It's the same reason why I want to go ballistic when I see a "God Bless America" sticker on some ungodly GMC Suburban... or a Prius for that matter. Or when I see people praying for their favorite sports team to have a victory, or for someone to find a better job or get a raise. People pray to God for all kinds of things. Better health comes to mind.
And I really have no problem with people who pray without any selfish intentions. Although one could argue that almost any prayer is rooted in some selfish desire. I've certainly made fun of some public prayer and flagrant displays of religion, and I'll continue to when it involves a public official or a celebrity or anyone else who makes an absurd public claim about God in a way that infringes on what I believe about God. I don't mean to suggest I'm going to argue against what you believe about God just because we might be in complete disagreement. But I will most definitely argue if the claim being made is an attempt to restrict my beliefs or my freedoms. Go forth and believe as you wish. Just realize, we're all speculating. That's why it's faith and not a fact. And that's also why it should be a personal matter.
I was just visiting the blog of the Omnipotent Poobah. He has a post up called "The Gospel of the Universal Messiah" and it really got me thinking. Go read Poobah's post and tell me you aren't inspired to express something.
Here was my "confession" to the Poobah:
I've been down that road so many times as well before I came to the conclusion that there is NO organized religion to fit my needs. I don't really consider myself an atheist -- perhaps an agnostic. I just think of God as universal energy -- the cume of it all. What was going on out there before the big bang? Who knows. How can the universe be boundless? Who knows. How can anything have no beginning and no end? Who knows. But that's about as close as I can get to explaining what the concept of God means to me. In fact, that's the point. It is difficult to conceive of it. And our planet is about as consequential in the universe as a grain of sand in the oceans. The idea of some God with a human-like image sitting in "heaven" listening to every thought, word and deed of mine and every thought, word and deed of the other 6 billion people, and preparing to judge me and the rest of us upon our material death on the planet is just too far-fetched.
There may be a karma involved and I'm certainly not going to deny the concept of reincarnation, but if there is, I believe it's probably regulated by that sliver of God or stardust or whatever we're made of that's within us. We all know right from wrong. We can choose to ignore it but perhaps the part of us that knows it may control the destiny of our energy in the next life. Self-regulation, if you will, through eons of lifetimes. I'm just speculating. That's more than many people do. Some people won't even allow themselves to speculate. And frankly, I'm not even sure it matters. This stuff is damn near impossible to comprehend and without proof, it's just easier for some to subscribe to a pre-fab dogma and be done with it.
However, I'm content with my befuddlement. Qué Será, Será.
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