Recently on Facebook, an old friend of mine from High school posted a prayer; Hail Mary. This is a good guy and always has been. In spite of that, he can be a bit bigoted toward immigrants, blacks and Muslins. I see the prayer and I wonder what he is thinking.
We are all bigoted to some extent, and if you deny it, go to
the next blog because you are not being honest with yourself. I know from years
of indoctrination I have had to overcome some prejudices myself of which I am
ashamed of.
One of the reasons I left the church is because in the
larger picture of religious bigotry, from the past and even today, and the
hypocritical sense I have in attending the services. Praying to a Catholic God,
when the protestants have their own, as do Jews and Muslims and many other
members of the world.
One of my issues is that we need Jesus to find God. Why? Isn’t
God who we should pray to? Is salvation coming from Catholics or Christians
only. Are there no Jews in the here after?
When I sit through a Mass, it is beautiful to some and to
some it is just a ritual, filled with the same rite and I call it rite by rote.
A mindless exercise in mouthing off words and really not speaking to God so
much as speaking to Jesus, who is the intermediary, side tracking my connection
to God. You go through the steps of genuflecting, kneeling, and sitting, with
pre-ordained responses to get through the exercise.
Some people say their religion gets them through their day
or special ordeal. I applaud them for their faith, it is good to believe in
something or someone, but there is much more than just that. Who do we help
along the way? Who has a bind of some kind, a sickness or pain that we are
ignoring right now? Have we shared a word of encouragement, a cup of water, a
piece of bread? Can we hide from those things that we as humans need to do? And
I talk about myself as well as everyone else. There really isn’t any reason why
a child has to starve.
There are people in this world who give up their life of
comfort and perform herculean tasks as Human Beings for their brothers and
sisters across the globe, foregoing their own safety and comfort to minister to
those who desperately need it.
Theirs is a ministry to attend, theirs is where the true
acts of loving God are evident.
I wish people would keep their religion to themselves, not
build up their sense of holiness by publishing prayers and ignoring or screwing
people when they feel like it.
Truth is hard to find, and like death, hard to accept.
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