the rix mix

Maybe I'll write something today. Like how sick I am of religion, it's everywhere. & it's been bugging me all week. Seems that every news story, every issue, get twisted into religion now. That's what the right wing likes to do. It's always about values, values are about morality, & the only morality that's any good is their's. But why would I want to write about that? On Tuesday night I was cold, the first time I can recall being cold in this apartment. My previous place was always cold in the winter & hot in the summer. It was a studio, no cross ventilation, drafty back door opening on to fire escape, large window, no shade, south-facing, & over an open garage. Anyway, I was chilly. On Wednesday it was still cold in here, & not cold outside. Then I walked in the other room, the one I use like an attic, & noticed that a window was wide open. The strong wind had apparently rattled the lock loose, the weighted sash took over, & up it went. I didn't feel a draft coming from there because all the warm air was being sucked out. So I closed the window & that solved it. Most churches are like my old apartment.

I enjoy reading books on spiritual themes & religion. Once in awhile I even dip into actual theology. Although theology often causes the "damaged CD" effect; you read a paragraph & then read it again, & again, & again, before you even realize it, because it refuses to connect to the next paragraph & you simply can't move on to the next paragraph until the one you're in makes some sense. The Contrarian read Thomas Aquinas in the original Latin whilst at his beloved Notre Dame, & the more he writes about that university the more I'm inclined to believe he enjoyed it, because clearly that school produces many people whose spirituality contains a great deal of reason except in regard to their own unique branch of the Church of Rome, based in of all places Indiana, United States, & only barely in concord with Home Office. I hate to admit it, but I get the impression that Notre Dame (& St. Mary's) attracts a lot of leftist Catholic idealists along with the reactionaries like Rovean Party Rep. Mike Ferguson.

In the Religious War we are now engaged in, Contrarian & I are allies. We both agree the people on the other side - the literalists & fundamentalists & theocrats - are dangerous nuts. I also happen to think the American protestant varieties are just as heretical as me. So what must they be to Catholics who have encountered the light of reason given off by Thomas Aquinas? (Hell, even the great English Catholic oddballs - Julian of Norwich, Margaret Kempe - make more sense than President of the Southern Baptist Theology School.) Aquinas wasn't always reasonable, but then he lived in the 13th Century. This Light of Reason is under attack all over the world. But only Reason can lift everyone in the world up. Religion can't do it. Religion divides the world. Religion appeals to tribalism because the roots are there, not in "Universal Truth." Is God is on the side of Reason? Bob Dylan wrote a very good song about this. As soon as you become convinced God is on your side, God is not on your side. & it's in the Bible that whoever says they love God the most, may well love God the least.

But my problem is that I can't get away from religion. I used to take it up & put it aside, which is fine for someone who can't find a religion he wants to join. Now, everywhere I go there's religion. In the media, on the web, in the streets. Not having to deal with that was one advantage to living near New York, where religion tends to be drowned out when it isn't one of today's headlines. Religion is always one of today's headlines.