When I was in junior high, a priest asked me during confirmation preparation why people shouldn't sin. I said it made God angry. The priest corrected me, saying God did not get angry -- that God is in heaven and is always at peace and does not feel human emotions like anger.This struck me as strange, given the Old Testament, with example after example of God getting angry. I thought first of the story of Noah and the flood. Now that I look at the verses, nothing literally...
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The Immaculate Conception And Cashing In (Spirituality, Religion, and Philosophy, Entry 5)
In 1854, the Pope declared that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived without original sin -- the Immaculate Conception. In Catholic doctrine, original sin means the stain all humans inherit from Adam, whose first sin was disobedience. This sin supposedly is part of the human soul from the instant of conception. Only Mary, according to the Catholic Church, was conceived with no original sin.Popular culture, though, misunderstands the phrase Immaculate Conception to...
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Is Confession Good for The Soul? (Spirituality, Religion, and Philosophy, Entry 4)
As a kid, I found the Jesus dying for our sins concepts particularly disturbing. My parents’ church had a giant crucifix over the altar, with Christ on the cross, thorns in his head, face contorted. Not uncommon in Catholic churches, though some have a more peaceful looking Christ, or even show him as he is about to rise. I remember staring at the crucifix as I waited in line to go to confession. (For those not familiar with concept, in confession a person goes into a sma...
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Wishing to be Tense (Spirituality, Religion and Philosophy Entry 3)
During a scene in my favorite TV show (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), a British character, in a time of crisis, asks for coffee rather than his usual tea. The friend working with him asks why. Giles responds: “Tea is soothing, I wish to be tense.”
When I’m stressed at work or at home (but it’s usually at work), I sometimes say this to myself. It reminds me to stop choosing to be tense, or at least to recognize that’s what I’m doing. As someone who struggled with anxiety in the past, part of me...
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Women and the Church (Spirituality, Religion, and Philosophy, Entry 2)
Like a lot of Catholic teenagers, I started skipping mass in high school. I’d disappear for an hour on Saturday or Sunday at the appropriate time, but instead of going to church I headed to the park or to work out or to read. I didn’t disagree with the church’s teachings. I just didn’t see the point of mass. Sitting, standing, reciting (usually mumbling) the same words with everyone glancing at their watches. Ironically, now that I’m not a believer, I find great beauty in the ritual. I att...
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Abraham’s Willingness to Sacrifice Isaac (Spirituality, Religion, and Philosophy Entry 1)
The story of Abraham and Isaac always bothered me. Abraham was ready to kill his son because a being he believed was God told him to. That always seemed wrong to me. If killing is wrong, how does it become okay just because at that particular moment God said it was okay? And how did Abraham know that was God? It would seem like if God is asking you to do something wrong, the first thing you might wonder is if the entity talking to you is really God.
We talked about this in my writer’s grou...
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