However, the other day my father asked me "So what does that mean, the Lord is a shepherd'? I mean, beyond the obvious 'The Lord is my shepherd', what does it mean to you?" and I suddenly had a difficult time answering. Now my father is no fundamentalist nutjob by any means - after all, he tolerates myself and my pagan-atheist wife living under his roof - but he is a believer and he takes his faith seriously. He's not a person I like getting into religious debates with. So I examined my options and gave what I felt was the most simultaneously honest and inoffensive answer; "I see it as a reminder not to trust anyone who says 'I am the shepherd', anyone who claims to have answers but won't explain them or say 'work it out for yourself'; basically, don't be a sheep." And yes, that's a sufficient explanation; but not exactly a thorough one.
All gods are made in the image of man. Believing in the concrete and real existence of Yahweh is no more reasonable than believing in Zeus, Thor, Inanna, Brahma, or Amaterasu. But I consider myself a Satanist, rather than just a 'New Atheist' or Freethinker or what-have-you, because just not believing in gods is not enough for me. It's dangerous to unleash the full venom of anti-theism on a true believer, because they are deeply convinced that the being you're talking about actually exists. They may understand, on an intellectual level, that you see their deity as nothing but a myth, a social construct, a memeplex; but to them it's a very real person, and furthermore, someone they love and depend on. You're insulting their father, their mother, their sisters and brothers, the flag and the Constitution when you speak blasphemies against their god. So I usually don't even talk about god, specifically, unless I don't care in the slightest whether I alienate the one I'm talking to or know that they share my attitude, and speak instead about 'earthly' matters like religion and politics and social control. Because the truth is, if I honestly believed that god was real and the he cared about us, I would hate him with a fiery passion.
I can just about get behind the idea of a disinterested Deistic creator; I would still hold him responsible for all human suffering, but knowing that he just doesn't care would be paradoxically comforting, would absolve him to some extent of the guilt that responsibility might bring on him. However, the thought that god, having created us, continually interferes in the universe is absolutely infuriating. It tips him over from mere apathy into the realm of the sociopath. Any god that creates plagues and earthquakes and tidal waves; that miraculously cures some of the afflicted while leaving the rest to suffer; that created a reality where all creation and evolution is based entirely on death, destruction, and entropy; and that then has the temerity to try and impose rules on us as if he is some paragon of righteousness and compassion; such a being is deserving of nothing but contempt. And that's not even bringing the issue of Heaven and Hell into it. Once you start talking about eternal punishment for those who rebel and an infinite perfect heroin trip for those who obey, any last dregs of regard I might have had for this god person go straight out the window.
I have never understood how Christians can say with a straight face the the puppet-god they have made to dance them around is a loving, moral creature. The Christian god is clearly a sadistic tyrant who created humanity because angels didn't cut it as fawning slaves. However much the shepherd may care for his sheep, they exist for no other purpose than to be fleeced and slaughtered. I am a Satanist, at least in part, because if I believed god existed I would gladly join Satan's rebellion, and fight with every ounce of strength in my soul to slaughter him and free the universe from his totalitarian regime.
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