Jonathan H. B. Lobl

Religion is an odd fire. I think it best to let it burn itself out. Raging against it only seems to feed the flame.

When faith is valued and facts are disdained, this is what happens. Fact free bigotry. A courageous disregard for reality.

This particular bigotry is common.

Some bias is understandable. Even to be expected. This speaker took his bias way past reasonable. The speaker made a great deal out of Uhura's horrified reaction at seeing one gladiator kill another. The speaker made an ugly assumption. Uhura reacted that way because of Christianity. Not because she's a good person. Or a kind person. Because of Christianity. This kind of bias -- we've seen it on this board -- insists that the "Christian Virtues" are exclusive to Christians. That Humanists, Atheists, Agnostics, etc. can't possibly have that kind of compassion. This is my bias. I find that sort of thing to be deeply offensive and bigoted against secular people. Have a caution. Denial of the humanity of secular people, is a prelude to denial of rights and violence. That is how things work in this world. Before any group is in actual danger, they are first dehumanized and demonized. You were in the remnants of Yugoslavia. You have seen for yourself what this kind of thing leads to.

The video analysis that I posted came from a Christian. As such, the Christian saw what he wanted to see in this episode. The episode itself, titled "Bread and Circus" is presented as a cultural parallel to Earth history. As such, there are no religious consequences. It's only a cultural parallel. For the moment, we can overlook the gross, outlandish, improbabilities of this happening. For the sake of argument, let us suppose that this Children of the Son cult is exactly what the cult believes it to be. They are following the Son of God. That means that this world had it's own, independent Fall from Grace. It means that a Christ -- the Christ? -- came to redeem them. What does that mean? It means that the Jesus of Earth came to save the inhabitants of Earth and no place else. It means that each world has it's own path of redemption. That's an interesting vision. Did Christ manifest separately for each world? A different incarnation for Humans, Vulcans, Klingons, Bajorans, etc.? As a cultural parallel, it is only flawed science fiction. Why, for instance, are they speaking 20th Century Earth English, instead of Latin or Italian? As Christian theology, they have started down a messy road with consequences. Back to the intent of the author of the video analysis of Bread and Circus. This is supposed to demonstrate that the United Federation of Planets -- Star Fleet in particular -- are Christian. No. It does not. In the final scene, Uhura, Kirk and Spock are mouthing pious platitudes, about the philosophy of Love and all men are brothers. In so doing, they display their ignorance of Christianity. No. They are not Christians in anything more than a loose cultural sense. The religion of Christianity, as it exists in this future, has been defanged.

Christianity in Star Trek

Divisions in the Atheist World

It does make a valid point about the faith vs. nonfaith binary. Reason tends to fail with the faithful. I decided to go with humor. What is absurd, is when the faithful argue about what nobody knows or can know. Besides, it was funny. That's reason enough.

What If We're Wrong? Covering All Possible Bets -- Just In Case

Perhaps you were calling yourself? Time to wake up?

Sam Harris on Meditation

Meditation in it's various forms reduces inflammation. Structured movement is also important. Nutrition and supplements also help. Breathwork will help with the inflammation. Waiting for the inflammation to go away first is backward. I teach the Tai Chi for Arthritis class at my local senior center. At least, I will go back to teaching when the center opens up again. I came by my interest in these matters honestly. I have arthritis.

In Buddhism, the procedure is to release anger. To let it drop away as we would open our hand to let go of a burning ember. Simply releasing anger and resentment is not as easy as it sounds. This is one of the uses of meditation. It releases toxic emotion from the system. In Buddhist terms, if we hold on to our anger, we will suffer more. So we let it go. Holding on to anger is a form of constipation. It backs up, clogs and poisons the system.

When I was an infant, my grandmother gave me a teddy bear. I loved that bear. In my infant's mind, I was convinced that the bear loved me. When I was older, I got a cat. The cat actually loved me. It was a foundation in my development. I came to understand that the bear couldn't love or hate or anything. It lacked awareness. When I got older, I understood that loving God was like loving my bear. There was no reciprocation, nor could there be.