One thing that has always stood out to me as long as I can remember is:
Why do fallible humans ALWAYS have to enforce God's laws and will?
The Bible says, God will do this; the Quran says, Allah will do that; The Torah says God will do the Other; ... if you think or act out certain behaviors ... they are ALL specific that GOD will do these thing and that God will hold judgement and mete out "punishment(s)".
Yet ... we never seem to see an instance of God doing the meting or judging - it's ALWAYS the humans!
If someone takes the lord's name in vane or says something derogatory against the church or religion, faithful HUMANS feel compelled to lash out and "defend" their god/religion. Going back to when I was a young child, this ALWAYS struck me as strange - Why would humans need to risk life, limb and liberty to fight or defend the biggest baddest most capable-est deity/entity in the universe?!? I could never wrap my mind around how the logic plays. God could strike down anyone who angered him (or so the bible tells) yet I am supposed to punch little Johnny in the mouth for saying Jesus was a putz?!? Even as a believing child, when faced with such conundrums, I'd merely say something to the effect of "God will get you for that" but even as a very young believer I never felt compelled to take an action other than to pass on the rule of god and "maybe" stop interacting with someone of differing beliefs.
Of course today I realize, there is no god(s) and know that insulting any deity will not be met with a supernatural sanction (or lightning bolt) ... nor will there be any final judgement AFTER death - unless it's at the eulogy of the deceased offender.
Why does this come to mind now? Because recently I've become aware of the most vile threats that the religious folks (usually the most ardent - not so much the casual) throw at ANYone who even utters the most mundane contradiction to their religion. The slightest things cause the fervently religious to have a scorched earth policy on anything that "might" even be remotely viewed as contrary to their god/religion. Example: ISIS blowing up archaeological sites ... because, you know, old bricks and pottery shards could ... excuse me ... what can they do to your god again? Exactly how weak and fragile is your god that looking at old bricks will cause your god irreparable harm?
I was always taught that god, creator of the heavens and Earth, father of all humanity, was beyond reproach and untouchable when it came to the puny, feeble antics of non-believing humans. And I am equally sure that god didn't "tell" you to act on his behalf because he really has no time or energy to worry about who called his son a putz and/or anything else of this earth - I mean, for fuck's sake - he has a LAKE OF FIRE to roast people for eternity in when he judges them, right?!? Not good enough for his human minions though, evidently. Nope, THEY (the humans) feel a NEED to act on god's behalf and exact worldly retribution ... and the reason is clear ... even THEY don't trust god to do it ... because they REALLY know he is not there ... now or ever :P
