TGIGF
If I remember correctly, it has rained, with a variety of intensities, on the Good Friday of the past 5 years. Many people have remarked to me that it is a reflection of the pain, suffering and anguish associated with that particular day - rain being a traditional symbol of grief (as some people like to say, 'tears from heaven'). However, I usually tell them that it usually rains on Easter as well. Surely then, those Sunday showers would be tears of joy? The personification and addition of a temperament to the geographical phenomenon of weather then seems rather ridiculous.
But people still stick to their theory of why it always rains on Good Friday, an explanation that does not involve high evaporation rates on Thursday nor cloud formation on Friday. It is, to them, nature's (which is, depending on what they think, God's nature or the nature evoked in science) way of marking the occasion with a fitting backdrop. Naturally, attaching too much significance and implications to something that is caused merely by a random coincidence of factors and conditions, though in itself quite harmless, is a sign of more dangerous inclinations.
This being the (religious) holiday season, the above observation might be taken to be the customary seasonal anti-religious tirade. But it does not deny any tenets of the religion in question, nor does it query the truth or correctness of the whole affair. Even the secular have been known to partake in such speculations that are more in the court of the religious.
Weather is a powerful thing after all. It has awed and aided humans, and in its most terrifying manifestations has resulted in near-instant conversions of people to the faith at the head of whose is the deity who has the power to cease the calamitous outbursts. But if such things (in the above case, the seemingly improbable annual coincidence of precipitation and a day associated with sadness, and in this case, the demonstration of seemingly omnipotent powers) can cause religious stirrings in the hearts of the secular, it makes one wonder if the converse is as possible i.e. will there be events and consequences that encourage a step-up (loaded adjective really. It implies secularism is on a higher plane than religious faith) to secularism, from being religious. It would seem to be more difficult. Faith is one restraining factor, for example.
Yet there is beginning to be evidence that even for the most hard-line of religious extremists, and I say it without prejudice here, the Islamists, recent events may well prove to be the trigger for such a transition. If we are talking about the behaviour of nations and governments, after their successive defeats in Iraq, Afghanistan and the wars against Israel, political leaders and citizens all over the Arab world will surely realise that they can never defeat or seriously threaten America or its allies by force of arms, as evidenced by the intense but ultimately brief resistance in Iraq.
Religious faith, courage and self-sacrifice are no substitute for technology, organisation and wealth. It may be true that Americans (as well as Britons and Israelis) are scared of dying and their governments will go to great lengths to avoid risks to their soldiers’ lives. It may even be true that "Muslims love death, as your young people love life", to recall bin Laden’s chilling (but empty) threat just before the invasion of Afghanistan. But the jihadist contempt for human life, expressed in the worship of suicide, is a liability, not an asset.
Islamic warriors may have religion on their side, while America has only market principles and patriotism, but in the contest between small arms and a cruise missile, cowardice beats courage and decadence beats faith, every time. Now, even the most fanatical Islamists must realise that they have no hope of defeating “the Great Satan”. And then, perhaps, we will see the rationalist conversion. Maybe they will just give up — or turn to something more fruitful, such as baking cakes or smuggling drugs.
However, it is vastly unfair to establish a simplistic dichotomy of secularism and religion, as there exists too much middle ground. Circumstances may cause the above crossings-over, "blurring the line", so to speak. Except that there is no line, because, well, to put it conveniently (and simplistically), everyone should be allowed to believe what they believe. If a pantheist wishes to think that maybe thunder is a sign of impending trouble, then maybe the only upcoming ill is that someone will call him a hypocrite.
I always take the opportunity on Good Friday (when it is inevitably raining outside) to ponder a little about religious issues over a mug of tea, nodding assuredly to myself.
