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Dec. 21st, 2009 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogThere is an interview right now on NPR with Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, a retired Hierarch of the Orthodox Church in America, about the commercialization of Christmas and the supposed 'war on Christmas'.
I adore this man. Just adore him. He reminds me a lot of Real Live Preacher, who is a liberal Baptist minister who also rocks hardcore.
But this Canadian monk from a monastery in British Columbia has been expounding on how Christmas has always had a secular element dating back to Charles Dickens' time and that that's ok. He's also said that fundamentalism is a birth defect and has talked about it tying in to an overdeveloped instinctive fear response. He described it as Taliban Christianity. He was a particle and quantum physicist before he became a monk. I love him.
People like these two folks remind me of what I've always felt like a priest ought to be. He's tearing down the idea that the nuclear family is the classic family (it arose during the industrial revolution) and even the idea of marriage being limited to one man and one woman, which comes down to secular law that arose much later than Christianity. He's talking about prostitution, and that our first responsibility should be to the health and well being of the women involved, and that they shouldn't be criminalized. That the Western idea of hell is completely off base. Anyway, in short, he's wonderfully informed, articulate, and refreshing. He almost makes me feel good about organized religion, and that's quite a feat. If you get a chance, you might enjoy listening to tonight's program. It should be available for download. Here, here; go check it out.
We really need more people in the world like this.
I need to get to bed. I'm going to take the train from Waukegan tomorrow morning, and then go from there to Posicat's place after work for car fixin'. Whee!
I adore this man. Just adore him. He reminds me a lot of Real Live Preacher, who is a liberal Baptist minister who also rocks hardcore.
But this Canadian monk from a monastery in British Columbia has been expounding on how Christmas has always had a secular element dating back to Charles Dickens' time and that that's ok. He's also said that fundamentalism is a birth defect and has talked about it tying in to an overdeveloped instinctive fear response. He described it as Taliban Christianity. He was a particle and quantum physicist before he became a monk. I love him.
People like these two folks remind me of what I've always felt like a priest ought to be. He's tearing down the idea that the nuclear family is the classic family (it arose during the industrial revolution) and even the idea of marriage being limited to one man and one woman, which comes down to secular law that arose much later than Christianity. He's talking about prostitution, and that our first responsibility should be to the health and well being of the women involved, and that they shouldn't be criminalized. That the Western idea of hell is completely off base. Anyway, in short, he's wonderfully informed, articulate, and refreshing. He almost makes me feel good about organized religion, and that's quite a feat. If you get a chance, you might enjoy listening to tonight's program. It should be available for download. Here, here; go check it out.
We really need more people in the world like this.
I need to get to bed. I'm going to take the train from Waukegan tomorrow morning, and then go from there to Posicat's place after work for car fixin'. Whee!
