I don’t enjoy writing this kind of essay. It is the intellectual equivalent of cleaning a greasy kitchen: necessary, unpleasant, and guaranteed to offend the people who insist the smell is “authentic tradition.” But if we’re going to talk honestly about political extremes, you don’t get to treat one side as a dangerous cult and the other as a quirky hobby. Extremes are not philosophies. They are stress reactions with … Read the rest
Tag: faith
Your Faith, Their “Superstition”
People say it in a relaxed voice, almost kindly: “Look, other religions are nonsense. Mine is the good one.” Then they add a few details, because details make any claim feel more serious. “Their rituals are stupid.” “They’re dirty.” “They have crazy limitations.” “They fast in the daytime and then try to cheat by turning off the lights, as if God can’t see.” Everyone laughs. The laughter has that … Read the rest
The Cross and the Courage to Think
I have no interest in mocking anyone’s faith. Not because I am afraid of offending people, but because faith is often where people keep their most tender parts: grief, hope, guilt, gratitude, love. If you kick that door down with sarcasm, you do not prove you are intelligent. You prove you are careless.
And yet, if something is truly sacred, it should be able to breathe in daylight. Questions are … Read the rest
When Gods Retire and Others Apply for the Job
It’s amusing, really, how people insist their religion is eternal while living on a planet that can’t even keep a hairstyle for more than a decade. Civilizations come and go, continents drift, and yet we imagine our particular faith—born on one patch of soil in one historical moment—to be the final revelation. But if the gods of Egypt could overhear us from their long sleep, they’d probably chuckle. They had … Read the rest
Come To The Cabaret, Old Chum
By Eric Le Roy
Content 18+ The gray days turn now to early darkness – light-swallowing afternoons that have me leaving the apartment with my dogs when it is still daylight and returning 30 minutes later to sudden winds and the pitch black of precocious night. These afternoons end quicker than friendships when talking about places like Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine. Believe me, I know.
In the morning, … Read the rest
