What kind of religion is it that welcomes the end of the world because they believe that they are the only ones on the planet that will be saved? And what are they going to do, build a spiritual Noah's Ark for the soul to glide safely into paradise where the birds tweet and twitter beneath turquoise skies? What kind of belief is it that it is right to let a child die because they do not believe in her receiving the blood of others to save her life? And what kind of religion finds its origins in a man, Charles Taze Russell, who founded the sect believing himself to be an ambassador of Christ and a "ruler of all the Lord's goods"?-whatever that means.
Standing at my gate, two-pretty girls arrive and look at me expectantly. "Excuse me," says the prettiest one, humbly holding her hands to her chest and kow-towing almost imperceptibly, "I wonder if you know anyone around here who speaks Spanish."
Carmen, a flamboyant neighbour immediately comes to mind and I reply hesitatingly, "Yes... and can I help you?" thinking she needs an interpreter for someone.
"We're Jehova's Witnesses and I have a copy of The Watchtower in Spanish that I want to give to a Spanish-speaking person," she tells me.
I reply immediately, "No, I wouldn't impose that on anyone," and they sheepishly turn and walk away.
FM chastises me, "You shouldn't have said that!"
Afterwards, I think, well, proselytising has never appealed to me and Jehovahs are all a bit crazy along with all the schismic offshoot members that appeared after Russell's death: Worldwide Church of God, Concordant Publishing Concern, Assemblies of Yahweh, Pastoral Bible Institute, Layman's Home Missionary Institute, etc.
So, there we have it. More insanity in the world. And anyway, I'd be an atheist if it were logical not to believe in something that didn't exist. And if we've got to serve, as Dylan put it, let it be the voices of reason and understanding, limited only by what we know to be the truth. Anyone who tells me that they have the answer to it all, well, they're lying, too stupid to think for themselves and/or just plain deluded.
