ify:4 a miracle a minute

The converter box on my TV began to fail the other day and while the new one is winging its way here I’ve been limited to two channels, NBC and the one from Harrison, Ark. which is the religious based DayStar.com. It’s all Christian all day damned day so my viewing has been limited to somewhat sub-standard fare.

No, I do not believe in gods, ghosts, gouls, goblins, devils, witches, saints, vampires, werewolves, miracles, sin or any variant of these mythologies. ‘Tis lunacy to do so. YMMV

What I see on this Judeo-Christian channel does not seem to have changed substantially since I last checked, at least they want the same thing from folk. Primarily it’s the old “don’t think just have faith” and “don’t feel just believe” with a healthy dose of send us your money. This is all done by folks who are obviously superiorly spiritual, who know what their audience does not know, and must have god’s cell number as they talk to him at least daily.

They are embracing the new communication technologies, own their own TV stations, and are totally active on what’s called social media, so I have no doubt they are spreading their message to more folk, and collecting more money to boot. You no longer have to leave the living room to attend a faith healing, and you can watch all sorts of panel/interview shows that feature guests describing their personal miracles. All told, you can get about one miracle a minute.

The sermons are substantially different in content. Sure, you get the normal droning, all based on that particular ‘view of the universe’ that there is a “plan” for all this, and the plan is known and is working as ordained, and you should just hold on as things will be fixed up really-really tidy (pretty soon) and we’ll all live happily ever after. [que Disney style theme music]

Many of these so-called sermons are strictly political, social or economic in nature, and although they are disguised in religion or spirituality, they are no more than stump speeches. These preachers all want to Take Back the country which has been stolen by the Evil Do’ers. It’s no wonder the congregation applauds the fiery speech, rather than shouting hallelujah.

Don’t get me wrong, no matter what I may think of the Abrahamic religions (Islam included), I harbor no hope of changing anyone’s views. I understand that going against the beliefs of perhaps 3-4 billion people would be hard, and that many have to fall back on “I believe this because that’s the way I was raised”.

But here is the scary thing. If you can UN-think enough to believe in these myths, then when, or where, or how will this UN-thinking erupt in your thinking in the future?

Will you enact into law something that says “Life begins at conception”?

Will you enact into law something that defines “Hate” as a criminal offense?

If so, then the next step can only be that thinking itself is a crime.