This is great; my son started me off on this by sending me one
of the emails currently circulating. Those
that care at all about religious arguments in politics have long known that
Leviticus is the irrefutable rebuttal to the fundamentalists, evangelicals and
other Biblical literalists – Deuteronomy is fun as well. But this little piece of irreverent sarcasm
is a wonderful rebuke to the publically sanctimonious. Read it, it’ll give you a smile and the references are conveniently at hand.
Please note that I have no problem with the
religious. Most are just ordinary folks
like me. As for the religious fringe, they
can condemn any behavior they choose including my cherished hedonism. They have every right to exclude
non-believers from their congregations.
They can freely express their views via any media no matter how dumb or
obnoxious their views may be – this is America. They can teach their kids what they wish.
[Even John Kerry sees this as a national virtue.]
But since this is America I don’t want
to see any religion in politics. We should
not teach creationism as science in public schools or respect any religious or
cultural “sensibilities” if they interfere with the facts. When it comes to gay marriage, the 14th
Amendment is just as clear for gays as it is for blacks and women – get over
it.
And while the evangelicals have a right to
say it, I have a right to ridicule what they say without intending any animosity toward the
privately religious. How is it that the
Bible thumpers can spew such nonsense and then reject their fellow
traveler: Obama’s Reverend Jeremiah Wright?
I’ve always wanted to ask a fundamentalist
who believes that the Bible is the absolute word of God that must be followed to
the letter about the issues raised in this humorous letter. What would one say? Clearly these devout fathers
are not stoning their promiscuous daughters in the doorways of their homes [Deuteronomy
22:21]. And, Abraham was nuts. When God starts telling me to kill my son, I’m
going to tell Him to take a hike and get back on my meds.
But a deeper question for fundamentalists
intrigues me. It’s not so terrible for
someone to believe that the Bible is the absolute word of God. OK, God steered “the word” perfectly through
the book burning of Constantine and protects the perfection of the current
versions even though the original is lost – faith is faith and God is God. But then we have the practitioners adamantly reminding
us of what the Bible requires. Doesn’t that
suggest that the practitioner is claiming perfect understanding of what the Bible
says? Wouldn’t such a claim translate into
a claim of perfect understanding of the mind of God? Wouldn’t the latter be blasphemy? But I should not dabble.
Religion is not for me because I never
found one that makes any sense in the long term. I don’t think I’m an atheist although I don’t
really care. I’d wager that the practitioners
of any of the religions of Abraham would call me atheist but I don't care about that either. I’ve ruled out religion and the Gods of
religion but I can’t rule out God – something had to start it all. I have a problem with the theories of
the origin of the universe. What started
the “big bang”, what was there before? I used to say that maybe
God is infinity. “It all started with
energy which was always just there,” the physicists say now. Yeah but who created the energy? Nobody?
Well then God is energy, I guess.
In the end, I’m just more comfortable with the universe being a child’s terrarium
in the third grade of some alternate reality than I am with the Gods of
religions.
One last thing in an effort to alienate
everyone equally, my wife likes to say that religion is the root of all
evil. In other words, we’ve murdered
more people in the cause of religion than any other. I infuriate her by saying I can agree only if
I’m allowed to include communism as a religion.
She says communism is not a religion so I say fine then “the left” is the
root of all evil – they have murdered more people than all the religious and fascists
combined. That makes her furious but not
compared to the response I get from my lefty friends.
As I see it, communitarians, progressives, climate
alarmists, animal protectors, food Nazis, et al are practicing a kind of
religion. Practitioners are absolutely
faithful to their cause; ends justify
means; heretics are banished. Some have far more institutions, doctrine and
history than others but the parallels are there. Activists laughably ridicule the obvious stupidity
and hypocrisy of the religious right without ever seeing their own. Like the politically active religious, the
left would and does use the law to impose their views on others. And they are ascendant in the moment.
So my brethren … go forth and sin no more.
Deuteronomy
22:21: “she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the
men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by
being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.”
