Robert Schuller. Let him R.I.P.

I feel sad about the late Robert Schuller of Crystal Cathedral fame.  His squabbling family should shut up, bury the hatchet and let him rest in peace.

Holy person of God

We never got over that old double standard ... the notion that clergy should somehow be holier, wiser and more loving than the rest of us and not capable of doing dumb, stupid unethical and immoral things. Clergypersons are wonderfully and terribly human.  So let's give them a break for the human part, OK?

FACEBOOK RELIGION

There's a lot of religious B.S. and baloney on Facebook.  So what's the difference between that and what I publish here? Not much.  Only difference is I admit that mine is half-baked mutterings.  Which is just a creative way of saying B.S. and baloney.
 
Unlikely as it might be that you are reading this and even less probable that you give a rodent's rump or a cleric's collar about my Good Friday reminiscent musings... it's the next post.

GOOD FRIDAY BACK IN THE DAY

Good Friday was a big thing in the 30s and 40s.  A great many businesses closed from noon until three.  Churches of various denominations joined together for a three hour service featuring Good Friday sermons by three of the town's leading clergy.  Some of that still happens but not on the scale of how it was done back there.
Some cities carried the service on radio.  In Detroit the Fox Theater was the site for a big service and the entire three hours were broadcast on a major radio station each year. I still remember listening to the grand oratory, choir singing and organist Ole Foerch playing the Fox Theater Wurlitzer.  The Good Friday observance was that important.
That wouldn't work today.  A merchant who closed during that period would probably be charged with injecting personal faith into the business, not acceptable in today's multicultural society.  And Atheists would demand equal air time. Oh well. for us old folks it's a treasured memory.

Big bad religious traditiion?

I like religious tradition.  I like myth and legend.  They co-exist quite comfortably for me.  Much of tradition is built upon myth and legend. I know that.  So what?  I don't buy the idea that myth is good and tradition is bad. So kindly do not tell me that I must throw out one  to find meaning in the other. 

IT'S IN THE BOOK

So I hold the terribly old fashioned view that it would be nice if everybody had at least a basic, rudimentary idea of what's in the Bible ....even if they don't believe a word of it. Funny thing is, those who don't believe a word of it often know more about it than those who make a lot of noise about believing it.

BUT SERIOUSLY, GOD...

Religious people take themselves so seriously. And the progressives who claim they are spiritual but not religious do it, too. Sometimes more than the religious ones.