Ouch My Head Hurts!

Hold the Armageddon Please! I’m on a spiritual diet.

The working of the religious mind constantly fascinates me. As an existentialist agnostic I find their thought processes completely alien. Yet as a resident of the year 2004 I am living in an era of religious extremism. Much like the period of the crusades or the catholic/protestant wars thing are getting ugly in a godly kind of way.

Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jew or Hindu (regardless of sect) will explain how the cosmic authority of the universe has been reveled to their particular sect, of their particular religion. Most don’t even know the historical context from which their belief system arose or how their holy book was first compiled. Nor do they care. Facts and logic are not important, since god has personally revealed to them that they are right, and everyone else is wrong. A mistranslated holy book is “gods will” and contradictions are a “mystery”.

I have come to understand the huge emotional investment they have in their particular belief system. It is very much a life or death decision to acquire a “faith”. An individual who has done this is not going to give up his “faith” over a little thing like logic. To do so would be equivalent to death. In fact death is preferable to renouncing your faith. This is because the foundation of a believer’s sanity is his faith. Unable to cope with the brutal nature of life they have opted out. They have turned their life over to God/Buddha/Allah. For the rest of their lives the question of “is there a god” or “which religion is right “ is no longer pertinent. Like the concrete foundation of a house when the cement sets up, there is no going back. Not unless you want to risk the entire structure of your sanity. Now when you do something, it is really god acting though you. What a powerful and seductive idea. No personnel responsibility, no doubt and no uncertainty. You have become an instrument of gods will. He will use you with surgical precision to reshape the world.

Of course that leave us with the thorny question of what to do with all these surgical instruments lying about. Especially when they violently disagree or even hate each other. Logical persuasion is useless. If their sect has a logistical setback (like having the leader struck by a bolt of lightning) it was Satan. If a car hits the opposition’s leader it was gods will. How do you argue with something like that? Pointing out the other guy thinks the lightning bolt was gods will and the car accident was Satan’s work is not a viable strategy. (Try it if you don’t believe me). Nor is pointing out that this country was founded on religious tolerance. The original thirteen colonies were partly founded by people who fled Europe after being force to follow the state religion. But when an Alabama Supreme Court judge tried to establish evangelical Christianity as the state religion 70% of the country agreed. (Step #1 was covertly placing a block of granite with the Ten Commandments on it in a government building) He considered it a good thing to force me to acknowledge and be subservient to his religious beliefs.

I am convinced that the only thing that could impact these foundations of faith is a truly horrific war of their own making. History has show that this insanity will only stop when both side have exhausted themselves in an orgy of blood, chaos and destruction. I am overwhelmed with a great sadness when I consider this prospect. None of the major religions of this world are going to wake up and say, “Maybe tolerance is better than fanaticism”. They seem quite intent on taking their “God/Jesus/Allah loves you” belief system to the battlefield. How many times do we have to do this? We have been fighting these stupid religious wars for millennium. Although a number of smaller sects have been exterminated nobody ever wins.

Being a lone voice pleading for sanity in a world dominated by the hurricanes of self-righteousness is not a lot of fun. I am horrified on a daily basis by the slow motion train wreck that is world events, but I can’t seem to look away. Will someone teach me how to not care?

(footnote: ex·is·ten·tial·ism: A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.)