God Is Not A Timeshare

I don’t “do” religion.

Come here for any length of time and you will eventually run across a past entry on the subject or a new one, like today.

I am comfortable with my position. I do not need anyone’s permission or forgiveness, or concern for the state of my eternal life, should that actually end up part of the great reveal beyond the final breath we each take.

Organized activity simply is not part of my process. I exercise alone, shop alone, am happy with my own company and that of a very small circle around me, and I commune with this universe on my terms. Like John Lennon, I routinely “imagine no religion” — no certitude of the divine separating us all.

All that being said, I defend the choices of others for whom larger gatherings work, especially organized religion. I have often typed that at its best, it provides comfort, community, purpose, an outlet for grief, joy, charity. If it adds to your life, not insisting on compromises along the way, I think that is great for you.

Basically, if the pew fits, wear it.

By the same token, if nothing about it works for you, awesome. This world is filled with so very many people — GOOD people — of all faiths, of no faiths, just good people who choose looking ahead over looking up.

This past week, the DNC was chockablock full of those good people. It spoke to the large umbrella of the party. The acceptance, the home where all can find a place. Faith based, atheists, agnostics, every letter of the rainbow spectrum, every color of the humanity spectrum — we are all here.

Yet despite the party’s nominee being a man of deep faith, abiding faith, visible faith, faith that has sustained him through more horrors than any cathedral full of people should ever shoulder — the RNC, led by the least holy dementor ever to grace their party, is hellbent on painting Joe Biden and the Democrats as hedonistic, satanic, and out to destroy God.

That bothers me. A lot.

Foremost because it is laughably, provably, demonstrably false. Their spray painted succubus was again tweeting this morning about this topic. This time flat out lying about a certain aspect of the convention last week:

At no point was “under God” removed from the pledge during the week of the convention.

Here is all four nights of the DNC when “Under God” was said during the Pledge of Allegiance. pic.twitter.com/iCIfp3V4Y6

— Ted Corcoran (Red T Raccoon) (@RedTRaccoon) August 22, 2020

Again, immediately, easily proven as the desperate lie it is.

What concerns me even more than the continued ramblings of the pants-on-fire potus are those numbers under the tweet. 56,000+ have retweeted and commented on his bullshit. Worse still, over 150,000 have liked the tweet.

The audaciousness of his tweeting is not surprising. As he continues to unravel, as those closest to him continue to be arrested and/or revealed as the criminals they are, as his poll numbers continue to circle the receding waters of the shit throne, of course Maybelline Von MysticTan is going to up the ante.

What continues to surprise, however, is how his sickophants cling to his every word, and continue to champion him as the Christ-sent answer to this world’s problems. 179,613 people are dead because this “savior” doesn’t give a shit about humanity to begin with. We are now on track to see that number reach 300,000 by election day. And no, MAGAts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Don won’t be raising them from the dead.

Something I have written before is something I believe to be truer every single day as I watch them. They do not believe in God. They believe in abusing the notion of a god. They believe it buys them a heavenly hallpass for bad behavior. They believe in using Him like a condo timeshare when it is convenient to their schedule, their needs. They believe that the answer to anything that doesn’t seem quite right is “God”, but they certainly do not believe in Him.

Any Christian who is a true adherent to the Word, to the teachings, to the man around whom their entire system revolves — Jesus — would be scared shitless and witless to behave in this way. Their open embrace of everything Jesus was against; their giddy delight as entire swaths of His people are targeted and harmed; and their elevation of the embodiment, in one man, of every single sin on the tablets — well, if they truly believed in the Biblical endgame, they would fear every single second of their participation in Trump’s hellscape.

They would know what awaits them in that afterlife they profess to be rapturously chasing.

Joe Biden has been an open, practicing, deeply faithful Catholic his entire life. Finding proof of that is a simple Google away. Finding proof of Trump being a follower of anything remotely Christ-like is a fool’s errand. It does not exist. At no point in his upbringing, at no time in his adult life, has he been found on his knees in prayer, expressing faithful devotion, or using a church for anything but a photo op.

And that is fine. Again, I literally have zero issue with eschewing church, religion, any and all storybooks therein. But that’s not the point here, is it?

Trump’s entire path of destruction, hedonism, philandering, stealing, adultering, lying, usury, and abuse is also a simple Google away. Tape after tape exists of him openly bragging to Howard Stern about his exploits. An entire courtroom can be filled with the women who have credibly accused him of molestation and rape. He was just ordered to pay a porn star’s court costs.

Yet evangelicals, MAGAts with “Christian” prominently listed in their profiles, faith leaders in the conservative party all prop him up as the Second Coming. And buy into his assertions that Joe Biden is “against God.” Earlier this month in Cleveland, President Two Corinthians told a crowd that Biden will “Hurt the Bible. Hurt God.”

Whoa. That Biden guy is powerful, huh?

That this type of rhetoric is lapped up by his base is laughable. Seriously, all you uber Christians in Mango Messiah’s army, just how weak is this god of yours? It’s been a while since I warmed a pew, but in my memories He is always touted as all powerful, all knowing, all seeing, mighty, oh, and vengeful.

That last one should worry you. The God of your Bible, loving though He may be, doesn’t suffer fools lightly. And elevating a mere mortal to equal status or higher than He, especially one who all but has a forked tail and cloven hooves, seems the perfect recipe for a little Hellbound vacay. Seriously, I would pack light. And bring some sunscreen.

Joe Biden, like President Obama before him, is a man of faith. Not opportunistic, take my picture holding a Bible upside down after I gassed people to clear the path, faith either. They are churchgoers, lifelong. They were raised in religion, they practice their religion. It informs who they are. How they move through this world.

Trump is a man of indulgence, of immediate gratification. He is not found in church on Sundays. He is found on the golf course. He cannot quote a scripture because he has no use for them. He is a user of religion, and all those who prop him up are his marks.

The Democrats are not the threat to your god, to anyone’s god. The Democrats have not removed “under God” from the Pledge, where incidentally, it has not always resided. The original Pledge of Allegiance did not contain those words. They were added in 1954 after a powerful lobbying force of capitalists and super right wing Christians sought to use “God” as a cudgel. It worked.

Frankly, it really has zero business being in the words we learn to show allegiance to our country. This land is composed of all religions, no religions — that is part of the inherent beauty, hell, part of the reason we were founded to begin with. So this constant litmus test of godliness in politics is, frankly, gross.

Religion really has no place in secular governance, especially a government that is supposed to be of the people, by the people, for the people, because the people are not all of one mind. Especially when it comes to deities.

My eschewing of religion does not make me less of a citizen. My ability to morally govern myself does not make me less than someone who sits in a pew on Sundays and cheats on his wife M-F. My choice to live decently towards others without that cudgel threatening me does not make my vote count less.

Frankly, given today’s constant examples of religious certitude, Trump exhaltism, and pulpit directed hate, I would argue my solo stance of treating people decorously, seeing their humanity that makes us one, makes me more of a Christian than those who claim to be. Hell, these so-called Christians would have me cast out my child for simply being who he is.

I have news for you — that is not the Christ I was taught about during those endless hours in the pew and the CCD classroom. Yes, hypocrisy of the people chased me away from religion, but the message remained.

And the message here is clear — Democrats are not your problem, and Democrats are not out to erase your God. God is not a commodity you own. And your belief that you can timeshare Him, using Him when convenient?

That is your problem. God help you.