When Religion Kills
Three recent incidents have made me wonder about God and the items/places we use to represent religion. We have a notion of God and then attach these notions to items and places that we consider some how different from non-sacred objects. Christians attend church once a week because they believe that is what God wants. That some how God will see them there, put a check mark by their name, and then listen intently to their prayers. Most major religions have some variation on this theme.
The first case was in Jerusalem [story] when part of the Wailing wall fell and nearly killed several woman while they were praying.
The second was a fire in China recently that killed 39 women while they were praying [story, story].
A third example occurred during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca where hundreds were trampled (see Google for a history of deaths).
I recognize how stupid it is to question acts of God, like recent threads about why God makes deformed children and such.
Those Chinese women and Muslim men died doing what they felt their religion, and hence their God, wanted them to do. It seems that going to church and praying should be the one time where nothing can happen to you, if there is a God. Either God exists, is vengeful, and wanted them to die. Or he’s negligent and quite obviously wasn’t paying attention, which then makes me question the entire notion of praying and having those thoughts heard.
The Wailing Wall is considered one of the most religious places on Earth. One person was quoted as saying, “It was a miracle that no one was killed.” To say it was a “miracle” implies that perhaps God intervened and they were saved. But I say that’s wrong, if God actually ever intervenes than clearly those people were supposed to be killed, that would have been the miracle, and God screwed up.
Without questioning the existence of God, these three cases make me question the notion of attributing religious significance to inanimate objects and places. This leads me to three possible scenarios (there may be more):
1.) There is no God, which obviously can’t be proven.
2.) There is a God, He doesn’t like us very much, He can’t be appeased, and these actions are meaningless.
3.) There is a God, we have misinterpreted what appeases him, and all we’re doing is pissing him off.
I suppose a forth scenario can be ripped off of South Park,