Vanquish Ignorance! (part II)

I know I promised you another exciting edition of this post. However, I wasn't expecting to spend a long hot miserable day in Huston today, so this will have to be abbreviated from my original voluminous diatribe. I lost that passionate ire that originally drove me write.

None-the-less I owe you a little something.

Back to the subject at hand. The issue of separation of church and state, as well as the religiosity of the founder fathers and subsequent patriots is often contested. As discussed in my previous post, the religious right and the extreme conspiracy elements seem to champion the idea that all great American heroes were "passionately religious" in the Christian sense and committed to bringing that old time religion into the way we govern. This painting is picture perfect propaganda for that kind of idea.

The fact is many of these men and women were both believers in unorthodox senses ( like deism or pantheism) or were flat out non-believers.

I already talked about Thomas Jefferson's deistic beliefs. I could continue with Washington, Franklin, Lincoln and Grant, but John E Remsburg has written such an enlightening work, entitled Six Historic Americans, I find that I haven't much to contribute. Lets just say calling them Christians is misleading, so is calling them atheists.

I will comment that seeing Thomas Paine behind Jesus among the righteous in the painting made me fall on the ground writhing with riotous laughter. Paine as we all know wrote Common Sense. He also wrote something called the Age of Reason, which was a vitriolic attack on organized religion and Christianity in particular.

Here are a few fun Paine quotes:

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on nothing; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing and admits of no conclusion.

The Bible: a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalise mankind.

The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense.

So much for passionately religious.

As for our Women Patriots

Susan B. Anthony was also known as a Unitarian. At the 1893 Chicago worlds' fair she shocked the Sabatarians when she said that her son would "learn more" at Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, than by attending church. The whole platform of her efforts to gain women's rights came under very heavy attack by, you guessed it, ministers and bible thumping preachers. She was committed to bringing about rights regardless of their beliefs or lack thereof.

tell them I have worked 40 years to make the Women's Suffrage platform broad enough for Atheists and Agnostics to stand upon, and now if need be I will fight the next 40 to keep it Catholic enough to permit the straightest Orthodox religionist to speak or pray and count her beads upon.

How refreshingly balanced for the 19th century. I wish we were so enlightened

If I had more time and energy I'd go and on, but It's hard to write all of American History in a simple blog post, so I'll let you investigate somethings that I've read that might illuminate you. Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers, a History of American Secularism is a great over all resource. Might I also refer you to any objective biography written about Franklin, Jefferson, Washington or Lincoln. You won't find any evidence of a transparent Christian faith as we see it today.

Efforts to rewrite history though rumor and propaganda always amuse me. Like I said before, fiction is fun, but fact is so much more refreshing.

Vanquish Ignorace! ( part 1 )

Everyone is going to be talking about Conference this weekend, so I thought I 'd be original and talk about somethings totally unrelated, this most absurd of all paintings.  ( Go ahead take a look!)

I realize I'm a little late in discussing it's craziness.  They did a whole magnificent haiku post at BCC mocking it. (fantastic!) It was particularly offensive to my brain because I am professional artist, and I am an  enthusiast of American history.  Thus I attempt to base my world view on fact, rather than the mindless passionate ravings of infotainment prophets like Glenn Beck. Thomas Jefferson gave us the key for prosperity and freedom. 

Educate the whole mass of people...they are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. 

 Books like Cleon Skousen's Five Thousand Year Leap which linger in a factual famine, clinging to a biased world view, do little to objectively educate the whole mass of people. For the record, I'm a Jeffersonian Libertarian, but these clowns draw close to those ideas with their lips, but their hearts and facts are far from it.

So, allow me to assist in your enlightenment dear reader.  

The painting depicts scores of historic luminaries basking in the light of Jesus. Furthermore his extremely religious right wing bias is so palpable you can almost feel the Atheist professor shoving Darwin down your throat.  Like the rantings of a Fox news host, this depiction is based in dubious opinion and fallacious claims.  In case the visual message wasn't overt enough, he provides an illuminating  artist statement (under the painting) to explain his design.

In essence it says that The separation of church and state is bad and that the founding fathers were "passionately religious and saw the hand of God all around them." To prove his point he provides quotes from some of our most esteemed early leaders about God, thus "proving" his point.

Any slightly comprehensive investigation reveals that the men and women in this painting present a patchwork of faith and non-belief, both in and out of the Christian tradition.  They were also most assuredly committed to a separation of church and state.  

The artist presents the most facile investigation of history, utilized to purport ones own bias as supreme. Let us investigate each quote and the man behind it to see if they really were "passionately religious" and proponents of a Christan republic relying on religion as it's necessary counter part.  

We'll begin with my hero Thomas Jefferson.

God who gave us life gave us liberty. And Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God.

Jefferson did indeed believe in God, however his god was much different form that worshipped by Christians of his time and today.  Like many of his intellect and status, he was a deist. Thus, he believed in a supreme being who created the earth, and like a clock maker tightened the springs and let the whole earth take motion and operate. He confessed, To Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, his appeal to Unitarianism, which has no dogma or specific belief system. 

That was the extent of his religious convictions, he did not favor Christianity, nor did he believe that Christ was the Son of God, but a great moral teacher. In a letter to John Adams he commented.

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.

Furthermore, he edited the New Testament and removed all metaphysical references, like the Resurrection, miracles, and the virgin birth.  It was privately written, but can be purchased today under the title "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth".

Dose he strike you as a "passionately religious" man.  

How about the separation of church and state?

Jefferson was the greatest champion of a separation of church and state. He has engraved on his grave stone, Author of the Virgina Statue of Religious freedom.  This prevented a domination by any religious institution over the people of the state.  Furthermore he was the author of the phrase separation of church and state in an letter to the Danbury baptists in 1802.  Furthermore his ideas of liberty and freedom derived from Anglo Saxon common law, not Roman or Christian ideas of a republic. He authored the following.

... the common law existed while the Anglo-Saxons were yet pagans, at a time when they had never yet heard the name of Christ pronounced or knew that such a character existed.

Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.

Furthermore he expressed his disdain of religion intertwining itself in government. He related in letter to Jeremiah Moor the following.

The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man.

To Alexander von Humboldt he related the following,

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.

There is a mountain of  primary source documents that attest to Jefferson distrust of organized religion, his desire for a separation of church and state and his rejection of Christianity.  So even if there was a vast liberal conspiracy to paint Jefferson as a freethinking secularist, the documents speak for themselves.  Seek for thyself.  

Yet, Jefferson was supposedly inspired by Christ himself to write the Declaration of Independence? Facts say otherwise.  The other founders fall into faiths similar to Jefferson's.  

Stay tuned for more founding fathers in part II

 

Truth, Lies and Myth

I took sometime off from the blog(s). It was reminding me of things I wanted to forget. I wanted to forget that my mother had completely lost her view of me as a moral and spiritual person. I wanted to forget that she's slowly telling everyone in my family without my consent of my choice. I want to forget that Hypatia's mom is sending letters to my parents with dubious claims in a probable attempt to unify them against their "apostate" children. Forget family, forget church, forget turmoil, if only for a few days.

I suppose I was losing sight of why I had decided to leave in the first place. I wanted to become my best self, and investigate truths for myself. I didn't see me accomplishing that in an organization that I disagreed with on many levels. The explosive events surrounding the announcement of my exit created a very hard environment for reflection and meditation. I was engaged mostly in damage control, trying to prevent my mother from disowning me. Every phone call was so emotionally and mentally draining. It appeared that they were determined to self fulfill the "bitter fruits of apostasy" proclamation. It's odd to note that the only bitter part about this has been the reaction from faithful members of the church. Seems awfully counter intuitive.

Thankfully my dad has been really good about most things. It reminded me that I don't want to cast my heritage away completely. I've forced myself to remember the many teachings about Mormonism that I really liked. It got me thinking about myth, lies and truth.

Why do we still teach Greco-Roman mythology in a largely Judeo-Christian society? Certainly the two religious traditions were not compatible when they squared off for hearts and minds centuries ago. Christians of the era burned pagan libraries ( and their librarians ) destroyed their iconography and built their churches on the ashes of pagan temples. Although, Christian success was not totally due to violent subjugation of pagan thought. It owes a great deal to assimilation of pagan worship. (i.e. Christmas, Easter and the days of the week). That's how you get converts.

You say,

"Look, were not too different from you, we think the winter solstice is great too, that's when our god was born. Lets go sing and drink mead together!"

Or if you speak Mormon,

"Look, were not too different from you, we think basketball is great too, we just play it a bit more like rugby. Lets go play and drink root beer together!"

So, besides the obvious bridge to help converts, why bother to keep those contradictory faith traditions? I speculate that they were kept, because they have value. They speak to certain truths in humanity. There are infinite commonalities across the pantheon of religious thought. Unfortunately most of our focus is discovering differences between faiths.

Coming back to mythology, why do we tell our children the stories of Apollo, Zeus and Athena? Is it simply because they are fun entertaining stories, or do they teach us about human nature personified in the divine? I doubt many of us, short of our friend Kullervo, believe that they really exist and still sip ambrosia on Olympus. (Well, maybe he knows something we don't.) However, there are reasons that Homer and Ovid are still thoroughly read so many centuries later. Some of the best authors of fiction are the greatest illuminators of transcendent realities. Or, if you prefer pop culture; as Evey Hammond relates to V, in V for Vendetta, An artist uses lies to tell the truth.

So, I can easily believe that even though Joseph Smith didn't actually see Deity, angels and long dead prophets; he still had a few enlightening things to think about. While I reject his claim as a prophet of the one True and living corporeal omnipotent Father in Heaven, I don't have to reject everything he said as a simple lie. Mormonism holds many truths and admirable pursuits of truth. However, when Mormonism uses dogma as a weapon and alienates the already marginalized ( thank you for today's example Mr. Hafen) they fail in their search of truth.

Not, surprisingly this is all very difficult to explain to your average Mormon believer like our mothers. Hypatia's mother is still baffled why we would let our daughter go to church on occasion, if we think the church isn't True. Well, I don't believe the church is True, because it's doesn't have a monopoly on the ones it contains, and purports things that are far from anything resembling truth. There are other places to explore truth that are more enlightening for me at this point in my life. Like the man who crosses the river in the Buddha's teaching. I am grateful for where the boat of Mormonism has brought me. I would be foolish to carry it forever on my back, because of mere gratitude.

I can rely on Science to inform me of empirical truths about our wondrous physical world. However, it serves me little when seeking truths about love, compassion, charity and virtue. Philosophy and religious tradition seem better equipped. Darwin and Dawkins inform me of the former, Ecclesiastes and Epictetus on the latter. A religion may not be True, be it can share truths. I don't have to leave everything behind as I explore new ideas.

But, try explaining that to my Mom.

The Binds that Tie

I wrote the following letter to my mother the other day. It was designed to express my love and empathy, in hopes that we could come together in spite of our beliefs. I already posted it in my comments, but for those who haven't read it, here it is:

Mom,

Thank you very much for your letter. I carefully read it several times. I know how deeply concerned you are. It would be rather unfair of me to expect you to understand what I am thinking or going through. Although that is one of my greatest wishes, I cannot change what I cannot change. I will only say that my experience right now is significant and wondrous. I am excited about life as never before. There is no despair or fear in me, only love. Although I don't have all the answers and have some confusion I do not see that as negative, but rather as an inspiring opportunity. I love you and I love my family dearly, family is the most important this in my life. You are not lost to me.

I thought that my discussion with Dad was very enlightening and helpful. A contest about these issues, however, I think would only serve to drive us apart and fortify our own opinions at this time. That is the total and complete opposite of what I want. I think, rather than try to see what is right and what is wrong, or what is false what is true; we should ask different questions and shift our paradigm. How can we draw closer as a family right now and, how can we have better communication even if we currently hold differing opinions?

The only thing I can think to say right now is that I love you very much and that I have always admired your resolve, your talents, your compassion and capacities both as a mother and as an individual. If everyone had parents like I had, I think that this world would be a much brighter place. That is not meant as a sugary comment to appeal to your ego, but an honest assessment of my observation of my experiences. Every child should be more open about these things with their parents, I'm sorry I haven't always told you this while I was growing up, I should have said I love and appreciate you more often. The great news is there's always time to change. Thank you again for all you have done, all you are doing, and all that you will continue to do for me and my family. You are in my thoughts and I hope that we can find peace together.

Love,

Marcus




I felt pretty confidant that I could open a more constructive dialogue with her. I hoped she would be impressed with my composure and the calm and even tone. Well, I should have known better, this letter was the response I received.



I am your Mother. I went through the pain of bringing you into this world. I was mainly the one to experience the heart break and joy watching you grow stumbling and occasionally falling. I was the one to hold you in my arms to comfort your tears. I was the one to protect you from being unfairly treated or abused as best I could. I was the one that let you experience abusive treatment hoping you would stand up for yourself. I'm the one that made sure your childhood was filled with memorable moments that you could cherish. I'm the one that taught you about family and the traditions of our fathers, about our Savior and about His atonement and that families can be together forever. I'm the one that loves you so deeply. They say that when the love is so great so is the pain. AND I have the right to chide you.

This is my tough love for you, I believe you are choosing the easy way. No more twinges of guilt when you go to church being reminded of things that are not right in your life, no more twinges because you haven't done home teaching or fulfilling your priesthood duties, no more reminder of the saving ordinance because you aren't wearing your garments and no more money worries for tithing. I can see how you could feel relief.

I'm not happy about your choice, and I never will be.

I leave my testimony to you: That Faith is an inner choice based on belief in eternal promises and trust in God’s plan. True faith knows that the goal is to make His will my will and to trust God whatever comes in the meantime. Keeping faith no matter what happens ... Isn’t that what the tests of life are all about?

Either the gospel of Jesus Christ and all the scriptural promises are true, or all is lost. Either the Atonement is real, or I have nothing to hope for. Either the Resurrection is literal, or I have nothing to look forward to. Either God and Jesus are loving, merciful and able to cleanse and heal, or nothing makes sense.

I choose to keep the faith. I choose hope; the alternative emptiness is unbearable.

The Savior stands at the door and knocks, waiting for an invitation to enter. However, the adversary is the great intruder. He does all he can to bombard our thoughts with doubt, fear, negativity, and discouragement. However, I need not claim those thoughts as my own or feel guilty for them unless I invite them in to stay! I can choose to replace them with thoughts of faith in Christ and His promises.

I am convinced that all fearful, discouraging or doubtful thoughts are an attack from the adversary. The Holy Ghost never introduces them into my mind. Never. This member of the Godhead is my Comforter.

There are days when doubt and pain try to rear their ugly heads again, but that sweet, simple, little word FAITH takes on the strength, character, and courage to knock down those negative feelings. One truly has to ‘be still and know that I am God’.

Jesus Christ lived here on the earth he atoned for my sins and died for me on the cross. I chose his plan. A mighty servant Joseph Smith restored all things. A simple farm boy (as you put it) divinely translated the Book of Mormon with all it's promises and blessings and it is another testament of Jesus Christ. I chose life after by entering in to the Lords house to be sealed to my loving and supportive companion your father. I chose to have you beautiful children with all the hardships sacrifices and love. And because of his great mercy and love he has left servants the living prophets to guide us home. This is my testimony.

And since I know that this too will make you feel guilty I will not write often. But occasional as the spirit directs me you will hear more testimonies. So I leave you with a quote from your beloved philosophers.

Dante, in the Divine Comedy, wrote: “In His will is our peace.”

Dad and others may be mad at me for writing this way but I need to express what I feel to you.

Love Mom

So there seems to be a communicative disconnect here. Am I ever going to have a an even discussion with her? I don't know. I guess I should accept that I can't change her response. Still it's disappointing.

The overall irony, besides her judgmental non-Christ like reaction, is the assumption that this is the easy road. So, apparently the fact that I am risking complete alienation from all my friends family and community over my search for truth and peace is, easy. The scorn, judgments and ridicule are so easy to face, not to mention that my only support system left is my wife. All of my friends and family are members of the church. Yes, mom, this is the easiest thing I've ever done.


quadruple plus sigh

The Conundrum

So the brutal battle for my everlasting soul has begun. 3 of the 4 parents have fired off letters laden with scriptures and warm fuzzy stories to try to drag us back to the light. Only my father seems capable of a mutually respectful conversation devoid of sanctimonious overtones, and is willing to recognize nuance.

I can't blame the others though. It's the only means the church provides for bringing back wayward souls. It's not as if I haven't poured over these scriptures for years and put my whole heart and sincerity upon them, and wanted with all my heart to believe exactly what they are. Alma 32 in my scriptures is so marked and crossed referenced with notes that you can barely read anything anymore. I spent an entire month on my mission studying that one chapter alone. That's almost an hour of study for each single verse.

Still they send these verses as if I'd just never read it, or pondered it or studied out in my mind. Because Mormonism says that any sincere seeker of truth will find that the Book of Mormon is true. End of story. Furthermore, to my Mother, faith is the end all of being, if an empirical fact says something contrary to her idea of faith, she would deny it outright. How can I communicate with her?

She holds the rosy perfect picture of the church, with out blemish stain or fault. It is her rock and foundation and nothing in the world could take her faith away ( her words). This being the case, it is absolutely impossible for her to fathom why her once zealous son can abandon his faith. It boggles her mind. The only way for me to help her understand what I am thinking is to present to her certain facts about the church that I find deeply troubling, and to attempt to express how I feel about it. Doing this is problematic for several reasons.

1.) The facts could shake her faith and cause an existential crisis that will strip her of her safe and secure faith. Causing possible depression, anxiety and despair. What kind of a son would want to bring that upon a mother or any loved one? Why would I want to destroy someone's faith just so I could be understood. That seems like the height of selfishness.

2.) She will choose not to listen or deny any carefully researched argument I present. It would only serve to sustain her belief that I indulged in anti-Mormon rhetoric, and sought to destroy my faith because life is just easier that way.

3.)This could initiate a long and bitter argument over what is historical/doctrinal/religious fact, or if such facts exists. I have no interest in combating apologetics, I've poured over that as well, its not satisfying to be on either side of that debate. It will undoubtedly only serve to drive a wedge between us, which is the polar opposite of what I am trying to achieve.

4.) Presenting something that is opposed to her world view will only serve to solidify her bias and steel her resolve. (e.g. the persecution complex) Furthermore, she could take personal offense to what ever is presented because it challenges things sacred to her. This would cast a more damning light upon me, as a supposed servant of dark spirits seeking to bring others astray. Once again this would no doubt hurt our relationship.

So, what to do?

What do I say?

I've tried to tell her how much I love and appreciate her concern. That alone seems inadequate.

It leaves her with the gaping question of why. The why is answered by the committee designed responses. He didn't pray hard enough, he wasn't faithful enough, he sinned, he was offended, he was seduced by evil spirits, he is proud and learned. That last one seems to be my mother's favorite at the moment. The irony is I fully admit my vast ignorance and realize that I can be totally wrong. She doesn't share that capacity, yet I am the prideful one.

So here I am, stuck; trying desperately to salvage the relationship I have with my mother. I have no clue what to do.

ideas?

Father Knows Best

If you've read the last few posts, then your aware of the massive explosive response from our families about our distancing from the church. Hypatia got cornered by her nosy and overbearing mother. My wife is incapable of any falsehood or dishonesty, so when she was hit with direct answers about the church, she had no other alternate but to spill the beans.

What ensued was very ugly.

Despite our wishes that I allowed to inform my parents about the full extent of my belief/disbelief, Hypatia's mother went behind my back and send my mom an email. I figured this out when I got a phone call from my inconsolable mother. Between sobs and tears she told me that she had lost me and my daughter. She couldn't understand how I could jeapoardize our salvations like that. I asked her if I should continue my whole life trudging through church, even if I never believe. Immediatly she said YES! She made it clear that the church is the only way to go through life.

All attempts to calm and ally her fears proved pretty futile. I emphasized how much I loved her and that our family was the most important part of my life. I also said that I would always pursue peace love and harmony and emphasize that in our home. It did very little, unfortunatly. I hadn't heard my mother that distraught since the death of my grandmother. It made me physically sick.

I was trying to let them down slowly, but that wasn't an option for me anymore. It was time for damage control. Naturally I have some very very dark thoughts for Hypatia's mother. I know that's worng and that I should take the high road. I will. I'm just furious right now.

So I spent the day with everything looming over me. Awaiting the call I knew I would recieve from my father.

It came that evening. We had a very long and rational talk about religon and philosphy. It was devoid of accusation, condemnation and fear. It was very enlightening and respectful. My father was a bishop, so I knew he would be a bit more savvy about things. As it turns out, my dad is more of a liberal believer than I thought. It was very refreshing. This is not to say he was not concerned about me and dissapointed with my current descision. I could deal with that. Kids dissapoint their parents all the time.

My dad and I talked about how upset my mom was. I as it turns out one of the big things she's worried about is when my sister gets married. I will be unable to go to the temple, and then everyone will know. I don't think my mom likes the idea of having raised the black sheep . All my family on my dad's and most on my mom's side is full active, returned missionaries, sealed in the temple. Judgements will fly. I said that were just going to have to cross that bridge when we get to it.

In the end all he asked was that I not discard those parts of Mormonism that I admire, and that I convey them to my daughter. I agreed, and think that is good idea. Prehaps his calm came from his conviction that I will eventually find my way back to the faith of my youth. He seemed rather emphatic that this will be the case. I was not one to dispell that notion, although I don't agree with that assesment, I can't divine what the future will bring. There are no absolutes.

Meanwhile My father-in-law had sent a letter to Hypatia's mother that seemed to calm her down. He appears to also have a very calm and reasoned approach to our situation. As it turns out, he too thinks that we will eventually find our way back to the church.

That night after the phone call with my dad I felt tremendous relief. It was all out on the table, and I was pretty sure my parents hadn't disowned me. As I talked with my wife, we found it interesting that both of our mothers went into an emotinal tirade and brought condemnation over our heads, whereas our fathers were much more rational and calm about the whole thing. I thought it was an interesting gender distintion. My wife bristled at the idea it was a gender difference and a associated with Relief Society culture as opposed to preisthood culture.

So that's were we are. No where to go but up.

Ad astra per aspera

Thank You

Everyone who reads this, things are getting kind of ugly. My mom contacted Marcus's parents behind his back, and told them flat out we were leaving the church... which Marcus hadn't been ready to fully do yet.

There is a lot of turmoil going on around us, and we can't help but be upset with how our parents have reacted to everything. I guess I'm posting because it would be great if everyone could send us some good energy, whether that be a prayer if you believe in prayer, or even some good feelings and thoughts in our direction. I believe that positive attitudes and mindsets can make a difference in any situation, and that is really helped by positive people giving their support in any way they know how.

I am so thankful that there is such an online support system, when we have no one near us with whom we can be frank. Thanks everyone who's commented and shown their support thus far. We really appreciate all the kind words of support we've received so far, and we believe we can get through this.

Just right now... it's a HUGE pain.