UNGODLY BEHAVIOR

In case you thought I was
using a rude slang.

 For a city that has a reputation for being the secular capitol of the world, New York sure has a big religious population. Christians have 2,000 churches and another 4,000 informal places of worship; Jews have their choice of 1,000 synagogues; and Muslims can attend 275 mosques (more than anywhere else in the U.S.). And if you lived here in the 1980s as I did, it wouldn't have taken you long, when out for a walk on a summer's day, to stumble across a group of Hare Krishnas shaking their kartals. 

This being New York, these folks tend to take a live-and-let attitude toward their fellow citizens. In place of getting in your face, these folks urge you to look into your heart. They almost want me to become a full-fledged believer. (By the way, "fledge" refers to birds acquiring feathers in order to gain flight. Since this city is lousy with pigeons, I guess I am a full-fledged believer.)

But some people just aren't content with being content. They have to cover New York with holy graffiti. If I'm representative of your typical New Yorker -- and, frankly, I believe I am -- this kind of thing is a sure way to discourage  converts.

Real what?

Lately, I've found that I can't walk two blocks in any neighborhood without seeing the Twitter hashtag, GOD IS REAL. If this is true, I would think that He wouldn't approve of a dogmatic delinquent scribbling on city property. It just doesn't give Him a good reputation. 

I'm not even sure that whoever it is going around town doing this even believes the message. The God Is Real Twitter page I found went up in August 2016, then appeared to have kept quiet until the following March when three Tweets were added. Since then, nothing. 

I wish whoever this person is would return to Twitter and quit defacing walls and sidewalks. I'm sorely tempted to add some letters so they read IS GOD REALLY TELLING YOU TO DO THIS? or A GODDARD MOVIE IS REAL HARD TO UNDERSTAND. But there are so many security cameras around that I'd be the one to get arrested.

Big deal. So am I.

Christians aren't the only ones getting their word out. Look up when you reach any corner and you're sure to see the smiling puss of an old gent in a big hat with the caption MESSIAH IS HERE! 

If by "HERE" they mean the back of the crosswalk signals, well yeah. But if they're talking about in the flesh, I've yet to see the guy. Even though there are only four daily newspapers in New York, you'd think one of them would have scored an interview with him. 

Out-of-towners might be confused, seeing that he doesn't look anything like the Messiah in Christian imagery. This Messiah is Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, whom you undoubtedly remember as the Seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. (Come on, is it Rabbi or Rebbe?) His death in 1994 was a big deal for his followers.

They think New Yorkers are crazy.

But there are followers and there  are followers.Those in the latter category don't buy that whole he's-dead bit. They think he's testing their faith by playing a spiritual version of hide-and-seek. And they've been plastering their call-to-arms all over town since last summer, starting with 6,000 stickers, with another 6,000 to go. 

The majority of Chabad folks don't fly with this Messianic off-shoot; mainstream Jews likely compare the movement to the conspiracists who are probably still waiting to see John Kennedy, Jr. show up at Dealey Plaza.

There's one good thing about these movements: they allow me to safely make fun of people in both major Western religions and get away with it. As for the Hare Krishnas, we don't see much, if any, of them around town anymore. Muslims here seem to keep to themselves, other than quietly offering free Covid tests outside their mosques -- without using graffiti. 

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