Bloodlessly, Lovingly Admiring God

 MY GRANDMOTHER  was born in 1892, and died in 1971, when I was sixteen. "How Great Thou Art"  was on page twenty two of her hymnal. I once sang with a gospel group on whose hymnal the song was on page sixty two. Wherever it is, its beautiful. When you really love a song, its easier to remember what page its on. On the very few occasions when I have participated in gospel singing, I have encouraged my fellow singers to sing it. For me, "How Great Thou Art" is the perfect hymn, the perfect song. It sings the praises of the wondrous glory of the creator of the universe, what Einstein called "the infinitely superior spirit", as manifested and revealed in the wonders of nature itself. Most other gospel songs I can do without. Some, I despise. Some nearly make me sick. For example, I have no desire for my sins to be washed away in the shed blood of Christ, nor of anyone else. For that mater, I do not care to rejoice at even the thought of someone, anyone, especially a superior person, far superior to myself, someone of sublime character and surpassing wisdom, being tortured to death to absolve me of my guile and responsibility for my sins. Even if I were enough of a coward to want and to allow a better person than I to suffer and pay for my sins, I hope I would not be of such low moral character to brazenly rejoice and express my unhesitating approval of it i song. The very idea of elevating an instrument of torture and death to the status of sacred religious symbol I fine utterly appalling. The image of a person being tortured to death on a wooden cross i find equally appalling, and I reserve special disdain and horror for a portrayal of a human face depicted in agony as blood drips from a crown of thorns. Must one reduce one's self to a murderous, bloody savage to admire and give thanks to nature's creator and for the gift of life? I prefer not to be a vampire, drawing sustenance from somebody else's blood.Anyone who lives i a country in which there is, as the author of the American constitution James Madison said, an "impenetrable wall" separating the government and all religion,  in which government neither officially supports nor prohibits any religion's practice, and in which no religion is allowed to interfere with, insinuate itself into, nor influence government, is fortunate.  We rer required to approve of or accept other people's religious beliefs, but we are required to tolerate them, adn to refrain from doing them harm, or harm to those who practice religions other than our own. I have always tended to dislike people who express dislike or disapproval of my religiosity, or who encourage me to change my religious beliefs. I most assuredly do not respect the religious beliefs of many who try to influence or change mine, but I respect their right to practice their own religion, and I am respectful enough to never try to change anyone's beliefs to suit me. , no matter how bloody, bizarre, barbaric, or primitive they may seem to me.The best feature of the supremely beautiful hymn "How Great Thou Art"  is perhaps that it can be sung alone, far from any blood thirsty worshipers of instruments of torture and death.