09 October 2013

The true religion

Antonin Scalia believes in the literal existence of the Devil.

It is not my intent here to dwell on the absurdity of an educated adult man in a position of considerable authority holding a view essentially equivalent to believing in Santa Claus.  Other bloggers have already addressed that.  And as Scalia points out in the same interview, his conviction is widely shared -- a majority of Americans at least claim to believe that Satan is "a real person".  Rather, here, I'm interested in what follows from this.  Assuming for the sake of argument that the Devil really exists, what are the implications?

As Scalia himself affirms, the Devil is "smart" and, in our own era as compared with Biblical times, has become "wilier".  No longer wasting his energies on spectacular but unproductive stunts like "making pigs run off cliffs.....possessing people and whatnot", the Dark Lord "now is getting people not to believe in him or in God. He’s much more successful that way."

He certainly is.  As survey after survey has revealed, Americans, especially the young, are rejecting religion in droves -- the proportion claiming no religion has doubled in the last decade.  Aggressive champions of atheism like Dawkins, Hitchens, Hirsi Ali, Condell, and many others have swept away the timid diffidence of the twentieth century.  And in most other developed countries -- recently even Ireland -- religious belief is even more in open retreat.  Score a big success for Lucifer.

He's winning on other fronts too.  No less of an authority than the Catholic Archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul recently declared that "sodomy, abortion, contraception, pornography," and gay marriage are "machinations" whose source is "none other than the Father of Lies.....Satan".  So one of Satan's creations (gay marriage) is sweeping the Western world, in both legislation and public opinion, while two of his other contributions (birth control and porn) are already among the most popular things globally. And Christians are so spooked by Satan that they'll shred $20,000 worth of printing over a symbol carrying the barest suggestion of his presence.

Perhaps they're wise to be nervous.  How has the Devil's adversary been doing lately?  God, so we're told by his fan club, created the entire universe about 6,000 years ago, taking less than a week to fully accomplish this gargantuan project.  Some time later, he flooded the whole Earth -- an impressive act, but far smaller in scale than creating the universe.  Two thousand years ago, he sent his son to Earth to be tortured and human-sacrificed in order to give himself permission to forgive us for behavior he disapproves of*, though an omnipotent being (or even an ordinary person) surely ought to be able to forgive transgressors without such an elaborate, bloody, and illogical ritual.  Today, as best we can tell, God's manifestations of power are limited to appearing on the occasional piece of toast.  As Satan has become more "smart" and "wilier", coming out with one smash-hit popular-culture phenomenon after another, God seems to be in steep decline.

God's partisans, of course, claim that these Satanic triumphs merely herald the End Times, in which the side of the angels will rise from the ashes of apparent oblivion and emerge victorious at last (latest exponent of this view:  Michele Bachmann).  But surely such protestations have more than a whiff of Baghdad Bob about them.  We can all see which way the wind is blowing.  I'm putting my money on The Big Man Downstairs (who was probably the good guy all along, anyway).  Hail Satan!



[*Yes, I'm aware of all the convoluted gobbledygook they use to make this sound less ridiculous, so please don't bother.]

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This post reminds me of Al Pacino in Devil's Advocate. He's just telling us we don't need The Lord. If I were God I'd be pissed with guys like Pat Robertson and Scalia speaking for me. I would've given those two an Old Testament smiting a long time ago. People would know to leave me out of their bullshit if I were the King of kings.

Vic78

09 October, 2013 14:33  
Anonymous Bacopa said...

And these folks stupidly identify Satan with The Serpent from the Garden of Eden.

The serpent did not mislead Eve. Everything The Serpent said would happen happened.

I was introduced to this concept that The Serpent told the truth by the pot-fueled ramblings of a formerly serious Jew who won a Pulitzer Prize for his efforts.

It's called The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan.

09 October, 2013 16:24  
Blogger Shaw Kenawe said...

Have you read about THIS?


More work of that wiley Mr. Santa, I mean Satan?

10 October, 2013 06:34  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Vic78: The fact that Scalia remains unsmoten (unsmited? unsmitten?) is further evidence that a benevolent deity doesn't exist.

Bacopa: That point hadn't occurred to me, but it's not surprising. God as depicted in the Bible isn't exactly a trustworthy character.

Shaw: Just first saw that earlier today. It has to be treated with great caution, of course -- we need to see exactly what evidence the guy has and how other historians evaluate it. Of course, even if it's well supported, the nutjobs will dismiss it as usual.

I especially like the part about how the pacifism attributed to Jesus was a cynical ploy to get the Jews to submit to Roman rule. The turn-the-other-cheek aspect of Christianity makes it every tyrant's dream.

10 October, 2013 08:13  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

PS: Apparently the Atwill story isn't too credible.

10 October, 2013 09:57  

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