Now don't get me wrong. I'm not a Ricky Gervais or Richard Dawkins type anti-theist atheist, where I feel the need to rub it in the face of religious people for their beliefs. The truth is, I'm a Presbyterian type atheist. I attend church when I have to (funerals, weddings), but other than that religion is not something that takes up much of my time.
But I do get annoyed by some religious things, mainly for two reasons. The first is when it interferes with my everyday life. For instance, when Muslims feel the need to have a massive prayer session together in a public area, they often take off their shoes. The smell is reprehensible. But the second thing that annoys me about religious people is the underlying hypocrisy of their thinking.
The most recent example I came across today was this story about a no-tipping pastor. You should note, blogosphere, that the story offended me first as a former server. The pastor, to avoid a mandatory 18% tip involved in parties over 6 people, had the bill split into 6 separate bills. But, she then proceeded to pay all of the bills herself. Certainly, flipping the bill for 6+ fellow church-goers shows how generous she is - to everyone except the people serving her*.
But there is more to this hypocrisy than her false feeling of generosity. It's the type of underlying hypocrisy I dislike about religion. You can be a complete ass, but as long as you are religious you are not a bad person. It's having your cake and eating it too.
Here's what I mean. The pastor didn't stop at the crappy tip. She went as far as to write a snarky message on the receipt (seen above). In an interview after, the pastor talks about how the posting of this receipt was God chastising her - something he only does to those who he loves, or so she says. But, she proceeded to complain to AppleBees and have the waitress who posted the receipt fired. There's the hypocrisy. On one hand, she is crediting this girl for doing Gods work by chastising her. She's thankful this girl did this, because it made her a better person. On the other hand, she's gotten the girl - who by all accounts was only doing what the good Lord asked of her - fired. Is that any way to treat a messenger of God?
Of course, the underlying message of the hypocrisy is that outspoken devout religious people can do terrible things, but parade the bible in front of them as evidence that they are good people. Fortunately, I think in general people are becoming less tolerant of this. A good example of this would be Ray Lewis. He recently won the super bowl, and, like many athletes before him, attributed the victory to Gods will (and God apparently acted through the referees, who failed to call several obvious holding penalties on the 2nd last play of the game, and an obvious passer interference on the 3rd last play of the game).
But what is just plain wrong with Lewis's outspoken religiousness is something that occurred in the superbowl pre-game. He gave an interview and referred to a double murder that took place in 2000, of which he was a prime suspect. At the time of the murder, Lewis was wearing a white suit, which has never been recovered. The logical conclusion would be that the suit was covered in the blood from the stabbings Lewis and his friends performed, and they subsequently burned it (but this is of course, speculation). Lewis was eventually charged for obstruction of justice for lying to police the next day, but was convicted of no other charges.
But listen to what Lewis is saying. He is pointing to the fact that his team is in the super bowl, that he has had a long and illustrious career in the NFL, and that he has given money to various charities, as evidence that he didn't commit murder. His claim is that God would not allow him to become so successful if he had of committed the murder. "It's the exact opposite" he says in the interview. The implication being that Lewis is being rewarded by God for being falsely accused of a murder with fame and fortune. Gee, I wonder what God would have given him as a reward if he hadn't of obstructed an investigation into a double murder? Probably 25 to life.
The point being, Ray Lewis is using religion to rub it into the faces of the relatives of the people who he may have had a hand in murdering. He was involved in the worst thing a person can do and that should categorize him as an evil person for the rest of his life. Giving a few million dollars away - especially when you just had a 10+ year career in the NFL where you were likely paid upwards of 80 million - is not going to change how he should be categorized. Yet, with the help of religion, that's exactly what has happened.
It's hypocritical. It's annoying. It's religion.
Adios Blogosphere.
*In the interest of full disclosure, she did leave a tip, but obviously it would be less than the recommended 18%.
No comments:
Post a Comment