One Size Does Not Fit All: Spiritual Fitness Training And The 33%

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” 
― Lao Tzu

Military families have emotional needs that go far above and beyond what most of us will ever deal with; in a culture that is built around being "tough", depression is a silent killer. The top brass are taking notice, and this is a Good Thing. "Ask, Care, Escort?" Yes, yes, and oh hell yes. 

There are, however, some pretty serious problems with the way this push towards recognizing the psychological demands of military service and building resilience against things like PTSD and depression is being supplemented. Enter a whole new type of assessment: Spiritual Fitness. In this test, soldiers are asked to watch a series of video testimonials from "spiritually fit" leaders who say things like:

Well I believe that it doesn't necessarily have to be God or a Deity like that, I think it goes back to having something to... having something to believe in, you know, having purpose. Being driven... "I will see my family again." That is purpose, that motivates, that gives people the drive to accomplish their mission.

All well and good, except the token humanist (and I don't use those words lightly) who gave this testimony would have failed the actual test. Atheist soldiers, who put their one and only life on the line, are unlikely to respond positively to some of the other more overtly theistic "spiritual" testimonials.

You could do it alone... but it would be so much better to go with a higher power. I think that's very important.

A) I'm not alone. I have my friends, my family, and an entire world with new people to meet, new things to see, and new ideas to explore. 
B) I don't think it's very important to try to force a God into that picture. Been there, done that, and I have the t-shirt. It says "Reason Rally" on it. 
C) Bad coffee is the only thing the military should have in common with a 12-step program.

I remember not wanting to live... I was not motivated... my commander noticed that, too. He was like, hey, you need to bring your performance up... after about two to three weeks, I started coming around and using the church as the foundation and just believing that it was gonna get better, and it started to get better.

Good for her. Not good for me. Not good for atheists in foxholes who aren't at all conflicted about the position they take with respect to religion, or for agnostics who find very little worth exploring in religious beliefs. Lying to yourself and others for the sake of building a "spiritual community" is never healthy.

Nearly 1 in 3 Americans under the age of 30 are religiously unaffiliated. With those statistics in mind, there's an excellent bit on PBS that speaks directly to this topic.

Watch Godless Chaplains on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Rock Beyond Belief was a great step forward. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the end of the road.

While the VA's website goes on and on about the positive benefits of spirituality in the healing process, the fact remains that roughly 33% of the people taking this test are going to be told that they are spiritually deficient, and recommended to counseling from someone who knows just what they should believe in order to become "healthy". The 800 number they are given to help them develop their spiritual health leads to a suicide hotline. 

Being told your apathy or outright opposition when it comes to religion makes you spiritually unfit for duty is not a morale booster. Arguably, it's doing more harm than good for a third of our troops, who have zero incentive to rock the boat and say something about it.

We need humanist chaplains who can provide insight into the fastest growing demographic in the country, people who can give empathy and support for soldiers who are forced to confront questions about the faith they were raised in that they may never have truly come face to face with before, and it's very unlikely to happen without civilian help. We owe the 33% within our military a debt of gratitude. Bumper stickers that say support our troops are fine. Actions that actually protect the career opportunities and emotional health of our soldiers are better.

Jesus Christ, This Rocks!

What's better than an incredibly well done arena rock tour of "Jesus Christ, Superstar?"

An American Tour! With Tim Minchin as Judas!

The arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar is to be filmed and US producers want the entire cast to tour America, Andrew Lloyd Webber said today. Lord Lloyd-Webber said: “I felt in a theatre it was in a straitjacket. In an arena you can have a proper rock band.” He added: “Tim  Minchin and Ben Forster are as good as any Judas and Jesus we’ve ever had, if not the best.” Negotiations are advanced to take the show to Australia and to America, where 6,000 cinemas have already signed up for an as-live relay.

I haven't been this excited about JC Superstar since I found the Amy Ray/Emily Sailers Resurrection CD, which I played so often that it now sounds odd to hear Jesus as a man, baby.

 Also. Squee!!! That is all.

Schadenfreude, Feminism, And The Battle Of Five Armies

On a blog on the net, there was a feminist. Not a nasty, slimy, filthy blog, filled with plots of castration and world domination, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy blog devoid of humor: it was a feminist blog, and I liked it. Then the trolls came smashing through the doors and that blogger had to step away from the angry people.

Suffice it to say, the internet doesn't always bring out the best in us, particularly when we go all Human Torch on each other. I miss Jen's writing. I recognize that not everyone does, and some people were just as elated when she quit as I was sad. I get why it happens, though. In a word, one simple and elegant word that should be taught early and explored often, it's schadenfreude. If you've never heard the term before, Scientific American has a great article on it that begins with an excellent description:

There is no English translation for the German word schadenfreude—that small, private rush of glee in response to someone else’s misfortune. But everyone recognizes the emotion, even if he or she might not have a word for it (or admit to feeling it). 

There's nothing quite like a challenge over the rights to wear the Real Feminism™ label (and whether or not people who want to tear down anyone who isn't a Feminist™ do more harm than good) to bring out the angry in just about anyone. Jen threw down the gauntlet with Atheism Plus, and the secular community exploded. I don't particularly feel the need to go into the details of the latest flare up... if you're following it, you have your own opinions, I'm sure. Long story short, a guy got into a flame war that turned pretty ugly, and there are a lot of people who don't feel he deserves to have a position of leadership in the secular community because of it.

There's a petition out there right now to get Justin to step down, and it's dripping with Schadenfreude, and that's where I draw the line. I don't have to like the way a person behaves online or offline to acknowledge and appreciate a relentless pursuit of goals I care about.

Part of third wave feminism is the recognition that everyone has an opinion to share, and there is no monolithic best way forward. For some people, the notion that anyone should pull their punches and tread gently when egalitarian concerns are brought up is insulting. For some people, the entire idea of us vs. them infighting is, in and of itself, the problem. Call them "chill girls" or "privilege deniers", sure, but if you do it with scorn, you're missing the fucking point. Feminism isn't about what one person, or even what many people, want it to be. It's a constantly evolving reflection of the entire human effort to end sexist attitudes towards women altogether.

This means that we value the voices of the chill girls along with the voices of the shrill girls along with the voices of the somewhere-in-between girls (and boys) who are also individuals, each with flaws and strengths of their own that they bring to the table. Together, we make up the women and men of our community, all of whom are fighting very hard to advance a common goal.

I started this off with a riff on the opening of "The Hobbit" for a reason. The end of that book has a lovely bit where the good people of Middle Earth are getting ready to tear each other to shreds because they can't figure out how to compromise and work together. All the while, the real battle is waiting on the horizon, and it's a battle they can only win if they put their differences aside and work together. While Tolkien himself despised allegory, I'm a fan.

(Please note that my opinions are my own. I'm a secular woman, I'm not *the* Secular Woman. And really, that's kind of the point.)

Cutting down the lines of communication, shunning, and sniping are tactics that should only ever be employed as a very last resort. Communication is key. Even if we have to sacrifice our schadenfreude to do it well.