Thank "Good" I Know It Is Friday

This post is another one that has been percolating for a while.

What I am going to share is nothing new, earth-shattering or innovative.

Given the ongoing hatred and violence all perpetrated in the name of "god" I have been thinking about it a lot-- "god" that is. Which is unusual for me since I consider myself a full-on agnostic.

I would never presume to know something as personal and as completely unprovable as "god" much less push that "knowing" on another person or do harm to them because they don't subscribe to my version of why we are here.

I can tell you one thing-- anything that is in the business of creation is not in the business of destroying, killing, or maiming. That's simple logic.

I am trying to keep this on a general level and not slip into binary comparisons of good and evil, because what I know is that I don't know what, if anything, is "out there."

All I know is what is "in here." Inside me.

I don't look at the world and people and see evil or enemies or "satan."

I do see people who make choices, some that are not entirely of their own volition due to chemical imbalances, but who isn't a little chemically imbalanced these days? Have you ever looked at all of the ingredients in packaged food we eat? Also at the companies making that "food"? Or turn on the boob-tube; you will find a smörgåsbord of blood, suffering, and violence on which to feast your eyes.

I suppose my point is that so many people have *no* idea what goes into their bodies and who manufactures it for them. Is religion any different for some?

It can feed a person's need to feel superior. To feel that somehow they are better suited to decide what you and I get to see, think, hear-- even who we are allowed to love (or told we should hate).

I know all religious people are not nuts in a clinical sense.

Why do people who commit such atrocities in the name of "god" think "god" wants them to do such things?

What does "god" mean to them?

I was raised Catholic and I can recall as a young child sitting in the pews every Sunday not only wondering why I had to be there in my little dress, white socks and patent leather Mary Janes, but why did I have to look at that dead, bloody guy hanging over the altar? That guy was going to *save* me? No thanks. He looks like he's been through enough already.

I never got it, even with a primary and secondary education in the Catholic school system.

But really, seeing images of death and violence is what some people are programmed with from a very young age.

If the world doesn't suit it, then perhaps some people feel the need to make it that way.

If "god" is as I would assume most people would like to think "he" is, then "god" is not against us-- "he" is our greatest fan. "He" wants good things, heck "he" even *makes* good things.

Unless I suppose you think people are generally wrong, dirty, or perverse then your "god" is like *you*, not the other way around.

I don't know if there is any kind of superior being (or beings), but I am pretty sure that if someone believes in "god" that "god" is not interested in being like those who bomb medical clinics, buildings, or kill other people in "his" name.

Basically, I think most people are intelligent enough to dress and bathe themselves. They are perfectly capable of tying their own shoes. That people can, in the main, obey the speed limit, smile every once in a while and share a laugh with friends and family.

Across the world there are *billions* of people with these basic abilities.

I for one am not ready to write humanity off because of a few disturbed people.

If I were to "have" a "god" I would know that I don't *own* the sole rights to proclaim to everyone else what that "god" is.

"God" isn't something external that we possess like our cars or homes.

If anything, "god" is in us, made by us. Some people just choose to make "god" an excuse or reason for why they hate others. Kind of funny and sad, huh?

I don't know about you, but I am glad it's Friday. And no, I won't be going to church this Sunday. But if you do, put in a good word for me... my mind isn't closed, I just don't think an organized hierarchy of humans, created by humans, should tell me what to think.

I believe in "good" and I know that's one 'o' too many, but I'll stick with that for now.

PS: Thank you all for the comments to Tuesday's post. It's so great to come home from scoring really poor exams about bacteria and genetics to nice comments from you.