We believe all sorts of things that aren't true

Have you all read about the Judas gospel? It's interesting to me even if I'm not so much an acolyte of Catholicism any more. There was an article in USA Today regarding this surprisingly explosive topic and there is a PBS special about it tonight. Some of the critics disingenuously dismiss the documents as having been written hundreds of years after the time of Christ when they know all too well that the other gospels were as well. The whole concept of how history forms, and how it cements itself over time, fascinates me. OK, permit me to offer some lyrics from my new religion, namely showtunes. These are from Wicked and are sung by the Wizard:

(spoken) Elphaba, where I'm from, we believe all sorts of
things that aren't true. We call it - "history."

(sung) A man's called a traitor - or liberator
A rich man's a thief - or philanthropist
Is one a crusader - or ruthless invader?
It's all in which label
Is able to persist
There are precious few at ease
With moral ambiguities
So we act as though they don't exist

For those so quick to condemn and subjugate others using a few vague phrases from an ancient text, I doubt that understanding the fluid nature of what they see as solid would make any difference. If they knew the gospels weren't written by the same named apostles, but hundreds of years later from hearsay by people who obviously never knew Christ, would that matter? Judas' "evil" nature is established by only 18 verses in the Bible. We gays are condemned by far fewer that that. There is a long history of "infallible" Popes who have altered the Bible and branded alternate gospels as heresy, effectively banishing them from "history" forever. There were once as many as thirty gospels until it was arbitrarily decided that there should be just four. So if you were basing your life on the words in a document, and going so far as to restrict the basic human rights of others based on that document, wouldn't you be curious as to where it springs from? Would you be satisfied with your grade school catechism explanation that it is the word of God? Like the old Wonderful Wizard says, we're not comfortable with moral ambiguity, so we pretend it doesn't exist.

Happy Easter!

Friday, I'll be heading to where the snow is still deep, where the health care is universal and where the gays can roam and marry freely (for now). Heaven? No, but for the weaker currency and lower national self-esteem, it might be. Canada. No Easter celebration for this lapsed Catholic, as I'm continuing my long tradition of spending the week slopeside with my Jews.