"When Religion Becomes Evil" review

Writer's note: The Boston Marathon bombing has brought the topic of religious extremism into the news again. Charles Kimball, the author of this book, has been interviewed on radio and TV frequently in the past few weeks. In that contemporary spirit, I am publishing my review of, probably, his most famous book. I indentify his as the chair of the the University of Oklahoma's Religious Studies program. When this book was published 10 years ago, Kimball chaired the Dept. of religion and divinity school at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/K/Charles.A.Kimball-1/bio.html

I’ve often been baffled by religion. It does a lot of good in the world, but it also does a lot of harm.

Obviously, religion is neither black nor white. But how do we sort through the gray matter to identify where religion crosses the line from righteous to evil? That’s the question religion professor Charles Kimball takes on in his book, When Religion Becomes Evil.

Kimball, who chairs the religious studies program at the University of Oklahoma, makes an interesting distinction between what he calls “authentic religion” and religion that has been “corrupted.” He writes that the world’s enduring, time-tested religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism…were all founded on fundamental principles of love, peace, kindness and harmony.

However, that authenticity is eroded and the essence of those faiths is lost when human corruption takes root within the religions. Kimball is balanced, sparing none of the above mentioned religious organizations as he cites examples – from history and modern headlines -- of how every one of them has been guilty of committing barbaric and ghastly acts of violence.

A Christian minister, Kimball was educated in comparative religions and has worked internationally with interfaith organizations.  He draws on his extensive education and experience and identifies five warning signs that religion is about to turn evil: absolute truth claims, blind obedience, establishing the “ideal” time, the end justifies any means and declaring holy war.

One or more of these patterns are always present when a religion takes a turn for the bad and all religions are susceptible to corruption, Kimball writes. In essence, all five warning signs come down to this: a disregard for humanity in the name of God. Anytime a religious organization uses doctrine or the religious institution itself to justify hurting others, that religion has become evil. When a religion employs violent or anti-social means, when it fails to follow the Golden Rule, the religion has been contaminated. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/28/when-religious-beliefs-becomes-evil-4-signs/comment-page-24/

Religions are “human institutions,” Kimball writes. That’s an important reminder. It explains why a beautiful religion can take a wrong turn.  Throughout history, people have been led astray by charismatic political leaders so it stands to reason that they can be misled by charismatic religious leaders as well.

A religious leader could take a passage from a “sacred text” out of context and use it to justify cruel or violent behavior. These passages are open to many interpretations and any leader who claims to have the “absolute truth” is opening the door to abuse.

When Religion Turns Evil talks about cult leaders like Jim Jones, Ashara Shoko and David Koresh, but what I find interesting is that a religious leader doesn’t have to be that extreme, doesn’t even have to be violent to cross the line into evil. Any time a religious leader demands “blind allegiance” to his authority or to the institution and prohibits questions or dissent, the religion is tainted.

The best message to come out of this book is to have an open mind and keep your critical thinking powers activated. It’s the best defense against manipulation by an abusive religious leader. Kimball makes a case for the individual asking his own questions, defining what he believes and finding his own path, rather than having a religious authority tell him what to think. That sounds intellectually healthy.

I enjoyed his comparative religions approach. It served him well in writing this book and opened my mind to other belief systems. Of course, Kimball was practically born into comparative religions. His Jewish grandfather and nine siblings immigrated to the United States from Russia. His father married a Presbyterian woman he met, while performing in Vaudeville and Kimball became an ordained Baptist minister.

For me it’s fascinating, finding the commonalities between my Christian faith and Islam or Buddhism.  But not everyone will be receptive to the idea of placing the different religions on an equal playing field. I know Christians who consider Islam in any form to be the great Satan, and no doubt, the reverse is true. And that kind of thinking exacerbates the problems. Religious exceptionalism tends to dehumanize those with a different view.

This book re-enforced for me that the spiritual dimension of a person’s life is about more than just doctrines. Theological views may differ, but people across the cultural and religious spectrum can agree on basic morals. Religious views, we take on faith, anyway. We really don’t know anything for a certainty in this life.

I found interesting, this quote Kimball shared from the Qur’n: “If God had so willed, He would have made all of you one community… so compete with one another in good works. To God, you shall all return and He will tell you the truth about that which you have been disputing.”

Watched an interview with this guy on CNN, yesterday, while on the treadmill at the YMCA. Was looking to publish that recent clip, but couldn't find it as of deadline.

Gateway Literature

Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill by Jessica Stern. A former member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Stern is an expert on worldwide terrorism, having visited refugee camps and interviewed Christian, Muslim and Jewish extremists from Pakistan, Indonesia and all over. That's what I call being a hard-core, investigative reporter.

Many Mansions: A Christian's Encounter with Other Faiths by Harvey Cox. For decades, a professor of divinity at Harvard University, Cox, traveled throughout the world and gained insight, hearing how people of multiple faiths perceive Christ. Cox is a prolific author and this book should help inquiring minds grow beyond the White-Male-Christian-American Exceptionalism box.

Also, I say read all you can about Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Confucious, Moses...We won't agree with everything from the various faiths, but in a small, multi-faceted world, we'll make it a lot better with one another, knowing a little something about the many beliefs.

'Mean Old Man' review

 It’s been said that if Elvis was rock’s first superstar, Jerry Lee Lewis was its first SOB.

Born out of hellfire, Pentecostal fury, and Original Sin in a patch of Louisiana, the Killer sprang forth upon this earth for the cause of meanness and hell raisin.’

Like Keith Richards, Lewis should have never lived this long. In an alternate universe, Elvis would’ve lived to be an old man (oh, he would lose a toe or two to diabetes, but he’d be around), while Cash and Lewis would have died young, fallen to a drug overdose or the killing end of a bullet. As it is, here in the real world, Elvis could have never grown old gracefully, but Jerry Lee flaunts his longevity with bred-in-the bone bravado.

“If I come on like a mean old man, that’s what I am,” he sings – the first words uttered in the 2010 album’s opening title track, a song written and recorded by Kris Kristofferson sometime back in the ‘80s. Kristofferson contributes vocals and guitar playing, but Lewis steals the song. Lyrics pour out the Killer’s throat as if they were written with him in mind.

“If I come on like a voodoo doll that’s what I am,” he sings as the tempo picks up. “I’d rather scratch you than to have to crawl.

The rock royalty chomping at the bit to jam with Presley and the TCB Band in the early 70s, yet held at bay by the Colonel’s iron curtain, got another chance with Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. With Mean Old Man, Lewis (as he did with his 2006 Last Man Standing album) again gives the biggest names in rock the opportunity to record with him. Mean Old Man features the musicianship and vocalizing of cats like Richards, Eric Clapton, John Fogerty, Kid Rock and a skinny, chickenwalking Swingin’ London veteran, Tina-Turner-emulatin’ crap shooter ___

Mick Jagger.  The greatest cut by a mile is Lewis’s duet with Jagger on the Rolling Stones’ classic Dead Flowers -- enriched by the steel guitar of Greg Leisz -- and it’s appropriate, given that the entire album has something of an early 70s’ Stones-Gram Parsons-Sticky Fingers-Exile on Main Street feel.

The resurgent Last Man Standing was a digital restoration of vintage Lewis -- plenty of pumping piano, the killer summoning young man rhythm and all the boogie-woogie and Little Richard-era style and frenzy implied. Mean Old Man goes another way, drawing back to middle-aged Jerry Lee Lewis and true country-rock.

Lewis and his band of all-stars take an obscure early ‘60s soul-pop hit, “You Can Have Her”, and turn it into southern fried rock, bolstered by the guitar work of Eric Clapton and James Burton, bringing to the tune a lifetime of rhythm and rockabilly flourish. John Mayer’s blues guitar work in “Roll Over Beethoven” is flat out mean. Jerry Lee, with his piano playing and old man voice, surpasses his own 1970 recording of the song, giving this standard, overplayed Chuck Berry tune renewed vigor.

The Beatles have been as overplayed as Elvis, but I'm posting this video because Lewis covers "Roll Over Beethoven" with Ringo contributing drums. In this video, the Beatles cannot always be heard over the screams, but the energy is there in the body language. Here, Starr plays with a ferocity that doesn't come across as lively on his recording with Lewis.

While the country-fashioned superband is stellar, too many times Lewis’s trademark piano is submerged under the weight of it all. Not that he’s ever upstaged. Make no mistake on that one. Clapton, three Rolling Stones and a Beatle perform on this album, and they’re all in deference to Jerry Lee Lewis. Musically, though, there are times when I want more of him and less of them.

There’s always the risk that on an all-star collaboration like this, the party atmosphere will take over and the album will become more of an Event and less a professional objective. Mean Old Man comes close to that line at times, but is ultimately saved by hard musician work and ear-pleasing gems.

Kid Rock is one of the stars whom you might most worry about when facing the danger of pop-rock celebrity overkill, but he actually contributes to some of the best driving rock of the album – and I’m talking about Jerry Lee Lewis. He pounds over the 88 keys in whole lotta shakin’ style and his low voice complements Kid Rock’s screechy ventilator vocals in the Lewis classic, Rockin' My Life Away. Since Kid Rock --  more than any other contemporary rockstar – channels within his soul, the wild ass side of young Jerry Lee Lewis, maybe it’s only organic, the way his excesses actually serve the old man. Even with his two-tables-and-a-microphone Kid Rockisms, the young rock-rapper-country star never comes off as less than humble and with abiding respect in the presence of Jerry Lee Lewis. 

And you got Slash on guitar. Doesn't get much better.

Most of the guest vocals on this album can’t be heard over Jerry Lee and the other musicians – Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, with their high raspy voices being the most prominent exceptions. While Kid Rock wails with rock n’ roll fervor, Sheryl Crow brings in a shot of estrogen and controlled sweetness. You hear in her singing of “You Are My Sunshine” with Lewis. For vocal distinction, harmonizing & a superior song to work with, however, Jagger and Jerry Lee can’t be beat.

Which brings us to a saucy Stones gem “Sweet Virginia,” sung with Keith Richards --  an ingenious guitarist who can’t sing. But Lewis and Richards have an affinity with the tune and each other that comes through with unique style. After all, it’s a song about dissolution, druggin’, depression and all the happiness of the vineyards from California to Ol’ Tom Jefferson’s Monticello.

The only real disappointment on this album is the final track, a remake of Lewis’s 1970s’ country hit, “Middle Age Crazy.” The original version had sincerity, an honesty that conveyed what Lewis was going through in his life at the time. Today it’s just another song, and Tim McGraw’s voice on the revised track sounds like that of a million other country singers. Yes, the authenticity is gone as Lewis crossed the mid-life crisis bridge some time back.

But take him for all he’s still giving. “The real deal right here.” Kid Rock can be heard saying that after Lewis just kills it at the end of Rockn’ My Life Away. Like Willie Nelson, Chuck Berry, Keith Richards and the recently departed George Jones, this old guy is a survivor.

Jerry Lee Lewis and he’s damn sure here to stay.

Gateway Music

Everything from the Golden Age of the Rolling Stones (1968-1972) from Beggar's Banquet to Exile on Main Street. Mick and the boys rode the British invasion, reviving Buddy Holly and turning white kids on to Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, Percy Sledge, Solomon Burke and the Temptations. In their Golden Age, they would harken to cool dead people from Robert Johnson to the Louvin Brothers.

Everything by Gram Parsons from his late 60s work with the Byrds, International Submarine Band and Flying Burrito Brothers and especially his classic early '70s solo albums, GP and Grevious Angel. Gram turned Keith on to country music and Keith turned Gram on to heroin, so they say.

Nashville -- Solomon Burke. The African-American self-proclaimed king of rock and soul paid tribute to country music -- a love of his since boyhood -- about a year or two before he died. A must hear. Posting a link to an NPR story about Burke and this album upon its release. I remember hearing the news story in my car radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6598905

Beaucoups of Blues -- Ringo Starr. Around the time the Beatles disbanded (circa 1969-70), each of the boys explored their own individual voices and interests on solo records. Here, Starr indulges his love of country music with A-list Nashville musicians.  I'm talking guys who'd worked with the likes of Patsy Cline, Chet Atkins, Tammy Wynette, the Statler Brothers -- hardcore Nashville. 

Gateway literature

Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story by Nick Tosches. A kick-ass writer whose taken on everything from journalistic treatments of Dean Martin and boxing legend Sonny Liston to gothic novels about vampires and Dante's inferno. I first read excerpts of his biography of Lewis in an "Entertainment for Men" magazine when I was in junior high. What my buddies didn't know when we were oggling the girls in stolen moments by the water tower after school is that I was also -- in private moments -- reading the Playboy interviews, short stories, jazz reviews and book excerpts and though I didn't realize it at the time, I was studying.

 My favorite version of the song. Wasn't this portrait taken after Jerry Lee got drunk and waved a gun from inside his white Lincoln Continental near the gates of Graceland?

A forgotten artist whom we would do well to rediscover. He had something. "You Can Have Her" was covered by Lewis, Elvis, Waylon Jennings, Charlie Rich & I don't know who else.

I kept trying to post a Stones video of this song and I'd get this message about it being too big for my player or something like that. Then I googled how to get around that, but the tutorials confused me more. The ADHD set in deeper. This video has only been seen  around 557 times. Some of the best ones are. Anyhow, I was getting so frustrated, I almost said "screw it" & posted some bar band doing a half-assed cover of the song. You know something? Let's do that anyway.

This is where it started for The Killer -- Jerry Lee Lewis.