NY Times' The Questioning of Judge Sotomayor : Dr. Chuman Letter to Editor

A letter written to the NY Times by Dr. Joseph Chuman, Leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, was published in the July 18 print edition. The letter can be found here (search for "Chuman").

NY Times: Defecting to Faith

NY Times Op-Ed columnist Charles Blow points out in this article that many people seem to need "spiritualism" even if it encompasses merely (nontheistic) transcendence from everyday life. Many who are raised outside of traditional religion gravitate to it, but not because of dogma. Rather, it is the sense of community that draws them in. Put another way, it is the pomp, potlucks and picnics that people need, not the father, the son or the holy ghost.
Dale McGowan, who will be offering a Parenting Beyond Belief seminar and a Platform at the Bergen Society in October, is quoted in the article.

Religion is Good for Self-Control

Based on a report published in the upcoming issue of the Psychological Bulletin, religious belief and piety promote self-control (see For Good Self-Control, Try Getting Religious About It in the NY Times, as well as the original study).

So self-proclaimed heathen and non-believer NY Times science columnist John Tierney wonders whether he should start going to church. The article's authors are careful to point out that faking it probably won't result in the desired effect. Studies have found that true believers gain benefits from attending services but non-believers who follow the same practice do not. However, researcher Michael McCullough suggests that public involvement with an organization that has strong ideals can provide secularists with a similar result. "People can have sacred values that aren’t religious values,” he said. “Self-reliance might be a sacred value to you that’s relevant to saving money. Concern for others might be a sacred value that’s relevant to taking time to do volunteer work."

Here's a place that provides that opportunity: The Ethical Culture Society. And guess what? It's religious about it.

Rebecca Gopoian: Godless & Penniless

This blogger is a little late in the posting, but check out the NY Times cartoon editorial from Rebecca Gopoian and husband David Heatley. Rebecca is the daughter of long-time ECS members Steve and Bea ("Pine Cone Necklace") Gopoian.

The cartooning couple had a piece published in The Times the previous holiday season.

"But People Can Believe What They Want"

Those are the words of Father Casimiro Roca of the Santuario de Chimayo, a New Mexico church known as the Lourdes of America. A NY Times article (Chimayo Journal: A Pastor Begs to Differ With Flock on Miracles) tells of the faithful who visit this holy shrine to take dirt they believe to be blessed with miraculous powers from a hole in the church floor. How can tens of thousands take dirt from the hole without endangering the building?

Simple, and it's neither a miracle nor a secret. A caretaker fills the hole with trucked in dirt so believers can take the dirt to "eat it, brew it in tea or rub it on the afflicted body area." Father Roca, who has ministered the shrine for 50 years, readily admits that the dirt is not miraculous and does not try to hide the fact that it is transported in to fill the hole. Yet pilgrims believe otherwise.

People want to believe. Common sense, and in this case the nearest sympathetic authoritative figure, cannot dissuade the populace from this fatuous attitude. Believing, of course, makes it neither true nor sensible. Yet with believing comes solace, warmth and inner peace.

Anecdotal evidence implies that parts of the educated world such as Australia and northern Europe, where major religions play a significantly smaller cultural role than in the U.S., have a correspondingly larger population of believers in alien visitations, occultism, fairies, gnomes and other such nonsense. One hears these suppositions and can't help but wonder if the human physiology dictates that a majority of us value something other than truth to be most important.

As the good Father said, people can believe what they want.