“Question with boldness even the existence of a
God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason,
than that of blind-folded fear.”
Thomas Jefferson
The Chief Rabbi
An article appeared in today's New York Times concerning the controversy over who will be the new
chief Rabbi of Israel. One candidate, an ultra Orthodox and the other, a
"moderate." The moderate rabbi
seeks to create a dialog among the disparate secular Israeli Jews and the more
orthodox that wishes to shutter the country on the Sabbath. There is a growing ultra Orthodox minority
that seeks, as in most theocracies, to dominate political decisions in the
running of the state. These are the
same minions (excuse the pun) who wish not to serve in the army so they can
study the Torah, a fourth century text, and as interpreted in the Talmud by
various rabbinical authorities throughout the following centuries. The Torah, of course, written when people
thought the world was flat and that if one approached the edge in a boat, they
would plunge over the edge, sort of like going over Niagara falls in a
barrel. This as a predicate for
governing a modern state.
Really? Modern technocratic
Israel in the throes of Ayatollah imitators?
A chief Rabbi? A state based upon
a burning bush and a staff turned into a serpent? The chief rabbi enjoys a ten
year term. The article in the New York
Times stated that the institution of
the chief rabbi had its origins in the 17th century Ottoman empire, but that he
is now paid $100,000 a year to dispense religious edicts and spiritual
leadership, including who may marry in Israel, among which, the preposterous proposition of a woman's marital status being determined, among other things,
by the husband granting a divorce if she were not a maiden.
Women’s equality under Orthodox Judaism? Hardly an issue at
all.
Many Israelis are now demanding that the state wrench
religion away from the rabbinate and from the authority granted by the
government. The rabbis argue that in the
Middle East, strong religious strictures are required to compete with the
antipathetic nature (religious and otherwise) of nearby Arab governments. They argue that only religion provides the
cohesiveness to do so. These are the
same people who push for more settlements on "God given" land, when
in fact, it was the British and French who gave the land to two peoples at the
dissolution of the Ottoman empire at the conclusion of World War I. Thank you very much.
Mormon disillusionment
At the same time, another article appeared this week
concerning an elder of the Mormon church who was disillusioned over the false
teachings of the church, its doctrine providing convenient mythology concerning
Brigham Young and Joseph Smith who were actually polygamists and hucksters. The Book of Mormon holding that Native
Americans were descendents of the Jews (the lost tribe) and the translation of that
good Book appearing upon golden plates which were buried in upstate New York. This church elder, after believing all the
hokum for 30 years has just awakened from a drug induced slumber? See http://nyti.ms/16Rx7GE
In reality Joseph Smith, a Mormon founder, was killed by a
mob in Missouri after trying to hide his polygamy. He had published many revelations regarded as
scripture according to his followers, who regard him as a prophet of the
stature of Moses or Elijah. To this
extent he probably was, but he did not have the centuries to provide a
foundation for his fantasies. Brigham
Young, the other Mormon founder, was actually born in Vermont and became a
successor to Smith two years after Smith's ignominious demise. Young, aside from
his polygamy, believed that those mixing the seed of white people with the
African race should be subject to death and banned all black people from the
Mormon priesthood. He was also implicated
in a massacre of immigrants (Mountain Meadow) passing through Utah.
He deserves credit for founding Salt Lake City, however.
Miracles and other
fantasies (as pointed out by a Roman Catholic friend of mine)
The Catholic church requires a formulary of miracles to
occur for the foundations of Sainthood, according to Wikipedia:
The
steps for the recognition of the miracle follow the new rules
laid down in 1983 by the apostolic
constitution, Divinus Perfectionis Magister. The new legislation establishes two
procedural stages: the diocesan one and that of what is known as the Roman
Congregation. The first takes place within the diocese where the prodigious
event happened. The bishop opens the enquiry on
the presumed miracle in which the depositions of the eyewitnesses questioned by
a duly constituted court are gathered, as well as the complete clinical and
instrumental documentation inherent to the case. In the second, the
Congregation examines the documents sent and eventual supplementary
documentation, pronouncing its judgment on the matter.
The miracle may go beyond the
possibilities of nature either in the substance of the fact or in the subject,
or only in the way it occurs. So three degrees of miracle are to be
distinguished. The first degree is represented by resurrection from the dead
(quoad substantiam). The second concerns the subject (quoad subiectum): the
sickness of a person is judged incurable, in its course it can even have
destroyed bones or vital organs; in this case not only is complete recovery
noticed, but even wholesale reconstitution of the organs (restitutio in
integrum). There is then a third degree (quoad modum): recovery from an
illness, that treatment could only have achieved after a long period, happens
instantaneously.
Miracles as a precedent to becoming a saint speak volumes
as to the rationality of religious belief.
Pope Pius XII, about whom books were written concerning his German
advisers, his not speaking out about loathsome, grotesque Nazi crimes against humanity, and
his pardoning of German war criminals, might prove miraculous itself were he
elevated to Sainthood. Under the Reichskonkordat, (the agreement between the
Vatican and the Third Reich) Pius made a deal with von Ribbentrop and
Hitler. And as Einstein said, “how can
you make a deal with God and Satin at the same time?” See Hitler's
Pope (1999) by John Cornwell.
Pius XII is still shrouded in controversy and Pope Benedict/Ratzinger,
before resigning, and German himself, did not declare Pius had met the criteria. Ratzinger was too busy shuffling priests
around from parish to parish and spending church money to defend itself against
civil and criminal activities, and finally resigning to avoid the intense heat,
which is where people go who have sinned, we are told.
