My name is Jess and I was a high school Literature teacher for 16 years until I decided to run as a Democrat in a rural, red district in Missouri. I bring you news and politics from Missouri and beyond from a rural progressive point of view.
An excellent story. It is so clear why right wing politicians and extreme right wing religious groups hate public education. A person who learns to ask, rather than simply swallow, is a person they have lost. Right wing politics and right wing extreme religions evaporate into nothing when exposed to objective evidence and reason.
That's exactly it! When a person does any sort of experiment/research and then drafts a paper of the findings, one of the final sentences lays out what factors one would consider that one had not previously considered and what additional research needs to be conducted to clarify something. Even exhaustive research is not the end of something; it is merely the beginning of it. Wisdom lies in realizing that and in continuing to search for answers - some of which might not even exist yet. That is the magic of life. There's so much more to it than we can imagine, more than we can ever learn in just one lifetime.
Jess, I love your lessons and stories. Keep writing and educating. I think you're one of the best at writing to illuminate life. I'm still not sure how I became an atheist after my southern baptist church lessons...it might have been the wealthy church asking for 10% tithe of my meager funds...but, I do know that people can be good without religion in their lives.
Amen to that! My parents taught me that very concept decades ago and it's gotten me into many an argument with various people ever since, but it's what I continue to live by.
"...people can be good without religion in their lives."
Yes, and, very sadly, the reverse can be, and often is, true. Many people cling to the meaningless trappings of organized religion and utterly overlook everything else that is truly important.
Jess, I grew up in a relatively progressive Christian church (DOC). I started questioning when I was very young. I am now what I call a “Spiritual Agnostic”. I believe in…something… A divine order in the universe and a source of all good. No need to define that, it just is. I don’t attribute human emotions or characteristics to “God”. I also feel strongly that and rewards or negative consequences happen right here on earth.
I grew up in the same church, attended from 3-15 every week and intermittently for a few years after that. I loved the old songs (new in the 1800s) and the stained glass windows, woodwork.
Our church building was 'modernized' about 1970, with a new, uninspiring minister, as an attempt to draw in unchurched. They removed all the beauty and substituted plastic inlays in the window frames. Pews were different, laminated instead of solid oak. Both the poor quality of ministers and loss of the physical space beauty led to my moving on to Nature. I miss the good stuff, not the rest.
Joan, I totally understand your comment. I was raised Christian (Lutheran, then Methodist) but have not attended church, where I was very involved, for about 30 yrs. It used to be my anchor, but after my marriage and political transformation, then working for 20 yrs in a hospital with trauma families - my anchor shifted. It’s not about always attending church, it’s not about believing everything you were taught in parochial school and into adulthood - it’s all about helping other human beings in their time of need. These days I just pray silently.
I love this comment for two reasons. I share the same sentiment you shared. Secondly, I'm envious in people like you who can get that point across so succinctly.
The Renaissance started in the 14th century. It means 'Rebirth' because it was the rediscovery and revival of Greek and Roman writers, which the church had long tried to bury.
It began the seeds of The Enlightenment no doubt, but The Enlightenment was in the 17th & 18th centuries - when America and France first got religion OUT of the laws - to end 13 centuries of religious persecutions and inquisitions, etc.
That's been erased from a lot of American schoolbooks these days under pressure from the Christians proclaiming "we're a Christian national". But it was still taught in the '70s when I was in school. And it's true - as the Constitution demonstrates.
Ok, professor. I didn’t mean to have serious “what was the enlightenment” discussion; the point was about the light mentioned in the OP being parallel with the escaping of religious dogma. So I hope that came through in my comment. I was going for metaphor, not a historical treaise. But luckily we have you for that.
I'm really sorry I offended you. That wasn't my intention. Haven't checked the schoolbooks in a while, so guess I was just wondering if that was a new twist.
What a beautiful column, Jess!! My husband and I were raised Catholic, but have left a church we can no longer reconcile with our values. My husband considers himself an atheist, and is more moral and “Christian” than many Christians I know. I consider myself spiritual rather than religious, a seeker, a searcher for truth across many faith traditions. How someone who calls themselves “Christian” can support this administration is beyond my comprehension. Thank you for the light and inspiration you bring to us!
Yes. I was pretty tolerant as I became less and less religious and more spiritual. But in 2018 after not enough Churches spoke out against child separation, I decided I would never go into a Church again. I just consider it being true to myself.
This is a beautiful tribute to the mentor and woman you call Doris. I hope she did all she wanted to before her casket was closed. She certainly deserved to. 💙
You verbalize so well what many of us who were brought up as baby Christians have gone through. None are so blind as they that won't see. Thank you for your wonder gift of words!
That is precisely why people need to get out of their comfort zones and actually speak to people who are different than they are. Go to school, take classes that expand your mind, travel, learn other languages, read books about other cultures, study other religions. We are not so very different. They want us to think that different = bad.
It was a Canadian man in my case, but so similar. Finally someone very wise opened my eyes. Good without god. What a gift he gave me. He broke through the indoctrination.
Beautiful writing. I love reading your thoughts. I live in southwest Missouri, retired school teacher and and your thoughts buoy my spirit. Thank you. ❤️🩹💙
Wow! Thank you. Floods of memories just came from my restaurant work in my teens and 20s. I don’t think I ever realized how so many of my beliefs started working with so many different types of people, both staff and customers. My Doris was a wonderful women named Red!
Makes me think of one of my favorite books - “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins. There’s a chapter in it called “Can We Be Good Without God?” His answer is a resounding yes!
I was outdoors a LOT growing up, happy to have big woodlands, streams, and a ‘frog pond’ all within easy walking distance. I don’t consider myself a spiritual person, but I found connection and amazement in Nature - ecology and ethology in particular. WAY more than I ever found in reading a Bible cover to cover, or my various forays into a few churches.
Plenty of unkind folks occupying those front pews. . .
An excellent story. It is so clear why right wing politicians and extreme right wing religious groups hate public education. A person who learns to ask, rather than simply swallow, is a person they have lost. Right wing politics and right wing extreme religions evaporate into nothing when exposed to objective evidence and reason.
That is so very true. They want us dumb and submissive
How many times has Trump told us the he likes uneducated voters? There is an obvious reason for his preferences.
Yes. Hating and persecuting educated people is nothing new in thought control of the masses. Galileo was famously excommunicated for example
That's exactly it! When a person does any sort of experiment/research and then drafts a paper of the findings, one of the final sentences lays out what factors one would consider that one had not previously considered and what additional research needs to be conducted to clarify something. Even exhaustive research is not the end of something; it is merely the beginning of it. Wisdom lies in realizing that and in continuing to search for answers - some of which might not even exist yet. That is the magic of life. There's so much more to it than we can imagine, more than we can ever learn in just one lifetime.
Jess, I love your lessons and stories. Keep writing and educating. I think you're one of the best at writing to illuminate life. I'm still not sure how I became an atheist after my southern baptist church lessons...it might have been the wealthy church asking for 10% tithe of my meager funds...but, I do know that people can be good without religion in their lives.
Morality is not dependent on the belief in God.
Amen to that! My parents taught me that very concept decades ago and it's gotten me into many an argument with various people ever since, but it's what I continue to live by.
Sadly, quite often a belief in God results in nonsensical morality.
"...people can be good without religion in their lives."
Yes, and, very sadly, the reverse can be, and often is, true. Many people cling to the meaningless trappings of organized religion and utterly overlook everything else that is truly important.
Jess, I grew up in a relatively progressive Christian church (DOC). I started questioning when I was very young. I am now what I call a “Spiritual Agnostic”. I believe in…something… A divine order in the universe and a source of all good. No need to define that, it just is. I don’t attribute human emotions or characteristics to “God”. I also feel strongly that and rewards or negative consequences happen right here on earth.
I grew up in the same church, attended from 3-15 every week and intermittently for a few years after that. I loved the old songs (new in the 1800s) and the stained glass windows, woodwork.
Our church building was 'modernized' about 1970, with a new, uninspiring minister, as an attempt to draw in unchurched. They removed all the beauty and substituted plastic inlays in the window frames. Pews were different, laminated instead of solid oak. Both the poor quality of ministers and loss of the physical space beauty led to my moving on to Nature. I miss the good stuff, not the rest.
I agree Jess stories are so relatable. Thank You Jess.
I decided at a young age that god made no sense to me at all. Some people really can’t stand it but that’s their problem.
I'm also missing the spiritual gene. Never made sense to me either, from first grade on.
Formal religion - Informal religion
Some of the best Christians I know are atheists.
Joan, I totally understand your comment. I was raised Christian (Lutheran, then Methodist) but have not attended church, where I was very involved, for about 30 yrs. It used to be my anchor, but after my marriage and political transformation, then working for 20 yrs in a hospital with trauma families - my anchor shifted. It’s not about always attending church, it’s not about believing everything you were taught in parochial school and into adulthood - it’s all about helping other human beings in their time of need. These days I just pray silently.
I have a similar story. Thanks for sharing!
I love this comment for two reasons. I share the same sentiment you shared. Secondly, I'm envious in people like you who can get that point across so succinctly.
Thank you. I’m usually the one admiring others for their pithy comments. Today, I got it right.
And some of the cruelest are religious.
Some of the cruelest people are the ones who think God is on their side.
Sadly, yes.
I’ve taken online bible and religious quizzes and always scored better than the “Christians”.
It's surprising how many Christians don't know what's in the Bible. There's a lot that some of those evangelicals would be scandalized by.
Christians (specifically including bishops priests vicars pastors etc.) who don't believe in god are called Modernists.
I can't argue with that.
I agree with THAT one, Joan.
“She was light in that dark cellar.” There’s a reason they call the intellectual and cultural awakening of the Renaissance “the Enlightenment”.
The old dishwasher was a beacon of such light. Thank you for continuing to hold the lamp high.
The Renaissance started in the 14th century. It means 'Rebirth' because it was the rediscovery and revival of Greek and Roman writers, which the church had long tried to bury.
It began the seeds of The Enlightenment no doubt, but The Enlightenment was in the 17th & 18th centuries - when America and France first got religion OUT of the laws - to end 13 centuries of religious persecutions and inquisitions, etc.
That's been erased from a lot of American schoolbooks these days under pressure from the Christians proclaiming "we're a Christian national". But it was still taught in the '70s when I was in school. And it's true - as the Constitution demonstrates.
Ok, professor. I didn’t mean to have serious “what was the enlightenment” discussion; the point was about the light mentioned in the OP being parallel with the escaping of religious dogma. So I hope that came through in my comment. I was going for metaphor, not a historical treaise. But luckily we have you for that.
I'm really sorry I offended you. That wasn't my intention. Haven't checked the schoolbooks in a while, so guess I was just wondering if that was a new twist.
Sorry to go off on you. Your first reply seemed pedantic, but apparently that was not your intent, and I’m sorry I read it that way.
What a beautiful column, Jess!! My husband and I were raised Catholic, but have left a church we can no longer reconcile with our values. My husband considers himself an atheist, and is more moral and “Christian” than many Christians I know. I consider myself spiritual rather than religious, a seeker, a searcher for truth across many faith traditions. How someone who calls themselves “Christian” can support this administration is beyond my comprehension. Thank you for the light and inspiration you bring to us!
That's just it, they call themselves Christians but seem to know nothing about what Jesus taught.
Yes. I was pretty tolerant as I became less and less religious and more spiritual. But in 2018 after not enough Churches spoke out against child separation, I decided I would never go into a Church again. I just consider it being true to myself.
This is a beautiful tribute to the mentor and woman you call Doris. I hope she did all she wanted to before her casket was closed. She certainly deserved to. 💙
Would love to have known Doris!
Doris is all around us. We just need to look. Jess is Doris and you may be Doris also.
In today's dark and cruel world, thank goodness for people who show us glimpses of light and right.
You verbalize so well what many of us who were brought up as baby Christians have gone through. None are so blind as they that won't see. Thank you for your wonder gift of words!
That is precisely why people need to get out of their comfort zones and actually speak to people who are different than they are. Go to school, take classes that expand your mind, travel, learn other languages, read books about other cultures, study other religions. We are not so very different. They want us to think that different = bad.
It was a Canadian man in my case, but so similar. Finally someone very wise opened my eyes. Good without god. What a gift he gave me. He broke through the indoctrination.
I love your posts. That one made me cry.
Beautiful writing. I love reading your thoughts. I live in southwest Missouri, retired school teacher and and your thoughts buoy my spirit. Thank you. ❤️🩹💙
❤️
Wow! Thank you. Floods of memories just came from my restaurant work in my teens and 20s. I don’t think I ever realized how so many of my beliefs started working with so many different types of people, both staff and customers. My Doris was a wonderful women named Red!
Keep the fight!
Makes me think of one of my favorite books - “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins. There’s a chapter in it called “Can We Be Good Without God?” His answer is a resounding yes!
I will add that book to my list
I was outdoors a LOT growing up, happy to have big woodlands, streams, and a ‘frog pond’ all within easy walking distance. I don’t consider myself a spiritual person, but I found connection and amazement in Nature - ecology and ethology in particular. WAY more than I ever found in reading a Bible cover to cover, or my various forays into a few churches.
Plenty of unkind folks occupying those front pews. . .
Absolutely LOVE this story. A lot of Dorises have blessed my life immeasurably. Gospel truth - actual good news!