Peggy Sanday’s study of 186 hunter-gatherer cultures found that when men are involved in the care of their own infants the cultures do not make war. This greater involvement of men with their babies may eventually contribute to a more peaceful world. That thought makes me optimistic. (John Gottman, Psychologist; Founder of Gottman Institute; Author (with Julie Gottman), “And Baby Makes Three”.
Fundamentalism (apologies for length, but this is fun)
The following is the suggested notice to be posted at the entrances of businesses owned by by fundamentalist American Christians, such as wedding cake makers, who like to choose their customers – and their bible texts:
“Dear Valued Patrons.
Owing to my sincerely held religious beliefs, we will no longer be doing business with the following persons, nor permit them in our establishment:
1. Divorcees. Matthew 19:9: “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery.”
2. Anyone who has ever read their horoscope or called a psychic hotline. Leviticus 20:6: “As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.”
3. Anyone with a tattoo. Leviticus 19:28 “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.”
4. Anyone born illegitimately. Also, anyone who, back to ten generations, is descended from someone born illegitimately. If you can not PROVE, using appropriate church sources, that ten generations of your family were born in wedlock, I will have to err on the side of caution and not serve you. Deuteronomy 23:2 “No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the LORD.”
5. Anyone who makes a practice of praying aloud, or in public. Matthew 6:5-6 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
6. Any woman with braided hair or gold jewelry. Just to be on the safe side, NO jewelry at all. 1 Timothy 2:9 “Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments.”
7. Please don’t bring your kids in if they have a bowl haircut. Leviticus 19:27 reads “You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.”
I refer you to Matthew 5:17-19, where Our Savior himself says: “…Not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law (of the Prophets and the Old Testament) until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”
Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience. It’s nothing personal, “love the sinner but hate the sin,” and all, but I simply can’t serve anyone who would blatantly disregard God’s sacred law in such a fashion”. (Published first in Daily Cos)
Were Epicurus alive today he would be disappointed to note that mankind is still cherry- picking the bits of the law it feels inclined to pick. If Jesus could dine with prostitutes and tax collectors, why cannot fundamentalists take the money of gays and put it in the bank. It is as good as anyone else’s money, and once on the bank statement is indistinguishable from other money.
Epicurus and the truth
Epicurus was very concerned about telling the truth, but telling it with tact and kindness. He thought philosophers used rhetoric to conceal the truth. Ancient Epicureans prided themselves on politely pointing out errors or misconceptions to offer Epicureans, something that requires huge trust and respect. There is a right way to criticize and a wrong way, too.
Baltimore and the grim state of the underclass
A British reader has asked me about the background of the riots in Baltimore. This is my take:
From the 1960’s the lot of the average African American appeared to be improving. But once globalisation began, so began the the collapse of most of the good things done for the community.
Baltimore used to be an industrial city, Bethlehem Steel being the biggest company, offering the population secure jobs and livable wages. Nearly all that industry has now gone, leaving not just unemployment, but abandoned houses and dereliction, which has severe depressing effects on everyone. The biggest sufferers have been the African Americans. As a prominent black journalist, Eugene Robinsonn, told us at a meeting yesterday, “The rungs of the ladder to climb to the middle class are now missing. There is a massive gap between those who have a job and those who do not. Good new jobs in the new economy require a level of education that simply isn’t provided”. He went on to say that schools in Baltimore are as segregated now as they were in the 1950s, partly owing to the ending of busing.
Apparently, the dead black youth,Freddie Gray, grew up in a house that had heavy deposits of lead in it. When tested as a teenager Freddie had lead in his body that shot off the scale. In short, his environment had driven him crazy.
Some statistics:
– 37% of all adults in the DC area are functionally illiterate. Illiterate parents raise illiterate children. And this is without taking account of the (mostly) single women struggling to bring up their kids in areas where drugs are prevalent, and the young men so often end up in prison for minor drug offenses.
– 43% of all semiliterates live in poverty
– in the worst areas of Baltimore there are no (you read it correctly) grocery stores! At all. Liquor shops, yes. Such food shops as there are sell fast food and non-nutritional junk. Many other types of shop are boarded up.
– there are 60,000 people in the area who never graduated from high school. If kids get to 18 without any qualifications, they are effectively finished – no skills, no computers, no mobility, and limited access to adult education.
For Baltimore, read most ex-industrial cities in the United States. One person said she thought America was becoming tribal: Democrats vs. Repepublicans, police against the underclass, whites vs. blacks, whites vs. Latino immigrants, rich vs. poor, people in financial services vs. almost everyone else, and so on.
Bullying in schools
An elderly couple have turned their home into a school for bullied children. Fred Morgan, 94, and his wife Vivian, 72, decided to devote their retirement to helping the victims of bullying after reading about a young girl who’d committed suicide. The couple converted their ten-bedroom house in Warwickshire, England, and now have 20 pupils, around half of whom had tried to take their own lives as a result of bullying. Most will return to mainstream education – but they’re urged to keep in touch when they leave. “We thought even if we could help make a difference for just one child then it would be worth it,” said Mrs Morgan.
Bullying is un-civilised, and un-Epicurean. In my school they had a tradition of “boxing”, which involved putting a young lad bottom-down in a tea chest so that he was doubled up. His bare feet poked out over the top of the chest and the bullies then attacked them with rulers, glue and ink. When the boy was sufficiently hysterical they built a tower of tea chests, hauled him in the box to the top and caused it to sway at crazy angles. Can you imagine the thought process of the kid who thought this up? One of the boys who endured this treatment later committed suicide. I will not mention the name of the school, because the staff have now got the message and it is all history. But for me personally this was a radicalizing experience. We need more Mr. and Mrs Morgans, but most of all we need vigilant teachers.