Not a prayer

Despite this touching message, America is not a "country of faith". It is a secular country, in which the establishment of religion is forbidden in the constitution.

Of course, the people of the USA are mostly Christian and I doubt that they would elect a guy who didn't come out on the side of Jesus. An atheist in the UK, even, would have to be careful what they said because there are people who will vote on that issue alone (although many people are uncomfortable with Blair's "deep faith").

(Hey, I know all about it. I had a gf once who dumped me because we were getting serious, and she didn't want to have kids with a nonbeliever.)

People who can write this:

Pray for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as he considers establishing a new American military base in the Eastern European country of Romania. Having looked at locations on or near the Black Sea, pray that Secretary Rumsfeld and his advisors will have God's wisdom and direction in this decision. Rumsfeld is in Romania for informal meetings with NATO ministers of defense.

are living caricatures.

Well, I suppose Jahweh was a personal God of the Jews (you gloss over that one, fundies, don't you?), so it is possible that these guys do have a God of the Repugnicunts. I don't think I'd be worshipping him though. He certainly isn't the god of love of the New Testament. He's the arsehole who wiped out whole nations for not being Jewish.

The idea that God does things *for* America or for a particular part of it is worrying to me. The idea that you have a creator who pays personal attention to *your* plans and not anyone else's is quite frightening.

What if God did not in fact favour your side? What if he *is* partisan but he is not for you?

That possibility doesn't seem to enter Bush's head. But then, he's not a thinker.

A thinker cannot believe in that kind of God. The whys too quickly multiply and you have a God that raises far more questions than he answers. The point of having a God in the first place, of course, is to have answers to otherwise thorny questions.

Well, actually, they're fairly easy questions. Why are we here? We evolved from a molecule of an acid in a deterministic manner. What is our purpose? We don't have one. What happens to us when we die? We rot. Who made the universe? No one. It just happened. How did it happen? Sorry, you weren't listening. It just happened. What is good? Whatever works in a broader picture. What is evil? Whatever doesn't. What is that broader picture? Making nothing in particular not so fucking painful that we cannot stand it.

Okay, so you couldn't make a religion out of it but religion is for the feebleminded who just don't have the mental HP to think out for themselves what they believe about the world.

But it's an unfortunate truth that the feebleminded also get to choose. Hey, I support the idiots' right to choose! Don't get me wrong. Just sometimes...

posted by Dr Zen @ 3:32 pm