It makes me sad, sometimes, when I see religious-types trying to make sense of their inherently weird, confusing, and often times brutal faiths.

You can see the wheels turning in their heads. You can see the profound collision of their refined, post-Enlightenment ethics versus the medieval carnage and sheer silliness of, say, the Old Testament.

How can a God of love, for example, kill thousands of innocent children in the Flood? And since Jesus is 1/3 of the Godhead, he had a hand in it – or 1/3 of a hand in it — too. I thought Jesus was a hippie? I thought he’s jamming with Jerry and Jimi in heaven?

Bottom line: if you think about it all deeply and honestly, it can, y’know, drive you nuts. Makes you feel all yucky inside.

And this confusion would be ok if it were just relegated to the steaming tormented swamps of individual minds. Unfortunately, it ain’t; those with the tormented minds – or those sedated by blind faith – just can’t keep that stuff to themselves.

And since people, by their nature, want to control others, if they can’t do it by the sword, they’ll do it by other means. Y’know, Nietzsche-stuff.

Where am I going with this not-exactly-rocket-science diatribe? Good question.

Oh yeah, I’m setting up our show this Friday. That’d be the “American Heretic” himself, Joe Raiola, of MAD Magazine, who’ll be ruminating on God, religion, censorship, and so much more. Info here.

Unlike religion, it’s free, and it’s sure to be an enlightening and provocative evening under the redwoods!