A Word About Religious Intolerance

Yesterday my lady and I were at the annual Pagan Pride Day in Washington Square Park in New York City. We had a lovely time, met old friends and enjoyed the festive atmosphere and deliciously diverse people who always attend.

The best way to begin this little tale is to say that I used to be (emphasis on 'used to be') a Bible thumping, in-to-the-hilt, Christian minister and "soldier of Christ.' My duties included teaching, proselytizing, mentoring, counseling, public speaking, and all the usual things you would expect of someone who is a devout Christian. In other words, I truly understand how the Christian mind works.

Back to Pagan Pride Day. Evidently, it has become a tactic of a local Manhattan Christian church to send loud and rather obnoxious protesters to our Pagan events. They arrive with signs telling us how much their so-called "God of love" hates us, how we are going to Hell and that "Jesus is God Alone" -printed in bold 20 inch high letters! Truth be told, they have a Constitutional First Amendment right to peaceful protest. On that score I FULLY support the First Amendment.

The question in my mind is, who do they expect to influence with their day-long hate fests? Pagans like myself who are presenters and vendors? Unlikely. We're putting on the fair! People who took time out of their busy lives to visit us, buy at our tents, attend our classes and enjoy the presentations? I don't think so. Maybe their plan is to cause casual passersby to join in the hate party. Whatever their intention was, if the comments we heard from people just passing through the park are any indication, this whole attack strategy had no effect. On one side there were the happy Pagans peacefully enjoying the day, the festivities and friendly banter. On the other side the angry, hateful Christians spewing accusations and condemnations on everyone who wasn't like THEM.

The Facts:

It's time to admit what should be obvious to anyone with even a few working brain cells; these people who stand up and presume to KNOW what God thinks in every situation do well to pause and consider a few sobering facts.

FACT 1: You may already know this one but... we are HUMAN. By the Bible's own admission, humans are unable to comprehend the infinite mind and intelligence of God. We aren't qualified to judge each other even though we love to do just that every chance we get. As humans we must LEARN. We don't come into this world KNOWING anything. Even things we supposedly "KNOW" change, do they not? We also make mistakes, change our minds, our beliefs and just about everything else! For this and many other reasons God reserves the right to judge human beings himself. (Note: using Christian speak here folks. I myself am a Pagan, NOT a Christian.)

FACT 2: The Bible was written by aging, imperfect, sinful men. The Bible itself repeatedly confirms this. Yes, Christians will say it is "inspired by God" and is, therefore, infallible. Sorry but I don't buy that. Why not? Because exhaustive studies have proven that the Bible has undergone literally... hold on to your socks folks... TENS of THOUSANDS of errors, omissions and INTENTIONAL re-writes!! It is far, FAR from it's original version.

FACT 3: The Bible was not written in English. Jesus and his Apostles never spoke English despite having names like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John! The Bible has been translated and re-translated so many times it would make your head spin like Linda Blair in the Exorcist! Translation from an ancient language into a modern one will distort the original meaning of the text despite all efforts to the contrary. Add to that the irresistible desire of ancient clerics to "tweak" the message to suit their needs and the result is a book that has so many human fingerprints on it that the original so-called "word of God" has been pretty much plastered over in the process, if it was ever there to begin with.

My bottom line:

You may not look at life in the same way other people do but you must confess that we are all human beings and it is in our nature to have different opinions. In my opinion it requires MONUMENTAL ARROGANCE to insist that YOU have all the answers to the world's questions about God or that only YOU know Gods will.

Some people try to side-step the painful reality that humans don't know a whole lot about ANYTHING by saying that their knowledge comes directly from God, Allah, Krishna, (insert label of choice here) via a BOOK written by... wait for it... imperfect, dying MEN! This argument still requires you to believe that YOU fully understand this book and are qualified to condemn (aka judge) your fellow humans who may not share your particular brand of arrogant stupidity.

So here's another suggestion for those individuals who still have a few functioning brain cells left:

Why not live and worship as you see fit and let us do the same?