Religion

This post is gonna be about religion. If you're not interested, look at the pretty advertisements on the corner of your computer screen for a few days until i create a new blog.

It's impossible not to notice the churches here. You'll have a church literally about 40 meters away from another church. Not only that, but there seems to be some territory wars going on too. It's not uncommon to see a Protestant church located just adjacent to a Catholic church.

It's also really common to use Jesus as an advertising tool. I picked up what I thought was a flyer for a church service (because it had "Jesus loves you" in big capital letters on the very front), but after I read the thing it turned out to be a menu for a Mexican fast food joint opening on Guadalupe st.

I'm suspecting the unemployment is a huge concern in Texas after the GFC. There are homeless people scattered everywhere throughout the streets. Consequently, I can really see what an amazing influence religion has on people here. It seems to bring out the best in everyone. It's common for a homeless person to approach you to ask for money. But even if you reject him/ her, they're still really polite and friendly, and they really use Christian colloquialisms a whole lot (like "god bless you sir"). I gave an African American person (apparently it's offensive to say 'black man') a dollar yesterday as I was walking back home. He shook my hand and said "Jesus loves your sir". I replied by saying "Jesus loves all of us" and he almost cried. The logical part of me is saying that this kind behavior is just a scam to take some of your money, but I don't mind. I think it's a crucial ingredient to make an interesting culture.

Oh yeah, I was approached by two North Korean (NORTH!) men earlier today. I suppose they considered themselves missionaries. They came up to me and asked if I believed in Jesus Christ. I said I do (because that's my alter ego here). Then they pulled out a bible. It turns out that these two men have been translating the Bible into Korean, and they wanted my help to translate a few passages which confused them. They opened the book and pointed to a line which said "God is all powerful" and then they flicked to another part of the bible which read "God is not all powerful" and then asked me to explain what that means. Fortunately for me, I've watched dozens of "Atheist Experience" episodes where dozens of conservative Christians attempt to crawl out of these obvious contradictions. Almost instantly I replied with a few generic safety quotes: "The bible only appears to contradict if the soul is impure", "one of quotes is out of context" and "it's a metaphor, it's not meant to be interpreted literally". They seemed about as unsatisfied as I was when I first heard those quotes. None the less, they thanked me and walked on.

Oh and before I publish this post. I just want to vent a bit. I'M FUCKING HUNGRY. I don't want to eat fast food. But my feet hurt and I don't want to walk to a grocery store which is a mile (1.6km) away! EaarrgghhhH! (Texas is still awesome though)