Ichabod's Kin
A place for politics, pop culture, and social issues

          When clergy gather to update the state of religion amid divisions over LGBTQ+, racism and antisemitism, the entire world should turn out. But don’t look for that to happen even if the world were coming to an end.

          Still, a goodly turnout met four such panelists the past month and all found it helpful for threading the issues. Christian and Jewish reps explored scripture and the stresses of modern society through the lenses of current attitudes and the violence that often accompanies them.

          There was some honest admission to having a learning curve regarding LGBTQ+ matters, but all were on the same page when it came to race and antisemitism. Religion, at times of change in any age, is among the more conservative institutions in America. Even when more liberal in theology, in practice there’s no little foot-dragging. And that is something that simply won’t do when it comes to the equality and belated inclusion of minorities in society as a whole.

          A good part of the evening featured a close look at the Good Book itself and the troubling verses that keep God’s faithful from stepping up their game when needed most. There was skillful interpretation of biblical sources and, aye, therein was the rub. Really, how does one handle teachings from long ago when the world was radically different? When religion is hoped to be among the enlightened leaders of human progress, retrogressive notions stick out like sore thumbs in confounding and embarrassing ways.

          Such are present in both Christian and Jewish books of their respective bibles—views of sexuality and the judgments on people who are different from those declared to be “righteous”; views and behavior towards women and their subservience to men; assumptions of lesser races in a hierarchical world; and blaming Jews for everything from the death of Christ to justifications for their persecution through every age and time thereafter.

          My takeaways from all the above are as follows:

An assortment of teachings, many highly contradictory and out of date, that are put together in one cover and declared eternal truth, is problematical to the max. There is no reconciliation possible between such opposites and indeed has led to caste systems, inquisitions, incessant hatred and the worst of wars.

There is a point when leaders of any kind must bite the bullet—especially after all attempts to rationalize or to explain away that which cannot be justified. They must stop worrying about how many members they will lose and what it will temporarily cost in precious dollars to religious groups, institutions of learning and society overall.

The absence of dead wood from the forest encourages new and healthier growth in the future.

Modern translations of Scripture have long made wise adjustments such as italicizing the concluding verses of Mark’s gospel to indicate that such were later additions to the original document–as for the final words of the “Lord’s Prayer”—“…for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever…” another non-original inclusion.

The same is in order for the most inimical verses that condemn good people for merely existing and thereby outside the social acceptance of ruling races and parties. They too could be put into italics with footnotes explaining their incompatibility with the other, more enlightened teachings—or placed with such notations in addenda to holy books, thus apart from the better wisdom of each religious tradition. The most beneficial solution would be for authorities to remove them altogether, declare them heretical and thereby provide truly living documents for their respective adherents to follow.

Perhaps most needed is one we use in our own national Constitution—room for amendments that accommodate changing times. What a world that would be. But such would take the best of leadership.

And if we have a problem with that, what does it say about us?