As an atheist I am often bemused, and at times concerned, at the worrying excess’s of religious practitioners.
They get-up to some crazy shit.
As it happens even these devote believers, snigger & ridicule the idiosyncratic practices – but only when it’s not their brand of belief.
Yesterday a group of Auckland, Christians undertook a mock re-enactment of Christ’s crucifixion.
Some of those involved, took their job as Roman soldiers, far too seriously.
The poor guy playing Jesus Christ ended-up in hospital, sporting wounds from over-vigorous use of whips and crown of thorns.
For someone who doesn’t hold any superstitious beliefs, it’s hard to fathom what is going-on in these peoples minds.
What would drive someone to get so wrapped-up in their beliefs, they would ignore the not just the stupidity of what they are partaking-in, but more worryingly for their fellow humans, the suffering of others?
In the year 2009 no one seems to care, that somewhere on this planet fellow humans are at this moment flagellating, tattooing, jumping into fires, kissing rocks, immersing in water, wearing strange clothing etc – doing all sorts on nonsensical & demented stuff, all to get close to their God.
In India recently a 7 year old was married to a frog as part of a ritual to a rain-god.
This Indian practice would doubtlessly be deplored & ridiculed by Christians in this country.
But how can come these very same Christians ignore ‘talking snakes’, ‘people living inside whales’, ‘unicorns’ then symbolically eat their Gods flesh and drink his blood – and not think this is just as absurd as marrying pre-pubescent girls off to amphibians?
Christians see it as their ordained right (with money brings privilege) to go to all corners of the globe telling strangers “Our God is better than yours and unless you convert our all-powerful God will burn and torture you for eternity” and demanding they adopt their weird practices, in place of the existing weird practices.
Why does one group of religious fanatics believe-in say ‘Kaparot’, the Jewish practice of passing ones sins to a chicken, and not others, who laugh at the mere thought anyone could be so stupid, whilst ignoring their own foibles?
What could inspire an outwardly normal, educated Jew to believe in animal sacrifice?
Look at it this way, in my household Zombies movies rule. There is nothing better than returning from the video-shop with a good gory ‘intestine splattered’ zombie horror film, and watching-it with my teenage sons.
Whilst we males in the household derive perverse enjoyment watching the apololyptic visions of flesh-eating living-dead roaming the barren wastelands of earth, destroying civilisation itself – we know it’s a just a film.
Mere furtive creation, of some dark-humoured script-writer.
We know that the dead don’t come back to life.
Try telling that to The Christians!
They get-up to some crazy shit.
As it happens even these devote believers, snigger & ridicule the idiosyncratic practices – but only when it’s not their brand of belief.
Yesterday a group of Auckland, Christians undertook a mock re-enactment of Christ’s crucifixion.
Some of those involved, took their job as Roman soldiers, far too seriously.
The poor guy playing Jesus Christ ended-up in hospital, sporting wounds from over-vigorous use of whips and crown of thorns.
For someone who doesn’t hold any superstitious beliefs, it’s hard to fathom what is going-on in these peoples minds.
What would drive someone to get so wrapped-up in their beliefs, they would ignore the not just the stupidity of what they are partaking-in, but more worryingly for their fellow humans, the suffering of others?
In the year 2009 no one seems to care, that somewhere on this planet fellow humans are at this moment flagellating, tattooing, jumping into fires, kissing rocks, immersing in water, wearing strange clothing etc – doing all sorts on nonsensical & demented stuff, all to get close to their God.
In India recently a 7 year old was married to a frog as part of a ritual to a rain-god.
This Indian practice would doubtlessly be deplored & ridiculed by Christians in this country.
But how can come these very same Christians ignore ‘talking snakes’, ‘people living inside whales’, ‘unicorns’ then symbolically eat their Gods flesh and drink his blood – and not think this is just as absurd as marrying pre-pubescent girls off to amphibians?
Christians see it as their ordained right (with money brings privilege) to go to all corners of the globe telling strangers “Our God is better than yours and unless you convert our all-powerful God will burn and torture you for eternity” and demanding they adopt their weird practices, in place of the existing weird practices.
Why does one group of religious fanatics believe-in say ‘Kaparot’, the Jewish practice of passing ones sins to a chicken, and not others, who laugh at the mere thought anyone could be so stupid, whilst ignoring their own foibles?
What could inspire an outwardly normal, educated Jew to believe in animal sacrifice?
Look at it this way, in my household Zombies movies rule. There is nothing better than returning from the video-shop with a good gory ‘intestine splattered’ zombie horror film, and watching-it with my teenage sons.
Whilst we males in the household derive perverse enjoyment watching the apololyptic visions of flesh-eating living-dead roaming the barren wastelands of earth, destroying civilisation itself – we know it’s a just a film.
Mere furtive creation, of some dark-humoured script-writer.
We know that the dead don’t come back to life.
Try telling that to The Christians!
2 comments:
This is something I can never understand either. I often joke with the religious members of my family; I like to show them the pagan roots of their religion. While they laugh at the thought of witches and spells, they go and light their candles and I can't imagine how they see that as different. I think it's a form of insane delusion to think that one ritual is stupid yet they perform one and say it's God.
I hope The Press print my letter tomorrow. It went like this;
"Easter only serves to remind me of the obsession that Christians have with the bronze age torture method of crucifixion. Surely there are better things to glorify in front of families and children than brutal torture killings?"
I do hope they print it.
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