Atheism and Some Broken Sticks
By
Atheism
Most of my readers know that I was an atheist before I encountered the Baha'i Faith. Because of this personal experience, I feel a special mission to teach the Baha'i Faith to atheists.
I am not aiming at a small congregation. If you look at the statistics and count the spectrum of non-religiosity from lapsed believer to agnostic to atheist as a single religion then this "faith" usually comes in around third or fourth in most developed countries in numbers of adherents. In Western lands there are more atheists than Baptists, Muslims, or just about any other religious denomination you can shake a stick at. Only Catholicism and a couple of others regularly come in before atheism.
There is no atheist pope, so my main contact with this persuasion is the Scientific American "Skeptic" column, especially the installment in the latest issue, called "Rational Atheism," (Scientific American, September 2007, pp. 44-46), where Michael Shermer writes,
"Since the turn of the millennium, a new militancy has arisen among religious skeptics in response to three threats to science and freedom: (1) attacks against evolution education and stem cell research; (2) breaks in the barrier separating church and state leading to political preferences for some faiths over others; and (3) fundamentalist terrorism here and abroad."
Shermer goes on to point out that four atheist books have recently hit the top of the New York Times bestseller list, "Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation (Knopf, 2006), Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell (Viking, 2006), Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great (Hachette Book Group, 2007) and Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion (Houghton Miffl in, 2006)" He does not say so, but Shermer seems to be responding to some high profile criticisms in the press of these bestsellers, ripostes saying essentially that their authors seem awfully adamant about something that they claim to know nothing about.
His thesis in this article is that atheists should try to be less aggressive and negative. They should raise their consciousness and try to apply the Golden Rule. They should try not to define themselves negatively. That must be a tall order, since the very word "atheist" means "without" or "against" the belief in God. Some try to get around that by calling themselves humanists, but that does not distinguish them from believers, who, if they are at all sincere in their faith, are humanists too.
Shermer also points out that both believers and atheists should respect the right and freedom of others to believe what they choose. He concludes with these words, "Rational atheism values the truths of science and the power of reason, but the principle of freedom stands above both science and religion." In this sense, believers in God have to agree with that, for freedom is faith's promise. As Jesus said, "the truth shall set you free." The spirit of God is as free as the wind,
"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor
Some Broken Sticks
For those who are on the Badi' List and not my blog, I just posted on the Badi' Blog (badiblog.blogspot.com) some cartoons Silvie sketched this evening of her impressions of, one, a handsome guy in college, two, a not-so-handsome college guy, and three, myself during my college days. Similarly, she draws a picture of a handsome guy in love, a not-so-handsome guy in love, and Tata (Daddy) in love. Like her mother, she has a remarkable natural talent for cartooning. I cannot but envy them.
During our evening prayers tonight Silvie hit me with a mini-Socratic dialog. She asked me,
"What would you say to a person who said that they love somebody more than God?"
That was a tough one, but before I could open my mouth, she supplied the answer to her own question.
"If they told you that you should just tell them that saying that is like saying that you love more than love, since God is love."
I praised her for that insight, saying that if she continues like that she will become a philosopher. Tomaso interjected with a rather obscure reference to one of his favorite films of late, National Monument,
"Yeah, loving something more than God would be like destroying the Lincoln Memorial statue!"
Yes, yes, exactly. Later I realized he was thinking of a point in the film where a character says that stealing the Declaration of Independence would be an atrocity, on the scale of taking a national monument, like the Lincoln Memorial.
Anyway, I find sometimes I need a "jump-start," or a priming of the pump, before I start into my prayers, so I have been taking advantage of some Persian prayers available on Youtube. They are wonderfully effective for priming the soul for prayer, even though, in my opinion, you have to understand the words for it to count as prayer itself. In any case, the following is a Persian Baha'i prayer chanted by a male voice.
A comment pleads for the words to the prayer, "even if they are in Dari." If any of my readers can identify it, post the words there, and let me know about it too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnLZ1ufk1UQ
The following is titled, "Kalamat-e Maknooneh Baha’i Iran music," chanted by Zahrod Mojgani, with Mohandes Somebody on violin. He plays the violin in a strange, Persian way, that is not unpleasing, and she both reads and chants what are, I believe, the third Persian Hidden Word, and the forty eighth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxqRYpg3NOE&mode=related&search=
It is not only spiritually refreshing to listen to this, but it also is a good way to pick up some Farsi vocabulary. Here, for your convenience, is the English translation of these two verses.
PHW3, O FRIEND! In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold. Treasure the companionship of the righteous and eschew all fellowship with the ungodly.
PHW48, O BRETHREN! Be forbearing one with another and set not your affections on things below. Pride not yourselves in your glory, and be not ashamed of abasement. By My beauty! I have created all things from dust, and to dust will I return them again.
Regular contributor Jean sends the following link to the text of Gordon Brown's recent speech to the UN, which is, she says,
"about world unity and the responsibility of people in rich countries to help their brethren in poor countries. One of my colleagues left a printout on the table in the break room. I skimmed it while waiting for a meeting, and was delighted to see many references to our cherished Baha'i principles."
http://www.labour.org/uk/gbunitednations
Here is another Youtube discovery. I did a search on that site for my life's work, the Baha'i principles, and was surprised to find a little production on that subject by a relatively local group for me, the
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LphNOslJqwo
I would love to post something on Youtube with a little more substance on the principles, but until I do this tidbit will do.
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