Spirituality is a feeling of a connection with something divine. Religions are simply crowd control.
- Robert Chambers
You may worship God, Yahweh, Mohammed, or the pint of Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream in your freezer. This is still (until further notice, at least, a free country, and as such, one is free to worship whom and/or how one chooses (or not). What NO ONE has the right to do is to demand special treatment because they feel their faith makes them special- the Chosen Ones, as it were. No one has the right to demand special or different treatment based on religious belief. Nor do they have the right to demand that because they’re due special treatment, they should be held to a standard of behavior not available to other, lesser mortals.
For example, there’s no implied or stated right to deny something to someone not “enlightened” enough to worship your flavor of Imaginary Friend. American governance and our legal system are secular, not the private playgrounds of the righteous- in this case Conservative Evangelical Christians convinced they’ve been anointed by God as believers of The One True Faith. All of us owe a collective responsibility to society as a whole- the individual is not superior to the collective. Conservative Evangelicals have no more right to complain about their insurance policy paying for birth control than atheists do about their tax dollars being used to subsidize churches. No one gets to play by a different set of rules. If you’re a Evangelical, you should be very careful about what you choose to whine and moan about…especially when you consider the good that could be done with the billions siphoned off to support churches.
There’s nothing wrong with religion as a concept. At their most basic, most faith traditions are about peace, love, and understanding, about trying to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, today’s religion has been so thoroughly bastardized that it’s original purpose has for all intents and purposes been lost. Gandhi once said that he wasn’t afraid of Christians, that it was Christians who scared him. God isn’t the problem; his fan club most certainly is.
This is not intended as a blanket condemnation of Christians or Christianity. I recognize and applaud those who seriously endeavor to live their beliefs, to lead Christ-like lives. This is what Christianity should be, but today’s version too often falls short. Where love should be the rule, hatred of Gays, Muslims, and The Other is taught using Scripture to justify perverting Scripture. Instead of peace, war is applauded- and in some cases, eagerly sought and advocated for. Whether it be Iraq, Afghanistan, or Iran, war is too often view as “Us” vs. “Them”- with the U.S. military playing the role of the righteous Christianizing force subduing the ignorant heathens and idolator who are the enemy of The One True Faith.
When Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston loses an entire Sunday’s offering to thieves, and the total amount is $600,000, something’s horribly wrong. When “Prosperity theology”- acquisitiveness and materialism disguised as worshipping God- is used to cloak so many with the mantle of righteousness, I find myself wondering where and how things went so far off track. God isn’t an industry, and She doesn’t need a remodeled former NBA arena (Osteen’s Lakewood Church) as proof of piety.
Something about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven….
I should own up to my own bias in this equation. I don’t believe in God- ANY flavor of Supreme Being. However, I do remember enough of my childhood Sunday School lessons to recognize that what’s being done in Her name today has nothing to do with Christianity. It’s about greed, acquisitiveness, homophobia, hatred of those who think and/or believe differently, and all manner of discrimination and repressive behavior. Joel Osteen, if he understood the true source and meaning of what he’s preaching, would use the money he collects on Sundays to clothe the poor, feed the hungry, and care for the ill. Instead, that money is largely dedicated to making those whose only commitment to living their faith is showing at Sunday morning services feel better about themselves.
I’m not afraid of God…but Her fan club does scare the Hell out of me.
