American Heathen®

(Editorial Comment from the American Heathen® radio show – Air Date 02/12/10)

His home is at the Northern Pole of planet Earth.  He’s married, has 8 flying reindeer, gives away lots of free name-brand toys to children all over the world, and more importantly, he delivers them in person while checking through a list of millions of names to see who deserves a gift.  He doesn’t use a delivery truck.  He travels by flying sleigh, pulled by, the previously mentioned, 8 flying reindeer.  Absurdity number one.

He was born of a virgin, healed the sick through miracles, lived thirty-three years, was executed,  only to rise from the dead and ascend into a place called heaven to sit at the right hand of his father, an entity that created everything, knows everything in advance, hears everything, see everything, and on top of all that, demands worship and praise.  This guy’s Dad is always fighting another supernatural entity, one that is supposedly evil, over the souls (i.e. spirits that inhabit biological forms) of his Dad’s creation.  Yet, depending on who you talk to, this evil supernatural entity might have been his Dad’s brother, or it could be that his Dad created this evil entity to have someone to argue with.  Absurdity number two.

Absurdities.  There are a lot of absurdities in the world.  The two I’ve just mentioned have a great deal at stake when it comes to believability.  Both have financial stakes, and they are both equally absurd stories.  One is based on the other, yet the irony is that a majority of adults don’t believe in one of them, but absolutely believe the other.  They also spend a lot of cash on both, one spending cash for the fun of it, the other is considered essential spending to further the cause.  Children, of course, are easily led to believe both…at least until they discover that Daddy’s the one eating the cookies and drinking the milk, and the handwriting on the brightly colored package tags looks suspiciously like Mommy’s.  But, I digress…
Notice how ridiculously easy it is to use one absurdity to sell another?  And,doesn’t it make you uncomfortable to know that one of these absurdities is laughed and scoffed at by adults, while the other is taken at face value?  And, what about one of these absurdities being manipulated time and time again when it is decided that the story needs more flair, pomp and circumstance, or when some part of it is ridiculously weak?  Welcome to the absurd.

Absurd.  The meaning of the word absurd, according to the dictionary is as follows:

–adjective
1.     utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false: an absurd explanation.
–noun
2.     the quality or condition of existing in a meaningless and irrational world.

The world of the absurd is fraught with example after example of human ignorance and idiocy.  In the absence of logic and reason, in a world of total stupidity, absurdity runs freely through our collective existence.  It does not beg for acceptance, it receives it without question.   Basically, people will buy into anything as long as it’s easy and doesn’t require any effort.  Much like going to the gym to exercise our bodies, effort is avoided to exercise our brains as well.  It’s as if we are anxious to get life over with, to see it through in the easiest way possible,  totally void of any effort to learn and understand our reality.  But, here lay the greatest irony.  As people sit on their collective asses, denying the obvious in favor of the absurd, they still demand that someone give them what they want in terms of making their lives even more absurdly easy!  They want  technological advancements that simplify their already oversimplified lives.  They want to make things even easier.  They like dumbing themselves down to the point where everything is done for them, where they never to have to raise a finger, never to have to make even the slightest effort.  And, at the same time they demand technological solutions to their laziness, they reject any  technological advancement that reveals the absurdity of their mindless absurdities.  The whole thing is absurd in absurdity!  But, as I said earlier, welcome the absurd.

Today’s practical application of absurd is really no different from that of yesteryear.  Absurdity still migrates freely through the human condition.  It worms its way through all people, places, things.  It manifests itself best in politics and religion.  It is here, in these two ideological strongholds, that absurdity thrives in an environment tailor-made for it.  It is here that absurdity masquerades efficiently as truth.  It is here that absurdity finds its greatest achievements through its destruction of common sense, reason, logic, science, civil discourse, honor, integrity, nobility and dignity.  Absurdity even openly defies these human tenets, choosing to spit in their faces and piss on their purity, all the while laughing with delight.

Politicians openly embrace absurdity.  A recent example of political absurdity are the Congressmen and women who oppose financial stimulus while openly begging for more money.  Absurd huh?  Of course, religion is the king of absurdity.  Thousands of years of practice have given religion the honor of wearing the putrid robes of absurdity. How is this for a recent example?  A place called Cherry Hill Seminary supports the Separation of Church and State.  Sounds fairly reasonable right?  But, take a look at the following quote from James Bianchi, Attorney at Law and a Cherry Hill Seminary professor who teaches on the subject of religion and the law.  In a recent article on talktoaction.org, Bianchi defends Separation of Church and State against WallBuilders Inc. in an amicus brief filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Rev. Patrick M. McCollum in McCollum vs.California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.  Bianchi states “The whole purpose of the First Amendment was to prevent the kind of civil strife which occurs when one religious group appears to dominate the political structure to the disadvantage of other religious groups. This is when churches burn; this is what our founders foresaw and wanted to prevent. Voltaire said ‘Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.’ This is why education is so vital to maintaining a democracy.”

Do you see the multiple absurdities in Bianchi’s statement?  A Christian theologian and attorney, quoting Voltaire, and using this quote, “Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices” is truly absurd!  If you don’t see the absurdity, then I guess I’ll have to spell it out for you.  Voltaire, a man who is arguably a pantheist – which is basically atheism light – has made a glorious and factual statement against religion of any stripe, and yet his quote is used as support for moderate Christianity?  Even more absurd is the fact that religion of any flavor is an absurdity in and of itself, and  it is devious and hypocritical to imply by quoting Voltaire that moderate Christianity is incapable of committing injustices!  Voltaire’s declaration against people having the power to make someone believe absurdities is not a nod and a wink to one version of a skydaddy!  It is a blanket indictment of ANY absurdity of belief.   But, Bianchi expects us to believe the absurd idea that their particular brand of Christianity isn’t absurd and is  incapable of committing injustices.  Sure thing!  Let me bend over and let you shove your dogma right up my ass while I smile for the camera.

Welcome to the absurd my friends.  Welcome to the big top. It’s the greatest absurd show on earth. By the way… If you have a taste for the absurd, simply look in the mirror.  You see, you are the reason absurdity continues to thrive.  It is people who refuse to acknowledge to themselves how absurd they are in not calling absurdity to account.  And, quite frankly, that is the most absurd thing I know.   How absurd?  You tell me!

This entry was posted on February 13, 2010 at 12:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized with tags Atheism, Atheist, Christian, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Religion, Voltaire. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed Both comments and pings are currently closed.