August 4, 2010
Deities are a strange bunch
Deities are a strange bunch.
People who believe in them are stranger.
Imagine some chap coming up to you and saying “God is great!”
Really? Well, what if I came up to you one day and said “Calvin is great!”
Who the heck is Calvin?
Well, who the heck is God?
(I’m talking about Calvin, friend of Hobbes. Ah, now you get the picture)
Does anyone really know who/what God is? People certainly claim to know, but is it possible to convey that to a stranger? It’s akin to a stranger telling a stranger how great a stranger is. Whatever for?
Now, for the easily offended (some people just love to live to be offended), this isn’t really a slight against your deity. I’m not likening God to some mortal, imaginary or not. That would be like saying The Hulk is green – grass is green — The Hulk is grass. Flawed logic. Unless that’s a new fancy name for a certain kind of marijuana. But nevertheless, flawed.
Also, I’m curious as to what imams tell their flock at prayers every evening. I can hear it from my house and I don’t know what he’s saying because I’m quite deaf (to the world). I know what pastors say from sitting in at these things a couple of times – honor thy parents and whatnot – but the imam near my house seems quite the passionate speaker so I wonder what’s going on.
The paranoid (or maybe, the creative, wink wink) part of me thinks it goes along the lines of “destroy all infidels, because we’re totally awesome,” but I suppose it’s much the same as any other religiously themed speech, honor thy deity and honor thyself and honor thy parents but mostly honor thy deity and hey, by the way, the donation box is to the left of the exit, thanks very much.
