Once you start kowtowing to one religious group it's only a matter of time before the rest get uppity, writes DAVID ADAMS.
THERE IS no such thing as a Divine Being. So get a life, Dermot, or at least stop trying to foist your beliefs on everyone else.
I should apologise for that unseemly outburst: I’ve really no fixed view on whether or not there is a God, and neither could I care less one way or the other.
Which means, of course, if there is a Hell then I’m destined for it. And that’s fine by me. Who in their right mind would want to be stuck forever with the religious crowd anyway?
What could possibly be worse than having to spend eternity in the company of ayatollahs, archbishops, pontiffs, preachers, and their legions of glass-eyed, po-faced acolytes?
The biggest problem facing the religious mob isn’t how to convince the rest of us that God exists, but rather how to make a Heaven populated by the likes of them seem attractive.
Heaven or Hell, what’s the difference: that’s the big question.
The unseemly outburst earlier was me grabbing the chance to blaspheme a bit before Ahern reintroduces the South to good old-fashioned, Cromwellian-style republicanism. If Dermot gets his way, which seems highly likely, what next for the statute book?
The introduction of a strict dress code and even stricter rules of behaviour for women and young girls is a given. This will pave the way for gradually ridding higher education and the workplace of females, a doubly attractive proposition for religiously-minded politicians in these recessionary times.
And as for the likely fate of our homosexual brothers and sisters: well, let’s just say that the word “gay” will never again mean happy and carefree. Who knows, maybe eventually we’ll go back to the ducking stool for suspected witches and then on to burning heretics at the stake.
Be under no illusions, we’re at the top of a very slippery slope and can’t afford to rule anything out at this stage. Religious fanaticism is on the march, beginning to reassert itself, and determined to drag us back to pre-enlightenment times. I’ve no wish to cause unnecessary panic but if I were a “non-Catholic” living in the Republic I’d be keeping a packed suitcase handy in case things turn nasty.
All of this was entirely predictable, of course, and, without wanting to blow my own trumpet, was predicted by me here a year or two back. As I said at the time, once you start kowtowing to one religious group it’s only a matter of time before the rest start getting uppity and making demands.
When we began making excuses for the worst elements of one religion – blithely passing off as “cultural” things like forced marriage, genital mutilation and the general repression of women – we were asking for trouble.
Our siding with the zealots who howled in opposition to Danish cartoons because they offended Islam had the other religions seethed quietly on the sidelines. Their anger was understandable. After all, for decades we had relentlessly hammered everything they hold dear and never a word was said about it.
The Pope soon reacted, throwing his weight about and picking fights with everybody. It’s hard to think of who he hasn’t insulted in recent times: Muslims, Protestants, Jews, homosexuals, you name them and he’s had a go.
The really scary thing was how many otherwise intelligent people rushed to agree with his ludicrous and dangerous comments on HIV and Aids – which he delivered in Africa, of all places.
I have a soft spot for Anglicanism, and not just because I’m a nominal member. It must be the only Christian denomination where, at least until recently, you didn’t even have to believe in God. Try to live up to the teachings of Jesus and nobody within the Anglican Communion cared whether you were a believer or not just so long as you didn’t make too much noise about it.
But all of that is changing too. To varying degrees right across Anglicanism, but most particularly in Africa and the USA, there is growing resentment at how far to the left the church has moved under the stewardship of the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. It was hard enough for the fundamentalist core to accept women priests without having to stomach the ordination of a gay bishop as well. And then, to cap it all, Williams suggested the UK should adopt aspects of sharia law.
It can only be a matter of time before the archbishop is ousted – he’s much too spiritual for a church leader anyway – and the Anglican Communion comes under the baleful control of its gay-hating, misogynistic congregations, based mostly but not exclusively in America and Africa.
Still, it isn’t church leaders we should be most worried about, but rather those true believers within the laity who hold powerful political positions and wait patiently until they judge that the time is right to do His will.For Dermot Ahern that time has come.
The difference between Heaven and Hell? Stand by, we’re about to find out.