Thursday, September 22, 2005

WASSUP

So, taking a break from marking, thoughts turn to my disused blog, and all the thoughts that ought to have gone on it but haven't.

Here's today's first.

I've been running away from Organised Religion since my last major involvement with it - an acting part in an outreach musical. There's something that feels wrong about the whole thing - like a closed-minded community similar to the one GWB lives in.

Then it struck me today. It's the whole self-righteous "we are good people" vibes I get from some of them.

We're _not_ good people. We're screwed up people. That's why we got religion in the first place - to unscrew ourselves. Trouble is, some people get so uptight you'd think religion was actually screwing them up some more.

So I'm thinking the Church should go on a new outreach campaign titled WASSUP, for We Are Such Screwed Up People. That will definitely help it to empathise with all the sinners it's trying to reach, and then some.

The old idea of sinners just excludes too many people from the net. Sinners go whoring, do drugs, steal, cheat, rob, bully, and put naked pictures of themselves on the net. There are tons of people who don't do any of those things and are still screwed up. And they need unscrewing. Which is where religion steps in. Sure it's more expensive than a shrink (try paying your shrink ten percent of your income) but you get a whole network of counsellors and support people in the bargain. And the best part is, they'll so totally understand because they're screwed up people like yourself.

I think my screws are coming looser.

4 comments:

Tym said...

Join us on the Dark Side ...

eothen said...

for one moment i was wondering who GWB was. then i realised.

i know what you mean abt the horrors of Organised Religion. and the self-righteousness is only just one part of it.

it's the whole pharisee (sp?) thing innit. what Jesus warned against.

there's this t-shirt design i saw once with che guevera with a crown of thorns. pple too often forget that Christ was a rebel par excellence.

still, i guess there is still something to be said for the idea that the Church is an institution that aspires to the divine but is unfortunately only human, and only human is the only thing we've got so the pple who can should contribute somehow to try to make things better, and the pple who can't (like me) should just keep out of it and not spoil things for the pple who're trying. heh. :)

wahj said...

and there you have it .... another possible clan name! = )

Benjamin Kong said...

eothen: yup pharisee is right. and i think there's something else about The Church - there's probably something redemptive and curative about helping others, and The Church facilitates that.

tym: Come towards the light, my child... :P

wahj:
That's a thought - big bold caps vertically arranged with the rest of the words spelled out in fine print perhaps?

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