There’s nothing I love more than having a friend tell me how weak and pathetic I am. Maybe this is why I want so badly to be friends with Dawn Eden:
As I looked up at the stained-glass windows, the white walls, and the high ceiling, I thought about a friend of mine who loves truth but does not yet admit knowledge of God.
It struck me very suddenly that my friend was a nonbeliever not because he hated sanctified things, but because he was in some sense frightened or disconcerted by the concept of sanctity — its breadth, its depth, its sheer immensity. After all, if one believes that God is holy, one discovers immediately that holiness is all around. One experiences this awareness with special intensity in a church, surrounded by images of people who, throughout the ages, lived out their faith in a way that is too beautiful and too self-sacrificing for us to fully conceive.
It reminds me of what C.S. Lewis said — I think he mentioned it in Mere Christianity and illustrated it by example in The Great Divorce — about how the most ordinary person whom we pass by every day and to whom we never give a second thought, might in Heaven be a creature too bright and dazzling for us to behold.
Wouldn’t it be cool to be Dawn’s friend and find about about her little revelation? “Hey pal, it hit me in church that you can’t handle the immensity of holiness all around us, that you’re actually frightened by the idea of everything and everyone around you being so luminous. I just wish you’d stop being such a frigging wuss and admit your knowledge of God.” Mmm mm. Bet that would go over like gangbusters.
Of course, maybe Dawn considers me a friend after I introduced her to Bluey. I don’t believe in God, so, heck, maybe she’s even talking about me. If so, I would like to politely offer the following response to my buddy.
Hey Dawn! I was thinking about you at the bar the other day. I was drinking with some friends and it hit me why you believe in God. You’re scared to death of the yawning abyss of oblivion, terrified of the idea that you are nothing more than a temporary collection of atoms flitting about in a tiny pocket of a purposeless universe. If you had to cope with the knowledge that the self you understand as your limited consciousness will someday cease to exist, you’d probably pass out in terror.
Of course, to admit knowledge of no God, you’d also have to derive self-esteem from who you are and what you do instead of the idea that you’re important to an imaginary voyeur. You’d have to admit that you _aren’t_ holy, that none of us are, and that the only way we rise above our selfish brutal nature is by banding together in the here and now to help each other out. Shit, it would mean you’re no better than the beggar on the street even though you cuddle with the Holy Spirit. You can’t even ignore his suffering by rationalizing it as righteous justice for past sins or a challenge from God to test his mettle.
It would also mean people couldn’t just look at the deteriorating conditions around them and shrug it off with an “oh well, at least _I’m_ going to heaven!” People would actually have to do something to protect the precious little bit of existence they have. And sometimes you stub your toe or get hit by a bus and there’s only random chance to blame. That sucks for sure.
Don’t forget that what you consider the “easy route” would also force you and your wingnut pals to accept that those kids you all send to die in Iraq aren’t kicking it with a mai-tai on a puffy cloud. That’s the real scary thought, isn’t it?
I’m sorry, Dawn. Look at me. I’m as bad as you about this whole judgment thing. Dang it. Then again, when I’m doing it I’m not perpetuating the existence of a filthy rich, frighteningly cruel institution that considers the peons who fill its coffers nothing more than sin-crazy filth bombs queuing up for a one way trip downtown. Got a divorce? Going to hell! Don’t want to tote around a leeching zygote thingy? Going to hell! Don’t come to mass or give to the church enough? Hell! Priest wants to have sex with a consenting adult? Do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to hell! Or at least out of the Church! Priest wants to have sex with underage child? Er, well, common mistake. Have a bon-bon.
I grew up Catholic, Dawn. All I remember hearing was a lot of drivel about how you should do nothing, say nothing, be nothing, but give what little you have in terms of free time or loose change to the Church. All I remember seeing was a bunch of timid sheep slavishly performing nonsensical ritual built around the hilariously offensive concept of Canon Law. All I remember knowing was that the Catholic life is one only of unnecessary denial, self-loathing of normal desires, and a way to distract you from bettering the human condition. Because God forbid all the people of the world achieve some baseline of happiness.
If they did, what the hell would they need his minions for?
And before any Cathloic apologist brings up missions or helping the poor, just remember their only objective is to turn them into Catholics. If it were about helping the people, they wouldn’t try to make them join their club first.
I give Catholics credit for having the long view on their financial well-being, but don’t for a second think this is about anything other than collecting more dues down the road.
Hey, what a coincidence, I’m a lapsed Catholic too! It’s a great religion-all of the guilt, none of the tithes. They lost me when I was about eight. My fiancé was Nazarene-they managed to keep him until he was 25 or so, but when he stopped believing, he stopped completely. I, on the other hand, am willing to leave it at “not enough information.” Although, I have to admit that monotheism never made any sense to me.
The fiancé’s take on it is the harshest I’ve ever heard from a non-philosopher, but in the end probably the best. He says that the existance or non-existance of God is perfectly irrelevant. Either he’s there, and the Bible is true (literally or as a bunch of symbols, doesn’t matter) in which case, we’re all fucked because there is no one way to live that will allow you to keep all of God’s laws. No one, anywhere, has it all right and there is no way to determine who has the best take on it. Or, he’s not there. Either way, the only sensible thing is to follow the Golden Rule and keep your focus on the life you’re given. It might be the only one you get, and even if it’s not, no sense in playing into a game that is stacked against you.
Some people think that if there is no God, then there is no reason to ever display empathy or compassion. Those people freak me the fuck out.
Dawn should hire you for $100 an hour.
To do what? Shame her off the internets? That might be my dream job.
Either he’s there, and the Bible is true (literally or as a bunch of symbols, doesn’t matter) in which case, we’re all fucked because there is no one way to live that will allow you to keep all of God’s laws. No one, anywhere, has it all right and there is no way to determine who has the best take on it. Or, he’s not there.
That’s like Pascal’s wager wearing a van dyke and some sort of gold lame’ sash.
(Referring to Star Trek, btw, in case that wasn’t totally clear.)
Shit, you guys think the Catholics have a monopoly on this crap. Don’t forget the Mormons, the Muslims, the Jehovah’s Witness, and many others. Can’t let the Catholics take all the blame. They are all equally screwed.
Oh, fuck Dawn. I’ve been raised in a most compassionate climate – we were always taught that those of us who are stronger have a duty to help those who are weaker. Just ’cause. For justice. Naturally, that did not always work on everyone, but then again, I do not see such a stellar track record from the followers of this one dude who said to help the poor and not to judge anyone. And all of my upbringing was totally GODLESS! I know I know, it’s scary, innit?
And, secondly, fuck Dawn again. Because a Buddhist sees holiness in everything without needing a Big Daddy in the sky. Everything is equally holy and everything is equally important because everything is made from the same substance and shares the same spiritual base, for lack of a better word. I’d be a Buddhist, but I like meat too much to give it up. Plus, I think the exclusion of meat and not plants is very animalocentric.
So, fuck her and her narrow-minded, bigoted, ignorant ways.
(I’m in a fine mood today, no?)
“Some people think that if there is no God, then there is no reason to ever display empathy or compassion. Those people freak me the fuck out.”
Ditto. Like, if there wasn’t an invisible ‘police’ watching them, they’d be like monsters or something. It must be true because of the way they cling to religion as the only source of their morals, as if they haven’t even got a tiny bit of brain that’s not brainwashed into following everything they’re told. No god? Well f*ck it, I won’t do nothing good if it does nothing for me! Where’s my gun?