As a Man Soweth...

As I've often said (screamed?) on the program, I truly, deeply, madly believe religion -- all religion -- is a scam, a hoax, and a form of dangerous insanity capable of causing millions of people to die; a way to keep the Rubes and fear-riddled masses forever in emotional and psychological bondage, ready always to condemn dissimilar "believers" to eternal hell, pain, suffering, and agony - - not to mention a willingness to kill the "other" for the pleasure of God or Yahweh or Allah or whichever sky spook is hovering nearby; and, most important, an easy and highly effective means of control. In other words, religion sucks.

And, for frequently declaring (screaming?) this point of view on the program, I have been on the receiving end of some creatively obscene and powerfully ugly emails from God's (or Allah's or Yahweh's or Vishnu's) many followers. Oh, boy, are they creative!  If I -- or any human -- were capable of performing the acts of self mutilation or self-destruction these Christians (for the most part they are Christians; the Jews and Muslims and Hindus tend to write me off as a condemned soul wandering the earth until Hell swallows me into a screaming miasma of pain and violence) suggest, I could finally get the hell out of radio and get a good paying job, with benefits, in a circus freak show.

When these vile and over-the-top missives come in, I do take time to read them and weep for joy once again that I am not a part of the religious madness, and I wonder if these creatures honestly believe the day will arrive when their clothes will fall from their bodies and they will rise into the air on their way to heaven -- the Rapture, as they call it, fully upon them -- until the dreaded Science kicks in as they reach the Ionosphere and they then disintegrate into falling pieces of radioactive flesh. Ugh. And, Yikes!

But . . . I digress.

The point of all this is an article posted at CNN online that says the more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists. (Let that sink in for a second.) Of course that begs the question of who suspects these otherwise anonymous victims of being terrorists.   Apparently, the Christians don't care; anyone can declare a dark-skinned foreigner to be a "suspected terrorist" and the Christian will applaud as the Iron Maiden is rolled into the room and the Rack is unveiled.  During the imperial reign of our Most Famous Evangelical Christian, George W. Bush, the only proof needed that the next hapless detainee dragged to the torture room was in fact a Terrorist was a nod from Dick "Blood Lust" Cheney.  And there are memos, lots of pesky memos, that verify this. Since Gawd whispered to George to invade a couple of countries and slay the heathen -- much like Yahweh whispered (or thundered; who knows) to Joshua to lay waste to Jericho -- any resulting home-style terror perpetrated against, um, enemy combatants was acceptable and blessed. Oy.

The creepiest part of the survey, conducted by The Pew Research Center, was the not surprising finding that white evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified -- more than 6 in 10 supported it. Yes, I know. That raises a couple of obvious questions. First, is this attitude on the part of these self-proclaimed followers of The Christ in keeping with Jesus' rather simple messages about loving ones "enemies"?  Second, it must be, then, the pain of the Crucifixion -- not the resurrection -- that is, um, celebrated at Easter.  Third, how would today's Christians handle the arrival of a dark-skinned Palestinian who claimed to be The Son, who chased the banksters from Wall Street, who declared an end to war and violence if only men and women would acknowledge his message of peace and reconciliation, and . . . well, you get my drift, right?  The Christians would arrest him, detain him, declare him an enemy combatant, deny he had any human rights (which might make him chuckle), certainly no legal rights, send him to a prison to be tortured until he screamed, Yes! I helped Saddam Hussein invade New York City! Me! I did it! And Iraq is the center of terror and global murder!  Infested with Al Queda! Invade! You must invade! Oh, and did I mention the nukes? Arrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . . .!!!!!!!!

So.

Of course the missing question in the Pew study was this one: "In addition to being a church-goer who believes in torture, what is your favorite 24-hour news channel?"  If you just answered Fox, you win a front-row pew at the next Communion Service at the nearest 20-thousand member evangelical mega-church.

Blessed be.