Religion and Spirituality

Me: People like to blame "Religion" for the problems of the world, as if Hitler, STalin, and Mao don´t count. Their cases of iideologiical opportunism each shows the immense problem of secularism and human "nature." Siince secular opportunistic business profiteers and militarists have driven the unsustaiinable iinequality and pollution of the Industrial Revolution, and industrial weapons development, two modern practices implicate all kinds of people in secularized Christian Western Civilization´s history. It also enters into the meaning of Christianity, which is unusually complex because of the immense power of its core integrity teachings, which make the terms "hypocrisy" and "integrity" meaningful in unique ways. ***

Mark - religion (as opposed to a spiritual belief) , is a tool, like a gun. It can be used for good or evil. ***

Me: Yeah, this stuff can be seriously analyzed to achieve significant understandiing. Religion and spirituality are in related knowledge areas, and actually foundational to human behavior, which helps in dealing with ant-theists and their usual reductionistic Scientism, and Fundamentalists and their doctrinaire petrification. Religion, however is a mere "tool" I might agree mostly from the point of view of a spiritually-awakening individual in secularized constiitutional democratic society, which has articulated the Freedom of Religion, and therefore spiritual practices and beliefs. More formally and conventionally, however, Religion is a human institution and its organizations with their traditions. UUism itself has created quite an advanced form and example, but requires individual spiritual research and practice to understand the larger meaning and implicatons of the institution. Christian Catholic monasticism is an interesting study, with their modern dissident explorers like Thomas Merton, Matt Fox (who drew a bloodhound named Ratzinger), and Karen Armstrong, maybe even Hans Kung, for example. As with the UU and democratic pov you mention, the very definition of "good" requires definition as iin Jesus´ very clear examples and specific teachings to identify how their instructions for spiritual development have been deemphasiiiized or ignored. The implications of the recurrent historical resurgence of high integrity spiritual Chrstianity, from Thoreau´s Hinduism to Alan Watts Eastern practices, the Jewish Ram Dass, up to the modern "supermarket" pot pouri that is merely a shadow of its potential. Interfaith Power and Light for renewables is another level, as is Equal Exchange co-op Corp´s organic and Fair Trade Interfaiith Partner program.