Posted on 06/05/2004 4:32:38 AM PDT by NYer
For many centuries Christians were warned that Satan would come to them as a seducer and offer them the world’s bounty—prosperity, beauty, fame—in return for their immortal soul. This legend has survived in modern America in the form of many films, novels, even songs—remember ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’?—depicting Satan promising untold riches in exchange for a soul.
In our age Satan need not bother. Who among us has a soul left to sell anyway? America, the greatest country ever founded, is today foundering as its original ideals are eroded through a culture of suffocating soullessness. Pope John Paul II’s warning that America is in danger of surrendering to a “soulless vision of life” is an understatement. America, the only country in the world to have G-d stamped on its money—not even the Vatican or Israel have it—is being laid low by mind-numbing materialism, vapidity, and vulgarity in a culture that increasingly resembles a soulless corpse.
The Declaration of Independence affirms the dignity of every human being and asserts their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
But where is the dignity, and where are these rights, in modern-day America? Is it dignity that we see when men eat bugs and women have sex with complete strangers on reality TV as they lust for the attention of the camera? Is it dignity we witness when young women—who are paying tens of thousands of dollars to educate their minds—lift their blouses for the "Girls Gone Wild" videos so that some vulgar pornographer can become a millionaire? Is it dignity we witness in a culture of serial dating among professional young men and women that rarely culminates in commitment? How can we have forgotten even how to fall in love?
And where is the second promise of the Declaration—liberty! Is it liberty we witness today in a culture where we all feel imprisoned by the latest need-to-see movie? Are we really free when we feel the incarceration of working to the bone in order to keep up with the Joneses, even as our children are neglected and raised by TV? Are we really so free if we don’t even have time to call on neighbors and grandparents go unvisited while "Shrek" rakes in half a billion dollars at the box office? Are teenagers today really free when they seem so imprisoned by their hormones and slaves to peer pressure?
The soul allows us rise above the needs of the body. But is it liberation of the body that is being exhibited in a culture where men and women spend hours a week at the gym but rarely ever read a wholesome book? Is it liberation that we witness in America among a generation of individuals who have enough time to check every email but not enough time to recite even a single daily prayer? It is liberation that we feel in America as our hearts become smaller while our cars become bigger?
Oh yes, the pursuit of happiness. Is it happiness that we see in America today in a culture that boasts a 50 percent divorce rate? Can we really speak of soulful celebration in a country where one out of four Americans is on an antidepressant? Is it a celebration of life that we are witnessing across America as shopping malls have replaced parks for Sunday family outings, and the impulse purchase has replaced churchgoing for a weekly feeling of satisfaction? If our kids are so happy, why are they numbing themselves with marijuana and thrilling their underdeveloped bodies with sex?
Children are the most spiritual of all creatures. But today they can’t wait to escape the soulfulness of childhood in pursuit of the fleshiness of being yet another corrupt adult.
The Jews taught the world of the existence of G-d and alerted the earth’s inhabitants to the existence of a fragment of the divine that lurks within each and every person. And that community held steadfastly to G-d through torture and persecution for more than two-thousand years. So why did so many decide to let go when they finally experienced emancipation? Why are the Jewish community centers—with their swimming pools, bowling alleys, and gyms—filled on Sundays while the synagogues remain unfilled on Saturdays?
The great Martin Luther King Jr. brought nobility to the African-American community by calling on the words of the Hebrew prophets: Let justice flow like a river, and righteousness like a mighty spring. Is that spirit of soulful majesty evident today in a community that has allowed out-of-wedlock births to mushroom to over 60 percent? The black community invented soul music and liberated their spirit, even while in chains, by singing the grand old spirituals. But is it soulfulness that we are witnessing in this music’s successor, the rap culture, with its misogyny, deadly guns, and thick gold chains?
Meanwhile, middle-class, suburbanites boast a TV in every bedroom, as if what their kids really need is a celluloid stranger rather than Mom and Dad reading them a bedtime story. Their kids get cars at 16, which usually just speeds them down the road of expecting everything and earning nothing. Parents have forgotten how work and effort are themselves soulful. Grapes need to be pressed in order to produce wine. But our kids are like a different kind of grape: spoiled, and many don’t know how to treat even their own parents with respect. If all our children—of every ethnic group and religious background—were conditioned to understand that they had a spark of the divine within them, they would be far less prone to wasting their lives.
Evangelical Christians and religious Catholics, whom I so admire, exhibit a profound attachment to G-d and country that is rousing and inspiring. But an attachment to G-d must breed a distinct humility. Being in touch with one’s soul must lead us to experience the soul of the other and acknowledge the divine worth of every human being. So homosexuality can be opposed. But homophobia has no place in religious life. The right to life may be affirmed. But using any kind of violence against those who perform an abortion is itself an abortion of one’s own soul, and an abomination against G-d’s law. Yes, even we religious people can experience a spiritual renewal in America.
The secret of recapturing soulfulness lies in recapturing the spirit of sacrifice. Unlike the body, with its constant needs, the soul is prepared to give up unimportant things in favor of important ones. One of the places that we witness true soulfulness today is in the U.S. military, where men and women give up lucrative jobs to serve, and where courage inspires men and women to risk their lives so that others might live. It is no coincidence that the U.S. military boasts a disproportionately high number of men and women of deep religious faith. Yes, they have to take orders from superiors, and yes, they have to dress according to a strict regimen. But compared to us, they are truly free because they are liberated from the most incarcerating and soul-destroying cage of all: the prison of the ego.
We don’t have to sign up for military duty to experience this soulful rejuvenation. Rather, we need only put service before selfishness and the interests of others on a par with our own.
It was refreshing to hear the bishop talk about our hedonistic society to my daughter and her peers who were confirmed last week.
And yet, we are the country who has the young men and women who have the bravery and selflesness to go to other countries to free people from tyranny.
Yeah at least he chose to forget about abu ghraib for a while. Instead he zeroes in on the immoral people who go to see Schreck 2.
Uhhhnnn--IIRC the classic definition is that "liberty is the freedom to do what is RIGHT."
His thesis comports with the definition. You may wish to argue what is right/wrong--but that's another several thousand posts.
Interesting article, Rabbi, but full of leftist crapola. Perhaps you and the good Pope haven't read the papers lately. Have you heard of Iran? Saudi Arabia? Palestine? Libya? Pakistan? Nick Berg? Daniel Pearl?
Have you or the Pope followed the purges, massacres and genocides taking place across the African continent?
We, Americans, may not be perfect (something the Pope should know only too well - there is ONLY ONE perfect being), but, from my little piece of America, I only see a handful of nations standing up to the evil that is sweeping the earth. And America is among those nations. Perhaps, the fact that we are standing up to rid the world of evil murderers is what has the Pope and Rabbi Boteach so upset. Perhaps, they are part of the evil we oppose.
It always surprises me when Jews support the very countries who are conspiring to wipe them out whenever they speak out against one of the best friends Israel has - America.
I don't get it.
Well, he might be appalled by his actions with respect to Jackson, but he's shown no remorse for slandering Mel Gibson, his faith, and "The Passion" in column after column, including absurd claims that parts of the Gospels were "crude forgeries." Boteach is a buffoon.
Thankfully, there are pockets in our culture where it is not yet true, such as the military. The kids who are willing to believe and live out a Biblical faith are the counter-culture kids of our day, and our country's best hope. And yes, they also will have the most happy and productive lives because they have learned that it is better to serve than to be served. They have learned that the most joy and fulfillment comes from giving to others (sacrifice). They will escape the emptiness of selfishness that is perhaps epitomized by Bill Clinton, and the hedonistic lifestyles of Hollywood stars of homosexuals. Unfortunately this hedonistic and materialistic lifestyle is so often emulated, to a lesser degree, in regular people's daily lives, as they believe the siren sound of the advertisers that happiness comes through "stuff" and caring primarily only about yourself. It's a lesson that we need to continually tell to our kids, and ourselves.
"What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?" People who live only for themselves not only lose their souls in the world to come, but also in this world. It's sad, and so are they.
Without stateing the obvious the people they are blowing up are Americans, long before september 11th, rember all those other attacks, dosent that say it all .
"No way my sons will ever fight in this Iraqi war."
Meanwhile, others are sending THEIRS to keep you safe and sound so you can post your tale of woe. You don't decide when the nation is worth preserving or not, thanks be to the Lord! If it was up to you we'd all just suicide out now since "Why bother?"
Disgusting, cowardly attitude!
Nothing to say after that.
He warned Jackson years ago that what he was doing was wrong. Boteach told Jackson the truth, when Michaels flunkies claimed he was innocent.
The Rabbi has not been a close friend to Jackson for some time.
"Service before selfishness" bump.
I can't and won't defend abortion.
Since you seem to rebuking me and taking the Rabbi's side, defend his and the Pope's contention that America is "soulless" in the face of the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah and . . . um , , , oh yeah, al-Qaida.
Ok, ya wanna debate abortion, let's debate it. One of the reasons that I DON'T oppose abortion is the system in this country of institutionalizing children who either have no family or whose family doesn't want them and turning them into cash cows. As long as GOVERNMENT entities (not private for profit business) charge outrageous prices for children in their care, I can't oppose abortion. The children in orphanages (or, the more PC term, foster care) often grow up knowing that they are unwanted, even though many of them are. The biggest problem is that to adopt a child from foster care costs upwards of $50K - $100+K; money many families who have loving homes can't afford. These aren't revolving credit charges, these are pay it up front charges. So, when you lecture me or anyone else about abortion, think about the children languishing in "foster care" who may never have a home due to the cost and bureacratic nightmare of paperwork. At least those who were aborted don't have to face a future in foster care, eventually learning that they are for sale to the highest bidder and knowing that when they turn 18, whether they are ready or not, the foster care system will toss them out on their butts because they are "adults". Give me a break! Worse, yet, those who have grown up in "foster care" often bring their emotional problems with them into adulthood and remain wards of the state; AKA prisoner #123456. So, if we want to debate evil, which evil is greater? The one that causes an unwanted child to be born and raised by the state, or the one that acknowledges that the child is unwanted and prevents them from a life most of us know nothing about? Which is more evil, aborting an unwanted child, or bringing that child into the world where it will be abused, beaten and, ultimately, murdered? This isn't a perfect world, my friend. If the state truly wants to place orphaned children into loving homes, drop the price and reduce the bureaucratic obstacle course they have erected for American families wanting to adopt American children. Look at the number of families who go overseas to adopt because of these very factors.
As for America being soulless and a corporate entity, let's be real. You have a job so you can buy food and have a place to live and buy clothes, etc., etc., etc. That job isn't provided by the government or an altruist - it comes from a corporation whose function is to sell a service or product for profit. You, in turn, sell your services/skills/knowledge to that corporation in exchange for the money they pay you to provide food, shelter, etc. Stop pretending that you are Michael Moore. Corporations don't control America and have nothing to do with our souls. If the Rabbi's and the Pope's contention were true, what are all those cars doing in church/synagogue parking lots during the week and on weekends? It seems to me that "soulless" America has contributed a significant amount to the coffers of the Vatican that allow this and every Pope to live in luxury.
I would also remind you of this, my friend. In the history of the world, there is one nation that has willingly contributed its money, its resources, its material and its men to fight for freedom and justice. There is one nation that has willingly come to the aid of others during natural disasters. There is one nation that has fought to defeat tyranny, fear, oppression, nazism, communism, fascism and slavery. And, that nation has asked nothing in return. It hasn't come to the aid of others as a conqueror, but as a friend. That nation is the one that the Pope and the Rabbi call "soulless".
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