The Unnecessary War Between Science and Beliefs

Science and much of people’s beliefs appear to be at war. The war, however, is mostly one-sided. Science just does its thing and people’s beliefs seem to be attacking science’s ‘thing.’

Congressman’s Akin was actually being honest the other day. What he said was, in fact, his opinion. It is often said that when politicians have this kind of ‘slip of the tongue’ it occurs when they are actually telling the truth----or their opinion of the truth. He was simply guilty of listening to, as S. E. Cupp so aptly pronounced, junk science. He was not the first and he will not be the last. His statement was simply being honest at the wrong place in the wrong time.

The National Right to Life organization has been around for years. They have been historically opposed to abortion and euthanasia. Personally, I will never call anyone pro-life unless they also include capital punishment. To me, if one takes the life issue seriously, one need to include this as well. But that’s my opinion. Having said that, if a people tell me they are ‘pro-life’ the first question I will ask will be about capital punishment. If they do not want to include it, I won’t call them pro-life. I’m rather obstinate about that.

Abortion is an ugly subject. I wrestle with the subject of when life begins; I also wrestle with the subject of when human life begins. There is the very real question of determining if this is, in fact, a separate life if it cannot exist outside the mother’s womb. Science doesn’t really make ethical judgments on this at all. It merely tells us what is there. What we do with that information is very much up to us to determine philosophically and theologically.

I would, in a perfect world, like to be totally opposed to abortion. It is not, however, a perfect world. I am also not a woman and I cannot, in good conscience, ever tell a woman what she can and cannot do or have done to her own body. It would be simply inappropriate. Frankly, I really do not believe anyone can tell any other person what they can and cannot do in this regard. Additionally, rape, incest, molestation, health and well-being of the mother all come into play. Abortion is an ugly subject and it often gets even uglier when there are circumstances behind it.

In the 1970’s I did join the Right to Life organization. I was in the seminary and I read the literature RTL put out and I believed it. One piece of that literature was the scientific ‘fact’ that women did not get pregnant from rape. I did more research and learned that was not true. In a rape, when the rapist is wearing no protection, and the sexual act is completed inside the woman, the woman has a 5% chance of becoming pregnant. It is exactly the same percentage as any other kind of unprotected sex. That is the factual science. Saying that the woman’s body ‘protects’ her from becoming pregnant is junk science.

Interestingly enough, S. E. Cupp, who is very conservative and states she is very pro-life (I don’t know if she really is in terms of capital punishment), said that this kind of junk science is inexcusable and does more harm than good in terms of discussions about abortion.

She is correct. When junk science gets exposed and people begin bringing this nonsense to the public forum, they get discredited. Serious discussions on abortion are short-changed into saying that people are lying or are uninformed fools.

It’s an unnecessary war and it’s a foolish war to be having. Abortion is a painful and ugly subject; at least give the topic the dignity of dealing with real science and not junk science. And, please politicians, before you speak on such topics, learn the subject and the difference between real and junk science.

Random Musings for Today

 

I really need to get back to blogging…

Strange thing to lead off with, but Phyliss Diller was always one of my favorites. Instead of mocking others, she made fun of herself. She will be remembered, interestingly enough when one considers her humor, as a kind and amazing beautiful person who brought laughter to so many people. The world was a richer place because of her. Her passing at the age of 95 very much ends an era.

The horrible topic of rape is in the news. We have been exposed to such phrases as ‘legitimate rape’ and ‘forcible rape.’ It strikes me that there is no such thing as ‘legitimate’ rape and that all rape is forcible. It seems we need education on the fact that rape is a violent crime that is devastating to victims. I hope these statements are merely mis-statements and not an attempt to impugn the victims.

Doctors, are saying, by the way, that 5% of instances of unprotected sex result in a pregnancy and 5% of rapes with intercourse to completion end up in pregnancy. Those are the facts. Whatever one chooses to do or surmise from these facts is ripe for opinions, but not stating facts correctly is simply wrong.

On a fact finding trip to Israel, there seems to have been a party and several drinks were shared. People ended up swimming in the Sea of Galilee. One person, Kevin Yoder of Kansas jumped in the sea naked. Now there is great controversy. My thought on this is simple. People need to grow up. That this is even a news story is mind boggling to me.

The Princeton Review named the 377 Best Colleges in the United States. They have some interesting categories. The ‘best party school,’ is West Virginia University. The ‘most stone cold sober school’ is Brigham Young University. Brigham Young, a Mormon school, does not allow alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine on campus and they attribute the overall sobriety to the Mormon faith. When asked why West Virginis was the best party school, none of the WVU students were able to remember…

I change my mind every day as to who I am voting for in the next election. All the political ‘ads’ people put on Facebook are influencing me greatly… Not.

I watched a wonderful story on the Today Show about a family leaving $500.00 tips to honor the memory of a son/brother. People are donating money to them and they are leaving these large tips as a ‘pay it forward’ tribute. It’s also a great reminder that servers work hard for their money and a generous tip is good for them and good for the tipper’s soul. Generosity is a wonderful thing and need to be practice.

Someday check out the NBC News website, CNN website, and Fox News website, and you’ll wonder if we all live in the same country.

Sermon Audio August 19, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commissioning One Another: Honor All People

Text: Romans 12:9-21

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

August 19, 2012

Sermon Audio August 12, 2012

 

Commissioning One Another---Help the Afflicted

Text: Luke 10:25-37

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

August 12, 2012

 

 

Audio Sermon 8-4-12

 

Strengthen the Fainthearted; Support the Weak

Text: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

August 5, 2012

 

Sermon Audio July 29, 2012

 

Commissioning One Another---Do Not Render Evil for Evil

Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo

July 29, 2012

 

 

Audio Sermon July 22, 2012

 

Commissioning One Another: Hold Fast to that which is Good

July 23, 2012

1 Thessalonians 5:16-23

Commissioning One Another: Be of Good Courage

Audio Sermon, July 15, 2012

Text is from 2 Corinthians 11:16-33

 

Monday’s Ponderings

Rodney King was not a hero.  He  was, in fact, a troubled guy.  He had the misfortune to be beaten by police with cameras rolling.  The aftershock of that video,  the ‘you are not seeing what you are seeing,’ trials, OJ Simpson, riots, etc., reminded us  that we still have racial issues in our country.  His words, “Can’t we all just get along,’ still ring true.  He died famous or infamous, whatever you want to call him.

Microsoft is coming out  with a new tablet to potentially compete with Apple’s Ipad.  We’ll see if it does.  It actually may.  Apple is worrying greatly about Google’s phones and tablets, that they may not be keeping their eye on the Microsoft ball.  The best selling Android tablet is the Kindle Fire which is much less expensive and not marketed as an Ipad.  I love my Kindle Fire and I don’t really want or need to spend the dollars on an Ipad.  I’m thinking Apple may be  worried about the wrong competition.

Jesus was a pacifist.  When ‘Christian’ politicians speak about going to war, I keep  reminding myself that Jesus was a pacifist.  I wonder what part of pacifism includes going to war…

This past weekend there were many Pride rallies.  Gay people are  gathered and receive a lot of criticism.  They may, however, be the only ‘group’ of people who seem to have another whole group of people seeming to hate them.  This ‘we love them….but’ that we so often hear doesn’t cut it.  It reminds me of a previous statement, “Separate but equal.’  The word ‘but’ does not follow love…

Paul McCartney is 70.  Yikes.

Say what you will about the French.  Election campaigns, by law, are six weeks long and there are no television commercials allowed.  They also have very fine cheese, bread, and wine.  But six weeks and no television commercials are awesome.  I’m tired of this election cycle already.

I can’t say I’m excited about the Olympics.  There is no pretense now that it is an amateur event.  If I’m going to watch professional sports, I’d prefer football.

One has to love the summer around here.  Hot.  Humid. Rainless.  Did I mention it’s hot and humid?

Rielle Hunter, in her book about her affair  with John Edwards lambasts Elizabeth Edwards.  To be perfectly honest, I don’t know what kind of a person Elizabeth Edwards was.  She is, however, now deceased and I don’t see any need to tarnish her further in order to sell books.

I am not an activist of any sort.  I respect people who are, most especially those who are willing to be arrested for their convictions.  They have courage, that is for sure.

Commissioning One Another: Going Forth Into the World (Audio sermon)

 

Giving Thanks Unto God (Audio Sermon)

Based on Psalm 138

Audio Sermon June 3, 2012

 

A Bit More Complicated Than a Sign

John 3:1-17

Heroes

This past weekend, Memorial Day weekend, Chris Hayes on MSNBC said this:

“Why do I feel so uncomfortable about the word ‘hero’?” Hayes said. “I feel uncomfortable about the word hero because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war. Um, and, I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone that’s fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers and things like that. But it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic. But maybe I’m wrong about that.”

He rightly has received a ton of criticism for his comments about those who have lost their lives in defense of our nation.

The other day I was watching a segment from the movie The Longest Day, which is, perhaps, the definitely movie on the D-Day invasion.  There were numerous soldiers that, day, like most days in most wars, who lost their lives in the midst of combat.  Others, however, were blown up in airplanes before jumping out for action or who lost their lives on landing craft or in the water, before actually ever firing their gone.  There were others who lost their lives in the middle of doing amazing things.  They are all buried together and they are all heroes.  They all lost their lives serving their country.  We honored all of them on Memorial Day weekend.  They were there.  They showed up and the details of how they died are much less important than the plain and simple fact they died serving their nation.  And us.

Often, at least to me, the honoring of those who have died in the service of our nation is right and good.  I struggle with Caesar limelight of the day, however.  I struggle A LOT with many of them.  Politicians are the people who send people to war and, sadly, are often the first to take the credit for being heroes themselves for sending people to war.  The heroes were the ones on the battlefields putting themselves as risk.

Over the centuries many people in the role of ‘Caesar,’ send folks off to war in an attempt to further the agenda of Caesar.  How many young lives have been lost attempting to gain more living space for Caesar, or defending one’s own living space because some other nation’s ‘Caesar’ wanted your land. I’d like to say that never has an American President in the role of Caesar sent people to war for assistance in the polls, but I daresay, that would be untrue.  War is often great for politics.  It is, however, brutal because so many heroes lose their lives.

Chris Hayes greatly misspoke.   Greatly.  Those who have lost their lives in defense of our nation were, are, and will always be heroes.  Caesar, however, is a different story.

Be Careful! Sermon for Pentecost Sunday, 2012

Acts 2:1-8

Non-Partisan Political Ranting

I am, for one, happy the primaries are done in Kentucky and Indiana.  I was really getting sick of all the commercials.  They were, at least, pretty positive, but overdone.

Speaking of overdone, the one Mike Pence’s wife did over and over again about their first date was putting me into sugar shock.  I mean, it’s nice that it wasn’t a standard mean-spirited ad, but it was a bit much for me.

I have been, I am, and I will continue to be highly offended by the bogus ‘religious persecution’ tales we keep hearing.  This is why people are giving up on churches; they are tired of listening to nonsense from their leaders and from the pulpits.  It is shameful.

I think the larger national political issue is this.  People want the social services of the government and people do not want to actually pay for the social services of the government.  My phrase for this is that people what Democratic services at Republican prices.  People do not want THEIR retirement age raised, THEIR benefits to go down, etc.  They don’t really care if this happens to other people, but they don’t want it to happen to them.  At some point, we are either going to have to greatly revised benefits, eliminate benefits, or actually pay for the benefits.  Putting them on VISA, like we’ve been doing for the last 30 plus years, is not working.

I suspect Congress, both House and Senate, will be working on a lot of silly bills to get people to vote for or against nonsense all in trying to ambush one another for the upcoming elections.  Both parties do this and I do not understand why we pay people to write and push for bills that will not be passed.  I mean, seriously?

I have an observation about jury trials.  My prediction is that we are going to see an increasing number of hung juries.  In a society where ‘no compromise on anything’ is the new mantra, getting 100% is going to be almost impossible.  When there are people unwilling to ever give an inch on anything, society is in trouble.

I find it annoying when people use terms like “Socialist” or “Nazi,” as they are way over-blown and usually applied superficially.  What really drives me crazy is then people call someone a Socialist and a Nazi, considering they are to opposite ends of the political spectrum.  I’m wondering when they dropped Social Studies from schools?

A further thought:  Before anyone says someone is like Hitler or Stalin (in American politics) I think the person actually needs to do some studying of these two barbarians to see how incredibly evil they were and the breadth they went to be oppressive.  There is no one even remotely close to either of them on the political scene right now in American politics.

I have been reading some fundamentalist websites.  I should note that fundamentalism is often labeled as ‘conservative’ and it is anything but conservative.  If conservatism is holding treasured things of old and maintaining the tradition of things, fundamentalism is often the opposite.  The absolute literalism is not even remotely close to how the Bible was written or ever interpreted until more recent times.  It is not conservative.

But having said this, reading fundamentalist websites, there are more and more stories about Mormonism and they are not even remotely friendly toward the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.  Actually, truth be told, they are down-right hostile.  I suspect they will push for either another candidate (3rd Party) in the general election or choose to not vote.  I do not believe they will vote for either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama.  Honestly, I believe Sarah Palin will run as an independent.  I think, philosophically, most of these folks are more aligned with Mr. Romney than they are Mr. Obama, but I suspect they will not be willing to vote for a Mormon.  A large number of people boycotted him at Liberty University’s graduation for his religious faith and I suspect they will for this as well.  Frankly, it’s very said that he is being singled out for his religious beliefs.

Lastly, it’s Memorial Day weekend when we remember those who have died in the service of our nation.  Let us pray for peace so the number of those who have died in the service of our nation can stop growing; and let us pray for the families of those who have lost loved ones.

10 Annoyances

10.People who are crossing busy street and walking slowly, on an angle.  I understand that very often people cannot walk fast, but there is no reason why they have to walk on an angle and take twice as long!

9.People who go to the drive through window and order Thanksgiving Dinner.  Ugh.

8.Situation comedies that aren’t even remotely funny.

7.Restaurants that serve margarine and call it butter.

6.People who slow down at green lights in case they turn yellow.

5.Endlessly inane ‘Pac’ commercials.

4.The Mike Pence commercial.  It is painful and corny and doesn’t remind me even remotely of the guy who spoke at the Hanover commencement four years ago.

3.Polls that indicate who is going to win the election in November pretending that, right now, they matter.

2.NFL speculation on how great teams look while jogging around in pads.  I mean, really?

1.All the whining of the Facebook IPO.  People are upset that they didn’t become rich over night.  Seriously?

10 Tech Things I’ve Learned

I’ve learned some tech things over the years.  Some of them are even valuable.

1.If you put a lot of apps on your Droid phone it sucks up memory and makes the phone more difficult to use.  I found myself deleting a lot of fancier apps and going with the native ones.  The phone works better.  Who’d have thunk it?

2.Blogspot changed its look a bit and I was having difficulty finding how to put a new post on there.  Then I discovered Windows Live Writer on my computers and found it works really well.  Who knew?

3.Microsoft Word isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  Maybe I’m mellowing or maybe Word Perfect had too many bugs of late, but I’m not unhappy with Word.  Actually, me saying this might be a prediction of end times.

4.Windows XP was good.  Windows Vista was a disaster.  I don’t know if I’m excited about Windows 8.  To be honest, I’m tired of upgrading.

5.I just got Nuance PDF Editor 8.0 and it is the first one that switches into a word processing mode allowing you to edit PDF documents a lot easier.  Adobe Acrobat isn’t as easy to use and, wow, it is expensive.  Nuance PDF Editor is $99 and a bargain.

6.  All the fuss about the Facebook IPO.  Facebook has grown a lot and there was a lot of hype.  My sense is that it might be a good stock to buy and keep for a few years.  Everyone is upset because they aren’t overnight millionaires.  Well, Mark made out okay….

7. A program Swift-To-Do-List is, I think a shareware kind of program and it works really well.  The cost is reasonable.

8.I have found a lot of good programs come via shareware.  They work well, don’t have a lot of junk on them, and are inexpensive.  I actually do not object to purchasing these as the creators of these programs deserve to make a living.

9.I am convinced the federal government will, at some point, crack down and put limits on the Internet.  The Republicans are currently leading this charge, but I’m not sure the Democrats are going to prove to be any better.  A lot of money is coming into Congress from ‘regulators.’ 

10.  I still think Firefox is the best browser.

Spiritual But Not Religious : Part II

Yesterday I spoke about cynicism and some things wrong with organized religion.  Perhaps, better said, my opinion as to some things that may be wrong.  I am not going to attest to being an expert on people’s thoughts or feelings.

There are things that are right, however.  Many things.

For one, in most churches most of the time there is a serious intent on preach and teach  the Gospel with great seriousness and commitment.  We may not always agree with one another as to the truth of the Gospel, but most everyone is committed to being faithful to their faith, their traditions, and the Bible.  I have never met anyone who has ever stood before a congregation with the fervent hope of lying through one’s teeth about the Bible or God.  Most everyone tries to preach and teach with a sense of integrity.

This means that most every church has something to offer most people.  There may be a great deal we do not believe or fathom or even believe.  However, there are usually kernels of truth and goodness being offered. 

Secondly, prayer takes place.

I sometimes think we forget the importance of prayer.  When people gather for Worship and pray, there is something amazing and good that takes place.  The Bible teaches us that where two or three are gathered, God is with them. There is great power and great truth to this.  God being Worshiped and prayed to is potent and good.

Churches are incredibly fallible----each and everyone one of them.  But they do offer something good and worthwhile.  Sometimes it takes a while to find one where we may ‘fit,’ but, chances are, there is one!

Spiritual but not Religious: First in a Series of Observations

I have decided I want to make some observations on the largest growing ‘faith’ movement in the United States.  It is the group of people who call themselves ‘spiritual but not religious.’

Much has been written on this subject pro and con.  My observations are meant, hopefully, to be neutral enough for everyone to read, with the caveat that I have a bias.  I am the pastor of a church and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.  I happen to appreciate by denominational family and support it, so, I am biased.  Having said that, however, I like to believe that I have an open enough mind and heart to listen to people who have varying perspectives.

My first observation today is really an attempt to understand why people are giving up on religion.  I think one of the reasons is because of cynicism.  There is a great deal to be cynical about in organized religion.

One of the most commonly watched videos on You Tube right now is a segment of a sermon preached by Pastor Charles L. Worley, the pastor of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina.  A segment of it can be viewed here:

Sermon Portion

I find his words to be revolting, as I suspect the majority of people who watch this do as well. 

Does he speak for all Christians?  No.

Does he speak for most Christians?  No, I don’t believe so.  I cannot fathom most people believing that any group of people should be herded behind electrified fences because of sexual orientation.

The problem is that he does speak for some Christians.  People in his church were saying “AMEN!” while he was preaching.  Westboro Baptist Church pickets  funerals of service people killed in combat proclaiming the deceased soldier is going to hell.  Their website is entitled, “Godhatesfags,’ and they do exist. 

People get disgusted with this kind of behavior from ‘Christians’ and presume the worst, so they stay away.

In recent years the Roman Catholic Bishops have gone down new roads and are rapidly emptying the pews of their churches.  The road they are going down has as much to do about God as do burgers and fries, but they are busily on the road to somewhere, I’m not sure where.

They have become overtly political and seem to have made contraception a leading issue in the upcoming election.  Their claims of religious persecution, as real as three dollar bills, ring hollow to many.  Recent attacks on nuns and the Girl Scouts are, if nothing else, bizarre.  Additionally, like the Southern Baptist Convention, they have purged seminaries of even remotely progressive thinkers and many of their best and brightest are gone.

On the left, the background is different, but has comparable results.

There are many good things about social justice and a sense of welcoming has been amazing and good.  People who feel unwelcomed at many churches, when they even look, has been good.  However, the one big missing piece is often a devotional piece.  Often Worship and spirituality are so carefully done to not offend that they end up being incredibly bland and unexciting.  Often simple things like prayer and Bible Study are overlooked for other things.  It is easier to get people to serve at Soup Kitchen than it often is to get them to Sunday School of Bible Study.

Finally, there is the political component.  Politicians love to tell us how much God is on their side.  Ugh.

I suspect many people are finding themselves spiritual but not religious because religion is falling short in some ways.

Faith Statements, Confirmation Class, 2012 at St. Marks

These are the Faith Statements shared at Worship on May 20, 2012 at St. Marks United Church of Christ.

The speakers are:

Bailey Schneidau

Callie Oakes

Chance Miller

Josie Myers