Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler

                            

From the Sep/Oct 08 Spirituality and Health magazine -- a few Q & A's with Rabbi Rami Shapiro -- worthy of a look-see as the premier of Bill Maher's movie Religulous approaches.

Q: My sister and I argue over which is the more violent: theism or atheism. I say theism and point to the Inquisition and Jihad; she says atheism and points to Hitler and Stalin. What do you think?

Rabbi Rami: I think you're both mistaken. The real problem isn't theism or atheism but the absence of freedom. Atheists can be as evil as theists, but the violence you're talking about -- from the Bible to this morning's headlines -- is nurtured in communities where freedom of thought and action is constricted and often outlawed. Such communities can be religious or secular.

That said, however, it is easier to exploit theism than atheism in the sanctioning of evil. Theism promotes belief in God, and some gods can be used to sanction violence. Atheism denies the existence of God, and the absence of something sanctions nothing. Bottom line: we don't need more theism or more atheism; we need more freedom.

Q: My mother was a devout Christian who never lost her sense of humor or her sense of compassion, yet she died an agonizing and prolonged death. What is the point of religion if this can happen to a true believer?

Rabbi Rami: You have answered your own question. Her faith could not protect her from suffering and pain -- nothing can do that. However, her faith did help her live her suffering with grace and humor. People often ask the wrong things of religion; they want truth, eternal life, safety, and surety, but the real gift of religion is learning how to live gloriously with impermanence, not knowing, danger, and uncertainty. I don't envy your mother her end, but I do envy her her faith.

Q: I get very confused regarding the terms "belief," "faith," and "religion." Can you sort these out for me?

Rabbi Rami: I can try. Beliefs are unprovable propositions about reality; faith is trusting that those beliefs are true; and religion is a system of communal behavior designed to enforce and reinforce faith in the correctness of those beliefs.

Beliefs should not be confused with facts or hypotheses. Facts and hypotheses are testable; beliefs are not. That is why you need to have faith in God but not in gravity. Because beliefs are not testable, they need not change. Beliefs only change when experience makes faith in them untenable.

This is why I never argue about beliefs; I focus on experience instead. The deeper my experience of reality (God, Tao, etc.), fueled by science and contemplative practice, the fewer beliefs I hold, the more generous my faith in life becomes, and the less I am constrained by religious rituals and creeds. This is the spiritual path set forth in Psalm 34:8: "Taste and see that God is good." Taste and see reality for yourself.