What we don't know about our beliefs...

I saw this interesting blogpost linked on Facebook the other day. It was called Strange is American Religion, Stranger is American Secularity. It is a thought provoking article about something that I've observed all to frequently ... the ignorant pilgrim. There is no way to talk about this subject without sounding arrogant and I apologize for that in advance. However, it does bother me when I meet someone who claims to be passionate about their faith but then can't tell you much about it or how it differs from the faith of others. This article talks about that odd phenomena where the majority of Americans will tell you that they are some flavor of Christianity and then can't tell you much of anything else while anyone who tells you that they are something other than Christian can usually tell you a lot about why and why not. So where is the disconnect?

I listen to several podcasts about different religious and spiritual disciplines, I read a lot, and through much of my life I've been willing to go to church with anyone who invited me to go. Thus, I've been exposed to a lot of neat ideas (I've even been to a major Krishna temple). One of the ideas that fits this situation I heard on the Minnesota Atheists podcast and that is that the majority of Americans are "apatheists". It's such an interesting notion that, while not being completely true, probably fits a lot of people. That is, the majority of people you meet are probably apathetic (disinterested) toward theism (the doctrinal belief in a deity). However, if you asked them their beliefs they will default into the last doctrine that they followed ... even if that doctrine occurred in childhood when so many of us were indoctrinated into beliefs such as Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the superman Jesus. It's that same childhood memory that stirs the neurons when the question is asked and the answer comes out in a rote fashion with little or no thought ... at least that is often my experience.

For the last several years I've seen a few reports of studies that talk about how atheists and agnostics often know more about various world religions than members of those religions. Such studies have shown that that this is most often true of the knowledge that a member of a faith has of other faiths outside of their own but sometimes this even proves true of the person's own proclaimed faith. The Pew Center recently published results of a study that showed a shocking lack of knowledge of fundamental principles of the major religions held even by members of those faiths. Who scored the highest? Jews, atheists, and agnostics scored the highest followed by Mormons. Interestingly, when looking for articles on google I came across several decrying atheists as being ignorant. Perhaps this is where the problem lies?

You can take part of the quiz yourself ... I missed one of the 15 representative questions and ended up in the 97th percentile which is sad when you consider the questions.

When I was more antagonistic about religion I used to ask Catholics to explain to me the dogma of the "Immaculate Conception" and I was always surprised by the answer. I think I only ever met one person, who wasn't a priest, who could explain it. Often I'd hear how they don't talk about that in service or that they converted and didn't catch that. Still, it's a central tenant of a very structured branch of Christianity and it seems inexcusable not to understand a concept that is central to the dogma of "original sin". Do people simply tune out during their Sunday morning services?

Protestants should, by no means, get a free pass. It amazes me how few people I've talked to realize that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all share the same book as a central pillar of their faith ... it's the book that most know as "The Old Testament" that I tend to refer to as the "Jewish Bible" after reading Marcus Borg. And, of course, I always love it when I meet a Protestant who doesn't think that they are Protestant because they haven't learned where they fit into the greater schema of religious classification. I grew up hearing from some how Catholics aren't Christians because they worship Mary rather than Jesus. It is for all of these reasons that I study such things because I find it inconceivable that the thing that so many people hold to be central to their lives can be so muddled by so many. What is it about religion that causes people to be so blind and uninquisitive about their proclaimed most sacred beliefs?

Are we a nation torn between apatheists and fundamentalist exclusionists? I sincerely hope not. It is for this reason that I try to read and keep up on various Christian teachings while studying and identifying most strongly with Buddhism. It's amazing how so many tenants of faith look the same when you strip the dogma away and look at them for what they are actually saying. Some people I talk to seem to think we are heading toward another religious reformation much like the Protestant Reformation with Martin Luther (one of the answers to the quiz above btw). I could see this perhaps. Many people, myself included, don't feel like they fit into the modern landscape of organized religion so they don't try ... while still proclaiming themselves to be something that perhaps they are not. Is there something else on the horizon for those folks or is Soylent Green truly people? Time will tell.

Washington's Rules of Civility - #1

And the first rerun for the new blog.

So I was in Washington D.C. several years ago taking a seminar in ethics and civility that is required by the D.C. Bar ... of which I am now a member in good standing. Many, myself included, found the idea funny that the beltway has such a course when the seat of our nation's power is so rife with just the opposite type of conduct.

For that reason, I have been reminded of a book that I read recently that goes through 110 "Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation" that a 14 year old George Washington was said to have penned in 1744 and copied from another source as some sort of writing assignment. Many of the rules are outdated but there are many that are just as applicable today. So I thought it would be a fun little series to start blogging them here ... every so often. Enjoy ... and don't skip ahead!

1. Every Action done in Company, ought to be with some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.

How more basic can you get than that? This should be the Golden Rule of Civility. Indeed, everything else that follows gets much more specific ... sometimes much much more specific.

I often hear people say how they are offended by things that don't phase me. Other times I find that I get offended about something very specific. I suppose that it the state of our modern society where everyone seems to have lost their ability to filter themselves. Watching the stuff that some people post on Facebook leaves me gobsmacked at times. So, there we are ... civility is a good thing but what is it? We shall see.

the journey of one thousand miles ...

There is an old Chinese proverb about the journey of one thousand miles starting with a single step. It's true and the older that I get the more wisdom that I see in these sorts of ancient philosophies.

Everyone in this world is trying to sell you something. Sometimes they are trying to sell a good, sometimes they are trying to sell an image, sometimes they are trying to sell themselves, and the list goes on ad infinitum. What is jedijawa trying to sell? Well, that's a tough question ... I don't know. This has been envisioned as my own spiritual growth tracker and if anyone enjoys reading it or participating then that works too.

I had an earlier couple of blogs that I started back in 2005. I hadn't posted to them for more than a year when I took them down last month. Only one person noticed but he asked me about it. I thought about keeping it around but decided that I was no longer the person who I was when I wrote that blog. I enjoyed the many hours that I put into the 1500+ posts that were there and some of them may be recycled some day in some form or another. However, the biggest thing is that I was in a different part of my journey then. I was more prone to outburst and outrage. These are things that I've been working to control and limit within myself over these last two years. So here is the new thing.

Each day I try to investigate and examine myself and where I'm going in my life. I seek spiritual advice from a number of places: from friends, from podcasts, from books, and from attending Unity with my girlfriend where I find that the spiritual environment is open enough to be comfortable for someone who has largely abandoned the idea of organized religion. My friend Sky's tagline for Unity is "disorganized religion" and that has been a comfort zone in a world that is largely divided, at least in America between Christians and everyone else. Then there is a larger divide within the Christian camp of whether or not you are the "right kind" of Christian. So I gave all that up. In my former blog I was bitter about that process so I have sought to temper those feelings and expressions except for breakthrough moments of which I'm not proud.

Hence, I consider myself to be some sort of Buddhist who has fled from Christianity and all of the things that I didn't appreciate about it. I've considered myself a deist until the last year or so where I now see myself as mostly Buddhist with a pantheist outlook (though my church tends to be more panentheistic). Yes, words and categories tend to bug me but people ask so I tell them and then get a blank look. "You mean you don't believe in God." And I say, "that's not what I said ... buy a dictionary or use wikipedia in a pinch." I don't actually say that. If someone wants to know I tell them and then they are usually sorry they asked because it seems foreign to them and I feel bad for making them uncomfortable ... while feeling a tang of enjoyment as well. I think that it's important to think about, understand, and be able to explain your beliefs ... but that's just me.

Well, that's long enough for an introductory post. I will return from time to time with other musings, struggles, breakthroughs, and history of how I got from there to here and where I hope to go. Read if you must, comment please so I can see how I sound, and email me if you wanna.