Tell Me All Your Thoughts On God

I had a long dinner and conversation with my best friend last night and it's been ages since we've done that. It's kind of amazing how you can know someone for 31 years and still have things to talk about. And our time together is never boring. While waiting to be seated we stood next to a party of six; two older women, two women in their 40's and two dudes about the same age. I was already annoyed that one of the guys kept bumping into me when one of the older ladies pulled out a big ass camera, with flash, and started taking photos of something. The flash was so bright that I turned my head to see what picture was so important that it was worth blinding me and I saw it was the other older woman's birthday. They were referring to her as their grandmother and she was holding a taped up and very full gift bag as the camera flashed yet again. So what did grandma get for her birthday? Shampoo. No lie. I watched her open the bag and pull out two full size bottles of Pantene (shampoo AND conditioner! She's di lucky!). She seemed seriously overwhelmed and perhaps even speechless. I turned away from the scene so as not to laugh in anyone's face and then heard one if the dudes telling grandma about some product that had gotten his and wife's teeth incredibly clean. I assume grandma also got some kind of toothbrush judging from the rest of the commentary. I felt bad. I mean, it's not like we ever got any of our grandmothers skydiving lessons or anything, but we also never did all of their birthday shopping at a CVS. And why not just give her a gift card or something? Hell, even just paying for dinner would have been better than the gift package she actually received.
We were seated not long after that and dinner was great until some dude at a table behind us raised his voice and drew the attention of a few people. A few minutes later it became clear that everyone at that table was involved in a heated discussion about religion. Although I'm not particularly a religious lad, I do enjoy debating with others about the subject. I'm fascinated by different viewpoints and why people believe the way they do. It sounded like these people had been having a quiet discussion for awhile but it escalated when this guy threw out a blanket statement about how if everyone were just given copies of the Bible they would realize that Christianity is the only "true religion". He even went so far as to say that Catholics, Mormons, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews and Hindus are the reasons that war exists in the world. Because Lord knows ya'll Christians don't fight amongst yourselves or anything, it's everyone else's fault the world is fucked up. Mr. Personality's dinner companions took offense to what he said and a battle ensued. I'm never surprised by how many narrow-minded people still exist in the world, especially when it comes to religion. But dude had some cojones to say that as loud as he did in a crowded restaurant and I'm sure the best friend and I weren't the only ones to take notice and begin listening in. They quieted down after that but we could still hear the occasional loud-ish argument between them. The best friend joked that we should add our two cents and go tell him there is no god, just to stir the pot. "Maybe he's rich and he'll hit you and you can sue him and claim racial profiling...and violation of your religious freedom...yeah, you should go over there," she said (and now you know which one of us had wine with dinner). Instead we toasted each other for being the reason war exists and picked up the conversation we'd been having before things got crazy.
As has been documented here, my religious views are quite eclectic but I do believe in god. For some reason, people are surprised when they hear this. I guess because I just don't take any of it too seriously. Yes, I think there's a god but no, I don't believe we're all supposed to devote our lives to "serving" him. And if he intended everyone to be a Christian, then why did he give people free will in the first place? If you really believe the world is god's creation then it would stand to reason that everything in it is also his creation; all the religions, all the conflicts, all the gay people and trans gender people and every race in existence. My beef with religion has never involved questioning whether there is a god (although he and I were not on the greatest of terms for some time), I've always believed there is, but it is the fact that so many "religious" people pick and choose what parts of their religion apply to them. You're supposed to love all people but you cast out anyone with a different sexual orientation. You get hitched in a church and take what are supposed to be vows between you, your spouse and the big man saying you'll be faithful and parted only by death, but then proceed to have an affair and get divorced. You're supposed to be tolerant of all religions, yet you condemn anyone who isn't a "true believer" in your eyes. There is a lot of grey area when it comes to the topic of religion, which makes this guy's blanket statement even more ridiculous. It's like me saying, 'Man, all of those Christians are biggots and hate gays'. It's obviously not true and it's not only Christians who can be discriminatory. I cringe every time someone talks about making this country the "Christian Nation it was" because it never was that, it's always been accepting of every religion and it should always remain that way.
As our conversation and dinner were winding down, we saw the wait staff congregate around a table. We heard them begin to sing "Happy Birthday" and we both knew it had to be grandma they were serenading. All I could think was how sad it was that having total strangers sing to her was the highlight of her evening. Even as I was falling asleep last night, I couldn't help but think about it. I don't have anymore grandmother's to give gifts to. But if I did, I would totally steal their idea because any of my grandma's would have found it hilarious. I also would have been smacked. But it would've been worth it.