BY KAREN WEBB
I was taught that God could do anything and that I was to accept, on faith, that he created the world in seven, 24-hour days.
I have been told that faith is silly and stupid and that all conditions were in perfect line and a one-cell animal started evolving in a very organized way or that a star exploded and all of this natural order of things came about as a result.
Well, pardon me or don’t pardon me if I think either situation is pretty difficult to believe without something starting it, but don’t ask me what. Order no longer comes from explosions and attempting to prove what you demand I accept on faith is still oxymoronic.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I think that if someone believes God can do anything, why is it believable that he made man from a lump of clay or a handful of sandy loam, black gumbo or peat moss, but it is absolutely impossible that he could have begun with an amoeba, a gorilla, a starfish or a cumquat or that it took a millennium or longer? Why would that be somehow less miraculous?
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I think that if Abraham Lincoln had said “in my DAY humorists were born and not made” he did not mean Nov. 30, 1835 because Mark Twain was born during that 24-hour period and he was a humorist.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I think having to walk into a church on election day, without anyone handing me a voter’s guide or a Four Spiritual Laws and no gospel music on the intercom or someone preaching a sermon while I wait is not forcing religion on anyone and does not violate the freedom of religion or the freedom from religion clause in the Bill of Rights.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I object to the thousands of registered voters having to wait in line at the one library, city hall or post office or having all of those strangers on school grounds in a state where even preachers and their wives don’t feel safe without a gun.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I think religion should be taught at church or home and left out of the public schools and courthouses.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I don’t think placing the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, state house or public school will improve the behavior or Christianity of anyone working or visiting on the premises. Back during the Clinton years Rep. Bob Barr brought a huge copy of the Ten onto the House floor and claimed having it there harmed no one and in fact he had always had this big copy in his office and it hadn’t harmed anyone. Having it in his office did not prevent him from committing adultery against his wife, either. Having a Bible in motel room doesn’t prevent fornication, drunkenness, gluttony or even murder. The Bible has been used to burn people at the stake, lynch people and to start and stop wars.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I don’t care what Pat Robertson or anyone else thinks is a sin unless they are trying to codify it into the Constitution when that sin hurts no innocent people.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I do not think that rape becomes justified depending on the clothing of the victim or that once foreplay has begun a guy can’t stop and neither party has the right to change their mind and say, “no.”
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I think what goes on between two consenting adults regardless of gender is none of my business or yours. If you believe it is a sin and you believe in judgment day then let’s wait until then.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me if I think that a government is too small if it will fit into my bedroom or my doctor’s examining room.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me, but if you can’t convince your congregation, neighbors or anyone else to change their ways by inviting them to church or going door to door, you should not be allowed to do it by codifying it into the Constitution.
Pardon me or don’t pardon me, but stupid ideas, actions and speech come from all sides and from all levels of intelligence, including mine.
– Karen Webb lives in Moore, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer
