Life
Western Hills Press
January 20, 2010
B3
Bookstores, atheists and spiritual hunger or agnostics. They Bookstore titles reveal present their argumuch about a people. One of ments implying it’s many noticeable content foolish to still fall for changes in recent years is the God stuff, organthe increase of books by ized religion, and atheists. beliefs other people We might wonder why instill in us. “Think for such authors are motivated yourself and you’ll to expend all that time and effort writing about someFather Lou come to the same conthing they believe doesn’t Guntzelman clusion we do,” they insinuate. exist. Perspectives Currently many The reason they write, of people are uneasy saycourse, is because there’s a market for their books. We live at ing they are religious. They prefer a difficult moment in history. to say they are spiritual rather We’re stuck between a growing than religious. Spiritual indicates secular system with which we are they believe in God, prayer, the uncomfortable, and a religious Bible, Jesus Christ, doing good for system we may feel we cannot others, and possibly an afterlife in heaven. fully embrace. Religious implies an adherence Countless people sense an emptiness or confusion and won- to all the beliefs a particular der “What do I really believe in?” church may espouse, an associaA spirituality revolution is taking tion with that church’s historic or present flaws, a perceived legalism place. On one side of the current inde- rather than personalism, and a cision are writers who are atheists moral prudishness.
Recent polls have shown a surge in “nones,” i.e. people who profess they are not associated any longer with any religion. “The spirituality revolution is also discovered in the recent upwelling of spiritual feeling in young people throughout the world, who increasingly realize, often with some desperation, that society is in need of renewal, and that an awareness of spirit holds the key to our personal, social, and ecological survival,” writes David Tacey in “The Spirituality Revolution.” Is this an era becoming more open to being led by God’s Holy Spirit, or, in our arrogance, do we imagine that we have outgrown the sacred and that the notions of soul and spirit are archaisms of a former era? Yet the hunger for the sacred has increased in our time and we don’t know how to respond. What is wisdom and what is delusion? What comprises spiritual health
and unhealthiness in ourselves and others? Traditionally churches have distributed catechisms containing summations of beliefs. What seems needed now among searching and intelligent people are adequate contemporary explanations of beliefs. No longer can people be told just what to believe but convincingly explained why it is believed as truth. One Catholic cardinal recently lamented the degree of “theological illiteracy” among the Church’s membership. Sandra M. Schneiders writes, “The theology which undergirded our spirituality in the past cannot be resuscitated, and intelligent people cannot live a spirituality which is theological bootless. We are, to large extent, running on theological empty.” In a scientific and technological culture, are there still intelligent people around whose hearts grasp the legitimacy of also living a
Watch for exclusions on travel insurance policy A month before her trip her mother did become seriously ill. “She went into hospice, basically. We had the meeting and she decided to do hospice. The doctor with hospice said she had two weeks to live,” she said. Mieling immediately canceled her plane ticket and applied to the insurance company for a refund of the air fare. Her mother died the day before she was to have left on that vacation. A few days later she spoke with the travel insurance company about the refund. “They said, ‘Well, did she have cancer?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ She said, ‘Well, that’s a pre-existing condition so we can’t do it,’ ” said Mieling. Mieling said she never imagined this could happen, but after checking carefully through the insurance policy she did find that exclu-
When you book an airline ticket on the Internet these days the airlines ask if you’d like to buy travel insurance. But, you need to know not all travel insurance is alike. In fact, many of the disasters that drive the sale of these particular insurance policies are just not covered. Laura Mieling of Clifton thought she was protecting herself when she went on Delta Air Line’s Web site and booked a plane ticket for a vacation three months later. “They give you the option of travel insurance. I looked at the page and it says it’s covered if you and your family gets sick or dies, so that’s why I did it,” she said. Mieling’s 69-year-old mother had been home battling cancer for the past year and a half so she said she bought the insurance just in case she had to cancel the plane trip.
Reserve park district camp site online
sion. She said, “They had the 20-something page policy that I didn’t bother to read – I don’t know who does. It said if it’s a pre-existing health condition you can’t get coverage. So, I said, ‘OK, they got me.’ ” Mieling checked the Internet and found dozens of other complaints about this same type of thing involving insurance policies sold on the Internet. A spokesman for that insurance company told me the policies sold on these Web sites are very inexpensive and so have exclusions contained in them. Instead of buying travel insurance from these Web sites, that insurance company spokesman said you can buy a policy from your travel agent and, while it will cost you more money, it will not have these exclusions. He said that insurance company is considering adding a more comprehen-
sive policy option to Howard Ain the Delta Hey Howard! Air Lines Web site. If this option were offered, consumers would not only be more aware of the exclusions, but they could have a choice of which type of policy to buy. A Delta spokeswoman told me the airline is following up with the insurance company on this suggestion. Bottom line, before buying a travel insurance policy it’s important to carefully check out all the possible exclusions to make sure it will suit your needs. Troubleshooter Howard Ain answers consumer complaints and questions weekdays at 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on WKRC-TV Local 12. You can write to him at Hey Howard, 12 WKRC-TV, 1906 Highland Ave., Cincinnati 45219.
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belief in the transcendent? Consider the words of Albert Einstein: “The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed out candle. “To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man.” Father Lou Guntzelman is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Reach him at columns@community press.com or contact him directly at P.O. Box 428541, Cincinnati, OH 45242. Please include a mailing address or fax number if you wish for him to respond.
If you or someone you know is getting married, join us for our 23rd Annual exciting wedding symposium. It will be held
The Hamilton County Park District has made it even easier for visitors to enjoy the great outdoors. The new online campground reservation system is a simple way to reserve sites at Winton Woods and Miami Whitewater Forest Campgrounds. Those wanting to make a reservation can go to the Web site GreatParks.org and simply click on the “Reservations Online” button. All personal information provided is securely stored locally and is not sold or shared. Credit card processing is encrypted and VeriSign secured. In addition to the new online system, some changes and improvements have been made to park district reservation policies.
They include: • A limit of nine campsites per person for those reserving online. Groups of 10 sites or more are reserved through the Winton Woods Campground Office. • Reservations can now be placed up to one year in advance for all campsites and cabins at Winton Woods and Miami Whitewater Forest, including the four Halloween Campout weekends at Winton Woods. Reservations for Steamboat Bend Campground at Woodland Mound are not available online at this time. Reservations for Steamboat Bend will be accepted at the Winton Woods Campground Office by phone or in-person beginning Friday, Feb. 26.
SOUTHERN BAPTIST
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DELHI HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH
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FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF DENT 6384 Harrison Ave. - 574-6411
Sunday, Jan 31st at 1:00 PM
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CHEVIOT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
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OAK HILLS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 6233 Werk Rd. (Enter off Werkridge) 922-5448 Rev. Jerry Hill 10:00 a.m Worship & Sunday School Nursery Care Avail.
Come and worship in a small casual church that emphasizes the fellowship and mission in the community and globally. www.oakhillspc.com
WESTWOOD FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
3011 Harrison Ave. (Near Montana) 661-6846 www.wfpc.org Steve Gorman, Pastor
9:00 AM Contemporary Rejoice Service 10:30AM Traditional Worship Sunday School - All Ages 10:30AM Youth group time 6:00 p.m.
Presbyterian USA / U.C.C.
3820 Westwood-Northern Blvd. Craig D. Jones, Senior Pastor Lois Schalk-Hartley, Associate Pastor
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123 Symmes Ave. North Bend, OH 45202 One block off Route 50, Phone 941-3061 Small, friendly, casual, blended music, Bible based messages that connect with real life. Sunday School 9:30am Worship 10:30am
SHILOH UNITED METHODIST
Anderson Ferry & Foley Roads 513-451-3600 www.shilohumc.com 9:30 a.m. Traditional Worship and Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Praise Celebration and Junior Church nursery provided for both services
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST St. Peter & St. Paul United Church of Christ
3001 Queen City Ave. 513-661-3745 Rev. Martin Westermeyer, Pastor Bible Study 9am Worship & Church School 10am Dial-A-Devotion 662-6611 www.stpeterandstpaulucc.org