Deepak Chopra, MD - Washington Post On Faith: Murder by Faith? A Tale of Two Worldviews
What should be done when parents rely on religion instead of medicine to heal sick children?
I doubt that any sensible person would sanction withholding medical treatment for a sick child because of his parents’ religious beliefs, especially when it’s a case of life and death. So far as I know, courts have always sided for treatment. America is a secular society based on the rule of law. Priests who abuse children are not immune to civil law because they have taken vows (even though the Catholic Church for decades acted as if the clergy was immune, treating abuse cases as an “internal matter”). Christian Science is the most prominent denomination that believes in healing through faith, but they have come to terms with medicine as a practical matter in modern life.
Since the issue seems cut and dried, what is there to discuss? — the uncomfortable shadow zone between two world views. Secular society gives special privileges to churches, and politicians cannot succeed without at least paying lip service to a belief in God. Yet as we all know, everything that God once took care of has been usurped over time. Just as we don’t expect God to provide supernatural medical care, so we don’t expect the deity to prevent accidents, divert natural disasters, conquer enemies, or impose divine retribution on wrongdoers. Such expectations were the norm, however, in an age of faith.
For some believers, adapting to a purely secular worldview is abhorrent, and here it is easy to sympathize. Human beings crave meaning, and that often includes a higher meaning. To spend one’s life grinding away at work and accumulating possessions isn’t an adequate substitute. Even a loving family and success isn’t adequate. We are wired to look beyond the material world. It’s been said that all the things denied or unknown to science — beauty, truth, service, morals, compassion, empathy, justice, aesthetics, philosophy, and spirituality — are the very things that make life worth living.
Sadly for believers who take their religion too literally, being dragged into court is backlash from wanting more meaning in their lives. They have been blinded by promises made in the name of God. The priesthood in every society has prospered on such promises, and now that religion wanes every decade, the priesthood needs miracles and Providence and divine love simply to survive. I think the trap of two worldviews won’t end until we arrive at a form of secular spirituality, based on the evolution of consciousness. If someone can experience grace and divine love in their own lives, or if not those things then expanded consciousness, with or without a traditional God, the foundation for such experiences must be their own awareness. Accepting second-hand dogma, however uplifting, always leads to the kind of contradiction these unhappy medical cases exemplify.
Published in the Washington Post OnFaith
Deepak, you are offensive and a crackpot….. “believers who take their religion
too literally”?
What is too literally Deepak, anything that conflicts with your twisted world view?
You know, you are taking this “enlightened one” thing a bit too seriously.
You are no more enlightened the a tree stump.
You pick and choose your morality… you talk about justice and peace and then
define what it is by saying trophy hunting is wrong, killing terrorists is wrong,
but wouldn’t lift a finger to save an unborn child….. You love to demonize
organized religions like Catholicism in this post, yet they could equally
attack you for your support for the abortionists….
You are a fraud!
John,
Your points are well taken.
I hold this man in contempt. He is openly antagonistic to the Christian
faith and in a sense claims to be some sort of “holy man”, or “enlightened one”.
He refuses to dialogue with us bottom dwellers, we aren’t intellectual enough
to reason on his level, I assume.
His game is to sit back and throw bombs. I agree with your approach
in most cases, But in the case of a heretic, leading people to hell in the
afterlife and promoting a world view that creates a “hell” on earth, I make an
exception.
I’m surprised to find such hate and anger posted here. I feel that what Deepak is saying is that we need the things that religion brings.
“beauty, truth, service, morals, compassion, empathy, justice, aesthetics, philosophy, and spirituality — are the very things that make life worth living.”
These are the things that he wishes to bring to secular society. There is no arguing that much evil has been done in the name of one religion or another. I believe that is what he hopes to remove from the dogmatic side of religion.
Almost no one follows religion to the letter. Choosing to stray from certain parts form what ever reason be it impractical, contradictory or even inconvenient is part of what makes us human. It’s when we stray too far that we loose the meaning and purpose that is a fundamental part of religion. As more and more people live life in a purely secular way, pulled by the onslaught of media, pushed by the religious extremists and other forces, those things that are brought to us by the teachings of Christ, Mohamed or other religious teachers are lost.
Bringing the wisdom of these great teachers to the masses has always been a key part of any religion. I think that if more people could see the wisdom for themselves they would be naturally be drawn to a Christian or other religious way of life. By coming to “secular spirituality” one will naturally find themselves more in line with religious teachings.
The other side of this is the thought that “secular spirituality” is some how devoid of God.
That is simply impossible. Any thought of spirit is imbued with the thought of God. You cannot remove God from spirit. Allowing and encouraging the secular part of society to be closer to God on their own terms is a lot like watching a child struggle with a task that you find easy to accomplish. It may seem cruel but it’s often the only way they’ll learn.
Similarly when someone starts on their own path in finding God we need to allow them to find it in a way that arrive at the truth in order to fully understand it. A quote I once heard from Jesus “If you believe in me I will help you, If you do not I will wait until you change your mind”
Quest,
You ignoring quite a bit aren’t you…. Do you read Deepak’s hate mail?
How many times has he attacked those who do not hold to his world view..
He is constantly disparaging Christians and conservative… I happen to be
one and take great offense to it…
Too bad if you don’t like it!
Jesus said?
“If you believe in me I will help you, If you do not I will wait until you change
your mind”.
Where did you hear this?
I’m just curious though and something I don’t understand in
specific religions that believe in only healing through faith
where the logic comes from in this. I understand that in the Bible
it says to give everything up to God, but given that everything
innately is Gods doing, then wouldn’t modern medicines be of
God as well? It is not the medicine that is doing all the work but is it
not Gods willingness to allow human beings to discover the cures,
to administer said drugs, and to cure human beings?
That’s been something that has kind of irked me about religions that
deal with solemnly faith healing, the medicine would not be present or
discovered on earth if God did not will it.
*shrugs*
Deepak may be “attacking” views etc. etc. but he is no different than
any other human being. God tends to all his sheep, even the ones that
go astray, and it is just as crucial that Deepak go through this, as well
as we go through it. Jesus even said that “I am the way.” The journey is
God, and fame does have its bondage, that is why you see alot of past
gurus in India never seeking being famous, they did not need that satisfaction
plus the fact of bondage that comes with being famous. This is a good
example of it. At least this is the way I see it, I don’t know about you guys.
It may seem like he’s attacking you directly but I see it as more of a God telling
the human that, “you need to pay attention here, you need to be awake for this.”
kind of thing.
If your asking me..
Here’s how I see modern medicine…. God has given man a high level
of intelligence and the resources to manufacture medicines and develop
medical practices to promote healing…. God is the Creator of everything
but he has also given man free will. Man uses it in good ways and bad ways.
When man chooses to commit murder or crimes, he is acting
apart from God… Similarly, when he uses God’s gifts to to better life for
himself and others it is of his own doing…. Of course God is always
involved in that He provided man with all he needs to produce these things.
I would qualify this as somewhat my opinion. I believe my ideas are consistent
with Biblical teaching but not entirely sure all would agree.
The “faith healing” issue is a hard one for me… I detest the charades I see
on TV….. The Benny Hinn’s of the world who use Christianity in such a way to
embellish their bank accounts… As a Christian I find this embarrassing in that
the Websters of the world would rightly find it disgusting, but also tend to
lump all Christians in with this lot…. I would like to associate myself with those
who lived lives of sacrifice for their faith. Missionaries who forsook the
material comforts of this country to go to remote locations and live like the native
peoples to preach the “Good News”. The stories of men and women
who would minister to those in Leper colonies and predictably contract
the disease… That is what Christ preached….
The Benny Hinn’s of the world are worse than Deepak in my view
You people are just like millions of others in this planet. Blindly listening to others who
came before you . Just because your mothers and fathers and their mothers and father
belived in whatever they belived in. Your religions are like santa clause or the tooth fairy
ignorantly passed down from generation to generation. if any religion was 100% there
folowers would be 100%. yet followers of the same religion have many different views. It
doesnt make sense. Gods word should be as stagnant as possible. i understand how
you could follow the bible so blindly. its like when your reading it your not paying
attention. you could take simple knowledge of the universe and disproved most
everything in the “good book” you people need to open your eyes. “ex” The bible wants
you to belive that one man fit 100s of millions of animals onto a boat 300 cubits long.
thats only about 475 ft. no where near big enough to fit to of every animal
He’s right, yer gol durn idjit. No boat that big anywhere.
Never was. Nver will be. What er yer, some kinda durn
jawbone of a donkey?
Come on oer ta amish country. Weel tie ya to a cart
and drag ya round on theback 40 from sunrise to lunch.
Yer wont be an idjit for long.
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