With God on our Side
I feel the need to rant and rave about what I believe to be the biggest threat to civilsation at the dawn of the 21st century. A threat that seems, inexplicably to me, to be growing stronger every day. Organised, polarised religion. Christian and Muslim.When I was young and fresh-faced I, like many others of my generation, could look forward to a future free of the prejudices and superstitions of the past. Anyone of my age should remember the hope with which we looked to the coming years. The 60s was the decade when new ideas were poised to take over the world. Blind faith in Politicians, Royalty and the Church would no longer suffice. Question everything. Challenge everything. Everything justifies itself or consigns itself to history. A Brave New World beckons.
The nonsense that is religion was obviously on its way out anyway. Attendances at places of worship were (in Europe at least) falling dramatically. Modern society was secular. Sure we still had the ridiculous amalgamation of Church and State in places like England, but surely it was only a matter of time......
Now, it seems to me, rationality is on the back foot. Everywhere I look I see the pious (nearly always men) pontificating and demanding a return to the middle ages. I see Imams on one side and born again zealots on the other and I despair.
We have the ridiculous spectacle of two the most powerful men in the rational, Western world claiming belief in a supernatural being who sees everything and - it appears to me at least - is *hell* bent on stifling the natural exuberance of the human spirit wherever it expresses itself. Well according to his "representatives" on Earth anyway.
In the Third World, the literal interpretation of man-made scriptures has resulted in a shift back in time with the adoption of Sharia law, and the attempts (as yet thwarted - as far as we know), of the righteous to stone to death adulterers and the like.
In the West The Vatican's attempts to stop the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS is another example of the stupidity of faith. Once again men who have declared themselves *chaste* dictate to the rest of the world: they are correct and everyone else won't go to heaven if they disobey. Because of this mumbo jumbo, a global pandemic that has, so far, claimed the lives of 20 million - all of them sinners....apparently is allowed to continue unfettered.
Yesterday a Muslim woman in France was rightly dismissed from a jury because she was wearing a hijab. I would have done the same to a priest. Accept the decision: you are advertising your prejudice. Today we have the spectacle of an anchorwoman on al-jazeera - on the face of it an educated woman - deciding that she needs to cover up her head in order to "defeat the devil"!!
I'm sorry, sticking a scarf on your head to ostentatiously display your belief marks you out as pretty stupid in my book. Now if you want to wear one fine. But don't ask rational human beings to treat you the same as they would everybody else. You're not the same - end of. Likewise with ostentatious, holier-than-thou Christians. I will not treat you normally, I think there is something missing in your emotional and intellectual make up, so don't expect me to. Incidentally don't come knocking on my door to try and change my mind either.
On the other side of the great divide, we have Christians supposedly waiting for the second coming. I'll tell you this, given their hope and faith and belief, everytime someone proclaims himself the Son of God, he tends to get put away, or - as in the case of David Suresh: killed. I don't hear any of the "believers" complaining. I mean c'mon ! He might be for real mightn't he ? Just imagine how foolish you would feel if you incarcerated or killed the one man you've been praying for all these years. Hmmmm mind you.....it does sound familiar.
Everywhere I look in these supposedly enlightened times I see a growing number of zealots on both sides demanding religious ideals be incorporated into everyday life. I see politicians, musicians, professors and sportsmen proclaiming their "faith". Meanwhile I see the poor, the needy, the sick and the fanatic all being promised their reward in heaven just like they always were.
Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
One of those days at work when all your suspicions about the type of person who wants to *get on* are amplified. Two guys have recently been appointed way up the food chain from the likes of me. Today they decided to come and have a look at our little outpost of the empire. Christ knows why. Morale booster perhaps ? Yeah maybe for the opposition ;-)
So they eventually turn up. They got lost on the M60 ? Cutting edge ? Yeah whatever you say.
They immediately closet themselves in the boss's office and don't move for an hour. After they've finished, do they come out and mingle with the workers. Pressing flesh and all that ? Do they fuck. But hey ! Don't forget they're high-flyers. Going places. Well this week they are anyway. No doubt I'll meet at least one on his way back down. I have on many occasions before.
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