{"id":2046,"date":"2009-05-25T14:34:32","date_gmt":"2009-05-25T22:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/wordpress\/?p=2046"},"modified":"2009-05-26T04:01:33","modified_gmt":"2009-05-26T12:01:33","slug":"blessing-the-subway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/blessing-the-subway\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessing the subway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, the new Catholic archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, visited a subway construction site in Manhattan to offer his blessing<\/a>: \u201cBless this tunnel, those who are constructing it, and those who will use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such an act has at least two possible meanings, as I see it, one dubious, the other admirable and worthy of emulation.\u00a0\u00a0 If Dolan\u2019s blessing was intended or understood as a shield against accident, why isn\u2019t he blessing the entire city or even the world?\u00a0 And if Catholics do believe that a priestly blessing can have a protective effect, have curiosity and the passion for knowledge ever led them to try to measure when such effects occur?\u00a0 Or are they happy to simply take it on blind faith that God pays attention to such gestures?\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to hear that no one ever prays with the intention of calling forth a divine response and intervention; such prayers are the daily currency of belief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Dolan\u2019s blessing could have another meaning as well\u2014simply the expression of such precious human sentiments as gratitude and good will.\u00a0 And here again I\u2019m led to wonder how the positive social functions of religion can be replicated in a secular context.\u00a0 Do we need a designated religious figure to express thanks for the labors of our fellow men and the creativity of the human spirit?\u00a0 If not a priest, who can channel our appreciation and wonder?\u00a0 Blessing is a noble performative utterance that ought to be separable from a belief in God, but it\u2019s hard to see what non-religious figure would play the official blessing role without looking ridiculous.\u00a0 Government officials engage in ground-breaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies; perhaps that is the closest we can get.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Religious leaders are convenient spokesmen for human emotion.\u00a0 When the Pope visits the earthquake zone in L\u2019Aquila, he\u2019s not bringing God\u2019s mercy\u2014if God had any, He would not have allowed 200 adults and children to die in the first place\u2014he is bringing human sympathy.\u00a0 That is a vital function.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, the new Catholic archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, visited a subway construction site in Manhattan to offer his blessing: \u201cBless this tunnel, those who are constructing it, and those who will use it.\u201d Such an act … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[182,195],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2046"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2049,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions\/2049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}