What's so funny about religion?

Budai
Photo by Challiyan

Laughter is heralded today as being beneficial for everything from food cravings to pain thresholds.  It is said to reduce the levels of stress hormones such as adrenaline, and to increase the levels of soothing hormones such as endorphins.  It provides physical and emotional release - and even exercises the abs, diaphragm, shoulders and heart.

Yeah, but...  Can it pray?

Zen Master Osho absolutely vouches that it can.  He describes it in this mystical fashion: "In a real deep laughter the mind disappears.  It is not a part of mind or of the heart.  When a real laughter happens - a belly laughter, as it is called - then it comes from your very core..."

Osho directly links laughter with meditation, a form of prayer that spans many religious traditions.  He explains, "I am introducing laughter as a meditation because nothing makes you so total as laughter; nothing makes you stop your thinking as laughter does."  He goes so far as to say that "laughter is the very essence of religion," yet makes a clear distinction between types of laughter.  Whereas secular laughter is directed at or about others, "the religious man laughs at himself, or at the whole ridiculousness of man's being."

We are gifted with the Laughing Buddha's example - just so we don't forget that the joke is on us if we take ourselves too seriously.

Resources

https://www.messagefrommasters.com/Spiritual_Quotes/Osho/osho_laughter_quotes1.htm

https://www.beinghappybuddha.com/blogs/insights/who-was-laughing-buddha

Was the Pledge of Allegiance always 'under God'?

Reverend Francis J. Bellamy
Public Domain

High upon a hillside in Little Falls, New York sits a tiny park with a monument to "The Reverend Francis J. Bellamy, author of The Pledge of Allegiance."  Reverend Bellamy was minister of the First Baptist Church in Little Falls from 1879 to 1885.  During that time, he was also a member of the Little Falls Masonic Lodge No. 181.

What ended up costing Bellamy his Baptist ministry was an involvement with the Christian Socialist movement, which today would be akin to Liberation Theology or the Social Gospel doctrine.  After moving on to Boston, he became heavily involved with the schoolhouse flag movement.  The goal of this movement was to place an American flag atop each and every school in the nation.  This project afforded Bellamy an outlet for his unique patriotic fervor, a fervor which was rooted in his Christian Socialist ideals for America.

Bellamy's Pledge of Allegiance became the icing on this cake.  However, his original wording never mentioned America by name, nor did it contain any direct reference to God or the Divine.  Here is Bellamy's concise 1892 wording:  I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.  He was inspired by ideals of the Revolutionary War ("the Republic"), the Civil War ("one nation indivisible"), and the French Revolution ("liberty and justice for all").

This pledge was a rousing success - soon being recited throughout the land, complete with arm and hand gestures.  Yet the American public couldn't help but begin the editing process.  Bellamy's long-range recommendations were not only ignored, but also opposed.  The man who proclaimed "liberty and justice" throughout the land was once again being cast aside.

In 1923 and 1924, Bellamy's words "my Flag" were changed to "the Flag of the United States of America" by the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution.  It wasn't until 1954 that the phrase "under God" was officially incorporated into the Pledge.  This took some doing, given the ongoing controversy regarding the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.  Louis A. Bowman, Chaplain of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, is given credit for initiating this by linking it (on Lincoln's birthday) to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  With a whole lot of subsequent lobbying from the Catholic Knights of Columbus and the Presbyterians, President Eisenhower (who had just been baptized a Presbyterian) signed this bill on June 14 (Flag Day).

The controversy continues as challengers take their cases to federal courts in search of what they, too, consider to be "liberty and justice for all."  

Resources

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-man-who-wrote-the-pledge-of-allegiance-93907224/

https://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm

What's the matter with chatter?

Beware the loose tongue!
Photo by Mahdiabbasinv

Although speaking in tongues might sometimes be a gift of the Holy Spirit, speaking with tongues quite often is not.

The Book of James addresses this chatter-matter head on.  From Chapter One: Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak...  If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile...  From Chapter Three: So too the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it has great pretensions. Think how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. And the tongue is a fire!

The tongue has wreaked so much havoc on office politics that Karen Burns of U.S. News & World Report has put together a listing of "40 Topics You Can't Discuss at Work."  The top ten include religion, sexual exploits, aches and pains, and workplace gossip.  Other eye-catching entries include how messy your house is, how much you hate a thing, your diet, and your extensive knowledge of curse words.

Lest there be moments of (gasp) silence, Burns provides examples of tongue-worthy topics.  That list (smaller in length, but greater in depth) includes such topics as history, music, a class you're taking, or a book you're reading.

The world might be a better place if these suggestions were applied to overall relationships.  Although Burns suggests that it might be easier to "totally let your hair down" with family and buddies, many have found that this can often boomerang.  (Law of Karma: What goes around comes around!)

It might therefore be best to recall Buddha's three questions.  Before speaking, ask yourself:  Is it true? Is it necessary?  And perhaps most of all: Is it kind?

Resources

https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2010/04/28/40-topics-you-cant-discuss-at-work

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%203&version=NIV

Peter the Rock: A theology of geology

Saint Peter
Painting by Peter Paul Rubens

Although a rose is a rose is a rose, a rock can be different things to different people.  Especially if that Rock is the disciple Peter...

Peter is also known as Saint Peter the Apostle (by Roman Catholics), as Coryphaeus ("Choir-director" by the Eastern Orthodox Church), as Kepha (Aramaic for "Rock" by the Syriac Fathers), as Simon ("Son of Jonah or John" by the Jews), as Cephas (by Paul), and as Petros ("pebble" or "rock" in Koine Greek).

Although most agree that Peter was a foremost leader of the early church, many disagree as to just what that leadership means.  The ongoing debate seems to center upon varied interpretations of Matthew 16:13-20.  These verses include a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples in which Jesus asks: Who do people say that the Son of Man is?  Various answers follow - and it is only Simon Peter who unwaveringly responds: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Jesus blesses him (addressing him as "Simon, Son of John or Jonah"), for having received this divine revelation - then further declares: And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church...  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven...

It is this declaration that has captivated theologians for the past two millennia.  Roman Catholics say that this confirms Peter's role as the first Bishop (Pope) of Rome.  Yet others point to the difference between the masculine Greek term for Peter (Petros) and the feminine term for rock (petra).  They emphasize that Jesus used the feminine form petra when referring to the rock upon which the church will be built, as opposed to the masculine form Petros when referring to Simon Peter.  They align the term petra with other biblical passages (such as 1 Corinthians 10:4 and 1 Peter 2:8) in which petra refers to Christ.  They also cite Hebrew Bible passages (such as Deuteronomy 32:4 and Psalm 18:31) in which petra directly refers to God.

Some also emphasize that Peter was far from steady during early tests of his faith.  Nevertheless, most agree that the bulk of his spiritual life remained rock solid.

Resources

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2016%3A13-20&version=NIV

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Peter-the-Apostle