An interfaith gathering for peace

Last night I went to an interfaith gathering for peace at a large house of worship of a particular religious denomination in the center of town. It was laughable. It was like a combination of the United Nations and the Special Olympics.

They had one of each there, a Rabbi, a Catholic priest, indigenous peoples from around the world, Hawaiians, Unitarians, Episcopalians, Buddhists, Hindus, some eunuchs who played lovely music on instruments I've never seen before, Ba'hai, even Scientologists and Hare Krishnas. Oh-- and of course Muslims - modern day's most important PC token. I was lucky to be seated between L. Ron Hubbard and David Koresh. We spent most of the time talking about sci-fi and firearms.

The Rabbi got up and said something that I can't remember because after years of synagogue attendance, I'm programmed to stop listening when a Rabbi speaks. Then this guy sang a song in Hebrew in terribly overwrought cantorial style.

The Unitarians said a prayer for a candle as a metaphor and the lights were dimmed for maximum penitence.

The Imam read in English and then chanted from the Qoran. Then he read in English and chanted from the Koran. Then he read in English and chanted from the Quran. He did this like 7 or 8 times. It was like sitting in class when that one dork keeps asking stupid questions and no one can leave. He would take long, exaggerated pauses and everyone would wait to see if we should applaud. Then he'd start again and I'd let out a loud groan that would echo through the room (it was a very large room).

The gathering went on and on. I'll spare you the details.

The thing is, everyone seemed to be lapping it up with delight. The audience was positively gleeful.

I was bored as shit so I started reading the welcome cards in the back of the pew in front of me. They warmly invite me welcomingly hope that I will follow along in my journey of faith in pursuit of justice and peace blah blah blah.

By the end, I came to the following conclusions:
1. Organized religious is cheesy
2. People who get together and sing songs and chant prayers about peace are doing nothing concrete to promote peace, they are just masturbating together, peacefully.