All The World's a Hypocrite

Since I last posted, a couple of things have happened. For one, I tripped up a flight of subway stairs and displaced two tendons and fractured a bone in my right foot/ankle, leading me to wear a space-boot-type of walking cast for the past week, with at least another week to go until we (that is, the doctor) sees how my healing is progressing.

For another, I also turned 31 on Saturday, so happy birthday to me and many more!

Thirdly, a friend of mine who is Iranian by heritage and Muslim by faith began fasting for Ramadan, and this is what really leads me to today's topic: hypocrisy. Or maybe it's not even full on hypocrisy so much as paint-by-number religion.

As we all know, I am not the religious type. I have many issues with standardized, organized religions and many questions about the duality of God and science/nature. But that's neither here nor there. What I really can't stand is the fact that so many people claim to be religious but then pick and choose which parts of their religions they are going to believe in, agree with, practice, and incorporate into their daily lives. And I just believe that if you are going to be a practicing _________ (fill in the blank), then you do it all or nothing. This isn't to say people won't slip, make mistakes, sin, etc., but I just cannot get behind people who specifically ignore an entire section/sections of their religious doctrines.

This friend of mine I mentioned above is a perfect example. He follows some of the more widely known Muslim practices, but glaringly ignores others, one in particular. For instance, he doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't like animals as pets and, indeed, doesn't seem to like animals at all, and observes the religious holidays, even to the point of fasting for 30 days during Ramadan. But he also sleeps with any girl he can and he seems to have no qualms about this whatsoever, even gloating about his conquests and continuously pointing out whom he'd like to have a go at next. I just do not understand how he can justify this with his religion and it makes all the other abstinations (is that a word?) he follows seem that much more ridiculous and meaningless.

My husband thinks I am too hard on him for this, but I call things as I see them, and I say, "Hypocrite."

(This in no way deems myself to be free of hypocrisy. I believe most people are or have been hypocrites at some point in their lives - it's hard to avoid if you're not perfect, you know.)