I suppose I am a hedonist.

I was looking at the blog of a girl I knew only very briefly (she's still a Facebook friend and I saw she was engaged, went to go check out her writing, blah blah..)

And this greeted me:

First of all.. I strangely really like the music. If I were to be subjected to listening to Christian music for the rest of my life, her voice would likely be my first pick.

But listen to all six (approx.) minutes of that. Of special note is the part where the "Devil" shows us images of Buddha, a Mosque, and a few other symbols of various world religion. And then this gem, lyrically:

Or I'll tell you...
There is a heaven but there's many ways to get in
Keep you so confused that you stay bound to your sin
Tell you there are many ways to the same God
Keep you distracted with your methods so your heart stays hard,
I'll make you think you've got spirituality, but it's really just emotional alchemy
Oh, the vanity of self-idoltary I never let you see that it breeds
Hedonism! Whoo!

The reminder that someone with some shred of talent and intelligence still believes these things was a bit too much to handle on this absolutely wonderful Saturday morning. The reason I still cling to parts of my Catholic upbringing is because of the handful of priests and laypeople I met who genuinely loved humanity as a whole and saw life as a brilliant opportunity to demonstrate love in all capacities, to all people, all of whom had a place in a life after this one.

Then of course there's the obligatory line about the Big Bang being a bunch of hooey, and divorce being sinful, and yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure dinosaurs also don't exist.

I do not mean to show malice towards this particular blogger. I think there is power is a faith that strong, and certainly the potential for that power to do wonderful, beneficial, altruistic, and world-altering things. But to consider one way of thinking the only road to spiritual enlightenment, love, Heaven, and worth in the eyes of God is so incredibly narrow, self-indulgent, and hypocritical. Believe fervently in what you want; go ahead! But with that certain brand of belief should come an understanding that other believers of all walks of the world may, too, wish for the same changes in the world and believe in an everlasting life. Or what have you. Show your love through compassion, not through finger-pointing.

Oye. I was going to go further into this, but my head hurts with the considerations and the fact that I'm rusty at writing. Going to go outside and plant stuff. And maybe chant