Category: Religion

by Dave Mindeman

Let's take the next phase of the "12 Biggest Lies". They are getting tougher.....

7. Americans are greedy and self-centered.

I will be curious to see how this group defends America's role in the world. Granted, we are a generous people and are the first on the scene for any major disaster. But even at that, there is always a political reason for what we do. We do not want any country or region to descend into chaos. It would be bad for "business" and bad for political stability.

Even our beginnings are seeped in self-centeredness. We didn't like being used by King George as his ATM machine, even though we considered ourselves English subjects, and the taxation imposed without any say in the matter finally broke the tenuous bond.

But once we threw off our obligations to the mother country, we rapidly moved into Manifest Destiny and expanded our sphere of influence across the continent. Wars with Mexico and Spain were purely self indulgent expansionism, but it mattered not.

Our pride in being a super power is extensive and we expect the world to respect us unconditionally. We established Wall Street as the world's financial market base and expect the world to recognize that as well.

To assume that Americans are NOT greedy and self-centered lacks honest self-analysis. We are a country that wants it all....and we have become a country that wants it all without having to pay for it.

You can try to make a case against this self-centered greed but in the end it is really who we are.

8. Islam is a religion of truth.

I have trouble with this ongoing animosity that is growing towards Islam. Maybe Islam is not a religion of OUR truth, but it is truth to its followers. Why can't we leave it at that?

Religions always seem to want to compete with each other. Followers of each various type get uncomfortable when their own "truth" is questioned by another version. And since each religious basis of thought requires the contention that it is the only true meaning of life's absolute questions, conflicts will ensue.

Islam and Christianity have different factions which range from tranquil to very violent. Our ancient history is littered with wars fought for religious reasons. All religions can move to a tendency to usurp ultimate truth into ultimate death.

This particular "lie" is probably included, not so much to negate Islam's truth seeking, but to more or less, mollify Christianity's sensitivity to any challenge of its own validity.

It is all very curious, because Christianity itself is, by contrast, a very "young" religion and is completely dependent on Judaism to extend it heritage back to ancient times.

9. The Jews stole Jerusalem.

The makers of this DVD are going to have to delve into a lot of historical background to back this one up. And, again, it will be a matter of interpretation of events. We forget that Jerusalem is a sacred city to other religions as well as our own. Everybody has their own version of "rightful" claims.

To call this a "lie" is, in this case, strictly a religious opinion. I would prefer to let each interpretation to stand within its own context. To say that the Jews "stole" or conquered or were awarded Jerusalem is all a matter of semantics. It was more of a political decision than a religious one.

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See how complicated this is? Look for part 4 at the Roundtable...

by Dave Mindeman

You are going to hear a lot about this over the course of the next month or so....so I thought I'd pre-warn you.

The people who made the Left Behind, apocolyptic religious book and film series, are promoting a new DVD called the "12 Biggest Lies". Of course, they are lies because fundamentalists are telling us they are, but I assume they will try to give us "facts" that prove their version of things....and, of course, a lot of it will be centered on the Bible. That's a given.

But this is actually good for discussion and I always find this religious "fact checking" to be a good debate. There is too much to do just one post on this...so look for my own "series".

First, what are the 12 BIGGEST LIES?

1. There is no such thing as Absolute Truth.

2. People are inherently good.

3. No one should be offended.

4. Men and women are equal.

5. A fetus isn’t human.

6. The world is overpopulated.

7. Americans are greedy and self-centered.

8. Islam is a religion of truth.

9. The Jews stole Jerusalem.

10. The earth is billions of years old.

11. There is no God.

12. Jesus was just a good man.

That is a fascinating list in my opinion. So let's delve into it. Feel free to add your own thoughts -- I really would like to hear them.

#1 - There is no such thing as Absolute Truth.

You know, I actually agree that this IS a lie. I can say that because the X-Files concurs....THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE. Ultimately, there HAS to be an absolute truth. I contend that absolutely nobody knows what it is and that we probably never will know, but the essence of the human spirit is to keep striving to find it. Quite frankly, I think religion has abdicated its right to pronounce it because they have made such a wreck of the current world. When you build your truth on discriminatory actions and ultimate hatred of other people and other religions, you are not capable of finding truth. I do think that focused individual spirituality has the best chance of finding truth in humanity. But, then, will it really be the same for everyone? I don't know. That's the 3 words that the ultimate truth seeker needs to humbly admit to.

#2 - People are inherently good.

Since that is apparently a lie, we must assume that people are inherently bad. I imagine this will bring up a discussion of "original sin" which gets into more theology than I care to contend with. But ultimately, people are both - good and bad. We have a constant struggle within ourselves as to which part of our selves wins out. It is very hard for me to believe that when a baby is born, he or she is NOT inherently good. They have needs that must be selfishly met, but that is not bad in and of itself. How we meet our needs is the ultimate test of good and evil. I do believe that people want to do good in their life. Our life circumstances, that we have little control over, are what ultimately shape us. Some people have the ability to continue the good aspects of themselves despite horrible circumstances. That is what I consider the ultimate good person. That kind of person had to be inherently good in the first place to counter what he or she was up against.

#3 - No one should be offended.

If that is the lie, should everybody be offended instead? I guess I am puzzled as to what that means. Since this is coming from a religious group, I guess that the offense they cause in their bigotries is not something they think can be helped or should be changed. If some people are "offended" by religious truth (and I use that term loosely), then religion ultimately says "too bad". I do get offended by one particular thing. That is the so-called Christians who tell everybody that they discriminate against gays because they "love them". There is the ultimate lie.

OK...that's three so far. More "deep" thoughts to come later.....

See part 2 on the Minnesota Political Roundtable....

Category: Education

by Dave Mindeman

Congress passed a bill that will bring $167 million in direct education money for Minnesota. The idea is to help ailing school districts to keep education jobs and meet budget deficits.

But it will have zero effect.

As this MinnPost article by Beth Hawkins points out, school districts are so tenuous about future budgets that a lot of them plan to go with the patched together budgets they have in place and simply bank the money against future cut backs.

That's where we are. Districts can't count on state support and they are now budgeting out of fear. Fear of cutbacks, fear of the unknown.

And here is a quote that gives me pause:

As the result of more than $150 million in budget reductions and the Legislature’s ratification of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 2009 unallotment to schools, worth $1.4 billion, last spring metro area schools cut some 1,500 educators, according to estimates by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts.

I'm sure budget critics point to that as simply cutting excess. I don't. As I pointed out recently, a number of districts (using Farmington as a prime example) are having enormous class size problems and teacher ratios are out of sync.

I do NOT consider teaching just another "government job". Educators are essential to our future economic growth. They are the key ingredient to any potential "Minnesota miracle" in the future.

Losing 1500 jobs in this manner and the likely reduction of 100's of others in the coming cycle, has an additive effect in other job areas. In fact, a reduction in the quality of our education endangers all of Minnesota business.

We are a state that prides itself on our educational investments. When business looks to Minnesota, they have always been able to count on a skilled and educated workforce.

But can they count on that in the future? That is becoming an important question.