The Devil gave man religion to keep him away from God

I read in the news today that a Romanian orthodox priest crucified (and killed) a nun whom he judged to be "possessed by the devil." He is not only unrepentant about this act, but actually presided over the nun's funeral mass, saying that the thunder heard in the distance (part of an approaching storm) proved that he had been correct in his ajudication that the nun had been possessed by the devil.

Beware of thunder in the wrong instance.

If this Romanian maniac was looking for nuns to crucify, I wish he would have let me know. Having spent far too many years as a student in Catholic schools, I have a few deserving nominees.

As a far-removed non-believing observer of this weird, insane case, I would submit that possibly it was the priest who was possessed by "the devil" -- possessed by evil -- and that the 23 year old nun was his luckless victim. However, I may be offbase on this. It's just that the stories I remember hearing about Jesus Christ involved him performing acts of kindness, miracles even, and saying things like "If your enemy strikes you on the cheek, do not strike back. Offer him your other cheek." Jesus didn't go around crucifying people. Although he was crucified, I don't recall him recommending crucifixion as a problem-solving technique.

What is it with religious persons' lust for blood, mayhem and murder? How is that people who profess to love Jesus Christ (A.K.A. "The Prince of Peace", "Lamb of God") can turn around and perpetrate horrors upon other human beings, all with a straight face and no sense of contradiction or hypocrisy? You know, like George W. Bush and his merry band of born again Christians who have been all too eager to engage in slaughter in Iraq that very soon may be described as genocide.

It reminds me of Archie Bunker describing how the first missionaries who came to the New World converted natives to Christianity -- by holding their heads under water until they saw the light.

The comedian Bill Hicks once pointed out the ridiculousness of Christians wearing crucifixes as a sign of their devotion. Hicks said, "Do you think when Jesus comes back He ever wants to see another fucking cross?" I wouldn't think so.

I think it was Pope Constantine in or around 800 A.D. who shifted the focus of the Christian church from the resurrection of Jesus Christ to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Paving the way for our gnarled clergy to thrust a rheumatic finger at the miniature brass Christ mounted above the door on his cross, and proclaiming to endless classes of elementary school kids: "Your sins did this to Jesus!"

There is no doubt in my mind that beyond this world lies a grand spiritual drunktank into which the Gerry Fall-Wells, Oral Roberts', Jack Van Imps, and insane, crucifixion-happy Romanian orthodox priests will be thrown, where they will reside -- gape-eyed, slavering, and insatiable -- preaching to and trying to convert one another to their own thinking. Truly serpents swallowing their own tails.

I don't know who said it, or where I first heard it, but this quote is as apt now as it ever was or will be: "The Devil gave man religion to keep him away from God."