Saturday, January 18, 2014

Religious guy doing survey of "spirituality"

In my headline, I put the word "spirituality" in quotes because there's no such thing. The only thing that exists in this world is reality. Nonetheless, University of Connecticut Professor Bradley Wright is asking people questions:
"Did you pray in the last 24 hours? To what extent are you feeling nurtured or angry with God? Do you feel a sense of purpose right now?" 
Important stuff, obviously (LOL).

So who is this guy? Why, he's the fellow who wrote the 2010 book "Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites... and Other Lies You've Been Told." You don't have to guess which side of the spiritual street he lives on. (BTW, Christians constantly proclaim their hatred of gays as a "spiritual value". Just read any story about pious bakers turning down gay couples who want to purchase a wedding cake. It's wall-to-wall Christian hate. So much for this guy's book.)

But you really have to laugh at the nonsensical subject of this survey.
Wright is hoping the effort will shed light on a wide range of issues: Do people feel closer to God or more distant after they're on Facebook? How did attending church service affect them? Does spirituality help with social isolation? Does amount of sleep affect spiritual awareness?
As I say, important stuff. I love the last question. I guess if you don't get enough sleep, it's harder to talk to yourself in your head while believing you're in contact with a super-being. Cuppa coffee might help.

I love the quotes in the story. Here's one:
Kyndria Brown, a 50-year-old bookkeeper from Madison, Conn., who participated in the study, said she learned that she thought more about God when she was alone and feeling sad. "But when I was with other people I tended to not think in a spiritual way," she said.
I guess it's hard to talk to yourself while you're with other actual, you know, people. That would be multi-tasking, something I'm not sure Christians can do. (Never mind, I'm sure they can't.)

Here's a final note about the author of the survey:
Wright himself was raised Catholic, then became involved in a charismatic church and now calls himself a Catholic-liturgical-charismatic evangelical.
I call him a twit. It's shorter. I guess we'll just have to wait with bated breath for the results of this earthshaking scientific study. Gee, I wonder what conclusions he'll draw (and how much money he'll make by selling the results in a book). 

There are real issues in this world that we must focus on if the human race is to survive. To cite just one of these issues, scientists say we have only 15 years to turn climate change around -- and we're not doing a thing.

But at least we'll have this survey. Hooray!