No Debate: The End is Nearer Than You Think

Mitt Romney and President Obama

Presidential candidates incumbent Barack Obama and opponent Mitt Romney tried to sound important and significant during last night’s debate.  They were both impressive and strained to appear presidential.  It’s simply a façade. 

They are nothing more than ants on a small anthill, and the ants will be here after the politicians – and the rest of us – are gone.   The preachers and evangelists shrilly announcing their beliefs, burning Korans or other performing other mischief are as important as crickets sawing their hind legs in the forest.  Those insects, too, will likely be around a lot longer than a single sermon.

The end is near, and not just because Jesus is returning.  He isn’t.  No Gabriel will blow a trumpet.  He is not needed anyway.  It’s already sounded.

Recently, scientists announced that the oceans are in crisis.  The news came out of a ‘State of the Oceans’ workshop co-hosted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).  The program was supposedly the first “to consider the cumulative impact of all pressures on the oceans.” 

The findings blare louder than anything an angel can produce on a trumpet: the seas are deteriorating at a faster rate than ever imagined, leaving most creatures on them on the brink of extinction. 

When they go, we go.

In truth, the findings are not new.  Scientists examining the data have been warning anyone who would listen for years about the coming disaster. 

Neanderthal

We should have known it anyway.  There’s a basic truth about life on Earth.  When a type of animal dwindles down to a single species, the odds for survival are too great.  At one time, about 40,000 years ago, there were at least three other types of humans – Neanderthal, Hobbits and Denisovan, a recently discovered  Siberian humanoid.  Now, there is just one, which we arrogantly named Homo Sapien Sapien.  That’s “wise, wise man.” 

Actually, we’re pretty dumb.  We refuse to focus on what is important, such as sustaining life on this planet, to argue about nuances in philosophy or who should win an election.  If there’s no planet, who cares?

The Bush Administration even demanded that scientists bowdlerize a report on Global Warning, as if that would make the problem go away.  We can argue all we want about whether the situation is man-made or natural.  Who cares?  It’s real, and unless we take drastic steps to counter it – or, at least, mitigate the problem – then it will only get worse.

Humans, however, don’t have much of a track record when required to reduce creature comforts.  Look at Greece, where people recently rioted because of austerity measures necessary to tame the economy.  In Vancouver, thousands caused immense damage simply because the hockey team there lost in the 2011 finals.  As if it mattered who won or lost.

We’ll all find out soon enough how nonsensical much of our nattering is when the fish start dying, when the plankton disappears, when the oceans turn into dead zones – becoming gigantic versions of much of the Gulf of Mexico, which already has huge dead zones.

Fredric March (left) and Spencer Tracy

I am reminded of a scene from Inherit the Wind, the great play and movie about the Scopes trial in Daytona, Tennessee in 1925.  In the scene, Clarence Darrow, played by Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond, asks William Jennings Bryan, played by Fredric March as Matthew Harrison Brady, what happened when the Earth stood still as the Bible describes.  Tracy points out that if such an event actually happened, mountains would have toppled, seas would have dried up and the Earth would have been destroyed.

Tracy then concludes by asking how the Bible “missed that little tidbit.”

No worries now.  While candidates caterwaul and preachers pontificate, the Earth is in the process of being  destroyed.

No one will miss it this time.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

Real Blasphemy

Did you remember to celebrate on September 30?  I’ll bet not. Most people aren’t aware what a special day Sunday was.    

Babe Ruth

After all, its real significance can get overwhelmed by more mundane occurrences on that day in history.  For example, Babe Ruth played his last game as a Yankee on that day.  Not into sports?  Okay, it’s also Botswana Independence Day.  The first criminal was executed in the American colonies that day.  The Gutenberg Bible was first published that day in the 1400s; so was Little Women, more than 400 years later.  The Flintstones, those loveable Bedrock residents, debuted that day in 1960; so did Cheers in a later year. 

Actually, we should have marked Blasphemy Day, which, the website promoting it says, is dedicated to opening up “all religious beliefs to the same level of free inquiry, discussion and criticism to which all other areas of academic interest are subjected."

Icon of the Prophet

September 30 was chosen because that was the day in 2006 when a Danish newspaper published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb for a turban.  Many members of the Islamic faith went ballistic over the image.  Sound familiar?

This year, Blasphemy Day is now associated with a 13-minute film titled “Innocence of Muslims” that insults Mohammed.  Recently, the crude, otherwise meaningless movie made in the United States drew worldwide attention.

“Freedom of speech is one thing, but usage of your freedom should not be to offend others or advocate hate speech or provoke people to violence," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said this weekend.  He also called for a ban on insults against the Islamic prophet. "If the Western world fails to understand the sensitivity of the Muslim world, then we are in trouble," he told the AP. He said provocative insults are "a threat to international peace and security and the sanctity of life."

Erdogan

Last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyop Erdogan mentioned the film in his speech to the United Nations and called for making negative comments about the founder of Islam a crime.

“I am the prime minister of a nation, of which most are Muslims, that has declared anti-Semitism a crime against humanity. But the West hasn’t recognized Islamophobia as a crime against humanity. It has encouraged it,” he said.

That’s hogwash.  Anti-Semitism involves hatred of a group of people because of their religious beliefs.  The film doesn’t do anything like that.  It depicts Muslims attacking Egyptian Christians and then includes – apparently dubbed in later – an actor playing the Prophet Mohammad and being insulted.

That’s not an assault on religion in any manner; it’s a nasty jab at a religious figure.

It’s not nice; it’s certainly going to rile up members of the Islamic faith.  That doesn’t mean that negative comments about Mohammad should be censored.  Or negative comments about Jesus, Abraham, Buddha, Lao Tse or any other religious figure or religion should be censored.

Where does anyone stop?  Who decides what’s acceptable and what’s not?

After all, in the West, the term “Jesus Christ” is used as an expletive as well as in religious connections.  Should everyone who says Jesus Christ in anger or exasperation face a criminal trial?

How about satires involving God? For example, Far Side cartoonist Gary Larson produced a drawing that was titled “Oops” and depicted humans escaping from a bottle in some kind of heavenly laboratory.  It certainly implied that God made a mistake.  How much more blasphemous does anyone want?  He also showed God creating snakes saying, “Boy, these things are a cinch,” scoring all the points in a Trivia game and producing a half-baked Earth from an oven.

Then there was a 1990s storyline by Bloom County cartoonist Berke Breathed, who hysterically eviscerated television evangelists Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, Jim Bakker and Pat Robertson.  Readers were encouraged to contribute money to fund a race among the four; the winner would be recalled to heaven first. 

Worse, censorship stifles scholarship.  If new information is discovered that contradicts Islamic teachings about Muhammad, is it blasphemy to publish it? Or is it just additional knowledge about an important person?

Frankly, I think everyone needs to lighten up. If a hit squad was sent every time someone poked fun at some institution, religious or otherwise, the cemeteries would quickly overflow.

Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker

Every religion has been targeted by writers over the ages.  But, so have kings, government officials, education, health services and almost anything else in human life.  The “Hebe” was a traditional Jewish character on Broadway; black-faced comedians and singers parodied African-Americans.  Gays have certainly seen plenty of such abuse.  Archie Bunker even made fun of bigots.  To my knowledge, no bigots have threatened violence in response.

Without a doubt, some of these efforts were in questionable taste and continue to be offensive, including Christian passion plays that annually defame Jews and foment anti-Semitism.  In reality, other religions often seem ridiculous to nonbelievers.  How can anyone believe in the sanctity of life so much that he wears cloth over his mouth to avoid inhaling an insect? How about ancestral worship?   Making offerings to my grandmother sounds pretty ridiculous and worthy of some satiric comment.

Ridiculing another’s beliefs is not only protected by free speech, it’s human nature.  Go back at look at ancient Greek plays, where religion was often targeted.  Satirical writing aimed at Christians was commonplace during the early years of the Common Era.  Biblical authors took swipes at other people as well.

I can understand why someone might be offended.  I can understand why someone might prefer not to see or hear unruly commentary directed again faith.  Fine.  Ignore Blasphemy Day or anything else that disturbs sensibilities.  Celebrate September 30 for some other reason.  There are plenty.  

Don’t give the stupid film – or any other inane commentary – a second of your time.  Millions of people who would have never seen such an ignorant film immediately had to see for themselves.  That would have never happened if the leaders in the Islamic world hadn’t orchestrated such a bombastic, and violent, response.

The deaths associated with protests against film are the real blasphemy.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1