I am deliberately releasing this post today, on the holiday of Shvuot.  I apologize if your comments will not appear until tomorrow- but that’s because I will be praying almost all day.  The 50^th day since Pesach (Passover) is the day that the Ten Commandments were proclaimed by the Supreme Being, the day our Tora was granted.  It is traditional to spend all night studying, so that we may re-enact the feeling of the Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai.  I doubt I will be able to see the words of Hashem, as it is stated in Tora.  (The Tora proclaims that the words were seen. I have had the opportunity to see real sound waves; it was pretty scary, to be honest- but, amazing, at the same time.)

You see, three days ago (8 May 2012, when this was written) , I was confronted by the ad you see below.  Posted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.     The avowed purpose of this organization is to ensure the separation of church and state.  On that purpose- I’m in, big time.  I can say I believe in that because that’s the avowed principles of this nation.  But, I have to also admit that I believe in it, because the precept is not often practiced and because religion is often used as a weapon in this country.  I feel it as a minority religion (which is why I understand discrimination against Blacks, Gays, Latinos, Muslims, and every other minority).

Oh, I know many of you think I am exaggerating.  Because it doesn’t affect most of you.  After all, what does that cross really mean on newspaper and yellow page ads that blanket the South (of this, I’m sure; they also exist across the US)?  It doesn’t mean anything- to you.  I know it means not to purchase services or goods from people like me.  I know it, because when I lived further South, I heard it- from many a pulpit, in many a city council meeting, and in casual conversation when folks did not know from whence I came.

It plays a fundamental part in the battle against abortion.  It’s why birth control pills weren’t covered by health care insurances.  It’s almost the whole battle against Gays.  And, the use of religion is wrong in those battles.   And, it’s even worse when folks espouse the concept that G0d is on their side (including the wars that are fought with bullets).    I doubt G0d has spoken one syllable to them.  Not even on a day like today, when we want desperately to reenact the granting of the bible.

Back to that advertisement.  It was offensive- to me, and I’m sure to many people.  It was aimed at Catholics.  And, you already know I’m not Catholic.  In general, I don’t have a lot of “lost love” for the Catholic hierarchy.  After all, they taught (perhaps, still do) that Jews killed Christ.  That it was ok for the Germans and the Poles to slaughter 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.  To torture and murder my relatives in the Inquisition and force us to leave our homes and steal our money.  To sweep their pedophilia under the rug, or better yet, to claim it never happened.

But, the real problem with that ad was the entire concept.   The ad avowed that folks within the church can’t change it.  Now, to some degree, that is true- if you want to see change in front of your eyes.  Because the Pope gets to pick his (and it is a him, always) his lieutenants.  Who pick their sergeants, ad nauseum.  But, if parishioners march with their feet to other churches that are more amenable to rational thought, to true charity; the church will change from the bottom up.  Yes, that takes longer, but it lasts longer, too.

I know that happens.  Because, as a Jew, I know our religion has hierarchies, too.  Nowhere near as rigid as the Pope, Archbishops, Bishops, etc., but our institutions (as is true for EVERY institution) tend to resist change.  But, I can see the results- just from my own synagogue.  Where we, in concert with our fantastic rabbi, Shmuel Herzfeld, have forced changes in how kashrut (keeping kosher) is considered, how the withholding of a get (religious divorce) can force the shunning of an individual from the community, among other things.

Work from within.  Work harder from within.  Tune in, Turn On, Drop Out didn’t work in the 60s, and it won’t work now, either.  Achieve the changes of which you dream.

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