Faith-based hatred

Science writer Clay Farris Naff wrote a marvelous essay in the Huffington Post, in which he makes a case for his belief that "at this historical moment it is in religion that hatred finds its most powerful and all-consuming expression."

Naff cites these examples of faith-based hatred:

• The notorious Westboro Baptist Church, whose members picket funerals of U.S. soldiers because "God hates fags." And God also apparently hates Jews.
  
  
• Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur have published a new exegesis of the Torah in which the prohibition "Thou Shalt Not Murder" applies only "to a Jew who kills a Jew."
  
  
• One Muhammad Hussein Yaaqub went on Egyptian TV to assure viewers that "The Jews are our enemies. Allah will annihilate them at our hands."
  
  
• Apparently, God also hates President Obama, according to preacher Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church.

(By the way, Obama is not the antiChrist. Pat Robertson says so. He says the antiChrist is probably a Jew who lives in Israel today.)

Naff says:

If you suspect, as I do, that religion evolved as a human trait that conferred advantage on groups by increasing solidarity in the competition against other groups, then it's all too easy to see how hatred would become an enduring feature of religion.

The vast majority of conflicts have at its root some kind of religious reason. People have been cherry-picking their respective holy books for reasons to hate, and reasons why our in-group supposedly is superior to all other out-groups.

Think of how peaceful the world would be if, in a triumphant moment of rationalism, we got rid of organized religion. Instead of all kinds of "us-versus-them" reasons to hate, we just follow the universal ethical rule to be kind to all people. Will that day come?

Asian-Americans least religious, more liberal

Check out this Gallup poll that says Asian Americans are less religious than other racial, ethnic groups:

Generally speaking, Americans who are less religious tend to be more Democratic and more liberal than Americans who are more religious, and Asians seem to follow this pattern. Comparatively, Asian-Americans tend to be less religious than those in other racial or ethnic groups. For example, just over half of Asians say religion is an important part of their daily lives, significantly lower than the percentage of whites, blacks, or Hispanics who say this.

The poll is about Americans' political leanings. Asian-Americans tend to be more Democratic and more liberal than average Americans, and supported Barack Obama over John McCain by a roughly 2-to-1 margin.

Oh, incidentally, Asian-Americans also had the highest levels of education, according to wikipedia. Maybe that partially explains their lack of religiosity?

President Obama and the Church Thing

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Hallelujah! President Obama has finally chosen a church. Or has he?

Last week, Time Magazine reported that President Obama had finally settled on a church -- Evergreen Chapel, the nondenominational military chapel at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs later said not exactly: (The Washington Post)

He (the president) said he and his family will attend chapel services at Camp David when they are at the presidential retreat in Maryland -- which he calls a "wonderful little congregation."

"How we handle church when we're here in D.C. is something that we're still figuring out," he said. "And I think that in the second half of the year, we will have made a decision.

What the press secretary failed to mention is that President Obama rarely sets foot in Camp David. And that Obama has only attended church at Camp David a few times (Politico). Looking at how many Sundays he's been at Camp David, I figure a few is maybe two or three.

The press secretary also said that Obama went the same route as President Bush by choosing Evergreen Chapel (link). Bush might have joined Evergreen but he rarely attended services there or at any other church.

The church going habits of the last half dozen presidents are very interesting.

On the Republican side, Ronald Regan never attended church. Bush senior was an infrequent church goer as was W (link). But both previous Democratic presidents Carter and Clinton regularly attended church. Carter attended First Baptist Church in Washington D.C. while he was President. And Clinton attended a Lutheran Church.

I suspect that Carter was the only real believer in the lot. After he left the presidency he actually taught Sunday school and actively participates in his church.

As far as I can tell, President Obama is following the Republicans as far as church attendance is concerned. He has attended Sunday services as president in DC maybe two times.

He went to the 19th Street Baptist Church in January the week before his inauguration. But not as president.

He went to the National Cathedral on the day he was inaugurated and on his 100th day in office. (Both were on a Wednesday and were sort of required because everyone was looking).

His first trip to a real Sunday church service as president was on Easter Sunday. He took the family to St. John’s Episcopal Church which is near the White House. (I am sorry but Easter doesn't count. He had to go to church on Easter. Again because everyone was watching.) He has attended services at St John's one other time (link).

By my count, President Obama has probably been to Sunday church services four or five times since he assumed office a bit more than six months ago.

Combine that with the juicy fact in Richard Wolffe's new book, Renegade, that President Obama really didn't know about the rantings of Reverend Jeremiah Wright because he rarely attended services at Wright's or any other church unless he was schmoozing people for their votes (see video below).

The president seems to spend his Sundays either at the gym, working, relaxing with his family or playing golf. Which is fine and dandy. If the Republican presidents can play the religion card and not go to church, a Democratic president should be able to do the same thing.

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Has President Obama picked a church?

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Update, Update, Update !!!
Washington Post (July 3, 2009) page 2

Quote from the Post:

On a personal matter, the president said he has not chosen a home church in the Washington area -- and might not choose one particular congregation.

He said he and his family will attend chapel services at Camp David when they are at the presidential retreat in Maryland -- which he calls a "wonderful little congregation."

"How we handle church when we're here in D.C. is something that we're still figuring out," he said. "And I think that in the second half of the year, we will have made a decision."

Today in Religion will try to keep track of how President Obama, "handles church when we're here in D.C." I am willing to bet that when the second half of the year rolls around, he'll come up with another excuse for not picking a church.

Time Magazine (June 29, 2009)
According to Time magazine, President Obama has finally picked a church. It's Evergreen Chapel at Camp David. Evergreen is a non-denominational chapel that serves the Camp David military community. The chapel was President George Bush's primary place of worship.

Considering the Reverend Wright fiasco, it's understandable that it took seven months. I hope he made the right choice.

Evergreen has one big advantage and one disadvantage.

The advantage is Obama will only have to attend when he's at Camp David. The other Sundays he can do something more productive.

The disadvantage is the pastor. I'm not sure about this guy. Lt. Carey H. Cash is a Southern Baptist Navy Chaplain. He's the great grandnephew of Johnny Cash, which is kind of cool but not particularly relevant. He has also written a book, which may set a record for having the world's longest title. It's called: A Table in the Presence: The Dramatic Account of How a U.S. Marine Battalion Experienced God's Presence Amidst the Chaos of the War in Iraq.

More importantly he was quoted as saying, "First we get the military, then we get the nation." (Daily Kos) That doesn't sound very non-denominational to me.

The plot thickens:

CBS News asked the White House if Obama had picked a church. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “There have been no formal decisions about joining a church."

Time magazine is sticking to their story. We'll see how it turns out.

President Obama hasn't had much luck with churches. Hopefully at the end of his second term, he'll grow a pair and tell the world that he's really a rationalist non-believer.

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