(A Few Things I've Noticed...)

I would (again) remind all that reach this site that it is not a condemnation of any individual because he or she is influenced by a particular organized religious faith or philosophy. I'm a firm believer in "live and let live", as well as the Golden Rule and the five or six real "commandments" (all of which I consider to be formulations and formalizations of ancient tribal laws and not "etched in stone" by some white bearded "ultra deity"). What one has here is an opinion on religious "faith" and spirituality that may be embraced, accepted, ignored or rejected. I'll never expect to have the future dated from my own demise.

I have observed, however, and have adjudged from a merely personal perspective, the following as regards the incongruities inherent in the diverse religious practices:

The protestant faith in which I was baptized (and which I've since rejected) seemed so intense and rigid, humorless and dry, (episcopalians always struck me as a particularly reserved and snobbish lot) that I had no desire to participate, especially after being dragooned into the church choir. This I remember as a singularly abhorrent and aberrant relationship for the simple reason that I had no idea of or interest in what those people were singing about. As with confirmation classes and "Sunday school", my participation was more a matter of maintaining domestic tranquility than personal interest. And the music...sure glad I discovered Rock 'n' Roll.

All the insipid music and the "father, son and holy ghost/hell and damnation" garbage often seemed a downright silly notion for adults to actually acknowledge, while the dogmatic incantations reminded me of mysticism, something I thought the human race had grown out of in the Middle Ages.

(Of course this infantile religious indoctrination may account for the evangelical fervor which, unintended though it may be, seems, nonetheless, occasionally evident in these essays)

During one Sunday school class, or confirmation class or choir class or something, we had a session where we were all asked about the meaning and influence that church, religion, "Jesus' love", etc. had in our lives. Each youngster replied with the usual platitudes and misunderstood dogma that we heard every Sunday. These people (including, at that time, even myself) were buffaloed into thinking that they were allegedly in "gods good graces". When my turn came to answer, I very clearly remember asking, in all innocence but with, I'll admit, a touch of cynicism: "What if we found out that the story of Jesus and god and all that was simply a fraud, a huge joke that nobody had figured out the punch line to yet?" I'm proud to think that even at nine or ten years old, I had begun to question the worth of religious belief and what was in it (or not in it) for ME.

The catholic faith (that over-ritualized "ism" on a guilt trip and which I've also rejected) was pushed at me in several ways...so much so that I had almost begun thinking in terms of the "martyr complex" of the lapsed catholic. Having a catholic stepmother meant enduring all the fasts, confessions, masses, priestly mutterings and other, somewhat pagan crap that involvement with this denomination entails. I married a catholic (although, fortunately, not an exceedingly devout one) and in order to be assured of the "divine blessing" of this pending union, was told (not requested; not suggested) by a priest that any and all children must be christened catholic and that I must seriously consider conversion. Otherwise, we could not be married in a church of the "true faith". Of course, even at that time, more than twenty six years ago and just returned from Viet Nam, I had pretty much learned to ignore religion and knew I'd never encourage the kids one way or another except to suggest we put off christenings and baptisms until the children were old enough to think for themselves. Due to the insidious and unbending nature of this denomination, however, such an idea was rejected out of hand. Should our children (my own and others') at last realize the idea of personal conscience, the idea of the ultimate responsibility they must bear for themselves and their own moral and conscientious choices, perhaps many of the dilemmas and poor decisions they make and hope to be "forgiven" for would not be made in the first place. Both our boys grew up with very little of the pervasive influences of religion cluttering their lives, at least after grade three or four and both seem to have turned out just fine. Our daughter is also a wonderful young woman in spite of a marginally more comprehensive commitment to religion (mainly by her own choice and certainly not in an overly devout way). I wonder how she'll feel about her faith when she takes the time to really think about its sexist nature.

The jewish faith (as opposed to the Jewish race) seems backward and mired in the Middle Ages (even more than catholicism). Although the State of Israel has been a model of Middle Eastern democracy and stability...with even a downright feisty demeanor, judaism still seems to carry the inferiority complex fostered through the centuries of christian domination and islamic dementia. This is a religion that lays claim to a whole race of people who are, thereby, considered by those of nearly all other religions to be outcasts no matter whether they practice or reject their religious dogma. This unfortunate race is, therefore, given little chance to avoid an organized religion that seems universally hated and feared by nearly every other religious denomination. Yet, government and religious leaders try to convince us that christianity in particular and organized religion in general (i.e. "god") is "benevolent" and all that. Not true. Just ask any survivor of the anti-semitic pogroms over the past two thousand years or so.

I'm not real familiar with the islamic or the Far Eastern religions...some seem to be more in line with christianity than others if not as arrogant. Apparently, some buddhist sects don't even believe in a "supreme being" in the commonly accepted way. These sects, I'm told, worship nature, earth and humanity as opposed to any sort of mythical deity...maybe that's why this Eastern religion seems to be gathering more and more followers in the West. But religion is religion, attempting to intimidate and indoctrinate followers with unfounded superstition and dictating individual spirituality. For those reasons, therefore, every religion continues to be fair game for my disrespect. I am under the impression, furthermore, that one or two of the islamic sects believe, as a basic tenet of their belief system, in the conversion of the entire population of the planet to islam, by force, if necessary.

I recently came across this bit of philosophy that seems to accurately reflect the contradictions inherent in those "isms" we call organized religion:

taoism: Shit happens

protestantism: Let shit happen to someone else

catholicism: If shit happens, you deserve it

judaism: Why does shit always happen to us?

atheism: No shit

TV evangelism: Send more shit

buddhism: What is the sound of shit happening?

jehova's witnessism: We can only take so much more shit

hinduism: This shit happened before

Page written by: Eric D. Tallberg

October, 1998