What Brought Me Back
After a hiatus from Bible Heathen, last Friday’s horrifying school shooting has led me back. For four days my mind’s been grinding away at the unanswerable questions that come in the wake of deliberate, man-made tragedy. And last night I was surprised to find myself—a Santa-loving agnostic—on my way home from work, wondering how the events in Newtown,Connecticut, intersect with the Holy Book.
For the first time, I began to understand the Bible’s appeal and it’s relevance to modern, daily life. I didn’t want to pray, find redemption, or get religion (whatever that entails). Instead, I was searching for a way to connect Friday’s frightening events with a more expansive human history,and the Bible seemed like a good place to turn.
The Bible is one of the oldest books that seeks to reveal human nature through some kind of historical context. We learn from the Exodus (I think) that mass murder is nothing new, but the motivations of a suicidal killer like Adam Lanza feel distinctly different from the evil perpetrated by ancient kings. It leaves me wondering what stories from our present era would be included in a Brand New Contemporary Testament of Modern Times. What horrors and miracles define our existence? How do we know that justice
is meted out?
2000+ Years of Loneliness
Look at Eden’s Adam. There was a guy who knew loneliness! But his isolation pushed him to nurture and create (with some help from the big G, of course). He tended the Garden of Eden, named roughly 8.7 million species of critters, and begat one massive family. He fought against his isolation, turned his energy outward to build new life.
In modern times we stand at the bus stop in silent clusters, staring at glowing rectangles. Put in the context of my meager Genesis readings, modern daily existence seems both cluttered and empty. Our basic human needs are satisfied, but we suffer from a new frightening isolation. It is far too easy to become detached from any sort of community, to replace real creation with digital activity. We have more ways to connect, but fewer ties to a real and tangible world. Unlike the productive loneliness of Eden’s Adam, isolation like that of Newtown’s Adam Lanza culminates as a single act of destruction by which it replicates, pushing itself into the families and communities that suffer direct losses.
Heathens’ Vigil
Last night as I passed Washington Square Park, I looked at a crowd that had gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor Newtown’s dead. The group was mostly NYU students and they had the distinct, heathen-y look of people who spend their weekends reading Nietzsche before hitting the bars. As they leaned against one another it didn’t matter if they believed in God or organized religion. They filled the square with spiritual electricity as they prayed (the way heathens do, even if we don’t call it that) for justice. And I realized that moments like that give me every reason to believe in heaven and hell.
Bible Heathen 