Rob's Soapbox - Hey Pope Francis: F&*K YOU

<p>I’ll start with a few admissions and caveats. I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of organized religion. I’ve dabbled in most of them, ranging from the modern, mainstream “hip” version of Christianity (where they encourage patrons to wear jeans and play Christian rock music at mass) to the Assembly of God (Pentecostals). I’ve attended Baptist, Mormon, and Episcopalian churches and I’m one of the very few people I know who has actually read the Qur'an.</p><p>In the end, spirituality is for me, but not organized religion and believe you me, there is a very stark difference. Religion is the process and practice of humans telling other humans what to believe and how God will react…not to mention the collection of endless amounts of money along the way. I am, instead, like the majority of our founding fathers were, a deist; meaning that I acknowledge the existence of a supreme being and/or creator and who or what that looks like is not of your god damned business (pun intended). Deists also believe that this supreme being does not intervene in the universe…he is the ultimate believer in free will and doesn’t have the time or inclination to actually plan out or interfere in the silly decisions humans are making on a day-to-day level, let alone our long term individual fates.</p><p>In other words, everyone hates me in the spiritual world. Atheists think I’m a childish moron who, like others, believes in the man in the moon, and religious believers think I’m gutless and looking for a way to split the difference. I’ve heard it all from both sides. The thing that amazes me is that I am neither threatened nor upset at their beliefs, or lack thereof, but boy are most of them very concerned about mine. It might make one wonder or question their level of faith if one were so inclined.</p><p>With all of that said, Pope Francis is a hypocritical moron who, quite frankly, needs to call it a career.</p><p>I freely admit that I don’t get the “Pope,” thing. Elevating a human on earth to near god-like status (which is a