You definitely should hang out more often at cafes whose soundtracks are
provided by fundamentalist rock groups. They really inspire your creativity and
bring out the best in you. :-)
From: salyavin808 <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2015 5:19 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Beaster
I was sitting outside one of my favourite cafes in the freezing cold
yesterday enjoying the growing anticipation I have that the warmth of spring
will finally arrive any month now. But the reason for the choice of coldness
over warmth and chatter was that there was some sort of flowery festival going
on and a band was setting up on a lorry in the high street and I thought a
front row seat might be worthwhile if they turned out to be good.
The positioning of crosses all over the stage didn't register at first, and if
they had I would have thought they must be a Black Sabbath tribute act due to
my generally godless nature. But no! It was that curious thing, a Christian
rock/gospel/sing-a-long sort of band. The likes of which I never usually listen
to - the Devil having all the best tunes doncha know.
But they were fun, if rather earnest, and all were competent musicians and
singers, perhaps a bit too much hands-in-the-air hallelujahing for my taste but
it was their gig and their (hijacked) holiday and I'm always happy for other
peoples happiness. So I thoroughly enjoyed this completely new experience. Some
members of the crowd though, were really digging it and were clearly close to
ecstasy if not actually speaking in tongues, I couldn't hear due to the volume
PA that I'm not really used to these days.
But listening to the lyrics I couldn't help but think what an odd idea it all
is, I reasoned that a visitor from a world that never heard of Christianity
would find the whole idea utterly perplexing. I imagined myself as just such an
otherwordly type and had an imaginary conversation with one of the devotees:
"What's going on here? You guys look happy."
"Yes, we've all heard the Good News"
"What, have the Tories decided not to contest the election?"
"Ha ha, no. Better news than that, Jesus has risen from the grave to save us
all from sin"
"I missed that on the news this morning"
"Ha ha, no. It happened two thousand years ago but because he was God's son it
works for all eternity"
"Erm, what works exactly?"
"Well, God put his son, Jesus, on Earth to save mankind but he was betrayed by
a disciple and crucified by the Romans and he came back to life to symbolically
represent our own rebirth through us accepting him as our saviour"
"So the guy who betrayed him is a bit of a hero then, because without him there
would be no act of resurrection and there would be no point to any of it, did I
get that right?"
"Ha ha, no. Not quite. Actually he's been damned to hell for all eternity, but
maybe the resurrection would have happened anyway"
"There must be good and reliable sources that documented all of this to make it
such a planet-wide movement for all these centuries"
"You'd think so, but actually no it's the other way round and the first people
to write about it lived many years afterwards and contradicted each other
massively"
"Ah well, I don't suppose it matters if we all get saved, whatever that means"
"It means our souls go to heaven when we die and we spend eternity by God's
side"
"God?"
"He created the universe and us in his image"
"Far out. I was taught something else at school"
"We're working to change that"
"There must be some good corroborative evidence or some more recent
proclamations from God and not just this dubious iron age stuff?"
"No, but we're happy with it"
This is kind of the problem. Without the self-perpetuating context of us being
taught what our parents were taught, and thus just accepting these ideas simply
because they form part of the cultural background we grow up with. things like
this get passed on without question. We do better at challenging these days but
religion still gets a free pass as a point of view that's not to be messed
with, to the extent the state even pays for schooling in this stuff.
Is it a problem? Anyone who actually watched the "Going Clear" Scientology
documentary will know how much of a problem it really is. The IRS was left to
declare - or not - whether CoS was a religion. Because if it is it doesn't have
to pay tax. It came down to the wire with the CoS destined to be bankrupt if
the decision went against it, but due to some dubious legal shenanigens, they
got away with it.
The trouble really was the lack of any definite way to assess whether something
is a religion or not. After all these centuries people still can't seem to put
their finger on it. This amazes me. My Christian friends ought to be a shining
example of what constitutes a religion. Their beliefs are based on metaphysical
stories and not on physical observations. Too simple? You tell me.
What else would we need to stop, say, Scientology from making an absolute
fortune out of running it's prison for the mind? Or kids in UK schools being
taught things that are not just open to debate but actual demonstrable
nonsense? And if that stops people dancing in the street, is it even a good
idea?
I don't know but I like the fact that Easter has evolved into another tacky
consumer-fest of conspicuous consumption. and the way they honestly expect us
to believe the bunny rabbits and eggs are symbolic of Christ rising from the
grave! It's too cute for words.
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