Decaying of America “Part II - Spirituality/Religion”

I wrote about our infrastructure and now I would like to discuss Spirituality/Religion. I think Millennial's are less religious today than earlier generations. This is my opinion because studies only go back a couple of years. It may be that it is a temporary phase in their life’s because they are not settled yet, they have not experienced serious illness or deaths and that is usually the time people call on religion to comfort them.

I have read studies where two million young people were surveyed and it revealed twice as many high school seniors and 3 times as many college students described their religion as “none”. In the eight grade and tenth grade 40% surveyed said they had no religious affiliation.  It appears to me that young people have a weak interest in religion or God.  What shocked me is 75% of students in the twelfth grade said they had never attended a religious service and had no interest in doing so. This has a definite effect on our society. I have heard it argued that young people have replaced spirituality for religion if that is the case why did 20% of college students say they were not spiritual.  They also said they are not motivated to meditate or pray. I feel confident in saying young people in America are moving away from religion not towards religion.

Millennial's are less religious than young people have been in six decades.  It amused me that parents stated they are fighting a losing battle to get their kids to church and when ask if they attend church they replied, “No we are too busy or it is the only day of the week we have off”.  In other words, they do not lead by example.

I think a major problem in society today is we focus more on self and less on social rules.  Premarital sex is at an all-time high.  Today’s attitude is if it is good for me the hell with you.  Americans are more focused on individual freedoms than they are social rules.   A more individualistic culture will always be less religious because it means belonging to a group, which means you will adhere to their teaching and practices. Religion also requires respect for authority and Americans today are less likely to respect authority.  America everyday gets to look more and more like Northern Europe where marriage is optional and religious participation is low.  In 2013 41% of babies were born to unmarried mothers.  If you do not think this effects society, think again – homes without a father figure, homes with one parent trying to provide financially in this day and time has little time for children, many have to depend on government aid which is a drain on government and generally education is not stressed as much.  I am not talking about all single parents some do as well as when there are two parents in the home and sometimes the home is better off without the father. But, those that are single carrying the load of two parents need to be seen as heroes. The consequences of discarding a sacred moral code to govern the actions of individuals are far graver than most people realize.

A year before the U.S. Constitution was ratified Edward Gibbon published the final volume of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He listed five things and one that made the list was Religion.  He believed the lack of religion led to an insatiable craving for pleasure and the breakup of families. He wrote the root cause of Roman societal collapse was their loss of individual morality. You see he believed the laws of morality were as unchanging as the laws of mathematics and physics.  George Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” I think if America falls it will be due to our failure in the area of morality. 

Gibbon and Washington believed the safeguards of society were not the military or productive merchants or prosperous consumers but, high morals and sincere religion. Yet most politicians and educators today reject that belief.  They say that what people do in the privacy of their own homes has no connection to national security or national well-being. For the most part Democrats, Liberals and a lot of Republicans (Rhinos we call them) have rejected the idea that national stability depends on the laws or morality

At one time people knew what character meant. It meant things like honoring your parents, not murdering, not stealing, not lying, not coveting and not committing adultery.  But, in the 60’s a Supreme Court Justice said it was impossible to define character.  That was a radical departure form the past. In short it meant keeping the Ten Commandments, the laws of the Bible were not important..

John Adams wrote in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, “The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount contain my religion.” During the 18^th Century the United States and Britain held its citizens, families and leaders to a high moral standard.  I realize they had flaws and vices.  Many believed only if they were God fearing would they survive.  Today our educators and politicians want us to believe the founders were not religious men. 

The family structure use to produce good fathers, mothers, teachers, ministers, judges, engineers, orators and statesmen.  Policy makers then understood the connection between family breakdown and societal problems like alcoholism, drug addiction, welfare addiction, juvenile delinquency and violent crimes.  Today a large percentage of our policy makers are adulterous, alcoholics, liars, cheats and thieves. 

At the turn of the 20^th century, educators in the United States and British Commonwealth began to reject the idea laws of morality were not unchangeable.  People began to think what was right in the past may not be right now or in the future.  They believe morality is always changing to suit the times.  What is right for me, may not be right for you, but it is right for me. They embraced Sigmund Feud.

Today only about 3% wait for marriage to have sex, before 1912 it was 80%. Only 20% of Christians wait until marriage to have sex.  The majority of the younger generation do not even see fornication as being wrong. They rationalize a difference between love and sex.  Sex is just pleasure and love is commitment. 

In 1890 there was one divorce for every 18 marriages and today the number is one divorce for every 2 ½ marriages.  You do not think premarital sex and acceptance of pornography has not contributed to the failures of marriage?  Do you not think the lack of morality has not contributed to premarital sex and pornography? 

Children who grow up without a father figure are four times likelier to be poor, nine times likelier to drop out of school, 11 times likelier to commit violent crimes and twenty more times likelier to be arrested.  NOW I KNOW THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS.  There is a direct link between the fracturing of families and major societal problems which have a definite effect on the nation.  According to projections by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, rising entitlement spending and paying the interest on the national debt will consume 99% of all tax revenue in the next decade.  That means only one thing can happen the national debt will sky rocket.

Niall Ferguson a Financial Historian said when the debt exceeds the cost of protecting your borders is when countries usually fail. I guess we do not have to worry about that one because the Liberals and Democrats will not allow us protect our border.

In closing, there are no moral truths because there is no longer a religious basis for morality. The Bible was more than the enlightenment to the original settlers, the Bible was one reason America’s Christians were different from most European Christians.  Regardless of what anyone may say the Bible did have an influence on our Founding Fathers. Today Americans are taught to rely on their feelings to determine right behavior.  It makes me cringe when a child needs correcting and instead of telling the child what is right and wrong the parents say, “Sweetie how do you feel about that.”

If you acknowledge that American society is in decay, it is your obligation to fight to undo the harm that has been done.  If you cannot acknowledge that American morality is in decay then you are the proof that it is. 

I am embarrassed to be have been part of clergy in the Catholic Church

Here we go again, “sex orgies, prostitution and porn videos shake Catholic Church in Italy.”

Accusations of priests involved in sex orgies, porn videos and prostitution have gone public in several parishes in Italy, sending shock waves all the way to the Vatican and challenging the high standards that Pope Francis has demanded of clergy.  Do the clergy even care what the Pope says anymore?

In Naples a priest was suspended from the parish of Santa Maria degli Angeli over claims he held gay orgies and used internet sites to recruit potential partners whom he paid for sex.

The allegations concerning the Rev. Mario D’Orlando were brought to the attention of the diocese when an anonymous letter was sent to a Naples bishop. D’Orlando denied the charges when he was summoned by the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, but is now facing a formal inquiry conducted by local church officials. He has been removed from his position while the investigation is underway.

In Padua, a 48-year-old priest, the Rev. Andrea Contin, is facing defrocking as well as judicial proceedings amid accusations he had up to 30 lovers, some of whom he took to a swingers’ resort in France.

Contin was removed from his parish of San Lazzaro after three women came forward with complaints against him last December. Bishop Claudio Cipolla of Padua cut short a visit to Latin America to deal with the scandal.

Bishop Claudio Cipolla of Padua said, “This is unacceptable behavior for a priest, a Christian and even for a man.”  OH REALLY!

One woman, who claims to have been Contin’s lover for more than three years, claimed the priest carried sex toys and bondage equipment, prostituted his lovers on wife-swapping websites and also invited other priests from the area to sex parties.  Is this a scandal or a CRIME?

Pope Francis had telephoned him personally at the end of January to offer his support and urge him to stay “strong.”  Why would the pope do that if he really took sex abuse seriously?  Did he contact the abused in the case and tell them to stay strong and prosecute the creep and offer his support?

The pope says he has taken a tough line on ethical behavior in the church, but he  also recognizes the reality of human imperfection and personal flaws.  The has spoken out many times against “temptation,” and last week he told a gathering of clergy at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome that faith could not progress without the challenge of temptation.  It sounds to me like the pope makes a lot of excuses for the clergy.

Alberto Melloni,  a professor of church history at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, said there is nothing unusual about scandals in the priesthood. IT SHOULD BE!    More excuses.  He went on to say, “There is no sin that a cleric doesn’t commit. Scandals to me seem quite normal, “That is the problem the hierarchy of the Catholic Church really believes it is normal.”

in the Italian diocese of Albenga-Imperia in late 2014, clerics posted nude photos of themselves on gay websites, sexually harassed the faithful and stole church funds.  I guess that is normal to!

The pope says, “He distinguishes between sinfulness and corruption and was intent on “rooting out” corruption inside the church.”  I guess that means he is more concerned with clergy stealing church funds than sex abuse.  I see them both as crimes against humanity.

“The problem is when priests turn their backs on the people, lead hidden lives and end up justifying their conduct. That’s corruption.”  I am glad he explained the difference.  It seems to me the hierarchy of the church do all they can to excuse or justify clergy abuse so why shouldn’t the clergy.

Which is better - committed sexual relationships or casual sex?

I know the 60’s were supposed to be the sexual liberating years, but even in the 60’s people in the church questioned a girls morality if she had a child out of wedlock. Then and now they allowed the boy to escape criticism.

We had it happen in our family and the young girl was sent to spend several months with a “sick aunt”. The common practice of church going parents was to send the girl away to have the baby and put it up for adoption. The secret was supposed to be kept forever, but sometimes the secret came out later in life to haunt the young girl, who was now a woman, with another family.

Churches don’t often spend a lot of time reminding people of the importance of sexual intimacy. Society tends to trivialize and cheapen it. People talk about “hooking up” or having “friends with benefits.” Sex has become merely an end in itself. It is common now in our society to think that after a first or second date the couple is supposed to have sex.
This trivialization of sex does not liberate us it robs us of sexual intimacy. The Bible uses an interesting word for sex:  to know.  So when Adam was intimate with Eve the text says, "Then Adam knew his wife…"

When you have shared your body with another, you have shared what others cannot see or experience.  You know that person as others do not.   We are not ready to reveal our innermost selves to another human being after one or two dates; the bonding that happens is premature. And when we pull away from one person and bond quickly with another and another, sexual intimacy eventually no longer bonds us to our partner.

I am not saying you are a bad person when you have trivial or casual sex. Unfortunately we are human with human desires and some of those desires are moral and some are immoral. We long for intimate touch and companionship. It requires extraordinary restraint and self-discipline not to experience sex before marriage. But it is still a Biblical principle.  I confess as a priest I have been tempted many times and it sometimes it was extremely difficult to fight the temptation.

It is later in life when you really begin to appreciate the covenant you have with another human being ‘in sickness and in health’. It is comforting to know that someone will be with you in good and bad times. It helps your ego to be told you are still handsome or beautiful when everything begins to sag and your teeth are in a glass in the bathroom.

Sex has far more meaning than our society gives it credit.  I ask you to consider even if you have had casual sex in the past to consider thinking of sexual relationships in a way that pleases God and does nothing more than bring you instant gratification that usually end with heartache.

I read the study that stated U.S. researchers found that in those who were up for it, casual sex was associated with higher self-esteem and life satisfaction and lower depression and anxiety. That may be true if you are a sexist, manipulative, coercive and narcissistic man. It is important to note that the test trials were done only among 300 college students away from home for the first time.

I also found it interesting that the ‘scientist’ doing the test came to the conclusion that those who benefited from casual sex were generally extroverted, sensation-seekers, impulsive, were not comfortable with commitments, invested less in romantic relationships and were more likely to cheat on a romantic partner.

Another study from Ohio State University found that casual sex can cause depression and can even lead to thoughts of suicide.  This research involved 10,000 students. Casual sex increased suicidal thoughts by 18%.

The choice is yours God’s plan or the world’s plan!

Should the Bible be "X" rated?

The Old Testament, talk’s a lot about sex and violence. It includes stories of fornicators, adulterers, prostitutes, polygamists, ethnic cleansing and other forms of cruel activity.

The Old Testament is also full of sexual violence. We read of rapists, pimps, and other perpetrators of sexual exploitation. The Bible is not different than everyday life in 2015. There are moral lessons to be learned from the Bible that apply to us today.

Most Christians tend not to read those stories or they don’t pay attention to them and in doing so they miss out on the moral lessons the authors are trying to teach. We certainly miss the main premise of the Bible which is the love of God and His forgiveness when we try to ignore them. It always amazes me how some ministers can manage to take the ‘X’ rating out of these stories when they present them on Sunday mornings.

Father Abraham slept with his wife’s servant. In Egypt he ordered his wife to tell the Egyptians she was his sister. He allowed the Pharaoh to reward him for permitting him to make his ‘sister-wife’ part of his harem. Abraham was more concerned for his own safety than his wife’s. Yet, the Bible calls Abraham a man of great faith and he was, but he was far from being perfect.
 
Before you start condemning Abraham you need to ask yourself how many Christian church goers cheat on their wife’s and how many Christian church going women do the same? What would you do if today you were faced with death or telling an untruth. Abraham chose to lie, would you? When reading these stories do you stop and think how they can apply to our lives in 2015? 

Judah was tricked by his dead son’s widow Tamar to have sex with her. He did not know who she was because she was disguised as a prostitute. Should Judah a man of God be having sex with a prostitute in the first place?  Judah was sexually immoral and a judgmental hypocrite when he planned to have Tamar killed for having sex with an unknown man. When he discovered that the twins Tamar was carrying were his own he became a changed man and repented.

By all cultural and tradition practiced at the time Tamar was only doing what was right to make sure her dead husbands line continued, but she went about it in the wrong way. Even so God blessed her in the end. God forgave Judah and Tamar and God will forgive anyone today that repents and changes their life. When you read the story, if you did, what did you focus on, the forgiveness of God or the sin?

The most notable rape story in the Bible is one that most people don’t associate with rape: David and Bathsheba. The story is familiar. David is at home in Jerusalem when he should have been off at war with his men and the army of Israel. Walking around on his roof one evening, David noticed an attractive woman, Bathsheba, bathing. He summons her, they have sex, and she conceives. When David’s plan to cover up the scandal fails, he has her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. We ministers sometimes try to pretend that Bathsheba had the freedom to say NO to the king. That way we can make it appear it was not rape and Bathsheba was as guilty as David.

I even heard a minister say Bathsheba was used by the devil to tempt David. She paraded around on her roof top naked and bathed on the roof. That was the custom of the day. They wrapped a large piece of cloth around them and bathed on the roof. They bathed underneath the material. The Bible does not say Bathsheba was naked. David just had a wild imagination and a large sex drive and he let it get the best of him.  It is also interesting that in many countries today when people do not have indoor showers they bathe the same way Tamar did outside and I do not think any of them are inviting someone to rape them.

God blamed David. Nathan blamed David. David blamed David. So why do we have a difficult time admitting David was a rapist. Sexual violence was rampant in the ancient world, as it is today. The authors of the Bible did not try to hide these stories they told them so thousands of years later we could understand that we Christians and really society as a whole are called of God to a greater standard. We are made aware of sexual temptations that are in the world.

Ruth, Rahab and Tamar are even mentioned in the New Testament as part of Jesus’ genealogy. They all had questionable backgrounds. We should not be judgmental of others. We should not be hypocritical. God used people with shady backgrounds then and can do the same today.

In some way’s Jewish Law was more just than our laws today. There had to be proof of a woman’s infidelity and immorality before she was found guilty. A woman’s accusation of rape was listened to then. Today our court system still leans towards punishing the women more than the men involved in rape or sexual misconduct.  God instituted laws to protect women. Unfortunately men of power ignored those laws as many do today. We still read of cases like Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby who use their position to sexually abuse women. There are many members of government and church leaders around the world that have raped women, young boys and girls.

You may have wondered why God does not act quicker or intervene more when women are abused and rape – I do not know! Perhaps God expects us to protect those that are being treated unjustly. I am a firm believer that God does not do for us what He has equipped us to do for ourselves.  I have learned not to question God’s justice.

It is important to note David did not escape punishment. His later years were filled with trouble and bloodshed. God’s punishment can be severe, but His forgiveness is even greater. No sin is beyond God’s redemption. This is not to say there should not be or there is not consequences for sin, there is. But, we must always be willing to forgive a repentant sinner as God does. God disciplines sinners because He loves us and there will be times when we must discipline members of society not out of hatred or revenge, but out of love. 

The Bible presents the reality of life so we can learn from it. People can mock the Bible or learn from it and I choose to learn from it. These stories if read with an open mind teach us that God can and does use imperfect people, God has a heart to love and forgive, there are consequences to sin and we should be very careful when passing judgment on others.