new church life: jan uary / february 201 4
never as essential and living as the truths of genuine doctrine are.
Part of the difference between dogma and doctrine is the way in which
they are presented and taught. Dogmas, obviously, are “dogmatic.” Doctrines
may be stated dogmatically (in which case they become dogmas); and dogmas
may be taught with an appeal to reason and understanding (in which case they
take on something of the quality of doctrine).
The New Church does not have dogmas; it has doctrines, which are taught
with respect for an individual’s free will, reason and conscience. Or at least
they should be – if they ever are not, then the way they are being taught is
contrary to the whole spirit of the Church.
(WEO)
protecting obscenity – but not prayer
A recent letter writer to The Wall Street Journal noted: “The [United States]
Supreme Court is considering . . . whether prayers before meetings of
public officials, led most often by Christians, amount to an unconstitutional
government endorsement of religion.
“A same-day book review of Whitney Strub’s Obscenity Rules describes the
Supreme Court’s snaking path to protection of obscenity as a First Amendment
right. Mr. Strub presents the obscenity legal battle as one between sophisticated
liberal minds supporting free expression and repressive conservative minds
that are closed and moralistic.”
The letter writer cited several instances of “protected” artistic expression,
funded by the taxpayer-supported National Endowment for the Arts, such
as “The Holy Virgin Mary” – a Madonna adorned with elephant dung and
sexually explicit photos.
He concluded: “If sophisticated liberal minds dictate that Christians accept
(and pay for) deeply offensive, anti-Christian imagery, it seems reasonable that
atheists and Wiccans could cover their ears during brief legislative prayers
reflecting beliefs held by the majority of Americans. To rule that our founders
favored protection of pornography but not public prayer is patently absurd.”
Amen.
(BMH)
sophisticated minds
“Sophisticated minds” generally are considered intellectual, worldly-wise,
above the thinking of the common man.
Indeed, educated, sophisticated people help us to understand and
appreciate art, music and literature. There is nothing wrong with sophistication
– in its place.
But sophistication often is used to imply wisdom. Many “sophisticates”
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