"Faith is Only a Measure of Gullibility"

Wow. I had to erase the previous title of: "Needed a Prompt" to replace it with the current one. I was reading Dooce today and saw that she'd answered a group of questions called a "Meme." My plan for this post was to do the same. I have to admit that I'm fairly new to blogging and reading other's blogs but I like to believe that I'm learning the lingo pretty fast. When I don't know something, I usually Google it or ask someone. I didn't know what a "Meme" was.

Google pulled up some interesting things, but one caught my eye in particular. "Christianity is a 'meme', a mind virus that infects people and manipulates their behavior."

After I read that, I had to click on the site and I knew that the meme on Dooce would wait another day. I consider myself a Christian. Notice I didn't say, "good Christian" or "right wing Christian" or "all the time perfect example of God's love." I've never visited a site like that before. I can't say I feel offended, because that's not correct. It's just weird to read something someone has written that is in complete objection to the way I've been brought up.

I do have an opinion about politics, but my ideas of what is right and just never fit on one side of the ballot. I don't think it's black or white (or blue or red). I do think there are those out there who call themselves "Christian" but have no idea about what grace is, not just grace given to us or for us, but the grace we're supposed to give to others.

I don't know if the site was meant to antagonize or if the authors feel a disconnect from someone who declared to the world that they were a Christian as they drop-kicked puppies off of a cliff. I do know that they have arguments based on religious stereotypes and I can't say that they'd be wrong about the origins of some of those stereotypes. It also makes me incredibly sad that those stereotypes exist. Isn't it the same as generalizing ALL girls as weak and emotional? Or ALL homosexuals as perverts? Or ALL republicans as war-hungry, greedy bastards? Or ALL democrats as double-talking nit-wits? Or ALL overweight people as stupid and lazy? I could go on.

In high school I had a logic and philosophy teacher named Mr. Barber. To me, he held the keys to the universe. Had I the money, and his power of persuasion, I would have employed him as my personal guide through life. Anyway, in the beginning of logic you learn the fundamentals of the argument. I learned waaaaay back then that hasty generalizations were WRONG. Not just wrong, but ignorant. Not just ignorant, but stupid.

I want so much for everyone to believe what they want, not just as I choose to. But I want them to KNOW it (I too, need to learn more everyday). I want so much for the grace that I'm taught to give (even if I'm still learning to give it) to pour over everyone so they can feel it, whether that feeling is attributed to a god or not.

I have faith.