Disaster Theology and Us

A rather helpful essay (for some) on the theology of disaster (or eschatology) from writer, former Zen monk, and haiku master Clark Strand can be found on today's RD (Religion Dispatches) site.

As the author notes, the tendency to ascribe disasters (particularly, natural ones in context here) to the concept of Divine justice or retribution is not new, but often found to be tried and well . . . true, depending.

To the point, he notes that, even among the more or less enlightened among us, "the desire to regain control in the face of terrifying events is so strong we might as well call it an imperative. We will do or say almost anything to put ourselves back in charge, even if that means accepting the blame or assigning it to another."

However, also noted, in Japan, at least, the prevalence of such thinking, bent or attitude may be changing.

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara’s attempt last week to evoke the specter of tenbatsu,

or “divine punishment,” against the people of Japan got him smacked down so smartly

that it’s now questionable whether he can win reelection.

Meanwhile, a senior religious leader (noted on this blog here, previously) has made perhaps the most elegant (and logical) offering and statement to the Japanese situation.

Rev. Moon: "I hope [the] people of Japan will find courage to rise again"

The donation of $1.7 million by Rev. Sun Myung Moon on March 20 for relief

of Japanese earthquake victims reflected Rev. Moon’s deep love for Japan. 
“Rev. Moon is heartbroken that Japanese citizens are going through tremendous suffering as a result of the recent earthquake,” said Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, the international president of the Unification Church who visited the Japan Red Cross office this day to convey the donation on behalf of the 91-year-old Rev. Sun Myung Moon.”  

Elsewhere, full circle? 

Failed promises . . .

A child walks in front of a banner echoing the grievances of tsunami victims who have been living in a barracks for more than six years after the disaster. Dozens of people protested in front of the Aceh governor’s office in Banda Aceh on Monday demanding the government live up to its promise of providing housing for tsunami victims. 

(Antara/Azhari) As posted on today's Jakarta Post web site.

Japan: How to Help

 From the Technolog on MSNBC (edited) of a few days ago; how to help those in Japan coping with the devastation:

• Text-message donations of $10 to the Red Cross using your cell phone.
  Text the letters REDCROSS to 90999.
  Or simply visit the organization's website.
  
• The International Medical Corps is providing relief teams, as well as supplies.
  You can donate here.
  Or, you can text MED to 80888 to donate $10.
  
• Save the Children is accepting donations for its Children's Emergency Fund.
  You can also text “JAPAN” or “TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10.
  
• GlobalGiving, based in Washington, D.C., is providing relief and emergency services to victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Text JAPAN to 50555 to donate $10.
  
• The Salvation Army
  You can text JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 to make a $10 donation to the Salvation Army’s relief efforts.
  
• World Vision, with a staff of 75 in Japan, focuses its relief efforts on children.
  Visit the website to donate, or call 1-888-56-CHILD (1-888-562-4453).
  You can text “4JAPAN” or “4TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10.
  
• American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a humanitarian assistance organization that also helped in Haiti and in countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami. Phone: (212) 687-6200.
  
• Adventist Development and Relief Agency can be reached at (800) 424-2372, or text the word SUPPORT to 85944 to make a donation.
  
• The mGive Foundation, which helps with mobile donations, said these groups are also accepting text-based donations: Convoy of Hope, text TSUNAMI to 50555 to donate $10; World Relief Corp. of National Association of Evangelicals, text WAVE to 50555 to donate $10. "When prompted, mobile donors should reply with YES to confirm a one-time gift," the foundation says. "The $10 one-time donation will appear on the donor’s next mobile bill. All donations are tax deductible and receipts may be printed" from the mGive site. "Message and data rates may apply."
  
• Facebook has a Disaster Relief page.
  
• Portland, Ore.-based Mercy Corps  is "accepting donations to help survivors of Japan's earthquake and tsunami through our longstanding partner, Peace Winds Japan." Donations will go to meeting the "immediate and longer-term needs of the survivors," a spokesperson said.
  Text “MERCY” to 25383 to donate $10.

***************

And finally from the award winning Science blog of theoretical astrophysicist, Ethan Siegel, a different, possibly more comprehensive perspective on the cause(s) of earthquakes:

Ask a geologist, and they'll rightly tell you about plate tectonics, subduction
zones, fault lines, and much, much more. But there's a simple physics reason
that they happen underlying all of it.

The Earth is built like a giant, spherical layer cake. The inner core -- made up
of mostly iron and nickel -- is the densest of all the layers, while the
lithosphere -- the Earth's crust -- is the least dense.

This, by the way, is good.

More . . . >>>

The Cosmic Gulag

Human beings . . . 

ever, 

instantly beautiful, 

creative, 

cruel; resilient.

 

Nature . . . the same.

Amidst instances of tragedy;


Hope . . . 


For that is ever 


at the core

of the collective, 

bipolar, 


human condition.

Religious, scientific, 


political, economic


  groups, consortiums, et al,

clack, spout and spew;

Engaged as we all are 


in  


THE latest greatest innovation, 


revival, crusade or quest ---

However, to what avail?

Where is the salvation, the commonality, 


the semblance of harmony; 


the awareness of . . . eternity?

Somehow, somewhere, someday, 


that Hope,

that Destination . . .

that Unipolar state of being . . .

must;

MUST, lie . . . directly ahead.

IF,  truly,

We REALLY want to get there . . . 

We shall.

And arriving (mostly) intact; 

Might we not finally, ultimately

Be

Not only our own saviors -

But also,

the liberators of God?

3/2011

The appearance of free will

Saw the flick, The Adjustment Bureau , last evening, the new Matt Damon vehicle based on the

("legendary") Philip K. Dick (Official Site) 1954 short story, Adjustment Team (public domain;

available for reading here) and embellished for the screen by writer-director George Nolfi.

Most memorable dialogue exchange from the movie:

David Norse (Matt Damon) : "So what about free will?"

Thompson (Terence Stamp): "What about it?" . . . . you humans only have the appearance of free will."

Indeed.

Your assignment (not necessarily in the following order):

See the movie.

Read the story.

Walk the dog.

As Libya, Al Qaeda and the UN fly by - UPDATE

The UN General Assembly voted unanimously today (March 1st) to suspend the Qaddafi regime's seat on the Human Rights Council.

Praise God.

Details . . . >>

 

(Left to right) Hillel Neuer - Executive Director, UN Watch

Mohamed Eljahmi, Libyan Dissident
Tom Melia - Deputy Executive Director, Freedom House

February 21, 2011: Working closely with Libyan dissident Mohamed Eljahmi — who sounds the alarm on massive atrocities being committed by the Qaddafi regime — UN Watch spearheads an international appeal by 70 human rights groups to remove Libya [from the UN Human Rights Council].

The plea for UN action is covered around the world.

Three days later, the EU requests a special session of the Human Rights

Council, but fails to contest Libya’s council membership.

UN Watch urges world leaders to block UNHRC resolution praising Libya's human rights record

Report hailing Gaddafi's human rights record scheduled for adoption in

current session

GENEVA, February 28, 2011 -- UN Watch, which heads the Global NGO Campaign

to Remove Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, called on US Secretary of

State Hillary Clinton and EU foreign minister Catherine Ashton, who are

today addressing the 47-nation body in Geneva, as well as UN rights chief

Navi Pillay, to urge the council president to cancel a planned resolution

praising Libya's human rights record, scheduled to be adopted in the current

session.

Despite having just voted to suspend Libya from its ranks (expected to be

finalized by the UNGA tomorrow), the UN Human Rights Council, according to

the agenda of its current session, is planning to "consider and adopt the

final outcome of the review of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya." According to the

council's timetable, the lengthy report hailing Libya's human rights record

will be presented on March 18, and then adopted by the council at the end of

the month.

And a grand terror network sees itself becoming increasingly irrelevant, as Scott Shane writes in Sunday's New York Times :

For nearly two decades, the leaders of Al Qaeda have denounced the Arab world’s dictators as heretics and puppets of the West and called for their downfall. Now, people in country after country have risen to topple their leaders — and Al Qaeda has played absolutely no role.

In fact, the motley opposition movements that have appeared so suddenly and proved so powerful have shunned the two central tenets of the Qaeda credo: murderous violence and religious fanaticism. The demonstrators have used force defensively, treated Islam as an afterthought and embraced democracy, which is anathema to Osama bin Laden and his followers.

So for Al Qaeda — and perhaps no less for the American policies that have been built around the threat it poses — the democratic revolutions that have gripped the world’s attention present a crossroads.

Will the terrorist network shrivel slowly to irrelevance? Or will it find a way to exploit the chaos produced by political upheaval and the disappointment that will inevitably follow hopes now raised so high?

Hidden Christians of Japan

Came across this very interesting tidbit of (living) history as it relates to contemporary Japan (and elsewhere) earlier today:

The hidden Christian communities in Sotome and the Goto Islands, which have undergone disintegration in recent years, now find it all but impossible to faithfully observe the calendar of annual events. On Ikitsuki Island, however, the hidden Christians continue to observe an astounding number of traditional events. Still, in the communities that have ceased to have a permanent official executor of religious ceremonies, the meaning of traditional doctrines has been completely forgotten, and the faithful cling exclusively to the hollow rituals that have been made holy by virtue of the martyrdom of ancestors.

The faith of the kakure kirishitan, therefore, while exhibiting various features that are apparently Christian, is essentially a religion of Japanese nature that has been reabsorbed into the background of Japanese folk beliefs and now has little in common with the world-view of modern Christianity. This may be called the tragic result of the persecution of Japanese Christians by a heathen government, but from another point of view, it is the inevitable outcome of the attempt by a foreign religion to sink roots in Japan. It is clear that for a new culture, ideology, philosophy or religion to prosper in the hearts of the common people, it must harmonize and amalgamate with the existing cultural system, not destroy or ignore it.

Buddhism, which has become the religious mainstay of Japan, is a excellent case in point. Although a "foreign religion" originating in India, Buddhism lost no time in blending with Shintoism--the basic faith of the Japanese people--after its introduction to this country in the sixth century. In other words, by accepting ancestor worship it was able to sink roots and prosper in the hearts of the Japanese people. Needless to say, however, Japanese Buddhism now differs widely from the original form of the religion.

The history and customs of the hidden Christians of Nagasaki remain as another rare and invaluable example of the amalgamation of a foreign religion into the native culture of Japan and, in a larger sense, of the ever-difficult encounter between East and West.

Read more here.

Journeyman Pictures has a documentary (excerpted from a couple of years ago) here.

A book (or two; not by me) is forthcoming on this significant subject as well.

Freedom from religion, too?

Why not?

The changing face and place of religion as covered by certain media outlets recently has not only Arab patriarchs and dictators thinking twice.

Paul Haggis, noted screenwriter, producer, director and now Scientology apostate says in an article in The New Yorker:

“For ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego,” Haggis wrote. Before the 2008 elections, a staff member at Scientology’s San Diego church had signed its name to an online petition supporting Proposition 8, which asserted that the State of California should sanction marriage only “between a man and a woman.” The proposition passed.

As Haggis saw it, the San Diego church’s “public sponsorship of Proposition 8, which succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California—rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state—is a stain on the integrity of our organization and a stain on us personally. Our public association with that hate-filled legislation shames us.” Haggis wrote, “Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.” He concluded, “I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology.”

Frank Schaeffer, noted author, Christian and "religious right" apostate in the Huffington Post writes:

What do you think the reaction would be from "respectable" conservative religious and political leaders if -- since 1982 -- over fifty American couples had been convicted of murdering their children in "Muslim religious rituals?" What would Glenn Beck be saying?

Yet according to the New York Times there have been at least 50 convictions in the United States since 1982 in cases where medical treatment was withheld from a child for "religious reasons." And there have been hundreds more cases that weren't brought to trial out of over solicitous "respect" for religious freedom and parents' rights.

And that's just the killings in the name of God done in the Evangelical/fundamentalist and so-called charismatic community where medical care is withheld from children while parents "trust God" to heal them. That doesn't even touch the bizarre world of other American cults, tax-deductable cults that is...

While The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reveals in a survey recently (the Summary of Key Findings can be found here) that, apparently, "many Americans struggle to answer basic questions about faith, even their own."

Atheists and agnostics reportedly "scored best," overall, on the various questions.

Can I hear an - "IRONIC?!"
Or, at least a - "THAT'S SAD!"

And ABC News with Diane Sawyer in a report by Dan Harris and Maggy Patrick last evening notes:

America is the most developed nation when it comes to religion. It has a dynamic, competitive religious marketplace -- which means it has winners and losers.

According to a report by the National Council of Churches (NCC), the biggest losers are the mainstream Protestant churches -- the Presbyterian Church, Methodists and Lutherans are all showing a dip in membership.

While each of them are down just a few percentage points (the data was compiled in 2009 and reported to the council in 2010) the declines have reached into the double digits over the last decade. Some of them are responding with ad campaigns.

"I think one of the things about mainline is that because it was the dominant church for so long, it took for granted that it would be publicly valuable," said Rev. Serene Jones of the Union Theological Seminary. "To suddenly find yourself no longer the big guy on the block, meaning you suddenly have to start figuring out who you are and explain yourself."

The NCC 2010 report summary can be found here.

So, yes, by all means, freedom from religion, too.

Especially, as religion continues (everywhere?) to figure out, exactly, WHO and WHAT it is.

Oh, and please continue to add to that mixture: "What can you do for me?"

No doubt, JFK (among others?) must surely be spinning under (blissful?) eternal flames:

And lest anyone not notice, how about Ronald Wilson Reagan versus Ron Reagan, (Jr.)?

What a dialogue that might have been (is or was)!

Until next time . . . be good to each other.