ninanevermore

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I often find myself thinking about how my mother used to rate other Christians as well as religious people who were something other than Christian using three broad classifications: "okay," "different than us," and "weird." A denomination or religion could fall under more than one category (for example, followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon were both "different than us" and "weird"), or it could come with a modifier ("a little bit weird" or only "sort-of okay.") As open-minded as I try to be in my adult life, I still find myself using her same rating system for other people of faith, and still regard many religions based on my mother's assessment of them when I was growing up, in part because it is so easy and convenient.

As a child when I first noticed Pentecostal women walking around with their long hair and long skirts, I asked my mother why.

"Because they are Pentecostal," she said, "and they're weird."

( God Loves You, But I Think You're a Weirdo. )

Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about how the people you love are often the same people you want to strangle with your bare hands.* Because you care about them, they have the power to drive you over the edge the way a person you are indifferent to just can't.

I suppose this is an open letter to someone I care about, but I advise her to skip it. I advise the rest of you to skip it, too, because I'm going to talk about a touchy issue I usually avoid here - religion. I am religious, for the record. I was raised in a Christian denomination that falls under the category of "moderate," meaning we are not literalists, and believe that the Christian Bible was written by men about God and that it is open for to interpretation and debate. There is a large misconception among non-Christians that the word Christian also implies right-wing and conservative, in large part because right-wing, conservative Christians like to say this and everyone just takes them at their word. A lot of us who worship under the umbrella of Christianity know this isn't true, but since we aren't shouting and waiving signs and voting Republican en mass, no one pays attention to us.

( Dialing For Dollars )

If the Carney were not so busy these days directing people off The Ferris Wheel, I would ask him to talk to his Boss for me.

Lucky for me, I don't expect much from the Boss. I don't expect life to be fair. I don't expect people to be fair. But I can still be disappointed.

I expect people to see beyond the noses on their own faces; it shocks me every time when they don't. I expect people to at least want to do the right thing. I expect them to see the humanity in their fellow man. I expect them to empathize with the hungry, the sick and the poor and think, "There but for the Grace of God go I."

But they don't. They never have and they never will.

If we are made in God's image, does that mean that God is small minded, greedy and mean? Why were we given free will but not the good sense to use it for the greater good? Why do those who have so much only want more, no matter how much they already have?

I think I've lost my faith in mankind, not that I had much to lose. There are people who ask, "Where was God when all of this was going down?" The answer is that God was there. He gave us free will, and we use it to turn our backs, to not shore up levees when the only ones who will drown are poor people who don't have any financial pull. Sure we started paying attention once 10,000 were dead. Who can sleep with all that screaming for help? And when the water goes down, the stench will be overwhelming. Sure, we got off our asses. Eventually.

I guess I can forward a message to the Boss direct, but He never answers me direct. Frankly, I'd rather He didn't.