Monday, January 26, 2009

Story time

Once upon a time there was a bunny puppet who was raised by decent puppets who taught him to be kind and helpful, to respect the earth and all it's creatures, and to do his best to treat others how he would want to be treated.
The bunny had been exposed to organized religion and after a few flings with it decided that it was not for him. And that made many other puppets mad.
They said, "Grrr, you have to believe like we do or you are going to hell!"

"Okay, whatever," said the bunny. And he went on with his life.

But the puppets who believed in organized religion would not let it go. They wanted to make the bunny believe in the same things they did.

The said, "If you don't believe like we do then our God will get mad at you. He put you here so you can praise him all the day long and you'd better do it. Also our religion gives you the guidelines for how you should live your life, so you better get on board mister."

The bunny told them, "Hang on a second. Do you mean to tell me that you only do helpful and kind things because you think your God will like it if you do them? You're nice to people and you help them out only because you are afraid if you don't that your God will get pissed off at you? Shouldn't you do those things because they are the right thing to do no matter what?"

This use of logic made some of the religious puppets madder. A chorus of them shouted at the bunny puppet, "Don't you want to go to heaven?"

The bunny puppet said, "If heaven is going to be full of puppets who praise God on Sunday and or in front of others and then who go about being hateful to puppets they disagree with then I think I'll skip it, thank you very much. If heaven is going to be full of puppets who profess a deep love and devotion to a god they can't see or hear but who neglect, marginalize, and demonize puppets who they can see and hear and who hate puppets who are black, gay, or don't believe as they do, then I'll pass on your heaven. If heaven is going to be populated with puppets who destroyed civilizations and areas of the earth in an effort to bring their god to others, then I'll think I stay away from that place."

The other puppets then mocked the bunny for not swallowing the story being constantly hawked by some religious puppets. They set the bunny up as an example of how not to behave and they said he was public enemy #1 because he thought for himself and he did not let those in the church do his thinking for him.

The bunny kept on living his life without religion. He saw that religion was helpful to some people and that it could be a force for good if implemented properly. And he also saw how some puppets used religion to further their greed, hatred, and intolerance. He saw how some used religion as a weapon to kill other puppets, as a soapbox to spread hatred, and as way to poison and pervert many easily manipulated minds. Even though he saw all that he tried to live and let live. He did not try to sway anyone over to his point of view even though there were many puppets who worked incessantly to try to get him to become religious like them.

As time went on the bunny saw that there were more and more puppets like him, puppets who did not follow any religion but who were good puppets who thought for themselves, were kind to others and to the planet, and who did their best to be good citizens.But for some religious puppets that was not good enough and they are still to this day trying like hell to snare the bunny and his fellow non believing compatriots into their religious traps.

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How this story ends is up to you. You can either live free and think for yourself or you can follow the other puppets. I've made my choice, you can do what's best for you.

15 comments:

pissed off patricia said...

I'm with the bunny puppet all the way. I feel that I know him very very well. Let's just say I have been on the bunny trail a long long time.

Karen Zipdrive said...

I have noticed that the people who talk most about the Kingdom of Heaven are the last people I'd want to spend eternity with.
Hell might be hot, but I live in Texas and it'd probably be a lot like any August.
And I know the music would be better.

Sherry Pasquarello said...

i love this. too true!

Lulu Maude said...

Well said. I have been flirting with joining a local church that does a lot of good things for others, though the thought of singing hymns keeps me away, so far.

It's interesting to note that the brain is hard-wired for acts of altruism. That's why it feels so good to perform those random acts.

And THAT is probably the touch of the divine that we've been given.

Ubermilf said...

Can my puppet have sequins on it? Also, can I choose to be a marionette instead so I don't have a hand up my ass? Of course, marionettes are creepy looking.

I'm so confused.

Missy said...

I love stories.

dguzman said...

I'm always on the side of the bunny.

MommyLisa said...

You might actually like church at our church. The sermon yesterday talked about how Ricky-Bobby prayed to the Lord Baby Jesus in Talledega Nights because that is who he believed in...and went on to talk about how the adult Jesus was hard to follow because he wasn't a cute little magic baby and actually tried to make you think.

Then they went on to relate all that to how a lot of good movements around the world were started by the church, Bishop Desmond Tutu - Rev. Martin Luther King...on and on my minister listed about 7 or 8 ways the church advocated for change and how NOW is the time for it again on issues like the environment, growing number of working poor, etc.

I love our church(I also have a sick love of hymns - the happy ones), but I know about those churches that won't let it go!!! ;) And we love the bunny because of who he is - nothing more or less.

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

Mommy-I'm never going to "like" church at any church. No matter how cool the church seems to be underneath it all it's still church and it's going to be full of people telling me that I have to follow whatthey say or I'll go to a fictional place called hell. No thanks. Not now, not ever.

MommyLisa said...

Lutheran's don't believe in Hell - we live in Minnesota! ;) I just meant our minister is pretty funny - it is the first church I have ever liked myself.

Ubermilf said...

If you don't do what I say you have to go to your room.

And that's not fiction, mister.

Snad said...

No, but Lutherans believe in Heck! Gosh Darn it.

Mnmom said...

Lutheran Hell is being forced to shop at a natural foods coop and drink strong Ethiopian coffee.

Northern Methodist Hell would be wearing something expensive and everyone can see the price tag.

My Hell would be living with Born Agains and singing hymns like they do at the Catholic church, slow and painful.

My Heaven would be lots of free thinkers, strong coffee, all kinds of good music including great hymns, dancing, and plenty of Rice Krispy bars.

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

MnMom-It's a good thing there's actually no such thing as heaven or hell.

themom said...

I'm with the bunny - all the way