Sticks and stones

may break my bones, but words can never harm me.

Oh, yeah? Tell that to Mitt Romney, Todd Akin, or any one of numerous other political candidates whose words were twisted against them.

And, pity the guy who incoherently stumbled his thoughts aloud when a microphone was jammed in his face.

Such was the case with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy obviously grew up on that ranch in Nevada. Also obvious is his complete lack of knowledge of the conditions of slavery in America. His mental pictures are those of slaves in humble but happy conditions, widely dispersed by slave owners.

Literate, thinking Americans today shutter at the thought of one person owning another. And, perhaps, we have a mental vision of a slave being whipped, or otherwise punished by a brutal owner.

Surely those conditions were more rare than were idyllic scenes of family happiness among slaves. And who would believe this more readily than a rancher who showers care on his horses, recognizing that he could expect more work from a healthy, well-treated animal. (Again, we shudder at the concept of any human being compared to a well-treated animal. A concept which was surely a reality.)

Now rancher Bundy sees black families trained to be dependent on the largesse of government. He hears of the chilling per cent of black babies being aborted. He hears of the disproportionate number of young black men in prison. He mentally compares these facts with his imagined view of well-treated slave families. Stack all those thoughts into the head of a somewhat inarticulate man who likes to talk. Give him a microphone to a national audience and you have a recipe for disaster.

At no time did Cliven Bundy express hatred of black or Hispanic Americans. At no time did he demonstrate a feeling of superiority over any minority Americans. To the contrary, he demonstrated disapproval of the way these Americans are treated.

Cliven Bundy is not the racist he has been portrayed to be. He is a simple man, ignorant of the kind of language deemed acceptable in modern America. No sticks or stones in play here. But this inarticulate, well meanng, man has been badly beaten with a misinterpretation of his own words.

Holy Days

Here we are, Good Friday for Christians, Passover for Jews. Holy Days for millions of believers around the world. The target of derision for some non-believers.

It would seem that humans have always had beliefs of omnipresent superior beings. And, those beliefs have been a subject of great controversy. Men have gone to war over religious beliefs. Others have extended great acts of generosity and kindness because of such beliefs.

Some have believed in multiple Gods; the God of the mountain; the God of the sea, etc. In modern times, most believe in (or deny the existence of) a single God. And those beliefs are nuanced in many ways. In America, we hold those different beliefs to be a personal right, protected by law. Sadly, however, differences in religious beliefs still foster resentment. People grow from childhood with such strong religious beliefs, they find it impossible to understand, or in some cases to even tolerate, a contrary belief.

Years ago, great thinkers wrote essays covering both the history of their people, and their moral codes. At some point in history, men chose what they considered the best of those writings and assembled them into what today are regarded as holy scripture, The Jewish Torah; The Christian's New Testament; The Islamist's Koran; The Tipitika of Buddahism, etc. These are the rule books of modern religions.

People cling tenaciously to every word of their preferred writings, often interpreting the same writings in very different ways. Let's examine known facts. None of these writings were written in English. Certainly not modern English. All were written before the existence of printing presses or copy machines, All have been translated numerous times.

A few years ago, in the early days of The Tonight Show on NBC, a group carried out an experiment to test the reliability of translating material from one language to another. A panel was assembled from persons with bilingual abilities. Each person was fluent in two languages. Speaking in English, the first person whispered a joke into the ear of the next panelist.Speaking a second language, that person whispered the joke to the next panelist. This panelist translated the joke into a third language and whispered it into the ear of the next panelist.

I no longer remember the progression of languages, but let's say it went from English to Spanish, to French, to German. The last panelist then told the joke aloud in English, after which the first panelist told the joke in English, exactly as they originally heard. It was immediately obvious that the meaning of the joke was entirely lost in the process. Not a scientific study, but interesting, all the same..

Let us accept that "The Bible" was copied, and/or translated faithfully, to the best of each scribe's ability. But we also must accept that the meanings of words or phrases change over the years. Some hold today that the term "virgin", once applied to any young woman. Only in later years did the term come to mean someone who has never experienced sexual intercourse. The interpretation you choose has a major impact on the story of the virgin birth.

Or, consider the verse at John 3:16, in the New Testament. Some hold that the English phrase "whosoever believeth in Him should not perish" means you must believe that Jesus Christ arose from the dead and ascended into heaven. That he, therefore, is the Son of God, and you accept him as your personal Savior. This belief assures that after death, you, also, will be resurrected and go to heaven.

Some hold that "believeth in Him" means that if you follow his teachings, and live your life accordingly, you will have a happy and rewarding life.

Of course, there are those who believe that God's will guided the hand of every translator, every scribe, and the English writings today are literal truth. That, too, requires a measure of faith.

There are, also, those who do not believe in Heaven or Hell, or the existence of any Superior Being. We call them atheists. Most simply go about their lives, accepting believers as a fact of life. But some cannot leave it at that. They insist upon blocking believers from practicing acts of their faith. Religious tolerance is not a part of their belief system.

Some believers are also short on tolerance. These people scoff at religious beliefs contrary to their own, as they denounce atheism as evil.

Unfortunately, we have no universally accepted proof of modern day religious beliefs, so disagreements persist. Believe or deny. It is your preference. The only thing that is evil is the lack of tolerance for your neighbor's beliefs.