Today, for the first time in American history, a Hindu priest offered the prayer to open Senate. This event begs a question: Is there an inherent antithesis between Hindu polytheism and the American vision of freedom? One is certainly forced to wonder whether our Founders ever envisioned the word “God” might someday be stretched to include the pantheon of deities worshipped by Hindus, the pantheistic worldview they inhabit, and the lurking nihilism of reincarnationist ideology. The American doctrine of freedom is, I believe, unbreakably tied to Christian metaphysics: a strong monotheistic conception yields particular views of Truth, Justice, and human nature.
Anyway…just some food for thought. Some people definitely went for broke in expressing their dismay at the Hindu invocation. Watch the video below:
Problem: Freedom is America’s God.
God did not grant us freedom for the sake of freedom. He gave us freedom for the sake of bringing forth His kingdom. We have made freedom the “thing”. It’s not. It can’t be. Freedom pleads the question “You have choices! Now what?!?” Freedom (the means) is granted so that choices can be made (the ends). And from those choices, the Kingdom is brought forth.
I believe this was the view of freedom held by our founding fathers.
Freedom merely allows for choice. But, divorced from ability to measure the moral value of the choices that it creates, freedom has no power. The power of Freedom is found in the actions it allows. This is what should be valued. But because freedom is the end, American’s applaud any act of the will. As such, the number and diversity of choices being played out is the measure of moral good. The moral good or bad of the decision is irrelevant. It is enough that the will was merely acted out when the god of freedom reigns.
*****side note
Ever notice the widespread morale imperative shared by nearly all Americans in regards to voting? The only unforgivable sin in America is the sin of not voting. Tell someone you didn’t vote and you might as well have told them that you eat babies. Why is voting held in such high moral regard?…Because it is the ultimate blessing granted by the American god, the god of freedom. How dare someone choose not to choose!
****** end side note
So here we have a Hindu priest opening up a session in the Senate. And what god was he praying to? He is praying to the same god that America bows down to today. The god of freedom.
tony woodall
July 13th, 2007
Spot on Tony!
It seems the only thing that could disqualify an free act from the realm of acceptability is MOTIVE. Our culture is quick to acccept any deed if done with authenticity. “If you’re trying to be true to yourself and you’re not hurting anyone else, then no one has the right to judge” Right?
I also think out contemporary attitude towards freedom is shot through with a kind of ironic malaise. Since our culture has accepted the idea of an inherently purposeless world (Darwinism), every act is a kind of eye-wink. After all, “free will” itself is a relic of another time. We now know that human actions are entirely conditioned by genetics, brain chemistry and socio-cultural forces.
NYT columnist David Brooks writes this about the Virginia Tech killer:
“Over the next weeks, we could learn these or other things about Cho Seung-Hui. And as we learn the facts of his life, we’ll be able to fit them into ever more sophisticated models of human behavior. For over the past few decades, neuroscientists, evolutionary psychologists and social scientists have made huge strides in understanding why people — even murderers — do the things they do.
It’s important knowledge, but it’s had the effect of reducing the scope of the human self. ‘’Man is the measure of all things,'’ the Greek philosopher Protagoras declared millenniums ago. But in the realm of the new science, the individual is like a cork bobbing on the currents of giant forces: evolution, brain chemistry, stress and upbringing. Human consciousness is merely an epiphenomena of the deep and controlling mental processes that lie within.
At the extreme, many scientists now doubt that there is such a thing as free will. As Mark Hallett, a researcher with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told Dennis Overbye of The Times earlier this year, ‘’Free will does exist, but it’s a perception, not a power or a driving force. People experience free will. They have a sense they are free.'’ But, he added, ‘’the more you scrutinize it, the more you realize you don’t have it.'’
But even in the more mainstream level of the mass media, the scope for individual choice has been reduced, and with it so has the scope for morality. Once, Cho Seung-Hui would have been simply condemned as evil, but now the language of morality is often replaced with the language of determinism. The press this week has been filled with articles like ‘’What Made Him Do It'’ (Newsweek) or ‘’Why They Kill'’ (The L.A. Times), which run down the background factors that lead people to become mass murderers.”
Administrator
July 14th, 2007
Very interesting! I never thought of that!
There are two modern thoughts bleeding into one irony here: The sancitity of the will on the one hand, and the idea that the freedom of the will is an illusion, on the other. If we put these two views in one hand, we must conclude that life truly has no meaning.
Scary!
A secular humanist might call this an interesting paraox. But any honest thinker would conclude that, apart from God’s authoritative word, this interesting paradox inevitably leads to contradictory despair.
- Tony
Tony Woodall
July 15th, 2007
Exactly.
Modern Man is constantly dancing a two step between an autonomous “reason” that claims to know all sorts of things (universal history and destiny to start with) and a desperate “non-reason,” their only haven of meaning. In the most important issues of life (morality, freedom, justice, beauty, love, hope, etc), they are left with a black hole, disconnected from the “real world” described by autonomous reason.
If their story about the universe is true, than their hopes for meaning are nothing more than synapses firing in an organic gene transmission machine, consciousness is some aberrant mist, a backdraft of matter in motion.
As CS Lewis pointed out masterfully in “Miracles” (ch 3), the naturalism is a self-defeating worldview.
Administrator
July 15th, 2007
Ironically, a supposedly Orthodox Jew called these Christians “bigots” in http://www.jewsonfirst.org/07c/hindu_chaplain.html
Jewish rabbis should know better the implication of having a pagan priest praying in your house…but I guess for the sake of “FREEDOM GOD” they may allow anything! Except for the rightwing bigoted Christians that is!
Psaturn
July 22nd, 2007
Adam, Tony, you guys are so ace!
A. In The City By The Drink
July 25th, 2007
first of all, the mere fact that you describe hinduism as “polytheistic” shows your ignorance. the very same could be said of christianity’s holy trinity — do YOU worship three gods?
secondly, america is not a christian nation. it is secular, and you should deal with it. the fact that ANY prayer is being said, let alone hindu, is ridiculous.
if you ever studied hinduism, you would find SO many analogues between hindu and christian philosophy. i encourage you to actually educate yourself more about the thing you subtly disparage, rather than using comical descriptions of the religion. what you know about hinduism obviously comes from hearsay or textbooks written by the ignorant.
ashley
July 29th, 2007
Tony,
I have to disagree with what you said about the Founding Fathers. I don’t disagree that many people today pervert and worship a distorted view of freedom today, but our founding fathers had a lot more wisdom than most Americans today.
Contrary to what you said, they did not believe freedom exists apart from responsibility and accountability before God. In short, they openly rejected the idea that freedom can be maintained without virtue:
George Washington:
“Mankind when left to themselves, are unfit for their own Government”
“Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”
John Adams:
“Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.”
—————————–
Derek
July 30th, 2007
I like the new crazy design.
A. In The City By The Drink
July 31st, 2007
Also, I think Ashley is rocking out with her rooster out! There you go girl. So ace.
A. In The City By The Drink
July 31st, 2007
Derek:
I don’t believe that the founding fathers viewed freedom as good (or sustainable) apart from virtue. I thought I stated that explicitly in my response. If not, sorry for the miscommunication.
Ashley:
Though it is a mystery, and to fully understand it is impossible, the doctrine of the trinity clearly puts forth that there are three persons in the Godhead, but yet, God is one. These three person are separate (we see clear subject/object distinction between the three persons throughout scripture) yet still one in being.
Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are three separate persons, yet they are all one.
Tony
August 3rd, 2007
Tony, I did misunderstand your comment - sorry for the rebuttal! None was necessary.
Derek
August 13th, 2007
Ashley, Sweet. Got some firey lines there. You’re right, of course. An educated Hindu recognizes that they pray to one force manifested in different Brahmans. Sloppy wording on my part.
But do you really think there’s no metaphysical distinctions between the Christian understanding of God and the Hindu one? Interesting. Do you really think that (assuming there are some) those basic differences will have no influence on one’s understanding of justice, human nature, govt. etc?
Honestly, I think “America is a secular nation” is more of an assertion than an argument (and I never tried to claim America is a Christian one!).
I do think it’s hard to deny that a basic Theism (heavily conditioned by Christian/Jewish thought) had a major influence on the Founders’ assumptions about freedom, justice and government, though.
Anyway…loved the comment. Hope you’ll stick around and keep ‘em coming.
Administrator
August 18th, 2007