Waxing Religious

The other day, a friend posted an interview with Tori Amos where she said she believed Satan was a woman, always wore white, and drove an ice cream truck.

I commented that I loved Tori, but the truth is, Satan is a blond guy who owns a chain of tanning salons.  When he isn't busy tanning, he's writing school boards to see if he can make them push Creationism.

I guess it would seem a little odd to some that I would believe Satan pushed Creationism. After all, people tend to believe that Satan is doing his best to make everyone forget about God.  That simply isn't true though.

If the whole Christianity thing is true, then the main thing Satan would be pushing is  strife, anger, and conflict. Oh, and probably doing everything he could to get people to not follow Jesus or accept his sacrifice for them. Let's face it, the best way to do that is to make all the Christians look like jackasses.

Or rather, I suppose, given then ample opportunity to make themselves look like jackasses.

Creationism (or, it's more "let's trick em into it" cousin Intelligent Design) is one of the best tools the Devil has come up with in a while. It pisses EVERYONE off. It makes everyone fight and feel like they're being victimized. It makes everyone feel like their way of life and belief is being threatened.  It disrupts school board meetings.  People who normally rationally discuss mundane matters like campus parking and what new teachers to hire suddenly start screaming at each other.

All of this conflict isn't bringing anyone closer to Jesus.  It's just filling people's hearts with bitterness. Satan wins. Instead of people seeing their neighbors as other people concerned with the education of the children, now everyone sees each other as some crazy fuckwad. Satan wins. Friendships dissolve. People stop communicating with anyone except for those who believe just the way they do. Satan wins.

Listen, if you ever find yourself on a school board and someone brings up the Creationism/Intelligent Design thing, do whatever you can to shut the issue down.  If you don't, you could face lawsuits and violence and screaming and protests. You could lose friends. You could lose some good teachers.  And in the end, you'll find that all you do is lose.

If you are a deeply religious person, remember that separation of church and state isn't harming you. This separation is for your protection.  It means you can continue to worship as you see fit and no one can toss you in jail for it. Well, you know, provided you don't start killing people or marrying children. The public school may not be promoting your view of religion, but it isn't supposed to promote anyone else's either.

In the end, a productive community is one able to communicate and work towards common goals. If something destroys the communication, very little will get accomplished. If tempers run high and people find they can't be in the same room with each other without boiling with anger, nothing is going to get accomplished.

All the while, some overly tanned man will sit in his tanning bed and smile to himself, pleased that he's destroyed another community.  Come on, no one wants that.