Spiritual Humanism News

They say there is no such thing as bad press. In that regard Joe Ratzinger is having a great month. Ratzinger, or as he prefers to be called “the Pope,” has been widely panned in the media for a long series of moral and ethical gaffes and there seems to be no end in sight for the bone head actions of the Vatican.

Here is the run down of the Papal follies:

• Opposing the right to abortion in all circumstances– a oldie but still great for getting press and increasing human suffering.
• Opposing all forms of birth control and sex education – because Jesus DOES want you to have sex, but only if the divine hand can get in on the action and have a chance to make a baby!
• Protecting pedophiles from the law – well if they are priests anyway. Ratzinger says its wrong to use a rubber but nothing wrong with shuffling around Priest’s who have committed horrific crimes.
• And his latest grab at the headlines – Ordaining Women is as great a crime as pedophilia.

I don’t really know where the Vatican comes up with this kind of stuff.

In a quote from Wikipedia Ratzinger has said “From the beginning, Christianity has understood itself as the religion of the Logos, as the religion according to reason.”  And “Only creative reason, which in the crucified God is manifested as love, can really show us the way.”

Humanist do not need the make believe of  “creative reason.” We use the regular kind. The kind backed up by the scientific method. We refuse to create something that is not there just as a crutch to prop up some backwards beliefs.

Here at the Church of Spiritual Humanism the fundamental principle upon which we are founded is that all people have a right to make a spiritual connection to cosmos. Regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or social background you have the right to be a spiritual leader. Just because you are woman that is absolutely no reason not have the right to be ordained.

If you do feel the call to be ordained then consider ordination as a Spiritual Humanist minister. Spiritual inspiration and truth of our universe as revealed by the scientific method do not need to be at odds.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (AKA Lady Gaga) has just announced she is seeking to become an ordained minister over the Internet in order to perform wedding ceremonies for her gay fans. Miss Gaga has not revealed which online church or seminary she is pursuing minister ordination with. She plans to perform marriages on stage during her performances as a demonstration of her support of the equal right to be married regardless of sexual orientation.

The Church of Spiritual Humanism has long supported the right of people to be married regardless of sexual orientation. We applaud Lady Gaga in her efforts to promote this fundamental human right. I also congratulate her on deciding to develop her spiritual side. Every person also has a right to make a spiritual connection to the cosmos and be a spiritual leader .

The Church of Spiritual Humanism offers online minister ordination for people that want to help make the world a better place by advancing the tenet that religious belief must be based on reason and the knowledge we have gained via the scientific method.

The Presbyterian Church seems to not be able to decide on the status of performing same sex marriages by its ministers.

The Reverend Jane Adams Spahr, a Presbyterian minister, violated her church regulations in performing sixteen same-sex marriages in 2008. At that time such marriages were allowed by the law in CA. The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Redwoods Presbytery proclaimed after listening to accounts in a case that started Wednesday.

The judgment found, by a majority vote, that Spahr was accountable of three counts of breaking the church’s Book of Order by performing same-sex ceremonies as marriages, persisting in performing so in a “pattern or practice of disobedience” and violating her ordination vows by carrying out the ceremonies.

Nevertheless, the court rejected the final charge that supposed the minister “failed to further the peace, unity and purity of the church. “We commend Dr. Spahr for helping us realize that peace without justice is no peace,” the panel said with regards to the last charge.

They also thanked the people whose ceremonies Reverend Spahr completed, and who testified for the minister’s benefit, for their “courageous and heart-rending testimonies. “The Presbyterian constitution does not clearly restrict same-sex weddings and, in fact, describes marital life as “a gift God has given to all humankind for the well being of the entire human family.” Yet it also describes spousal relationship as “a civil contract between a woman and a man.”

Unlike the flip-flopping Presbyterian Church the Church of Spiritual Humanism does endorse the right of consenting adults to enter into and celebrate a committed union with each other regardless of their orientation or gender. While we do not presume to claim anything as “a gift God has given,” we do affirm that if marriage is a legal option for a same gender couple our ordained ministers are fully authorized to perform a wedding ceremony sanctified by our church. If such ceremonies are not legal in certain jurisdictions our clergy would never be penalized by the Church for performing them.

Last week I attended the funeral service for my aunt. She was not humanist let alone a Spiritual Humanist. As I sat in the pews listening to her minister repeatedly mispronounce my aunt’s and my mutual last name (pro tip: there is no silent “r”) I tried to follow along with his sermon about how “god” had called her back and we should be happy. Between his excessive head wagging and scripture quotes he just lost me, and my thoughts started wandering off. Then it occurred to me what a truly bafflingly and bizarre concept going to heaven when you die is. The older I get the weirder the whole nutty notion seems.

It led me to thinking about the real immortality each of us has access to. While you cannot keep on living forever your thoughts and ideas and the effects of your actions can and do keep on going long after you have passed. From the people you have helped who emulate your example, to the concepts and ideals you promote here is this life here on Earth we each cause effects that persist after our passing.

These effects are not transient; they can endure for hundreds or even thousands of years. When Richard Dawkins coined the term and concept of memes he wasn’t thinking of Internet LOL cat pics but rather self-perpetuating patterns of thought that can be transferred from one human mind to another. From the philosophy of Epicurus to the rousing speeches of Robert Ingersoll, those that have passed before have always been capable of an enduring presence and influence upon the generations of humankind that come into existence after their deaths.

It used to be that a person had to be famous, or at least a published author to have this type of immortality that spans the centuries. Now, for better or worse, it is available to every one due to the Internet. Yes the same technology that forever makes available those embarrassing party pictures posted eight years ago can and will be your personal path to immortality, your influence from beyond the grave.

Sure your tweets and blog comments will be there forever, but if you some how manage to pull together a truly inspirational article or spiritually stirring YouTube video it will be there too. Even if very few people see it in your lifetime it will be waiting there to be discovered, and to influence and aid the generations that are still here after you have left. That is your real immortality.

image credits: Flickr Problemkind (ratzfatz2000) and Paulo Brandao

Last week I visited the Academy of Natural Sciences. It’s the best place to see dinosaur bones here in Philadelphia. The Dinosaur Hall has a tyrannosaurus rex, a triceratops, and a hadrosaurus skeletons, along with several others. As long as you have a few kids in tow, or do not mind being out numbered by those who do, it’s a pretty good day trip. The ultrasaurus leg bones are just amazing. There is also an opportunity to get a quick pic inside of a cast of a T rex skull, if you are small enough to fit inside.

The major negative of this museum are the taxidermy dioramas. Not surprisingly the museum does not make much mention of these on their web site but they take up a considerable portion of their floor space. Almost a full floor of real stuffed animals, for example the family of three pandas, mom, dad, and cub all skinned and preserved for a dusty eternity behind glass. If you have little ones be prepared to address the endless questions about why people shot all these beautiful creatures.

Despite the tragic history this is great place to start the discussion of the Law of Evolution (yes I have upgraded it!) with kids. Actually the bad history is just as important for kids because we as a civilization will not learn from our mistakes if we hide them from future generations. Truffala trees don’t save themselves after all.

photo credits Colin Purrington

I just wanted to remind every one that today is the first day of summer and the Summer Solstice. I hope you take a little time out of your day (or night) to think about the Earth and our job as custodians of life here. Happy Summer Solstice!

photo by John Curley

The longest day of the year is also the first day of summer. It is also attendant to the shortest night. Thoughts of the Summer Solstice may bring to mind half remembered evenings spent sitting upon rough hewn logs, laid in a semi-circle round a campfire, as friendly fireflies flash silently from the darkest shadows. While swatting the occasional mosquito and listening to the quiet sounds of the evening, you may have realized that people have been enacting this very same ritual for thousand, or even tens of thousands of years.

If we could some how roll back time to flip backward through the years and observe, like leafing through the pages of some majestic tome of human history, we might see a multitude of generations of our ancestors doing the very same actions we partake of on this unique time of year. The faces of the actors change but the plot of the book remains the same.

It may be that the further we look back the more eccentric the ideas and beliefs of our ancestors become. But beyond the excellent virtue of hindsight we have an additional powerful asset at our disposal. Once upon a time even the most educated people believed the Earth to be the center of the universe and that the Sun and planets revolved around us, for our edification. Through careful reasoning, trial and error, and the amazing power of the scientific method, we now know the truth and it is more awe inspiring then the ruminations of our primitive ancestors.

Our universe is more vast then any mythmaker dare imagine. We are the only technologically advanced species known. We are not the physical center of the universe, but thus far we are its moral and ethical center. If not for human advocates for happiness there would be none. Without us to explore the mysteries of the cosmos they would remain undiscovered. Without people to demonstrate compassion, and to inspire hope these emotions would not be found anywhere.

As long as life exists there is apt to be misery. It seems to be built into evolution. But our happiness and our actions to reduce suffering here on the Earth matter because as long as there are humans there is some one who can and will stand opposed to misery and act to promote good.

You can make a connection to all of those people that passed before us and who experienced so many of the same emotions you and I feel right now. In this modern world not every one has the opportunity to find their way far out from the city lights and into nature to build a bonfire and stare up to the stars. But you can always do so in your mind’s eye.

On a more intimate scale you might take a votive out to your backyard patio this Summer Solstice Eve. Light a candle, stare into the flame. If you take a moment to glance upward to the stars and galaxies that surround you, then you may feel as one with the cosmos.

Star aflame, Moon alight
Fire and sparks
On the shortest night
Extinguish darkness
Through logic’s might
Reason bares keen insight

photo credits Chad Johnson, Blueshade

In a dramatic endorsement of the beliefs of terrorists groups such as Lakshar-e-Taiba, Harakat ul-Jihad Islami and  Al Qaeda, Facebook has removed access to images of Mohammad. Images of Mohammad are particularity unsettling to many terrorists. The Koran, which is claimed to be of a supernatural authorship, does not prohibit depictions of Mohammad. However some other stories written by regular humans do prohibit such images. Not every one who is a Muslim believes these other stories. In fact like many ancient religious works there are many contraindications to be found in these tales and it appears many of them were simply made up out of convenience to further Earthly agendas.

But terrorist take the rules from these tales very seriously indeed. And so does Facebook. “Facebook has tendered their apology and informed us that all the sacrilegious material has been removed from the URL,” Najibullah Malik, secretary of Pakistan’s information technology ministry, was quoted by AP as saying on Monday.

Personally I was surprised that Facebook has adopted the beliefs of terrorists. But I guess as long as there are dollars to be made at any cost, Facebook is there. Money is power. That’s what Facebook wants, just like the terrorists.

Special Bonus Joke: From the comment section in a Pakistani newspaper:
What’s the difference between Facebook and Lashkar-e-Taiba?
Answer: Facebook is banned.

Worst Spill Ever

The largest oil spill in the history of the United States was caused by the actions of three corporations: BP, Transocean  and Halliburton. The Transocean Oil Rig explosion killed 11 people and caused a huge geyser of crude oil to spew out on to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, some 50,000 barrels a day for the past month.

Artificial People

Corporations are odd creatures. We recognize them as artificial people, as in the recent Supreme Court decision regarding their rights. They do help advance economies, undertake research, and promote humanity’s general well being, but for most of them these are secondary concerns to making profits. We have a symbiotic relationship with these artificial people that benefits both entities.

But they are our creation. They cannot exist without people, but people can thrive quite happily without them.

Protect the Commons

Things that belong to every one deserve special protections. Especially when so many people and animals depend upon a common resource, like the oceans, to live. BP’s safety record is abysmal, one of the worst of any international mega corporation. Transocean and Halliburton are also morally delinquent. When there are transgressions of this magnitude there must be consequences.  When any person, natural or artificial, causes this much immoral destruction and loss they must be stopped. They must be eradicated.

Corporate Comeuppance

Any rights to their artificial lives that BP, Transocean and Halliburton may have once had are eclipsed by sheer magnitude of the danger they pose to life and general welfare. As real natural people, and as the creators and facilitators of these fabricated monstrosities it is our collective responsibility to put them down. BP, Transocean and Halliburton must each be dissolved. Their corporate veils pierced and their executives prosecuted. They have forfeited their right to exist and are a deadly threat to people, plants, animals, and our oceans.

I encourage you to contact your government representative and demand these soulless companies be held accountable and shut down. It is our right and responsibility to stop this outrage.

Planet Humanism is now carrying the feed for Spiritual Humanism News. I just stumbled upon Planet Humanism last night. It is a great news aggregator for a bunch humanist related blogs and is helping the get the word out to the general population about the Humanist movement.

There are plenty of countries, and even states here in the US, where Humanism is unknown. I have always felt that Humanists did not do enough to promote their ideals as a comprehensive worldview and too often appear stuffy and overly academic. For any interest group to be really successful at changing the world it must reach out to common people.

Planet Humanism is fantastic step in the right direction. Thank you PH for adding me to your feed!