Monday, September 15, 2008

The Role of Religion in the New World

It's not my fault..I was instigated...
The Pope's lesson on the necessity to allow God to
make determination of the end of life drove me to it..
"People must accept death at the hour chosen by God"...
Pope Benedict XV1....
I love this Pope...He is a truly compassionate being...
He reminds me of Pope Paul the sixth..Another compassionate being...
Apparently some European countries decision to integrate a more human element of control concerning the issue of euthanasia fueled the Roman Catholic Church's decision to speak currently on the issue...
Per the Associated Press's article I read on yahoo...Belgium and The Netherlands have legalized euthanasia, and France is in the midst of renewed debate on the issue..
The teaching of the Church concerning this subject has not changed...It is based on the same sanctity of life, moral view that encompasses the Church's 'right to life' stand on abortion..
Abortion, euthanasia, are social issues today due to seedlings of thought beginning with the cultural revolution of the 1960's and 70's...
I believe those seeds have been cultivated by way of technological advances in natural sciences starting in the 1980's and still gathering momentum as we speak...
Mankind's horizon's are no longer manageable by the great Religious Institutions.
Faith, as a viable means of spiritual growth finds it's self shouting when a whisper would suffice not more than thirty years ago..
As gains in scientific discipline advent the once socially accepted norm 'we do not have the capacity to know'...begins to crumble and no body can find a legitimate reason to remodel.....
Mankind wants to 'know'...Mankind has always wanted to know...It is the nature of our beings..
Faith has held the high cards because Mankind has not had sufficient tools in the past to present viable challenge to the 'we do not have the capacity to know' ideal...
Questioning is a faith based religion's greatest concern ..
Let me just make the point, this concern is truly not based out of fear, as is the popular view of those who adhere to the concepts of atheism...
Instead I believe the greater concern is actually based in compassion...
The great religious Institutions want to preserve the ideals of Moralism...
As faith becomes a more questionable means of life value, pressure is placed on the shoulders of religion in regard to how society views their total value...
I was raised a Roman Catholic and my introduction to that faith left with me a great respect for Jesus Christ and his gifts to the world..
Christ was a realist and presented his message to a pre-scientific world...
Christ was also a revolutionary teacher in that he did question the status quo..
I believe in the spirit of Christ and I believe that spirit is here with us today...
I don't believe he is one to be found crouching in the shadows of fear...It is not his style..
As Mankind breaks away from faith he must do so cautiously...Man kind survived the ice ages due to his ability to remember the value of 'what got me this far'...Man's duelist role of both predator and prey instinctively ingrained a common sense of caution..
This is a good thing..
The fact is Religious institutions still have a great value to offer 'modern man'...Religious Institution have always taken the great and honorable responsibility of leaders and preservers of Morality...
It is this great and solemn responsibility that dictates these institutions move slowly...It is a prerequisite...Man is ADHD...Religion realizes this...Moral code is like a natural resource...Once given up it can not be restored...
Religious Institution realizes it's own mistakes over the years..It's own failure at it's own Moral code...Again, we are all only human...
I agree with the need for checks and balances working in our lives today...
On one hand, I am thrilled at the advances Man is making in the areas of technologies and science..
We are on the brink of something amazing in regards to man's ability to understand...
It is the self inherent responsibility of those who have chosen to carry the torch of Morality, to insure we venture into that new world together...