Stack C:The Sacred and the Secular

Pacifist Nation –No Place for Wimps

Stack C:The Sacred and the Secular

As a birthright Unitarian and a Universalist by conscience, I consider myself a Christian as well as a Jew. The exemplary life of Jesus reaches beyond doctrine and creed. Fellow Unitarian, Thomas Jefferson created a marvelous document which outrages biblical purists, but goes to the heart of Christian teachings. Are you brave enough to check out the Grandaddy of all cut-&-pastes (literally!), the Jefferson Bible? I have, and God hasn't struck me blind. Yet.

"God is Dead!" they cried, and many agreed. One of the most potent arguments against the existence of God is the holocaust, how He could have permitted it. Some might have suggsted, and not without justification, that somewhere around the invention of the A-bomb, God took a good, long look at what He hadth wrought, threw up His hands, took a header and pulled the sod o'er. R.I.P and good luck to the next deity who takes upon Itself the idiocy of again proposing such a dunderheaded experiment as humancruel. All this, assuming God existed in the first place. I'm proposing something radical. Not to say that God wasn't, isn't and ever shan't be – I subscribe to the theory that we create our own reality, completete with (or without) deity of one's choice, and afterlife. After all, we give power to that in which we believe, & damned if I'm going to give it up to Fallwell's Satan – but that one can chose to be a (wo)man, take responsibility for one'self by going beyond God to a place where we behave as Jesus (or fill-in-the-blank) would have us behave simply because it's right. I wrote this out at two in the morning or somesuch, in one breath, so to speak, so take it as a thoughtful rant, but think about it. Hey, it's your life.

That the first and perhaps greatest Communist Manifesto predated Marx & co. by nearly 2000 years is not an original thought. The the intellectual failure of those who insist that communism is a political system, as is democracy, is beyond redemption. The Bible certainly got it right, a fact that übercapitalist Christians insist on ignoring. Those who believe in the Word of God yet want to have their cake and eat it too, read it and weep!

"On-ward, Chris-tian So - - ol-dier-rs ...." Pacifist Nation is nothing if not irreverent. It is, after all, authored by a Unitarian Universalist secular humanist who is both a Jew, a Christian and an atheist, so anything is fair game. Even the Holy Bible. So pardon me if I chuckle over-long over this little gem of an insightful piece. And a tip-o'-the-hat to the inspiration of Dr. Laura, and for causing one to contemplatively re-examine the broader/deeper implications of the oft' used phrase, "Don't take any wooden nickels.". Think about it.

"With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo...." Well, I was going to write an essay on the horrors of war. But why bother to re-invent the wheel. Anyway, I'd be a bloomin' idiot to try and out-write Brother Mark, whose The War Prayer should be required reading. Period. (Had he been a rail fanatic rather than a devotee of the paddle-wheeler, might he have been nick-named, "Choo-choo Twain"? Just wondering.) Hey, just read the story, okay.

Jackbooted thuggery alive and well in the USofA? (or as my Yiddish grandfather would shrug philosophically and say, "Elián, nu? U.S. oyvey!") I try to avoid currency, except where it addresses a universal issue. Arianna Huffington is fast becoming one of my favorite gadflies. Her May 6, 2K take on the Elián González case is refreshing, dealing as it does with the broader issue of hypocracy and the violence perpetrated with impunity by those pledged to "protect and serve". The cases cited are aberations, granted. But we must apply the same outrage there that our media's readership has applied to Reno's little adventure in south Florida. Elianito, séa en paz. And, Arianna, You go, girl!

The most imporant thing to understand about peace is that one cannot have it without justice. You dig? Jefferson declared that we were all endowed by our Creator ..., etc..., inalienable rights, yada, yada, "... the pursuit of happiness." Some may, with justification, argue that we all have the right to a job with safety & dignity & respect & a living wage. On this Labor Day of 1999 we must again reflect on the vital importance of the Labor movement to the vast majority of us who are not Management, and even, by extention, those of you who are. Heed the words of my dear middle-management friend, Fr. Bill O'Donnell, pastor at St. Joseph the Worker in Berkeley, Calif. (For the link, I'm employing the United Farm Workers flag–a finer example of a union would be hard to find.)

Those who perceive gun-lust as a fetish may not be far off the mark–or right on it. An insightful column by the L.A. Times's Shawn Hubler suggests a unique take on the issue, that our passion for guns is more like an addiction. The Times wanted seventy-five bucks for permission to post it here. I ain't that wealthy, but click on here & I'll give you a synopsis and a link to where you can download it for a buck-&-a-half–money well spent. (Ready, aim, ... shoot up!) [HypoGun by Y.T.]

Stack C:The Sacred and the Secular As a birthright Unitarian and a Universalist by conscience, I consider myself a Christian as well as a Jew. The exemplary life of Jesus reaches beyond doctrine and creed. Fellow Unitarian, Thomas Jefferson created a marvelous document which outrages biblical purists, but goes to the heart of Christian teachings. Are you brave enough to check out the Grandaddy of all cut-&-pastes (literally!), the Jefferson Bible? I have, and God hasn't struck me blind. Yet. "God is Dead!" they cried, and many agreed. One of the most potent arguments against the existence of God is the holocaust, how He could have permitted it. Some might have suggsted, and not without justification, that somewhere around the invention of the A-bomb, God took a good, long look at what He hadth wrought, threw up His hands, took a header and pulled the sod o'er. R.I.P and good luck to the next deity who takes upon Itself the idiocy of again proposing such a dunderheaded experiment as humancruel. All this, assuming God existed in the first place. I'm proposing something radical. Not to say that God wasn't, isn't and ever shan't be – I subscribe to the theory that we create our own reality, completete with (or without) deity of one's choice, and afterlife. After all, we give power to that in which we believe, & damned if I'm going to give it up to Fallwell's Satan – but that one can chose to be a (wo)man, take responsibility for one'self by going beyond God to a place where we behave as Jesus (or fill-in-the-blank) would have us behave simply because it's right. I wrote this out at two in the morning or somesuch, in one breath, so to speak, so take it as a thoughtful rant, but think about it. Hey, it's your life. That the first and perhaps greatest Communist Manifesto predated Marx & co. by nearly 2000 years is not an original thought. The the intellectual failure of those who insist that communism is a political system, as is democracy, is beyond redemption. The Bible certainly got it right, a fact that übercapitalist Christians insist on ignoring. Those who believe in the Word of God yet want to have their cake and eat it too, read it and weep! "On-ward, Chris-tian So - - ol-dier-rs ...." Pacifist Nation is nothing if not irreverent. It is, after all, authored by a Unitarian Universalist secular humanist who is both a Jew, a Christian and an atheist, so anything is fair game. Even the Holy Bible. So pardon me if I chuckle over-long over this little gem of an insightful piece. And a tip-o'-the-hat to the inspiration of Dr. Laura, and for causing one to contemplatively re-examine the broader/deeper implications of the oft' used phrase, "Don't take any wooden nickels.". Think about it. "With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo...." Well, I was going to write an essay on the horrors of war. But why bother to re-invent the wheel. Anyway, I'd be a bloomin' idiot to try and out-write Brother Mark, whose The War Prayer should be required reading. Period. (Had he been a rail fanatic rather than a devotee of the paddle-wheeler, might he have been nick-named, "Choo-choo Twain"? Just wondering.) Hey, just read the story, okay. Jackbooted thuggery alive and well in the USofA? (or as my Yiddish grandfather would shrug philosophically and say, "Elián, nu? U.S. oyvey!") I try to avoid currency, except where it addresses a universal issue. Arianna Huffington is fast becoming one of my favorite gadflies. Her May 6, 2K take on the Elián González case is refreshing, dealing as it does with the broader issue of hypocracy and the violence perpetrated with impunity by those pledged to "protect and serve". The cases cited are aberations, granted. But we must apply the same outrage there that our media's readership has applied to Reno's little adventure in south Florida. Elianito, séa en paz. And, Arianna, You go, girl! The most imporant thing to understand about peace is that one cannot have it without justice. You dig? Jefferson declared that we were all endowed by our Creator ..., etc..., inalienable rights, yada, yada, "... the pursuit of happiness." Some may, with justification, argue that we all have the right to a job with safety & dignity & respect & a living wage. On this Labor Day of 1999 we must again reflect on the vital importance of the Labor movement to the vast majority of us who are not Management, and even, by extention, those of you who are. Heed the words of my dear middle-management friend, Fr. Bill O'Donnell, pastor at St. Joseph the Worker in Berkeley, Calif. (For the link, I'm employing the United Farm Workers flag–a finer example of a union would be hard to find.) Those who perceive gun-lust as a fetish may not be far off the mark–or right on it. An insightful column by the L.A. Times's Shawn Hubler suggests a unique take on the issue, that our passion for guns is more like an addiction. The Times wanted seventy-five bucks for permission to post it here. I ain't that wealthy, but click on here & I'll give you a synopsis and a link to where you can download it for a buck-&-a-half–money well spent. (Ready, aim, ... shoot up!) [HypoGun by Y.T.]