Don’t be misled by the headline: it has nothing to do with recent semantics about premarital sex or the cute oxymoron “religiously reasoning” or even the end-of-the-world prophecy. These cataclysmic events blow over in a few days, exciting the full gamut of Barbadian emotions . . . from A all the way down to B.
I try to follow E.M. Forster’s advice: “Only write about what you know.” You will therefore find me avoiding areas like economics, international trade and the law.
Not that I don’t try to grapple with them in my own thoughts or during the occasional debate with a friend. For example, I spent 19 years at the Central Bank of Barbados – a most enjoyable place to work – but left as ill-informed about economics as the day I went in. And it was not for the lack of trying. I retired without understanding the concept of negative growth.
I also steer clear of religion. It’s too visceral.
I grew up in a church-going family. I got confirmed one Saturday morning by Bishop Hughes when I was nine, after “walking” for a year – that was the term used for enduring the series of incomprehensible lectures in order to qualify for Confirmation.
My mother started out as an Anglican but after several years became disenchanted and joined her mother-in-law in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. We no longer ate pork or shark. My mother was not fanatical about her new religion – she would enjoy a slice of ham at Christmas!
My grandmother found an ingenious way to make coffee: she parched barley, then boiled it. It tasted identical to decaffeinated coffee.
From the outset I had my own philosophical tug-o-war with the idea of prayer. To this day I do not understand the need for it.
Now hold your horses. Don’t gallop down the road accusing me of being an atheist or agnostic. I believe in God. Who else could have put together this universe? Who else could develop a human being from the convergence of an egg and a tadpole-like spermatozoon?
I understand and practise giving God thanks, but find redundant the exercise of asking Him for anything. If God knows my needs; if He knows my thoughts even before I think those thoughts, why do I need to apprise Him of my needs?
What’s the need to pray: “Dear God, the doctor tells me I have developed testicular cancer. Please make it go away.?” God already knows about that abnormal growth of cells in my scrotum.
If I get up one morning and no longer have cancer, then I will thank Him. I see no need in telling Him that I have cancer. He knew before the scan showed it.
People feel very strongly about their religion. This strength of conviction has been with humanity from the beginning and has been the source of much pain, grief and anxiety the world over.
It’s not a subject for rational discourse; it’s about faith, a belief system very close to people’s hearts and they abhor the intellectualism of the Enlightenment intruding into mysteries like the phenomena of life and death, where we came from, what is sin, Adam and Eve, the virgin birth, where is Heaven, where is hell.
These are some of the gravest metaphysical questions people ask, but there is a perception among people of faith that we should leave the mysteries of life just where they are. I disagree but avoid debate.
I depart from those who suggest that such questions are beyond our ken and shouldn’t be asked. The same God who installed a brain in my body expects me to use it to ask questions. To ask Him questions.
Euripides was right: “Man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.”
Let me make my own prophecy. The world will end on Tuesday, July 10, 2012. You have 406 days to prepare.
