Friday, April 10, 2009

Overheard at lunch

I didn't get in on this year's Blog Against Theocracy, but I do have a few things to say about religion.

Today at lunch, I overheard a woman at a nearby table telling the Asian waitress, "Yes, today is Good Friday. It's the day Jesus was crucified!" Now, mind you, the waitstaff at this restaurant--all Asian--barely speak any English. About all they know is "buffet" and "water with lemon" or "iced tea" or "diet/regular soda." WHY this woman chose to tell the very confused-looking waitress about this "holiday" was a mystery to me. The waitress just nodded and smiled, and walked away.

If the waitress had understood English, I might have told her, "You know, I bet Jesus would pretty much feel that the less said about the whole crucifixion thing, the better. I mean, it wasn't exactly his best day, you know? Probably doesn't like to be reminded about it."

The fervor with which this woman talked of the crucifixion was confusing to me. I always wondered why this day was called "good." I felt like it was a pretty sad day, really; the guy died, and in a really gruesome way. And at the time, it's not like they knew he was coming back on the weekend, you know?

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h/t to Tengrain's greatness for this quote:

"The most incredible thing I believe is the Christmas story. That little baby born in the manger was the god that created the universe."
– Don McLeroy, Texas school board chairman

I'm so glad I don't live in Texas anymore. I thought I had a pretty good education in that state, from the late 60s to the early 80s. Apparently, things are going down hill fast.

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As much as Obama's done already since taking office, I will say that my biggest disappointment (in addition to not yet ending the wars) is that he still has the whole "faith-based initiative" bullshit in place. Until that shit is out of our government, we're facing a battle to win back our democracy from the Bush Theocracy.

12 comments:

Joe said...

Yeah, some folks really like to focus on that one part, because it's easier than focusing on, say, the Beatitudes...

Dad E said...

Every time there is a natural disaster where people die, people who survive attribute their survival to the sky lord, who being all powerful, should be held responsible for the people that died.

Perhaps it is the same twisted logic that Christians call this GOOD Friday.

dguzman said...

Bubs--and they used to call ME a "cafeteria" catholic! These people are cafeteria religious people--they focus only on the crazy shit.

Monkey--you're so right.

Dad E--I've always thought that too!!! Maybe the sky lord (heh) just didn't want to bring those people anywhere near him, so he let them live!

Sorghum Crow said...

Oh yeah? Well Jesus ran his buffet with only three loaves and a couple of fishes.

Randal Graves said...

I don't like seafood so I never left Jesus a tip.

Barbara Bruederlin said...

And all this time I thought it was only me who didn't understand the Good Friday thing. It's official then, the name is whack!

Fran said...

Delia, you and I have made our peace regarding this and if this post so much as moves, no one will be more upset than me.

Having said that, I just wish to say that most of what I read here is as appealing to me, someone who takes Good Friday seriously, as it would be if I went to some right wing fundy blog and read about them making fun of lefty bloggers, atheists and so forth.

Making sweeping generalizations of any group is simply wrong and if any of you wish to take me to task for that, so be it.


All Christians are backwards, stupid and bad is about as accurate as all (fill in the blank) are all (fill in the blank.)

You may notice that the very people you all criticize are doing that as well - all gays are bad, all Mexicans are illegals, all Jews are cheap, all etc etc are etc etc.

I think that the woman was idiotic to bring up Good Friday in the first place. I think if she was really into Good Friday, she would have been quiet, praying and maybe fasting (there is something about prayerful silence that cuts stupidity and ignorance off at the pass) and not doing what she was. However, she was there and you were forced to hear her as was the poor waitress.

Delia, as I said, you and I communicated about this and I am not interested in curtailing your right to speak in your own voice on your own blog. I however, am grateful to be able to voice my comment here. No one has to like what I say either.

The reasons for it being called Good Friday are far too long for me to go into here and I am not sure anyone would really want to know anyway.

Fran said...

And for the record, I did both promote and post for the Blog Against Theocracy.

Distributorcap said...

one thing about good friday - the stock market is closed and it couldnt go down.

on the other hand - they had the worst matzoh ball soup in the commissary yesterday.

dguzman said...

SorCrow--too true!

Randal--ya cheapskate.

Barbara--guess so, at least to us!

Fran--yup, we've discussed this, and I appreciate your comments. Love you!

dguzman said...

DCap--sorry to hear about the bad soup!

Fran said...

I think this thread is (gratefully) probably done with, but I just found a post that did express what is "good" about Good Friday in a beautiful way. See here.

Now the author of the post is a lesbian and a priest and she has just emailed me that she has suffered a personal loss, so I hope that if anyone has anything to say there, they use wisdom and prudence if commenting.

Peace to all.