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2,000 hamsters can't be wrong.

16 March 2012

Friday's Pause for Thought 

The BBC News at Ten led with Dr. Rowan Williams stepping down as Archbishop of Canterbury later this year. He's known for being very kind to everyone, apparently. I haven't really noticed much of that. I'll just remember him as yet another frocked man with too much power on his hands, despite the C of E's rapidly dwindling numbers.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against men in frocks. Archbishops tend to, though. And Williams has stood by this stereotype throughout his reign. Because it is a reign; these people are given immense power over people of their own congregation, church and faith, and for some bizarre reason over people who don't share their faith at all.

A few minutes earlier I had just finished watching a programme about a baptist preacher from Jamaica trying to get the locals of a dozy village in Gloucestershire excited about the church again. He was cheerful and tried his best to include people and even managed to get a couple more visitors to the local church before going back to Jamaica. I didn't hear him say anything negative at all during his time there, and he got them interested in their lost faith again.

I don't think I'll ever understand the need many people feel to gather and praise some higher being who is invisible (in every sense), but it keeps fascinating me--probably because I don't understand it. Too bad so many "people of faith" can't shut up about their faith and how it makes them better human beings than the rest of us (because we're lost/damned/blind/heretics/deviants). It's a bit tiring trying to respectfully decline being bible-bashed at times. I have done my soul-searching and know who I am and what I believe in. Being threatened with hell doesn't affect me, as I don't believe hell exists. I live by the Golden Rule not because of Jesus, but because it is simply common sense and courtesy. Please, PLEASE understand that I would like some respect for my lack of faith as much as you would for your strong belief in a deity.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to binge-drink and swear in front of children.

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Posted by: Ingaroo / 23:46
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