In college, a good friend and philosophy major spoke with me
about deification. At the time, he was an Atheist and I was a Christian, so we
had our disagreements on the subject. I am no philosopher and cannot clearly
remember the conversation we had fifteen years ago, but deification is creating
a deity to explain events that happen in a person’s life, or to create meaning
in a person’s life, or to bridge the cause and effect in a person’s life. I
realize I am being repetitive, but this is how I understood the philosophy as a
young person. In a nutshell, through religion, society, and various
philosophies, humans create gods to mirror themselves and to use as crutches
when life gets tough. Now, I am no longer a Christian, but I am also no
Atheist. Just to update you on my current beliefs, I believe if reality as we
know it exists, then life beyond our realities, as well as the supernatural,
perhaps exists. However, my purpose in writing this blog is not necessarily to
philosophize. I am quite stubborn and set in my beliefs. No, this entry is to
note that the more experiences I have had with folks, the more I encounter
deification. I have observed that people, Christians in particular in my Southern
U.S. experience, twist doctrine and create demi-gods to suit their own needs,
to cater to their societies, and to make sense of their lives. So, my argument
is not about if a specific religion is real or not, but it is to defend my
Atheist friend’s initial philosophy; how can one deny that humans love patterns
and take bits and pieces of doctrine and bits and pieces of themselves to
create their realities? I also do this- just not in a neatly wrapped religion.
The best people I know may or may
not adhere to some form of deification, but they do not corrupt the idea for a
tainted purpose. Some of them have been through hell but do not have to explain
away their suffering as a god’s will. Nor do they have to trust a god to make
sense of the remaining debris after the loss of a loved one, etc. They grieve
(go through denial, anger, sadness, etc.) like everyone else, but as human
nature allows, they eventually accept life’s hardships and find peace from
within. I cherish these friends because they are not dogmatists or doormats.
They do not push their beliefs on me, have ulterior motives, or blindly follow
their religious societies. They are not self righteous. Some of these friends
adhere to Christianity and/or other religions, and some of them do not. For
some, deification is a very necessary and positive life force. These people’s
common thread is that they do not need to use a god as a crutch or to construct
a deity to make their deeds and life events have meaning or some form of divine
justice. They simply accept nature’s design.
I do
not claim to mimic these peaceful souls. I carry too much anger to float
peacefully. I am not angry toward a god, though. I accept that I am angry
(although I am always trying to release tension and improve). I am angry toward
religion for personal reasons: a church’s pastor had a three year affair (when
I was at a very impressionable age); a youth pastor beat his wife; a “good”
Christian boy was violent and cruel toward me in college; a “good” Muslim boy
violated me in my twenties; my list goes on. Oh, not to mention Christianity’s
beautiful track record: The Crusades, Slavery, etc. I love my Christian
friends; none of them are dogmatists or we would not be friends. They may turn
to God for comfort, but they would never hate a homosexual or say (or even
think) he/she was living in sin or going to Hell. They are too intelligent and
accepting to twist a scripture to support their political or societal agendas.
Furthermore, they accept nature. They would never, for example, see a
breastfeeding woman and think she was being immodest. They accept nature, and
breastfeeding is completely natural. If gods exist, these gods or god, exist in
the most natural of settings, The Color Purple if you will. They embrace
love and grace- not hate. I guess these thoughts embody my own deification of a
god. Christians, “God is love,” after all, correct?
Most
importantly to me, I do not want my son growing up around self-righteous,
dogmatic pricks. I do not attend church because I do not believe in Christian
doctrine but also because churches make me feel uncomfortable. I recently
visited one church that was different and
better than all others I have attended because I shared more in common
with the church members than other churches (even if I could not continue
attending simply because I do not share the same beliefs); I attended for
social reasons and was fulfilled socially. Then, I visited a church for
Christmas Eve with my parents (tradition’s sake – my idea) and felt more
stifled than I can remember ever feeling. I reverted back to feeling like an
adolescent outcast. Even if I did not care how people perceived my husband,
son, and myself (and I truly did not care), the atmosphere was hostile. Then, I
attended a funeral, or memorial service (to be more accurate), for a close
family friend’s tragic loss (plane crash) and had a completely different
experience. Although the church was similar to my parents’ church, the pastor, other
speakers, and ceremony in general, embraced love and loss, as well as genuine
grief. Instead of spouting clichés, such as “your husband is in a better place,”
the pastor accepted death as a tragedy and encouraged the wife and family to
run toward the darkness when the sun rose; in nature, where else would a family
run in the midst of such loss? I appreciated such honesty in nature’s design.
Deification cradled a pained family in this situation, instead of judging or
sugarcoating reality.
I do not go to church because I have
fundamental differences in my beliefs than most Christians. I accept this and
am no longer searching for capital “T” truth (or maybe I am always searching
but I understand and accept that I will never find it). Deification is natural
so I do not judge my Christian or Muslim friends for yielding to such a
concept. I just encourage some people,
not my friends, to stop sculpting historical gods, artifacts, and other
resources, into vessels that promote their own misguided agendas. Please accept
that you are no better than anyone else. Some, like myself, deem you far worse
than most humans for your self-righteous, holier than thou ways.
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