It's interesting that these two subjects are typically considered taboo; at least in terms of discussing with those that are at your acquaintance level (and of course the taboo becomes worse the further your separation from the other party in the discussion).
And so I'm tempted to conjecture the reasons:
One of the obvious reasons for avoiding these discussions is because of how heated they are prone to become. But again....why?
Obvious answer #2 in this path of logic: people get heated because they are usually passionate about them. Or at least they are passionate about discussing them. People can end up angry, and I think it's because these two phenomena in our humanity (religion and politics; track with me) are supposed to serve the same base purpose: To serve people who need to be served. And inevitably, they often both end up serving those who do not need to be served.
Maybe that is why TED awards Karen Armstrong this year, for her work to improve this fact in religion.
And who will improve politics towards this same end? Obama? Hehe, I have no idea....
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Religion and Politics
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Great TED Talk, Jake... thanks for sharing. Here were some of the more intriguing excerpts for me:
"Throughout the ages, religion has been used to oppress others, and this has been because of human ego and human greed. We have a talent, as a species, for messing up wonderful things. ... you could not and must not confine your compassion to your own group; your own nation, your own co-religionists, your own fellow countrymen. You must have... concern for everybody. Love your enemies. Honor the stranger."
"There's also a great deal of religious illiteracy around. People seem to equate religious faith with believing things... as though that was the main thing that they do. Very often secondary goals get pushed into the first place in place of compassion and the golden rule, because the golden rule is difficult. ... A lot of religious people prefer to be right rather than compassionate."
These ideas relate well to a post I've got in the works about "Patriotism." (supposing that I ever get around to posting:)...
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