Finished book two and no angels yet. There was a small tid bit about a heterosexual fellow discovering his feminine side, but that was about it.

In other news I was telling my sister that I wanted to go see The Golden Compass and she responded (with some passion) “No! Don’t see that movie! [I'm thinking at this point she's joking.] It’s an atheist agenda to destroy God! You do still believe in God, don’t you?” Didn’t see that coming. I had no response for her except to chuckle, which she didn’t like much.

I’m not sure how unique it is to Mormonism, but the commonly held belief is if you leave the church eventually you will fall completely into wickedness and corruption. Hence the question asking after my belief. Probably checking that I’m not completely lost. Yes, I do believe in God, but probably not in a way she would find satisfactory.

You see, I don’t believe in a jealous and petty god. I believe that heresy is man made because God doesn’t need people to believe in him. I once told an atheist friend of mine, Tony, that my god doesn’t mind that Tony doesn’t believe in him. He doesn’t throw tantrums when people don’t do what he says. In fact, I’m not sure he has all that much to say. I don’t think I believe in a god who is actively involved in the daily lives of individuals. I believe he is there and that human beings can reach out and tap into his power if they want, but if they don’t that’s fine too.

I call God “he” mostly out of habit. I’m not sure God has a sex and if he does I’d be stunned and disappointed if he conformed to our narrow and silly definitions of gender. While I’m open to the idea that what we understand to be God is really some pervasive, impersonal force that binds all life together (channeling Yoda now), I find it more comfortable to think about an actual being, an individual, but maybe that’s just habit, too.

I read a Jewish proverb once that said something to the effect that God rejoices when his children out wit him. I like that.

All I could come up with for my sister was that I had been reading the books and that I was enjoying them, so no promises. I was kind of surprised I hadn’t heard anything from the usual suspects condemning the movie, so I asked a friend of mine who’s usually more on top of those kinds of things. Apparently the wingnuts are actually nervous because the movie takes a softer stance toward religion than the books. They’re afraid people will like the movie and read the books. Because God, you know, hates it when people read something he hasn’t written himself, or from which he hasn’t at least got an endorsement deal.