Wednesday, October 15

On This Week's Culture War Jeoprady, I'll Take Ceremonial Deism For $400

A pledge that is central to the US is about go into the "culture war" playpen

Central to the case is the concept of ceremonial deism, which was introduced in 1962 by Eugene Rostow, the dean of Yale Law School. He used the term to refer to practices that are “so conventional and uncontroversial as to be constitutional.” In Rostow’s phrase deism refers to belief in a singular god. But the term has a more specific meaning. It refers to a belief held by a good number of the founders of America, the belief that there is one god, that it created the universe and the laws of nature and life, but that it does not interfere with its creation: it merely observes what happens. There are no miracles. There are no divine interventions or revelations. The god of the deists is not the God of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson.

In the United States there are more than 4 million Presbyterians who believe in Jesus and more than 4 million Jews who don’t. Jesus is controversial. There are more than 63 million Catholics that believe God is a Trinity and almost 3 million Muslims that believe God is One. The nature of God is controversial. There are some 3 million atheists who don’t believe there is a God, and another 6 million agnostics who don’t know. The existence of God is controversial. There are millions of Americans—mostly Buddhists and Hindus—who believe that there is more than one God. There are all sorts of religious beliefs. They’re inherently controversial. That there is only one God is a controversial proposition, no matter how popular it is.

In a post (modern/Christendom/colonial) world, where does your brain & soul stand on this one ?

posted by lisa | 3:52 PM | |