So the new Pope is elected.  And it's All Over my radio.  It's amusing really.  The robes haven't even settled over his shoulders comfortably, and people are talking about what kind of Pope he will be... as if they could possibly know.  It amuses me that our culture scoffs so easily as scrying, reading of tarot, or anything psychic, yet nods seriously when journalists blather on and on about what someone is going to do.  We are an amusing species, though... in many ways.

The bit in all of this that caught me was mentioned several times... the apparent concern the new Pope indubitably has (after all, the guy on my radio said he does) over the fact that Europe may actually stop being christian. 

I'm sorry, what?

Are entire continents saved?  Wow, why didn't God come up with this idea centuries ago!  Imagine the TIME that could be saved.  A christian Europe is at stake? How do you figure?  You may have missed the memo, but no place on earth is, or ever has been, that religiously monochromatic.  But that doesn't keep us from trying does it?  And the talk wound on... how to get more people in church, how to address the issues of other religions, or even (gasp!) a lack of religion taking parishioners away, how to get parishioners from those other religions (Golden Rule be damned apparently... perhaps it only counts for individuals?  If I wouldn't want your religion taking my faithful, I shouldn't take yours just doesn't count?  But if I wouldn't want you trying to convert me to the religion of the Great Purple Hippo,then I shouldn't try to bring you to Jesus... hmmmm.... no... going to chuck the ole Golden Rule right out on that one too... ) and at some point I just got bored.

Here we go again... pretending we are doing great things in the world when all we want is more people to be just like us, and not like them.  It's about how we can get more people in our churches, more money in our coffers.  Imagine if we spent even half of that effort on just treating people in a loving, respectful, way whether they worship the Great Spirit, Yahweh, Allah, Jesus, Krishna, or The Great Purple Hippo.  What if we let God sort all of that out, and said, maybe we should just work on this Golden Rule thing for a bit...

I'm not holding my breath.  But I'm still hoping...