It’s Sunday so it’s a good time to talk religion. Particularly since anyone who might be offended is probably at church and this will probably roll off their Facebook news feed before they get back.
I am not, as anyone who knows me, religious in any way. I don’t subscribe to any documented faith-based doctrine or cult. I tend to go after Catholicism the most, because I was initially raised Catholic, attended Catholic schools, and summarily shook off any belief in the system before I got my driver’s license. By extension, I am usually dismissive of Christianity overall in part thanks to the unwelcome influence it has played in my constitutionally guaranteed secular life. So that is why, without defending or advocating any other religion, I’m disgusted by the opening prayer at a recent McCain campaign stop in Iowa. It went:
"There are millions of people around this world praying to their God -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that [McCain's] opponent wins for a variety of reasons," Pastor Arnold Conrad said. "And, Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they're going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens."
The message is simple: Don’t vote for the black guy with the funny name or some people might think a four-armed Lakshmi, a three-eyed Shiva, or a fat guy staring at his belly button is bigger than the white-bearded snoozer in the sky and his zombie son.
That’s a whole new level of ridiculous. I was under the impression that these various doctrines didn’t acknowledge the existence of other gods at all so at its face, the prayer makes no sense. Why would the Almighty need to guard his reputation against other gods that don’t exist? But it doesn’t matter whether it makes sense. It’s a fear tactic. The other, the different, the non-white/non-Christian aspect of this country might actually count (never mind that the candidate is a half-white Christian). Facts and doctrine don’t matter in this culture war. Anything different is too scary. Forget that current day-to-day life these days is terrifying in and of itself. Change it to something other than more of the same is scarier.
It is at times like this I wish I had something to pray to, to make it all stop. But even the act of finding a god of logic, rationality, and reason is in itself an act of irrationality. My brain hurts. Because as soon as I read this I realized that this pastor is comparing gods the way men compare the size of their dicks. I was already appalled that MILF had made it into presidential discourse, now opening prayers are barely disguised penis competitions?
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