The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Justice, Holiness, &
Cries from Prisoners
Baking in
Texas 07/01/2023 |
We cited Ernest Becker in yesterday’s DM who alerts us to our capacity, thanks to science and to “authentic religion” (I call that spirituality) to tell the truth about “large scale social lies” that
interfere with humanity’s capacity for holiness.
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One “large scale social lie” is racism and a refusal to allow children in schools to study the history of slavery because it might render some people
“uncomfortable.” Another is pseudo- | 100-year-old woman speaks out against banning books. MSNBC |
religion and pseudo-Christianity. Another is fascism masquerading as a bonafide political party. Another is injustice masquerading as fairness. Another is pseudo jurisprudence resulting in killing of (mostly poor) women masquerading as “right to life.” Another is outlawing the teaching of diversity regarding sexuality, gender, gay and lesbian and trans awareness in schools. One “large scale social lie” is denial of climate change which seems to be baked into Texan politics even as heat waves are breaking records all over the state. Surely this translates into “cruel and inhuman punishment” in Texan prisons at this time. Kudos to Lawrence O’Donnell for exposing the story on “The Last Word”
program on MSNBC Tuesday night this week. |
Texas inmates ‘being cooked alive’ with no air conditioning. KXAN | The Texas Tribune informs us that the Texas legislature had a surplus of $32.7 billion to spend on the state’s next two-year budget but lawmakers decided “not to put a penny directly toward cooling |
dangerous hot prisons.” The House passed a law to put $500 million into cooling prisons that was rejected by the senate. The current triple digit temperatures in Texas
have resulted in “baking prisoners to death,” severe staff shortages and costing taxpayers millions of dollars in wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits. More than two-thirds of Texas’ 100 prisons don’t have air condition in most living areas.* |
Half a billion dollars to solve the problem when one has a 32.7 billion dollar surplus does not seem like an exorbitant fix. Isn’t Texas a state where all kinds of politicians and many citizens claim loudly to be Christians of
some kind? Didn’t Jesus say something about treating prisoners and others as one would like to be treated? What happened to that chapter in religion? | Jesus teaching at the shore. Painting by James Tissot. (“I was in
prison and you visited me.”) Wikimedia Commons. |
If justice is a sign of holiness in our day, injustice is its opposite. It follows that Texas is not only a
very hot state these days but a very unjust and unholy and cruel state to live in. Time to rise up and wake up? |
Queries for Contemplation Meditate on being in prison when it is 115 degrees day after day. What does it teach you? |
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Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional
perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any
one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox and Brian Swimme in a free online event hosted by The Shift Network: “Hope for Humanity’s Future: Science, Spirituality & the Noosphere: Find Deeper Meaning in Our Spiritual Traditions With Illuminating Insights in Science & Technology.”
Saturday, July 22, 10:00am PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for a Cosmic Mass and Panel Forum at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions - A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom & Human Rights, August 14-18 in Chicago, IL Wed., 8/16,
7:00pm CT - The Cosmic Mass - Honoring Gaia, Solidarity for Our Earth Thurs., 8/17, 1:00pm CT – Panel and Response to The Cosmic Mass Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Brentwood Inspired Living Center, APRIL 16, 2023. REV. MATTHEW FOX, PhD shares the message with "Otto Rank and Père Chenu: Two 'Real, Raw and Radiant' Guides calling us to Deep Freedom." See the full worship service HERE. Matthew's talk begins at timestamp 34:25. |
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