The God factor

With the repercussions of Katrina fresh in our minds, and twin hellion Rita getting closer with each passing hour, there's a lot of "God" talk buzzing around these days - and most of it isn't very encouraging. OUT is the benevolent deity, that friendly guy who blesses the meek and loves thy neighbors as much as you should. IN is the vengeful Almighty, that Old Testament vigilante whose resumé boasts The Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Killing of the First Born of Egypt, fundamentalist best-sellers all.

Personally, I don't believe that God, whatever that may mean to each individual on the planet, has a hand in any of this. Don't misunderstand me - faith is a personal choice, and I believe absolutely in everyone's right to incorporate religion into his or her private life to any degree he or she chooses. Go ahead and knock yourself out, America.

But c'mon, people! Do we really believe that such an omniscient spirit would only be this pissed off by gay revelers, a little guilt-free sex, and some occasional nudity? I mean, if this is all about punishing the wicked, where was the Big Guy during the Holocaust, or Pol Pot's Cambodia, or Rwanda, or the Sudan? Pretty selective that He only shows up when copulation is involved.

It would be easy to dismiss all this chatter as inconsequential, except for one insidious detail. The prevalence of injecting "God's plan" (as defined by the Religious Right) into every scenario of our culture is... well... injecting "God's plan" into every scenario of our culture! Each time there's a "serious" discussion among TV pundits about divine messages, each time the President invokes a specifically Christian lord in his public addresses, each time a Pat Robertson declares "prayers answered" without being federally chastised, we're all being subconsciously numbed to accept religious intrusion on our laws and institutions.

(In fact, can someone point out to me any examples of Christian love and forgiveness and evangelism in that last link?)

Oscar Wilde said, "There is no sin except stupidity." Let's remember to keep an eye on the areas of our democracy that are genuinely threatened by religious meddling, and pay less attention to "end of days" speculation and fairy tales.