Yes, we're talking about The Accident. When you hear about that five car pile-up on the freeway, or the deadly crash that killed four people on a road you normally take. I heard it all the time when I flew in fundamentalist circles: How God had saved their lives by suddenly making little Jimmy have to pee, delaying them and consequently saving them from being in that accident. Or making them remember that they forgot that paper, or that briefcase, or that purse, making them turn around just before they would have been in that accident...
It's yet another manifestation of the egotism that infests religion: That somehow they were worth saving that day as opposed to the other poor saps who ended up injured/dying/dead on the freeway. Not only does one wonder what the given criteria is for any given day and why some are saved by the all-powerful sky god and why some are deemed "expendable" is, of course, easily explained by the everyday fundie: "It's all part of God's plan." As if we were all part of some beautiful afghan God decided to make when he learned how to knit in Sky God U (knitting, of course, being an elective at Sky God U, not a requirement for graduating...), which, while a wonderfully sappy thought that's been overdone in more songs and poems than one cares to recount, but is ultimately just one more little lie people tell themselves to get through the day, to try to make sense of something seemingly random, to try to assert control in some form over the uncontrollable universe which belched us up on the beaches of earth (or, if you prefer, sneezed up out of the nostrils of sky god when he used "the dust of the earth" as a Kleenex...).
We all justify events in our own ways, from the shrug of the shoulders and a "Murphy's Law" quote to the "sky god has a plan" drivel that seems to flow like honey from the fundie's mouth. It's how we cope, how we deal, how we take in and process things that are beyond our control...
With a key difference: When I drive past an accident I was seconds away from being in (while yelling at the freakin' rubber-neckers who do more to clog traffic flow than the accident itself), I think, Wow! Close call! I would never be so presumptuous to think that some cosmic knitting freak thought he needed my True Colors for yet another square but those one, two, or three others were no longer necessary to the great afghan pattern of mankind. It belittles the lives lost while ego boosting the supposedly meek and humble followers of the dastardly fellow letting people die willy-nilly on the highways and byways of the world.
The ego is a central component of the human mind. Whether it came about as an evolutionary quality as we pulled ourselves up from the oceans and down from the trees, or if it is something present in the minds of every creature in the universe we may not know for decades, perhaps never. But it is a central component, especially so, in group-think; and group-think has never been more accepted and rejoiced by society than in a religious context. Whether it be Judaism, Christianity, or Islam--the human capacity for a feeling of specialness, uniqueness, and divine worth has never been more celebrated and more detrimental to the human race.
Christianity itself is based upon human collective ego: the world was created for sky god's glory for us. We as humans are made in sky god's image. Sky god sent his son to die for us. We are that important that not only do we need to have been created by a cosmic superpower in the sky, we need to have been died for by this sky god (the whole "trinity" thing makes this either/or, doesn't it?; did sky god commit suicide, or murder his kid? Only you can decide...) Only we can make the decision to be "saved," only we hold the key to our eternal destiny, only we... We, we, we, we, we...
I think you get the picture. The whole thing is based upon us, what we need, want, don't understand, and want to control. But to keep ourselves humble, we blame sky god in his myriad forms through culture and time so that we as individuals can feel irresponsible but as a collective feel special and wonderful and loved, even in what we perceive to be our darkest moments...
Of course, one of the first major metaphorical earthquakes to rock religions boat came when we realized that the sun--nay, the whole of the cosmos--did not revolve around our little rock in space. The church had a cow about that one for decades!! We were god's creation--in his image, no less! To claim that the whole of the universe wasn't centered around us? Perish the thought--and some did perish for that thought. But then we found out that the planet wasn't a perfect circle--again raining on the whole "perfection" of sky god's creation parade--but was slightly elliptical due to the revolution and rotation of the earth itself and it's path around a insignificant little star on the fringes of a galaxy that was only one of many in the universe... It was almost--almost--too much for the church to bear. But being the evolutionary species that we are, adapted for survival in any type of scenario or situation, we changed our perspective, allowed sky god the ability to make seemingly arbitrary laws for the universe to function around, and we again found ourselves in our own good graces for figuring out once again what of course was sky god's plan all along--or so we thought...
Then Darwin employed his gray matter one day and hit upon a theory that still pokes holes all over the biblical ark of thought--Evolution. Look, no divine intervention. No godly snot. Some cosmic radiation, a few amino acids which are all over the place in the universe and--Wallah! There "life" was in all it's seeming glory. Of course, we see the religions of the world adapting and changing how they interpret whatever holy book or source they subscribe to to reflect what science has told us is the case--while still withholding the right to be special in the eyes of a divine.
One wonders what it will take to open the blind eyes of the "faithful," doesn't one?
I'm sure that when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, they thought they were the end-all, be-all of the cosmos. They were everywhere, shaping the earth, killing whatever they wished, eating whatever they wished, going wherever they wished--one imagines a giant T-rex in heaven sending down his only Velociraptor to be sacrificed for the many. Sure, the stegosaurus didn't believe, and the duck-billed dinosaurs thought the rest were just all wet, but all the major meat-eaters were vindicated when the Great T-rex in the sky sent that asteroid to rapture them up to Dino heaven, weren't they?
Or perhaps it was global-warming brought about by all their flatulence? Either way, the majority of them agreed whole-heartedly that the asteroid was their rapture, and the ones left behind could still have repented... By the way, this is the alligators and crocodiles eternal hell for not accepting the Velociraptor of the T-rex God--to be made into fashionable handbags and boots for the "demons" of earth...
A gentleman over at Bane of Monotheism made up a wonderful list of questions I think everyone should ask themselves when it comes to theism. Here are a few of my favorites:
Given the ego centrism that seems to characterize the human race, convincing people that the universe was designed with them in mind is as easy as convincing a child that candy is good for him.
--Intelligent Design by Victor J. Stenger
- Which indicates more pride: to believe that the vast and ancient universe has no purpose, or to believe that a universe of 100 billion galaxies was created 14 billion years ago just so that one could grace it with one's presence?
- Which indicates more pride: to believe that no higher power cares about humanity, or to believe that the Creator of 100 billion galaxies came to Earth and suffered just for the benefit of its human inhabitants?
I was accused recently of turning a blind eye to the "truth" of Christianity, and how there was no way that Islam and Christianity could even be remotely compared as similar, because Islam is such a greater "danger" to humanity than Christianity could ever be. Of course, realizing that this individual takes great pride (yet humility) in their faith, and is staring at the world through a Jesus View Master filled with cartoon images of demons, angels and the like floating around all the time in a fight for their eternal destiny (because, you know, they have nothing better to do, having dropped out of Sky God U and must now be the worker bees for those that have graduated...), it's amazing how one can't see that both are equally dangerous, egotistical mindsets that would sooner turn the world upside down for their gods and beliefs than even entertain the notion that maybe they aren't nearly as important as they think they are in this universe.
I suppose I could see how people are scared at the fact that they are small and insignificant when it comes to reality as a whole. That there isn't someone always watching their backs, ready to save them and care for them when danger and uncertainty rear their heads and invade our egos and perceptions...
Let's look at this comparison over at The People's Media Company of some of the major world religions:
Not that ego could have played a part in either of their lives, right? Mental instability perhaps? Ever hear of a god complex? Martyr complex?
The Islamic religion was founded by the Prophet Muhammad. Being the husband of a rich widow, Muhammad had a lot of free time on his hands, which he decided to spend meditating in a cave for days on end. During these periods of meditation Muhammad would often fast and avoid sleep. Eventually, Muhammad was visited by the angel Gabriel who informed Muhammad that he was the prophet of God, revealing the Qur'an to him. With that said, I want you to take a week off from work or school and find yourself a nice secluded cave, free of any dangerous animals. Feel free to bring a small mat and hunker down in an area of the cave where light is minimal. Do not sleep or eat for 5 days. By the end of 5 days you will emerge from the cave with a new religion as well as some form of mental instability.
In regards to Christianity, the story begins with Judaism, which contends that God (Yahweh) established a covenant (contract/oath) with the Jewish people. The covenant is essentially a set of agreements between God and his chosen people (the Israelites) who must honor the covenant by worshipping God and obeying his laws. In fact, most Abrahamic based religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam share this covenant. Christianity developed from the teachings of Jesus Christ who was believed to be the son of God and the messiah sent to cleanse the world of evil, thus creating a kingdom of peace.
Of course, ask any American fundie, and they'll squeal and scream about how the Quran justifies killing people and the Bible doesn't (never mind that both sides take each other's holy books out of context to justify their ideological struggle for souls), but ask any true fundie if they'd fight, kill, and/or die for their religion, and nine times out of ten they'll say that yes, they would. Why? Because they are right, they are special, and dammit, Jesus loves them!
But they are nothing like those dastardly Muslims, right? Right...
But as has been observed through all of time in the human culture, god(s) have evolved along with ourselves and our perceptions of our surroundings. And as we continue to find knowledge, facts, and answers to some of the more basic questions (Where did we come from? Why are we here? What is our purpose, or what should be our purpose, if we need one at all?), perhaps there may come a time when god, or the idea of invisible care takers, will vanish. I doubt it will be in my lifetime, or my great grandchild's lifetime, but perhaps one day... And then, only then, do I think we have a chance of being deserving of a collective ego. Until then, we will continue in our false sense of importance, significance, and worth...
And keep making sky god so proud... as he "saves" little ol' important us from an accident on the highway...
1 comment:
I've long thought (even before getting out of a fundamentalist mindset entirely) that those who say "I was spared from this disaster. God is good!" are implying that those who weren't spared could say "God is bad". When someone makes it through a difficult operation, they say "Thank God", but if they don't make it they sue the doctor. Not very fair, and not very consistent. Christians need to think about the language they use and what it implies. There is nothing necessarily wrong with feeling a sense of "gratitude" that one is alive when one realizes that one could easily not be, but suggesting it is due to direct divine intervention raises serious theological problems, to say the least!
Thanks for the book recommendation on my blog! I have just placed a hold on it at my local public library.
http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/blog/
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