Whattaya Know, It's All My Fault

They say that war makes one religious. Indeed, this being a national day of prayer, and a god being invoked in every statement by every politician on TV, you're really reminded of how this country's freedom of religion is only de jure- when the shit comes down, you better be worshipping our god, or you're in trouble. Faith as a result of tragedy is a counter-intuitive phenomenon, because one would think that praying to a kind and loving god, and then having that god allow tens of thousands of innocent civilians be horribly murdered in front of your eyes would might make you think that nobody's listening. Then again, if you believe in a god, you usually believe in a devil of some sort, and your spiritual conception of this event is that it is a strike by the devil against the god. This is an assumption, of course, I haven't really read many spiritual interpretations of this disaster. The irony is that, as in many mythological tales of gods and devils, each deity's followers believe that they are worshipping the god, and the enemy is worshipping the devil.

Unfortunately, one of the greatest flaws of an organized religion is the slippery slope of the us vs. them mentality. The false assumption is that if you act in the way your god wants you to act, you are given the right to judge, or even to kill, as a sort of holy proxy. We've seen it happen with the murder of abortion doctors, in the delusions of serial killers, and quite possibly with Tuesday's tragedy. If the hijackers were fundamentalist Islams (and I'm not going to state for sure that they were until the truth is known) then they believed with all their faith that this strike against evil would buy them a ticket into heaven. This, of course, is an abomination against Islam as well as all religions.

I am not criticising organized religion, of course, just the corruption of it. I myself see the need for spirituality, and I am not close-minded enough to withhold friendship from someone because our spiritual beliefs differed. It's been my life's experience that with any faith, a very small number of fanatics can give a bad name to a very large group of good people.

And here's one of em! His words aren't really that harmful, they're obviously the words of a person with a very twisted view of things. But boy was I surprised to learn that I am to blame for the terrorist attack! A lot of people have been going overboard of late, but this guy is so far gone I had to chuckle:

Falwell apologizes to gays, feminists, lesbians

September 14, 2001 Posted: 2:55 AM EDT (0655 GMT)

LYNCHBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell said late Thursday he did not mean to blame feminists, gays or lesbians for bringing on the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington this week, in remarks on a television program earlier in the day.

On the broadcast of the Christian television program "The 700 Club," Falwell made the following statement:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Falwell, pastor of the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church, viewed the attacks as God's judgment on America for "throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked."

But in a phone call to CNN, Falwell said that only the hijackers and terrorists were responsible for the deadly attacks.

"I do believe, as a theologian, based upon many Scriptures and particularly Proverbs 14:23, which says 'living by God's principles promotes a nation to greatness, violating those principles brings a nation to shame,'" he said.

Falwell said he believes the ACLU and other organizations "which have attempted to secularize America, have removed our nation from its relationship with Christ on which it was founded."

"I therefore believe that that created an environment which possibly has caused God to lift the veil of protection which has allowed no one to attack America on our soil since 1812," he said.

[this is the really rich part, the idea that our nation is exalted in the eyes of God above all others, and that in a hundred years, the thing which finally caused God to punish us was feminism! LOL!]

Pat Robertson, host of the 700 Club program, seemed to agree with Falwell's earlier statements in a prayer during the program.

"We have sinned against Almighty God, at the highest level of our government...

[At least he's pointing the blame in the right place]

...we've stuck our finger in your eye," said Robertson. "The Supreme Court has insulted you over and over again, Lord. They've taken your Bible away from the schools. They've forbidden little children to pray. They've taken the knowledge of God as best they can, and organizations have come into court to take the knowledge of God out of the public square of America."

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Lorri L. Jean bristled at the idea that gays and lesbians had anything to do with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that may have left thousands dead, and demanded an apology from Falwell.

"The terrible tragedy that has befallen our nation, and indeed the entire global community, is the sad byproduct of fanaticism. It has its roots in the same fanaticism that enables people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does," she said.

"The tragedies that have occurred this week did not occur because someone made God mad, as Mr. Falwell asserts. They occurred because of hate, pure and simple. It is time to move beyond a place of hate and to a place of healing. We hope that Mr. Falwell will apologize to the U.S. and world communities."

Falwell told CNN: "I would never blame any human being except the terrorists, and if I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize."