Fundamentalist - Jan 5 2024

 

Fundamentalist

Jan 5 2024

We were not at all observant.

Yes, the high holidays.

And the odd ritual;

but without much conviction

or even consistency.

The only restriction was pork

(bacon excepted, of course!);

the arcane rules of Kosher

didn't seem worth bothering with.

Although we never lost our sense of belonging

even pride

in the tribe assigned to us

at birth.

If for no other reason

than after all that history and persecution

assimilation

would have felt a betrayal.

The pious Jews seemed otherworldly

even embarrassing,

walking to shul on the Sabbath

in their black outfits, dapper hats

elaborate facial hair,

the Orthodox women

modestly dressed

who covered theirs.

Conversing in Yiddish

or heavily accented English,

as if they'd never left

the old country behind.

I later learned

my dad was an atheist.

And from the start

I never bought it either,

the child's theology

of a fatherly God

stroking His beard

gazing down from the clouds.

And now that we have science,

why persist

with the supernatural?

Nevertheless, we went to Sunday School

had Hebrew twice a week.

A Bar Mitzvah

at age 13,

as if a Torah reading

chanted badly

could turn an acne-faced boy

into an full-fledged man.

I suppose this was meant to be our chance

to see if religion suited us,

before choosing our own

path through life.

Pascal famously wagered

in the existence of God.

Because if He didn’t exist, what harm?

And if He did, then best to cut your losses

and acknowledge Him.

But what a cold calculating bargain that is,

drained

of commitment and faith.

While I'm a fundamentalist.

I've laid down my bet:

God is dead

and the scriptures are nothing to live by.

Unless, that is

you approve of slavery

misogyny

and the slaying of your enemies,

alongside

their livestock and slaves

children and wives.

By all means

love, forgive, turn the other cheek.

But as humanist philosophy,

not a Holy Son made flesh

dying for our sins.

And so much more meaningful

without the threat of hell,

the reward

of a heavenly ever-after.

So like it or not

as flawed and broken as we humans are

we're on our own

in a cold indifferent universe

governed by physical laws.

That is no less beautiful

as if divinely created,

but even more improbable

mysterious

and miraculous

than a wave of the hand

and divine revelation.