A recent comment by the esteemed Mr. Malloy got me to thinking... John F. Kennedy said in is inaugural speech that God's work must truly be our own. When Abraham Lincoln was asked about his views on religion he stated that when he did bad he felt bad, and when he did good he felt good: That, Lincoln concluded, was his religion.
The problem I always have when I hear catchy little phrases like: "We Evangelicals see W's [Bush's] election as the will of G-d", or "It is Allah's will" is that making such statements essentially absolves those who state this point-of-view from believing they have any personal responsibility in the manifestation of "god's will". All they can hope of is that God/Allah loving, that he is merciful - that God/Allah might on occasion even be aware of their point of view. But in the end all they can really do throughout their wretched sinful lives is try to stay on the correct/winning side and hope they can perform enough good-deeds so that when they eventually shuffle off their mortal coil they might have bought enough brownie points to gain entrance into Heaven, or Paradise, or Valhalla. IMHO, the belief that certain historical events of a political nature are the result of "god's will" preaches the devastating philosophy that we are all powerless when we come face-to-face with the "will" of god. It also preaches the belief that we are separate from God, that we are all essentially cannon fodder to be used by God's will. I really don't give a rat's ass if some wish to subscribe to a philosophy that preaches we are separate from God. You make your bed, you sleep in it. What I DO give a rat's ass about is that when one feels they are powerless in the face of the "Will of God", this inevitably invites others to take control over their powerless lives. All the better if these self-proclaimed leaders state they are on a first name basis with God, or Allah. As human beings, most of us (if we're lucky) will be confronted with events in our lives that teach us the humility of what it feels like to feel utterly powerless. It is during these rare moments of agony that we are given a precious opportunity to strip ourselves of all the barriers and defenses we meticulously built up during our lives. It is during such humbling events that we hopefully discover untapped resources from within, but only if one is willing to let go of all that they believe what makes them who they are. Said differently: It is when one confronts the annihilation of one's soul that one is given the rare opportunity to question the underlying Blueprints of Life - for which one in the past had always assumed had been carved in stone. Regardless of whether one is an Atheist or not, I would hope most individuals would be able to find deep down within themselves a spark of divinity, or least the proxy of divinity. I hope this would give themselves permission to accept the possibility that perhaps it is inherent in each and every individual that we ALL know "know" what is good and what is bad - that we don't have to be told what is good and bad by leaders who claim to speak on our behalf. It seems to me that justifications for instigating a holy-war, or the belief that the election of a recent president was the result of the "will of God" essentially slaps God in the face. It strips away the responsibility of All who participated in the manifestation of God's will. As for electing Bush, I certainly didn't vote for him. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
