On Being Offended

I am utterly unconcerned if my speech offends Christians. Their fragile sensibilities regarding their particular creed of fairy-tale laden hogwash simply fails to make itself worthy of my attention. Nothing is more deserving of outrage and ridicule than the nonsense of religion.

When I take advantage of the nigh-limitless opportunities to challenge the ideas of the religious, I do so not with the intent of limiting their expression of honestly held beliefs, but with the grand hope that their own ideas will be recognized as the inheritance of a desperate and ignorant past. Speech is free, but there is a cost for dipping into the fantasy bin, as evidenced by a church marquee I recently spotted:

 

"A child was born so he could die for you." (2)

 

The cost is in the recognition of the inspiring legacy of our humanity. The cost is our Minds and our Morals. The above message, which every Christian must echo as true regardless of their agreement with its display, is one of the most explicitly disgusting statements I have ever read. The idea that an innocent child would be given existence and raised to adulthood for the sole purpose of being tortured to death should be shunned by every thinking person as an inversion of a decent moral model. It is a tale of such vomitous horror that I shudder when I remind myself that a majority of Americans not only believe it...but believe IN IT. That is to say, the general population holds this tale of gross injustice up as an ethical ideal and a beautiful gift.

The very foundation of Christian belief is an insult to me and all of humanity. It waxes poetic of our alleged status as slaves, scape-goats and playthings to an all-consuming and tyrannical god. After a thousand years of tireless effort, I could never produce a message that offensive.

 

 

1) Christopher Hitchens, "Cartoon Debate"; Slate; Feb. 4, 2006

2) Central Baptist Church, Tenth St., Borger, TX; Jan. 8, 2012