Thursday, December 01, 2005
Religarium Americanum
I saved the following quote:
"I want to defeat the terrorists. And I want our troops to come home, but I don't want them to come home without having achieved victory. " – President Bush
I intended at the time to add a few other quotes, such as the one I can only paraphrase now from the head of the FCC to the effect that “Sure, you can turn off the TV to avoid stuff you don’t like, but why should you have to?” Then I was going to rant on about the incredible stupidity of the people who make quotes like that, with individualized comments on each one. Such as for the first one above, “assuming we ever figure out just what victory means in this swamp,” or for the second, “because what I really don’t like is you, you pusillanimous prude!” But I just can’t do it. I haven’t got the heart.
Do I mean that I don’t have the heart to poke a rant at those guys? No, I mean that I just don’t have the energy for it because there’s just too much to rant at. I even had to quit joking about the current administration because, as I said a while back, it’s just too easy and they’re doing it for me. Frankly, that quote from the FCC Chair should be a self-evident joke, but there are far too many people who think like that, or rather fail to think like that. I mean that what they do is fail to think. The way they fail is like that. I mean it, really. So, instead, I’ll go on about religion again. Why not, religion is easy too.
Religion is a Latin word. Two words, really: re, which means exactly what it means in English. You know, “again” or “once more.” The ‘ligion’ part is from the word ligere, which means “to tie together.” You might remember it from those “ligaments” you have in your knee that keep giving your trouble. Why trouble? Probably because they don’t “ligate” as well as they should and your knee moves side to side. See? Tie together: ligere: religion: to tie together. In Latin that’s religere. Honest it is. Religion is something that ties people together. And speaking of religion and Latin, consider the Pope’s official title, which is Pontifex Maximus, or “Greatest Bridge Builder.” That’s also true. Julius Caesar took that title, in fact. Originally the people called “Pontifex” actually built bridges, but now it’s the Pope, because he “builds bridges between people.” See, it’s a religious thing. And for once I don’t digress.
Religion then is really something that ties you in to your past, to the region where your family comes from, or to your birth family, to your philosophical forebears, to any and all of that. So, if you embrace Christianity you tie yourself to a Roman province called Palestine about two thousand years ago, by way of a whole lot of high falutin’ Greek and Roman interpretations since. If you embrace Islam you’re tying yourself to a man who you believe to have been a mouthpiece for the almighty, this time a bit more recently in the eighth century, and also to the cultural influences of the region of the world we call the Middle East. A Hindu is tied to the culture of the Indus Valley and the Indian subcontinent in general; a Buddhist to a Hindu reformer about 2700 years ago; a Lutheran to a German religious rebel; and one could go on forever. The Native Americans I’ve met, primarily from the Four-Corners area of the United States, have origin stories going back as far as anyone can remember, and those stories tie them together as well as to their own ancestry and the land on which they live. And all that, in truth, is simply swell. Except when one set of ties conflicts with another set of ties, which situation comes up pretty often in a country like ours, it doesn’t seem so swell any more.
The United States seems pretty divided these days, what with fundamentalism and liberalism and all sorts of people who just know they know “the answer” out there, uh, pontificating (but frequently failing to build any bridges, you’ll notice.) Wise commentators decry the state of the nation, saying that we lack any unifying concepts to bind us together. To that concern I say, Horse Shit.
We all are bound together by the ties that Americans have always honored: the ties of commerce and enterprise. What? So crass? That can’t be! We are a God-Fearing and Righteous People, or at least we used to be before all this commercialism took over Christmas. Right? No, more of the same I’m afraid.
Of the nine men generally regarded as the “framers of the Constitution,” two were Christian, the rest basically Freemasons, which was then a species of Rational Deism. Franklin is a famous Deist, but so, believe it or not, were Adams, Jefferson, and the other most influential minds who made up our system of government. To them, God was the “Prime Mover,” not a force to be feared at all. (Note that I have not the least shred of an idea what contemporary Masons might believe. This is all historic stuff.) These guys were commercial in their hearts: printers, pot and pan makers, bankers, that sort of thing. As a quick example, consider that Franklin joined every church that would have him because it was good for business, and that’s the truth. Pious? Well, devoted to the thing that ties us together, so yes, pious in pursuit of the true American religion, for sure.
Christmas was illegal in New England into the eighteenth century. Even at the beginning of the nineteenth, it was no big deal. In England, home of Charles Dickens, it was dreaded because gangs of “Wassailers” would roam around demanding food and drink from the middle class, causing real damage if they didn’t get it. There was arson, looting, all sorts of unpleasantness. This is true. There was a general social interest in taming the “Christmas Beast” and the people who came to the rescue, both in England and here in America, were the retailers. Clement Moore, a minister no less, contributed the famous “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” which everybody knows to this day. Dickens wrote his famous “A Christmas Carol” which lent the sentimental aura Christmas enjoys today, and the retailers started having special sales and celebrations around the day. Before you knew what was happening, the civic holiday that is Christmas was born. And why not a civic holiday? Heck, I was born. Adolph Hitler was born, come to that. Are he and I holy men? So Jesus was born, big hairy deal. Prior to the eighteenth century, that was the official church position. That “Jesus is the reason for the season” stuff is just that: stuff. You know the stuff, right? Jesus was born, in fact, in the Spring. Christmas was moved to December 25th to placate Sun worshipers and Saturn worshipers. That’s also true. The reason for the season is nothing less than the true, to the bone, American religion of sheer commercialism. You want Christianity, study up on Easter.
And now, to speak in particular to those of Christian backgrounds, and any Muslims who may have read the Christian testament, you may recall that people once asked Jesus about “the law.” And he said something to the effect of, “The law is that you shall love your god with all your heart mind and soul, and further, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I have never heard anyone argue with the obvious fact that this is a commandment. But I’m going to. Gravity is a law. Go ahead, defy it. If this is a law, not a piece of legislation but an actual law, then it’s not a commandment but a statement of how things are. That is, it seems to me that each one of us does worship our god, whatever that is, with everything we have, and that furthermore the way we feel about our neighbors really does say a lot about how we feel about ourselves. The law? Sure, Jesus said so and on this point I absolutely believe him and no doubt. In America what we worship, our national god, is commerce, enterprise, individualism, capitalism, the works of Adam Smith and, when we have the time, that Christ guy, but mainly only on Sunday plus a couple of holidays. I’m not saying this is good or bad, but it is what it is. And what it is is our real object of real worship, good old commerce and industry. It’s a pretty small town that doesn’t have a “chamber of commerce.” Like any good prince (see Machiavelli) the captains of commerce observe the forms of religion, but again like any good prince, they only use religion, as did Franklin, to further their commercial interests. Is that bad? If it is, might I suggest that you got yourself born into the wrong world. Sorry about that.
Think about this: American Muslims are almost universally aghast and against the Islamic terrorists, while in Europe there seem to be a lot of sympathizers lurking in the darker quarters of town. Why the difference? Could it be because in America Muslims are able to start and run businesses, make money, pay for their relatives to come live with them, and enjoy the fruits of our society, whereas in Europe they tend to be ghettoized and prevented from fully participating? In short, our Muslim fellow Americans are tied together by the true American religion of commerce and industry, and therefore are of little mind to disturb their fellow Americans even if they do hold otherwise contradictory beliefs. Interesting, huh?
And that is why I do not think that America is nearly as divided as the pundits say. When we were attacked, it was via the World Trade Center. Trade Center: Center for Commerce and Industry. It was in New York, the center of the commercial world. Nothing could unify us faster, whatever our personal religion, than to attack the unofficial god of America. So okay, sometimes we elect dolts who appoint idiots. So what? As a practical matter, we can generate more wealth in a week than most of the world can in a year. I pity the poor fool who tries to attack us and doesn’t understand that. Meantime, we can worship however we see fit, both the great god of The Economy, and our chosen faith, be it Methodist, Muslim or Jain. It’s good to remember one’s roots while stretching to new heights and besides, it’s always good to have friends to turn to when the worship of wealth gets to be just too much.
I suppose that the biggest problem with the religion that ties Americans together is that it has a sort of lack of real comfort to offer, isn’t it? But then that‘s a thesis for another day. Maybe I’ll write it up, but frankly, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Heck, I gotta make a living here . . . . .
"I want to defeat the terrorists. And I want our troops to come home, but I don't want them to come home without having achieved victory. " – President Bush
I intended at the time to add a few other quotes, such as the one I can only paraphrase now from the head of the FCC to the effect that “Sure, you can turn off the TV to avoid stuff you don’t like, but why should you have to?” Then I was going to rant on about the incredible stupidity of the people who make quotes like that, with individualized comments on each one. Such as for the first one above, “assuming we ever figure out just what victory means in this swamp,” or for the second, “because what I really don’t like is you, you pusillanimous prude!” But I just can’t do it. I haven’t got the heart.
Do I mean that I don’t have the heart to poke a rant at those guys? No, I mean that I just don’t have the energy for it because there’s just too much to rant at. I even had to quit joking about the current administration because, as I said a while back, it’s just too easy and they’re doing it for me. Frankly, that quote from the FCC Chair should be a self-evident joke, but there are far too many people who think like that, or rather fail to think like that. I mean that what they do is fail to think. The way they fail is like that. I mean it, really. So, instead, I’ll go on about religion again. Why not, religion is easy too.
Religion is a Latin word. Two words, really: re, which means exactly what it means in English. You know, “again” or “once more.” The ‘ligion’ part is from the word ligere, which means “to tie together.” You might remember it from those “ligaments” you have in your knee that keep giving your trouble. Why trouble? Probably because they don’t “ligate” as well as they should and your knee moves side to side. See? Tie together: ligere: religion: to tie together. In Latin that’s religere. Honest it is. Religion is something that ties people together. And speaking of religion and Latin, consider the Pope’s official title, which is Pontifex Maximus, or “Greatest Bridge Builder.” That’s also true. Julius Caesar took that title, in fact. Originally the people called “Pontifex” actually built bridges, but now it’s the Pope, because he “builds bridges between people.” See, it’s a religious thing. And for once I don’t digress.
Religion then is really something that ties you in to your past, to the region where your family comes from, or to your birth family, to your philosophical forebears, to any and all of that. So, if you embrace Christianity you tie yourself to a Roman province called Palestine about two thousand years ago, by way of a whole lot of high falutin’ Greek and Roman interpretations since. If you embrace Islam you’re tying yourself to a man who you believe to have been a mouthpiece for the almighty, this time a bit more recently in the eighth century, and also to the cultural influences of the region of the world we call the Middle East. A Hindu is tied to the culture of the Indus Valley and the Indian subcontinent in general; a Buddhist to a Hindu reformer about 2700 years ago; a Lutheran to a German religious rebel; and one could go on forever. The Native Americans I’ve met, primarily from the Four-Corners area of the United States, have origin stories going back as far as anyone can remember, and those stories tie them together as well as to their own ancestry and the land on which they live. And all that, in truth, is simply swell. Except when one set of ties conflicts with another set of ties, which situation comes up pretty often in a country like ours, it doesn’t seem so swell any more.
The United States seems pretty divided these days, what with fundamentalism and liberalism and all sorts of people who just know they know “the answer” out there, uh, pontificating (but frequently failing to build any bridges, you’ll notice.) Wise commentators decry the state of the nation, saying that we lack any unifying concepts to bind us together. To that concern I say, Horse Shit.
We all are bound together by the ties that Americans have always honored: the ties of commerce and enterprise. What? So crass? That can’t be! We are a God-Fearing and Righteous People, or at least we used to be before all this commercialism took over Christmas. Right? No, more of the same I’m afraid.
Of the nine men generally regarded as the “framers of the Constitution,” two were Christian, the rest basically Freemasons, which was then a species of Rational Deism. Franklin is a famous Deist, but so, believe it or not, were Adams, Jefferson, and the other most influential minds who made up our system of government. To them, God was the “Prime Mover,” not a force to be feared at all. (Note that I have not the least shred of an idea what contemporary Masons might believe. This is all historic stuff.) These guys were commercial in their hearts: printers, pot and pan makers, bankers, that sort of thing. As a quick example, consider that Franklin joined every church that would have him because it was good for business, and that’s the truth. Pious? Well, devoted to the thing that ties us together, so yes, pious in pursuit of the true American religion, for sure.
Christmas was illegal in New England into the eighteenth century. Even at the beginning of the nineteenth, it was no big deal. In England, home of Charles Dickens, it was dreaded because gangs of “Wassailers” would roam around demanding food and drink from the middle class, causing real damage if they didn’t get it. There was arson, looting, all sorts of unpleasantness. This is true. There was a general social interest in taming the “Christmas Beast” and the people who came to the rescue, both in England and here in America, were the retailers. Clement Moore, a minister no less, contributed the famous “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” which everybody knows to this day. Dickens wrote his famous “A Christmas Carol” which lent the sentimental aura Christmas enjoys today, and the retailers started having special sales and celebrations around the day. Before you knew what was happening, the civic holiday that is Christmas was born. And why not a civic holiday? Heck, I was born. Adolph Hitler was born, come to that. Are he and I holy men? So Jesus was born, big hairy deal. Prior to the eighteenth century, that was the official church position. That “Jesus is the reason for the season” stuff is just that: stuff. You know the stuff, right? Jesus was born, in fact, in the Spring. Christmas was moved to December 25th to placate Sun worshipers and Saturn worshipers. That’s also true. The reason for the season is nothing less than the true, to the bone, American religion of sheer commercialism. You want Christianity, study up on Easter.
And now, to speak in particular to those of Christian backgrounds, and any Muslims who may have read the Christian testament, you may recall that people once asked Jesus about “the law.” And he said something to the effect of, “The law is that you shall love your god with all your heart mind and soul, and further, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I have never heard anyone argue with the obvious fact that this is a commandment. But I’m going to. Gravity is a law. Go ahead, defy it. If this is a law, not a piece of legislation but an actual law, then it’s not a commandment but a statement of how things are. That is, it seems to me that each one of us does worship our god, whatever that is, with everything we have, and that furthermore the way we feel about our neighbors really does say a lot about how we feel about ourselves. The law? Sure, Jesus said so and on this point I absolutely believe him and no doubt. In America what we worship, our national god, is commerce, enterprise, individualism, capitalism, the works of Adam Smith and, when we have the time, that Christ guy, but mainly only on Sunday plus a couple of holidays. I’m not saying this is good or bad, but it is what it is. And what it is is our real object of real worship, good old commerce and industry. It’s a pretty small town that doesn’t have a “chamber of commerce.” Like any good prince (see Machiavelli) the captains of commerce observe the forms of religion, but again like any good prince, they only use religion, as did Franklin, to further their commercial interests. Is that bad? If it is, might I suggest that you got yourself born into the wrong world. Sorry about that.
Think about this: American Muslims are almost universally aghast and against the Islamic terrorists, while in Europe there seem to be a lot of sympathizers lurking in the darker quarters of town. Why the difference? Could it be because in America Muslims are able to start and run businesses, make money, pay for their relatives to come live with them, and enjoy the fruits of our society, whereas in Europe they tend to be ghettoized and prevented from fully participating? In short, our Muslim fellow Americans are tied together by the true American religion of commerce and industry, and therefore are of little mind to disturb their fellow Americans even if they do hold otherwise contradictory beliefs. Interesting, huh?
And that is why I do not think that America is nearly as divided as the pundits say. When we were attacked, it was via the World Trade Center. Trade Center: Center for Commerce and Industry. It was in New York, the center of the commercial world. Nothing could unify us faster, whatever our personal religion, than to attack the unofficial god of America. So okay, sometimes we elect dolts who appoint idiots. So what? As a practical matter, we can generate more wealth in a week than most of the world can in a year. I pity the poor fool who tries to attack us and doesn’t understand that. Meantime, we can worship however we see fit, both the great god of The Economy, and our chosen faith, be it Methodist, Muslim or Jain. It’s good to remember one’s roots while stretching to new heights and besides, it’s always good to have friends to turn to when the worship of wealth gets to be just too much.
I suppose that the biggest problem with the religion that ties Americans together is that it has a sort of lack of real comfort to offer, isn’t it? But then that‘s a thesis for another day. Maybe I’ll write it up, but frankly, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Heck, I gotta make a living here . . . . .
