A Truly New Pope

Yesterday is was reported that Pope Francis said something about gay people. 

What he said was not nearly so important as the fact he said anything at all. The very fact that the pontiff, God's representative on Earth, said anything about gays other than a dismissal is truly astonishing. 

What did he say? According to today's New York Times he told reporters "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” 

I thought I would never hear this from the leader of the Catholic church. Our last pope dismissed homosexuality as "an intrinsic moral evil," carrying the banner of hatred and bigotry that has been ubiquitous in the Church for millennia. But not this pope. What a difference a papacy makes. 

I was less than thrilled when Francis' papacy was announced earlier this year. I tweeted that he seemed to be more of the same. I now officially recant that position. 

He may never say another word about gays again. But the fact that he did will stick with me for many years to come. 

This is the End...

As most of you know, in a few hours a group of religious extremists believe the world will be coming to an end.

I'm typing this as I teach a history of technology class at the City University of New York (don't worry, my students are working on essays about technology and terrorism). Perhaps my study of technology is peppering my emotions on this muggy day but I'm not that scared. I think that if they are right and I wrong, it will happen regardless of my worrying about it. I'm resigned to the possibility, a strong one, that sometime in my lifetime the "world," at least with humans in it, will "end." Perhaps with a bang and perhaps with a whimper.

The bang part is something all of us live with--nuclear weapons. I have never had a moment of consciousness that has not been underlined by the thought that a nuke could blow me, and everyone I love, away. The world is filled with nukes, state-sponsored and a few otherwise, and the likelihood that one of them goes off deliberately or accidentally is high.

The whimper part is also of our own making. We live in a world where, regardless of if naysayers like it, the climate is changing. It's warmer in places and colder in places, but its changing. There is a high degree of moisture in the air and meteorologists are losing sleep posting and revising weather charts that don't seem to be getting it right. What will that mean for us in the long haul? Rising tides, crops that are frozen or blown away by no rain. The careful balance that keeps us alive--water, temperature, the earth beneath our feet--is slowly degrading and we will pay the price.

So regardless of it's at 6 pm local, or 2030, or later on, it most likely will happen. And unless we do something about it I'm not sure how this will end. I don't think it will be today. But unless we do something about the bang and/or the whimper, I think it will be sooner as opposed to later.

The photo is courtesy of New York artist Farrish Carter. You can see his blog here.

The Black and White Situation of the Ground Zero Mosque

Laws = Black and White Thinking

There are very few black and white situations in the world, even though the human instinct is to make most, if not all, situations fit into a binary vision of the world.  

I'm a good person (or I am not)
I'm a failure (or I'm not)

These are common situations that upon closer examination have a variety of positions; one can be "good" in some settings and "bad" other places or a person can succeed at her career but not be able to make friends. Most situations in the modern world have a spectrum of options and interpretations, not just ON or OFF.  And one of the challenges thinking people face is to explore and examine the variety of possibilities in a given situation before making a decision.  

That said, there are situations that truly are ALL or NOTHING:

I'm pregnant (or I'm not)
She's dead (or alive)
I believe in the First Amendment (or I don't)

There is a case currently in the papers that is all or nothing in nature--religious freedom. We are either a haven for unencumbered religious diversity or we are not.  That is how principles work and the principle involved here, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is very clear.


"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

There are very few black and white situations in the world, even though the human instinct is to make most, if not all, situations fit into a binary vision of the world.  

I'm a good person (or I am not)
I'm a failure (or I'm not)

All of these are common situations that actually have a variety of positions; one can be "good" in some settings and "bad" elsewhere or a person can succeed at her career but not be able to make friends. Most situations in the modern world have a spectrum of options and interpretations, not just ON or OFF.  And one of the challenges thinking people face is to discover a situation's reality and examine a variety of options if they exist.  

That said, there are situations that truly are ON or OFF:

I'm pregnant (or I'm not)
She's dead (or alive)
I believe in the First Amendment (or I don't)

There is a case currently in the papers that is all or nothing in nature--religious freedom. We are either a haven for unencumbered religious diversity or we are not.  That is how principles work and the principle involved here, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is very clear:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

That's it folks. No footnotes. No exceptions. Congress cannot prohibit religion in the US. A group of Muslims want to build a mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero. They have filed the proper paperwork and apparently have the wherewithal to pay for it. The issue seems pretty black and white to me. I hope the New York City council has the wisdom to stick to their guns and allow this project to take place. We live in a county that was founded on a basic set of principles. Let's not let Right Wing bullies like Palin and Ginggrich make us forget that very black and white principal upon which we are founded.
         
That's it folks. No footnotes. No exceptions. The law cannot prohibit the practice of religion in the United States. A group of Muslums want to build a mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero. They have filed the proper paperwork and apparently have the wherewithal to pay for it. The issue seems pretty black and white to me--doing anything less would be in violation of one of the central principles this nation was founded on.

I hope the New York City council has the wisdom to stick to their guns and allow this project to take place. We live in a county that was founded on a basic set of principles. Let's not let Right Wing bullies like Palin and Gingrich make us forget that very black and white principal upon which we are founded.
         

The Brits Require Darwin in Their Schools

(science) / (myth + religion) = anti-intellectualism

In a pro-scientific move, the Brits have declared that Darwin is to be taught in all public schools across their country beginning in 2011. Thiw move makes a great deal of sense in that the theory of evolution is one of the greatest scientific achievements of the past two centuries, influencing almost all other intellectual disciplines in a way few other theories ever have.

Three cheers for the British educators realizing the value of a science-based. evidence-based education. Perhaps educational leaders on this side of the Atlantic who bemoan our dwindling science skills should consider a similar move. After all, weren't we the ones who fought so hard for a division between church and state?

Oh, on a related note; I am finally catching up with the Nova series Becoming Human. If you want the latest science on how we became the sophisticated (in some way too sophisticated?) animal that we are. here is the link.

Read the story on Darwin in British schools here.