Opinion/Editorial

LET GO AND LET GOD

Does it matter what people believe in when it comes to a supreme being? One would think not, given that America is governed by a Constitution that wanted religion to be universally accepted by all in whatever form it was believed, but universally rejected by all when it comes to being considered for influencing governmental decisions. The U.S. Constitution is quite specific about the separation of church and state. That is a condition that all almost all religions are opposed to.

The Christian religion is organized around a book called the Bible. That’s no surprise to anyone. What’s surprising is that so many people who believe in religions based upon the bible know almost nothing about its origins or how it changed over time to become what it is today…a very long way from what it started out to be. Rather than blame this lack of historical understanding in true believers, however, one should consider a bigger culprit. People do not want to know, and do not want to believe, anything other than what they’ve been taught about the bible. They want it to be true. So, over time, the leaders of Christian religions around the world have changed from presenting the bible as the writings of the followers of Jesus Christ into ‘the word of God’.

Why do people want to believe that the bible is the word of God, and not a product of many people’s writings that, over time, was repeatedly edited with many sections removed? This question, if answered accurately, not only speaks to the issue of why the bible is believed by so many to be the word of God, but also why so many Christian fundamentalists cannot stop believing that they are good while most others are evil; why skin color of any kind (other than white) is a curse; why women should be little more than bonded slaves throughout their lives; why there should be harsh legal rules bringing babies into the world, but no rules about caring for them once they are here. People want to believe in what the bible purports to teach because it gives them hope. Hope of eventual abundance. Hope that they are never alone. Hope that they have reality, impact and importance on the surface of a world that, for the most part, does not seem to care. As with the tribal forces that bring gangs together inside dark and miserable ghettos across the planet, there’s a binding force that compels many to gather with others who share their biblical belief system.

There’s one other force at work in this determined belief in a book that’s almost two thousand years old, and that makes almost no consideration or adjustment for modern technology or the changes that have occurred to mankind and the planet since most of it was written. That force is the force of gathered group social power. There are only three powers associated with the human condition. Those three are politics (expressed as governmental leadership), organized religion (about 75% of all Americans are Christian), and science. Science is the weakest of the social powers, as the results of its discoveries are generally used and controlled by the other two powers. True dictatorships usually seek to get rid of organized religion altogether and then harness science for governmental purposes, and subject to governmental control and use. Democracies and republics (like the United States) generally attempt to accommodate politics and religion, while leaving the products and results of science to seek powerful expression through civilian creation and control.

Why is any of this information important when it comes to the demographics and cultural expression of potential change in the American social order? Change is vital and healthy because social change means that society is changing to reflect other changes going on, over which societies only have any control when group behavior is considered. Potentially devastating or catastrophic results can only be prevented by cooperation, and cooperation requires the flexibility to change because of the learning and implementation of new data that changes existent beliefs. Global warming cannot be slowed or prevented without such group changes to belief and then behavior. War, potentially species killing war, cannot be prevented without such changes to group beliefs. Racism and sexism cannot be eradicated without changes to existent belief systems.

America has a huge problem. Part of that problem is in coming to terms with these frightening issues, and many more not listed. Rural America cannot change its belief system as long as it is tied to the bible. All arguments will fail against this huge body of voting citizens because anyone attempting to effect change will be seen as opposing God. The God of the bible (Jesus Christ) is a white male. People of color are vaguely written about as cursed with even vaguer allegations of evil. Women are depicted as being subservient to men throughout this ancient text. Life is expected to be filled with misery and pain in this Christian bible, while believers are taught that most real rewards follow in the supposed afterlife.

America has a huge problem. Part of that problem is that if enough people will not change for any reason, and simply buy into the expression “let go and let God,” then potential disaster is in store for everyone in the country at some undetermined time in the future, because God has been real undependable when it comes to doing the bidding of man.

America has a huge problem. The combined parts lead to the resultant problem: how to bring together the problem parts and yet accommodate the conflicting opinions that involve life for some, and death for others. Global warming is not going to kill everyone. Only some people. Losing health insurance or care is not going to kill everyone. Only some people. Low paying jobs of no importance are not going to kill everyone. Only some people. No subsidies for food or anything else to the poor, the disabled or aged (that might be referred to as welfare) is not going to kill everyone.

“The Lord helps those who help themselves” is not a quotation from the bible. Neither is “the Lord will never give you a burden too heavy to carry.” Those are sayings invented by men, and they weren’t written into the bible. Perhaps the best that can be gained from the writings of man, about a supreme being, is that whatever men and women write about how human behavior should be conducted it might be important to consider that even if God is believed in, the biblical teachings of God are all conjectural interpretations written by men and women, and those resultant beliefs need to be taken as the thoughts and words of man. Men and women must act, however, if survival and comfort are to be achieved and managed. The republicans and democrats in America are both right about that.

There is no ‘letting go,’ because letting go means becoming dependent upon others (humans) to do what needs to be done. God has not proven dependable about doing the bidding of man. Man must come to terms with how he perceives the dependability of himself and other men in doing that bidding, and that perception has run into a complete stone wall across the country. The “N” word pervades America’s outback. Many rural people are totally opposed to immigrants coming into the country, while they totally fail to remember how their ancestors got here. Global warming is seen as a liberal scare tactic, and if it does exist, who cares unless it effects them directly. News comes from the preacher’s sermon on Sundays, and Fox News. How can rational, scientific thought compete against ‘belief’ and community knowing?
Let go and let God.