Religulous

Watched Bill Mahr's movie last night and aside from his constant condescending tone towards the people he was interviewing, it was a relatively thought provoking piece of work.  One could even call it inspiring, especially since it inspired me to write this entry to our blog.  In a space where just about nothing is off limits, I'm about to touch the one that is generally more taboo than race and politics--religion.

Religulous--a combination between "religion" and "ridiculous" sets out to (according to Mahr) "question" religion and those that practice it feverishly.  In my opinion it goes a step further and openly mocks religion, while failing to prove it's point.

The problem with religion isn't the subject matter; the problem lies in the fact that religion is an attempt by un-God like creatures (i.e. flawed, non-omnipresent or all powerful beings) to try and create something that is supposed to allow us to understand something that is beyond our understanding.  It is man's arrogant attempt to control something that is uncontrollable, and is often used and has been used historically as something to control the very souls of men and women.  In other words, if religion had been created by God, we'd be fine.  Instead religion was created by men (note the use of small "m" meaning people with dicks rather than capital "M" which would mean mankind generally).

Since the beginning of time, no matter which story you believe (evolution or creation), men and women have tried to understand and build rituals around some higher being/power greater than themselves.  Eventually however men began using the idea of a higher power for their own gains; somehow some way God began to choose men to lead countries, free people, and give out laws.  Kings were kings because God said so.  People were servants because God said so.  God had specific teachers and prophets and never spoke with you directly but only through these "holy" people.  Everyone else (especially women) was left out of the conversation.

Men have used God to justify killing people ("They were non-believers" or "infidels"), justify slavery and just about any other unsavory act of man-kind  as "God's will."  Religion is a collection of dogmas and ideas that have been used to shape our ideas about and towards other people (ex. Gays are evil and abominations before God).  Religion has been used to enrich those that manipulate it (evangelists).  THIS is the problem with religion--religion is about man while masquerading as being about God.  It is not crazy to believe in God or to even believe as many do that God directs your life.  What is crazy is listening to some man or woman tell you what God thinks or how God feels on a certain topic.

Religion, like politics requires one to think, which is the problem with both.  Most people don't want to think, they want to be spoon fed.  So if from the age of 3 people are told that homosexuality is a sin in Christendom, by the time they're 30, gays will be evil.  However if one were to read for him or herself what the Bible actually says, it says that any sexual act outside of the of marriage is the issue.  Male-female butt sex?  Okay so long as your married.  Oral?  Fine so long as you're married.  Swinging?  Now we're getting sketchy but at least you're married.  Two men or two women?  Not okay--which is why all the hubbub about concerning gay marriage in this country.  (Different blog for a different day).

Men wrote and continue to interpret something that is supposed to be the word of God, whether it be the Bible, Torah or Qur'an.  If we are to believe in something that is greater than us, something much more powerful, then it cannot bear human flaws.  God must be asexual (as in neither male nor female).  God can't harbor human emotions and cannot "think."  God cannot be claimed by one group over another.  God must be like many things humans cannot understand (for example wind) and just simply BE.  Sort of like Manny being Manny, we must quit trying to define and understand God, we just need to let God be God.  We cannot complicate God with our human trivialities (ex. God willed X team to win a championship).

What about all this history that talks of various prophets and teachers and even a Messiah?  Understand this (and buckle your seat belt because I'm about to rock your world): history and for the most part TRUTH is written by the winner.  Meaning there is no such thing as truth, except for what IS.  History then is what WAS, except we depend on men to tell us the story of it (thus HIS-STORY).  Which means because we weren't there to experience the truth of the past, we cannot trust it completely in the present or the future.  I'm sure that to some degree, each event recorded in history happened in some way in some fashion.  I'm even confident that prophecies have been fulfilled.  But I'm also quite sure that men embellish the facts to suit a purpose.  Hell as someone trained as a lawyer I'll readily admit that the western legal system is built on this very thing: whichever side can sell you the best story wins.  Constantine conquered a good portion of the globe in his day so Christianity won.  During the time of the Moors Islam flourished.  Whoever won is who's left to tell you what happened.  We never get the entire story.

So what can we believe?  Believe what IS.  Whether it be science or spiritual believe it.  Miracles (or whatever you wish to call them) can and do happen.  There is a difference between coincidence/luck and everything else.  Luck is hitting that shot at the buzzer from half court or a 14 seed beating a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.  A miricle is modern medicine declaring someone dead yet they continue to live.  However you wish to categorize it or for whatever reason you wish to put behind it, it IS.

As for me and mine, I'll continue to believe that there is an all powerful, ever present being who has many names but no shape or form I can comprehend.  And because my brain and vocabulary is so limited I will call it God.  I will continue to believe in spite of Mahr's best efforts to prove otherwise that God has done and will continue to do great things, simply by existing.  Everything else in between is because we, as humans, have chosen to make it happen.  War, disease, famine, homelessness, poverty are all man made creations and circumstances.  Perhaps if mankind were willing to accept that God IS and we acted accordingly, the world would be a much different place.  Alas we live in the here and now, where men teach and preach and the masses follow without thought and are willing to die for something some other human being said was God's will.  That my friends is why the world as we know it will end--maybe as part of some divine plan--but more likely it is because we as people aren't following any plan but our own.