For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out, and Coming Home by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Riverdale Avenue Books
Published: 2014-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

Religious Zombies

Clay Cane

Zombies want to eat your brains. The goal of the walking dead is to colonize the globe and force an irreversible sickness upon others. “There are no survivors. It’s just us in here and them out there,” is a line from the opening scene of 28 Weeks Later, the classic zombie apocalypse film. Within seconds of the ominous warning, the zombies attack and ravage everything in sight, passing on their disease of rage. Every day we are surviving a zombie attack in the form of “religious zombies.” Brain-dead, maniac, and unconscious; you don’t have to go to them, they’ll come to you. Whether it’s the 700 Club, Jehovah’s Witnesses banging at your door, or religious doctrines thrust into legislation, it’s a battlefield. Religious zombies stalk funerals (“God Hates Fags”), colonize the streets with wild rants (Israelite street preachers), plucking at passersby, looking for new victims. Even in the daylight there is always someone trying to eat your brain; nightfall isn’t necessary to let the darkness in.

“My mum, my dad—they tried to kill me,” a child survivor cried in 28 Weeks Later. Many have been killed by their parents due to religion. Whether it was a killing of their spirit or a brainwashing of their soul, they were the undead, unable to receive or give love. Religious zombies don’t stop to think about what is being said or taught. They explain their hate with rhetoric from the Bible or whatever handbook for the spirit to which they subscribe. Religion often teaches and reinforces otherness, and religious zombies will attack anyone: family, friends, co-workers, and especially themselves.

What has always intrigued me about religion is not its alleged beauty or inspiration, but the characters and the psychodramas who come out of religious institutions. Black or white, when people believe they are doing work in the name of goodness, otherwise known as their God, there is a power they feel they possess. This power can be lethal, especially if held within an oppressed group. But in many ways, religion is meant for the poor and meek to stay quiet and content.

My experiences with religion are not based on Jesus, Allah, Oshun, or Buddha but more on the people who preach. Being a charismatic celebrity with a stage presence can garner millions of dollars at the pulpit. Religion is profitable, which is obvious when the Vatican controls more wealth than Pepsi.

In one of my first experiences with the fever of religion, I was living in Washington State as a child and attended a Christian summer camp with a white church. Far from religious, my mother was hesitant about my participation in the camp. Throughout my childhood my mom insisted I would not be raised with religion. Her family was sadly destroyed when her mother became a devout Jehovah’s Witness. Family members weren’t allowed to speak to each other, some were “disassociated” for random infractions—even her own mother ended up being disassociated. Her family never reconciled after the attack of the Witnesses. When a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.