Steven Parmenius

  Some time ago I had a conversation with a colleague about churches. I noted the almost universal disenchantment of congregants with their congregations and that this disenchantment stemmed from conflicting and apparently irresolvable motives. Conservatives, moderates and progressives not only disagreed about fundamental matters to do with doctrine, society and mores but, even worse, disagreed about the standards for resolving such disputes. Each side appealed to principles and standards not recognized by the other. My colleague observed shrewdly that whatever was the case with churches society would move on with or without them. I agreed at the time but now, alas, I see that we were both completely wrong. Religious institutions cannot be healthy when civil society is corrupted and there can be no functional civil society when religion is in disarray. They are mutually corrupting and mutually sustaining and the crisis of legitimation that I once assumed was an internal problem for the

    This, I must say, is artful preaching. Pastor Kent Christmas puts on one heck of a show. [1] It is, however, all show. There is not a bit of Christian Gospel in it. Not a smidgen. All the pastor’s rhetorical arts are directed to raising a state of excitement and agitation in his congregation. This excitement centers on the most primitive form of wish fulfillment: the infantile illusion of omnipotence. In this mood Eve ate the apple. Kent Christmas does not promise humility, poverty of spirit or a contrite heart. He does not counsel service of the poor or the difficult struggle for reconciliation and peace. He announces glory, triumph and war. He promises God will win so much that Christians will be sick of winning. God is power, that is his prime attribute, and that power will manifest itself in thunderous rebukes to sinners in high places, in earthquakes, fires, and astounding reversals of every kind. According to Pastor Christmas secular music and art will be destroyed. Godless

                   Taking his stand on Timothy 2-5 Pastor Mike does not believe in ‘mediators’ such as saints or the Mother of God. As I said in my previous piece I have no problem with this. I must note, however, that any group that splits from another over finite mediators will soon enough split within itself over finite mediators. Islam is THE religion most committed to the unicity of God. A Muslim would almost certainly say to Pastor Mike that he puts a finite individual, Jesus, between humans and God. He would almost certainly object that Pastor Mike is not radical enough in his submission to the one true God because he associates God, in his thoughts and prayers, with a ‘son’ or second principle. In fact, if the Protestant Pastor Mike REALLY wants to be rigorous about putting the soul in the most direct ‘unmediated’ relation to God he should consider that he has, in fact, been outflanked on that front. Of course Pastor Mike will emphasize the identity of Jesus with God and appeal

  Browsing through the Salon the other day I was greeted with the following: “I remember watching clip after clip of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens debating Christians, Muslims and "purveyors of woo," exposing the fatuity of their faith-based beliefs in superstitious nonsense unsupported by empirical evidence, often delivered to self-proclaimed prophets by supernatural beings via the epistemically suspicious channel of private revelation. Not that Harris, Dawkins and Hitchens were saying anything particularly novel — the inconsistencies and contradictions of religious dogma are apparent even to small children. Why did God have to sacrifice his son for our sins? Does Satan have free will? And how can the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be completely separate entities but also one and the same?" Thus says a philosopher, Phil Torres, who has, he informs us, given up on the ‘New Atheist’ movement. He finds its story to be one of promise unfulfilled unlike t