Why I Love Religious People (Well, One of Them, Anyway)
by James Kilbourne
I only had one epiphany that I recall in all the years I went to Sunday school. Well, perhaps the word epiphany might be a little controversial to use here, but it’s probably better than revelation.
Okay. Let me start again. When I was around twelve years old, I came to the realization one day in Sunday school that people generally use the term God when they are trying to figure something out, get tired, and don’t want to think about it any more. I was told constantly that God was everywhere, but it seemed to me that He was getting smaller every day and would soon disappear. Thousands of years ago, we had tree gods and volcano gods and storm gods. (The best storm god, by the way, is definitely Donner. Just listen to the end of Wagner’s “Das Rheingold.” He slams his hammer on the ground, creating a storm and a rainbow which allows the gods to cross over from earth to Valhalla. Now, there's a god you can look up to!) Anyway, we began to understand how trees and volcanoes and storms worked thanks to a bunch of enterprising Howard Roark-type people over the years. But one decidedly anti-Howard Roark-type guy came up with an idea that is still around today. It goes like this: a lot of stuff is getting explained all around us every day, but there are still lots of Really Big Questions like “Where do we come from?” and “When and how did the universe start?” that are going to take a hell of a long time to figure out, so let’s capitalize God and pass the collection plate. Alas, that is why most of humankind is a little poorer than it should be to this day.
So, for the next forty years I called myself an atheist. However, I find it more than a little embarrassing to passionately disbelieve in something, so I don’t use that word much anymore. After all, I am not an a-unicornist, and I only have so much energy as I advance in years. Besides, I don’t want to be remembered as the guy who spent his life trying to kill the Easter bunny.
So why do I love religious people? Well, most of them I really don’t. But at least for some of them it gives a focal point to show their appreciation for being alive. Atheists, with some glorious exceptions, are a pretty dour lot. It seems that championing a non-belief can make you pretty tired, too. In contrast, I give you my partner in life, Sergio. He is not too fond of getting up in the morning, but usually when he does, he goes over to our picture window which overlooks downtown Los Angeles, and stands in reverence for several minutes. He is thanking God for his blessings. His eyes well with tears. He remembers his beloved mother and is thankful for all she taught him, the love she gave him, and all the years they had together; he thinks of his family and friends, seeks protection for our cocker spaniel, Sabrina, and gives thanks that he and I met.
After Sergio, I could never ever live with someone whose first thought in the morning is to make coffee. I may put things a little differently than Sergio, but it is the joy of my life to start the day in profound reverence for the things that matter the most with the person who matters the most.
I ask you. Who would you rather wake up with each day: Madeleine Murray or Ronald Reagan? Until I come up with a better way of expressing things, I will start and end each day saying, “My life is a miracle" and “Thank God I found Sergio.”
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