Assignment 3: Morality Dialogue '

E. Andrus
English 109
23 May 2013
Assignment 3: Morality Dialogue
Introducing Theologist and college professor, Preston Jones; Naturalist, Bad Religion front man and professor of evolutionary biology, Greg Graffin; Jesuit Priest, Dan Berrigan; Buddhist monk and Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh; and finally, myself, curious student and linguistic anthropology major, Edlynn Andrus as moderator.
Andrus: Today we bring you an amazing set of individuals to discuss morality. Where does it come from? Is it possible to pin point its origins? Does it at all involve religion, evolution, society, or human nature? Hopefully our guest speakers can shed some light on this perplexing subject. Let’s start our discussion off with what you believe morality
Berrigan: Indeed you can say that but politics play a huge role in influencing the people. Because Israel is such a sacred land for so many different peoples, the Jews feel it is the government’s job to protect them, but when I spoke to various government officials, they informed me that they were anti-religious. “They felt that to be politically responsible they had to be so,” (Hanh 16) in order to lead and do their jobs properly for the entire country, they could not side with just one religious group. In doing so, they would neglect the other groups and put their roles of authority and peacekeepers in jeopardy.
Nhat Hanh: I’d like to point out that it seems “there are people who are using religion as a means to achieve strength by political unity. It is suggested that that kind of alliance will protect religion as well as people” (Hanh
We have no moral absolutes, but we encourage that you preserve the Darma through your actions. Reflecting of the conflict currently affecting Israel and Palestine reminds me of my own struggles in Vietnam. In 1963, when I returned to Vietnam, what I experienced was a “kill now, save later” (Hanh 22) attitude amongst the people and at one point I remember someone said “we had to destroy the village in order to save it” (Hanh 22). The ones fighting embodied this similar mentality to those in Israel today, yet they weren’t fighting for their religion, instead they were fighting for country. During this time in Vietnam, I was there in order to help preserve the Buddhist community that remained and for us “Buddhism is not a number of temples and organizations. Buddhism is in your heart, (Hanh 23) and even of you do not have a temple or monks, “you can still be a Buddhist in your heart and life” (Hanh 23). That is something I think the Israelis and Palestinians fail to understand when it comes to religion, it should not matter the place or circumstance, you should keep your religion in your heart and focus on peace among all