As for classes, they keep me reading. I'm getting really sick of professors who make great powerpoint presentations and then skip through them so quickly you can't write any of the notes down. Plus, when I'm trying to write so quickly I really can't listen to whatever the hell the teacher is actually saying. I try to read over the notes and truncate the information, but the time required for the mental process of breaking down the information takes too long in itself. If they're going to take the time to make notes, why not give the students time to take it in. To be clear, I'm fine to skip notes if it's something that was in the book and I've already read/highlighted, because I can access that information later. But when it is new information, not provided by the texts, slow the hell down so I can write all you're telling me down. I could go back after class and print off the power point presentation, but then I'm not getting the benefit of added lecture to explain the notes, the lecture which I can't listen to because I'm trying to write your notes down. F**k.
On campus there has been this old guy who looks like a stereotypical professor from oxford in the 1960s who has been standing in the free speech area of the Quad and yelling at students. He yells "Repent for your sins!", "Only through Jesus can your soul be saved!" I half expected him to come out and say that the end times are near, and he very nearly did with quotations from Revelation, but never quite said those magic words. He explains why all of the gays and lesbians will burn. He explains all the things everyone who has ever questioned blind faith has heard from Christians. And yes, I do mean Christians, you do not hear this shit from any other faith here. Why do some Christians believe that through a caustic, fire-and-brimstone attitude they will attract others to their faith? Do they really believe they are helping the image of their faith? A good many self-proclaimed Christians in the crowd disavowed the old man's ravings, and were disappointed that he allied himself with their religion. They were disappointed in the association. They could see the crowd's reaction, could sense the hostility.
From what I saw, most people wanted nothing to do with the wackiness occurring in the middle of campus. A large crowd had gathered around him, but generally these were hecklers, deriving entertainment from this old man's preachings. Every once in a while a passer-by would shout "Hail Satan!" Some malcontents in the audience would reply quickly, and fiercely to certain things the prophet said, and then, just as quickly, return to their own conversation with their neighbors. The hub-bub of the crowd generally drowned out the old man's religious ejaculations, and I had to scoot closer to this prophet to understand better his misguided message. I argued with him, weakly. I did not really think that this old coot had enough brain cells still knocking around to come up with any good responses, and he did not. Oh, he believed they were good responses, but they were not answers to my questions. He did not address my grievances. One man, who had worked his way to the front of the crowd like me was trying desperately to get the prophet to have a real discussion about biblical theory. I listened to this man's arguments. His cool empiricism, though often poorly phrased, or slightly misquoted, contrasted sharply with the fiery eruptions from the self-imagined Johnathan Edwards, but I saw that his arguments were having no effect on the preachings or the preacher.
I decided to try a different tactic. The prophet was obviously no philosopher, he had not really thought about his connection to God or Jesus. He did not question, in any way, the word of God as presented through the Bible (or at least the verses he has read). He had not deepened his own relation with god through rational thought, as St. Thomas Aquinas and many others have done. He followed the path of blind, fervent devotion. So, envisioning my plan, I led him through a series of logical steps. He explained he proselytized because he loves God. Seeing an entrance, I led him to explain that you can not love something which is not real. I asked him what made something not real. He explained, predictably, that something is not real if you can not touch it, it must be tangible. "How then, can you love God, who is intangible - that being the basis of faith?" He had no answer for that and began to call me arrogant. I'm sorry I exhausted your brain-meats, while assaulting your faith mister prophet man, but I don't do it out of spite. I do it because, if there is a God, he gave us the ability to reason, so use it. Don't blindly follow where others have made the path clear. Come up with something interesting like St. Anselm's argument of that-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought. It may be confusing, but at least you will have thought about it.
One of his disciples hopped up on the platform and defended his master. "Do you think he gets paid for this?" the disciple asked, "He has been doing this for 30 years, preaching the word of God and The Lord Jesus, and he just wants to spread Jesus's love. He does this to spread the word of God." I asked, "If you really want to spread the word of God, why don't you do missionary work? Why don't you go out to help those less fortunate than yourself? How are you going to spread a message of 'love' by spewing hate filled rhetoric?" Neither the man nor his disciple had an answer to this question.
Christians can be so disappointing sometimes...
Spread faith, any faith, through good works. Fire and brimstone spread hate, fear, and discontent, and where has that ever gotten us?
'Til next time, eat well, and spread love (of any denomination, seriously).
As with feminists and Americans, a vocal minority seems to define public opinion of religious types. I don't have any statistics to back this up, but it seems to me that people our age who grew up with vast amounts of information literally at their fingertips are far less likely to identify as Christian, or specifically the religion in which they were brought up.
ReplyDeleteAgain, this could be due to the company I keep, but I can name exactly one self-proclaimed Christian in my social group. Could be disillusionment from years of hearing people try to "spread the love" by spreading hate, or simply previously inconceivable access to facts that debunk or weaken the Church's party line.
That sandwich sounds great, too.