March 23, 2014 8:04 AM

For whosoever shall believe may consider themselves morally superior beings

(thanks to Theo Kaht for the first two quotes)

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

  • Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

The God that our neighbors believe in is essentially an invisible person. He’s a creator deity, who created the universe to have a relationship with one species of primates — lucky us. And he’s got galaxy upon galaxy to attend to, but he’s especially concerned with what we do, and he’s especially concerned with what we do while naked.

  • Sam Harris

To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.

  • Albert Camus

A reader unfamiliar with my writing might draw the mistaken conclusion that I’m anti-religion. Far from it; I believe religion has much to offer. What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding (apologies to Elvis Costello), right? How could something that at its core attempts to elevate mankind’s better angels be a bad thing? The CONCEPT of religion is at its most basic a good thing. It’s the EXECUTION that makes it the vehicle for hypocrisy, repression, and mass murder it’s become.

Judaism and Islam are hardly immune to this disease, but 80% of Americans self-identify as Christian, so my focus in this instance is on Christianity. Or at least the bastardized version practiced by so many today. I’m well aware that there are many who seriously endeavor to lead Christ-like lives and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. I’ll call these folks the Silent Majority, because they have an unfortunate tendency to sit on the sidelines while their faith is hijacked by zealots and megalomaniacs. Considering the multiple episodes of genocide based on Christian intolerance, a reasonable person might wonder how a just and loving God could tolerate such inhuman brutality.

My purpose isn’t to bash Christianity or those who profess it as their faith; there are more than enough intellectuals willing to do that for me. No, my purpose is to wonder why and how a faith based on creating peace, love, and understanding could be folded, spindled, and mutilated into something that provides a theological underpinning for genocide, homophobia, and all manner of repression? The are far too many examples of radical Social Conservatives who call themselves “Christians” and whose theology conveniently happens to dovetails with their fears and prejudices.

There are many who’ve chosen to embrace the God of the Old Testament because that God was an anger-driven black-and-white sort who brooked no challenge or dissent and smote those who dared speak to Him in any terms but abject obedience. Their God is an angry, judgmental, homophobic, and mean-spirited SOB who seems to have delegated theological authority to Conservative white males. They seem willing to install megalomaniacs as intermediaries between themselves and their God, perhaps because it’s easier being told what to believe and how to behave. And they’re far too willing to dispense with inconvenient things like critical thinking. If you think I’m kidding, just Google “Texas State Board of Education.”

I worked in parts of the former Yugoslavia during the war, where it was impossible to ignore the genocide and destruction inflicted upon a group primarily because their flavor of Imaginary Friend was different. Serbs massacred Croats and Muslims, Croats slaughtered Serbs and Muslims, even as most Muslims just wanted to be left alone in a place where they could feel safe and secure. The day before I arrived in Zagreb, Croatia, a Serbian artillery unit in the mountains above Sarajevo dropped a mortar into a crowded market place. More than 60 people, mostly Muslim, were indiscriminately slaughtered. Muslims (and Croats) speak the same language (with slight regional variations) as Serbs, but their theology is what Serbs used to justify viewing them as subhuman, as “less than.”

It’s impossible to scan through human history without finding examples of genocide where religious differences are both the basis and justification. There’s no way to accurately quantify the vast numbers killed in the name of God, but the total is in the millions. This is as true today as it was during the Crusades, because there are still those among us willing to kill in support of their faith. That so few recognize the incongruous nature of such violence is something I can’t wrap my head around.

Religion should be a force for peace and justice, but it too often falls prey to our predilection for hating and destroying those we believe to be different and therefore “less than.” Perhaps if the Silent Majority stood up to the zealots and megalomaniacs, peace might still be possible. If past is prologue, though, hatred and violence will always trump the desire for peaceful coexistence.

And people wonder why I don’t believe in God.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on March 23, 2014 8:04 AM.

Why the world will be a better place without Fred Phelps in it was the previous entry in this blog.

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