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December 4, 2007So, next Catholics should stop lighting candles? - UPDATEDI hope none of my Hannukah-observing friends will diminish their religious practices in order to augment, satisfy and give primacy to the religious philosophies of others. If the followers of the Church of Global Warming wish to observe all sorts of penances and deprivations in order to practice their religion, I have no problem with that. As long as someone’s religious dogmas, dictates and traditions don’t involve mass slaughter, the imprisonment of others or you know, the really fringy things, I’m a tolerant sort and believe all believers should be free to practice their faith and observe their traditions without being hasselled, bullied, coerced or made to feel bad for doing so. And as I’ve said before, I expect the followers of the Church of Global Warming to be just as tolerant to those of other faiths, and their practices. We Catholics won’t force you to go to mass, fast, do penance or fly commercial, and you don’t force us to put out our candles, unlight our Christmas trees or worship Al Gore. And in that hope, I’m going to go light a few candles at a local church that still uses real candles - although I guess pushing a few “electric candle” buttons will meet the case, as well - and I’m going to offer up an Advent prayer for religious tolerance and human forbearance throughout this vast, mysterious planet, which is greater than all the fuss, fury and conceits of humankind. Ace wants to light stuff up, too. Some pretty funny comments. Related: Iraq War & GlobalWarming; a study in irony UPDATE: Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard does some calculating:
Emphasis mine. In case you don’t understand the Bali reference, go here. Gaius adds:
But don’t worry. They are doing it for all the best reasons. Trust them. They’ll wave from the limousines. The Rickster is also not happy http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/12/04/so-next-catholics-should-stop-lighting-candles/trackback/ 10 Responses to “So, next Catholics should stop lighting candles? - UPDATED” |
December 4th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
“We Catholics won’t force you to go to mass, fast, do penance or fly commercial, and you don’t force us to put out our candles, unlight our Christmas trees or worship Al Gore.”
This has to go down as one of blogging’s most classic of classic lines.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
[...] would be burned at Mass, so as to alert those with black lung disease. And some modern churches use “electric candles” to spare the art work from soot….to which all I can say is “BAH HUMBUG”. You see, [...]
December 5th, 2007 at 12:34 am
As I understand it, Hannukah celebrates the miracle of one day of oil for the eternal light in the Temple lasting eight days.
Thus, lighting the candles for all eight days would seem to be intrinsic to the observance, so that, to not light them for all eight days, and to allow other considerations to intervene and prevent the lighting for eight days, is to reject entirely the miracle of the event, that is, to reject God’s participation in our lives, and to impose ourselves in His place. And to purposely not light the Temple — actually or figuratively — is to purposely attempt to place God in the dark. In other words, to purposely not light the last candle for our own personal reasons is to put ourselves before God and it is to say that God really has no power, that He is not eternal after all. In which case, why celebrate the festival at all? Why worship God at all?
To say that one should purposely refuse to light the last candle is then, effectively, is to say that one should reject one’s very Judaism. And that is the very antithesis, especially, of the lessons of Maccabees, from where the festival orginates. Perhaps someone should go back and re-read the Maccabeean story of the mother and her seven sons.
December 5th, 2007 at 1:18 am
One less candle in commemmoration of Global Warming. This kind of syncretism is exactly the thing that Chanukkah is AGAINST. Incorporate everything that seems like a good idea into some other religious concept that may have nothing to do with it; fiddle with the controls without reading the manual.
The Maharal of Prague, who was heavily influenced by Kabbala, attatches serious significnce to numbers; every number has a certain inner reality that tells us something about the external. The number 7 is conected to the natural order of the world–7 days of the week, etc.–and any time something in scripture or tradition uses 7 or multiples of 7, it hints at some aspect of the function of nature in G-d’s world. The number 8 signifies “nature plus”–one step beyond the natural. Just as the function of nature is to clue us in to G-d’s intelligence, order, and wisdom, the function of a miracle (”nes”) is to show us that there is a reality beyond nature. The word “nes” also means “flag”–something that stands out and announces, “Pay attention!”. The miracle, the “nes Chanukkah” lasted 8 days, indicating that while G-d showed Himself in the “natural” phenomenon of the military victory against Antiochus, what gives the event its true meaning is the miracle of the light that burned for 8 days, beyond the natural. Great victory means nothing unless we can see G-d’s “nes” in it.
Somehow the Carbon Footprint argument seems irrelevant and silly. How do they make those Chanukkah candles dripless, anyway, and why do they make such lousy birthday candles?
I suppose you Catholics have no shortage of earnest worshippers who think it would help to use Oreos for communion wafers. It’s good to be in a united front with you, Anchoress, against the trivial tinkerers.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Now we’re just getting silly….
‘Green Hanukkia’ campaign sparks ire.
In a campaign that has spread like wildfire across the Internet, a group of Israeli environmentalists is encouraging Jews around the world to light at least one less candle this Hanukka to help the envi…
December 5th, 2007 at 8:10 am
And In Today’s Useless News…
I just posted about how our self-appointed "environmental saviors" are jetting to Bali to decide how to limit average people lives. Then I saw this item:
In a campaign that has spread like wildfire across the Internet, a group of Is…
December 5th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
[...] The Anchoress has another tale of post-modern holiday madness, this one involving The Church of Global Warming [...]
December 6th, 2007 at 11:31 am
As a new bard noted, perhaps the ecotards might best focus on the cigarette smokers, pot smokers, hash smokers, etc. There are a lot more of them than observant Jews.
On the other hand, going after cigarettes, pot, hash and water pipes aren’t anti religious sentiments worthy of sympathetic news coverage.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
This is one of THE most ridiculous things I’ve heard in such a long time.
I’m with you, Anchoress. I’m not Catholic, but I’ll find some way to light a few candles at some point during the holiday season if it kills me. Practice some solidarity with a sane religion and observers thereof.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Hantchu, thank you for the explanation of the meaning of 8.