Against my better judgment ...

[DFW]

29. At first I was gonna say something about those whose faith allows them to commit evil

You know, like those "Christians" who say "God" allows them to rule your bedroom or your body, or those Muslims who say Allah commands them to kill whoever is on the menu this week.

But then there is the larger view, and that is that those who say that their deity "commands" them to bring misery to others must have a very weak hold on their faith indeed. Since God/Allah/TheGreatPumpkin etc. has never really spoken out loud to anyone, all religion is, at the end of the day, exactly what we call it: faith. You don't know, but you BELIEVE. Fine. But no all-powerful, all-benevolent deity, who has nothing but love for his/her/its lesser minions (i.e. us), ever told any of us to forbid abortions or gay marriages, or to cut off the head of another. Anyone who does that is carrying out their own perverted will, not that of some supreme higher being.

I am still reminded, after all these years, of the woman who asked me to contribute money so she could go to India to convert Hindus to Christianity. I said I would contribute an amount equal to the amount that she had contributed to Indians wanting to come to America to convert Christians to Hinduism. Needless to say, no money changed hands.