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Alright, Mr. DeMille, I’m Ready for My Close-Up

The greatest authority is the God or Gods of brand-name religions. These Gods often speak to us through books interpreted by the lesser authorities empowered by the brand-name religions. Each brand has its own authority, and each authority takes refuge in the Great Authority it claims to represent. The holy rascal doubts the existence of the Great

Authority of any brand-name religion and hence lives outside the authority of the lesser authorities upheld by each religion.

The lifeblood of religiosity is questions. A religion with all the answers is dead and, worse, deadly.

RR

Our outsider status gives us a unique position from which to question the claims of brand-name religions. Because we don’t accept the premises of any religion, we can ask simple questions of those premises. For example, without denying the Christian notion that Christ died as ransom for our sins, the holy rascal might ask, “Why does God demand a ransom in the first place?” If God “so loved the world” (John 1:1), why not simply forgive everyone without going through the trouble of becoming human and dying on the cross on Calvary and then forgiving only those who believe the story and damning all those who don’t?

Sometimes our questions upend a story. Take the story of the Ten Commandments, for example.