-Caveat Lector-
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 01:35:54 -0500
To: Matthew Gaylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: Matthew Gaylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Religion in America: 'War' on Drugs?
[Note from Matthew Gaylor: Longtime Freematt's Alerts subscriber Ed
Kent is a professor of philosophy who teaches ethics.]
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 21:00:11 -0800
From: Edward Kent <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: Brooklyn College, CUNY
To: Matthew Gaylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Religion in America: 'War' on Drugs?
In a previous post [Below] I expressed my personal doubts about the
authenticity of two of our more strident 'make-it-up' American
religions -- the Mormons or Latter Day Saints and the Southern
Baptists. Each of these religions is a distinctive American creation
with inherent biases -- race, gender, sexual orientation -- that run
deep.
Each has failed to win its way in an early 20th century crusade
against its religious prohibitions -- alcohol and hot drink
stimulants (coffee and tea). Prohibition was repealed. Mormons are
beset by higher rates of diabetes because they have substituted cold
sugar drinks and sweet deserts for coffee and alcohol. The Southern
Baptists have remained opposed to smoking and alcohol -- and in this
regard they are on the side of the angels -- or at least the medical
profession. BUT the major addictive killers in America remain legal:
respectively tobacco -- nearly 500,000 now each year -- and alcohol,
about 150,000. Yet our war is on prohibited prohibited substances --
marijuana, cocaine, heroin -- that kill few? Marijuana is not deadly
for anyone -- in fact it is a practical medicinal remedy for several
conditions -- glaucoma, nausea associated with chemo-therapy, an
appetite incentive for AIDS sufferers, etc. Cocaine and heroin are
not healthy substances, but only kill 3,000 or fewer each year, who
overdose, self-medicate for depression, or perhaps in some cases
suicide with them.
What do we find in America -- a massive WAR ON DRUGS which
costs many billions of dollars each year that could be better
spent on persuasive prevention and therapy and which pointlessly
imprisons an increasing percentage of our 2,000,000+ currently
incarcerated. We spend billions funding this 'war' in Latin American
countries where we spray deadly substances on people and crops
extending far beyond targeted cocaine plants. And guess what -- who
are our primary 'enemies? Mainly 'little brown people' there and
minority group members here in the US. Yuk!
Check out which of our legislators is voting for what here. How
shameful!
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only)
###
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 17:48:03 -0800
From: Edward Kent <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: Brooklyn College, CUNY
To: Matthew Gaylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Religion in America
One can never be absolutely certain about the figures of religious
membership such as those cited below, as the various religious groups
have varying standards for counting membership, e.g. currently
enrolled vs. enrolled some time in the past. However, I assume that
the following is probably as good as any in giving rough
approximations of relative growth rates and rankings with a bit of
self-exaggeration per the reports that I have seen evaluated in the
past:
Growth rates for religion (and no religion)
in the U.S.
2001 (in millions) % change since 1990
Catholic 50.8 10.6%
Baptist 33.8 - .4%
No religion 29.5 14.2%
Christian (non-denominational) 14.2 75.8%
Methodist/Wesleyan 14.1 - .2%
Lutheran 9.6 5.2%
Pentecostal/Charismatic 4.4 38.1%
Episcopalian/Anglican 3.5 13.4%
Jewish (by religion only) 2.8 -9.8%
Mormon/Latter Day Saints 2.8 12.1%
Churches of Christ 2.6 46.6%
Congregational/UCC 1.4 130.1%
Jehovah's Witness 1.3 - .4%
Assemblies of God 1.1 67.6%
Muslim/Islamic 1.1 109.5%
Buddhist 1.1 169.8%
Hindu .8 237.4%
Unitarian/Universalist .6 25.3%
*Source: American Religious Identification Survey by the
Graduate Center of the City University of New York
--
The current New Yorker (1/21/02) also has an article ("Lives of the
Saints") that cites some vastly different growth rates and overall
numbers apparently self-reported by the Mormons and Southern Baptists
("During the past thirty years, the number of its [Mormon] adherents
in the United States has increased by nearly two hundred and
twenty-five per cent to more than five million, (In the same period
the ranks of Southern Baptists, the other fast-growing major
denominations in the country, have swelled forty per cent, to sixteen
million.")).
Whatever the true numbers, I am not exactly enthused about either of
these groups. Each has a past history of racism, which it has cleaned
up a bit officially, although such attitudes tend to linger on through
subsequent generations. Each is anti-gay. Each tends to subordinate
women in varying ways and degrees. Each is withholding in its
disposition towards social services. The Mormons have their own
internal welfare system and, thus, are prone to reject publicly funded
and directed ones. Faith-based programs, needless to say, would seem
to be right up their alleys. But probably "faith-based" allocations
will remain a bone of contention, as such religious groups are
intensely competitive and prone to attack each other's authenticity.
As one with theological training, I am a total skeptic about the
general authenticity of both of these religions, which tend to make it
up as they go along. For instance the present article in the New
Yorker on the Latter Day Saints, while it has a number of snide things
to say, does not point out that the religion, or at least the Book of
Mormon, was apparently based on a relatively obscure penny dreadful
novel from which its founder Joseph Smith presumably cribbed his story
line. The Mormons, as I have personally encountered them, are
generally no better nor worse than most people. They are clannish.
And G-d forbid that a relative, as is the case with one of mine, is
converted by them, as one then becomes the target for conversion -- in
this life OR in the next. The Mormons believe in baptism after death
and have carried out, according to the current article, some 200
million posthumous baptisms including such notables as Buddha,
Shakespeare, Einstein, Elvis, and all the deceased popes. They are
very tough on both their dissenters and women. The Southern Bapists
are less centralized and a bit more diverse in disposition.
For those not familiar with American religious history, the US
has been a fertile source of made up or made over religions. The
traditional Protestant traditions were transplanted to this country,
often with a great deal of intellectual sophistication built into
their theologies. However, in the 19th century divisions within these
traditions between the so-called "old lights" (intellectual) and "new
lights" (highly emotional) versions opened up and were further
exacerbated by the Civil War. "Born agains" are the product of the
latter's emotivism and are free wheeling in their quick changes in
doctrine, practice, and prejudices.
As the New Yorker article indicates the older and established
churches are fading away for the most part -- hurried along by
internal scandals and such that hit the media periodically. One
could see when I was studying theology mid century that American
religion was dying. The "death of G-d" theologians put the official
lid on this decline. Most of those studying theology with me departed
to other careers in public service or academic fields. There are some
fundamental humanistic values left behind for most of us, I think.
And I am accused on occasion of preaching -- guilty as charged. But
institutional religion in America must now be held suspect for its
financial scams and tendency to encourage the worst of human instincts
and prejudices -- particularly the revenge impulse that has so
discredited our criminal justice system and may be fueling our present
disposition to 'punish' enemies out there -- real or imagined.
Be wary of religious fundamentalism -- and particularly those
brands practiced by super powers. There are some good people who
believe, but many more employ their religions as a shield for their
prejudices -- or worse. -- Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only)
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