House of Blasphemy

Actual conversation Husband and I had yesterday afternoon:

Me: “I’m going to the Y.”
Husband: “Are they open on Sundays?”
Me: “Yeah, from noon to five.”
Husband: “But isn’t that the Young Men’s Christian Organization? Aren’t they supposed to rest on Sundays?”
Me: “Apparently, God likes to play racquetball then have a little steam.”
Husband: “I thought he was looking a little buff lately.”

Apparently we do create God in our own images. But seriously…

I’ve always wondered why it is that the YMCA is the one with the aerobics room and the pool and the YWCA is the one with the childcare, the human services programs and maybe a yoga class or two. There is a YM/YWHA but I don’t think they have racquetball. They have Jewish camps, adult day care, arts and sciences camps for kids. And you may be able to take a karate class, depending on your chapter. But very few centers (there is one in North Jersey) have any spinning, Pilates or freeweights, or even a pool. Although you may be able to find one at the Jewish Community Center.

Why do Christian men get the monopoly on working out?

And the YMHA has Jewish programs, even a link on their web site to “Jews in the News.” Yet the YW/YMCA doesn’t have prayer services or Bible camp. They can state that they are closed on April 6 and April 9th but they are not allowed to say why. And can you imagine if they sprinkled a few Bibles around the locker room? Are you kidding?? They’d get shut down faster than a whorehouse in Utah.

Not that I’m especially pro any organized religion…I just want a little parity.

I mean, I don’t believe in God and was raised Unitarian and am female and technically Jewish but I am still allowed to be a YMCA member. But can a Bible-thumping fundamentalist wander in to his local YMHA and join up because they have a better pool than his local YMCA?

I don’t know. My e-mail to the closest YM/WHA hasn’t yet been returned.

But I have a feeling that it has something to do with public funding. For the same reason that Rudy Guiliani wanted to pull the public funding for that museum in Brooklyn that had the Madonna (no, not THAT Madonna) covered with elephant dung.

Sure. Burn a cross, desecrate a religious icon…hell, get some guys to dress up like the Wise Men and have them reenact a Three Stooges short and as long as you do it on private property and don’t ask for any government funding you’re golden, as long as you can take the heat you’re undoubtedly going to get.

That’s called free speech. Or, more technically, that’s the part of the Bill of Rights that states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….”

In other words, where religion is involved, the government has no right to get involved. They want to…oh, how they’ve tried…and how they still try…if they keep whittling down those personal freedoms who knows what will happen.

But whatever happens, (as I am currently receiving no public funding) I still reserve the right to make blasphemous statements anywhere that won’t get me shunned, egged, or burned at the stake.

Or maybe I shouldn’t be giving this administration any ideas…