Spirituality/Intellectualism

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I have recently been reading the autobiographical work _Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave_."  I think that this shines
some brilliant light on why education is *so* essential to religion.  In the
book, Douglass states:

"I have said my master found religious sanction for his cruelty.  As an
example, I will state one of many facts going to prove the charge.  I have
seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon
her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip; and, in
justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture
-- 'He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten
with many stripes.'"  (If you're using the Penguin Classics edition as I am,
that's on Page 99)

I know it's been quite a while since there have been slaves in the U. S.,
but this points out perfectly the dramatic flaw in a religion without
education.  Without an education, we are apt to misinterpret/misrepresent
the scriptures just as this slave owner did.

To quote the words of a good friend and teaching fellow of mine, Mr. Gene
McAfee,
"Education is the primary check on rampant subjectivity."  In other words,
education is what prevents our biases from getting in the way of what's
really supposed to be happening.

Without education, we are highly likely to let our biases and prejudices and
to try and substitute them for what God desires.  This happened so much in
the South that Douglass described religious masters in this way:

"Another advantage that I gained in my new master was, he made no
pretensions to, or profession of, religion; and this, in my opinion, was
truly a great advantage.  I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of
the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, -- a justifier of
the most appalling barbarity, -- a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, --
and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most
infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection.  Were I to be
again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should
regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that
could befall me.  For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met,
religious slaveholders are the worst.  I have ever found them the meanest
and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others.  It was my unhappy
lot not only to belong in to a religious slaveholder, but to live in a
community of such religionists."  (That's Page 117 in my Penguin.)

This is a great book for us all to read.  It's only around 150-160 pages, so
it won't take very long to polish off.  But, I think it'll leave you with a
definite impression of what happens when religion goes unchecked by
education.  Interestingly, it was his education that finally caused Douglass
to escape the South and accomplish so much for the abolitionists through his
participation in the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

"Well, that's religion, not spirituality," you say.  Hmmmmmm . . . Well, it
sounds to me like Charles Fox Parham was quite spiritual.  However, that
didn't stop him from being a KKK (Ku Klux Klan) sympathizer.  (No, we never
talk about this in the great stories we tell about the revival in Topeka,
KS, but I'll be more than happy to give you a citation if you need it . . .)

Just a thought . . .

Kyle
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R. Kyle Jones                       || Internet: rkjones@fas.harvard.edu
60 Linnaean Street                  ||           rkjones@galstar.com
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"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen,
I will be exalted in the earth."
                                     Psalms 46:10