God Couldn't Make It

Legislative hearings are going on in Maine on the question of a bill that would create marriage equality in that state. Apparently the hearings are very, very well attended with many, many supporters.

There are, of course, also some detractors reportedly foaming at the mouth. Andy Towle described* one woman as saying that "she was there to speak for God because he couldn't be there."

I have to admit that I have long been confounded by the remarkable inadequacies of the fundamentalist-christian god. Now, I don't mean only that, in their early days they made the strategic error of adopting the curmudgeonly, vengeful, multiple-personalities god of their old testament and tried to graft it onto the allegedly loving and peaceful one of their new testament.

Rather, I'm mystified by the idea of a god who is, I'm told, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, and yet frequently impotent in the face of the silliest of opponents. Here is a god who can flick away the evil scourge of satan with a little finger (if he/she/it actually had one, but he/she/it can evidently create a little finger to do the job as necessary), and yet this god is incapable of the least action in the face of the menacing homosexual threat without calling upon his faithful christian soldiers to do his/her/it's bidding. What's that about?

We know that this god can smite with great precision, and yet it seems that he/she/it is unable to muster the skill necessary to wipe out, say, a few thousand gay men at a decadent weekend in New Orleans, instead sending a broad-stroke hurricane to do rather a sloppy job of it. Perhaps he/she/it is bedazzled by the glitter of all the assembled fabulosity.

We are, after all, talking anathema here! Homosexuals and gay marriage, we are told, is the thing most hated by this omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent god and yet, when the opportunity for some easy smiting shows up, this god doesn't. His/her/it's soldiers try to tell us that they're doing their god's work but I just don't believe that he/she/it wouldn't–or couldn't–show up# for the thing that matters most: stopping marriage equality in another US state. Is there a message there, perhaps? Is it possible that the christian soldiers have mistaken situational impotence for indifference or–worse!–tacit approval?

And now, for dessert, also provided via Towleroad† (where I first saw it), some video entertainment. You may recall the hubbub a couple of weeks ago when a nation hate group (who may be a front for the Mormon Church–that's still under investigation) started an anti-marriage ad campaign–in the name of "protecting" marriage–with a ridiculous spot whose name referred to a "gathering storm".

Well, that ad stirred up some excitement, but not the sort the hate-group had hoped for. You may have seen the New York Time column in which Frank Rich announced, in the wake of this ad, that the first against marriage equality has effectively been lost by these folks and their omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent god who doesn't find this issue anathema enough to show up for.

But the battle continue to rage at YouTube where there has been a spate of "response" ads that parody, satirize, and otherwise mock the silliness of the original stormy one. Some are done to better effect than others, but all are inspired by the idea countering evil done in the name of this omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent god.

This one, "We Will Weather the Storm", from a group called "Love, Not Laws" (my punctuation), I thought was worth watching and worth promoting.




———-
* Andy Towle, "Maine Judiciary Committee Holds Marriage Equality Hearing", Towleroad, 23 April 2009.

# I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith's movie "Dogma", so I know of at least one credible impediment to god's participation.

† Andy Towle, "", Towleroad, 23 April 2009.

Posted on April 23, 2009 at 11.27 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity

2 Responses

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  1. Written by BearToast Joe
    on Thursday, 23 April 2009 at 12.50
    Permalink

    Thanks for the video. I cried.

    God is about beholding mystery, not a checklist of "beliefs". They are losing, badly, and trying to convince themselves that they must fight for their rigid god who loves only them.

    What a surprise it shall be. No, I do not think God will smite "them" (nor "us"). We must all embrace one another.

    I will have a difficult time embrace those arrogant, rigid, hateful, SOB's. But I am trying NOT to become one, myself. They will not win in their hateful fight, nor in driving me to hate.

  2. Written by jns
    on Saturday, 25 April 2009 at 20.09
    Permalink

    Joe, as an aging atheist I'm probably locked in to my mocking attitudes towards religion, but I can hope you find the strength and will to keep you on your high road, regardless of its source.

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