{"id":4846,"date":"2016-02-11T14:20:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T19:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/?p=4846"},"modified":"2016-03-08T10:35:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T15:35:43","slug":"judeo-christian-values-replaced-with-golden-calf-of-the-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/judeo-christian-values-replaced-with-golden-calf-of-the-self\/","title":{"rendered":"Judeo-Christian values replaced with golden calf of the self"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bishop<\/a>
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, addresses the National Press Club in Washington. Photo Credit: Lynette Wilson \/ Episcopal News Service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

(Article adapted from Anglican Communion News Service)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, the Most Revd Michael Curry, has said that the replacement of Judeo-Christian values with the \u201cidol of the self\u201d is a \u201cformula for human self-destruction\u201d and said that the love of God was about the \u201csacrifice of self-centred interest for the good of the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Curry made his remarks to journalists and other invited guests at a Newsmakers event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

Bishop Curry read a quotation from Not in God\u2019s Name: Confronting Religious Violence<\/em>, a book by Britain\u2019s former Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks. \u201cThe old marriage of religion and culture has ended in divorce. Today the secular West has largely lost the values that used to be called Judeo-Christian. Instead it has chosen to worship the idols of the self: the market, consumerism, individualism, autonomy, my rights, and whatever works for you. The golden calf of the self has been raised by the Children of Israel in the wilderness again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Curry added: \u201cI think he\u2019s right. And that golden calf, that idol of the self, may well be the most destructive reality in human society. Self-centeredness, selfishness, call it what you will, frankly is a cancer that can destroy us all and that left unchecked will destroy the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Invoking the theological tradition of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Bishop Curry spoke of original sin as \u201cthat ubiquitous reality of self-centredness, that hubris, that false pride that sees me as the centre of the world and you as the periphery. . . And that is a formula for human self-destruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we will perish together as fools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Those words were originally said by the Revd Martin Luther King Jr in a speech at Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1964, but \u201cserve as a defining quote for the 21st century,\u201d Curry said.<\/p>\n

Bishop Curry quoted further from Jonathan Sack\u2019s book, saying that \u201cthe Rabbi is right on target and I think we must engage that.\u201d In the book, Rabbi Sacks argues that extremism can be found in Judaism and Christianity as well as Islam; and that the silence of the mainstream religious voices \u201callows the louder voices to become the face of religion,\u201d Bishop Curry said.<\/p>\n

He then moved onto the Gospel accounts of Jesus\u2019 response to the question about the greatest commandment when he said: \u201c\u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.\u2019 This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: \u2018Love your neighbour as yourself.\u2019 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Curry described this response as \u201cmost extraordinary\u201d, adding: \u201cJesus just said everything that is in that Bible is straining and pointing to love of God and love of neighbour. Everything in the mosaic edifice pointing to love of God, love of neighbour.<\/p>\n

\u201cReligion is completely and totally about the love of God and love of neighbour. And if it is not about love, it is not about God. Period. Exclamation point. . . That is what Jesus was saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he warned \u2013 particularly with Valentine\u2019s Day coming up \u2013 that it was easy to \u201cschmooze love into sentimentality\u201d but pointed out that Jesus\u2019 teaching about love in Matthew 22 was made in Holy Week.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus had that conversation about the time that he had made the decision that he might have to sacrifice his own life for the cause of love in this world. That\u2019s when he is talking about love.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in John\u2019s gospel, almost all of Jesus\u2019 teachings about love are at the Last Supper. That\u2019s not an accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove, the love of God, is about the sacrifice of self-centred interest for the good of the other, for the good and the well-being of others, for the common good. That\u2019s the love of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Article adapted from Anglican Communion News Service) The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, the Most Revd Michael Curry, has said that the replacement of Judeo-Christian values with the \u201cidol of the self\u201d is a \u201cformula for human self-destruction\u201d and said that the love of God was about the \u201csacrifice of self-centred interest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4846"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4877,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4846\/revisions\/4877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}