Belief in God… Part 2

 

It’s been a while since my initial musings upon this very subject, so here’s the terribly late Part 2.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently as to why the face of Xtianity here in the US is such an ugly one in particular.

Let me clarify a little as to why I refer to it as ugly.

In this country, my adopted home, religion seems to have been inextricably interwoven into the everyday lives of the majority of the citizens, and has even wound its insidious way into the very political sanctums that the founders stipulated should be exempt from such dogma.  As a European from a non Catholic country, I find this both terrifying and heartbreaking.  The fuzzy thinking of the tiny, narrow Xtian worldview has no place in a democratic process.  For anyone to try to influence policy or make laws that are even slightly influenced by the mythology of a Bronze Age deity is, to me at least, totally reprehensible.

Perhaps it is the lack of international travel that drives these people to assume (quite wrongly) that we all come from some sort of “Happy Clappy” Xtian unity?  “We” don’t.  We, meaning those of us with a good education and a more diverse history,  have a much healthier perspective, one that isn’t riddled with the ancient superstitions that grip even the most powerful in this land.  The Queen, it is true, is “Defender Of The Faith” but that’s just a constitutional role borne out of tradition. She has no real power or even great influence, and is even less likely to petition our government to change any laws that may not suit her private religious point of view.

Yet here, you have politicians who openly profess to believe in the Genesis myth; hook, line, and sinker! Is this a political ploy on their part? Maybe they don’t believe when the doors are closed, but they feed the fire of the true believers:  the slavish, ignorant, bigoted, and embittered; all of those, in this land, who would like nothing better than some kind of Xtian Taliban.  If this could come to pass, then it would be a far worse land than anything the Mohammedans could envision for themselves.    We can see elements of this dark possible future all the time on the news.  Placard waving hate mongers.  Busy bodies that decry this or that; often without ever examining the case beforehand.  The worst these being the crazed anti-abortionists:   those who are willing to kill to prove their point!  Can someone explain to me how that is representative of a loving and forgiving deity?

Yes it’s ugly.  Very ugly.  I will NEVER understand that part of it.  I can grasp the concept of wanting to belong to a larger community of like-minded people; for the closeness, the group hug, and whatever other fraternal benefits.   However, these same Xtians churches exhibit a disturbing amount of hatred, rage, and ignorance.  To openly be an atheist or even an agnostic here can be a tremendous challenge in the US.  That one should be so demonized for having a differing opinion in a land that is supposedly built upon the concept of “free speech” is saddening in the extreme.

I, for one, have no real axe to grind if someone professes religious belief.  That’s fine; whatever gets you through your day.  Go to your churches, your chapels, your tabernacles, if that’s what you want to do, but don’t try to enforce those views upon me.  I don’t want my life tainted by laws that are based in religion; I do not want your dogma or “higher ideals”; and I refuse to lie down and let you use them to beat on me philosophically or otherwise.

It’s all so painfully small and transparently human in its circumference.  Most religions are.  The Xtian flavour is even more so.  After all, it’s based on a creator deity who makes man after his own image.  Right.   Let’s examine this.   This presumes you have a vaguely human deity:  with eyes, nose, two arms, two legs, etc.  If, as the masses are told, this being is unique, and the only one of its androgynous kind, what use would it have for our physiology?  As a design concept, it’s pretty damn poor, and no engineering student would countenance putting together this chassis with enough time to really think about how best to go about it.  Why would this being need arms, legs, a nose, etc?  Is it really nothing more than a big human?  I’m afraid so.  It’s that simple.  Early man had not the imagination to come up with anything more astounding than what he could conjure up:  another man, just larger with some special powers but still quite clearly possessed with all the bigotry and ignorance inherent in that type of society.  That’s the best they could do.  It is so fundamentally flawed that it’s a joke.  Even the punishments and miracles are so very mundane; there is NOTHING in any of the writings that smacks of wonder or true fantastical accomplishment.  This same all powerful being, knows nothing of even the most basic natural laws and forces of nature, and, is seemingly without any sense of theatre and spectacle.  It’s so very small, petty, and narrow.

Where’s the uniqueness here?  There is none.  Later fables, including the NT, borrow substantially from other mythologies, and then, as if to hammer home the point, the early Xtians adopted the myriad beliefs of other cultures that they encountered in a forlorn bid to attract more followers to their cult!  The Catholic Church as the Borg; so to speak.

I often get the pitying expression from believers when I invariably state my philosophy.  I hear, “We feel sorry for you!” or, the classic, “You think you’re smarter than us?”

Well guess what, I AM smarter than you.  I don’t state this as evidence of any braggado, and I don’t really feel any more superior for saying it, but it’s true.  I can step back and see the box of tricks and smoke and mirrors for what it is: it’s entirely too simple.  As for the pity part?  Well, pity me all you want.   I don’t mind.  It doesn’t irk me in the slightest.  You think the universe was conjured by some genie?  I don’t.   Yet, the world is no less full of wonder for this, and my ability to appreciate the sheer grace of the universe is unimpaired.

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