How Handy for Obama!
I just watched the probable Democratic candidate for the presidency say that he believes Jesus Christ died for his sins.
Wow.
What to do with this information? At this moment, all I can do is shake my head in bewilderment. It's not that I don't know where I live. The United States is a Christian nation historically and putatively. It's just that I wonder how someone with an education like his can truly wrap his head around the idea that there's a human sacrifice in the past that was mandated by an omnipotent (and loving???) deity which absolves all of us from our alleged limitations. I'm still shaking my head.
First of all why on earth would you subscribe to a doctrine of original sin? I don't care to define myself as fatally flawed, permanently stained, shameful and broken; nor do I care to define myself as having benefited from the torture of a man who lived a long time ago and certainly bears no responsibility for any of my actions, immoral or otherwise. Crucifixion is a mind-numbingly abysmal way to die. After hours of agony, the body ultimately crushes under its own weight and the victim suffocates. And the knowledge of this having happened to someone is supposed to make me feel better about myself? Are you kidding?
Shaking my head again.
Second of all, how on earth can anyone believe the bible's historical veracity given what we know now about the origins of the universe? I am off to the Creation Museum in Kentucky this weekend. There I expect to cringe and guffaw at the naifs who need to cling to a fable that absolves them from independent self-definition and promotes the fantasy of eternal life. BUT I DON'T EXPECT ANY OF THEM TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Another head shake.
I don't know everything. That is the one thing I do know for sure. But I also know, deep in my soul, that limiting myself to a single metanarrative so convoluted and rife with dismal assumptions, befuddling paradoxes and outright hypocrisies violates every concept I have regarding human potential and the wonders of this astounding existence we enjoy. "Figure it out" at your peril, religious folks. I refuse to be so close-minded.
And when I die, please don't say I am in a better place. I like this one just fine.
Comments
some muslims believe that they will be rewarded in heaven with 40 virgins.
all i can think to myself is, ick. i'd have to train them. virgins are awful lays.
as for christianity, i call it the immaculate misconception. seems about right.
Posted by: RainbowWarriorTX
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May 19, 2008 5:13 PM
I'd like to think that Obama might just be pandering to his voters, though that's some high-powered wishful thinking. The truth is that religious faith has absolutely nothing to do with reason or fact and thus can coexist in an otherwise intelligent brain.
It's certainly a messy situation and one that speaks more to ignorant roots of our country and the power of parental "wisdom" passed down.
"OK, you're in a forest. With Heather Locklear. And you're very warm." The power of comfort compels.
Posted by: Brad Fults
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July 14, 2008 5:37 PM
Right ON Doctor D!
The U.S. Constitution is a secular document. It begins, "We the people," and contains no mention of "God" or "Christianity."
Obama should know this. He should know better than to campaign on his faith.
What a disappointing candidate.
Posted by: TheeErn
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July 17, 2008 5:48 AM
What a well reasoned and thoughtful deconstruction of the myths of christianity. It has always been a mystery to me (as a Brit) why you in America see to require, as a Nation, that your President be a practising christian given that you have a constitutional separation of church and state. You even had a President (GHW Bush) who openly said that an atheist is less of an American than a believer. Why should someone who believes in the medieval fairy stories concocted to explain the, at that time, unexplainable be more of an American who says that they do not believe in some greater being?
The evangelicals and creationists are downright dangerous. I hope for your sakes that you don't end up in the state that Israel is in where a few ultraorthodox people always hold the balance of power and therefore wield far more influence than their objectionable views should allow.
I realise I am rambling now but I to finish I will relate what happened to me in a chatroom.
I started to tell one of my favourite jokes, "What is the worst thing about being an atheist?" I got the three replies from Americans in the midwest all of which said the same thing, "Not having the Lord Jesus in your life". They knew I was telling a joke as I had flagged it.
The answer by the way is that you have no one to talk to when you are getting a blow job.
Posted by: niall_g
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September 2, 2008 5:38 AM