As i was walking the dog today, i passed a man in a business suit. I noticed he had a big, dirty mark on his forehead. After three split seconds of processing and realizing it was religious ash (by which time he was seven or eight steps behind me going in the other direction), i said "Hey! Ya got some schmutz on yer' head there!" I hadn't broken stride, and my voice was raised, but not so loud that he definitely knew i was talking to him, or even definitely heard what i said. I walked on chuckling, enormously amused at myself. In the midst of my cackles, i said to myself "Yes, you are a bad person...a very bad person". Mocking a poor soul of simple faith. And i do mean poor, and i do mean simple. I know, i know, i said to myself, i should have just smiled beatifically instead, and manifested the right thought and right action. Infinite patience and indulgence, and all that. But my tolerance for intolerance suddenly smacked into a horrible wall. Maybe my brain is just three steps closer to insanity than in years past.
I don't believe in evil, but i do believe in barbaric ignorance. And that man was the walking poster child for barbaric ignorance. It's not innocent. Religion is not benign. You're telling me, sir with the schmutz, just so i have your story straight, that GOD humped a 12 year-old who then gave birth to a grrrreat wizard who makes you IMMORTAL if you're "good"? That's your story? Really? The list of religion's victims is incomprehensibly horrific and bloody, from the dead to the tortured to the raped, and if you manage to avoid all that, none escape spiritual maiming. The soul of the human race is at stake. So yes, i reacted like a knight errant, swiping at a horrid dragon.
And proceeded to laugh, as the madcap laughs.
What's the statute of limitations on prosecuting god for statutory rape?
I love you all.
P.S. I should add that my laughter was literally a step on the road to insanity. I'm in no way advocating the belittlement or baiting of another human being.
P.P.S. Unless they can handle it.
P.P.P.S. As for losing one's sanity, i'm not prepared to recommend it at this time.
2 comments:
this kind of turns my stomach, rob. that's exactly the mentality i mean when i talk about "militant atheism". that anger of yours is a demonstration that the human impulse to seize on differentness is far more dangerous and intractable than religion.
i meant to get the ash blessing this year, but forgot. my girlfriend (also a nonbeliever) did have the ash. it's not always about your fucking war against ignorance, yknow. there is a place for ritual in a nonreligious world. heck, there's a place for RELIGION in a nonreligious world.
anyways, next year i hope you imagine every person with ash on their forehead as being me and i hope you think long and hard about whether a war against religion is a holy and righteous war.
My reply to Max ("dear Max") can be found within the "letters" tab on the right side of this blog.
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