Religion and Saturated Fats

I apologize to all (four) of my readers for being a little lax on posting lately. I just returned from my Christmas vacay in Miami, and like an astronaut coming back to earth, I needed time to adjust to re-entry.

While I was on the plane, I had ample time to peruse the holiday edition of The Economist, and I came across a nice little article about the "battle of the books", the Bible vs. The Koran, which is more widely read, distributed, known, etc? The conclusion was the Bible, but mainly because of economic advantage given the religious patronage of a very wealthy and enterprising country, the US. In other words, the Bible has commercialized where the Koran has not.

And that is not at all a bad thing, to me anyways. When my faith becomes commercialized, it suddenly doesn't feel sacred anymore. People have every right to set up faith based companies, but still. Its like potato chips made of lard fried in oil and then covered in artificially colored artificially flavored cheese. It has the right to be made, but that doesn't make it good.

Examples of the ridiculous, from the article:

There are prayer books in everyday vernacular or even street slang (“And even though I walk through/The Hood of death/I don't back down/for you have my back”). Or consider innovation. In 2003 Thomas Nelson dreamt up the idea of Bible-zines—crosses between Bibles and teenage magazines. The pioneer was Revolve, which intercuts the New Testament with beauty tips and relationship advice (“are you dating a Godly guy?”). This was quickly followed by Refuel, for boys, and Blossom and Explore, for tweens.

There are toddler-friendly versions of the most famous Bible stories. The “Boy's Bible” promises “gross and gory Bible stuff”. The “Picture Bible” looks like a super-hero comic. “God's Little Princess Devotional Bible” is pink and sparkly.

Seriously, that inspires me to laugh, not think about my finite existence in the context of an infinite creator.

Here's an interesting quote about a capitalist attitude toward religion:

Open competition is a boon to religion: American Evangelism has flourished precisely because America has no official church. And theocracy is ultimately a source of sloth and conservatism.

True, true. And yet sometimes I fear that evangelicalism is a threat to religious freedom. I don't see how the race to get the most people in line with a particular faith appreciates any kind of human dignity.

I fully recognize every religion's right to try and gain converts. I even recognize my own faith asks me to do so. So why don't I? I used to. I went on missions trips in high school. I went to Jesus camp. I was vice president of the Bible club. Did I stop trying to "witness" to others and tell others that Jesus is the only way to heaven because I stopped being a Christian?

Like the good agnostic-ish Protestant I've become, I can't answer that with any certainty. All I know is that it feels wrong to always be thinking about how to change this person or that person's beliefs, like they're an object. Missionary work seems like a form of oppression to me now. Its de-humanizing.

So who do I think wins the battle of the books? If there must be a battle between the two books, then I say no one wins. And now I can't stop thinking about potato chips.