Am I missing something here?

Lets start off this week by saying that I am probably going to piss a few people off. It is not the intention of the Guitarman to fan the flames of anger with his misplaced rhetoric. But to stir debate in a healthy way, is that not the responsibility of the author? Be it the lofty perch of a true journalist, or the demented ramblings of a self appointed blogger, getting under ones skin is our job. Or hobby. Hence, I wade into the sensitive topic of religion.

By all rights, most of my family have come from or are deeply embedded in religion. My grandparents on my dads side were loyal Christian Scientists. So much to the point that their "anti medical" stance in adherence with the strict confines of their church, probably cost my grandmother her life. Both children of that marriage (my dad and his brother) went on to become fierce born again Christians in their middle age. Forced to attend confirmation, I was raised Methodist, but to me it was a joke. For years my dad tried to "convert" me, but it was too late. A geology major has a big time problem with the idea that the world was only created a few thousand years ago. My uncle, in turn, raised his kids with God as the focal point of their lives. They can't understand where I went wrong.

My maternal grandparents were devout Catholics, going to mass 3 times a week like clockwork for 50 years. And in my wife's family, priests and nuns decorate the family tree like a string of Christmas lights. Yes it's safe to say I am like the Black Sheep of the family when it comes to God. But enough already with my boring history. What got me going, of course, was this mornings story about killing on the other side of the world in the name of, yep, religion. And leads me to my point: religion can be poison.

I toyed with that last sentence for a while. To replace the words "can be" with "is" was a raging debate in my head for all of 5 minutes. Of course the majority of the entire world believes in God one way or another, whatever name you want to give Him. And I guess I believe too, hence my fist shaking and cursing towards the heavens above when something in my life goes awry.

But to clarify, seven people were killed in Afghanistan when overzealous nut jobs stormed a U.N. building because some other overzealous nut jobs in Florida, half a world away, burned a copy of their holy book, the Quran. (Holy crap, get over it already!) This is nothing new. Theo Van Gogh was killed for his outspoken anti religious views. Well over 100 people died because of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a negative light. Lunatics from Massachusetts show up at the funerals of US soldiers to tell anyone who wants to hear it that God hates fags. The list goes on and on. It's like religion is an excuse for the world to forgive crazy people for being crazy.

Well not me. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, stupid is as stupid does. I am not going to give a pass to someone who hides behind some unseen higher power for being one brick short of a load. For wanting to push their beliefs on the rest of us. For resorting to brutal and monstrous attacks on innocent people that don't agree with their views. Yes, religion can be poison. Innocently at times, and vindictively at others, it can poison the mind to the point of delusion. And we put up with it. Why? I guess that is the question of the day.