I Thought Sermons Were Supposed to Be About God

As an atheist, the one thing that fascinated me about the Reverenced Jeremiah Wright scandal was how the good reverend enjoyed preaching about things not relating to God, which seemed weird to me because I always thought church was the one place in which everybody made it a point to talk about God.

Reverend Wright, for those of you who don't know, was the preacher at President Obama's church. At that Chicago church, Mr. Wright said some things that weren't very complementary of America or the white people who live here.

I bet God got all excited in thinking Reverend Wright's congregation was gathering together to worship Him, when all of sudden the esteemed Mr. Wright starting talking about chickens coming home to roost, the US of KKK, etc.

I suppose Reverend Wright talking about politics is the religious equivalent of, "I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out." After all, I don't often hear the reading of Ecclesiastes 8:8 during political debates!

I can see the following conversation occurring in heaven.

Saint Peter: Why should we let you into the pearly gates?

Reverend Wright Congregant: I went to church every Sunday.

Saint Peter: And what did you learn?

Reverend Wright Congregant: That devilish white people have caused those in the Middle East to hate America.

Saint Peter: No, what did you learn about the Bible?

Reverend Wright Congregant: Come again.

Saint Peter: The Bible - The Word of God?

Reverend Wright Congregant: Never heard of it. Why, is it good?

And I don't mean to pile on Reverend Wright; I have a strong feeling the topic of God is mentioned very little in many churches throughout this great land of ours.

I understand everyone wants everyone else to know what they think about politics because everyone thinks they could run the world better than everyone else, but if God is the most important thing in your life, why don't you have the burning desire to elevate conversation about Him above all else - especially when you're in His house!

Could it be that church does nothing more than serve as a place to socialize with like minded people, as well as give you hope that there is more to life? Therefore, when you're there, talking about God isn't necessarily required.

So remember, if you're at a location doing something other than what you went there to do, you may want to ask yourself if going there in the first place was such a good idea.

As an atheist, I suppose I should be happy. After all, I know that for an hour every Sunday morning you Christians go to a place where God is the farthest thing from your mind.

Maybe I'll start an atheist group where we can talk about global warming, because if I want to start a group where we actually talk about atheism I'll have to tell everyone we're going to be comparing and contrasting the Soviet Union during the cold war with Russia in its present form.