{"id":136,"date":"2013-10-30T20:46:22","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T14:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/?p=136"},"modified":"2013-10-30T20:52:22","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T14:52:22","slug":"dogma-dont-throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/2013\/10\/30\/dogma-dont-throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater\/","title":{"rendered":"Dogma. Don\u2019t throw the baby out with the bathwater."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Liberal_Brain\"<\/a>I\u2019d hoped my UU church would be different.\u00a0 And much of it was.\u00a0 I\u2019d hoped that it would anchor itself in the undisputed world revealed by science.\u00a0 And that it would fight for progressive values like equality and sustainable living. \u00a0And it did. \u00a0I was further pleased that it rejected unjust dogmas of other traditions. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I was puzzled to find it went overboard:\u00a0 the minister and many members seem to deny all dogma, even those of logic and nature.\u00a0\u00a0 Many of my UU friends left other traditions because of bad dogma.\u00a0 In the process, they seem to have abandoned all of it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing wrong with dogma.\u00a0 It just really matters what we are dogmatic about.\u00a0 First, if our own values are to be meaningful, we must reject their opposites. \u00a0\u00a0Second, we must accept physical facts.\u00a0 These two values must underlie any other values we hope to hold.\u00a0 Without them, our own claims have no meaning, and\/or we are setting ourselves against nature.<\/p>\n

Science is messy and provisional, but it is the best way we have to know about the world.\u00a0 So, it is not dogmatic to teach our kids about gravity, vaccinations, nutrition and countless other scientific facts.\u00a0 It is loving and responsible.\u00a0 We can remain open to new findings, but we can\u2019t pretend that we don\u2019t know that hand-washing prevents disease or that poverty is a social ill.\u00a0 There is a limit to how open-minded we can be while remaining true to our values.<\/p>\n

For example, it is not dogmatic to tell people that they will die when their bodies stop functioning.\u00a0 We know this as solidly as we know anything.\u00a0 Asking \u2018what happens after we die?\u2019 is a medical question, not a spiritual or religious one.\u00a0 It\u2019s like asking \u2018what happens after we eat?\u2019.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a mystery.\u00a0 Ask a doctor and you\u2019ll get a rather full answer.\u00a0 The only reason we inject mystery into these questions is that we don\u2019t like the obvious.<\/p>\n

When it comes to God and the afterlife, many UUs sound like this poor woman:<\/p>\n

Wife, on finding her husband in bed with another woman:\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Husband:\u00a0 \u201cSleeping with your best friend\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wife:\u00a0 \u201cWell, who\u2019s to say?\u00a0 Whatever you\u2019re doing, please make the bed when you\u2019re finished.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hope you can see the problem.\u00a0 If we are to be credible in any of our work, we must hold certain lines.\u00a0 If we object to discrimination against gays, we must reject any God who is complicit in that matter.\u00a0 If we say we accept science, we must admit death is the end.\u00a0 Most of the UUs I know are brave and energetic activists.\u00a0 But in certain areas, they wilt.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pragmatic response and it is well-intentioned.\u00a0 But there is a limit to pragmatism, a place where it runs into our other values.\u00a0 An example:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/United_States_resolution_on_Armenian_Genocide<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a stalled resolution in the US Congress to recognize that the Armenian genocide happened.\u00a0 Everyone agrees it happened, but Secretary of State Clinton assured Turkey that the White House opposes the resolution declaring everyone knows it happened.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where it stands.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not Armenian, you may have a hard time getting worked up over this.\u00a0 Until you realize that, Armenian or not, you\u2019re a human being.\u00a0 But then you further recall you\u2019re an American and that Turkey is a key ally which controls key military routes.\u00a0 So, you\u2019re in a bind.\u00a0 Your values have collided with your pragmatism.<\/p>\n

Is this an apt comparison?\u00a0 Well, it seems any God would be implicated not only in the Armenian genocide (by making it possible) but in every other instance of injustice and suffering.\u00a0 This is perhaps religion\u2019s greatest achievement:\u00a0 keeping alive the idea that an all-loving God is a possibility.\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s ruled out.\u00a0 Any God who can help us does not do so equally.\u00a0 To continue to make room for a loving God is to avert our eyes, to fix our gaze so that we can\u2019t see the obvious.<\/p>\n

What we should do in these situations is often a tough call.\u00a0 But we ought to ask who is our pragmatism benefiting?\u00a0 Real believers aren\u2019t impressed when a UU makes room for God or the afterlife.\u00a0 UUs firmly reject the red-meat Creator God who gave heart defects and mental illness to some, and fulfilling lives to others.\u00a0 Believers know that the only god a UU is making room for is an airy Spirit of Life or Ground of Being.\u00a0 On the afterlife, we have a similar situation.\u00a0 No UU believes God has prepared bliss for some and fire for others.\u00a0 When a UU believes in the afterlife, it\u2019s not union with Yahweh.\u00a0 At most, it\u2019s a dim hope of continuity of consciousness, or mere recycling.\u00a0 Returning our atoms to the soil isn\u2019t an afterlife.\u00a0 We do that while we\u2019re alive.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re fooling no one by \u2018making room\u2019.\u00a0 There simply isn\u2019t room for a traditional God in UU.\u00a0 Our 7 Principles make sure of that.<\/span><\/p>\n

 
\nSo, our pragmatism seems aimed at each other.\u00a0 We know we\u2019re all at different stages of recovering from religion.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t quite let go.\u00a0 So at this point, it\u2019s fair to ask what is the most loving and effective strategy for dealing with each other?\u00a0 Being gentle is important.\u00a0 But the UUs I know are grown-ups and love authenticity.\u00a0 I think they can handle the truth, and will thank us for it.<\/p>\n

Or at least I thought so.<\/p>\n

In many cases now, I\u2019ve seen them fold rather than admit the consequences of their positions.\u00a0 \u00a0In this one way only, I have more respect for real believers who admit their God plays favorites.\u00a0 It is odious to me that they would commit to such a God, but at least they are honest about it, and don\u2019t try to have things both ways.\u00a0 They think the universe is a kingdom during rebellion and they are going to be inside the castle when it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n

UUs seem to reject all that, but can\u2019t bring themselves to face the responsibility that comes with it:\u00a0 that someone has to be wrong, and that it might be right to say so!\u00a0 This makes me wonder if the critics of liberalism are right, that liberals are, at depth, just lazy, starry-eyed comfort-seekers.\u00a0 I know this isn\u2019t true of the individual UUs I know.\u00a0 In private, they are great soldiers.\u00a0 But when they gather, they go soft, as if they are afraid of their combined strength.<\/p>\n

Every organization I\u2019ve been involved with has some aggravating traits mixed in with their strengths.\u00a0 This is the case with UU.\u00a0 It is to be expected.\u00a0 Humans are like that.\u00a0 But I won\u2019t stop hoping, and provoking, for more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019d hoped my UU church would be different.\u00a0 And much of it was.\u00a0 I\u2019d hoped that it would anchor itself in the undisputed world revealed by science.\u00a0 And that it would fight for progressive values like equality and sustainable living. \u00a0And it did. \u00a0I was further pleased that it rejected unjust dogmas of other traditions. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}