Happy Diwali 2025!

Today, it is Diwali in India. Not many people know much about this holiday here in the West, perhaps particularly in the United States. However, it certainly seemed worth posting about the Hindu holiday known as Diwali, which is a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, and of enlightenment over ignorance.

Like Channukah for Jews, Diwali is a festival of lights for Hindus. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is honored, as are the legends of Ganesh, Rama and Sita.

In celebration, people will decorate their homes and public spaces with lights and color, and fireworks normally are set off at night for the celebrations.

I was personally unfamiliar with this tradition, but found the following link useful and informative. Hopefully, if you are also unfamiliar, you might find this link useful, too:

Diwali 2015: The festival of lights, in pictures published in The Telegraph, 11 November 2015

Hindus celebrate the 'festival of lights' this week, with Diwali Day on November 11. We take a look at the best pictures of the celebrations around the world. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/11988670/Diwali-2015-The-festival-of-lights-in-pictures.html

One Quote By the Late Pope Francis Hit the Nail on the Head Regarding the Skewed Values of Modern Society

“This happens today: if the investments in the banks fall slightly… a tragedy… what can be done? But if people die of hunger, if they have nothing eat, if they have poor health, it does not matter! This is our crisis today!” 

~ Pope Francis

Above is a quote by the late Pope Francis. It felt vaguely familiar. I believe that I had run across it before, even if it had become largely forgotten.

Earlier today, I saw Robert Reich had posted this quote on Facebook. And it really seemed worth sharing here.

This really does smack of the truth. And it condemns our shallow collective values. Our focus is on excess and profits, and not on the suffering which the pursuit of these things causes to so many others. So this quote really hits hard.

Also, this felt like something which a religious leader should be pointing out as a true moral crisis and failing of our time. 

So today, it felt particularly appropriate to post this particular blog entry with this quote, which I feel reflected the generous and noble spirit of the late Pope Francis.

🌎 🌲 Earth Day Week: Pope Francis Felt That Combating Climate Change Was a Christian Duty 🌲 🌎

   

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

~Mahatma Gandhi

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  

~John F. Kennedy  

"The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself."

- Native American Philosophy (most often attributed to Chief Seattle)

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

~ Chief Si’ahl (Seattle) 

“Now polluters are looked upon as ordinary Joes just doing their jobs. In the future, they will be looked upon as swine”  

~ Kurt Vonnegut 

Why does it seem that, for many Americans, being a good Christian means specifically ignoring what is best for our planet, and voting against what is best for it? How charitable and spiritual is that?

Well, that finally began to change with the late Pope Francis.

Pope Francis I, who always seemed like a very cool Pope to me and, frankly, a breath of fresh air, appeared to take a quite different tact when it came to the environment then a lot of other Christian leaders, who seem almost to view the Earth as the property of mankind and, thus, subject to whatever the hell the owners want to do with their parcel of land, no matter how potentially detrimental this may be to the health of the planet.

Pope Francis took a decidedly, refreshingly different approach some years ago:

“Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.” 

Now, that does not sound like so many Christian leaders here in the United States, who almost seem to feel that doing anything to preserve the natural Earth is tantamount to Godless communism and evil.

Francis went further, even. He likened the destruction of the Earth - of God's Creation - as a sin! Here is some more of what he said on the subject:

“But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ ‘So what do you like?’ ‘I like myself!’ – Here, this is sin! Do you see?”

He referred to Christians as "custodians of Creation" who needed to have a healthy admiration and sense of wonder for the “beauty of nature and the grandeur of the cosmos”.

Finally, we are seeing and hearing something quite different from the general indifference with which too many religious leaders in the past have ignored the subject of environmental degradation.

Now, let's see if this has a widespread impact among the world's over 1 billion Catholics!

One way or another, however, I do want to say how refreshing this is! Pope Francis seems to me to truly be a man of the strongest faith, and one who does not overlook any aspect of that faith, and who does not leave his faith open to many (if any) contradictions.

Here is the link to this story:

Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/21/3440075/pope-francis-if-we-destroy-creation-creation-will-destroy-us/

NFL 2024-25 Playoffs AFC Championship Game Review: Chiefs Outlast Buffalo For Fourth Straight Time In Postseason

 

🏈🏈🏈🏈

Buffalo Bills (13-4, 2-0 postseason)

at 

Kansas City Chiefs (15 - 2, 1-0 postseason)

Kansas City Chiefs 32, Buffalo Bills 29

It's really unfortunate that the Bills of this era will likely only be remembered for falling short in the postseason, specifically to the Chiefs. Each of the games was at least decently competitive, and the last three postseason clashes between these two teams were very competitive.

Yet somehow, they all went in favor of the same team, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Statistically, you could not get a much closer contest than this one. Buffalo held onto the ball for 30:32, compared to 29:28 for KC. Buffalo's offense produced 374 yards and  22 first downs, to 368 yards and 28 first downs by the Chiefs. There was one turnover, and it was committed by KC. Fittingly, it was tied late in the fourth quarter, and overtime was a very real possibility.

But it was KC who managed to get a field goal drive in the final minutes to break a 29-29 deadlock to take the lead. And when it mattered most on fourth down just after the two-minute warning, Josh Allen received heavy pressure from the KC defense. Yet he still managed to get a decent pass up, and which was surprisingly accurate. It would have given the Bills a fresh set of downs, and in decent field goal position, at the very least.

Unfortunately, the ball went in and out of the hands of Buffalo tight end Dalton Kincaid.

Ball game.

And so a close game which could have gone either way went in KC's favor. Again. It was the third straight postseason meeting between these two teams which felt actually incredibly close, and seemed to be anybody's game.

Yet what people will remember - perhaps really the only thing that people will remember - is that each of those postseason contests between the Chiefs and Bills of this era (the era of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes for KC, and of Sean McDermott and Josh Allen for Buffalo) ultimately went in favor of Kansas City. 

Unfortunately, people are already noting the comparison between these Bills, who lost to the same team four straight times in the postseason, to the Buffalo Bills who went to four straight Super Bowls in the nineties, but lost each time. 

The Chiefs first defeated the Bills in the AFC Championship in 2020 to advance to what was then a second straight Super Bowl for KC. Then, the Chiefs won under seemingly impossible and hopeless circumstances when the game seemed over and it appeared that the Bills had iced the win in what has come to be known as the "13 seconds" game. Last year, KC only just outplayed Buffalo for most of the game up at Orchard Park, and then officially clinched the win when a field goal attempt by Buffalo placekicker Tyler Bass for a tie, and quite possibly (likely, even) would have forced overtime instead was no good, and has come to be know as "wide right 2."

Now, the dropped pass which, otherwise, would have given the Bills a fresh set of downs in decent field goal position, and with still some chances to possibly get the touchdown.

It is only the latest heartbreak for a fanbase that has been defined by them. This is such a talented Buffalo Bills squad. Yet, they kept running into the Kansas City Chiefs, and could not get past them. 

Josh Allen completed 22 of 34 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 11 times for an additional 39 yards. James Cook added 85 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Allen spread the wealth on offense, as he completed passes to nine different players. Yet, all for naught, as the Bills felt just short.

Patrick Mahomes completed 18 of 26 passes for 245 yards and one touchdown. He also scrambled 11 times for an additional 43 yards and two touchdowns. Kareem Hunt added 64 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown. Xavier Worthy proved to be Mahomes' favorite target in this game, catching six passes for 85 yards and one touchdown. 

All of those statistics would make it difficult, on their own, to determine who exactly won this game. 

Unfortunately for the Bills, it feels like another giveaway. More questions will haunt them over a long offseason, and there is never certainty as to what will happen in the future. I hope that the Bills remain talented and driven as they were this season. That they will get another opportunity next season, and might hopefully finally prove just how good and worthy they are.

For now, however, it is the Chiefs who are the team of the moment. They were pursuing the fabled "three-peat," and became the first team in the Super Bowl era to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles and return to the biggest game for a third straight time, with a chance to clinch a historical third straight title. Now, they will play in New Orleans to face the NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles, and a chance at history. If they are successful, it will surely immortalize these Kansas City Chiefs as one of the most successful dynasties in NFL history, and really even recent sports history.

Let's see what happens.

My pick: Inaccurate

🌎 🌲 Earth Day Week: Pope Francis Feels Combating Climate Change is Christian Duty 🌲 🌎

  

Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey Flickr Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/6143809369

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

~Mahatma Gandhi

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  

~John F. Kennedy  

"The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself."

- Native American Philosophy (most often attributed to Chief Seattle)

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

~ Chief Si’ahl (Seattle) 

“Now polluters are looked upon as ordinary Joes just doing their jobs. In the future, they will be looked upon as swine”  

~ Kurt Vonnegut 

Why does it seem that, for many, being a good Christian means specifically ignoring what is best for our planet, and voting against what is best for it? How charitable and spiritual is that?

Well, that might finally be changing.

Pope Francis I, who seems like a very cool Pope so far and, frankly, a breath of fresh air, seems to take a different tact when it comes to the environment then a lot of other Christian leaders, who seem almost to view the Earth as the property of mankind and, thus, subject to whatever the hell the owners want to do with their parcel of land, no matter how potentially detrimental this may be to the health of the planet.

Pope Francis took a decidedly, refreshingly different approach some years ago:

“Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.” 

Now, that does not sound like so many Christian leaders here in the United States, who almost seem to feel that doing anything to preserve the natural Earth is tantamount to Godless communism and evil.

Francis went further, even. He likened the destruction of the Earth - of God's Creation - as a sin! Here is some more of what he said on the subject:

“But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ ‘So what do you like?’ ‘I like myself!’ – Here, this is sin! Do you see?”

He referred to Christians as "custodians of Creation" who needed to have a healthy admiration and sense of wonder for the “beauty of nature and the grandeur of the cosmos”.

Finally, we are seeing and hearing something quite different from the general indifference with which too many religious leaders in the past have ignored the subject of environmental degradation.

Now, let's see if this has a widespread impact among the world's over 1 billion Catholics!

One way or another, however, I do want to say how refreshing this is! Pope Francis seems to me to truly be a man of the strongest faith, and one who does not overlook any aspect of that faith, and who does not leave his faith open to many (if any) contradictions.

Here is the link to this story:

Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/21/3440075/pope-francis-if-we-destroy-creation-creation-will-destroy-us/

John Fugelsang Recently Completely Dismantled the Hypocrisy of Evangelical Religiosity

Yesterday, I had a blog entry with basically a quote from John Fugelsang.

Today, I wanted to follow that up with a video clip where Fugelsang speaks about the paradox between what many of his professed followers believe here in the United States, versus the verifiable things that Jesus actually taught, particularly in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount.

If there ever was a point where I was somewhat tempted by religions, and perhaps particularly Christianity, the obnoxious manner in which the most vocal and too often, the most visible practitioners and believers conduct themselves is enough to turn me away, personally. And yes, Fugelsang points out precisely why here, and a number of other times, in a number of other ways. I think that he really hits the nail on the head here in this one. 

This came out recently, maybe about a week a half ago. Still, it was really impressive, as Fugelsang, in my opinion, really hits it out of the park.

So all that said, it seemed worth sharing here. 

John Fugelsang gives a must-see sermon on evangelical hypocrisy

Honoring the Hindu Tradition of Diwali

 

Photo courtesy of gags9999's Flickr page -  Diwali Fireworks @ Golden Temple Amritsar: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gags9999/15040002973/in/photolist-oV2WU6-44ZnVY-8QJXTr-qgiQi-8RcYzS-6ctRH-4xcuam-euzr6K-qFu5E-8Radn1-8R75DK-aqCjat-hbwmcR-hiYLae-779eDi-6ctxp-5u17Ak-aqCj1v-hg3KYp-78aX3n-8RrzQU-aAYFdZ-oPzi5R-pPkhTS-az9Uvu-ibgDj7-hknabp-aycEfW-8QUyhw-6ctxs-3WCB9T-8KCzMc-oPANnB-pvEyrj-5wRABM-pLaHWF-ptY1jX-78FHcx-78uA1G-5y2TAX-78qufe-4qaiqF-ay63gz-pqV1sZ-nGyt5i-hccrCc-he6Zkb-he6SU4-h2s6DT-8KCzKz

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Today, it is Diwali in India. Not many people know much about this holiday here in the West, perhaps particularly in the United States. However, it certainly seemed worth posting about the Hindu holiday known as Diwali, which is a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, and of enlightenment over ignorance.

Like Channukah for Jews, Diwali is a festival of lights for Hindus. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is honored, as are the legends of Ganesh, Rama and Sita.

In celebration, people will decorate their homes and public spaces with lights and color, and fireworks normally are set off at night for the celebrations.

I was personally unfamiliar with this tradition, but found the following link useful and informative. Hopefully, if you are also unfamiliar, you might find this link useful, too:

Diwali 2015: The festival of lights, in pictures:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/11988670/Diwali-2015-The-festival-of-lights-in-pictures.html

🌎 🌲 Earth Day Week: Pope Francis Feels Combating Climate Change is Christian Duty 🌲 🌎

  

Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey Flickr Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/6143809369

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

~Mahatma Gandhi

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  

~John F. Kennedy  

"The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself."

- Native American Philosophy (most often attributed to Chief Seattle)

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

~ Chief Si’ahl (Seattle) 

“Now polluters are looked upon as ordinary Joes just doing their jobs. In the future, they will be looked upon as swine”

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Why does it seem that, for many, being a good Christian means specifically ignoring what is best for our planet, and voting against what is best for it? How charitable and spiritual is that?

Well, that might finally be changing.

Pope Francis I, who seems like a very cool Pope so far and, frankly, a breath of fresh air, seems to take a different tact when it comes to the environment then a lot of other Christian leaders, who seem almost to view the Earth as the property of mankind and, thus, subject to whatever the hell the owners want to do with their parcel of land, no matter how potentially detrimental this may be to the health of the planet.

Pope Francis took a decidedly, refreshingly different approach some years ago:

“Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.” 

Now, that does not sound like so many Christian leaders here in the United States, who almost seem to feel that doing anything to preserve the natural Earth is tantamount to Godless communism and evil.

Francis went further, even. He likened the destruction of the Earth - of God's Creation - as a sin! Here is some more of what he said on the subject:

“But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ ‘So what do you like?’ ‘I like myself!’ – Here, this is sin! Do you see?”

He referred to Christians as "custodians of Creation" who needed to have a healthy admiration and sense of wonder for the “beauty of nature and the grandeur of the cosmos”.

Finally, we are seeing and hearing something quite different from the general indifference with which too many religious leaders in the past have ignored the subject of environmental degradation.

Now, let's see if this has a widespread impact among the world's over 1 billion Catholics!

One way or another, however, I do want to say how refreshing this is! Pope Francis seems to me to truly be a man of the strongest faith, and one who does not overlook any aspect of that faith, and who does not leave his faith open to many (if any) contradictions.

Here is the link to this story:

Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/21/3440075/pope-francis-if-we-destroy-creation-creation-will-destroy-us/

Honoring the Hindu Tradition of Diwali

Photo courtesy of gags9999's Flickr page -  Diwali Fireworks @ Golden Temple Amritsar: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gags9999/15040002973/in/photolist-oV2WU6-44ZnVY-8QJXTr-qgiQi-8RcYzS-6ctRH-4xcuam-euzr6K-qFu5E-8Radn1-8R75DK-aqCjat-hbwmcR-hiYLae-779eDi-6ctxp-5u17Ak-aqCj1v-hg3KYp-78aX3n-8RrzQU-aAYFdZ-oPzi5R-pPkhTS-az9Uvu-ibgDj7-hknabp-aycEfW-8QUyhw-6ctxs-3WCB9T-8KCzMc-oPANnB-pvEyrj-5wRABM-pLaHWF-ptY1jX-78FHcx-78uA1G-5y2TAX-78qufe-4qaiqF-ay63gz-pqV1sZ-nGyt5i-hccrCc-he6Zkb-he6SU4-h2s6DT-8KCzKz

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Today, it is Diwali in India. Not many people know much about this holiday here in the West, perhaps particularly in the United States. However, it certainly seemed worth posting about the Hindu holiday known as Diwali, which is a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, and of enlightenment over ignorance.

Like Channukah for Jews, Diwali is a festival of lights for Hindus. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is honored, as are the legends of Ganesh, Rama and Sita.

In celebration, people will decorate their homes and public spaces with lights and color, and fireworks normally are set off at night for the celebrations.

I was personally unfamiliar with this tradition, but found the following link useful and informative. Hopefully, if you are also unfamiliar, you might find this link useful, too:

Diwali 2015: The festival of lights, in pictures:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/11988670/Diwali-2015-The-festival-of-lights-in-pictures.html

🌎 🌲 Earth Day Week: Pope Francis Feels Combating Climate Change is Christian Duty 🌲 🌎

Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey Flickr Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/6143809369

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

~Mahatma Gandhi

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  

~John F. Kennedy  

"The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself."

- Native American Philosophy (most often attributed to Chief Seattle)

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

~ Chief Si’ahl (Seattle) 

“Now polluters are looked upon as ordinary Joes just doing their jobs. In the future, they will be looked upon as swine”

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Why does it seem that, for many, being a good Christian means specifically ignoring what is best for our planet, and voting against what is best for it? How charitable and spiritual is that?

Well, that might finally be changing.

Pope Francis I, who seems like a very cool Pope so far and, frankly, a breath of fresh air, seems to take a different tact when it comes to the environment then a lot of other Christian leaders, who seem almost to view the Earth as the property of mankind and, thus, subject to whatever the hell the owners want to do with their parcel of land, no matter how potentially detrimental this may be to the health of the planet.

Pope Francis took a decidedly, refreshingly different approach some years ago:

“Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.” 

Now, that does not sound like so many Christian leaders here in the United States, who almost seem to feel that doing anything to preserve the natural Earth is tantamount to Godless communism and evil.

Francis went further, even. He likened the destruction of the Earth - of God's Creation - as a sin! Here is some more of what he said on the subject:

“But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ ‘So what do you like?’ ‘I like myself!’ – Here, this is sin! Do you see?”

He referred to Christians as "custodians of Creation" who needed to have a healthy admiration and sense of wonder for the “beauty of nature and the grandeur of the cosmos”.

Finally, we are seeing and hearing something quite different from the general indifference with which too many religious leaders in the past have ignored the subject of environmental degradation.

Now, let's see if this has a widespread impact among the world's over 1 billion Catholics!

One way or another, however, I do want to say how refreshing this is! Pope Francis seems to me to truly be a man of the strongest faith, and one who does not overlook any aspect of that faith, and who does not leave his faith open to many (if any) contradictions.

Here is the link to this story:

Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/21/3440075/pope-francis-if-we-destroy-creation-creation-will-destroy-us/

🌎 🌲 Earth Day Week: Pope Francis Feels Combating Climate Change is Christian Duty 🌲 🌎

Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey Flickr Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/6143809369

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

~Mahatma Gandhi

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  

~John F. Kennedy  

Why does it seem that, for many, being a good Christian means specifically ignoring what is best for our planet, and voting against what is best for it? How charitable and spiritual is that?

Well, that might finally be changing.

Pope Francis I, who seems like a very cool Pope so far and, frankly, a breath of fresh air, seems to take a different tact when it comes to the environment then a lot of other Christian leaders, who seem almost to view the Earth as the property of mankind and, thus, subject to whatever the hell the owners want to do with their parcel of land, no matter how potentially detrimental this may be to the health of the planet.

Pope Francis took a decidedly, refreshingly different approach last year:

“Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.” 

Now, that does not sound like so many Christian leaders here in the United States, who almost seem to feel that doing anything to preserve the natural Earth is tantamount to Godless communism and evil.

Francis went further, even. He likened the destruction of the Earth - of God's Creation - as a sin! Here is some more of what he said on the subject:

“But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ ‘So what do you like?’ ‘I like myself!’ – Here, this is sin! Do you see?”

He referred to Christians as "custodians of Creation" who needed to have a healthy admiration and sense of wonder for the “beauty of nature and the grandeur of the cosmos”.

Finally, we are seeing and hearing something quite different from the general indifference with which too many religious leaders in the past have ignored the subject of environmental degradation.

Now, let's see if this has a widespread impact among the world's over 1 billion Catholics!

One way or another, however, I do want to say how refreshing this is! Pope Francis seems to me to truly be a man of the strongest faith, and one who does not overlook any aspect of that faith, and who does not leave his faith open to many (if any) contradictions.

Here is the link to this story:

Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/21/3440075/pope-francis-if-we-destroy-creation-creation-will-destroy-us/

Earth Day Week: Pope Francis Feels Combating Climate Change is Christian Duty

Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey Flickr Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/6143809369

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

~Mahatma Gandhi

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  

~John F. Kennedy  

Why does it seem that, for many, being a good Christian means specifically ignoring what is best for our planet, and voting against what is best for it? How charitable and spiritual is that?

Well, that might finally be changing.

Pope Francis I, who seems like a very cool Pope so far and, frankly, a breath of fresh air, seems to take a different tact when it comes to the environment then a lot of other Christian leaders, who seem almost to view the Earth as the property of mankind and, thus, subject to whatever the hell the owners want to do with their parcel of land, no matter how potentially detrimental this may be to the health of the planet.

Pope Francis took a decidedly, refreshingly different approach last year:

“Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.” 

Now, that does not sound like so many Christian leaders here in the United States, who almost seem to feel that doing anything to preserve the natural Earth is tantamount to Godless communism and evil.

Francis went further, even. He likened the destruction of the Earth - of God's Creation - as a sin! Here is some more of what he said on the subject:

“But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ ‘So what do you like?’ ‘I like myself!’ – Here, this is sin! Do you see?”

He referred to Christians as "custodians of Creation" who needed to have a healthy admiration and sense of wonder for the “beauty of nature and the grandeur of the cosmos”.

Finally, we are seeing and hearing something quite different from the general indifference with which too many religious leaders in the past have ignored the subject of environmental degradation.

Now, let's see if this has a widespread impact among the world's over 1 billion Catholics!

One way or another, however, I do want to say how refreshing this is! Pope Francis seems to me to truly be a man of the strongest faith, and one who does not overlook any aspect of that faith, and who does not leave his faith open to many (if any) contradictions.

Here is the link to this story:

Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/21/3440075/pope-francis-if-we-destroy-creation-creation-will-destroy-us/

Dalai Lama Shares His Quotes on His Recommended 18 Rules For Living

Yesterday, I posted something from a well-known Buddhist master, who gave tips on dealing with the Trump era in particular, and stress-inducing matters more generally.

So, this seemed like a good time to follow-up on that with a video that I have been meaning to share on the Dalai Lama sharing 18 rules for living.

Enjoy!