Reflections From a Murky Pond

In the ongoing debate – some would say war – surrounding gay rights the two major contenders in America are the followers of the Abrahamic Religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and the LGBT Community, with various other Conservatives and Liberal acting as adjuncts and proxies to these two groups for a plethora of often unrelated reasons.

The religious people are against our society both officially sanctioning and condoning – as oppose to tolerating – a lifestyle that is considered sinful by their faiths. They cite their holy books (the Bible, Qur’an and Torah respectively) regularly to explain their points.

From the Bible

Leviticus 18:22 – “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”

Leviticus 20:13 – “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

1 Corinthians 6:9 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind ”

From the Qur’an

Sura 7 (Al-A’raf) – “You lust after men instead of women. Truly, you are a degenerate people.”

Sura 26 (Ash-Shu’ara) – “Will you fornicate with males and leave your wives whom Allah has created for you? Surely you are great transgressors.”

From the Torah

Leviticus 18:22 – “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is an abhorrence.”

Leviticus 20:13 – “If a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done an abhorrent thing; they shall be put to death—their bloodguilt is upon them”

This repeated focus on specifically male homosexuality throughout the Abrahamic holy books brings an odd – and I’m sure offensive to some – question to my mind:

Is Lesbianism permissible under the tenets of the Abrahamic faiths?

I can easily, as shown above, find multiple passages in the Bible, Qu’ran and Torah that specifically condemn male homosexuality, but I can’t seem to find any verses, sura or pasuk that denounce homosexuality without any male-specific reference.

Would God smile or frown upon this?

If these holy books are the incontrovertible an incontestable word of God as many fundamentalists assert, where does that leave the adherents of these faiths when it comes to lesbians? If there is no specific stricture in verse, sura or pasuk that condemns lesbians, are these fundamentalists contravening the Word of their God by denouncing lesbians alongside male homosexuals?

As I said, it’s an odd question but I believe it to be an intriguing one for the fundamentalists to ponder.

Tags: Christianity | Islam | Judaism | Lesbians | LGBT | Religion | Scripture | Sex | Theology

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 2:41 pm and is filed under Religion. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Euthyphro is one of the Greek philosopher Plato’s early dialogues, dated to around or soon after 399 BCE. In it the Greek philosopher Socrates and Euthyphro, a man known for being a theologian, attempt to arrive at an acceptable definition of piety.

One of the key points in the Euthyphro dialog is called the Euthyphro Dilemma:

Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?

For the followers of the Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) this normally translates into – on the occasions when it is debated by the theologians – the question of whether something is commanded by their God because it is moral, or is it moral because it is commanded by their God.

Amongst polytheists – with the rare exception of myself – the question rarely arises do to our multiplicity of deities with possibly conflicting directives and our lack of requirement for- or belief in their omniscience or infallibility.

I can’t speak to whether or not the Sikhs have the Euthyphro Dilemma often or not. They’re monotheists, but their view of their God is vastly different from most other faiths.

In any case though, it’s an interesting debate. Is the God(s) the creator or legislator of morality, or is the God(s) the enforcer of a morality that originate from separately Divine will?

Tags: Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Plato | Religion | Socrates | Theology | Theosophy

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Ethics & Morality, Philosophy, Religion. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

December 21, 2008 is Yule this year. This is the holy day (holiday) of the Winter Solstice, the longest, darkest night of the year. Its celebration is quite different from that of the Christians’ Christmas. In my faith – which differs somewhat from that of Wiccans and many neo-Pagans – Yule is a holiday of sacrifice, propitiating the Crone and Winter King for bountiful new season, and of quiet contemplation and prayer.

At Yule we reach the nadir of the Darkness, but look forward with hope towards Spring and the time of rebirth. Those who follow the same path as myself reaffirm our oaths to our Goddess and God during Yule, and offer up sacrifices to ensure that Spring will return in truth and not just in name.

Blessed Yuletide, one and all.

Tags: Holidays | Morrigu | Paganism | Religion | Theology | Yule

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under Religion. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

The “Golden Rule” states that one should do unto others as he would like them to do unto him. This may be the best piece of evidence for a universal absolute moral code. Just about every religion in existence exhorts their followers to practice this simple ideal. A few examples are listed below:

Buddhism (500 BCE)

Hurt not others in ways you yourself would find hurtful.

— Udana-Varga, 5, 18

Christianity (50 CE)

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets.

— Matthew 7:12

Confucianism (600 BCE)

Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto other that you would not have them do unto you.

— Analects, 15, 23

Islam (622 CE)

No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.

— Imam An-Nawawi’s 40 Hadiths, 13

Hinduism (1500 BCE)

This is the turn of duty; do naught unto others which could cause you pain if done to you.

— Mahabharata, 5, 1517

Judaism (1800 BCE)

What is harmful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.

— Talmud, Shabbat, 312

Taoism (300 BCE)

Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.

— T’sai Shang Kan Ying P’ien

Zoroastrianism (600 BCE)

That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself.

— Didistan-i-dinik, 94, 5

If this stricture were limited to only the Abrahamic faiths – and possibly Zoroastrianism – I would write it off as nothing of note. Each of those faiths builds upon its predecessor. The Golden Rule is not so limited however. Even religions and philosophies with little or connection or exposure to the Abrahamic faiths include essentially the same stricture.

While this alone is not proof, it seems to be enough evidence to support postulating a universal absolute morality.

Tags: Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Religion | Theology

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 10:26 am and is filed under Ethics & Morality, Philosophy, Religion. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

In truth we are all delusional. Our God(s) are made in the image of Man.

From Wikipedia:

The God Delusion is a 2006 book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.

In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that belief in a god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsig‘s observation in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that “when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.”

Now I don’t subscribe to Dawkins’ philosophy. None of his evidence addresses the root cause of Life. It only provides a basis for a scientifically understandable methodology for the progression of life. A lack of evidence is not reason for dismissal, only flatly contradictory evidence would be so.

I will say though that all of our Gods are delusions. They are solely the constructs of Man.

Now please don’t get me wrong, I do not deny the existence of a god-head. I deny Man’s understanding of it. I believe that Man cannot – not in any meaningful way – understand the divine. We see the God(s) through the lenses of our own inadequacy.

All of our holy books and oral histories have been passed down through so many translations and edits that they no longer carry the unabridged Word. Worse, all of these strictures have been interpreted and reinterpreted in the light of Man’s understanding and conceit.

There are 6 billion of us, each with our God(s) created in our minds to help us strive towards understanding some fraction of the God(s)’ true nature and mind. I find this a delusion that is worth perpetuating. 😉

I have my faith, but I accept that I know only the most infinitesimal fraction of the nature of my Gods. I know only what they chose to reveal and that only through the lens of my own imperfect understanding.

Tags: Philosophy | Religion | Theology

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 11:29 am and is filed under Philosophy, Religion. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.