good friday

I'll never understand why we call it Good Friday. I had forgotten how much of the island shuts down - it's the one day of the year you aren't allowed to sell alcohol. Most of the businesses were closed. The one grocery store that we stopped by was open because the owners are Palestinian.

My parents and I had a sinuous conversation that sort of lasted the entire day on faith and religion and the difference. They are both people of great faith, but no dogma, which I appreciate all the more as I get older. My mother still attends Catholic mass; it's a part of her culture and upbringing that she isn't willing to abandon, yet she maintains the right to disagree with the Church. I suppose that's the kind of adherent they need - mind you, they don't seem to want that.

Whereas I have really left it behind completely. Though let's not forget that the Catholic Church has been pretty adamant about pushing people like me out (unless we're priests, I suppose). In any case, I'm glad that my parents gave me a framework to explore and consider faith, but I'm gladder that they never pressured us to adhere to any man-made dogma.

It was a topic that's been on my mind since I read Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great (great read - I'd never read him before - fantastic writer) on the way down here. There was also a special on CNN called "What Would Jesus Do?" that I found extremely poor. They hit on a whole variety of interesting questions, but didn't pursue anything in depth. In the case of the debate between evolution and creation science, I think it was criminal.