The Separation between State and Religion

In time we will realize that Democracy is the entitlement of individuals to every right that was in its times alloted to kings. The right to speak and decide, to be treated with decency, to serve and be served by people in a State of “love” that is, to serve with one’s work for the development of ‘life’. To belong to the Kingdom of Human Beings without racial, national, social or academic separations. To love and be loved. To die at the service of the whole and be honored in one’s death, for one’s life and work was legitimately valued. To be graceful and grateful. To have the pride and the humility of being One with the Universe, One with every realm of Existence, One with every living and deceased soul. To treat with dignity and be treated with dignity for One is dignified together with All others and Life itself. To walk the path of compassion, not in the sorrow of guilt but in the pride of being. To take responsability for one’s mistakes and sufferings and stand up again and again like a hero and a heroine and face the struggle that is put at one’s feet and in one’s hands. Millions of people, millions and millions of people might take many generations to realize the consciousness of our humaneness but there is no other dignified path for the human being.

The “work” as I conceive it is psychological and political. Psychology is the connection between the different dimensions within one’s self and Politics is the actualization of that consciousness in our practical lives. Religion is the ceremony that binds the connectedness between the individual and the Universe. The separation between religion, politics and science, the arts and sports is, in the sphere of the social, the reflection of the schizophrenia within the individual and the masses. The dialogue between individuality and the "human" belongs to consciousness. The tendency to develop cults resides in the shortcomings we’are finding in life as it is structured today. “Life” has become the private property of a few priviledged who cannot profit from it because as soon as it is appropriated it stops to be “life” or “life-giving”.

We are all the victims of our own invention and each one is called upon to find solutions. The only problem is believing our selves incapable of finding them. We are now free to use all Systems of knowledge objectively, sharing them without imposing our will on each other. To become objective about our lives means to understand that the institutions that govern its experience are critically important. That we are one with the governments, one with the religious activities that mark its pace, that the arena’s in which we move our bodies and the laboratories in which we explore our possibilities are ALL part and parcel of our own personal responsibility. That WE ARE ONE WITH EACH OTHER AND EVERYTHING AROUND US and acknowledge for ourselves a bond of love in conscious responsibility. That we human beings know ourselves part of each other and are willing and able to act on our behalf for the benefit of each and every individual. That we no longer allow governments, industries, universities or any other institution to run along unchecked by the objective principles of humaneness. That we do not allow gurus to abuse their power or governors to steal the taxes and use them to their personal advantage in detriment of the whole. That we do not allow abuse from anyone anywhere because life is too beautiful to do so and that we are willing to stop the rampant crime with the necessary compassion Conscious knowledge is every individual's right. Conscious action is every individual's duty.

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Thursday, 1 April 2010

Vatican official: Newspaper report on pope 'lacks fairness'


Vatican official: Newspaper report on pope 'lacks fairness'

By the CNN Wire Staff
April 1, 2010 -- Updated 1353 GMT (2153 HKT)
In an article on the Vatican Web site, a cardinal says, "We owe Pope Benedict a great debt of gratitude."
In an article on the Vatican Web site, a cardinal says, "We owe Pope Benedict a great debt of gratitude."
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Cardinal William Levada: "I ask the Times to reconsider its attack mode about Pope Benedict XVI"
  • Levada says Benedict helped enact new church rules that helped in abuse cases
  • U.S. cardinal says pope's legacy has benefited the entire Catholic Church
Rome, Italy (CNN) -- A top Vatican official has harshly criticized The New York Times' coverage of the Catholic sexual abuse crisis in a lengthy article posted on the Vatican Web site.
Cardinal William Levada, an American who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the newspaper "lacks fairness" and that it accuses the pope of "leniency and inaction" in dealing with abuse cases.
"I ask the Times to reconsider its attack mode about Pope Benedict XVI and give the world a more balanced view of a leader it can and should count on," Levada wrote in the article, dated March 26 but posted online Wednesday.
Levada succeeded the pope in leading the congregation, which oversees Catholic doctrine and issues of faith and morals. WhenBenedict was in the role, Levada said, he helped enact new church legislation that greatly helped in dealing with abuse cases.
That new legislation included designating the sexual abuse of minors by clerics as "graviora delicta," or most grave crimes; streamlining the administrative process for judgments; and adjusting the maximum age of a minor to 18 to correspond with civil law in many countries, Levada said.
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He said the pope's legacy with the congregation has benefited the entire Catholic Church.
"It seems to me," he wrote, "that we owe Pope Benedict a great debt of gratitude for introducing the procedures that have helped the church to take action in the face of the scandal of priestly sexual abuse of minors."
Though Levada criticized the Times for a "series of articles" that lack fairness and are "rushing to a guilty verdict," the cardinal was particularly angered by a Friday report about the abuse of as many as 200 deaf boys in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by the now-deceased Rev. Lawrence Murphy.
The Times alleged top Vatican officials, including the future pope, failed to discipline or defrock Murphy despite warnings from American bishops.
In its article Thursday about Levada's remarks, the Times said the allegations "drew on documents obtained from lawyers suing the church that showed that Vatican officials had at first ordered a secret canonical trial, then asked the archdiocese to suspend it after the priest pleaded for leniency to Cardinal Ratzinger. Wisconsin church officials protested the suspension, but followed it."
Ratzinger later became Pope Benedict XVI.
Levada also takes issue with a Maureen Dowd opinion piece, which he said displays the newspaper's "usual bias."
"Both the article and the editorial are deficient by any reasonable standards of fairness that Americans have every right and expectation to find in their major media reporting," Levada wrote.
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki apologized repeatedly Tuesday night for the way his archdiocese handled the Murphy case, and he defended the Vatican, saying church officials and civil authorities in Milwaukee made mistakes, not Rome.
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