Junk Activism

In some odd, twisted state of mind, religious groups are now speaking out in protest against such political issues as gun control, oil drilling and Robert Redford.

Don’t get me wrong, people can believe whatever they want to believe.  I realize I don’t know the answers and some feel like they have, which is fine by me.  But the lack of flexibility in most religious faith brings about all sorts of fun and curious contradictions I can’t help but point out.  Let’s talk about this gun control thing:

Here’s a gun control protest from a North Philidelphia group called Heeding God’s Call.  God’s Call seems to now be focused on taking the guns out of the hands of regular people who he has deemed too stupid to own a firearm – or maybe it’s self-fulfilling prophecy.  Perhaps we are due for an end-of-the-world Revelation like apocalypse, starting with giving exclusive authority to carry firearms to militarism, thugs, religious regimes, and authority figures with Barack Obama at the helm.  The best was this quote from the one of the protesters who refused to leave the gun store:

One of the protesters, Melissa DeLong, 28, of Camden, said: “I’d rather leave in a [police] wagon than see one more child in a coffin.”

I don’t like to see children in coffins, either.  But perhaps you should protest funeral parlors next time.  Or you can pray.  Or something TOTALLY unheard of, like teaching firearm safety to kids whose gun-handling resumes only include Halo 3, Doom, and Half-Life.

I must also point out that millions of people take their children once a week voluntarily to a building whose predominate symbol is a Roman torture device and central focus is a message of blood and torture that is glorified.  It all seems so masochistic.  My point is – can’t we do more for our children?  Can’t we teach them more about how we are very close to finding life on Mars, or how we have found ways to map the human genome, or even just foster their imagination?