ABC’s  “Nightline”  explored the existence of Satan this week when it invited four theological experts to debate questions concerning the existence of Satan, the devil or evil. Moderates Deepak Chopra and Bishop Carlton Pearson argued against Satan’s existence while Pastor Mark Driscoll and Annie Lobert said Satan is very real. What do you think about the nature of evil? Is it simply the absence of  God and the good, or is it a separate entity?

Dr. Bogard—Jewish

Any attempt to deal adequately with the concept  of evil in Judaism would take far too long allowed in a short “blog,” so let me attempt to just summarize the Jewish position with a few points.

1). Judaism rejects the concept that Good and Evil are literal, separate and competing  personages in this world.  The Devil, as a persona  figure,  does not exist; there is no Satan or the Devil who exists and operates independently  of  G-d. for evil purposes.  As a form of radical monotheism, G-d is the single source of  all  creation, the only source of power, and therefore the ultimate author in the universe.  Evil, of course, does exist,   is a natural result of free will,   and resides in the human heart.  We, as ethical human beings must attempt to control this evil and to turn such impulses to good

2. Judaism does not accept the Christian concept of “original sin.”  Thus, mankind is not innately and utterly evil, incapable of  making  right choice and, therefore in need of  Jesus to remake the very nature of man.  Rather, each person possesses two competing urges: a Yetzer ha Ra—the urge to do evil—and a Yetzer ha Tov—the urge to do good.  From birth, both impulses reside in each of us, and both   battle for supremacy in the human soul.   Almost like Existentialists, we constantly face  free choices to give the Yetzer ha Tov  supremacy over the Yetzer ha Ra.   Of course, this conflict become complex: for example, while  sexuality   frequently represents  the origin of “the bad,” without this desire for passion, this urge  to create or  procreate and enjoy, who would marry, build, develop and have a family?  Thus,  what may appear an evil impulse, if used fo r “the good,”  can move us closer to G-d and contribute to Tikum Olam, the healing of the world.

3). The Torah, the Tradition and Halacha (the vast compendium of laws) represent Judaism’s desire to limit the Evil Impulse and strengthen Righteousness.  Mitzvot, Commandments, Ritual,  study, and compassion have one major goal: to train oneself and the world to prepare or even contribute to the messianic age, a time when justice, mercy and good will prevail in this world , and  “swords will be turned to plow shares.”

And the attainment of that eternal dream depends  upon how each of us act.

Father Thomas Williams - St. John’s Orthodox Church

Throughout the early centuries of the Church, and during the patristic period of the Eastern Church,  the biblical teaching of the Incarnation emphasized that the Son of God became flesh “so that through His death, he who has has the power of death may be abolished, that is the devil.” (Heb. 2:14). That teaching has never changed in the Orthodox Church.

Despite the fact that  marvelous order and harmony prevail in the cosmos, demonstrating that all things are governed by God, nevertheless, there exists in it a kind of parasite that is manifested by death and consequently by disharmony in the societal relations of men and nations. The evils that are produced by death are not from God. “For God created not death” (Wis. 1:13). As a result, this world which is in subjection to death and corruption cannot be considered natural, if by natural we mean the world as God intended it to be. In other words the world is abnormal, but this is not because of its own nature but because a parasitic force exists in it. It is not by God that things are moved against nature, for God is good and eternally doing good.

The Incarnation in the Eastern Church is seen as a direct battle and victory in the Holy Spirit by Christ over Satan. As a consequence of this, the proclamation of the coming of the Kingdom of God, in Christ, begins to displace the realm of Satan.

Finally, the parasitic force in the world (evil) shall completely be destroyed by the Second Coming. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:26). “And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.” (Rev. 21:4).”

Hazel Bonner, Seventh Day Adventist
I think the devil actually exists as an entity to decieve us about the presence of God. The Bible inidcates that the devil exists.

Rev. Brian Carpenter — Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis

I know and can prove that the Devil exists. When I was in college, I dated his sister.

As Dr. Bogard said, the issue is far too involved for a blog posting, and like Dr. Bogard, I agree that the only faithful Christian response is the one of “radical monotheism.” The way the question is posed seems to leave us with only two choices, evil as simply a vacuum, or Dualism in the Zoroastrian tradition. St. Augustine allows us third option.

God created everything good, and he created a graded, or hierarchical universe. Everything is good when it abides in its proper place, and anything can be evil when it departs from its proper place. When it departs from its proper place and moves downward, it is akin to the sin of sensuality, as Reinhold Niebuhr explained it. It becomes less than it was supposed to be. When it departs and moves upward, it is akin to the sin of pride. It seeks to become more than it ought to be.

For instance, God gave morphine. It is good and useful when it is used by a doctor to fight pain. That is what it was given for. It is wicked and destructive when used as a recreational drug.

We can apply this thinking to anything or any created being. All is good, even arsenic, tobacco, and alcoholic beverages. Anything can be an occasion for evil, even puppies, mother-love, and patriotism. The only cure is the one that fallen human beings are incapable of, and even regenerate human beings are not very good at yet. Loving and obeying God as the highest good puts all the other lesser goods in their proper places.  Every temptation to sin is, at bottom, God presenting us with the question, “Who do you love more?”  Every actual sin is our answer.

The higher in the hierarchy a thing is, the worse it becomes when it goes bad. A rock cannot be very good or very bad. A cow has slightly more potentiality for either. A dog has still more, and a man the most of all the physical beings. We are capable of astonishing goodness and radical evil. And you see where this is going. When an angel goes bad, it is very, very bad. It is not for nothing that in the Christian tradition Satan is a fallen archangel.

Evil, then, shows itself to be a deficiency or lack in…  a parasite dependent and feeding upon… a good created thing. One of my seminary professors described it as the rust on a car. The car is a good thing. The hole rusted in the car is, by definition, a place where there is no car, but ought to be. Rust is an absence of car, a deficit in car.

Therefore there is no such thing as pure evil, or evil as an independent being. Even Satan has existence and a will, given to him by God, which he perverts and uses against God. But existence and a will are, in themselves, good things.  C.S. Lewis said that the creature rebelling against the creator is like the scent of the flower seeking to destroy the flower.

Why God allows this series of events to go on is above my paygrade.  We simply aren’t told and it is the occasion for foolishness and even sin to speculate very deeply.

Nicholas Wallerstein–humanities professor

The great historian of western religions (and former nun), Oxford professor Karen Armstrong, has pointed out numerous times that, in the history of biblical exegesis, interpretation must always step aside for advances in science. When scientific fact becomes too obvious to ignore, biblical interpretation must reinvent itself and update itself in light of scientific discovery. Take the case of Satan. Science–based on rational empiricism–proves to us that no entity such as Satan exists in the universe. Religion and biblical interpretation must accept this and begin anew to construct adequate worlds of meaning–worlds of meaning that no longer require belief in Satan. The trap occurs in the (shockingly) very modern invention of interpreting the Bible literally. Never in the history of mankind has the Bible been read literally–until now. The early Church Fathers, during the Patristic Period, insisted on the metaphorical and symbolic meanings of sacred text, and how interpretation must morph and change with the times. In Islam as well there was never a need to read the Qur’an literally, for the Qur’an itself tells us that its chapters are merely “surahs,” or “signs.” My point is that, now that we know with scientific certitude that Satan does not exist, we must go about the business of reinterpreting Scripture. What did the biblical authors really mean about human nature when they discussed “Satan”? What were they trying to tell us about our own impulses toward cruelty? What were they suggesting about the lack of compassion in human nature–a lack that must be overcome by the force of will? This is what matters, not whether a mythical being such as Satan exists.

With the recession hitting everyone in their pocketbooks and investment portfolios — including churches and charities – how do you feel about  AIG executives and their million-dollar bonuses, or Bernie Madoff and his many financial sins? What’s in your economic forecast for the coming year –  outrage and anger, or faith and forgiveness?

Rev. Brian Carpenter– Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis

Well, outrage and anger and faith and forgiveness are not mutually exclusive. We must forgive our enemies or be damned, (Matt 6:14-15) but that does not mean that Madoff should be released from jail or the AIG execs should keep their fraudulent bonuses. Forgiveness is not the same thing as forgoing justice.

My economic forecast for the year is probably surprising, because of what I’ve said before. Human beings, individually and collectively, are not rational actors. We’re basically all bipolar. We cycle between optimism and pessimism. Indeed, Bipolar Disorder is simply a phenomenon characterized by more rapid and extreme cycling than normal. When we are collectively optimistic, we ascend into heights of euphoria, suspend disbelief, take imprudent risks, bid up the prices of whatever asset we’re fixated on, and take on large debts to buy silly things. When we cycle to pessimism we get angry, abandon our assets (even the good ones) avoid taking risks (even prudent ones) and look for someone to blame for the mess. Mark Twain rightly said,

“By the Law of Periodical Repetition, everything which has happened once must happen again, and again, and again — and not capriciously, but at regular periods, and each thing in its own period, not another’s, and each obeying its own law … The same Nature which delights in periodical repetition in the sky is the Nature which orders the affairs of the earth. Let us not underrate the value of that hint.”

These cycles happen at several degrees of trend, from days to decades. The stock markets are a very convenient and very effective indicator of mass social mood. These cycles are part of the language of nature. They can be analyzed with the tools given to us by fractal geometry. They are relatively predictable and are even chartable.

When Madoff was pulling his shenanigans during the manic blowoff phase of the bull market, he was reported several times by individuals with good evidence of what was going on. He was not investigated. Wealthy sophisticated clients ought to have known that the sort of returns Madoff was seeming to generate are not possible on a consistent basis. They willingly suspended disbelief. That is what manic phases do to us. That same manic euphoria led the officers at AIG to take a basically stable insurance company and strap it to a basically unstable hedge fund. In their manic euphoria, the market and the regulators let them, the lawmakers cleared the way for them to do so, and the common man bought stock in the Franken-company. Now the cycle has turned and we’re looking for scapegoats. We’ll find them, of course. The closest handy one would be staring at us in the mirror each morning. Madoff is guilty, for sure. So is everyone who went out and borrowed a bunch of money to buy an overpriced house without sufficient income to service the debt. So are the idiots who lent the money. So is the government who set up Fannie and Freddie to buy the dodgy debt so the banks could get it off the books. So are the people and entities who bought the dodgy debt from Fannie and Freddie as an investment. Alan Greenspan confirmed much of what I said above in a rather frank interview with John Stewart on “The Daily Show” about a year and a half ago:

Because these cycles happen at various degrees of trend, and the trend has been persistently been towards pessimism for more than a year, it’s time for an intermediate term switch to optimism. I believe we are about to have a fairly powerful rally in the stock markets that will last for perhaps a year. I don’t think this last ten days was the beginning of it. I think we have one more good downdraft and a panic bottom to go yet. Then comes the rally. The Dow could go to 10,000 again. Spending will increase, the economy will pick up, it will look like the bottom is in and the crisis has passed. It hasn’t.

Enjoy it while it lasts. Use this opportunity to sell anything you want to rotate out of in the stock markets or the housing markets. Don’t go out and make large purchases which require you to encumber yourself with debt, for the pattern is not complete and the cycle is not finished. When it is finished, the bottom will be very ugly, indeed. Those who have cash at the bottom will be able to scoop up fantastic bargains and do very well in the long term, simply because almost nobody will have cash and everyone will be terrified of any investment risk. As Warren Buffet famously said, “When everyone is brave, be very afraid. When everyone is afraid, be very brave.”

Father Thomas Williams - St. John’s Orthodox Church

The psalmist says it best: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Too long our soul has been sated with the scorn of those at ease, the contempt of the proud. (Ps. 123). It’s time to move on

Nicholas Wallerstein

How do I feel about Bernie Madoff and AIG? A famous phrase comes to mind: “Radix malorum cupiditas est” (avarice is the root of all evil). But I agree with the Reverend Carpenter that anger and forgiveness are not mutually exclusive. I remember how Pope John Paul II forgave the man who shot him, but never said he should be let out of jail! So of course we should feel compassion for someone like Bernie Madoff, and feel it even more strongly as we trot him off to prison, where he belongs.

 

When President Obama lifted the ban on federal funding for  embryonic stem cell research this week, he cited his faith in the belief that humans have been given the ability to do this kind of medical work, as well as the ability to do so wisely, by a higher source.  Have we?  What do you believe about the moral complexities of stem cell research?

Brian Carpenter– Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis
In many respects we’re back to our old debate on the abortion issue, for the principles involved overlap, namely, what is a human being, and when does human life begin?

I have stated and defended my own principles at length on those posts and will not do so again. For simplicity’s sake, I believe that the core definition of a human being is a being who possesses a rational soul, which soul is imparted at conception. Therefore, experiments on human embryos which damage or destroy those embryos ought not to be allowed.

There has been, over and over again, a drive to find an economic utility for the “products of conception” which will serve to take the argument out of the moral sphere and put it in the economic and utilitarian sphere, a sphere that Americans operate in most of the time. If you doubt my claim, go and look where much of the collagen comes from in the beauty products and lotions you ladies use. St. Ives brand lotion used to put “collagen from human amnion” right on the ingredients list. I don’t know if they still do. Stem cells are the latest and most compelling (from a certain perspective) attempt at that.

As for our divine right and responsibility over this process, I can only ask a question to which the answer ought to be glaringly obvious. How have we managed all our other technology which Providence has given us? It seems to me we mend one thing and mar three others. Just ask any Southerner about the bright idea of importing and planting Kudzu for erosion control if you want a more benign example. The implosion of our banking system is another more malignant and current example. There’s no reason to suspect humanity has had a quantum leap in moral wisdom simply because the Presidency has changed hands.

There is another issue which troubles me. Scientists can tell us what’s possible. But when it comes to whether or not what is possible is also good to do, then the scientist’s opinions are no more valuable than any other person’s, and perhaps even less valuable because there are a thousand and one other motives potentially involved… fame, the esteem of peers, funding, self esteem and the feeling that one’s life must count for something and not be wasted, and perhaps even wealth may all be on the line. C.S. Lewis put it this way in his essay, “Is Progress Possible? Willing Slaves of the Welfare State:”

Again, the new oligarchy must more and more base its claim to plan us on its claim to knowledge. If we are to be mothered, mother must know best. This means they must increasingly rely on the advice of scientists, till in the end the politicians proper become merely the scientists’ puppets. Technocracy is the form to which a planned society must tend. Now I dread specialists in power because they are specialists speaking outside their special subjects. Let scientists tell us about sciences. But government involves questions about the good for man, and justice, and what things are worth having at what price; and on these a scientific training gives a man’s opinion no added value. Let the doctor tell me I shall die unless I do so-and-so; but whether life is worth having on those terms is no more a question for him than for any other man.

We must come once again to a cultural consensus on what the good is, and which ends are worth having and which are not. We are not having those sorts of public discussions and debates now. Instead, we are having the exercise of what Nietzsche called “narratives of power” over each other. Whoever can persuade and/or apply power decides what will be done and what won’t. The only trouble is, Nietzsche presupposed that this activity rested upon the nonexistence of right and wrong and the nonexistence of truth. Thus, Nietzsche is the father of Postmodernism. For that reason, I fear we have actually lost the ability to even have the debate and arrive at the aforementioned cultural consensus. Western Civilization is busy committing suicide. What replaces it will most likely have a deleterious effect on both the happiness and the goodness of those who exist under its regime.

Nicholas Wallerstein–humanities professor

Have we, as humans, been given the ability to pursue stem cell research wisely? Of course. God gave us reason, not religion (religion being a human construct, a human invention). Reason can guide us to do the right thing. Reason-based morality is the center of the ethical philosophies of Aristotle, Kant, Mill, Sartre, et al. And reason tells us that we are not only morally allowed to pursue stem cell research, but that we are morally obligated to.  Believing that the destruction of embryonic stem cells is equivalent to killing a human being is sentamentalism. And the worry that embryonic stem cell research will lead to human cloning and Nazi-like experimentation is the “Slippery Slope” fallacy. So, as for the “moral complexities of stem cell research,” I don’t see any moral complexity. We must pursue it, and as quickly as possible.

Don Jones - Buddhist

These kind of questions will always come up. Nobody seemed to take a census of religious moral thinkers when we dropped the atom bomb. Do I want a technocracy? - no- Do I want a meritocracy? - no Do I want one party to win over another for good? - no - Do I want a theocracy? - hell no. Democracy is a messy business. People are messy. Everybody has an opinion and a stake in this society. We elect a government based on the general will of the people and we hope rational people will do the best they can. Stem cells, war by video game, cloning; all these are both scientific and moral issues. No one branch of society should have total sway over these decisions. There are no Buddhist consultants with offices in the government as yet but everyone else seems to have a say. LOL !
I am leaving this blog and the following is my goodbye:
I don’t believe in a “GOD” as a separate entity, overseeing and managing the workings of his creation. I strongly believe that man has created God (and not the other way around) to explain what he cannot understand,or too wondrous, dangerous, and beautiful for his mind to embrace. I believe instead, that an all pervading energy of consciousness exists in all living things that is interconnected, mysterious, and truly wonderful but needs no name, institution, defense, or worship. Connecting with it to help ourselves and others is one of our jobs while we are alive. Looking inward at this force is wisdom; looking outward with this force is love.

I have to say that I have no strong beliefs as to what happens after death. I admire those who have such certainty in these matters. I have hopes and dreams about this but I let them go as soon as they come up.

I call myself a Buddhist because the Dharma works for me as a practical system for daily living and providing goals and tools for the elimination of suffering. Through meditation, mindfulness, and compassionate action, fulfilling my promise here on earth can be done. Beyond that, there is no religion that I call home nor one that I can see as being the only truth, excluding all others.

I don’t like religious instutions with levels of leadership, holy books, robes, titles and all the rest, including Buddhist ones. They can provide pitfalls for the ego, walls to separate others, as well as help for the novice. I wish there was another way but I can’t think of one and maybe there isn’t.

I think it invasive and hypocrytical that we should mount unwanted attempts to change others and thereby forward our agenda . I do not believe in proselytizing or taking on such a “calling”, no matter how heart-felt. I believe that the only change comes from within. I must say though that lately, by engaging in these debates both here and on Beliefnet, for the past year; I felt the need to look at why I am doing this at all. My own hypocrisy is staring at me. Perhaps it is a purging of sorts or some helpless, angry cry for the world. I will no longer participate in this blog or any other public religious discussion. But I would like to leave you all by quoting Shantideva:

“Therefore, in whatever I do, I will never cause harm to others;
and whenever anyone encounters me, may it never be meaningless for them.

Whether those who encounter me generate faith or anger, may it always be the cause of their fulfilling all their wishes.

May all those who harm me - whether verbally or by other means - and those who otherwise insult me, thereby create the cause to attain enlightenment.

May I become a protector for the protectorless, a guide for those who travel on the road, and for those who wish to cross the water, may I become a boat ,a ship, or a bridge.

May I become an island for those seeking dry land, a lamp for those needing light, a place of rest for those who desire one, and a servant for those needing service.

To benefit all living beings, may I become a treasury of wealth, Powerful mantras, potent medicine, a wish-fullfilling tree and a wish -granting cow.

Just like the great elements such as earth, and like eternal space, may I become the basis from which everything arises for sustaining the life of countless living beings.

And, until they have passed begond sorrow, may I sustain all forms of life througout the realms of living beings that reach to the ends of space.”

Thank you,
Don Jones

Father Thomas Williams - St. John’s Orthodox Church

In March, Jews celebrate Purim, Orthodox Christians have their Cheesefare Sunday, Hindus and Baha’is mark the beginnings of their respective New Years and Christians, of course, pay tribute to St. Patrick, a holiday that has veered sharply away from the Trinity and towards green beer. In your own faith tradition, what’s your favorite, if somewhat obscure, religious holiday and why?

Father Thomas Williams - St. John’s Orthodox Church

The feast of the Annunciation of the Holy Virgin Mary celebrated on March 25 each year is a favorite. The feast commemorates the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would become incarnate and enter into this world through her womb. We commemorate both the divine initiative, whereby God took on flesh from the Virgin for our salvation, and the human response, whereby Mary freely accepted the will of God for her. He elected to become man, and He desired to do this with the willing agreement of her whom He chose as His mother. Mary could have refused, for she was not a passive instrument, but an active participant with a free and positive part to play in God’s plan for our salvation.  This feast underlines, for me, God’s love for humanity by becoming man and entering His creation through Mary’s womb, and humanity’s love for God echoed in Mary’s “yes.”

It is is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacombs of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century.

Rev. Brian Carpenter — Presbyterian Church in America (Sturgis)

Every Sunday is my favorite obscure holy day:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  (Ex 20:8-11)

After that, Thanksgiving.

Don Jones - Buddhist

 

Here is a link to the major Buddhist holidays :http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/holidays.htm

I don’t have any particular favorite.  Vesak is the most important