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Our Graven Images

A  recent assertion from a Newsmax commentator about Taylor Swift got me to thinking about idolatry:

But I think what they call it is, they’re elevating her to an idol. Idolatry. This is a little bit what idolatry, I think, looks like. And you’re not supposed to do that. In fact, if you look it up in the Bible, it’s a sin! So, I don’t like that.”  [ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/greg-kelly-taylor-swift-fans-idolatry-sin_n_65b907bfe4b0102bd2d62292 ]

I know the Second Commandment warns against idolatry, but Jesus does not make much of it in the Christian Testament. There are only three passages I know of where Jesus warns against worshipping an idol, and in no case does he use the word “idol.” Yet we may learn what Jesus did not want us to worship by considering them.

The first idol is “Mammon” in the passage from the King James Version:

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (wealth) (Matthew 6:24)

The word “mammon” is usually translated as “money” or “wealth.” In the Middle Ages it was personified as one of the seven princes of hell, giving it more of a personal identity.  In any terms, the concept of serving or worshipping is built into the conflict of God vs. mammon. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammon ]  Christians usually understand “serving wealth” as an uncontrolled desire for riches to the extent that faith in God is compromised. Where we cross the line of using money for the security to an obsession is never obvious, as would be true for most of Jesus’ teachings. But turning money into an idol is a violation of the Second Commandment.

The second idol is tyrannical government. We can assume that Jesus rejected the notion that Caesar should be worshipped as a God from the example of paying taxes.

   “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. (Mark 12:16-17)

What belongs to God is reverence and worship. Paying taxes is the duty of every citizen, although many of Jesus’ contemporaries would have disagreed.  Maybe our contemporaries, too. Since Caesar represents tyranny, it follows that modern tyranny should not be worshipped as well.  What constitutes tyranny in the modern sense is debatable.  I suppose leaders, who imply that loyalty to them supersedes the worship of God, would be considered idols. Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses have argued that they should be exempted from government requirements that contradict their religious beliefs. The law has upheld that argument. What if those rights were taken away? Would the government then become an idol that demands they violate their beliefs? Tyrannical government can be an idol.

The third idol could be those who represent themselves as the returning Christ.

Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. (Luke 21:8)

Cult leaders could fall into the classification of an idol. They may call themselves “Christ” or claim their words come straight from Christ, but Jesus warns that they are part of “latter day”events. Who these “Christs” are might be controversial, but they are potential idols when they contradict what Jesus taught, while representing themselves as “the anointed one,” the meaning of the word “Christ.” Those who attempt to represent Christ, but fail to live by his example, might be considered idols.

In none of these examples are the commandments against “idolatry,” but rather objects of worship that might replace God. These objects might not represent idolatry to some, but Jesus’ laws are never as clear cut as we would like them to be.  Idolatry, in the modern sense, represents the disposition of the heart, not a legal definition.

Jesus warns about many other things, like “the leaven [legalism] of the Pharisees” or the “hypocrisy” of those who practice spirituality in public, but such behaviors are less than worship and not focused on an object of worship, so I don’t think of them as idols. Jesus did not expand much about idolatry per se.

Is the ardent following of Taylor Swift “idolatry” ? Perhaps, in a figurative, adolescent way. But then how do we distinguish “idols” from “heroes”?  Many adults have sports heroes, music heroes, historical heroes that don’t rise to the level of idolatry.The passion of teenagers is not so different from the devotion of adults.  So why quibble?

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them” Exodus 20:4.

It is dangerous to think of the Second Commandment  as irrelevant today, because there are modern equivalents, such as money and cult leaders, as Jesus has reminded us.  But let’s not get carried away and claim any passion or devotion is an idol.  It’s all right to be fans and followers, if we recognize our limits. Isn’t that what morality about?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The “Something Rotten” Conspiracy Principle*

As far back as 1950, when Senator Joe McCarthy (R-WI) insisted—without evidence—that the Department of State under Democratic president Harry Truman had been infiltrated by Communists, Republicans have used official investigations to smear their opponents. Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, February 10, 2024.

When the House Republicans began an investigation into the criminality of President Joe Biden, I wondered what criminal behavior they could possibly reveal that was not already known? I truly wondered if the President could be hiding some dangerous behavior.

Two years later, the sound and fury of the investigation continues, yet the Judiciary Committee has uncovered nothing but unfounded accusations and generated some negative press for the President.  I finally realized that the point was not to uncover evidence, but to create the illusion that evidence was forthcoming and to make something stick to the reputation of the President, whether it was true or not. Heather Cox Richardson calls it a “smear” campaign. I would call it a campaign to distract from the bad behavior of the President before Biden or the “Something Rotten” Conspiracy Principle.

President Trump was impeached twice without a conviction. If the Judiciary Committee could threaten to impeach Biden even once, the score would be even, in the minds of Jim Jordan and his gang of eighteen Republicans. Their plan was to churn out innuendoes that something was rotten in the Oval Office, and they  were going to get to the bottom of it. They tried the same strategy with Alejandro Majorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, and the House refused to impeach him this week, with four Republicans refusing to buy the product.

So it is not so much a smear campaign, but a campaign of “Whataboutism” i.e. the trick of turning any argument against the opponent.  When faced with accusations of corruption, they claim the entire world is corrupt.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism . That’s why it was necessary to campaign against two Democratic officials together– to balance the scales against the considerable corruption of a man with two impeachments on his record.

The former President made the template for “something rotten,” when he pursued the charges of election fraud in 2020 through 62 lawsuits with only one discovering even a minor infraction. Still he pursued his claims just to maintain that uncertainty about fair elections in the voters’ minds. Apparently it worked, because one-third of Americans continue to believe the 2020 election was stolen. These beliefs are based on innuendo and unproven accusations.

Republicans renewed Trump’s “something rotten” strategy with the impeachment campaigns against Biden and Majorkas without uncovering any substantial evidence. By merely investigating they have kept suspicion alive that something sinister (“rotten”) must be happening in Washington,D.C.  Certain citizens love “something rotten” theories,” and investigations add odor to something rotten when it is past its expiration date.

I have to concede that attributing sinister motives to the House Judiciary Committee is a conspiracy theory of my own. And maybe, as House Speaker Mike Johnson claims, the President truly believes the election was stolen from him.  I can only point to the facts of no substantial evidence in any of these cases and the persistence of the former President and the Republican cohorts of the Judiciary Committee to believe what they cannot prove. This dogged pursuit of mere suspicion suggests a mentality favoring suspicion over facts. Suspicions are what keep voting citizens off balance, even turning suspicions into personal convictions.

Americans need to remember the principle that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty, even during House investigations.

Certainly the former President remembers it. It has kept him alive through 91 indictments, which rely on more than suspicion to stay fresh in the legal system.

*See Hamlet, Act I, Scene iv: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” [a suspicion, not yet a fact]

 

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Cardinals Alert!

@MozeliakJohn

Sign Jordan Montgomery! His market value is down, but his value is high. He was the best pitcher the Cardinals had last year, and you let him go. But you can bargain for him now and make up for that.

The Cardinals cannot survive on false hopes as they did last year. The average age of their starting rotation is 35. Each one was on the injured reserve list in 2023. Three had losing records.  You can’t depend on full performance from any of them.

If any of them fail, there is no insurance policy to salvage the season.
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The Caribbean – Days 9-10

Cruising

Infinite horizon:  pastel pink

Sweeping gray waves,

sun popping up round, splitting

A spherical fission.

Brisk, warming breeze

     From bow to stern

                                                                                  Layering the sweeping tide

                                                                                Sliding aft-ward

Day Nine, the last day of cruising. Already we are gathering our luggage to set out by nine tonight. Ten days hurried like waves past our balcony.  The last three days slowed the pace by keeping us on board, the churning waves keeping us from Grand Cayman.  I regret missing the island,  because it was part of my reason for taking this particular cruise. But with the driving pace of days after our stop at the Panama Canal, it was a relief to spend three days relaxing and letting time expand, instead of gravitating from one event to the next.

Waking up with radiating sun and a delivered breakfast, choosing a movie, a lecture, an entertainer for the day, made it feel more like a vacation and less like an itinerary.  Enjoyed a cocktail hour before a leisurely, four-course dinner. Nothing like our life at home, even the life of retirement with fewer demands on our time.

Cruising was all I hoped it would be. Settled in a cabin for the duration.  Constant movement and at rest. New port waiting in the morning.  The athletic, singing trombone player. The synchrony of the Vivace violin duet.  The three-course, four-star dinner menu.  And the dawn breaking over our balcony.

Fort Lauderdale again.

 

 

 

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Day 8- The Sloth Sanctuary

One of the best days so far, we spent at the Sloth Sanctuary in Limon, Costa Rica.

According to the website sponsored by the family of Judy Avey-Arroyo and the late Luis Arroyo, “The Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica is the original rescue center for injured, orphaned and abandoned sloths.”

The Arroyos originally used their  320-acre property as a bird reserve for tourists to visit. As a result of an earthquake that hit the island in 1991, the sanctuary was ruined.

In 1992 a neighbor brought them a baby sloth injured by an auto accident. As their website explains: “Although Judy and Luis sought assistance, not even zoos or wildlife rescue centers knew how to guide them in sloth care. So, they observed the wild sloths on their property, and used their common sense to raise this infant sloth.”

The property was declared an official sanctuary in 1997. Today the  sanctuary is the official home to two-toed and three-toed sloths, some to be released, but many requiring the special care of the sanctuary. See https://www.slothsanctuary.com/about-us .

Below, some sloths we met in rehab. Many of them are not self-sufficient to be released into the wild. For example, they must be taught to distinguish a few edible leaves from the many toxic leaves in the rain forest.  Below center, a blind sloth in permanent residence.

Some young rescued sloths are being prepared for release, if they are promising. Below some photos of “sloth kindergarten” during their morning outing. Some are too young for exercise, but others show great aptitude on the available climbing bars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indoors they have a “Neo-natal” room for the youngest rescued sloths, who may need round-the-clock care, administered by co-founder Judy Avey-Arroyo.

Sloths are very inquisitive, but cannot be handled except by licensed care providers. They become attached to people like the daughter of Avey-Arroyo, who gave us a tour of the facilities.

Their reputation for laziness is not deserved, said our guide. They have a very slow digestive system, taking hours to digest one meal. So they rest.

 

Eating vegetables off a plate.

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Pants on Fire

Speaker Mike Johnson insists he is not taking orders from Donald Trump, yet continues to rubber stamp the former President’s demand to shoot down any Democrat-initiated immigration legislation in advance of the election.

Can the Speaker point to one instance he has not been a mouthpiece for the former President? He has relentlessly agreed with him since the Election denial campaign of 2020. The evidence favors a House Speaker with his “pants on fire.”

The Speaker depends on the short memory of American voters. When no one was listening, he said,

“The thing about Donald Trump is that he lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House,”  in a lengthy post on Facebook on Aug. 7, 2015, before he was elected to Congress and a day after the first Republican primary debate of the campaign cycle. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/us/politics/mike-johnson-donald-trump.html ]

Challenged in the comments page by someone defending Mr. Trump, Mr. Johnson responded: “I am afraid he would break more things than he fixes. He is a hot head by nature, and that is a dangerous trait to have in a Commander in Chief.”

Somewhere in Mike Johnson’s evolution as a political animal, he became a henchman for the former President, became an Election Denier, and, complying with Trump’s expectations, now promises to block legislation to reinforce border security. Even his reluctant support could save lives and decrease illegal immigration in the short term. At least he could let the bill show its inadequacy until Trump was elected to a new administration. The danger is that it might succeed in alleviating the problem. How inconvenient that would be for Mr. Trump’s campaign!

Politicians have the prerogative to change their minds, but they probably should make a good story about why. Not political convenience. Not appeasement of power-brokers. Not compromising with a man who “lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House.” There’s no explaining how Rep. Mike Johnson became a born-again believer in Donald Trump.

And there’s no explanation of how a born-again believer could become a disciple of a man who “would break more things than he fixes.  . . . a hot head by nature . . . a dangerous trait to have in a Commander in Chief.”  Those were prophetic words about Donald Trump in 2015.   Not these words about Trump’s denial of the Election results of 2020:  “I take him at his word. I do believe he believes that.”  This is the same man Johnson said, “lacks a moral center.”

So how do we reconcile the Mike Johnson who warned us about Trump in 2015 with ““I’m all in for President Trump, I expect he’ll be our nominee, and he’s going to win it . . .” https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/14/politics/mike-johnson-donald-trump-endorsement-president/index.html.

I think someone’s pants are on fire.

 

 

 

 

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Caribbean- Days 6 & 7

The great crossing though the Panama Locks transpired on Day 6. Below is a map of our approximate path through the new locks and the old.

First, we were on a cruise ship going through the first lock at Gatun Locks  (between #1 and #2 below)  then on life boats (aka “ferries”), water shuttles (from #3-#4 below ), buses (dotted road from #4-#9 in Gamboa)) and eventually ferries that took us through the olde Pedro Miguel and the Miraflores Locks (#14-15). 

Entering Port at Colon the Ruby Princess gave us our first acquaintance with the locking process early in the morning, sailing through the the newest installation at Gatun Lake. The lock walls, embedded in the side walls, slid across to block water from the front and back. The moving walls formed the container that would be pumped full of fresh water to raise the enclosed boat 85 feet above the bottom, which is higher than the ocean bottom. The fresh water avoids the ecological clash of merging one ocean’s sea water with the other.

 

Panama Canal - Wikipedia

The trip through the old locks was more adventurous, because we had another touring ferry on one side and a thirty-foot sailboat on the other. The sailboat was lashed to our starboard side, so we didn’t bounce against each other in transit.  So we inched into the Pedro Miguel Lock [#4), and the doors closed behind and in front of us. This time they closed on a hinge, as the early locks did (photograph below).

The entourage cleared the Pedro Miguel lock and spread out as they advanced on the Mirafloras lock (between 14 & 15).  Then back into formation for the second lock. No cubic foot of water was wasted to get four craft though the locks.

We circled Panama City, an impressive skyline with modern skyscrapers. It could be a skyline in Qatar or Dubai, except for the poverty in its shadow, which we got to witness on the bus ride home– one dilapidated building after another. 

City Skyline

The significant message of the day: that immigrants from the barrios of the U.S. and Canada came to Panama to build the canal for $1/ day, plus lodging. The initial locks were completed in 1914, but work continued a century later with the construction of the new locks, completed May 2016.

We bussed back to Colon in time for a late dinner– 8 p.m.

 

 

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Days 4,5 – Cartegena

We looked forward to visiting Cartegena, Colombia: neither of us had been to South America before.  We had not even located it on a map until Princess Cruise put it on the itinerary. There it was, our destination on the fourth day of the cruise.

From the shore line, Colombia is a sprawling seaport, with several terminals for container ships.  Our guide gave us the panoramic view at the top of  The Castillo San Felipe de Barajas (San Felipe de Barajas Castle), a vision of prosperity.  That would be the initial story of any thriving city.

That Cartegena was historically Catholic is visible everywhere. Below, the exterior and interior of  San Pedro Klavier, only a few steps from San Felipe. The crypt, if course, contains the remnants of the founder, Pedro Klaver. The church is part of a set of religious buildings that is complemented by the Cloister of San Pedro Claver and the archaeological museum.

San Pedros Klaver (keys)

San Pedro Klaver (keys)

Altar San Pedro Klava

 

Crypt San Pedro Klaver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Included in the museum’s story of the civilizing of Cartegena is the story of African American slavery. It sets a sobering counterpoint to the prosperity story. Below a painting from the colonial era, with an abolitionist perspective. Cartegena completely abolished slavery in 1852. Progressive.

Oil Painting of Slaves Imprisoned

Another landmark of Cartegena is the  impressive basilica, just a few steps from San Pedro Klaver. Thr giant tryptich at the front of the cathedral depicts the history that leads to the founding of the church

Cartagena Cathedral, Colombia - Wikipedia

Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of St. Catherine of Alexandria,

 

Basilica Pulpit

 

 

 

 

 

I have to mention that the grand history of the city did not block our  memories of disturbing poverty just beyond the sights on our tour. Below the ingenious representation of two men alongside a spherical sculpture, whose purpose I forget.  I was sorry not to have the right denomination of bills to recognize their perfect transformation to living scupture.

Mimes Bookending Sculpture

 

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Tales from the Dark World

To politicize anything means to turn it into a weapon for your advantage.  Late in life I realize that anything can be politicized, which is to say: degraded, mocked or utterly corrupted.  It especially sad to see the whole gamut in one week in January.

First, the Taylor Swift fiasco is a mockery of her public image. She has become an “idol” in the religious sense and her followers endangered worshippers. Her involvement in voter registration and her support for former Gov. Phil Bredesen, who was running for the Senate against then-Representative Marsha Blackburn, and Jim Cooper (a House member who has since retired) incited insults from Newsmax host Greg Kelly who said, But I think what they call it is, they’re elevating her to an idol. Idolatry. This is a little bit what idolatry, I think, looks like. And you’re not supposed to do that. In fact, if you look it up in the Bible, it’s a sin! So, I don’t like that.”  [ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/greg-kelly-taylor-swift-fans-idolatry-sin_n_65b907bfe4b0102bd2d62292 ] It may make be spiritual to some, but to me it is mockery of things spiritual. 

The NFL has  been degraded for its politically incorrect pro-vaccine advocacy and its Rooney Rule (mandatory interview with Black candidates for head coaching).  “Cancelling” is not only the prerogative of the p0litical left.  Now the NFL is accused of fabricating the romance of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for public relations and for a plan for Taylor to announce her support of Democrats during the Super Bowl.

Alison Steinberg, a host on the ultraconservative One America Network, claimed that Swift’s relationship is a “fake, carefully crafted show” meant to get children “obsessed with some grown man who gets paid millions of dollars every year to throw a ball around while promoting poison death shots. 

This allegation credits  the NFL with much more daring than you would expect, since it is run by owners that worry about attendance and image first. To plan this kind of political stunt goes far beyond their risk tolerance, so there is no credibility to that rumor.

Finally, the  complex bill on Israel, Ukraine, and southern border control came out of committee and was immediately savaged by supporters of Donald Trump. The Republican Senator who negotiated the present proposal with funds and executive power is James Lankford of Oklahoma. “There’s political pressure to say, ‘If we fix the border now, then Biden’s suddenly gonna get off the hook and it’ll help his presidential campaign,'” Lankford said. But Lankford, a respected Republican, crafted the compromise bill that would potentially resolve the stalemate over border security. The complaint that it would weaken the immigration case for former President Trump is sadly cynical. Is it possible a candidate for President of the United States would sabotage a bill that would save lives and preserve security just for the arming of his political campaign? Oh yes.  A democratic process could be utterly corrupted.

Apparently everything from passing vital immigration legislation to the idolization of rock stars can be politicized.   It is as if the mere contact with a polarizing issue turns institutions and people into agents of a conspiracy.

In an election year, probably everything can, and will be, politicized, but it doesn’t make it newsworthy. Let the boycotts of the NFL and Taylor Swift concerts begin, but try not to sling mud just to degrade the reputation of every person and institution in sight.

Above all, let important compromises and desperately needed legislation pass without Donald Trump’s blessing. Talk about idolatry, what would you call the Republican Party’s fealty to the former President?  The failure to bargain over legislation in good faith strikes at the heart or democracy. That is what happened at the end of January, when the Mitch McConnell offered that legislation crafted by a member of his own party could not pass without the former President’s blessing. That was a sad day for democracy, indeed.