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Page 6 /The Maroon Tiger/ September 22, 1982
Is Religion
Relevant?
by Matthew Johnson
Is religion relevant? This ques
tion has recently become one of
great concern, primarily for two
reasons. First there is the ques
tion of its relevance on the
contemporary social scene. The
Church as the sociological sym
bol of religion has historically
been one of the most reactionary
institutions on issues concerning
social change. When it wasn’t
reactionary it was more often
than not silent or indifferent.
Except for some symbolic
gestures of concern for the poor
and oppressed, the Church has
been with some truth charged
with isolating itself from the
intense urgency of social con
cern. Hence, secular humanism
has lifted the banner of life’s
inherent dignity and moved into
action against the social in
stitutions that, for reasons of
exploitation, have eclipsed this
eternal truth. Then the question
is raised against religion's (par
ticularly theChristian’s) explana
tion of life, history and the
universe as a whole. Is it ade
quate? Is it true? Can religious
claims to “cognitive truth” be
validated, and if not does it have
any relevance to man’s existen
tial condition?
For centuries and probably
from the dawn of human history;
from man’s first and frail
attempts to come to grip with the
external realities of his environ
ment, some kind of religion or
other has been a part of his
culture. From my limited
knowledge of anthropology, it
appears that religion at its roots
was concerned with man’s cop
ing with an uncertain existential
predicament. Religion served as
man’s first source of answers to
questions about the mysteries of
life and especially those
questions with an air of the
ultimate such as man's purpose
and destiny, as well as the why
and the where of creation.
From the very beginning the
order expressed in the Cosmos
suggested some being analogous
to man, though infinitely more
powerful, standing at the helm of
the Cosmic Order. However, it
now seems to some that contem
porary scientific discoveries in
both the physical sciences and
the science* of man
(anthropology, psychology,
Editorials, Opinions
history ect.) has shattered the
need for religious answers to
life’s nagging questions. Some
argue that religious answers
were appropriate when man
lived in a "religious” world; but,
now that he has “progressed”
and moved into a secular and
“scientific” world, one
dominated by law and not the
arbitrary wills of capricious per
sonalities, religion and its
responses to man’s predicament
are irrelevant. In the face of
psychological and psy
choanalytical reductions of
religious experiences, the
religious ideal and search for
truth draws up like a raisin in the
sun or like a withered rose
severed from the vine of per
sonal quest. The above con
siderations are a sample of what
has created a contemporary
crisis of relevance in Christian-
dom and a precarious future for
the established religions of the
day in an increasingly secular
world. But are the arguments
offered really that sound?
The Church's past responses to
man’s social conditions need not
remain the same in the future.
Any person who is in the least
familiar with the Gospel account
of the life of Jesus of Nazareth
can see in his life a paradigmn for
the man of passionate social
concern. The Gospels are a ready
source of values applicable to
man’s existential condition;
values that, if properly recogniz
ed, calls for immediate and
radical responses to the
challenge posed by evil, in
stitutional and otherwise, on
“this side of Jordan's stormy
banks.”
The scientific quest for truth,
although it has provided ex
pedient descriptive laws, has yet
to solve the riddle of the Un
iverse or explain the rise of the
mental and the meaningful from
the meaningless and mechanical
order that its unconcern with
questions of value seem to
suggest. I believe that A.N.
Whitehead was correct when he
said that "a science is only as
secure as the unconscious
metaphysics that it tacitly
presupposes,” and I assert with a
similar singularity that no
metaphysics (ultimate explana
tion of reality) is secure or
coherent until it has come to
grips with the reality of God.
Guest Editorial
The Crisis
In South Africa
by A.C. Williams
For the past twenty years
blacks in South Africa (Azania)
and Southwest Africa (Namibia)
have been engaged in a
desperate struggle against the
countries white racist
governments. Despite bom
bings, executions, torture and
mass arrests, the struggle con
tinues. One reason why the
white minority has been able to
cling to power is that it has
received support from western
powers, including the United
States.
U.S. corporations including
Coca-Coal, General Motors and
the Chase Manhattan Bank have
invested heavily in South Africa’s
economy. The U.S. government
has consistently blocked all
effective United Nations sanc
tions against the regimes’
violations of human rights. U.S.
arms including, possibly, nuclear
devices have found their way to
the white racist South Africans.
Most blacks in America have
not concerned themselves with
this situation. They don’t realize
what is happening and when the
problem is brought to their
attention they say they have
troubles here at home and don’t
have time for African problems.
However, there are many very
good reasons why blacks in
America must concern
themselves with blacks in South
Africa. First there is a moral
imperative. If a person sees a
crime being committed and
refuses to do anything about it,
then that person has failed in his
duty to himself and to mankind.
A wise man once said, "All that is
necessary for evil to triumph is
that enough good men do
nothing.”
Secondly, we must realize that
the struggle for human rights in
America and the struggle for
liberation in Southern Africa are
linked. The same mentality
which oppresses black people in
South Africa creates the Reagan
cutbacks and the resurgence of
the Ku Klux Klan. If we allow
white supremacy to win in
Southern Africa we make it
stronger in America.
Finally, we can look at material
reasons. South Africa (Azania) is
one of the richest countries in
the world. Currently this wealth
is being used to support racism
and imperialism throughout the
world. Think what a difference it
would make if this wealth were
available to help in the fight for
human rights throughout the
world (including the United
States).
“Our View”
Since 1948, the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO)
has been waging armed struggle
against the illegal state of Israel.
The PLO has been waging this
war to regain their land,
Palestine, which was renamed
Israel.
The Israeli people are
historically a stateless people.
This lack of a land has resulted in
a myriad of atrocities committed
against the Israeli people which
culminated in the horrors of Nazi
Germany. Naturally, realizing
that the absence of a homeland
was their problem, they began to
call for an Israel State. For
nefarious purposes of their own,
the United States facilitated the
Zionist efforts to obtain a
homeland. In choosing where
the Israeli state would be
created, the British colonial
holdings were considered, but
the British government refused
to relinquish her valuable
holdings. Eventually, Palestine
was chosen to accommodate
Israel’s need. However, one
small detail was overlooked by
the creators of the Israeli
homeland — that Palestine was
already occupied by its natural
inhabitants, the Palestinian peo
ple.
All this brings us to the episode
in Beirut, Lebanon. Beirut is the
central headquarters of the PLO.
It was the intention of the Israelis
to destroy the PLO once and for
all.
It appears now that they have
succeeded. 7,000 PLO freedom
fighters have been settled into
various countries of the Arab
world, making it difficult to
continue their struggle.
West Beirut’s new president,
Bashir Gemayel is a rightwing
Israeli agent. His job isto prevent
the PLO from ever working out
of W. Beirut again, and Reagan
has pledged him ten to fifteen
million dollars over the next
several years to do so. Gemayel
was the only announced can
didate for the presidency and
fewer than a quorum of 62
deputies showed up to vote. The
incredulous circumstances sur
rounding Gemayel’s election are
enough to label him an im
perialist agent.
It may appear we are anti-
semitic, but on the contrary we
want the Israeli people to have a
homeland; however, not at the
expense of the Palestine people.
Besides, the Palestinean people
are Semitic, and the ruling class
in Israel is European.
We support the PLO because
they are fighting for a just and
right cause.
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