Question #19: Why does Steve give Christians a hard time?

Mariah's Question: Steve, I read a few of your entries and was disappointed by your harsh judgment of Christians. Most Christians are good, loving people. Why do you have a problem with Christians?

Current mood: intrepid

You're right, Mariah. I have expressed a particularly harsh view of Christianity. And it's unfair. If I'm to be completely honest, my criticism should include all monotheistic religions, not just Christianity. It's important to be inclusive. So let's throw the Jews and Muslims into the mix as well.

Why so harsh, you ask? That's simple: Religion is dangerous.

Any doctrine that requires its followers to give away their power - to blindly believe in "truths" that are spoon fed rather than discovered for oneself - is absolutely absurd . . . and dare I say 'evil?'

Although I may come across as though I don't like humans very much, I actually have a great deal of hope in humanity. Hence my blog. If I didn't believe in your potential as a species I wouldn't be spending my valuable time writing this blog. Right now, for instance, instead of writing this post I could be looking for shiny things to add to my shiny thing collection.

The truth is, we're all pulling for you. All the non-humans are highly aware of your potential. Watching you fumble through your lives is like watching a terrifically bad and absolutely fascinating reality show. In response to observing this clusterfuck known as the human experience, we find ourselves asking, "Will the humans find the courage to not be spineless pussies and narcissistic cocksuckers?" (foul language = my emphasis)

We're also aware of how challenging it is for humans to live in physical reality. Because, as you know (at least I hope you do), there's potential for great darkness within each one of you.

From my vantage point, religion is a manifestation of this darkness.

The creative, highly evolved inhabitants of non-physical reality (please refer to last week's post) - whom some might call gods - would never tell humans what to do or interfere in the human experience.

You have free will for a reason. Each human gets to decide every moment who he or she wants to be. More specifically, each human gets to decide how he or she wants to relate to other humans, other living creatures and the planet herself. At the risk of sounding too simplistic, you get to decide if you're going to be a dick or if you're going to demonstrate respect for all life.

This means that there is no god 'commanding' you to do anything. No god would ask for adoration, good behaviour, money, vengeance or abstinence. No god would ask you to love thy neighbour, kill thy neighbour, turn the other cheek (i.e., take abuse), eat fish on Fridays, refrain from pleasuring yourself, wear a beanie fastened to your head with bobby pins, make sacrifices, send more money, blow yourself up, or confess your sins.

It's all on you.

Consciously or unconsciously, each one of you gets to decide who and how you love, who and what you adore or take abuse from, etc. Your fake god can't take the credit.

Now, there are some unsavory inhabitants of non-physical reality who appear to reside within the unruly terrain of the human collective unconscious (aka, the spiritual equivalent to North Jersey), which means they are a manifestation of humanity's darkness - a shadowy by-product of thousands of years of human nastiness. God didn't create them, you did. And they're batshit crazy.

These not so highly evolved and powerless god wannabe's would love nothing more than to have legions of humans worship them. This is my understanding of how it works: These manifestations of human darkness creep into the minds of humans, and like parasites, latch on to base human desires like greed, power, fame and control and feed them until . . . a prophet is born.

Religious devotees have been deceived. It's all bullshit. And it's dangerous.

Can I get an amen?

Here's what I wonder when I'm flying around looking for road kill: What if each of you decided to not let another human or a book tell you what to believe and how to live? What if your motivation to be a good person wasn't to get into heaven and/or score some virgins, but was just because it feels good and is a nice way to be? What would happen if you took your power back?

And then I snap out my dreamy little godless world and realize that I'm probably going to have to hire another body guard.