Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Religion can explain everything away


They said I must pray for my incurable stage 4 cancer to go away. Thus I carefully composed a request, an entreaty containing details of my condition and the outcome I desired, and read it out loud. But they vigorously shook their heads at my ignorance and said I must first have faith, that I must become a true believer! So I converted, became a devotee and prayed throughout the day, every day. Alas my health did not improve and they chastised me for my lack of faith and urged me to deepen my belief. Certain of a miracle I continued my daily petitions, but then succumbed not long after. And when they came to my wake they commiserated with my wife and children, assuring them that everything that happened--the disease and my months of abject suffering--was God's will, that it was His way of beckoning me back home, and that I was at last in a much, much better place.

The Chinese ideogram for mouth is a square: "". And old folks like to say that you can turn this character left or right or upside down and you'll still end up with the same thing--meaning, in one sense, that you can talk your way out anything if you're savvy enough. So it is with religion. Everything--even evil--can be rationalized and explained away with twisted theological gibberish.

No comments: