|
 aster
approaches, bringing with it the great contemplations: Life after
death, God walking as Man, eternal
bliss, eternal
damnation, and some lesser byproducts, such as terminal monogamy.
Easter is indeed the great stumbling block, as Paul put it. Did
He or didn't He rise from the grave? One can dance around Christmas,
but Easter is Rumble Time.
Let us consider
the rumble, then move toward more practical matters.
The committed
Christian looks at the world — indeed, the universe —
and says: "This ain't the whole ball of wax. Not by a long
shot." This is a stunning analysis, coming from a speck of
dust. Proclaiming independence from matter, time, and death is indeed
a bold provocation. As, for that matter, are the other pillars of
the faith: King of kings is born to a virgin in a cave; walks on
water; changes water into wine; proclaims self God; is nailed to
tree; vanishes from a stone tomb; 2000 years later is worshipped,
to some degree or another, by 2 billion earthlings (estimates vary).
All of which
comprises a fat target for non-believers, who are fond of pointing
out that these notions seem more than a little crazy.
Aye, comes
the response, but ours is a crazy world. Perhaps you need to stretch
your mind a bit.
"Your
religion provides a false sense of security," quoth the heathen.
Aye, 'tis an
interesting phenomenon. This thing you call craziness not only inoculates
many people from greater craziness, but in the bargain also helps
them to live longer, happier, and healthier lives. Nothing false
about that. By the way, why is it that you bother to struggle and
suffer in a meaningless universe, and what is the point of creating
children whose destiny is to suffer and die in this meaningless
place?
These things
can go on all night, especially if corks have been pulled.
Fortunately,
those of us rocking away on the front porch of Hotel Death are likely
to have mellowed a bit. Believers say to non-believers: Good Luck.
The heathen respond: You buying tonight? Our minds now graze in
more mundane pastures.
This year,
for example, we are experiencing an interesting convergence: Easter
and April 15, normally Tax Day. Caesar and Jesus nose-to-nose, as
it were. Caesar, to be sure, has decided to take the day off and
sting us on Monday, not out of reverence but because the Post Office
is closed. But this convergence brings to mind the relationship
between the sacred and the secular. It is a thing worth rumination,
at least until the afternoon games come on.
Most Americans,
at least historically, have supported the idea of dual loyalty:
Give Caesar his due, but do not consider him as the ultimate source
of power. Otherwise, the rights and privileges he gives, he can
also take away. Besides that, people who proclaim a higher loyalty
will be less likely to go jack-booting when Caesar gives the order.
They might even resign in times of moral scandal, though that is
very much an idealistic view.
This concept
of God-given rights is increasingly difficult for some Americans
to grasp, as recently pointed out by Master Buckley in a report
on a dispute between Young Americans for Freedom and the powers
that be at Penn State. The latter did not like YAF's insistence
that rights come from God, and wanted to deny the chapter the right
to exist on those grounds. (This denial, to no surprise, was said
to be necessary in order to promote tolerance.) While YAF prevailed,
the fact that it was initially denied reminds us that Penn State,
like so many places, could definitely benefit from a purge.
In the same
spirit, it should be added that the world of religion, or at least
some denominations, could definitely benefit from the hiring of
strictly secular managers. These managers, ideally at least, would
be capable of restoring consumer confidence to some denominations.
As it stands, the people who run some churches cannot find it within
themselves to roll heads that definitely need rolling. This could
be out of a sense of loyalty that would not hamper our secular bean
counters.
A good place
to start would be the mainline Episcopal Church, where membership
is way down, as in Armageddon. The Church is so screwed up that
bishops in other countries are sending in missionaries to save the
flock. The problem is obvious: Current management tampered with
the product to the point where the core constituency was forced
to flee. Besides that, the new product failed to attract new customers.
By any measure, it's a total disaster. Even a manager trainee at
84 Lumber knows what the situation requires: a purge.
There are those
who would argue that Easter is not the time to speak of purges.
That's probably the case. The chopping should not begin until the
16th.
|
