I'm sure all of you, like me, are sharing a huge collective sigh of relief right now that Judgment Day did not occur as God told Harold Camping it would. Perhaps God uses a different calendar system (like the Mormon God who lives on a planet that revolves around the sun Kolob), or his message was scrambled during transit by orbiting satellites, mistranslated, or he was speaking metaphorically and not literally. Maybe he was testing Mr. Camping's faith. If you can't come up with a plausible reason, you can always use the old fall-back: "God works in mysterious ways. Who are we to wonder why?"
This is the beauty of having a belief system based on the irrationality of religion. Nothing needs to make sense, because it's all God's will, and you how dare you question His motives, reasoning, decisions anyway! Don't think! Leave the thinking to Him! Blindly believe what you are told to believe. Then proselytize to those who will listen, and spurn with hatred those who won't.
Ain't religion swell?
Postscript: Based on a recent International Business Times article, the latest IRS filings of Family Radio Worldwide (Camping's organization) show almost all funds are from donations, with $18 million in total in 2009. Based on their financial documents, accountants put the total worth of Family Radio at $72 million.
This shows how seductive religion is. Take the leap of faith, leave reason behind, and people like Harold Camping are there to take your money. Camping should be indicted for fraud, but our First Amendment protects him. The donors? Well, if the donors were stupid enough to donate $18 million dollars to an organization that claims the world is going to end, I don't feel that sorry for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment