Well, now...here's one of the stranger requests I've received in awhile. I'm going to protect my friend's identity, of course, because the last thing I need on my conscience is that knowledge that my words and thoughts might cost her gainful employment. Still, while I understand her request, how sad is it that we still live in a world where ideas are considered the enemy? And if your faith is so weak that it can be threatened by my half-baked, poorly-conceived, barely-coherent rants...don't you think you've got problems far bigger than whatever ideas leak out of my unsanitary little corner of da Interweb??
Fortunately for her, she hasn't yet added me as a Facebook friend, so my tainted words and heathen ideas shouldn't pollute the purity of the malleable young zealots-in-the-making. I feel sorry for my friend. She's a committed Christian, but one of the few who seem to be able to simultaneously believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ AND think critically. You know, being a Christian doesn't mean haven't to check your brain and your ability to reason at the door. It also doesn't mean that ideas are the enemy of True Christianity. Jesus Christ wasn't afraid of an honest, rational debate and an open exchange of ideas. If your ability to go to Heaven is dependent on your ability and willingness to follow orders, march in lockstep, and believe as you're told, is Heaven really a place worth going?
Outside of the reality of not wanting to belong to any club that would have me as a member (apologies to Groucho Marx), why would I as a thinking human being want to subscribe to a religion that seems to value mute, unthinking obedience to stale doctrine uber Alles? Yes, the Nazi reference was deliberate, because I frankly fail to see much of a difference between a totalitarian dictatorship and a religion that demands uncritical fealty of it's adherents.
Sad but true. We live in a country in which insufficient blind obedience to an imaginary friend can be grounds for losing one's job. Jesus, save me...and my friend...from your followers. PLEASE.
