S1E5 Sacrificing Kids in the Name of Religion
Molech was the underworld deity to whom some in the ancient Near East sacrificed their children. In philosopher Bertrand Russell and poet Allen Ginsberg we see folks using Molech or "Moloch" as a reference to impersonal, authoritarian religions of cruel power. Through fear, folks find themselves turning religion into the exact opposite of what they originally came for: peace is exchanged for terror, flourishing is exchanged for spiritual death. In the first hour, Jeff gives an overview of ancient Israelite relationships with Molech in segment one and then Stacie then applies this to contemporary parenting and education via the work of psychologist Alfie Kohn.
This one went a bit long, but think of it as a double feature: two lessons for the price of one. Also, we are still in the part of the season where we are setting up the background concepts. Soon, we’ll be going through teachings of Jesus that invite folks to freedom from false constructs of religion and we’ll not take so much time with the big picture concepts.
Here’s a reference to Molech from the Hebrew Bible:
"And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin." Jeremiah 32:35
We reference a few interviews from the old podcast “Virtue in the Wasteland”. Here they are:
Christian Miller on Character and Virtue Theory
We mentioned the movie/play A Man For All Seasons.
Here’s a link to the book by Alfie Kohn.
“The goal is empowerment rather than conformity, and the methods are respectful rather than coercive. ... The way kids learn to make good decisions is by making decisions, not by following directions.”
