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Do The Gods Meet
Do the Gods meet and discuss us amongst themselves? If so, what does each have to of His or Her chosen people?
Do the gods of different nations
talk to each other?
Do the gods of Chinese cities
speak to the ancestors of the Japanese?
To the lords of Xibalba?
To Allah? Yahweh? Vishnu?
Is there some annual get-together
where they compare each other’s worshipers?
Mine will bow their faces to the floor
and trace woodgrain lines for me, says one.
Mine will sacrifice animals, says another.
Mine will kill anyone who insults me, says a third.
Here is the question I think of most often:
Are there any who can honestly boast,
My worshipers obey my good laws,
and treat each other kindly,
and live simple generous lives?— Orson Scott Card
Children of the Mind(Tor 1997)
Not my words, but at times my question. Could any of the Gods stand before His or Her fellows and state truly the his worshipers obey His or Her laws, treat each other kindly, and live simple generous lives? Do we – their purported worshipers – not prefer to aggrandize ourselves by reason of our faiths? Do we not prefer to use our Gods as reason for pride or spite, instead of serving them?
What would the Gods say of us if they met?
Tags: Ethics & Morality | Orson Scott Card | Paganism | Quotes | Religion
