Today was a Red Hat Lady day. We meet once a month, frequently to share a meal. It was gray and cold, with threatening clouds scudding low across the sky. Elegante Mother and I found the new restaurant, and made our way to seats, while we waited for the others to gather.
I had the opportunity to visit with one of the first women I met when we joined this group last year. Library Lady was in good form. We swapped a few stories, including the one where she beaned her husband with a guitar (she was crazed with fever......the flu, you know), and chatted about the situation in the USA in general.
It turns out that we have the same religious background. I was raised in the Congregational Church, and when I was a kid we sang the Doxology at each service. Perhaps some of you are familiar with it. It goes:
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The lyrics are by Thomas Ken, and they are sung to the Old 100th.
For several years, I sang in the choir at the Methodist church, where they sang the Trinitarian Doxology: Glory [be] to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Library Lady and I wonder why these doxologies have fallen out of favor at church. We both miss hymns that we grew up with, now that church music has become so secular. Does anyone have an explanation for us?
Our conversation wandered on to the government's attempt to remove God from our schools and the government. My understanding is that fourteen per cent or less of our population is atheist, and they have succeeded in telling the rest of us that we can't mention God anywhere but in church. The silent majority needs to stop being so silent. Our country was founded by people seeking religious freedom. Their religious background was a part of the government they created.
At this point in the conversation, the President in Charge of Vice jumped in, and said that she felt the government needs to put this issue aside and focus on things that really matter. We have Americans overseas in a war that is no longer popular. We have homeless who need help, people in the US who are starving, citizens who have no health insurance, and those who are still reeling from the effects of last year's hurricane season. We could be focusing on finding other forms of fuel, and we could improve the quality of education.
See why I go to these meetings? I know the Red Hat Society is assumed to be focused on quirky apparel and frivolous pursuits, but with conversation like this, you can tell that we are not just a gathering of air heads. Join us. There are Red Hat Society chapters springing up everywhere. If there isn't one near you, start one!
Library Lady.....thanks for the kind words about my blog. I appreciate the support.
Comments (12)
Now just a dag-boned minute before you castigate all of us atheists. *snicker* Next you'll be castigating the Jews, the Hindus, the Muslims, the Taoists.... Isn't enough that I have to handle money that is tainted? *s*
Posted by Cop Car | May 14, 2006 9:24 AM
Posted on May 14, 2006 09:24
Hmpf.... You're more likely to be hurt by the GERMS on that tainted money than the word "God"!
Posted by buffy | May 14, 2006 11:09 AM
Posted on May 14, 2006 11:09
And Cop Car.....I think I could make a case that the Jews worship the same God, so they probably don't mind having "God" in our courtrooms and on our money. If I was an exceptional courtroom lawyer, I might even be able to make the case that the Muslims worship the same God, but I don't know about the Hindus and the Taoists.
Posted by buffy | May 14, 2006 11:19 AM
Posted on May 14, 2006 11:19
Dang! I can't get onto you for a moment, can I, Buffy? Would you believe that I took a course in history of religions--to fulfill my philosophy requirement for my physics degree?! It was fun learning all about the mono-theists and the multi-theists (can't remember what they were called).
Actually, I'm not knowledgable enough to be an atheist (not sure that anyone is); but, in practice an agnostic might as well be an atheist--and more people understand what I mean when I use "atheist" than do when I use "agnostic". Now you can flame me for talking down to you and your readers in my previous comment. *g*(BTW: If you add up all the agnostics and all the athiests, do they come up to 34% of the population?)
Posted by Cop Car | May 14, 2006 4:52 PM
Posted on May 14, 2006 16:52
Aw, CC....there's SO much you know that I'll never understand. I never had to take a comparative religions course. I might enjoy something like that when I retire, but my degrees were in education, and the philosophy was tailored to suit an educator's needs. Not that an educator wouldn't benefit from comparative religions, but it seems we focused on the Greeks, instead.
In a way, I'm relieved to know that you are an agnostic, because that means you haven't yet ruled out the possibility of God's existence.
I know....this could be a dangerous conversation...talking with friends about religion, but I'm not going to proselytize or try to win you over.
Now, tell me....34%...that's STILL a minority in my book. Where did that number come from?
Posted by buffy | May 14, 2006 8:31 PM
Posted on May 14, 2006 20:31
And...have you considered that some of the agnostics might not object to having "God" on their money?? SO...maybe that number needs to be a little lower.
Posted by buffy | May 14, 2006 8:32 PM
Posted on May 14, 2006 20:32
Buffy--Thirty-four came from the same place I get most of my numbers--I made it up! You would enjoy some of the philosphy courses. You might be able to teach the teacher a thing or two. That was a long time ago (1961) and I remember very little of what I learned. (A friend with whom I had worked at the Big Bomber Store and I shared rides to classes that summer, and he was in the philosophy class. To this day, he swears that I pulled him through that course; but, I don't recall his having a problem.)
PS: I thought that we were supposed to protect the rights of minorities--not just ride rough-shod over them! No one has ever given me a good reason why our money should mention God. Didn't Jesus drive the money changers out of the temple? *tittering*
Posted by Cop Car | May 14, 2006 10:16 PM
Posted on May 14, 2006 22:16
I should have known you were obfuscating.....
Yes....minorities deserve protection, but does that mean we have to take away the rights of the majority to do it??
There's NO reason why a school couldn't start a day with a silent moment. Those who WISH to pray, could, and the rest of the crowd could contemplate nature or politics or navel lint.
The fact that "God" is on our money is a direct reference to the history of our country. We were founded because the first people who came to our shores were seeking religious freedom. We offer that freedom to all....they can be any religion they want to be or none at all. So...those who do not wish to be religious shouldn't have the right to tell those of us who do worship that we must confine it to a church.
As for the issue of what goes on in schools...
The responsibility for education is the state's purview, NOT the Federal government.
Gah....this is getting long enough to be a full post. I'll have to write more about it later.
Posted by buffy | May 15, 2006 2:55 PM
Posted on May 15, 2006 14:55
Guess we'll just have to re-christen our blogs: "Arrrgh!!!" can be "Christians" and "Cop Car's Beat" can be "Lions". (I don't remember where the right came from to mention God on our currency. Perhaps we could do something similar to what's being done with quarters and nickels--have several different designs. I'll have mine plain, please.)
Posted by Cop Car | May 15, 2006 8:46 PM
Posted on May 15, 2006 20:46
Can you imagine the furor at the checkout lines when people requested the Godless money only???
Posted by buffy | May 15, 2006 11:19 PM
Posted on May 15, 2006 23:19
Sorry! I was thinking that the money would circulate just as the various versions of the quarter and the nickel circulate, now. I would get a good warm feeling from coming across the occasional "plain" variety--sorta feel that "you guys" weren't trampling all over me. *g*
Posted by Cop Car | May 16, 2006 9:31 AM
Posted on May 16, 2006 09:31
Great post, Buffy. My observation is no one is removing from my sight the things I don't want to see or from my hearing the things I don't want to see and furthermore no one is willing to discuss what I don't want to see or hear. I think Gov't went as far as it needs to go when it granted us all 'freedom of religion' now all they need to do is allow us to practice within that law as long as the practice does not cause unavoidable hurt to others. The best case for allowing God to exist is that it gives people heart-felt reasons for morality rather than imposed reasons. And that alone is a difference that can make all the difference in how people monitor their behavior and how they interact with their peers as well as the young, the old, the down and outters, and the infirm.
Posted by Roberta S | May 16, 2006 11:57 AM
Posted on May 16, 2006 11:57