Why Bernie Sanders Doesn't Participate in Organized Religion

As regular readers know, I deem religion to be a toxic and divisive force in the world and history tells us that countless numbers of people have died over the centuries because of the hate and bigotry religion fosters.  In the political arena, religion is equally toxic.  Despite this reality, most American politicians prostitute themselves to the "godly folk."  The exception to this rule?  Bernie Sanders.  A column in the Washington Post looks at why Bernie Sanders does not participate in the toxicity of organized religion.  Here are highlights:

Growing up, Bernie Sanders followed the path of many young American Jews. He went to Hebrew school, was bar mitzvahed and traveled to Israel to work on a kibbutz.

But as an adult, Sanders drifted away from Jewish customs. And as his bid for the White House gains momentum, he has the chance to make history. Not just as the first Jewish president — but as one of the few modern presidents to present himself as not religious. 

“I am not actively involved with organized religion,” Sanders said in a recent interview.
Sanders said he believes in God, though not necessarily in a traditional manner.

“I think everyone believes in God in their own ways, “ he said. “To me, it means that all of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together.”

Sanders’s religious views, which he has rarely discussed, set him apart from the norm in modern American politics, in which voters have come to expect candidates from both parties to hold traditional views about God and to speak about their faith journeys.

Every president since James Madison has made the pilgrimage across Lafayette Square to worship at St. John’s Church at least once, according to the White House Historical Association. Only three presidents, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, have been unaffiliated with a specific religious tradition,. . .

For Sanders, rejecting the formal trappings of religion adds to the unconventional nature of a candidacy that has energized many liberals but could prove problematic in a general election. He is a self-described “democratic socialist” who has refused to shy away from policy positions that would expand government and increase taxes.

Sanders often presents his support for curbing Wall Street banks and ending economic inequality in values-laden terms. He recently described it as “immoral and wrong” that the highest earners in the country own the vast majority of the nation’s wealth.

In the interview with The Post, Sanders sought to explain how his approach to political issues, from climate change to income inequality, is grounded in a moral understanding that transcends religious and political partisanship.

“In terms of climate change, you have people as conservative as the evangelicals, many evangelicals, who understand that you cannot destroy God’s planet. And you have Pope Francis, who as you know, I admire very, very much, talking about this planet and the suicidal direction regarding climate.”

 I applaud Sanders' disconnect from organized religion.  Religion is a toxic evil, plain and simple.

Confidence in Organized Religion at an "All-Time Low”

In more positive news, a new survey finds that Americans' confidence in organized religion is justifiably at an all time low.  Not that the Republican Party will get the message that it is clinging to a sinking ship.  Personally, I hope the decline continues and that eventually the toxic poison peddled under the smoke screen of "religious belief" will play a declining role in American politics.  Newsweek looks at the trust in organized religion's dramatic drop.  Here are excerpts:

Confidence in organized religion is at an an “all-time low” among Americans and the church has fallen in a ranking of the country’s most trusted institutions, according to new polls. 

Only 42 percent of Americans now have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in organized religion and the church, according to the Gallup poll. The church stands behind the military, small business and the police in a list of institutions in which Americans have the most confidence; but Americans do still trust the church more than the medical system, Congress and the media, Gallup said in a separate poll on Monday.

While confidence among Protestants fell to a new low this year, at 51 percent, confidence among Catholics, also at 51 percent, has reached a “steadying after more than a decade of varying confidence” that dropped as low as 39 percent in 2007, said Gallup.

“Poor behavior on the part of some religious leaders has caused serious self-inflicted wounds for the church and organized religion—damaging its image among Protestants and Catholics as well as many non-Christians,” said Gallup.

Non-Christians and non-religious Americans had even lower levels of confidence in the church. Fifty percent of non-Christians and the non-religious had “very little” confidence in organized religion, while only 10 percent had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence.

 More than a fifth of Americans are unaffiliated with any religion, with the number jumping to 22.8 percent in 2014 from 16.1 percent in 2007, according to a study from the Pew Research Forum published in May. The number of Americans involved with non-Christian faiths increased to 5.9 percent in 2014, according to the study.

New Gallup Survey: U.S. Confidence in Organized Religion at Lowest Point Ever

Click image to enlarge

A new Gallup Survey indicates that Americans' confidence in organized religion is at the lowest point ever recorded by Gallup.  Frankly, given the toxicity and hypocrisy that flow virtually non-stop from most forms of organized religion in this country (if not the world), this is actually probably a good thing.   Yes, there are some denominations that do a better job at implementing the so-called Golden Rule, but sadly, most seem to have division and passage of judgment on others and often outright hate as their principal characteristics.They claim to preach a message of "love" but their actions speak otherwise.  What's interesting is that while confidence in organized religion has fallen sharply, spirituality has not.  It is also telling that Catholics have far less confidence in organized religion than do Protestants.  Here are some highlights of Gallup's findings:

Forty-four percent of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in "the church or organized religion" today, just below the low points Gallup has found in recent years, including 45% in 2002 and 46% in 2007. This follows a long-term decline in Americans' confidence in religion since the 1970s.

In 1973, "the church or organized religion" was the most highly rated institution in Gallup's confidence in institutions measure, and it continued to rank first in most years through 1985, outranking the military and the U.S. Supreme Court, among others. That began to change in the mid- to late 1980s as confidence in organized religion first fell below 60%, possibly resulting from scandals during that time involving famed televangelist preachers Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. Confidence in religion returned to 60% in 2001, only to be rocked the following year by charges of child molestation by Catholic priests and cover-up by some in the church.

Currently, 56% of Protestants express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church/organized religion, compared with 46% of Catholics. This is in line with an average 12-percentage-point difference in the two groups' confidence, according Gallup polling from 2002 through 2012, with Protestants consistently expressing higher confidence.

Two major findings apparent in Gallup's confidence in the church and organized religion trend are, first, the long-term decline in Americans' confidence in this societal institution since 1973, and second, the suppressed confidence among Catholics relative to Protestants starting in 1981, and becoming more pronounced by 2002.

U. S. Supreme Court: Churches Are Free to Ignore the Law

Personally - and as regular readers are no doubt aware - I am way over churches and so-called religious organizations, especially Christian ones, being afforded special rights and allowed to do things that other citizens and organizations are forbidden to do. Yet, sadly, the U. S. Supreme Court has handed down a ruling that will likely result in churches and religious organizations increasingly believing that they are above the law. While the Court purported to recognize a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, the reasoning behind the ruling has opened all kinds of likely abuses. The fired employee in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, was by no means a "minister" and in any other universe would have been described as a school teacher. Not surprisingly, Justice Clarence Thomas gave the equivalent of judicial fellatio to the church defendant who had wrongfully fired the school teacher. The New York Times has sanitized coverage of this wrongheaded ruling. Fellow blogger compatriot Jillian T. Weiss at The Bilerico Project has a real world analysis of the ruling. First the Times' mealy mouthed coverage:

WASHINGTON — In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and dismiss their leaders without government interference.

The decision gave only limited guidance about how courts should decide who counts as a minister, saying the court was “reluctant to adopt a rigid formula.” Two concurring opinions offered contrasting proposals.

Whatever its precise scope, the ruling will have concrete consequences for countless people employed by religious groups to perform religious work. In addition to ministers, priests, rabbis and other religious leaders, the decision appears to encompass, for instance, at least those teachers in religious schools with formal religious training who are charged with instructing students about religious matters.

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Wednesday’s decision could have pernicious consequences, by, for instance, barring suits from pastors who are sexually harassed. “Blatant discrimination is a social evil we have worked hard to eradicate in the United States,” he said in a statement. “I’m afraid the court’s ruling today will make it harder to combat.”

In a concurrence, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the courts should get out of the business of trying to decide who qualifies for the ministerial exception, leaving the determination to religious groups.

“The question whether an employee is a minister is itself religious in nature, and the answer will vary widely,” he wrote. “Judicial attempts to fashion a civil definition of ‘minister’ through a bright-line test or multifactor analysis risk disadvantaging those religious groups whose beliefs, practices and membership are outside of the ‘mainstream’ or unpalatable to some.”

Religion continues to be one of the most insidious threats to constitutional government and civil rights for all citizens regardless of race, creed, religion, sexual orientation and national origin. Here some highlights from Jillian's spot on review of what the Court has done:

When the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came calling, after Ms. Petich had filed a claim for discrimination based on disability, the school said that Ms. Petich had not been fired because of her disability. No, they were fine with her disability. Rather, she had been fired because of religious law. Ms. Petich had violated the beliefs of their Church. What beliefs of the Hosassa-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church had Ms. Petich violated so flagrantly? Why, the belief of the Church that its members should never resort to the law to protect their rights against Church members.

No, I'm serious. The Church said that anyone who threatens litigation is violating God's law. Since Ms. Petich mentioned that she "planned to assert her legal rights," she had to be fired because she violated God's law. I mean, seriously?

Rather than dismissing this whopper with a chuckle, as they should have, the Supreme Court bowed reverentially and ruled that any religious employer can avoid a lawsuit for workplace laws so long as they take care to ensure that their religious beliefs include a line about never suing the Church. Firing for disability? Right as rain. You seem gay, so you're fired? No problem. Fire those sniveling whiners who complain about sexual harassment or sex-for-keeping-your-job? A- Okay. You say we violated the child labor laws or the minimum wage laws? No, sorry, those are ministers, so the laws don't apply. You got injured on the job and want to sue? Forget it, bub, we told you that your job includes thinking about God and being holy, so the "ministerial exception" puts the halo of silence around you. Get on your knees and tell your ambulance-chaser to take a walk.

Also, courts must now decide what constitutes "internal church decisions" and also whether they "affect the faith and mission" of the religion. Honestly, how is a judge of some other or no religious persuasion supposed to decide that?

There is already another exception for that, permitting churches to use religious qualifications in their hiring decisions. Rather, the decision yesterday makes "Church" into a magic word that banishes law enforcement.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a large scale reorganization of a wide variety of business-related entities to try to take advantage of the new religious shield exception. It shouldn't be unexpected to see a series of lower court decisions, particularly in, say, Oklahoma, saying that the Baptist Plumbing Co., Inc., which has every employee lead morning prayers or write a religious blurb on the company blog once a month, is exempt from workplace laws. As I discussed in my recent law review article on the application of the First Amendment to LGBT employment discrimination laws, a First Amendment claim cannot trump employment non-discrimination laws. But we're going to see a much stronger effort to do so after this decision.

Courts deciding on which religious purposes matter -- now there's an "Establishment Clause" problem if I ever heard one. Christian Dominionists rejoice!

The Flight From Organized Religion

With the Republican Party now basically a sectarian party controlled by the far right Christianists, it's hard to escape the constant invectives against gays, immigrants, non-whites, and non-Christians of those who purport to represent the face of Christianity. Yes, there are other who are Christian, but sadly, they seem to hid from view as they quietly do good works and avoid wearing religiosity on their sleeves. The result is that we have vile figures like Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, Benedict XVI, Maggie Gallagher, Archbishop Dolan of New York, James Dobson who preach an endless message of contempt - if not outright hatred - of others seen increasingly as the face of religion in this country. And the fall out from it all? The fastest growing segment of the religious demographic is those who renounce any affiliation with organized religion. That's not to say these refugees from religion reject the concept of God or spirituality. They simply want nothing to do with the ugliness that is religion in America today. And I find myself feeling the lure of distancing myself from organized Christianity more with each passing day. So much of what is wrong with this country stems from the Christianists and their favored failed political and economic policies. Here are highlights from an op-ed in the New York Times that looks at the phenomenon:

THE holidays are upon us again . . . . the season affords an opportunity to reconnect with our religious heritage. For others, myself included, it’s a time to shake our heads over the sad state of our national conversation about God, and wish there were another way.

The discourse has been co-opted by the True Believers, on one hand, and Angry Atheists on the other. What about the rest of us? The rest of us, it turns out, constitute the nation’s fastest-growing religious demographic. We are the Nones, the roughly 12 percent of people who say they have no religious affiliation at all. The percentage is even higher among young people; at least a quarter are Nones.

Apparently, a growing number of Americans are running from organized religion, but by no means running from God. On average 93 percent of those surveyed say they believe in God or a higher power; this holds true for most Nones — just 7 percent of whom describe themselves as atheists, according to a survey by Trinity College.

Why the rise of the Nones? David Campbell and Robert Putnam, of the University of Notre Dame and the Harvard Kennedy School, respectively, think politics is to blame. Their idea is that we’ve mixed politics and religion so completely that many simply opt out of both; apparently they are reluctant to claim a religious affiliation because they don’t want the political one that comes along with it.

We are more religiously polarized than ever. In my secular, urban and urbane world, God is rarely spoken of, except in mocking, derisive tones. It is acceptable to cite the latest academic study on, say, happiness or, even better, whip out a brain scan, but God? He is for suckers, and Republicans.

All we see is an angry God. He is constantly judging and smiting, and so are his followers. No wonder so many Americans are enamored of the Dalai Lama. He laughs, often and well. Precious few of our religious leaders laugh. They shout.

What is the solution? The answer, I think, lies in the sort of entrepreneurial spirit that has long defined America, including religious America. We need a Steve Jobs of religion. Someone (or ones) who can invent not a new religion but, rather, a new way of being religious.

I imagine a religious space that celebrates doubt, encourages experimentation and allows one to utter the word God without embarrassment. A religious operating system for the Nones among us. And for all of us.

The Christianists, of course, want no doubt - because it threatens their house of cards belief system and their warped psyches that require the denunciation of others for self-satisfaction. The irony is that the would be protectors of Christianity and their boot licking political whores in the GOP (think Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann) are slowly but surely killing the brand.

Atheist Student Groups Flower on College Campuses

In what ought to be a deafening alarm bell to Christianists and the bitter old men in dresses at the Vatican, the rise of atheist groups on college campuses is a measure of the increasingly unmarketable nature of religious dogma that is based principally on fear and a hatred of others. As I have noted in previous posts, Christianity has an increasingly bad image among the younger generations because of the failure of so many of its professed adherents - particularly among the professional Christian crowd and the Catholic Church hierarchy - to act even remotely in a Christian manner. Added to that is the on going efforts of these same folks to subvert the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion to all - not just Christian extremists. The reality is that actions speak louder than words and the constant anti-gay and anti-immigrant jihad (and subtle racism) that permeates the Christian Right is not lost on young Americans who seem increasingly to be color blind and indifferent to one's sexual orientation. Hence the trend of young people either simply leaving organized religion or losing any belief in a God. The Washington Post has a story on this trend:
*

AMES, Iowa -- The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: "Ask an Atheist." Whenever a student gets within a few feet, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with "socialist." As the stigma of atheism has diminished, campus atheists and agnostics are coming out of the closet, fueling a sharp rise in the number of clubs like the 10-year-old group at Iowa State.
*
Campus affiliates of the Secular Student Alliance, a sort of Godless Campus Crusade for Christ, have multiplied from 80 in 2007 to 100 in 2008 and 174 this fall, providing the atheist movement new training grounds for future leaders. In another sign of growing acceptance, at least three universities, including Harvard, now have humanist chaplains meeting the needs of the not-so-spiritual.
*
With the growth has come soul-searching - or the atheist equivalent - about what secular campus groups should look like. It's part of a broader self-examination in the atheist movement triggered by the rise of the so-called "new atheists," best-selling authors who denigrate religion and blame it for the world's ills.
*
More than three-quarters of young adults taking part in the National Study of Youth and Religion profess a belief in God. But almost 7 percent fewer believe in God as young adults (ages 18 to 23) than did as teenagers, according to the study, which is tracking the same group of young people as they mature. What young adults are less likely to believe in is religion. The number of those who describe themselves as "not religious" nearly doubled, to 27 percent, in young adulthood.
*
Growing hostility toward religion was found, too. About 1 in 10 young adults are "irreligious" - or actively against religion - after virtually none of them fit that description as teenagers. . . . Many stress that their lives are guided not by anti-religiousness, but belief in science, logic and reason. The goal," said Andrew Severin, a post-doctoral researcher in bioinformatics, "should be to obtain inner peace for yourself and do random acts of kindness for strangers." Scott Moseley, a Bettendorf, Iowa, senior, stops for a polite conversation. He explains that he was raised Methodist, has a Buddhist friend and dates a Wiccan. "My entire concept of one religion is kind of out the window," Moseley says.
*

Obviously, many within the LGBT community remain spiritual but associate with no branch of organized religion because of the efforts by so many denominations to exclude, condemn, and deprive gays of civil legal rights. Thus, in my own case I know a number of people that have either left Christianity and become Wiccan or simply ceased all religious affiliation. Why be involved in something that is toxic and seeks to make you less than fully human in the eyes of society.

Is Organized Religion the Enemy of LGBT Citizens?

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sir Ian McKellen makes some statements that resonate with many LGBT individuals around the world - namely, that he feels that organized religion is the enemy. True, there are some denominations and faiths where that observation does not hold true, but for the majority of faiths and organized churches the statement sadly is true. It's something that ought to make true Christians - as opposed the the professional Christian set and phony hypocrites such as the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy - question what the Hell they are doing. Christ's overall Gospel message was not one of hate, yet from the perspective of LGBT individuals, hate is the main message we hear as we simply try to live our lives with dignity and some semblance of security and happiness. Here are a few interview highlights:

*

When the topics turned personal, however -- such as Hollywood's attitude toward gays and his disillusionment with religion -- he appeared to take his own admonition about candor to heart.
*
"I increasingly see organized religion as actually my enemy. They treat me as their enemy," said the British actor, who came out 20 years ago. "Not all Christians, of course. Not all Jews, not all Muslims. But the leaders. . . . Why should I take the judgment of a declared celibate about my sexual needs? He's basing his judgment on laws that would fit life in the Bronze Age. So if I'm lost to God, organized religion is to blame."
*
McKellen revealed his sexuality at age 49 on a British radio show during a debate about anti-gay legislation. He says it's the most important thing he's ever done, and when he's not acting, he spends much of his time lobbying for gay rights. He visits schools in England as part of a program to prevent gay bullying. When he finds a Bible in a hotel room, he rips out the passage in Leviticus that condemns homosexuality.
*
In his view, Hollywood still hasn't come that far in its attitude toward gays. "The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie," he said. "They'd rather have 'don't ask, don't tell.' The proposition from Mephistopheles as you sign the agreement that you will become a Hollywood star is that you will lie about yourself. That's selling your soul. This business may involve disguise, but it's about telling the truth. And I don't think a closeted actor in this day and age can act as well as an actor who is out."

The Corrupting Influence of Organized Religion

I consider myself and the boyfriend to be fairly spiritual even if not in the "churchy" way of organized religion that puts man made rules and regulations and satisfying the egos and hunger for power and wealth of church leaders (and evangelical professions Christians) over what should be the main message of the religions they profess. One need only look at the Roman Catholic Church, the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention or organizations like Focus on the Family to see how institutionalizing religion seems to always corrupts and turns what might otherwise be a force for good into something more akin to a metastasizing cancer. One spiritual writer that the boyfriend likes is Sylvia Browne and in one of her books, If you Could See What I See, she has a letter that he brought to my attention from one of her followers that, in my mind, does a wonderful summation of the evil that comes from organized religion. Here are some highlights:

*

Religion is both the savior and bane of mankind. How many millions have been comforted by organized religion over the ages, and how many have been killed, tortured, raped and plundered over these same ages?

*

We must start with organized religion in the world today, for it's both part of the problem and the key to the salvation of the world. The major religions of the world have got to band together and not only preach but practice religious tolerance.

*

Islam, the fastest growing religion on the world, has got to go back to its roots of religious tolerance and oust the extremists who practice terrorism in the name of a holy Jihad (holy war) on the "infidels" of other religions or countries. Most of the message from Mohammad was Christlike, teaching love and tolerance of others . . his teachings have been warped by extremists and conservative clerics who lust for power and greed at any cost of human life.

*

Christianity also has some major problems that it must face. The Catholic Church has many internal problems that hurt others, . . . It has lost respect for its many internal scandals and failure to acknowledge its mistakes both in the past and in the present. . . It must make wholesale changes or it will go down, as so many inflexible dynasties have, and not have the powerful voice it once had.
*
The Protestant movement is also becoming more inflexible and conservative with its right wing politics creating myriad problems in the form of bigotry, intolerance, and its propensity to try to gain power in the political arena. . . . Christianity is one of the least tolerant toward other religions, which makes the task of bonding with other worldwide religions, in order to accomplish an overall good for the world, seem near to impossible.

*

Christianity today has become warped in many areas, namely that of preaching and practicing the worship of an all-loving and merciful God. . . . Some of these so-called Christian churches use the Bible so much that they ought to be named "Bible worshipers" instead of "worshipers of Christ." If Christ came down to the world today, I doubt he'd proclaim himself a Christian. Christianity needs to practice more religious tolerance, get out of the political arena, and really put forth the concept of an all-loving and merciful God - rather than a wrathful, vengeful God who has all of the imperfect emotions of mankind.

*

The Christian motto seems to be: If you're threatened in your faith, for God's sake don't tolerate the right of others to believe otherwise. Instead, just destroy them, whether it be from the pulpit, in the political arena, with propaganda, or the sword.

*

It's such a tragedy that the major religions of the world have messed up the simple act of worshiping God. God who created us all in our many different colors and ethnic backgrounds, and he even sent messengers to help us find our way to His all-loving and merciful self. We turn around and disregard or warp all that and make war and commit atrocities on each other.

*

Unfortunately, I do not see any of the current leadership of the world's major religions putting the good of the world first. Rather, their own agendas for power, control, wealth, and just plain meanness are all they truly care about regardless of whatever platitudes they may state. Meanwhile, the potentially positive teachings of religion fall to the wayside as hate, intolerance and unrestrained hubris fuels unspeakable actions towards other fellow humans. All of this is one of the reasons I find myself remaining spiritual but less and less tied to organized religion. More often then not organized religion is a bane to world peace. Organized religion for the most part is also no friend to gay rights and equality. Indeed, it's usually the enemy.