My thoughts are, genuinely, with my friends who have faith in God. You may find this a little strange since I am a devout atheist, verging on antitheism, but it’s true. The people I do, and did, know who do God are in the main kind, decent folk, not least those who work for the food bank I volunteer at here in the mythical town of Melchester. Their values appear to be quite similar to my own, but without the religious aspect. The way religion is going around the world, I am not sure my God-fearing friends are singing from the same song sheet.
The header at the top of this blog is completely genuine. Donald J. Trump, leader of the free world, really did repost the image of himself and the supposed Jesus Christ on his misnamed Truth Social and really did say that “Radical Left Lunatics might not like this but I think it’s quite nice”. By no stretch of the imagination could I be described as radical left, although I suppose the lunatic aspect could be open to debate, and it’s not that I dislike the image of Christ with Dementia Donny because it’s blasphemous or sacrilegious: I dislike it because it’s the mark of a madman, a malignant narcissist, a crazy person who should be nowhere near any kind of elected office, never mind president of the USA.
Then there’s his weird eye-shadow wearing Number Two (I use the words Number Two advisedly) vice-president J.D. Vance who advised Pope Leo, who had been critical of the president to “shut the fuck up and let Donald Trump declare war on whoever the fuck he likes” (I may not have used the exact words, but you get the drift, I hope). Stay in your lane was the gist of it. And just when those of faith thought things couldn’t get any worse, along comes the alleged former comedian and now conspiracy theorist Russell Brand who is publishing his latest book, “How to become a Christian in 7 days: May take 50 years of sin and serious fuck ups to get started.” It’s been published ahead of his trial for rape and sexual assault, which he vehemently denies and his new found beliefs obviously have nothing to do with the trial.
I keep having to remind myself that there are decent religious folk out there because if you read the Daily News you’d be forgiven they were bonkers. Donald Trump’s war on the islamic fascists in Tehran hasn’t gone well so far, has it, in fact it appears that the Muslim world in general is pretty well on fire. Everywhere you look, there’s a big row about one God or another. I’m just wondering: could they not just take a step back and be a little more like the God people I know and in some cases love?
I know that the God of the Old Testament was a pretty bad dude, so maybe that’s why some of the Christian fanatics are bad people, too, but the ones I know prefer things like the end of wars, an end to starvation and just being more kind. They’re even nice to me, despite my insistence that their God isn’t there.
It’s surely not good for whichever God you believe in that so many of your public supporters are either nuts or cynical and exploitative or all three. I find the American Christian fanatics every bit as the islamic fascists of places like Iran and Afghanistan. And any church that will accept Russell Brand is one that I wouldn’t touch with a bargepole.
It appears Pope Leo isn’t reacting to Trump and Vance’s mad rants and good for him. I hope the leaders of other churches encourage their own flocks (is that what they are called?) to be more like the Pope and less like Vance, while at the same time dropping their own bigotry which still remains.
I’m sticking with my religious friends, although not to the extent that I’d go to church. That would be a step too far. These world leaders aren’t giving God a good name. I don’t think God can do much about it because he isn’t there, but hopefully his worshippers will. If the image of Trump with Christ was real, I’d take my chances with Satan.
