Ann Lomott, whose gentle advice to desperate writers is some of the best stuff I’ve ever read, has this to say about the radical right’s adoption of God as their personal mascot:
The opposite of faith is not doubt: It is certainty. It is madness. You can tell you have created God in your own image when it turns out that he or she hates all the same people you do. The first holy truth in God 101 is that men and women of true faith have always had to accept the mystery of God’s identity and love and ways. I hate that, but it’s the truth.
If I were a god, and I’d done a bunch of hapless beings the supreme favor of creating them, I think it would break my heart if they started justifying their nastiness by putting words in my mouth. Forsaking your god to do dastardly deeds is one thing; doing them in His name is quite another.
3 comments ↓
Amen.
i don’t know if it would be heartbreaking, more like worthy-of-lightning-bolt?
this reminds me of something my literature teacher, who i don’t really respect but recognize that he says funny things from time to time, said: “And to those who think god answers all prayers, of course god answers all prayers. No, no, no, and no.”
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