Child of a Lesser God

It is with decreasing regularity that I have moments I think I was a bit hasty in abandoning Christianity.  It wasn’t very long after my confirmation that I started rebelling against weekly church trips and eventually decided to end the Christmas/Easter façade that many Christians keep to this day.  As a system of beliefs it is rather admirable.  I even believe and do my best to keep nine of the Ten Commandments.

My biggest problem with Catholicism is deeply rooted in its most fervent members.  The outspoken, ignorant few who speak with great passion but without a modicum of thought.  The people who know the words of the Bible by heart but seem incapable of grasping any of the central themes.  People may accuse me of cynicism but this child would benefit from it greatly.  Cynicism is what led me away from church and into the warm understanding that the church does not hold all the answers.

Too many members of Christianity treat the church like a fortress; and all outsiders are invading heathens that deserve to die at the hands of their loving God.  I studied the Bible briefly in college and even through the haze of a pretty steady hangover mixed with teen angst, I missed that message of hate.  I believe people like this young woman are missing the point. 

This is the face of a religious fanatic.  They comfort themselves with the thought that their weapons are not bullets or bombs.  No, their weapon is poison that they feed to the next generation of Bible-thumping bigots.  The intolerance they espouse is not the teaching of any God but the greasy fingerprints of zealots on the stained glass windows to the outside world.  These are the fans of the vengeful, Old Testament God that are so horny for vindication that pages of their Bibles about Noah and the Flood are stuck together.

I have no anger for these people.  I pity them.  I pity their ignorance (without which they might know that there are between one and two million Christians in Japan).  I pity their lack of compassion (in stark contrast to many Christian groups that have already mobilized to help).  I pity that they constantly see everything through the filter of their faith; they limit themselves to a peephole view of a world best seen through a panoramic lens.

I pity their lack of self-awareness.  They have no idea that they are an embarrassment to their faith and, more importantly, their species.  You could certainly attribute this young woman’s viewpoints on youth, but her thinking is not likely going to change with age.  Such insular views do not bode well for the maturation process.

Yes, I realize that I am beginning to sound as pious as the people I am railing against.  And to answer your question: Yes, I do think I’m better than them.  Of course, there is the possibility she’s right.  None of us know for sure, even those of us who claim to.  Her God may be real and maybe he did cause this tragedy as an answer to the misguided prayers of His believers.  If that’s the case, I’ll be comforted in hell by the fact that no one like this girl will be with me.  My immortal soul will rest outside the gates of heaven with the same people who occupy my thoughts today: the people of Japan.

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