The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
March 22, 2009
Vol. 12 no. 12

Everything But...
           I noticed that in the weekly free Regina newspaper, Prairie Dog, votes are being solicited for all manner of things and services and people in the annual “Best of Regina” awards. Best salad, best pub, best bar tender, best weather person, best MLA, best place to have a car accident!
          It is curious to note, however, that there is no mention of religion or faith or church whatsoever - not really surprising. Despite the fact that more people attend church regularly on any weekend in Regina than patronize virtually any other category on the ballot, it is taboo. Not that I would really want anyone to be voting seriously which is the best church, best minister or priest, best liturgy, best hymns, best fellowship hour cookies. Well, the last one would be interesting to know.
          Perhaps one of the origins of the taboo is that too many a religious denomination or faith tradition has not just said it is The Best - but The Only One. Human beings always require choice and diversity to remain human. While one universal religion may seem logical and the right thing to do, it would be not be divine. We worship differently and describe our God differently, but that’s our humanness at work, not the way God is. When you get down to it, our God is too small, and every other faith suffers from the same inadequate vision. There is no Best, certainly not an Only, but a rich diversity too infinite for any one human being to count.
          Arthur Clarke’s wonderful short story, “The Nine Billion Names of God,” has a computer calculating and listing those names and was finally successful. If you know the story, there was a catch. But we do not breathe or have our heart beat anywhere close to 9 billion times in a lifetime. Our God is too much to describe, but the worst thing is to stop trying.