The Religion of Thomas Jefferson

The Jefferson Bible

In the late hours at the White House, after attending to the affairs of the state, Thomas Jefferson would take copies of the New Testament from his drawer and meticulously cut pages and paste them on blank sheets of paper. He chose only those pages that told of the moral teachings of Jesus, without reference to his divinity or supernatural powers.

After a few hours of this cut-and-paste job, Jefferson sent the made-up pages to a bookbinder who upon his instruction embossed on the cover the title “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.” Every night, he would spend an hour or so reading his new-bound book. This was his personal copy and he had only one copy of this book, although he had told his few friends about its existence.

This compilation, the so-called Jefferson Bible, reflects Jefferson’s personal beliefs. He had confided to his close friends that the clergy, thru the centuries, corrupted the moral teachings of Jesus and  befogged the scriptures with superstition and mysticism that it needed, according to the clergy, their esoteric knowledge in facilitating the faithful’s salvation.

Diamonds in a dung-hill
Writing to John Adams in 1813, he said, “I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently [Jesus’s] and which is  as easily distinguished as diamonds in a dung-hill.”

And in deference to the people’s religious sentiments at that time --- remember this was in 18th century America --- Jefferson kept his beliefs to himself and asked his close friends to keep his “secret” to themselves.

So the book was known only to a few of his surviving acquaintances. Until 1895,  when the Smithsonian Institution showcased the book in Atlanta’s Cotton States International Exposition.

In 1904, the Government Printing Office printed copies of the now known Jefferson Bible, and in the following years, sent copies to newly elected congressional legislators who used the book on their oath taking, until the copies ran out in the 1950s.

Was Jefferson a Christian?
Now we come to the big question. Was Jefferson a Christian? Jefferson, in a letter to a personal friend, “I am a Christian, in the only sense [Jesus] wished anyone to be, sincerely attached to his doctrines, ascribing to himself every human excellence.” (The Jefferson Bible, Tarcher/Penguin Edition, 2012.)

If by being a Christian means following the moral precepts of Jesus as guide to living, then Jefferson was a Christian.

But if by being a Christian means believing in divine beings, the miracles and the resurrection, then Jefferson was not a Christian. He was influenced, among others, by the views of philosophers that are sweeping Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. This was also the Age of Reason, where beliefs are subjected to empirical evidence and scientific inquiry.

At the least, Jefferson is a deist, one who believes in a god who created the universe and then sat back and let the laws of nature take its course.

In the Declaration of Independence, he writes, “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people… to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them….”

Clearly, Jefferson refers to human events as basis for human actions, not divine intervention. After god created the world, according to deists, its role is done and over with. Now man has to shape his own destiny. By extension, if this god can interfere at all, then this god does it thru human agents, not thru a host of angels coming down from the sky.

Ineffectual God

Now critics may say, What good is a god who has no power? He may have created the world but he cannot do anything afterward. What good is praying to such a god?

Jefferson was a visionary but he was also a product of his time. As a politician, in his campaign for the presidency, he had to reconcile his public persona from his personal beliefs. At that time, some Protestant sects were established by and received financial support from state authorities. His view of the “wall of separation between church and state” threatened the established clergymen’s position. He had to modify, in public, his radical view to the prevailing religious mood of the time.

Jefferson’s view of the constitutional provision “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” meant preventing other denominations from receiving privileged status from the government.

In his correspondences with friends like Joseph Priestly, Benjamin Rush and John Adams --- Jefferson confided that the clergy had corrupted the moral teachings of Jesus by beclouding them with superstition and mysticism. This corruption started during the early years of Christianity --- the early Christians, in order to convert as many pagans as possible, incorporated heathen practices to the new faith. Like the celebration of Christmas during the Roman harvest season in winter. Scholars say Jesus was not born in December and the scriptures do not mention Jesus’ date of birth.

Jefferson had suggested to his friends to write books on Jesus’ authentic life and teachings devoid of miracles and superstition. But eventually it fell upon him to do it himself.

Relevance of Jefferson Bible

Moving forward to the 21st century, we ask ourselves, What would Jefferson say?

First of all, he would say, Religion is a personal matter between man and his creator. In a published essay, he wrote: “I am averse to the communication of my religious tenets to the public, because it would countenance the presumption of those who have endeavored to draw them before the tribunal.”

Second, he’d say, The state should not interfere, within limits of course, in the citizen’s  free exercise thereof. In his Notes to the State of Virginia (1784), he wrote: “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are no gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Third, he’d say, Organized religion has corrupted the teachings of Jesus. In a letter to Benjamin Rush, he wrote: “To the corruptions of Christianity, I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.”

And when pressed to specify, he’d say, echoing the words of his friend Joseph Priestly, “Many Christian doctrines, like the trinity, the virgin birth, original sin, and predestination --- prevented people from understanding and embracing Christian faith and that [the clergy] multiplied the mysteries of religion and promulgated superstitions. By so doing, they clouded the minds of the laity; they convinced the common people that they needed learned authorities in order to understand their duties to God and one another.” (From the essay History of the Jefferson Bible by Harry R. Rubenstein and Barbara Clark Smith, The Jefferson Bible, Smithsonian Institution, 2011.)

What to do now

Following Jefferson’s vision to its logical conclusion, doubting believers need to reassess their beliefs and reorganize as a new faith. I said reorganize not reform because beliefs in the divinity of Jesus, the omnipotence of an invisible god, and the afterlife, among others, are the core beliefs of Christianity. A religion stands on its core beliefs. Denying these make the religion no longer Christian, any more than calling the Pope Catholic.

And while this faith is formed as another religion, it is only organized in their commitment to the Jefferson Bible. There is no hierarchy of the clergy who lay down revealed truths from a supernatural being. There is no central authority. The members gather together in small groups to study and contemplate the human life and moral teachings of Jesus.

Jefferson believed in the personal nature of faith, that a man’s belief is between him and his god. He confided to a friend, “I am a religion by myself, as far as I know.”

If you are serious with your religious beliefs, you are not alone. If you are honest with yourself, you are not alone. If you care for your family or friends who may harbor the same doubts, you are not alone.

Please go to borromeofaith.org and read the Borromeo Faith Statement of Belief. Send your
membership application to adolfoborromeo@aol.com by writing, “Yes, I am not alone. I commit myself to the Statement of Belief.”
Thank you.

***

Appreciation Party for Library Supporters

Some of the guests who attended the Friends of the Englewood Library

Appreciation Party for Library Supporters last May 18 at Mackay Cafe.

Victory Party for Englewood Library Supporters

The Friends hosted a victory party for library supporters and sympathizers, for effectively reducing the library budget from the proposed 23% to actual 9%. In addition, the library secured funding for new books and programming, for $75,000. And Mayor Huttle is donating this year his $5,000 salary, which he normally waives since he assumed office.

Last January, the city manager had proposed to the city council a library budget cut of 23% or $516,790, the minimum allowed under state law. This appeared onerous, considering the library represents 3% of the city budget.

So the Friends created an advocacy committee and elected Ann Sparanese as head of the new group. Encouraged by favorable editorials in local newspapers and the enthusiastic support of patrons and residents alike, the committee and their supporters attended council meetings and rallied in front of city hall, for weeks until the final council decision.

Under pressure, the library made a counteroffer of 12% cut or $268,000 saying that it would forego filling vacant positions due to retirement and resignation.

In a news report by Melissa Hayes of The Record: “Councilman Jack Drakeford said (the library) should instead fight for full funding because if it gives up 12% it will never get the money back.” And Councilman Eugene Skurnick said “all departments (including the library) should be treated equally, noting that the police and fire departments are seeing budget increases this year.”

Further encouraged by this response from the councilmen, the Friends campaigned for a full service library, including a $150,000 funding for new books and outreach.

In the end, the library got 9% budget cut instead of 23%, $75,000 funding for books acquisition and programming, and $5,000 donation from the mayor.

Congratulations for a job well done.

***

Million Borromeo Faith Campaign

Here’s my statement of belief:

I believe in God as the life force of the universe.

I believe that this force expresses itself thru human beings in the spirit of goodwill, tolerance and cooperation.

I believe that God is the symbol of all that is good, loving and divine in humankind.

I renounce violence against myself and others as an expression of my belief.

I believe that one day, all people can gather together in the worship or meditation of their god or non-god. Amen.

This statement of belief you can find at BorromeoFaith.org. Apply for membership by sending your name, phone number and email address.

Remember, you are not alone. There are at least a million of us like-minded individuals. So I’m calling my campaign Million Borromeo Faith.

Apply for membership at BorromeoFaith.org and let a million voices be heard! That’s B-o-r-r-o-m-e-o-F-a-i-t-h-.-o-r-g. Thank you.

Check my video at MyStudio.net. Search for Borromeo Faith.

***

God is the life force of the universe.

Hello. My name is Adolfo Borromeo, founder of Borromeo Faith for Social Justice.

What if you believe that the concept of god started in the mind, stays in the mind, and does not exist outside the mind?

What if you believe god is not a supernatural being but a symbol, a metaphor for all that is good, all that is loving, all that is true and beautiful?

What if there is a religion that reflects your beliefs?

There are millions like you who believe that god is not a supernatural being. They believe god is the life force in the universe. But these believers have not organized into a cohesive group. Until now.

Borromeo Faith is the religion in our time.

This force, followers of Borromeo Faith believe, manifests itself thru human beings in the spirit of goodwill, tolerance and cooperation. This force, this god, is in you and within you.

This force, this God, works thru groups of people in bringing about social justice in our society --- not by violent means but by civic action as citizens of their country.

Philosophers and thinkers have talked about this for centuries. In our time, Forrest Church of the Unitarian Universalist Church says that theology is a human construct. It begins with the miracle of our own existence… The principal challenge of theology is to provide symbols and metaphors that will bring us into closer kinship with one another as sons and daughters of life and death.

Rabbi Arthur Green says this evolving god concept is human evolution no less, to a higher form of consciousness. So the concept has evolved from tribal gods to mythical gods to a single god to an abstract metaphorical god.

Centuries from now, religions will no longer preach a god who is some supernatural being but, in the words of William James, in his book Varieties of Religious Experience --- “feelings and experiences of individuals in their solitude….” Feelings and experiences --- things internal in the human breast, not relationship to an external mystical spirit.

For Albert Einstein, religion is also a feeling, the awe and wonder of nature and the universe, not a personal god who answers the prayers of supplicants in their ordinary everyday living.

The holy scriptures serve as our moral guide. The scriptures  are not our only guide but our main source on how to live. For there are thinkers and philosophers throughout history from whom we can learn wisdom.

So in summary here’s my statement of belief I call the Borromeo Faith.


Borromeo Faith


I believe in God as the life force of the universe.

I believe that this force expresses itself thru human beings in the spirit of goodwill, tolerance and cooperation.

I believe that God is the symbol of all that is good, loving and divine in humankind.

I renounce violence against myself and others as an expression of my belief.

I believe that one day, all people can gather together in the worship or meditation of their god or non-god. Amen.

Apply for membership by sending your name, phone number and email address to adolfoborromeo@borromeofaith.org. 

Remember, you are not alone in your belief. There are at least a million of us like-minded individuals. So I’m calling my campaign Million Borromeo Faith.

***

Statement of Belief

Statement of Belief

BORROMEO FAITH

I believe in God as the life force of the universe.

I believe that this force expresses itself thru human beings in the spirit of goodwill, tolerance and cooperation.

I believe that God is the symbol of all that is good, loving and divine in humankind.

I renounce violence against myself and others as an expression of my belief.

I believe that one day, all people can gather together in the worship or meditation of their god or non-god. Amen.

***

FOR APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP


EMAIL adolfoborromeo@borromeofaith.org
OR CALL 201 499 7262 (voicemail)

And leave message by stating your full name, email address, and phone number. You are not alone.


***

Religion for Atheists: Book Review

The thinker and philosopher Alain de Botton wants to “steal” (that’s his word) from religions their rituals  and ceremonies and incorporate them into communal restaurants, museums, atheist temples, and secular universities. He says there are “good bits” we can get from religions without considering their mystical aspects.

In his new book “Religion for Atheists” (Pantheon Books, 2012) de Botton thinks atheists are missing out on Rembrandt‘s Christ in the Storm (p 234), Bach’s St Matthew Passion (p 167), and Michelangelo’s Pieta (p 228).

He doesn’t have to steal. You can attend any church sponsored concert without  showing a membership card or pledging your commitment at the door. You can visit the Metropolitan Museum showing the works of Renaissance artists by just giving a small donation at the gate. You can enroll in any university course on humanities and learn how philosophers and theologians arrived at their conclusion on how to live. And you can  go to Starbucks, and if you are in a friendly mood, engage in conversation with strangers.

I like his idea of Agape Restaurant,  where patrons can seat in long tables and celebrate (my suggestion) national holidays like Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day or Presidents’ Day.

We Compartmentalize

De Botton may complain that the establishments I mentioned do not in themselves promote neighborliness because they thrive in an environment of commercialism. But that is exactly the point. In our society, in the 21st century, we compartmentalize our activities into work-leisure, professional-personal, and ecclesiastical-secular.

People of like-minded beliefs gather together in a communal setting. Their rituals and ceremonies are a  reflection of their common faith. It is this faith that bind them together and make them recipients of life-wisdom derived from their scriptures.

Mimicking these observances without internalizing the mystical aspects, is shallow and without meaning. The nonbelievers may be uplifted by the solemnity of the occasion but will soon “come back to reality” after the ceremony.

Atheism as a Formal Religion

If de  Botton wants atheists, agnostics and secularists to have a sense of community without feeling left out of the  grandeur and sanctity of religious rituals, then they can organize themselves as a formal religion. Modifying the terms “god“, “prayer” and “divine” to humanist context. Among mainstream  religions, in this day and age, there are sects which define god as a metaphor, as nature, or as an experience in their lives. That god is the divine within us, and when we pray we are praying to the god in us.

Auguste Comte (p 306) had tried forming this “new religion” but failed because he did not pattern it after the symbolic, metaphorical aspect of the Church.

Borrowing from Comte, de Botton acknowledges Comte’s “recognition that secular society requires its own institutions, ones that could take the place of religions by addressing human needs which fall outside the existing remits of politics, the family, culture and the workplace.”

This “atheist religion,” from all appearances, will look like any other church but without the supernatural aspect. For example, Thomas Jefferson spent a couple of nights in the White House cutting and pasting the New Testament, removing the parts referring to miracles and the supernatural. This cut and paste job is now called the Jefferson Bible. And later in life Jefferson said, “I am a church unto myself.”

This “religion” will have its own rituals on the passages of life like birth, marriage and death. It will ordain its own ministers. It will be registered as a religion  which believes in a nonsupernatural god. It is a religion in ethical, humanist terms. But a religion like any other faith.

This way we shall see the emergence of a truly relevant religion in our time.

***

The Jewish Annotated New Testament --- Book Review

(This book review was delivered at Englewood Public Library (NJ) on Mar 14, 2012)

A book review of

The Jewish Annotated New Testament

(Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors)

by Adolfo Borromeo

Over two thousand years ago, an itinerant teacher walked the towns of ancient Israel, preaching a new covenant with God. Although he said he came not to break the Law (the Torah) but to fulfill it (the New Testament), he was undermining the priestly class and threatening Roman authority.

His followers called him messiah and “king of the Jews” who would bring about a reign of peace and sanctity to the Jewish people.

He was doing all right initially, but when he started criticizing the priestly class, the Pharisees in particular, then he got in trouble. He became a threat to the priestly class.

So the high priest, Caiaphas, had Jesus brought to the Roman governor on charges of blasphemy and sedition. The ancient Israelites (and the priestly class in particular), being under Roman rule, could not try Jesus, so they brought him to Pontius Pilate who ordered his crucifixion.

When Pilate said to the crowd, “I am innocent of this man’s blood, see to it yourselves,” they cried, “His blood be on us and on our children!” ( Mat 27.24-25 NRSV) This verse from the gospel has been the basis for the condemnation of Jews as “Christ-killers” through the ages.

Not Jews in Perpetuity

Now Pope Benedict XVI, as a result of Vatican II Council, has declared that Jews could not be held responsible for Jesus’ death. The Pope further said that when Matthew said “the Jews”, he meant the mob in Pilate’s courtyard at that time in history, and not the Jewish people in general. (George Conger, Jews as Christ Killers, www.getreligion.org)

And Matthew 27.24-25 should be read in a theological sense, that is, neither all Jews at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during Jesus’ passion. The Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from Holy Scripture. (Vatican II, NA4; annotation on the Navarre Bible New Testament)

The book editors Levine and Brettler say this verse may be referring to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and the “children” may be specifically the generation (after Jesus) who experienced that destruction, and not Jews in perpetuity. (The Editors’ Preface, xii.)

The reason this charge of deicide (the killing of Jesus) gained currency through the ages is because Christianity had become a world religion, from a marginal faith after Jesus’ death to state religion at the time of Emperor Constantine. If this Jesus movement had remained a marginal religion and without the sanctioned power of the Roman state, the followers’ beliefs would have been on the fringes of society.

Jesus Was a Jewish Preacher

From my readings on New Testament scholarship, Jesus did not think of forming a new religion but wanted to remain in the faith of his birth. We must realize that he was a Jew, his followers were Jews, and so he referenced his teachings from Jewish prophets and Hebrew scriptures. He was preaching to the Jews, so he must talk to them from their own ancient tradition. He made that clear when he said he came not to break the Law but to fulfill it.

Amy-Jill Levine says that it is from Torah that Jesus takes his “Great Commandment” (Mt 22.36-40): love of God (Deut 6.5) and love of neighbor (Lev 18.19).

Now Jesus and his followers might have believed he was the messiah. But that claim had to measure up to early and later Jewish expectations. Even now, Jews and Christians, quote the same Bible --- the Tanakh for the Jews and the New Testament for the Christians --- in arguing their point whether Jesus is the messiah.

Ms. Levine, writing from an earlier book, The Historical Jesus in Context, said the historical man from Nazareth cannot be understood fully if he is divorced from his context. The spread of the gospel cannot be comprehended unless one appreciates its adaptation to the cultural expectations of its proselytes.

After all, Jesus was not the only one who claimed he was the messiah. There were a number of others before and after him who declared they were bringing about a messianic age of peace and justice, the latest being Rebbe Menahem Schneerson (1902-94) of the Lubavitch movement. The followers of this Chabad sect believe that the rebbe is the messiah and will return soon.

But David B. Levenson, in his essay Messianic Movements (535), says the vast majority of Jews project their messianic concerns into a distant idealized future, if they are held at all. He says the Reform Movement, which represents a large percentage of American Jews, has rejected the concept of an individual messiah in favor of the idea of a messianic age of peace and justice achieved through human efforts.

Jewish Christians not Christian Jews

Early Christianity was a Jewish sect within Judaism, and Paul, early on, preached in the synagogues. It was only when Paul preached to the gentiles and told them they could be Jesus followers without observing Jewish practices like the sabbath, kosher foods, and circumcision, that the final break-off came about. Because orthodox Jews, on the other hand, would not consider a so-called convert who did not observe Jewish practices.

For example, “when a Gentile is circumcised, he has converted to Judaism. The act of circumcision is the act of male conversion.” (Essay Judaism and Jewishness by Shaye J.D. Cohen, 515.) But “Paul insisted that Gentile followers of Jesus did not need to practice circumcision (Gen 17.9-14; cf. Gal 5.2), and Mark’s Gospel rejects the dietary restrictions (Lev 11.1-47; Deut 14.4-21; Mk 7.19b). (Essay The Law by Jonathan Klawans, 515.)

That’s why Jesus followers were then referred to as Jewish Christians, noting their cultural origin, not as Christian Jews or Jesusian Jews, if they had remained a sect of Judaism.

Bishop Spong’s Theory

Bishop John Shelby Spong, in his book Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World, has a theory about this anti-Semitic verse in Matthew’s gospel. When the Jesus followers finally broke off from Judaism, they had to show the Romans that they were a friendly faith. That they were not a subversive faith. That while their early members were in fact Jews, now the majority are gentiles of various persuasion and nationalities. That it was really Caiaphas by his instigation --- and not Pilate by washing his hands --- who “killed” Jesus. And writing “His blood be on us and on our children” --- that drove home the point that the Jews were “Christ-killers”.

Also, in the gospel, when the Pharisees tried to entrap Jesus by asking him if it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor --- Jesus answered, “Give to Caesar the things that are Ceasar’s and to God the things that are God’s (Mt 22.21). This shows, to the Romans, that Christians respect Rome’s power and authority.

The Messianic Period

The early Jewish belief of messiah was a person who had no supernatural powers. Nowadays, many Jewish thinkers believe in the coming of a messianic period brought about not by one person but by events in history. When humankind will enjoy relative peace, harmony and social justice.

Now knowing Jewish and Christian contexts, both traditions must apply trajectory interpolation of their scriptures toward the coming of this messiah or messianic age.

And realizing the historical continuity of both scriptures, what the Christians call the Old Testament and New Testament, we can appreciate each other’s holy book.

I find the essay by Michael Fagenblat (The Concept of Neighbor in Jewish and Christian Ethics, pp 540-543) personally moving. He explains the similarity in the concept of neighbor in the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk 10.25-38) to Judaism’s love for the stranger.

Leviticus 19.34 says: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you. You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

And in Deuteronomy 31.12: Gather the people --- men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities --- that they may hear and so learn to revere the Lord your God.

In comparison, I find Letter to the Corinthians’ poetry equally sublime and soaring.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels,

but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries

and all knowledge, but do not have love, I am nothing….

Love is patient, love is kind, love is not boastful or arrogant

or rude. It does not insist on its way, it is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,

endures all things. Love never ends. (1Cor 13.1-8 NRSV)

Moral Teachings of Scriptures

And both traditions can emphasize the moral teachings of their scriptures. Do not be discouraged by detractors who say, “Oh, but the Bible send contradictory messages.” The Bible was written at a particular age and time in history, with different cultures, ancient beliefs and mystic practices. But now, in this day and age, with global acculturation, reconciling beliefs and realistic practices --- you know in your heart what Bible teachings are morally right and sincerely honest to live by.

And so Jews, Christians, and by extension Muslims, must continue to worship together ---- worshipping the same God --- in bringing about a world of peace, harmony and religious tolerance.

God Works through Human Beings

After all, as N.T. Wright wrote in his book Simply Jesus, God intended to rule the world through human beings. God manifests itself through human initiative, not by a miracle from heaven trumpeted by a host of angels. It is through man, and man alone, that the blessings of peace and justice can be achieved.

By your blood you ransomed for God

Saints from every tribe and nation,

You have made them to be a kingdom

And priests serving our God,

And they will reign on earth. (Rev 5.9-10 NRSV)

God has laid the foundations. Now he leaves it up to us to live together as cousins in faith or die separately as strangers, or even worse, as enemies.

***

The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Here's an excerpt of my lecture titled A Critique of the Book The Jewish Annotated New Testament, at Englewood Public Library, Mar. 14, 2012.

Excerpt of A critique of the book The Jewish Annotated New Testament

(Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors)

by Adolfo Borromeo

Over two thousand years ago, an itinerant teacher walked the towns of ancient Israel, preaching a new covenant with God. Although he said he came not to break the Law (the Torah) but to fulfill it, he was undermining the priestly class and threatening Roman authority. When Pilate said to the crowd, “I am innocent of this man’s blood, see to it yourselves,” they cried, “His blood be on us and on our children!” ( Mat 27.24-25 NRSV) This verse from the gospel has been the basis for the condemnation of Jews as “Christ killers” through the ages.

Now Pope Benedict XVI has declared that Jews could not be held responsible for Jesus’ death. The Pope further said that when Matthew said “the Jews”, he meant the mob in Pilate’s courtyard at that time in history, and not the Jewish people in general. (George Conger, Jews as Christ Killers, www.getreligion.org)

The book editors Levine and Brettler say this verse may be referring to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and the “children” may be specifically the generation (after Jesus) who experienced that destruction, and not Jews in perpetuity. (The Editors’ Preface, xii)

Amy-Jill Levine, writing from an earlier book, The Historical Jesus in Context, said the historical man from Nazareth cannot be understood fully if he is divorced from his context. The spread of the gospel cannot be comprehended unless one appreciates its adaptation to the cultural expectations of its proselytes.

I find the essay by Michael Fagenblat (The Concept of Neighbor in Jewish and Christian Ethics, pp 540-543) personally moving. He explains the similarity in the concept of neighbor in the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk 10.25-38) to Judaism’s love for the stranger (Lev 19.34; Deut 31.12).

In Leviticus 19.34: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you. You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. In comparison, I find 1Cor 13.4-8 equally sublime and soaring.

Love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious or boastful

or arrogant or rude… Love never ends.

And so Jews, Christians, and by extension Muslims, must continue to worship together, whenever possible, in bringing about a world of peace, harmony and religious tolerance.

After all, as N.T. Wright wrote in his book Simply Jesus, God intended to rule the world through human beings. God had laid the foundations. Now he leaves it up to us to live together as brothers or die separately as enemies.

***

Englewood Public Library Fights for Survival

Here's my news article on Englewood Public Library ---

Charlene Taylor, head reference librarian, with Robert Cagney, patron.

The library is facing a budget cut this year which represents 23% less than its 2011 levels. No other department budget would be cut as much. The library proposed a counteroffer at the council budget meeting Tuesday of 12%, saying that it would not fill up four vacant library positions due to resignation and retirement. Libraries in Bergen County have endured budget cuts in recent years, reducing hours, cutting personnel or simply closing, as in the case of Northvale which shut its doors last year.

Englewood Library fights for survival

A woman with a baby in her arms quietly sat down by the library computer, but since the child kept moving, she put her in the stroller by the side. A few minutes later the baby started crying, then the mother cried too.

“Is there anything wrong?” the librarian asked.

“I just lost my job, I’m behind in my rent, and I‘m about to be evicted. I don’t know where else to go,” the woman said.

“This is one of the human-interest stories going around at the library, now that it is facing a severe budget cut,” said Charlene Taylor, head reference librarian of Englewood Public Library, NJ. She understood why the woman said she had nowhere else to go because the library, besides providing the services that they usually do, is also a community center (the city doesn’t have), a designated public “cool area” in the hottest summer and a “warm place” in the coldest winter for all its residents.

The city manager has recently proposed to the city council a total budget cut of $1.5 million, of which the library share would be over a half million, or 34 percent of the total. But the library expense represents only 5 percent of the entire municipal budget.

“The proposed cut is truly alarming,” said Ann Dermansky, library board member, at a recent council meeting. “If you look at the proposed budget, no other department is being asked to make the same ‘sacrifice’ ”.

“The final decision rests with the council officials (with Mayor Frank Huttle III presiding), who must decide how much value the library provides the residents,” said Ann Sparanese, a Friends of the Library board member and retired head reference librarian. “The library cut would be about 23% or $516,000 from the library’s meager 2.4% share of the city’s overall tax levy. This is huge and simply an onerous cut.”

At the council meeting, library supporters, crowding the hall with “Save Our Library” placards, asked the council members to reassess their priorities in budget cutting.

Anita Newkirk, a patron and resident, said: “In one of the entrances to our city, there’s a sign that says ‘Welcome to the City of Englewood --- a Full Service City’. Let us keep our motto that the city provides full services, not only in health and peace and order but also in enriching education and uplifting the wellbeing of all families.”

An important service the library provides is adult programming. “Despite budget constraints, I tried to maintain the quality of adult programming by inviting concert ensembles to perform and university professors to address patrons,” said Dick Burnon, head of programming, whose budget had been severely reduced the previous year. “But despite that, the library held 146 children’s programs, 94 adult programs and 122 community programs.”

Another service of the library to a diverse community such as Englewood, is its free literacy program where residents learn English (ESL), improve job/employment skills, and attain wellness and healthy lifestyles. “For most of the city’s immigrant population, the free language classes is the only option available to them,” said Grace Colaneri, head of the literacy department.

In a letter to Mayor Frank Huttle III, Patricia A. Tumulty, president of Literacy Volunteers of New Jersey, wrote: Despite tenuous situation the Englewood Literacy Volunteers find themselves due to previous budget cuts, they (49 volunteer tutors) last year donated 2,000 hours of free instruction to 67 adults who represent the community’s diversity --- Asian, African-American, Latino, and White.

“Sixty-seven adults at the library are waiting to be matched with a literacy tutor. These adults, along with those currently being served and the many future students of the program, are motivated to improve their lives and the lives of their children by increasing their literacy skills. So as you make the tough decisions dictated by limited resouces, please make it a priority to continue your investment in your community by supporting adult literacy education for Englewood’s residents,” she further wrote.

All these public services will be reduced or eliminated once the library’s budget is cut to the bone. As Ann Sparanese wrote a local newspaper editor: If this cut is allowed to go forward, in a year or two, our library will be a mere shadow of its former self. This cut is simply too much, too fast. The library building will still be there, but what else?

And if this trend keeps going, Englewood will go the way of other libraries which reduced hours, laid-off personnel, eliminated services, and finally shut down, like neighboring Northvale Library.

Nobody knows what happened to that woman who lost her job and was about to be evicted. But one thing is sure. The Englewood Library wouldn’t be there to help her get a job or provide temporary shelter.

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A Critique of The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Here's the announcement of my forthcoming lecture on the new book titled The Jewish Annotated New Testament. Please try to attend. We'll have a lively discussion afterward.

A critique of the book

The Jewish Annotated New Testament

New Revised Standard Version

Edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler

Published by Oxford University Press, 2011

by Adolfo Borromeo

Adolfo Borromeo, Englewood author and lecturer, will lead a discussion of this new book published by Oxford University Press. The book editors and 30 contributors juxtapose the New Testament to its Jewish historical background. This discussion becomes relevant in view of the current anti-Semitic fire bombings and Nazi graffiti in the Bergen County area. Borromeo is author of God of Abraham: The Final Testament. His latest lecture was The Evolution of God Concept, delivered last January at the Englewood Public Library.

March 14, 2012 * 7.30 pm * Englewood Public Library 31 Engle Street * Englewood * NJ 07631

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And here's a photo of the library where I'll conduct my lecture. As board member of the Friends of the Library I'm also active in saving the library from possible closure due to imminent budget cuts.

Charlene Taylor, head reference librarian of Englewood Public Library, NJ, listens to an inquiry from George Tsougarakis, patron, while Ashley Williams, technology page, looks on. The library is facing a budget cut this year which represents 34% of the total city budget cut. No other department budget would be cut as much.

Evolution of God Concept

(Below is my lecture at the Englewood Public Library last Jan 11, 2012, on The Evolution of God Concept.)

Evolution of God Concept

by Adolfo Borromeo

Millions of years ago, when man first looked at the heavens and wondered at the majesty of the earth, the moon and stars --- he thought there must be unseen powers responsible for all these. In his superstition and ignorance, he thought of gods and spirits who could do him harm or as equally do him good.

Today in the 21st century, most of us still believe in a god or gods, disembodied spirits, or supernatural forces.

Why is it that through the centuries, despite the debates among thinkers, philosophers, and scientists, yes, even among scientists --- we still continue to argue about the god question?

When primitive man was shivering inside his cave, huddled with his family around the fire while outside the storm was raging and streaks of lightning ripped the sky --- he implored the gods to spare him and his family.

And the storm passed and the sun brought in a bright new day, and the seasons changed with clockwork regularity --- so did man’s concept of god change and evolve.

God Is a Human Construct

Now this lecture with a topic as big as god will fill volumes but I have only one evening to discuss it so I will try to touch on the main issues.

I propose that the god concept is a human construct --- it begins in the mind and ends in the mind. It does not exist outside the mind. This is not a new or unique idea, but has come about from early man’s deep seated need to explain what in his primitive mind were “deep mysteries” of nature.

Forrest Church of the Unitarian Universalist Church says that theology is a human construct. It begins with the miracle of our own existence… “The principal challenge of theology [therefore] is to provide symbols and metaphors that will bring us, in all our glorious diversity, into closer and more celebratory kinship with one another as sons and daughters of life and death.”

Childish Projection

This human need to explain life’s mysteries is so compelling that Voltaire said, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” And Sigmund Freud said, “the whole concept is nothing but a projection of a childish wish for parental protection from the vicissitudes and sufferings of human existence.”

Krista Tippitt, author and journalist, enlarges on this concept as the parents’ raising of their children. “I know of no richer source of theological enlightenment than parenting,” she said. “This is the body of raw experience with which I constantly revise and fill my image of God --- as mother, as parent --- with complex meaning.”

The writer Philip Pullman believes “the true end of human life is not redemption

by a nonexistent son of god but the giving and transmission of wisdom.”

Reduced to its basics, theology is philosophy. To argue your kind of philosophy, for example, you have to prove it by logical reasoning. And you base your reasoning by assumptions which may or may not be based on reality. Like when one argues how many angels can dance on the head of a needle.

Now of all species, man is the only one who can think, analyze, discern, remember and transfer acquired knowledge through generations, and to improve on this knowledge from generation to generation.

Childish Things

The child, as she comes into this world, begins to respond to stimuli around her --- the blinking light, the moving object, the ringing bell. As the years go by, she becomes aware of herself and conscious of her existence and the existence of those around her.

In her childish mind, her imaginary friend, for example, is as real as she herself is real. As real as her parents respond to her cries when she is hungry or tired, and later when she wants something. Her parents understand this, and they tell her that she should not be naughty but nice if she wants Santa Claus, for example, to bring her holiday gifts. That she should pray to her guardian angel to keep her from harm and from “bad person.” She believes without question in the fairy godmother, the tooth fairy and Easter bunny.

Now as she grows up to adulthood, she throws away these childish beliefs, although she may not object to telling the same things to her future children.

Now as an adult, she begins to question her religious teachers not because what they teach her is morally wrong but because they are intrinsically inadequate. Why accept for example a minister’s reasoning that the 9/11 tragedy was God’s punishment to homosexuals, lesbians and transgenders. What about those thousands who died who were not gays, lesbians or transgenders?

Now as an adult, as she goes through life, she knows she must rely on herself to think things through. That her mind is adequate, capable of explaining and understanding the so-called mysteries of life. That even if she is religious and believes in a supernatural being, ultimately it depends on her will and personal power to get through life.

Baruch Spinoza says that “there is nothing unknown that cannot be known… no unfathomable mystery in the world; no other-world accessible only through revelation or epiphany; no hidden power capable of judging or affirming us; no secret truth about everything.” In other words, Spinoza is saying, My mind is enough. There is no mystery. I don’t need no revelation, epiphany or miracle. By extension, it means, Even if God exists, I can question His wisdom, as when Job asked why he is being punished so much. As when Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if he (Abraham) could find at least 10 honest men in the two cities.

According to Ibn al-Rawandi, a 9th century Muslim philosopher, “we figured all the wonders of science and astronomy through natural intellect, study, observation, and trial and error. We can know the world on our own.

Our founding father Thomas Jefferson, said it in no uncertain terms, “My own mind is my own church… I do not believe in the creed professed by… any church.” I am a religion unto myself.

The Ever Changing God

From recorded history, gods have been conceived in hundreds of different forms in myriads of ways. They have been given human- or animal-like qualities, only more powerful and immortal. Those that went out of favor became myths and legends. Those that still attract believers modify their core beliefs in order to remain relevant to the growing acculturation of a global society.

Consider the following:

Evolutionary Pope

In 1996, Pope John Paul II said there was no conflict between evolution and creation, that evolution was a process in God’s creation. The pope also said that hell is not a place but a state of those who separate themselves from God, implying heaven is not a place either but a state (state of the mind?). And the pope had also debunked purgatory as a half-way house to heaven. And limbo, the heaven for infants who died before being baptized, did not exist. Putting to question, among believers, if there ever was a soul. Because if unbaptized babies had souls, where did they go? The pope having said this, the Church does not anymore mention or emphasize these discredited beliefs in the priests’ sermons and church teachings.

Reminds me of the poem Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

Men talk of heaven --- there is no heaven but here

Men talk of hell --- there is no hell but here

Men talk of hereafters and other lives

There is no other life --- but here.

The Pragmatic Dalai Lama

In an interview sometime ago, the Dalai Lama said he would remain as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people as long as they believe in him as the reincarnated Dalai Lama, meaning that he would renounce his divinity the moment they ceased to believe in it.

To the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, Tibetan Buddhism is nontheistic, unlike Hinduism, Sikkhism, Zoroastrianism, among others.

Buddhism is not concerned directly whether there is a god or gods. To the Buddha the question is irrelevant. The goal of life is to free oneself from suffering and to attain nirvana by following an enlightenment program based on reality.

State Shintoism

After the Second World War, the Japanese emperor, as part of unconditional surrender, renounced his divinity. But Gen. Douglas MacArthur insisted that Hirohito remained on the throne as symbol of national reconciliation. The only reason I mentioned this is because a pastor said recently that Japan is cursed with earthquakes and tsunamis because the emperor had sex with the sun goddess Amaterasu.

Hinduism

In the case of Hinduism, professor Rodney Stark says the new Hinduism conceive of the gods in purely subjective terms --- “All the gods are in me.” Meaning, “The gods manifest themselves in me.”

The Atheist Jew

In some Jewish sects, they accept professed atheists as members. As one rabbi said, “I told the rich atheist, “God does not care if you don’t believe in him as long as you do good work. Faith is action. So you are welcome to finance our charitable projects.”

Secular Muslims

The Arab Spring showed that tyranny, under any form of government and regardless of religion --- an oppressed people will burst into spontaneous uprising. As witnessed the events in Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. These countries are predominantly Islamic and are governed by sharia law. These countries do not follow separation of church and state. In Libya for example, the transition governing council lifted the restrictions on men having multiple wives. All men can have as many as four wives without restriction.

Stages of Faith

The psychologist James Fowler defines the stages of faith as follows:

1. Intuitive-Projective Faith--- fantasy filled, imitative phase; ages three to seven, when self-awareness is first attained.

2. Mythical-Literal Faith --- anthropomorphic god; stories and symbols are taken literally.

3. Synthetic-Conventional Faith --- governed by unexamined ideology and precepts are received from authority figures.

4. Individualistic-Reflective Faith --- assumes responsibility for her own commitments, lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes.

5. Conjuctive Faith --- integrative; freed from the confines of tribe, class, religious community or nation.

6. Universalizing Faith --- acquires a taste and feel for transcendent moral and religious actuality; universalizing compassion; enlarged visions of universal community.

Evolution of Jewish God

According to professor Robert Bella, author of Religion in Human Evolution, the original god of early Israel was not Yahweh but a clan god called El. The word Esra-el means “El rules.” So “Yahweh rules” means Esra-yahu.

And devotion to Yahweh did not mean the denial of other gods, only the obligation to worship them. In the Tanakh, Psalm 89.7-8:

For who in the skies can equal to the Lord,

Can compare with the Lord among divine beings,

A God greatly dreaded in the council of holy beings,

Held in awe by all around Him?

And as Yahweh was exalted by early Israel through the centuries, “the existence of other gods is denied, their cults are denounced as the stupid worship of inanimate, man-made objects.” In the Tanakh, Second Isaiah 45.5-6:

I am the Lord and there is none else;

Beside Me, there is no god…

… there is none but Me.

I am the Lord and there is none else.

Later, Yahweh, the national God of the Jewish people, has become the universal God of all peoples.

To Me, O Israelites, you are just like the Ethiopians ---

declares the Lord. (Amos 9.7)

The God of Israel has become the God to the nations.

So you shall summon a nation you did not know,

And a nation that did not know you

Shall come running to you ---

For the sake of the Lord your God. (Isaiah 55.5)

Then the first Christians broke off from Judaism, forming the Catholic Church which believe in the Trinity --- three persons in one God.

Then Muhammed founded Islam, which believe, There is but one God, and he did not beget a son or a holy ghost.

All along this time, through the centuries, various sects sprang from these three major religions, each differing in their beliefs for salvation and redemption.

Future of Religion

In light of global developments where the ordinary citizen demands his share of his country’s wealth and resources --- we shall see the rise of a more humanistic religion.

Traditional faiths will de-emphasize if not eliminate altogether supernatural beliefs, and there shall be more cooperation among religions to promote social justice.

Religions shall be less and less like exclusive groups but more and more like community associations for social amelioration.

Religions that cannot or will not change will split into subgroups or disband altogether. Followers who do not feel comfortable with their old faith will form their own.

The New Religion

The new religion will still derive from holy scriptures their sacred ideals and aspirations but god is no longer a supernatural being. God shall have become a metaphor of man’s highest aspirations, a symbol of everlasting hope, happiness and eternal love.

For Forrest Church, God is “a symbol, an arrow pointing toward a reality invested at the heart of being.” God is the life force that animates our lives into its own.

Rabbi Arthur Green says this evolving god concept is human evolution no less --- to higher and higher form of consciousness. So the concept evolves from tribal gods to a single god to an abstract metaphorical god.

The biologist Stuart Kauffman says it right, that God is the creativity at the heart of the universe. How much more metaphorical can you get?

Centuries from now, religions will no longer preach a god who is some supernatural being but, in the words of William James, in his book Varieties of Religious Experience --- “feelings and experiences of individuals in their solitude….” Feelings and experiences --- things internal in the human breast, not relationship to an external mystical spirit.

For Albert Einstein, religion is also a feeling, the awe and wonder of nature and the universe, not a personal god who answers the prayers of supplicants one way or the other.

There will still be wars and violence but man will wage these wars less on religious grounds. There shall still be violence but this comes not from some religious fanaticism but from man’s greed and lust for power.

Moral Ascendancy

In every generation, we see moral ascendancy in our global society. From feudalism to capitalism, from theocracy to monarchy to autocracy to democracy, from slavery to free men and women everywhere --- today’s liberalizing religions will spearhead the ultimate ascent of humankind.

Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God, calls this the moral truth of social structure --- peace and harmony among peoples and less violence among individuals. The closer we are to moral truth, the closer we are to salvation in the original Abrahamic sense of the term, which is the salvation of our global society.

Belief Doesn’t Matter

Now comes professor Alvin Plantinga of Notre Dame University, who says he cannot prove that God exists, but that doesn’t matter. Belief in God, he says, is a basic belief that doesn’t need proof, like the belief that the past exists, or that other people have minds, and that one plus one equals two.

Mr Platinga gives the example of a frog in a pond who sticks out his tongue when a fly passes by. It doesn’t matter what the frog thinks, if he’s thinking at all, when he sticks out his tongue --- whether a princess will kiss him and turn him into a handsome prince. It doesn’t matter if this belief is true or false. All he knows, in his frog mind, is that when he sits on that leaf floating on the pond, a fly will pass by and he will stick out his tongue and he will swallow the fly.

By extension, in human evolution, it doesn’t matter whether belief in God is true or false (it’s a basic belief, remember?) --- as long as this belief produces adaptive behavior in the individual that will insure his survival in the society he lives in, and will guarantee the transmission of his genes to the next generation. In other words, evolution by natural selection favors those random mutations that are adaptive for survival and reproduction.

Better Angels of Our Nature

In conclusion --- on a grander scale, how can religion hasten the peace and harmony that various faiths extol in their holy scriptures? Steven Pinker, in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, while dismissive of religion’s role in decreased violence throughout history --- he grudgingly acknowledges that “particular religious movements at particular times in history have worked against violence.” I can think, in history, of the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. and the nonviolent independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.

So if we want to have a better society for ourselves and for our children --- whether we are believers or not --- we must be vigilant in defending our religious rights and the religious rights of others. And if necessary, joining their cause in their expression of their religious freedom.

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Lecture: Evolution of God Concept

Borromeo to discuss evolution of god concept

In his new book The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker dismisses any role religion has in decreasing violence throughout history, even blaming the Church for the atrocities perpetrated on mankind. Now a local author will lecture at the Englewood Public Library, NJ, on Jan. 11 at 7.30 pm, to explain the dynamics of history. Adolfo Borromeo, author of God of Abraham: The Last Testament, says that during the Middle Ages, there was no separation of church and state. There was theocracy and monarchies deferred to the church in Rome. All of Europe was then under Christendom. The lecture titled Evolution of God Concept, will discuss how the word "God" has been defined in many different ways --- from anthropomorphic to symbolic --- that anyone nowadays could say he is a believer. Borromeo sees the evolvement of the word from theistic to nontheistic, humanist term. Borromeo can be reached at borromeofaith.org or voicemail 201.499.7262.