To the Religious Right, Fundamentalist Conservatives, and Prosperity Dogma folks, Honestly, I am getting a little confused here.
I know which Deity I worship. I have some very nice traditions, and a great community. It's very fun and makes me a better person.
But there's a lot of other people out there who claim to worship the same guy, and like to tell me how I'd doing it wrong...
So, I think the best thing you can do is to, well, stop saying that you're worshiping that guy.
(Flippancy on the Flippy)
No really, I mean, I get that you like to worship a man who watches you like Big Brother, is obsessed with your sex life, how you dress, and your opinion about OTHER people's sex lives. Seriously. I am not judging ya. But do me a favor and don't claim he's the same guy that I worship.
And no, I won't change what I call him, my people had him first.
I mean, there's a LOT of other perfectly respectable God-brands out there, and it seems to me that you should really consider worshiping at the altar of one of those.
Like Odin. Or Wotan, or whatever you choose to go with for the spelling. He definitely fits many of your criteria. Male deity, watches people constantly, and is REALLY into war. Ya know, the god I worship isn't into that as much, so you might really like to consider Wotan Worship.
Or Zeus! That one really seems to fit. Obsessed with his own power, no qualms whatsoever about cheating on his wife, cuz he's the alpha male, but god help anybody who looks at HIS stuff...
Although, he's not so much into the sexual repression. Actually, looking into it a little more fully, none of the Gods are really into repression. Judging by the books at least. Oh sure there's a few of em that stuck in some rules for the survival of the community, but honestly, we have gotten past those in my religion at least. I'm sure though that there are plenty of people who would LOVE to join your new religion of self-denial and self-loathing, and you should be completely free to have them join.
It's kinda like you're using the DOS 1.0 of religion, You know, we're actually up to version 5772 right now. Oh, sure there's a few purists obsessed with using the original source code. Fortunately for me, they aren't obsessed with forcing ME to use it. That's a hint, guys.
But anyway, Just maybe you guys should think about re branding your guy to make him a little more identifiable.
How bout Dollars! I mean, for many of you guys, it's how you judge people anyway. It would really reduce the hypocrisy, too. You could honestly say that you worship dollars, and be treated as a legitimate religion! Hell, bling could be your vestments, and you might even get a tax write off for em. Think of the possibilities, all you guys!
Or Repressos... I think many of ya more conservative folks might like him. You could separate yourselves, just like many communities of the past, and not have to worry about changing everybody else's behavior. I mean, you've already set up your Dominionist businesses, but they have to be rather stealthy. If ya just followed the examples of other organizations, you might even be able to market that way. Think of it, I'm sure that there are many people who would jump at the chance to shop at a store that guaranteed nothing but pure and perfect products, produced by the completely repressed.
Of course, these ideas mean that you would have to actually stop bugging everybody ELSE to go along with your ideas, since it would only affect your religion. But hey, you'd have freedom of religion! You'd have yer perfect society where everybody followed the words of... uh, honestly I have no idea. You folks aren't exactly the most consistent.
But the point is that you'd no longer be forcing everybody else to live up to ideals that you supposedly hold yourselves to. You could turn that energy inwards and really make a difference in your ideal societies. Hell, maybe you've even got it right, and can show us all the way through your sterling examples.
But wait, those usually end up in psychotic cults that hold people hostage because they don't perfectly conform... Naaah, I'm sure you'll figure out how to have people stay in your religion without the force of law or intimidation. After all, you keep telling us how if we just listen to your speeches, we'll be instantly converted and saved. I'm certain that you'll be able to have everybody in the country in one of your little enclaves within a year. Unless of course, it doesn't work that way.... Naaaaah....