The dark side of technology

Practice makes perfect

Virtues are a bit like skills. Both require practice. If we want to become proficient at a particular skill, we need to work at it. Elite athletes, for example, do not magically become stars. Star status, if it comes at all, follows years of practice, skill development, good coaching, and sacrifice. Natural ability alone does not guarantee success. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.

We could say the same about virtues. If we want to be virtuous, we need to practice making good choices from an early age, and we need good examples to guide us along the way. Family, religious tradition, education, and the cultural milieu play a role in shaping our moral character.

Technology not all its cracked up to be

Today’s technology, with its ubiquitous use of smart phones and social media, can powerfully influence the development of a person’s character. While technology has many good uses that benefit humanity, it also has a dark side that can negatively impact child development. Sexting, webcamming, and the easy access to pornography that technology makes possible are part of this dark side.

While sexting and webcamming appear to be more popular with girls, pornography is more popular with boys. It has become trendy for elementary school aged boys to view pornography on their smart phones while riding the school bus.

An overtly sexualized culture

These behaviors are symptomatic of a much larger problem. Western culture has gradually become overtly sexualized. A 2011 BBC survey concluded that overt sexualization has become the norm in the television, film, and music industries, in electronic and print media, and in marketing and advertising.

We are being bombarded with sexualized marketing, and it is influencing attitudes about sexual behavior, and relationships. Sociologists and psychologists are expressing growing concerns about the hyper-sexualization of girls and the hyper-masculinization of boys. At increasingly younger ages, girls feel pressure to dress and act in a sexual way in order to be liked, while boys feel pressure to become tough and aggressive in their interactions with girls and with other boys.

A generation is in danger of losing the old-fashioned virtue known as chastity.

Recovering a sense of chastity

Chastity is often misunderstood as prudery. Although practicing self-control in any area of behavior is virtuous, the concept of chastity far exceeds the repression or denial of sexuality. Chastity is the ability to accept our sexuality, and to embody it appropriately in our interactions with others. Chastity enables us to affirm the dignity and worth of others. Chastity supports the healthy psychosexual development that makes good relationships possible between spouses, family members, friends, and co-workers. The opposite of chastity is sexism, which denigrates others and seeks power over them.

Today’s culture frequently treats human sexuality as recreation, entertainment, and a commodity for profit. These societal presentations of sexuality divorce it from its interpersonal context, and insult the innate dignity of the human person.

Since children have little context for many of the attitudes and images that bombard them about the human body and sexuality, sexting, webcamming, and viewing pornography present a serious risk to the development of their moral character. These activities, especially if they become habitual, desensitize the person to the goodness of human sexuality, and impair the individual’s ability for healthy, supportive, and loving relationships in the future.

We do not need to wring our hands helplessly because pop culture trivializes sex. We can help young people assimilate the virtue of chastity in its broadest scope as the respect for self and others. We can become moral coaches, not by preaching, but by our example.

We model chastity for young people when we treat others respectfully, when we eschew bad language and suggestive jokes, when we avoid sexually explicit media, and when we promote the goodness of the human person through acts of charity and justice.

Parents and others who are directly responsible for the nurturing of children can monitor the use of technology. They can ensure that the television and films a child views, and that the music a child listens to are age appropriate. They can use the teachable moments to communicate healthy messages about human sexuality and relationships.

The overt sexualization of our time distorts the good of human sexuality. The promotion of the virtue of chastity offers a corrective. We do not magically become people of virtue. Habits, good and bad, develop with practice. Let’s ensure that our children develop virtuous habits.

Photos courtesy of  freedigitalphotos.net
"Young kid in action" by photostock
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2125

"Couple watching TV with children" by Ambro

 http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1499

Cleansers for the soul

The sun came streaming in the windows of my kitchen. I wanted to sit and bask in its warmth, and revel in the promise of spring. Unfortunately, all that brightness spotlighted the smudges on the cupboards, the dust on the kick plates, and the rain spots on the windows. It was hard to relax when my deficiencies as a housekeeper were so clearly evident. It was time to get out the spring-cleaning supplies.

Fasting, almsgiving, and prayer

The liturgical season of Lent is like the sun streaming into the window of our souls. We might say that Lent is the equivalent of a spiritual spring-cleaning. Its cleaning supplies are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Fasting helps us clear the clutter to make space for God. Fasting does not have to be limited to food. Fasting from social media, for example, can free up time for God. Almsgiving and works of charity move us away from our naturally self-centered inclinations. They help us develop a greater sensitivity and a more generous response to the needs of others. Prayer is essential to entering into that intimate relationship with God that informs our relationships with others and with creation. This triad of spiritual practices expresses our sorrow for sin, and nurtures our desire to grow closer to God.

More than a "thou shall not" mentality

In my recollections about Lent from childhood, Lent was a time to make reparation for the bad things a person had done. We accomplished this through our Lenten observances, which seemed geared to “giving something up”. A “thou shall not” mentality permeated our behavior. The general attitude was that if a person did no harm, then the person could successfully avoid sin. The way to goodness was to avoid badness. We gave little consideration to the flip side of “thou shall not.” We rarely considered that the good we had neglected to do could also be a type of sin.

More than a "me and God"friendship

The understanding of Lent today is more broadly attuned to the social dimension of human interaction than in the past. The personal piety of repentance thrusts us outwards. Lenten spirituality goes far beyond saying a few extra prayers, spending more time in church, donating money to a good cause, giving up chocolate, or limiting computer time, although it may include all of these things. Lenten spirituality is directed outward towards the world, not inward towards the self. Lent reminds us that our relationship with God is much bigger than an exclusively “me and God” friendship.

If we have any doubt about this, we only have to listen to the words of Jesus who pointedly told his followers to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, comfort the sick, and visit the imprisoned. Lent challenges us to reach out to those in our families, communities, and in the world who are in need, physically, psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually. When we respond to the needs of those on the margins, we embrace a “thou shall” approach to Lenten spirituality.

Lent re-orients us to the good

Lent is a time to re-orient our lives to the good, for the purpose of reflecting God’s radiant love in the world. Our penitential practices do not simply remind us of our failures and deficiencies. Nor do they simply help us correct the error of our ways. While it remains important to repent and to avoid doing wrong, it is equally important to actively practice doing good. Spiritual practices during Lent help us embody the spirit of goodness long after the Lenten season has ended.

Like the rays of sunshine that spotlight the smudges on the cupboards, our Lenten practices illuminate the areas of our life that need some polishing. It is not that we are poor housekeepers. It is just that houses always need cleaning. It is not that we are lousy people or terrible sinners. It is just that we are always in need of conversion.

Reducing poverty is a matter of justice

Charity or Justice?

In his book on spirituality, The Holy Longing, Father Ronald Rolheiser relates the following story. One day, some children spotted three bodies floating in the river that ran through their village. They ran to get help. Of the three bodies, one was dead, one was injured, and one was a healthy child. Everyday for years, three more bodies came floating down the river. The villagers buried the dead, nursed the injured, and found homes for the children. The villagers were proud of the systems they had established for dealing with the bodies. But, no one ever went up the river to find out what was happening.

Rolheiser was drawing a distinction between charity and social justice. While charity relieves the symptoms of a problem, social justice looks beyond the symptoms to the cause, and works for change. Social justice is an essential aspect of spirituality.

Not unlike the villagers in our story, Canada has put systems in place that are intended to address social problems, like poverty. While our politicians talk about poor Canadians, rarely do any make a trip up the river to experience the harsh reality of poverty.

Who are the poor?

Jagrup Brar, a Surrey, BC MLA, is a notable exception. Brar accepted the “Raise the Rates” challenge to live for one month on the BC welfare rate of $610. He did so this past January. 

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Welfare+Challenge+Jagrup+Brar+blogs+about+living+month/5946143/story.html

During his month long experiment with poverty, Brar lived off about $4 per day, after deductions for basics like rent, buss pass, and phone. He was constantly hungry and fatigued. He lost 26 pounds. He had to make choices between purchasing toiletries and food. He said the experience changed him, making him a humbler, more compassionate person, committed to working for justice for the poor.

Brar’s experience challenges a common Canadian mindset about welfare recipients. The poor are not typically lazy individuals taking advantage of taxpayer dollars. The poor are working people who do not make a living wage. The poor are individuals affected by job loss, illness, disability, or, they have suffered a crippling accident. The poor are single mothers and their children who have fled from abusive situations. The poor are immigrant farm workers who lack the basic rights and benefits that we have come to expect in Canada. The poor are refugees from United Nations refugee camps whose sponsors have reneged on commitments to support them for a year. Poverty is a tapestry of individual stories, and is not defined by one group of people.

Claw back policies keep people poor

Brar discovered some problems with policy. Child support payments, which many mothers do not regularly receive, are deducted from welfare payments. Earnings from any type of work, even snow shoveling for a few bucks, are deducted.

Income from other sources does not improve the situation for people when welfare is clawed back. While social assistance was originally intended to provide short-term relief, claw back policies keep people poor, penalize the recipient for working, and encourage dishonesty.

A crippling discrepancy

“Raise the Rates” puts the Market Basket Measure (MBM) for metro-Vancouver at $1300 per month, but the welfare payment for an individual living in British Columbia is only $610 per month, of which $400 is deducted for rent. The MBM is a goods and services measure that takes into consideration the cost of living in different geographical areas, and is based on after tax income. The categories of the basket are food, shelter, clothing, footwear, transportation, and other goods and services, which includes a miscellany of things, from postage stamps to school supplies to newspaper subscriptions to entertainment.

Where there is such a grave discrepancy between the actual cost of living and the welfare allowance, is it any wonder that food banks, soup kitchens, and shelters have become permanent features of many communities?

The poor deserve justice

These services are examples of charity that caring citizens have established to assist the poor among us. Although these charitable endeavors are essential to promoting the dignity of the poor, the poor deserve more than charity. They deserve justice.

The three western provinces lack any kind of comprehensive strategy to reduce or prevent poverty. Justice calls for the development of measurable strategies to reduce poverty, and to prevent more people from falling into poverty.

Unlike Brar, who was able to return to his comfortable home after a four-week joust with poverty, 500,000 British Columbians are caught in poverty. Poverty is not going to go away, unless we develop the political and social will to create a more just society. Until then, the bodies will continue to float down the river.

http://bcpovertyreduction.ca/

On Love

Love is…

Love Heart Gift Box by Grant Cochrane

With Valentine’s Day peering around the corner, romance hovers in the air. Love is chocolates and flowers. Love is reserving a table at a favorite restaurant. Love is the many little expressions of affection that we bestow on those we love.    

A comic strip called “Love is…” became widely popular around the world in the 1970’s, and is still going strong. Each cartoon features the phrase “Love is…” above an illustration; the phrase is completed beneath.

http://www.loveisfan.com/

The phrases are sometimes trite, sometimes amusing, and sometimes sweet. While the cartoon looks simplistic, its insights about relationships and the nature of love are often profound.

As we get ready to celebrate the romantic love associated with Valentine’s Day, let’s take a look at the lighthearted portrayal of love as captured in the “Love is…”comic strip. 

Some characteristics of loving relationships

“Love is… a slow dance together.” It takes time to develop a committed relationship. The initial phases of a relationship can be more like a vigorous jive than a stately waltz. Relationships grow and blossom when we gently hold one another through the various dances of life.

“Love is …losing the game but making a great match.” Sometimes we cannot have our own way. Even in the greatest love matches, there are disappointments and disagreements. Love overcomes the fractious moments, letting go of the insignificant to focus on the essentials.

Heart by Salvatore Vuono

“Love is …not trying to impose your ideas on others.” A loving relationship is based on mutual respect. We must not try to control or overshadow one another. Each person must have the freedom of their individuality, even as the couple grows together, becoming one in spirit.

“Love is … pulling her hair away from her eyes.” Good relationships challenge us to become the best we can be. Sometimes we are blinded by stubbornness; we are set in our ways and opinions. We need the other person to help us see with new vision. Acting with tenderness, the other person can help us widen our horizon when it begins to narrow.

“Love is…toasting the arrival of spring.” Relationships often settle into a comfortable routine. We may begin to take one another for granted. We nurture our relationship when we seek out little reasons to celebrate each other, the relationship, and life in general.

“Love is…cleaning the bathtub after you use it.” Undertaking an ordinary task that is outside our usual realm of responsibility can be an expression of love. On the flip side, saying thank-you for that clean bathtub is equally important. Thoughtfulness and consideration in little things goes a long way in nurturing harmony.

“Love is…letting him be the greedy one.” There is a give and take between each person’s needs and desires. Sometimes we have to put our selves last. Good relationships require self-giving and service from both people.

“Love is…saying you’re sorry” and “Love is…forgiving even if you are really angry.”

Admitting our mistakes is unpleasant. Forgiving when we are angry is really difficult. Love requires that we humble ourselves, and that we cultivate a generous spirit. Love demands that we ask for forgiveness, and that we extend forgiveness.

“Love is…contagious.” The illustration with this phrase shows the couple, holding hands, covered in a heart shaped rash. Loving relationships cannot be contained. Love is directed outwards, becoming a contagion for the good of others, and for the world.

A biblical vision 

Saint Paul penned one of the most frequently quoted “Love is…” passages. While Paul wrote the passage to a community plagued with division, pride, and selfishness, today the passage is often read at weddings, directed to a couple. The passage expresses the quality of relationship that the human heart longs for, and presents the ideal form of interaction between people.

From Paul’s “First Letter to the Corinthians,” we learn the attributes of love. Love is patient and kind. It delights in goodness. Love perseveres in times of trouble. Love is always hopeful. Love is not arrogant or rude. Love is not irritable or selfish. Love overcomes and outlasts all things.

A relationship rooted in the attributes of love is the greatest gift of all. This Valentine’s Day, as we enjoy the more material gifts of romantic love, let us treat our relationships with spouse, family and friends as a joyful dance of love rooted in patience, kindness and humility.

From the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

(NRSV)

Photo Credits:
Heart by Salvatore Vuono, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=659

Love Heart Gift Box with Ribbon by Grant Cochrane, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2365

Office of Religious Freedom (Canada)

Opponents Criticize the Office 

The swirl of criticism around the creation of the Office of Religious Freedom (ORF) distracts from the more important issue of the role of religion in world affairs.

The ORF will be a branch of the Foreign Affairs Department. Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird has said the office will promote religious freedom; he has not said how the office will accomplish this. The Canadian government's evasiveness on just how an ORF would promote religious freedom calls into question the authenticity of the government regarding this challenging task. 

The ORF is being criticized for other reasons. Some see it is a ploy to curry favor with Evangelical Christian voters, further a right wing Christian agenda, and promote Judeo-Christian traditions. Others argue that the office will violate the separation of Church and State.

Religious Freedom is a basic and inalienable human right

There is no argument that the state needs to be concerned with violations of human rights. Article 18 of the Universal Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes religious freedom as a basic and inalienable human right. When human rights are under attack, the nation state has a moral obligation to intervene. When a nation state orchestrates, participates in, or countenances human rights abuses, that moral obligation shifts to the international community. We are our brothers and sisters keepers.

The promotion and protection of religious freedom is within the purview of secular, liberal democracies. The equality and dignity of people are at stake when nations restrict religious freedom, or tacitly approve of religiously motivated hostilities. Secular democracies tend to ignore the importance of religious freedom at the peril of global stability.

Loss of religious freedom increasing

Religious minorities around the globe are experiencing a loss of religious freedom. In 

its report, “Restrictions on Religious Freedom,” the Pew Forum notes that government restrictions on religious beliefs and practices, and religiously motivated social hostilities are on the rise. (The Pew Forum is a non-partisan organization that explores the role of religion in world affairs.)

Between 2006-2009, restrictions rose in 23 countries. There was social or government harassment of Christians in 130 countries, Muslims in 117, Jews in 75, Hindus in 27, Buddhists in 16, and Other in 84 countries. 

Government restriction of some religious practices is not necessarily a bad thing. When a religious belief or practice infringes on another individual’s basic human rights, governments should intervene. Canada ranks low on religious restrictions but Canadian law restricts polygamy because it harms children and women. Constitutional rights or laws that protect religious freedom must never allow those freedoms to cause harm to others.

Restrictions become a cause for concern when a government violates the spirit of Article 18. If a government favors one religious group, officially recognizes one religion, defers to religious authorities in matters of policy or law, interferes with the independent operation of religion, and either encourages or permits social hostilities against religious minorities, it violates the inalienable right to freedom of religion.

One third of the world’s population lives in the 23 countries with rising religious restrictions. Civil conflict in some of these regions of the world, notably the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, has significantly impacted the foreign policy of Western nations. Given the sheer number of people in the regions most affected with religious restrictions, there is the potential for escalating conflict. Western nations would be prudent to consider religious freedom in foreign policy development.

Canada has a proud tradition of championing human rights, of which religious freedom is one. On its website, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade does not even list the promotion of human rights as a priority for 2012, despite the creation of the ORF. This raises the question, “How important can the ORF be?” 

The Canadian government appears disingenuous. The office looks like optics, rather than a genuine attempt to promote religious freedom, thereby helping to create a more stable world community.

Relevant Links:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Article 18.

• Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

The Pew Forum http://www.pewforum.org/

For the Forum's report,  "Rising Restrictions on Religion," visit:

http://www.pewforum.org/Government/Rising-Restrictions-on-Religion.aspx