Friday, April 04, 2008
A Logical Conclusion
(1)
Today is the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assasination, and the news channels are buzzing away on the subject. (TODAY had an excellent series in that regard.) This unexpected development strongly suggested that I should cancel the previously planned 'blurb.' I suspect I would have canceled or ignored it anyway but a good reason is a good reason!
What to say about MLK. Hmm... I liked him. Most of us liked him. I don't think that J. Edgar Hoover liked him, but JEH was a wierdo, and a 'wierdo in power' is a dangerous wierdo, Bush being the most recent example of that class of wierdo.
As I watched the various media manifestations of today's unfortunate anniversary I was struck by something mentioned from time to time but generally overlooked: MLK, a Baptist minister with a glorious gift of language did not derive his central idea (thesis) of 'non-violence' from his religious inheritance (Christianity), but from another religion entirely (Hinduism, a religion older than Judaism)! That amazed me. It amazes me even more that this fact is little noticed by modern media, with the result that most 'moderns' think that MLK's pacifism is devived from the teachings of Jesus. Not so!
We all know from a cursory reading of the Very Old and Odius Testament that Judaism is an extremely violent religion and always has been, but most of us were conditioned to believe that Jesus reformed Judaism into something much less violent. Wrong. Jesus brought us the concept of 'eternal punishment,' which is clearly the most violent possible expression of a deranged deity. Jesus therefore brought Judaism to its logical conclusion.
Today is the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assasination, and the news channels are buzzing away on the subject. (TODAY had an excellent series in that regard.) This unexpected development strongly suggested that I should cancel the previously planned 'blurb.' I suspect I would have canceled or ignored it anyway but a good reason is a good reason!
What to say about MLK. Hmm... I liked him. Most of us liked him. I don't think that J. Edgar Hoover liked him, but JEH was a wierdo, and a 'wierdo in power' is a dangerous wierdo, Bush being the most recent example of that class of wierdo.
As I watched the various media manifestations of today's unfortunate anniversary I was struck by something mentioned from time to time but generally overlooked: MLK, a Baptist minister with a glorious gift of language did not derive his central idea (thesis) of 'non-violence' from his religious inheritance (Christianity), but from another religion entirely (Hinduism, a religion older than Judaism)! That amazed me. It amazes me even more that this fact is little noticed by modern media, with the result that most 'moderns' think that MLK's pacifism is devived from the teachings of Jesus. Not so!
We all know from a cursory reading of the Very Old and Odius Testament that Judaism is an extremely violent religion and always has been, but most of us were conditioned to believe that Jesus reformed Judaism into something much less violent. Wrong. Jesus brought us the concept of 'eternal punishment,' which is clearly the most violent possible expression of a deranged deity. Jesus therefore brought Judaism to its logical conclusion.
