Category: slavery

SPIRIT-SPIRITUAL-SPIRITUALITY—HILARY L HUNT MD

SPIRIT-SPIRITUAL-SPIRITUALITY— quite a long title involving two nouns and an adjective concerning the same subject. So, just what is ‘spirit’ anyway? We hear that word used often with seemingly different connotations. Often, especially at Halloween time, the word is meant to be synonymous with ghost. In fact, the original versions of the Bible refer to the Holy Ghost. As I personally listen, I strongly suspect the user of that word doesn’t fully comprehend its meaning—I may be wrong.

We often hear expressions such as, ‘that girl she sure has spirit’, or ‘he is such a spiritual guy—likewise, ‘I wonder where that group gets all of its spirituality?’, or ‘that is really a spirited horse’. What about the Holy Spirit?—probably the most common usage. And, no doubt, each listener has a different interpretation and/or understanding of what was said. Why do you suppose that is?

If you look up the definition of ‘spirit’ in the dictionary, you will find a long, rambling, jargonistic, definition with no explicit meaning. And that description stems from the fact that no one lacking an essential understanding of the ‘essence of God’, is able to be explicit —the definition of God’s essence demands the resultant understanding of who the Holy Spirit is. Likewise, it gives a concrete definition and understanding of the essential definition of ‘spirit’.

The understanding of God’s essence as ‘a Perfect Rational Being’ translates into a Perfect Intellect which perceives all, and a Perfect Will which achieves all. That Perfect Intellect represents God, the Father. The Father, reflecting upon himself, sees a ‘mirror image of himself’—being in the supernatural state means that image is a living being also, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son. Those two Perfect Intellects viewing each other have no choice but to accept (love, choose, will, spirit) each other. That willing, drive, choosing, loving each other carries the perpetual image of its generators, and, again, being in the supernatural, is a living being, identical to its generators—the third person of the Trinity—the Holy Ghost (Spirit). It is the ‘driving force of Perfect Acceptance’ (love, will, choice spirit).

With that perception in play, we may now define the essence of spirit in absolute terms: spirit is the ‘unseen driving force’ which causes an action—it may be described as drive, choice, love, acceptance, or will.

So then, how does ‘spiritual’ come into play? It most often is used in religious or contemplative way—usually describing an individual or group exhibiting a devotional attitude of one kind or another. Basically, it represents an internal aura of dedication or drive. However, it could just as well be used to describe the attitudinal dedication of a determined athlete or anyone dedicated to a cause of any kind. Its antonyms might be defined as lazy, indifferent, lackadaisical etc.

What about ‘spirituality’? Simply put, it is the state of being, or the defining quality of recognizing and accepting the source of spirit’. How, then, does it apply? In the natural world, like everything else, it has limits, faults, inconsistencies, and finiteness. Nevertheless, it has many good qualities. For instance, investigative spirituality has been responsible for literally all of the scientific discoveries as well as the benefits derived from those discoveries and their ensuing developments and deployments.

Since the beginning of recorded history, humanity has been shackled by a spirituality generated through astrology, superstition, and mythology—the ‘driving force’ of all of their beliefs and activities. That force led them to understand and believe that there was a ‘higher power’ which exerted influences on their lives. They reasoned, in one way or another, and, in one place or another, world-wide, but, surprisingly, in similar fashion how that/those higher powers operated. Most groups reasoned that those powers were responsible for all the good and bad things that happened in their lives. In addition, many surmised that those powers (gods) needed to be appeased in order to bring more good from them. Accordingly, various forms of sacrificial rituals were developed. Some of those rituals actually included human sacrifice—usually a teen-aged girl. Be that as it may, each and every one of those sacrificial rituals became known as ‘religion’. Strangely, it seems that rituals of every form and description sprang up rather simultaneously on all inhabited continent’s.

In South America, the native Maya and Inca nations built many temples of worship for their god. The north American natives as well as the far East Asians were more contemplative—they seemed to sense the presence of god in everything. The Native Americans had specific names for each of the visible and palpable elements ( wind, moon, stars, rivers, etc.). The Far Easterners, Hindus, Buddhists and related kind recognized the ‘presence of god in everything’, but, simultaneously, were intent on understanding and defining the basic essence of that god—I believe they still are.

On the other hand, in the Middle East, Abraham, a Hebrew, recognized and accepted the concept of a singular God. He and his successors developed schemes of ‘bargaining’ with him. In the meantime, the Egyptians had developed their own scheme of things based mainly on the Zodiac from fourteen thousand year back. They had baptism, and their god was a ‘trinity’ god—father, son, and holy ghost. The father was Geb, the original god. When a person died, he had to cross the Nebel Bridge in order to get to heaven and a new life. However’ on that bridge he met with a judge Osiris (the son) who balanced his good and bad deeds by weighing his heart with the feathers of the goddess Maat—if the good outweighed the bad he got free passage to heaven, a place of perpetual toil, but with the possibility of rebirth—if the bad outweighed the good, he got pushed off the bridge into Sheol, the Netherworld below, where he was eaten by the alligator god, Sobek. The god Kneph was the ‘breath of life’ known as the Holy Spirit, who imparted life to everything.

As time passed, famine hit the Hebrew tribe, and, consequently, they were obliged to purchase grain from the plentiful Egyptians. During the process, they became enslaved by the Egyptians—during that forty year entrapment, they adopted some of the Egyptian religious customs, particularly baptism. Upon their delivery from slavery and escape to the Promised Land, they also developed a religious scheme for appeasing their God. It started with the Ten Commandment and eventuated with 640-some rules and regulations controlling every aspect of Jewish life—sin was invented.

Enter Jesus, and Christianity was born. Through turmoil and strife, it spread rather rapidly westward to Europe and southward to North Africa. Reportedly, all of Jesus’ apostles were killed except John who was banished to the Isle of Patmos—he supposedly lived one hundred years. During those sixty five years or so, Peter, James and John developed a scheme of ‘power transfer’ from themselves to their underlings—and the framework for the first Catholic Church, which eventuated three hundred years later, was created. Peter, of course, was the first pope. Five hundred and seventy years or so after Jesus’ death, Mohammed established Islam—and the three Abrahamic religions were established.

Now, mind you, up to that point in time, there already were hundreds, maybe thousands, of different religions and religious sects in existence—and no two alike—many similar but no two identical. Since that time there have been thousands and thousands of religions spring up ,world-wide—and why?

Plainly, each in turn had ‘spirit’ but not a single one knew the ‘source’ of that spirit. Therefore each, in turn was based on a mythical understanding of its spiritual generator—mainly the Zodiac. While, I have not seen it personally, it is my understanding that a giant Zodiac is embedded in the stone/brickwork of Saint Peter’s Square in Rome.

So, with that historical overview, we can logically and legitimately address ‘spirit’ and its derivatives. We already know and understand that human, as well as, all ‘natural spirit’ is temporary and subject to both change and even failure. But what about Eternal Spirit—the Holy Spirit—how does it apply in our lives?

Allow me to start this way. We’re going to assume that we have a pile of identical bricks one hundred feet high and covering an area one mile square. In addition, we have seven other identical sized piles, but the bricks in each pile are a different size and color from the other seven piles. So, each brick in each pile is identical and indistinguishable from its counterparts in that pile—each is perfect in size, shape and function. Now we are ‘ready to build’.

So, dutifully, we go out and build, and build, and build. We build schools, temples, stores, post offices, etc. By the time we have exhausted all of our brick supply, guess what?—the mortar holding the bricks together in our first buildings has decayed, liberating the bricks—and our supply is magically replenished.

Now with this simple little paradigm, I have described God, the Big Bang and his continuing creation. It is God’s perfect intellect that envisioned each of those perfect, tinniest particles of energy of different varieties and functions (quanta). In aggregate, they represent a mirror reflection of that Perfect Intellect—they are God. He commissioned them with his Perfect Will (Holy Spirit) to be perfect and perform perfectly. Like their creator, each is prefect, unchanging, and unchangeable—like God they all exist in Eternity.

So what does all that means? Very simply, everything we see and don’t see is made of those perfect little bricks which never change. You’re looking out your window—that big tree in on your landscape is beautiful—some day it will vanish—its bricks won’t—they’ll show up in a blade of grass, a weed, a pile of mud, in water molecules… They may help constitute billions of physical objects before time ends and only Eternity is left, but guess what—they always have been eternal and perfect because they were imagined by God, and are driven by the Spirit of God who is prefect and eternal.

So then, what is Spirituality?—how does it apply to our recognizance? In my opinion, it is, in fact, the most important understanding and acceptance we can possibly have. Look at the world this very minute—nothing but chaos universally—there is no ‘peace’—there is no ‘tranquility’—why? Because there is absolutely no ‘like-mindedness’. And why is there no like-mindedness? Because no one knows who God is. In order for us to have like-mindedness, we absolutely must understand and accept the fact that everything in this universe is made of the identical prefect God-generated and Holy Spirit (God) commissioned particles of energy. We and every star in the farthest galaxy are of identical material—we are brothers and sisters with evert blade of grass, every tree, every flower , every fish, every existence of any kind—we all are God.

Like-mindedness delivers that understanding and acceptance—that my friends is Spirituality. In my Book, Wilderness Cry, I define the essence of God and its ramifications. In my book Peace in Spirituality, I elaborated on just one of a myriad of ramifications of that understanding—Spirituality—its meaning and implications. In calling for the World-wide Communion of Spirituality, I am reiterating my desperate call for Peace through Spirituality—religion not only has failed the process—it is the problem. Religion is not the peace-maker—it is the peace breaker.

CONSEQUENCES-HILARY L HUNT MD

Consequences– seems like a strange title for a blog post, or does it? Please allow me to explain. Knowing the ultimate implications of consequences is undoubtedly the ‘most important understanding’ we can possibly have. I can hear you now saying to yourself, ‘what is that simpleton talking about?’. And I answer by saying, ‘listen-up and I will explain post-haste’.

The word consequence means ‘the effect or result of an action or condition’. So, you may say, ‘what’s that got to do with anything?’—I would say, ‘everything’. The primary question, then, is ‘when did consequences begin?’. The obvious answer is, ‘with the beginning of time’—time, of course, is a measure of ‘change’. So how and when did ‘time begin?’.

Once upon a time, there was no time; only eternity. However there is that Perfect Rational Being who exists in eternity. With its ‘Perfect Intellect’ it perceived of converting (demonstrating) its perfect energy by the creation of Perfect Little Particles of itself, known as quanta (pleural for quantum). A quantum is the smallest particle of energy (matter) which can not be subdivided. That Perfect Intellect perceived of several varieties of those quanta to which we humans have given names such as leptons, bosons, quarks, etc. Each of those particles is identical and indistinguishable from its counterparts. Collectively, they represent all of the ‘bricks’ from/of which every material thing in this universe is made.

We human have dubbed that Perfect Rational Being (Prime Mover) by hundreds of different names—the most familiar in modern times likely are God, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha and Brahma. I know of no human dead or alive who recognized that Prime Mover as ‘A Perfect Rational Being’ except me and Jesus. And I can hear you again screaming, yelling, tearing your hair our at my extreme brashness. All I calmly ask is, ‘show me another’—you can’t. Now back to the subject at hand.

Having visualized those perfect quanta along with a ‘performance task’ for each class, that Perfect Intellect said ‘hmm, I love that’. So with its Perfect Will (the Will of God, The Holy Spirit), it said, ‘I will those quanta to be Perfect and stay Perfect—I “love them; I choose them; I put my ‘brand of Perfection’ on each. Instantly, they came into being and simultaneously ‘time began’. Immediately, those quanta ‘went to work’ doing perfectly what they were created and commissioned to do, and guess what, they’re still doing it.

Of course, as each performed its task, something happened—there was a consequence. They rapidly formed Hydrogen and Helium atoms. As those massive gas clouds gathered, their density increased and a ‘star was born’—-there was light—another consequence. Eventually, the universe was filled with celestial bodies of all sizes, shapes and descriptions as we know them today—each a direct consequence of what went (happened) before—always in prefect fashion—a perfect consequence.

Now, fast-forward a few billion years. The sequences and consequences had resulted in the generation of ‘living’ things—that is, things that could reproduce themselves, and that they did. Initially, those living organisms seemingly had no intelligence of their own—they could, and did, react to stimuli—always in ‘perfect fashion’—a perfect consequence.

Now, fast-forward again—intelligent beings were consequentially generated and in perfect fashion. Cumulatively, and individually, each and every one of those distinct rational beings progressed on its own path of ‘perfect consequential development’ to being the ultimate individual it became at its death. No two could possibly be the same because no two could possibly have experienced each and every identical stimulus.

Somewhere, sometime, along the way, those intelligent beings noticed considerable differences in each other. They didn’t/couldn’t agree on a ‘code of civil conduct’—the reason for that, of course was each had different ideas about what was proper—each was a different ‘consequence’. Eventually, as their numbers and differences increased, they split into diverse tribes/nations and did develop rules of conduct—a direct consequence of intelligent ‘common sense’. They established ‘leaders’ with names such as Pharos and Kings.

One such tribe was the Israelites who the Bible tells us were enslaved by the Egyptians. The Israelites were stricken with a famine, and consequently, were forced to purchase grain from the Egyptians. During their forty year enslavement, a new leader named Moses was born. Mind you, the Israelites has already ‘recognized’ a singular God. They knew that when bad things happened, it was the consequence of their misdeeds. Likewise, when things were going well, they had God’s favor—consequently, they best behave.

As luck would have it, Moses grew to manhood, murdered someone, and was forced to live in exile for many years. However, upon his return, somehow (the Bible never made that clear to me), he and his brother Aaron assumed control of the Israelite tribe. They petitioned the Pharos to release them from slavery so they could go to the ‘promised land’. Of course, the Pharos refused, so Moses petitioned his God to send plagues on the Egyptians. After the tenth plague, the Pharos relented and allowed the Israelites to depart—a direct consequence of torment from God and fear of more of the same.

The Israelites escaped with many sequential and consequential events occurring on their journey, Eventually, as they wandered aimlessly and helpless in the desert, many of the tribesmen lost faith in Moses leadership and even his God. As a consequence, they began worshiping idols, and doing all sorts of illicit things. Moses and Aaron scolded them to no avail. Moses was no dumb-bell (after all he has weaseled his way into being leader, so he sat down and wrote out what he considered to be good ‘rules of governance—the 10 Commandments. when Moses presented the commandments to them, the Israelites just laughed at him and went right on their merry way—Moses was not happy at all with that consequence. So, in disgust, he threw the tablets upon which the rules were written to the ground, breaking them—a physical consequence.

Up to the mountain he goes again. He re-writes them on new stone tablets. This time he presents them as ‘Gods Commandments’ with warnings of any breaches having ‘dire’ consequences. Officially, ‘sin’ was born.

So we fast-forward several thousand years to Jesus. By the time he came along, the Jews had utilized that ‘sin’ complex to make a triple fortune for the King, High Priest and Sanhedrin—the poor peasants were just ‘out of luck’. Jesus recognized the ‘hoax’ being perpetrated on his people as a consequence of that ‘sin complex’ abuse. Not only that, but for the first time in history, Jesus openly de-vowed the nature of the Jewish God and offered an entirely different understanding of God to his followers. Of, course he was convicted as a traitor and, as a consequence, he was killed.

Now, fast-forward again 300 years. During that hiatus, as a consequence of total lack of unanimity of understanding of who Jesus really was, what he really said, and, more importantly, what he ‘meant, literally every village had its own ‘bishop’. Not only that but, literally, each of them had different ideas about the ‘Jesus thing’. Consequently, instead of working and producing for the ruling Romans, they were bickering and fighting among themselves. As a consequence, the official Church which Constantine commissioned them to form, put themselves in total hierarchal control—the ‘Sin Police’ were recommissioned. We know the rest of the story, so lets get to the punch-line.

Sin is a manufactured process aimed at controlling the masses—since Moses’ time, it has been that way. What no one, seemingly, has understood is one, plain, simple fact—everything in this universe is perfect. Every murderer, rapist, thief, or social ‘undesirable’ of any kind is a ‘perfect consequence’ of all the consequences that went before in his/her life. God knows no ‘sin’. Everything (quanta) God created is perfect—everything in existence is the ‘perfect consequence’ of each and every stimulus applied to it from its inception. Therefore, we as rationale, civilized beings must re-orient our understanding of our Perfect Supreme Being. We must know that God, with his ‘Perfect Intelligence’ knew in advance exactly how each of us would eventuate—and through ‘no fault of our own’.

Yes, when we are hurt by someone, we consequently feel anger—a ‘normal’ human reaction. A more rational reaction would be a feeling of ‘sorrow ‘ for the offender. As a consequence of that ‘understanding’, we, as a rational society must come to grips with this reality—we, each are the direct consequence of every stimulus applied to us. Having said that, we as a society must have order and civility. Accordingly, people who breach our major societal rules ‘must be taken out of society’ until, and if, they can be ‘reprogrammed’, and made fit again. We have been, and still are, exerting our efforts in the wrong way—consequently, things are getting worse by the day.

The proper course of action stems as a consequence of proper understandings. 1-a proper understanding of the essence of our creator, and 2-a proper understanding of how our psyches are developed. The immediate consequence of lack of understanding of God’s essence is cultist religion which feigns appeasement of that God, but which, instead, creates feelings of guilt and hostility in people. All religions seem to be based on the ‘false narrative’ of that ‘humanistic God’. The direct consequence of religion is guilt and rebellion, both of which create havoc in society.

We must expend our resources in the training thousands of clinical psychologists specifically trained in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Most importantly, we must quit sending everyone on a ‘guilt-trip’ through ‘cultist religion’. We need ‘Spirituality’ which is the understanding that the ‘Spirit of God’ Is imprinted on everything and everyone. God is Perfect—God cannot possibly be hurt or pleased. God is Perfect Love (perfect acceptance). God loves everyone, criminals and all—he cannot possibly love one more than another. The consequences of that would be an ‘Imperfect God’—not possible.

I have elaborated those concepts endlessly in my two books, Wilderness Cry, and Peace in Spirituality. I implore you to read and study each for the consequences of ‘peace of mind’ and ‘peace in society’.

FAITH vs. RELIGION-PART 2–HILARY L HUNT MD

Due to a glitch in navigating WordPress yesterday, I had to cut short my comments—my apologies. Today, I will continue with my conversation about faith and how it relates to Religion.

To begin with, just what is ‘faith’? Strictly stated, faith is the acceptance of something as being true without concrete evidence of that truth. In addition, there are two basic kinds of faith, ‘implicit’ and ‘explicit’.

A common example of ‘explicit faith’ would be a warranty on a new automobile—from past experience and hearsay, we know that manufacturers typically stand good for their stated warranty. So, we are legitimate in having explicit faith that they will again.

A common example of ‘implicit’ faith is demonstrated in our willingness to believe that when we get on an airplane, it will take us to our destination safely. We know from historical experience that commercial airline crashes in the US are rare. However, we are willing to ‘take that’ chance under the umbrella of ‘implied faith’ that all will be well.

Understandably, you may say ,’what’s that got to do with God and religion?’—and I would say ‘everything’, and here’s why. Those, among both the ancients and relative neophytes, who have concocted religions, have done so based on their version of ‘explicit faith’. In other words, God has ‘revealed’ to each of then a set of absolutes. So what then? Gradually those ‘absolutes’ demand interpretation and in that process of ‘implied faith’, a gazillion different religions have been formed (created). In truth, every human who ever existed has had a different faith and a different religion.

You may object, saying ‘I know twenty people who go to Saint ‘so and so’ Catholic church, and twenty more who go to ‘such and such’ Baptist Church, and so on and on and on. That may be absolutely true—-they go to a certain church, but no two of them have the same identical ‘faith or religion’

The reason for all that is very simple indeed—each of them knows (visualizes) a different God, because as I stated yesterday, no one before me has defined the ‘essence of God’. Therefore, not one of them knows the God about whom they think—each of those billions of gods are pure myths—they are like Santa—each similar but different, and all mythical.

It is impossible to know about any entity or concept without first defining its essence. Jesus didn’t know ‘particle physics’, but in his brilliance he recognized that the Spirit of God pervaded all existences—otherwise nothing could be. He set about to enlighten (Christ) the world about the universality and Perfect Love of God—that activity got him killed. He knew it would, but seeing himself as the ‘sacrificial lamb’, he willingly chose an ignominious death so that the world might be ‘enlightened’ (I am the light of the world) to the truth of God’s essence—Perfect Rationality.

It seems very doubtful if anyone either understood his message, or if they did understand, were willing to accept it. Remember, The Jews killed him for treason—teaching anything contrary to the Jewish religion was treason. Guess what—the formation of so-called Christianity followed in the Jews footsteps. They set themselves up in hierarchal arrangement. I guess one might call it ‘trickle-down power. Regardless how one may perceive it, the result was/is the same—power, control, money.

So what are the implications of defining God’s essence as Perfect Rationality. Very simply, something perfect cannot be changed. Time is a measure of change. Since God is perfect he exists in eternity, a state of no change nor time. God cannot be hurt. God cannot be pleased. God cannot possibly ‘change his mind’ about anything. So all of this praying, sacrificial ritual, begging God to change his mind, etc.. could, in fact be considered blasphemous. However, God’s Perfect Love precludes any possibility of ‘retribution’ on his part.

In fact, out only justifiable prayer, while not expected by God, but to keep us humble and appreciative of his love, is a great big ‘Thank you God for your loving acceptance of me , a selfish sinner’.

So where does religion fit in? My belief; it is the most major deterrent to tranquility and peace that the world has ever known. It is also the most ‘monstrous’ money machine the world has ever known.

I mentioned my two books about these subjects yesterday. I will attempt to insert info about them.

Click to access press-release-letterhead-peace-in-spirituality-1.pdf

Click to access 906242_press-release-for-wilderness-cry.pdf

DERELICT-Hilary L Hunt MD

cropped-img_0360-1-e1509913859388.pngDERELICT—In common usage, this word typically refers to a vagabond-type person. Dereliction of duty typically refers to failure to shoulder one’s obligations and/or responsibilities. I think yours truly may fit into the latter category as of late, because, as a regular philosophical blogger, my followers were likely expecting to hear from me before now. However, as the old saying goes, ‘I’ve had other fish to fry’.

Since late January of this year, weather permitting, every spare moment of mine  has been spent in my gardens, clearing, fencing, tilling, planting, feeding, watering and finally harvesting. All of the above effort has been directed at fresh vegetable production for our local Community Kitchen which feeds free meals to  hundreds of indigents daily. With the dutiful help of my dear wife Ginny and a friend, Carol Cain, we recently finished the harvest of roughly 1000 pounds of fresh cabbage.

With all other crops and projects under reasonable control, I decided to ‘rationalize’ my way onto the golf course this past week. With a worn out back and two arthritic hips, walking any distance is impossible. So if we can’t drive our golf cars on the fairways, I have to refrain from playing golf. It finally quit raining two weeks ago which allowed car traffic on fairways, so I took advantage of that. Now back to the business at hand.

During the last several weeks we have witnessed episode after episode of apparent dereliction of duty which were, again, rationalized as justification for  episode after episode of looting and violence of all sorts.

IMG_0082So what are the causes of such derelictions. If one can believe any so-called news casts at all, it seems much of it was done by ‘hired guns’ for both political and social reasons. The leftists would use any excuse to blame President Trump for any and every untoward event of any kind in an attempt to sway public opinion against him. Then there are the genuine ‘lawless’ who seemingly want to take over chunks of entire cities so they can ‘have their way’ undeterred.

People who wished to protest peacefully had no chance—their voices and activities were drowned out completely. Thankfully, in our smaller cities and towns, civility pertained.

I am convinced that the breakdown of family life among black Americans is the prime culprit. Where there is no father-figure disciplinarian and role model, what can one expect? On the other hand, when black Americans were emancipated, what choice did they have but to migrate to the cities—and once there, what chance did they have?—slim and none.  They were still enslaved in an economic system completely untenable—they had no money, they owned no land, they were forced to live in slum conditions. More importantly, they were neither positioned nor conditioned to obtain the one vital thing they needed for prosperity—-education. So the inevitable happens—unwanted pregnancies with no father figure, and a mother with no visible means for support of her child(ren)—a welfare state was created.

I grew up a total pauper. But I had two very distinct advantages that the average black child in the ghettoes and slums cannot possibly have— we owned a little 30 acre farm from which we produce literally everything we ate, and we had extremely dedicated, hard-working parents who taught us hard work, determination and perseverance. With that paradigm as a model, success was possible and it did, in fact, come to fruition—would that every black child had that same opportunity.

Oh there have been, and are now, thousands of successful, honorable black Americans—-they were the fortunate ones. I have no statistics to back my statement, but I’ll bet most came from stable homes, or at least had trusted guardians and advisors.

I know many very successful black people in West Kentucky. Our educational system here encourages all to strive for excellence. Yet there are many, many who seemingly can’t help themselves. Much needs to be done yet.

This is Father’s Day. Isn’t it a crime that so many black and white children are fatherless—they obviously had a sire—a father?—no.

But who is the biggest culprit in this charade? Without any doubt in my mind, it is so-called Christian Churches. I recall vividly about fifteen years ago, when I was formulating  ideas for my first book, Wilderness Cry, my wife and I were having dinner with three other couples one night when I made that indictment of the ‘silent Churches’ regarding race. All but one of my friends bolted in ‘righteous indignation’ at the mere suggestion. I had just noted that, in general, not a single word was ever heard coming from any pulpit regarding slavery, or its aftermath, ‘implied slavery’. I was well aware by then that the almighty dollar was what concerned churches the most. Obviously, if churches were to point out the plight of blacks, then they were most obviously mandated to do something about it—that means spend their ‘almighty dollars’.

Furthermore, the mere mention of such an undertaking would alienate many parishioners, further reducing the coffers. Oh, if pressed, they might pay ‘lip service’—nothing more.

IMG_1065I believe without doubt, if there is lingering ‘systemic racism’, it comes straight from the ‘coward’ pulpits.

I recently watched a video interview of Cassius Clay shortly after he had won the Olympic Gold medal in boxing in 1960. He related how proud he had been to stand on that box, have that medal put around his neck, and listen to the playing of our National Anthe. He was so excited to get back to his home town of Louisville, KY, and celebrate with his friends and family. They went to a nice restaurant, and promptly were told that ‘blacks would not be served there’. He had been raised a Christian, but at that very moment, he determined that the Jesus he had been taught about was no friend of his—Allah became his God—Mohammed Ali became his name.

Where were the Christian Churches then—where are they now—where were they 400 years ago? You got it—blind, deaf, mutes.

Where do you suppose all that blindness comes from? Is  not the Old testament rife with stories of slavery. Were not both Ishmael and Esau the products of slave girl impregnation by their Jewish owners? Were not the Jews enslaved for forty years by the Egyptians? I don’t recall Jesus addressing the slave situation in the Bible we have. I may sound cynical, but I’ll bet he did—we’ll never know—how many ‘versions’ of the Bible have there been?—you don’t suppose Jesus’ possible words about slavery could have been a ‘convenient’ omission, do you? Knowing Jesus the way I do, my suspicion is very strong.. As best I can tell, all those monstrous church buildings in Europe and elsewhere were built with ‘slave labor’. God must ‘love slaves’ because they built all those beautiful churches to ‘please him’—guess whom they really pleased—I’ll give you three guesses—Popes, Cardinals, Bishops.

Derelicts in dereliction.

If you care for a real education, read my two little books, Wilderness Cry, and Peace in Spirituality. As an adjunct, read G. Rattray Taylor’s book (out of print but available used), Sex in History—you’ll get an ear full.

906242_Press Release for Wilderness Cry

Press Release for Peace in Spiritiality