Hanukkah is popularly known as the "Festival of Lights." This is due to the myth that after a violent Jewish uprising against Hellenistic influences the religious Jews, around 200 BCE, were out of consecrated/clergy approved oil to burn in their menorah. They allegedly only had enough clergy approved oil to burn for one day. But, as the story goes, their Jewish god made it miraculously burn for eight days, thus the eight days of Hanukkah. Sounds a lot like the nonsense of the fish and loaves story regarding the rabbi Jesus.
If we look at the Hanukkah story objectively we quickly see the heart of the myth is the promotion of fear based "revealed" religious superstitions over God-given reason.
At the time, around 200 BCE, many Jewish people were leaving the priests, clergy, unnatural rituals and myths of Judaism for Hellenism. Although many of them were not letting go completely of their ancient superstitions but were trying to incorporate them into reason-based Hellenistic thought, it's obvious the Jewish clergy were upset nonetheless. The Orthodox rabbis wanted nothing to do with the relatively small amount of God-given reason the Hellenistic Jews were trying to bring into the "revealed" religion of Judaism. This anger on the part of the Orthodox clergy is what brought about the uprising and the Hanukkah myth.
To understand why the Jewish clergy were so upset with the Hellenistic Jews and with Hellenism in general all we need to do is look at the present day neoconservatives. The father of the neoconservative movement is the German Jew Leo Strauss. Strauss recognized the eternal struggle between Judaism/Jerusalem against Hellenism/Athens. Judaism and Jerusalem are based on fear, superstition and stagnation. Hellenism and Athens are based on wonder, knowledge and progress. Strauss even wrote and said, "Judaism is a concern with return; it is not a concern with progress. "Return' can easily be expressed in biblical Hebrew; "progress' cannot." This really sums up the danger we face from the Jerusalem worldview and from its political arm, the neoconservative movement. Do we really want a world without progress??? That is what is in store for us and our children and grandchildren as the neocons continue to have their way.
While Jerusalem is represented by the Big Three Abrahamic "revealed" religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all of which value "faith" in the clergy more than God-given reason, the dominant religion in the Jerusalem camp is Judaism. Judaism is what Christianity and Islam sprang out of and is in a very practical sense supported by the neoconservative movement. For example, the war in Iraq was started for Israel's security and was strongly pushed and promoted by neoconservatives. Athens, sadly, is without any meaningful focused representation. The only ideology that has the potential to win enough popular support to actually win this crucial battle once and for all, due to its unique ability to appeal to both belief in God and to reason, is Deism.
Deism has a real chance to bring profound and meaningful progress to individuals and to the world while it short-circuits the war-mongering neoconservatives and the anti-progress "revealed" religions. Already in the United States alone there are approximately 34 million people who hold Deistic beliefs but mistakenly believe they are alone in those beliefs because they've never heard of Deism. A 2008 extensive report (PDF) from Trinity College classifies these people as "nones." It is the goal of the World Union of Deists to reach all of these people, along with many others, to the fact that they are not alone in their rational and progress oriented beliefs. This will culminate in a reverse-Hanukkah: a triumph of reason and progress over superstition and fear.
If we look at the Hanukkah story objectively we quickly see the heart of the myth is the promotion of fear based "revealed" religious superstitions over God-given reason.
At the time, around 200 BCE, many Jewish people were leaving the priests, clergy, unnatural rituals and myths of Judaism for Hellenism. Although many of them were not letting go completely of their ancient superstitions but were trying to incorporate them into reason-based Hellenistic thought, it's obvious the Jewish clergy were upset nonetheless. The Orthodox rabbis wanted nothing to do with the relatively small amount of God-given reason the Hellenistic Jews were trying to bring into the "revealed" religion of Judaism. This anger on the part of the Orthodox clergy is what brought about the uprising and the Hanukkah myth.
To understand why the Jewish clergy were so upset with the Hellenistic Jews and with Hellenism in general all we need to do is look at the present day neoconservatives. The father of the neoconservative movement is the German Jew Leo Strauss. Strauss recognized the eternal struggle between Judaism/Jerusalem against Hellenism/Athens. Judaism and Jerusalem are based on fear, superstition and stagnation. Hellenism and Athens are based on wonder, knowledge and progress. Strauss even wrote and said, "Judaism is a concern with return; it is not a concern with progress. "Return' can easily be expressed in biblical Hebrew; "progress' cannot." This really sums up the danger we face from the Jerusalem worldview and from its political arm, the neoconservative movement. Do we really want a world without progress??? That is what is in store for us and our children and grandchildren as the neocons continue to have their way.
While Jerusalem is represented by the Big Three Abrahamic "revealed" religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all of which value "faith" in the clergy more than God-given reason, the dominant religion in the Jerusalem camp is Judaism. Judaism is what Christianity and Islam sprang out of and is in a very practical sense supported by the neoconservative movement. For example, the war in Iraq was started for Israel's security and was strongly pushed and promoted by neoconservatives. Athens, sadly, is without any meaningful focused representation. The only ideology that has the potential to win enough popular support to actually win this crucial battle once and for all, due to its unique ability to appeal to both belief in God and to reason, is Deism.
Deism has a real chance to bring profound and meaningful progress to individuals and to the world while it short-circuits the war-mongering neoconservatives and the anti-progress "revealed" religions. Already in the United States alone there are approximately 34 million people who hold Deistic beliefs but mistakenly believe they are alone in those beliefs because they've never heard of Deism. A 2008 extensive report (PDF) from Trinity College classifies these people as "nones." It is the goal of the World Union of Deists to reach all of these people, along with many others, to the fact that they are not alone in their rational and progress oriented beliefs. This will culminate in a reverse-Hanukkah: a triumph of reason and progress over superstition and fear.
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