By now, you all know how Uncle P feels about religion and "God." For all I know, the Flying Spaghetti Monster actually did create the Universe and everything in it. That's just as plausible to me as any other explanation of our existence, though.
Judeo/Christian mythology would have us believe that an omniscient being who 'always was' one day decided to make everything in a 6 day orgy of creation. I guess that's no more outrageous than ancient Egyptian mythology which posits the Universe was created when a god swallowed his own semen to do the same thing. Or the Hindu story in which Vishnu creates the world from a lotus blossom in his navel. Or the Apache myth in which the Creator made the world out of the sweat of his brow. Or the Mayan mythology in which two lonely gods simply thought the Universe into being. Or any of hundreds of creation mythologies. And who is to say which one is true? Their believers, I suppose...
These are the kinds of things one thinks about as one approaches the half-century mark (yes, I've I already told you that I am that old), I suppose. As a child, I was raised a Christian, though that ended when Mom was bedridden through the majority of her pregnancy with my sister. My paternal Grandmother was a Roman Catholic and when spending weekends with her, we were subjected to Sunday masses that seemed endlessly boring to Yours Truly. My mother's family were raised in the Episcopalian church (the American version of Church of England) and both Sis and I were baptized as such. Our father tried to convince everyone that he was a Zen Buddhist, but his behavior belied just about everything espoused by Siddhartha's teachings. Mom for her part, claims to be an atheist, though I've personally heard her express ideas that contradict those claims. My sister is an anomalous 'Liberal Born Again,' though I think she was unduly influenced by the fervently religious family of a childhood friend.
And you may well ask why I am writing about things most people wouldn't talk about in private, let alone so openly on an Internet blog where any one and everyone can see...
The truth is... I'm not really sure. As I said in my Easter post, I have no problem with religion in general. Whatever helps you sleep at night... I suppose I am most bothered by religious hypocrisy, which seems so prevalent, especially in the Catholic Church right now: "Don't you dare use a condom or fall in love with someone of the same sex, but go ahead and ignore the fact we've been hiding and protecting child molesters for centuries." Ick!
A long time ago, a high school history teacher told me that "...every war is a Holy war, because each side believes that 'God' is on their side." Really? Should "God" even take sides? I would think that with an infinite universe to deal with, "God" probably has better things to do than care about who controls the oil on one of
the billions of planets in said universe.
I don't profess to have any answers, folks. I, like many of you, have just as many questions which aren't easily answered. If you are reading this post and nodding along, then I must suppose you get it. If you are reading this post and angrily disagreeing with everything I've said, then you are either too young to know what I'm talking about; too closed-minded to think about what I'm talking about or too stupid and/or biased to consider what I'm talking about.
I'll admit this isn't my usual kind of post. I'd honestly much rather keep things light and silly. And I honestly have no idea what's gotten into me tonight... it may well be my impending 50th birthday. Who knows? I guess I just felt like ranting. I promise I'll get back to my usual nonsense tomorrow (supposing there will be nonsense worth discussing).
Thanks for letting me rant. Let's leave on a lighter note, shall we?
More, anon.
Prospero
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