestrated media coverage. To me it reflected the narcissistic and grandiose views of a Republican president who had gone well beyond his “war on terror” and his stated allegiance to Christian values; values that include a command to love one another, not to facilitate the rape and pillage of one another. I ask you, what example have we set the Iraqi people and their Arab neighbours by our unnecessary invasion of Iraqi? It certainly is not one of restraint, moderation and diplomacy, let alone 'agape'.
"War on the Iraqi people? No, no, that is a misconception”, you might say. But the reality is that it was not just an attack on Saddam Hussein or an absent Al Qaeda, or equally absent weapons of mass destruction, but also a war on the innocent that triggered the death of over 100,000 Iraqi civilians (albeit mostly at the hands of fellow Moslems). The citizens of Iraqi society now know all too well the meaning of “shock and awe”. As a result, Saddam’s crimes against the Kurds and other ethnic groups now seem almost trivial compared to the greater destruction triggered by the destabilising influence of a self-righteous and rampant America who chose to clearly ignore the cautionary views of the world community at the United Nations. “No, we’ll go it alone if you don't like our plan” trumpeted the US president, thumbing his nose arrogantly at other international leaders.
Even if we had chosen an approach to Iraqi that advocated least destruction, but the necessary death of the despot Saddam Hussein, surely with America’s stated technological advantage Saddam could have been taken out with a “magic bullet”. Thereby saving the lives of countless civilians and avoiding the death of over 4200 young Americans, and the maiming of over 30,000 more. An even more humane and Christian approach could have involved the strategic capture of Saddam Hussein and his trial before the International Criminal Court. Again, with the help of sophisticated intelligence agencies and key elite military units, his capture should have been possible with little loss of life or collateral damage. Even the US-based Sojourners organisation proposed something similar to both the US and UK governments, but as a result of the intransigence of the warmongers in the US and UK Cabinets, the Sojourners' rational and achievable plan was ignored. We were told we just had to go to war, that there was no alternative! Thus, while Americans may continue to pipe, “God Bless America”, there are many millions more who are now likely to be asking, “How can a country that espouses Christian ideals have ignored less destructive options and decreed a ‘shock and awe’ approach to dealing with the internal problems of Iraqi?”
Twice I marched with younger contemporaries in my home country to protest the plan for war and the start of the war. I told my children that to attack Iraqi was madness, that it would not allay the march of terrorism; rather it would promote a new wave of religious fanaticism, hate and terror. I also suggested that it was akin to opening a ‘Pandora’s Box’ of further death and destruction. Regrettably, my views have proven all too true in the case of the death and destruction experienced by the ordinary citizens of Iraqi and the promotion of frenetic recruitment of misguided fanatics to terrorist organisations around the world. Furthermore, when I questioned the validity of the evidence put to the UN that claimed weapons of mass destruction were indeed present in Iraqi, I was summarily ridiculed by a conservative work colleague. Maybe, I should take the opportunity to remind him of his response now that the facts of the matter are clearly established, but alas the type of mindset that reacts in this way is generally impervious to reproof, so why waste my time?
What disturbs me most though is the fact that so many supporters of the war came from the ranks of the religious right of America, a significant group of Bible-believing individuals who appear unable to critically examine the facts or learn from the errors of the past, like my work colleague; the same individuals who are also likely to support other equally destructive ventures in the future. It makes it understandable as to why an Iraqi journalist might want to throw his shoes at the President of the United States of America. While his act of defiance might have sprung from a sense of what psychologists term ‘learned helplessness’, nonetheless it was an act rich in symbolism and one that demonstrated far more restraint than the wanton destructive acts of a president who has waged an unnecessary war for so long in this man’s homeland. Bring on Obama, the rest of the world is waiting for someone for whom they might be able to afford some respect.
In respect to modern-day symbolism, the example of the United States of America’s symbol for their war on the Iraqi people stands out. The symbolism was termed “Shock and Awe” and while it may have elicited a sense of excitement, fear, power or a sense of revenge in some, it brought a sense of disgust to many others. The symbol "Shock and Awe" was spectacularly demonstrated in reality by the graphic television coverage of American firepower destroying various facilities in downtown Bagdad. I can remember how the Fox News channel confronted us all with this symbol along with its destructive reality 24/7, for months on end, ad nauseam. Even if we had believed that it was a just war, I don’t think it did any favours to the standing of America in the world community to have glorified the destruction of the enemy by the use of such blunt and inhumane symbolism with its carefully orchestrated media coverage. To me it reflected the narcissistic and grandiose views of a Republican president who had gone well beyond his “war on terror” and his stated allegiance to Christian values; values that include a command to love one another, not to facilitate the rape and pillage of one another. I ask you, what example have we set the Iraqi people and their Arab neighbours by our unnecessary invasion of Iraqi? It certainly is not one of restraint, moderation and diplomacy, let alone 'agape'.
"War on the Iraqi people? No, no, that is a misconception”, you might say. But the reality is that it was not just an attack on Saddam Hussein or an absent Al Qaeda, or equally absent weapons of mass destruction, but also a war on the innocent that triggered the death of over 100,000 Iraqi civilians (albeit mostly at the hands of fellow Moslems). The citizens of Iraqi society now know all too well the meaning of “shock and awe”. As a result, Saddam’s crimes against the Kurds and other ethnic groups now seem almost trivial compared to the greater destruction triggered by the destabilising influence of a self-righteous and rampant America who chose to clearly ignore the cautionary views of the world community at the United Nations. “No, we’ll go it alone if you don't like our plan” trumpeted the US president, thumbing his nose arrogantly at other international leaders.
Even if we had chosen an approach to Iraqi that advocated least destruction, but the necessary death of the despot Saddam Hussein, surely with America’s stated technological advantage Saddam could have been taken out with a “magic bullet”. Thereby saving the lives of countless civilians and avoiding the death of over 4200 young Americans, and the maiming of over 30,000 more. An even more humane and Christian approach could have involved the strategic capture of Saddam Hussein and his trial before the International Criminal Court. Again, with the help of sophisticated intelligence agencies and key elite military units, his capture should have been possible with little loss of life or collateral damage. Even the US-based Sojourners organisation proposed something similar to both the US and UK governments, but as a result of the intransigence of the warmongers in the US and UK Cabinets, the Sojourners' rational and achievable plan was ignored. We were told we just had to go to war, that there was no alternative! Thus, while Americans may continue to pipe, “God Bless America”, there are many millions more who are now likely to be asking, “How can a country that espouses Christian ideals have ignored less destructive options and decreed a ‘shock and awe’ approach to dealing with the internal problems of Iraqi?”
Twice I marched with younger contemporaries in my home country to protest the plan for war and the start of the war. I told my children that to attack Iraqi was madness, that it would not allay the march of terrorism; rather it would promote a new wave of religious fanaticism, hate and terror. I also suggested that it was akin to opening a ‘Pandora’s Box’ of further death and destruction. Regrettably, my views have proven all too true in the case of the death and destruction experienced by the ordinary citizens of Iraqi and the promotion of frenetic recruitment of misguided fanatics to terrorist organisations around the world. Furthermore, when I questioned the validity of the evidence put to the UN that claimed weapons of mass destruction were indeed present in Iraqi, I was summarily ridiculed by a conservative work colleague. Maybe, I should take the opportunity to remind him of his response now that the facts of the matter are clearly established, but alas the type of mindset that reacts in this way is generally impervious to reproof, so why waste my time?
What disturbs me most though is the fact that so many supporters of the war came from the ranks of the religious right of America, a significant group of Bible-believing individuals who appear unable to critically examine the facts or learn from the errors of the past, like my work colleague; the same individuals who are also likely to support other equally destructive ventures in the future. It makes it understandable as to why an Iraqi journalist might want to throw his shoes at the President of the United States of America. While his act of defiance might have sprung from a sense of what psychologists term ‘learned helplessness’, nonetheless it was an act rich in symbolism and one that demonstrated far more restraint than the wanton destructive acts of a president who has waged an unnecessary war for so long in this man’s homeland. Bring on Obama, the rest of the world is waiting for someone for whom they might be able to afford some respect.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Is the Republican Party Really God's Party?
I hope readers noted that I made no mention of the US Presidential election prior to the close of polling. I guess I just wanted to be different from all those ‘Religious Right’, pentecostal and evangelical fundamentalists who just had to get involved in assigning each candidate to the ‘For God's Will’ and ‘Against God’s Will’ sides.
This brings to mind a conversation I had many years ago with a young American pentecostal man who I met during my world travels. He was convinced that God even took sides in sporting events, let alone weightier matters such as politics, and believed it was all a matter of God seeing beyond what we could see and assigning the right to win to the most moral and ethical group of 'jocks'. Funny how that oftentimes the members of the winning football team often end up in the headlines because of controversial and infamous off-field behaviour. It is as though fundamentalists can make their God fit just about any scenario and have no problem finding a justification if things don’t quite work out quite the way they predicted. In this vein, I wonder how that young American fundamentalist would explain the ‘come from behind’ 4-3 win by the Australian 12 metre yachting crew in 1983 when they took the America’s Cup from the New York Yacht Club (after they had held the Cup for about 150 years). To make matters even more theologically complicated, the New York Yacht Club never won the Cup back. In fact, except for a brief stint at the San Diego Yacht Club after Dennis Conner regained the Cup for America in 1987, it has effectively resided outside the United States ever since. Now what does that say about America from a religious fundamentalist’s point of view? Has America displeased God in the intervening years and therefore doesn’t deserve to have the Cup back? Or, is it because God really doesn’t really care about the Cup and is too busy concentrating on resolving other more important international problems, such as mass genocides and the predicament of starving millions somewhere else in the world? Search me!
Anyway, back to the US elections. I was most pleased some weeks ago when my son contacted me with the news that he was leaving Beijing to travel to the United States to take up work as an Obama Campaign intern. He said he dearly wanted to be part of such a historic campaign. He ended up working 18 hour days to help coordinate that wonderful Indiana win for Obama where for the first time in 24 years the state of Indiana went ‘Blue’. My God, if you want to talk about miracles, consider the odds. This was a 60-39 state in 2004 and last night it finished 50-49 in favour of Obama. Now, I could be sitting here on the other side of the world thinking, “God was obviously on the side of Obama in view of this statistically improbable win.” However, I’ll spare you all the religious 'claptrap' as I see the win as a product of American people finally getting wise about things and supporting a candidate who will probably save them from further unnecessary pain. Oh, before I forget, I also recognise that the work of Obama's staff and volunteers in Indiana, including my son were essential to getting him over the line. When all is considered, somehow God doesn't appear to have been the primary force in this obvious political 'miracle'.
So why do Americans get their knickers in such a religious twist when it comes to elections? I believe you guys even had a plethora of conspiracy theories about Obama’s sinister motives. In this way he was not only ‘up against it’ because he was an African American, but he also had the religious fanatics spinning unfounded and malicious gossip about him. Pity the same people didn’t have a few well-founded conspiracy theories about George Bush in that he was certainly intent on getting your county involved in the needless Iraq war where many young Americans have died and countless more have been severely maimed; not to mention the 100,000 plus Iraqis who have died also, many more than at the hands of their former despot leader. And the pity is, before the war began Al Qaeda wasn’t even present there, let alone those elusive weapons of mass destruction. Interestingly, back in 2002 when I last visited the USA for a skiing holiday in Colorado, I met a wonderful young man, a senior from West Point who ended up serving not one, but two tours of duty in Iraq as a captain in the Marine Corps. Not surprisingly, after his first tour he came home very disillusioned with the purpose and process of the war and voted for Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election in the hope that a new, more rational President might put an end to such an unnecessary and destructive conflict. He remained in contact with me when serving in Iraq and sent me some memorable digital photos of the lighter side of his work, like sitting on the 'throne' in one of Saddam Hussein's ostentatious marble bathrooms at a Bagdad palace.
In conclusion and on a positive note, now that Barack Obama has been elected and due for inauguration in early 2009, I hope that American evangelicals, pentecostals and members of the 'Religious Right' will get behind this wonderful new leader and give him every chance to help bring the positive change that he envisages for the ordinary people of your great land.
This brings to mind a conversation I had many years ago with a young American pentecostal man who I met during my world travels. He was convinced that God even took sides in sporting events, let alone weightier matters such as politics, and believed it was all a matter of God seeing beyond what we could see and assigning the right to win to the most moral and ethical group of 'jocks'. Funny how that oftentimes the members of the winning football team often end up in the headlines because of controversial and infamous off-field behaviour. It is as though fundamentalists can make their God fit just about any scenario and have no problem finding a justification if things don’t quite work out quite the way they predicted. In this vein, I wonder how that young American fundamentalist would explain the ‘come from behind’ 4-3 win by the Australian 12 metre yachting crew in 1983 when they took the America’s Cup from the New York Yacht Club (after they had held the Cup for about 150 years). To make matters even more theologically complicated, the New York Yacht Club never won the Cup back. In fact, except for a brief stint at the San Diego Yacht Club after Dennis Conner regained the Cup for America in 1987, it has effectively resided outside the United States ever since. Now what does that say about America from a religious fundamentalist’s point of view? Has America displeased God in the intervening years and therefore doesn’t deserve to have the Cup back? Or, is it because God really doesn’t really care about the Cup and is too busy concentrating on resolving other more important international problems, such as mass genocides and the predicament of starving millions somewhere else in the world? Search me!
Anyway, back to the US elections. I was most pleased some weeks ago when my son contacted me with the news that he was leaving Beijing to travel to the United States to take up work as an Obama Campaign intern. He said he dearly wanted to be part of such a historic campaign. He ended up working 18 hour days to help coordinate that wonderful Indiana win for Obama where for the first time in 24 years the state of Indiana went ‘Blue’. My God, if you want to talk about miracles, consider the odds. This was a 60-39 state in 2004 and last night it finished 50-49 in favour of Obama. Now, I could be sitting here on the other side of the world thinking, “God was obviously on the side of Obama in view of this statistically improbable win.” However, I’ll spare you all the religious 'claptrap' as I see the win as a product of American people finally getting wise about things and supporting a candidate who will probably save them from further unnecessary pain. Oh, before I forget, I also recognise that the work of Obama's staff and volunteers in Indiana, including my son were essential to getting him over the line. When all is considered, somehow God doesn't appear to have been the primary force in this obvious political 'miracle'.
So why do Americans get their knickers in such a religious twist when it comes to elections? I believe you guys even had a plethora of conspiracy theories about Obama’s sinister motives. In this way he was not only ‘up against it’ because he was an African American, but he also had the religious fanatics spinning unfounded and malicious gossip about him. Pity the same people didn’t have a few well-founded conspiracy theories about George Bush in that he was certainly intent on getting your county involved in the needless Iraq war where many young Americans have died and countless more have been severely maimed; not to mention the 100,000 plus Iraqis who have died also, many more than at the hands of their former despot leader. And the pity is, before the war began Al Qaeda wasn’t even present there, let alone those elusive weapons of mass destruction. Interestingly, back in 2002 when I last visited the USA for a skiing holiday in Colorado, I met a wonderful young man, a senior from West Point who ended up serving not one, but two tours of duty in Iraq as a captain in the Marine Corps. Not surprisingly, after his first tour he came home very disillusioned with the purpose and process of the war and voted for Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election in the hope that a new, more rational President might put an end to such an unnecessary and destructive conflict. He remained in contact with me when serving in Iraq and sent me some memorable digital photos of the lighter side of his work, like sitting on the 'throne' in one of Saddam Hussein's ostentatious marble bathrooms at a Bagdad palace.
(Note: 1811 now reads 4201)
Thanks to 'The Australian' newspaper and cartoonist Bill Leak
You know, I sometimes wonder if there may be a significant difference in intellectual ability between American fundamentalist Christians and normal everyday rational Americans such as Barack Obama. Personally, I don’t think the fundamentalists are less intelligent, just a product of their education in Christian narrow-mindedness; a bit like the one I had as a youngster. Even so, I believe that my own compulsory stint in pentecostalism has enabled me to even sympathise with Sarah Palin's inability to see outside of her fundamentalist square because of her present state of personal and professional underdevelopment. In this context, I recently disagreed with a female journalist from a conservative Australian newspaper who suggested that she was "as thick as a brick". Not so I argued, as I believe she is an intelligent woman who simply does not have the broad education and wisdom that is necessary to lead a nation such as the USA. Give her time to travel and to read more broadly, and perhaps even study at a good secular university in order to appreciate the value of 'critical thinking', and in time she might be ready. (Yes, I am aware that she graduated from the University of Idaho and at least she didn't attend Liberty!). Meeting a gay or two might help also! However, during the recent Presidential race, I believed she would have presented a potential risk to both the USA and the rest of the world had she been thrust into national office. Most experienced Western observers from outside of the USA believed the same.In conclusion and on a positive note, now that Barack Obama has been elected and due for inauguration in early 2009, I hope that American evangelicals, pentecostals and members of the 'Religious Right' will get behind this wonderful new leader and give him every chance to help bring the positive change that he envisages for the ordinary people of your great land.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Religion, Money and Greed
It is said, “The root of all evil is not money, but that the love of money is the root of all evil.”
So when do Churches cross the line from collecting, earning, owning and investing money to loving it at the expense of generally accepted moral and ethical principles?
After a background in the old evangelical and pentecostal tradition and with later exposure to the more ‘neo-pentecostalist’ and ‘neo-evangelical’ movements, I have found a great diversity of views and behaviours when it came to money and the church. I can remember genuinely humble men and women of the cloth who lived in circumstances of relative self-denial, sharing much the same lifestyle as their parishioners that included such public displays of servitude such as carrying out their own maintenance of their motor vehicles; and vehicles that were within the same price range as those owned by the average parishioner. I even recall the story of an AOG pastor in a rural parish who was unfortunately killed while working under his old car when the house bricks he was using as wheel stands collapsed and he was summarily crushed under the vehicle. No picture of the modern head of the mega-rich charismatic church here who now drives a BMW or Mercedes Benz, or the like and wouldn’t think of even checking their own oil or cooling fluid levels, let alone having a crack at changing the brake pads. Too important and too busy I guess?
Allow me to digress a little and discuss a point made by Steve Bidolph in his book, “Manhood” where he suggests that in the old days male bonding was often facilitated by things such as buddies getting together to help one another work on their old motor vehicles in their home garages. Can you imagine having a ‘down-to-earth’ theological discussion these days with your pastor while sharing the greasy joys of motor maintenance? Highly unlikely!
Yes, in the ‘grand old days’ you might well have found a pentecostal or evangelical pastor working by day as a bricklayer or a carpenter, and by night and on weekends as a ‘Man of the Cloth’. Maybe they had to be a bit manic to keep up the pace, and I don’t mean that unkindly! See my earlier article on “Sex, Personality and the Hallelujah Chorus” that proposes a link between a hypomanic disposition and the behaviour of charismatic clergy.
No, I don’t advocate a return to what may well have been “not so grand old days” where we probably expected too much of men and women of God who pursued a career as a pastor or evangelist. It is no doubt a good thing that these people can now concentrate on a sole profession and invest more time in doing what they really want to do. The only regret I have is that it also often distances clerics from some of the realities faced by ‘Joe and Jill Average’ who sit in the pews on Sunday. The same problem often arises with politicians, who after a couple of terms in government appear to forget what it is like to have to get up early every working day to go to a job that may not be perfect or highly paid, but nonetheless necessary to meet the household bills and keep the kids clothed and well-fed.
Sometimes an anecdotal story better describes reality than a thorough theoretical argument and in this respect I want to relate a real life experience that gets to the heart of some of the problems of the mega-sized and mega-rich charismatic churches. The story is about a friend who I met when he worked with me as young man running hostels for homeless adolescents. This was during the ‘Jesus Revolution’ days of the rockin’ 70’s where these hostels provided not only good food and accommodation, but also what we believed was a wholesome Christian family-like environment.
I kept in contact with this good fellow over the years when he took up cab driving as a profession. He seemed to love his work, even though it required long hours on the road, because it gave him the chance to talk to individuals from many walks of life and to share his faith from time to time. In fact, in his latter years he won the Cab Driver of the Year Award for the category of ‘assisting the disabled’. He was a Christian in the true sense of the word and would spend time assisting the elderly and disabled rather than focusing on chasing the almighty dollar. His prize, apart from the award, was a bottle of wine and a voucher for dinner for two at one of the city’s trendy pubs. I am humbled by the fact that he took me to dinner rather than a good-looking lady; he even shared the bottle of wine with me as we ate and reminisced.
Sitting with him in his single room one evening during the last year of his life he related how that every week he deposited 10% of his pre-tax earnings in an envelope and gave it to the church that he attended every Sunday. This church happened to be the largest charismatic church in the city and emphasised the issue of tithing out of before-tax income. Regrettably the church appeared to major in the subject of ‘giving’, to the church that is. He discretely told me the story of his giving in the context of his struggle to pay for the maintenance of his taxi and the other essentials of his relatively meagre lifestyle. He was obviously worried about being able to pay his bills, but no doubt believed God would prevail. Frankly, I was tempted to tell him to pocket the tithes and not to feel guilty for a moment because I was well aware of the ostentatious wealth of the church he attended. However, he loved his church and was committed to it despite its glaring flaws. Thus I kept my opinion to myself, but at the same time wondered why he didn’t raise questions about his church’s stated thesis that ‘God will bless you financially if you give, give, give’. He was certainly not rich, even in the most modest sense of the term and his life appears to be a good contrast to the unbiblical poppycock that infers that God wishes us all to be materially blessed! Can you imagine making such a suggestion to all those saints who suffered material and physical deprivation over the centuries before the era of excess dawned on us, who through accident of birth live in the Western World?
When my friend unexpectedly and sadly passed away I telephoned one of the team of pastors at his church and told them of his secret charity and how this man gave so much it hurt him. Interestingly, the church was so big that they didn’t even know that he was dead; despite the fact that he wasn’t an invisible member of the congregation being involved in a number of supportive roles! I also dutifully informed them that he would have loved his church to conduct his funeral had he been able to communicate his wishes before his departure from this world. Regrettably, a wrangle ensued between churches for reasons that are beyond me and when I attended his funeral it was officiated by a minister from an entirely different church who didn’t even take the time to investigate the deceased’s humble achievements and dedication to the downtrodden of this world. It was as if a disciple of ‘Francis of Assisi’ was buried without due recognition by his peers. Needless to say, I was less than impressed, but I guess my good friend would not have made a fuss about it, so I didn’t either.
Nevertheless there is a lesson to be learned from such experiences. In my opinion the striving for recognition and acceptance in this world, on the part of modern super-sized charismatic churches, appears to detract from the original example of discipleship and service that was ably demonstrated by Jesus of Nazarus and his roving band of disciples. The very size and focus on money and other ‘things’ of these modern churches often lead to a loss of individual identity and raison de’tere of Christ’s church in this world. Their attention to material ‘success’, glamour, business ventures, slick seminars and getting involved in party politics have created a whole new image of the church in the 21st century, an image at times that I view as becoming so fragile that it is destined to come crashing down when individuals realise how similar it is to their everyday world.
(I recommend Tanya Levin’s book, “People in Glass Houses” for a more comprehensive critique of mega-sized and mega-rich charismatic churches and their role in modern Christendom. I have never met the author, but enjoyed her honest portrayal of herself and her experiences at her former church that had the largest congregation and budget in her country)
Please post a comment.
So when do Churches cross the line from collecting, earning, owning and investing money to loving it at the expense of generally accepted moral and ethical principles?
After a background in the old evangelical and pentecostal tradition and with later exposure to the more ‘neo-pentecostalist’ and ‘neo-evangelical’ movements, I have found a great diversity of views and behaviours when it came to money and the church. I can remember genuinely humble men and women of the cloth who lived in circumstances of relative self-denial, sharing much the same lifestyle as their parishioners that included such public displays of servitude such as carrying out their own maintenance of their motor vehicles; and vehicles that were within the same price range as those owned by the average parishioner. I even recall the story of an AOG pastor in a rural parish who was unfortunately killed while working under his old car when the house bricks he was using as wheel stands collapsed and he was summarily crushed under the vehicle. No picture of the modern head of the mega-rich charismatic church here who now drives a BMW or Mercedes Benz, or the like and wouldn’t think of even checking their own oil or cooling fluid levels, let alone having a crack at changing the brake pads. Too important and too busy I guess?
Allow me to digress a little and discuss a point made by Steve Bidolph in his book, “Manhood” where he suggests that in the old days male bonding was often facilitated by things such as buddies getting together to help one another work on their old motor vehicles in their home garages. Can you imagine having a ‘down-to-earth’ theological discussion these days with your pastor while sharing the greasy joys of motor maintenance? Highly unlikely!
Yes, in the ‘grand old days’ you might well have found a pentecostal or evangelical pastor working by day as a bricklayer or a carpenter, and by night and on weekends as a ‘Man of the Cloth’. Maybe they had to be a bit manic to keep up the pace, and I don’t mean that unkindly! See my earlier article on “Sex, Personality and the Hallelujah Chorus” that proposes a link between a hypomanic disposition and the behaviour of charismatic clergy.
No, I don’t advocate a return to what may well have been “not so grand old days” where we probably expected too much of men and women of God who pursued a career as a pastor or evangelist. It is no doubt a good thing that these people can now concentrate on a sole profession and invest more time in doing what they really want to do. The only regret I have is that it also often distances clerics from some of the realities faced by ‘Joe and Jill Average’ who sit in the pews on Sunday. The same problem often arises with politicians, who after a couple of terms in government appear to forget what it is like to have to get up early every working day to go to a job that may not be perfect or highly paid, but nonetheless necessary to meet the household bills and keep the kids clothed and well-fed.
Sometimes an anecdotal story better describes reality than a thorough theoretical argument and in this respect I want to relate a real life experience that gets to the heart of some of the problems of the mega-sized and mega-rich charismatic churches. The story is about a friend who I met when he worked with me as young man running hostels for homeless adolescents. This was during the ‘Jesus Revolution’ days of the rockin’ 70’s where these hostels provided not only good food and accommodation, but also what we believed was a wholesome Christian family-like environment.
I kept in contact with this good fellow over the years when he took up cab driving as a profession. He seemed to love his work, even though it required long hours on the road, because it gave him the chance to talk to individuals from many walks of life and to share his faith from time to time. In fact, in his latter years he won the Cab Driver of the Year Award for the category of ‘assisting the disabled’. He was a Christian in the true sense of the word and would spend time assisting the elderly and disabled rather than focusing on chasing the almighty dollar. His prize, apart from the award, was a bottle of wine and a voucher for dinner for two at one of the city’s trendy pubs. I am humbled by the fact that he took me to dinner rather than a good-looking lady; he even shared the bottle of wine with me as we ate and reminisced.
Sitting with him in his single room one evening during the last year of his life he related how that every week he deposited 10% of his pre-tax earnings in an envelope and gave it to the church that he attended every Sunday. This church happened to be the largest charismatic church in the city and emphasised the issue of tithing out of before-tax income. Regrettably the church appeared to major in the subject of ‘giving’, to the church that is. He discretely told me the story of his giving in the context of his struggle to pay for the maintenance of his taxi and the other essentials of his relatively meagre lifestyle. He was obviously worried about being able to pay his bills, but no doubt believed God would prevail. Frankly, I was tempted to tell him to pocket the tithes and not to feel guilty for a moment because I was well aware of the ostentatious wealth of the church he attended. However, he loved his church and was committed to it despite its glaring flaws. Thus I kept my opinion to myself, but at the same time wondered why he didn’t raise questions about his church’s stated thesis that ‘God will bless you financially if you give, give, give’. He was certainly not rich, even in the most modest sense of the term and his life appears to be a good contrast to the unbiblical poppycock that infers that God wishes us all to be materially blessed! Can you imagine making such a suggestion to all those saints who suffered material and physical deprivation over the centuries before the era of excess dawned on us, who through accident of birth live in the Western World?
When my friend unexpectedly and sadly passed away I telephoned one of the team of pastors at his church and told them of his secret charity and how this man gave so much it hurt him. Interestingly, the church was so big that they didn’t even know that he was dead; despite the fact that he wasn’t an invisible member of the congregation being involved in a number of supportive roles! I also dutifully informed them that he would have loved his church to conduct his funeral had he been able to communicate his wishes before his departure from this world. Regrettably, a wrangle ensued between churches for reasons that are beyond me and when I attended his funeral it was officiated by a minister from an entirely different church who didn’t even take the time to investigate the deceased’s humble achievements and dedication to the downtrodden of this world. It was as if a disciple of ‘Francis of Assisi’ was buried without due recognition by his peers. Needless to say, I was less than impressed, but I guess my good friend would not have made a fuss about it, so I didn’t either.
Nevertheless there is a lesson to be learned from such experiences. In my opinion the striving for recognition and acceptance in this world, on the part of modern super-sized charismatic churches, appears to detract from the original example of discipleship and service that was ably demonstrated by Jesus of Nazarus and his roving band of disciples. The very size and focus on money and other ‘things’ of these modern churches often lead to a loss of individual identity and raison de’tere of Christ’s church in this world. Their attention to material ‘success’, glamour, business ventures, slick seminars and getting involved in party politics have created a whole new image of the church in the 21st century, an image at times that I view as becoming so fragile that it is destined to come crashing down when individuals realise how similar it is to their everyday world.
(I recommend Tanya Levin’s book, “People in Glass Houses” for a more comprehensive critique of mega-sized and mega-rich charismatic churches and their role in modern Christendom. I have never met the author, but enjoyed her honest portrayal of herself and her experiences at her former church that had the largest congregation and budget in her country)
Please post a comment.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Can Religion be Dangerous?
I have previously blogged on the topic of demons, ghost and goblins in respect to some of the poppycock that is presented by ‘respected’ leadership in international missionary organisations such as Youth With a Mission. I do not have a personal axe to grind in my criticism of what I view as irrational thinking and misleading theology, but I believe I have at least a moral obligation to present an alternative point of view to young Christians who through no fault of their own are raised in a background of religious narrow-mindedness, similar to that in which I was socialised. That is, young people from fundamentalist religious communities who continue to be misled by those they have been raised to look to as unchallengeable authorities in their lives. In turn, when one of their peers cries out for help, they end up providing little rational assistance.
Let me give you an example that is hot off the press, one that I stumbled across quite by accident when Googling the topic of ‘spiritual warfare’ as part of my ongoing research. Readers may wish to check the particular website for themselves to ensure that I am not presenting them with a ‘furphy’ (slang in my part of the world for a rumour, or an erroneous or improbable story).
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070517022411AAqJgah&show=7
You will note that an individual (who is likely to be an adolescent or young adult) wrote to ‘Yahoo Answers’ with the following query:
Is it possible to be attacked at night by a demonic force?
“Late at night, i feel like there is a demonic force that surrounds me and when i am in bed it attacks me. Once i have been attacked, i can't talk, scream, or move. Please tell me i am not the only one with this problem. This isnt the only reason as to why i believe it is a demonic force, i can hear it/them laughing, and when they do take over me i have reeaaly bad nightmares and wake up all sweaty. Also, when i went to the bathroom and closed the door, it felt as if someone on the other side was pullig back giving me resistance... i feel as if I am being haunted and my faith is poor right now. i feel as if i can do nothing but hope tonight is not the night i get attacked.”
Depending on our worldview, we might ignore the potential serious implications of this question and the impact of our replies to this desperate young person. In this case it was the variety and content of answers that both intrigued and disturbed me. I will provide a sample of the responses below that includes harmless simplistic answers, informed educated answers, through to the downright unhelpful, uneducated and potentially destructive answers from our home-grown religious fundamentalists.
Sample of answers to above question:
“It's sleep paralysis.... no demons... sheesh!”
“it is and you must rebuke it in the name of Jesus”
“A night terror, also known as pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia sleep disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming. It is often impossible to fully awaken the person, and after the episode the subject normally settles back to sleep without waking. A night terror can occasionally be recalled by the subject. They typically occur during non-REM sleep.”
“You're not; it's called "sleep paralysis." Discuss it with your doctor or shrink. There may be meds that can help.”
“That is scary, dude. You need to envoke the name of Jesus before you go to sleep and ask Him to protect you. You need to do some serious spiritual warfare. Talk directly to Satan in the Name of Jesus and rebuke that demon and command it to leave your home. I do believe in demonic force. How long has this been going on?”
“No, it's not. But there are perfectly reasonable medical explanations for the phenomenon you experience.”
“Yes it is possible. The people talking about spiritual warfare have the right idea. Dean Sherman wrote an excellent book about spiritual warfare, the exact title escapes me just now (I'm gonna feel really dumb if the title is "Spiritual Warfare"), but you can probably just google his name and find it.”
As you can well see from the selection of answers many worldviews are represented. As I pointed out above, they range from the simplistic, through to the ridiculous and uninformed. Fortunately there are some answers demonstrating that at least some individuals are willing to look outside the religious square for a more scientific explanation. Certainly this individual’s problem was most likely a sleep disorder in the parasomnia spectrum, commonly known as 'Sleep Paralysis', as ably highlighted by some of the more enlightened abovementioned replies. Of interest is that scientists have suggested that such a disorder probably accounts for many of the centuries-old accounts of nocturnal encounters with devils and demons, and in more modern times encounters with aliens, including abduction by aliens.
While it may well have been the case that the young person in question may have eventually found a solution to his problem regardless of the quality of advice provided to him via the web, I put the question to my readers, “What if this young person was enquiring about the early symptoms of a psychotic disorder, rather than a more straightforward and curable sleep disorder?” Imagine the potential replies to a scenario where an individual reports something like:
“I often hear demon voices that either say horrible things about me or make suggestions that I should kill myself because I am so worthless. Also, I often hear the commentators on the TV talking personally to me and suggesting that I am preordained to die at the hands of the police. I just can’t shake this belief and wonder what I should do about it so that I fulfil my destiny? Should I go out and attack the police so that they shoot me? Another thing, I also have a strong sense that my thoughts can be seen or heard by other people, this really disturbs me as I wonder what secrets they will find out about me?”
Some may wonder if I am being a bit too melodramatic, but the essence of this hypothetical scenario and cry for help (usually from someone in their late adolescence or early adulthood) is akin to those that are well documented in psychiatry and my own experience after working in acute care psychiatry for many years.
Now can you imagine the additional trauma that such a person would be exposed to if they followed advice similar to that provided to the person with the sleep disorder and googled ‘Dean Sherman and spiritual warfare’? My concern here is based on the likelihood that an impressionable adolescent or young adult, when encouraged to view the world as inhabited by the 'Principalities and Powers' described by Mr Sherman, will interpret their psychotic symptoms as spiritually-based, rather than as biologically-based. In turn, such a misinterpretation of symptomatology may lead to negative outcomes, including an unwillingness to accept a valid psychiatric diagnosis of mental illness and refusal to comply with prescribed medication. I presume that this may not be Mr Sherman's purpose in what he teaches, but nonetheless he needs to see that it is often an inevitable outcome of what he an other religious fundamentalists teach about the so-called 'Devil' and his 'demon' assistants.
Undiagnosed and untreated chronic psychotic illnesses can have potentially disastrous effects that range from suicide (to escape aversive symptoms) to even murder if an individual is also afflicted by psychotic paranoid delusions. I encourage new readers to go to my 14 February 2008 blog titled, “Burning the Witches, Religious Fundamentalism, Ignorance, Mental Illness and the Unknown” that further addresses the topic of mental illness. This earlier blog is also a call for a balanced education in critical thinking rather than an education that is limited to simplistic fundamentalist bible-based learning.
Believe me, my work in the area of mental health that includes a number of years in forensic mental health, has made me all too aware of the dangers of ignorance. Even of late I have come across another case of fundamentalist religious parents who have visited their young adult son in a forensic mental health unit and opened their bible and harangued this poor, poor man with reasons why he should feel so very guilty about what he did when he was chronically psychotic. Sadly, they have even managed to convince this fellow that his psychotic experiences were no more than “an attack of the Devil”, and that his recovery is the result of prayer and not the antipsychotic medications. God help us!
Let me give you an example that is hot off the press, one that I stumbled across quite by accident when Googling the topic of ‘spiritual warfare’ as part of my ongoing research. Readers may wish to check the particular website for themselves to ensure that I am not presenting them with a ‘furphy’ (slang in my part of the world for a rumour, or an erroneous or improbable story).
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070517022411AAqJgah&show=7
You will note that an individual (who is likely to be an adolescent or young adult) wrote to ‘Yahoo Answers’ with the following query:
Is it possible to be attacked at night by a demonic force?
“Late at night, i feel like there is a demonic force that surrounds me and when i am in bed it attacks me. Once i have been attacked, i can't talk, scream, or move. Please tell me i am not the only one with this problem. This isnt the only reason as to why i believe it is a demonic force, i can hear it/them laughing, and when they do take over me i have reeaaly bad nightmares and wake up all sweaty. Also, when i went to the bathroom and closed the door, it felt as if someone on the other side was pullig back giving me resistance... i feel as if I am being haunted and my faith is poor right now. i feel as if i can do nothing but hope tonight is not the night i get attacked.”
Depending on our worldview, we might ignore the potential serious implications of this question and the impact of our replies to this desperate young person. In this case it was the variety and content of answers that both intrigued and disturbed me. I will provide a sample of the responses below that includes harmless simplistic answers, informed educated answers, through to the downright unhelpful, uneducated and potentially destructive answers from our home-grown religious fundamentalists.
Sample of answers to above question:
“It's sleep paralysis.... no demons... sheesh!”
“it is and you must rebuke it in the name of Jesus”
“A night terror, also known as pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia sleep disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming. It is often impossible to fully awaken the person, and after the episode the subject normally settles back to sleep without waking. A night terror can occasionally be recalled by the subject. They typically occur during non-REM sleep.”
“You're not; it's called "sleep paralysis." Discuss it with your doctor or shrink. There may be meds that can help.”
“That is scary, dude. You need to envoke the name of Jesus before you go to sleep and ask Him to protect you. You need to do some serious spiritual warfare. Talk directly to Satan in the Name of Jesus and rebuke that demon and command it to leave your home. I do believe in demonic force. How long has this been going on?”
“No, it's not. But there are perfectly reasonable medical explanations for the phenomenon you experience.”
“Yes it is possible. The people talking about spiritual warfare have the right idea. Dean Sherman wrote an excellent book about spiritual warfare, the exact title escapes me just now (I'm gonna feel really dumb if the title is "Spiritual Warfare"), but you can probably just google his name and find it.”
As you can well see from the selection of answers many worldviews are represented. As I pointed out above, they range from the simplistic, through to the ridiculous and uninformed. Fortunately there are some answers demonstrating that at least some individuals are willing to look outside the religious square for a more scientific explanation. Certainly this individual’s problem was most likely a sleep disorder in the parasomnia spectrum, commonly known as 'Sleep Paralysis', as ably highlighted by some of the more enlightened abovementioned replies. Of interest is that scientists have suggested that such a disorder probably accounts for many of the centuries-old accounts of nocturnal encounters with devils and demons, and in more modern times encounters with aliens, including abduction by aliens.
While it may well have been the case that the young person in question may have eventually found a solution to his problem regardless of the quality of advice provided to him via the web, I put the question to my readers, “What if this young person was enquiring about the early symptoms of a psychotic disorder, rather than a more straightforward and curable sleep disorder?” Imagine the potential replies to a scenario where an individual reports something like:
“I often hear demon voices that either say horrible things about me or make suggestions that I should kill myself because I am so worthless. Also, I often hear the commentators on the TV talking personally to me and suggesting that I am preordained to die at the hands of the police. I just can’t shake this belief and wonder what I should do about it so that I fulfil my destiny? Should I go out and attack the police so that they shoot me? Another thing, I also have a strong sense that my thoughts can be seen or heard by other people, this really disturbs me as I wonder what secrets they will find out about me?”
Some may wonder if I am being a bit too melodramatic, but the essence of this hypothetical scenario and cry for help (usually from someone in their late adolescence or early adulthood) is akin to those that are well documented in psychiatry and my own experience after working in acute care psychiatry for many years.
Now can you imagine the additional trauma that such a person would be exposed to if they followed advice similar to that provided to the person with the sleep disorder and googled ‘Dean Sherman and spiritual warfare’? My concern here is based on the likelihood that an impressionable adolescent or young adult, when encouraged to view the world as inhabited by the 'Principalities and Powers' described by Mr Sherman, will interpret their psychotic symptoms as spiritually-based, rather than as biologically-based. In turn, such a misinterpretation of symptomatology may lead to negative outcomes, including an unwillingness to accept a valid psychiatric diagnosis of mental illness and refusal to comply with prescribed medication. I presume that this may not be Mr Sherman's purpose in what he teaches, but nonetheless he needs to see that it is often an inevitable outcome of what he an other religious fundamentalists teach about the so-called 'Devil' and his 'demon' assistants.
Undiagnosed and untreated chronic psychotic illnesses can have potentially disastrous effects that range from suicide (to escape aversive symptoms) to even murder if an individual is also afflicted by psychotic paranoid delusions. I encourage new readers to go to my 14 February 2008 blog titled, “Burning the Witches, Religious Fundamentalism, Ignorance, Mental Illness and the Unknown” that further addresses the topic of mental illness. This earlier blog is also a call for a balanced education in critical thinking rather than an education that is limited to simplistic fundamentalist bible-based learning.
Believe me, my work in the area of mental health that includes a number of years in forensic mental health, has made me all too aware of the dangers of ignorance. Even of late I have come across another case of fundamentalist religious parents who have visited their young adult son in a forensic mental health unit and opened their bible and harangued this poor, poor man with reasons why he should feel so very guilty about what he did when he was chronically psychotic. Sadly, they have even managed to convince this fellow that his psychotic experiences were no more than “an attack of the Devil”, and that his recovery is the result of prayer and not the antipsychotic medications. God help us!
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