Scripture: 2 Mac
7: 1-14
Faith Enligthened
Introduction
On the face of it
What admirable believers those Maccabean brothers
were! They were how ready and willing to die in the name of Yahweh, when
terrorized with the whips and scourges of the king. See how committed they were
to the rules and regulations of their ancestors when the king tries to force them to eat pork: “We are ready to die rather than transgress the
laws of our ancestors.” See how courageous they were: “They regarded their
sufferings as nothing.” See what faith spurred them on, even to the point of
death: “It is my choice to die at the
hands of men with the hope God gives of being
raised up by him.” See how
fearlessly they confront their terrorists:
“We tell you, there will be absolutely no resurrection from the dead for
you” (2 Mac 7:1-14).
I
am going out on a limb today. For me the only pertinent message in the first
reading is the brothers’ belief in the resurrection from the dead after
suffering the inhumanity and terrorism of human beings. Everything else in the first reading is
shaky and falls apart for me, especially in the context of the present
moment. I am wary now as never before about any religion that makes anyone
gung-ho and ready to die, especially for some petty dietary law which forbids
you to eat pork. For one thing, pork
roast is my favorite roast, especially with its pork gravy splashed all over
smashed potatoes.
Furthermore,
religious dietary rules and regulations are rather unsure things. Take the case
of Peter in Acts. One day he goes up to the roof terrace of the house to pray.
It’s about noon. And he’s hungry. While dinner is being prepared he has a
vision. He sees heaven opened and something coming down that looked like a
large sheet being lowered by its four corners to the earth. In it are all kinds
of animals, reptiles and wild birds. A voice says to him, “Get up, Peter, kill
and eat!” But Peter objects strenuously
saying, “Certainly not, Lord! I have never eaten anything considered defiled or
unclean. “
The
voice speaks to him again, “Do not consider anything unclean that God has
declared clean.” This happens three times, and then the thing is taken back
into heaven. Lo and behold, at that moment, God had changed his mind! At that
moment pork roast is declared OK (Acts
10:9-16)! We Catholics remember well
the story of our own dietary laws – like “No meat on Friday, never ever!” Along
came Vatican II, and lo and behold, God changed his mind again! Eating
hamburgers on Friday is OK now! You can do it now, and still go to heaven!
I am wary about any religion that makes us gung-ho
to die. I am wary about religion that OK’s religious suicide. I am wary about
the religion that Osama bin Laden propagates
when says, “Being killed for Allah’s cause is a great honor achieved
only by those who are the elite of the nation. We love to die for Allah’s cause
as much as you (Westerners) love to live.” That religion which makes you
gung-ho to die for something also makes you gung-ho to kill anyone who is not
willing to die as you are. Sometimes such staunch believers like the Maccabean
brothers become themselves terrorists if they ever get into the driver’s seat.
You just never know.
I
am wary of any religion that makes anyone gun-ho to die for something. I am
much more turned on by religion that makes you gun-ho to live for
something: as St. Francis of Assisi lived for a vision of creation in which everyone (and even everything) is
called brother and sister, and not “believer” or “infidel.” Yes, gun-ho to live
for something, as Mother Theresa lived for a vision of society filled with
compassionate Samaritans journeying on the road to Jericho, strewn with human
beings waylaid by other human beings.
British author, Salman
Rushdie, born in India, wrote a best seller entitled Satanic Verses. In it he sharply, angrily, and
unapologetically criticized the religion of Islam as spread by Mohammed. The book
earned for him a death sentence placed on his head by a famous Islamic
mullah of all mullahs, the Ayatollah Khomeini. In an article in NY Times,
November 2, 2001, he writes, “Most
religious belief isn’t very theological.” He means that most religious belief
isn’t really thought out too well. And
that, he would say, applies to all religious belief, whether it is Christian, Judaic, or Islamic. “Most
Muslims,” he writes, “are not very profound Koranic analysts.” He means they’re not very profound students
of the Koran, just as a lot of Christians aren’t very profound students of the
bible. He says, furthermore, that many
“believing” Muslim men believe “in a mumbled and half-examined way.”
That goes for most believers: most believe in a mumbled and half-examined way.
In this mumbled and
half-examined faith, Rushdie includes a whole “cluster of customs, opinions and
practices” like Islam’s dietary practices, its sequestration of women, its
mullahs (clergymen) stoking up the fires of hate at Friday “prayer.” This
mumbled and half-examined faith, he
says, includes especially Islam’s utter loathing of modern society riddled with music, godlessness and
sex (Westerner culture). It also includes Islam’s utter fear that its own
culture is being overtaken by Western
culture.” Any faith mumbled and
half-examined, whether Christian, Judaic, or Islamic, is not enlightened faith.
Rushdie’s words reminded me
of something I have been thinking about these past two months, every time I see
that familiar scene on TV of Muslim men falling prayerfully to their knees five
times a day in perfect unity of
religious gesture (all leveled flat to the ground); in perfect unity of sex (no
females whatsoever among them); in perfect unity of being (complete absorption
of the individual in one Islamic mass); all of them falling to their knees in
perfect unity of submission and obedience to Allah only; a submission
and obedience which gets reinforced
five times over every single
day.
Most people watching the
familiar scene are either deeply impressed by such unabashed display of
religious faith. Or they feel guilty that they themselves don’t have such
unquestioning faith. Or they simply
smile at it all, and dismiss it as something quaint or harmless. Not me. I find myself saying quietly under my
breath so that no one hears me, “Oh how obscene!” How obscene such totally
unquestioned submission and obedience, and precisely because it is religious!
That makes anything possible, even September 11th! This is the mumbled and half-examined faith
that Rushdie talks about. And at the
end of the day, it is unenlightened faith.
Mecca I
Islam needs enlightened
faith just as the Roman Catholic Church needed enlightened faith in the middle
of the past century. Islam needs a Vatican II to dis-mumble and examine its
faith, just as the Catholic Church needed a Vatican II to dis-mumble and
examine its faith. Islam needs a Mecca 1 of its own, to write for itself
the very same document that Vatican II wrote for the Catholic Church. That
document is entitled Gaudium et Spes from its opening Latin words which
mean “The joy and hope.” The official English title of that document is The
Church in the Modern World. The very first line of that document
reads, “The joy and hope of the
world are the joy and hope of the Church.” How warm and loving that is!
After centuries of church hostility to the world, how truly revolutionary that
document is!
Islam needs a
Mecca I to write for itself a very same document that Vatican
II wrote for the Catholic Church. The
document would be entitled The Mosque in the Modern World. The first line would read, “The joy and hope of the world are the
joy and hope of the Mosque.” How warm and loving that would be! The Mosque,
at long last, declaring its desire to lay down its utter loathing and fear of
the modern world – how revolutionary that would be! The Mosque, at long last,
declaring its desire to enter into loving relationship with Western
civilization – how revolutionary that would be! That would put an end to Islamic terrorization of the infidel
world far more effectively than our present military campaign.
We remind ourselves that in
the Dark Ages (5th to 11th
century) Islam had the incredible potential to become the center of the
universe, eclipsing Europe in learning, art, medicine, mathematics, and
architecture. With its utter fear and loathing of the modern and Western world
laid to rest, that potential could be revived, and it could become again a
blessing for both Islam and for the world.
Vatican III
It’s always easy to talk
about “the other guy.” We must eventually get down to talking about ourselves;
otherwise we won’t be going anywhere except down our long noses. Rushdie says
that most religious belief isn’t very theological, isn’t thought out too well,
and isn’t very enlightened. That goes for us Catholics too. Despite the
progress made in Vatican II, we too have “mumbled and half-examined” faith. We
too have our “cluster of customs,
opinions and prejudices” concerning women in the church, human sexuality, gays
and lesbians, ordination to ministry, celibacy, and birth control. We too have
mumbled and half examined
religious submission and obedience. That “stuff” of ours also calls for
dis-mumbling and examination. We too need
enlightenment.
Conclusion
The invitation to think
I
share a personal observation generated out of fifty years of priestly ministry.
Through the years, I have always invited the pews to dis-mumble the faith with
me and examine it more fully so that it might become for us more enlightened
faith. In a word, I have always offered
the pews the invitation to think along
with me.
Some were always dismayed by the invitation to think.
Some were always delighted.
Some were neither dismayed nor delighted because they
simply weren’t into thinking; enlightened faith simply wasn’t a priority for
them.[1]
Regarding the ones who were dismayed (even angered) at the invitation to think,
it wasn’t always clear what the dismay or anger was all about. Perhaps only a
psychiatrist could say. Regarding the
ones who were delighted, it was always
clear what that was all about: it was
the delight of a person for whom faith was important, and who was relieved to
know that it was not only OK but even praiseworthy to question faith so that it
might become enlightened faith.
[1] Carl Jung describes that
bunch in his account of the disastrous day of his first holy communion, which
turned out to be his last. He was in tiptoe expectation of that day, expecting
something wonderful to happen. The day came:
the wine tasted bitter, the bread was stale, all took communion in a
matter-of-fact-way, the service ended, and all peeled out of church with a kind
of ho-hum attitude. “Their faces” Jung
writes, “were neither depressed nor illumined with joy.” They were neither
dismayed nor delighted. Their faith was mumbled and half-examined. It was
unenlightened, and that didn’t bother them at all.