Methinks Thou Doth Protest Too Much

By Carl S ~

Do these words sound familiar?

"You guys deny God and that Jesus is God, but you're ﬁghting against what you know is true. You know in your hearts he's real, but you keep coming up with more protests, saying the evidence shows he can’t exist. He is your judge, and you're just taunting him to punish you, but he won't because he loves you. You only want to be immoral, so you use your denial of him as an excuse to sin. You're too strident, too protesting and you're lying to yourselves. You'll never convince me otherwise. You need to let go and let God. Stop being so negative. Find peace again by allowing him to do his work in you."

On the other hand - aren't the ones saying these things protesting too much? If the God they claim really exists, why would they need to defend his existence so stridently? Can't their god ﬁght his own battles; does he need them to do it for him? That's cowardly. Do they really think they're morally superior to those who don't believe in him? Or do they protest too much about that?

"People like you want God out of public life. You don't want the word of God to be heard and heeded. Why, God is less spoken of now than ever! This country needs to return to prayer and bible readings in school, to the Ten Commandments posted in courts and in public parks. Then we'll get God's blessings on us."

You've had centuries to prove any of those acts make a good nation. Did we really get God’s blessings when we had enforced prayer in school, forced scriptural readings favoring a domineering religion, when people were biblically condoning racism, sexual repression, and oppression of homosexuals, etc.? And how can you say that your God, who still remains hidden in the closet, is being faded out of society? Did you know there are 15 religion channels on DirectTV alone? You've got people preaching and praying and praising around the clock! Your God never appears on a single TV religious program to endorse or deny the contradictory claims made in his name. Free speech is available for his many spielers, yet there are no channels for those who disagree with religions. Isn't all that religious programming just too entertaining and addictive, plus proﬁtable for the money-makers? Would those 24/7 Religion Infomercials endure for years, if they weren't? Your god is a puppet.

"God" and "Jesus" are products, just like Mickey Mouse, Elvis, gambling casinos, etc. All have everything to do with emotions and psychological responses, including the immovable faith in luck. The name of God is needed by politicians. It's tradition. No one running for ofﬁce wants to distance himself from evangelicals, or Lincoln, FDR, and other presidents who (in spite of their personal take on "God"), dragged God out at opportune times to get votes, power, and to heap shame on opponents. Religion itself is, after all, politics. Combine absolute religion with absolute politics and you have absolute corruption. That God, of corruption, is useful, so he isn't dead yet.

We protest too much? Oh no. We don't protest enough.God, as the awe-inspiring, ever-loving and terrifying threat to his enemies, with the traditional pap image of benevolent father ﬁgure, is absent in the reality of this world. And yet, the more obvious this becomes, the more the religious protest too much. Get over it. Why, the name "God" doesn't mean what it used to. It's used in bedrooms, in the excitement of game shows, in TV and movie comedies. "God" has entered the cliché’ mainstream, with as much meaning as "Oh hell!" or "damn!" or "spiritual," and the (increasingly used), "It was surreal" remark. If you say I'm denying God, you'll have to be more speciﬁc when you say "God," because there are an awful lot of believers who won't agree with your interpretation.

You say we protest too much about "In God we trust" on our currency. (These words are placed next to the image of Thomas Jefferson, on the quarter dollar coin. What a contradiction. He would have rejected that motto.) Think about those words: Here we have a country with the most powerful armed forces in the world, with the largest stockpile of nuclear missiles, and most sophisticated conventional weaponry, far surpassing those of every other country. The U.S. has an overarching surveillance network on its own citizens, with CCTV cameras on practically every city comer, in its stores, banks, and other businesses. Its citizens possess the largest amount of privately owned weaponry in the world. Its intelligence network includes CODIS, a database made up of ﬁngerprints and DNA samples from convicted persons, including those who have served their sentences. These are available to investigators of crimes. The U.S.A. has the NSA and airport security check-in agents. And yet it asserts: "In ‘God’ We Trust." Don't make me laugh! That claim is an obvious lie.

Thousands of men and women like you spread the false propaganda this is a Christian country. Thousands more stand in pulpits and on megachurch stages preaching things as true which they have no evidence at all for, and never had. They openly lie by omission, by ignoring and denying scientiﬁc evidence, and by subterfuge. And they teach innocent children to trust them as serious authority ﬁgures. And even when they are abusing children, they lie to them and to their parents.

Fundamentalist Christians should have no problem embracing a Donald Trump. They already accept a bible and a god, both of them outright lying and contradicting themselves. They respect clergy who claim to revere both of them. Accepting those beliefs wholeheartedly, without question, anything can be claimed, and justiﬁed. Democracy is compromised and threatened.

And you tell us we protest too much? Oh no. We don't protest enough.

Comments

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