Is someone trying to tell me something?

Last week I finshed reading this book by Dan Brown called "Angels and Demons." It wasn't a particularly good book. The action was ridiculous and the themes were presented and explored much like typical genre crime novels explore themes; that is to say, poorly. However, in reading between the lines, it appears that this book was supposed to be about technology and religion. Whether the two are compatible or whether they are inherently at odds with one another. Can one believe in (a Christian) God and still believe in evolution? Dogmatic adherence to Christian principles says "no," the two are inherently in conflict; either you believe that God created man in His likeness or you don't; and if you don't, you are a heathen destined for Hell. The book really presented only these two options; it explored none of the grey area between the two. It presented this struggle as a literal struggle between Satan (the Illuminati), God (Roman Catholicism), Technology (CERN) and the world-saving-hero-scholar (behold the mighty professor!). Ultimately, the message got pushed to the background by a stupid plot that kept getting in the way.

So, after putting this train-wreck of a book down (and out of my misery), I picked up Tom Robbins' "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates." I knew exactly NOTHING about it what it was about. I had read one prior Robbins book ("Jitterbug Perfume") and absolutely loved it. So, I was curious to read more of his material and this book had been given to me. Surprisingly, it dealt with similar themes as "Angels and Demons." The only difference is that it explored ONLY the grey area between non-belief and belief. More precisely, the book examined WHY we have religion, faith and/or belief in the first place; what does it get us? To believers that seems like a heretically self-centered thought? God isn't about YOU, it's about OTHERS. Blah, blah, blah. Horseshit. We wouldn't be suckered into it, if we didn't get something out of it. So, what do we get out of religion. The book concludes (not as in 'ends' but rather as in 'comes to decision about') that we get out of it, what we put into it. I'm not sure Robbins would agree that's what the book is about. But, I think that sums it up nicely. We, as individuals, can choose not to believe and we will get nothing out of it. God, Mohammed, Mary (how come no one ever sees Joseph in their bagels?), Christ, the Pope, Adam, Eve, Vishnu, Buddha, Shamans, they mean nothing if you don't believe what they're telling you. Sometimes extraordinary things happen that cause people to re-think their position on the matter, and the majority of the world calls these 'miracles.' And they exist. Or rather, they exist in Robbins' world in this novel.

Regardless, we have gotten rather far afield of my rather simple purpose. After I started reading "Fierce Invalids" but not after the shell-shocked disappointment of "Angels and Demons" wore off, the book club I have reluctantly agreed to grace with my presence decided they hated "Angels and Demons" so much, we had to read a proper novel about the Illuminati. A novel long, and convoluted and filled with more obscure words than a Webster's Dictionary (literally. seriously, there were words in this book that are not in the dictionary). It's by Umberto Eco and is called "Faucault's Pendulum" or something like that. Anyway. All about God and Satan and the usual rigamarole. So, that will make 3 consecutive books about God, Satan, Cardinals, Popes, Nuns, and world-saving-hero-scholars (the hero of "Fierce Invalids" had an advanced degree in linguistics).

Why is this weird? Well, it's not weird that someone would read 3 straight books with such a theme. People read thematically similar books all the time. But this is weird: the receptionist at my office comes in today and hands me a bag of cookies and says "you have to eat these because I can't" - the cookies are made by real, live nuns at the St. Roger Abbey in Oak Park, Illinois. Now, that, my friends, is fucking weird.