Sitting in Starbuck’s with a colleague last night I had that feeling you get when someone is staring a hole through you. You know the one, where you’ve got a "Kick Me" sign on your back or a stringy booger grasping to the tip of your nose without you knowing. Looking across the room a skinny man with a bike messenger cap, orange shirt and short shorts was staring at my laptop. At one point he even hunched over since it was angled open. At this point I could just imagine him running over and slamming the lid closed and shouting obscenities at me and my opinions.

My laptop lid is covered in stickers. Maybe because the damn thing got scratched to hell and back over the years or maybe because I want to subtly tell people what I think. Now stickers like "It will be a great day when schools get the money they need and the air force needs to hold a Bake Sale to buy a Bomber" tell you a little about what I think of the military and politics, without jumping down your throat with my opinions. Or the other about television, parents and babysitters. Sometimes I fear telling people my opinions because their opinions may differ. I get tired, and I often think I write better than I can verbalize. Therefore, I’d rather write about my feelings, opinions, and desires. And sometimes I don’t even do that. Sometimes I just don’t. I keep them elsewhere and push them aside. But other times I go out and buy one of Those Stickers to just see who peers over their Venti-Iced-Fat-Free-No-Whip-White-Mocha-Add-a-Shot at my computer lid.

I finally posted my response to Devon’s Da Vinci Code perspective here.

Earlier today I picked Claire up from day care at the school
and as I pushed open the door to head out to the truck, I thought “My little
girl just graduated”. Now, I know it’s not like high school commencements or
her first professional job, but she did graduate from infant day care, her
first graduation ever. When we return in the fall, she will be in the toddler
room with some different kids and a different lady. The food is different, the
sleeping is different, the games are different, but I am still blessed to have
her at school with me each and every day.

As with anyone who watches your child who isn’t you, there
are things you don’t like. We have a schedule for her and expect people to
follow that schedule, and I realize that they have other kids, but the day care
workers can review my child’s schedule from time to time. They can open
earlier, which they’ve agreed to do. That’s good, since I always feel rushed
EVERY SINGLE morning! Now it looks like things will change.

Then we meet the new day care director, and why do people
think they need to declare their love for God to everyone they know. I
understand prostelyzing and how The Bible says to preach the Word to every
corner or the world, but give me a break. I really don’t know that many people
who don’t believe there’s something out there, and, frankly, I don’t care what
you call It. The new director comes in and tells us how much church means to
her. Now, tell me, HOW does this help her DO HER Job? Does this make her more
qualified? Does my school cross the line between church and state? No, they don’t.
So why do we need to know this?

Well, I see we have a new category now – religion. I wonder how many posts will have THAT link. OK, I will try to keep the sarcasm to a minimum in this post…

Well, it has taken me almost a month to write this post. Primarily because I do not look forward to sitting down and writing about my religion. I actually wish more people kept it to themselves so that I would stop hearing about church services and listening to gospel music at work… but perhaps that is another post. I think that religion is a personal matter. It is a belief system because nothing can ever actually be PROVEN. I am, as Devon suggested, a logic-based thinker and not a faith-based believer. (A John Locke verse Jack Shephard reference for LOST fans).

I did not read the The DaVinci Code book. I did like the movie. The acting could have been better, but I enjoyed the treasure hunting. However, the movie did actually prove to be beneficial. It gave Devon and I a chance to bring up a topic that we both adamantly avoid. I enjoyed reading Devon’s views and agree with almost everything he had to say – a first for our religious “differences”. I especially enjoyed the following from his post:
“I said I am eager to agree with most of it [the movie] wholeheartedly, not because I want to debunk organized religion but because I am more inclined to tailor things to my own separate, unrehashed beliefs. I believe in God and I have faith, but I am also skeptical of organized religion and know that man has corrupted God.”

I’m pretty sure that I believe in a god, and I think that this is primarily due to our culture. Culture makes this a necessity; people make you feel worthless or EVIL for suggesting that a god does not exist. I do not have a name for my god/ superior being/ etc. It is not my duty to CHOOSE a name for something that I (a human) can NEVER fully understand. I agree with Devon that man has corrupted religion. Man is fallible and it is not possible to interpret a being that is perfect.

That being said, I do find it interesting to watch movies to see how other people interpret historical facts and the effect on religion.

Donna and I procured a baby sitter (i.e. roped a friend into spending the evening at our house) and went to see The DaVinci Code Monday night. Three years ago we went on a ski trip with my parents, and my mother had just received this book for Christmas. I picked it up after hearing about it and devoured it. I then read Angels & Demons immediately, which I loved -especially when the Pope died last year.

The movie was really good and I didn’t even mind Tom Hank’s hair at all. A few differences bugged me (like Tatou stepping onto the pond and making that horrid joke outside Rosslyn Chapel) but overall it energized my whole notion of religion. 

Donna and I have always agreed to disagree on the topic, as I am more religious than she is. But that’s partially her being a rational, pragmatic being and my not being one. Anyway, on the way home she asked what I thought of the ideology of the film and book. I said I am eager to agree with most of it wholeheartedly, not because I want to debunk organized religion but because I am more inclined to tailor things to my own separate, unrehashed beliefs. I believe in God and I have faith, but I am also skeptical of organized religion and know that man has corrupted God.

I believe the scared feminine (to steal Langdon’s term, or was it Brown’s?) was suppressed by the Church. I know that the Big JC could have a blood line. So what? Good for him. Wouldn’t you want that to happen? How can we ever move towards a second coming and no evolution and mutation of religion without some jumping off place. Religion is antiquated as it stands, and I can say that. I’ve been there. I’ve been zealous in my church going before and now I don’t go. My church lies in my heart and I don’t believe I am a heretic for saying so. I play the games because what I believe and what I feel is what works for me and my relationship with "God". And in someways, I think my wife and I have come to a closer conclusion than ever.

On another note, when my father saw this movie this weekend, he fell asleep. Later on the way home, he turned to my mum and said "I must’ve fallen asleep during the part where they traveled to Rome."