Once in a while one of those crazy discussions pop up that just demands a little introspection. While reading and posting on a small, very liberal weekly social paper recently, I seem to have encountered the wrath and indignation of one of the local "God haters". This particular paper draws a lot of interest among atheists, agnostics and those generally inclined to despise religion, especially the faith of Christians. So when a recent letter excoriated a local Catholic affiliated hospital for refusing to violate it's particular religious policies and beliefs, it was certainly expected that a local chorus of antagonists would join in and find fault where there was any to be found and mostly where none was to be seen. There was certainly no disappointment in that regard. Asheville, NC, the community in which this discussion was centered, is known locally as something of a magnet for crackpot types. Perhaps it isn't the general agnosticism and unbelief that fuels these reactions as it is the voraciousness with which the "God haters" beat upon anything identified as of Christ. The story line of the letter was the indignation that a Catholic hospital would not perform a tubal ligation or sterilization following the removal of an ovarian cyst. Now, I might disagree with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church on this matter but it's not my hospital and I do not set policy for them. For that matter neither does the patient who made the original objection. This leads me to the title of my post.
One of the more vocal of the antagonists found the occasion to turn a discussion of the hospital's decision away from whether it was appropriate or reasonable given their religious beliefs. In place of that, the commentator launched into a caricature laced diatribe attacking everything associated with the "male dominated" "Sky Bubba" God of Abraham, whether it was Jewish, Christian or Muslim. Well, as a Christian, I expect most of the conscience seared world in that part of the country to take every opportunity to attack anything associated with Christ or religion in general. What I didn't expect and I don't really know why this would surprise me given the community was that the antagonist has embraced the pagan and heathenish notion of worshipping an unknown Goddess of some sort, undefined as it is. While slandering and libeling the Christian community as having a perverse and immoral attitude and practices toward women (all of which is rather absurd and unfounded), this person was embracing pagan religion and not disclosing (either though ignorance or design) the horrific abuses women and infants suffered through its many ancient derivatives. Human infant sacrifice and rape were not at all uncommon in several pagan "goddess" societies. Archeologists have uncovered evidence at the site of ancient Carthage of mass infant graves. The practice of rape in the course of sexual ritual has been documented over the years. The heinous practices of the various goddess worship cults since the dawn of mankind overwhelm any comparison to the offenses of men and women acting under the banner of Christendom. Most of those who claim to worship some undefined goddess are really doing nothing more than toying with their imaginations. If they comprehended what those societies represented and practiced, few could with good conscience embrace such but then, we are dealing with seared consciences in this matter, real, hardcore haters of Christ.
In any event, I am left with the self described image of the antagonist who posits her pagan goddess (Sky-Betty?) against her caricature of God as "Sky Bubba" while decrying the religious rights of an organization dedicated to the merciful care of the sick and injured. It reminds me of the crafty retort "God is Dead – Nietzsche 1882 … Nietzsche is Dead – God 1900". I would be curious to know how many facilities for the sick, injured and elderly "Sky Betty" has established over the millennia.
1 comments:
Post a Comment