Today, I can’t say that I’ll be paying too much attention to Jorge Bergoglio’s digital blessing from the Vatican. I won’t be going out of my way to catch Justin Welby’s Easter Service, either. I’ve got other important things to do, like watching the grass grow.
I’d be more interested if Jorge and Justin could actually do something useful instead of trotting out the usual garbage about the resurrection of someone who probably never existed. Assuming, for one moment that Jesus Christ did exist and magically come back to life, perhaps our frock-wearing ‘faith’ leaders might persuade him to extend his magical powers to the rest of us?
I’m sorry to come across all angry and bitter about it but I am far more concerned about the things that are real and, in the case of Covid-19, things we can’t control. And if Jorge and Justin’s hotlines to God aren’t working properly – perhaps they were destroyed when some idiots set fire to phone masts? – then really, what is the point of praying?
Faith, says Justin, from his kitchen, can be a comfort “in a time of darkness”, but I don’t see how. Reciting a few old prayers and belting out a few hymns doesn’t cut it for me if we continue to lose relatives and friends at a frightening rate? And gaining comfort from something that probably isn’t true, and has no material effect on our day to day lives, strikes me as spectacularly pointless.
Don’t get me wrong, Jorge and Justin are probably very well meaning folk and I suppose I shouldn’t attempt to take the piss, but in the middle of the biggest health crisis of our lifetimes, when family members and close friends are becoming horrible ill and, sadly, some are dying, the idea of worshipping a God who sits by and does absolutely nothing holds no attraction to me.
As the great (atheist) comedian Dave Allen used to say, “may your God go with you” and Amen! to that. “If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad,” observed Sheryl Crow. But that still doesn’t make it true.
Happy Easter, everyone.
