I’m no Langston Hughes (true) but it was fun.
Thanks for the inspiration Rev!

Hole in my Soul…

I won’t tithe no more,
Dear God – you’ve been slacking
While dozing at the wheel,
You’ve allowed the hijacking,
of a race, of people, of a future, of a culture,
Your “word” used against – sex, creed, and color.

Created in your image,
I understand why we’re so flawed,
But ‘til you get back to work,
Not a cent from me dear lawd!

Biased indignation shades the people of the Sun,
I’m passing on the prayer,
We’ve got real work need being done.

Say I’ve got a hole in my soul, and with you it needs fillin’
Blind faith as my guide, paint reason a villain?
Because I chose to question, I’ll burn when I  am dead -
Trade the hole in my soul, for a hole in my head?

They said you sent your kin, a prophet and a Teacher,
Took away our right to think,
Said just listen to the preacher?

Exalted is your son,
But the lesson never taught,
“People not be traded, auctioned, sold or bought”.

Thank you for your threat o’ pain wished me by believers
Black filled ghettos spilled with blood,
O’ thank you dear White Jesus.
But instead he saved us from himself AND your threats of hell,
We’re left to find our own way now and save us from ourselves.

Goodbye my dear homeland, Ne’er to hear its morning song,
Took away my Shaka Zulu and gave me Eddie Long!
Turn the other cheek, and accept that you exists?
Accept how I got here, and that Jesus is no Myth!

But to do that dear god, I’d have to accept YOUR shady ways
corrupted leaders, and brutality,
But instead – let’s just part ways.

- Alix Jules

I love Tebowing! I think that Tim Tebow has every right to flash his piety in public. It’s an exercise in free speech. It’s as American as pumpkin pie and all those other clichés. We take great pride in allowing people to practice their religions in public. Tebowing in my opinion is no different than Catholics and the other pious openly performing the sign of the cross after realizing they’ve taken a bite out of the Virgin Mary’s head at breakfast.  I’ll admit, I do occasionally give them the side eye, because I once was one of them – but alas, the church and I have parted ways. Even with that, I happily respect the right of Catholics to pay homage to their savior, as I accept and often champion the rights of the less pious to mock the “Tebow-mania” – for they too are equally exercising their freedom of speech. There’s an inherent problem with being so public though, what happens when as a holy roller you still roll snake eyes?

Tebow’s and many other Christians are good players with great potential. We sometimes refer to their talent as “natural” ability. I respect their right to display their religion on their sleeves and even thank the “super natural” for their gifts (after all its football not Congress). But I think Tim and many God-laden athletes show a level of arrogance and selfishness in their public displays. Really – does Tebow consider himself the anointed on any given Sunday? As much as he thanked god and showed deference, you’d expect that he would’ve had a better season?  God gave him the ability to be a great quarterback. I’ll accept that premise (for discussion purposes only). But – I’d also have to accept the premise that God gave every other openly pious football player their talents as well. So when Tebow gets sacked, like he did by Detroit linebacker Stephen Tullock, should Mr. Tebow not have thanked God then too? I mean, it was just another sanctioned play by the Almighty. I think it was quite rude that Mr. Tullock had to “Tebow” over Tebow for Tebow, when Tebow himself should’ve been the one doing the “Tebowing”. If he is going to give thanks for the good, he’s got to give thanks for the bad and accept that at least that given Sunday, God wanted to see him lying flat on his back.

Maybe God is just spreading the winning wealth across the NFL? If so, HE really loves the Northeast right now. I mean New England Patriots vs the NY Giants? That’s almost a Subway series and Manning, as lucky as he was, never “Tebowed” on the field. But if that’s true, how does that explain other sports teams like the NY Yankees or the Jordan Chicago Bulls that dominated their respective sports? God didn’t choose to spread the wealth during the nineties, and he sure didn’t give my beloved Yanks any love in the eighties. Could it possibly be that those teams didn’t win because of God, prayer, etc., – but because they spent time recruiting, drafting, investing in players, training, gambling on the teams’ futures so they could show an eventual return on investment – sprinkled with a little bit of luck? Mr. Tebow why not give thanks to your agent instead or the trainers that keep you healthy enough to pull in that salary? As an aside, could you imagine how many technicals or delay of games Jordan would’ve racked up if he “Tebowed” after every dunk. Imagine Mark McGwire “Tebowing” after crushing the bat into that screaming red thread and watching his “god sanctioned” steroid enhanced record breaking home-run season get etched into the history books – with an asterisk.

“Tebowing” is a little like prayer in my opinion. It might make you feel good for a while, but when your prayer remains unanswered or you find yourself with an 8-8 season watching from the comfort of your living room instead of the sidelines – you gotta ask yourself, is anyone up there really paying attention? And if so, do you just come to the conclusion that Tim – it didn’t matter how many times you dropped to your knee – maybe he’s just not that into you.

Almost forgot – “Go BLUE!”

Marilyn Westfall, First Unitarian Universalist Church in Lubbock:

Carl Sagan. I can’t think of another scientist who could share a sense of wonder and celebration with the American public as he did, especially with his television series “Cosmos.” As a young person who watched that show and its reruns, I remember being moved to tears at times, given the chance to contemplate the cosmos and our place in it.

Read more here.

Zachary Moore, Dallas/Fort Worth Coalition of Reason:

Today, although nearly all politicians have to claim some sort of religious affiliation to be electable, the culture at large is much more strongly influenced by Freethinkers and Humanists of various stripes.

Read more here.

And it’s very true, there have been a substantial influence on American culture by religious leaders (primarily Christian). Jonathan Edwards led the First Great Awakening, and cemented the Reformed theology of Puritanism in the culture of the Northern States which contributed in no small way to its regional embrace of industry and rejection of slavery. Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the first true American religion, and led his followers to begin a journey which culminated in the organization of a new state (Utah), as well as substantial economic and political influence over such apple-pie institutions as the Boy Scouts of America, and even serious candidates for the office of President of the United States. Nat Turner, a Virginian slave, was a religious leader in his own right and claimed that he was led by God to incite a slave revolt in 1831 that escalated tensions leading up to the Civil War, which itself was a clash of religious influences on both sides of the conflict.

But along the way, American Freethinking Humanists were just as active, and just as influential. Susan Jacoby’s book “Freethinkers: a History of American Secularism” provides an essential guide to these cultural contributors. Thomas Paine’s writings laid the philosophical foundation for the American Revolution, and provided moral weight for our Founding Fathers to justify separation from England. And among those founders, we find notable Freethinkers like Thomas Jefferson and Ethan Allen, who wrote the book “Reason: the Only Oracle of Man.” And of course no list of influential Freethinkers would be complete without a mention of Robert Green Ingersoll, the so-called “Great Agnostic” who spoke to standing-room-only crowds across the country, and enjoyed the kind of celebrity today only echoed by pop musicians like Justin Bieber or Michael Jackson.

Today, although nearly all politicians have to claim some sort of religious affiliation to be electable, the culture at large is much more strongly influenced by Freethinkers and Humanists of various stripes. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Daniel Radcliffe, Katherine Hepburn, and Charlie Chaplin are all Humanists, as are Larry King, Bill Maher, and Jon Stewart. Yip Harburg, songwriter of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” John Lennon of The Beatles, and the “Piano Man” himself, Billy Joel are all nonreligious Humanists as well. Influential scientists are overwhelmingly Humanist, including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Carl Sagan, and Bill Nye “The Science Guy.”

And so it would be best remembered that although religious leaders and individuals have had signifiant influences on American culture, the same can be said of Freethinking Humanists as well.

In a time when some Republican presidential candidates are anti-science, and believe that global climate change is a hoax and evolution a “secular religion,” we might recall that Sagan wrote in “The Demon-Haunted World”:

“If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.”

A meeting of conservative evangelicals in Texas last weekend included James Dobson, John Hagee, and the leader of group that sponsored Rick Perry’s prayer rally in Houston last year. Presumably, they are attempting to influence the Republican primary race to exclude Mitt Romney from the nomination. And Texas is no stranger to religious leaders mixing politics into their sermonizing – after all, just last fall Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas repeated his oft-echoed attack on Romney’s faith, calling it a “cult.”

Of course, even though churches in the United States are forbidden from endorsing candidates, many either come precariously close or explicitly violate this law, such as with “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” organized by the Alliance Defense Fund.

I can’t help but look askance at any religious leader that would use his or her position to influence a citizen’s vote. Are they so certain of God’s political favor that endorsing a candidate seems like a reasonable option? Why, then, do candidates from all points on the political spectrum seem to find religious endorsements? How can God be in favor of both a conservative AND a liberal candidate at the same time?

What about Humanists and Freethinkers, though? I think the same risks apply. Although there may be some significant common ground on certain political issues, secular Americans are by no means plagued by a single-mindedness when it comes to political interests. It’s the common practice of such organizations as the Fellowship of Freethought in Dallas to avoid any pretense of support for any political candidate, and I would encourage any similar group to adopt the same policy.

As it happens, the Texas meeting produced (after several ballots) a coalition of support for Rick Santorum. Unfortunately for him, this endorsement appears to have had little effect.

Marilyn Westfall, First Unitarian Universalist Church in Lubbock:

I think that connection with the natural world can bring us many of the satisfactions of religious or spiritual practice. But I would also offer the advice (and warning) of E.O. Wilson, in regards to the deep needs that religion served in evolutionary development for “consecration of personal and group identity, attention to charismatic leaders, [and] mythopoeism”; Wilson says that these needs are “powerful, ineradicable, and at the center of human social existence.”

Read more here.

Dr. Robert Sloan Lee, Philosopher:

On the assumption that traditional religion is false, I don’t think that those who have entirely rejected traditional religion need something to replace it – except perhaps the truth (because one should try to avoid replacing false beliefs with other false beliefs).

Read more here.

Zachary Moore, Dallas/Fort Worth Coalition of Reason:

As a real entity, God creates many more problems than He solves, and religious individuals have been forced to engage in cognitive dissonance for centuries in order to make any sense of their theological stumblings. But as a metaphor, God is an explanation rich in meaning from the fields of philosophy, psychology, cosmology, and even biology.

Read more here.

– Dr. Robert Sloan Lee

Weiner asks, rhetorically, if a reimagination of religion is needed, and specifically through the innovative lens of how Steve Jobs helped to reimagine the experience of personal computing. Alas, it’s already been done!

Freethinkers and Humanists have already taken that next step and made the concept of God non-literal, freeing themselves from the limitations of traditional religious systems. As a real entity, God creates many more problems than He solves, and religious individuals have been forced to engage in cognitive dissonance for centuries in order to make any sense of their theological stumblings. But as a metaphor, God is an explanation rich in meaning from the fields of philosophy, psychology, cosmology, and even biology. Indeed, the God of Spinoza, Einstein, and Darwin is more approachable in its non-existence than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Further, we can find many examples of this reimagined religion in practice. In Dallas, the Fellowship of Freethought is one such organization in which Freethinkers and Humanists meet regularly, to explore their shared values and mutual interests, enthusiastically encouraging each other to explore doubts and examine new lines of argumentation. It’s become a family affair, and children are welcomed just as warmly as they would be at any traditional Sunday School. But among Humanists, children aren’t taught to confuse myths with history.

So do we need a “Steve Jobs” figure for this? Only inasmuch as his marketing genius could help spread the concept. But until then, Weiner would do well to explore his local grassroots Freethought and Humanist communities.

Now, I’m not an advocate for the “spiritual” as I think the word itself has about as much baggage as does the word “religion,” but it is the default word (it seems) of our era for experiences and states of mind that trigger a sense of transcendence or maybe even a mild form of mania.

In Unitarian Universalism, spirituality and spiritual practice have been (in my opinion) increasingly incorporated into services and study. The Rev. William Murry, a humanist, has written “Reason and Reverence,” which while emphasizing naturalism is also Murry’s attempt to strike a balance between rationality and emotionalism, especially in regard to those feelings of awe or amazement that can overwhelm us, especially when we fully engage with the natural world. Murry writes, for instance, of contemplating the universe: “As a religious naturalist, I feel wonder and amazement at nature’s majesty, beauty, complexity and power; I feel joy and comfort among its trees or by its waters…”

I think that connection with the natural world can bring us many of the satisfactions of religious or spiritual practice. But I would also offer the advice (and warning) of E.O. Wilson, in regards to the deep needs that religion served in evolutionary development for “consecration of personal and group identity, attention to charismatic leaders, [and] mythopoeism”; Wilson says that these needs are “powerful, ineradicable, and at the center of human social existence.” He suggests that humanists and scientists recognize these features of the human personality for their complexity, mystery, and as “a source of energies that can be shifted in new directions” (see chapter 9 of “On Human Nature”).

There will always be a longing to give a name to communal experience where we can feel as well as think, enjoy a sense of transcendence that lifts us from the day-to-day struggle and tedium, and maybe find ourselves enraptured by joy or at ease and peace. These fellowships that we build with others, where we can share sublime experiences and enhance our lives are precious–but we can hike, go birding, write, paint, play music, perform in dance or theater, and maybe these communal activities are sufficient in the place of spirituality or religion.